Lulu

Lulu, also called Lu by Wakka, is a playable character in Final Fantasy X who also appears in Final Fantasy X-2 as a non-player character. She is one of Yuna's guardians. Since Lulu grew up with Yuna in Besaid, she and Wakka think of Yuna as a younger sister. Lulu's stoic and self-possessed nature makes her seem insensitive at times, but conceals a bit of gentleness underneath.

She specializes in the art of black magic, using various dolls to help cast powerful spells. She is instrumental in supporting Tidus to adjust to the world of Spira, although she does not initially believe his claim of hailing from Zanarkand.

Appearance
Lulu deviates from the "traditional Black Mage look" like that of Vivi Ornitier by taking on inspirations from the traditional obeah voodoo priestess and a modern day witch known for their mysterious manner of clothing, as well as the usage of voodoo dolls. She is dressed in a low-cut dark-gray and black dress that displays her cleavage (from which she pulls out items when she uses the Item command), with two crossed belts on the upper part of each sleeve. The décolletage is trimmed in fur, and the hem and sleeves have ornate lace edges. The lower front of her gown is made of a collection of interlaced belts. She wears a corset and lace-trimmed stockings.

Lulu is one of few characters in the series to have a non-standard iris color, red. Lulu's hair is braided in cornrows that lead into a bun and long braids, except for her long forlock: the braids are tied into a knot with four ornamented pins which may represent the four cardinal elements of black magic, and four bead-tipped braids falling from it. She wears many accessories: a necklace of purple round beads, a small one of white beads, and another of red and blue beads, rings and many earrings. She uses purple makeup and nail polish. Lulu's manner of dress is a stark contrast from the other residents of the tropical island.

Personality
Lulu is first mentioned by Wakka, who warns Tidus about Yuna's guardians, stating that "One of them's got a short fuse." Lulu is stern and scathing (particularly to Wakka), and does not smile often. She is nonetheless kind-hearted, caring and intelligent, and is one of the few Yevonites to question the religion on objective terms. Having lost her lover to Sin, Lulu has become reserved and prefers to keep her emotions locked up, choosing to examine the world with realism and logic. She is a big-sister figure to Yuna to whom she is fiercely loyal, and became her guardian despite initially objecting to Yuna's decision to become a summoner. She ultimately lets Yuna decide her own path in life.

According to "Lulu's Story" in Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega the experiences of her previous pilgrimages had given her a new goal as a guardian: to overcome her weaknesses, to become the person she wants be surpassing her previous self. Lulu believes she must finish the pilgrimage as a guardian not only for Yuna's sake, but also for her own sake. Though Lulu misses Chappu she doesn't see Tidus as a replacement, unlike Wakka, whom she berates over his readiness to bond with the newcomer. Because Lulu empathizes with Wakka she feels she can't allow herself to be similarly weak and thus tries her utmost to appear calm and rational, although her inner turmoil is glimpsed during her arguments with Wakka.

Lulu acts as a the guide to the beginning of the pilgrimage, but as her knowledge stems from the teachings of Yevon, she "represents an old age bound by traditional beliefs." When the party begins to stray from the teachings, the knowledge she can impart lessens and that traditional knowledge becomes a shackle.

Final Fantasy X


Lulu was raised in Besaid as an orphan alongside Wakka, Wakka's brother Chappu, and later Yuna, after Lulu's parents were killed by Sin when she was 5 years old. Lulu became romantically involved with Chappu who considered proposing to her. Chappu joined the Crusaders to make the world safer for Lulu and died in an operation against Sin somewhere near Djose.

Before becoming a guardian to Yuna, Lulu guarded two other summoners whose pilgrimages ended before reaching Zanarkand. According to "Lulu's Story" from Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega, she did this to protect Yuna from Sin, having been unable to dissuade her from following in her father's footsteps in becoming a summoner. The first summoner Lulu guarded was Lady Ginnem to whom she was a sole guardian. Being inexperienced, the 20-year-old Lulu was unable to save Ginnem in the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth during an attempt to acquire the aeon Yojimbo. Lulu harbors guilt over her summoner's death, and Lady Ginnem's soul remains unsent until later. The second summoner she served as a guardian to, alongside Wakka, was Father Zuke, whose pilgrimage ended at the Calm Lands. He chose not to continue, a decision many summoners make when they reach the plains.

