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FFXIII Q&A, Batch 2: Cid Raines, Barthandelus, Orphan, etc

FF XIII

 

#Batch 1: Lore, World-building, Story/Plot, etc

 

 

#Edits

The following have been added after the post was made:

(Adding some notes pertaining to some comments mentioned below)

  1. Follow-up question, "How did the party pierce through Orphan's barrier?" - under "Why did Fang go along with Orphan's plan"
  2. Additional note on the indication that points towards the similarity between Cid Raines in the Ark and Fang and Vanille in the Ending - under "What exactly was the party's Focus?"
  3. Additional note on the Final Battle quotes - under "Why did the party even attempt to kill Orphan?"
  4. Additional note on Cid Raines's death - under "Who branded Cid Raines?"
  5. Additional note on the transformation of Ragnarok in the Ending sequence - under "What exactly was the party's Focus?"

 

 

#Contents

  • Cid Raines
    • Who branded Cid Raines and what was his Focus?
      • (4) Additional: Cid Raines's Death
    • Why can’t the cast transform like Cid?
    • What would’ve happened if Cid had defeated the party?
  • Barthandelus, Orphan and the Final Battle
    • Why is Barthandelus the only fal’Cie that can talk?
    • Why did the party confront Barthandelus and Orphan, thereby doing exactly what the villains wanted them to do?
    • If Barthandelus wanted to die, why didn’t he just kill himself during the 3rd battle?
    • Did Barthandelus have a Plan B in case the party refused to participate in the whole ordeal?
    • Why does Barthandelus turn into Orphan?
    • Why did Fang go along with Orphan’s plan in the end?
      • (1) Follow-Up Question: How did the party pierce through Orphan's protective barrier?
  • The Ending
    • What exactly was the party’s Focus? Did they actually have a task or just do what their heart desired?
      • (2) Additional: Indication of Similarity
      • (5) Additional: Ragnarok Transformation
    • Did Barthandelus and Orphan get what they wanted in the end or not?
    • Why did the party act shocked when Cocoon fell after killing Orphan?
    • Why did the party even attempt to kill Orphan when they knew its death would cause Cocoon to fall?
      • (3) Additional: Final Battle Quotes
    • Why didn’t Etro rebrand the party earlier?
  • Bonus Section - Crystallization
    1. Crystallization through Fulfillment of their Focus
    2. Crystallization brought about by a Miracle

 

 

Note: A lot of the video links in this post direct to the same videos. Mostly the Final Battle and Ending scenes. However, all these links point towards a specific timestamp in said videos to reference the scenes and/or quotes that I’ll be referring to, so it may be worth clicking on each of them. For convenience’ sake at least.

 

 

#Cid Raines

 

###Who branded Cid Raines and what was his Focus?

  • Cid Raines was branded by Barthandelus and given the Focus to help guide the Pulse l’Cie towards the path of Cocoon’s destruction. When exactly his branding occurred is unspecified, but most likely it wasn't long before the events of XIII started. What we do know is that he was branded when he had obtained enough power to exact change in Cocoon (as General of the Cavalry). Barthandelus saw Raines’s ideals and determination to overthrow fal’Cie rule as a threat and thus branded him as a l’Cie to keep him in check.
  • The earliest time Cid is known to have been carrying out his Focus is during Fang’s Chapter in the prequel novella, Episode 0 – Promise. Just after Fang and Vanille lost each other during the Euride Gorge incident, Raines dispatched Rygdea along with other Cavalry troops to bring them into the Lindblum (The Cavalry’s Airship Base) in order to keep the Pulse l’Cie out of PSICOM’s reach and also to gain their trust. They were only able to recruit Fang however, since Vanille had hidden herself among the Purge deportees.
  • Throughout the story, Raines has been acting as if he was an ally to the l’Cie and had their best interest in mind. Going as far as helping them stage a rescue mission for Sazh and Vanille. In actuality though, this was all just a ruse in order to send the l’Cie right to Bathandelus who was waiting for them aboard the Palamecia. Just as Barthandelus uses Menrva to keep an eye on the party's whereabouts, he was also using Cid to guide the Pulse l'Cie where he wanted them to go. Cid’s loathing of fal’Cie rule may have real, but being a l'Cie gave him no choice but to play at being Barthandelus’s puppet if he wanted to retain his humanity.

