Mog (Final Fantasy XIII-2)



Mog is a supporting character in Final Fantasy XIII-2. He accompanies Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss on their journey through time, teaches them about the game's mechanics, and acts as Serah's weapon in battle.

In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Mog is the leader of the moogle village in the Wildlands of Nova Chrysalia, and is grief-stricken over his inability to protect Serah.

Although he is officially called "Mog", there exists official material which calls him The Moogle or just Moogle, for example in the EU wallpaper. In the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Mog is referred to as "Moogle" and rarely called "Mog".

Datalog
''Mog is a small, mysterious creature covered in white fur. He has bat-like wings that he often beats as he flits around, but his power of flight does not appear to rely on them.''

''Mog has a crystal bobble that reacts to the presence of anomalies, and he is proficient at finding lost objects, but his most astounding feature is his ability to transform into a weapon. With the right components available, Mog is capable of evolving into even more powerful weaponry.''

Lightning came across Mog in Valhalla, and asked the strange little being to act as Serah's protector and good luck charm.

Although he closely resembles the fictitious moogles described in Cocoon's fairy tales, the connection is uncertain.

Final Fantasy XIII-2


Mog is a white moogle with a human-sized head that is big compared to his body. He has oblique eyes, a big round nose, puffy pink cheeks, small ears, short arms and legs, purple bat wings, and a pink crystal bobble instead of a traditional fluffy pom-pom on a black antenna. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 he carries a clock staff composed of a blue rod, a bronze clock with a white clock face adorned with the same kind of crystal that is on Mog's antenna. In the "Time's Shell" fragment entry in Final Fantasy XIII-2 Mog says his body is just a puppet, and that he actually exists inside the clock. This is contradicted by another fragment where Mog insists he is not a puppet and is offended when Arbiter of Time calls him such. In other fragment entries Mog elaborates it is his crystal bobble rather than his wings that enable him to fly.

Mog is shy and reluctant to talk at first, but as time passes he shows to be a caring and lively being with a spunky and sarcastic side. Whenever he feels a strong emotion he expresses himself in an over-the-top manner. He hides behind Serah whenever scared. Mog doesn't like people holding and poking him.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments After details Mog's friendship with Lightning. Mog shows a determined and feisty side, challenging Lightning despite knowing he has a huge disadvantage. Mog is depressed and lonely whenever he is without friends, and is indebted to Lightning for her compassion towards him and swears to "follow her until the day he dies".

Despite initially keeping his distance, Mog bonds with Serah, hovering around her when she is knocked out in battle and fretting until she is revived. As Serah and Noel help Mog remember things from his past in Oerba from 300 to 400 AF, he chooses not to take what might be his only chance at returning home, and claims his new home is at Serah's side. Mog warms up to Snow after some time, occasionally making a joke or comment about him. Mog has a greedy side, displayed in Bresha Ruins at 100 and 300 AF where Mog has several monologues scheming to solve the area's monster infestation and secure a large bounty of gil from the government as compensation. His voice becomes diabolical and sinister in these moments, a change from his usual easy-going personality, as he dreams of earning "all the gil my little heart could desire, kupo".

Mog has a sense of humor. Many of Mog's funnier moments are seen in the paradox ending, "Mischievous Mog's Marvelous Plan with Flan", and Live Trigger conversations with a variety of the more humorous answers regarding Mog. For example, in the Yaschas Massif 10 AF, Mog plays along with Serah's joke about Fenrir's appearance, if the player chooses the "Moogle Conspiracy" answer to the Live Trigger regarding the fal'Cie's appearance. In the paradox ending, Mog shows a bit of a diabolical nature as he describes feeding the poison flan to the giant flan and killing it, noting how it would "keel over and die on the spot". Mog has a temper at times, his eyes changing shape to show his angry face, and Mog will blow a raspberry at the person angering him and/or repeatedly flail his wand at them.

Mog attracts the attention of others with his appearance and the use of his talents. When using his Moogle Hunt or Throw abilities in Final Fantasy XIII-2, NPCs will run over to watch, or chase him as he flies toward his target. As shown with the Miniflan in the Sunleth Waterscape at 400 AF, Mog can understand the languages of monsters.

