Oerba Dia Vanille

Oerba Dia Vanille [vʌ'niːɫ] is a playable character and the narrator in Final Fantasy XIII.

She is a mysterious young girl who is friends with Fang. Despite facing many hardships, carrying a dark past and a heavy burden, Vanille remains a caring and upbeat person. Initially unknown to her friends, Vanille's actions have a large impact on their lives and those of the people around her. After joining Hope Estheim and his mother Nora as a victim of the Purge, Vanille finds herself drawn into a conflict to decide the fate of Cocoon.

Her full name stands for "Vanille of the Dia clan, from the village of Oerba".

Appearance and Personality


Despite her chronological age, Vanille has the physical appearance of a nineteen year-old. Her bright red hair is tied in curled pigtails. She has green eyes, and pierced ears with silver hoop earrings. She wears a light pink halter top, an orange and yellow skirt, and beige boots. She wears a fur pelt around her waist, which she uses to carry her weapon; according to Dengeki PS3 magazine, it is made from a bear she defeated herself. She wears numerous bracelets, and three beaded necklaces, along with an assortment of beads attached to various parts of her clothing. Her outfit is inspired by the traditional clothes of the Namibian women. Vanille's l'Cie brand is located on her upper left thigh, but mostly remains hidden beneath her skirt.

Vanille has a childlike innocence, and is considerate, understanding, upbeat, and at times, headstrong and stubborn. Vanille is empathetic, easily driven to tears, and cares deeply for other people, Fang in particular. Vanille remains positive in situations others deem hopeless. She tries to cheer up her friends when they're down, and see the bright side of things, but her bubbly personality is a façade to hide her fear and guilt. Vanille faces her past mistakes, learns to stop running away from her problems, and to fight for her friends and what she believes in.

Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-


Vanille was a resident of Gran Pulse in the village of Oerba. During the War of Transgression, six centuries before the events of Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille and Fang lost their families at the hands of Cocoon's l'Cie and fal'Cie. After meeting at Oerba's orphanage, they became friends. Fang decided to become a l'Cie to protect Vanille and their home and Vanille tagged along. By the powers of the Pulse fal'Cie Anima, Vanille and Fang were granted the power of Ragnarok and given the Focus to destroy Cocoon.

In the war's climax, Vanille was too scared to use the power of Ragnarok, so Fang became Ragnarok alone, but only scarred Cocoon's shell. Taking pity on the people of Cocoon, the goddess Etro intervened and crystallized Fang and Vanille before they could finish the job. The crystallized forms of Fang and Vanille were placed within the Pulse Vestige, which was taken into Cocoon in the war's aftermath.

Six hundred years later, Vanille and Fang awaken from crystal stasis. Fang has lost the memory of their previous Focus and Ragnarok; to keep more people from getting hurt, Vanille pretends she has as well, then later takes on the burden of Ragnarok to spare Fang the guilt and pain. Although Fang's l'Cie brand is scorched and unchanging, Vanille's brand is still active. Fang is unwilling to stand by and watch Vanille become a Cie'th, and vows to complete their Focus. After two days of looking for answers with no luck, they return to the Vestige. Upon the fal'Cie Anima's throne, Fang and Vanille discover an unconscious Serah Farron, who has been branded a Pulse l'Cie. Vanille blames herself for Serah's misfortune, assuming Anima transformed Serah to complete their Focus. They carry Serah outside of the Vestige and watch over her until she comes to and leaves.

After stealing a pair of ID cards two days later, Fang and Vanille travel to Euride Gorge to find the fal'Cie Kujata, which Fang plans to destroy to restore their memories, but Dajh Katzroy enters the room and the fal'Cie brands him a Sanctum l'Cie in response to Fang and Vanille's threat. The two are pursued by PSICOM troops and separated when Fang forces Vanille to escape without her. Vanille makes her way back to Bodhum, leaves her weapon inside the Vestige, and wanders around the town, beginning to see Cocoon as a peaceful paradise.

Four days later, when Vanille scrapes her leg on the beach, she is helped by Serah and the two become friends. Serah advises Vanille to face her problem later and find a way to overcome it. She tells Vanille about her nightmare of destroying the world and how she tried to run from it, but now knows she will get through with her friends' help. Vanille apologizes for her role in Serah becoming a l'Cie, but Serah is oblivious to Vanille's involvement and does not understand.

