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Main Party (Lightning) | Final Fantasy XIII | Final Fantasy XIII-2 | Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

A list of characters from Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Be warned for unmarked spoilers. Trying to read this page before having played the games is not recommended.


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Friends & Family Members

    Serah Farron 

Serah Farron

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/170px-Serah_Farron_3020.png

Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki (Japanese), Laura Bailey (English)

"The point is, I have people I can count on. I'll make it through."

Lightning's younger sister and Snow's finance, Serah was branded a l'Cie by the Pulse fal'Cie Anima prior to the game. Her Focus is what draws the party together, setting the plot in motion. Along with Dajh, she is revived from crystal stasis at the end of the game.


  • Body to Jewel: She sheds a crystal tear which Snow keeps with him for the duration of the game.
  • The Cassandra: Her explanations about being branded a l'Cie is dismissed by Lightning, but it eventually turns out to be true when Serah gets captured.
  • The Cutie: A sweet girl and Snow's fiancée.
  • Damsel in Distress: She's captured by Anima, forcing both of her protectors (Lightning and Snow) to follow her in a rescue attempt.
  • Demoted to Extra: She was originally meant to be the seventh party member, but problems with her implementation led to her being made an NPC, which resulted in Lightning's more serious personality and Fang's Gender Flip.
  • Deuteragonist: When the XIII trilogy is looked at as a whole, it's a story about Lightning and Serah, and their journey across time and space to find each other again.
  • Disney Death: Lightning treats her crystallization as death, but it's later revealed that l'Cie can be unfrozen.
  • Hero of Another Story: She is the protagonist of the sequel XIII-2.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She is fairly average in height but anyone would look tiny next to Snow.
  • Feminine Women Can Cook: Between Lightning and Serah, Serah is the better cook.
  • The Lost Lenore: For Snow, as the comatose lover that he feels both inspired and tormented by.
  • Morality Pet: She is the very reason why Lightning gladly joins the Guardian Corps and raises her after their parent's death. Not only that Lightning also blows up a train, decimates a military unit, hijacks equipment to break into an ancient temple, and takes on a god-like being to rescue her. Lightning even falls to a Heroic BSoD when she turns into a crystal believing that she's dead.
  • Parental Marriage Veto: Rather from the parental substitute. Lightning is so opposed to it that she thinks "I'm a l'Cie" is something Serah and Snow made up so that she would approve of their engagement. Unfortunately, that was the one time Lightning really should have listened to Serah.
  • Posthumous Character:
    • Subverted; she is largely developed as such, but crystallized l'Cie are indeed Not Quite Dead, and she's revived along with Dajh during the ending.
    • Played straight in Lightning Returns, where she is dead from the previous game but still affects the setting in memory..
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: A cheerful and big-hearted girl who's a Foil to her stoic soldier sister.
  • You Are Worth Hell: Snow firmly believes she is and she's grateful.

Tropes present only in XIII-2

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Serah_Farron_Alt_Render_1162.png

Living with the rest of Team NORA in New Bodhum (Snow off searching for a way to free Vanille and Fang), Serah's world is shattered when monsters attack the village. Noel saves her, handing her a weapon so she can fight.

The two then set off to investigate Lightning's fate — everyone believes she's dead, but Serah's memory shows the opposite. What is behind these strange events?


  • Action Girl: Believe it or not she kicks a substantial amount of ass as the game's heroine.
  • Apologetic Attacker: She sometimes apologies this after killing an enemy because she's more outwardly caring than her sister.
  • Ascended Extra: Downplayed, but present: she goes from supporting character in XIII to playable character and heroine in this game.
  • Badass Adorable: Possesses fighting skills on-par with the original party members now, but she's no less cute while doing it. Her victory pose is catching Mog and giving him a hug. Aaaaaaw.
  • Badass Teacher: She scolds a school of miniflan into submission.
  • The Beastmaster: As with Lightning, she can collect crystals of monsters and raise them akin to Pokémon, the datalog explains this is a lesser form of Summon Magic.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Among her students she has a reputation as a strict teacher and both Snow and Noel comment she is like Lightning when she is angry.
  • Black Mage: Serah specializes in the Ravager, Sentinel and Saboteur paradigms.
  • Bow and Sword in Accord: They're technically the same weapon, but the effect remains.
  • Crazy Cat Lady: Some of her Live Triggers can invoke this, regarding her cat Snow. Because the cat is her only family!
  • Cool Sword: A shapeshifted Moogle that can also turn into a bow
  • Combat Pragmatist: One of her specialities is sabotaging the enemy to give herself an advantage. When a monster is staggered, she shouts "Go! Go! Go!" to make sure her teammates hit them harder.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Not always noticeable, but she dashes her knee every time she comes out of a gate.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Saw Noel in her dreams before she met him.
  • Elemental Powers: As a Ravager, she learns all of the fire and lightning spells.
  • Empathic Weapon: Mog transforms into both her sword and bow, and only does this for her.
  • Energy Bow: Sort of, it fires physical arrows that don't exist till after they've been fired.
  • Fangirl: Of Snow. Best demonstrated in an optional Live Trigger where Noel asks her what Snow means to her where she goes into a rapid rant about how awesome he is as seen here.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Although she has never fought before in her life, she is just as useful as Noel, who has been fighting monsters all his life, from battle one. However, it was mentioned that she learned how to defend herself, which makes sense as she and the people of Bodhum chose to go off into the wilds of Pulse in search of a beach. Being a teacher by profession instead of a hunter, it doesn't come up as often.
  • Girly Run: Her manner of running is quite the contrast with her tomboyish older sister.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The developers have stated they wanted Serah's sword to turn into a bow to preserve her femininity. Unlike Noel and Lightning, her weapon actively maintains its ranged form rather than taking it situationally, and Starseeker's appearances outside of XIII-2 are always as a bow.
  • The Heroine: XIII-2 is her story of tracking her sister through her time and helping people along the way.
  • The Hero Dies: During the ending, she has a vision that kills her.
  • Hotter and Sexier: Many of her outfits are skimpier than before.
  • I Regret Nothing: Even when she discovers that changing the future will eventually kill her, Serah remains unwavering and continues on her journey. Later after her death she reappears to Lightning and says she had no regrets because she made a promise to keep going on until they were reunited.
  • Mage Marksman: Her specialty is magic but is also skilled at archery and swordplay.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Her standard combat outfit shows off her shoulders, and very nearly her midriff. Not to mention that an available DLC outfit has her in nothing but a bikini.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: As any real-world archer will tell you, it takes a decent amount of strength and stamina to pull a bowstring properly and effectively enough to use it as a weapon. Serah's arms don't look muscular in the slightest. However, The "bow" is just Mog shapeshifted. It's likely Mog is helping her operate him as a bow effectively. Also, look at how the bow is constructed, it has more in common with a NERF bow blaster than a traditional bow. The trope is lampshaded on the Archylte Steppe, where passing one of the hunters as Serah will earn the comment that "There's a lot of strength in those skinny arms."
  • "No More Holding Back" Speech: Delivers one to Caius
    Serah: "I know the truth, Caius. I know that every time I change things, I lose a part of my life. But don't you see? I don't care. I'm here to protect the future. And I will.
  • Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Pink to Noel's blue.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: With Noel. They become very close over the course of the game but they have love interests in other people.
  • The Power of Love: Serah takes out several miniflans that were attacking Snow with no weapon whatsoever.
  • Promoted to Playable: From an NPC in the original game to the main protagonist of XIII-2.
  • Rain of Arrows: With her Ultima Arrow skill.
  • Rule of Cool: Mog's "bow" form is some chaotic hybrid of a proper bow and a crossbow's propulsion mechanism; rather than a bowstring, it has a long chamber into which the arrows are loaded before firingnote . That would be horrendously impractical and easily ruined for any physical weapon; combined with the fact that it must be assumed the weapon is spring-loaded or something in order to give it any propulsion at all, which would be significantly weaker than a proper longbow, and Rule of Cool (or A Wizard Did It) is the only excuse the weapon has for its design.
  • Sacred Bow and Arrows: Her Ultima Arrow skill, which was "Artemis Arrow" in the Japanese release.
  • Seers She possesses the "Eyes of Etro" which enable her to see the future. This is Blessed with Suck because it eats up her life span.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: In the words of Noel she is an "angel hiding an ogre."
  • The Straight and Arrow Path: Many of the time periods she visits have guns as commonplace but she uses a bow. Justified as her bow is not a normal bow and her archery specific skills wouldn't work with a gun.
  • Stern Teacher: Her students in New Bodhum call her "Meanie Miss Farron."
  • Stripperific: Her outfit in XIII-2 shows significantly more skin than her one in XIII-1.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: Mog, which can transform into a sword or bow.
  • Three-Point Landing: The time gates deposit her and Noel in midair; Serah tends to land like this. At least once she has too much momentum and bangs her knee on the ground beneath her.
  • Took a Level in Badass: From Damsel in Distress in the original game and at game open to full-blown Action Girl by Chapter 2.
  • Transhuman: After the fall of Cocoon, Serah is one of the few who have developed natural magical abilities; by Noel's time this is said to be the norm.


