Oerba Dia Vanille

Oerba Dia Vanille [vʌ'niːɫ] is a character in the Lightning Saga, being playable in Final Fantasy XIII and appearing as a non-player character in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.
In Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille is separated from her childhood friend and appears alongside Hope Estheim and his mother Nora as a Purge victim. She gets drawn into a conflict that forces her to confront her past demons and decide Cocoon's fate. In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Vanille makes a cameo appearance alongside Fang when they meet Serah Farron in a dream world. In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille is gifted with remarkable power and lives under the care of a religious cult called the Order of Salvation.
==History==
===Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-===
Vanille and Fang were residents of the village of Oerba on Gran Pulse. During the War of Transgression, they lost their families to Cocoon's l'Cie and fal'Cie and befriended at Oerba's orphanage. Fang begrudged Oerba's patron fal'Cie, Anima, for failing to protect the people of Gran Pulse and agreed to become a l'Cie to get close enough to confront the fal'Cie. Fang had an outburst in Anima's chamber and would be killed for blasphemy by the Oerban priests. Next in line to become a l'Cie, Vanille shielded Fang and begged the priests to spare Fang's life, offering her own to complete their Focus together so they'd never be apart.
Vanille and Fang were granted the power of Ragnarok and given the Focus to destroy Cocoon. Vanille feared the power bestowed upon them, so Fang became Ragnarok alone and scarred Cocoon's shell. Taking pity on the people of Cocoon, the goddess Etro intervened and crystallized Fang and Vanille before they could finish the job. Their crystal forms were placed within the Pulse Vestige and brought into Cocoon in the war's aftermath.
Centuries later, Vanille and Fang awoke from crystal stasis. Fang had lost her memory of their previous Focus and Ragnarok, and not wanting more people to get hurt, Vanille pretended she had as well and later took on the burden of Ragnarok to spare Fang the guilt. Although Fang's l'Cie brand was scorched and unchanging, Vanille's brand was still active, and Fang vowed to complete their Focus at any cost. After two days of fruitlessly looking for answers, they returned to the Vestige in Bodhum and discovered a local girl named Serah Farron had wandered inside, and Anima branded her a Pulse l'Cie. Vanille blamed herself for Serah's misfortune, assuming Anima transformed Serah to complete their Focus.
After stealing a pair of ID cards two days later, Fang and Vanille traveled to Euride Gorge to find the fal'Cie Kujata, which Fang planned to destroy to restore their memories. As they prepared to attack Kujata, Dajh Katzroy wandered into the room. The fal'Cie branded him a Sanctum l'Cie in response to Fang and Vanille's threat. PSICOM troops pursued the duo, and Fang forced Vanille to escape without her. Vanille returned to the Vestige and left her weapon there before roaming around Bodhum, beginning to see Cocoon as a peaceful paradise.
After scraping her leg on the beach four days later, Vanille met Serah. When Vanille told Serah about her dilemma, Serah advised her to find a way to overcome it. She told Vanille about her nightmare of destroying the world and how she tried to escape it but realized she would get through with her friends' help. Vanille apologized for her role in Serah becoming a l'Cie, but Serah was oblivious to Vanille's involvement and didn't understand. Two days later, Vanille attended Bodhum's fireworks festival and wished for Cocoon's safety, inspired by her meeting with Serah.
The following morning, the Sanctum announced finding Anima within the Vestige and quarantined Bodhum in preparation for the Purge. Unable to return to the Vestige, Vanille went to the station, hoping to return to Euride and look for Fang, but found the walkway blocked off. Evading soldiers, she returned to the shopping mall before returning to a field by the beach to spend the night. The following day, Vanille returned to the station and queued for the Purge train, noticing Lightning and Sazh Katzroy lined up. She bumped into Hope and Nora and boarded the train with them, hoping to return home and escape her Focus.