Additional Note: Cid Raines's Death

  • By the start of Chapter 12, we see that Cid has been awoken by Barthandelus to serve as his puppet once again. Just when Cid thought he was finally done after having turned into crystal, he found himself an unwilling pawn once again. This shows that even after attaining the supposed reward of "eternal life", that reward is instead "eternal servitude" and that there is no way of escaping the fal'Cie's grasp once a human has been branded a l'Cie. As Barthandelus described Raines, "His eyes had long since turned to glass", meaning he had lost all thye hope and resolve he once had. That's why when the Cavalry stormed in, he welcomed his execution in the hands of his second-in-command, Rygdea. His dreams were "But a fal'Cie's fancy", meaning his dreams were nothing but a joke (to the fal'Cie). He'd much rather die than continue on in his current cycle of eternal servitude.

 

###Why can’t the cast transform like Cid?

  • In his last moments, Cid resolved to defy his Focus and as a result he started to transform into a Cie’th. That in mind, the party can’t transform like Cid simply because they weren’t turning into Cie’th yet themselves.
  • Now, a l’Cie who has turned into a Cie’th supposedly loses their mind upon transformation. Also, the transformation has been shown to be an instantaneous process (recall the Cavalry in Eden and the party when they faced Orphan). Due to Cid’s sheer determination to kill the party and have the fal’Cie plan fail however, he fought to hold on/retain his consciousness and control (albeit barely), thereby slowing down the progress of his transformation. In that sense, Cid was only half-way to turning Cie’th, seeing that he still had traces of his humanity left (mentally and physically speaking). During the battle against him, you’ll notice that he eventually sprouts some wings on his back. This little in-battle detail serves as a sign that his Cie’th transformation is getting worse as the battle draws out.

 

###What would’ve happened if Cid had defeated the party?

  • With Cid defying his Focus which caused him to start transforming into a Cie’th established, we can deduce from there what would’ve happened if Cid did manage to succeed in killing the party. His transformation into a full Cie’th would’ve been complete. Considering the scenario, there’s really no reason for it to end any other way. When a l’Cie fails their Focus, they turn into Cie’th. Cid’s Focus was to guide the Pulse l'Cie, so killing the party is nothing short of failing his Focus.

 

 

#Barthandelus, Orphan and the Final Battle

 

###Why is Barthandelus the only fal’Cie that can talk?

(Note: Titan and Orphan, and supposedly Eden, can talk too)

  • It’s not specifically stated whether the other fal’Cie A) aren’t able to communicate with humans or B) have no desire to communicate with humans since they have no reason to. I believe the evidence points toward the former for the case of the Cocoon fal’Cie. But it doesn’t discount the possibility of the latter (especially for the Pulse fal’Cie) considering the fal’Cie’s overall indifference towards humanity's existence.
  • The first thing we need to keep in mind is that not all fal’Cie are created equal. Take a look at the fal’Cie population in Cocoon for example which functions as a hierarchy. At the background lying dormant, we have Orphan who supplies power to Eden that’s needed to run Cocoon. Then Eden in turn distributes that power among the "major" fal’Cie (the big ones such as Phoenix, Kujata and Carbunle) who perform key functions in maintaining Cocoon. Those major fal’Cie then in turn use that power to supervise their "minor" fal’Cie subordinates to accomplish their designated tasks.
  • Finally, at the topmost spot of this hierarchy who’s mostly functioning independently (maybe like a conductor of an orchestra as a comparison) stands Barthandelus, the “Lord Soveriegn of the Cocoon fal’Cie”. Eden is widely believed by the humans to be the leader of the Cocoon fal’Cie since she’s the one who communes directly with the elected human Primarch. But as we come to learn in the game, that belief can’t be farther from the truth and the ”human” Primarch is no human after all.
  • Aside from being the highest ranking Cocoon fal’Cie, Barthandelus is also said to be the original/first fal’Cie created by the god Lindzei (from Ultimania discussions). He was the one who was tasked by Lindzei to oversee the plan to sacrifice humans en masse to open Etro’s Gate. So, all this info gives us a sense of why Barthandelus is capable of much more in terms of his power and abilities (which includes disguising himself as a human) compared to the rest of the fal’Cie who fall below him in the hierarchy. Those non-speaking Cocoon fal’Cie are basically mere grunts compared to Barthandelus who was created to be the designated leader and mastermind by Lindzei.