When Yuna had decided to become a summoner, Lulu had initially protested, but after returning from Father Zuke's pilgrimage Lulu agreed to become Yuna's guardian along with Wakka and Kimahri. Though Lulu is protective of Yuna, she respects her decisions.

Lulu travels to Kilika with Yuna, Wakka, Kimahri, and Tidus, a young man who claims to hail from Zanarkand and looks a lot like Chappu. Although Lulu does not believe he is from Zanarkand, she offers Tidus information about Spira, believing Sin's toxin has induced an amnesia in him. She is unhappy with how keen Wakka is to befriend Tidus, seeing him as clinging on to Chappu's memory in wanting to make Tidus his surrogate brother rather than trying to move on.

During their journey to Kilika Island their ship, the S.S. Liki, is attacked by Sin, and Lulu helps fend it off. Sin destroys the town of Kilika where Lulu tells Tidus about the sending, pyreflies, and fiends, explaining that Yuna must send the dead lest their feelings of anguish remain on Spira in their pyreflies and in time turn into fiends. The morning after, she sets off with Yuna, Tidus, Wakka, and Kimahri for the temple on the mountain top where Yuna obtains the aeon Ifrit, and the group leaves for Luca to attend a local blitzball tournament.

Lulu and Wakka discuss Tidus as she worries about Wakka's intentions to desert him after the tournament (under the impression he could join another blitzball team). She advises him to ask Tidus to become a guardian as it would be difficult for Yuna to ask for it. The following morning, the group arrives at Luca where Grand Maester Yo Mika and the newest Maester Seymour Guado arrive. Lulu explains it is Mika's fiftieth anniversary of being a grand Maester and this year's blitzball tournament is held in his honor.

Amid the commotion Yuna and Tidus check if rumors of Auron, a legendary guardian to Yuna's father Braska, being in the town are true. Kimahri has been apprehended by his rivals and when Tidus is distracted Yuna goes missing. Lulu catches up with them and informs Tidus and Kimahri that Yuna has been kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches and for her safe return they want the Aurochs to lose the blitzball game. Lulu says Wakka told her he will play the match while they rescue Yuna. The three board the Al Bhed ship and rescue Yuna.

After discussing Yuna's Al Bhed heritage with Tidus, Lulu shoots a flare into the air to signal Wakka, who wins the game for the Aurochs. After the tournament, fiends attack the stadium and Seymour summons Anima to slay them, impressing the crowds. When they are about to leave, Tidus and Auron request to be Yuna's guardians, much to Lulu and Wakka's surprise.

At the Mushroom Rock Road they witness Seymour supporting the Crusaders and the participating Al Bhed in Operation Mi'ihen, but Wakka opposes using machina to defeat Sin. When Yuna says she believes it is worth it if for the greater good, Wakka asks for Lulu's opinion, only to be frustrated when she says she can only speculate. Lulu explains to Tidus that Wakka's brother Chappu left the sword he gave to him and fought with a machina weapon instead, fueling Wakka's hatred toward the Al Bhed.

Before the operation begins, Wakka discovers Luzzu, a Crusader and friend of Chappu, was the one to convince Chappu to enlist, which angers Wakka into hitting him. Lulu already knew as Luzzu told her before they left Besaid. Luzzu tells Tidus that she hit him as well. The party witnesses Operation Mi'ihen that ends in a disaster.

At Djose temple Yuna enters the Chamber of the Fayth and obtains the aeon Ixion. While waiting for Yuna the party again runs into Dona and Barthello, a summer and her guardian who consider Yuna a rival. The former is insulted by Lulu for not knowing of Auron's identity. The next morning Lulu points out Yuna's messy hair when she runs out in a frenzy after oversleeping. Yuna says they could have woken her up, but Lulu jokes they called to her but her snoring made it difficult to get through to her. Yuna gets angry everyone is picking on her and everyone laughs.

