Noel Kreiss

Noel Kreiss is a playable character and the male protagonist in Final Fantasy XIII-2. He is the last remaining human from 700 years in the future, and has traveled into the past hoping to change that fate. After meeting Lightning by chance, he saves Serah Farron from monsters and accompanies her on her quest to find her sister.

Appearance and Personality
Noel is a young man with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. He wears a black V-neck top designed with tribal patterns and a pair of angel wings on the back, along with a simple pendant. He wears a leather bracer on his left arm, a ring on his right hand, and wraps his right arm with cord. He wears large blue -style trousers with decorated hems, and low-cut sandal-like leather boots. A green pouch and hunter's knife are attached to his belt in the back, which itself is adorned with small lavender ties made of cloth. Under the angel wings on the back of Noel's top and on his dagger, there are lines of Etro script. The script on his top translates to: Seeker of Miracles at History's End -- Walker of the Realm Unseen, and the text on the dagger reads: Travel the desolate wasteland in search of hope's past. The sword Noel wields with his right hand has two blades stylized like red flames, while the sword he wields with his left hand is a simple yellow-brown blade similar to a gladius. His two-bladed sword can hold his smaller sword within the hollow metal part of the hilt. The swords combine and form a spear that also functions as a javelin. As well as the motif on his top, the silver blade in the center of Noel's red sword also has angel wings.

Noel presents himself as a cocky, cheerful, confident but soft-spoken person. He is a self-sufficient hunter and a fighter. Due to the effects of a time paradox, Noel suffers from amnesia. Coming from a future where humanity is almost non-existent, he has some trouble with his speech, so he tends to speak in a straightforward manner. He is excited to explore new places and meet new people and is defined by his determination to protect others, evident by how he is protective towards Serah despite hardly knowing her. He is able to assert himself to others, and remain calm and collected when facing people with provoked anger, such as the members of NORA.

In a similar manner to Lightning, Noel firmly stands by his beliefs and morals. As a remnant from his time period, Noel values life and is reluctant to hurt others unless forced to. This makes him have an initial dislike for Snow for his brash personality, always believing himself to be "the hero", and leaving Serah to fend for herself.

Downloadable Content Outfits
Noel has five alternate outfits as part of the game's downloadable content: his "Battle Attire" costume was released on January 10th in Japan, February 7th in America and included with Nordic Edition of the game or as part of the pre-order bonus DLC pack—"Fight in Style"—for Europe and Australia; "Spacetime Guardian" was released in February 2012; and "N7 Armor" was released in March 2012 and "Assassin's Creed" was released in April 2012. His "Black Mage" outfit was released in May 2012.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Noel was the last to be born in the Farseer tribe that lived a nomadic existence on the ruined Gran Pulse 200 years after Cocoon came crashing down after its crystal pillar shattered. The event left the world in ruins and killed the majority of mankind. Eventually, only three people remain in the Dying World, Noel himself, the seeress Paddra Nsu-Yeul, and Caius Ballad, Yeul's Guardian. Noel becomes Caius's student and after single-handedly killing a Behemoth, is acknowledged by Caius to be strong enough to become the new Guardian for Yeul.

Learning it means he would have to kill Caius as per ancient Farseer tradition, Noel refuses to go through with it. Noel tells Caius about his plan to take Yeul on a journey to find other people so she will not be lonely anymore, but Caius says it is a futile dream. Once learning that if the Heart of Chaos inside of Caius stops beating the goddess Etro will die along with him unleashing the chaos of Valhalla and destroying the past, Noel is forced to fight him and is defeated. Caius leaves for Valhalla to go through with his resolve to free Yeul from her fate.

After Caius's departure Noel finds Yeul praying at the shrine at the end of her life. Though she wished for a bit more time, the dying Yeul promises a tearful Noel they will meet again before she disintegrates into light. Noel discovers the curse of the seeress is to see the future, but every vision eats away at her life until it kills her. Noel realizes Caius kept the truth about Yeul a secret from him and embarks on a journey to find Valhalla and become a warrior worthy to be recognized by Etro and gain the power of chaos needed to change his fate.

Etro answers Noel's prayers and after entering the Historia Crux Noel regains consciousness as he falls out of Etro's Gate over Valhalla. He is saved by Lightning flying on Bahamut just before her aerial battle with Caius as Chaos Bahamut. Recognizing Noel from a vision she had, Lightning tells him to guide Serah to Valhalla and work together with her to change the future. She gives him a moogle named Mog to keep Serah safe. Lightning covers Noel's escape as Caius summons a large meteor over Etro's shrine, crushing it as Noel barely reaches the Time Gate below. In the process, he loses most of his memories.

