Oerba Dia Vanille

Oerba Dia Vanille [vʌ'niːɫ] is a playable character and the narrator in Final Fantasy XIII. She is a mysterious young girl who, despite facing many hardships, remains a caring and upbeat person. She carries a dark past, along with a burden her friends are initially unaware of.

Her full name stands for "Vanille of the Dia clan, from the village of Oerba". In the English dub, she and Fang share a similar Australian accent.

Appearance and Personality
Despite her chronological age, Vanille has the physical appearance of a nineteen year-old. Her bright red hair is tied in curled pigtails. She has green eyes, and pierced ears adorned with silver hoop earrings. She wears a light pink halter top, an orange and yellow skirt, and beige boots. She wears a fur pelt around her waist, which she uses to attach carry her weapon; according to Dengeki PS3 magazine, it is made from a bear she defeated herself. She wears numerous bracelets, and three beaded necklaces, along with an assortment of beads attached to various parts of her clothing. Her outfit is inspired by the traditional clothes of the Namibian women. Vanille's l'Cie brand is located on her upper left thigh, but mostly remains hidden beneath her skirt.

At a first glance, Vanille seems to have a childlike innocence but she hides a maturity befitting her age. Vanille is a considerate, compassionate, understanding, and at times, headstrong and stubborn person. Vanille is also empathetic, easily driven to tears, and deeply caring towards other people, Fang in particular, whom Vanille looks up to like a sister. Given her caring nature, Vanille tends to take the blame for things in the place of other people, regardless of whether or not she was the one at fault. In Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-, Fang describes Vanille as naive, curious about everything, careless at times, a crybaby and a scaredy-cat. Fang says that she also laughs a lot and is kind to everyone. Vanille remains positive in situations others deem hopeless. She tries to cheer up her friends when they're down, and see the bright side of things.

Even though she has good intentions for her actions, she uses her bubbly personality to hide her true feelings of fear and uncertainty, but mainly the guilt she feels for inadvertently causing countless innocent people to suffer, when in reality, she tries to protect them. Over the course of the game, Vanille faces her past mistakes, learns to stop running away from her problems, and fight for her friends and what she believes in.

Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-
Vanille was a resident of Gran Pulse in the village of Oerba. During the War of Transgression, five centuries before the events of Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille and Fang lost their families at the hands of Cocoon's l'Cie and fal'Cie. After meeting at Oerba's orphanage, they became friends. Fang decided to become a l'Cie to protect Vanille and their home and Vanille tagged along. By the powers of the Pulse fal'Cie Anima, Vanille and Fang were granted the destructive power of Ragnarok and given the Focus to destroy Cocoon.

In the war's climax, Vanille was too scared to use the power of Ragnarok and Fang became Ragnarok on her own, only managing to scar Cocoon's shell. Taking pity on the people of Cocoon, the goddess Etro intervened and crystallized Fang and Vanille before they could finish the job. The crystallized forms of Fang and Vanille were placed within the Pulse Vestige, which was taken into Cocoon in the aftermath of the war.

Five-hundred years later, Vanille and Fang awaken from crystal stasis in Cocoon. Fang has lost the memory of their previous Focus and Ragnarok; in an effort to keep more people from getting hurt, Vanille pretends she has as well. Although Fang's l'Cie brand is scorched and unchanging, Vanille's brand is active and progressing. Fang is unwilling to stand by and watch Vanille become a Cie'th, and vows to complete their Focus, whatever it may be. After two days of looking for answers with no luck, they return to the Vestige.

Upon the fal'Cie Anima's throne, Fang and Vanille discover an unconscious Serah Farron, who has been branded a Pulse l'Cie. Vanille immediately blames herself for Serah's misfortune, assuming Anima transformed Serah into a l'Cie to complete the Focus she herself does not want to. After stealing a pair of ID cards, Fang and Vanille travel to Euride Gorge to find the fal'Cie Kujata, which Fang plans to destroy to restore their memories, but Dajh Katzroy enters the room and the fal'Cie brands him a Sanctum l'Cie in response to Fang and Vanille's threat. The two are pursued by PSICOM troops and Fang pushes Vanille into an elevator to have her escape, and the two are separated.

