Illua

Illua is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. A high-ranking member of the crime syndicate Khamja, she is a cruel, merciless, dangerous woman, armed with a beautifully adorned katana. Illua is a foil to main character Luso Clemens, with the opposite appearance and personality. Illua herself may, like Luso, be an otherworlder who has been in Ivalice longer than he. It would explain why she has a grimoire.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Illua is a young woman with mid-length blue hair and blue eyes. She wears blue lipstick, eyeshadow, long blue fingernails, white pearl-like earrings, and a thick black choker. She dresses in a long white top with silver designs on the bottom and gold designs on the sleeves, a black undershirt, black arm warmers, and maroon shoulder pads. She wears dark purple shorts with two brown belts, a thin red belt and long purple and red ribbons hanging from the back. She has knee-high heeled black boots with red ribbon-like designs and gold bottoms.
===Personality===
Illua is a cold and merciless woman who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. As the leader of Khamja, she is embroiled in a variety of criminal acts and never shows remorse. She is as manipulative as she is cruel, brainwashing Adelle by manipulating the latter's fears of abandonment and loneliness as one of the Gifted. She views herself as the hero, deriding Clan Gully by calling them a mere chorus, showing a flair for the dramatic and attachment to theater. Even in defeat she never laments about her actions, merely gloating that her organization is so embedded in Jylland's infrastructure that her influence will never truly fade.
==Story==
Some of the memories of Luso, Cid, and Adelle are released after the defeat of the Oversoul. One of Cid's memories is of Illua approaching him in a dark alley of Graszton, drawing a gun, and shooting the Revgaji at close range. It is not known whether Luso or Adelle are aware of the exposure of the memory, as they do not ask Cid about it after the stream of memories fades.
Illua appears to Adelle in the flesh at a pub. Without any introduction she invites Adelle to "work for her". Slightly intimidated, Adelle declines, saying she is a member of Clan Gully. Illua politely brushes off this rejection and comments on Adelle's talents before taking her leave.
Abandoning the pleasantries she showed to Adelle, Illua posts an anonymous request at the pub for Luso's clan to meet at the Ruins of Delgantua. When they arrive at the ancient fortress, Illua is waiting for them, next to Ewen, whom Clan Gully had previous run-ins with. Cid recognizes her, and the conversation between the two hints at their enmity relating to Khamja.
He attempts to probe Illua about her aspirations, but she cuts the banter short, unsheathes her katana, and steers the meeting into violence. She draws out dark magicks from her Grimoire, barring Clan Gully's Judge from the engagements unless the party had previously protected Ezel Berbier and gained a card shielding their Judge from her magick.
When Illua is defeated, her Khamja allies flee. Luso, Cid, and Adelle take note of Illua's Grimoire, Luso drawing out his own magick journal. Recognizing the journal as a holy Grimoire, Illua redraws her blade and attempts to slice the tome in two. The journal blocks the katana with an aura of light, and transports Clan Gully to Zellea, the Forbidden Land, where they must fight a hand of the demon Neukhia before returning to Lezaford's cottage.
Illua later appears to Adelle when the thief leaves Clan Gully. Illua brainwashes Adelle and sends her to nab Luso's Grimoire, but Luso breaks through the conditioning and the scheme fails.
The Nightshade later sends out another invitation to Clan Gully, beckoning them to witness a ritual she plans to enact at the Hall of Blessings at the Ruins of Delgantua. Though she is defeated once more, she has forged a pact with the God of Time, Zomala, and calls upon an ancient spell that transports Clan Gully and herself back to Zellea. Among the misty wasteland of To Touch the Heavens, she brings out her grimoire for the final time, intent on using it to open the Rift and receive its power.
Though she falls once more to Clan Gully, Illua opens the Rift and summons the Neukhia in full fury. Before dying, she asks Cid to pity her because "Power is all I am". She dissolves into purple mist, and vanishes.