 

###Why did the party confront Barthandelus and Orphan, thereby doing exactly what the villains wanted them to do?

  • An important thing to note about this is that the party never intended to fight Orphan when they resolved to return to Cocoon. Their main goal was only to take down Barthandelus since he’s the main baddie who’s been pulling their strings ever since the whole l'Cie mess started. They thought at first that killing Barthandelus would be enough to free the humans from fal’Cie control and put an end to the fal’Cie plan. Notice how in the cutscene right after defeating Barthandelus, the party immediately (yet prematurely) celebrated their victory. At that moment, they had accomplished exactly what they had intended to do. What they didn’t expect however was Orphan showing up right after Barthandelus fell, thereby forcing them to engage in battle once again.
  • If you ask however, “why return to Cocoon at all”? The reason is that Barthandelus was baiting the party and making them think that they had no choice but to return to Cocoon. He threatened that even if the party chose not to return, he was going to unleash chaos in Cocoon which would then cause a number of casualties. Barthandelus pretty much spells out his entire plan in this scene. The first card he played was assigning Raines as Primarch in his place. With this move, he anticipated that the Cavalry would view Raines as a traitor and they’d storm Eden in an effort to try to take down the fal’Cie themselves. We witness this occurring in Chapter 12. The second card he played was his plan to unleash Pulse monsters into Cocoon. This we also witness in Chapter 12.
  • So with those cards that Barthandelus played, the party found they had no choice but to stop Barthandelus themselves. The Cavalry was only a bunch of regular humans who didn't have the power needed to take down a fal’Cie. And the monsters that were going to be unleashed would cause too much unnecessary death and destruction. So to help Cocoon, they had to return and face the mastermind himself.

Bonus Question: Since Barthandelus is a Cocoon fal'Cie, why is he able to unleash havoc on Cocoon?

  • The answer here is a technicality, really. It isn't Barthandelus himself who's causing the havoc around Cocoon, but rather the Cavalry and the Pulse monsters are. Barthandelus merely appointed Raines as the new Primarch. It isn't his fault that the Cavalry got riled up and decided to mutiny. As for the monsters, Barthandelus only opened transgates from Pulse/The Arks to Cocoon. It's the monsters themselves who decide to step through the gates and it’s the monsters who are causing the mayhem. He may have lent a hand to jumpstart the events, but directly speaking, he never explicitly ordered these pawns to destroy Cocoon.

 

###If Barthandelus wanted to die, why didn’t he just kill himself during the 3rd battle?

  • Simply because it wouldn’t benefit Barthandelus to kill himself when his plan hasn’t reached fruition yet. During the third and final confrontation, Barthandelus had expected the party to be willing to kill Orphan by now in order to “end Cocoon’s suffering”. The thing is though, the party still remained defiant and completely refused to do what Barthandelus wanted. As Lightning states; they didn’t come for Orphan, but rather for Barthandelus. That 3rd battle against him was a last ditch effort by a disappointed Barthandelus to get the party to obey.

 

###Did Barthandelus have a Plan B in case the party refused to participate in the whole ordeal?

  • Yes he did. If the party had refused to return to Cocoon and eventually (or anticlimactically) just turned into Cie’th, Barthandelus would’ve simply waited for the next opportunity to string along another batch of Pulse l’Cie. As Barthandelus states before battling him for the 3rd time, “Refusing me but condemns another to face your Focus tomorrow”. The party refusing to do what Barthandelus wanted would only serve to delay the inevitable.
  • A lot of lives may have been lost during the chaos in Chapter 12, but that’s a simple matter overall that can easily be resolved. Barthandelus would just order the fal’Cie to fix up the mess, do some repairs on Cocoon, and wait another couple hundred years in order to replenish the amount of human sacrifices that they lost in the incident. From there, he would then rinse and repeat. There’s a plethora of Pulse fal’Cie in Gran Pulse. All he needs to do is whip up another scenario that’d result with another batch of humans turning into Pulse l’Cie and hope that this new bunch would have weaker willpower than the party. Being a cunning master of deceit that Barthandelus is described to be, I doubt this would pose any problem for him to set up.

