Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

Lightning, real name Claire Farron (Eclair Farron in the Japanese version), is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII, as well as the narrator and a temporary playable character in Final Fantasy XIII-2. She is to become the protagonist again for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning tries to save her younger sister Serah who was made a l'Cie, only to be turned one herself and entangled in a plot that endangers her home of Cocoon. In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning serves as a knight protecting the goddess Etro in Valhalla from her fated rival, Caius Ballad. In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is chosen to be a savior by the god Bhunivelze, and it is up to her to save the world, which is said to end in thirteen days.

Final Fantasy XIII


Lightning is a young woman with long, light pink hair, and pale aqua-colored eyes. Lightning's eye color has been officially addressed as blue, though in the FMVs and promotional art they often appear green due to green aspects around the pupil. She has a navel piercing, although this is difficult to see from her in-game model. Lightning no longer has the piercing in Final Fantasy XIII-2 or Lightning Returns. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments Before, Serah says that Lightning resembles their mother.

In Final Fantasy XIII, she wears a variation of the standard Guardian Corps uniform. A green metallic pauldron over her left shoulder bearing yellow stripes symbolizes her previous rank as a sergeant. She carries her gunblade in a black case which hangs off her belt, and wears a necklace with a lightning bolt pendant. Her l'Cie brand is located slightly above her left breast.

Lightning is determined, concentrated and independent. Initially, she is cold and standoffish, distancing herself from her companions. Much of her motivation is fueled from what she perceives as failing to protect Serah and wanting to make things right, which leads her to lash out at those she believes are responsible for that and the subsequent Purge: namely, the Sanctum, its fal'Cie and, to a point, Snow Villiers, due to his relationship with Serah and his failure to protect her as he promised. As she journeys with Hope Estheim and takes him under her wing, Lightning begins to show compassion and trust others, and sees the errors in her approach. Ultimately, she becomes the leader and, to a degree, protector of the other Pulse l'Cie as they journey to challenge their fate.

Final Fantasy XIII-2


Lightning wears a silver and gold Valkyrie-like suit of armor with a shield on her left arm (though in her CG render, it appears on the right arm). She has a new gunblade modified to look more like a traditional sword, which has Etro script on it.

Personality-wise, Lightning has learned to trust others and ask them for help. She expresses her emotions more rather than keeping them bottled up inside her.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII


In Lightning Returns, Lightning will have a number of different costumes. Her default outfit, Equilibrium, is similar to what she wore in Final Fantasy XIII-2. She has a red shield (Twilight Lotus) on her left arm and her sword is red and yellow (Crimson Blade), similar to Noel's Flame Fossil dual swords. The logo appears on her outfit a number of times; on her chest, her sword and her shield.

Other outfits include the Dark Muse outfit that gives Lightning a camouflage jacket and a miniskirt, the Shadow's Dust costume that resembles a samurai armor, the L'Ange Noir costume which is reminiscent of a magician's dress and another unknown costume which has Lightning wearing a two-piece top with a long skirt and white heels. In the Dark Muse costume, Lightning is shown to have tattoos on her body. One tattoo is of a horse and located just above her waist and she also has a bar-code present on her thigh, which is located under an intricate tribal pattern.

Early Life
Lightning's father died when she was young, and her mother died from an unknown illness when she was fifteen. With no other family to turn to, Lightning had to raise her younger sister, Serah. To get over the pain of her parents' deaths and to become an adult as quickly as possible, she changed her name from Claire Farron to "Lightning".

After graduating from high school, Lightning joined the Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment under Lieutenant Amodar, where she attained the rank of sergeant and was scheduled for officer training. However, she began to lose sight of her goals, and worked many hours while spending little time with Serah.

Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-
Nine days before Lightning's twenty-first birthday, the Bodhum monster-fighting group NORA rescues her from an aquatic ambush. Lightning meets Snow Villiers, their leader and Serah's boyfriend. Lightning remains unimpressed as she has never approved of NORA acting like vigilantes, and unsuccessfully demands for him to stop dating Serah.

The next day, Lightning begins to feel guilty for her lack of attention to Serah, feeling she got involved with Snow to quell her loneliness. After seeing Nora Estheim and her son Hope in the mall, Lightning plans a vacation away from Bodhum for her birthday to spend more time with Serah and take her attention away from Snow. Four days later, the Cavalry is hunting down a girl named Vanille and Lightning meets with Rygdea, suspecting it may have something to do with the "incident" at Euride Gorge two days ago. While attending Bodhum's fireworks festival four days later, Lightning learns of a Pulse-related incident at the nearby Vestige being kept under wraps by the Sanctum, but Amodar warns her not to investigate.

On the next day, Lightning's birthday, Serah reveals she has been branded a Pulse l'Cie, and that she and Snow are engaged. Thinking Serah is lying to give herself an excuse to wed Snow, Lightning drives her away leaving her alone to open her birthday present from Serah: a survival knife. When the Sanctum announces the quarantine of Bodhum after a Pulse fal'Cie was found within the Vestige, Lightning realizes Serah had been telling the truth.