==Gameplay==
Illua is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. She uses the exclusive Nightshade job that grants her dominion over archaic and dark spells, such as Dimensional Rift. She equips katanas but usually opts to fight with her legion of crippling magick. Her Impervious support ability makes her immune to all debuffs.
===Battle===
Illua is faced three times, acting much the same in all battles. She uses Saber to increase her Attack and Accuracy, giving her a substantial increase in offensive power. While she does not rush at the battle like Ewen, she can come quick and usually uses Dimensional Rift when close to the party. The player is advised to keep their units spread. As she has high HP and defenses, it is advisable to deal with any support before attacking her.
In the mission "A Request", she comes accompanied by Ewen, and several magickal jobs, such as a Seer, Illusionist, Spellblade and Elementalist. Ewen comes with Dual Wield and is likely to be the first engage the player's party. He should be defeated first, for he can inflict massive damage with his ability to attack twice, coupled with the nullification of the Judge. The Elementalist can cripple the party and thus should be next. The other two are not as threatening, although the Illusionist can deal some damage when charged up with enough MP. Some long-range attackers and healers should be brought along to keep the damage taken to a minimum.
In the mission "A Ritual", Illua is several levels stronger at level 47. If the player completed the mission "I've Been Had, Kupo!" they have a card from Ezel Berbier that will prevent Illua from nullifying the Judge. Illua comes with a Summoner, Red Mage, Time Mage and Arcanist. The law forbids harming males, and the Arcanists are at the right side of the field, so it is recommended to go left to the Summoner and Red Mage. They should be dealt with fast, for the Summoner has Halve MP and the Red Mage has Dualcast and Elemental Magick, allowing her to maximize her offensive provided she has enough MP. The Time Mage and Arcanist are both crippled by the terrain for they cannot enter water. By the time the player plays this mission they should have a Parivir and Adelle developed on her Heritor job, which will prove helpful.
In the final encounter "The Two Grimoire", Illua will be a few of levels higher than the party, however, if overleveled, she will be around the party's level, thus ensuring a challenge (she caps at level 60). Illua will attempt to nullify the Judge unless she was prevented from doing so in the last mission. She can also fail if Ezel was met before this battle. Illua comes equipped with Genji equipment and a Zanmato, giving her a tremendous boost in stats. She will remain mostly static until approached. Illua's reinforcement are sporadic and consist mostly of Behemoth monsters equipped with different skillsets and reaction abilities. Some react to physical attacks while others react to magickal attacks, so one should be careful. At first two Behemoths appear, but as the player approaches the crystals, more high level monsters from different categories like a Plague, or Lamia family, can come.
Illua comes equipped with more skills on her Nightshade job, such as Abyssal Slash that can inflict damage and Stop; Rebirth that can fully restore her HP and remove debuffs; and Sheol that can inflict Slow and Immobilize on foes and Haste and Regen for her allies. She does not commonly use the latter two. Units with debuff protection, such as Ribbons (including with Ribbon-bearer) or Orb of Minwu, can help. Some defensive equipment, like Genji or Peytral, can also help. Being the final battle, the player should bring their best units, including healers and revivers with preferably high level spells and Halve MP to use them quick.
===Party member===
Illua can be obtained as a clan member via an Action Replay cheat device. She is permanently in the Nightshade job, but has mastered every hume ability as well as seemingly every support and reaction ability (including enemy-only ones). She may lock up the game if anything that is not normally possible occurs, such as attempting to press for "Help" on her job menu (since there are no jobs listed to be examined), or if she gets an Opportunity turn, which is only fully preventable by not using her in battle. Like all preset characters, she cannot be sent on Dispatch quests.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Illua appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Dark- and Lightning-elemental Forward cards.
Illua TCG.png|Illua [8-088R] Chapter series card.
Illua 5-099H from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Illua [5-099H] Opus series card.
Illua TCG 14-003R.jpg|Illua [14-003R] Opus series card.
==Gallery==
Avatar Illua.png|Square Enix Members avatar.
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Category:Antagonists
Category:Hume in Ivalice