Lulu

Lulu is a playable character in Final Fantasy X. She is one of Yuna's Guardians. Alongside Auron, she is the wisest and most mature of them all. 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 she has a hidden bit of gentleness underneath.

She specializes in the art of Black Magic, using various dolls to help cast powerful spells. She is instrumental in helping Tidus adjust to the world of Spira, although she does not fully believe his claim of being from Zanarkand.

Appearance and Personality
Lulu deviates from the "traditional Black Mage look" like that of Vivi Orunitia. Instead, she takes on inspirations from the traditional obeah voodoo priestess and a modern day witch who are known for their mysterious manner of clothing as well as their common practice with black magic and usage of voodoo dolls. She is dressed in an low-cut fur-lined dark-grey-and-black dress that prominently displays her ample cleavage (from which she also pulls out items when she uses the Item command). She wears a huge collection of interlaced belts below the waist. Her hair is tied up in a knot at the top with long braids dangling from it. She wears many accessories, including several necklaces, rings and many ear piercings, as well as dark purple make up. Her strange manner of dress is a rather stark contrast from the other residents of the tropical isle.

She was raised in Besaid as an orphan alongside Wakka, Chappu, and later Yuna, after her parents, who she remembers just a little, were killed by Sin when she was five years old. At some point in her past, she became romantically involved with Chappu, Wakka's younger brother, and he even considered proposing to her. However, Chappu suddenly joined the Crusaders to make the world safer for Lulu (because "Being with your girl is good, but keeping Sin away from her is better".) and died in an operation against Sin somewhere near Djose, before he could propose to her. Later, she would find out that Luzzu, a Crusader and friend of Chappu, was the one that convinced him to enlist in the Crusaders; when telling the truth to Wakka, and being punched shortly after, Luzzu stated that she hit him too when he told her. Unlike Wakka, she is more accepting of Chappu's death and she does not place blame for it. Nevertheless, she still brings him up often and says how Tidus or anyone else will "never take Chappu's place".

Final Fantasy X
Lulu is first mentioned in the game by Wakka: he warns Tidus about Yuna's guardians, stating that "One of them's got a short fuse". Indeed, Lulu is often stern and scathing (particularly to Wakka), and does not smile very often. However, she is nonetheless kindhearted and caring toward others. She is also highly intelligent, and is one of the few Yevonites who easily questions the Yevon religion on objective terms.

Before becoming a guardian to Yuna, Lulu guarded two previous summoners whose pilgrimages abruptly ended before reaching the Zanarkand Ruins. The first summoner Lulu guarded was Lady Ginnem, to whom she was a sole guardian. However, being young and inexperienced, Lulu was unable to prevent Ginnem's death in the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, during an attempt to acquire the aeon Yojimbo. Lulu would harbor intense guilt over her summoner's death, and Lady Ginnem's soul remained unsent, until later, during Yuna’s pilgrimage. The second summoner she served as guardian to, alongside Wakka, was Father Zuke. His pilgrimage ended at the Calm Lands, as he chose not to continue, a decision many summoners make when they reach those plains.

When Yuna (for whom she cares for like a little sister) decided to became a summoner, Lulu protested at first, but eventually agreed to become her guardian, as well as Wakka and Kimahri. Lulu is very protective of Yuna and also respectful of the decisions she makes. She knows that Yuna made her own choice to become a summoner, knowing what it would mean. She travels to Kilika with Yuna, Wakka, Kimahri, and Tidus, a young man who claims to come from Zanarkand and looks a lot like Chappu. Although, Lulu does not believe that he is from Zanarkand, she offers Tidus patient and uncomplicated explanations about Spira.

After Yuna obtains the aeon Ifrit at Kilika, the group leaves to Luca, where the blitzball tournament is taking place. Yuna is kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches, apparently in hopes of making the Besaid Aurochs lose to them. However, Lulu, with the help of Tidus and Kimahri, manage to rescue Yuna, while the Besaid Aurochs win their first match in twenty-three years. There, Auron joins the group, as another guardian.

They travel through the Mi'ihen Highroad and Mushroom Rock Road, where they get involved in Operation Mi'ihen, to get to Djose Temple. In Djose, Yuna receives Ixion and they continue to Guadosalam. Once there, Seymour Guado proposes marriage to Yuna. Lulu is supportive of the union, as it will give the people of Spira "something cheery to talk about, for a change", as well as furthering relations with humans and the Guado. While Tidus is against any marriage, Lulu cryptically responds that she would like for Yuna to marry for love, but not for her to marry the one she loves, knowing full well who he is.

The group then travels to Macalania, where they confront and defeat Seymour, after discovering he murdered his own father, Jyscal. They manage to escape, only to be trapped under the ice. After Sin washes them away to Bikanel Island, Yuna is kidnapped by the Al Bhed and later taken by the Guado. Lulu and the other guardians go to Bevelle to save her, but they are caught and tried for treason. Eventually, they manage to escape and save Yuna.

The group continues the pilgrimage to Zanarkand. On the way there, they visit the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, where Lulu decides to face her painful memories. At the back of the cave, the group meets the unsent form of Lady Ginnem, the human personality she once held all but completely buried in envy for the living. Lulu felt that she must fulfill a last duty to Ginnem as a guardian in ensuring that her spirit would depart to rest peacefully in the Farplane. After fighting and defeating Yojimbo — the aeon used by Ginnem — Ginnem's spirit departs for the Farplane. Finally at the ruins of the Zanarkand, they discover the truth about Yevon and defeat Yunalesca. Lulu adjusts to this reality faster than some of the other former believers in her party (one of them being Wakka).

