Fran

Fran is a playable character in Final Fantasy XII. She is a viera and is Balthier's partner aboard his airship, the Strahl. Fran is the only non-hume character in the main cast. Her title is "Master of Weapons", as the viera are known for their extraordinary craftsmanship, grace, and intellect. Fran herself is also a skilled mechanic, being in charge of maintaining the Strahl.

Appearance and personality
Fran is a viera and thus has their dark skin complexion, thick white hair and long claw-like fingernails. Curiously, even though Fran's hair, the fur on her ears and her eyebrows are white, she has black eyelashes. Because of the way viera's feet are structured Fran, like all other viera, must walk wearing high heels. Fran has red eyes and her hair, which she keeps in a ponytail, comes down to her lower back. She has long rabbit-like ears covered in white fur with brown speckles at the tips. Fran is the tallest playable character in Final Fantasy XII, and her viera ears make her seem even taller.

Like the wood warder viera back in her homeland, Fran dresses in a revealing piece of armor, which resembles lacy lingerie in the style of a and stay-up stockings, although the material in parts of her bodysuit and leg-wear is metal. The style of her wear is filigree, and the armor is open at the front with Fran's stomach being covered by a sheer strip of see-through fabric. At the small of her back she has a "rabbit tail" style decorative piece, although it is not as noticeable as on other viera as her hair covers it most of the time. Fran wears black elbow-length sleeves with red trimming fastened together across her collar bone with a silver clip. Her forearms are covered in armor similar in design as her bodice and leg-wear. Fran wears a headgear with openings for her long ears, and white tufts of hair crop up from its sides, open two-heeled stilettos with a claw-like design and a slim black collar around her neck.

Fran is sensitive to mist and can sense it, apparently as a kind of smell. Having left her homeland, Fran has lost many of the viera's natural talents, such as the ability to "speak" with the wood in Golmore Jungle. Because of this, the viera back in the viera homeland of Eruyt Village no longer consider Fran a true viera.

Fran has the most mysterious life out of all the characters in Final Fantasy XII. Being a viera, she is reserved among people of other races, although not as much as others of her kind. Fran rarely displays emotion openly, and the only time she is seen losing her temper is when she is in mist frenzy. Fran speaks in a calm tone with an accent, but rarely speaks to people she doesn't know; when Vaan first meets Balthier and Fran she lets Balthier do the talking. When offended, she will act expressionlessly cold, such as when Vaan innapropriately asks her about her age. Fran's goals and dreams in life are largely shrouded in mystery, but it is known she left her homeland to live a life of freedom. Although Fran likes to keep her distance from others, she is loyal to her friends and appears to care deeply for her sisters back in her homeland despite claiming to be their sister no longer, having abandoned the viera way of life. It is implied that Fran feels lonely and sorrowful at times, having left her family behind, as she warns her sister of following her path, explaining it only leads to a life of solitude. Fran displays happiness by way of a subtle smile in a few occasions in Final Fantasy XII, and when she does, it has to do with those close to her. Fran smiles upon learning that Jote still cares for her, and she also appears amused when Balthier acts exasperated at Reddas's assumption that Vaan is Balthier's apprentice.

Final Fantasy XII
All that is known is that she left Eruyt Village over 50 years ago to see Ivalice. It is later revealed Fran has two sisters: Jote and Mjrn. It is hinted they are blood sisters, as Fran tells Mjrn that only one sister remains to her before Fran leaves the woods. It appears Jote is the eldest of the three, whilst Mjrn is the youngest, based on their behavior and positions in Eruyt Village.

Considering Fran's age, Fran could have met Balthier during any time in his life. It is never hinted about how long they have known each other, or if Fran even knows about Balthier's past. However, while they keep their relationship professional, there are times when it is hinted it could be more than that, especially in the sequel, where she states that Balthier's methods of wooing her were different from Tomaj's of flowers and gifts.

Fran is first seen when Vaan is about to steal the Goddess's Magicite in the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. Balthier accompanies her while she is driving a hoverbike, which eventually crashes in the Garamsythe Waterway during their escape due to the Goddess's Magicite draining the bike's engines.

Fran, Balthier and Vaan make their way through the waterway and meet up with the Resistance, and come to storm the palace and confront the new Consul Vayne Solidor. The young woman they end up working with, calling herself "Amalia", turns out to be none other than Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, the princess who was reported dead. The group gets captured and Balthier, Fran and Vaan are thrown into the Nalbina Dungeons. Fran, being a viera, is able to sense a way out. On the way, the group finds Basch fon Ronsenburg and team up with him.

After escaping the dungeon the group make their way to Bhujerba to save Vaan's friend Penelo, and reunite with Ashe. After kidnapping Ashe out of her own request, the group make their way to Tomb of Raithwall to receive another piece of nethicite, but are betrayed by Vossler who turns them in on the Empire.

Like all viera, Fran is sensitive to the anomaly known as mist. More than simply "sensing" it, she can feel it like a physical object. When the party is held by Judge Ghis, the mist from the Dawn Shard – the piece of nethicite Ashe received in Tomb of Raithwall – overwhelms Fran with a burning sensation, causing her to go into a frenzy and attack all enemies with her bare hands. This never happens again, but whenever the party enters an area thick in mist, they always make sure to ask Fran if she is okay.

