Noel Kreiss

Noel Kreiss is a playable character and the male protagonist in Final Fantasy XIII-2. He is the last remaining human from 700 years into the future, and has traveled into the past hoping to change that fate. He saves Serah Farron from monsters and accompanies her on her quest to find her sister, Lightning.

Appearance and Personality
Noel is a young man with unruly shoulder-length brown hair and striking blue eyes. He wears a black V-neck shirt designed with tribal patterns and a pair of angel wings on the back, along with a simple pendant. On his left arm is a metal bracer, while his right arm is wrapped with cord while he wears a ring on his right hand. He wears large blue -style pants with decorated hems, and low-cut sandal-like leather shoes. A green pouch and hunter's knife are attached to his belt in the back, which itself is adorned with small lavender ties made of cloth. Under the angel wings on the back of Noel's shirt and on his dagger, there are lines of Etro script.

The sword Noel wields with his right hand has two blades stylized like red flames, while the sword he wields with his left hand is a simple yellow-brown blade similar to a gladius. His two-bladed sword is capable of holding his yellow sword on the metal part of the hilt. Both swords are also capable of combining and forming a spear that also functions as a javelin.

Noel presents himself as a cocky, cheerful, confident but soft-spoken person. He is also a self-sufficient hunter and fighter. Due to the effects of a time paradox, Noel suffers from memory problems. Coming from a future where humanity was almost non-existent, he has some trouble with his speech, so he tends to speak in a straightforward yet fragmented manner, but he is always excited to go to new places and meet new people.

Noel is also defined by his strong determination to protect his loved ones, evident by how he appears to be strongly protective towards Serah despite just meeting her. After meeting Snow, Noel is quick to berate him for always believing himself to be "the hero," and apparently abandoning Serah and letting down on his promise to find Lightning for her.

He is also able of easily asserting himself to others, and is seemingly able to remain calm and collected when facing people with provoked anger such as the members of NORA. However, as a possible remnant from his time period, Noel shows strong disdain towards how easily humans can die.

Noel will have at least one costume as part of the game's downloadable content: his "Ezio Auditore" costume is set for release in January 2012.

Story
An unconscious Noel goes through the Historia Crux, and regains consciousness as he falls out of the Door of Souls over Etro's shrine in Valhalla. He is saved by Lightning flying atop Bahamut while she dealing with Chaos Bahamut in an aerial battle. Landing on Etro's shrine, Lightning tells Noel about Serah, and asks him to find her using the time gate below. She gives him a Moogle named Mog, who transforms into a purple crossbow. A purple-haired man suddenly appears above them, and Noel recognizes him as Caius Ballad. Caius summons a large meteor overhead, transforms into Chaos Bahamut and flies off to escape the impact. Lightning urges Noel to jump into the time gate while she tries to stop the meteor and summons Odin to throw herself into it. Then as the shrine is being crushed, Noel leaps off down into the time gate.

When Serah is attacked by monsters in New Bodhum at 3 AF, Noel appears out of nowhere and saves her. With little time to talk, he hands her the crossbow for her to defend herself. After taking care of the monsters, Noel introduces himself to Serah, and tells her that Mog is her new 'lucky charm' and gift from Lightning. As everyone goes to investigate the crystal meteor that crashed earlier, an anomaly causes Cocoon to suddenly vanish, and a Gogmagog emerges from a rift. Defeating it brings Cocoon back, and upon arriving at the crash site, Noel tells Serah that he is from 700 years in the future. He says Lightning is waiting for her and offers to take her to her but ends up in confrontation with Gadot as the rest of NORA watches before Serah comes to his defense. Then Noel takes Serah's hand and places against the meteor, showing that it's actually a time gate. He says that Lightning is in Valhalla, waiting on the other side. Later, he tells Serah and NORA his story, though some of them still remain skeptical of his claims. The next day, Noel and Serah ask the locals for information, during which she tells him about Snow and his promise to find Lightning for her. She eventually uncovers the Artefact needed for her and Noel to use the time gate. Then Noel reveals to her that he is the last human alive in his time, and how he wishes to change that.