After learning the Sanctum plans to Purge the town to Pulse, Lightning tries to find Serah but Snow reveals she is being held captive inside the Vestige. The following day, PSICOM rounds up the people in Bodhum and lines them up to board Purge trains. Although military personnel are exempt from the Purge, Lightning volunteers to be Purged with the civilians and resigns from the Guardian Corps to get into the Hanging Edge, where the Vestige is being moved, so she can rescue Serah before she is taken out of reach. After lining up for the Purge train, Lightning is approached by a man named Sazh Katzroy, who joins her in her quest to reach the Pulse fal'Cie.

Final Fantasy XIII
As the Purge train enters the Hanging Edge, Lightning and Sazh derail the train and fight their way through the PSICOM forces. Elsewhere, Snow is in the Hanging Edge seeking to save Serah, leading NORA as a resistance force against the Sanctum and rescuing Purgees. Lightning and Sazh make their way to the Vestige, as do Snow, Hope and Vanille. Lightning and Sazh find Serah outside the Pulse fal'Cie Anima's Throne before Snow, Hope, and Vanille arrive. Serah asks them to save Cocoon and enters crystal stasis, meaning she must have completed her Focus. The group confronts and destroys Anima, but are branded l'Cie before it perishes. The Hanging Edge is destroyed and collapses into Lake Bresha, which crystallizes upon impact with the fallen Vestige.

The group tries to figure out their Focus from a shared vision. Snow believes their Focus to be Serah's last wish to save Cocoon, but the rest believe their Focus is to destroy Cocoon since the legendary beast Ragnarok is somehow involved. They find Serah's crystallized form now a part of the crystallized lake. Although Lightning does not want to leave Serah, she chooses to keep moving to outrun the army. Snow stays behind to try and dig the crystallized Serah out of the lake while Lightning and the others move on to escape PSICOM pursuit. They find an airship at the lake's edge, which they use to escape. The pursuing PSICOM ships attack and the party crashes in the Vile Peaks.

Lightning continues ahead of the others with Hope tagging along, but she soon leaves him behind and continues ahead. Some time after he travels with Sazh and Vanille, Lightning rejoins the party. After a disagreement on their Focus, the group splits up: with Lightning going off alone to the capital city of Eden to destroy its namesake fal'Cie that controls the Sanctum, blaming it for the Purge and her current fate, and Sazh and Vanille going the opposite direction to run from their fate. Followed by Hope and unable to send him back due to the pursuing PSICOM forces, Lightning lets him accompany her. Soon her patience wears thin as Hope becomes a liability to her mission. Lightning threatens to leave him again and her anger at the situation causes her Eidolon, Odin, to manifest and attack Hope. Lightning saves him and they defeat the Eidolon together, convincing her let Hope travel with her and help him "toughen up".

At the Gapra Whitewood, Hope takes the lead with Lightning's approval and she acts as his support. Lightning gives Hope her survival knife to boost his confidence and teaches him how to fight. Hope reveals his plan to take revenge on Snow, whom he blames for his mother's death in the Purge. Lightning advises him to focus on a single goal and not show any compassion to the enemy or risk being crippled by despair, but regrets her words after Hope takes her advice to heart and forms 'Operation Nora,' his plan for revenge. Lightning tells Hope it wasn't Snow who killed his mother but the Sanctum, only causing Hope to resolve in making both Snow and the Sanctum pay for his mother's death. Exiting the Gapra Whitewood and seeing Palumpolum in the distance, Lightning tries to dissuade Hope from his goal of revenge by suggesting they visit his father.

In Palumpolum, Hope leads Lightning into the underground Nutriculture Complex to avoid PSICOM. They see the fal'Cie Carbuncle, which provides Cocoon with its food. Upon hearing Hope talk about the fal'Cie treating humans like their pets, Lightning realizes she had been a fal'Cie pawn since birth and that her anger is over being removed from their protection and having her masters turn against her. Realizing she had dragged Hope into the same delusion of fighting blindly to make up for doubt and confusion, Lightning tells Hope their goals of vengeance are over and promises she will not abandon him. Returning to the surface, soldiers led by Yaag Rosch ambush Lightning and Hope in the Agora, intending to publicly execute the Pulse l'Cie to pacify the Cocoon populace, but Snow and Oerba Yun Fang intervene and save them. Lightning escapes with Fang while Hope goes with Snow. With wireless communicators, the pairs decide to meet up at Hope's house. Lightning tries to warn Snow about Hope's grudge but he doesn't hear her, and Hope tells her he plans to continue Operation Nora. Lightning tries to reason with Hope but interference messes with her signal and her pleas never reach him.

Evading soldiers throughout the city, Lightning learns Fang is not only a Pulse l'Cie like herself, but an actual Gran Pulse citizen. Fang says she and Vanille were crystallized there centuries before after completing their Focus, but woke up in Cocoon without knowing how or why, and that they are the cause of the chaos that Cocoon is in. Fang reveals she and Vanille were indirectly responsible for Serah being made a l'Cie and apologizes. Lightning backhands her across the jaw but says it didn't change anything after Fang asks if hitting her made her feel any better. Lightning and Fang realize Pulse and Cocoon are more similar than they first thought in how they saw each other as monsters. Fang tells Lightning about her dilemma of being unable to remember her past Focus to save Vanille from becoming a Cie'th and explains how a l'Cie's brand shows how much time they have until they transform into Cie'th. She checks Lightning's brand and tells her she has plenty of time left. Lightning claims to have nothing left to fight for but Fang assures her Serah will wake from crystal stasis and the chance to see her again is enough to fight for.

