List of Antagonists in Xenosaga - Heinlein

Heinlein is an Ormus society cardinal and an extremely enigmatic figure; not even Margulis knows exactly who he is or what he looks like. He is always disguised by a blinding ray of white light. As of Episode III, he is the acting leader of the Ormus organization, replacing Patriarch Sergius after his death at the hands of the Testaments at the end of Episode II. In the Catholic Church, the rank of cardinal falls directly under the pope. Based on this, a powerful cardinal such as Heinlein would be the de facto successor to Patriarch Sergius. Both Margulis and Sellers, for a time, are under Heinlein’s wing. Heinlein is the cardinal in charge of Ormus' Inquisitor Fleet, and Margulis is his Chief Inquisitor, while Dr. Sellers is, until Episode III, his chief scientific researcher, albeit holding no actual rank in or allegiance to Ormus.

Heinlein is in league with Margulis to overthrow Sergius during the resurgence of Old Miltia. Despite Sergius being the head of the Ormus society, Heinlein is actually the more powerful of the two through his connections. Not only is he an Ormus cardinal, Heinlein is also the CEO of Hyams Group (also called Hyams Heavy Industries), the main corporate competitor of Vector Industries. Since Dr. Sellers is Hyams chief scientist, the company has his personal, albeit inferior, 13th Zohar Emulator at their disposal. Sellers has stolen much of the research of Dr. Mizrahi and is a great asset to Heinlein.

Heinlein funds both the U-TIC Organization, under the command of Margulis, and the Immigrant Fleet through Hyams. U-TIC is a dummy arm of the Immigrant Fleet, and the Yuriev Institute is originally an arm of the Hyams Group. These four factions are collectively controlled under Ormus, who are pulling the strings. Dr. Yuriev, however later broke free and began working on his own. Considering the high level of manipulation and under-the-table funding taking place throughout Ormus and its many front organizations, all roads lead back to Heinlein and make him one of the most important people in the universe.

In Episode III, Heinlein is revealed to be Wilhelm; his true purpose for founding Ormus was to protect Lemegeton, also known as the "Word of Yeshua", that was left behind by a man who died thousands of years ago. The database states that chaos was the man who left this "word." The public purpose of Ormus was to preserve and spread the teachings of that man. Although according to Wilhelm, the man Ormus worshiped did not understand Lemegeton, because only chaos could understand it. Ormus were also the guardians of the Relics of God left behind in ancient times, such as Zarathustra and Merkabah. Wilhelm as Heinlein had the true control over the Ormus society even when the Patriarchs were in power; they were scapegoats and figureheads without even knowing it. He also orchestrated many back door corporate "exchanges" between Vector and Hyams, such as the exchanges of materials related to the E.S. and the Vessels of Anima through the U-TIC Organization. This harkens back to how connected the public persona of Heinlein really is. What on the outside appears to be behind the scenes dealing between two corporate masterminds is just Wilhelm shuffling materials from his left hand to his right hand.