Tropes present only in Lightning Returns

After the brutal end of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning is now working as God's savior, holding on to the promise that Bhunivelze will bring Serah back to life. Occasionally when Lightning returns to the Ark, a ghostly form of Serah will appear and talk to her.


  • Back from the Dead: This is what Lightning is trying to achieve by working with Bhunivelze. Bhunivelze can't bring her back but she is brought back to life anyway towards the end of the game when Sazh is able to find her soul, allowing everyone to be brought into the new world, Serah included.
  • Becoming the Mask: She may be a fake, but she states at the end that her attempt to think and act like the real Serah caused her to come to love Lightning as an older sister for real.
  • Break Them by Talking: When Lightning refuses to be honest in the end and keeps trying to justify becoming the new Goddess of Death, the fake Serah then reveals to Lightning that Lumina is the manifestation of all the weaknesses she forcibly tore away from herself when she was young, then tells her she deserves to be abandoned in the Chaos forever. This is what spurs Lightning to cry out for help.
  • Clone Angst: The "Serah" that talks to Lightning whenever she returns to the Ark is a fake that was created by Bhunivelze. At the end of the game, she expresses regret that she is not real and can only emulate what she believes the real Serah would say and do.
  • Death is Cheap: The real Serah died in XIII-2, but is back by the end of LR, and is in college in the new world.
  • Killed Off for Real: Nothing can bring her back, not even the power of a god. The best Bhunivelze can do is create an imperfect, defective clone of her. However, she is brought back anyway thanks to Lightning, when she brings all the souls over to the new world.
  • Go Out with a Smile: The last thing the fake does before vanishing forever is to tell Lightning she loves her.
  • Walking Spoiler: Partly due to the fact that she truly died in the previous game and the one presented here is a fake created by Bhunivelze.

    Team NORA 

Team NORA

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TeamNora_7215.png
Left to right: Gadot, Yuj, Maqui, Lebreau.

Gadot: Voiced by: Biichi Satou (Japanese), Zack Hanks (English)
Yuj: Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (Japanese), Jeff Fischer (English)
Maqui: Voiced by: Makoto Naruse (Japanese), Daniel Samonas (English)
Lebreau: Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa (Japanese), Anndi McAfee (English)

"The army's no match for NORA!"

A team of rebellious monster hunters from Bodhum. The name is an acronym for "No Obligations, Rules, or Authority" in the English version, but is a play on the word "noraneko" in Japanese (meaning stray cat). When the Purge breaks out, they become La Résistance to combat PSICOM and protect the Purge victims.


  • Action Girl: Lebreau carries around a rifle and is unafraid to shoot anything from Bodhum's local monsters to Cocoon's anti-Pulse task force.
  • Artistic License – Gun Safety: They tend to walk around New Bodhum with their fingers on the triggers, even when they're standing in front of (or in) a crowd of civilians (many of whom are armed and holding their guns similarly).
  • The Bartender: Lebeau ran a bar in Bodhum prior to the events of XIII, and has opened a new one in New Bodhum by XIII-2.
  • The Cavalry: The whole team in Chapter 12 arrives to help the heroes. Triples as a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Crowning moment of Heartwarming when they tell Snow that they don't care whether or not he's a l'Cie, they're still a team to the end.
  • Expy: Of Avalanche
  • Face of a Thug: A kid in New Bodhum observes that Gadot "acts nice, but his face is all mean".
  • The Fashionista: Yuj is a fashion-minded individual. Live Triggers in XIII-2 reveal that he's always seen in a fanciful outfit because that's his normal outfit, and has apparently had a few cases where he can't resist trying on a new outfit right before bed and so wakes up in nice clothes without remembering putting them on.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Lebreau and Gadot serve as Snow's party in the first chapter, before he heads to Pulse Vestige.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Maqui wears a pair of goggles that look to be of the workman type. As we never see him in his workshop, they're always sitting on his forehead.
  • Mad Libs Catchphrase: "[Enemy] is/are no match for NORA!" It's implied that before the events of XIII, it was "monsters"; by the time we join them in the Hanging Edge, it's "the army"; and when they show up for moral support in Chapter 12, it's "fal'Cie".
  • Mr. Fixit: Maqui is in charge of fixing the group's gear.
  • One of the Boys: Lebreau has a tougher attitude than Maqui and Yuj do.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: Gadot wears a sleeveless top in order to show off some of the most muscle-bound arms in the series.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: All of Team Nora uses the standard military issue machine gun except for Lebreau who packs a much larger rifle.
  • Stripperific: Lebreau's outfit is based on volleyball players.
  • Team Chef: Lebreau runs the bar/diner in NORA House, and a Live Trigger in XIII-2 has her insist that instincts are the most important part of cooking.
  • Team Mom: Lebreau.
  • Theme Naming: Doubles as Fridge Brilliance, as Snow and the two Guest Star Party Members Lebreau and Gadot all have rhyming names.

    Dajh Katzroy 

Dajh Katzroy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dajh-katzroy-811_4560.jpg

Voiced by: Shotaro Uzawa (Japanese), Connor Villard (English)

"Daddy, I found you!"

Sazh's young son, loves Chocobos, and Sazh purchases the Chocobo Chick for him as a gift. Showing extreme maturity for his age, he comforts his father over the untimely death of his mother. Shortly before the game started, he was branded by the Cocoon fal'Cie Kujata and was taken by Jihl Nabaat into PSICOM custody. He completes his Focus and is crystallized a third of the way through the game, nearly prompting Sazh to commit suicide. Along with Serah, he awakens from crystal stasis during the game's ending.


  • Back for the Finale: In both XIII-2 and Lightning Returns, along with his father. XIII-2 has him playing emotional support when Sazh pilots and airship to pursue Chaos Bahamut, and Lightning Returns has him and Sazh going to find Serah's soul during the Apocalypse.
  • Cheerful Child: Unlike his dad, he is truly happy throughout the game because he is ignorant of the death going on. He's also kept by PSICOM so he's not fighting monsters.
  • Convenient Coma: Has been in one for 500 years when Lightning Returns takes place.
  • Disney Death: In XIII, he's branded by a Sanctum fal'Cie and successfully completes his Focus. L'Cie crystallization is a semi-permanent coma, not death, but Sazh's reaction to his son entering stasis would not look out of place with a corpse instead of a crystal.
  • Our Souls Are Different: His soul got split into 5 fragments and scattered across Nova Chrysalia after he fell into his coma.