PSICOM warmechs fly overhead, alerting them that Hope and Snow are in trouble. An explosion goes off in the distance and Lightning and Fang rush to the site to find Snow and Hope just in time to help the latter fight an Ushumgal Subjugator. Lightning gets her knife back from Hope and they promise to protect each other before the group proceeds to Hope's home. Hope repairs his relationship with his father while Lightning tends to the injuries Snow received from protecting Hope and apologizes for her behavior towards him. While everyone is trying to come up with a plan, PSICOM forces attack the house. Snow confronts Rosch and Lightning has Hope tie up his dad to make him look like an unwilling accomplice. The group is saved by Rygdea and the Cavalry and brought aboard their airship, the Lindblum, piloted by their leader Cid Raines, who aided Fang and Snow earlier.

They learn Sazh and Vanille are being held captive on the Palamecia, and that Primarch Galenth Dysley is overseeing the transport. The four infiltrate the Palamecia to rescue Sazh and Vanille. While Lightning's group fights their way through, Sazh and Vanille escape their holding cell. The groups meet halfway on the ship's exterior deck and, using a Garuda Interceptor, the party reaches the bridge and confronts Dysley. After Dysley kills off Jihl Nabaat and the crew, he reveals himself as the fal'Cie Barthandelus, leader of the Cocoon fal'Cie. After they defeat him in battle, Barthandelus explains their Focus is to destroy Cocoon by turning into Ragnarok and killing Orphan, the fal'Cie that keeps Cocoon afloat.

The party flees on a small airship, which autopilots them through Eden into the Fifth Ark on Dysley's orders. As Snow despairs over the revelation of Serah's true Focus of luring them into the Vestige to be made l'Cie and destroy Cocoon, Lightning tells him to believe in Serah and her wish for them to save Cocoon since it got him this far. After their l'Cie powers are fully awakened, the group encounters Raines in the Ark, who reveals he, too, is a l'Cie, branded by Barthandelus with the Focus of aiding them, but he plans to rebel against his Focus by killing them. Barthandelus desires for Cocoon's destruction so the deaths of its inhabitants would summon the Maker, the creator of fal'Cie and humans who abandoned them. Raines battles the group and is defeated, but transforms into crystal despite having defied his Focus.

The group decides to follow his example and save Cocoon. Fang turns against them to save them from becoming Cie'th until Lightning and Vanille help her tame her Eidolon Bahamut. A new path is revealed and the party finds a ship with a gate leading to Gran Pulse, and descends to the world below hoping to find aid in their quest. After falling under attack by a wild wyvern, Lightning helps Fang summon Bahamut to save the party. They land and create a base camp in the Vallis Media. After days of searching, they find Pulse devoid of human life. Hope's brand advances and he falls unconscious. When he awakes, he wishes for the others to leave him behind. As Lightning and Snow try to console him, Hope's Eidolon Alexander appears. Lightning and Fang help Hope tame the Eidolon, and with their resolve renewed, the party decides to head to Oerba, Vanille and Fang's hometown, to find answers.

The party crosses the Archylte Steppe to the Mah'habara Subterra and the Sulyya Springs, where Lightning and Snow promise to see Serah together after saving Cocoon. They ascend Taejin's Tower and ride a capsule down to the outskirts of Oerba, but find it abandoned. The group is confronted by Serah, who refers to Lightning by her birthname and begs the group to destroy Orphan to summon the Maker and save the world from despair. Serah is revealed to be Dysley in disguise, who announces he has resigned as Primarch and appointed a revived Raines in his place to incite a civil war. He has his familiar Menrva transform into an airship for the group to return to Cocoon, and they do so to try and stop Dysley's plans.

Sazh crashes the airship into the Eden Grand Prix, and the party makes their way through Eden to Orphan's Cradle among the ensuing chaos. In the depths of the Cradle they find Dysley, who summons the crystallized Dajh and Serah before the party and destroys them. Denouncing it as an illusion, the party fights Barthandelus and destroys him. His defeat awakens the sleeping Orphan, who wishes to be destroyed after centuries of not having a life, and attacks them.

Fang submits to Orphan's demands and agrees to become Ragnarok. After they try to stop her, Lightning and the others aside from Vanille are turned into Cie'th, and attack Fang as Orphan tortures her to try and force her to transform. Fang's incomplete transformation is not strong enough to kill Orphan, and the Cie'th party members are restored to save her and fight Orphan again as its shell falls apart. Orphan is vanquished and Cocoon begins to fall. Lightning and the others float away as Vanille and Fang transform into a complete Ragnarok, using their power to stop Cocoon's descent.

On Pulse, Lightning and the others are crystallized but return to human form to witness Cocoon suspended by a giant crystal pillar formed by Ragnarok to keep it from being destroyed. As Cocoon civilians descend to Pulse on airships, Lightning reunites with Serah and begins to apologize to her, but is cut short when Snow reminds they "have a wedding to plan". Snow reassures Lightning he will make Serah happy, and Lightning congratulates them.

