The Story So Far…

When we speak of story in WIXOSS, people would be quick to think of the selector and lostorage sagas. Most fans would know of the exploits of the selector that has reached the zenith of battle and emerged with the title of Legendary Selector, Ruuko. Perhaps some more invested in WIXOSS for the story than the game may have heard of lesser-known heroines such as Yuragi and Kiyoi. The tales of the human partners of the LRIGs is definitely common knowledge among players.

What we often overlook, and forget to wonder about, is the lore behind the game itself. Clearly, the WIXOSS we play — the one with selector battles — is magic. We know that the administrator of the White Room constructs and runs this game, be it Mayu or Mugen. It seems that this is about the limits of which WIXOSS is willing to explain itself, especially for fans who have watched the anime. However, those who do find the time to read the flavour texts on WIXOSS cards would find that Takara Tomy has put in more thought into the setting than the anime might lead us to think.

Credits to @wixoss2 for having curated sets of quoted flavour text in a long series of tweets that attempt to explain the game’s lore. His/Her tweets formed the basis for this article.

Just a bit of context

WIXOSS itself is perhaps most famous for its opening gambit in marketing itself. On 3rd April 2014, the first episode of selector infected WIXOSS aired in Japan. What was peculiar about this was the fact that WX-01 Served Selector, the first booster set in the series, was released alongside the first three WIXOSS trial decks on 26th April 2014, a whole 2 days after the 4th episode of selector infected WIXOSS had aired. By this time, the anime had probably made its impression among the audience as a drama with an inclination towards mystery. Perhaps this is the reason the first few sets had cards chock-full with lore in their flavour texts, explaining how the magical game of WIXOSS came to be.

The Tale of Ener

The world of WIXOSS as described from the flavour texts appear to revolve around a system of magic that calls upon the energy of a girl’s wishes and materialising them. The progenitor of this system, her exploits, and her fate is documented in this Prologue included within a real-world mystery-solving game called WIXOSS Mystery Solving <The whereabouts of Tawil and her memories> held at WIXOSS EXPO 2017.

In a world of perpetual conflict, a single girl wished for peace. That wish was given material form (implied to be Energe, Original Spear), piercing through all armies and ending the conflict.

However, the world came to restrain, analyze, and break the girl. The exhausted girl had one final wish.

“Please, help me… Erase… me…”

The researchers had called the materialisation of wishes the LRIG. In response to the girl’s plea, the LRIG appeared to grant her wish. A spear pierced through her chest, and the girl dissipated into mist.

Ever since then, girls who could bring forth LRIGs from their wishes appeared everywhere.

Research after that point brought the understanding that LRIGs were composite entities formed by the energy of the girls’ wishes and WIXOSS factors.

This energy was named after the girl who had dissipated into mist.

This girl’s name was Ener.

— This is where everything begun.

Explaining LRIGs

From this summary that was given, we know that Ener was the progenitor of this system of magic, and the first to call upon the ability to have her wish energy manifest into powerful tools called LRIGs that can realise her wish. This is verified by quite a few quotes from the card game itself.

“A LRIG is the form of a girl’s wish.” — Jetting Knowledge, WXD01

“The First LRIG was that of a girl’s sorrowful wish. Humanity judged the LRIG as dangerous.” — Encompassing Knowledge, WX01

“A LRIG uses Ener to unleash the power within herself. This is called ‘ARTS’.” — Jetting Knowledge, WXD03

However, the details of this story run into a few inconsistencies with the presentation in the game itself:

1. Energe, or Arc Energe, or whoever matches the description of Energe, appears to be a LRIG in this story, but isn’t presented as one within the game.
2. SIGNI are said to be a personification of a LRIG’s mass of experiences. Clearly, the LRIG being referenced here is apparently Energe/Arc Energe

If we were to interpret the idea of SIGNI being a personification of a LRIG’s experiences, perhaps Energe/Arc Energe is indeed the experiences of Ener’s LRIG of the same name. Perhaps the game of WIXOSS is based on Ener’s legend, adapted into card game form. The idea that Energe/Arc Energe existed as a LRIG is supported in the following quotes.

“That spear is the original spear. It bears the girl’s name.” — Energe, Original Spear, WX01

“‘Erase me.’ ~The Girl of the Beginning~” — Energe, Original Spear (SEC) WX01

That which remains of a girl who was stripped of all

So what became of Ener after she dissipated into mist? Her LRIG clues us in on Ener’s thoughts before her death.

