Penelo

Penelo is a playable character in Final Fantasy XII. She is Vaan's childhood friend and dreams of being a dancer, and has learned martial arts from her elder brothers. Following an encounter with an attractive sky pirate and the misunderstanding it causes, Penelo becomes involved in a world-scale conflict that could determine the fate of Ivalice.

Appearance and Personality
Penelo is an athletic young girl, with blue eyes and blonde hair tied in stylish pigtails with a short fringe and two long side bangs. She wears a gold-and-cornflower blue slim outfit with short white lacy sleeves and bronze wing-like armlets. She has bronze bangles on each wrist. She also wears gold-and-cornflower blue knee-high boots.

In Revenant Wings, Penelo's hair is longer, wearing it in two plaits, and she wears a short gray top that bares her midriff; baggy dark red pants with gold patterns and purple criss-crossing along the sides, and gold shoes that curve at the toe.

As Vaan's close friend, Penelo acts as the "careful side" of his reckless persona and often tries to appeal to his common sense, but without a desirable effect. She is also one of the many orphans whose parents died two years before the events of the game, and who was taken under the wing of Migelo and helped him since then. Due to the war taking the lives of her parents, she lives in fear of the Archadian Empire, but Penelo soon overcomes her fear because of her unlikely friendship with Larsa Solidor, a member of the family that rules the Empire.

The official Brady Games strategy guide refers to Vaan and Penelo, "like brother and sister", and in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Penelo's relationship with Vaan becomes ever closer, suggesting a romantic connection.

Final Fantasy XII
Penelo grew up in Rabanastre with her family. Five years ago a plague hit Rabanastre, but Penelo's family survived. Vaan's parents on the other hand were not as lucky and Penelo's family cared of both the orphaned Vaan and his elder brother, Reks. Three years later, Archadian Empire invaded Dalmasca and Penelo's parents and Reks were killed in the conflict. 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.

Penelo is often frustrated with Vaan's obsession with becoming a sky pirate, and frequently tries to dissuade him from getting into trouble. On the day Vayne Solidor from the Archadian ruling house and heir to the throne comes to Rabanastre as its new consul, Penelo lectures Vaan about stealing from Archadian soldiers. The pair later witnesses Vayne holding a speech in front of the crowds.

Penelo meets up with Vaan at the Giza Plains nomad camp when Vaan is trying to obtain a sunstone to sneak into the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. She helps Vaan in his errand and later admits she enjoyed their time together. They part ways when they return to Rabanastre and Penelo urges Vaan to stay out of trouble. When she hears intruders have been caught trespassing the palace grounds she rushes to the site, knowing it had been Vaan's plan. She sees Vaan, together with the sky pirates he had met in the palace, being led away in chains. Balthier, one of the sky pirates, assures her Vaan will be safe and gives Penelo his handkerchief.

Penelo's encounter with Balthier is seen by the headhunter gang led by Ba'Gamnan who mistakenly assume Penelo knows Balthier 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, him and Vaan having escaped from the Nalbina Dungeons with Basch fon Ronsenburg's aid. Penelo wanders through the Lhusu Mines but is caught by Archadian soldiers, angry at having discovered her inside the mine, the place where Archadia is involved in a secret magicite mining operation.

Penelo is brought to Judge Ghis, but Larsa Solidor, Vayne's younger brother, comes to her aid, and leads her away to Marquis Ondore's mansion. The two befriend but Penelo is initially reluctant to trust Larsa due to him being Vayne's brother and her fear of the Empire. 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 its value, keeps it as a good luck charm.

Penelo joins Larsa onboard the Dreadnought Leviathan, the flagship of the eight Archadian Imperial Fleet commanded by Judge Ghis. 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 Ghis. The piece of nethicite Larsa had given her protects 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 to defeat the Empire and restore Dalmasca.

Along their quest, Penelo and Vaan exchange knowledge about Ivalice with the rest of the party. They meet Larsa again who begs Princess Ashe to make a truce with the Empire to prevent an all-out war with the Marquis's Resistance and the Rozarrian Empire gaining power by the day. Larsa accompanies the party on their journey for a while, and in Henne Mines they run into more of the Empire's secret experiments with manufacted nethicite. Upon seeing Mjrn possessed by the manufacted nethicite, Larsa asks Penelo to return the piece he had given him, apologizing for not realizing the danger. Larsa leaves the party when it comes clear truce with the Empire is impossible as Vayne has become the new Emperor.

After they defeat Vayne and bring peace to the world, the party parts ways with Penelo and Vaan returning to their old lives in Rabanastre, although Penelo keeps in touch with Larsa, who is now the Emperor. One year later, Penelo has achieved her dream of becoming a dancer and joins her friend Vaan, now a sky pirate with his own airship, as his partner.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings


Penelo and Vaan travel Ivalice looking for treasure. They meet up with Fran and Balthier in the Glabados Ruins and find two shards of auracite, one of which is given to Vaan and Penelo as their introduction to sky pirating. The ruins collapse and they escape on the Strahl while Vaan and Penelo lose their airship.

With no means to continue sky pirating, Vaan and Penelo return to a quiet life in Rabanastre. Penelo is relieved because she no longer has to worry about Vaan putting himself in danger; however, she is afraid 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 reluctant to go, Penelo agrees to travel with Vaan to the sky continent of Lemurés while Penelo manning the cafe at the Galbana's Sky Saloon. Speaking to her will unlock new missions, most consisting of collecting food.