Final Fantasy XIII -Episode i-
Lightning vows to find a way to save Vanille and Fang from the crystal pillar. She believes the answer lies hidden away somewhere on Gran Pulse, and perhaps she could discover other Pulsian survivors as well.

Lightning worries how they are no longer l'Cie, and believes it will be a long and difficult journey. After seeing Serah is in good hands with Snow, she decides to take up the task on her own. Lightning comes to the conclusion Serah and the others will be tied down with new responsibilities and would not be able to accompany her.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments After
Lightning is caught in a paradox and dragged into the abyss by chaos. She is removed from history, and everyone except Serah believe her to be either dead or crystallized along with Vanille and Fang, and all that is left of her is her survival knife. In actuality, Lightning fell through the Historia Crux and ended up in Valhalla, the realm of death and chaos dislodged from time. Lightning comes across a moogle named Mog who challenges her to a duel and promptly loses. Touched by Mog's innocence, Lightning has him follow her.

Mog tells Lightning about Valhalla, the Void Beyond, and the goddess Etro. Lightning and Mog encounter Odin, who challenges Lightning to a battle, during which she learns to cast magic naturally. She defeats Odin and uses him as a means of transport to Etro's temple, where Lightning is challenged by Bahamut. During the fight, Lightning loses her weapon, prompting Mog to come to her aid. He transforms into a bow for her to use and Lightning overcomes Bahamut.

Lightning stands before the goddess's throne and is briefly made one with Etro. Lightning comes to know of the goddess's isolation (having been abandoned by her father, Bhunivelze), her love towards mankind, the unintended suffering she caused the seeress Yeul and her Guardian Caius, and the memory of the countless people who died.

Lightning comes to realize Etro sees her and her friends as sinners for killing people during their time as l'Cie, but released them from crystal stasis after giving Vanille and Fang the strength to become Ragnarok. Through the Eyes of Etro, Lightning sees the future, an era facing destruction, Yeul's death, herself being defeated by Caius in battle, and Serah trapped in a dream unable to wake up. Lightning's Guardian Corps uniform disappears and a suit of armor materializes on her body. Lightning chooses to stay in Valhalla to contain the memories of the deceased and fight Caius to save the future as a way to atone for her sins, and becomes the goddess's knight.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Armed with a new gunblade, Lightning is now Etro's protector and guards the goddess from Caius, Yeul's immortal Guardian who wants to kill Etro to destroy the timeline. Lightning has a vision of a young man falling through the Historia Crux and Caius summons an army of monsters challenging her to battle. Caius transforms into Chaos Bahamut, though Lightning overcomes him.

Lightning sees Etro's Gate appear over Etro's temple and a person falling out. She recognizes it as the young man she had seen in a past vision, Noel Kreiss. Lightning saves him from falling and tells Noel about Serah and asks him for his help. Showing him a Time Gate below the shrine, she gives him Mog along with instructions to find Serah, give Mog to her, and bring her to Valhalla. When Caius returns and summons a meteor over the shrine, Lightning urges Noel to jump into the gate. She summons Odin to throw her into the meteor's path but it crushes the shrine, leaving Lightning's fate unknown.

Noel finds Serah and together they embark on a quest to find their way to Valhalla. Lightning eventually appears from a portal before Serah, Noel and Mog in New Bodhum at 700 AF, and tells them they are in a future she had failed to save. She explains that Orphan's demise and Fang and Vanille's sacrifice to save Cocoon opened the portal to Valhalla. She says Etro closed the door to prevent Valhalla's chaos from pouring out into the world, but Lightning was brought to Valhalla as a result. She tells them the goddess is dying and if Etro vanishes completely, all hope for the world would be lost.

Lightning says Caius plans to destroy Etro and open the door again, unleashing chaos into the mortal world. She says the door would open wide enough if a large amount of people died at once, which would be possible if Cocoon fell. If Caius were to succeed, the world would be infected with chaos and time, life, and death would become meaningless; thus making the world like Valhalla. Lightning entrusts Noel and Serah to stop Caius in the mortal realm while she deals with him in Valhalla.

In the Vile Peaks, Lightning blames herself for the paradox that caused the disappearance of an Academy anti-paradox team, the Blitz Squadron, while they were scouting the area in 10 AF to deal with a distortion. She appears in the area at 10 AF, just before Noel and Serah engage the paradox, a dark imitation of Odin called Twilight Odin. In 200 AF, after they defeat Twilight Odin's true form, Lightning is released from the burden of Odin's shadow twin. She recalls how she once fought alongside the men in Blitz Squadron and finds comfort in how they still remember her.

When Mog reveals a phased-out image of Lightning in the Vile Peaks, she tells Serah and Noel about how as a l'Cie, she first thought fighting for what she believed in alone was the only way, but later saw the error in her ways. Being all by herself in Valhalla, she holds on to the memories of Serah and her friends to stay strong in her battle against Caius. Lightning tells Serah she misses her and prays for the day when they can be together again, and disappears.

Back in Valhalla, Lightning continues her fight with Caius. Seeing a vision of Serah's death by her Eyes of Etro, a shocked Lightning is subdued by Caius before chaos consumes her. She comes to in the remains of Etro’s temple, where she finds Serah's soul restrained and surrounded by chaos, manipulated by the spirits of Yeul. The chaos forms into a manifestation of Caius that Lightning proceeds to battle.

