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 into 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 unruly shoulder-length brown hair and striking blue eyes. He wears a black V-neck shirt designed with tribal patterns and a pair of angel wings on the back, along with a simple pendant. On his left arm is a metal bracer, while his right arm is wrapped with cord while he wears a ring on his right hand. He wears large blue -style pants with decorated hems, and low-cut sandal-like leather shoes. 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 shirt and on his dagger, there are lines of Etro script. 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 is capable of holding his yellow sword within the hollow metal part of the hilt. Both swords are also capable of combining and forming a spear that also functions as a javelin.

Noel presents himself as a cocky, cheerful, confident but soft-spoken person. He is also a self-sufficient hunter and fighter. Due to the effects of a time paradox, Noel suffers from memory problems. Coming from a future where humanity was almost non-existent, he has some trouble with his speech, so he tends to speak in a straightforward yet fragmented manner, but he is always excited to go to new places and meet new people. Noel is also defined by his strong determination to protect his loved ones, evident by how he is strongly protective towards Serah despite hardly knowing her. After meeting Snow, Noel is quick to berate him for always believing himself to be "the hero," and apparently abandoning Serah. In a similar manner to Lightning, he firmly stands by his beliefs and morals. He is also able of easily asserting himself to others, and is seemingly able to remain calm and collected when facing people with provoked anger such as the members of NORA. However, as a possible remnant from his time period, Noel shows strong disdain toward how easily humans can die.

Noel will have at least two costumes as part of the game's downloadable content: his "Ezio Auditore" costume is set for release in January 2012, and his "Brave in Blaze" costume will be released at a later date.

Story
An unconscious Noel goes through the Historia Crux, and regains consciousness as he falls out of the Door of Souls over Etro's shrine in Valhalla. He is saved by Lightning flying atop Bahamut while she dealing with Chaos Bahamut in an aerial battle. Landing on Etro's shrine, Lightning tells Noel about Serah, and asks him to find her using the time gate below. She gives him a moogle named Mog, who transforms into a purple crossbow. A purple-haired man suddenly appears above them, and Noel recognizes him as Caius Ballad. Caius summons a large meteor overhead, transforms into Chaos Bahamut and flies off to escape the impact. Lightning urges Noel to jump into the time gate while she tries to stop the meteor and summons Odin to throw herself into its path. Then as the shrine is being crushed, Noel leaps off down into the time gate.

When Serah is attacked by monsters in New Bodhum -003 AF-, Noel appears out of nowhere and saves her. With little time to talk, he hands her the crossbow for her to defend herself. After taking care of the monsters, Noel introduces himself to Serah, and tells her that Mog is her new 'lucky charm' and gift from Lightning. As everyone goes to investigate the crystal meteor that crashed earlier, an anomaly causes Cocoon to suddenly vanish, and a Gogmagog emerges from a rift. Defeating it brings Cocoon back, and upon arriving at the crash site, Noel tells Serah that he is from 700 years in the future. He says Lightning is waiting for her and offers to take her to her but ends up in confrontation with Gadot as the rest of NORA watches before Serah comes to his defense. Then Noel takes Serah's hand and places against the meteor, showing that it's actually a time gate. He says that Lightning is in Valhalla, waiting on the other side.

Later, he tells Serah and NORA his story, though some of them still remain skeptical of his claims. The next day, Noel and Serah ask the locals for information, during which she tells him about Snow and his promise to find Lightning for her. She eventually uncovers the Artefact needed for her and Noel to use the time gate. Then Noel reveals to her that he is the last human alive in his time, and how he wishes to change that.

They enter the time gate and fly through the Historia Crux, with Noel explaining to Serah that it's the crossroads of the time continuum. They come out into the Bresha Ruins -005 AF-, and Noel is in awe seeing how Cocoon looks from the inside for the first time. However, immediately upon arrival, they are attacked by a giant arm. Noel pushes Serah out of the way before it hits them and prepares to fight. The arm knocks him aside and Serah charges it, with Noel joining her. During the battle, Noel scales up the arm and strikes what he believes to be an invisible giant. Afterward, PSICOM warships fire upon the giant Atlas, causing it to retreat further into the Ruins. Noel and Serah are promptly taken into custody by PSICOM, but are soon freed by Academy scientist, Alyssa Zaidelle. Learning that she wants to learn about the gates and paradoxes, he explains to her that as long as Atlas is around causing trouble, the Ruins will be closed off and she will not be able to get any answers. Noel, Serah and Mog volunteer to stop Atlas with Alyssa helping them as their faraway informant.