They enter the time gate and fly through the Historia Crux, with Noel explaining to Serah that it's the crossroads of the time continuum. They come out into the Bresha Ruins at 5 AF, and Noel is in awe seeing how Cocoon looks from the inside for the first time. However, immediately upon arrival, they are attacked by a giant arm. Noel pushes Serah out of the way before it hits them and prepares to fight. The arm knocks him aside and Serah charges it, with Noel joining her. During the battle, Noel scales up the arm and strikes what he believes to be an invisible giant. Afterward, PSICOM warships fire upon the giant Atlas, causing it to retreat further into the Ruins. Noel and Serah are promptly taken into custody by PSICOM, but are soon freed by Academy scientist, Alyssa Zaidelle. He explains to Alyssa that as long as Atlas is around causing trouble, the Ruins will be closed off and she will not be able to get any answers concerning paradoxes. Noel, Serah and Mog volunteer to stop Atlas with Alyssa helping them as their faraway informant.

At one point, they witness a defeated monster become a crystal. Mog says it is now under their control, causing Noel to remember Lightning having an army of monsters in battle with her. They go into the underground tunnels to find a machine that Alyssa claims is capable of controlling Atlas. Standing before a time gate, Noel gets concerned for Serah and asks her if she is having visions again. Upon finding the device, however, Atlas's hand appears and pulls them into the Temporal Rift. Solving the anomaly activates the machine, causing it to weaken Atlas, enabling Noel and Serah to defeat him by destroying the crystal on his head. With Atlas now gone, the Bresha Ruins is restored to its former glory. Upon finding a nearby graveyard, Alyssa appears and shows them the grave of a friend of hers who died during the Purge.

He and Serah eventually travel to the Yaschas Massif at 10 AF, where they are saved from a giant Gogmagog by the leader of the Academy, a 24-year-old Hope Estheim. They also meet up with Alyssa, who is now Hope's assistant. Soon after, Noel looks into the sky and asks if someone can see him there as Serah, Mog, Hope, and Alyssa look on in confusion. At one point, Noel uses one of Hope's devices called the Oracle Drive, and has a vision of Lightning in Valhalla. Noel tells Serah that in his time, the world fell into ruin after the fall of Cocoon. Serah assures him that it does not have to be that way, and they could change the future and prevent Cocoon from falling. After he, Mog, and Serah arrive in the Sunleth Waterscape at 300 AF, they go in search of Snow Villiers. They find him being attacked by Miniflan, and as he tries to protect Serah from a huge monster created by numerous Miniflan, Noel comes to their aid. He tells Snow that he will handle things and that he should go, but Snow shoves him aside and the three of them fight the monster together. However, the Miniflan come together and reform the monster, causing the party to retreat at Noel's insistence. Afterward, Noel and Snow get into an argument, with the former telling him that humans are weak and can die easily at one point, before they put their differences aside.

As the party follows a trail of Miniflan, they come to a valley where Noel believes they should turn back when a giant Enlil appears. Snow tries to get its attention, causing a cautious Noel to tell him not to encourage the creature into attacking them. After Snow gets Enlil's "permission" to ride on its back, Noel warns him that Enlil can swallow him whole, but Snow disregards Noel's warning and jumps onto Enlil's back. Serah, Noel and Mog follow suit and they all manage to get through the valley. Later, Noel furiously yells at him, accusing him of never truly saving anyone or thinking about the things he does to the people he is supposed to protect. Snow tells him that he has been looking after Serah in his absence. Then Snow leaves entrusts Serah's safety to Noel and starts to glow. He reveals to them he had become a Pulse l'Cie again and fades away. As Serah despairs, Noel says that Snow might not had been transformed by force, but may have asked for something in return.

He and Serah are eventually confronted by Caius and his companion Yeul in Oerba at 200 AF. Yeul appears behind them saying that she has seen them. After battling Caius, he tells them that they will pay for their crimes with blood.

In Academia at 400 AF, people mysteriously transform into Cie'th as Noel, Mog, and Serah watch. Caius appears behind them, calling them enemies as they are contradictions in the timeline, giving him enough reason to kill them. Noel is shown holding Yeul in his arms after she faints as Serah frets that their actions ultimately made the fate awaiting Yeul unavoidable. In Augusta Tower, Noel and Serah learn from Yeul that Caius is immortal and retains memory of all timeline events.