Caius transforms into Chaos Bahamut and flies towards the beach where Lightning continues to fight him. After dispatching of her opponent, Lightning mounts Odin and demands Yeul to let Serah go, but she and Odin are swallowed by chaos. Lightning is made to realize her actions caused her sister's death. As she floats through the Historia Crux, Lightning contemplates her belief that carrying out Etro's will would atone for her past sins and concludes there is nothing left for her, not even hope.

After Serah and Noel's first battle against Caius in Valhalla, they are consumed by a wave of darkness and sent falling into an abyss of light. Lightning appears and saves them, urging them to keep hope alive before vanishing. Mourning over Serah's body, Lightning sees Serah's spirit on Etro's throne who reveals she knew she would die, but chose to keep fighting for the chance for them to reunite. As Serah's spirit fades away, she tells Lightning she must not give up hope and always remember her, promising they will meet again.

To ensure Serah's memory lives on, hold on to their wish to be together again someday, and preserve the world's existence in Etro's place as her true atonement, Lightning sits on the goddess's throne and enters crystal stasis; waiting for the day she will awaken at the end of eternity. Gran Pulse is engulfed in chaos and in time is transformed into Nova Chrysalia, the merged form of Gran Pulse and Valhalla.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
After spending five centuries in crystal stasis, Lightning awakens to find herself in Nova Chrysalia. She learns the world is going to end in thirteen days, and it is up to her to save it. She is given a new suit of armor and powers by Bhunivelze, who chooses her to be a Savior, a divine guardian tasked with cleansing and guiding the souls of humanity to the prosperous new world that will replace Nova Chrysalia at the end of the final thirteen days.

In Battle
Lightning resembles a Red Mage using weapons, Black Magic and White Magic in conjunction. Her strengths in all her appearances are speed and versatility.

Final Fantasy XIII


Lightning majors in the Commando, Ravager and Medic roles. Compared to most of her companions she has high physical and magical attack stats (the second highest attack stat behind Fang, and tied for the second highest magic stat with Vanille), making her best role the Commando due effectively using both Attacks and Ruin spells of an equal and high level of power, although her weapons give the lowest stat boosts. Lightning has relatively low HP gain compared to the others and when everyone's stats are maxed out, only Hope will have less HP than her.

Magic-wise, Lightning is utilitarian, able to use all four elemental "-strike" attacks, all elemental magic to the "-Ra" rank, as well as Thundaga. Lightning's Full ATB Skill, Army of One, increases the target's stagger gauge based on the current chain count. She is also a skilled offensive Synergist, learning all of the basic protection spell save Veil and learning the "En-" series of spells. Despite her low HP, Lightning can be a surprisingly good Sentinel, she learns all of the role's Auto-Abilities, and when pairing the Elude Ability with the Nimbletoe Boots, she can avoid a large amount of damage from enemies.
 * Base Statistics

Eidolon


Lightning's Eidolon, Odin, is a large armored knight with a two-bladed sword joined at the hilt, and in Gestalt Mode he transforms into the horse Sleipnir, which Lightning rides while wielding Odin's sword split in two. When not in Gestalt Odin uses a combination of Thunder based spells and physical attacks. Lightning has multiple ways to help with both her Ravager role to boost the enemies' chain gauge, and her Commando role to keep the gauge high.

Weapons


Lightning's initial weapon, Blazefire Saber, has multiple inscriptions that read "Invoke my name - I am Spark" and "blinding instant" written in the Pulsian alphabet. In Cocoon writing, her name, Lightning, is also engraved on the weapon.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Lightning is briefly controlled by the player during the prologue where she fights Chaos Bahamut and Caius. Lightning wields a new gunblade given to her by the goddess Etro that has engraved writing in Etro scripts: "Gladius in turba aetern a induratus vincula inserepabilia rum", which translates to "The blade forged in everlasting chaos shall cleave the unbreakable chain" in English. While her previous weapon was kept in a holster slung from her belt, Lightning's new gunblade can be summoned and dispelled at will.

Lightning appears in downloadable content as a "recruitable monster" who joins Serah and Noel after they defeat her in the Coliseum, appearing in her Guardian Corps attire from the original game. Lightning joins the party as a Ravager, and has the Feral Link ability Army of One, her Full ATB Skill from Final Fantasy XIII.

Lightning returns in the downloadable episode "Lightning's Story: Requiem of the Goddess". She initially has at her disposal four roles: Paladin, Mage, Shaman, and Knight, but, at level 3, the Conjurer role and, at level 6, the Sorcerer role are unlocked.

All roles are enhanced versions of existing roles: Paladin of Commando's, Mage and Shaman of Ravager's, Knight of Sentinel's, Conjurer of Synergist's, and Sorcerer of Saboteur's. Lightning can perform Legion of One by means of Feral Link, rather than being a full ATB skill.

Lightning has a different method of development than Serah and Noel; after gaining enough Crystogen Points, Lightning will level up and upgrade her stats and learn new abilities or roles, similarly to older Final Fantasy titles. She gains Crystogen Points whether she wins or loses.

