Lulu

Lulu, also known as Lu, is a playable character in Final Fantasy X who also appears in Final Fantasy X-2 as a non-player character. She is one of Yuna's guardians. Since Lulu grew up with Yuna in Besaid, she and Wakka think of Yuna as a younger sister. Lulu's stoic and self-possessed nature makes her seem insensitive at times, but she has a hidden bit of gentleness underneath.

She specializes in the art of black magic, using various dolls to help cast powerful spells. She is instrumental in helping Tidus adjust to the world of Spira, although she does not fully believe his claim of being from Zanarkand.

Appearance and Personality


Lulu deviates from the "traditional Black Mage look" like that of Vivi Ornitier by taking on inspirations from the traditional obeah voodoo priestess and a modern day witch known for their mysterious manner of clothing as well as their common practice with black magic and usage of voodoo dolls. She is dressed in an low-cut fur-lined dark-grey-and-black dress that prominently displays her ample cleavage (from which she pulls out items when she uses the Item command).

She wears a collection of interlaced belts below the waist. Her hair is tied up in a knot at the top with long braids dangling from it. She wears many accessories, including several necklaces, rings and many ear piercings, as well as dark purple make up. Her manner of dress is a stark contrast from the other residents of the tropical isle.

Lulu is first mentioned in the game by Wakka, who warns Tidus about Yuna's guardians, stating that "One of them's got a short fuse". Lulu is stern and scathing (particularly to Wakka), and does not smile often. She is nonetheless kind-hearted and caring toward others. She is highly intelligent, and is one of the few Yevonites to question the religion on objective terms.

Early Life
Lulu was raised in Besaid as an orphan alongside Wakka, Chappu, and later Yuna, after her parents, who she remembers just a little, were killed by Sin when she was five years old. At some point in her past, Lulu became romantically involved with Chappu, Wakka's younger brother, and he considered proposing to her. Chappu joined the Crusaders to make the world safer for Lulu and died in an operation against Sin somewhere near Djose before he could propose to her.

Before becoming a guardian to Yuna, Lulu guarded two previous summoners whose pilgrimages ended before reaching the Zanarkand Ruins. The first summoner Lulu guarded was Lady Ginnem to whom she was a sole guardian. Being young and inexperienced, Lulu was unable to prevent Ginnem's death in the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, during an attempt to acquire the aeon Yojimbo. Lulu would harbor guilt over her summoner's death, and Lady Ginnem's soul remained unsent until later. The second summoner she served as guardian to, alongside Wakka, was Father Zuke. His pilgrimage ended at the Calm Lands as he chose not to continue, a decision many summoners make when they reach the plains.

Final Fantasy X


When Yuna decided to become a summoner, Lulu protested at first, but agreed to become her guardian along with Wakka and Kimahri. Lulu is protective of Yuna and respectful of the decisions she makes. She travels to Kilika with Yuna, Wakka, Kimahri, and Tidus, a young man who claims to come from Zanarkand and looks a lot like Chappu. Although Lulu does not believe he is from Zanarkand, she offers Tidus patient and uncomplicated explanations about Spira.

During their journey to the Kilika Island, their ship is attacked by Sin, and Lulu helps fend it off. Sin destroys the town of Kilika, where Lulu tells Tidus about the sending, pyreflies, and fiends. The morning after she sets with Yuna, Tidus, Wakka, and Kimahri for the temple on the mountain top.

Lulu along with Yuna and two other guardians enter the Cloister of Trials, but she denies Tidus's addition as he is not a guardian yet. Later they meet with Tidus in the Antechamber, where Tidus explains that another summoner, Dona, and her "big muscle head" guardian Barthello, forced him down. Lulu says it will be Yuna to suffer the consequences. After Yuna obtains the aeon Ifrit, the group leaves for Luca to attend a local blitzball tournament.

Lulu and Wakka have a conversation about Tidus where she is worried about Wakka's intentions if Tidus does not meet someone he knows at the tournament, yet Wakka is sure it will happen. She advises him to tell Tidus he should become a guardian, and Wakka wonders why it should be him. Lulu explains it would be hard for Yuna to ask Tidus to became her guardian. The next day, the party arrives at Luca where Grand Maester Yo Mika along with Seymour Guado arrive. Lulu explains it is Mika's fiftieth anniversary of being a grand maester and this year's blitzball tournament is held in his honor.

