Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII allusions

This is a list of allusions from Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Final Fantasy series

 * Lightning is called 'the knight of light': a synonym for 'warrior of light', a recurring motif in the series.
 * The Red Mage garb is based on the recurring job, Red Mage.
 * The Dragonslayer garb is based on the recurring job, Dragoon.
 * Traditional "Victory Fanfare" can be heard being hummed by the crowd in the Slaughterhouse whenever Lightning successfully completes a battle.
 * A girl wearing a chocobo-themed outfit hums "chocobo" to the melody of "Chocobo Theme".
 * When Caius summons Bahamut, he simply appears, performs his summon ability, and vanishes: this method of summoning a summoned monster is used between Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IX.

Final Fantasy

 * A group of musicians, including the Tour Guide, walking around Yusnaan plays "Opening Theme".
 * The scenery of the final boss fight with Bhunivelze is similar to that of Chaos.

Final Fantasy V

 * The Splendid Admiral garb is based on Yoshitaka Amano's artwork for Faris Scherwiz.
 * The Tour Guide may play "Battle 2" and "Clash on the Big Bridge".

Final Fantasy VI

 * The Heartstealer garb is based on Yoshitaka Amano's artwork for Locke Cole.
 * The moogle Moghan is a named after one of the Ten Moogles.
 * A rendition of "Terra's Theme" is sometimes played by itinerant musicians in Yusnaan.

Final Fantasy VII

 * As part of the garb system, Lightning can wear Cloud Strife's "SOLDIER 1st Class Uniform" along with the Buster Sword, and comes with with the Braver ability, Cloud's victory pose and Final Fantasy VII victory theme. Lightning's official render pose in her SOLDIER outfit mimics Cloud's idle battle stance. This alludes to the character of Lightning being said to be based on Cloud.
 * A garb modeled after Aerith Gainsborough's Final Fantasy VII attire named "Midgar's Flower Girl" appears, with the victory pose being similar to Aerith's and the victory theme is the one heard in Final Fantasy VII. The trailer for the outfit contains a scene where Lightning is pierced through the chest, a reference to the iconic scene from Final Fantasy VII.


 * During the ending of Final Fantasy VII, the Lifestream bursts out of the earth to help Holy combat Meteor. The Lifestream takes the form of bright azure threads of energy. The souls of humanity finding a new home during the ending FMV of Lightning Returns also take this form.

Final Fantasy X

 * Yuna's Summoner costume is available as one of the outfits available for Lightning, under the title "Summoner of Spira". The render for this garb is reminiscent of Yuna's battle stance from Final Fantasy X. The victory pose is similar to Yuna's and the victory theme is replaced with the track from Final Fantasy X. The video showcasing the garb presents a scene where Lightning is welcomed by moogles, a reference to a situation from Final Fantasy X-2 where Yuna was wearing a moogle outfit as a disguise.
 * Tidus's weapon, the Brotherhood can be obtained in the game along with the Spira Hunter garb.
 * The physical form of Bhunivelze resembles Seymour Natus, one of the forms assumed by Seymour Guado.

Final Fantasy X-2

 * The announcement trailer and various demos show Lightning changing Schemata, similar to the Paradigm Shifts from the first two installments. Aside of changing abilities, it changes her attire as well: this may be inspired by the dressphere system from Final Fantasy X-2 where the party could change her job class mid-battle, changing their attire and abilities.
 * Yuna's Gunner dresssphere can be obtained as a garb for Lightning.

Final Fantasy XIII

 * Two prominent colors from Lightning's default outfit – red and white – refer to Lightning's Final Fantasy XIII attire, where red and white are also the dominant colors.
 * Having three Schemata available in battle refers to how a character was more proficient with three roles out of available six.
 * Lightning calls Hope "Mr. Hope Estheim", but he asks her to "just call [him] Hope": this is reminiscent of the cutscene in Chapter Four where Lightning asks Hope to call her 'Light', short from the more formal 'Lightning'.
 * The name of the weapon Devil's Daughter may refer to Lightning's homeworld Cocoon, which was created by Lindzei who is called a succubus (female demon) in an Analect.
 * Player can make Lightning turn around herself, which will cause Lightning catch her head and wave her head left and right, alluding to the easter egg where walking a character side to side rapidly would make the character perform a special action.
 * A cook in the Wildlands makes a dish called 'NORA Special', referring to the group NORA.