At one point, they witness a defeated monster become a crystal. To Noel's surprise, Mog speaks for the first time and says it is now under their control, causing Noel to remember Lightning having an army of monsters in battle with her. They go into the underground tunnels to find a machine that Alyssa claims is capable of controlling Atlas. Standing before a time gate, Noel gets concerned for Serah and asks her if she is having visions again. Upon finding the device, however, Atlas's hand appears and pulls them into the Temporal Rift. Solving the anomaly activates the machine, causing it to weaken Atlas, enabling Noel and Serah to defeat him by destroying the crystal on his head. With Atlas now gone, the Bresha Ruins is restored to its former glory. Upon finding a nearby graveyard, Alyssa appears and shows them the grave of a friend of hers who died during the Purge.

He and Serah eventually travel to the Yaschas Massif -010 AF-, where they are saved from a giant Gogmagog by the leader of the Academy, a 24-year-old Hope Estheim. They also meet up with Alyssa, who is now Hope's assistant. After Hope says that a tribe of seers once lived in the ruins, Noel looks into the sky and asks if someone can see him there as the others look on in confusion. At one point, 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. In the Yaschas Massif -01X AF-, Noel tells Serah that in his time, the world fell into ruin after the fall of Cocoon. Serah assures him that it does not have to be that way, and they could change the future and prevent Cocoon from falling. After he, Mog, and Serah arrive in the Sunleth Waterscape -300 AF-, they come across a trail of Miniflan. Seeing more of them appear out of nowhere, they guess that it is because of a paradox. Then Serah has another vision and Noel catches her as she falls unconscious. She knocks Noel down after coming to and frantically runs off. Noel follows her and they find Snow being attacked by a group of Miniflan. As he tries to protect Serah from the King Flandragora, Noel comes to their aid. He tells Snow that he will handle things and that he should go, but Snow shoves him aside and the three of them fight the monster together. However, the Miniflan come together and reform the monster, causing the party to retreat at Noel's insistence.

Afterward, Noel criticizes Snow for wanting to stay behind and fight, telling him that people like him do not live long enough if they don't know when to retreat. Snow rashly rubs off Noel's comment before the latter tells him to stop being full of himself, and that humans are weak and can die easily. Serah introduces Snow to Noel before the boy comments about how such an idiotic guy can make it so far. After Serah explains why she and Noel are there, he demands to know why Snow left her and what he is doing in the future. Hearing Snow explaination about Lightning asking him to protect Cocoon's crystal pillar in a dream, Noel puts their differences aside and decides to work with him.

The three of them see the trail of Miniflan and decide to follow them. As the party follows the Miniflan, they come to a valley where Noel believes they should turn back when a giant Enlil appears. Snow tries to get its attention, causing a cautious Noel to tell him not to encourage the creature into attacking them. After Snow gets Enlil's "permission" to ride on its back, Noel warns him that Enlil can swallow him whole, but Snow disregards Noel's warning and jumps onto Enlil's back. Serah, Noel and Mog follow suit and they all manage to get through the valley. They soon find some Miniflan gathered around an Artefact. Defeating the creatures puts it in the party's possession. Then Noel learns from Snow and Serah that Fang and Vanille were similar to him in how they were also from Pulse, and found soon themselves in an unfamiliar world.

After Noel and Serah resolve an anomaly in the Archylte Steppe causing the King Flandragora to continue growing, they return to find Snow on the ropes in front of its reduced size. After defeating it for good, Noel asks Snow why he continued fighting despite knowing he didn't stand a chance. Hearing his answer, Noel says that he hates people like him more than anything. He furiously yells at Snow, accusing him of never truly saving anyone or thinking about how the consequences of his actions might hurt the people he is supposed to protect. Snow tells Noel that he has been looking after Serah, and that he must have protected loved ones back in his own time. Noel says that he couldn't protect them all which is why he is now all alone. Snow says that Noel is right like he said before, about not being able to return to the people you have protected if you do not live long enough.