 

###Why does Barthandelus turn into Orphan?

  • Barthandelus doesn’t actually turn into Orphan (although it does kinda look like it). Rather, Orphan has merely been lying dormant at the bottom of the pool the entire time. Notice in the cutscene upon his defeat, Barthandelus uses the last of his power through Menrva to rouse Orphan from its slumber. What we see rising from where Barthandelus died is Orphan itself who assimilated Barthandelus and Menrva into some kind of protective shell. The male half of this shell is Barthandelus who represents the father figure. While the female half, seemingly taken from Menrva, is the fal’Cie’s vision of Lindzei who represents the mother figure.
  • Unrelated note, but it’s interesting to see how symbolic Orphan’s transition from First to Second Form is. Only after killing the “mother” and “father” figures that protected it in its First Form does Orphan’s true form finally emerge. That form being a child-like (or childish) fal’Cie that lost its “parents”, i.e. its protective barrier. A figurative representation of Orphan becoming an “orphan”.

 

###Why did Fang go along with Orphan’s plan in the end?

  • Desperation. The futility of the party’s fight against Orphan pushed Fang into desperation, just as Barthandelus, and now Orphan, had wanted. Keep in mind that even though you (as the player) “win” against Orphan’s First Form, canonically speaking the party was never actually able to get past its ^over protective ^parents barrier. Notice how during the cutscene immediately following the battle against Orphan’s First Form, Orphan is completely unscathed while the party is pushed back and weakened in their attempt to fight it off.
  • Not only was the party fighting a losing battle, but they also had nowhere to run even if they wanted to (see answer to “Why the party killed Orphan” for more detail). The situation was made even worse when Orphan tried to force Vanille into turning into Ragnarok through torture. Knowing Fang, she can’t just stand idly by when Vanille is getting hurt. Since there was no other foreseeable way out of their situation, Fang ended up agreeing to do exactly what Orphan wanted. It is, after all, in Fang’s nature to be willing to do anything to keep Vanille safe. Recall her line in Palumpolum saying “I’ll tear down the sky if it’ll save her”. Nice piece of foreshadowing that is, I would say. Fang's willingness to take down Orphan equates to her willingness to tear down the sky. All just to save Vanille. It’s kind of ironic how the strongest party member of the group (physically speaking in terms of Strength Stat) turned out to be the weakest when it comes to resisting manipulation. But to be fair, I think anyone’s willpower/resolve would easily crumble if ever they saw their loved ones suffering too.

Follow-Up Question: How did the party pierce through Orphan's protective barrier?

  • It's all thanks to Ragnarok-Fang. Ragnarok is the only known force to be powerful enough to take on Orphan, as shown in the cutscene. Where the party was unable to even lay a scratch, Ragnarok was immediately able to shatter the barrier. This scene where Ragnarok-Fang tears open Orphan's barrier actually mirror's the events of the War of Transgression when Ragnarok-Fang tore a hole on Cocoon. Both weren't completely destroyed, but both were left with considerable harm. With Orphan's barrier torn off, it finally became vulnerable to the party's attacks and left its true form exposed.

 

 

#The Ending

 

###What exactly was the party’s Focus? Did they actually have a task or just do what their heart desired?

  • The party’s Focus was to destroy Cocoon. It always was from the start. You’ll notice right at the start of the ending cinematic that Lightning, Snow, Hope and Sazh were already starting to turn into crystal. That’s because they succeeded in destroying Cocoon by killing Orphan.
  • But then, why Fang and Vanille weren’t turning into crystal like the rest of the party is an interesting phenomenon. To explain this, let’s look back at what happened to Raines when he was turning into a Cie’th. Through his determination and willpower, Raines was able to stave off the progression of his Cie’th transformation and managed to hold on to consciousness and control in order to fight the party. So I’d say that the same thing is happening with Fang and Vanille at this moment. Though instead of staving off Cie'th transformation, Fang and Vanille were staving off their crystallization in order to turn into Ragnarok and situate themselves at the bottom of the falling Cocoon. Moments after they were in place, they weren’t able to hold their crystallization back any longer and that’s when they burst into crystal in Ragnarok form, thereby creating the Crystal Pillar.
  • I think some have said that the party’s Focus was “saving Cocoon” because it looks like the party (specifically Fang and Vanille) turned into crystal because they transformed into Ragnarok and stopped Cocoon from falling. But when you look at the cutscene, you’ll notice that it’s actually the other way around. Fang and Vanille didn’t turn into crystal because they transformed into Ragnarok and saved Cocoon. Rather, Cocoon was saved because Fang and Vanille turned into crystal while they were in Ragnarok form. (Does the rearrangement make sense?)