Obviously, wanting to be erased wasn’t Ener’s wish. We know from the prologue that she wished for peace, but ultimately had her hopes dashed as she was detained and experimented upon during peacetime, possibly to uncover the source of her overwhelming combat power. This was when we find that Ener had begun to lose faith in her wish. Perhaps this is why she disappeared into mist, as possibly explained in Growing Future.

A girl that loses her wish is reduced into WIXOSS factors.” — Growing Future, WX04

However, this wasn’t the end of Ener’s existence.

Tawil and her sealed memories

Tawil, as we know her, is one of those peculiar LRIGs with no human identity. She is friends with Umr, another highly cryptic LRIG who, in the spin-off work WIXOSS ~Twin Memories~ is said to be the key to her memories. Tawil also talks exclusively in hiragana, which is a characteristic often made fun of in the Umr & Tawil comics by Oyster.

In the mystery game held during WIXOSS EXPO 2017 though, Oyster shed some light on Tawil’s true identity.

Basically the storyline was that Tawil left a note saying “I’ve remembered” and disappeared.

Umr, having been alongside Tawil all along, wanted to know what secrets Tawil was hiding, so Umr went on a quest to find Tawil.

At the end of said quest, Umr arrives before a coffin. In Twin Memories, we know that Tawil is the sealed form of something, and that Umr had the key to unlocking that seal. Being “the wielder of the key”, Umr figures that the coin created from her memories contains a fragment of the memories of the beginning within it. Within it, she searches for the answer to what Tawil has remembered.

There are two endings to this. Should Umr answer Open!!, Tawil appears from the coffin and they return together to where they belong. However, Umr can answer the true name of the owner of the memories, Ener, to which this happens:

Having retrieved her memories, Tawil emerges as Liwat, who is actually Ener.

The result of a dejected Ener was her continued existence as Liwat.

“‘Why? …Why is that? Don’t humans wish for conflict?’ ~Ener~” — Liwat-Ener, Messenger Prolonged of Life, WX22

In any case, Umr implies that it is not the first time Tawil has recovered her memories (“Tawil… no, that form… she’s returned to that form again.”), and probably seals Ener back into Tawil again. That’s probably the only conclusion, or we wouldn’t have Umr & Tawil comics anymore.

The Nature of the Game of WIXOSS

What this does tell us is that Tawil=Liwat=Ener, and that the human who caused WIXOSS’s wish energy system to be created now exists as a LRIG after her apparent death. However, it is clear that none of Ener’s backstory fits the idea of the modern-day urban fantasy Japan that we see in the anime. So with that comes my theory to reconcile the two settings that we have been given, one from the cards and the other from the anime.

WIXOSS as we know it in the anime, with its selector battles, is probably a product of gamifying the elements of wish-granting magic, since we now know that Ener isn’t a fictitious character in the WIXOSS universe. Perhaps the world Ener lived in was far more ancient, a time when a magical spearman could bring peace to an age of perpetual war. That would explain her story without changing the setting of modern Japan.

Furthermore, it is possible that the WIXOSS system requires a single sacrifice, a Girl of the Beginning. When viewed from this angle, we can draw parallels between Mayu and Ener: both were abandoned by society, both had a wish so strong it created LRIGs, and both eventually died for their wishes. This could be what is needed to start the phenomenon of girls summoning forth LRIGs from their strong wishes.

Of course, this is all but speculation, and WIXOSS itself has not given us enough material within the cards to fill in anything but broad strokes regarding the lore. However, it is still interesting to see that Takara Tomy’s scenario writing team has put in effort in creating some sort of backstory for WIXOSS, the game, itself.

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An Aside

There are still tons of information regarding various gameplay elements that I have not organised. I do have them translated and categorised, but due to limited time, I prioritised the story between Ener, Tawil and Umr as I felt that that was the most exciting takeaway from the lore stash. Nevertheless, here are the translated quotes for the cards mentioned in @wixoss2’s tweets.

