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FFXIII Q&A, Batch 1: Lore, World-building, Story/Plot, etc

FF XIII

 

#Batch 2: Cid Raines, Barthandelus, Orphan, etc

 

 

#Edits

The following were added after the post was made:

(Adding a few that I missed from the question-gathering post)

  1. Why are the Cocoon fal'Cie helping humans (yet Barthandelus wants to destroy Cocoon)? - under Lore and World-Building
  2. Why do the fal'Cie give humans a Focus and make them l'Cie? - under Lore and World-Building
  3. What is Vanille's weapon and how does it work? - under Lore and World-Building
  4. How many people died when Cocoon fell? - under Story/Plot Points
  5. How long would Cocoon have survived if the events of XIII never took place? - under Story/Plot Points
  6. What do Codes Red, Green, Purple, Yellow, Blue, Orange and White that were announced on the Palamecia mean? - under Story/Plot Points

 

 

#Contents

  • Lore and World-Building
    • Do Pulse and Cocoon fal'Cie have the same goal?
    • What is that giant in Gran Pulse?
    • What is that Owl that's frequently seen following the party?
    • (1) Why are the Cocoon fal'Cie helping humans (yet Barthandelus wants to destroy Cocoon)?
    • (2) Why do the fal'Cie give humans a Focus and make them l'Cie?
    • What powers are gained when becoming a l'Cie?
    • How does Snow's jacket make him stronger?
    • (3) What is Vanille's weapon and how does it work?
    • How big is Cocoon?
  • War of Transgression
    • What sparked the War of Transgression?
    • Why did Fang lose her memory while Vanille didn't?
    • Why are Fang and Vanille the only survivors of Gran Pulse?
  • Story/Plot Points
    • Why didn't Serah just show Lightning her Brand?
    • How were there so many Cie'th in Cocoon that were never noticed?
    • If the fal’Cie can instantly turn someone into a l’Cie and/or Cie’th, why didn’t they do that to the party?
    • Why were Lightning and Co. made l’Cie (when only Vanille and Fang were needed to become Ragnarok)?
    • Why do the fal'Cie have to make Focuses vague? Why not just tell the party directly to destroy Cocoon?
    • Why did Odin attack Hope when he appeared?
    • What is Operation Nora and what does it have to do with taking down that monster (Aster Protoflorian)?
    • (6) What do Codes Red, Green, Purple, Yellow, Blue, Orange and White that were announced on the Palamecia mean?
    • What was that race at the beginning of Chapter 12? What was it for and why did the party crash it?
    • (4) How many people died when Cocoon fell?
    • (5) How long would Cocoon have survived if the events of XIII never took place?
  • Opening FMV Plotholes?
    • Why was there a wall/barrier on the train track that caused the train to shake and give Lightning an opening to free everyone?
    • If Lightning handed her gunblade over when she volunteered to be Purged, how did she suddenly get it back when fighting the robot scorpion (Manasvin Warmech)?

 

 

Note: A lot of the story-related questions here were expanded with some background that was offered by the prequel novella: Episode 0 - Promise. Here's a playlist of it presented as an audiobook for anyone interested. The guy's no expert narrator, but I definitely appreciate his effort for making it convenient to listen to when driving. It took a lot of trips to finish it all, but it's a really good listen to find out more about the characters and what they were like before their life went to hell. Or in Fang and Vanille's case, how they managed to navigate the weird land of Cocoon when they first woke up.

 

 

#Lore and World-building

 

###Do Pulse and Cocoon fal'Cie have the same goal?

  • Yes they do. Pulse and Cocoon fal’Cie have the same overall goal of finding Etro’s Gate. However, they have different ways of doing so. Pulse fal’Cie do it by searching the physical world, while Cocoon fal’Cie do it by “combing the ethers” as stated in the analects (i.e. harvesting souls for sacrifice). Each fal’Cie have their own individual Focuses that lend a hand in achieving their ultimate goal. Like how the Pulse fal’Cie Atomos and Dahaka search underground and the skies respectively, and how the Cocoon fal’Cie have their own tasks in making sure the human sacrifices thrive and multiply within Cocoon.