Yuna and Tidus check if rumors of Auron being in the town of Luca are true. Some time later, Lulu informs Tidus and Kimahri that Yuna has been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches and for her safe return they want the Aurochs to lose the blitzball game. Lulu says Wakka told her he will participate in the match while they rescue Yuna. The three jump on board the Al Bhed ship and are attacked by Oblitzerator, but dispose it and meet up with Yuna. Lulu shoots a flare into the air informing of their location. After the final blitzball match against the Luca Goers, fiends attack the stadium. While Lulu fends off the beasts, Seymour summons Anima and slays the fiends impressing everyone gathered in the stadium. When they are about to leave, Tidus comes with Auron asking Yuna to be her guardian. Lulu and Wakka are surprised with Auron's actions, yet accept his offer.

At the Mushroom Rock Road, they witness Seymour backing up the Crusaders and the participating Al Bhed in Operation Mi'ihen, and Wakka shows his fears regarding using machina to defeat Sin. When Yuna says she believes it is worth it is for the greater good, Wakka asks for Lulu's opinion, but she says she can only speculate. Lulu explains to Tidus Wakka's brother, Chappu, left the sword he gave to him and fought with the machina weapon instead, fueling Wakka's hatred toward the Al Bhed. The operation is a disaster as Sin kills many people. Lulu shows her concern about Tidus as he falls into the water near Sin, being afraid the toxin may get to him.

Lulu found out Luzzu, a Crusader and friend of Chappu, was the one to convince him to enlist in the Crusaders and she hit him. Unlike Wakka, Lulu is more accepting of Chappu's death and she stops placing blame for it on others. Nevertheless, she brings him up often and says how Tidus or anyone else will "never take Chappu's place".

When they arrive at Djose Temple, the mushroom rock opens and Lulu says it means another summoner is addressing the fayth. They meet Isaaru, along with his two brother guardians, Maroda and Pacce. When Yuna enters the Chamber of the Fayth, Dona arrives with Barthello, and remarks of how "crowdy" Yuna's guardian party is, and calls Auron a "riff-raff", causing Lulu to ask if she really calls herself a summoner. On the next morning, Lulu points out Yuna's messy hair, and Yuna says they could have woken her up, but Lulu jokes they called to her but her loud snoring was difficult to withstand. Yuna gets angry that everyone is picking on her, and everyone laughs.

They board a shoopuf to cross the Moonflow and during their travel, Wakka points to the ruins of a submerged ancient city that supposedly sank due to using forbidden machina technology. Lulu says Yevon decides which machina they can and which they cannot use, giving guns as an example of forbidden machina. An Al Bhed squad attacks the shoopuf and take Yuna hostage, but Wakka and Tidus and dive and save her. Back on the shoopuf, Lulu asks if she's alright, and along with Wakka, the two come to the conclusion it is the Al Bhed who are responsible for the summoners disappearing. On the North Wharf, they meet Rikku. Wakka shows concern about the girl's state, and Rikku talks in private with Yuna and Lulu. She asks Yuna to be her guardian and with Auron and Yuna's approval, she joins the group.

When they enter Guadosalam, a Guado asks Yuna and her guardians to come to the manor per Seymour's request. Lulu explains Tidus that summoners pass by Guadosalam as there's no temple there, and Tidus laughs. When Lulu asks why he laughed, he says she explains things without him even asking, and she asks her if he would prefer she didn't say anything, but Tidus denies and says he hopes Lulu understands he knows nothing of Spira.

After meeting Seymour, Yuna reveals he proposed to marry her. The party goes to the Farplane, where Yuna wants to talk with her parents and decide on what to do. In the Abyss, Lulu overhears Wakka talking with Chappu's spirit, where he tells he gave the sword to Tidus. Lulu tells Tidus of her relationship with Chappu and says he always said that "she looked grumpy", but considers those days the happiest of her life.

When they leave the Farplane, the spirit of Lord Jyscal Guado emerges and Yuna sends it. Lulu says a strong emotion must have bound him to this world. When Yuna leaves to the mansion to reply for the proposal, Lulu and Tidus have a conversation about Yuna getting married. Lulu is partially supportive of the marriage as it will give the people of Spira something cheery to talk about and would tighten relations between the Guado and humans. Tidus is against the marriage, and Lulu says she would prefer if Yuna married for love, but would have to decline such marriage. After Tidus finds out from Shelinda that Seymour has left Guadosalam, they leave for the Thunder Plains.

In the northern plains, Yuna presses everyone to listen to her as she has something important to announce. Yuna has decided to marry Seymour which is not a surprise to Lulu. Lulu asks if Jyscal is the cause of her decision and Tidus reveals Yuna watched the sphere Jyscal left behind when she sent him.

At the travel agency in Macalania, they are welcomed by Tromell, who says they are pleasantly surprised by Yuna's visit. When Yuna and Tromell begin to leave, they are attacked by the Al Bhed. They destroy the Al Bhed's machina, and Tromell leaves with Yuna to the temple. Rikku speaks with the Al Bhed who attacked them in the Al Bhed language and Wakka wonders how Rikku can speak Al Bhed. She reveals she is an Al Bhed herself. When Wakka asks the others if they knew about Rikku's lineage, Lulu says they knew he would be upset. After an argument, the party uses the Al Bhed machina to travel to Macalania Temple, much to Wakka's rage. If Lulu travels with Tidus, he asks her if a human can ever become Sin, and she finally believes he is not from Spira.