Making her way back to Bodhum, Vanille returns to the Vestige and leaves her weapon inside. While standing outside the shopping mall, Vanille sees the same white bird she saw when she and Fang stole the ID cards. Over the next four days, Vanille wanders around Bodhum and tries to blend in, and soon begins to see Cocoon as a peaceful paradise. After scraping her leg on the beach, Vanille is aided by Serah and they form a friendship. Vanille learns of Serah's dream of destroying the world, which Vanille knows to be Serah's Focus. Vanille apologizes to Serah for her role in the girl becoming a l'Cie, but since Serah is oblivious to Vanille's involvement, she does not understand.

Two days later, Vanille attends Bodhum's fireworks festival, and inspired by her meeting with Serah, wishes for Cocoon's safety. The following day, the Sanctum announces it has discovered the fal'Cie Anima within the Vestige, Bodhum is quarantined, and everyone in town will be Purged. Believing the Purge to be a forced migration to Gran Pulse, Vanille lines up to be Purged in hopes of returning home, and boards the train alongside Nora Estheim and her son, Hope.

Final Fantasy XIII
While entering the Hanging Edge, the Purge train is derailed by Lightning and Sazh. Along with the rest of the Purgees, Vanille is found by Snow Villiers and his resistance group, NORA. After Hope loses his mother in the chaos, Vanille decides to have him stick with her. Since Hope blames Snow for his mother's death, Vanille encourages him to approach Snow but he leaves before Hope has the chance. Vanille and Hope hijack Gadot's airbike and follow Snow to the Vestige.

They crash-land inside the Vestige and damage the airbike. Vanille recovers her weapon and they meet with Snow, Lightning and Sazh and find Serah laying unconscious outside Anima's Throne. Serah asks Lightning to save Cocoon and transforms into a crystal. Lightning, Snow, and Sazh attack Anima who brands Vanille's new acquaintances l'Cie. The Vestige breaks and they fall down to Lake Bresha with Anima's power crystallizing it on impact.

When they awaken, Sazh prompts them to determine their Focus. Instead of explaining her situation, Vanille pretends that she too had just been branded by Anima. The group interprets their Focus having something to do with Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon, although Snow remains positive their Focus is to follow Serah's wish to save it. Soon after leaving Snow behind with Serah's crystal that had become part of the crystallized lake, the party finds their way into abandoned ruins, stumble upon a Sanctum airship which Sazh pilots out to the skies of Cocoon. The airship comes under fire from a wave of enemy ships, and crash-lands in the Vile Peaks.

Lightning announces she is heading for Eden to destroy its patron fal'Cie. Lightning leaves with Hope chasing after her, leaving Sazh and Vanille behind; as they choose to go in another direction to escape their fate. Vanille and Sazh come across a scrap processing plant where they find a secluded area to rest. Sazh awakens during the night to find Vanille beside him, sobbing in her sleep.

Vanille and Sazh venture into Sunleth Waterscape, where Vanille is enthralled by its similarities to her homeland. On their way to Nautilus, Vanille asks Sazh about his family. Sazh reveals he is the father of Dajh Katzroy - the boy branded a l'Cie by Vanille and Fang's actions - and Sazh was branded in his attempt to complete the boy's Focus. Overcome with guilt, Vanille cannot bring herself to tell Sazh about her involvement.

In Nautilus, Vanille cannot hide behind her cheerful façade any longer. Noticing a change in her demeanor, Sazh suggests they go watch the Pompa Sancta in the hopes of cheering her up. Breaking news footage of the chaos in Palumpolum is broadcast throughout the park. Sazh notes the appearances of Lightning, Hope, and Snow in the footage, but Vanille is shocked to see another familiar face: Fang. After the parade, Sazh and Vanille go to the Chocobo Corral, where Sazh reveals he wishes to give himself in to the Sanctum to see Dajh one last time. Vanille tries to dissuade him by saying she can tell him who was responsible for the Euride incident, but before she has a chance to admit her involvement, they are attacked by the Sanctum.

The two flee out to the Clock Tower, where Dajh appears and crystallizes in Sazh's arms. Jihl Nabaat arrives with her troops, and the boy's Focus is revealed: to capture servants of the lowerworld fal'Cie. Nabaat reveals it was Vanille and Fang who threatened Kujata and made the fal'Cie brand Dajh. Vanille flees from the scene in tears and Nabaat lets the enraged Sazh pursue her, curious as to how much data they could collect by watching two l'Cie duel.

