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Lightning (Claire Farron being her real name) is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII. She is very serious in nature, but also stubborn at times. She is also aware of other Final Fantasy protagonists. She is equipped with a gunblade, which can shoot and manipulate electricity and lightning. She can be quite sarcastic and monotone, but can also be calm and composed. She has pink hair and light blue eyes. Age 21 This solitary young woman speaks little of herself—even her true name is a mystery. She is known to others simply as 'Lightning'. Lightning is a young woman with wavy rose pink hair draping over her left shoulder and pale aqua eyes. Lightning's eye color is officially noted as blue, though in the FMVs and promotional art, they often appear green due to green aspects around the pupil. Serah says that Lightning resembles their mother. Lightning wears a variation of the standard Guardian Corps uniform consisting of a white sleeveless coat with an ankle-length red cape attached to the left side of her back and a light brown miniskirt with a burgundy red leather detachable pocket on her left leg. Lightning wears blue fingerless gloves with a black arm cover on her left arm and buckled brown boots with metal soles. The green metallic pauldron over her left shoulder bears yellow glow-in-the-dark stripes denoting her previous rank as a sergeant. She carries her gunblade in a black case that hangs off her belt and wears a silver necklace with a lightning bolt pendant. Lightning is determined, concentrated, and independent. She's initially cold and detached, distancing herself from her companions, only looking out for herself, and not caring if others get left behind. Lightning's perception of failing to protect Serah drives her, leading her to lash out at those she believes are responsible for her fate: the Sanctum, its fal'Cie, and to a point, Snow Villiers, for his relationship with Serah and his failure to protect her as he promised. While journeying with Hope Estheim, she acts as his mentor and motherly figure. Taking him under her wing, Lightning becomes more emotionally open; Hope serves as a surrogate sibling and helps her realize the errors in her approach and her mistakes with Serah. Lightning begins to show compassion and trust others and becomes the leader and, to a degree, protector of the other Gran Pulse l'Cie as they journey to challenge their fate. Lightning is better at housework than Serah, but that Serah is the better cook. Lightning describes their father as easy-going, passionate, but not always reliable—similar to Snow—possibly explaining her initial hatred towards him. Claire's father died when she was young, and her mother died from an unknown illness when she was 15. With no other family to turn to, Claire raised her younger sister, Serah. To overcome the pain of her parents' deaths and become an adult as quickly as possible, she changed her name to "Lightning". Despite the delusion of not needing her past, she was an average orphaned child who wanted to be loved. After high school graduation, Lightning joined the Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment under Lieutenant Amodar. She attained the rank of sergeant and became scheduled for officer training. However, she began to lose sight of her goals and worked many hours while spending little time with Serah. Nine days before Lightning's 21st birthday, the Bodhum monster-fighting group NORA rescues her from an aquatic ambush. Lightning meets Snow Villiers: their leader and Serah's boyfriend. Lightning remains unimpressed as she has never approved of NORA's vigilantism and unsuccessfully demands him to stop dating Serah. The next day, Lightning begins regretting her lack of attention to Serah, feeling Serah got involved with Snow to quell her loneliness. Seeing Nora Estheim and her son Hope in the mall inspires Lightning to plan a vacation away from Bodhum for her birthday to spend time with Serah and divert her attention from Snow.