In the ruins of Valhalla, Noel assures Serah that they are one step closer to Lightning with each time gate they pass through. After entering the Historia Crux, Noel and Serah become separated from each other. Emerging in a barren area of Valhalla, an overcome Noel kneeling on the ground is stabbed in the back by Caius. He falls as Chaos emerges from his body and disappears.

In the New Adventures trailer, they emerge from a paradox and find themselves in what appears to be New Bodhum at 700 AF, now converted into a wasteland, and Noel calls it similar to his own era. On the beach, Lightning emerges from a paradox before them, and says they are in a future that she could not save. After Lightning explains everything to them, Serah asks her if they will be together again when the fight is over. Lightning says "One thing at a time, Serah," and leaves as Noel watches.

Then he, Mog, and Serah and Hope ride on PSICOM warmechs trying to catch Caius.

He and Serah face off against Caius on Valhalla's beach. After the final battle, Caius tries to force Noel to kill him by attacking Serah. Though Noel stops himself at the last second, Caius takes Noel's blade and forces it through himself. As Chaos slowly leaves Caius's body, Noel takes Raganrok and places it in front of Caius as a gravemarker before they both fade away.

Abilities and Equipment
Noel fights with two swords as his weapons, which he can combine them into a spear to jab enemies, and throw it like a javelin. Noel also has the ability to capture and tame monsters, who then fight alongside him and Serah on their journey. He is shown having Commando, Ravager, and Sentinel as his initial roles.

Creation and Development
As with the other playable characters in Final Fantasy XIII-2, Noel's face was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, while his body and clothes were designed by Yusuke Naora. Noel was first revealed in screenshots and a teaser video from the 2011 E3 trailer of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Noel is designed as a newcomer character who knows little about Cocoon and Gran Pulse, because the developers wanted to have Noel in a similar position to a newcomer player to Final Fantasy XIII. Developers also draw several differences between Noel and Snow. Toriyama describes Noel as "having a different type of chivalry from Snow", while Kitase describes Noel as "attractive and stylish", as opposed to Snow being "the tough guy type". Comparing him to Lightning, Toriyama calls Noel, "a brave young man burdened by a heavy destiny – a different type of a protagonist to Lightning".

Square Enix have collaborated with Ubisoft and this has allowed them to offer a Downloadable Costume for Noel. The costume is Ezio Auditore's appearance from the latest game in the Ubisoft franchise of Assassin's Creed - Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, "Noel's Theme", composed by Naoshi Mizuta, is a slow, brooding, and acoustic orchestral variant of the main theme, "Wish". He has another theme, titled "Noel's Theme ~The Last Travel~", also composed by Naoshi, but with vocals performed by KOKIA.

There is a melancholy orchestral variant of his theme titled "Memories of the Future". His theme is heard during the "Ending Credits".

Etymology
"Noël" is French for "Christmas", but originates, like other Latin-derived languages forms for the word, from the Latin "Natalis", which means "Birth". In German, "Kreis" means "Circle"; the second "s" may be added purely for pronunciation.

Trivia

 * Noel Kreiss shares certain characteristics with Oerba Yun Fang, who was originally designed as a male character, in the ways that he has a straight-forward cocky personality, wears tribal clothing with a similar color palette and has a red double-bladed weapon. In the E3 2011 demo, it was said that his weapon, also similar to Fang's, will be able to transform into a spear later in the game. However, it has been stated there is no relation between the two characters.
 * Noel appears on the 500th cover of Dengeki Playstation magazine with Lightning, Serah, Noctis, Machina Kunagiri, and Rem Tokimiya.
 * Yusuke Naora said that he based the colors of Noel's swords, red and yellow, on those of the original nameless protagonist from Final Fantasy III in Yoshitaka Amano's artwork.
 * Aside from the angel wings on his shirt, the silver blade in the center of Noel's red sword also has angel wings.
 * In one Paradox ending, Noel becomes a Microchu.