    Chocobo Chick 

Chocobo Chick

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/babychocobo.png

Voiced by: Seiko Ueda (Japanese), Julie Nathanson (English)

"Kweh!"

A baby Chocobo Sazh bought for his son Dajh at Euride Gorge. It has human intelligence and frequently stands in as a physical form of Sazh's conscience.


  • The Conscience: Talks Sazh out of killing himself multiple times.
  • Head Pet: Resides in Sazh's Funny Afro.
  • Intellectual Animal: She can communicate with Sazh somehow and clearly recognizes when a human is about to kill themselves or when they need help in battle.
  • Killer Rabbit: Her entry in the Datalog implies it. The fact that it took on an armed PSICOM soldier and won confirms it.
  • No Name Given:
    • The chick is unnamed. The implication is that Sazh wants Dajh to have the honor of naming it. In Episode Zero, Sazh declares that he'll give it a name "as soon as they get back" and wants to give it a "cool, cute name".
    • In XIII-2, Dajh named her Chocolina, as it turned out she was a girl. Yes, the same name as the merchant.
  • Not Allowed to Grow Up: Chocobos are described as growing up too fast to be long-term pets, with most of the chocobos in Nautilus being kids' presents that outgrew the kids they were gifted to. This little one manages to remain a chick throughout the entirety of XIII, and up to the point where she and Sazh got separated in XIII-2 Beyond that point, it's arguably justified, as she's been blessed by Etro with time-traveling and shape-shifting powers.
  • Precision F-Strike:
    Sazh: "Hurry the what up?"
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: It's a baby Chocobo.
  • Team Pet: He's Sazh's pet (or rather Dajh's) and travels with the group.

    Nora Estheim 

Nora Estheim

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_mother_3740.jpg

Voiced by: Komina Matsushita (Japanese), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English)

"Moms are tough."

Hope's mother. The one that died in prologue and the reason why Hope hates Snow.


    Bartholomew Estheim 

Bartholomew Estheim

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hopes_father.jpg

Voiced by: Masaki Aizawa (Japanese), André Sogliuzzo (English)

"This is your home."

Hope's father. While he loves his wife and son, his job as a high ranking government official estranges him from both.


  • Bumbling Dad: Every appearance or mention he makes reinforces the notion that he cannot make Hope happy. Word of God states that he is clumsy at expressing his love for his wife and son.
  • Control Freak: He's clearly somewhat domineering and controlling towards Hope, but for a good reason, especially when he continues to defy him now that he (Hope) is a l'Cie.
  • Demoted to Extra: In the sequels.
  • Fiction 500: He and his family are implied to be well-endowed, but being a Sanctum official certainly makes him one of the wealthiest people on Cocoon. He, his wife and his son live in Felix Heights, which were the most expensive suburbs that Palumpolum had to offer.
  • Oh, Crap!: When Hope explains to his father that he is now a l'Cie, Bartholomew immediately takes the situation seriously and tries to see to it that Hope and his friends are out of PSICOM's clutches.
  • Rich Bastard: Averted. He cares for Hope, his wife and their friends.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Bartholomew helps the main party escape, but he is not seen again afterwards and the only mention made as to what happened to him is from Hope explaining that he was rescued by the Calvary. He does, however appear in the sequel novel and in XIII-3 as a very brief cameo.
  • Why Couldn't You Be Different? / When You Coming Home, Dad?: Hope can't understand why his father's work is more important than him or his mother.
  • Workaholic: His relationship with Hope is strained due to his job.

Sanctum Officials

    Galenth Dysley 

Primarch Galenth Dysley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/galenthdysley.jpg
Click here to see Dysley's true form (Spoiler) 

Voiced by: Masaru Shinozuka (Japanese), S. Scott Bullock (English)

"Without our help, death is all of which you're capable. You saw the fools. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."

The Primarch of Cocoon, he is revered and loved by his people as a wise and fair old ruler that protects them from the horrors of Pulse, even if it means Purging cities at times. However, he is much more than he seems to be, as the party discovers.


