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, and remains hidden beneath her skirt most of the time.

At a first glance, Vanille seems to have a child-like innocence and to care deeply for other people, Fang in particular. Vanille is shown to be caring, considerate, and at times, stubborn. She appears happy and cheerful when, in reality, she is afraid.

In Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-, Fang describes Vanille to be careless at times, naive, a crybaby, a scaredy-cat, but curious about everything. Fang says that she 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.

Vanille is emotional and easily driven to tears. Even though she has good intentions she uses her bubbly personality to hide the guilt she feels for affecting the lives of countless people. Over the course of the game, Vanille learns to stop running from her fate as a l'Cie and fight for 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, managing to only 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 ended 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 her memories of their previous Focus and Ragnarok, and 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 fal'Cie Anima's throne Fang and Vanille discover an unconscious Serah Farron who as been branded a Pulse l'Cie. Vanille blames herself for Serah's misfortune, assuming that Anima transformed Serah into a l'Cie to complete the Focus that she herself does not want to. After stealing a pair of ID cards, Fang and Vanille travel to Euride Gorge to 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 l'Cie in response to Fang and Vanille's threat. The two are pursued by PSICOM soldiers. Fang faces the soldiers alone and pushes Vanille into an elevator to have er escape, and the two are separated.

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. Vanille meets Serah on the beach and learns of Serah's dream of destroying the world, which Vanille knows to be Serah's Focus.

Two days later, Vanille attends Bodhum's fireworks festival and wishes for the safety of Cocoon. The following day, the Sanctum announces their discovery of the fal'Cie Anima within the Vestige, quarantine of Bodhum, and plans for the Purge. Believing the Purge to be a forced migration to Gran Pulse, Vanille boards the Purge train.

Although she does not want to leave Fang behind she figures that if she can return to Gran Pulse, she can prevent her Focus from causing more suffering. Vanille is comforted in the knowledge that Fang's brand is scorched and she cannot turn into a Cie'th.

Final Fantasy XIII
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. The group of Purgees split up, and Vanille's group watches helplessly as PSICOM destroys a bridgeway plunging the other group to their deaths. A boy she is with, Hope Estheim, lost his mother in the chaos and Vanille decides to stick by him. The two reconvene with the surviving members of the other group, including Snow. Since Hope blames Snow for his mother's death, Vanille encourages him to approach Snow. Snow leaves before Hope has the chance to speak to him, and Vanille and Hope hijack Gadot's aerobike and follow Snow to the Vestige.

They crashland inside the Vestige and damage the aerobike. Vanille recovers her weapon. They meet with Snow and Vanille encourages Hope to to tell him what he needs to or regret it forever. They meet up with Lightning and Sazh and find Serah laying unconscious outside Anima's Throne. Serah asks Lightning to save Cocoon and Vanille and the rest of the party witness Serah's transformation into a crystal. This greatly shocks Vanille, as it means Serah must have completed her Focus. 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 that 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 of the ruins. After eluding the first wave of enemy ships, Vanille sees Primarch Galenth Dysley on a telecast, announcing the 'success' of the Purge, and Sazh acts exasperated when Vanille doesn't recognize him. The airship comes under fire from the second wave of enemy ships, and crash-lands in the Vile Peaks.

After fighting a Dreadnought Lightning announces her choice to reach Eden and destroy its patron fal'Cie. Vanille tries to reason with Lightning but to no avail. Lightning leaves with Hope chasing after her, leaving Sazh and Vanille behind. Vanille and Sazh continue their passage through the Peaks, and come across an old 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 find themselves in the 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, as her guilt begins to overcome her. Noticing a change in her demeanor, Sazh suggests they go watch the Pompa Sancta in 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 show, Sazh and Vanille go to the Chocobo Corral. Sazh reveals his intention to give himself in to the Sanctum in hopes of seeing 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 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 Sazh's son. 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 she is a l'Cie from Pulse and demands Sazh to shoot her for all the suffering she has caused, but Sazh refuses, since killing Vanille will not change anything. Sazh's Eidolon, Brynhildr, materializes from an orb of flame and the two defeat it together, but afterward Sazh once again points his gun at Vanille.