Arriving on the Time Gate's meteorite form in New Bodhum 3 AF, Noel comes to Serah's aid when she is attacked by monsters. After taking care of the monsters together Noel introduces himself and tells Serah Mog is her new 'lucky charm' and gift from Lightning. Serah tells him she saw Noel with Lightning and Mog in a dream.

As everyone goes to investigate the crystal meteorite an anomaly causes Cocoon to vanish, and a Gogmagog emerges from a rift. After defeating it and arriving at the crash site, Noel tells Serah they are seeing images from a bleak future. He tells her he is from 700 years in the future and offers to take her to Lightning. The meteorite is actually a Time Gate and Noel tells Serah Lightning is waiting on the other side.

Later, Noel tells Serah and NORA his story, and tells them about artefacts. The next day Serah finds a mirror in her room that was not there before and uncovers the artefact needed for her and Noel to use the Time Gate. Noel tells Serah he wants a future with people living in it and reveals he is the last human alive in his time, how he wishes to change that, and how Lightning gave him hope and the chance to do so.

Noel and Serah enter the Time Gate and fly through the Historia Crux with Noel explaining it is the crossroads of the time continuum. They come out at Bresha Ruins 5 AF, and Noel is in awe seeing how Cocoon looks from the inside. They are attacked by a giant arm, and Noel strikes what he believes to be an invisible giant. PSICOM warships fire upon the giant Atlas causing it to retreat further into the ruins. Noel and Serah are taken into custody, but are soon freed by Academy scientist, Alyssa Zaidelle, who wants to learn about the gates and paradoxes but as long as Atlas is around causing trouble the ruins will be closed off. Noel offers to stop Atlas with Alyssa helping him and Serah as their faraway informant.

Noel and Serah resolve the paradox affecting the area by destroying Atlas and the Bresha Ruins are restored to their former glory. After finding an artefact and activating another gate, Serah has a vision and lies to Noel, saying it's nothing, although he doesn't believe her.

Noel, Mog, and Serah re-enter the Historia Crux and travel to Yaschas Massif 10 AF. The area is darkened by a solar eclipse and Noel recalls a story about a fal'Cie blocking out the sun 500 years before his time. After learning what year it is from a researcher, Noel and Serah believe the eclipse is being caused by a paradox. They meet the Academy leader, a 24-year-old Hope Estheim, who has full knowledge of Noel due to the events at Bresha five years ago.

Hope and Alyssa, who is now Hope's assistant, talk more about the Farseers who used to live in the Paddra ruins and a seeress named Yeul who could see the future and had foretold the city-state's destruction. Noel uses one of Hope's tools, an ancient device called the Oracle Drive, and induces a vision of Lightning and the events leading up to Fang and Vanille's sacrifice to save Cocoon ten years before. Hope uses the device to display grainy images of Lightning's battle with Caius in Valhalla. Noel and Serah decide to use the artefact given to them by Hope to resolve the paradox affecting the area, and in turn the Oracle Drive.

At Oerba 200 AF Noel, Serah and Mog activate the Oracle Drive on the old schoolhouse producing images of Serah's reunion with Lightning. Noel and Serah are confronted by Caius and Yeul, and Noel calls out her name, but she tells him she is not his Yeul. Caius explains Yeul does not exist as a single person, and that he has come to punish Serah and Noel for tampering with time. Before Caius can kill Noel Yeul steps in, saying time has already been changed and she and Caius leave.

Returning to the Yaschas Massif in 1X AF they see an alternate reality where the eclipse never occurred. After repeating their introduction to Hope, they see the now clear images of Lightning in Valhalla, and the Oracle Drive projects images of Caius and Cocoon falling. Noel says in his time the world fell into ruin after Cocoon's fall. Serah assures it does not have to be that way, and they could change the future and prevent Cocoon from falling.

The next Time Gate they enter takes them to the Void Beyond. As Serah begins to doubt them ever finding her sister, Noel recites a legend of Etro: "Never give up, for the Goddess Etro watches always, and helps those who help themselves," and how thinking about the simple stuff can help people through hard times. Noel reassures they are one step closer to Lightning with each Time Gate they pass through. After activating the gate in the Bresha Ruins' underground tunnels, Noel gets concerned for Serah and asks if she is having more visions, but she lies to him again.

After Noel, Mog, and Serah arrive at the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF, they come across a trail of Miniflan. Seeing more of them appear out of nowhere they assume the phenomenon is caused by a paradox. Serah has another vision and runs off frantic. Noel follows her and they find Snow being attacked by a group of Miniflan. As he tries to protect Serah from Royal Ripeness, Noel comes to their aid. He tells Snow he will handle things but Snow shoves him aside and the three of them fight the monster together. In a joint effort they defeat Royal Ripeness, but the Miniflan reform the monster and the party retreats at Noel's insistence.