  • Badass Longrobe: Wears a white longrobe, is the Primarch of Cocoon and a fal'Cie called Barthandelus.
  • Badass Boast: Combines this with "The Reason You Suck" Speech, making for a truly awe-inspiring monologue when reveals his true nature to the heroes when they confront him for the first time. The Oh, Crap! looks on the faces of the party are amazing.
    "I am fal'Cie. My name is Barthandelus; voice of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie. Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Now you spurn our counsel? You must learn your place!"
  • Batman Gambit: Once he reveals his true hand in the game's events, he spends the rest of the game tricking the party into doing what he wants by playing to their sense of righteousness, such as relying on them to return to Cocoon to try and protect it when he tells them he's set it up to be destroyed without them.
  • The Battle Didn't Count: After the first battle with him, he just returns to his old man form and keeps talking.
    Sazh: Guess fal'Cie don't go down as easy as the rest of us.
    Dysley: Ease is not the issue. You have not fought to win.
  • Big Bad: One of the two, that is. He's one the behind the L'Cie and the Purge and the ultimate threat to humanity.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Orphan. Barthandelus is given more focus on the game itself, while the latter serves as the games Final Boss.
  • The Chessmaster: Everything went according to his Evil Plan and the heroes realize they have little choice but to play along, however he didn't get his goal anyway.
  • Climax Boss: In all of his incarnations, fights with him start a new chapter in the story.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Vayne Solidor. Vayne’s goal was to take power away from the gods and give humanity the reins of history. By contrast, Barthandelus’ goal is to bring the gods back and keep humanity under their control.
  • Death Seeker: "Release... at last, release!" Like his ally Orphan, Barthandelus never intended to survive his plan.
  • Early-Bird Cameo:
    • Although he doesn't physically appear until the third chapter, he can be heard speaking to the Purge victims at the very beginning of the game.
    • There's a literal bird cameo as his Rukh Menrva shows up very early in the game.
  • Eldritch Abomination: His Fal'Cie form is a mechanical monstrosity with too many faces.
  • The Emperor: Seeing as how he's been planning things out since the War of Transgression, it's likely that every Primarch over the centuries has been him changing forms to keep up the Masquerade and using his powers to manipulate the Sanctum to ensure he keeps getting into office.
  • Energy Weapon: His main attack method. He never stops attacking with them. Then there's Thanatosian Laugh and Thanatosian Smile, which truly exemplify this trope.
  • Establishing Character Moment: His entire confrontation with the party aboard the Palamecia, but especially this exchange, his first words to them.
    Snow: "Monster! People are not yours to use!"
    Dysley: "What else does one do with tools?"
  • Evil Is Hammy: Particularly notable as his appearances in public portays him as a perfectly sane and competent leader. When he's alone with the party, all that slips away.
  • Evil Laugh: Whenever someone in the party tries to give him a Kirk Summation, he replies with an evil chuckle.
  • Evil Mentor: He is to the hero party. They got as far as they did because he was pulling strings to allow them to, and when they confront him he spells out plain for them that their Focus is to destroy Cocoon by becoming Ragnarok. Then he sends them off to Fifth Ark to train them up for the job by pitting them against the enemies within.
  • Evil Plan: Manipulate Pulse l'Cie into destroying Cocoon. This was supposed to summon The Maker and kill him.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: His voice was already pretty deep in his human form, but in his true form it drops even further, gaining some metallic reveberation.
  • Familiar: His Rukh, Menvra.
  • Femme Fatalons: Even though he is disguised as a guy, those are some insanely long specimens.
  • Final Boss: The third and final battle with Dysley is the first stage of the game's final encounter.
  • First Church of Mecha: The Sanctum Government worships the fal'Cie like gods.
  • Gold and White Are Divine: Leader of the Sanctum and most powerful human in Cocoon answering direct to the fal'Cie. His true form initially subverts this when it first appears, almost entirely black with little gold and white, then plays it straight when his later two fights have him appearing as white and silver with more gold.
  • Humans Are Morons: "What can mere men do? Without our help, death is all of which you're capable. You saw the fools, a mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: When the heroes confront him about the Purge, he replies that humans are a " mindless mob drunk on fear".
  • Human Sacrifice: He controls Cocoon for the entire reason of breeding humans to be the ultimate sacrifice to bring the absent Maker back to the world.
  • Kick the Dog: Constantly and fearlessly, in order to keep pissing off the party or drive them further into despair, either way making them easier to manipulate. At the end of the game he orders the Calvary into Orphan's Cradle to protect Orphan from the party, then turns them into Cie'th. The party speculates this is just a reminder from him that their time as l'Cie is almost up and they'd better give in to their Focus soon.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Killing Jihl Nabaat earned him a lot of goodwill from players. Of course, he proceeds to totally squander it afterwards by being such a Manipulative Bastard.
  • Kill Steal: Ganks Jihl Nabaat before the heroes (particularly Sazh) get a chance to.
  • Leitmotif: The only character outside the main cast (and Serah) with one.
  • Light 'em Up: Uses light-based techniques.
  • Light Is Not Good: A religious figure dressed in white, and entirely void of empathy.
  • Loophole Abuse: There is a reason his entire plan hinges on manipulating the party into doing his work for him instead of doing it himself. As a fal'Cie he is bound by his own Focus to serve Cocoon and lacks the willpower to defy his Focus, but humans are not so restricted.
  • Manipulative Bastard: When the party tries to hide from their Focus, he tells them he's found a way to destroy Cocoon without them so they'll come back... and he can push them to fulfill their Focus.
  • Master of Illusion: Presents himself to the people of Cocoon as an old man, but is really a multi-faced fal'Cie. Also presents himself to the party as Serah at one point.
  • Mechanical Lifeform: He's actually a fal'cie.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: His battle theme is fitting for a sinister religious themed villain.
  • Ominous Owl: Has a robotic and terrifying pet owl.
  • Physical God: Comes with being a fal'Cie.
  • President Evil: As seen above, the Primarch is an elected position and he's screwing over his constituents
  • Purple Is Powerful: His robes have a lot of purple in them, fitting for a world leader.
  • Red Baron: Voice of the Sanctum, and Lord Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie.
  • Recurring Boss: He's fought three times over the course of the story.
  • Running Gag: Whenever he encounters the party, Snow tries to throw a punch at him and gets thrown back by a barrier.
  • Sinister Minister: In the Japanese version his title is Great Pope, and he's a villain.
  • Slasher Smile: How he always looks in his true form.
  • Spell My Name With An S: Some fans romanize his real name as Baldanders, a mythological shapeshifter. The Spanish translation has that romanization as canon.
  • Staff of Authority: Although it seems to be just a badge of office it also doubles as a Magic Wand, although he doesn't ever use his human form to battle you.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: His second form's Apoptosis ability removes all buffs from the player party while also removing all debuffs from himself.
  • Teleport Spam: Casually pops in and out while lecturing the party so he can speak to each member directly (and also to be an unnerving jackass).
  • Title Drop / Waxing Lyrical: When disguised as Serah, he recites the lyrics to his battle theme, "Fighting Fate".
  • Transforming Mecha: Though it's likely an extension of his powers as an overall shapeshifter.
  • The Unfettered: He's been waiting a very, very long time to put his plan into motion though how long it's been for a fal'Cie, probably not as long as it seems to us. There's nothing he wouldn't do to make it happen.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Invoked when he tells the party that after centuries of Cocoon prospering under fal'Cie rule, who are they to suddenly start questioning their government and being indignant about the fal'Cie controlling things? Considering they nurtured Cocoon to prepare for the day they destroyed it, he's just being a dick about it.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: If only the adoring public knew they were being bred as human sacrifices for his grand scheme.
  • Visionary Villain: Is out to see the world reborn by sacrificing all the fal'Cie and humans alike.
  • Walking Spoiler: Anything aside from the fact he's evil is off-limits for those wishing to be unspoiled.
  • Wham Line: "Why don't you leave, Jihl? Or rather, take your leave? Humans have no business here."
  • Xanatos Gambit: The reason the party follows the batman gambit is because they know he has other pawns he can use and will explore other methods to destroy Cocoon if they don't cooperate.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He mercilessly slaughters Jihl Nabaat and his staff prior to revealing his true identity to the protagonists.

    Jihl Nabaat 

Lieutenant Colonel Jihl Nabaat

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JihlNabaatArt_1023.png

Voiced by: Mie Sonozaki (Japanese), Paula Tiso (English)

"Your son's a hero. We'll erect a memorial for him on Eden... and put his crystal on display!"

A colonel in charge of running the military division PSICOM (Public Safety and Information Command) which are charged with the handling and containing Pulse activity, and as such opposes the party.

Is available as DLC for FF XIII-2's coliseum.


  • Bait-and-Switch Boss: When the party bursts onto Palamecia's bridge, she steps forward and brandishes her weapon, prepared to fight. Then Dysley murders her — and the bridge crew — so he can fight them himself.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first, she was nice to Sazh, but that was only to get close to Dajh and his L'Cie-detecting abilities.
  • Cleavage Window: Her chest is technically covered by cloth, but it seems to have been vacuum-sealed.
  • Combat Stilettos: It's a zigzag. She's in the field but not a combatant. While she was prepared to fight the heroes, it was after they reached the bridge and she had no choice. Then Dysley kills her before the fight but she can still be fought in bonus battles.
  • Flunky Boss: In XIII-2, she summons PSICOM underlings and Cocoon-bred military beasts to fight alongside her... and be consumed by her Sacrifice Pawn ability.
  • For Science!: After revealing to Sazh that Vanille is the reason his son crystalized, she lets them fight it out to "gather data" on l'cie battle power.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: As stated before, she let Sazh and Vanille fight to death to "gather data".
  • Full-Contact Magic: Her Sadistic Surge Feral Link.
  • Glasses Pull: Jihl does this a few times to punctuate particularly callous lines. Later, she whips off her glasses and crushes them in a fit of abject rage and frustration, then gets killed a few minutes later.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Before her boss battle in XIII-2, She can put them back on to 'Sneer' at the party during her boss battle, which is a warning of her upcoming Limit Break that is generally strong enough to almost wipe out the entire party.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Brandishes a swagger stick. With manadrives built into it, it gives her Magic from Technology spells, but she also swings it like a rapier in XIII-2
  • Karmic Death: She holds the belief that people only live to serve a use to more important people. Cue the last seconds of her life where she realizes that she has that exact same role placed on her by her boss.
  • Magic from Technology: Uses Manadrives built into her stick in her boss battle in XIII-2.
  • Not So Stoic: Throws a nervous tantrum when the party breaks into the airship she and the Primarch are in.
  • Not So Harmless: Her anti-climatic defeat in XIII would give players the impression that she would continue to be a pushover in her boss fight in XIII-2. Then they witness her performing her 'Sadistic Surge' ability and start taking her seriously.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: Subverted; she's a colonel and acts polite, but is really just trying to get her way.
  • One-Hit Kill: Her 'Sadistic Surge' Limit Break ability in XIII-2 deals tremendous damage to the point where it is guaranteed to kill a combatant regardless of their HP, unless a Sentinel is in the party and is defending against the attack. Her improved Limit Break 'Malicious Surge', which occurs if she manages to absorb not one but two Behemoths, dramatically increases it's damage output to the point where even a Sentinel may not survive the attack.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: She and Rosch subvert this as PSICOM officers. Going by their first appearances, Nabaat seems to be the Red Oni to Rosch's Blue, showing some compassion as she watches over Sazh and the newly-branded Dajh, in contrast to Rosch coldly lecturing his underlings at swordpoint. However, Nabaat's empathy is a front to hide a cold sadistic streak, and XIII-2 shows she's unafraid to throw her underlings away, whereas Rosch is much more affected by what he has to do than he lets on.
  • Sadist: Very much; based on her tone of voice, it's even implied during the battle against her in XIII-2 that she's getting off on causing pain.
    (before unleashing her Limit Break) "Scream for me...!"
  • Smug Snake: She goes through the game with her nose in her air and her eyes looking down on the heroes because of her high position and tactics.