In Macalania, they confront and defeat Seymour after discovering he murdered his father, Jyscal. They escape only to be trapped under the ice. After Sin teleports them away to Bikanel Island, Yuna is kidnapped by the Al Bhed and later taken by the Guado. Lulu and the other guardians go to Bevelle to save her, but are caught and tried for treason. They save Yuna and escape back to the Macalania Woods.

Now branded traitors of Yevon, the group continues the pilgrimage to Zanarkand. On the way, they visit the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, where Lulu faces her painful memories. At the back of the cave, the group meets the unsent Lady Ginnem, the human personality she once held all but completely buried in envy for the living. Lulu feels she must fulfill a final duty to Ginnem as a guardian in ensuring her spirit would depart to rest peacefully in the Farplane. At the ruins of the Zanarkand, they discover the truth about Yevon and defeat Yunalesca. Lulu adjusts to this reality faster than some of the other former believers in her party, one of them being Wakka.

The group hatches a plan to engage Sin head-on and venture inside to defeat the monster at its core, Yu Yevon. Lulu fights along with her comrades and protects Yuna until the end. After Sin's destruction, Tidus fades away, and Lulu waves goodbye to him as he takes a running leap off the airship. Some time later, Yuna is to hold a speech in Luca Stadium to announce the onset of the Eternal Calm, and Lulu finds Yuna on the docks whistling at the ocean, as Tidus once told her he would come running if she did.

Eternal Calm
Some time after the start of the Eternal Calm, Lulu and Wakka get married and within the next two years, Lulu becomes pregnant with his child. While on the Al Bhed ship during a visit from Rikku, Wakka tells her she should say "hi" to Lulu. Later, when Yuna decides to embark on a new journey, Wakka says to give him time as he will go get Lulu. They don't make it as Yuna and Rikku have already left.

Final Fantasy X-2


When Yuna first returns to the village, Lulu comments on Yuna's new lifestyle, and warns her to beware those who would use Yuna's status as High Summoner to their advantage and then invites YRP to stay the night.

When fiends attack from the Chamber of the Fayth at Besaid Temple, she explains how the village has dealt with the attack and tells Yuna the villagers will feel better knowing Yuna is home.

Later, Lulu gives birth to a baby boy, and waits patiently for Wakka to choose their son's name. He settles on "Vidina", the Al Bhed word for "future". Later, when they are alone, she tells Wakka she has faith in him and they are in this together, encouraging him and saying he will not "drop the ball".

She is later seen on the beach with Vidina and Wakka as Tidus and Yuna reunite in front of the villagers.

Final Fantasy X
Lulu is a Black Mage, and thus her physical attacks and defense are initially weaker than the other characters', although her Defense stat can get quite high as there are a good number of Defense nodes on her section of the Sphere Grid. Her HP, Strength, Accuracy, and Agility will remain fairly low. Lulu relies on magic attacks, and her Magic, Magic Defense, MP, Defense, and Evasion are strong. She uses dolls based on classic Final Fantasy creatures as weapons: Moogle, Cait Sith, Moomba, Cactuar, and PuPu. She equips bangles on her arm for defense. Her personality can be seen when she "slaps" fiends for some of her counter-attacks. She performs a regular attack as a ground counter attack, and does a backhand when countering a flying fiend.

Lulu and the rest of the Final Fantasy X cast are the first Final Fantasy characters to have different casting magic poses based on the spell's tier. If Lulu is using tier 1 magic, e.g Fire, she puts her hand on her shoulder, then casts it. For rank 2 magic, e.g Fira, she raises her right arm up past her head, and lastly, for tier 3 magic or greater, like Firaga or Flare, she raises both arms to the sky, then bring them around to the ground in a full circle, casting the magic. The doll she is using falls to the ground and mimics her pose.

Lulu's Overdrive is called Fury. It casts a barrage of up to sixteen spells on the target. To successfully execute Fury, the right thumbstick must be rotated 360 degrees. More spins add more castings. Nearly all of the Black Magic spells can be cast. These spells cannot be evaded, protected against, or prevented in any way and do not cost MP, but do significantly less damage than a normal casting of the same spell. Lulu cannot cast a spell with Fury until she learns it in the Sphere Grid, and she can only Fury-cast Black Magic.

Equipment


Lulu can equip dolls as her weapons and bangles as her armor.