Vanille is ready to accept her punishment, but Sazh is too heartbroken to take Vanille's life and raises the gun to his own head. He averts his gun in the last moment to shoot in the air instead. They are captured by PSICOM, Vanille is dressed in Purge attire as they are led onto an airship by Jihl's regiment.

During their captivity aboard the Palamecia, Vanille regrets lying to everyone but Sazh realizes that since she awoke from crystal stasis, Dajh will awaken too. He forgives Vanille when he realizes what happened to Dajh was an accident. Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Fang infiltrate the Palamecia to rescue Vanille and Sazh, and two PSICOM soldiers enter their cell to move them. Sazh and Vanille knock out the soldiers, retrieve their weapons and proceed with their escape.

They soon meet with the rest of the party, and Vanille is reunited with Fang. The party reaches the bridge of the ship and confronts Galenth Dysley, who kills Nabaat and reveals himself as a fal'Cie named 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, evades Yaag Rosch, and is taken to the Fifth Ark in Eden.

In the Fifth Ark they run into Cid Raines, who reveals himself as a Sanctum l'Cie with the Focus of aiding them to destroy Cocoon in order 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 Vanille 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 in the hopes of finding a way to change their fate.

When the party finds the ruins of Paddra on Gran Pulse, Vanille says that 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.

In the Mah'habara Subterra, Fang begins to suspect it was she who became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon and not Vanille. Vanille summons her Eidolon, Hecatoncheir, and 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 that Fang had to do all the horrible things while she stood back. Fang reassures Vanille that she is not alone: she no longer has just Fang, she also has her new family. In the Sulyya Springs, Vanille tells Snow she met Serah in Bodhum and how she was made a l'Cie because of her. She tells him Serah had a vision of Ragnarok like the rest of them and theorizes that 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.

Upon ascending Taejin's Tower, Vanille and Fang reminisce about their hometown, describing it as a village filled with flowers. Sazh warns them that the view from the top of the tower does not fit their description, but Vanille needs to see it for herself. She is shocked to find her home devoid of life and color.

After defeating Barthandelus at the end of a broken railway bridge, Vanille activates a Cie'th Stone and reads the runes it projects, documenting the events of the War of Transgression and the events after she and Fang were placed in crystal stasis. Knowing Barthandelus has resurrected Raines and caused more chaos in Cocoon, the party head to Eden with an airship Barthandelus gave them in the hopes of stopping the fal'Cie's plan. The party makes its way through Eden to Orphan's Cradle.

Inside the Narthex, Vanille notices the room is filled with crystal fragments like those seen in Oerba. After 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 is released and she tries to stop Fang to no avail. Fang attempts to strike Vanille but is stopped by the others. Vanille and Fang see their friends transform into Cie'th, who begin to relentlessly attack Fang, triggering her transformation into an incomplete version of Ragnarok.

After Fang becomes Ragnarok and 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. Upon rejecting Orphan, it explodes and sinks into its pool, releasing Fang. The rest of the party reverts back to normal from their Cie'th forms and catch Fang before she hits the floor. 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 projected by the now powerless fal'Cie Eden, vanishes, and the party is left floating above Eden. 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 their crystal stasis on Pulse, beneath the newly crystallized Cocoon. As Serah and Dajh appear over the horizon, they realize that Vanille and Fang made the ultimate sacrifice and crystallized themselves to save Cocoon, fulfilling their Focus for all of them. In the game's final moments, Vanille and Fang are seen within the core of Cocoon's crystal pillar, deep in 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 had 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 want to save Serah from being trapped in an endless dream and that Noel needs her help before he becomes trapped in an endless dream himself. 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.

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 "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. Variant 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 at the beginning of "The Road Home". An orchestral motif of her theme is heard in the final battle theme.

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

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
There are a few cards depicting Vanille in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. One of them is a close-up of Vanille's face, and the other displays her render.

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", a type of spice used as a 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 Ragnorok 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 an 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.