Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)

"Maybe Cocoon is past saving, but it's our home. And we'll protect it or die trying! We live to make the impossible possible! That is our Focus!"

- Lightning

Lightning, real name Claire Farron (Eclair Farron in the Japanese version), is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII, as well as the narrator and a temporary playable character in Final Fantasy XIII-2. In Final Fantasy XIII, she tries to save her younger sister, Serah, only to be turned into a l'Cie like her. She fights to survive and see Serah come out of crystal stasis. In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning is now serving as a knight protecting the goddess Etro in Valhalla from her fated rival, Caius Ballad. Lightning has the distinction of being only the second female main protagonist of a game in the mainstream Final Fantasy series, the first being Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI.

Appearance
Lightning is a young woman with wavy rose colored hair, and pale aqua eyes. Lightning's eye color has been officially noted to be blue, though in the FMVs and promotional art they often appear green due to green aspects around the pupil. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments Before, Serah says Lightning resembles their mother.

In Final Fantasy XIII, she wears a variation of the standard Guardian Corps uniform. The green metallic pauldron over her left shoulder bearing yellow stripes denotes her previous rank as a sergeant. She carries her gunblade in a black case which hangs off her belt, and wears a necklace with a lightning bolt pendant. Her l'Cie brand is located slightly above her left breast. She has a navel piercing, although it can be difficult to spot.

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning wears a silver and gold Valkyrie-like suit of armor with a shield on her left arm (though in her CG render it appears on the right arm). She has a new gunblade more closely resembling a traditional doubled-edged sword, which has Etro script on it. She no longer has the navel piercing she did in Final Fantasy XIII.

During Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning has a number of different costumes. Her default outfit, Equilibrium, is similar to what she wore in Final Fantasy XIII-2. The Night Lotus shield on her left arm and the Crimson Blitz sword in her right hand, similar to Noel's Flame Fossil dual swords, are in homage to her Eidolon Odin.[2] The game's logo appears on her outfit a number of times: on her chest, her sword and her shield.

Personality
Lightning is determined, concentrated and independent. Initially, she is cold and standoffish, distancing herself from her companions. She only looks out for herself and doesn't care if others are left behind. Much of her motivation is fueled from what she perceives as failing to protect Serah leading her to lash out at those she believes are responsible for that and her l'Cie fate: namely, the Sanctum, its fal'Cie and, to a point, Snow Villiers, due to his relationship with Serah and his failure to protect her as he promised. As she journeys with Hope Estheim and takes him under her wing, Lightning begins to show compassion and trust others, and sees the errors in her approach. Ultimately, she becomes the leader and, to a degree, protector of the other Pulse l'Cie as they journey to challenge their fate.

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning has almost become a new woman due to the experiences and emotions she has endured. She has learned to trust others and ask them for help, and expresses her emotions rather than keeping them bottled up inside her. Her time in Valhalla and recognition of her past "sins" has made her more somber.

In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is initially cold and distant, most of her emotions sapped from her, although her memories remain intact. Her wish to save Serah remains, and she still shows concern for her former allies. Lightning and Hope demonstrate trust and care for one another, Hope promising to be by her side, helping Lightning better maintain her humanity despite her situation. She resents Bhunivelze for robbing her of her emotions and his use of her situation to his advantage.

As her quest advances, Lightning begins to show compassion toward others because of her assigned task to save their souls. Straying from her cold-hearted personality, she begins to encourage those struggling implying Lightning unconsciously had given up her emotions, rather than Bhunivelze taking them with force, which is further suggested by Lumina. By the end of her quest, Lightning has come around from her self-imposed tough and emotionless warrior persona, as Serah and Lumina, along with all her experiences, help her realize that locking her heart away is how she threw away her happiness.

Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning is a young woman with long, light pink hair, a heart-shaped face, and pale aqua-colored eyes. Lightning's eye color has been officially addressed as blue, though in the FMVs and promotional art they often appear green due to green aspects around the pupil.

In Final Fantasy XIII, she wears a variation of the standard Guardian Corps uniform, consisting of a sleeveless white overcoat over a brown turtleneck shirt zipped up to the top, a green metallic pauldron over her left shoulder, the pauldron bearing yellow stripes symbolizing her previous rank as a sergeant. She wears a red cape attached to her uniform near her left shoulder blade, a long black sleeve over her left arm, knee-high leather boots, and a brown mini-skirt over high-topped black shorts. Her gunblade is carried behind her in a black case which hangs off her belt, along with a red pack that hangs from her waist and is strapped to her left leg. In addition, she also has a necklace with a lightning bolt pendant, two black bands around her right bicep, and a silver navel piercing. Her l'Cie brand is located slightly above her left breast. The higher of the two armbands Lightning wears is also worn by her sister, Serah. Both wear it on their right bicep.Her gunblade can transform into a sword or a gun.

Lightning is determined, concentrated and independent. Initially, she is a cold and standoffish person to others, often distancing herself from her companions; which stems primarily from her irritation over her refusal to believe her sister Serah's plight, as well as becoming a l'Cie just as Serah did. Much of her motivation is fueled from what she perceives as failing to properly protect Serah and wanting to make things right, which leads her to lash out at those she believes are responsible for that and the subsequent Purge: namely, the Sanctum, its fal'Cie and, to a point, Snow Villiers, due to his relationship with Serah and his own failure to protect her as he promised. Lightning's early solution to things that annoy or upset her is to distance herself from them, either emotionally or physically. There are a few times when she attempts to reach out to her companions for help, but refusing to show any signs of weakness, she comes across to them as arrogant. Over time, however, Lightning does begin to show compassion and trust towards others, and sees the errors in her approach.