Downloadable Content
Downloadable content lets the player choose a new look for Mog. The sixteen different designs contain a pirate look and a panda look, among others.

Some of this outfits are reused in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII as moogles from the moogle village from the Wildlands.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Mog's overall appearance remains the same but he now wears a small gold-and-red crown with a green jewel on top. Mog is full of regret for failing to save Serah from her fate and has grieved for her ever since, but remains the same moogle that Lightning knew centuries before.

Story
Mog originates from the Ocean of Time, a place abundant with moogles. While playing hide-and-seek with his friends, Mog was sucked into a paradox, losing his memories of his home, friends, and family. Mog drifted away into the Void Beyond and during his travel, he encountered a chocobo chick and many other various creatures in many humorous encounters, including those with five flan, a Centaurion Blade, an Imp and his Ahriman friend, and the Proto Fal'Cie Adam.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments After
Mog ends up in Valhalla, battling the Eidolon Odin and the knight Valfodr upon learning the realm's rule is that the weak must serve the strong. Neither wanted anything to do with the moogle due to his weakness, and Mog was found by Lightning. He tells off Lightning for mistaking him for a stuffed toy and pushes away her attempts to help him.

To live up to his title as the "Weakest Monster of the Void", Mog challenges Lightning to a duel and loses, but instead of abandoning him Lightning wants to take him under her wing. Mog pledges to serve her forever and tells Lightning about Valhalla, the Void Beyond, and the goddess Etro. He accompanies Lightning and Odin to Etro's temple, but since he is forbidden to enter, Mog stays outside with Odin. While Lightning is battling the throne guardian Bahamut, she loses her weapon. Sensing Lightning in danger, Mog breaks the rules and comes to her aid. Transforming into a bow, Lightning takes Mog and defeats Bahamut. Lightning goes before Etro's throne and is transformed into the goddess's champion.

Final Fantasy XIII-2


During her battle with Caius Ballad, Lightning summons Mog and gives him to Noel Kreiss so he would pass Mog on to Serah as a gift and good-luck-charm. In the Gran Pulse village of New Bodhum 3 AF, Mog follows Serah and Noel to the site of the meteor crash, which turns out to be a Time Gate. The next morning, Mog uses his item detecting ability to help Noel and Serah find an artefact to activate the Time Gate. After finding an artefact, Serah, Noel, and Mog enter the Time Gate and the Historia Crux.

They come out into the Bresha Ruins 5 AF in Cocoon, where they are attacked by Atlas and Alyssa Zaidelle enlists their help in defeating it. When Serah and Noel witness a defeated monster turn into a crystal, Mog speaks for the first time, explaining the monster is now under their control.

As Serah and Noel approach a device capable of weakening Atlas, they are dragged into a paradox. Mog flies into the Temporal Rift after them and says they need to solve the puzzle to get out. After defeating Atlas, the trio travels to the Yaschas Massif in 10 AF, where they meet Hope Estheim and meet up with Alyssa. They talk about the Farseers and the seeress Yeul, who was able to look into the future. To resolve the paradox affecting the area, the trio goes to Oerba in 200 AF, where they encounter Caius Ballad and Yeul. After solving the paradox, they return to the Yaschas Massif in 1X AF, an alternate reality where the eclipse never happened. After meeting with Hope and Alyssa again, Mog senses a new gate in the area, which Serah and Noel use to emerge in the Void Beyond, a place Mog says is the area between Time Gates.

They travel to the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF and find Serah's fiancé Snow. Noel, Serah, and Mog travel to the Coliseum and the Archylte Steppe in ??? AF and retrieve the White and Black Hole fragments before returning to the Sunleth Waterscape to resolve the paradox causing the existence of the Royal Ripeness. Leaving Sunleth, Serah, Mog, and Noel emerge in the Void Beyond again and travel to the highly-advanced Pulsian city of Academia in 400 AF. The people are transformed into Cie'th and they encounter Caius. As they chase him through the Cie'th infested city, they find Yeul whom they save from a Zenobia but she dies, leaving behind an artefact.