The party boards a shoopuf to cross the Moonflow and Wakka points to the ruins of a submerged ancient city that supposedly sank due to using forbidden machina technology. Lulu says Yevon decides which machina they can and cannot use, giving guns as an example of forbidden machina. An Al Bhed squad attacks the shoopuf and takes Yuna hostage, but Wakka and Tidus save her. Lulu and Wakka conclude the Al Bhed are responsible for the summoners disappearing lately. On the North Wharf they meet Yuna's cousin Rikku, who asks Yuna, and to some extent everyone else, to be her guardian.

Upon entering Guadosalam, a Guado by the name of Tromell asks Yuna and her guardians to come to the manor per Seymour's request. Lulu explains to Tidus that summoners pass by Guadosalam as there's no temple there, and Tidus says she explains things without him even asking and hopes Lulu believes him when he says he knows nothing of Spira.

Seymour proposes to Yuna, but she won't give her answer yet. Upon leaving the manor, Lulu and Tidus discuss Yuna getting married. Lulu is partially supportive as it would give the people of Spira something cheery to talk about and would better relations between the Guado and humans. Tidus opposes the marriage, and Lulu says she would prefer if Yuna married for love, yet would disapprove of such a marriage.

The group visits the Farplane where Yuna talks with her parents to decide what to do. Lulu overhears Wakka talking with Chappu's spirit, where Wakka tells him he gave the sword to Tidus. Lulu tells Tidus of her relationship with Chappu and says he always said that "she looked grumpy," but considers those days the happiest of her life. When they leave the Farplane, the spirit of Lord Jyscal Guado emerges. Yuna sends him and a sphere drops, which she takes. Lulu says a strong emotion must have bound him to this world. When Yuna and her party return to respond to Seymour's proposal, they are informed he has left Guadosalam and they depart for the Thunder Plains.

In the northern plains Yuna announces she will marry Seymour, which does not surprise Lulu who asks if Jyscal is the cause of her decision, and Tidus reveals Yuna watched the sphere Jyscal left behind when she sent him. At the travel agency in Lake Macalania they are welcomed by Tromell, Seymour's aide, and attacked by the Al Bhed. They destroy the Al Bhed's machina, and Tromell leaves with Yuna to the temple. Rikku speaks with the Al Bhed who attacked them in the Al Bhed language revealing her heritage to Wakka and Lulu says they knew he would be upset. The party uses the Al Bhed machina sleds to travel to Macalania Temple, much to Wakka's rage, and if Lulu travels with Tidus he asks her if a human can ever become Sin, and she finally believes he is not from Spira.

In Macalania Temple they confront Seymour after discovering he murdered his father, Jyscal. The confrontation escalates and they are forced to kill him, but before Yuna can send him they have to escape and become trapped under the ice. After Sin whisks them away to Bikanel Island, Yuna is kidnapped by the Al Bhed and later taken by the Guado. Lulu and the others attack Bevelle to save her from marrying the now unsent Seymour, but are caught and tried for treason. They save Yuna and escape back to the Macalania Woods.

Now branded traitors of Yevon, the group continues the pilgrimage to Zanarkand. On the way, they visit the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth where Lulu faces the unsent Lady Ginnem, the human personality she once held all but completely buried in envy for the living. Lulu feels she must fulfill a final duty to Ginnem as a guardian in ensuring her spirit would depart to the Farplane.

The reversal of Lulu and Yuna's supporting/supported relationship is alluded to at the Gagazet Mountain Gate where Lulu reveals her weaknesses and becomes more tender-hearted, showing uncertainty over their next move. At the ruins of Zanarkand they discover the truth about Yevon and Sin's cyclical nature as a being reborn around the previous Final Aeon that defeated it. The party defeats Yunalesca after Yuna rejects the Final Summoning as a false rite that only prolongs Spira's suffering.

