He lost his parents 14 years prior to the game during an expedition for the Monado, a powerful sword that only a select few can wield. He is the game's primary protagonist, portrayed as favoring 'brains over brawn'. Shulk is an 18-year-old 'Homs' - the game's fictional equivalent of a human. Shulk debuted in Xenoblade, released in 2010 for Japan and released under the name Xenoblade Chronicles in 2011 for Europe and in 2012 for North America. Shulk's dialogue was continually revised throughout the sessions to make it more natural sounding, though Howden would still study the Japanese version of the game to capture the same emotions as said version. Howden was never given a full script of the game so that he could more realistically sound surprised at the game's plot twists, but he was informed of the story progression shortly before he would have to voice it so he would not sound baffled.

He was given instructions on how to portray Shulk, largely that he should have a neutral English accent, intelligent, 'not posh', and fierce when necessary. In English-speaking versions of the game, Shulk is voiced by Adam Howden. Nintendo's team of debuggers, the ' Super Mario Club', assured Takahashi that he was on the right track for his goal. Takahashi tried to make Shulk react to in-game events as much like he thought game players would react to them. In the end, Takahashi went in the opposite direction, making Shulk's positive interactions and words of encouragement a focus of the game. Takeda felt that the easiest way to make Shulk likeable would be to make him be a silent protagonist, but Takahashi rejected this idea, feeling that it hurt the character's ability to 'resonate with the player'. Takahashi worked with anime writer Yuichiro Takeda on Shulk's creation. Takahashi's personal belief was that the more negative, jaded JRPG character type leads the player to resent them due to the emotional investment required to complete such long games. Xenoblade featured a prolonged, four-year development cycle dating back to 2006, where Takahashi states that, while the game went through many changes, the overarching plot following Shulk remained largely the same. Tetsuya Takahashi, creator of the Xeno series, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Shulk, states that his primary motivation in creating Shulk was to make a more likable and relatable protagonist than in most Japanese role-playing video games.

Xenoblade chronicles x devils colony