Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

Lightning is a playable character and the main protagonist in Final Fantasy XIII. She is the second female protagonist in the main series (the first being Terra Branford of Final Fantasy VI). She wields a gun-sword that can switch between its forms. She is shown to be a cold person, who distances herself from her companions. At some point in the game it is revealed that Lightning's real name is Éclair Farron.

Personality
Lightning's personality is determined, concentrated, and cunning. Lightning has a straight forward persona, while she was working with Sazh, she was determined to complete her mission in finding the Pulse l'Cie. She was also easy to annoy, for example, when Snow called her "sister" due to his relationship with her sister, Serah, she yells at him and at one time, nearly pummels him to submission. However, Lightning wasn't completely heartless, she cared deeply for her sister's safety, after their parents died, Lightning looked out for Serah like she was her daughter, she even comforted Hope after the loss of his mother, it is possible that she sees Hope as a kindred spirit because of how they both lost their families.

Story
In the web novel, it is revealed that Lightning lost her parents when she was around Hope's age, and, ever since then, has acted as a mother to her younger sister, Serah. However, during her entry into the military police as a sergeant of its PSICOM division, she lost sight of her goals as she becomes acquainted with Team Nora. Lightning's dislike of Snow is made very apparent, as she consistently refers to him as a "worthless unemployed man". She even blames her lack of attention to Serah as a reason for her spending time with Snow. In the novel, Lightning's 21st birthday is approaching, and she was going to plan a small vacation with Serah in hopes of taking her attention away from Snow.

Final Fantasy XIII
Sneaking into a train holding those who are to be Purged from Cocoon, Lightning fights her way through the cars along with Sazh Katzroy, who is being sent to Pulse, rallying the Purgees as PSICOM sends its forces after the train and derail it. As the surviving Purgees escape and are found by Team Nora, Lightning presses forward to Pulse's fal'Cie with the intent of finding a way to save her sister. However, once finding her sister with Snow at her side, Lighting took Serah's crystallization hard and took her anger out on Snow after learning that he was going to marry her sister. Driven by grief to provoke the fal'Cie Anima, her way of honoring her promise to Serah of saving Cocoon, Lightning is made into a l'Cie.

Coming to at Lake Bilge, Lightning leads the group before she and Snow go their separate ways after finding Serah and Lightning accepting her sister's fate, to Snow's dismay. After she and Sazh go their separate ways, she travels with Hope going through the path in the Vile Peaks area, Lightning, in a moment of anger and distress, yells at Hope about having to protect him and collapses to the ground while clutching at her l'Cie mark. This triggers Odin to appear, and Lightning and Hope battle him to prove Lightning's strength to the Eidolon. As Lightning and Hope are about to enter the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning tells Hope that she will lead and he will be her backup. When Hope asks her if he can lead instead, she asks him if he can handle it. After he reassures her, Lightning smiles, gives him the nod to go ahead, then tells him to look forward and she will guard his back.

In Palumpolum, Lightning follows Hope through tunnels leading underground in orrder to evade PSICOM soldiers. She eventually reveals to Hope the reason she changed her name. After returning topside, they are surrounded by soldiers. She tells him to run while she stayed to fight, although Hope refused. As Snow and Fang attacked the soldiers riding Shiva, Lightning attacks them while protecting Hope. She leaves Hope in Snow's care and runs off with Fang behind her. While with Fang, Lightning learns about the latter's connection with Vanille and how a l'Cie's mark tells them how much time they have left to complete their Focus.

Late in the game in Oerba Village, it is revealed that Lightning's real name is Éclair.

During the battle with Orphan, the fal'Cie turns Lightning, Sazh, Hope, and Snow into Cie'th. However, Lightning and the others manage to will themselves back to their normal selves and defeat Orphan. After Orphan's defeat and the crystallization of Cocoon, Lightning reunites with Serah, and also seems to accept Snow and Serah's relationship.

Abilities and Equipment
Lightning has been shown to possess incredible power with both weapons and magic. She has a military-issue gravity control device called a Gravity Bomb, activated by small imprints on her right thumb and index finger, which allowed her to perform feats normally impossible, including attacking while upside down in the air and landing safely from leaps otherwise impossible to survive. She can also create an "electrical shield".

She is a powerful Commando, able to use all four elemental "blow" attacks, all elemental magic to the "Ra" rank, as well as casting Thundaga. She fights in a very fast-paced manner, moving with great speed and using her unique weapon as both a gun and sword. Lighnting's full ATB skill, Scene Drive, is a series of strikes from Lightning's weapon. Her Eidolon is Odin; upon its transformation into Gestalt Mode, Odin transforms into the horse Sleipnir which Lightning rides on while wielding two massive swords.

In the web novelization Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero: Promise, it is revealed by Lightning's superior, Sergeant Major Amoda, that Lightning's initial weapon is a gun-sword called Blaze Edge. Gun-swords are a weapon only used by the most skilled soldiers. In the game, weapons can be upgraded into any of these models:


 * Blaze Edge
 * Magnum Blaze
 * Axel Blade
 * Ignite Blade
 * Saber Carbine
 * Slash Carbine
 * Knight Saber
 * Peacemaker
 * Gladius
 * Helter Skelter
 * Ogrenix
 * Apocalypse
 * Hauteclaire
 * Durandal
 * Lionheart
 * Ultima Weapon
 * Omega Weapon

Design
Lightning's visual design is influenced from Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, as Tetsuya Nomura was asked to design a female version of him to be the protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII. However, Yoshinori Kitase has contradicted this, saying the only similarities between the two are their pasts as soldiers, as Lightning has a more fragile side to her that Cloud does not.

In another connection to Final Fantasy VII, Lightning is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto, who previously voiced Aerith Gainsborough in Advent Children, Crisis Core, and the Kingdom Hearts series, in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII.

Etymology
Éclair is a French word that means "Lightning,", although the word is more commonly associated with a type of pastry.. The surname "Farron" comes from the Gaelic language, meaning "thunder." The combination of the two references thunder coming after the lightning.

Early in development, Lightning's real name was going to be "Averia", referring to a species of flowering plants. At this stage, "Éclair" was used during auditions in place of Averia to keep the name secret.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning's theme is a piano version of the main battle theme.

Trivia

 * Lightning's facial structure has changed during development. In the early materials, she had slightly less feminine traits and her hair was a faded crimson color rather than pale pink.
 * Tetsuya Nomura wanted to include Lightning in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a character, but felt that this could have affected Final Fantasy XIII in the process by locking down the image of the character's skills and so forth. Instead, two mugshots of her appear as Player Icons, along with Icons featuring Noctis Lucis Caelum, representing Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and the card-wielding character of Final Fantasy Agito XIII.
 * A special edition PlayStation 3 featuring an image of Lightning was released on December 17th in Japan.
 * Lightning's initial weapon, Blaze Edge, has an inscription that reads "White Flash. Call upon my name."
 * An odd fact is that Lightning is quite tall compared to other female characters in the series. She is 5'10", while others like Aerith Gainsborough and Yuna are 5'3" or so in height. She is even taller than other main characters, most notably Squall Leonhart and Cloud Strife, who both stand at 5'8".
 * The higher of the two bracelets that Lightning wears is also worn by her sister, Serah. Both wear it on their right arm.
 * Lightning's crystal has taken a shape of a rose, and the rose petals can be seen when Lightning summons Odin and also during Odin changes into horse in the Gestalt Mode.
 * Her l'Cie mark is on her chest, but it remains hidden under her shirt.