Additional Note: Indication of Similarity

  • Notice how Fang and Vanille's Brands are glowing white in the ending sequence, similar to how Cid's Brand is glowing white before his Cie'th transformation started. I'd say that's because in both these situations, the l'Cie are summoning their inner strength to defy their Foci in their own way. As some would put it, they were performing a "miracle". That miracle being the act of holding on to their human forms for just a bit longer when normally they should've already turned into Cie'th/Crystal. There's also the white aura surrounding Cid Raines and the white flash when Fang and Vanille transform which may serve as an indication too. Though it doesn't seem to be as solid a comparison as the glowing white Brands.

Additional Note: Ragnarok Transformation

  • There's an interesting interpretation that in the ending, all 6 l'Cie actually intended to summon Ragnarok's power together. As shown by how Lightning ordered the party to stay together and linking hands. But instead, Fang and Vanille took it upon themselves to do it alone, clasping each other's hands. It's unclear whether this interpretation is legitimate, however it does hold some plausibility. Since Ragnarok can be summoned by either one or two l'Cie...who's to say it can't be summoned with more than that, resulting into a much stronger form of Ragnarok?

 

###Did Barthandelus and Orphan get what they wanted in the end or not?

  • Partly yes, but ultimately no. Barthandelus and Orphan desired Cocoon’s destruction, so they did get what they wanted in that regard. However, what they didn’t get was the result they were expecting upon Cocoon’s destruction. Since Fang and Vanille caught Cocoon before it shattered into Gran Pulse, the majority of the population survived and so Etro’s Gate was never swung fully open.

 

###Why did the party act shocked when Cocoon fell after killing Orphan?

  • If ever the ending came across this way, note that this is wholly an effect of poor translation/localization. The party absolutely knew that killing Orphan would result in Cocoon’s fall.

 

###Why did the party even attempt to kill Orphan when they knew its death would cause Cocoon to fall?

  • During those moments of the Final Battle, the party quite literally had no other option but to battle Orphan and worry about the consequences later. See, the area where Chapter 13 takes place, called Orphan’s Cradle, is actually an alternate dimension created by the fal’Cie Eden. Or, you could say they were inside of Eden herself since the way you get to Orphan’s Cradle is by entering fal’Cie Eden. (Note that the building the party enters at the end of Chapter 12 is in fact fal’Cie Eden
    • Side note for the symbolism: Orphan’s Cradle is located inside fal’Cie Eden. Orphan resides within Orphan’s Cradle. Orphan lays dormant within a pool. Eden = Mother. Pool = Amniotic Fluid. Orphan = Unborn fal’Cie child. Moral of the story: The main party are tools for destruction abortion. Okay, carrying on…
  • There was literally no way out for the party as they were stuck facing an extremely hostile Orphan. The only reason they were able to return to Gran Pulse during Chapter 13 was because Eden allowed them to. Recall the 3 feminine looking fal’Cie that created portals to the outside for the party to use. Those 3 were Eden’s subordinate fal’Cie and the portals were Barthandelus's way of giving the party a chance to hone their abilities further before their inevitable showdown with Orphan.
  • When the party prepared for their fight against Barthandelus, a barrier closed behind them, leaving them with no way out of Orphan’s Cradle. It wasn't until Orphan was defeated that the party finally escaped this alternate dimension. That’s because the fal'Cie Eden who created it, as well as all other Cocoon fal'Cie, died along with Orphan.
  • Now, you could argue that after defeating Barthandelus, the party should’ve just ignored Orphan altogether and waited out the remaining moments to turn into Cie’th. This may very well have been a plausible move. After all, who would mastermind the fal’Cie plan now with Barthandelus gone? Thing is though, if they did that, the entire human populace would remain oblivious slaves/tools of the fal’Cie, perhaps forever. They've been dependent on the fal'Cie their whole lives for survival and were unaware of the sinister origins of their supposed haven. The party’s final fight against Orphan wasn’t simply about saving Cocoon, i.e. the floating structure itself. Rather, it was about freeing the human population of Cocoon entirely from fal’Cie control.

