Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

Unreleased

Lightning is a playable character in Final Fantasy XIII, and the main protagonist. She wields a gun-sword known as Blaze Edge that can switch between its forms. She is shown to be a cold person, who distances herself from her companions.

By her own account, Lightning cast away her true name and chose the codename "Lightning" instead after her parents died, to distance herself from her past. Her family name is Farron; her first name is currently unknown.

Story
Lightning is a woman chosen by one of the Crystals to take down the floating continent of Cocoon and its tyrannous government, the Sanctum. However, some believe that her coming is a bad omen. She is an ex-military policewoman with her rank, Sergeant, specified on the armor on her left shoulder, and now fights against the PSICOM, a division of the Sanctum military she once served.

She assists in the rescuing of Oerba Dia Vanille, Hope Estheim, and other "purgees" from the claws of PSICOM, teaming up with Snow Villiers in Team Nora, who she seems to have some authority over. Lightning even punches Snow in the face when she felt his actions lead to their mission's failure.

Lightning has a sister, Serah Farron, who is also Snow's fiancée, but she is taken by the fal'Cie. When Snow and Lightning meet again, he promises her that he'll protect the world and Serah. Lightning quickly becomes angry and punches Snow to the ground angrily asking him if he means the way he did before. Snow says he'd set things straight though Lightning only punches him once again and asks what he can do. Snow says he'll do whatever it takes which causes Lightning to calm down and cease her actions.

In the web novel, it is revealed that the sisters lost their parents when Lightning was around Hope's age, and ever since then, Lightning has been acting as Serah's mother, even adopting her current name as a sign of her resolution. However, during her entry into the military, she lost sight of her goals. It is during the web novel that she becomes acquainted with Team Nora, and her dislike of Snow is made very apparent, as she consistently refers to him as a horrible man, or a "worthless unemployed man". She even blames her lack of attention to Serah as a reason for her spending time with Snow. In the novel, Lightning's 21st birthday is approaching, and that Lightning was going to plan a small vacation with Serah in hopes of taking her attention away from Snow.

She is also often annoyed by the antics of her old friend Sazh Katzroy, whose warm empathetic personality is in many ways her foil. She doesn't like the fact that she has to protect a child, Hope Estheim, while fighting off the Sanctum. However, she seems to care about him enough to warn him, as when she and Hope were surrounded by soldiers she told him to run while she stayed to fight them.

Abilities


Lightning has been shown to possesses incredible power with both weapons and magic. In the first trailer, she had a gravity control device called Gravity Bomb, activated by small imprints on her right thumb and index finger, which allowed her to perform feats normally impossible, including attacking while upside down in the air and landing safely from leaps otherwise impossible to survive. She can also create an "electrical shield" and is adept in magic, using various Thunder and Fire spells, as well as a new spell known as Ruin. She fights in a very fast-paced manner, moving with great speed and using her unique weapon as both a gun and sword, and possesses an ability that seems to freeze enemies in time while she speeds up.

In the web novelization Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero: Promise, it is revealed by Lightning's superior, Sergeant Major Amoda, that Lightning's weapon is a Blaze Edge, a weapon only used by the most skilled soldiers.

Eidolon
Lightning's Eidolon is Odin, which she calls from a crystal inside her chest to assist her in battle. In Gestalt Mode Odin transforms into a horse for her to ride on. During this time, Odin's sword, Zantetsuken  is split in two and Lightning dual-wields it while riding Odin.

Gestalt moves:

 * Thunderblade
 * Shockblade
 * Razor Gale
 * Thunderfall
 * Zantetsuken

Design
Lightning's visual design is based off of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII as Tetsuya Nomura was asked to design a female version of him. Another connection with Final Fantasy VII is the fact that she is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto who previously voiced Aerith Gainsborough.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * Tetsuya Nomura wanted to include Lightning in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a bonus character, but felt that this could have affected Final Fantasy XIII in the process by locking down the image of the character's skills and so forth. Instead, two mugshots of her appear as Player Icons, along with Icons featuring Noctis Lucis Caelum, representing Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and the card-wielding character of Final Fantasy Agito XIII.
 * A special edition PS3 featuring an image of Lightning will be released on December 17th in Japan.
 * Lightning's weapon, Blaze Edge, has an inscription that reads "White Flash. Call upon my name."

Lightning