Within the courtyard of the Fiendlord's Keep, Vanille reveals her true nature as a l’Cie from Gran Pulse and demands Sazh to shoot her for all the suffering she has caused, but Sazh refuses, since killing Vanille will not change anything. His Eidolon, Brynhildr, materializes from an orb of flame and the two defeat it together, but Sazh points his guns again at Vanille afterward. Vanille accepts her punishment, but Sazh is too heartbroken to take Vanille's life and raises the gun to his own head. He averts his gun and shoots in the air before they are captured by PSICOM. Nabaat renders Sazh unconscious, and the two are led onto the Palamecia by Nabaat’s regiment.

During their captivity, Sazh realizes that since she awoke from crystal stasis, Dajh will awaken too. He forgives Vanille when he realizes what happened to his son was an accident. Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Fang infiltrate the airship to rescue Vanille and Sazh. Sazh and Vanille escape their cell and proceed to meet them half-way, where Vanille is finally reunited with Fang. The party reaches the bridge of the ship and confronts the Primarch, Galenth Dysley, who kills Nabaat and reveals his true identity as the fal'Cie Barthandelus. Dysley says the party's Focus is to destroy Orphan, the fal'Cie that sustains Cocoon, and that Serah's true Focus was to gather them together to be branded l'Cie. The party escapes the descending Palamecia with Menrva in its airship form, and is taken to the Fifth Ark hidden in Eden.

In the Fifth Ark, the group's l'Cie powers are fully awakened and they run into Cid Raines, a Sanctum l'Cie whose Focus is to aid them to destroy Cocoon to summon the Maker. Cid defies his Focus and attempts to kill them, but is defeated. To everyone's surprise, he transforms into a crystal. Inspired by this, the party decides to defy their Focus as well and follow Serah's wish to save Cocoon, but Fang is against it because she doesn't want any of the others to become a Cie'th. Fang's rage summons Bahamut, and Vanille and Lightning help Fang tame it. Vanille finds a Pulsian airship, guessing it to be one of the Ark's weapons. Everyone agrees to travel to Gran Pulse to find a way to change their fate.

They create a base camp in the Vallis Media, and spend days searching for answers with no luck. After Hope tames his Eidolon, Alexander, they decide to journey to Oerba together. When the party finds the ruins of Paddra, Vanille says she became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon's shell centuries before. Fang is puzzled as to why she was turned into crystal despite not doing anything in the war. The party see the fal'Cie Dahaka fly by, and knowing it resides near Oerba, they decide to follow it.

The party then crosses the Archylte Steppe into the Mah'habara Subterra. In the Flower-filled Fissure, Fang says it was she who became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon and not Vanille. The shock of having her deepest lie exposed causes Vanille to summon her Eidolon, Hecatoncheir, and she learns Fang was bluffing about regaining her memories in the hopes of coaxing a confession from her. Once they tame Hecatoncheir, Vanille says it was not fair Fang had to do all the horrible things while she stood back and did nothing. Fang reassures Vanille she is not alone: she no longer has just Fang, she also has her new family.

In the Sulyya Springs, Vanille tells Snow she had met Serah in Bodhum and how she was made a l'Cie because of her. She also tells him Serah had a vision of Ragnarok like the rest of them and theorizes Serah had beaten her Focus by passing Cocoon's fate over to them, and that was the act that made her turn to crystal, meaning Barthandelus was lying about Serah's true Focus. The party then ascends Taejin's Tower to its top level.

At the top, Vanille and Fang reminisce about their hometown, describing it as a village filled with flowers, but are shocked to see their home devoid of life and color. The party rides a capsule down to the outskirts of Oerba. They traverse the dilapidated village and encounters Barthandelus at the end of a broken railway bridge. Knowing Barthandelus has resurrected Raines and caused more chaos in Cocoon, the party heads to Eden with the airship Barthandelus left them to stop the fal'Cie's plan. The party makes its way through Eden to Orphan's Cradle.

Inside the Narthex, the party defeats Barthandelus again, Menrva flies into a pool of liquid and awakens the fal'Cie Orphan. Orphan demands Vanille and Fang to become Ragnarok and complete their purpose. Orphan tortures Vanille to try and force her to become Ragnarok until Fang volunteers to do it. Vanille and Fang see their friends transform into Cie'th, who attack Fang, triggering her transformation into an incomplete version of Ragnarok.

After Fang fails to destroy Orphan, she transforms back into a human and is subject to an agonizing cycle of torture as Vanille helplessly watches. Orphan tries to force Vanille to become Ragnarok but she resists and attempts to stand up to the fal'Cie, instead of running away. Upon rejecting Orphan, it explodes and sinks into its pool, releasing Fang. The rest of the party reverts from their Cie'th forms. They say their transformation was another fal'Cie trick, and that their new Focus is to save Cocoon and everyone's brands, including Vanille's, are burned out. Orphan's true form rises from the pool and the party sets out to destroy it.