Two days later, Vanille attends Bodhum's fireworks festival, and, inspired by her meeting with Serah, wishes for Cocoon's safety. The following day, the Sanctum announces its discovery of Anima within the Vestige. Bodhum is quarantined and everyone in town will be Purged to Pulse. The day after, Vanille lines up to be Purged in hopes of returning home and escaping her Focus, and boards the Purge train alongside Nora Estheim and her son, Hope.

Final Fantasy XIII


While entering the Hanging Edge, the Purge train is derailed by Lightning and Sazh. Along with the rest of the Purgees, Vanille is found by Snow Villiers and his resistance group, NORA. Nora joins them in their fight against PSICOM and is killed in the chaos, after which Vanille has Hope stick with her. Since Hope blames Snow for his mother's death, Vanille encourages him to approach Snow but he leaves before Hope has the chance. Vanille and Hope steal Gadot's airbike and follow Snow to the Vestige.

They crash-land inside the Vestige and damage the airbike. Vanille recovers her weapon and they are saved from Cie'th by Snow. Accompanying him, they meet with Lightning and Sazh, and find Serah outside Anima's Throne. Serah asks Lightning to save Cocoon and transforms into a crystal. Lightning, Snow, and Sazh attack Anima, who brands Vanille's new acquaintances l'Cie. PSICOM's assault on the Vestige breaks it apart, and they fall down to Lake Bresha, with Anima's power crystallizing it on impact.

When they awaken, Vanille pretends that she, too, had just been branded by Anima. The group interprets their Focus having something to do with Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon, although Snow remains positive their Focus is to follow Serah's wish to save it. Soon after leaving Snow behind with Serah's crystal, the party finds their way into abandoned ruins at the lake's edge. They stumble upon a Sanctum airship which Sazh pilots out to the skies of Cocoon. The airship comes under fire from a wave of enemy ships and crash-lands in the Vile Peaks.

Lightning announces she is heading for Eden to destroy its patron fal'Cie and take down the Sanctum. Lightning leaves with Hope chasing after her, and Sazh and Vanille choose to run from their fate in the opposite direction. Vanille and Sazh come across a scrap processing plant where they find a secluded area to rest. Though Vanille draws a line on the ground to separate them, Sazh awakens during the night to find Vanille beside him, sobbing in her sleep.

Vanille and Sazh arrive in the Sunleth Waterscape on their way to Nautilus. As they pass through the area, Vanille asks Sazh about his family. He reveals he is Dajh Katzroy's father - the boy branded a l'Cie by Vanille and Fang's actions - and Sazh was branded in his attempt to complete the boy's Focus. Overcome with guilt, Vanille cannot bring herself to tell Sazh about her involvement.

In Nautilus, Vanille cannot hide behind a cheerful façade any longer. Noticing a change in her demeanor, Sazh suggests they go watch the Pompa Sancta parade to cheer her up. Breaking news footage of the chaos in Palumpolum is broadcast throughout the park. Sazh notes the appearances of Lightning, Hope, and Snow in the footage, but Vanille is shocked to see another familiar face: Fang. After the parade, Sazh and Vanille go to the Chocobo Corral, where Sazh reveals he wishes to turn himself in to the Sanctum to see Dajh one last time. Vanille tries to dissuade him by telling him who was responsible for the Euride Gorge incident, but before she has a chance to admit her involvement, they are attacked by the Sanctum.

The two flee out to the Clock Tower, where Dajh appears and crystallizes in Sazh's arms. Jihl Nabaat arrives with her troops, and the boy's Focus is revealed: to capture servants of the lowerworld fal'Cie. Nabaat reveals it was Vanille and Fang who threatened Kujata and made the fal'Cie brand Dajh. Vanille flees from the scene in tears and Nabaat lets the enraged Sazh pursue her, curious as to how much data they could collect by watching two l'Cie duel.

Within the courtyard of the Fiendlord's Keep, Vanille reveals her true nature as a l'Cie from Gran Pulse and demands Sazh to shoot her for the suffering she has caused him. His Eidolon, Brynhildr, materializes and the two defeat it together, but Sazh points his guns again at Vanille afterward. Vanille accepts her punishment, but Sazh is too heartbroken to take Vanille's life and raises the gun to his own head. He averts his gun and shoots in the air before they are captured by PSICOM. Nabaat renders Sazh unconscious, and the two are led onto the Palamecia by Nabaat’s regiment.