===Final Fantasy XIII===
When the Purge train entered the Hanging Edge, Lightning and Sazh derailed it. Snow Villiers and his resistance group, NORA, found Vanille, Nora, Hope, and the rest of the Purgees. Nora joined their effort to fight PSICOM but died in battle, and Vanille had Nora's son, Hope, stick with her. Since Hope blamed Snow for his mother's death, Vanille encouraged him to approach Snow, but he left before Hope could. Vanille and Hope stole Gadot's airbike and followed Snow to the Vestige.
They crash-landed inside, where Vanille recovered her weapon. Snow saved them from a Cie'th ambush and asked them to follow him for protection. They met with Lightning and Sazh and found Serah outside Anima's Throne. Serah asked Lightning to save Cocoon and turned into a crystal, meaning she fulfilled her Focus, mystifying Vanille. Lightning, Snow, and Sazh attacked Anima and the fal'Cie branded Vanille's new acquaintances l'Cie. Then PSICOM destroyed the Vestige, and they fell to Lake Bresha with Anima's power crystallizing it on impact. Vanille pretended that she, too, had just been branded by Anima. The group interpreted their Focus as having something to do with Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon, although Snow remained convinced their Focus was to follow Serah's wish to save it.
Soon after leaving Snow behind with Serah's crystal, the party happened upon a Sanctum airship, which Sazh piloted out to the skies of Cocoon. The airship came under fire from a wave of enemy ships and crash-landed into the Vile Peaks. Lightning announced she was heading for Eden to destroy its patron fal'Cie and take down the Sanctum, Cocoon's government. Lightning left with Hope following her while Sazh and Vanille chose to go the other way to escape their fate. On their way to Nautilus, the two arrived in the Sunleth Waterscape, and Vanille asked Sazh about his family. He revealed he is Dajh's father and became a l'Cie in his attempt to complete the boy's Focus. Overcome with guilt, Vanille could not bring herself to tell Sazh about her involvement.
In Nautilus, news of the chaos in Palumpolum was broadcast throughout the park. Sazh noted Lightning, Hope, and Snow appeared in the footage, but Vanille was shocked to see another familiar face: Fang. They attended the Pompa Sancta parade and visited the Chocobo Corral, where Sazh revealed he intended to surrender himself to the Sanctum to see Dajh one last time, even if it meant his execution. Vanille tried to dissuade him by telling him who was responsible for the Euride Gorge incident, but before she could admit her involvement, the Sanctum attacked.
The two fled to the Clock Tower, where Dajh appeared and crystallized in Sazh's arms. Jihl Nabaat, a PSICOM officer, arrived with her troops and revealed the boy's Focus—to capture servants of the lowerworld fal'Cie. When she disclosed Vanille and Fang's threat made Kujata brand Dajh, Vanille fled the scene crying. Nabaat let the enraged Sazh pursue her, curious about how much data they could collect, assuming that Sazh would kill Vanille. In the courtyard of the Fiendlord's Keep, Vanille imagined Sazh calling her a coward and cold-blooded killer, accusing her of using others as shields and telling her to die if she couldn't live with her guilt anymore. When Sazh arrived and aimed his gun at her, Vanille revealed she was a l'Cie from Gran Pulse and demanded that he shoot her. He couldn't do so, and his Eidolon, Brynhildr, manifested. The two defeated it together, but afterward, Sazh pointed his gun at Vanille again. Vanille accepted her punishment, but Sazh was too heartbroken to kill her.
Nabaat's regiment captured and imprisoned them on the Palamecia to bring them to Eden for a public execution. During their captivity, Sazh realized that since Vanille awoke from crystal stasis, Dajh would awaken too, forgiving Vanille when he realized what happened to his son was an accident. With the Cavalry's help, Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Fang infiltrated the airship to rescue Vanille and Sazh. The pair escaped their cell, retrieved their weapons, joined with the others, and Vanille and Fang reunited. The party reached the bridge and confronted the primarch, Galenth Dysley, who revealed his true identity as the fal'Cie Barthandelus. Dysley claimed the party's Focus was to destroy Orphan, the fal'Cie who sustains Cocoon, and that Serah's Focus was to gather them to be made l'Cie and accomplish that goal. The party escaped the descending Palamecia with Barthandelus's familiar Menrva in its airship form, which took them to the Fifth Ark beneath Eden.