 

###What is that giant in Gran Pulse?

  • That giant is the Pulse fal’Cie Titan. Described as a biogenitor who consumes weaker species and births (or rather spits out, as Fang puts it) stronger ones.

  • To understand Titan’s exact purpose, we’ll need to dig a little into the FNC lore. Aside from the ultimate goal of finding Etro’s gate, the god Pulse (creator of the Pulse fal'Cie) was also assigned a second task by Bhunivelze (head honcho God of the XIII universe) to build Arks, fill them with weaponry, and store them around the world in preparation for a war against “the world beyond”. This World Beyond refers to the Unseen Realm behind Etro’s Gate, and Bhunivelze wanted to be prepared in case a fight would ensue once the Gate is finally opened. Fun fact, some used to speculate before XIII-2 fleshed out the Unseen Realm that the World Beyond actually referred to the world of Versus XIII. Hence the name Versus XIII (Eh? No? Maybe? Okay…).

  • Anyways, that’s the reason Titan’s task doesn’t seem to be connected or related to finding Etro’s Gate at all. Rather, he was tasked to help with the god Pulse’s second job by creating the strongest creatures possible which will then be used to fill up the Arks. Adding to that, his task of creating stronger creatures isn’t just limited to monsters. He can also work on making l’Cie stronger by having them undergo a series of trials, a.k.a. Titan’s Trails.

 

###What is that Owl that’s frequently seen following the party?

  • The owl is the Cocoon fal’Cie Menrva, an extension of Barthandelus’s power who he tasked to watch over the party to make sure they come out of certain tight spots unscathed. Some of its capabilities include transforming into an airship, which it has done twice throughout the game, to bring the party where Barthandelus wants his chess pieces to go.

  • The first time this happens is after fighting Barthandelus for the first time in the Palamecia. Menrva takes the party out of the exploding airship, navigates through the PSICOM assault (mainly by Colonel Rosch), and drops them into the 5th Ark to have them fully harness their powers. You’ll notice throughout the cutscene that Sazh, expert pilot, has absolutely no control over the Menrvairship (sorry, can’t help it).

  • The second time this happens is at the end of Chapter 11, after fighting Barthandelus for the second time, when Menrva flies the party back to Cocoon. This’ll be important to note when answering the question about the race during the cutscene that opens up Chapter 12.

 

###Why are the Cocoon fal'Cie helping humans (yet Barthandelus wants to destroy Cocoon)?

  • The Cocoon fal'Cie may look like they're helping humans, but they're all doing it purely for the purpose of Barthandelus's plan. That plan being to sacrifice humans en masse in order to force Etro's Gate open. Cocoon was sold as a haven/paradise to the humans, but in reality it is a human breeding factory that the fal'Cie are running and maintaining. The fal'Cie provide all things the humans need like food, water, shelter, etc. Even their government programs for orphaned children are extremely generous. They purposely made life in Cocoon as easy as possible for the humans just so they may thrive. And once the population reaches the desired amount for the fal'Cie plan to work, that's when Barthandelus would start his scheme that would bring down the axe on the supposed paradise.

 

###Why do the fal'Cie give humans a Focus and make them l'Cie?

  • Fal'Cie and humans are the two types of beings in the XIII universe that are complete opposites of each other. Fal'Cie were created with power, but they lack free will to deviate from what they were created to do. On the other hand, humans were created with absolutely no power, but they have the free will to do as they please. So in order for the fal'Cie to do things they normally can't do, they need to brand humans into their l'Cie, i.e. slaves, so that the l'Cie could do it for them.

 

###What powers are gained when becoming a l'Cie?

  • The magic that the party gains access to starting at Chapter 3. Control over elements, enhanced strength and resistance, buffs, debuffs and healing. Depending on circumstances, some l’Cie may also gain the ability to summon Eidolons or even (as prophesized) transform into a beast known as Ragnarok.