During their captivity, Sazh realizes that since Vanille awoke from crystal stasis, Dajh will awaken too. He forgives Vanille when he realizes what happened to his son was an accident. With help from the Cavalry, Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Fang infiltrate the airship to rescue Vanille and Sazh.

Sazh and Vanille escape their cell, retrieve their weapons, and proceed to meet them halfway, where Vanille is reunited with Fang. The party reaches the bridge and confronts the Primarch, Galenth Dysley, who kills Nabaat and reveals his true identity as the fal'Cie Barthandelus. Dysley says the party's Focus is to destroy Orphan, the fal'Cie that sustains Cocoon, and that Serah's true Focus was to gather them together to be made l'Cie and accomplish that goal. The party escapes the descending Palamecia with Menrva in its airship form, and is taken to the Fifth Ark hidden beneath Eden.

In the Fifth Ark, the group's l'Cie powers are fully awakened and they run into the Cavalry leader Cid Raines. He reveals himself as a Sanctum l'Cie whose Focus is to help them destroy Cocoon and summon the Maker. Cid defies his Focus and attempts to kill them, but is defeated and to everyone's surprise, he turns to crystal. Inspired by this, the party decides to also defy their Focus and follow Serah's wish to save Cocoon. After Vanille and Lightning help Fang tame her Eidolon, Bahamut, a new path to the Ark's lowest level is revealed. Vanille finds a Pulsian airship, guessing it to be one of the Ark's weapons. Everyone agrees to travel to Gran Pulse to find a way to change their fate.

After entering Pulse's atmosphere, a wild wyvern attacks the airship. Vanille and Hope plummet to Pulse before they are saved by the others flying on Bahamut. They create a base camp in the Vallis Media, and spend days searching for answers with no luck. After Hope tames his Eidolon, Alexander, their hope is renewed and they decide to journey to Oerba together. When the party finds the ruins of Paddra in the Yaschas Massif, Vanille says she became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon's shell centuries before. Fang is puzzled as to why she was turned into crystal despite not doing anything in the war. The party sees the fal'Cie Dahaka fly by, and knowing it resides near Oerba, decide to follow it.

The party crosses the Archylte Steppe into the Mah'habara Subterra. In the Flower-filled Fissure, Fang says it was she who became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon and not Vanille. The shock of having her deepest lie exposed causes Vanille's Eidolon, Hecatoncheir, to appear, and she learns Fang was bluffing about regaining her memories to coax a confession from her. Once they tame Hecatoncheir, Fang reassures Vanille she is no longer alone: their friends from Cocoon are now their new family.

In the Sulyya Springs Vanille tells Snow she had met Serah in Bodhum and how she was made a l'Cie because of her. She tells him Serah had the vision of Ragnarok like the rest of them, and theorizes Serah had beaten her Focus by passing Cocoon's fate over to them, and that was the act that made her turn to crystal, meaning Barthandelus was lying about Serah's Focus.

The party ascends Taejin's Tower and at the top, Vanille and Fang reminisce about their hometown, describing it as a village filled with flowers, but are shocked to see their home devoid of life and color. The party rides a capsule down to the outskirts of Oerba. They traverse the dilapidated village and encounter Barthandelus at the end of a broken railway bridge. Knowing Barthandelus has resurrected Raines and caused more chaos in Cocoon, the party heads to Eden with the airship Barthandelus left them to stop the fal'Cie's plan. They make their way through Eden to Orphan's Cradle.

Inside the Narthex, the party defeats Barthandelus but Menrva flies into a pool of liquid and awakens the fal'Cie Orphan. Orphan demands Vanille and Fang to become Ragnarok, and tortures Vanille to try and force her hand. Vanille and Fang see their friends transform into Cie'th – who attack Fang – triggering her transformation into an incomplete version of Ragnarok.

After Fang fails to destroy Orphan she transforms back into a human and is subject to an agonizing cycle of torture as Vanille helplessly watches. Orphan tries to force Vanille to become Ragnarok but she resists and stands up to the fal'Cie instead of running away. Orphan explodes and sinks into its pool, releasing Fang. The rest of the party reverts from their Cie'th forms. They say their transformation was another fal'Cie trick, and that their new Focus is to save Cocoon and everyone's brands, including Vanille's, are burned out. Orphan's true form rises from the pool and the party sets out to destroy it.