Snow then entrusts Serah's safety to Noel and starts to glow and turn transparent. Noel thinks it is because Snow does not belong in this time and the paradox had been dealt with. Serah notices a Pulse l'Cie brand on Snow's arm before he fades away. As Serah despairs, Noel says that Snow might not had been transformed by force, but may have asked for it. Serah says that no one would ask to be made a l'Cie but Noel says Snow probably did it for the power to accomplish a mission he could not normally do. He also says that people like Snow would become l'Cie of their own free will for the power to protect others. He says that he despises people like that but understands how they feel.

He and Serah are eventually confronted by Caius and his companion Yeul in Oerba -200 AF-. Yeul appears behind them saying that she has seen them. After battling Caius, he tells them that they will pay for their crimes with blood. Caius sends blades of magic toward them as Noel constantly pulls Serah out of the way to protect her. Before Caius can kill him, Yeul steps in and they eventually leave.

In Academia -400 AF-, people mysteriously transform into Cie'th as Noel, Mog, and Serah watch. Caius appears behind them, calling them enemies as they are contradictions in the timeline, giving him enough reason to kill them. He says that they unlocked the sealed history within a tower two hundred years ago and have appeared before him, a paradox in itself. Serah asks if it is an event that has not happened yet. Noel tells Caius that he has no intention of killing him, but Caius does not listen, summons a horde of Cie'th and leaves Serah and Noel to die.

They soon find Yeul wandering the streets alone and being attacked by Cie'th. Afterward, Noel helps her up but she is then grabbed and thrown by Zenobia, prompting the angered boy to charge it. Then 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 that their actions ultimately making the fate awaiting Yeul unavoidable.

In Augusta Tower -200 AF-, Noel and Serah learn that Hope had created a fal'Cie to keep Cocoon airborne. As they explore the tower, they notice there is something off about people. They eventually encounter the same Yeul from Oerba, who gives them an Artefact and implores them to protect time. Then she reveals to them that Caius is immortal and retains memory of all timeline events. Yeul tells them that even before they had met, history has been changed in accordance to the changing future. She says that Lightning disappeared because the future had changed and if Serah and Noel solve the paradoxes, then the past will return to how Serah remembers it. Yeul tells them the Caius from Academia was a deception made by a machine within the tower, then implores that they show her a new future.

In an area between time and space, Noel says that the place resembles Valhalla. Serah asks if Lightning is here and he says that she is not since the area looks vastly different. As Serah begins to doubt the possiblity of finding Lightning, Noel tells her a legend about Etro that recites: "'The Goddess Etro will open the doors for those who never give up,'" and how thinking about those words helped him through hard times. Noel reassures Serah that they are one step closer to Lightning with each time gate they pass through.

Leaving Academia -4XX AF- and entering the Historia Crux, Noel becomes separated from Serah and Mog. In the ruins of Valhalla, an overcome Noel kneeling on the ground is stabbed in the back by Caius. He falls as Chaos emerges from his body and disappears. Noel reappears in his homeworld, apparently reliving the highlights of his past without acknowledging Serah watching him. However, when he is being pulled off the ground toward a light in the sky, Serah grabs hold of his arm and calls out to him, causing him to remember her. As they levitate, she tells him that he was in an endless dream born out of the kindest memories from his past. He thanks her, saying that all people have to wake up from their dreams sooner or later.

They emerge from a paradox and find themselves in what appears to be New Bodhum -700 AF-. The village is now converted into a wasteland, and Noel calls it similar to his own era. On the beach, Lightning emerges from a paradox before them, and says they are in a future that she could not save. After Lightning explains everything to them, she says that Caius plans to destroy Etro while she sleeps in Valhalla and unleash an immense amount of Chaos out into the world through an unseen doorway that opens for the souls of the departed. Hearing Lightning say the door would open wide enough if a large amount of people died all at once, Noel says that would be possible if Cocoon fell. Then Lightning says if that were to happen, then a world of Chaos would appear and time will become meaningless. After Serah says that world will essentially become like Valhalla itself, Lightning believes that it is Caius's plan to create a timeless world. Noel says that Caius wants to sacrifice countless lives and remake the world in order to save Yeul from her cursed fate. Serah asks Lightning if they will be together again when the fight is over. Lightning says "One thing at a time, Serah," and leaves as Noel watches.