After Orphan is destroyed, Orphan's Cradle, which was protected by the now powerless fal'Cie Eden, vanishes, and the party is left floating above Eden as Cocoon begins to fall. As Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Snow float away, Vanille and Fang stay behind. They join hands and become Ragnarok to stop Cocoon from crashing into Gran Pulse by crystallizing it and creating a pillar to support Cocoon over Pulse. Lightning, Sazh, Hope, and Snow awaken from crystal stasis on Pulse, beneath the newly crystallized Cocoon. As Serah and Dajh appear over the horizon, they realize Vanille and Fang made the ultimate sacrifice and crystallized themselves to save Cocoon, fulfilling their Focus for all of them. Vanille and Fang remain within the core of Cocoon's crystal pillar, deep in a crystal sleep.

Final Fantasy XIII -Episode i-
As Vanille and Fang watch over their friends and the people evacuating Cocoon, Vanille feels at peace now that the harm she unintentionally caused has been undone. Vanille says they will meet again someday, and tells everyone to live their lives as she and Fang will watch over them. Seeing Serah look at Cocoon with pain in her eyes, Vanille recalls how she could not face the pain of her actions and ran away from it.

Remembering Serah's words about getting through with help from friends, Vanille knows that Serah will be strong enough to handle the realization of her and Fang's crimes. She tells Snow to always stand by Serah, and make her able to stand up to anything. After reassuring Fang that Serah will forgive her for getting her involved, they feel someone smiling at them, and Vanille recognizes it as the smile of the goddess Etro. Hearing Fang telling Snow and Lightning not to try and rescue them, Vanille laughs and says, "What are you gonna do? You know what they're like..."

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Dreaming within the pillar, Vanille reflects on how she and Fang felt Etro's presence the first time they turned to crystal, and again when they tried to hold up Cocoon as Ragnarok. Remembering how the priests of Oerba referred to Etro as a dark and scary goddess, Vanille wonders if they were wrong. She recalls Hope's visits to her and Fang, and Vanille continues to feel guilty for the trouble she caused to everyone in Cocoon, but urges Hope to save the future. She tries to call out to Serah, to tell her that she and Fang had a dream about being in a new place with a young man and woman they had never met before. Seeing how happy they were, Vanille tells Serah not to give up and make a future where everyone is happy again.

Vanille and Fang appear to Serah in her dream in the Void Beyond, explaining that they could connect since they are both dreaming. They had come to save Serah from being trapped in the endless dream that Caius Ballad placed her in, and that Noel needs her help before he becomes trapped in his own dream. Needing to resume their role in maintaining the pillar, Vanille and Fang disappear, leaving a portal to lead Serah to Noel.

By the year 500 AF, Hope and the Academy, along with Sazh, save the crystal holding Vanille and Fang before Cocoon finally falls.

Vanille appears in the paradox ending, "Vanille's Truth", where Serah, Mog, and Noel find her in Oerba XXX AF, an alternate timeline where a crystallized Vanille remained in Oerba after the War of Transgression, continuing to lament about her inability to fight for the people she cared about, and how she wasn't there for Fang as she had promised. Serah hears Vanille's voice and promises to find Fang for her.

In Battle


Vanille concentrates on casting magic spells from a distance, as opposed to the close combat style of Lightning and Snow. Despite being able to use the Attack command at the start of the game, she cannot use it after Chapter 3 because she does not have the Commando role, which she unlocks in Chapter 10. When the player first acquires Vanille in the Pulse Vestige, she already has three ATB slots because she is already a l'Cie. She's the only one able to fight her Eidolon with five ATB slots as it's possible, albeit difficult, to acquire a third-tier weapon before that.

Vanille has the second highest Magic stat in the game, making her a good Ravager, with the ability to learn all elemental spells up to the -"ra" rank with Fire and Ice being her -"ga" specialty. She is an effective Saboteur, specializing in abilities that decrease the enemies' defenses. She has the only Full ATB Skill that is not a Commando or Ravager ability: Death, a Saboteur ability that deals heavy non-elemental magic damage to an enemy and may inflict instant KO. Vanille's strength lies in her Medic role, where she rivals Hope when it comes to effective healing and, due to her higher HP stat, is less likely to be knocked out by powerful attacks.


