Red XIII

Red XIII, real name Nanaki, is a red lion or wolf-like beast and one of the playable characters in Final Fantasy VII. Red XIII was the name he received as a specimen designation while held captive and experimented upon by Professor Hojo. Even though he is 48 years old, his age is comparable to around 15 to 16-year-old human by his long-lived species' standards. He fights alongside Cloud Strife and his allies to fulfill his duty to the Planet to defend it as a warrior.

Appearance and personality
Red XIII is a quadrupedal animal with thick dark red and orange fur and a thin brown mane extending partway down his back. His right eye is scarred, and the remaining eye is ochre in color. He is adorned with a variety of beads, earrings and feathers around his head, with golden pastern braces and brands on his legs. One of these brands is the roman numeral "XIII", hence his codename. He also has a flaming tail.

It is never stated exactly what Red XIII is. It is known that his species is very long lived, he had two parents who perished, and he is one of the last of his kind. He appears feline, somewhat similar to a lion, and official sources refer to him as a feline. Reno states in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- that Red XIII "looks like a lion", and in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Red XIII can be heard roaring like a lion.

However, his overall movements along with his howling and relation to the moon appear canine, and at another point in Advent Children, he can be heard making a canine-sounding yelp as he hits the ground after Bahamut SIN shakes him off. At one point in the original Final Fantasy VII he is referred to as a dog by a little girl in Costa del Sol the first time the party gets there.

Red XIII is the least featured of the playable cast of Final Fantasy VII in other media, and so at times his character can be difficult to discern. What is certain is that he has a strong sense of honor and courage, especially regarding his father, whom he believed was a coward who abandoned his tribe. He is polite, curious and observant, with something of a distaste for humans which may stem from Shinra's treatment of him. He is highly intelligent, and he knows much about the Planet due to being raised at Cosmo Canyon.

Red XIII can still be feral when called upon. Red XIII's novella in On the Way to a Smile expands on this duality, showing Red XIII torn between living like an animal or a human - his intelligence and conscience makes it difficult for him to live as an animal, while his animal appearance and qualities make him seen as such by humans who disregard his humanizing traits.

Birth
Red XIII was born in Cosmo Canyon to an unnamed mother and his father Seto. That year, Seto ran off, and Red XIII assumed he had fled in the face of an impending invasion by the Gi Tribe. In reality, Seto sacrificed himself to stop a sneak attack from the Gi through the tunnels under Cosmo Canyon. When his mother died, Red XIII was cared for by the elder of Cosmo Canyon, Bugenhagen, whom he came to call "Grandfather", although not in a literal sense.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
One year before the events of Final Fantasy VII on October 10, 0006, Red XIII takes part in a ritual to appease the Planet held once every 50 years, but is reluctant as he does not consider himself a warrior. Another member of his tribe, Deneh, is to be his companion for the ritual, and she accuses him of being a coward. When the Turks arrive to capture one of them as a specimen for Professor Hojo, Red XIII attacks them to save Deneh and prove himself a guardian of the canyon. He is defeated, but the Turks allow him to finish the ritual to appease the Planet before taking him back to Midgar.

Final Fantasy VII
Red XIII joins Cloud's group sometime in December 0007 after being rescued from the Shinra Headquarters. They encounter him during an experiment involving Red XIII and Aeris, in which Hojo is trying to interbreed them in order to "preserve" their species (Aeris being a Cetra), and provide him with new specimens to be used in his experiments. At some point during his captivity, Hojo placed a tattoo of the Roman numeral XIII on Red XIII's left front leg.

Red XIII later believes the tattoo means Hojo has injected him with Jenova cells in an attempt to create another Sephiroth Clone, but is unsure. In actuality, the tattoo is from an unrelated experiment, as Red XIII was captured by Hojo more than three years after the other Sephiroth Clones were created; this is also confirmed by the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega.