Her strong independent nature during the beginning of Final Fantasy XIII probably originates from her career in the Guardian Corps. Lightning appears as somewhat ruthless during the Purge, as she and Sazh Katzroy make their way through Cocoon as battle rages inside it. She seems to find it somewhat difficult to trust people. Nevertheless, Sazh followed Lightning as she just carried on with what she had to do regardless of his presence.

Although she is annoyed with him at first, she eventually takes Hope Estheim under her wing, and shows him the ropes of battle. As she teaches him how to survive and look out for himself, she develops a bond with him as he becomes, in a way, almost like a little brother or son to her; and possibly as a result of seeing a bit of herself in him, she comes to confide in him and realize the mistakes she had made with Serah. Then she slowly begins to accept Snow and ultimately forgives him when she realizes he, too, cares deeply for Serah. By the time Lightning meets Fang, her rage at those who are fal'Cie slaves has dissipated, and her anger, despite finding out the woman's unwilling involvement in the situation, is short-lived. In the end, she becomes the leader and, to some degree, protector of the other Pulse l'Cie as they challenge their fate.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning wears a silver and gold Valkyrie-like suit of armor with a shield on her left arm. She also wears thigh-high armor boots, and over her left leg is a long sash made of white feathers, symbolizing her deep connection with Etro. She also has a new gunblade(new gunblade can transform into a sword or a gun like the old one) modified to look more like a traditional sword. The symbol with Etro script on Lightning's shield is also on Serah's dress, and both sisters wear an image of a golden bird on their outfits where their l'Cie brands used to be. Lightning wears the bird on her chestplate where her necklace used to be. Her new gunblade also has Etro script on the hilt below the blade. Due to her quest to save Serah and all of Cocoon, Lightning has learned to trust the people around her, and ask them for help when she knows that she cannot do something alone. She also expresses her emotions more, rather than keeping them bottled up inside her.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning's default outfit is similar to what she wore in Final Fantasy XIII-2: her torso is covered in a black armor with red sleeves running down the top of her arms and black gloves. Her cape is white with red on the inside. The faulds running down the sides of her legs are reminiscent of her Guardian Corps uniform. She wears gray and red leggings that expose her thighs and knee high black and red boots and red knee pads. She has a red shield on her left arm and her sword is reddish and yellow, similar to Noel's Flame Fossil dual swords. She has also been featured sporting sunglasses. It's been confirmed Lightning will have a wide array of costumes.

Lightning considers herself as something not quite human and she fully realizes the burden now resting on her. Also, she had changed her allegiance from Etro to Bhunivelze, who gifted her with her new outfit and new tasks, including guiding lost souls into the new world to come. She seems to have become disillusioned of Etro's principles, as, when she speaks to someone on a public phone, she calls them a fool for believing in the ways of the goddess.

Skills and Abilities
Lightning is a trained combatant from her time in the military, as she was able to take out several members of the PSICOM soldiers with or without aid on different occasions. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 she became the goddess Etro's champion, and had fought Caius Ballad to a stalemate. In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, her physical parameters far exceed that of a normal human, in the finale, she had fought against the creator Bhuniveze himself, before recieving aid from her friends.

Her weapon called the Blazefire Saber: a Gunblade that she wields with superb precision in either form (effectively making her both a close and ranged-combatant). Her ultimate attack is the the Army of One.

In battle her primary roles are Commando, Ravager, and Medic. Her stats are balanced, provided her versatility and her greatest trait is her speed, since she attacks faster that the other characters. However Lightning has low HP gain compared to the other characters, and when her stats are maxed out, she has the second lowest health (behind Hope Estheim).

As a chosen l'Cie, Lightning has the ability to summon her personal Eidolon Odin, using the Eidolith. In Gestalt Mode he transforms into the horse of Slephnir, with her able to mount on top of him, and wield his two blades. Odin deals lightning elemental damage to enemies.

Trivia

 * In Final Fantasy XIII Lightning's real name: Claire/Eclair (depending on version) was revealed before their 2nd fight with Barthandelus in Oerba, who disguised himself as Serah. Interestingly Snow revealed her surname Farron early in the story.
 * Lightning's was originally going to be a flirtatious character with more sex appeal, however the developers decided to make her more serious, with the original concept eventually making its way into Oerba Yun Fang's design.
 * Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-, reveals that Lightning is better at housework than Serah, but Serah is the better cook.
 * Lightning is Toriyama's favorite character out of those he helped create, along with Yuna and Princess Yoyo from Bahamut Lagoon.
 * Counting the crossovers and DLC, Lightning has the most costumes out any of the characters in the series, being over 90.
 * The developers were originally going to have Lightning reunite with her friends in the epilogue, however they had a change of plans, stating the the story began with Lightning and that it was going to end with Lightning.
 * She has the closest bond with her Eidolon:
 * The director Motumo Toriyama included him (in the form of a White Chocobo nicknamed the "Angel of Valhalla") in Lightning Returns, stating that he was a "good friend", and that he was someone for her to open her heart to (despite the gloomy setting of the game).
 * When the Eidolons disappeared after the fight with Bhuniveze, he gives Lightning a silent kneel before departing.