Noel criticizes Snow for wanting to stay behind and fight, telling him people who do not know when to retreat don't live long. Noel demands to know why Snow left Serah behind and what he is doing in the future. Hearing Snow's explanation about Lightning asking him to protect Cocoon's crystal pillar in a dream, Noel decides to put their differences aside and work with him. After finding an artefact to open the gate to the next location, Noel tells Snow not to do anything stupid and wait for him and Serah to return.

In the Coliseum, Noel, Serah and Mog encounter the Arbiter of Time, who demands them to leave and gives them a fragment in return for doing so. Noel says Snow charges into danger thinking self-sacrifice will save everyone but ultimately gets innocent people killed. Noel says that unlike Snow he knows the difference between fantasy and reality and asks Serah not to compare him to Snow.

In the Archylte Steppe, Serah and Noel learn the cause of a storm in the area is a dragon sucking Miniflan through its mouth, and figure it's the cause of the anomaly in the Sunleth Waterscape. After Noel and Serah defeat the Faeryl and resolve the anomaly causing Royal Ripeness to continue growing, Noel says they should hurry before Snow does something foolish. He tells Serah he never thought about her being separated from someone important to her since he grew up in a world where people never knew when they would have to part, and had to cherish every moment like it was their last. Returning to Sunleth Waterscape they find Snow not waiting for them as he promised, but on the ropes in front of the big flan that has reduced in size.

After defeating the giant flan for good, Noel asks Snow why he continued fighting despite knowing he didn't stand a chance. Hearing his answer, Noel accuses him of never saving anyone or thinking how he hurts the people he is supposed to protect. Snow tells Noel he has been looking after Serah, and must have protected loved ones back in his own time. Noel says he couldn't protect them all which is why he is now all alone.

Snow entrusts Serah's safety to Noel and vanishes. Noel speculates it is because Snow does not belong in this time and the paradox had been dealt with. Serah noticed a Pulse l'Cie brand on Snow's arm and as she despairs, Noel says Snow may have asked for it for the power to accomplish a mission he could not normally do. He says he despises Snow for it but understands him as well.

Back in the Void Beyond, Serah asks Noel about Yeul and if she is also traveling through time. Noel believes the Farseer tribes had a girl with the same appearance and power and the name Yeul was passed down through the generations. When Serah asks how his era will change if they solve all the paradoxes, Noel believes it will be a future where he does not exist but is fine with it.

The trio arrives at Academia in 400 AF where people are mysteriously transformed into Cie'th. After they fight their way through the city, Noel pretends to surrender to reveal the person behind the events. Caius appears behind them and mocks Noel for his strategy and calls them enemies as they are contradictions in the timeline. He says Serah and Noel were killed after learning the forbidden history within a tower two hundred years ago and have appeared before him alive and well, a paradox in itself.

They find Yeul wandering the streets alone and being attacked by Cie'th. Noel holds Yeul in his arms as she tells him about her vision of death, and how she is a contradiction to the timeline as long as she lives. Serah frets their actions are making the fate awaiting Yeul unavoidable. Before she dies, Yeul tells them Caius wasn't in the city.

They use the artefact given by Yeul to travel 200 years in the past to the Augusta Tower where Noel and Serah learn Hope had created a Proto fal'Cie to keep Cocoon airborne without its pillar. Noel confesses he sensed something off about Caius in Academia, and thinks he probably wasn't the real Caius. Noel tells Serah of his life with Caius and Yeul and how he came to be the only one left.

Noel, Serah and Mog meet an artificial duplicate of Alyssa and witness a blurry video of Hope, Alyssa, and other scientists being attacked by machines. Alyssa's duplicate tells them the recording is of an incident that occurred in the tower 187 years ago at 13 AF: Hope and the real Alyssa were killed as they were in the way of the Proto fal'Cie's A.I. and now that they know the tower's forbidden history they can never leave.

On the tower's top level, they encounter the Yeul they met in Oerba who gives them an artefact and implores them to protect time. She reveals Caius is immortal and retains memory of all timeline events and that even before she had met them history had been changed in accordance to the changing future. She says Lightning disappeared because the future had changed and if Serah and Noel solve the paradoxes the past will return to how Serah remembers it. Yeul tells them the Caius from Academia was a copy made by the Proto fal'Cie Adam, the source of the paradox, and the real Caius is in the tower, then implores they show her a new future.