After being freed by Cloud's group, Red XIII remarks the name is a designation given to him by Hojo, so they can call him what they wish. After escaping from Midgar, he says he will stay with the party until they reach Cosmo Canyon. In Kalm Red XIII listens to Cloud's account on the Nibelheim Incident with interest, and in Junon the party has to cross the ocean on the Cargo Ship where Red XIII disguises himself as a human as not to arouse suspicion. The cargo ship stops at Costa Del Sol where Red XIII complains of the heat and how it makes his nose dry. He goes to lie down in shade, observing kids playing football on the streets before the party moves on.

Until returning to Cosmo Canyon, Red XIII does not discuss his past. After arriving there and meeting with Bugenhagen, it is revealed that Red XIII's true name is Nanaki, and despite being 48 years in age, he is still not considered an adult by his species' standards. After Bugenhagen hears Red XIII's remarks towards his father, whom he believes is a coward, Bugenhagen invites him and the party to enter a sealed cavern within Cosmo Canyon.

As the party travels through the cavern, Bugenhagen explains it is haunted by the Gi Tribe ghosts, a faction of tribal warriors who laid siege to Cosmo Canyon, and that their anger prevents their souls from assimilating into the Lifestream. Once they reach the cavern's end, the party encounters a powerful spirit with intense hatred and fight a tough battle against it. After it is defeated, a back entrance to Cosmo Canyon is made accessible where Bugenhagen explains that the Gi Tribe outnumbered the forces of Cosmo Canyon and had tried to enter through the back pathway.

On a ledge overlooking the cave's entrance, Red XIII discovers the petrified body of his father Seto, who alone stood his ground and fought the Gi, but the Gi Tribe's poisoned arrows took their toll on Seto and turned his body to stone. Absolved of his shame for his father, Red XIII vows to become a great warrior like him, and howls at the moon while Seto's petrified remains shed tears. Bugenhagen asks Red XIII to protect the Planet and senses the best way of doing it would be to remain with Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE, who are on a quest to stop Sephiroth and Shinra from finding the fabled Promised Land. As the others are about to leave the village, Red XIII runs after them and claims he wants to protect the Planet too.

After Sephiroth has acquired the Black Materia from the Temple of the Ancients and set out to North Crater, Cloud and the others defeat the final part of Jenova's body, Jenova∙DEATH, at the Whirlwind Maze and retrieve the Black Materia. Cloud has the option of giving the Materia to Red XIII to hold on to, as he has been taken control of by Sephiroth in the past and does not trust himself. Red XIII promises to keep the Materia safe and not to hand it over to anyone.

As Cloud goes on ahead Red XIII and some others of their party stay behind to guard the Materia. The place gets windy and Red XIII cannot see where he is. He calls out to the others but no one responds. As the scene settles he finds himself alone. Tifa, Cloud's friend who has been traveling with them since the start, runs up to him and urges him to go and help Cloud, who's got himself in trouble. Red XIII is confused, but follows Tifa's orders, without realizing Tifa is just an illusion conjured by Sephiroth to trick Red XIII to bring the Black Materia to Cloud.

Red XIII rushes to Cloud who, among with the Shinra executives, has found Sephiroth's true body stuck in a Materia crystal. Cloud asks Red XIII to give the Black Materia to him and Red XIII complies, but Sephiroth's lies have made Cloud doubt he is a real human, and his psyche has been broken. Cloud hands the Materia to Sephiroth who uses it to summon the Meteor. This awakens the Weapons sleeping in the crater and everyone but Cloud escapes the scene on Shinra's airship, Highwind.

After Cloud has been saved and has rejoined the party, Bugenhagen joins them to visit the Forgotten Capital and unveils the nature of Holy, which has been summoned to combat Sephiroth's Meteor, but in the Planet's core Sephiroth is blocking it. After returning to Cosmo Canyon and the Diamond Weapon has been defeated, Bugenhagen falls ill. Red XIII runs to him, and the others stay back to leave them alone. Bugenhagen tells Nanaki there is so much more to life than what is within Cosmo Canyon, and he should survey the world itself and all its unique facets to gain the true knowledge he mentioned in their last meeting.

Bugenhagen passes away and Nanaki takes up a resolve to protect the Planet, as that is what constitutes his knowledge and concept of life itself.

