Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

Lightning is a playable character and the main protagonist in Final Fantasy XIII. She wields a gun-blade, namely the Blazefire Saber (Blaze Edge in the Japanese version) that can switch between its forms. She is initially shown to be a cold person, who distances herself from her companions. Lightning was named Claire Farron (Éclair Farron in the Japanese version).

Appearance and Personality
Lightning has light pink hair and blue eyes like her sister Serah. She wears a light brown turtleneck shirt along with a necklace with a lightning bolt pendant underneath a white soldier uniform adorned with a green metal plate over her left shoulder with two glowing yellow stripes symbolizing her rank, a long flowing red cape attached to her back on the left side, and a brown belt around her waist. She also wears two blue gloves with gold plates over her knuckles, a long black sleeve over her left arm that begins from her bicep, a brown mini-skirt with a black case that holds her Blazefire Saber dangling behind her, a storage pack on her left hamstring attached from her skirt, and two knee-high leather boots. Her l'Cie brand is on her chest, but remains hidden beneath her shirt. She also has a slightly unnoticeable navel piercing.

Lightning's personality is determined, concentrated, independent, and cunning. Lightning has a straight forward persona with a lone wolf attitude, similar to that of Squall Leonhart. She is easily annoyed, as when Snow called her "sister" due to his relationship with her sister, Serah, she yells at him and at one time, nearly pummels him to submission. However, Lightning was not completely heartless; she cared deeply for her sister's safety. After their parents died, Lightning looked out for Serah like she was her daughter. She also comforted Hope Estheim after the loss of his mother and decided to take him under her wing; it is possible that she sees Hope as a kindred spirit because of how they both lost their mothers at a young age.

Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero: Promise
In the web novel, it is revealed that her parents died when she was around Hope's age, and ever since then, she has acted as a mother to her younger sister, Serah. However, when she enters the Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment as a sergeant under Sergeant Major Amodar, she losese sight of her goals, becoming acquainted with NORA. Lightning's dislike of Snow is made very apparent, as she consistently refers to him as a "worthless unemployed man". She even blames her lack of attention to Serah as a reason for her spending time with Snow. As Lightning's 21st birthday approaches, she plans a vacation to Bodhum, hoping to visit Serah and take her attention away from Snow. While attending the Bodhum fireworks, Lightning learns of a Pulse-related incident being kept under wraps, which Amodar warns her not to investigate. The next day, her birthday, Serah tells Lightning that she is a l'Cie; Lightning thinks it is an excuse to marry Snow. Only after driving her sister off that Lightning learns the truth as Bodhum is placed under lockdown for Purging. Soon after, Serah is trapped in the Pulse fal'Cie, and Lightning resigns from Guardian Corps to make her way onto a Purgee train in a plan to save her sister.

Final Fantasy XIII
As the train enters Hanging Edge, Lightning fights her way through the soldiers along with Sazh Katzroy, her accomplice, rallying the Purgees as PSICOM sends its forces after the train and derail it. As the surviving Purgees escape and are found by NORA, Lightning presses forward to Pulse's fal'Cie with the intent of saving her sister. However, once she and Sazh find Serah unconscious, Sazh reaches for his gun, as Pulse l'Cie are enemies of Cocoon. After Lightning asks him if she should kill Serah out of love, Serah wakes up. Then Snow arrives with Vanille and Hope, and rushes to Serah's side. When he says that he will take Serah home, Lightning objects saying that she will take Serah as Snow could not protect her as he said he would at their last meeting. After Serah tells Lightning to save Cocoon, she asks if that was her Focus. Suddenly, Serah's l'Cie brand glows and crystallizes. With Snow at her side, Lightning takes Serah's crystallization hard and takes her anger out on Snow after learning that he was still going to marry her sister. Driven by grief to destroy the fal'Cie Anima as her way of honoring her promise to Serah of saving Cocoon, Lightning is made into a l'Cie.