Noel, Mog and Serah enter a battle against Adam who keeps returning whenever defeated until Serah erases it from existence by scolding Hope out-loud for creating it. Serah has another vision of the future and falls unconscious but Noel manages to bring her back. The trio returns to Academia in 4XX AF to find another alternate reality where the city is peaceful and the Proto fal'Cie is gone. Hope and Alyssa appear saying this is the future they had protected. Serah and Noel are cautious from the events of Augusta Tower, but their minds are promptly put at ease. At Academy headquarters they learn that in 13 AF Hope created the plan for the Proto fal'Cie but scrapped it after seeing Serah yelling at him through the Oracle Drive, and he and Alyssa went into the future in a time capsule he invented. They have now devised a plan to build a man-made Cocoon that will be made airborne through the use of five Graviton Cores. After finding the cores, Noel and Serah get an artefact from Alyssa.

Before they leave through a new Time Gate, Hope and Alyssa come to see them off. Promising to meet again in the future, Noel, Serah and Mog enter the Historia Crux. Noel becomes separated from Serah and Mog as a result of Alyssa betraying them and having given them a booby-trapped artefact. He emerges in the Void Beyond and engages Caius, but is defeated and impaled from behind. Noel falls as chaos emerges from his body and disappears into a dream world based on his homeworld, reliving the highlights of his past without acknowledging Serah watching and following him.

When Noel is being pulled off the ground toward a light in the sky, Serah grabs hold of his arm and calls out to him and he remembers her. She tells him he was living in a dream and would have been happy forever and apologizes for having to take him away but he thanks her, saying everyone has to wake up from their dreams sooner or later.

Light is restored to the Dying World and Noel tells Serah he has regained some of his memories. He tells her a seeress's power to have visions of the future shortens their lifespan and they die young, just like how the Yeul he knew died at only fifteen years old. Despite having full knowledge of her impending death Serah continues in their quest since it's what Lightning wants them to do. Activating the Oracle Drive at the Farseers' Relic, Noel gets closure with Yeul and vows to settle things with Caius once learning he is the one causing the paradoxes.

They emerge from a paradox and find themselves in what appears to be New Bodhum in 700 AF. The village is a wasteland and on the beach Lightning emerges from a portal saying they are in a future she could not save. Lightning says Caius plans to destroy Etro while she sleeps in Valhalla and unleash chaos into the world through an unseen doorway that opens for the souls of the departed. Noel says that would be possible if Cocoon fell. After Serah points out the world would become like Valhalla Lightning believes it is Caius's plan to create a timeless world. Noel says Caius wants to sacrifice countless lives and remake the world to save Yeul and Lightning says that in 500 AF Caius will attempt to bring down the old Cocoon and Hope's new one in one fell swoop.

Noel, Mog, Serah travel to Academia 500 AF, the time of the prophecy of Cocoon's fall, and Noel wonders if the world is already falling apart since the city is transformed with chaos. As they traverse the city's floating block platforms to reach the Academy headquarters, they hear Yeul's voice telling them not to fight Caius and risk killing Etro.

When they fight Caius, Noel protects Serah and Caius tells him he would have made a worthy Guardian, before revealing how he intends to release Yeul from her cycle of reincarnation by destroying reality itself. A wormhole opens in the sky and Caius in his Chaos Bahamut form flies into it.

Noel, Mog, and Serah jump into the wormhole and come out in Valhalla. Odin saves them from their fall before they face off against Caius on the beach. Noel asks Caius if he believes causing destruction will make Yeul happy and says in her last moments she always smiled because she believed she would be reborn, and that she kept coming back to meet Caius again. Caius does not listen and emerges in the form of Jet Bahamut. Noel tries to cover Serah from its blast, and as they fall into the bottomless abyss beneath Valhalla's waves of chaos, they are saved by Lightning, who pulls them back towards the surface before disappearing.

After Noel and Serah destroy Jet Bahamut, Noel tells Caius he still does not intend to kill him, even for Yeul's sake. Caius tries to force Noel to kill him by saying he killed Lightning and then lunges at Serah, provoking Noel to take action. He stops himself from stabbing Caius at the nick of time, but Caius takes Noel's blade and forces it through his chest while telling him to bear the burden of the eternal paradox.

As chaos slowly leaves Caius's body, Noel laments how Caius had been consumed by sorrow and despair due to watching so many Yeuls die, and how he sought to die in Valhalla. Noel, however, only wants to be reunited the Yeul he knew, knowing they will meet again someday. Taking Caius's sword, Noel places it as a grave marker, hoping Caius finds peace.

