Lumina



Lumina is a major supporting character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. She resembles Serah Farron in appearance and crosses paths with Lightning during her quest to save the world, at times appearing as a friend and other times as an adversary.

Datalog
This mysterious young girl appears to be able to control the power of Chaos, and likes to get in Lightning's way at every turn.

It seems that she has met Snow before, and the two have more than just a passing acquaintance, but Lightning has spent the last five centuries in crystal, and she has no way of knowing what could have happened between the two.

''Still, she cannot deny that the girl bears a striking similarity to Serah. But Serah is dead, and this Lumina seems to have her own goals.''

Appearance and Personality


While Lumina's eyes appear a bluish-gray in-game, her eyes are a sea-blue in her CG render. She has a wide nose and wide, pink lips. Lumina resembles a younger version of Lightning with elements of Serah in her design, seen in her pale pink hair stylized with a ponytail on the left side of her head and her face resembling a younger version of Serah's. Lumina wears a black dress adorned with feathers. She wears a long sweeper with pink interior, black hairband around her ponytail, sleeveless halter top with a black collar with silver studs and a silver feather pendant, lacy skirt, long glove on her left arm, thigh-high stockings, and pump shoes. She has aerials on the back of her right shoe and her left collarbone. Physically, Lumina appears as a twelve-year-old, and according to Lightning, resembles Serah at that age.

Lumina is playful and unpredictable, seeing the world as a plaything, and people as a source of entertainment. Although she can give helpful advice, she enjoys toying with Lightning, and summoning monsters for her to fight. She is strongly connected to the Chaos, speaking of the monsters it spawns as her "friends", and walking through and manipulating it unharmed. Hinting at a deeper connection to their relationship besides her resemblance to Serah, Lumina refers to Lightning as "sis". Due to her nature, Lumina knows and keeps in touch with Lightning's comrades from years past, but also talks with various inhabitants of Nova Chrysalia telling them about Lightning and at times offering "help" which sometimes turns to their disadvantage. But ultimately, because of her origins, Lumina is revealed to be scared of being alone and has a feeling of concern for Serah.

Story
When their parents died, Lightning abandoned her past and became strong for Serah under the delusion of not needing help. The denied feelings of wanting companionship and support from others, along with her selfishness, fear and loneliness, caused an inner turmoil that affected Lightning throughout her life. When Lightning entered crystal stasis, her suppressed feelings and vulnerabilities used the Chaos to manifest a physical form: Lumina. As a part of Lightning, Lumina became a vessel for Serah's soul to safeguard her from the Chaos.

Lumina lived in Nova Chrysalia, getting acquainted with people while granting a reputation as a trickster. When Vanille and Fang first awoke from crystal stasis Lumina was witnessed to the Order taking the former into their care and would frequent visit her. Lumina showed Noel an Oracle Drive with a what would later be revealed to be a fabricated prophecy that Lightning would destroy the world and only he can defeat, leading him to become obsessed with the idea of fulfilling it.

Lightning first encounters Lumina in Yusnaan during the former's confrontation with Snow Villiers in his palace. After Snow grabs Lightning, Lumina appears in his place as an illusion, and breaks Lightning's sword with magic. In reality, Lumina is on the chandelier above the ballroom, which she sets ablaze before vanishing. The chandelier falls, but Snow uses his l'Cie powers to halt it. As Lightning chases Snow through the palace, Lumina reappears to her in a Chaos infusion and taunts her, saying Lightning is different from Bhunivelze's usual servants since she can see inside the Chaos. Lumina summons a Zaltys to block Lightning's path and disappears, but Lightning defeats it. After Lightning retreats to the Ark, Lumina returns to the area, amused by Lightning's hopes of saving Snow and the rest of Nova Chrysalia's people.

Between Lightning's missions times and being brought to the Ark at the end of each day, Lumina regularly pulls her into a dark parody of the Ark inside Lightning's subconscious to talk with her. Lumina explains it to be an ideal place for private conversation she does not like Hope, and by extension Bhunivelze, to overheard. It was at the first time that Lightning learned that Lumina is somehow tied to Serah.

