Penelo

Penelo is a player character in Final Fantasy XII. She is Vaan's childhood friend and dreams of being a dancer, and has learned martial arts from her elder brothers. The official Brady Games strategy guide refers to Penelo and Vaan, "like brother and sister", but in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Penelo's relationship with Vaan becomes ever closer, suggesting a romantic connection.

Final Fantasy XII
Growing up in Rabanastre, Penelo and her family lived happily for some time. Five years prior to the start of the story, a plague hit Rabanastre killing many people, but Penelo's family survived. Vaan's parents had a tragic fate both meeting their deaths and Penelo's parents decided they would care of both the orphaned Vaan and his elder brother 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 parents' friend, the bangaa Migelo, who let her and Vaan work at his sundry shop, doing various odd-jobs.

Penelo is often frustrated with Vaan's obsession with becoming a sky pirate, and frequently tries to dissuade him from getting into trouble. At the beginning of the game Penelo lectures Vaan about stealing from Archadian soldiers. The pair later witness Dalmasca's new consul, Vayne Solidor, holding a speech in front of the crowds.

Some time thereafter, Penelo meets up with Vaan at the Giza Plains nomad camp, when Vaan is trying to obtain a sunstone in order to sneak into the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. She helps Vaan in his errand and later admits she enjoyed their time together at the plains. Later when she hears intruders have been caught trespassing the palace grounds, she rushes to the site, knowing it had been Vaan's plan. She sees Vaan, together with the sky pirates he had met in the palace, being led away in chains. Balthier, one of the sky pirates, assures her Vaan will be safe and gives Penelo his handkerchief.

Penelo's encounter with Balthier is seen by the headhunter gang led by Ba'Gamnan. They mistakenly assume Penelo knows Balthier personally, and kidnap her, leaving a note for Balthier to meet with them at the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba if he wants to save her. Penelo is freed by her captors when Balthier shows up, and she makes her escape, only to be caught by Archadian soldiers, angry at having discovered her inside the mines, place where Archadia is involved in a secret magicite mining operation.

Penelo is brought to Judge Ghis, but Larsa Solidor comes to her aid, and leads her away to Marquis Ondore's mansion. The two become friends, although Penelo is initially reluctant to trust Larsa, the latter being Vayne Solidor's brother. Larsa explains how the men of his family are taught to put the needs of others first, and having earned her trust, lends her a piece of manufacted nethicite, a top secret item from the Draklor Laboratory. Penelo, not realizing the value of the item, keeps it as a good luck charm.

Penelo joins Larsa onboard the Dreadnought Leviathan where she reunites with Vaan, whose party had been sent in by the marquis to save Ashe, the Princess of Dalmasca who was being kept in captivity by Judge Ghis. The piece of nethicite Larsa gave her helps protect the party from Judge Ghis's magick. Penelo escapes with the band of sky pirates and asks that Vaan let her follow through their journey.

Along their quest, Penelo and Vaan exchange knowledge about the world of Ivalice with the rest of the party. After they defeat Vayne and bring peace about the world they part ways. Two years later, Penelo becomes a full-fledged mage and achieves her dreams of becoming a dancer as she takes on a new attire. She joins her friend Vaan, now a sky pirate, with his own airship, as his partner.

Final Fantasy XII: 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. The ruins start to collapse and while they manage 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 Rabanastre. Penelo is relieved because she no longer has to worry about Vaan 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 Rabanastre, her fears prove true as Vaan sneaks into the ship and steals it. Although she is reluctant to go, Penelo agrees to travel with Vaan to the sky continent of Lemurés. During the game's events Penelo will man the cafe at the Sky Saloon. Speaking to her at certain points in the game will unlock new missions, most consisting of collecting food.

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 close, much to Vaan's dismay. Velis later reveals 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.

Penelo appears in a secret ending clip obtained by completing every mission in the game, where she and Vaan are attempting to sneak out of Rabanastre, only to be caught by Filo and Kytes, leading to Vaan picking up Penelo and making a mad dash for it while Filo and Kytes pursue with several Yarhi. Penelo kisses Vaan before they are caught sneaking off.

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 apologize to Luso for nearly stealing his mark, Vaan leaves, mumbling about how one of his other leads being a waste of time. Penelo turns to Luso and tells him this is Vaan's way of apologizing, by giving him a head start on a good treasure lead.

