Lightning ( Raitoningu ) is a fictional character from Square

Enix's Final Fantasy series. She first appeared as a playable character

and protagonist in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy XIII, in which she
features as a resident of the artificial world of Cocoon. After her sister Serah is
declared an enemy of Cocoon, Lightning attempts to save her: she and others
are then chosen by the fal'Cie, a divided race of demigods who rule the worlds of
Gran Pulse and Cocoon, to destroy Cocoon. Lightning reappears as a supporting
character in Final Fantasy XIII-2, acting as protector of the Goddess Etro. She is
the sole playable character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, wherein she
sets out to save her world, which is destined to end in thirteen days. She has
featured in other Final Fantasy games, most notably the crossover
game Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.
Lightning was created by Motomu Toriyama, the director and scenario writer
of XIII, and designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a regular character artist for the Final
Fantasy series. Their idea was to create a strong female protagonist who was
adept at combat and less feminine than previous Final Fantasy heroines. Aspects
of her early design and personality were later altered, or transferred to other
characters. After XIII, Lightning's design was revised several times to reflect her
role and development in each game, particularly in Lightning Returns. Her name
in Japanese, clair Farron ( Ekurru Faron ), was originally
?

aplaceholder. Because of its similarity to the name of a pastry, her first name was
changed to "Claire" in other countries.
Lightning has received mixed commentary from criticsmuch of it relating to her
cold personality, which was compared to that of Final Fantasy VII's
protagonist Cloud Strife. She was criticized for her relative absence in XIII-2. Her
role in Lightning Returns had a mixed reception: some critics saw her as
underdeveloped and unlikable, while others found her better developed and more
human than in previous games. Lightning later appeared on lists, compiled by
video game publications, of the best characters in the Final Fantasy series and in

video games as a whole. She has been received favorably in polls of public
opinion by Famitsu, Square Enix, and other organizations.
Contents
[hide]

1Character design
o

1.1Influences

1.2Personality

2Appearances
o

2.1Final Fantasy XIII series

2.2Other appearances

2.3In merchandise and promotion

3Reception

4Notes

5References

Character design[edit]
Lightning was designed by regular Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya
Nomura, who had previously served as the character designer for Final Fantasy
VIII and X. Nomura has said that multiple designsincluding some by staff
members other than himselfwere considered for Lightning,[2] while Toriyama
has claimed that Nomura's first draft "looked so cool and strong that there was no
need for any retakes."[3] Because of the graphical capacities of Final Fantasy
XIII's prospective platforms, Nomura was able to include far more detail in
Lightning's design than in his previous character designs, such as her cape and
facial features.[4] This necessitated far more effort on his part.[5] Commenting on
an early form of her design, Nomura explained that she is essentially a "cool

character", in that she is serious and unforgiving. However, he could not make
the character too masculine for fear of losing player empathy.[2] Characteristics
from earlier versions of the design included blond or silver hair and Asian-looking
facial features. Her final art was made less Asian-looking than these early drafts
and her hair color changed to pink, while Hope Estheim was given silver hair.[2]
[6]

Lightning's final hair color and hairstyle were intended to reflect her femininity,

and to counterbalance her athletic body.[2] Creating her promotional CG render

was fairly easy due to the amount of details available concerning her.[7]
Lightning's real name is Claire Farron in English and clair Farron (
Ekurru Faron ) in Japanese. During the early stages of production,
?

Lightning's real name was Averia: "Eclair" was used to keep this name secret, but
it was eventually chosen as her official name.[8] Her English name, Claire, was
chosen because the name "Eclair" is closely associated with a type of pastry.
[9]

The name "Lightning" was not chosen by Nomura but by other members of the

development team: Nomura had wanted to abandon the tradition ofnaming Final
Fantasy protagonists after weather events, and was surprised by the choice.
[2]

Several models of Lightning's house were constructed for XIII but were

removed due to space issues.[10] Her weapon in XIII, the Blazefire Saber (known
as Blaze Edge ( Bureizu Ejji ) in the Japanese version) was
?

designed to mirror the ability of the game's summoned monsters, the Eidolons, to
transform into animal-, human- and vehicle-like shapes.[11] The game's version of
Odin, Lightning's Eidolon and a recurring summoned monster in the Final
Fantasy series, was intended to present Lightning as a knight on horseback. He
was written as a father figure for Lightning.[12] In later games in the XIII series,
Odin was developed into a friend to whom Lightning could show her deeper
feelings.[13] Daisuke Watanabe, while writing the script for XIII, paid particular
attention to fleshing out Lightning's non-romantic relationship with Snow
Villiers and to showing her development as a person while protecting Hope.[14]
Due to global demand and the development staff's desire to further Lightning's
character, development began for a sequel to XIII. The game tackles the

question of whether Lightning is happy after the events of XIII.[15] Even before a
sequel was greenlit, Toriyama had wanted to create a truly happy ending for the
character.[16] Lightning's outfit in XIII-2 was designed by Isamu Kamikokuryo. He
worked from a rough sketch by Nomura of how Lightning should appear.[17] The
outfit was redone several times by Kamikokuryo: a qipao and ascience fictioninspired design were both discarded because they clashed with the game's
atmosphere. The final design was inspired by the valkyries of Norse mythology.
[18]