Additional Note: Final Battle Quotes

  • As mentioned earlier, the party had no choice but to fight Orphan and worry about the consequences later. The following quotes from the party point towards their resolve to protect Cocoon their own way, be it without Orphan keeping it afloat:
    • "If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have the power to save it." - Hope referencing that if Ragnarok is a powerful force that can be used for destruction, then there should also be the possibility that they could use it as a means for salvation.
    • "Time to give the people what they really want." - Sazh referring to Cid Raines and the Cavalry's wish to be free of fal'Cie rule.
    • "We can do it. I know we can. We made it this far. Let's make a real miracle happen!" - Vanille's foreshadowing of the Ending sequence.
    • "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 acknowledging that by killing Orphan, they're signing Cocoon's death warrant. But even when it comes to that, they're going to find a way to save it, one way or another.

 

###Why didn’t Etro rebrand the party earlier?

  • Etro never actually “rebranded” the party, nor give them a new Focus for that matter. The scope of Etro’s Intervention was to revert Lightning, Snow, Sazh and Hope from being Cie’th during the Final Battle, and then unbranding them in the Ending which released them from crystal stasis.
  • Something to note about the branding process (which was never explained in-game, although it was explicitly shown) is that while the fal’Cie choose which humans will become l’Cie, it’s actually the gods themselves (Pulse and Lindzei) that place the Brands on the humans. See the cutscene when the party is being branded. The being that appears before them from the crystal is the god Pulse himself, marking the party with his Brand. So since it’s the gods who give the Brands, it may stand to reason that the gods can also take away the Brands. That’s why Etro, being a goddess herself, was capable of unbranding the party.
  • But what if we reframe the question into “Why didn’t Etro unbrand the party earlier”? To answer this, we’re gonna need to take into account the events that kicked off XIII-2. Namely, how time got all messed up and how Chaos flooded out of the gate to pull Lightning into Valhalla. The thing is, Etro can’t just intervene in the living world’s affairs willy-nilly without risking dire consequences in the process.
  • What we aren't aware of during XIII (but is later expanded in the sequels) is that Etro was occupied with keeping the Unseen Chaos that's plaguing her Realm at bay. However, whenever she feels a cry of desperation from humanity in the living world, Etro can't help but reach out in aid. Rather than intervening herself at first, Etro sent her servants (the Eidolons) to help the party out whenever she felt their despair. By the events of the ending though, the cry of desperation went from bad to worse and can’t be ignored any longer. So that’s when Etro, being the merciful yet foolish goddess she's depicted to be, left her duty keeping the Unseen Chaos back and went out of her way to help the party herself.
    • (The specifics of the story from here borders directly into XIII-2 territory which I mentioned I'm not planning to get too deeply on.)

 

 

#Bonus Section - Crystallization

 

There’s one more topic I want to touch on that hasn’t actually been asked but which I think is appropriate to add here. That topic being the Crystallization of the various l’Cie and what exactly caused it.

The reason I wanted to add this to the discussion is because the Crystallization of the l’Cie in the game seems to be where people are most divided when it comes to explaining the phenomena. After reading various takes on it, I've come to deduce two specific and yet opposite interpretations that I believe hold the most ground in terms of plausibility. I personally prefer one interpretation over the other, but for fairness' sake I'll be summarizing both as best I can.

 

First off, a little reminder that one of the (if not the) central themes of XIII pertains to “Defying Fate”. Both interpretations directly play at this theme, albeit in vastly different ways.