    Yaag Rosch 

Lieutenant Colonel Yaag Rosch

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FFXIII_Headset_guy_4102.jpg

Voiced by: Hiroki Tochi (Japanese), Jon Curry (English)

"Tell me, do you really think your life is worth more than the lives of millions of Cocoon citizens?"

Jihl Nabaat's second-in-command, Rosch is a field commander and regularly participates in battle alongside his troops, hence the scar on his forehead. He rebels against Sanctum in the end, presumably after learning of Bart's human sacrifice plan. He dies by blowing himself up to kill two King Behemoths.


  • Ace Pilot: Has his own transforming mecha/airship called The Proudclad which he challenges you in.
  • Anti-Villain: Type III. The party has his sympathies, but he does what he thinks is best for Cocoon. He'd be type IV if his protecting Cocoon didn't involve orchestrating and condoning mass murder, though he himself is the first to point out how despicable his own actions are.
  • Beam Spam: The main method of attack from The Proudclad via its Attack Drones.
  • The Captain: Director of PSICOM.
  • Colonel Badass: Far more dangerous than any lower-ranking soldier.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Gray eyes and gray-silver hair.
  • Dying Smirk: Yaag grins right before his grenade detonates, killing two Behemoths in the process.
  • Energy Weapon: The main weapons of the Proudclad are lasers.
  • Friend to All Children: Got along very well with Dajh in the Novella.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a faint one on his forehead. It's there to show that he's not afraid to mix it up and fight to the death alongside his own troops.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: After losing one last time against the party, he orders the entire PSICOM military to cease their pursuit of the L'Cie and focus on evacuating Eden. Since he's too injured at this point, he declines the party's offer to join them. Afterwards, he blows himself up along with two Behemoths that were about to attack him.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He blows himself up to keep a couple of Behemoths off the party.
  • I Die Free: This is what his last words amount to.
  • Interservice Rivalry: He seeks to prove the superiority of PSICOM over the Guardian Corps and, wouldn't you know it, one of the L'Cie he's hunting used to be in the Guardian Corps.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: He can Counter-Attack with a load of missiles in the Proudclad.
  • My Country, Right or Wrong: Played straight in an interesting way. He has the best intentions for the people of Cocoon, and he feels that the governance of it should be left to them. However, he is afraid to speak out against the fal'Cie for fear of the retribution that may befall the citizens he's sworn to protect, so he shuts up and does what he's told.
  • Mythology Gag: The Proudclad is a reference to a giant robot with a similar name in Final Fantasy VII (the imperfect English translation for VII rendered it "Proud Clod", when it should have been "Proud Clad"). The first form of the machine also resembles the Final Fantasy VIII monsters Elvoret and Elnoyle.
  • Redemption Equals Death: After being defeated by the party, he leaves Cocoon in their hands and does this combined with You Shall Not Pass! to stop some Behemoths from reaching the party.
  • Recurring Boss: Twice in the same chapter.
    Fang: "He really wants us dead!"
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: He and Nabaat subvert this as PSICOM officers. Going by their first appearances, Rosch seems to be the Blue Oni to Nabaat's Red, keeping his cool even while reprimanding his underlings at swordpoint, while Nabaat is warmly watching over Sazh and Dajh after the latter's branding as a l'Cie. However, Rosch is much more concerned by what he's doing than he seems at first, admitting to Snow that he doesn't want to be involved with such actions as the Purge but has no choice and later regretting opposing the l'Cie despite their shared goals, whereas Nabaat's empathy is a front to hide a cold sadistic streak.
  • Self-Destruct Mechanism: He blows up the broken Proudclad in his final You Shall Not Pass! moment.
  • Taking You with Me: Knocks out a pair of Behemoths with his final act.
  • Transforming Mecha: His mecha, the Proudclad, is his method for challenging the party but he carries a Cool Sword as well. In its flight mode it's a Cool Airship and a Spider Tank in its walker form.

    Cid Raines 

Brigadier General Cid Raines

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/251px-Ff13-char-cid_768.png

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese), Erik Davies (English)

"The public fears what it doesn't know... Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they sleep like babies."

A Brigadier General who runs a fleet of airships called the Cavalry. Cid, however, has secret machinations of seizing power in Cocoon and giving rule to the people rather than the fal'Cie, and helps the party in order to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, he is really a l'Cie and only helps the party on the orders of Barthandelus. He asks his Number Two to 'cut his strings' and kill him.


  • Adaptive Ability: He, like the hero party, uses Paradigm Shifts to change his fighting style to better suit the battle, being a l'Cie and all.
  • Badass Army: His soldiers, the Cavalry, are a mighty force.
  • The Brigadier: His literal rank is "Brigadier General" and he's helping the government bring down a supernatural threat.
  • Dying as Yourself: Has Rygdea shoot him because he can never escape his life as a l'Cie.
  • Four-Star Badass: Cid is an extremely powerful general in the Guardian Corps famous airship fleet.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Subverted because he was never on the hero party's side to begin with, but played straight in the case of betraying his fal'Cie.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: His attack Seraphic Ray.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: In regards to challenging his fate as a l'Cie, which involves him opposing the group that he's supposed to help.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: He fights entirely using his l'cie magic and martial arts.
  • Legacy Character: The Cid of XIII, and one who shakes up his traditional characterisation. Most Cids are heroic clever inventors who usually provide the airship or flying transport for the party, and some were/are playable characters. Dr. Cid Bunansa from the previous game broke the trend somewhat by being an antagonist, albeit one with good intentions who retained his association with airships and inventing. Cid Raines is an Anti-Hero, and a soldier (though a smart one) who never so much as picks up a toolbox, never mind inventing something; the fact his troops happen to work on airships is, along with his name, the only real tie he has to other versions of Cid.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Like Snow, he is a brawler with great speed and endurance.
  • Light Is Not Good: His uniform is primarily white with some dark greys. Initially, the party doesn't know if they can trust him, but when he wins them over by revealing his intentions to rebel against the Sanctum, it becomes Light Is Good. But really, it signifies that he's been untrustworthy all along and has merely been ferrying them around at Dysley's orders.
  • Noble Demon: 'Demon' is a big stretch, but shortly before he battles the party, he gives Lightning's gunblade back to her (via throw), having took it from her minutes ago.
  • One-Winged Angel: Upon confronting the party, he transforms into a creature with six wings and tries to kill them.
  • Power Gives You Wings: Six of them, in fact, in L'Cie form.
  • Screw Destiny: He turns his back on his Focus in order to stop the hero party.
  • Shadow Archetype: He can easily be described as the Anti-Snow. He's idealistic, but it was turned against him. Wants to defy his fate, but is forced to follow it. Fights with his fists. The only thing missing is a short fiancée. Snow himself later goes Cie'th himself, interestingly on the opposite arm to Cid.Their Cie'th forms in general play with this, especially with how they both go through an extra transformation during their battles. Cid has a more angelic themed form while Snow has a more demonic form.
  • Suicide by Cop: Asks his subordinate to shoot him because he can't die otherwise.

