Vanille is the mysterious one of the group. She never really talks about herself and kind of gets swept up in the moment during the Purge.
FFXIII:
Playing as Vanille:
Vanille is a Ravager, Saboteur, and Medic at the start. She is the best Saboteur in the game, getting Death in that Crystarium branch. Vanille is most useful as a Ravager early game, but is beneficial in all three roles. When playing as Vanille, you’ll want to level her mage roles. Only work on Sentinel and Commando once the other four are level 5. Definitely consider the Belladonna Wand tree, this will boost Vanille’s debuffing.
While Vanille’s Magic stat is not as high as Hope’s, she rivals him as a Medic due to her higher survivability, having more HP. Vanille is another character that scales really well with gear, so consider what you’re aiming for when you look at gear upgrades.
Eidolon:
Vanille’s Eidolon Hecatoncheir is an exclusive to the FFXIII series summon. Hecatoncheir is the last summon you get in the game, putting Vanille at an ATB disadvantage for a while. To make up for Vanille’s lack of damage, Hecatoncheir hits hard. This Eidolon also ignores physical and magic defense.
Vanille’s Story:
Vanille is half of a Pulse L’Cie duo that tried to destroy Cocoon long before the events of the story take place. Her and Fang are the original cause of everything taking place. When Vanille and Fang woke up, the Pulse Vestige opened. This prompts Serah to explore inside and gets branded by Anima.
Not long after waking up Vanille and Fang head to the Euride Gorge energy plant. Here they plan to attack the Fal’Cie, but end up with a surprise. Dajh interrupts them, and the Fal’Cie turns Dajh into a Cocoon L’Cie.
The Sanctum military appears and Fang holds them off so that Vanille can escape. Vanille finds her way to Bodhum, running into Serah. Serah being the person she is ends up cheering up Vanille unaware that Vanille was responsible for her fate.
Vanille joins the Purge under the impression it would lead her back to Gran Pulse, which is not exactly what happens. During the chaos in the Hanging Edge, Vanille tags along with Hope urging him on. The two end up joining the fight against Anima.
Vanille is already a L’Cie before the encounter with Anima, but uses that as a cover. Nothing is actually revealed about Vanille until the incident at Nautilus with her and Sazh.
After the final battle, Vanille and Fang become the crystal pillar that stops the fall of Cocoon.
FFXIII-2:
Vanille plays a very minor role in FFXIII-2, being entombed in crystal makes being active hard. Vanille’s part in the story happens when Serah is trapped in the Dream-world. Due to Serah’s choice to deny the dream the consciousness of Vanille and Fang are able to reach her. The two help Serah get out of her dream to go save Noel from his.
Lightning Returns:
Her role in the story has yet to be revealed. We do know she is no longer crystal, and that she can speak with the dead. Beyond this there is nothing public about Vanille.
For more FFXIII content check out my 13 Days of FF13 overview. Tomorrow I’ll cover Fang, wrapping up the primary characters of FFXIII. I’ll follow that up with a look at Noel.
