Alyssa Zaidelle



Alyssa Zaidelle (アリサ・ザイデル) is a major supporting character from Final Fantasy XIII-2. As a member of the Academy, she starts as a trainee but climbs the ranks and becomes the assistant of its leader, Hope Estheim. Together, they help Noel and Serah in their journey to change the future.

In the Japanese version, she is voiced by, while she is voiced by  in the English version.

Appearance and Personality
Alyssa is a young petite woman with blue eyes and short blonde hair. She wears a puff-sleeved yellow and white top with a light blue necktie, and a red vest tied in the back like a corset. She also wears dark gray fingerless gloves, two red packs (one on a belt around her waist, and another on her upper right leg), small dark gray shorts, and black knee high boots.

As a researcher, Alyssa is very popular within the Academy and seen as an idol. She also shares numerous traits with Vanille. They are both charming, bright, and always eager to help out their friends. They can both also express certain emotions in a broad manner. They have an energetic and spunky disposition, along with an adventurous curiosity that can put them into potentially dangerous situations.

Story
During the events of ''Final Fantasy XIII, Alyssa was one of the people who was part of the Purge in Bodhum when she visited her friend. She escaped and hid from the army with other Purgees and they got buried under a pile of rubble in a cave-in. When the Goddess Etro decided to release those who fought to defend Cocoon from crystal stasis, Alyssa was also revived. Since then, Alyssa has been having nightmares of her actual fate and knew deep down that she has been living a lie.

In the Bresha Ruins -005 AF-, Alyssa notices Serah, Mog, and Noel emerge from a time gate. When Atlas begins causing destruction, Alyssa inches towards him out of curiosity, but is taken to safety by a soldier before nearly being crushed by falling debris. After Noel and Serah are taken into custody by PSICOM after their battle against Atlas, Alyssa rushes to where they are being held, frantically asking for Serah. She then manages to free them by claiming to the guard that she knows Serah and that she and Noel are invited guests of the Academy.

After giving Noel and Serah an Academy communicator to permit them access to the ruins, Alyssa tells them that she is helping them because she saw them enter the area, and that she is interested in the gates and paradoxes. Then she listens to Noel explain the fact that as long as Atlas is around causing trouble, the ruins will be closed off, leaving her unable to get any answers. Noel says that he and Serah will stop Atlas. Alyssa keeps them up to date on the activity within the area through radio communication, asking them to let her know if they find a cemetery along the way. She soon tells them that a large energy surge has been detected in the center of the ruins, and that a strange device has appeared deep in the underground sewers. Serah figures that the device appeared along with Atlas, and will make him easier to fight.

After Serah and Noel defeat Atlas for good, restore the Bresha Ruins, and find a nearby cemetery, Alyssa appears grateful that they found it. She kneels before the tallest gravestone and shows relief that her name is not on it. She tells Noel and Serah it is the resting place of a friend of hers who died escaping from the Purge, and reveals to them that she is a Purge survivor. Telling her story, Alyssa admits that was dreamed of her spirit standing in front of the gravestone and seeing her name on it. Then she says, "After seeing that image so many times, I started to think that maybe I did die back then. And the life I'm living now is just an illusion." Noel pokes Alyssa's head telling her she is real, and she says that he is right. Kneeling before the gravestone, she says she will never forget the Purge and what she went through, even if everyone else does.

In the Paddra Ruins of the Yaschas Massif -010 AF-, after Noel, Mog and Serah encounter Hope, an older yet exhausted Alyssa appears and reprimands him for leaving her behind. When Hope says that he wants to show something to Noel and Serah, Alyssa playfully grabs his arm saying she will lead the way before he softly pushes her off and takes the lead himself. After telling Serah and Noel about a tribe of people known as Farseers that once lived in the ruins, Alyssa, Hope, Mog and Serah watch Noel in confusion as he runs off and talks to someone in the sky. Hope eventually tells Noel and Serah that a young seeress named Yeul foretold the city's destruction, causing people to either try to change their destiny or fall into disarray.