    Amodar 

Lieutenant Amodar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Amodar_XIII-2_Battle_Render_3837.png

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English)

"Listen up, Farron! Your mission is to dominate this field of battle! I wanna hear that blade sing!"

A lieutenant in the Bohdum Security Regimen of the Guardian Corps and Lightning's immediate superior and mentor.


  • Adaptive Ability: For his battle in XIII-2 he can paradigm shift just like the hero party. He can use the Commando, Sentinel, and Saboteur roles, and uses grenades in lieu of magic or manadrives.
  • Badass Normal: He doesn't use any magic or even manadrives when the hero party fights him, just his gun, some grenades and his bare hands.
  • BFG: His weapon is a gigantic gatling gun with a massive bayonet.
  • Genius Bruiser: He's an expert at trivia games as well as a powerful soldier.
  • Interservice Rivalry: He makes mention of how he dislikes the PSICOM division of the military.
  • Mighty Glacier: He is a very powerful ally if you can get him to join your paradigm pack in XIII-2 but he's not the quickest.
  • More Dakka: In XIII-2, he can't jump after a Launched or otherwise airborne target, so he'll sit on the ground and fire at them with his gatling gun. For context, the passive ability Attack: ATB Charge II refills one-sixth of an ATB segment per hit; Amodar fills an entire segment per use of Attack when firing if he's been infused with the ability.
  • Throw Down the Bomblet: He uses a lot of annoying grenades in battle which can inflict Status Effects.
  • Pistol-Whipping: Although it's a pretty damn big gun to smack someone with!
  • Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His Iron Bear Claw Feral Link. The attack itself is a Shout-Out to Akuma's Raging Demon attack from Street Fighter.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: See's NORA's technically illegal monster hunting as well meaning and lets them do their part in defending Bodhum and is a good boss for the troubled Lightning.
  • Stout Strength: He is heavy but physically he is very strong.
  • Subordinate Excuse: Maaya Sakamoto admitted to playing Lightning as though she had a crush on her superior officer. This was because the scene was recorded when Amodar's design hadn't been finalized yet, and in the beta version of the scene that Sakamoto was using as a reference, Amodar was actually a young handsome man wearing a Hawaiian shirt. She was quite shocked when Amodar's character model was finalized. For obvious reasons, this trope was never in effect for the English dialogue, although Lightning still wears a smile around him in XIII and XIII-2.

    Rygdea 

Captain Rygdea

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rygdea_3811.jpg

Voiced by: Yasuyuki Kase (Japanese), Josh Robert Thompson (English)

A soldier in Cid Raines's airship fleet, he is Cid's right hand man and aids the party at his request.


  • Head Swap: His model is a slightly modified version of the standard Cavalry trooper.
  • Mr. Fanservice: He got his difficult to model hair for this reason; looking good.
  • Mercy Kill: He kills Cid on the latter's request.
  • Number Two: Cid's right hand.
  • Satellite Character: His role in the game is just as Cid's Number Two. Supplementary materials expand his behind the scenes role as one of the co-founders of Academy along with Hope's father Bartholomew.
  • Sour Supporter: He's Cid's right hand man and supports his idealistic goal of protecting Cocoon and its people, but he's vocal in his disapproval of sacrificing his life for it. He says his page quote in the middle of what he thought would be his last stand after carrying out Cid's mercy killing.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The game does not elaborate on his fate after he mercy kills Cid. It was implied that he is among the men made into Sacrifice Cie'th in Orphan's Cradle just prior to your arrival, but the sequel then implies he survived somehow.

Fal'Cie

    All fal'Cie 
The fal'Cie are god-like beings created by Pulse and Lindsei to run and maintain Gran Pulse and Cocoon. The fal'Cie create servants by branding humans as l'Cie, giving them a Focus to complete in service to the fal'Cie.


  • Above Good and Evil: The fal'Cie mostly view themselves as this and apart from the handful of them (like Barthandelus) who directly interact with and actively antagonize the playable characters, it might be true.
  • Ambiguous Robots: Many of the fal'Cie appear to be mechanical in nature, especially Anima, but their movements give off a biological vibe. It is never stated one way or another what they truly are.
  • Angelic Abomination: They are divine beings created by the gods that also created mankind and Cocoon with the express purpose of keeping the world on its axis (literally and figuratively). They have various machine-like characteristics and come in a variety of unusual forms, ranging from humanoid to incomprehensible.
  • Big Bad: They collectively serve as the antagonists of the first game.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: It's a tool's morality. Complete your Focus? Be turned into crystal until the fal'Cie revives you with a new Focus. Fail your Focus? Get turned into a zombie.
  • Crystal Prison: They crystallize their l'Cie that complete their Focus. Cocoon l'Cie are encased in crystal, Pulse l'Cie turn into crystal statues.
  • False Flag Operation: The Cocoon and Pulse fal'Cie purposefully cultivated hatred and fear between Gran Pulse and Cocoon in order to create war and open Etro's Gate.
  • Gem Heart: All fal'Cie have a crystal core.
  • Loophole Abuse: The reason they create l'Cie is for this reason. Like l'Cie, the fal'Cie have Focuses, but they cannot deviate from or act against their Focus. Human l'Cie can, so the fal'Cie create l'Cie to have servants that can do things they can't do themselves. The ambiguous visions are often purposeful, to make manipulating their l'Cie into doing specific tasks easier.
    • Specifically, the Cocoon fal'Cie can't go against their Focus to care for Cocoon and humanity, but Anima, a Pulse fal'Cie meant to defend a town on Pulse, can. There Ain't No Rule that a Pulse fal'Cie can't be moved to Cocoon as raw material (that was taken as a trophy of war) meant for in-Focus rebuilding efforts.
  • Lovecraft Lite: The non-humanoid fal'Cie tend to have physical appearances that lean towards giant seemingly inanimate objects with no discernible humanoid features (Carbuncle, for example, is just a giant floating crystal with no recognizable facial features or limbs, though it does have two faces carves into its sides).
  • Mechanical Abomination: While the story presents them as angelic entities created by the setting's equivalent of God to serve his will, their designs imply that they are a type of Mechanical Lifeform using Power Crystals as batteries, created as an automation system for Gran Pulse and Cocoon.
  • Mundane Utility: Some Sanctum Fal'Cie get to be the sun. But in the Gapra Whitewood, there are numerous Fal'Cie whose sole purpose in existing is to act as an automatic door. In that context, maybe their desire for Armageddon makes a bit more sense.
  • Mythology Gag: Most fal'Cie are named for Summons in the series.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Not all, but many of them are immobile buildings, dependent on their l'Cie or attendant fal'Cie to get things outside of their focus done. Kujata (a geothermal power plant) can't fight at all and gives out a focus that is basically "tell a PSICOM officer where the Pulse l'Cie are (then crystallize)." The Cocoon Fal'Cie in particular are blatant examples since they are unable to do anything but their ordained function, but hate serving humanity and are actually trying to kill off their life force just so humanity can die and they can be reunited with their creator.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Some of them (particularly the ones with mostly inanimate physical forms) simply mind their own business and never get directly involved in human affairs. For instance, when Lightning and Hope are standing only a few feet away from Carbuncle, it never gives any indication that it cares about or is even aware of their presence despite them technically being enemy combatants (as Pulse l'Cie while Carbuncle itself is a Cocoon fal'Cie).

