Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

Unreleased

Lightning is a playable character in Final Fantasy XIII, and the main protagonist. Not much is known about Lightning, except she wields a gun-sword that can switch between its forms. She is shown to be an extremely cold person, and is often annoyed by the antics of Sazh Katzroy, whose warm empathetic personality is in many ways her foil.

She is part of Team Nora, an organization attacking Cocoon, with her rank specified on the armor on her left shoulder. Though it is lead by Snow Villiers, she is the main planner, and seems to have some authority over him. Lightning even goes as far as to punch Snow in the face after his actions made the organization fail their mission in her eyes. In one of the new trailers, Snow promises that he'll protect the world and Serah, too. Lightning quickly becomes angry and punches Snow to the ground angrily asking him if he means the way he did before. Snow says he'd set things straight though Lightning only punches him once again and asks what he can do. Snow says he'll do whatever it takes which causes Lightning to calm down and cease her actions. She has been chosen by one of the Crystals to "bring the end of the world".

She possesses incredible powers, like gravity control, called Gravity Bomb, activated by small imprints on her right thumb and index finger, which allows her to perform feats normally impossible, like flips, and even attacking while upside down in the air. She can also create an "electrical shield". There is not much else currently known. She is also adept in magic, using various spells and a limit break that seems to freeze enemies in time while she speeds up. She fights in a very fast paced manner, moving with great speed, as well as demonstrating thunder and fire magic.

Story
Lightning is the woman chosen by one of the Crystals to take down the city of Cocoon and its tyrannous Holy Government. However, some believe that her coming is a bad omen. She is an ex-soldier from the Cocoon Army, and now fights against it.

Trivia

 * Tetsuya Nomura wanted to include Lightning in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a bonus character, but felt that this could have affected Final Fantasy XIII in the process by locking down the image of the character's skills and so forth. Instead, two mugshots of her appear as Player Icons, along with Icons featuring Noctis Lucis Caelum, representing Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and the card-wielding character of Final Fantasy Agito XIII.
 * Lightning's design is based off of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII as Tetsuya Nomura was asked to design a female version of him. Another connection with Final Fantasy VII is the fact that she is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto who previously voiced Aerith Gainsborough.

Lightning