  • You may have noticed that enemy soldiers also seem to have the capability to use magic. There is a significant difference, however, between l’Cie magic and the magic used by those soldiers. L’Cie magic is considered “real” magic, whereas PSICOM uses devices called Manadrives, developed from AMP technology, that are capable of emulating magic (similar to the concept of VIII’s Sorceress Magic vs. Para-Magic). You’ll notice that in battle, the soldiers charge up spells that are named “Manadrive <insert spell>” which usually take some time before they can be fired. In comparison, a l’Cie who actually wields real magic can toss out unlimited spells in quick succession.

  • A l’Cie Brand acts as the font of a l’Cie’s power as shown by how the party channels their magic (and also draw out their Eidoliths) through their Brands during casting animations. Examples being how Lightning and Sazh close their hands into their chests before casting spells, and how Hope and Snow use their Branded arms when casting spells (in Snow’s case, he uses both arms but always starts with his left arm where his Brand is located).

 

###How does Snow’s jacket make him stronger?

  • Snow’s jacket by itself doesn’t exactly make him stronger. Rather, it’s the emblems that are mounted on his back that are visible during battle. The jacket is used as the means to harness the power of AMP technology contained within those emblems to enhance his strength and durability. (Think of his jacket like a gaming console and the emblems as game discs)

 

###What is Vanille's weapon and how does it work?

  • The Binding Rod is a foldable rod that has retractable wires attached on it's end, similar to a fishing rod. Nothing more to it. Pulsians were hunters by nature, and that includes Vanille. As demonstrated in this cutscene, it's her role to entrap prey to enable her partner to deal a killing blow. Don't underestimate Vanille as a hunter btw. That fur pelt she uses to hold her weapon is from a bear she took down herself.

 

###How big is Cocoon?

  • According to interviews, Cocoon when opened up is described to be the size of North America. The Datalog details that the population within Cocoon reaches up to tens of millions of humans and over 8 million fal’Cie, including the smaller subordinate fal’Cie.

 

 

#War of Transgression

 

###What sparked the War of Transgression?

  • First thing to note in order to understand what exactly sparked the war is that Cocoon fal’Cie plunder resources and materials from Gran Pulse for creating and maintaining their floating abode. During one such plundering incident, Anima’s wrath was sparked, perhaps due to Cocoon fal’Cie grabbing some land or resources that belonged within its territory. Now, it’s also important to note that Cocoon and Pulse fal’Cie are not naturally hostile towards each other and that they generally mind their own business. They’re more like “cousins-in-arms” in the sense that both types of fal’Cie were made by different gods, but ultimately share a similar goal. Now, during that plundering incident, Anima got a little too territorial (going “not cool bro”) so he sent l’Cie to destroy Cocoon.

  • On Barthandelus’s side of this war though, he estimated that the number of human sacrifices currently in Cocoon wasn’t yet enough for his master plan to succeed. So even though he did want Cocoon destroyed, he along with the other Cocoon fal’Cie defended against the Pulsian assault. It was during this war that Barthandelus came to learn of the existence of the beast, Ragnarok, and saw it as the perfect means of taking Cocoon down when the time was right.

  • The Cocoon fal'Cie were just about to be defeated when Etro intervened, put the l'Cie sent by Anima in Crystal Stasis, and placed Anima into hibernation. With the war concluded, Barthandelus grabbed the sleeping Anima, along with the crystallized l'Cie, and hid them away in Cocoon in order to wake them once he deemed the population in Cocoon to be enough to open Etro’s Gate. That time being the 13 days prior to the beginning of XIII.

 

###Why did Fang lose her memory while Vanille didn’t?

  • Even though it is never officially stated, as far as I see, there’s only one explanation for this. During the War of Transgression, only Fang turned into Ragnarok and fought to destroy Cocoon. So, even though both Fang and Vanille were crystallized via Etro’s intervention, Fang got the brunt of Etro’s interference which ultimately caused some memory problems. Fang says that her “childhood was clear as day” but the events of the War of Transgression, or specifically the events when she was in Ragnarok form, was what she can’t remember. So it stands to reason that during Etro’s Intervention, not only did she revert Fang from being Ragnarok, but her memory of Ragnarok itself also got erased in the process. Adding to that, her Focus ended up erased as well because the vision she most likely received back then also pertained to Ragnarok.