 * Bhunivelze's final form is meant to be defeated by knocking him out, similarly how Orphan takes damage only after it's staggered, but unlike Orphan, Bhunivelze can still receive damage from regular attacks. The Limit Break-type abilities ignore resistances of both final bosses and deal normal damage regardless of enemy's elemental susceptibility.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

 * The Cactuar Statue in Yusnaan refers to an episode from Snow's life during Final Fantasy XIII-2 where he met the Gran Pulse fal'Cie Cactuar and fought alongside it against Royal Ripeness.

Final Fantasy XIV

 * The default female Miqo'te costume is one of Lightning's garbs. The victory pose is modeled after the Miqo'te victory pose and the victory theme is changed to that from Final Fantasy XIV.

Allusions to the Number Thirteen
Being the third and final chapter of the thirteenth installment of the series, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII makes some references to the number itself. Although many of these are not necessarily deliberate allusions to the number 13 (whether they are or not is speculative), they are nonetheless present.
 * In the beginning, Lightning has a seven day limit before the world will end, but the limit can be extended to thirteen days.
 * Hope Estheim was transported from Nova Chrysalia to the Ark one hundred and sixty-nine years before the start of the game: 13 × 13 = 169.
 * The default sword for Lightning, Crimson Blitz, raises Lightning's Strength and Magic by 130 points.
 * Fang and Vanille woke up thirteen years before the game's events.
 * The quest, Born from Chaos, says that thirteen brave heroes lost their lives while trying to kill Reaver.

Kingdom Hearts series

 * Lightning has access to an ability called Magnet which acts like its Kingdom Hearts counterpart in that it draws enemies into a certain spot in the battlefield and deals continuous damage.

Ivalice Alliance

 * The Jagd Woods, a location in the Wildlands, shares its first name with the phenomenon found in Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift.

Folklore

 * Lightning's task as the savior is akin to that of a, a being whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls and give them safe passage to the afterlife. The same can be said for Vanille as she actually guides the dead to the new world.

Lithuanian Mythology

 * The monster Zaltys is named after a benevolent, with the name itself being the Lithuanian word for the.

Norse Mythology

 * The silver horns on Oerba Dia Vanille's headdress may pay homage to, a cow goddess known for freeing the first god from a block of ice, and saving , the first of the Frost Giants, from death by feeding him chilled milk (ice cream). Since Vanille's name is French for "vanilla", it may allude to the ice cream flavor.
 * In the mural found within the Dead Dunes, Etro resembles a valkyrie, one of the female warriors who bore the valorous dead to Valhalla.

Christianity

 * While Bhunvelze's color scheme of whites and gold and some of his facial features are often associated with angelic beings, his horns and other elements of his facial design harken to demonic beings.
 * The horns on Vanille's headdress may harken the image of a halo, which is a symbol often associated with saints.
 * The Order's planned use of Vanille can be compared to ritual purification and Jesus Christ's role as the Lamb of God, whose sacrificial death as a servant of God purged the sins of humanity and purified them, akin to the Order's goal of having Vanille die as a sacrificial lamb to destroy the dead and purify the living.

Illuminati

 * The Dead Dunes' bandit group is called Monoculus: monoculus is a Latin word meaning "one-eyed" and a symbol of the Illuminati is a single eye which is also a symbol of spying. Adonis says to Lightning the group was following her, aptly referring to the group's name.
 * The prominent use of black-and-white chequered board refers to the Illuminati, who supposedly categorize the world for the good and the evil. This motif is also prominent in Hope Estheim's new scarf.

Books

 * The Japanese name of the Ranger Garb is named after Strider, an alias the ranger Aragorn used in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Real World

 * During the final section of the second-to-last and final FMVs, multiple references are made to the real world. As the souls of humanity find their way to a new home, they pass planets that closely resemble Saturn and Mars before settling on a planet that is near-identical to Earth in size and geography. In the epilogue FMV Lightning arrives at a train station in a countryside town that resembles France in the modern era of the real world. Lightning dresses in modern clothes, and cars in the parking lot look like modern cars.