While in Lemurés, the party comes across a wounded soldier named Velis in an island otherwise only occupied by Yarhi. After she treats his wounds, Penelo and Velis become close, much to Vaan's dismay. Velis reveals he is dead, an illusion, and once he tells Penelo the truth the Judge of Wings arrives and turns him into his true form as the Yarhi Odin. The party is forced to fight Velis, but Penelo holds back, unwilling to hurt her friend.

They discover the Judge of Wings was being manipulated by Feolthanos who sleeps in the Keep of Forgotten Time waiting for a time he can invade Ivalice. The party infiltrate his abode and fell him, and the sky continent falls apart and the Galbana departs to places unknown. Again without an airship, Penelo and Vaan return to Rabanastre.

In the secret ending Penelo and Vaan sneak out of Rabanastre at night, only to be caught by their friends Filo and Kytes. Vaan picks up Penelo and makes a mad dash for it while Filo and Kytes pursue with several Yarhi, not wanting to be left behind from a new adventure.

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 turns to Luso and tells him this is Vaan's way of apologizing, by giving him a head start on a good treasure lead.

Final Fantasy XII
Out of the playable characters of Final Fantasy XII, Penelo has potentially the highest MP, and at level 99 has the highest Magick Power, tied with Ashe. Penelo has the lowest HP growth and Strength, but her Vitality is high and Speed is average. Penelo 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.

When Penelo joins the party for the first time, her level is the same as Vaan's and her LP is Vaan's LP minus 20. When Penelo joins the party permanently later on, her level is the average of the two highest level party members, and her LP is the average of the two highest level party members' LP plus 20 and minus the LP she spent before.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Penelo has a set Job, which is a hybrid of White Mage and Dancer, and she wields staves as her weapon. She cannot do physical harm to enemies, as her normal action is to use Cure on nearby allies.

Since she can send healing magic from afar, she is classified as a ranged unit, though she can cast Holy. Penelo's Quickening, Dance of Rapture, fully restores the HP for all allies and removes all debuffs. It is obtained by defeating Ultima.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Penelo's 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, the player must be at the last quest before fighting Illua and go to Fluorgis. An event bubble will pop up.

In Fluorgis, Al-Cid Margrace will give a letter for a sky pirate whom the player "knows". Penelo will appear and join the player's clan. The law system views Penelo as a viera, so any laws that affect viera also affect her.

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.

Penelo and Vaan speak in a more casual style than Ashe, Basch and Balthier who speak in formalized English. In Japanese, Balthier, Ashe and Basch use an older, more formal form of Japanese than Penelo and Vaan.

Musical Themes
Penelo's theme in Final Fantasy XII 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.

A piano arrangement of the theme is included on the Piano Collections: Final Fantasy XII album.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Penelo makes a cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals, the Character Info, in which she expresses her personal opinions on each character. 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 (should talk to a wall), and Zidane Tribal (too flirtatious).

She does appear to like some Warriors of Chaos like Garland (suspecting he may secretly be a big softie), 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 on idolizing Terra of Final Fantasy VI due to being the lone female on the current Warriors of Cosmos, and for her mature personality.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Penelo returns in the same role she had in the previous game, as a tutor for the Character Info of old, new, and secret characters introduced in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. Penelo is more positive in the descriptions of the characters including more complimentary comments regarding heroes she did not like in the first game, namely the Warrior of Light (confident), Firion (straightforward and manly), Cloud Strife ("he's so cool"), Squall Leonhart (masculine), and Zidane Tribal (looks pretty refreshing in his new Knight of Pluto outfit). This could possibly be due to Vaan's inclusion.

Several of the Warriors of Chaos she did not like in the first game, Penelo also has nice things to comment on, specifically Kefka (the more you look at him, the fonder he becomes), and the Emperor, who in Dissidia she said she does not "even want to see that guy's face!", to now saying although he's still the "same old mean guy", she likes his new outfit.

In the daily Mognet mail, Penelo is indirectly mentioned in a mail sent by Sablé. The mail is a survey about her disappearance as a helper girl from an item shop in the Royal City of Rabanastre.


 * This is Big, Kupo

The following mail will clearly explains that the girl is really Penelo. That is, if the player chose the "Give me some details" reply to Sablé. It is replied by Sablé. It could be possible that Sablé was referring to the moment when Penelo was kidnapped by Ba'Gamnan and his lackeys and was dragged to the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba.


 * We're Moving, Kupo

The following mail is replied on the next day. The mail explains about Penelo's work ethics and apparently comparing her to Vaan's personality.


 * Watching You, Kupo

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Penelo appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character. Her initial weapon is the Blind Dagger.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Penelo appears in the Japan-exclusive Final Fantasy trading card game published by Square Enix. Her cards are either earth or wind-elemental.

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

Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Penelo. Penelo's hair costs 100 crystals and her clothes cost 480 crystals.

Etymology
"Penelo" is a shortened version of the name "Penelope". Penelo was possibly named after the character from the Odyssey. was Odysseus's wife who remained faithful to him while he was journeying home after the Trojan War.

Trivia

 * Penelo's sprite is unlocked in the Sky Pirate's Den of Final Fantasy XII 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. A similar scene was later seen in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.
 * According to Vaan, Kytes, and Filo, Penelo is a terrible cook.
 * Penelo and Basch are the only main characters whose appearances change for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.