The outfit was meant to reflect the environment around Lightning.[19] It features

a feather motif to represent Lightning's light, delicate side and her growing
powers.[18][20] She was depicted as having transcended her human limits, making it
difficult to depict her as a normal person.[21]
Her outfit in Lightning Returns was designed by Nomura. He was told by
Toriyama to create something representative of her final battle, with "strength" as
the main guideline. The resultant outfit, which resembles a leather bodysuit, has
spinal column patterns on its sleeves and is primarily colored red and white.
[22]

Nomura later commented that he felt "a strong reaction within [himself]" while

creating Lightning's final look.[23] Nomura's design was Kamikokuryo's favorite out
of the many outfits created for the character.[24] Her other outfits for the game
were designed by Kamikokuryo, Toshiyuki Itahana, and Toshitaka Matsuda:[22]
[25]

many of them drew inspiration from the character designs of regular Final

Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano.[26] In addition to the new costumes, Lightning's

in-game model was rebuilt from the ground-up.[27] Her breasts were enlarged and
several of her outfits were designed to present her in a more feminine way.[21] For
the game's epilogue, Toriyama wished for Lightning to appear in an everyday
setting and normal clothes. The team considered ending the game with Lightning
either meeting or speaking with her allies, but Toriyama wished the story to begin
and end with her alone.[13] He has claimed that Lightning, with her solo role
in Lightning Returns, was the Final Fantasy series' "first female protagonist".[28][a]

Influences[edit]

Toriyama wanted Lightning to be a type of female character previously unseen

in Final Fantasy games, one with an athlete's body and a less feminine nature.[29]
[30]

His guideline to Nomura was to make her strong, beautiful, and "like a female

version of Cloud [Strife] from [Final Fantasy VII]".[2][29] Commenting on the

resemblance, Toriyama stated that the similarities between the characters only
extend to their cold personalities and their military backgrounds, and that
otherwise "Lightning really [is] her own person."[31] Nomura compared the two
shortly before the Japanese release of Lightning Returns, saying that he had
"desired for her to be carefully developed and loved for a long time, like
Cloud."[23] Toriyama has said that, among the characters he had been involved in
creating, Lightning was his favorite female character from a video game,
alongside Yuna from Final Fantasy X and Yoyo from Bahamut Lagoon.[3]

Personality[edit]
In contrast to other characters in the Final Fantasy series, whose personality
traits were molded to fit a story, Toriyama conceived Lightning's basic personality
before XIII's narrative had been finalized.[3] She has a cold demeanor, which was
meant to clash in an entertaining way with Snow's outspokenness.[31] Nomura
commented that Lightning has "a strong element of mystery about her character".
[32]

She originally had a flirtatious aspect to her personality, which was transferred

to Oerba Yun Fang when Fang was changed from male to female.
[33]

For Lightning Returns, the developers wanted to portray Lightning in several

different lights, in contrast to her static personalities in prior appearances. One of

their highest priorities was to make Lightning a character who had lost much in
her life and become deeply vulnerable as a result.[34] Designer Yuji Abe
elaborated that, because of her losses and newfound vulnerability, Lightning
came across as darker, slightly numbed to her surroundings, and "like a puppet,
like someone who doesn't quite have her real self inside." He elaborated that this
effect shows "the kind of vulnerability she has, and it's the point from which she
starts to change afterward."[35] The decision to expand her personality in this way
was originally suggested by Yoshinori Kitase, who was concerned that

Lightning's coolness in previous games had made it difficult for players to bond
with her.[36]
Across her speaking appearances, Lightning is voiced by Ali Hillis in English
and Maaya Sakamoto in Japanese.[1] Sakamoto was impressed by Lightning,
whom she called "cold" and "strong". She was asked to portray Lightning's
strength and to betray the character's hidden vulnerabilities. She initially found it
strange to voice Lightning, as she was used to gentler roles such as Aerith
Gainsborough, a central character in Final Fantasy VII and its companion media.
[37]

Commenting on the difficulty of balancing Lightning's depiction as a woman

and a professionally trained warrior, Kitase noted that Sakamoto's acting helped
to bring out Lightning's femininity.[38] Hillis was given the role of Lightning after
speaking a few of the character's lines during audition, and was then given a
book about the Final Fantasy XIII universe, which she found a little
"overwhelming" when she read it. One of the challenges Hillis faced was
recapturing the emotion and energy of Sakamoto's Japanese performance in the
character's English rendition.[39] She tried to help the staff of the XIII games
portray Lightning as a real person: "I think that was my main priority, to make
sure that Lightning had every single layer of who she was as a person, not just a
game character, but a real person with layers and history and relationships to
every single character in the game...even the Chocobo!" Over the course of
the XIII trilogy, Hillis felt that Lightning becomes "a little more sarcastic ... a little
more hardened to everything that's going on around her and ... [evolves] into a
real warrior".[40]