Bartholomew Estheim



Bartholomew Estheim is Hope Estheim's father and the husband of Nora Estheim in Final Fantasy XIII. He lives in Palumpolum, works for the Sanctum, and has a fractured relationship with his son. He later becomes one of the secret founders of the Academy institute.

Bartholomew is voiced by in English and by  in Japanese.

Datalog
Bartholomew is Hope's father.

''He loves both his wife and son, but is clumsy at expressing it. Things are made even more difficult by Hope's rebellious age and unreasoning resentment towards his dad.''

Bartholomew has spent his days sick with worry, ever since Hope and Nora were caught up in the middle of the Purge.

Bartholomew is Hope's father, but has difficulties relating to his teenage son.

Though deeply upset by his wife's death, he sees how much Hope has grown during the subsequent events, and encourages him to find his own path and make his own decisions.

Now wanted by the Sanctum for his actions in aiding Pulse l'Cie, Bartholomew is currently under the protection of the Cavalry.

''Bartholomew Estheim was originally an economist for a Sanctum-affiliated institute. Following the catastrophe, the newly formed provisional government employed him as a financial advisor, where he was instrumental in the founding of the Academy.''

He is the father of Hope Estheim, the director of the New Cocoon Project.

Appearance and Personality


Bartholomew is a bespectacled middle-aged man in a black suit with black pants. He wears a gray tie and and his neck is white on his suit. He has brown hair and a beard. Bartholomew is 178 centimeters tall according to the Final Fantasy XIII Scenario Ultimania guide.

According to the Scenario Ultimania, Bartholomew is a calm and collected intellectual with a relatively high position in society and an income to match. He is a firm but kind man who, despite his difficulties with Hope, truly loves him and wishes the best for him. Like most of the population of Cocoon, he initially believed the Pulse l'Cie to be monsters, but was quick to change his mind and realize Lightning and company are as human as himself.

He is shown to be forgiving, as when knowing Snow Villiers had a part in the death of his wife, he forgave him, as he fulfilled Nora's last wish to bring Hope back home. Bartholomew is levelheaded and a true no-nonsense man.

He does not appear in Final Fantasy XIII-2, but it is hinted he is a man of politics who founded and supports the Academy.

Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-
Bartholomew is briefly mentioned as being unable to go to Bodhum and join Nora and Hope on their ten day vacation because of being on a business trip, much to Hope's relief.

Final Fantasy XIII


From hearing the news reports of Bodhum being sealed off and everyone in the town being Purged to Pulse, Bartholomew spends days worrying about the fate of his wife and son. Still burdened by the memory of his mother's death in the Purge and his status as a Pulse l'Cie, Hope initially does not want to reach out to his father. On their journey to Eden, Hope and Lightning go through Palumpolum, and he agrees to help her get past the PSICOM soldiers patrolling the area. Lightning convinces Hope he must tell his father everything that has happened.

After being pursued by PSICOM, Lightning's group makes their way to the Estheim Residence, where they meet Bartholomew. Though Bartholomew is relieved that Hope is safe, Hope then tells him about Nora's death and everything that has happened. Hope tells the grief-stricken Bartholomew he and his friends will leave after resting up, fearing that his father will be persecuted by the Sanctum for harboring l'Cie. Despite his position as a Sanctum employee, Bartholomew chooses to hide his son and his fellow l'Cie from the army and mends his relationship with Hope. When Snow apologizes for the death of his wife, Bartholomew forgives him as he fulfilled Nora's final request to get Hope home.