Stats and Abilities
Out of the playable characters of Final Fantasy XII, Penelo has potentially the highest MP, and at level 99 has the highest Magick Power, tied with Ashe. Penelo has the lowest HP growth and Strength, but her Vitality is high and Speed is average. Penelo joins the party with the Licenses "Daggers 1", "Light Armor 1", and "White Magick 1", and equipped with a Dagger, Leather Cap, and Leather Clothing.

When Penelo joins the party for the first time her level is the same as Vaan's and her LP is Vaan's LP minus 20. When Penelo joins the party permanently later on, her level is the average of the two highest level party members, and her LP is the average of the two highest level party members LP plus 20 and minus the LP she spent before.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
In contrast to Final Fantasy XII Penelo 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, though she also can cast Holy. Penelo's Quickening, Dance of Rapture, fully restores the HP for all allies and removes all debuffs. It is obtained by defeating Ultima.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
As in Revenant Wings, Penelo's unique Job is Dancer, though she now has the degenerating dances of the Final Fantasy Tactics Dancer. She can access Viera Jobs. To recruit Penelo the player must be at the last quest before you fight Illua and go to Fluorgis. An event bubble will pop up. In Fluorgis Al-Cid Margrace will give a letter for a sky pirate that the player "knows", upon which Penelo will appear and join the player's clan. The law system views Penelo as a viera, so any laws that affect viera also affect her.

Voice
Penelo is voiced by Catherine Taber in the English release of Final Fantasy XII. In the Japanese release she is voiced by Yuna Mikuni.

Musical Themes
Penelo's theme in Final Fantasy XII is simply titled "Penelo's Theme". It is a light, cheerful piece that prominently features woodwind instruments. It is played near the beginning of the game, when Penelo scolds Vaan for stealing, and when she joins him in the Nomad Village.

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

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Penelo makes a cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals, the Character Info, in which she expresses her personal opinions on each character. She does not seem to like all the heroes, namely the Warrior of Light (too tough on himself and others), Firion (intimidating), Cloud Strife (not interesting), Squall Leonhart (always worrying and moping around), and Zidane Tribal (too flirtatious). She does appear to like some Warriors of Chaos like Garland (suspecting he may secretly be a big softie), Cloud of Darkness (calling her snake-tendrils cute and wishing she had them), Golbez (seeing him as a sweet older brother), and Jecht (commenting him to have the body of a bronzed god). She also expresses her discontent on the fact that Gabranth, and not Vaan, is representing Final Fantasy XII in the game. She also references Vaan and Kytes by comparing them to Bartz and Onion Knight, respectively. She also admits on idolizing Terra of Final Fantasy VI due to being the lone female on the current Warriors of Cosmos, and for her mature personality.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Penelo makes her return in Dissidia 012 in the same role she had in the previous game, as a tutor for the Character Info of old, new, and secret characters introduced in Dissidia 012. Penelo seems more positive in the descriptions of the characters this time around, including more complimentary comments regarding heroes she did not like in the first game, namely the Warrior of Light (confident), Firion (straightforward and manly), Cloud Strife ("he's so cool"), Squall Leonhart (masculine), and Zidane Tribal (looks pretty refreshing in his new Knight of Pluto outfit).

Several of the Warriors of Chaos she did not like in the first game Penelo also has nice things to comment on, specifically Kefka (the more you look at him, the fonder he becomes), and the Emperor, who in Dissidia she said she does not "even want to see that guy's face!", to now saying although he's still the "same old mean guy", she likes his new outfit.

Etymology
"Penelo" is a shortened version of the name "Penelope". Penelo was possibly named after the character from the Odyssey. was Odysseus' wife who remained faithful to him while he was journeying home after the Trojan War.

Trivia

 * Penelo's sprite is unlocked in Final Fantasy XII's Sky Pirate's Den after the party has earned over 100,000 gil, granting the player the title of Plunderer.
 * An early Final Fantasy XII trailer included the scene depicted in Penelo's official promo art, of her dancing in a forest, but this scene was never seen in the final product. A similar scene was later seen in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.
 * According to Vaan, Kytes, and Filo, Penelo is a terrible cook.
 * Penelo and Basch are the only main characters whose appearances changed for Revenant Wings.

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