In Luxerion, Lumina watches Lightning's quest to route the Children of Etro, and appears to divulge the reason for Noel wanting to kill her. But once Noel is freed from his burden and saves his soul, Lumina reveals the Oracle Driver was altered while admitting befing surprised Noel rejected the prophecy. Lightning meets Lumina again when visiting Vanille, who shows Lightning the concentration of lost souls at the heart of the cathedral. Lumina terms them the "wind of sorrow", commenting the "wind" would spell the end of both Nova Chrysalia and any future world were it to escape.

When Lightning returns to Yusnaan and sets out to infiltrate Snow's palace, Lumina tells her about Snow's guilt and isolation, and sets a Cyclops on Lightning. When the two meet again after Lightning defeats Snow in his Cie'th-hybrid state, Lumina speculates about his motives and advises Lightning to kill him and fulfill his wish. Lightning instead brings Snow round and revives his hope for the future.

In the Dead Dunes, after the Order's Secutors steal the holy clavis from Lightning and Fang, Lumina taunts Fang for believing Lightning to be an agent of the Order, before revealing she was monitoring them until they found the clavis so she could lead the Secutors to them. Lumina says the Secutors are taking the clavis to Luxerion where, on the day of the Apocalypse, Vanille will sacrifice herself in a ritual to purify the souls of the dead, erasing Serah. Lumina appears to Lightning during her journey through the Wildlands, and is seen with Sazh during Lightning's mission for him. After Lightning's battle with Caius Ballad, Lumina reveals how the multiple versions of Yeul unwittingly caused the leaking of Chaos into the mortal realm that triggered the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

On Nova Chrysalia's final day, Lumina appears with Lightning in Luxerion to explain what the final day means and of Bhunivelze and the Order's plans to use Vanille as a sacrificial offering to wipe out the souls of the dead so the living can be reborn with no memories of their existence so they can start again in the new world with a clean slate. When Lightning decides to storm the cathedral to stop the ritual, Lumina tries to plea her to stop saving everyone, begging Lightning not to leave her alone. It was only after Vanille and Fang guide the departed souls to the Ark to be reborn, Yeul tells Lightning a bit of Lumina's origins as Lumina releases Serah's soul from her body. Later on, while Lightning attempts to sacrifice herself to destroy Bhunivelze, Lumina appears before Lightning in her mind and convinces her to accept her vulnerabilities, fully integrated back into Lightning after the latter cries for her not to leave.

Abilities
Lumina uses teleportation magic and can summon various monsters to her aid. While she teleports, Lumina flashes in bright light despite being connected with Chaos which manifests as dark clouds.

Creation and Development
Lumina was designed by Toshiyuki Itahana, with her look being described as having a "gothic style". The character was designed to appear like a twelve-year-old girl, and her exaggerated movements were designed to be especially realistic when compared to the other characters.

Voice
In the Japanese version, Lumina is voiced by and in the English version she is voiced by.

Musical Themes
"Lumina's Theme" is the eighth track on Disc 3 of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII: Original Soundtrack, composed by Naoshi Mizuta and Masashi Hamauzu. Its a dark tune that displays Lumina's mysterious and playful nature, and contains a reprise of "Blinded By Light", alluding to her connection with Lightning.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Lumina appears with an Ice-elemental card.

Merchandise
Glico, the snack company has been working with Square Enix to promote Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII in Japan. Lumina appears on Pocky box along with Lightning and Snow.

Etymology
Lumina is a word of Latin origin, the plural form of the word lumen, meaning "light". An alternate definition of lumen is "eye", which could be a reference to Serah's Eyes of Etro in Final Fantasy XIII-2. The choice of her name is not coincidental as Lumina has some traits of Lightning, whose birth name is Claire, the French word for 'light' which is correspondingly used as her nickname.

Trivia

 * When Lumina summons Zaltys she draws the power to summon it from her left bicep, referring to her resemblance to Serah, who had a l'Cie brand on her left bicep, and whenever a party member summoned an Eidolon in Final Fantasy XIII, they drew the power to summon it from their brand.
 * In early screenshots the color of the feather pendant Lumina wears is black, and her collar lacks its metal studs.
 * Lumina shares her English voice actress with Olette of the Kingdom Hearts series.
 * Despite Lumina's antagonistic attitude towards Lightning and her friends, it is apparent by completing several quests that the denizens of Nova Chrysalia seem to like her and make light of her penchant for mischief.