Penelo Penelo is a playable character in " Final Fantasy XII " and " " . She is Vaan ' s childhood friend and dreams of being a dancer , and has learned martial arts from her elder brothers . Following an encounter with a sky pirate and the misunderstanding it causes , Penelo becomes involved in a world - scale conflict that could determine the fate of Ivalice . She also makes a cameo playable appearance in " " . Profile . Appearance . Penelo is an athletic young girl , with blue eyes and blonde hair tied in pigtails with a short fringe and two long side bangs . She wears a gold - and - cornflower blue slim outfit with short white lacy sleeves and bronze wing - like armlets . She wears bronze bangles and gold - and - cornflower blue knee - high boots . In " Final Fantasy XII : Revenant Wings " , Penelo ' s hair is longer , styling it in two plaits , and she wears a short gray top that bares her midriff , baggy dark red pants with gold patterns and purple criss - crossing along the sides , and gold shoes that curve at the toe . Personality . As Vaan ' s close friend , Penelo acts as the " careful side " of his reckless persona and often tries to appeal to his common sense , but without a desirable effect . She is one of the many orphans in Rabanastre and was taken under the wing of Migelo , a local shopkeeper , and helped him since then . Due to the war taking the lives of her parents , she lives in fear of the Archadian Empire , but Penelo overcomes her fear because of her unlikely friendship with Larsa Solidor , a member of the family that rules the Empire . Penelo , together with Vaan , acts as a humanizing element representing the common folk caught in the crossfire of international conflict . Looking to Vaan and Penelo keeps Ashe grounded and able to resist the temptations of the Occuria , and looking to Penelo helps make Larsa sympathetic to the Dalmasca n plight . The official Brady Games strategy guide refers to Vaan and Penelo , " like brother and sister " . In " Final Fantasy XII : Revenant Wings " , Penelo ' s relationship with Vaan becomes ever closer , suggesting a romantic connection . Story . " Final Fantasy XII " . Penelo grew up in the Royal City of Rabanastre with her family . Five years ago a plague hit , but Penelo ' s family survived . Vaan ' s parents were not as lucky , and Penelo ' s family cared of both the orphaned Vaan and his elder brother , Reks . Three years later , Archadian Empire invaded the Kingdom of Dalmasca and Penelo ' s parents and Reks were killed in the conflict . Penelo was taken in by her parents ' friend , the bangaa Migelo , who let her and Vaan work at his sundry shop , doing various odd - jobs . Penelo is frustrated with Vaan ' s obsession with becoming a sky pirate , and tries to dissuade him from getting into trouble . On the day Vayne Solidor from the Archadian ruling house and heir to the throne comes to Rabanastre as its new consul , Penelo lectures Vaan about stealing from Archadian soldiers . The pair later witnesses Vayne holding a speech in front of the crowds . Penelo meets up with Vaan at the Giza Plains nomad camp when Vaan is trying to obtain a sunstone to sneak into the Royal Palace of Rabanastre . She helps Vaan in his errand and later admits she enjoyed their time together . They part ways when they return to Rabanastre and Penelo urges Vaan to stay out of trouble . When she hears intruders have been caught trespassing the palace grounds she rushes to the site , knowing it had been Vaan ' s plan . She sees Vaan , together with the sky pirates he had met in the palace , being led away in chains . She tries to run to Vaan , but Balthier , one of the sky pirates , assures her Vaan will be safe and gives Penelo his handkerchief . Penelo ' s encounter with Balthier is spotted by the headhunter gang led by Ba ' Gamnan , who mistakenly assumes Penelo knows Balthier . The gang kidnaps her , leaving a note for Balthier to meet with them at the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba if he wants to save her . Penelo is freed by her captors when Balthier shows up , him and Vaan having escaped from the Nalbina Dungeons with Basch fon Ronsenburg ' s aid . Penelo wanders through the Lhusu Mines but is caught by Archadian soldiers , angry at having discovered her inside the mine , the place where Archadia is involved in a secret magicite mining operation . Penelo is brought to Judge Ghis , but Larsa Solidor , Vayne ' s younger brother , comes to her aid , and leads her away to Marquis Ondore ' s mansion . The two befriend , but Penelo is initially reluctant to trust Larsa due to him being Vayne ' s brother and her fear of the Empire . Larsa explains how the men of his family are taught to put the needs of others first , and having earned her trust , lends her a piece of manufacted nethicite , a top secret item from the Draklor Laboratory . Penelo , not realizing its value , keeps it as a good luck charm . Penelo joins Larsa onboard the Dreadnought " Leviathan " , the flagship of the eighth Archadian Imperial Fleet commanded by Judge Ghis . She reunites with Vaan , whose party had been sent in by the Marquis to save Ashe , the Princess of Dalmasca who was being kept in captivity by Ghis . The piece of nethicite Larsa had given her protects the party from Judge Ghis ' s magick . Penelo escapes with the band of sky pirates and asks that Vaan let her follow through their journey to defeat the Empire and restore Dalmasca . Along their quest , Penelo and Vaan exchange knowledge about Ivalice with the rest of the party . They meet Larsa again who begs Princess Ashe to make a truce with the Empire to prevent an all - out war with the Marquis ' s Resistance and the Rozarrian Empire gaining power by the day . Larsa accompanies the party on their journey for a while , and in Henne Mines they run into more of the Empire ' s secret experiments with manufacted nethicite . Upon seeing Mjrn possessed by the manufacted nethicite , Larsa asks Penelo to return the piece he had given him , apologizing for not realizing the danger . Larsa leaves the party when it comes clear truce with the Empire is impossible as Vayne has become the new Emperor . After they defeat Vayne and bring peace to the world , the