Red XIII takes part in the attack on the Northern Cave with the rest of the party, defeating Sephiroth in later January 0008. He watches with the rest of the party as Meteor destroys Midgar and is stopped by the power of the Holy and the Lifestream.

Novellas
In On the Way to a Smile, Red XIII was mentioned in "Case of Barret" when Cid said he often got visits from him.

Red XIII is the center character in "Case of Red XIII". Upon returning home, Red XIII — now called Nanaki by everyone, including his former comrades — vows to follow Bugenhagen's wishes by traveling the Planet to observe all life he can and teach others what he learns. After he leaves, however, a void begins to grow in his heart — he dubs this void "Gilligan" for the sake of helping to remember it. During his travels, he struggles with being a beast and acting like a human, as well as his longevity which means he will experience a great deal of loss.

Vincent tells him "Gilligan" is his fear of loss and the loneliness that will come with living a long life. Vincent encourages Nanaki, saying that one day he may have children of his own to keep him from being lonely. Vincent informs Nanaki that he is immortal himself, meaning he will be living longer than even Nanaki. The two agree to meet in Midgar every year for the remainder of Nanaki's life, where he will tell Vincent the stories of his travels.

Nanaki appears in the latter part of "Case of Yuffie", assisting Yuffie in rescuing Yuri from a cave after it overflows with Lifestream tainted with Geostigma. He mentions during this time he acquired a cellphone while visiting Midgar to keep in touch with the other party members, though he has difficulty using it. Nanaki later leaves Wutai, but returns on the Shera to help Yuffie continue to search for a cure for Geostigma.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
When Edge is under attack by Bahamut SIN in 0009, Red XIII hastens there with Cait Sith on his back, and uses his claws and teeth to battle the dragon. He appears later aboard the Shera and once more in Aerith's church. He is only given one line in the entire film, commenting on how some children still have Geostigma, where he has a slight accent.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Although there is a scene where the whole cast is gathered in Midgar, Red XIII is not present. He is, however, present during the ending, lying next to Shelke as he rests outside of 7th Heaven.

500 Years Later
After the Final Fantasy VII's credits roll and in the opening scenes of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, remade with enhanced visuals, a scene is shown 500 years (498 years from Advent Childrens point) in the future. An elderly Nanaki is seen with two young cubs, implying he mated with Deneh or another female of his species, who dash through a canyon and climb up to the crest of a cliff.

The three stand and look down at the remains of Midgar, now covered in moss and overgrown with trees. A flock of birds fly by, but it is unknown if human life still exists. However, after the scene fades to black, the sound of distant children's laughter can be heard. The nature of this is left up to player interpretation. Given Vincent and Nanaki's conversation in "Case of Red XIII", it's possible Red XIII is heading to the annual meeting with Vincent.

In Battle


Like Cloud, Red XIII is a well-rounded character who is good at both physical attacks and casting magic. He also has the second highest Dexterity, after Yuffie.

When he joins the party his starting level is decided by the following formula:
 * [average party level + 2]

Red XIII uses various hairclips, decorative combs, and other "headdresses" to enhance his fighting abilities, but unlike with other characters, his weapon is not rendered on his battle model. His weapons have decent power and many boost his magic.

One notable weapon is the Seraph Comb, obtained after the Cave of the Gi. With 68 battle power, it is the strongest weapon in the game up until that point, and most other characters do not acquire weapons of equal power until the Temple of the Ancients and after. He is also the only close-range character to acquire a long-range weapon, the Hairpin.

His ultimate weapon, the Limited Moon, does more damage the fuller his MP gauge is.

Limit Breaks


Red XIII's lower-level Limit Breaks involve him increasing his stats, particularly through the use of Haste, which boosts his speed. His later Limit Breaks hit multiple enemies, and his ultimate Limit Break, Cosmo Memory, hits all enemies for 8x damage, allowing it to easily do 9,999 damage even at low level.

Boss
Nanaki is fought as a boss in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-. First in Chapter 18, then in the Training Mode.

Creation and Development
It was character designer Tetsuya Nomura's idea to have a four-legged character be in the party, but it was a struggle to make it work as he wouldn't easily be able to climb ladders and when he turned his tail and his body would end up going inside walls.