  • So while all memories related to Ragnarok were wiped from Fang's mind (Focus included), Vanille's memories weren't since she was merely an outsider looking up as Ragnarok tore open Cocoon. Vanille had simply been advanced into Crystal Stasis during Etro's Intervention, leaving everything she’d witnessed intact.

 

###Why are Fang and Vanille the only survivors of Gran Pulse?

  • Gran Pulse is already a harsh and unforgiving land in itself (no thanks to Titan who keeps spitting out stronger monsters), but it was also made even worse by the Pulse fal’Cie who rampantly branded humans left and right around the time following the War of Transgression. So many humans got branded, which led to those branded humans turning into Cie’th, which led to those Cie’th outnumbering the humans making Gran Pulse an even more dangerous place to live in. Eventually, because of this whole mess, the Pulsian population went extinct.

  • Unlike the Cocoon fal'Cie, the Pulse fal'Cie weren't using their human tools very efficiently so they ran out of them altogether in the end. But then, the Pulse fal'Cie probably didn't care either way whether they'd still have tools to spare or not.

 

 

#Story/Plot Points

 

###Why didn’t Serah just show Lightning her Brand?

  • By the time XIII’s story takes place, l’Cie have been relegated into beings that only exist in fairy tales and legends. It’s been centuries since the population has ever seen a human branded into a Cocoon l’Cie, let alone have they ever seen a Pulse l’Cie.

  • When Serah woke up outside the Pulse Vestige after having been Branded, even she herself didn’t recognize immediately what the black mark on her arm was. At first, she thought some kids were just playing a prank on her with a marker or something. But when she tried rubbing it off, the texture of her skin felt different and the mark showed no signs of coming off. That was when she slowly recalled the books she’d read as a kid and vaguely remembered what the mark was: A Pulse l’Cie Brand. Fear seeped into her and she continued rubbing on her arm frantically, only to see the mark shift and change before her very eyes. Tattoos definitely don’t change like that, and so the terrifying truth of what she was settled into her.

  • With that piece of backstory in mind, even if Serah had tried to show Lightning the Brand during that flashback cutscene, there was little if any chance that she’d believe it was the real deal. Lightning was already livid at the news of Serah and Snow’s engagement which made it difficult to even try to reason with her. Only official news by the Sanctum was able to snap her out of her stubborn frenzy, and so beginning Lightning’s journey of regret.

 

###How were there so many Cie’th in Cocoon that were never noticed?

  • The four places in Cocoon we see that are swarmed with Cie’th are the Pulse Vestige, Lake Bresha, Eden and Orphan’s Cradle. The simple answer to this is that the Cie’th weren’t always there.

  • The black Pulse Cie’th found in the Pulse Vestige was the PSICOM squad that was sent to investigate the place when they learned that the Vestige’s door had opened up. That squad was the one that discovered the Pulse fal’Cie within and had managed to send a distress call out before they were branded and eventually became Cie’th. Next, the Cie’th found in Lake Bresha at the start of Chapter 3 were just the ones that spilled out of the Pulse Vestige when it fell into the lake at the end of Chapter 2.

  • As for the white Cocoon Cie’th found first in Eden. Those were the Cavalry soldiers who were trying to storm through Eden into Orphan’s Cradle to try to take Orphan down themselves. Barthandelus knew they wouldn’t succeed in that endeavor anyway, thus he branded them without giving them a Focus which immediately turned them into Cie’th. Barthandelus did this only to bait and anger the party even more into chasing him inside of Orphan’s Cradle. The handful of Cie’th found inside the Cradle itself are the few Cavalry soldiers that managed to make it inside but never got far.

 

###If the fal’Cie can instantly turn someone into a l’Cie and/or Cie’th, why didn’t they do that to the party?