    Anima 

A fal'Cie sleeping inside the Pulse Vestige. When Serah Farron found it and it branded her l'Cie, the events of the game were set in motion.


  • Battleship Raid: See That's No Moon.
  • Floating Limbs: Its arms float independently of its body.
  • I Let You Win: The party defeats Anima in battle at the start of the game and it immediately afterwards brands them all as l'Cie (or teleports them elsewhere to be branded by the god Pulse), suggesting they didn't actually defeat him so much as he decided to stop fighting.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: It dies right at the beginning of the game, but has the very important role of being the fal'Cie responsible for branding Serah and all six playable party members and turning them into l'Cie, thus kicking off the entire main story.
  • Starter Villain: The instigator of the conflicts for the first two chapters of the game, but it's just the beginning of the larger plot.
  • That's No Moon: While you do not fight the entire structure, Anima was actually the entire Pulse Vestige. This is most apparent in one of the flashbacks when the face of the Vestige roars. The boss that the game and Datalog call "Anima" was actually just its core.

    Titan 

A fal'Cie in charge of overseeing ecological evolution on Gran Pulse.


  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Adamantoises and variants that tower over the party? They're the size of his fingers.
  • Optional Boss: Titan's trials pit the party against them as sidequests.
  • The Social Darwinist: His mission is to create strong species that can survive on Gran Pulse. To do so, he eats or otherwise destroys species he decides are weak, and creates new, stronger ones.

    Orphan 

Orphan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orphan1_0.png
Click here to see Orphan's second form 

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English)

"You overreach yourselves."

The fal'Cie powering Cocoon hidden within the capital city, He is in stasis while the other fal'Cie draw upon his massive power to cater to the whims of Cocoon's inhabitants.


  • And I Must Scream: It wasn't until Barthandelus's death that Orphan was truly "born"; until then he existed in a sort of in-between state, aware but unable to take action as the other fal'Cie took their power from him.
  • BFS: Its shell is one, and it rises up into the air to use it for Merciless Judgment.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Barthandelus. Though he doesn’t show up until the climax as Barthandelus is more active than him.
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: In comparison to his monstrous first form, his true form is quite tame.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Tortures Fang and Vanille to provoke one into become Ragnarok. Even worse, it heals them each time so it can do so again.
  • Cosmic Keystone: Orphan is this for all of Cocoon, being the power source that keeps it running and afloat in the sky as well as the wellspring of lifeforce for all the other Cocoon Fal'Cie to draw from to keep Cocoon running.Oprhan is also a suicidal example of the trope since the big plan for the Fal'Cie and Orphan is for Orphan to finally die and take all humanity and Cocoon Fal'cie with him.
  • Creepy Child: Has a childlike face in the middle of an angelic wheel. Word of God says when he was designing Orphan, one of two guidelines he had was that its true form have such a face.
  • Death Seeker: He's spent centuries trapped in a sort of un-life state of And I Must Scream. When he's finally "born," he's ready to die.
  • Evil Orphan: The clue is in his name. His whole motif is based on this, his first form having a loving mother and father incorporated into his designs and his final Clipped-Wing Angel true form having the visage of only of a child abandoned by the parental figures. It also factors into the lore, where he was apparently forgotten and abandoned by the Maker and other fal'Cie.
  • Eye Beams: He can spawn a single gigantic eye solely for this purpose.
  • Fan Disservice: He has a creepy giant, serpentine woman caressing him through the whole final battle.
  • Final Boss: Orphan is the final boss of FFXIII, with his two forms making up stages 2 & 3 of the final encounter after Barthandelus is defeated for the third time and absorbed onto him.
  • Gold and White Are Divine: It's a massive white and silver fal'Cie inside a golden wheel.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Has been used by all the other fal'Cie as Cocoon's Living Battery, making him to blame for Cocoon existing at all, yet he technically wasn't "born" until the final phase of the game.
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The multi-phase final boss battle doesn't count for him. He just turns messing with the hero party again. Luckily he gets mauled another cutscene later.
  • I Am Legion: When fused with Barthandelus and a representation of Lindzei, he speaks with layered voices.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: The premise. If he could, there would be no need to train l'Cie, the main party, into killing him. So there would be no game.
  • Jerkass: In just one scene, Barthandelus looks nice in comparison. He mocks the party after his boss fight, laughs as the party become cie'th and beat up Fang, proclaims miracles to be born out of misery, and tortures and heals her after she fails to kill them. Even assuming the shell of Barthandelus and the Lindzei image aren't Orphan speaking, the first words out of the mouth on that childish face is a disdainful proclamation that the party is trying for something they can never achieve.
  • Light Is Not Good: Like Barthandelus, his powers are light-based.
  • Living MacGuffin: He, or rather his death, is what Barthandelus spends most of the game grooming and manipulating the party for.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • As invoked by Orphan himself, he is the Abandoned One, created by the Maker to power Cocoon and then left in a state of un-life and forgotten about. His design was also made to invoke the idea that when his shell is destroyed and you face his true form, his "parents" in the shell have abandoned him to fight alone.
    • Orphan also ties into the "Ophanim", singular form "Ophan", a class of angels also known as Thrones for they carry the throne of god, and are depicted as giant flaming wheels covered in eyes.
  • Mechanical Lifeform: The fal'Cie are all these, machine like gods powered by a magical crystal.
  • My Name Is Inigo Montoya:
    • "We are the Abandoned One, born but now to die. Our name is Orphan! By our hand, the world shall know redemption!"
    • Additionally, the very impressive music that plays when he appears for the first time has an extremely big, dramatic, and loud opening, and the translation of the choir's Latin is "My name is Orphan! ORPHAN!"
  • No-Sell: He's completely immune to all damage in his final form, until you Stagger him.
  • One-Hit Kill:
    • His final form has only one attack besides Doom, which he casts at the beginning of the battle, and repeatedly casts Death.
    • Also, it's possible to slaughter him with Vanille's Death if you're lucky.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Easily the most angelic-looking of the fal'Cie, as much as he can while still clearly being a Mechanical Lifeform anyway.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: He is the forsaken child powering Cocoon. Which is why he is out to destroy himself.
    Orphan: A haven, yea. Yet it must fall ere we be saved. Too frail a shell, and humans should not thrive. Too stout a shell, and they would not die. Slaughter and salvation! Two irreconcilable focuses we bore. Yet bound were we in a cocoon prison, impervious to our power.
  • Sequential Boss: Orphan has two forms that need to be destroyed, with a long cutscene between them.
  • Slasher Smile: Right before the final battle.
  • Straw Nihilist: As noted by Lightning, it gave up on living before it was even really alive.
  • Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Perks up excitedly when Fang turns into Ragnarok and taps into her Unstoppable Rage.
    Orphan: Yes! Let anger be your strength! Despair! Despair and save us all! Lo! The day of wrath has come!
  • Timed Mission: Casts Doom on the party leader in the final battle, though with a much higher timer than usual.
  • Voice of the Legion: His shell speaks in male and female voices in unison, and refer to themselves in the plural.
  • Walking Spoiler: He's the Final Boss of the game, and is a Death Seeker as eager to die as Barthandelus and to have the party kill him.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Unlike Barthandelus, Orphan has been trapped in a purgatorial, tormented, "unborn" state for centuries, giving him ample personal reason to be a Death Seeker.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: His first form is encased in a shell made of a light and gold image of a female Lindzei on the right, and a dark blue and black image of Barthandelus on the left. He also has the debuffing skill Consummate Darkness and the buffing skill Consummate Light.