In the Augusta Tower in 200 AF, the party learns Hope created the Proto fal'Cie Adam to re-levitate Cocoon. The party talks with the Yeul they previously met in Oerba and battles Adam, and Serah uses Mog to intercept the Proto fal'Cie's attack before Noel uses Mog to fire at the fal'Cie's core. Receiving a shock from the ordeal, Mog says, "You guys play rough, kupo", while Serah and Noel call him a hero for saving the day. When the Proto fal'Cie revives itself through a paradox, Serah yells at Hope for creating it and it vanishes from existence, because Hope received Serah's message through the Oracle Drive.

Arriving in Academia 4XX AF, Serah, Noel, and Mog are greeted by Hope and Alyssa. Unsure if they are the real deal, Mog flies around Hope to inspect him, before the latter puts Noel and Serah's minds at ease. After helping out Hope's "New Cocoon Project" Alyssa gives the trio an artefact. Before leaving through a new Time Gate, Mog, Noel, and Serah say their goodbyes, but Mog notices Alyssa smirking before he heads into the gate after Serah and Noel. Mog gets knocked out by a dislodged piece of the Historia Crux.

Serah saves him but the two get separated from Noel and emerge in Valhalla's shadow in the Void Beyond. Mog's soul is separated from his body and he is unable to interact with Serah. After Serah's confrontation with Caius, Mog continues to follow her throughout her dream in the Void, where she encounters Vanille and Fang who help her find Noel in his own dream world to save him.

In the Dying World in 700 AF, after Noel and Serah activate the Oracle Drive at the Farseers' Relic, Mog's soul is freed from the Void Beyond by Lightning and returns to his body. Mog brings Serah and Noel new information from Lightning about Caius. They go to New Bodhum 700 AF and meet with Lightning, who tells them the story of how she came to Valhalla and became Etro's protector and reveals Caius's plan to kill the goddess. Mog reveals a Time Gate that will take Noel and Serah to the year 500 AF, the time of the prophecy, when Caius will attempt to destroy both Cocoons.

Emerging from the gate, the party finds themselves in Academia in 500 AF and Serah and Noel fight Caius in his Bahamut and human forms until a wormhole opens in the sky. Mog, Noel, and Serah jump into the wormhole following after Caius and emerge in Valhalla. After Caius impales himself with Noel's sword and fades away, numerous Time Gates appear throughout Valhalla. Mog says the final paradox has been solved and that he does not sense Lightning in Valhalla.

They leave Valhalla back to Gran Pulse at 500 AF, where the new Cocoon, Bhunivelze, has risen into the sky, and the gate to Valhalla closes. Serah dies after having a vision of the future, and Hope joins Mog and Noel as they mourn for Serah. The world goes dark, Mog grows weak and faints in Hope's embrace, saying Etro is gone. Chaos consumes Gran Pulse along with Bhunivelze and the world merges with Valhalla, forming Nova Chrysalia.

In the paradox ending, "Mischievous Mog's Marvelous Plan with Flan", the Sunleth Waterscape at ??? AF is taken over by monsters under the rule of a new giant flan, which plans to eliminate humans and make monsters the dominant species. Noel and Serah use magic to disguise themselves as a Microchu and Miniflan to move about unnoticed by the giant flan. With Mog's help, they plan to make a poisonous flan to feed to the flan and kill it. After Noel tells Mog to find the rest of the needed ingredients for the poison flan, Mog gets annoyed with having to do all the work and says that Noel will be the first to taste the poisonous flan before laughing maniacally.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
After the birth of Nova Chrysalia, Mog was pulled into a vortex of chaos. He wandered through the Void Beyond for centuries and eventually reunited with his moogle companions. In Nova Chrysalia, they built a moogle village in the Wildlands, where Mog was made the leader. When he reunites with Lightning, Mog tries to run, but Lightning speaks to him words of kindness and greets him with a smile. The moogle village is under attack from monsters in the forest, so Lightning decides to help them. Like the Eidolons, Mog and his kind cease to be upon Bhunivelze's defeat, but before fading away, Mog gives his final goodbyes to the revived Serah.

Gameplay


In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Mog can not only transform himself into Serah's weapon, but can also use his magic to execute the Mog Clock pre-battle system and detect hidden treasures on the field with Moogle Hunt. Mog can be thrown by Noel or Serah toward out-of-reach areas through the Moogle Throw command.

The Moogle Hunt command is used to find hidden or "phased out" items. If there are hidden items in the area, Mog's pom-pom will flash, and he will approach the area where the item is hidden. If /RB is pressed, the treasure becomes visible if it is within a certain range. The / button can then be used to attain said item.