The LRIG

“When a LRIG combines Ener with WIXOSS Factors, she can grow herself.”— Jetting Knowledge, WXD02

“Without an answer to the wishes, the resolution to the conflict between pure desires cannot be found.” — Servant Q2, WX08

“Although the wishes of most of the girls were naive, there were mature ones, with sights set on something.” — Servant O3, WX10

“Is the LRIG an existence that should return to being human? The debate continues.” — Servant Z, WX11

“Just as there are girls that have their wishes granted, there will be girls who will never have their wishes realised for all eternity.” — Servant O2, WX13

“Where have the wishes that will never be realised for all eternity gone to? The power birthed by a girl’s wish, that is.” — Servant D2, WX13

“A “composite entity” of Ener and WIXOSS factors was found after what was thought to be the end.” — Colourless Servants, WX13

“The memories of the owner of the wish is poured into the composite entity. Sparkling, glowing memories.” — Servant D3, WD20

“Even as the girls were erased, the memories and records that were stored within them were left behind.” — Servant O3, WD20

The Girl of the Beginning

“The Girl of the Beginning was feared by humans, and was the subject of their research. And so, the wish entrusted to the LRIG was of the Girl’s own demise.” — Jetting Knowledge, WX01

“The power of wishes eventually came to be called ‘Ener’, named after the Girl of the Beginning.” — Germinate, WX01

“The girls who could create Ener begun their to appear everywhere following the demise of the Girl of the Beginning.” — Servant T, WX07

“Ut’ulls ultimately refused to become a single entity. The reason being that Tawil had remembered the memories of the Girl of the Beginning.” — Servant ∞, WX14

Kuro and Shiro (Iona and Tama) (?)

“That which is lost converges into the Girl of Black.” — Servant O, SP03

“The battle of the beginning has been brought to its conclusion by a pair of LRIGs. The WIXOSS factors have also vanished along with the end of the battle.” — Servant T2, WX13

WIXOSS Factors

“In this world, there’s a factor called WIXOSS, where wishes are not something to come true but to be materialized. ~ Midoriko ~” — Charging, WX01

“When the core is crushed, countless WIXOSS factors flutter about.” — Recalled Blessings, WXD05

“They fight over the countless, fluttering WIXOSS factors.” — Recalled Blessings, WX02

“The transient WIXOSS factor dances. Where is it headed to?“– Overflowing Knowledge, WX03

“As Ener and WIXOSS factors were combined, little by little, the world begun to change.” — Servant O, WX07

“The stronger a girl’s wish, the more the amount of WIXOSS factors needed to grant it.” — Servant D, WX07

“The WIXOSS factors grant power even for that which is lost.” — Recalled Blessings, SP03

“However, the girls continue wishing, and Ener continues to be brought forth. The continued finding of WIXOSS factors.” — Servant Q2, WX13

SIGNI

“The purpose a SIGNI has is derived from someone’s delusions.” — Doping, WX04

“The annihilated SIGNI returns to Ener.” — Banishing, WX04

“SIGNI cannot venture outside the realm of a girl’s imagination. It’s simply that the imagination of a girl is unfathomably deep.” — Gathering Protection, WX10

Eternal Girl (Mugen Shoujo)/The End of Dreams (Lit. Dream’s End)

“Eternity, in its entirety, is about to arrive.” — Servant X, WX04

“Everyone expects a future unknowable at Dream’s End, maybe.” — Oversalvage, WX04

Ener (The energy produced by wishes)

“Ener takes on colour. A colour matching the wishes of the young girl.” — Servant Q, WX07

“Girls that wish for ambitious success are bequeathed Red Ener. Girls that wish for the elevation of their wisdom are accorded Blue Ener.” — Servant O2, WX08

“Girls that wish for personal growth are endowed Green Ener. Wishes of destructive impulses are assigned to Black Ener.” — Servant D2, WX08

“The wishes for peace brings forth White Ener.” — Servant T2, WX08

“Primarily, wishes sorted into Red largely concerned the support of military affairs. A majority of the wishes classified as Blue concerned the support of political matters.” — Servant D3

“The owner of Green wishes were made targets of, due to not liking conflict.” — Servant T3, WX10

“The characteristics of Black and White wishes made conflict between them inevitable.” — Servant Q3, WX10

“Colourless, the vertex and origin of all colours.” — Next Ready, WX12

“Colourless, the colour where everything begins from.” — Next Ready, PR055

“Nothingness goes well with any sort of darkness.” — Servant D, SP03

Unsorted

“The curtain lifts on a new story. The next one would, certainly, also be unforgettable.” — Servant Alive, WX13

“What is left behind of that which had everything taken from her?” — Crisis Chance, WX14

“The girls who protect their partners knew, that spun threads had opened a new window.” — Servant O2, WX15

“The battle between those who select has been seen to its end. The girls who protect their partners move on to new ground.”— Servant D2, WX15

“They hold a mission to protect. They care not for anyone’s thoughts.” — Servant T2, WX15