  • A fal’Cie can turn a l’Cie directly into a Cie’th by either A) purposefully advancing their Brands to the final stage, or B) not giving them a Focus to begin with. Other ways for a l’Cie to turn into a Cie’th is either due to C) their Brands naturally advancing to the final stage over time, or D) through emotional/mental/psychological trauma that causes their Brands to unwittingly advance. The Pulse fal’Cie Anima simply didn’t want the party to directly turn into Cie’th since it had given them the Focus to destroy Cocoon. Speaking of which, it can be fairly deduced that Anima had tried to brand the PSICOM soldiers mentioned in the previous question to also destroy Cocoon. However, they ultimately turned into Cie’th because either the trauma of the branding was too extreme that it caused them to turn Cie’th just a few moments after, or fal’Cie Anima deemed them weak and unworthy, hence advancing the soldiers’ Brands itself.

  • I could picture a mixture of both Reasons A and D happening honestly. The PSICOM soldiers see their Brands, then they panic, then Anima having enough of their shit advances their Brands to be rid of them, and then waits to lure in other stronger-willed humans using the girl it had Branded earlier.

  • An additional note: A human that has already been branded by one type of fal’Cie cannot be branded by the other type of fal’Cie. If this were possible, fal’Cie Kujata would’ve just rebranded Fang and Vanille into its own l’Cie instead of reaching out for Dajh.

 

###Why were Lightning and Co. made l’Cie (when only Vanille and Fang were needed to become Ragnarok)?

  • An important thing to note is that Fang and Vanille aren’t the only ones who can turn into Ragnarok. Any l’Cie can, given that they manage to figure out how to channel the power of the beast. That said, since Fang and Vanille didn’t seem to be doing their jobs right, Anima went and Branded more humans in hopes that the new l’Cie would do it in their place.

  • If you’re wondering why then that the Analects specify that two girls, one of the Dia clan and one of the Yun clan, are the only ones prophesized to turn into Ragnarok, well, that’s exactly it: It’s a prophecy. The Analects didn’t say that Fang and Vanille are the only ones who can turn into Ragnarok. Rather, Fang and Vanille are the ones who will turn into Ragnarok. And at the ending of XIII, we witness the fulfillment of that exact prophecy.

 

###Why do the fal'Cie have to make Focuses vague? Why not just tell the party directly to destroy Cocoon?

  • Focuses aren’t normally as vague as the one given to the party. In most instances, a Focus is actually relatively straightforward in which the l’Cie is shown a vision of a monster that they’re tasked to take down, as seen by the numerous Cie’th Stones around Gran Pulse.

  • In the party’s case however, rather than being shown a monster that they’re meant to slay, they were instead shown a vision of Ragnarok which is what made their Focus more complicated than the usual. Save for Vanille who already knew what Ragnarok was and what their Focus entailed, the party’s Focus was kept intentionally vague in order for Barthandelus to slowly string the party into the fal’Cie plan. See, if they were immediately told right after Branding that they were meant to destroy Cocoon, any reasonable Cocoon citizen would automatically refuse to do it and the plan to nurture the tools for Cocoon’s destruction would fail before it could even get started. Barthandelus first needed the party to have just enough hope to keep them alive. Then he planned to break them down into despair so that eventually he’ll be able to manipulate them into destroying Cocoon. He wanted to nurture the “all is lost” and "no way out" mindset. That life isn’t worth living. So that when the time came, they’ll be guided towards Orphan and wouldn’t hesitate to deal a swift and clean death to Cocoon in order to end it all. The people of Cocoon hated and feared them anyway. So what's to stop them from striking it down?

  • In Dajh’s case, the poor kid didn’t even know he was a l’Cie. Whatever vision given by fal’Cie Kujata was either dismissed as a dream or forgotten entirely. So with that in mind, PSICOM and Sazh weren’t able to immediately find out what Dajh’s Focus was. They didn’t want to risk frightening the kid by being too forward, nor can they ask fal’Cie Kujata since only fal’Cie Eden is supposedly able to communicate with humans through the Primarch. And the Primarch Dysley isn’t just someone who they can walk up to to get answers from. It’s also important to note that Cocoon has never seen a l’Cie in centuries which is why they didn’t immediately know how to handle Dajh and his situation. Instead, they subjected him to numerous tests. Having not seen Pulsian threats in centuries, PSICOM is described to be nothing but a bunch of green soldiers waving around overpriced toys.

 

###Why did Odin attack Hope when he appeared?

