Lightning

Lightning (ライトニング Raitoningu?) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game Final Fantasy XIII developed and published by Square Enix. She was created by Motomu Toriyama, the game's director and scenario writer, and designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Her Japanese voice actress is Maaya Sakamoto; in English, she is voiced by Ali Hillis.[1]

Lightning was born as Claire Farron, known as Éclair Farron (エクレール・ファロン Ekurēru Faron?) in the original Japanese language version. Claire began using her code name of "Lightning" after losing her parents to escape the vulnerabilities and insecurities of her former self and to become a different person—strong enough to care for her younger sister Serah. However, this choice only causes rising tensions between them as she grew up to have a rather cold personality that has a tendency to look down upon others including comrades at most times during the start of the adventure.
Contents

1 Concept and creation
1.1 Abilities
2 Appearances
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

Concept and creation

Director Motomu Toriyama wanted Lightning to be a new type of female character, with an athlete's body and a less feminine nature than some of the previous female characters of Final Fantasy.[2][3] His guideline to character designer Tetsuya Nomura was to make her "strong and beautiful", "someone like a female version of Cloud from FFVII".[2][4] Multiple designs were considered for her, including some designed by other staff members.[4] Some of her original characteristics were blonde hair and Asian-looking features.[4][5] Nomura defines Lightning as "serious," "unforgiving," "relentless," and "a kind of individualistic person," in direct contrast with Snow Villiers' passionate nature.[6] The final art was made less Asian-looking than originally conceived, while the silver hair color was given to Hope Estheim in favor of pink.[4][5] She is 21 years old in the game.[7] Her pink hair color was made to reflect this more feminine side of her. Although Nomura explained that she is essentially a "cool character" and that "you can't have a cool character without anything inappropriate,[4] it was also stated that Lightning's cool aspect was transferred to Oerba Yun Fang when the latter character's design changed from being a male character to a female.[5] The game's producer Yoshinori Kitase also commented on the difficulty of balancing Lightning's depiction, as she is both a woman and a professionally trained warrior, and also noted that Sakamoto's acting helped bring out Lightning's femininity.[8]

Due to global demand and the development staff's desire to further Lightning's character, development began for a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. The original game ended with a lingering question: "Is Lightning really happy?" The conclusion of the story in Final Fantasy XIII-2 will provide a clear answer to this question.[9] The new armor worn by her was designed by Isamu Kamikokuryo.[10]

While her real name, Claire, is only loosely related to the weather or skies (Claire means "clear," which can tie in with clear skies), which is a common tradition of naming Final Fantasy protagonists when Tetsuya Nomura is the character designer, her alias of "Lightning" is the more proper representation of this tradition. The name was not chosen by Nomura, who was surprised by it, as he was thinking about stopping this naming tradition.[4] Eclair, the romanization of her Japanese name, is French for "lightning." According to Toriyama, there is "a strong element of mystery about her character".[11]
Abilities

Lightning's weapon is a Blazefire Saber, known as Blaze Edge (ブレイズエッジ Bureizu Ejji?) in the Japanese version, a fictional cross between a gun and a sword used by experimented soldiers.[12] It has sometimes been called a gunblade by the gaming press in reference to the weapon which appeared in Final Fantasy VIII which was first used by Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy, although the Blaze Edge is able to shoot bullets from a distance, as opposed to the other weapon, in which the trigger round causes the blade shaft to vibrate for quicker recoiling. Early in development, Lightning also had a Gravity Bomb device at her disposal, which could be used to generate an electrical shield in battle or manipulate time and gravity.[11][13]

Early in the game, and like the other playable characters, Lightning becomes a l'Cie, a being magically marked by the "fal'Cie" creatures to do their bidding. Lightning's mark appears in the middle of her chest so it is always covered within the game;[14] it grants her superhuman strength as well as a rose-shaped crystal which she can use to summon the Eidolon Odin. In battle, Lightning can command Odin to turn into a horse-like creature that she mounts, taking up his double-bladed sword for a short amount of time.[15] Her strongest unique special attack is called Army of One, or Scene Drive in Japanese version.
Appearances

Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero: Promise is a series of web novellas written by Jun Eishima, depicting the thirteen days leading up to Final Fantasy XIII.[16][17] The first part of the series, titled "Encounter", sees Lightning opposing the engagement of her younger sister Serah to Snow Villiers, the leader of the rebel group NORA.[16] Lightning realized too late that Serah has become a l'Cie on her 21st birthday. After resigning her position as a member of the Guardian Corps with the rank of sergeant, she boarded a train holding Purge exiles, along with Sazh Katzroy, to save her sister.

When the train carrying the Purge exiles crosses through the Hanging Edge area of Cocoon at the start of the game, Lightning fights her way through the cars with Sazh rallying the exiles to derail it as PSICOM sends its forces after the train. As the surviving exiles escape and are found by NORA, Lightning advances to Anima to save her sister. Joined by Snow, along with Hope Estheim and Oerba Dia Vanille, two of the surviving exiles, Lightning finds Serah and the party witnesses Serah being turned into crystal. Lightning and the party defeats Anima, and they are marked as l'Cie when PSICOM destroys the Vestige. They awake in Lake Bresha; frozen solid as a result of Anima's death. After the party finds Serah, Lightning, skeptical of Snow's faith to save her sister, and the others leaves Snow behind in a fruitless attempt to break Serah out of her crystal stasis. The party later separates following a brief airstrike. After she inadvertently summons Odin, her Eidolon, she trains Hope to fight against the Sanctum. From there, she learns of Hope's mother, Nora, and helps support Hope's assassination attempt on Snow and the Sanctum. However, after meeting Oerba Yun Fang, Lightning realizes that she is misdirecting her anger and tries to persuade Hope to prevent his attempt on Snow.

During the course of the game, Lightning struggles to deal with her nature as a l'Cie while eventually realizing that she had hated herself for distrusting her sister[18], acknowledging Snow's relationship with Serah and his faith that they will restore her to normal as a result. After killing Orphan to save Cocoon, Lightning is allowed to continue her life as a human and ends the game reconciling with Serah, who has also been restored to normal.

In Final Fantasy XIII: Episode I, an epilogue chapter set after Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning leaves to find a way to save Fang and Vanille from their fate. Eventually, she finds herself in a dark void of sorts but decides to keep moving forward.

A direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII entitled Final Fantasy XIII-2, follows Lightning after she disappears from Cocoon and the main characters go in search of her.[19]

In the fighting game prequel Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy, Lightning is one of the Warriors of Cosmos during the 12th cycle of conflict.[20] The group is separated early in the game when new enemies, called Manikins, appear in large numbers. The Warrior of Light tells her he and Kain have agreed to incapacitate the other Warriors of Cosmos to save them from being killed by the Manikins, but Lightning rejects this plan. With the other remaining heroes she leads an expedition to the portal the Manikins are emerging from, and the group sacrifices their lives to close it. Lightning bears three alternate outfits in the game, one based on her Yoshitaka Amano concept art, the second based on the female military uniforms seen in Final Fantasy XIII, and a bonus third alternate based on Aya Brea from The 3rd Birthday, made available as downloadable content by using a given password when purchasing The 3rd Birthday.[21]

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