Purge The Purge is a form of and in " Final Fantasy XIII " . It is conducted by the Sanctum , the fal ' Cie - run government of Cocoon , to get rid of those believed to have been ' touched ' by Gran Pulse . Datalog . " Final Fantasy XIII " . " To the millions who call Cocoon home , the lowerworld of Pulse represents a constant source of fear . Suspected association with Pulse means stigmatization as an enemy of the state and all mankind — even for born and raised citizens of Cocoon . " " The recent discovery of a fal ' Cie from Pulse near the city of Bodhum caused widespread civil unrest . After placing the city ' s entire population under quarantine due to the possibility of contamination , the Sanctum then announced its intent to forcibly relocate the affected to Pulse in an emergency measure dubbed by authorities as the Purge . " " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 " . " During the catastrophe that befell Cocoon , the Bresha Ruins were the site of terrible casualties . The reason for this can be found in the Purge . " " The Purge was the name given to the mass deportation of Bodhum ' s residents . The fal ' Cie manipulated the actions of the Sanctum and the elite army known as PSICOM , sowing chaos and inciting conflict among Cocoon ' s populace . " " Many civilians fled to Lake Bresha and its ruins to escape the Purge , but a great majority were crushed by ancient structures that collapsed when Cocoon ' s momentum was suddenly halted . " Prelude . After a Pulse fal ' Cie was discovered within a Pulse Vestige in the town of Bodhum , everyone who was in Bodhum at the time were accused of being tainted by Pulse and the people of Cocoon cried out for their expulsion . The Sanctum ' s personal army , PSICOM , quarantined the town and rounded up the people , regardless of whether they were citizens or tourists . The deportees were forced to wear " Purge clothing " ( traceable restraint garments fitted with a metal device that binds their hands , controlled by a remote held by a PSICOM soldier ) , and loaded onto " Purge trains , " while those who tried to resist or run were fired upon . As told in " Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero - Promise - " , Lightning quit her position in the Guardian Corps and volunteered to be Purged to save her sister Serah , who was being held captive by Anima . Sazh Katzroy infiltrated Bodhum and also volunteered to be Purged in order to save his son before joining Lightning in her agenda to reach the fal ' Cie before it could be taken to Pulse . Despite being from Palumpolum and on vacation in Bodhum at the time , Hope Estheim and his mother Nora were trapped by the quarantine and forced to join the Purge . Believing the Sanctum ' s claim of the Purge being a forced migration to Gran Pulse , Vanille joined the Purge willingly , choosing to accompany Hope and Nora after meeting them in line for the train . Alyssa Zaidelle was visiting her friend Nena Stein when they were subjected to the Purge together . In " " , it ' s revealed that tens of thousands of traceable restraint garments were made for the Purgees to wear , as though the Purge clothing was made in advance before the Sanctum ' s announcement . It ' s also revealed the crews of airships that landed in Bodhum at the time of the Sanctum ' s announcement were also detained , and those with any relation to the Sanctum or the army and their families were exempt from the Purge in order to quell fears of soldiers inciting an armed rebellion . It is also revealed that the soldiers stationed at the blockades placed around Bodhum allowed passage to people without checking them under the suspicion they might have been l ' Cie , such as those who had just left Bodhum on business and the relatives of trapped tourists ; essentially anyone who said they wanted to be Purged , like a reporter named Aoede who volunteered in order to secretly record footage that would expose the Purge for the sham she believed it to be and use it to advance her career . The army also confiscated the Purgees ' belongings without checking them before loading them onto a separate train car . The Purge trains were sent to the Hanging Edge on the outskirts of Cocoon for the Purgees to be exiled to Pulse . However , as revealed in " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 Fragments Before " , the deportation was nothing but a ruse , with the Sanctum ordering PSICOM to dispose of the victims within the unpopulated area in secrecy . Battle . As the Purge train enters the Hanging Edge , Lightning attacks the soldiers onboard and frees the Purgees . PSICOM forces fire at the train and summon their militarized beasts to attack it and the rebelling deportees . Then a Manasvin Warmech brings the train to a halt . Lightning and Sazh defeat it and proceed to fight their way through PSICOM ' s forces . Elsewhere , after making their way to the Hanging Edge , Snow Villiers and his friends in the Bodhum neighborhood watch group NORA mount a resistance against PSICOM to protect the Purgees while recruiting those willing to help them drive PSICOM back . They eventually find a group of deportees stranded on a bridge ; a group that includes Nora , Hope , and Vanille . Answering Snow ' s call for volunteers , Nora and a number of Purgees join NORA ' s cause while the rest are moved to another location for their safety . NORA and its volunteers battle PSICOM and their militarized beasts , but are defeated when a Skytank destroys the bridge they are on , killing many of those who fall off , including Nora . The Pulse Vestige is brought into the warzone by the " Palamecia " amidst the chaos . Lightning and Sazh make their way to the Vestige while , having survived the fall off the bridge , Snow and Gadot rejoin the rest of NORA before Snow leaves the group and heads for the Vestige on an airbike to rescue Serah . Shortly after , as the result of witnessing Nora ' s death , Hope and Vanille steal Gadot ' s airbike and follow Snow . Sometime after Snow ' s departure , the rest of NORA rescues Aoede from nearly being killed by an attack vessel , after which she joins the group . At an unknown time , Alyssa and Nena manage to flee the army with other fugitives and go into hiding . However , as PSICOM withdraws , the ceiling of their hiding place collapses and Alyssa gets trapped under rubble and dies from suffocation . Aftermath . Countless victims die in the massacre , the Hanging Edge is destroyed , and Lake Bresha crystallizes when Anima ' s remains fall into it . After Lightning , Snow , Sazh and Hope have been turned into Pulse l ' Cie , PSICOM is dispatched to hunt down them , Vanille , and the other Purge survivors . In " A Dreaming Cocoon Falls into the Dawn " , it is revealed that after escaping the Hanging Edge , Aoede , the members of NORA , and a number of Purge survivors took refuge in an ancient Pulsian building located between the layers of Cocoon ' s outer shell . Later via newscast , the Sanctum announces the Purgees arriving to their new homes on Pulse , deeming the Purge a success but reveals the possibility of more Purges being done in the future if necessary . When Lightning , Hope , Snow , and Fang are discovered in Palumpolum , the army begins to gather civilians suspected of having any contact with the l ' Cie . Snow ' s intervention saves them but this does not dismay the populace ' s outcry for the Palumpolum residents to be Purged . The act is never carried out despite the Sanctum having approved it in advance as revealed in " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 Fragments Before " . In " " , it is revealed that Aoede helped expose the Sanctum ' s conspiracy by airing Purge footage with the help of Maqui hacking the broadcast signals . Within six months after Cocoon ' s fall , the new provisional government confirms the truth behind the Purge to the public . This leads to PSICOM ' s disbandment , with its remaining members exiled into Pulse ' s frontier lands and their family names tarnished , while the remaining Sanctum members are arrested for the conspiracy . In " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 " , a cemetery with an epitaph dedicated to the Purge victims can be found in the Lamentable Rest area of the Bresha Ruins . Other appearances . " Final Fantasy Record Keeper " . The Purge robe is a Rarity 5 armor .