Coming to at Lake Bresha, Lightning leads the group before she and Snow go their separate ways after finding Serah and Lightning regrettably accepts her sister's fate, to Snow's dismay. Lightning learns that PSICOM is searching for Purge survivors. When Vanille asks Lightning if Serah told her what her Focus was, Lightning says no, possibly because Serah felt that she could not trust her. They come soon across ancient ruins deep with the crystallized lake. When Vanille runs ahead, Lightning tells her to stay close but goes ignored. She, Sazh, and Vanille fight a Garuda Interceptor after it attacks Vanille. Escaping Lake Bresha with an airship and ending up at the Vile Peaks area, Lightning decides to go ahead of the group as they were still being tracked. Sazh tells her to let them take a break since they do not have her stamina. Lightning scolds him for having enough energy to complain, and leaves with Hope following close behind. When he catches up to her and asks if they should wait for Sazh and Vanille, Lightning says that they will eventually catch up. When they come to a rest, Lightning tells Hope that she became part of the Purge in order to save Serah. Hope tells her that he could never do something like that, and Lightning tells him that it's not a question of can or can't, since there are some things that people just do. After Hope tells Lightning that it's easy for her to say, she scales the wall leaving him behind. A while after the group is reunited, Lightning resolves to go to Cocoon's capital of Eden and destroy its fal'Cie as she refuses to die as a fal'Cie tool. After Sazh tells her that Snow will be her enemy the next time they meet, Lightning says if that will be the case then so be it and leaves again to be followed by Hope. Soon after they get separated from Sazh and Vanille by soldiers, in a moment of anger as her l'Cie power manifests, Lightning yells at Hope about how she can barely protect him when she can hardly keep herself alive, collapsing to the ground as it triggers Odin to appear and attack Hope. Then Lightning saves Hope and they battle him to prove Lightning's strength to the Eidolon. After the battle, Lightning apologizes to Hope for what she said and tells him that she will train him to make him stronger. When they reach a deserted area, Lightning tells Hope to stay and rest while she checks out the area. After she returns, she finds Hope fast asleep. As she watches him, he utters "Mom?" She tells him "Not by a long shot." As Lightning and Hope are about to enter the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning tells Hope that she will lead and he will be her backup. When Hope asks her if he can lead instead, she asks him if he can handle it. After he reassures her, Lightning smiles, gives him the nod to go ahead, then tells him to look forward and she will guard his back. She eventually gives him the knife Serah gave to her as a birthday present to borrow for protection. As they proceed further, Lightning asks Hope why he is in such a hurry. After he responds when she mentions Snow, she asks if something happened between them. Hope tells her that Snow caused his mother's death, and that he wants to make Snow remember. When Lightning and Hope come across unconscious PSICOM soliders, Hope tries to examine them but Lightning pulls him back to the ground. She tells him not to go easy on them or let his emotions get in the way if he wants to survive. Then she suggests that Hope thinks of it as a survival plan, and he creates Operation Nora in his mother's honor. Lightning asks Hope if he wants revenge against Snow, and tells him that the Sanctum killed his mother and not Snow. After they escape the Gapra Whitewoods and see Palumpolum in the distance, Lightning suggests that she and Hope visit his house, as he needs to tell his father about his mother.

In Palumpolum, Lightning follows Hope through tunnels leading underground in order to evade PSICOM soldiers. After Hope tells Lightning that the fal'Cie possibly view humans as pets living off of them, she realizes she was a fal'Cie pawn even before being a l'Cie and was fighting as an excuse to regain the feeling of safety she had before Serah became a l'Cie. Realizing she dragged him into the same delusion, Lightning tells Hope to abandon Operation Nora as she made a mistake, assuring him that she would not abandon him. She eventually reveals to Hope the reason she changed her name as a way to be stronger for Serah ever since their parents died. Before taking an elevator back to the surface, Lightning tells Hope to see his father as fighting without hope was no way to live but only a way to die, as well as in order to find the hope that he was named for. After returning topside within the Agora, they are surrounded by soldiers led by Yaag Rosch. She tells him to run while she stayed to fight, although Hope refused. As Snow and Fang attacked the soldiers riding Shiva, Lightning attacks them while protecting Hope. She leaves Hope in Snow's care and runs off with Fang behind her. While with Fang, Lightning learns of the latter's connection with Vanille and that they were from Pulse. Lightning tells her that if it were not for Serah, she would have been hunting l'Cie as a soldier. After Fang asks Lightning if she has seen Vanille's l'Cie brand and Lightning says no, Fang explains to her how a l'Cie's brand can tell how much closer one is to becoming a Cie'th. Later after reuniting with Snow and Hope, who returns her knife and tells her that Operation Nora didn't work out, Lightning hugs him and tells him not to worry and that she will look after him. While staying at Hope's place, Lightning explains to Snow why she didn't listen to Serah before, as it was too much to bear and asks for his forgiveness.

Late in the game on Pulse, Lightning and Snow talk about Serah. When Snow asks if they will see her again, Lightning puts her fist to his back and tells him to look forward as there is no room for doubt. She tells Snow that they will see Serah again soon, since he convinced her of that and to stay strong. Lightning begins to cry with her fist still on his back. After Snow says that they will go see Serah together when they save Cocoon, Lightning steps towards him and rests her head on his back. In Oerba, it is revealed by Galenth Dysley, posing as Serah, that Lightning's real name is Claire Farron. During the confrontation with Orphan, Lightning along with Sazh, Hope, and Snow tried to stop Fang from invoking Ragnarok, and the four of them turned into Cie'th. However, Lightning and the others have their Focus changed at the last moment, seeing a vision of smiling people in the future and their happy times as a party much like the initial Focus briefing of Ragnarok at the start, indicating their Focus is this time the happy future of everyone. Focus changed, they revert from their Cie'th forms and are permitted to live on as humans. After Orphan's defeat and the crystallization of Cocoon, Lightning reassures Hope after Fang and Vanille don't return, reunites with Serah, and also seems to accept Snow and Serah's relationship.

