Eizen
Eizen is an odd yet mysterious man working as Matthew Vasile's— Venam's father—assistant over at the laboratory located at River's End. He, alongside Matthew, studies the phenomenon of worldly inconsistencies occurring across Aevium and appears to be quite knowledgeable on the subject.
Appearance
Eizen has pale skin with light steel blue hair and light blue eyes. He has a goatee that's parted in two places. Despite his attire looking well-maintained, his person isn't as well kempt; his hair is messy and there are bags under his eyes, giving them a sunken appearance. On top of that, his build is thin and lanky, implying that he doesn't really care to put a lot of effort into how he looks. His coat is high collared and asymmetrical, primarily colored in white, greys and black, as well as being littered with orange, blue and yellow details along with alert sign motifs being visible on his attire in many places. It is long on the left side while it's short on the right side. The inside of the coat is a bright blue and is shown to be capable of give off light. The coat also has three screen displays on it, one on his chest and two on his sleeves. Both sleeves have a translucent material around the elbows. He wears two different gloves as well, a black and orange one with blue accents on his right hand and a primarily white one with orange and blue accents on his left. The left glove is attached to the sleeve of the coat through a blue flat wire. A similar wire, orange in color, is connected from the coat's collar to the right arm. Underneath the coat he wears a high collared, short sleeved dark grey and black body suit that has a zipper running diagonally across his waist. He wears a pair of high boots that reach up to his knees, and are fitted with orange and blue wire on the back. The boots also have platform soles, making him look even taller than he already is.
Personality
Eizen appears to be a calm and amicable individual when the player first met him and Matthew at River's End, but lacks any subtlety when it comes to showing that he knows quite a bit more about the Protagonist than they know about him. While Eizen is mostly serious or deadpan, some of the things he says can come across as weird and outlandish to others, particularly in reference to his tendency to blurt outright that he's "not of this world" and how he doesn't care about how people refer to him. He shows a deep interest in the worldly inconsistencies he and Matthew research, and generally seems to take the research more seriously than Matthew seems to do. He also appears to have a lack of understanding about modern slang, as shown when the Protagonist can choose to reply with "Yuh." to one of the questions he asks when he shows up in the Atebit Kingdom (on the condition that you answer his questions at River's End correctly).
However, what initially seems to just be odd behavior to most makes way for outright freakishness when the Protagonist answers his questions about Akora Shore correctly with information that the average person would normally not know. He's not above resorting to drastic measures to get what he wants at that moment, going so far as to temporarily take Matthew out of existence just to get the Protagonist alone for a conversation with him that only the two of them would understand. When presented with intriguing information provided by the Protagonist he tends to show an unhinged streak and is prone to unsettling laughter or excitement in regards to the subject. However, he isn't unreasonable and restores Matthew without asking after he's done talking to the Protagonist, as well as that he's willing to provide them with rewards for any inconsistencies they help investigate or confirm with him in any subsequent encounters.
Biography
Eizen can first be encountered starting from late Chapter 5 at River's End, a location only accessible through surfing from either Route 2 or Route 3. He greets the Protagonist, already knowing their name and introduces them as such to Matthew. When the Protagonist asks Matthew about what they study at the lab, Eizen interrupts Matthew mid-sentence and explains further that they study the laws of causation and predominant presence of worldly inconsistencies. To elaborate, he asks the Protagonist if things have felt off in their journeys, such as people standing in a different place or items no longer being where they used to be; or the other way around, such as new items suddenly appearing in places where they weren't before. After Matthew points out that some may consider these small things as feelings of déjà vu, Eizen prompts the group to think bigger and asks the Protagonist if they know about the location that used to exist on Route 11 but no longer does.
When the Protagonist answers with Evergreen, he'll note that despite this being the current location on Route 11, it's not the right answer and instead the location he's talking about is called Akora Shore. When the Protagonist answers with Akora Shore instead, he'll ask for the type of season the place has, as well as the general relative direction of the location using Akuwa Town as a center point, which are summer and east respectively. Upon answering all questions correctly, he suddenly switches tone and seemingly kills Matthew to get the Protagonist to talk to him alone and demands an answer from them about since which "version" the Protagonist has been around. After some brief consideration about their answer, Eizen "reintroduces" himself to the Protagonist, saying he's previously only existed in concept and that "he's from a world below" before bursting out into maniacal laughter. Only moments thereafter, he somehow restores things to the way they were before, including bringing Matthew back into existence and behaving as he did prior. It leaves only him and the Protagonist with memories of what happened, implying that Eizen has some degree of control over reality, though it is unknown just how far this goes.
After elaborating a bit further on Akora Shore, he then brings up another inconsistency he located at the Forsaken Laboratory underneath Wispy Tower and tasks the Protagonist with investigating it, giving them a key to a locked door while reminding them it's where they fought Giratina and Geara back when Team Xen was still using the place. Upon investigating the laboratory and finding and picking up a peculiar Pokéball in a room locked behind a puzzle, Eizen appears to the Protagonist again, congratulating them on finding the inconsistency. However, he says it's not the Pokéball that's the inconsistency, but rather it's Eizen himself. He further elaborates if you answered his questions correctly earlier that if the Protagonist has been around for longer than him, they'd also realize that he wasn't there for previous expeditions to find this particular Pokéball. After some brief questioning about how he came to be in this world, he once again reiterates that his existence is a contradiction and that he's similar to Akora Shore in that sense—they are both anomalies. Afterwards, he prompts the Protagonist to go back to Matthew's laboratory with him.