Red XIII was originally designed as a beast-type SOLDIER capable of using magic and understanding human language. He would have been a protector of the Buga tribe, to which Bugenhagen belonged, and his father Seto would have been his predecessor before he fled, making Red XIII contemptuous of him. In the final product, Red XIII's tribe is not named, but otherwise he is roughly the same as originally conceived. When he was first drawn, Nomura chose the name "Red XIII", as he wanted a name that did not sound like a name, so he combined a color with the number "13", which is believed to be unlucky. Other staff members later assigned Red XIII's true name as "Nanaki". During early plans for the game, Red XIII was to have the "Beast" job class.

Red XIII was planned to be the focus on a sub-plot which was cut from the game. After being captured by Shinra, Hojo would have produced several clones of Red XIII, which would have had blue and purple fur and been named Cobalt XIV and Indigo XV, respectively. After defeating them, the party would be confronted by two more clones, and a battle would ensue where the party would fight both the clones and the real Red XIII, and be forced to figure out which was the real thing and avoid killing him. Though the clones would be defeated, Red XIII would have the party spare them, as they were the last of his kind beyond him. Cobalt XIV and Indigo XV would later reappear in the final dungeon partially mechanized, determined to prove themselves superior to the original Red XIII.

In a screenshot published before Final Fantasy VII was released, Red XIII's name is shown spelled with with arabic numerals rather than roman.

In the rest of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Red XIII has little screen-time, appearing only briefly in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-. This is because his fur makes him difficult and costly to animate.

Musical Themes
"Red XIII's Theme" plays when Red XIII introduces himself after the battle with Sample:H0512. Additionally, "Cosmo Canyon" and "The Great Warrior"  are both very similar to "Red XIII's Theme." They play in Cosmo Canyon and when Red XIII sees the petrified Seto, respectively.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest


Red XIII is an exclusive character only available from the Premium Character Shop as a random downloadable content, he uses the Blood Fang ability during battle.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Red XIII appears in the Japan-exclusive Final Fantasy trading card game published by Square Enix. The card depicting his promotional CG render has his Cosmos Memory Limit as an Action Ability.

Etymology
The name "Nanaki" was chosen because it has a Native American sound to it, fitting with the Native American theme of Red XIII and Cosmo Canyon.

Trivia

 * In the fighting game Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring, a game with playable characters from Final Fantasy VII, the second-to-last boss, Django, resembles Red XIII in his alternate "outfit", even employing attacks which are references to Red XIII and his father's names: Seto Punch, Seto Low Punch, Seto Combination, Nanaki Kick, and Nanaki Combination. Two of his attacks are named after Red XIII's Limit Breaks: Sled Fang and Blood Fang.
 * Red XIII is the only quadrupedal playable character in the main Final Fantasy series.
 * Red XIII makes a cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals.
 * Red XIII is nearly always seen from the left, the side of his good eye. This is seen in FMVs, his menu portrait, the ending of Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, the end of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and even almost all of his concept art. The same rough angle as his Final Fantasy VII portrait was used in his portrait for Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, in which he still has both eyes.
 * Red XIII's dialogue to some of the optional scenarios is different before and after the Cosmo Canyon events to reflect his new-found mindset after discovering the truth about his father, although this is more noticeable in the Japanese script than in the English counterpart. For example in the scenario where Yuffie steals the party's money, before the Cosmo Canyon events Red XIII responds "Greed... A perfect example of human nature", but after Cosmo Canyon he will say, "Give... give back what is rightfully mine!" which no longer includes a demeaning note about the human species.
 * In the quiz Brain Blast in Final Fantasy XIII-2, one of the answers is "Patisserie Red Thirteen", referring to Red XIII.
 * Red XIII shares his English voice actor with Caius Ballad from the Final Fantasy XIII-2, Kain Highwind from the 3D remake version of Final Fantasy IV and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Cu Chaspel from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates.
 * In Costa del Sol if Red XIII is not in the current party he is found laying in the shade near the Materia shop. If Cloud kicks the kids' ball at Red XIII, he will bark.