Abilities and Equipment
Lightning has been shown to possess incredible power with both weapons and magic. She has a military-issue gravity control device called a Grav-con Unit, activated by small imprints on her right thumb and index finger, which allows her to perform feats normally impossible, including attacking while upside down in the air and landing safely from leaps otherwise impossible to survive.

She is a powerful Commando, having rather high physical and magical attack stats compared to most of her companions. As a Ravager she is quite utilitarian, able to use all four elemental "-strike" attacks, all elemental magic to the "-Ra" rank, as well as casting Thundaga. Lightning's full ATB Ravager skill, Army of One (known as Scene Drive in the Japanese version), is a series of strikes from Lightning's weapon. She fights in a very fast-paced manner, moving with great speed. Her Eidolon is Odin; upon its transformation into Gestalt Mode, Odin becomes the horse Sleipnir which Lightning rides on while wielding two massive swords.

Lightning's initial weapon is a gunblade called the Blazefire Saber (Blaze Edge in Japanese version). Gunblades are a weapon only used by the most skilled soldiers. In the game, the gunblade has a number of models:


 * Flamberge (Magnum Blaze)
 * Axel Blade
 * Enkindler (Ignite Blade)
 * Edged Carbine (Saber Carbine)
 * Razor Carbine (Slash Carbine)
 * Lifesaber
 * Peacemaker
 * Gladius
 * Helter-Skelter
 * Ogrenix
 * Apocalypse
 * Hauteclaire
 * Durandal
 * Lionheart
 * Ultima Weapon
 * Omega Weapon

Design
Lightning's visual design is influenced from Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, as Tetsuya Nomura was asked to design a female version of him to be the protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII. However, Yoshinori Kitase has contradicted this, saying the only similarities between the two are their pasts as soldiers, as Lightning has a more fragile side to her that Cloud does not.

In another connection to Final Fantasy VII, Lightning is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto, who previously voiced Aerith Gainsborough in Advent Children, Crisis Core, and the Kingdom Hearts series, in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII.

Etymology
"Claire" is a French name, the feminine form of the common name Clair. As the feminine name, Claire directly translates as "clear", while Clair can mean light-colored, bright, and pale, among other meanings. "Éclair" is a French word that means "Lightning,". The surname "Farron" comes from the Gaelic language, meaning "thunder." The combination of the two references thunder coming after the lightning.

Early in development, Lightning's real name was going to be "Averia", referring to a species of flowering plants. At this stage, "Éclair" was used during auditions in place of Averia to keep the name secret.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning's Theme is an acoustic orchestral version of the main battle theme "Blinded by Light".

Trivia

 * She is the second central female protagonist in the main series, the first being Terra Branford of Final Fantasy VI.
 * Lightning's facial structure has changed during development. In the early materials, she had slightly less feminine traits and her hair was a faded crimson color rather than pale pink.
 * A special edition PlayStation 3 featuring an image of Lightning was released on December 17th in Japan.
 * On the day of the US release of Final Fantasy XIII (March 9), a special edition Xbox 360 featuring Lightning on a faceplate was released. The faceplate is only avaliable through pre-order on certain websites and stores
 * Lightning's initial weapon, Blaze Edge, has an inscription that reads "White Flash. Call upon my name."
 * Lightning is quite tall compared to other female characters in the series. She is 5'7", while others like Aerith and Yuna are 5'3" or so in height.
 * The higher of the two bracelets that Lightning wears is also worn by her sister, Serah. Both wear it on their right arm.
 * Lightning's crystal has taken a shape of a rose, and the rose petals can be seen when Lightning summons Odin and also during Odin's change into horse form in his Gestalt Mode.
 * In the Japanese language version, different characters call her differently -
 * Serah always addresses her Onee-chan ("elder sister").
 * Her superior officer, Sergeant Major Amodar, calls her Sergeant Farron.
 * Snow calls her Sister (Nee-san in japanese version, written as 義姉さん, "sister-in-law", though the actual Kana for "義姉" should be Gishi'',) as he is already treating her as his sister-in-law, usually to Lightning's irritation ("I'm not your sister!" is a recurring response from Lightning). In the English language trailers whenever Snow originally says "Nee-san", he is localized to say "Lightning", except two times in Chapters 2 and 7.
 * Sazh often calls her Nee-chan, though in his context it is more like calling a woman, "Miss", informally. This is the same for him to call Snow Nii-chan (bro/brother).
 * Hope and Fang each originally calls her Lightning, but sometime later are asked by Lightning to just call her "Light" for short.
 * In the Japanese version, Vanille is seen to call Lightning "Onee-san" ("big/elder sister") in Chapter 3 at Lake Bresha during the gameplay.