Oerba Dia Vanille

Oerba Dia Vanille is a playable character in the game, Final Fantasy XIII. She is a mysterious girl with red hair tied up in pigtails, and, despite facing hardships, an upbeat and caring person.

In the English Dub, she has an Australian accent.

Appearance and Personality
Despite her chronological age, Vanille has the physical appearance of a nineteen-year old young woman. She has red hair that she ties into pigtails, and both her ears are pierced, adorned with small silver hoops. Her outfit is apparently inspired by the traditional clothes of the Namibian Himba women. According to Dengeki PS3, the fur sash she is wearing was made from a bear she defeated by herself. She is also seen wearing the robes that the people exiled from Cocoon wear. Her l'Cie mark is located on her left hamstring.

Vanille seems to have a child-like innocence. When she is with Hope, she shows a compasionate side. Vanille is also shown to be caring and stubborn, but she mostly appears to be happy when she is actually afraid by "losing herself in happier days". During her time with Sazh, as he talks about his son Dajh, Vanille starts to show guilt for the part she played in his accident. Once Jihl Nabaat reveals the truth to Sazh, Vanille breaks down and runs off crying. She ultimately feels guilty for her lies causing many people grief.

Story
Vanille is a resident of Pulse, along with Oerba Yun Fang, and a l'Cie like the rest of the main cast. Five centuries before the events of the game, during the War of Revelations between Pulse and Cocoon, Vanille and Fang both lost their families at the hands of Cocoon's l'Cie and fal'Cie and became close friends after meeting at Oerba's Orphanage. When Fang became a l'Cie in order to protect her and Pulse, Vanille, worried about Fang and not wanting to be left alone, tagged along with Fang and decided to become a l'Cie, too. By the powers of Pulse's fal'Cie, Vanille and Fang are granted the power of Ragnarok and given the Focus to destroy both sides. In the climax of the Great War, Vanille is too scared to use the power of Ragnarok and Fang was forced to become Ragnarok on her own. Fang's incomplete Ragnarok is unable to destroy Cocoon, yet she and Vanille were crystallized as they managed to lay waste to Gran Pulse. Five-hundred years later, Vanille and Fang were revived within Cocoon after they brought in by Galenth, who infiltrated Cocoon in order to complete its destruction. As Vanille and Fang are awakened, Vanille discovers that Fang has lost her memories of the events dealing with Ragnarok and pretends that she has forgotten them as well to hide the truth and prevent Fang from risking her life again. Events force Vanille and Fang to be separated and by the time the game begins, with Vanille meeting Serah and apologizing to her for the hardship she is to suffer in spite of her support.

As the game opens up, Vanille is among those saved by Snow Villiers and Team Nora from the train carrying exiles to Pulse. After Hope Estheim loses his mother, she provides him some comfort. Together, they ride an air vehicle into the Pulse fal'Cie. After journeying further into the fal'Cie, they are assaulted by Cie'th as Snow comes to their aid, joining him to save Serah before her companions all become l'Cie. After waking in Lake Bilge, everyone is wondering how to complete their Focus, so Vanille tells them that how to complete it is entirely up to them. A while after separating from Snow with Lightning, Hope, and Sazh, they come across ancient ruins. She runs ahead to explore the area despite Lightning's warning, but she is soon chased by a Garada Interceptor. She outruns it and hides behind Sazh. After the creature is defeated, Vanille finds a Sanctum airship, and the party boards it and fly out of the ruins. Soon, they crash in the Vile Peaks, and several events separate her and Sazh from Lightning and Hope.

Following their separation from Lightning and Hope, Vanille spends a fair part of the game traveling with Sazh, and the two develop a close friendship. However, that friendship is tested when, thanks to Jihl Nabaat, Sazh learns of Vanille's inadvertent role in his son, Dajh, becoming a l'Cie, something Vanille herself had been about to tell Sazh before getting attacked by Jihl and a squadron led by her. Admitting fault, Vanille tells Sazh to shoot her for all the suffering that she caused him and his son, and after Sazh asks her if she thinks he will forgive her if she dies, Vanille asks him what she should do. After Sazh summons Brynhildr, who is about to strike him, Vanille stands between them in order to shield Sazh. She helps him defeat and tame Brynhildr, but still feels that she has to die for her sins. Soon after Sazh almost commits suicide, they are both captured by the Sanctum, and she's seen walking chained in a funeral procession overseen by Jihl while Sazh is encased in the casket. During their captivity aboard the Palamecia, Sazh forgives Vanille when he realizes what happened to Dajh was an accident and not really her fault.

In the Fifth Ark after everyone defeats Cid Raines, Vanille helps Fang tame Bahamut with Lightning. After a Pulse monster attacks their airship, she gets sucked out along with Hope. She manages to grab his wrist before losing her grip on the ship, but they're eventually saved by Fang and Bahamut. Much later in Pulse, upon realizing she was responsible for the destruction of her tribe, she goes into a state of emotional distress, and her l'Cie mark begins to glow, initiating the start of her battle with her Eidolon, Hecatoncheir, which Fang helps her tame.

At the end of the game, the fal'Cie Orphan forced her and Fang to summon Ragnarok to complete their intended purpose. However, Fang decides to once more assume the form on her own in an attempt to destroy both the fal'Cie and herself. But when Fang turns out to be unable to assume the form, Orphan tortures her to force Vanille into becoming Ragnarok, almost accepting the fal'Cie's demand were it not for their friends saving Fang. After Orphan's destruction, Vanille and Fang manage to summon Ragnarok together to stop Cocoon from crashing into Pulse by crystallizing it, and themselves.

Abilities and Equipment
As a l'Cie, Vanille summons Hecatoncheir, a many-armed Eidolon that transforms into a bipedal mech with four machine gun turrets. In battle, Vanille's weapon is a unique rod called the Bind Rod. The Bind Rod's head piece looks like a pair of antlers and the body consists of four long wires with hooks that deal damage to enemies by latching on and pulling. She concentrates on casting magic spells from a distance, as opposed to the close combat style of Lightning and Snow, using spells like Protect and Aero. Vanille's full ATB skill, Death, deals non-elemental magic damage to an enemy and may inflict instant KO.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille's Theme is composed of solo piano.

Trivia

 * Her Japanese voice actor, Yukari Fukui, has also voiced Terra Branford in Dissidia Final Fantasy. Though a coincidence, Hecatoncheir's Gestalt Mode slightly resembles Terra's Magitek Armor from Final Fantasy VI.
 * Vanille's crystal is in the shape of an apple.
 * Although her middle name is the same as a spell, it is unlikely that it references the spell Dia from Final Fantasy or Final Fantasy XI.
 * Vanille is one of the series' only five playable characters, the others being Rydia, Vincent, Fran, and Fang, whose appearances do not mirror their actual ages. While she is 19 years old, she is actually around 519 years old.
 * Vanille is the oldest of the series' "perky young girl" characters, with Penelo the second oldest at 17, Yuffie and Selphie tied for third oldest at 16, Rikku the fifth oldest at 15, Krile the third youngest at 14, Relm the second youngest at 10, and Eiko the youngest at 6.