Penelo

Penelo is a player character in Final Fantasy XII. She is Vaan's childhood friend, and the two are very close.

Final Fantasy XII
Growing up in Rabanastre, Penelo and her family lived happily for some time. Five years ago, a plague hit Rabanastre killing many people, but Penelo's family survived. Vaan's family was not as lucky, with both his parents dying. Penelo's parents decided they would care for both the orphaned Vaan and Reks.

Three years later, the war between Dalmasca and Archadia began. During the conflict, both of Penelo's parents were killed as well as Vaan's brother Reks. Penelo was taken in by her parent's friend, the Bangaa Migelo, who let her and Vaan work at his sundry shop, doing various odd-jobs.

Vaan and Penelo are childhood friends. Although they're both close, they never pursued romance. Penelo is frustrated of Vaan's obsession with becoming a Sky Pirate, and frequently tries to dissuade him from getting into trouble. Penelo is seen right at the beginning of the game, lecturing Vaan about trying to steal from Archadian soldiers. Later on, Penelo meets up with Vaan at the Giza Plains nomad camp, when Vaan was trying to obtain a few sunstones. She accompanied Vaan and later admitting that she enjoyed their time together at the plains. When she heard that there were intruders caught trespassing the palace grounds, she rushed to the site, knowing full well that Vaan had planned to sneak into the palace. She meets up with Balthier at this point, where the sky pirate assures her that Vaan will be safe.

Unknowingly, their first meeting was seen by the headhunter gang led by Ba'Gamnan. They assumed that Penelo knew Balthier personally and kidnapped her, leaving a note for Balthier to meet with them at the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba if he wanted to save her. Penelo was abandoned when Balthier showed up, and she made her escape, only to be caught by Archadian soldiers. She was brought to Judge Ghis, where she meets up with Larsa Ferrinas Solidor. The two became friends quickly, although Penelo was reluctant to trust Larsa, since he is brother to Vayne Carudas Solidor. However, Larsa explained how the men of his family are taught to put the needs of others first, and trusted Penelo enough to lend her some manufacted Nethicite.

She later reunited with Vaan onboard the Dreadnought Leviathan. The nethicite Larsa gave helped protect them from Judge Ghis' magick. She later escaped with the band of sky pirates and asked that Vaan let her follow through their journey. Along their quest, Penelo and Vaan exchanged knowledge about the world of Ivalice with the rest of the party. After they defeated Vayne Carudas Solidor, she took on new clothes and joined Vaan, now a sky pirate with his own airship, as his partner.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Penelo is the female protagonist in Revenant Wings.

Together with Vaan, the two of them travel Ivalice looking for treasure. They meet up with Fran and Balthier in the Glabados Ruins and manage to find two shards of Auracite, one of which is given to Vaan and Penelo as their introduction to Sky Pirating. However, the ruins started to collapse and while they managed to escape on the Strahl, Vaan and Penelo lose their airship.

With no means to continue Sky Pirating, Vaan and Penelo are forced to go back to a quiet life in Dalmasca. Penelo is relieved because she no longer has to worry about Vaan constantly putting himself in danger; however, she is also afraid that Vaan would never be content in a life without adventure.

With the arrival of the derelict outside Dalmasca, her fears prove true as Vaan sneaks into the ship and steals it. Although she is a bit reluctant to go, she agrees to travel with Vaan to the sky continent of Lemurés and their adventure starts once again.

While in Lemurés, the party comes across a wounded soldier named Velis in an island otherwise only occupied by Yarhi. After she treats his wounds, Penelo and Velis become very close, much to Vaan's dismay. Penelo shows a unique bond with Mydia's late love, Velis. After getting close, Penelo seemingly tempts him into speaking using a dance. However, he later reveals that he is dead, an illusion, and once he tells Penelo the truth about himself, the Judge of Wings arrives and turns him into his true form. The party is forced to fight Velis, but Penelo holds back, unwilling to hurt her friend.

In contrast to Final Fantasy XII she has a set job, in this case a hybrid of White Mage and Dancer, and she wields staves as her weapons of choice. She cannot do physical harm to enemies, as her normal action is to automatically use 'Cure' on nearby allies. Since she can send healing magic from afar, she is classified as a Ranged unit. Penelo's Quickening Dance of Rapture fully restores the HP for all allies and removes all debuffs. It can be obtained by defeating Ultima.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift


After fighting alongside Vaan in the Moorabella Aerodrome, Luso meets Penelo when she shows up to scold Vaan for going to the wrong Aerodrome hangar. When she forces Vaan to apologise to Luso for nearly stealing his mark, Vaan leaves, mumbling about how one of his other leads being a waste of time. Penelo then turns to Luso and tells him this is Vaan's way of apologising, by giving him a head start on a good treasure lead.

As in Revenant Wings, her unique job is Dancer, though she now has the degenerating dances of the Final Fantasy Tactics Dancer. She can access Viera jobs.

Itadaki Street Portable
Penelo also appears as a character in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable.

Penelo