After Orphan is destroyed, Orphan's Cradle vanishes, and the party is left floating above Eden as Cocoon begins to fall. As Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Snow float away, Vanille and Fang stay behind. They join hands and become Ragnarok to stop Cocoon from crashing into Gran Pulse by crystallizing it and creating a pillar to support Cocoon over Pulse. Lightning, Sazh, Hope, and Snow awaken from crystal stasis on Pulse, beneath the newly crystallized Cocoon. As Serah and Dajh appear over the horizon, they realize Vanille and Fang made the ultimate sacrifice and crystallized themselves to save Cocoon, fulfilling their Focus for all of them. Vanille and Fang remain within the core of Cocoon's crystal pillar, deep in a crystal sleep.

Final Fantasy XIII -Episode i-
As Vanille and Fang watch over their friends and the people evacuating Cocoon, Vanille feels at peace now that the harm she unintentionally caused has been undone. Vanille says they will meet again someday, and tells everyone to live their lives as she and Fang will watch over them. Seeing Serah look at Cocoon with pain in her eyes, Vanille recalls how she could not face the pain of her actions and ran away from it.

Remembering Serah's words about getting through with help from friends, Vanille knows that Serah will be strong enough to handle the realization of her and Fang's crimes. She tells Snow to always stand by Serah, and make her able to stand up to anything. After reassuring Fang that Serah will forgive her for getting her involved, they feel someone smiling at them, and Vanille recognizes it as the smile of the goddess Etro. Hearing Fang telling Snow and Lightning not to try and rescue them, Vanille laughs and says, "What are you gonna do? You know what they're like..."

Final Fantasy XIII-2


Dreaming within the pillar, Vanille reflects on how she and Fang felt Etro's presence the first time they turned to crystal, and again when they tried to hold up Cocoon as Ragnarok. Remembering how the priests of Oerba referred to Etro as a dark and scary goddess, Vanille wonders if they were wrong. She recalls Hope's visits to her and Fang, and Vanille continues to feel guilty for the trouble she caused to everyone in Cocoon, but urges Hope to save the future. She tries to call out to Serah, to tell her she and Fang had a dream about being in a new place with a young man and woman they had never met before. Seeing how happy they were, Vanille tells Serah not to give up and make a future where everyone is happy again.

Vanille and Fang appear to Serah in her dream in the Void Beyond, explaining they could connect since they are both dreaming. They had come to save Serah from being trapped in the endless dream that Caius Ballad placed her in, and that Noel needs her help before he becomes trapped in his own dream. Needing to resume their role in maintaining the pillar, Vanille and Fang disappear, leaving a portal to lead Serah to Noel.

By the year 500 AF, Hope and the Academy, along with Sazh, save the crystal holding Vanille and Fang before Cocoon finally falls.

Vanille appears in the paradox ending, "Vanille's Truth", where Serah, Mog, and Noel find her in Oerba XXX AF, an alternate timeline where a crystallized Vanille remained in Oerba after the War of Transgression, continuing to lament about her inability to fight for the people she cared about, and how she wasn't there for Fang as she had promised. Serah hears Vanille's voice and promises to find Fang for her.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
While no further details have been announced, it is confirmed that Vanille will be appearing in Luxerion. Vanille is a high-ranking member of the "Salvation Council," in Luxerion where Lumina is seen standing behind her. The player can get in contact with her through the murders in Luxerion.

In Battle


Vanille concentrates on casting magic from a distance, as opposed to the close combat style of Lightning and Snow. Despite being able to use the Attack command at the start of the game, she cannot use it after Chapter 3 because she does not have the Commando role, which she unlocks in Chapter 10. When the player first acquires Vanille in the Pulse Vestige, she already has three ATB slots. She's the only one able to fight her Eidolon with five ATB slots as it's possible, albeit difficult, to acquire a third-tier weapon before that.

Vanille has the second highest Magic stat in the game, making her a good Ravager, and she can learn all elemental spells up to the -"ra" rank with Fire and Ice being her -"ga" specialty. She is an effective Saboteur, specializing in abilities that decrease the enemies' defenses. She has the only Full ATB Skill that is not a Commando or Ravager ability: Death, a Saboteur ability that deals heavy non-elemental magic damage to an enemy and may inflict instant KO. Vanille's strength lies in her Medic role, where she rivals Hope when it comes to effective healing and, due to her higher HP stat, is less likely to be knocked out by powerful attacks.