The group then hatches a plan to engage Sin head-on and venture inside to defeat the monster at its core, Yu Yevon. Lulu fights along with her comrades and protects Yuna until the end. After the destruction of Sin, Tidus begins to fade away, and Lulu is shown waving goodbye to him as he takes a running leap off the airship. She attends Yuna's speech at the Luca Stadium, falls in love with Wakka and six months later they are wed to one another.

Final Fantasy X-2
In Final Fantasy X-2 Lulu is pregnant with—and gives birth to—Wakka's child. Lulu stays largely out of events in Final Fantasy X-2 due to her pregnancy. When Yuna first returns to the village Lulu comments on Yuna's new lifestyle, and warns her to beware those who would use Yuna's status as High Summoner to their advantage and then invites YRP to stay the night.

When fiends attack from the Chamber of the Fayth at Besaid Temple she explains how the village has dealt with the attack and tells Yuna that the villagers will feel better knowing Yuna is home.

In Chapter Five, Lulu finally gives birth to her baby, and she waits patiently for Wakka to choose the boy's name. He settles on "Vidina", the Al Bhed word for "future". Later, when they are alone, she tells Wakka that she has faith in him and that they are in this together, encouraging him and saying that he will not "drop the ball".

She is later seen on Besaid Beach with Vidina as Tidus and Yuna reunite in front of the villagers.

In Battle
Lulu is a Black Mage, and thus her physical attacks and defense are initially weaker than the other characters', although her Defense stat can get quite high as there are a good number of Defense nodes on her section of the Sphere Grid. Her HP, Strength, Accuracy and Agility will always remain fairly low. Lulu relies on magic attacks, which is why her Magic, Magic Defense, MP, Defense and Evasion are strong. Her weapons consist of dolls based on classic Final Fantasy creatures: Mog, Cait Sith, Moomba, Cactuar, and PuPu. She equips bangles on her arm for defense. Her personality can be seen when she "slaps" fiends for some of her counter-attacks. She performs a regular attack as a ground counter attack, and does a backhand when countering a flying fiend.

Lulu and the rest of the Final Fantasy X cast are the first Final Fantasy characters that have different casting magic poses based on the spell's tier. For example: if Lulu is using tier 1 magic, e.g Fire, she simply puts her hand on her shoulder then casts it. For rank 2 magic, e.g Fira, she raises her right arm up past her head, and lastly, for tier 3 magic or greater, like Firaga or Flare, she raises her both arms to the sky, then bring them around to the ground in a full circle, casting the magic. The doll she is using falls to the ground and mimics her pose.

Lulu's Overdrive is called Fury. It casts a barrage of up to sixteen spells on the target. To successfully execute Fury, the must be rotated 360 degrees. More spins add more castings. Nearly all of the Black Magic spells can be cast. These spells cannot be evaded, protected against, or prevented in any way and do not cost MP, but do significantly less damage than a normal casting of the same spell. Lulu cannot cast a spell with Fury until she learns it in the Sphere Grid, and she can only Fury-cast Black Magic.

Lulu can be recruited as a party member Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission through the Creature Capture system. In order to recruit Lulu, the player must set up a Special Monster Pod in Besaid during a New Game Plus file. She has access to some of her Fury abilities from Final Fantasy X and can use any of the common dresspheres. Like all monster allies, Lulu is controlled by the game's AI.

Equipment


Lulu can equip dolls and bangles. She starts with 380 HP, 92 MP, 5 points in Strength and Agility, 8 points in Defense, 20 points in Magic, 30 points in Magic Defense, 17 points in Luck, 40 points in Evasion, and 3 points in Accuracy.

Sphere Grid
Lulu's Sphere Grid area runs near Rikku's and Wakka's, and her Sphere Color is purple. The unique abilities that are in Lulu's default position on the sphere grid include the following: (Please note that more Black Magic spells can be learned in other sections of the sphere grid. Ultima, Osmose, and Drain are not part of Lulu's Sphere Grid).

Musical Theme
Lulu's theme is simply called "Lulu's Theme", a song from the original soundtrack of the game. The theme plays only once over the course of the game, when Lulu is forced to face the unsent form of Lady Ginnem and the group fights Yojimbo in the hidden subquest involving the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
There are two cards depicting Lulu in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. One is her official artwork with transparent face artwork in the background, whilst the other one is part of her promotional poster from Final Fantasy X.

Etymology
Lulu is an Arabic word meaning "pearl". It is also the diminutive of the female name Louisa, Louise or Lucy, or of their variant forms.

Trivia

 * Despite being nine months pregnant and giving birth during Final Fantasy X-2, she shows none of the physical tell-tale signs, even to the point that Rikku says that 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 as well as both being remarkably composed and serious. They are also the only characters in Spira with red irises.
 * 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 this by only showing Lulu from the waist up in many of the CGI scenes.
 * In Final Fantasy X, Lulu's "element" is suggested to be Thunder via the introductory flan battle at Besaid Island where the player is meant to use Thunder, an entry spell for her first in-battle appearance at Bikanel Island casting Thundara, and during journey across Thunder Plains where Rikku tells about how her brother used Thunder spell on which Lulu replies she could learn some black magic. It is further implied in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game where her cards are assigned to Thunder element. In addition, the player obtains her Venus Sigil on the Thunder Plains. However, upgrading her Celestial Weapon, the Onion Knight, grants Shiva the Break Damage Limit trait, while upgrading Kimahri's Spirit Lance gives the trait to Ixion. This is likely because she is the only female character besides Yuna to be attributed to an aeon, as upgrading the weapons of Rikku and Tidus (who are not Yevonites) has no effect on any aeon.
 * Strangely Lulu has one of the highest Defense stat in the game which uncharacteristic of her class (black mage).
 * Lulu's feet are never seen by the player during normal gameplay.

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