  • Eidolons appear before l’Cie to help them if ever they are struggling to complete their Focus. They lend their aid through various ways, such as A) cutting down whatever obstacle in their path, B) challenging them to be stronger/better, or C) outright killing them if ever they’ve lost all hope/lost their way. Snow’s Eidolon showed up because of Reason A. Hope and Vanille’s Eidolons showed up because of Reason B. Sazh and Fang’s Eidolon showed up because of Reason C. I don’t think I need to say why Lightning’s Eidolon appeared, right?

  • Just as the obstacle before Snow were the PSICOM soldiers that caused the Shiva Sisters to appear, the obstacle before Lightning that was preventing her from pushing forward was Hope. Lightning, frustrated for just barely being able to escape PSICOM, felt that a kid who had absolutely no combat experience was slowing her down. As she states, she’s already having a hard time surviving herself, and it’s being made harder by needing to take care of some helpless kid. And so, Odin appears to get rid of her “problem”. With the fog of frustration being dispelled by the spike of adrenaline, Lightning jumps in to protect Hope despite her earlier tirade. She knew what she had said was wrong, so she immediately apologizes after the battle and promises to help toughen Hope up.

 

###What is Operation Nora and what does it have to do with taking down that monster (Aster Protoflorian)?

  • Operation Nora is a double entendre. It signifies Hope’s desire to avenge his mother Nora, just as it signifies his spite against Snow and his band which is coincidentally also called NORA. In Japanese, “Nora” is more of a play on words for “stray cat” (noraneko). The members of Nora being equated to stray cats since they’re mostly made up of orphans who are living independently. But since this play on words wouldn’t translate the same in English, the localization team instead turned it into an acronym for “No Obligation, Rules or Authority”. It was key to Hope’s story for the names of his mom and Snow’s ragtag group be the same in order to keep the double entendre.

  • Hope at the start of the game is the farthest thing from a fighter. Beyond tossing his AMP-powered boomerang when traversing the Pulse Vestige with Vanille, he doesn’t help in battle at all. The forced party compositions through Chapter 3 actually shows this in the sense that Hope is the last character to be added to the battle team. At first, we have Lightning/Snow/Vanille, the most capable fighters in the group since Sazh is a tired old man (come on, he’s not that old tho) and Hope a weak young kid. Once Snow leaves, we have Lightning/Vanille/Sazh. Hope, the ever incapable fighter, still in the background. It isn’t until they arrive at the Vile Peaks that Hope becomes determined to learn to fight, and that’s exactly when he formally becomes part of the battle team ever since turning into a l’Cie. Then, it isn’t until Lightning and Hope reach Gapra that Hope resolves to push his training further by taking point. Hence he becomes the playable character for the start of the segment. In regards to Hope’s development as a character, it seems even the forced party composition at those first chapters of the game supports the growth that he undergoes. That growth eventually reaches a full 180 on Palumpolum. Hope, whose first instinct was always to flee at the first sign of danger, now stood up against a PSICOM death machine on his own. And to protect Snow no less.

  • So that aside (and back to the question), by the time Lightning and Hope reach the end of Gapra, the Aster Protoflorian pounces and Hope declares it the first stage of Operation Nora. It’s simple really. In order to exact vengeance against Snow, Hope first needed to learn how to fight. After travelling all that way with Lightning training him, he regarded the monster as a challenge to see how far his fighting skills have come in that short amount of time. After defeating the monster, he declares stage one to be complete, thereby affirming to himself that he now has a pretty good grasp of combat.

 

###What do Codes Red, Green, Purple, Yellow, Blue, Orange and White that were announced on the Palamecia mean?

 

###What was that race at the beginning of Chapter 12? What was it for and why did the party crash it?

  • The race at Chapter 12 was held as a commemoration to the newly elected Primarch, Cid Raines. What’s important to note about this scene is that the party never intended to crash it, let alone did they know about it prior to their arrival. Recall (from a prior question) that the airship that took them back to Cocoon was in fact the fal’Cie Menrva. It has been established that whenever Menrva was the one flying the party, they had absolutely no control over where it is they were being taken.