The party manage to escape the empire and follow Ashe on her quest to Jahara and to Mt. Bur-Omisace. To get to Mt. Bur-Omisace the group must travel through the Golmore Jungle, but magickal barriers prevent their entry. Fran knows the barriers have been set up by viera and opens a way to Eruyt Village, despite knowing she is not welcome there, having abandoned the viera way of life as protectors of the forest. Once in the village they find Fran's younger sister, Mjrn, has gone missing. They find her from the depths of Henne Mines, being possessed by Venat and thus being driven insane.

The party defeat the mist monsters and Venat releases Mjrn, whom the group take back to Eruyt Village. Fran's elder sister, Jote, gives the party an item that lets them through the magick barriers. Before departing, Fran asks Jote to listen to the woods' voice for her, as she has lost the ability having spent too long a time away from the woods. Jote does as asked and tells Fran the wood longs for her, and is envious of the hume that has stolen one of its own. Fran only smiles and says, "A pleasant lie, that".

The group eventually make their way to the Pharos at Ridorana where Ashe attempts to destroy the Sun-Cryst. The mist escaping from the Cryst drives Fran mad, and she can barely contain herself. As Dr. Cid is defeated and dies, his departing spirit possesses Fran for an instant, who speaks Cid's final words to Balthier, urging him to escape.

As an all-out war is about to break on Dalmascan ground the group make their way to the Sky Fortress Bahamut to stop Vayne. After defeating Vayne, Bahamut's power goes out, and is about to fall on Rabanastre. Balthier and Fran stay behind to fix Bahamut's glossier rings and manage to save Rabanastre, though Fran is injured by falling rubble. Bahamut crash-lands outside the city and the pair is thought to have perished in the crash.

A year later Vaan and Penelo receive a letter from Balthier revealing him and Fran are alive and well, and asking the two to join them on Cache of Glabados at Bervenia Palace.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings


Fran returns in Revenant Wings along with Balthier. She is more of a secondary character this time, mainly focusing on archery. Fran and Balthier first meet up with the party at Cache of Glabados, but after Vaan's airship is wrecked and the two take Vaan and Penelo back to Rabanastre, Fran and Balthier depart alone. Later on in the game the player meets Fran and save her from Ba'Gamnan.

Fran takes Vaan and his friends to see Balthier, but turns out Balthier is attempting to destroy the third Auralith and thus they end up having to fight him and Fran. Afterward it turns out Balthier was only trying to free the aegyl by destroying the Auraliths that suck away their anima, and Fran and Balthier join the player party permanently. From then on, Fran helps the party to find the Judge of Wings and destroy Feolthanos.

Stats
Overall, Fran has low stats compared to the other party members. She is the only party member to not have a particular stat in which she excels. Fran's Magick is particularly low, second-lowest to Balthier. Her Vitality is also low, being the second-lowest after Basch, and her Strength is the second-lowest after Penelo. However, her MP is sufficiently higher than Basch and Balthier, even though it is the lowest of the three female party members. These all-around poor stats lead Fran to be most useful when equipping guns, as the damage dealt by guns is not affected by stats.

Fran's beginning licenses are also fairly close to several Quickening licenses, which can boost her MP even more. Fran begins with the licenses "Bows 1", "Bows 2", "Shields 1", "Light Armor 1", "Light Armor 2", "Heavy Armor 1", "White Magick 1", "Black Magick 1", and "Steal". She is equipped with a Shortbow, Onion Arrows, Headgear, and Chromed Leathers along with the Fire and Cure spells. When Fran joins the party her level is Vaan's level +1 and her LP is Vaan's LP minus 125.

Curiously enough, even though Fran's default weapon is a bow and she has bow licenses already learned, Fran is actually the slowest character, together with Balthier, to use a bow - all the other characters' action time when equipped with a bow is faster.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

 * List of Fran's Weapons
 * List of Fran's Armor
 * List of Fran's Accessories

Fran's skills vary, including different status inflicting ones to some White Magick related spells like Dispelga. Her Quickening, Gaze of the Void, removes all buffs on all enemies. It can be obtained by defeating Exodus.

Battle
Fran is fought as a boss in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.

Voice
In the English release of Final Fantasy XII, Fran is voiced by. In the Japanese release she is voiced by, who also provided the voice of in the  series.

Itadaki Street Portable
Fran appears as a playable character in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable.

Etymology
"Fran" is a shortened form of the name "Frances" or "Francine", which is a female version of the name "Francis". The names are Latin in origin and mean "Free" signifying her freedom as a sky pirate and freedom from The Wood.

Trivia

 * Fran's sprite is added to Final Fantasy XII's Sky Pirate's Den after the party has cast over 200 magick spells granting the player the title of "Spellsinger".
 * Fran is the only character given a title, in her case, "The Master of Weapons".
 * Fran makes a cameo in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals.
 * Fran is the tallest playable female character in the series, and when measuring her ears as well, she's even taller than Umaro, thus making her the tallest playable character in a Final Fantasy game.
 * Due to being a Viera, Fran is perhaps physically the oldest of the "strong, serious woman" archetype (which also includes Faris, Celes, Tifa, Quistis, Freya, Lulu, and Fang).

Fran Fran