Sphere Grid
She starts with 380 HP, 92 MP, 5 points in Strength and Agility, 8 points in Defense, 20 points in Magic, 30 points in Magic Defense, 17 points in Luck, 40 points in Evasion, and 3 points in Accuracy.

Lulu's Sphere Grid area runs near Rikku's and Wakka's, and her Sphere Color is purple. The unique abilities in Lulu's default position on the grid include the following: (Please note more Black Magic spells can be learned in other sections of the Sphere Grid; Ultima, Osmose, and Drain are not part of Lulu's Sphere Grid).

Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission
Lulu can be fought during the Youth League Cup in the Coliseum in Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission as a boss.

Lulu can be recruited as a party member Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission through the Creature Capture system. To recruit Lulu the player must set up a Special Monster Pod in Besaid during a New Game Plus file. The abilities Lulu can naturally learn are Fire Fury, Blizzard Fury, Thunder Fury, and Water Fury. Like all monster allies Lulu can use any of the common dresspheres and she is controlled by the game's AI.

Creation and Development
Character designer Tetsuya Nomura gave Lulu numerous belts to test the graphics developers to see if they could get the exact combination, number of belts, and overall design correct every time. In turn, the graphics developers found a way around by only showing Lulu from the waist up or from behind in many of the CGI scenes.

Her usage of dolls as weapons refers to the unused concept of dolls as weapons for Final Fantasy VI.

Director Motomu Toriyama has said Lulu was relegated to a supporting role in Final Fantasy X-2 because if she had been in the party Yuna would have relied on her like an older sister, and this would have got in the way of her quest to find a new self.

Voice
Lulu's Japanese voice actress is Rio Natsuki, while her English voice actress is Paula Tiso.

Paula Tiso said that voice acting as Lulu was a challenge for her as she usually got the roles of bubbly women in her commercials. She also commented that Lulu was one of her first larger roles in the video gaming.

Musical Themes
"Lulu's Theme", a song from the original soundtrack of the game, plays only once, when Lulu faces the unsent form of Lady Ginnem and the group fights Yojimbo in the subquest involving the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Lulu appears as an ally and a summonable Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. She is depicted in her default Final Fantasy X outfit.

Final Fantasy Artniks
Lulu has four cards in the Final Fantasy Artniks game: one depicting her official artwork by Tetsuya Nomura, and three depicting her promotional art.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Lulu appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game and is represented in two Thunder-elemental cards. In the first one she is depicted in her Final Fantasy X promotional poster and, in the second one, her official artwork is used.

Etymology
Lulu is an Arabic word meaning "pearl". It is also the diminutive or vernacular form of the female name Louisa, Louise or Lucy, or of their variant forms. Lulu is also of Swahili, Tanzanian and Hawaiian origin, and it means the "precious", "pearl", "calm", "peaceful", and "protected". It also means "light" in Latin. According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, "lulu" was an early 20th century term used to described a woman with unique talents or ability.

Trivia

 * Lulu shares her Japanese voice actress with Bahamut's Fayth in the same game and Lucrecia Crescent from Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-. She shares her English voice actress with Jihl Nabaat from Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2.
 * Regardless of Yuna's role as Tidus' love interest, many field options that involve Affection Mechanics, place Lulu at the top of the list for the most obtainable affection points from other party members, including first conversation opportunity points that give females 4 additional points, and 2 additional points for the males, save for points that can be earned anytime during battles. Whether this is meant to suggest that behind her rough around the edges exterior is a rather affectionate woman, that Tidus' charm all the more reminds her of her late deceased lover Chappu, or that she even genuinely cares for Tidus more than Yuna does for that matter, is never explained.
 * Despite being nine months pregnant and giving birth during Final Fantasy X-2, Lulu shows none of the physical tell-tale signs, even to the point Rikku says she "doesn't look pregnant". This is due to programmers not wanting to create a new character model for her.
 * Lulu and Paine wear similar garments unique only to them in the entirety of Spira as well as both being composed and serious. They are the only characters in Spira with red irises.
 * Lulu has one of the highest Defense stat in the game, which is uncharacteristic of her job class.
 * Lulu's feet are never seen by the player during normal gameplay.
 * Lulu is the only character who is not shown receiving her Celestial Weapon with Tidus, due to the Onion Knight being found underwater.
 * Lulu is notably absent during cutscenes involving complex movements. Before the battle with Oblitzerator, she, Tidus, and Kimahri are seen running after the Al Bhed ship, but only Tidus and Kimahri are shown making the jump.
 * In the video showing comparison between PS2 and PS3/PS Vita remastered soundtrack, Lulu is the only one present in all battle teams for the HD Remaster showcase part which shows characters performing Overdrives.
 * In the Brain Blast quiz in Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lulu is mentioned as the name of a girl from the song "Tiny Lulu".