Then in Academia -500 AF-, he, Mog, Serah and Hope ride on PSICOM warmechs trying to catch Caius. Noel, Mog, and Serah jump into a 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. He says that in her last moments, she smiled because she believed that she would be reborn and be able to meet him again. However, Caius does not listen and Noel clashes blades with him before slashing him down. Caius comes back to life in the form of a monsterous dragon. As Caius attacks them, Noel tries to cover Serah from the blast. As they fall into an bottomless abyss, they are saved by Lightning. After the final battle, Noel tells Caius that he still does not intend to kill him, even for Yeul's sake. Caius tries to force Noel to kill him by saying that he defeated Lightning and sentenced her to an eternal sleep. As Noel still refuses to kill him, Caius threatens to attack Serah, provoking Noel to take action. Though he stops himself from stabbing Caius at the last second, Caius takes Noel's blade and forces it through himself. As Chaos slowly leaves Caius's body, Noel takes Ragnarok and places it in front of Caius as a grave marker before they both fade away.

Noel, Serah and Mog leave Valhalla and return to Pulse -500 AF- to find Buniberzei afloat again. Serah thanks Noel but suddenly has another vision, and for no apparent reason, dies in his arms just as Yeul had done many times before. When Hope arrives from Academia to greet them, Noel silently tells him that Serah didn't make it as he continues to hold her. As Noel mourns Serah and how he failed to protect her, the world turns dark and Mog begins to weaken. Then as Noel remembers Caius's warning to them about Etro, Buniberzei and everything on Pulse emit Chaos, and Valhalla appears within the world.

Abilities and Equipment


Noel fights with two swords as his weapons, which he can combine them into a spear to jab enemies, and throw it like a javelin. Noel also has the ability to capture and tame monsters, who then fight alongside him and Serah on their journey. Noel begins with the Commando, Ravager, and Sentinel roles. He majors as Commando, Synergist and Medic.

Weapons

 * See: Noel's Swords

Creation and Development
As with the other playable characters in Final Fantasy XIII-2, Noel's face was designed by 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.

Developers also draw several differences between Noel and Snow. Toriyama describes Noel as "having a different type of chivalry from Snow", while 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".

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 the fact that he comes from a vastly different environment from Serah's, therefore making him "a protagonist well beyond his years."

Square Enix have collaborated with Ubisoft and this has allowed them to offer a Downloadable Costume for Noel. The costume is Ezio Auditore's appearance from the latest game in the Ubisoft franchise of Assassin's Creed - Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Musical Themes
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, "Noel's Theme," composed by Naoshi Mizuta, is a slow, brooding, and acoustic orchestral variant of the main theme, "Wish." It represents the loneliness that Noel feels due to being the only human left in his time, and his desire to change the future.

He has another theme, titled "Noel's Theme ~The Last Travel~," which is a lyrical version of his original theme with vocals performed by KOKIA. Variants of his theme include the main Battle Theme, "Last Hunter," "Dash," and the melancholy orchestral version titled, "Memories of the Future." His theme is also heard in "The Gates of Etro," "Eternal Paradox," and the "Ending Credits."

Etymology
"Noël" is French for "Christmas", but originates, like other Latin-derived languages 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 Kreiss shares certain characteristics with Oerba Yun Fang, who was originally designed as a male character, in the ways that he has a straight-forward cocky personality, has trouble remembering parts of his past, wears tribal clothing with a similar color palette and has a red double-bladed weapon. In the E3 2011 demo, it was said that his weapon, also similar to Fang's, will be able to transform into a spear later in the game. However, it has been stated there is no relation between the two characters.
 * Noel appears on the 500th cover of Dengeki Playstation magazine with Lightning, Serah, Noctis, Machina Kunagiri, and Rem Tokimiya.
 * Yusuke Naora said that he based the colors of Noel's swords, red and yellow, on those of the original nameless protagonist from Final Fantasy III in Yoshitaka Amano's artwork.
 * Along with Noel's sword design notes, it should be noted that most of the names of his swords are taken from Zidane Tribal's Thief Swords, such as Exploda, Rune Tooth and The Tower.
 * Aside from the angel wings on his shirt, the silver blade in the center of Noel's red sword also has angel wings.