Mog (Final Fantasy XIII-2)



Mog (モーグリ) is a supporting character in Final Fantasy XIII-2. He teaches Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss about the game's mechanics. Mog is voiced by Sumire Morohoshi in the Japanese version, and Ariel Winter in the English version.

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.

Appearance and Personality
Mog is a white moogle with a fairly human-sized head that is big when compared to his body. He has closed oblique eyes, a big round salmon nose, puffy pink cheeks, small ears, short arms and legs, purple bat wings, and unlike other moogles, he has a pink crystal pom-pom instead of a traditional fluffy one on a black antenna. 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 like that on Mog's antennae.

Mog is shy and reluctant to talk at first, but as time passes and he begins to talk, he shows himself to be a very caring and lively being with a spunky and sarcastic side to him. Whenever he feels a strong emotion, he tends to express them in a slightly over-the-top manner. He has a habit of hiding behind Serah whenever certain situations become too much for him to handle. Mog shows discomfort towards people holding and poking him for long periods of time until he gets used to them, evident when he meets Serah, during one scene with Snow Villiers, and through the Moogle Throw mechanism.

Despite his initial distance, Mog is closely bonded to 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 that his new home is at Serah's side. Mog also warms up to Snow after some time, occasionally making a light joke or comment about him.

Mog has a greedy side, displayed when the player accesses the Bresha Ruins much later in the timeline; throughout the 100 and 300 AF quests, Mog has several monologues where he schemes to solve the area's monster infestation and secure a large bounty of gil from the government as compensation. His voice becomes somewhat diabolical or 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 easily attracts the attention of others with his cute appearance and the use of his talents. When using his Moogle Hunt or Throw abilities in settlements, civilian NPCs will often run over to watch, or even chase him as he flies toward his target. As shown with the flan in Sunleth at 400 AF, Mog is also capable in understanding the languages of monsters, as he can translate what they say to Noel and Serah.

Story
Mog originated from the Ocean of Time, a place that was abundant with other moogles. While playing hide-and-seek with his friends, Mog is sucked into a paradox. Losing his memories of his home, friends, and family, Mog drifted away into the Void Beyond. He encounters many various strong creatures. Some of them challenge him but he is always defeated and abandoned for being weak. Mog eventually ends up in Valhalla, where he is also challenged, defeated, and left by Odin. Mog is soon found by Lightning by Valhalla's shore. She also beats him in a duel but instead of leaving Mog behind, she places him in her care, compelling a thankful Mog to be loyal to her forever.

Transforming into the Starseeker weapon during her battle with Caius Ballad, Lightning gives Mog to Noel Kreiss so Serah can receive the moogle as a gift and good luck charm. In the Gran Pulse village of New Bodhum -003 AF-, Mog meets Serah, who at first assumes him to be a toy moogle. She then grabs hold of Mog as she questions Noel about Lightning. Mog constantly squirms her embrace until she drops him. Then he follows Serah and Noel to the site of the meteor crash, where the latter reveals the meteor to be a time gate, and later, Mog sits with Serah as she and the members of NORA listen to Noel's story.

The next morning, Mog uses his item detecting ability to help Noel and Serah find an artefact to use the time gate. In the process, Mog finds Lightning's survival knife, Serah's cat, and a student of hers who took Snow's pendant. Soon after finding an artefact, Serah, Noel and Mog enter the time gate and the Historia Crux.

They come out into the Bresha Ruins -005 AF- in Cocoon, where they are attacked by Atlas. After Serah and Noel defeat him and are surrounded by armed troops, Mog attempts to stand up to them but promptly hides behind Serah in fright, and follows suit when she and Noel surrender themselves. They are eventually set free by a young girl named Alyssa Zaidelle. When Serah and Noel witness a defeated monster turn into a crystal, Mog talks for the first time, explaining to them that the monster is now under their control, causing Noel to remember Lightning having an army of monsters with her in battle. In the underground tunnels, as Serah and Noel approach the device capable of weakening Atlas, they are dragged into a paradox.

