Penelo

Penelo is a player character in Final Fantasy XII. She is Vaan's childhood friend, and the two are very close. She dreams of being a dancer, and learned martial arts from her older brothers. Penelo is Vaan's love interest. However, in the official Brady Games strategy guide, it refers to Penelo and Vaan "like brother and sister". In Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, the story line mainly revolves around her relationship with Vaan becoming ever closer.

Final Fantasy XII
Growing up in Rabanastre, Penelo and her family lived happily for some time. Five years prior to the start of the story, a plague hit Rabanastre killing many people, but Penelo's family survived. Vaan's parents had a tragic fate, however, both meeting their deaths. Penelo's parents decided they would care of both the orphaned Vaan and Reks.

Three years later, the war between Dalmasca and Archadia began. During the conflict, both of Penelo's parents were killed, as well as Vaan's brother Reks. Penelo was taken in by her parents' friend, the Bangaa Migelo, who let her and Vaan work at his sundry shop, doing various odd-jobs.

Vaan and Penelo are childhood friends. Although they are both close, they never pursued romance. Penelo is often frustrated with Vaan's obsession with becoming a Sky Pirate, and frequently tries to dissuade him from getting into trouble. Penelo is seen right at the beginning of the game, lecturing Vaan about stealing from Archadian soldiers. The pair later witness Dalmasca's new Consul, Vayne Carudas Solidor, holding a speech in front of the crowds.

Some time thereafter, Penelo meets up with Vaan at the Giza Plains nomad camp, when Vaan was trying to obtain a sunstone in order to sneak into the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. She helps Vaan in his errand and later admits that she enjoyed their time together at the plains. Later when she hears there were intruders caught trespassing the palace grounds, she rushes to the site, knowing full well it had been Vaan's plan. She sees Vaan, together with the sky pirates he had met inside the palace, being led away in chains. Balthier, one of the sky pirates, assures her Vaan will be safe.

Unknowingly, her encounter with Balthier was seen by the headhunter gang led by Ba'Gamnan. They mistakenly assume Penelo knows Balthier personally, and kidnap her, leaving a note for Balthier to meet with them at the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba if he wants to save her. Penelo is freed by her captors when Balthier shows up, and she makes her escape, only to be caught by Archadian soldiers, angry at having discovered her inside the mines, place where Archadia is involved in a secret magicite mining operation. Penelo is brought to Judge Ghis, but Larsa Ferrinas Solidor comes to her aid, and leads her away to Marquis Ondore's mansion. The two become friends quickly, although Penelo is initially reluctant to trust Larsa, the latter being the brother of Vayne Solidor. However, Larsa explains how the men of his family are taught to put the needs of others first, and having earned her trust, lends her a piece of manufacted Nethicite, a top secret item from the Draklor Laboratory. Penelo, not realizing the value of the item, keeps it as a good luck charm.

Penelo joins Larsa onboard the Dreadnought Leviathan where she reunites with Vaan, whose party had been sent in by the marquis to save Ashe, the Princess of Dalmasca who was being kept in captivity by Judge Ghis. The piece of Nethicite Larsa gave her helps protect the party from Judge Ghis's magick. Penelo escapes with the band of sky pirates and asks that Vaan let her follow through their journey.

Along their quest, Penelo and Vaan exchange knowledge about the world of Ivalice with the rest of the party. After they defeat Vayne and bring peace about the world they part ways. Two years later, Penelo becomes a full-fledged mage and achieves her dreams of becoming a dancer as she takes on a new attire. She joins her friend Vaan, now a sky pirate, with his own airship, as his partner.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings


Penelo is the female protagonist in Revenant Wings. Together with Vaan, the two of them travel Ivalice looking for treasure. They meet up with Fran and Balthier in the Glabados Ruins and manage to find two shards of Auracite, one of which is given to Vaan and Penelo as their introduction to Sky Pirating. However, the ruins started to collapse and while they managed to escape on the Strahl, Vaan and Penelo lose their airship.

With no means to continue Sky Pirating, Vaan and Penelo are forced to go back to a quiet life in Dalmasca. Penelo is relieved because she no longer has to worry about Vaan constantly putting himself in danger; however, she is also afraid that Vaan would never be content in a life without adventure.

With the arrival of the derelict outside Rabanastre, her fears prove true as Vaan sneaks into the ship and steals it. Although she is a bit reluctant to go, she agrees to travel with Vaan to the sky continent of Lemurés and their adventure starts once again. During the events of the game, In the Sky Saloon, Penelo will man the Cafe. Speaking to her at certain points in the game will unlock new missions, most consisting of collecting food.

