Lumina

Lumina is a major supporting character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. She resembles Serah Farron in appearance and crosses paths with Lightning during her quest to save the world, at times appearing as a friend and other times as an adversary.

Appearance and Personality


While Lumina's eyes appear a bluish-gray in-game, her eyes are a sea-blue in her CG render. She has a wide nose and wide, pink lips. Lumina resembles a younger version of Lightning with elements of Serah in her design, seen in her pale pink hair stylized with a ponytail on the left side of her head and her face resembling a younger version of Serah's. Lumina wears a black dress adorned with feathers. She wears a long sweeper with pink interior, black hairband around her ponytail, sleeveless halter top with a black collar with silver studs and a silver feather pendant, lacy skirt, long glove on her left arm, thigh-high stockings, and pump shoes. She has aerials on the back of her right shoe and her left collarbone.

Lumina is playful and unpredictable, seeing the world as a plaything, and people as a source of entertainment. Although she can give helpful advice, she enjoys toying with Lightning, and summoning monsters for her to fight. Hinting at a deeper connection to their relationship besides her resemblance to Serah, Lumina refers to Lightning as "sis".

Story


When their parents died, Lightning abandoned her past and became strong for Serah under the delusion of not needing help. The denied feelings of wanting companionship and help from others caused an inner turmoil that affected Lightning throughout her life. When he found Lightning, Bhunivelze purged her of her vulnerable side, which used the Chaos to manifest a physical form: Lumina. As a part of Lightning, Lumina became a vessel for Serah's soul to safeguard her from the Chaos.

Lightning encounters Lumina in Yusnaan during the former's confrontation with Snow Villiers in his palace. After Snow grabs Lightning, Lumina appears in his place as an illusion, and breaks Lightning's sword with magic. In reality, Lumina is on the chandelier above the ballroom, which she sets ablaze before vanishing. The chandelier falls, but Snow uses his l'Cie powers to halt it. As Lightning chases Snow through the palace, Lumina reappears to her in a Chaos Infusion. Lumina taunts Lightning of being different from Bhunivelze's usual servants, since she can see inside the Chaos. Lumina summons a Zaltys to block Lightning's path and disappears, but Lightning defeats it. After Lightning retreats to the Ark, Lumina returns to the area, commenting on Lightning's unrealistic hopes of saving Snow and the rest of Nova Chrysalia's people. When Lightning revisits Yusnaan after the former defeated Snow, Lumina speculates about his reason for performing such an action and advises Lightning to kill Snow and fulfil his wish. Lightning rejects Lumina's suggestion, instead managing to bring Snow round and revive his hope.

In the Dead Dunes, after the Order's Secutors steal the clavis from Lightning and Fang, Lumina taunts Fang for believing Lightning to be an agent of the Order, before revealing she was monitoring them until they found the clavis so she could lead the Secutors to them. Lumina says the Secutors are taking the clavis to Luxerion where, on the day of the Apocalypse, Vanille will sacrifice herself in a ritual to purify the souls of the dead, erasing Serah. In Luxerion, Lumina watches Lightning's quest to route the Children of Etro, and finally reveals herself to tell Lightning the reason for Noel wanting to kill her. Lightning then meets her again when going to visit Oerba Dia Vanille. Vanille shows Lightning the concentration of lost souls at the heart of the cathedrel, which Lumina terms as the "wind of sorrow", commenting that the "wind" would spell the end of both Nova Chrysalia and any future world. Lumina also appears to Lightning during her journey through the Wildlands, being seen with Sazh during Lightning's mission for him. After Lightning's battle with Caius Ballad, she reveals how the multiple versions of Yeul unwittingly caused the leaking of Chaos into the mortal realm that triggered the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

On Nova Chrysalia's final day, Lumina appears with Lightning in Luxerion. She tells her that the people who died in the past will be erased as though they never existed. Lumina reveals the truth behind Vanille's ritual: in exchange for Vanille's life, the Order plans to destroy the dead so the living's memories of them will disappear, "freeing" everyone from sorrow so they can start again in the new world with a clean slate; which has been Bhunivelze's plan all along. Lumina says that Vanille is under the impression the ritual will only free the dead from their pain. When Lightning prepares to storm the cathedral Lumina tries to stop her but fails, and begs Lightning not to leave her alone.

After Vanille and Fang guide the souls to the Ark to be reborn, Yeul tells Lightning of Lumina's origins and Serah's ties to Lumina before her friends and her sister's soul are absorbed by Bhunivelze. While Lightning attempts to sacrifice herself to destroy Bhunivelze, Lumina appears before Lightning one final time and convinces her to accept her vulnerabilities, and is integrated back into Lightning.

Abilities
Lumina uses teleportation magic and can summon various monsters to her aid.

Creation and Development
Lumina was designed by Toshiyuki Itahana, with her look being described as a "gothic  style". The character was designed to appear like a twelve-year-old girl, and her exaggerated movements were designed to be especially realistic when compared to the other characters.

Voice
In the Japanese version, Lumina is voiced by.

Musical Themes
"Lumina's Theme" is an eighth theme in Disc 3 of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII: Original Soundtrack.

Merchandise
Glico, the snack company has been working with Square Enix to promote Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII in Japan. Lumina appears on Pocky box along with Lightning and Snow.

Etymology
Lumina is a word of Latin origin, the plural form of the word lumen, meaning "light". An alternate definition of lumen is "eye", which could be a reference to Serah's Eyes of Etro in Final Fantasy XIII-2. The choice of her name is not coincidental as Lumina has some traits of Lightning, whose nickname is 'Light'.

Trivia

 * When Lumina summons Zaltys she draws the power to summon it from her left bicep, referring to her resemblance to Serah, who had a l'Cie brand on her left bicep, and whenever a party member summoned an Eidolon in Final Fantasy XIII, they drew the power to summon it from their brand.
 * In early screenshots the color of the feather pendant Lumina wears is black, and her collar lacks its metal studs.