Mog flies into the Temporal Rift after them, and says that in order to escape, they need to solve the puzzle. After defeating Atlas, the party learns about Alyssa being a Purge survivor. The trio goes to Yaschas Massif -010 AF-, where they meet Hope Estheim along with an older Alyssa. They show them a device called an Oracle Drive, which stores the prophecies made by a seeress named Yeul. Traveling to Oerba -200 AF-, Serah, Noel and Mog see the area being sucked into a void which Mog says is caused by the past and future merging as one. After resolving the paradoxes, they encounter Caius and Yeul.

Returning to Yaschas Massif -1X AF-, the trio meets another Yeul who gives Serah a cryptic message before leaving. They repeat their meeting with Hope and see images of Lightning in Valhalla and Caius seemingly destroying Cocoon through the Oracle Drive. Afterwards, Mog senses a new gate in the area. They use it and emerge in the Void Beyond, a place where Mog says is the area between time gates. When Serah decides to rest, Mog sits down next to her before they listen to Noel recite a legend about Etro to them before they continue onwards.

In the Sunleth Waterscape -300 AF-, they see a trail of Miniflan and notice more appear, seemingly through a paradox. Then Serah has another vision and runs off frantic. Mog flies after her before Noel eventually catches up with them. They find Snow under attack by Miniflan before they battle the Royal Ripeness. As it regenerates itself, the party retreats to a safe location. Learning about the threat the Royal Ripeness poses to Cocoon's crystal pillar from Snow, the party decides to follow the trail of Miniflan as it could lead them to an artefact. After disposing of the Miniflan guarding the artefact, Mog gives it to Serah before Snow begins playfully poking him, much to Mog's dismay. Noel, Serah and Mog soon travel to the Coliseum and the Archylte Steppe -??? AF-, and retrieve the White and Black Hole Fragments before returning to Sunleth to resolve the paradox.

After Snow disappears, they enter a time gate and re-enter the Void Beyond, deciding to take a break before they continue on their journey. When they go to Academia -400 AF-, the Proto fal'Cie begins turning people into Cie'th, and Mog hides behind Serah as the trio is surrounded. They fight their way thorough the city and encounter Caius, who accuses them of causing a paradox after appearing alive and well despite dying in a tower 200 years earlier after learning the forbidden history sealed inside. Serah, Mog, and Noel soon find Yeul under attack from Cie'th. They save her but she soon dies, leaving an artefact for them to use to go to Augusta Tower -200 AF-. While exploring it, they see images of them in Academia and Caius ascending the tower's levels from afar.

After meeting an artificial duplicate of Alyssa, Serah, Noel and Mog learn the forbidden history that Caius spoke of: in the year 13 AF, Hope, Alyssa and other Academy scientists were murdered by the rogue AI of the Proto fal'Cie they built. They eventually meet the same Yeul from Oerba, who reveals secrets about Caius to them. She also tells them that the fal'Cie's sentient AI is the culprit behind the dangers they have been facing. At Yeul's insistence, they travel to the tower's core and battle the Proto fal'Cie Adam. Serah uses Mog to intercept the Proto fal'Cie's attack before Noel uses Mog to fire at the fal'Cie's core. Electrocuted from the ordeal, Mog says, "You guys play rough, kupo", while Serah and Noel call him a hero for saving the day. Unfortunately, Adam continuously uses a paradox to keep returning whenever defeated. As a last resort, Serah yells at Hope for creating the Proto fal'Cie, which miraculously erases it from existence.

Arriving in Academia -4XX AF-, Serah, Noel and Mog find a now peaceful city before they are greeted by Hope and Alyssa. As Noel and Serah are cautious from the events in Augusta Tower, Mog flies around Hope to inspect him before he and Alyssa puts the trio's minds at ease. At Academy's headquarters, Hope tells them about his "New Cocoon Project", in which at 13 AF, the Academy began building a new man-made Cocoon to be completed before the old Cocoon falls as prophesized. After bringing him the 5 Graviton Cores needed for the new Cocoon to float, Alyssa gives the trio an artefact.

Before leaving, Mog, Noel and Serah say their goodbyes to Hope and Alyssa. Mog however notices Alyssa stop and look back, smirking with a grim expression before heading into the time gate behind Serah and Noel. Upon catching up to them, Mog gets hit and knocked out cold by a dislodged piece of the Historia Crux. Serah saves him but the two of them get separated from Noel. They emerge in Valhalla's shadow in the Void Beyond but Mog's soul 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 soon encounters Vanille and Fang, who appear to help her.