  • Thus, you have the start of the scene where the party jumps out of Menrva and summon their Eidolons as alternate transport. Better to ride controllable Eidolons than a fal’Cie airship that isn’t after all. Then, notice what happens as they land on the race track. A distracted racer almost crashes his velocycle before being rescued by Snow and the Shiva Sisters. Considering Snow's character, there's no way he wouldn't help the racer out. But of course, his Brand gets spotted and that’s when all hell breaks loose, i.e. PSICOM charges into the racetrack to take the Pulse l’Cie down (because Snow really can’t be bothered to cover up his Brand, can he). Note that Snow’s first instinct was to immediately run away rather than engage. Then Hope jumped in to help Snow by cutting off his pursuers. We get a glimpse of Fang who’s just flying around minding her own business. Vanille was keeping to the defensive as she’s getting attacked by guns and rocket launchers. Sazh jumped in to help Vanille out of the explosion. And Lightning was cutting down any PSICOM soldiers in her way before she was able to make a break for it herself.

  • So again, the party never intended to crash the commemoration race. Everything they did in that cutscene was purely an act of self-defense after a botched rescue attempt by Snow. That race just happened to be where Barthandelus intended to drop the party off in order for Cocoon to witness the arrival of Pulse l’Cie before their very eyes. Once the people saw the Pulse l’Cie, Cocoon fell into utter panic and chaos, thinking that Pulse has finally come to invade them once again after centuries of peace. Just as Barthandelus had planned.

 

###How many people died when Cocoon fell?

  • According to the novella -Episode i- which takes place during the ending of XIII, a Cavalry soldier reports that a third of Cocoon's population was lost during The Fall. Since it has been said in the Datalog that the human population of Cocoon is "tens of millions", we can assume that at least 6.67 million (a third of 20 million) people lost their lives and possibly up to 30 million (a third of 90 million). (damn that's a lot...)

 

###How long would Cocoon have survived if the events of XIII never took place?

  • Possibly a few to a couple hundred years. But what's sure is that it never would've lasted forever considering Barthandelus's determination to see Cocoon destroyed. The thing is though, the events of XIII would've happened regardless since it was Barthandelus himself who jumpstarted the events, starting with waking Anima up from hibernation. Anima then in turn woke up Fang and Vanille from crystal stasis and it all snowballed from there.

 

 

#Opening FMV Plotholes?

 

###Why was there a wall/barrier on the train track that caused the train to shake and give Lightning an opening to free everyone?

  • The Hanging Edge is the area where Cocoon’s shell was cracked during the War of Transgression. The barrier erected on the railway serves to keep any potential trespassers out while also being capable of letting authorized vehicles in, albeit with a bit of turbulence when passing through. Why there’s even a railway going towards this area in the first place is easily explained by the fact that this area wasn’t always “The Hanging Edge”. It was once a bustling metropolis before it got destroyed during the war. Now it’s been relegated as a restricted zone, hence the need for a barrier to block off the place.

  • Bonus explanation on how Lightning was able to anticipate the barrier to be an exploitable opening. She’s mentioned that as a GC soldier, she’s been sent to other locations outside of Bodhum on various missions. The Vile Peaks particularly which is also considered a dangerous zone. With that in mind, I’d venture a guess that she’d be aware of certain ins-and-outs of military transportation in Cocoon which would include the nature of the barriers that block off restricted zones.

 

###If Lightning handed her gunblade over when she volunteered to be Purged, how did she suddenly get it back when fighting the robot scorpion (Manasvin Warmech)?

  • In that flashback cutscene, we hear the soldiers state that personal belongings that were turned over would be returned upon arrival to Pulse. Most likely those belongings, along with Lightning’s gunblade, were stored not far from where Lightning and Sazh were sitting. Notice in the opening FMV where Lightning busts into a room and takes down some soldiers alone with a stolen gun. There weren’t any civilians around like in the previous area, so I’d say it’s safe to conclude that this was the “locker room”. Then, just after Sazh and others ransack guns from the armory, we see that this is when Lightning found and got her gunblade back.

 

 

###Batch 2: Cid Raines, Barthandelus, Orphan, etc

 

Posted Jan 3, 2018, 10:59 PM UTC · edited

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