 

###1. Crystallization through Fulfillment of their Focus

  • Per the header, every l’Cie in the game that turned into crystal did in fact complete their Focus. But just before turning into crystal, they performed an act of defiance of one form or another. This act of defiance is where the theme of Defying Fate comes in. To put it as clear as I can, let's take a look at the circumstances surrounding each l'Cie with this table summary:

 

L’CieFocusFulfilled?Act of Defiance
Main PartyHarness the power of Ragnarok to destroy CocoonYes, by killing Orphan which caused Cocoon to fallUsed Ragnarok + Crystal Stasis reward to stop Cocoon’s fall (Fang and Vanille only)
SerahGather more potential l’Cie to turn into Ragnarok and destroy CocoonYes, when the Main Party gathered around her just outside Anima’s ThroneTelling the Main Party to save Cocoon rather than destroy it
DajhCapturing Pulse l’CieYes, when he “captured” his dad in a hugN/A. Too young to even know he was a l’Cie
Cid RainesGuide the Pulse l’Cie towards the path of Cocoon’s destructionYes, by revealing to them Bathandelus’s plan and what they need to doTrying to kill the party right after he told them about the fal’Cie plan

 

  • Hopefully the table makes the point being proposed clear. The point that despite having undesired Foci being forced onto the l’Cie, they still somehow found a way to defy their fal’Cie masters in order to do what their hearts desired/do what they believed was right.
  • A) Serah was supposed to gather l’Cie to destroy Cocoon, but instead told them to save Cocoon with her final words. B) Raines was supposed to guide the party through Barthandelus’s plan, but then he tried to kill them to have said plan fail. If Raines had succeeded, he would've turned Cie'th. But since he didn't, he never actually failed his Focus since he did guide the party into the path as Barthandelus instructed by telling them about the fal'Cie plan just before he battled with them. C) The party was tasked to destroy Cocoon which they did by killing Orphan. But then they used the power of Ragnarok along with their resulting reward to stop its fall (Ragnarok + Crystal Stasis = Crystal Pillar). They may have been tasked with Cocoon's destruction, but that didn't necessarily mean that the people inside had to die along with it.
  • To reiterate, the theme “Defying Fate” is present here in the sense that; Even when facing impossible odds, the l’Cie still attempted and found their own way to do the right thing in spite of what their Focus entails.

 

###2. Crystallization brought about by a Miracle

  • Injecting "miracles" into the narrative may sound contrived. However, when taking into account what we learn in the sequels about Chaos, this interpretation actually does have foundation. The reason being; every human possesses within them a piece of Chaos. The “heart” in particular is that piece of Chaos that Etro placed inside humanity. And Chaos, as we come to learn in the sequels, is an unpredictable and uncontrollable force that originates from the Unseen Realm.
  • This piece of Chaos, or “heart”, is what made humans in the XIII universe who and what they currently are. It’s what gave them an identity and will of their own. Again, Chaos is described to be uncontrollable and unpredictable. And effectively in more or less the same way, humans are uncontrollable and unpredictable beings as well. Unlike the fal’Cie, humans are free to do as they wish (uncontrollable). Also unlike the fal’Cie, humans are capable of overcoming limitations which may enable them to accomplish incredible feats (unpredictable).
  • That is where the crystallization caused by a miracle interpretation comes into play. How some of the l’Cie (namely Serah and Raines) turned to crystal through sheer willpower when normally that should not have happened. It’s the piece of Chaos within the human heart that enabled them to overcome their Focus and achieve the impossible, thereby “Defying Fate”.

 

And so, there you have it. The two possible, yet clashing, interpretations of Crystallization and Defying Fate. One of which doesn’t take into account the sequels and directly looks at the events of the first game as they are presented. While the other takes into account the sequels and the potential power that resides within every human heart (Note that the concept of Chaos never appears in the 1st game and isn’t introduced until XIII-2).

POLL: Which interpretation best captures the theme of “Defying Fate”?

(Or rather, which interpretation do you personally prefer?)

 

 

###Batch 1: Lore, World-building, Story/Plot, etc

 

Aaand done! More questions relating to possible plotholes and/or confusing things/events are definitely still welcome. Gotta root ‘em all out :P

Anyways, hopefully this all made sense. This little holiday break challenge sure turned out to be a satisfying writing exercise. Thanks to all who dropped some questions for this and hope everyone has a great year!

 

Posted Jan 10, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC · edited

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