In the Dying World -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. When Noel makes fun of him for "hiding" and "being scared," an angered Mog flies around him while flailing his wand at his head. Mog also brings Serah and Noel new information from Lightning about Caius formerly being a Pulse l'Cie tasked with the Focus of protecting Yeul before being freed from his fate and made immortal by Etro. They go to New Bodhum -700 AF- and meet with Lightning, who tells them the story of how she came to be in Valhalla and became Etro's protector. She also reveals to them Caius's plan to kill the goddess and create a world in Valhalla's image. At her command, 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.

Arriving in Academia -500 AF-, Noel, Mog, and Serah try to make their way to Academy headquarters but are attacked by Caius as Chaos Bahamut, before he flies off leaving behind summoned monsters. Hope arrives with soldiers to help, and the trio boards an airship piloted by Sazh Katzroy to pursue Caius, with Mog holding on to Serah's back so he won't fall behind. They fight him before he flies into a wormhole leading to Valhalla and they jump in after him. Serah and Noel battle Caius on the beach until Noel strikes him down. Then Caius transforms into his ultimate form of Jet Bahamut before firing an attack at Serah and Noel, sending them falling into a bottomless abyss where they are saved by Lightning. When Noel and Serah in the final battle against him, Caius impales himself through the Heart of Chaos with Noel's blade, after the boy continued to ignore his lies and attempts to provoke him until he threatened Serah.

After Caius fades away and time gates appear throughout Valhalla, Mog says the final paradox has been solved. Noel then decides that he and Serah should now look for Lightning, but Mog tells them that he does not sense her there, causing Serah to worry if Caius did kill her like he said. Noel assures Serah that Caius was truly lying, and Lightning will be with the others now that the timeline has been fixed. When they prepare to leave for Pulse at 500 AF, Mog jokes to Serah and Noel that they might see Snow there, though Noel retorts that it might be up to Lightning.

Upon arrival, the new Cocoon, Bhunivelze has risen into the sky and the gate to Valhalla closes. Serah then promptly dies after having another vision of the future. Hope arrives from Academia to greet them, but joins Mog and Noel as they mourn for Serah. The world suddenly begins to go dark, Mog grows weak, and falls into Hope's embrace. Mog weakly says that Etro is gone and faints as chaos consumes Pulse along with Bhunivelze before Valhalla appears within the world.

Gameplay


Mog can not only transform himself into Serah's weapon, but he can also use his magic to execute the Mog Clock prebattle system and detect hidden treasure chests on the field with Moogle Hunt. In the case of the latter, Mog is thrown by Noel and Serah towards out-of-reach areas through the Moogle Throw.

The Moogle Hunt command is used to find items which are hidden or "phased out." 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, however, Mog will protest to this, and squirm while trying to be thrown. 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 the original Final Fantasy XIII moogles only appear on the sign for the Moogleworks shop. Motomu Toriyama, director of Final Fantasy XIII-2, has said that having a moogle as a mascot type character in the sequel is a kind of 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.

Merchandise
Ultimate Prize winners of the Word to Your Moogle tour received a pink and white PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 featuring Mog.

Trivia

 * Mog shares his Japanese voice actor with Mog from Final Fantasy Type-0. Both of Mog's voice actors (English and Japanese) also voiced Marlene Wallace in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete and young Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts series.
 * Although he is officially called "Mog", there exists other official materials which calls him alternatively "The Moogle" or just "Moogle" for example in the EU wallpaper.
 * In Japanese version of the game, Mog is referred to as "Moogle" and rarely called "Mog".
 * Interestingly, the clock face of his staff is divided into twelve sections like clocks in the real world, as opposed to the thirteen-sectioned clock face seen in the first installment's Nautilus.
 * 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 is currently replaced with "kupo." Also, moogles in some games resemble a pig; hence the 'name'.
 * In the last Live Trigger in Yaschas Massif -010 AF-, where Serah notices that 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 that Mog's face is "cute", while Noel's says it's weird or rather "unique".
 * Interestingly, Mog does not have his clock staff in the ending FMV.