Noel, Serah and Mog leave Valhalla and return to Gran Pulse in 500 AF to find Hope's new Cocoon, named Bhunivelze, afloat. After the gate to Valhalla closes, Serah thanks Noel but has another vision and dies in his arms. As Noel mourns for Serah and how he failed to protect her, the world turns dark and Mog weakens as he reveals Etro is no more. Noel remembers Caius's words about the Heart of Chaos, realizing he unknowingly played into Caius's scheme and killed the goddess as Gran Pulse and Bhunivelze are infected by chaos.

In Battle


Noel begins with the Commando, Ravager, and Sentinel roles. He majors as Commando and Synergist, and is a good Medic. Noel also makes a good Sentinel for his high health stat. He is not as proficient as a Saboteur and he learns only a few spells for that role. Noel's Full ATB Skill is Meteor Javelin, a Commando ability that hits the enemy multiple times, but clears the chain gauge. The ability is thus best used when the enemy is about to recover from stagger.

Weapons
Noel fights with two swords, which he can combine into a spear to jab enemies, and throw it like a javelin. In Noel's memories, it is revealed he chose to fight with two swords because he couldn't best Caius with a single blade. Some of Noel's swords, Exploda, Rune Tooth, Sargatanas, and The Tower, are references to Zidane Tribal's Thief Swords from Final Fantasy IX.

Creation and Development
As with the other playable characters in Final Fantasy XIII-2, Noel's face was designed by the character designer Tetsuya Nomura, while his body and clothes were designed by Yusuke Naora. Noel was first revealed in screenshots and a teaser video from the 2011 E3 trailer of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Noel is designed as a newcomer character who knows little about Cocoon and Gran Pulse, because the developers wanted to have Noel in a similar position to a newcomer player to Final Fantasy XIII. Naora designed Noel with his profession as a hunter in mind. He gave Noel lightweight clothes and a pouch to store a hunter's knife.

Developers draw several differences between Noel and Snow. The game's director, Motomu Toriyama, describes Noel as "having a different type of chivalry from Snow", while the game's producer, Yoshinori Kitase, describes Noel as "attractive and stylish", as opposed to Snow being "the tough guy type". Comparing him to Lightning, Toriyama calls Noel "a brave young man burdened by a heavy destiny – a different type of a protagonist to Lightning". Yusuke Naora has said he based the colors of Noel's Flame Fossil sword, red and yellow, on those of the original nameless protagonist from Final Fantasy III in Yoshitaka Amano's artwork.

As said by Kitase, Noel was created as a male protagonist with a similar age to Serah as a counterpoint after she was named the main female lead. Noel's appeal as a character comes from him coming from a vastly different environment from Serah's, therefore making him "a protagonist well beyond his years."

Musical Themes
"Noel's Theme", composed by Naoshi Mizuta, is a prominent track in Final Fantasy XIII-2, serving as a base for the main battle theme "The Last Hunter". It has a lyrical version, titled "Noel's Theme ~Last Journey~" among several arrangements.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Noel appears in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. He can assist the character by using Aeroga, Ruin, Ruinga and his exclusive skill, Meteor Javelin. The player can access him by purchasing the correct issue of Mobage.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Noel appears in the Japan-exclusive Final Fantasy trading card game published by Square Enix.

Etymology
"Noël" is French for "Christmas", but originates, like other Latin-derived language forms for the word, from the Latin "Natalis", which means "Birth". In German, "Kreis" means "Circle"; the second "s" may be added purely for pronunciation.

Trivia

 * Noel shares certain characteristics with Oerba Yun Fang, who was originally designed as a male character, in that he has a straight-forward cocky personality, has trouble remembering parts of his past, wears tribal clothing with a similar color palette, has a red double-bladed weapon that can also be used as a spear, and his full ATB skill is performed using a spear.
 * Noel appears on the 500th cover of Dengeki PlayStation magazine with Lightning, Serah, Noctis, Machina Kunagiri, and Rem Tokimiya.
 * In a Live Trigger in New Bodhum 3 AF, Noel proclaims his favorite food is Adamantoise even though they are not present in his home world.
 * One of the scrapped playable character ideas for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings was a Ninja aegyl who was supposed to be the last survivor of his village. The character was scrapped as the game's co-director, Takanari Ishiyama, felt that there would have been too many playable characters. This character idea may or may not have been reused by Toriyama for Noel Kreiss, considering their similarities (both dual wield weapons and have "wings" on their back, and are last survivors).
 * Noel, along with Caius, does not use the same format for his name like a number of other Pulsians such as Oerba Dia Vanille and Paddra Nsu Yeul. Unlike them, who use the format of first having their village, then clan and personal name, Noel uses the personal name, then family name, like people from Cocoon.