Lightning has a second recruitable monster form in her Valkyrie armor. Unlike her Coliseum counterpart, she is a Commando with the Feral Link Legion of One. She can be obtained by defeating Chaos Bahamut with a five star rank with Lightning's level at 9 or lower. Occasionally, when this Lightning defeats an enemy, it may burst into feathers when turning into crystal.

Lightning is the only "monster" with the Uncapped Damage passive ability, which allows her to theoretically break the 99,999 damage limit, and Immovable MAX, which makes her almost immune to interruption. Her main strength, however, is her attacking and casting speed that more than compensates for her low Strength and Magic stats in comparison with other DLC monster Commandos.

Boss


A copy of Lightning is fought as a downloadable content (DLC) boss in the Coliseum alongside Amodar. Once defeated Lightning can be recruited as a Ravager into the Paradigm Deck. Lightning comes complete with an arsenal of Ravager spells, and physical variations of the spells she would normally have. Her Feral Link is Army of One, a special attack of hers that was her full ATB skill in the previous game.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning is the sole playable character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. In the field, she can crouch, jump, climb, and perform other actions akin to those featured in stealth adventure games. In battle, Lightning is able to perform Paradigm Shifts, changing her attire and equipped abilities. She also gains new attacks, such as Light Slash and Heavy Slash.

Final Fantasy XIII
Early in development, Lightning was meant to be a flirtatious character with more sex appeal. To make Lightning a more serious heroine in the veins of previous heroes, Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart, Fang's character - which was originally a man - was rewritten as a woman, and some of Lightning's traits were transferred to her. The final version of her character was made less Asian-looking than originally conceived, and her original silver hair color was given to Hope Estheim in favor of pink.

During development, Lightning's real name was 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. Lightning's real name in the English version of Final Fantasy XIII was changed to Claire due to the word "Éclair" being used to refer to a type of pastry in English-speaking countries, a problem not present with the Japanese name due to different romanization.

Lightning's initial concept was a 'strong woman' — it was personality-based instead of plot-driven, unlike the initial concepts for some other Final Fantasy heroines of the past. After her character's mindset and role were locked down, Square Enix turned to Tetsuya Nomura for the character design. Director Motomu Toriyama has said that, "With Lightning, one look at the design made me say 'This is it!' She looked so cool and strong that there was no need for any retakes." Despite Toriyama's claim, Lightning's appearance has developed from its initial concept. Square Enix released an initial CG render of Lightning before any of the other characters were seen; when the rest of the cast were revealed, Square released another render of Lightning with some notable differences from the initial release: In the early materials she had slightly less feminine traits, her hair was a faded crimson rather than pink, and her eye color was a lighter shade of blue. Though her outfit remains the same, its overall color scheme was lightened.

The idea for Lightning to have a sword that can transform into a gun relates to the game's Eidolons; one of the gameplay themes chosen for Final Fantasy XIII was transformation, and the Eidolons can turn into vehicles; if summons could transform, they thought weapons should be able to as well.

Lightning's house was originally meant to be a visitable location in Final Fantasy XIII, but ended up being cut from the final product. Concept art from Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega shows Lightning lives in a peanut-shaped house standing over water with a portion of the roof opening up.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning's new outfit was designed by Isamu Kamikokuryo in cooperation with Tetsuya Nomura, who drew a rough outline of her armor. Kamikokuryo then added a number of details. Kamikokuryo originally designed Lightning's new outfit as a, but he was told the design did not fit in the atmosphere of the game.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning's default "Savior" outfit was designed by Tetsuya Nomura and the design is said to be play on her light, speed, and elegance. Director Motomu Toriyama wanted something that emphasized Lightning going into her final battle, the red and white components of Lightning's original outfit from Final Fantasy XIII, and represented Lightning using the word 'strength' as the main focus. Using the red color to represent strength and line the inside of Lightning's outfit, Nomura designed her new armor to have more of an impact, with the final result being about half white and half red. He was instructed to design Lightning's armor based on "a leather body suit" and the arms off a spinal column. Lightning's alternate costumes were designed by Toshiyuki Itahana.

Whereas Lightning had been depicted as a hardened and cold soldier-type in Final Fantasy XIII, and near god-like in power in Final Fantasy XIII-2 making her distant, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is intended to portray a more human side to her. The game explores how Lightning became the strong woman she is, and what she is struggling with. By displaying her sadness and sorrow the writers hope to show more of Lightning's human side.

During an interview with Dualshockers, Toriyama said that Lightning's breasts got larger during games: in Final Fantasy XIII they were the C size (which in American sizes is B), and in Lightning Returns they are D size (which in American sizes is C).

Voice
Lightning's Japanese voice actress is Maaya Sakamoto, while her English voice actress is Ali Hillis. Maaya Sakamoto also voices Aerith Gainsborough from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Diva from Final Fantasy Type-0, and Aya Brea from The Third Birthday. Additionally, Aya and Lightning in their respective PSP games wearing the other's outfit is a reference to their shared voice actresses.

Final Fantasy XIII
In Final Fantasy XIII, "Lightning's Theme" is an acoustic orchestral variant of the main battle theme, "Blinded By Light". Her theme displays the fragile interior she tries to suppress. The melody is interwoven with many different tracks and appears in several forms in the game.

