Hope Estheim

Hope Estheim is a playable character in Final Fantasy XIII. He is the son of Nora and Bartoromy Estheim. He is a fourteen-year-old boy with silver hair who wears a yellow and orange coat. He is insecure and has a short temper, and often acts childish. On the other hand, he comes from a high-class family, which also reflects on his attitude.

Story
After seeing a fal'Cie two days prior to the game storyline while visiting Bowdam during their vacation, Hope and his mother were captured by PSICOM and sentenced to be Purged under the notion they were tainted by Pulse. They were among the group that was saved by Snow Villiers and Team Nora. Hope's mother volunteered to fight with Snow, but lost her life after saving him from a cannon blast and then falling off the destroyed motorway as Hope watched from afar. Since Snow got her involved in the fight and could not save her (despite his efforts to do so), Hope holds a grudge against him. Frozen from the shock of watching his mother fall to her death, Vanille slaps Hope, tells him to snap out of it and go with her to a safer place. After they remove their Purge attire, Vanille smiles at him and hands him a gun. Then she hugs him, tells him that it's okay to run away, and waves good-bye to him. Shortly after Vanille leaves, Hope follows her. They find Snow surrounded by the other members of Team Nora as he is about to go to the Lowerworld Vertigo, and Hope's grudge intensifies when he learns Snow's group bore the same name as his mother. Vanille encourages him to follow Snow into the Pulse fal'Cie to let out his repressed anguish, but ends up becoming a l'Cie.

After the party leaves Snow at Lake Bilge, they find an airship and use it to escape but it gets damaged and crashes down towards the Vile Peaks. After Lightning leaves Vanille and Sazh, Hope decides to go after her for unknown reasons. When Lightning summons Odin for the first time, he prepares to attack Hope, but after Lightning saves him, Hope helps her fight Odin. Afterwards, Hope is seen with Lightning about to enter the Gapra Whitewood, telling her to let him take the lead. Lightning asks him if he can do it but Hope says that it wasn't about whether or not he could do it. Lightning smiles at him, gives him the nod to go ahead, tells him to look forward and that she will guard his back. After some time, Lighting gives Hope a knife that she received as a birthday present, and he tells her that he'll use it to make Snow pay for what happened to his mother.

In Palumpolum, Hope shows Lightning a path that will help them sneak past the PSICOM soldiers. While underground, Hope is confided with Lightning's past. After riding an elevator back up to the surface, Hope and Lightning are ambushed by Yaag Rosch and his troops. Lightning tells him to run while she keeps them busy, but Hope refuses. Snow and Fang arrive and attack the soldiers while riding Shiva. At the same time, Lightning protects Hope as she attacks the troops. After he and Lightning are rescued, Lightning gives him to Snow while she goes off with Fang. Soon afterwards, Hope confronts Snow about his mother. When Snow says that all he can do is go forward and find answers, Hope objects and tells him that he is running from what he deserves. Snow tells Hope to tell him what he deserves, and Hope says the same fate that his mother suffered: death. He uses his l'Cie power to blow Snow off a high ledge. As Hope is about to kill Snow with Lightning's knife, a Sanctum airship fires a shot behind him and, just as what happened to his mother, sends him over the ledge. Snow jumps off after him, catching him in midair and shielding him from the fall. As a result, realizing someone who was willing to give his life for him could not possibly have deliberately killed his mother, Hope finally apologizes to Snow, he accepts the apology, and the two finally become friends. When they are suddenly attacked by a Sanctum machine, which knocks Snow unconscious, Hope decides to fight it alone until Lightning and Fang arrive on the scene.

Hope takes Lightning, Fang, and Snow to his house where they meet his father, who is a brown-haired man with glasses who works for the Sanctum. He told his dad that the party would leave once they were done resting up because he wanted his father to be safe, since anyone harboring l'Cie would suffer a horrible fate, but Hope's father protested, saying that he did not care that Hope was a l'Cie, he was his son, and that was his home. Hope hides with his father while Snow stands wounded and bandaged before an entire platoon of soldiers led by Yaag Rosch. Soon, Rygdea and more of Cid's soldiers arrive and Hope and the rest of the party leave with them, leaving Hope's father behind as he and the others board the Lindblum and are eventually reunited with Vanille and Sazh on the Palamecia.

After leaving Cocoon, Hope and Vanille get sucked of the airship they were using after it is damaged by a Pulse monster, saved by the rest of the party flying Bahamut into Pulse. Later, Hope is being comforted by Snow and Lightning, with the latter telling him that he wasn't going through the ordeal alone and smiles at him. Hope tells Lightning that he doesn't want his friends to get hurt because of him and his fear causes his l'Cie mark begins to glow, initiating his fight against Alexander, which he manages to tame with help from Lightning and Fang.

After returning to Cocoon from Pulse, Hope summons Alexander on a highway in Eden in order to block off incoming Sanctum forces.

After Orphan's defeat, Hope wishes for Fang and Vanille's return among Serah and Dajh, but cannot find them. Lightning is seen reassuring him.

Abilities and Equipment
Hope fights with boomerangs that work differently from normal boomerangs thanks to futuristic technology and design. His weapons make him good at dealing long-ranged damage. His Eidolon is Alexander, which has the ability to turn into a fortress that stands on one side of the battlefield.


 * Sky Thrasher
 * Ninuruta
 * Tjuta
 * Hawkeye
 * Eagle claw
 * Víðópnir
 * Hræsvelgr
 * Arikanto
 * Charadrios
 * Simurgh
 * Yezcatlipoca
 * Ochirvani
 * Urubutsin
 * Malphas
 * Naberius
 * Nue

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Hope calls Lightning "Light-san".
 * His l'Cie mark is on his left wrist, mostly covered by his wristband.
 * Hope's weapons use sky-based names, most being of mythological birds.
 * Hope's crystal is in the shape of a star, almost resembling the crystal in the Final Fantasy IX logo.
 * Hope's full-ATB skill, Last Resort, deals large non-elemental magic damage to all foes. Its animation sequence resembles the white magic Holy in Final Fantasy X.
 * Hope's physical appearance is very close to Vaan appearance in Final Fantasy XII

Hope Estheim