The Let's Play Archive

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

by Artix, Fedule

Part 2: Home Sweet Hope

Update 2: Home Sweet Hope (Polsy)

Music

The Ark

Datalogs



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People: Hope Estheim

Hope is Lightning's partner in her journey as the savior, leading her through her final days with the world. They were allies once before, a thousand years ago.

Hope had once been a boy when they first met, living a sheltered life within the floating world of Cocoon, until his peaceful days were shattered and his mother died before his eyes. He blamed Snow for his mother's death, but was forced to work with him to defy their shared fate, and through his journey, Hope learned to see beyond his grief and hatred.

When he was a young man, Hope helped human society rebuild from the disasters that had befallen it. He led the Academy, a research institute formed to help humanity build its own future free form the fal'Cie. He launched massive projects that would take centuries to complete, believing that science, not the gods, would save the people.

Yet now he appears to have withdrawn from human society, hiding himself away to labor in God's service...



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Legends and History: The Ark

The Ark is a man-made satellite, created to be a place of refuge for humanity in the face of the world's destruction. Hope oversaw its construction, completing it approximately 500 years ago. It was launched with most of the world's people inside, and that is how humanity survived the initial catastrophe. yet eventually the Chaos reached as far as the Ark and it was abandoned by the people it had saved.

Within the Ark exists a separate dimension, where time does not move. This is the savior's base of operations. God intends for the savior to gather the souls of the people of Nova Chrysalia within the Ark when the world ends, to carry them onward to the new world he will create.

When the Ark was completed, Hope gave it the name Bhunivelze. It seemed only a coincidence at the time, but perhaps God's plans were already in motion, sweeping the young leader of mankind along in their wake.



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Mythology: Almighty Bhunivelze

Almighty Bhunivelze, god of light, stands above other gods and holds the world in his palm.

After creating Pulse the wild, Lindzei the wise, and Etro, the goddess of death and Chaos, Bhunivelze retreated from man's sight and slipped into a long slumber.

It was Bhunivelze who called to Lightning, forcing her to awaken from her long crystal sleep to become the savior. And he made her a promise: if she completed this great task for him, he would use his power to bring her sister, Serah, back to her.



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Mythology: The Destruction of the Old World

Lightning's younger sister, Serah, set out on a journey to avert the terrible future that awaited humanity. But that journey ended in disaster, bringing about the ruination of both time and space. The goddess Etro, who maintained the equilibrium between the world of the living and the world of the dead, was gone. And with her went the barrier which held the power of Chaos at bay, allowing it to flood into the human world.

Destruction slowly spread across the land over the intervening centuries. There are now only four small islands left amidst the darkness where people still cling to life.

Lightning failed to protect the goddess she was sworn to, resulting in the destruction of her world. She sent Serah out on her journey, ultimately leading to her death. There is so much to regret and atone for, and so little time...



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Mythology: Creating a New World

Almighty Bhunivelze has decided to bring this world to an end and make a new one. There is no way to save Nova Chrysalia from the chaos in which it is sinking.

The destruction began when a single man caused the gate to Valhalla, the unseen realm, to be thrown open. In doing so, he alerted God to the great potential that lay in humans. And so God had decided to give humanity one last chance.

Bhunivelze will use the souls of the saved to populate his new world. For that purpose, he has selected a savior to gather the souls and prepare them for the new world. Bringing comfort and salvation to people is something that the heartless gods could never do themselves.



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Mythology: Of Gods and Fal'Cie

Almighty Bhunivelze created three gods for his world: Etro, Pulse, and Lindzei.

Etro was a goddess without any power of her own. In contrast, both Pulse and Lindzei were granted near limitless power, and they built the fal'Cie, servants that possess supernatural powers.

The fal'Cie that served the god Pulse worked to terraform the expansive lands of the planet, and the world came to be known as Gran Pulse. The fal'Cie which served Lindzei built a world in the sky, and kept humans blissfully unaware within a cage they called Cocoon.

The gods did not reveal themselves, but the fal'Cie were present in every part of humanity's lives. The people depended on them for survival and worshiped them as gods. But there are almost no fal'Cie left in the surviving remnants of the world.



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Mythology: The Goddess Etro and Valhalla

Etro was the goddess of death, enthroned in a world filled with Chaos and known as Valhalla. Most people now believe the teachings of the Order, which preaches devotion to Bhunivelze, but there still exists minority groups of heretics who are devotees to the goddess Etro.

Though her believers have not realized it, the goddess Etro died centuries ago. She was the one who held back the Chaos, keeping it within her own realm of Valhalla. Lightning was a sworn servant of Etro who fought to protect the goddess—a battle she eventually lost. Thus began the destruction of the world.



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Legends and History: The Chaos

This mysterious energy came from another dimension and continues to eat away at the world. Most of the land has already been flooded by the sea of Chaos and the world is on the brink of destruction.

The Chaos gives birth to monsters and is the mystical source of a certain kind of seed. It appears like a dark mist to human eyes, but surprisingly, it cannot be seen by God. That is why it is sometimes called the unseen Chaos. Many believe that when a human dies, his or her soul returns to the sea of Chaos.