A "prototype" version of her theme titled, "M33 Lightning NW Version", can be found on the Final Fantasy XIII: Original Soundtrack PLUS album. A piano arrangement of her theme called "Lightning's Theme ~ Blinded By Light", is found on the Piano Collections: Final Fantasy XIII album. The track also received a chiptune arrangement from SQ Chips2's bonus CD.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, "Lightning's Theme ~Unprotected Future~" is a slower, more melancholy and harmonious rearrangement of her original theme. The theme plays during Serah and Noel's encounter with Lightning in New Bodhum 700AF, and as the background theme for the area following the encounter. In "Requiem of the Goddess", it plays as Lightning floats through the Historia Crux after her fight against Chaos Bahamut.

Lightning's battle theme is "Knight of the Goddess" that plays in the game's tutorial battle when Lightning battles Chaos Bahamut in Valhalla.

Merchandise
A special edition PlayStation 3 featuring an image of Lightning was released on December 17th 2009 in Japan. On the day of the US release of Final Fantasy XIII, a special edition Xbox 360 featuring Lightning on a faceplate was released. The faceplate was only available through preorder on certain websites and stores.

Released a month after the game's release, the 50ml bottle of ~Lightning~ eau de toilette was contained in an imprinted glass bottle with a strap with Lightning's pendant. The scent is described as a "sweet peach smell followed by rose and then a feminine musk".

The lightning bolt pendant Lightning wears in Final Fantasy XIII has been released as official merchandise. The pendant is made of .925 silver, is accented with a gold and black rhodium coating and within the pendant there are three cubic zirconia which can roll up and down if the pendant is shaken.

A Final Fantasy XIII-2 bundle was released in Japan on December 15th, 2011 with a black 320GB PlayStation 3 Slim with an image of Lightning. Lightning's Final Fantasy XIII-2 merchandise include a Play Arts action figure and a coffee tumbler.

On December 14, 2010, all Japanese Square Enix Members with an "Ultimate" status on their name received a special Christmas present from Tetsuya Nomura: an art plate with an original illustration of Lightning with the text, "She must not be forgotten". On September 22, 2011, North American Square Enix Members with an "Ultimate" status also received the Lightning illustration.

Final Fantasy XIV
A Lightning costume can be obtained by fighting alongside Lightning herself. There's also a Snow Villiers costume for males, and weapons from Final Fantasy XIII. According to Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida, Lightning would feature in a sidequest tied directly into the Lightning Saga, but not linked with the lore and story of Final Fantasy XIV.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Lightning appears in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a set of two player icons to represent Final Fantasy XIII, along with Noctis for Final Fantasy XV and Ace for Final Fantasy Type-0, though these icons can only be obtained through passwords.

Tetsuya Nomura and his staff originally wanted to include Lightning in Dissidia Final Fantasy, but ultimately decided to leave her out to avoid revealing her abilities before Final Fantasy XIII was released.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy


Lightning appears as a playable character in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. She is one of the warriors summoned by Cosmos to oppose Chaos, and stands as the hero and sole character representing Final Fantasy XIII. Initially traveling with Tifa, Laguna, and Vaan, Lightning is left behind when she battles Kuja. Shortly after an army of manikins sweeps over the land, Lightning is attacked by Kain after discovering he has already defeated Bartz.

Returning to Cosmos to tell her what is happening, Lightning faces the Warrior of Light, who reveals he and Kain are putting the others to sleep on purpose to avoid them falling to the manikins and risking not being revived in the next cycle of the war. Lightning rejects this plan and leads Kain, Tifa, Laguna, Yuna and Vaan to the Lands of Discord, where the six sacrifice themselves to seal the portal to The Void the manikins are emerging from.

Lightning's alternate outfit gives her white hair and a more subdued color scheme to match her concept art by Yoshitaka Amano. Her second alternate costume gives her the generic female Guardian Corps uniform, a dull orange and brown outfit with a cap. As a fourth bonus outfit available with purchase of The 3rd Birthday, Lightning dresses as Aya Brea, wearing torn blue jeans and a midriff bearing sleeveless black shirt.

Nomura has stated he personally would include Sazh in a Dissidia sequel over Lightning, but his only request for such a game would be Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV - Kain and Lightning were the first two new characters confirmed for Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Lightning is the default Final Fantasy XIII playable character in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade


Lightning appears as an ally and a summonable Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. She is depicted in both her default Final Fantasy XIII and default Final Fantasy XIII-2 outfits, as well as an event-related Santa outfit and a Samurai outfit. She can be unlocked in the Japanese version by purchasing the correct issue of Mobage. Her abilities are Army of One, Crushing Blow, Imperilga, Launch, Lightning Strike, Smite, Thunderfall, and Flourish of Steel. She was first introduced as an event ally in the event, Winter Holiday Campaign while wearing an exclusive Santa suit. Leveling her up in this event granted the player the Lightning II summon stone, along with each level-up at a specified number granting players an additional summon stone. The Lightning III summon stone was also obtained from inviting a certain number of friends to play Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade.