party parts ways with Penelo and Vaan returning to their old lives in Rabanastre , although Penelo keeps in touch with Larsa , who is now the Emperor . One year later , Penelo has achieved her dream of becoming a dancer and joins her friend Vaan , now a sky pirate with his own airship , as his partner . " " . Penelo and Vaan travel Ivalice looking for treasure . They meet up with Fran and Balthier in the Glabados Ruins and find two shards of auracite , one of which is given to Vaan and Penelo as their introduction to sky pirating . The ruins collapse and they escape on Balthier ' s " Strahl " while Vaan and Penelo lose their airship . With no means to continue sky pirating , Vaan and Penelo return to a quiet life in Rabanastre . Penelo is relieved because she no longer has to worry about Vaan putting himself in danger ; however , she is afraid Vaan would never be content in a life without adventure . With the arrival of the derelict outside Rabanastre , her fears prove true as Vaan sneaks into the ship and steals it . Although she is reluctant to go , Penelo agrees to travel with Vaan to the sky continent of Lemurés . She mans the cafe at the " Galbana ' s " Sky Saloon , and sends Vaan and the others on missions to collect food items . While in Lemurés , the party comes across a wounded soldier named Velis in an island otherwise only occupied by Yarhi . After she treats his wounds , Penelo and Velis become close , much to Vaan ' s dismay . Velis reveals he is dead , an illusion , and once he tells Penelo the truth , the Judge of Wings arrives and turns him into his true form as the Yarhi Odin . The party is forced to fight Velis , but Penelo holds back , unwilling to hurt her friend . They discover the Judge of Wings was being manipulated by Feolthanos who sleeps in the Keep of Forgotten Time waiting for a time he can invade Ivalice . The party infiltrates his abode and fells him , and the sky continent falls apart and the " Galbana " departs to places unknown . Again without an airship , Penelo and Vaan return to Rabanastre . In the Penelo and Vaan sneak out of Rabanastre at night , only to be caught by their friends Filo and Kytes . Vaan picks up Penelo and makes a mad dash for it while Filo and Kytes pursue with several Yarhi , not wanting to be left behind from a new adventure . After fighting alongside Vaan in the Moorabella Aerodrome , Luso meets Penelo when she shows up to scold Vaan for going to the wrong Aerodrome hangar . When she forces Vaan to apologize to Luso for nearly stealing his mark , Vaan leaves , mumbling about how one of his other leads being a waste of time . Penelo turns to Luso and tells him this is Vaan ' s way of apologizing , by giving him a head start on a good treasure lead . Gameplay . " Final Fantasy XII " . Penelo has high MP , Magick Power and Vitality , but her Strength and physical stats are low . Her initial licenses are White Magick 1 , Daggers 1 in all releases , Light Armor 1 in the original releases , First Aid and Mystic Armor in the Zodiac Job System releases . Her Quickenings are Intercession , Evanescence and Resplendence . " Final Fantasy XII : Revenant Wings " . Penelo has a set job , which is a hybrid of White Mage and Dancer , and she wields as her weapon , wears as armor , as her accessories , and uses White Magick . She cannot do physical harm to enemies , as her normal action is to cure nearby allies . " Final Fantasy Tactics A2 : Grimoire of the Rift " . Penelo ' s unique is Dancer , though she now has the degenerating dances of the " Final Fantasy Tactics " Dancer . She can access viera jobs . To recruit Penelo , the player must be at the last quest before fighting Illua and go to Fluorgis and an event bubble will pop up . Creation and development . An early " Final Fantasy XII " trailer included the scene depicted in Penelo ' s , of her dancing in a forest , but this scene was never seen in the final product . A similar scene was later seen in " Final Fantasy XII : Revenant Wings " . The scene where Penelo is tied up in Ba ' Gamnan ' s Lhusu Mines hideout was cut from the original Japanese version of the game to get a lower rating . Producer Akitoshi Kawazu has explained the decision to do this thusly : " [ . . . ] at the time right before the Japanese release there were various incidents in the real world which . . . basically there were some similarities there that would have made it a difficult thing to release at the lower age rating that we wanted . " This is a rare case of a " Final Fantasy " game being censored for Japan , but not for overseas versions . The " incidents in the real world " Kawazu refers to , but does not specify , may refer to , a Japanese serial killer who abducted and murdered four young girls in Saitama and Tokyo Prefectures from August 1988 to June 1989 . His death sentence was upheld by the Japanese supreme court in January 2006 , two months before " Final Fantasy XII " came out . Voice . Penelo is voiced by Catherine Taber in the English release of " Final Fantasy XII " . She shares her English voice actor with Andoria Kaya Tranka Fam Forturio from " Final Fantasy Type - 0 HD " . In the Japanese release , she is voiced by Yuna Mikuni . Penelo and Vaan speak in a more casual style than Ashe , Basch and Balthier who speak in formalized English . In Japanese , Balthier , Ashe and Basch use an older , more formal form of Japanese than Penelo and Vaan . Musical themes . Penelo ' s theme in " Final Fantasy XII " is simply titled " Penelo ' s Theme " . It is a light , cheerful piece that prominently features woodwind instruments . It is played near the beginning of the game , when Penelo scolds Vaan for stealing , and when she joins him in the Nomad Village . A piano arrangement of the theme is included on the " " album . Other appearances . Penelo has made appearances in the following games in the " Final Fantasy " series : Non - " Final Fantasy " guest appearances . Penelo has made key guest appearances in the following non - " Final Fantasy " games : Other media . Games . Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Penelo . Penelo ' s hair costs 100 crystals and her clothes cost 480 crystals . Etymology . " Penelo " is a shortened version of the name " Penelope " .