As the player gains Mog's trust, the Moogle Throw command will become available. This allows the player to throw Mog to a location where he can attain out-of reach treasures, although Mog will protest. This can be utilized using the /LB button.

There are two fragment skills that improve Mog's abilities; "Mog's Manifestation" unlocks Advanced Moogle Throw, which allows Mog to always bring back items after he has been thrown; this is obtained upon speaking to the mystic in Serendipity for the first time; and "Mobile Mog", which reduces the cooldown time of the Moogle Throw and is acquired after obtaining all fragments from Oerba in all time periods, including Oerba ??? AF.

Creation and Development
In Final Fantasy XIII, moogles only appear on the sign for the Moogleworks shop. Motomu Toriyama, director of Final Fantasy XIII-2, said that having a moogle as a mascot type character in the sequel is fan service and that the team intend to show moogles as a symbol for the Final Fantasy series and to make it easier for players to get involved in the game’s rather serious main story. Mog was designed by Toshitaka Matsuda, who was the lead art designer of Final Fantasy XIII. His design was chosen over other possible designs made by various members of the development team. It was based on the idea of a "baby moogle" with exaggerated features.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Mog's Japanese voice actor is Sumire Morohoshi, while his English voice actress is.

The sound designers had difficulties on Mog's voice, especially ad-lib or responsive sounds and answers. "Kupo" is Mog's main means of communication, but with each scene the emotion is different, and so the sound designers divided the "kupo" into categories such as "angry", "sad", and "happy", and recorded it many times in different ways. Afterward, the team chose which "kupo" was applicable to the different situations.

There are times Mog speaks quite a bit, but at first, during the beginning stages of development, the team had made him talk too much to the point of Mog talking nonstop while navigating the map. The designers had to go through some trial and error by changing or decreasing the occurrence patterns and changing the script to balance things out.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
For currently unknown reasons, Mog's English voice actress for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII changed to, who also voiced Mog and Mogella in the same game.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Mog has two cards in the Japanese Final Fantasy trading card game. His cards are ice-elemental.

Merchandise
Ultimate Prize winners of the Word to Your Moogle tour received a pink and white PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 featuring Mog. A tag featuring Mog is also available in the Japanese Square Enix shop.

Glico, the snack company has been working with Square Enix to promote Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII in Japan. Friend Bakery will have Mog and Chocobo Chick on its wrapper.

Trivia

 * Mog Clock appears as a weapon in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade and will appear in Final Fantasy XIV.
 * Mog shares his Japanese voice actor with Mog from Final Fantasy Type-0. Both English and Japanese voice actors also voiced Marlene Wallace in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete and young Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts series.
 * The clock face of Mog's staff is divided into twelve sections like clocks in the real world, as opposed to the thirteen-sectioned clock face seen in Final Fantasy XIII's Nautilus and Oerba's Deserted Schoolhouse as two hours were lost due to Etro's intervention at the end of Final Fantasy XIII. For some reason, Mog does not have his clock staff in the ending FMV.
 * Mog is called "Piggy Kitty" by Noel when a Breshan researcher asks him about his name. Moogles first appeared in Final Fantasy III where they said "nyaa", the Japanese onomatopoeia for "meow", which was replaced with "kupo". Moogles in some games resemble a pig; hence the 'piggy' part of the nickname.
 * In the last Live Trigger in Yaschas Massif 10 AF, where Serah notices something is on Noel's mind and the player chooses an option regarding Mog, a funny conversation about Mog's face will take place: Serah will say Mog's face is "cute", while Noel's says it's weird or "unique".
 * According to the fragments obtained in Oerba, the "duel" between Mog and Lightning was actually a rock-paper-scissors match.
 * If the player loads a save around the beginning of the game any time after Noel appears in New Bodhum, Mog may be heard narrating "Final Fantasy XIII-2: The story so far, kupo!" even though in the game itself it has not yet been revealed he can say more than just "kupo!"
 * In the Brain Blast quiz, it is said that Serah and Noel's journey through time caused a "moogle throw simulator" research project to receive lots of funding and donations.
 * A doll of Mog is present in Chocolina's chest.