historyandmyth

[historyandmyth]

Reminder that Lightning's signature attack is called "Army of One" and this is the hottest thing ever.

[historyandmyth]

It finally feels like winter now, lads. Have some Cocoonian Cavalry in cozy sheep sweaters.

TinyPixelSheepApplique.jpg

These sweaters are adorable, and Ryg's sweater design where the sheep looks like it's poking it's head out from between his arms is great framing.

[historyandmyth]

[historyandmyth]

Oerba dia Vanille and Hecatoncheir ⋆ Concept art FINAL FANTASY XIII (2009)

She’s so silly <33

[historyandmyth]

Funniest self-report in XIII is simply majoring as a Sentinel. Your fatal flaw is self-sacrifice and and it shows every time you cast Steelguard.

[historyandmyth]

FF13 + The twin sisters of Shiva; Stiria (スティリア) and Nix (ニクス)

[historyandmyth]

On the Nature of Fal’Cie

Full disclosure: I started this post some years ago. (Whoops.) Back then, this post was prompted by a rather poor explanation on the FF wiki about fal’Cie and l’Cie, and what their respective purposes were. That has since changed to a much more accurate summarization of the lore.

That said, I’ve still seen plenty of confusion concerning the lore since there are so many moving pieces and it can take a lot of digging to understand it. So I’m going to go ahead and just post this as is—with the outdated FF wiki excerpt—just so that I can finally get this out there.

Outdated FF wiki excerpt:

Fal'Cie were created by the gods for a specific purpose, which can be thought of as a "Focus." L'Cie exist as a "loophole" to this pseudo-Focus, and allow fal'Cie to complete objectives for which they weren't originally created.

Fal’Cie have Focuses. Orphan explicitly says this himself. It isn’t the potential consequences that make for a Focus; Focuses are simply tasks bestowed upon beings by the Gods. Fal’Cie and l’Cie both possess Focuses.

L’Cie do not exist as “loopholes.” Loopholes implies that fal’Cie are exploiting a flaw in the system. They aren’t. The utilization of l’Cie is the system functioning exactly as intended. 

Fal’Cie exist in part as the medium in which the Gods can bestow humans with both their Focus and their brand. Fal’Cie choose who become l’Cie and the nature of their Focus—but it’s the Gods that do the actual branding. The Gods themselves are very much part and parcel of the whole process. It’s the God Pulse we see branding the party at the end of chapter two, featured below.

This is what you need to understand: every entity here, every l’Cie, fal’Cie, and even the Gods themselves except Etro are cogs in a machine. They all have a role to play. And some of them have dualistic roles—namely humanity, which was set up to be knocked down by their own hands in the form of Ragnarok.

So here’s how it all shakes down, per analect I. the Vanished Gods:

Luminous is Bhunivelze. He created Pulse, Lindzei, and Etro. 

Stout is Pulse, who then created Gran Pulse.

Sage is Lindzei, who realized how to find their way to the Door.

Fool is Etro, who tore herself apart after being abandoned by Bhunivelze.

Maker (both Pulse and Lindzei) created fal’Cie from components of themselves.

Maker (Lindzei) then created humanity from “traces once Divine.” This was the blood of Etro.

Afterward, the Gods departed the mortal realm. The reason for their departure isn’t explicitly stated, but it isn’t impossible to deduce why. In fact, another analect gives us a pretty good idea for it.

I propose a different explanation: the fal'Cie are hunting. Whether they seek a way to recall the gods or to journey to their side I cannot say, but I do believe the fal'Cie seek their lost deities. They search the earth, the skies, the waters, and even the deep places, seeking a gateway to the Divine.

—XI. Hypothesis of the Hunt

In the absence of their makers, the fal’Cie of both Pulse and Lindzei sought to find the Door. They believed this would pave the path to reuniting with their Gods. But similar to how l’Cie were manipulated into fulfilling their own Focuses, the Gods designed the fal’Cie to do their bidding through ignorance and deceit in order to find this gateway to the Divine.

For most of Pulse’s fa’Cie, such as Atomos, Bismarck, and Dahaka, this would mean searching Gran Pulse’s depths and heights for the deities that had seemingly abandoned them. But Lindzei would have other ideas...

And lo, the viper Lindzei bore fangs into the pristine soil of our Gran Pulse; despoiled the land and from it crafted a cocoon both ghastly and unclean.

Lies spilled forth from the serpent's tongue: 'Within this shell lies paradise.' Men heard these lies and were seduced and led away.

—II. Lindzei’s Nest

Lindzei would engineer the conflict between Gran Pulse and Cocoon in order to facilitate Ragnarok. While Lindzei created Cocoon and its resident fal’Cie, Pulse would craft Anima, the patron fal’Cie of Oerba and the one that would ultimately dole out the Ragnarok Focus.

Two l'Cie are they, the Chosen, and from the North they hail. Endowed are they with fal'Cie Focus, to bear the burden of the Beast.

My brothers and sisters of Gran Pulse: Honor the Chosen in your prayers! Let the blade forged of their will be tempered by your faith, that it might sunder that devilish cocoon's façade!

—III. The Chosen

Etro’s divine intervention during the War of Transgression, however, would save Cocoon’s inhabitants and ultimately thwart the other Gods’ plans. Afterward, Barthandelus would move the fal’Cie Anima to Bodhum, where it would sit undiscovered for six centuries until Fang and Vanille awoke from crystal stasis.

[historyandmyth]

accidentally in love

[historyandmyth]

Sketches.

[historyandmyth]

Controversial and contradictory opinions from me when I wish every day that XIII never had sequels, but find myself instantly overcome by indignation whenever someone says that XIII-2 was a garbage game.

[historyandmyth]

a rare LR thought from me.

I think it was a missed opportunity to not let Lightning fight Pulse and Lindzei. Bhunivelze summons them in the final fight to wield them as a weapon, which is definitely fitting given how he treats everyone (as tools), but I really wish they'd gone a different route.

Imagine if instead of Bhunivelze having four damn forms, Lindzei and Pulse were their own phases of the fight. Bhunivelze sics them on her as she's confronting him, finally forced to fight the ones responsible for the War of Transgression, for the Ragnarok Focus, for Cocoon.

I can see why they went with the literal weapon angle for them, for multiple reasons (game dev hard!), and I do appreciate the effort they went through to pull it off as they did. I just think it would have been more narratively satisfying to fight their true forms. And to see them in their full glory after all this time!

I also don't think Bhunivelze should have been as proficient and terrifying in combat as he was given his track record, but that's a thought that wouldn't, perhaps, work very well in the video game medium. Alas.

[historyandmyth]

Cluster of happy platisheep orbs.

[historyandmyth]

If Hope Estheim has 0 fans, then that means I am dead.

[historyandmyth]

Why are you protecting me? Protecting one of our own. We can do without their brand of mercy.

FINAL FANTASY XIII (2009)

[historyandmyth]

Then let's run away. Ciao!

[historyandmyth]

You said it made you happy when I smiled, didn't you?