While in Lemurés, the party comes across a wounded soldier named Velis (and Llyud) in an island otherwise only occupied by Yarhi. After she treats his wounds, Penelo and Velis become very close, much to Vaan's dismay. Penelo shows a unique bond with Mydia's late love, Velis. After getting close, Penelo seemingly tempts him into speaking using a dance. However, he later reveals that he is dead, an illusion, and once he tells Penelo the truth about himself, the Judge of Wings arrives and turns him into his true form. The party is forced to fight Velis, but Penelo holds back, unwilling to hurt her friend.

In contrast to Final Fantasy XII she has a set Job, in this case a hybrid of White Mage and Dancer, and she wields staves as her weapons of choice. She cannot do physical harm to enemies, as her normal action is to automatically use Cure on nearby allies. Since she can send healing magic from afar, she is classified as a Ranged unit, though she also can cast Holy. Penelo's Quickening, Dance of Rapture, fully restores the HP for all allies and removes all debuffs. It can be obtained by defeating Ultima.

She also appears in a secret ending clip (obtained by completing everything in the game, including the hidden dungeon Midlight's Deep) where her and Vaan are attempting to sneak out of Rabanastre, only to be caught by Filo and Kytes, leading to Vaan picking up Penelo and making a mad dash for it while Filo and Kytes pursue with several Yarhi. It is notable that in this clip, she kisses Vaan before they are caught sneaking off.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift


After fighting alongside Vaan in the Moorabella Aerodrome, Luso meets Penelo when she shows up to scold Vaan for going to the wrong Aerodrome hangar. When she forces Vaan to apologize to Luso for nearly stealing his mark, Vaan leaves, mumbling about how one of his other leads being a waste of time. Penelo then turns to Luso and tells him this is Vaan's way of apologizing, by giving him a head start on a good treasure lead.

As in Revenant Wings, her unique Job is Dancer, though she now has the degenerating dances of the Final Fantasy Tactics Dancer. She can access Viera Jobs. To recruit Penelo you must be at the last quest and go to Fluorgis. An event bubble will pop up. Go to Fluorgis and Al-Cid Margrace will give you a letter for a sky pirate that you "know", upon which Penelo will appear and join your clan. The law system in the game views her as a Viera, so any laws that effect Viera also effect her.

Stats
Out of the playable characters of Final Fantasy XII, Penelo has potentially the highest MP, and at Level 99 has the highest magic power, tied with Ashe. However, she has the lowest HP growth and Strength, and her Vitality is high and Speed is average, making her a good mage character. She joins the party with the Licenses "Daggers 1", "Light Armor 1", and "White Magick 1", and equipped with a Dagger, Leather Cap, and Leather Clothing.

Voice
Penelo is voiced by Catherine Taber in the English release of Final Fantasy XII. In the Japanese release she is voiced by Yuna Mikuni.

Musical Themes
Penelo's theme is simply titled "Penelo's Theme". It is a light, cheerful piece that prominently features woodwind instruments. It is played near the beginning of the game, when Penelo scolds Vaan for stealing, and when she joins him in the Nomad Village.

Itadaki Street Portable
Penelo also appears as a character in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Penelo makes a small cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals, the Character Info, in which she also expresses her personal opinions on each character. Curiously, she does not seem to like all the heroes, namely the Warrior of Light (too tough on himself and others), Firion (intimidating), Cloud Strife (not interesting), Squall Leonhart (always worrying and moping around), and Zidane Tribal (too flirtatious). Also curiously, she appears to like some Warriors of Chaos like Cloud of Darkness (calling her snake-tendrils cute and wishing she had them), Golbez (seeing him as a sweet older brother), and Jecht (commenting him to have the body of a bronzed god). She also expresses her discontent on the fact that Gabranth, and not Vaan, is representing Final Fantasy XII in the game. She also references Vaan and Kytes by comparing them to Bartz and Onion Knight, respectively. She also admits that she idolizes Terra of Final Fantasy VI due to being the lone female on the current Warriors of Cosmos, and for possessing a mature personality.

Trivia

 * Penelo's sprite is unlocked in Final Fantasy XII's Sky Pirate's Den after the party has earned over 100,000 gil, granting the player the title of Plunderer.
 * An early Final Fantasy XII trailer included the scene depicted in Penelo's official promo art, of her dancing in a forest, but this scene was never seen in the final product. Similar scene was later seen in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.
 * For a time, it was mistakenly believed that Penelo was voiced by Tara Strong, the English voice of Rikku in Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and Kingdom Hearts II.

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