As Snow talks about his plan to save Cocoon from its corrupt fal'Cie by taking down the Sanctum, Bartholomew exposes the flaw in which the populace's fear of the l'Cie will only worsen, thus causing the people to take up arms against them. Before everyone can come up with a new plan, PSICOM troops led by Yaag Rosch find them and surround the house. Then Snow goes out into the line of fire to confront them. When Cavalry troops in disguise cause chaos among the soldiers, Lightning and Hope make Bartholomew look like an unwilling accomplice to prevent him from getting Purged. Before Hope and his friends leave with the Cavalry, Bartholomew tells his son that from now on, he must choose his own path in life, whatever it may be. Aboard the Lindblum, Hope says his father was taken to a safe location by the Cavalry before being reunited with him in the aftermath of Cocoon's fall as depicted in Final Fantasy XIII -Episode i-.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments Before
In the six months after the Day of Ragnarok, Palumpolum has become the new capital of Cocoon and the military base of operations. Bartholomew is summoned by Cavalry Captain Rygdea to a secret meeting in the city's historic concert hall. Rygdea shows Bartholomew an ID card containing internal documents from the Sanctum made by the late Yaag Rosch with his voiceover providing insight to what happened behind the scenes within the Sanctum from his perspective. The card shows the security footage from the day of the incident at Euride Gorge, depicting the Pulse l'Cie responsible: Fang and Vanille. Watching the footage of PSICOM carrying out the Purge and imagining what Hope and Nora went through, Bartholomew feels guilt and regret for not going to Bodhum to be with them by using work as an excuse, believing it to be his punishment for ignoring his family.

Then the rest of the footage documenting the l'Cie's journey plays back and Bartholomew feels sorry for how Hope was forced to grow up quickly for his age, lamenting how he wasn't there for his son when he should have been. From the footage, he learns that the l'Cie were unknowingly being helped by the fal'Cie that were using them to destroy Cocoon and sacrifice its inhabitants in the effort to bring back the Maker. From everything Hope told him, Bartholomew recalls the absurdity of the truth that the fal'Cie the people of Cocoon saw as gods for centuries sought out a god themselves, at the cost of innocent lives like Nora. After going through the footage, Rygdea tells Bartholomew of how people had forgotten PSICOM's last act of heroism in helping evacuate the populace before Cocoon's fall because of how they are now seen as evil personified, and the former members of the Sanctum pushing the blame for the Siege of Eden on them for their own profit. Rygdea reveals his plan of using the ID card's footage to expose the truth behind the Purge and everything else that led to Cocoon's fall, so the former Sanctum members will be held responsible; before he and Bartholomew disappear until after the changes take effect.

Bartholomew asks Rygdea what he plans to replace the remnants of the Sanctum with once they are removed from power. Rygdea reveals he wishes to create a society where the people think and live for themselves, free of the fal'Cie. By releasing Rosch's documents, Rygdea also hopes to clear the reputations of the former Pulse l'Cie. Rygdea then asks Bartholomew to join the new provisional government being formed, and put his influence in the political and business worlds to good use. After remembering past words of encouragement from Nora, Bartholomew decides to accept Rygdea's offer. As his conditions, Bartholomew says he wants to build a public research institute that will publicize its findings without any interference from the government, so people's animosity towards Pulse will vanish and nothing like the Purge will happen again. He also wants to form a higher education parallel to the institute for children like Hope. They shake hands and seal their agreement.

As congresspeople gather in the hall for an assembly, Rygdea prepares to release the secret information as Bartholomew watches from inside the storage room. As expected, the congresspeople are resistant and in denial about the confidential information and Rosch's footage. Then Bartholomew sees Rygdea summon the Palumpolum Security Regiment to arrest everyone for approving of the Purge and conspiring to massacre the people in Bodhum; thus keeping his promise of removing them from power without any bloodshed. After which, Bartholomew leaves the building as a founder of the Academy.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega reveals that Bartholomew retired in 10 AF. It is revealed that he died between 10 and 13 AF, as Hope reveals this to Serah and Noel, when explaining there was nothing left in his original time before he entered his time capsule to reach Academia 4XX AF.

Etymology
"Bartholomew" is a Hebrew name that means "son of Tolmai".

Trivia

 * Like Rygdea, Bartholomew is a ; various non-player characters in Nautilus and Eden wear the same clothes as he does.
 * His name is never spoken in game, like Rygdea.
 * He shares his English voice actor with Zuke from Final Fantasy X.
 * His part in the founding of the Academy is also revealed through a Live Trigger with Hope in the Yaschas Massif in 10 AF.
 * In Fragments Before, it's revealed Bartholomew participated in a Cavalry platoon while under their protection. He also later met Sazh Katzroy and his son Dajh when they visited Hope about a day before his meeting, thus making Vanille the only one of Hope's friends Bartholomew never got to meet.