She was also present as an ally during the coinciding events, Final Fantasy Special Event Parts 1 & 2 - Shattered World and Final Fantasy Special Event Parts 1 & 2 - Showdown, in which she was unlocked by clearing the Sunleth Waterscape stage. In this event, her overdrive granted players a massive increase in their attack. Leveling her up to 99 in these events granted the player her individualized SSR weapon, Jatayu. In battle, Lightning is armed with her Blazefire Saber and uses the abilities Smite and Flourish of Steel.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest


Lightning is an exclusive character only available from the Premium Character Shop as a random downloadable content, she uses the Lightning Strike ability during battle. Her Blazefire Saber is available as a drop from Beta Behemoths in the Archylte Steppe map. It grants +4 attack to the Warrior, Red Mage, Blue Mage, and Onion Knight classes and to Firion, Terra, Celes, Zidane, Tidus, Ashe, and Lightning. Her Omega Weapon is also available as a drop from Orphan. It grants +10 attack to the same people as the Blazefire Saber.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
There are several cards depicting Lightning in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game: four Lightning-elemental cards, including a promotional card from V-Jump, and two Shine-elemental cards, not including a limited release.

The three Lightning-elemental cards depicting her Final Fantasy XIII appearance portrait her as a Ravager, while the Shine cards present her as a swordsman and as a knight of Etro. The promotional card from V-Jump presents her as a knight.

Itadaki Street Mobile
Lightning appears in Itadaki Street Mobile. She is the only Final Fantasy XIII character to appear in the game.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Lightning appears as an avatar in the Nintendo DS Kingdom Hearts Re:coded game, along with Serah, Snow, Sazh and Vanille.

The 3rd Birthday
In the The 3rd Birthday, the main character Aya Brea has several different outfits she can wear. One of these is Lightning's outfit. Just like any other outfit for her in the game, this outfit can be torn up as she takes damage. Lightning's l'Cie marking is revealed as more damage is done to this outfit. She can also use Lightning's Blazefire Saber in gun mode.

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", but is also the name of a type of, which explains why she is renamed "Claire" in the Western releases. The surname "Farron" comes from the Gaelic language, meaning "thunder". The combination of the two references thunder coming after the lightning.

Trivia

 * Lightning's hairstyle resembles the shape of the crystalized Cocoon, which is also the logo of Final Fantasy XIII.
 * As shown in the first Final Fantasy XIII trailer, Lightning had a Gravity Bomb device at her disposal, which could be used to generate an electrical shield in battle or manipulate time and gravity.
 * Lightning's eidolith crystal is the shape of a pink rose bloom, and red petals can be seen when she summons Odin and changes it into Sleipnir in Gestalt Mode.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-, it is mentioned Lightning is better at housework than Serah, but Serah is the better cook. Lightning also describes their father as easy-going, passionate but not always reliable, and compares Snow to him, possibly explaining her initial hatred towards him.
 * In her official CG render, Lightning is not wearing her lightning bolt necklace, though it is present in her render on the Final Fantasy XIII summary website.
 * Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, the art director of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, another game franchise owned by Square Enix, drew an artwork of Lightning for the New York Comic Con 2011 "East Meets West" panel of her l'Cie brand, which is never actually shown in the game. Isamu Kamikokuryo, the art director of Final Fantasy XIII, also drew an artwork of Deus Ex, which was revealed in the same event.
 * Lightning, along with Cid Raines, are the only l'Cie who never have their l'Cie brands revealed onscreen during the events of Final Fantasy XIII.
 * Art director Isamu Kamikokuryo consistently draws Lightning and Serah with blonde hair in concept art, despite their more "official" appearances. Additionally, Kamikokuryo's Lightning concept art for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a black armor with gold or white outlines. This may have contributed to Lightning's design in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII where she has black armor.
 * Lightning appears on the 500th cover of Dengeki Playstation magazine with Noel, Serah, Noctis, Machina Kunagiri, and Rem Tokimiya.
 * Lightning's render for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has her sword and shield in opposite hands. She also holds her sword in her left hand on the cover box art for Final Fantasy XIII.
 * In a live action PlayStation advertisement, titled "Michael" - PS3 Long Live Play, Lightning is seen listening to a story told by Nathan Drake from the  series and her gunblade is placed on the weapon rack as the soldiers are entering the tavern.
 * Lightning on Etro's throne at the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2 resembles the Final Fantasy XIII promotional artwork of her sitting in the Narthex, and the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega has a piece of artwork depicting Lightning on Etro's throne in the same pose.
 * Similar to her sister Serah, Lightning's official render isn't used in the menu screen in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and instead an alternate render from Final Fantasy XIII is used.
 * Lightning, Sazh, Hope, Snow and Noel appeared as models for the Showcase Prada 2012 Men's Spring/Summer Collection.
 * All models in Final Fantasy XIII-2 are of lower resolution than those in its predecessor. The game data includes Final Fantasy XIII's high-res model of Lightning that is never used anywhere, which was likely used as a place-holder throughout production.
 * Lightning is the consistent playable character in all three games of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.
 * According to Motomu Toriyama at a presentation for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is considered a role model in Japan due to her courage, speed, and elegance.
 * Lightning's Mask is an adornment for monsters which can be found in Void Beyond after completing Final Fantasy XIII-2.
 * Lightning was voted Japan's number one favorite Final Fantasy female character.
 * Lightning's shortened moniker, Light, is played on in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, where she acts like a 'light' who is to lead the lost out from the darkness and into the new world.