Orphan's Cradle

Orphan's Cradle, also known as the Nascent Throne, is the final dungeon in Final Fantasy XIII. It exists in an alternate dimension, accessible only by a cathedral-like room in the Sanctum building, which towers over the city of Eden, called Edenhall. The fal'Cie Orphan sleeps within the Cradle. The fal'Cie Eden creates two portals inside the first chamber, one of which enables the party to return outside to Edenhall, and another leads to the Vallis Media on Gran Pulse. There is a third portal that leads to the Narthex, but it cannot be used until further into the Cradle.

Datalog
''This is the dimension created by the fal'Cie Eden at the command of Barthandelus. The very structure itself is the true form of the being that sits at the center of Cocoon, overseeing the endless functions that keep the floating city running.''

The sea of data flowing through Eden has materialized as physical matter, forming a shell that shelter the sleeping Orphan in a space that hovers between reality and dream.

Story
The party walks into the heart of Edenhall, where three statues flank the front and sides. They discover the Cavalry has turned into the Sacrifice Cie'th. As they walk in, the room collapses, revealing an entirely different dimension where floating platforms whiz past. Three feminine fal'Cie - white, black, and gold - reveal warp zones for the party to go back to either the city of Eden or Gran Pulse, which Hope figures to be a "gift" from Barthandelus.

The party proceeds to face the challenges until they open the gate into the Narthex, where Barthandelus awaits. Barthandelus provokes the party one final time - by crushing Serah's and Dajh's crystallized forms, before Lightning realizes they are fal'Cie smoke and mirrors. The party defeats Barthandelus and he collapses into a pool, awakening Orphan. Orphan entices the party into giving in to hatred to summon Ragnarok and deliver its end. After Orphan has been defeated, Orphan's Cradle vanishes as the fal'Cie Eden, the entity in charge of projecting it, loses power. The party is left hovering midair above the city of Eden, as Cocoon falls from the sky.

Areas

 * The Tesseracts
 * The Narthex
 * The Narthex Throne

The Tesseracts

 * Sacrifice x 3
 * Sacrifice x 4
 * Aquila Velocycle
 * Megrim Thresher

Fal'Cie Eden (White)

 * Dagonite x 1
 * Dagonite x 2
 * Dagonite x 3
 * Sacrifice x 2
 * Sacrifice x 3
 * Aquila Velocycle x 1
 * Aquila Velocycle x 1
 * Megrim Thresher x 1
 * Sacrifice x 1, Aquila Velocycle x 1
 * Sacrifice x 1, Dagonite x 3
 * Sacrifice x 2, Dagonite x 2
 * Sacrifice x 2, Aquila Velocycle x 1
 * Aquila Velocycle x 1, Dagonite x 3
 * Dagonite x 3, Sanctum Templar x 1
 * Sacrifice x 1, Sanctum Templar x 1
 * Sacrifice x 2, Sanctum Templar x 1
 * Bandersnatch x 1, Jabberwocky x 1 (Boss)

Fal'Cie Eden (Black)

 * Immortal x 1, Centaurion Blade x 1
 * Aquila Velocycle x 2
 * Sacrifice x 2, Dagonite x 4
 * Megrim Thresher x 1, Sanctum Templar x 1
 * Sacrifice x 3, Dagonite x 3
 * Sacrifice x 2, Megrim Thresher x 1
 * Wladislaus (Boss)

Fal'Cie Eden (Gold)

 * Sanctum Templar x 1, Wladislaus x 1
 * Bandersnatch x 1, Jabberwocky x 1
 * Wladislaus x 1
 * Sanctum Templar x 3
 * Tiamat Eliminator (Boss)

The Narthex Throne

 * Barthandelus (Boss)
 * Orphan (Boss)
 * Orphan (Final Boss)

Music
The theme "The Cradle Will Fall" is the background track of all of Orphan's Cradle. The event sequence that marks the game's finale plays a succession of "Fighting Fate", "Born Anew", "Sinful Hope", "Fabula Nova Crystallis", "FINAL FANTASY XIII - Miracle", "Focus", and "Nascent Requiem."

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Orphan's Cradle's Tesseract default area appears as an arena for Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. Orphan's Cradle is a large, long arena, the central area consisting of a circular platform with two staircases and various archways and protrusions around a small circular platform in the middle. At one end of the arena are a series of rectangular platforms spaced evenly apart, while at the other end, there is a four-pronged platform with two ends arcing downwards.

Uniquely, the arena is ringed by a continuous banish trap that teleports characters to the central area - there are no walls or ceilings. The archways are destructible, and thus the only solid surface is the ground itself. In the stage's Ω version other platforms of various design and size appear in the air. The stage is unusual in that the banish trap always resets fighters to the center of the stage, rather than the nearest solid platform.

The Fal'Cie Husk is the battlegen item obtained through stage destruction in Orphan's Cradle.

Story
Lightning, Vaan, Laguna, Yuna, Kain, and Tifa rest before making their final journey to the manikins' spawning area, before being ambushed by Golbez and Exdeath. Kain fights Exdeath alone, letting the others escape, and kills Exdeath before bidding farewell to Golbez, having assisted the warlock in his plans thus far, but choosing to help his comrades succeed in sealing the manikins rather than remain behind to live to the next cycle of the war.

In the 13th cycle of war, after Cosmos's demise, Ultimecia explains her goals of time compression to the Cloud of Darkness, which involves compressing time and space so as to erase all from existence with exception of Ultimecia herself. These actions do not worry Cloud of Darkness, who sees the witch's actions with pure apathy.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Orphan's Cradle appears as a battle background for the Battle Music Sequences "Blinded By Light", "Fighting Fate" and Desperate Struggle.

Trivia

 * Unusual for a final dungeon, the main body of the area is one room, the Tesseracts, which reconfigures itself several times. A tesseract is the four-dimensional extension of a cube, sometimes known simply as a hypercube.
 * In one of the promotional artworks for Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is shown sitting on a couch in The Narthex. The party and Serah are also seen in The Narthex on the cover of the Final Fantasy XIII Scenario Ultimania. In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Narthex is seen for a brief moment during Lightning's monologue and Yeul is shown sitting on the bench, similar to the official artwork of Lightning.
 * Strangely, Sanctum enemies can be found in the area, that have not yet been turned Cie'th. They also work together with the Sacrifices when provoked.
 * The Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega reveals the female statues in the Narthex are statues of Lindzei. The Lindzei statue resembles that of the Cocoon fal'Cie's symbol, which they also use to brand their l'Cie.
 * In the very first steps taken in Orphan's Cradle, it appears as a small, holy sanctuary with what appears to be sunlight passing through the windows. If the player decides to check the area map while it is in this state, it will have its own map background.
 * It appears there were once plans to have Orphan's Cradle crash in Oerba after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, as concept art for it exists for Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Wiege des Orphanus