The group hatches a plan to engage Sin head-on and venture inside it to defeat the monster at its core, Yu Yevon, an ancient summoner who built Sin as his armor. Lulu fights along with her comrades and protects Yuna until the end. After Sin's destruction, Tidus fades away, being a dream of the fayth brought to life by Yu Yevon's summoning, and Lulu waves goodbye to him as he takes a running leap off the airship. Some time later, Yuna is to hold a speech in Luca Stadium to announce the onset of the Eternal Calm, and Lulu finds her on the docks whistling at the ocean, as Tidus once told her he would come running if she did.

Final Fantasy X: Eternal Calm
Two years later, Lulu and Wakka have married and Lulu has become pregnant with his child. While on the Al Bhed ship during a visit from Rikku, Wakka tells her to say "hi" to Lulu. When Yuna decides to embark on a new journey, Wakka says to give him time as he will go get Lulu, but they don't make it as Yuna and Rikku have already left.

Final Fantasy X-2


When Yuna returns to the village Lulu comments on Yuna's new lifestyle, and tells her to beware those who would exploit her status as high summoner and invites YRP to stay the night. When fiends attack from the Chamber of the Fayth at Besaid Temple, Lulu explains how the village has dealt with the attack and tells her the villagers will feel better knowing Yuna is home. Lulu gives birth to a baby boy, and waits for Wakka to pick a name. He settles on "Vidina," the Al Bhed word for "future." When they are alone she tells Wakka she has faith in him and that they will embrace their parenthood together. When Tidus returns and Yuna reunites with him in front of the villagers, Lulu and Vidina are among the crowd.

Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishō~
After Yuna and Tidus reunite on the shore everyone returns to Besaid Village. Tidus is surprised to be introduced to Vidina, Wakka and Lulu's child, and feels lonely when Lulu treats him coldly. During the preparations for a welcome party Yuna is busy greeting the village elders at the temple, and Lulu explains Tidus should leave her alone for the time being.

Tidus meets Briar, a man of few words dispatched from Bevelle to work as a priest at Besaid Temple. The Gullwings' airship breaks down and Tidus and Yuna go missing. The villagers search for them as well as the Aurochs' boat and only recover the Aurochs' blitzball trophy at sea. Briar aids in the search when he is approached by a suspicious Lulu, asking why he came to Besaid. He answers it was to protect the temple from the recent thefts and help the elderly with daily chores. Lulu claims she had witnessed people transform into fiends by the ruins while shouting out "Briar! Briar!" Briar denies, saying she misheard it, but knows it's true. Tidus and Yuna are eventually found and return to the village.

Final Fantasy X -Will-
Some months later, Lulu, now mayor of Besaid, meets Chuami and Kurgum after they are sent to Besaid by Baralai, the leader of the Spiran Council, to meet with Yuna. She and Wakka take them to Yuna and Kurgum shows Yuna a movie sphere with a recording of a shoopuf that was supposed to be dead but had mysteriously reappeared, causing Yuna to believe the shoopuf had been "beckoned."

Kurgum tells Yuna she must accompany him and Chuami back to Bevelle and address the Spiran Council. When Lulu hears Chuami mention being Auron's daughter, Lulu says she doesn't look like him and that many people claim to be children of Auron, Jecht, and Braska. Chuami says she takes after her mother who wouldn't lie to her, but Lulu says Auron would have mentioned having children since he wasn't the type of person to hide such a thing.

Chuami returns to Besaid with Tidus who asks Lulu about Yuna's new love interest. Lulu says she thought Tidus would know Yuna better and tells him to figure it out himself. She says that if something else can be brought back, then Sin's revival shouldn't be surprising. After Tidus figures out the meaning behind Lulu's words, they depart. On the ship with Lulu and Chuami, Tidus says he wants to follow Yuna and the others on her new journey since he promised to be with her forever.