When Serah asks why the Farseers died out if they knew about their city's future destruction, Alyssa tells her that the city was destroyed because they saw it coming. She says "Being able to see the future is awfully dangerous. It can mess with people's heads." Then she grabs Hope's arm again, eagerly asking him if she can show Serah and Noel something. At her insistence, Hope shows Serah and Noel the Oracle Drive, an ancient device that shows images of events that should be considered impossible. Noel activates it and everyone sees images of the events that took place ten years ago. Hope believes that Yeul probably left behind records of the future. He uses the Oracle Drive and projects blurry images of Lightning with Odin fighting a mysterious man.

In the Yaschas Massif -01X AF-, Hope uses the Oracle Drive to show Serah and Noel that the previous images of Lightning have cleared up. As he talks with them about Lightning, Alyssa notices the Oracle Drive behind them light up on its own and promptly go back out and examines it. She warns Hope as it goes off on its own and projects images of Cocoon falling and the man who was fighting Lightning, who Noel calls Caius. Alyssa asks if the records were just rewritten but Hope says that the new images are possibly a continuation of the first recording from before.

Hearing Noel say that the world in his time fell apart after Cocoon's fall, Alyssa panics and asks him if that is going to happen soon. He says it will happen in a matter of hundreds of years, and she shows relief since none of them will be alive at that time. Serah proposes that they prevent Cocoon from falling and Alyssa asks her if a gate connected to that time even exists. Then Hope says that if they focus the 'now' moments that make up the future, then it can be avoided, otherwise, they will research ways to limit the damage from Cocoon's fall. As Hope talks with Serah and Noel, Alyssa looks back at them with a mysterious expression. Years later, Alyssa set up the Proto fal'Cie project which would claim her life.

In Augusta Tower -200 AF-, Serah, Mog and Noel eventually find an artificial life-form in Alyssa's image who says that Caius and Yeul were going to the top floor. Then Serah asks her if she can take them to the top floor. As they ascend the upper levels of the tower, a blurry video of Hope, Alyssa, and other scientists being attacked by machines plays. Fighting the machine monsters un their way up, the Duplicate Alyssa reveals that them seeing recording of tower's sealed history would mean they never leave.

However, when Hope watched the Oracle Drive and saw Serah fighting Adam, he canceled the project and unknowingly negated Alyssa's death as she joined him in his time capsule venture to Academia -in 4XX AF-, welcoming Noel, Serah and Mog when they arrive. After Noel reveals the new Cocoon project he is overseeing, Alyssa tells Noel and Serah that crystals called Graviton Cores can give the new Cocoon the power to float. After they return with the Graviton Cores, Alyssa gives them the Artefact (Final Fantasy XIII-2)Vagabond Artefact that was found next to a formerly incomplete time gate.

Just before Serah, Noel and Mog depart through the gate, Alyssa and Hope go to see them off. She says that people tend to turn against each other whenever they believe all hope is lost, but when they think about it, they do not understand why they let themselves be consumed by hate and despair. Then Alyssa asks Hope why he is looking at her in a certain way. He replies that he was remembering the time when he almost lost himself to despair and how his friends had helped him. As they all go their separate ways, Alyssa stops and looks back in Noel, Mog and Serah's direction, smirking with a grim expression, though Mog is the only one who notices. It would be later revealed that Alyssa obtained the Artefact from Caius upon realizing that the actions of Serah and Noel restoring the timeline would result with her ceasing to exist. She later to them for her betrayal, saying that she cannot exist in the future they are trying to achieve, and says goodbye.

In the Paradox Ending, "The Future is Hope", the sudden appearance of Snow Villiers stops Alyssa from giving Serah the artefact and has her arrested by the Guardian Corps.

Creation and Development
Alyssa was designed by Hideo Minaba.

Etymology
"Alyssa" is a name of multiple origins. In Greek, it means "rational," and in German, it means "noble," "truth," or "of good cheer." It can also be derived from the name of the alyssum flower, which symbolizes "worth beyond beauty."

Trivia

 * An NPC in the Excavation Site of the Ruins mentions that the new head of the investigation is Alyssa's age, suggesting that she and Hope are both of the same age.
 * Other than being the same age as Hope, Alyssa also shares the common trait of being caught up in the Purge as a victim of circumstance just like him in Final Fantasy XIII.
 * Alyssa shares the same English voice actor with Shalua Rui from Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.