Gods

    Mwynn 

Mwynn

The first god, and the mother of Bhunivelze. She was killed by him so he could Take Over The Mortal Realm.


  • All There in the Manual: She's never mentioned in the games proper with the exception of a single Fragment in XIII-2. In the Japanese version of Lightning Returns, Bhunivelze makes off-hand mention of her to Lightning as the world's destroyer whom he defeated, but never says her name except in the Bhunivelze+ fight on Hard Mode, where he references humanity as her children.
  • Antagonistic Offspring: Got offed by her boy.
  • Death by Origin Story: She was dead long before the events of the trilogy even started.
  • Death of the Old Gods: Her death paved the way for Bhunivelze to become the Top God of The 'Verse.
  • Irony: Despite her son's attempt to suppress and erase her, not only did she take a long time to actually die, but out of all the deities, only she and Etro retain any sort of physical presence in the new world after Lightning Returns. Lindzei, Bhunivelze, and Pulse all only exist in memories while Etro and Mwynn's likeness live on in Yeul.
  • Meaningful Name: The word Mwyn means "gentle" or "kind" in Welsh.
  • Not Quite Dead: Bhunivelze always suspected that she wasn't dead yet, which was why he tasked Pulse to find the Door of Souls that led to the Unseen Realm. Turns out Etro found Mwynn first (thanks to her committing suicide and being sent to the Unseen Realm) and discovered Mwynn was still alive... of a sort. She got devoured by the Chaos, but managed to give Etro one final task.
  • Order Versus Chaos: She tasked Etro with preserving the balance between the two Realms, and if this balance should ever be broken, the universe would end. This was absolutely proven right when said balance was shattered at the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

    Etro 

Etro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/etro_goddess_9496.jpg

The Goddess of Death who is said to be the creator of the human race, and one of the remaining fal'Cie. Etro does not actually appear within the series in person, but plays a very prominent role in the back story.


  • Big Good: She is this in the first two games. Unlike the fal'Cie and her siblings, Etro loves humanity instead of viewing them as tools and will frequently step in to help them should her intervention be needed, such as when she reversed the parties Cie'th transformations and freed them from Crystal Stasis.
  • Character Death: As of the ending of the second game, her heart is pierced, causing the Chaos to flow between worlds and creating the setting for the third and final game.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: The pictures of her in Final Fantasy XV has her in all black, but she, inadvertently, created humanity and gave them their heart. Mind you the powers she may elect to further bless humanity with aren't all that great, but that's not her own fault.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Being powerless compared to Pulse and Lindzei as well as thinking of Mwynn caused her to cross it in the myth.
  • Deus ex machina: Specifically, her Deus Ex Machina actions at the end of Final Fantasy XIII break the laws of reality, which causes a Time Crash and unleashes Chaos into the world, which Etro must attempt to seal at the cost of her life.
  • Divine Intervention: She often takes pity on humanity in their struggles. Final Fantasy XIII-2 confirms that the ending of Final Fantasy XIII, in which the party members were de-crystallized and had their l'Cie brands removed, was the direct result of her intervention. This intervention came with a high price...
  • Driven to Suicide: Thanks to her Despair Event Horizon where she tore at her own body but thanks to that humanity was born from her blood.
  • Enigmatic Empowering Entity: She has gifted Lightning with godlike power, as well as granting Yeul and Serah with her eyes allowing them to see the future and Caius with her heart; granting him immortality.
  • God Is Good: Her mercy is frequently commented on and Yeul says that, unlike the Fal'cie, she grants super powers without turning people into slaves. The Cast from Lifespan aspect is not her fault.
  • God Is Inept: She tries to help but has a hard time doing anything without breaking reality, as shown by her Deus ex machina at the end of the first game.
  • The Gods Must Be Lazy: Inverted. Etro causes problems by being too active. Saving the heroes from their crystalized fate and reuniting them with their loved ones at the end of the first game distorts the 'true' timeline which directly leads to the death of Yeul. Yeul is a seeress whose visions shorten her life span and the distortions in time increase the frequency of her visions which leads to a premature death. This motivates Caius to become the second game's Big Bad. The power to see visions was given to her by Etro to better govern her city. The only thing she did that did NOT backfire was choose Lightning to be her champion.
  • Guardian Entity: Etro's duty is to watch over the Door of Souls.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: Like Lindzei we never see Etro, only a painting of her in Final Fantasy XV and on murals in Lightning Returns.
  • Identical Grandson: Etro is said to be identical to her creator's mother Mwynn.
  • Irony: She was powerless compared to Lindzei and Pulse, having been discarded because she resembled Mwynn, Bhunivelze's mother. However, she turned out to be the most important of the gods, as she maintained the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, preventing the destruction of the world.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Etro broke the timeline when she awoke the main party from crystal stasis at the end of the original game.

    Lindzei 

Lindzei

The deity who is said to be the creator and master of Cocoon. He is the creator of the world in which the games take place and is such worshiped by the fal'cie of Cocoon.


  • Ambiguous Gender: This varies depending on the language. The English version of Lightning Returns always refers to Lindzei as male, but his gender remains unspecified in the original Japanese. In addition, many of the representations and descriptions of Lindzei in the original Final Fantasy XIII describe Lindzei as a motherly figure, implying a female gender.
  • Animal Motifs: Snakes. Pulsian belief casts Cocoon as a "floating nest of vipers", and the mark of Lindzei resembles a cobra. The motherly figure on Orphan's first form, representative of Lindzei, has a long, serpentine body.
  • Final Solution: Lindzei and his Fal'Cie children Barthandelus, Orphan, and Gala seem to like commiting mass genocide. While Lindzei's reasons are unknown the others attempted it to open the Door of Souls.
  • Guardian Entity: According to the mythology, Lindzei was made to be the protector of Pulse. Clearly his fal'Cie didn't get the memo.
  • Have You Seen My God?: His disappearance is what drives the antagonist's actions.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: We never actually see Lindzei, although it's represented by a symbol and various statues.
  • The Maker: He created Cocoon, the Cocoon Fal'cie as well as humanity itself out of his sister Etro's blood.
  • Parental Abandonment: He was a parental figure to the Cocoon fal'cie and abandoned them long before the game begins.
  • Riddle for the Ages: Why did Lindzei abandon Cocoon? Doubles as a bit of a Driving Question, especially to the Cocoon fal'Cie. Whether or not Lindzei is The Maker is also a bit of a puzzle.
  • Satanic Archetype: A purportedly serpentine deity who created individual will in humanity and tempted many of them into abandoning Gran Pulse for the much more hedonistic Cocoon, eventually leading the two realms to war - all of this is similar to the Biblical war between Yhwh and Satan after the latter gave humans free will and they (and Satan) were banished from heaven.
  • Sigil Spam: Lindzei's mark is prominent throughout Cocoon, such as the head Dysley's Staff of Authority as well as Dajh and Cid's l'cie brands. It is essentially Cocoon and Sanctum's 'flag'.
  • Satan: To the people of Pulse, at any rate. The viper comparisons really drive it home.

    Pulse 

Pulse

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pulse_face_ffxiii_9384.png

The deity which the land Gran Pulse is named after. Appears in one scene where he turns the party except for Vanille into l'Cie.



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