Final Fantasy X
Lulu is a party member who functions as a Black Mage, and uses animated dolls as weapons and bangles as armor. Her Sphere Grid path contains the majority of the Blk Magic spells abilities, gives her great Magic and Magic Defense, and while it gives her weak physical starts, her Evasion is strong. She also learns a few Special, including Reflex and Focus, which boost Evasion and Magic respectively, and Doublecast, which allows her to cast two Blk Magic spells at once. Her Overdrive is Fury, which casts a barrage of a certain Blk Magic spell for no MP cost based on how fast the player can rotate the right stick, which cannot be avoided, but is significantly weaker than casting the spell normally. Due to how much time her Overdrive takes and how little damage it does, it is one of the weakest in the game. Her Celestial Weapon is the Onion Knight, which makes her magic both extremely powerful and cheap to cast.

Final Fantasy X-2
Lulu can be recruited as a non-controllable party member in the International and HD Remaster versions. First, she is fought as a boss during the Youth League Tournament in the Fiend Arena, and after winning the tournament, can be made a party member through Creature Creator. Lulu can use any of the common dresspheres, and can naturally learn are Fire Fury, Blizzard Fury, Thunder Fury, and Water Fury; all of which chain 9 times.

A Lulu Sphere Break coin can be won from the Bevelle Core Sphere player in the Luca Stadium.

Creation and development
Character designer Tetsuya Nomura gave Lulu numerous belts to test the graphics developers to see if they could get the exact combination, number of belts, and overall design correct every time. In turn, the graphics developers found a way around by only showing Lulu from the waist up or from behind in many of the CGI scenes.

Her use of dolls as weapons refers to the unused concept of dolls as weapons for Final Fantasy VI.

Director Motomu Toriyama has said Lulu was relegated to a supporting role in Final Fantasy X-2 because if she had been in the party Yuna would have relied on her like an older sister, and this would have got in the way of her quest to find a new self.

Voice
Lulu's Japanese voice actress is Rio Natsuki, while her English voice actress is Paula Tiso.

Paula Tiso said that voice acting as Lulu was a challenge for her as she usually got the roles of bubbly women in her commercials. She commented that Lulu was one of her first larger roles in video gaming.

Lulu shares her Japanese voice actress with Bahamut's fayth in Final Fantasy X and Lucrecia Crescent from Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-. She shares her English voice actress with Jihl Nabaat from Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Musical themes
"Lulu's Theme" plays only once, when Lulu faces the unsent form of Lady Ginnem and the group fights Yojimbo in the sidequest involving the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth.

Other appearances
Lulu has made appearances in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:
 * Final Fantasy XIV as a Minion.
 * Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as a summonable Legend.
 * Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
 * Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances
Lulu has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:
 * Square Enix Legend World.

Games
In , a costume based on Lulu was released in November 2014.

Trivia

 * Regardless of Yuna's role as Tidus's love interest, many field options that involve affection mechanics, place Lulu at the top of the list for the most obtainable affection points from other party members, including first conversation opportunity points that give females 4 additional points, and 2 additional points for the males, save for points that can be earned any time during battles.
 * Despite being nine months pregnant and giving birth during Final Fantasy X-2, Lulu shows none of the physical tell-tale signs, even to the point Rikku says she "doesn't look pregnant." This is due to programmers not wanting to create a new character model for her.
 * Lulu and Paine wear similar garments unique only to them in the entirety of Spira. They are also the only characters in Spira with red irises.
 * Lulu is absent during cutscenes involving complex movements. Before the battle with Oblitzerator, she, Tidus, and Kimahri are seen running after the Al Bhed ship, but only Tidus and Kimahri are shown making the jump. During the scene where the party attacks Bevelle, Lulu is carried by Kimahri as they slide down the chain.
 * In the video showing comparison between PS2 and PS3/PS Vita remastered soundtrack, Lulu is the only one present in all battle teams for the HD Remaster showcase part which shows characters performing Overdrives.
 * In the Brain Blast quiz in Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lulu is mentioned as the name of a girl from the song "Tiny Lulu."