 * Base Statistics

Eidolon


Vanille's Eidolon is Hecatoncheir, a multi-armed, Earth-elemental Eidolon that transforms into a bipedal mech with four machine gun turrets. Vanille calls her Eidolon by the pet name "Hecaton" (a nickname found on the inner circle of his summon symbol, rather than 'Hecatoncheir').

Weapons


Vanille's weapon is a Binding Rod. Its head piece resembles a pair of antlers and the body consists of four long wires with hooks that deal damage to enemies by latching on and pulling, similar to a fishing rod.

Creation and Development
According to the Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega, the development team at one point considered making Vanille the official main character, but dismissed the idea as they had already released a trailer and art featuring Lightning in that role.

The idea to cast two characters with Australian accents came from the localization team, who requested the voice directing team to look for either Australian- or New Zealand-sounding voices; the rationale was that the team wanted Fang and Vanille to sound like they were from another world, but more in a sense of having a different melody to their voices, rather than a thick accent.

Voice
Vanille's Japanese voice actress is Yukari Fukui and her English voice actress is Georgia van Cuylenberg. For Vanille's English voice actress it took six months to complete the voice work for Vanille with four-hour sessions twice a week. The Japanese voice had been recorded first, and the voice actors could listen to it as guide to get the right tone; this was especially used for Vanille.

The other characters were intended to be "Americanized", but Vanille's voice actress was asked to stay with the Japanese performance and to use a "high, squeaky and upbeat" voice, as Vanille initially wants to misdirect the others with her happiness. Georgia van Cuylenburg has commented on that the most difficult aspect of voicing Vanille was to make the particular noise Vanille makes, the type of high-pitched moaning sound, which was not easy to make sound natural.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII, "Vanille's Theme" is composed of solo piano, and represents her cheerful nature and inner guilt. "Prelude to Final Fantasy XIII" recurs as a motif within "Vanille's Theme", which is intended to reflect her role as the game's narrator. Variants of her theme include two orchestral arrangements called "Lost Hope" and "Eidolons on Parade". The third variant "Memories of Happier Days", also begins with solo piano like her original theme, but turns into a melancholy but uplifting orchestral piece. A short reprise of her theme is heard in "Sulyya Springs", and at the beginning of "The Road Home". An orchestral motif of her theme is heard in "Nascent Requiem", the final battle theme.

Piano Collections: Final Fantasy XIII
"Vanille's Theme" is part of the "Vanille's Theme ~ Memories of Happier Days ~ The Road Home" track on the album. It is the sixth track on the album.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Many cards depicting Vanille in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. One of them is a close-up of Vanille's face, and and another displays her render. A card for Hecatoncheir in Gestalt Mode also exists, with Vanille riding atop it. The cards are earth-elemental.

Kingdom Hearts Mobile
Vanille appears as a selectable avatar in Kingdom Hearts Mobile. She and Sazh are currently the only characters from Final Fantasy XIII to appear in the game.



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

Etymology and Symbolism
Vanille is French for "vanilla", a type of spice used as flavoring for various sweet foods. Dia is Spanish and Portuguese for "day", which may allude to her bright personality.

The Japanese pronunciation of Dia, with a long "i" sound, is also a common Japanese abbreviation for "diamond", possibly alluding to Hecatoncheir being an Earth-elemental summon.

The characters of Fang and Vanille are based on the Ragnarok myth of Líf ("life") and Lífþrasir ("eager for life") - the only humans who will survive Ragnarok. They sleep through earth's destruction and upon awakening will find the earth verdant again. will become the progenitors of a new race of humans, and their descendants will inhabit the world. This is congruent with the idea that Fang was originally envisioned as a male character.

Trivia

 * Vanille's crystal is used for the "Instrument of Faith" trophy/achievement.
 * A replica of her crystal appears as an adornment for monster allies in Final Fantasy XIII-2.
 * Vanille shares her Japanese voice actress with Terra Branford from Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.
 * Vanille shares her clan name with the spell Dia from Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy XI. However, the Japanese pronunciation of her clan name is different.
 * A photo of Vanille and Fang can be found in Oerba.
 * Vanille's brand is located on the lower half of her body, while her fellow comrades are branded on the upper half of their bodies.
 * Final Fantasy XIII includes a nude character model for Vanille, for the scene where she comes out of crystal stasis.
 * In Episode Zero, Fang mentions that Vanille loves cooking and making up her own meals, though they are not always good.