 * Base Statistics

Eidolon


Vanille's Eidolon is Hecatoncheir, a many-armed, Earth-elemental Eidolon that transforms into a bipedal mech with four machine gun turrets. Vanille calls her Eidolon by the pet name "Hecaton".

Weapons
See Vanille's Rods. Vanille's weapon is a Binding Rod. Its head piece resembles a pair of antlers and the body consists of four long wires with hooks that deal damage to enemies by latching on and pulling, similar to a fishing rod.

Creation and Development
According to the Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega, the development team at one point considered making Vanille the official main character, but dismissed the idea as they had already released a trailer and art featuring Lightning in that role.

The idea to cast two characters with Australian accent came from the localization team, who requested the voice directing team to look for either Australian or New Zealand sounding voices; the rationale was that the team wanted Fang and Vanille to sound like from another world, but more in a sense of having a different melody to their voices, rather than a thick accent.

Vanille is voiced in English by Georgia van Cuylenburg. It took six months to complete the voice work for Vanille with four-hour sessions twice a week. The Japanese voice had been recorded first, and the voice actors could listen to it as guide to get the right tone; this was especially used for Vanille.

The other characters were intended to be "Americanized", but Vanille's voice actress was asked to stay with the Japanese performance and to use a "high, squeaky and upbeat" voice, as Vanille initially wants to misdirect the others with her happiness. Georgia van Cuylenburg has commented on that the most difficult aspect of voicing Vanille was to make the particular noise Vanille makes, the type of high-pitched moaning sound, which was not easy to make sound natural.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII, "Vanille's Theme" is composed of solo piano, and represents her cheerful nature and inner guilt. "Prelude to Final Fantasy XIII" recurs as a motif within "Vanille's Theme", which is intended to reflect her role as the game's narrator. Variants of her theme include two orchestral arrangements called "Lost Hope" and "Eidolons on Parade". The third variant "Memories of Happier Days", also begins with solo piano like her original theme, but turns into a melancholy but uplifting orchestral piece. A short reprise of her theme is heard in "Sulyya Springs", and at the beginning of "The Road Home". An orchestral motif of her theme is heard in the final battle theme.

Piano Collections: Final Fantasy XIII
"Vanille's Theme" is part of the "Vanille's Theme ~ Memories of Happier Days ~ The Road Home" track on the album. It is the sixth track on the album.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Many cards depicting Vanille in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. One of them is a close-up of Vanille's face, and and another displays her render. A card for Hecatoncheir in Gestalt Mode also exists, with Vanille riding atop it. The cards are earth-elemental.

Kingdom Hearts Mobile
Vanille appears as a selectable avatar in Kingdom Hearts Mobile. She and Sazh are currently the only characters from Final Fantasy XIII to appear in the game.



Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Vanille appears as an avatar in the Nintendo DS Kingdom Hearts Re:coded game, along with Serah, Snow, Sazh and Lightning.

Etymology and Symbolism
Vanille is French for "vanilla", which is a type of spice used as flavoring for various sweet foods. Dia is Spanish and Portuguese for "day", which may allude to her bright personality.

The Japanese pronunciation of Dia, with a long "i" sound, is also a common Japanese abbreviation for "diamond", possibly alluding to Hecatoncheir being an Earth-elemental summon.

The characters of Fang and Vanille are based on the Ragnarok myth of Líf ("life") and Lífþrasir ("eager for life") - the only humans who will survive Ragnarok. They sleep through the destruction of the earth and upon awakening will find the earth green and verdant again. will become the progenitors of a new race of humans, and their descendants will inhabit the world. This is congruent with the idea that Fang was originally envisioned as a male character.

Trivia

 * Vanille's crystal is used for the "Instrument of Faith" trophy/achievement.
 * A replica of her crystal appears as an adornment for monster allies in Final Fantasy XIII-2.
 * Vanille shares her Japanese voice actress with Terra Branford from Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.
 * Vanille shares her clan name with the spell Dia from Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy XI. However, the Japanese pronunciation of her clan name is different.
 * A photo of Vanille and Fang can be found in Oerba, proof of their past existence on Gran Pulse.
 * Vanille is the only character to wear Purge attire more than once, first in the Hanging Edge, and again after her arrest in Nautilus.
 * Vanille's brand is located on the lower half of her body, while her fellow comrades are branded on the upper half of their bodies.
 * Final Fantasy XIII includes a nude character model for Vanille, for the scene where she comes out of crystal stasis.