After the Pokéball's data is transferred to a new one and the Type: Null inhabiting it—one that's pointed out that its existence should be impossible as only three had ever been made and it'd be a fourth one— escapes from the laboratory, Eizen says it has ran off to somewhere in River's End. After the Protagonist catches Type: Null, Eizen shows up again. If his questions were answered correctly earlier, he points out that it showing up in River's end is yet another inconsistency as it would've normally ran off to the Forsaken Laboratory. He then asks them if they know about the Butterfly Effect, and ponders if his presence has caused a shift in the timeline somehow for things to be different this time around. If the questions weren't answered correctly, he instead simply praises the Protagonist for catching Type: Null and mentions that if it was left unattended, it likely would've caused nothing but pain to itself and others.
If the player answered his questions correctly, the building located north of the laboratory will also unlock, revealing it to be Eizen's place of residence. He tells the Protagonist that they're free to take the Pokéballs on the table, which contain an Aevian Munna and some Nightmare Fuel, things he mentioned he went through great strides for to obtain them.
Aside from River's end, Eizen can be encountered on a few more occasions. In Chapter 11, after Venam has been turned to stone, he shows up alongside Matthew at the Hospital of Hope regardless of whether you've met him before or not, and offers his condolences to the Protagonist.
After the events of Chapter 12, if the Protagonist chooses to cut down the cherry blossom tree sapling in the past at Sheridan Village, a portal will open up on Route 2 that leads to an alternate version of the place called Route Z. Eizen will show up in front of one of the factories, noting that despite this version of the route having failed to become the same as the normal Route 2, he believes that this place is flourishing as it's providing energy and product for the rest of the region. He then asks the Protagonist if they know what kind of Pokémon was described in a book that used to be obtainable in a factory on Route Z. If they answer with Flabébé, he will confirm this and notes that both the book and the maniac on Route 2 that it was needed for to distract him are now nowhere to be found, thinking they were deleted by a higher force.
After having traveled through the Atebit Kingdom in Chapter 14, the Protagonist can choose to explore more of the place once they no longer have Aelita, Ren and Audino with them. If they had answered Eizen's questions correctly before, Eizen will show up in a small town in the southwest region of the area. He notes that this particular world didn't exist before, and instead there was a puzzle involving teamwork and colored bridges. He'll note that despite that puzzle now being lost he still has a fragment of the old world where it's from, and will prompt the Protagonist to go through the battle between Allen and the Bladestar mech that used to take place in previous versions of the Pyramid. If you win the battle, he will ask the Protagonist if they had fun before awarding them with a ??? Memory and leaving.
Pokémon
As of V13.5, there are no known Pokémon for Eizen.
Relationships
The Protagonist
While mostly indifferent towards them at first, he does show that he's quite knowledgeable about the Protagonist and their endeavors, even knowing some things that most other people wouldn't realistically be able to know. After the Protagonist answers his questions correctly and learning that they potentially know about older "versions" of Rejuvenation, he changes his tone entirely and shows he's taken a deep interest in them. While it's unclear what exactly Eizen gets out of finding these inconsistencies, he seems to appreciate it when the Protagonists helps him out investigating them and even rewards them with for it when the investigation bears a favorable result.
Matthew Vasile
Eizen works under Matthew as his assistant in researching the inconsistencies of Aevium and seem to be on friendly terms with each other. However, Eizen has no problems briefly taking him out of existence if it means that he can get the Protagonist alone to speak with them, so it's unknown whether Eizen's otherwise normal behavior towards him is a front to hide ulterior motives or genuine.
Quotes
- "Humor me for a moment. Have you come across things in your numerous journeys that have felt off?" (River's End, during the Type:Null Sidequest)
- "I am from a world below" (River's End, upon answering his questions correctly and "reintroducing" himself)
- "I don't know what "Yuh" means, but I assume this is a form of consent?" (Encountering him in the Atebit World)
Trivia
- Eizen was teased all the way back in January of 2023 on Twitter, but wasn't confirmed to be a Rejuvenation character until the V13.5 update came out.
- Interestingly enough, at the time his residence can be unlocked (as early as the player obtaining Surf), Aevian Munna and the Nightmare Fuel item cannot reasonably exist yet, as both are the direct result of the Ligosomnia Engine going haywire thanks to the Puppet Master in Chapter 15. How he managed to get his hands on them prior to this event is a total mystery.
- Similarly, using the "hello eizen." password upon starting a new save will initially be registered as an invalid password, but then causes the screen to briefly glitch and prompt Eizen to greet the Protagonist using Microsoft Sam's voice. While this initially seems like it's mostly a gag password, it does cause some minor dialogue changes to occur in a few of his early encounters. When going to the laboratory at River's End for the first time with the password active, he'll comment that they've already met, but never face to face. Similarly, if you get his questions right, he'll acknowledge and find it interesting that the Protagonist seemed to somehow know about him before they even met him. All of this implies that he was very much aware of the conversation between the Protagonist and Amanda despite not being present for it, even having been able to influence it somehow for the password to be valid nonetheless and him greeting the Protagonist in turn—another thing that remains shrouded in mystery as of how this was possible.
Gallery
Official art.
Eizen's appearance upon answering his questions correctly.
Creepy smile included.
...And glitching as well.
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