In the Fifth Ark, the group's l'Cie powers fully awoke, and they ran into the Cavalry leader Cid Raines, who revealed himself as a Sanctum l'Cie whose Focus was to help them destroy Cocoon and summon the Maker. Cid defied his Focus and attempted to kill them but was defeated. To everyone's surprise, he turned to crystal, inspiring them to challenge their Focus, too. After Fang tamed her Eidolon, Bahamut, with Vanille and Lightning's help, its defeat revealed a new path to the Ark's lowest level. Vanille found a Pulsian airship, and everyone agreed to travel to Gran Pulse to find a way to change their fate.
After days of searching, they found no signs of human life on Gran Pulse and decided to journey to Oerba. When the party visited the ruins of Paddra in the Yaschas Massif, Vanille said she became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon's shell centuries before. Fang was puzzled about why she turned into crystal despite doing nothing in the war, but Vanille kept lying. The party crossed the Archylte Steppe into the Mah'habara Subterra. In the Flower-filled Fissure, Fang said she was the one who became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon, not Vanille. The shock of having her most profound lie exposed manifested Vanille's Eidolon, Hecatoncheir, and she learned Fang bluffed about regaining her memories to coax a confession from her. Once they tamed Hecatoncheir, Fang reassured Vanille she was no longer alone since their friends from Cocoon were their new family.
In the Sulyya Springs, Vanille told Snow she had met Serah in Bodhum and how Anima made Serah a l'Cie because of her. Vanille said that Serah had the vision of Ragnarok like the rest of them and theorized that Serah beat her Focus by putting Cocoon's fate in their hands, which made her turn to crystal. The party ascended Taejin's Tower, and at the top, Vanille and Fang reminisced about their hometown, describing it as a village filled with flowers. They were shocked to see their home devoid of life and color. The party rode a capsule down to the outskirts of Oerba and traversed the dilapidated village, encountering Barthandelus at the end of a broken railway bridge.
Knowing Barthandelus had resurrected Raines and caused more chaos in Cocoon, the party headed to Eden with the airship Barthandelus left for them to stop the fal'Cie's plan. They made their way through the chaos in Eden to Orphan's Cradle, and as Fang fell under pressure, Vanille proposed they promise to protect Cocoon as their new home.
The party defeated Barthandelus inside the Narthex, but Menrva awoke Orphan. The fal'Cie demanded Fang become Ragnarok and tortured Vanille to force her hand. Fang submitted to Orphan's demands, and Vanille was released. Vanille and Fang witnessed their friends transform into Cie'th—who attacked Fang—triggering her transformation into an incomplete Ragnarok.
After Fang failed to destroy Orphan, she reverted. Orphan tried to force Fang to finish the job by subjecting her to a cycle of torture as Vanille helplessly watched. Vanille prepared to stand up to the fal'Cie, but Orphan exploded and sank into its pool, releasing Fang. With the help of the memories of everything they endured, the rest of the party reverted from their Cie'th forms. They believed their new Focus was to save Cocoon and their transformation was another fal'Cie trick. The party's brands turned white, and as Orphan's proper form rose from the pool, the party set out to destroy it.
After the party destroyed Orphan, Orphan's Cradle vanished, and they emerged floating above Eden as Cocoon began to fall. As Lightning, Sazh, Hope, and Snow floated away, Vanille and Fang joined hands and became Ragnarok to stop Cocoon from crashing into Gran Pulse. They surrounded the planetoid with lava, summoning the crystal dust from Oerba and crystallizing it and themselves, forming a crystal pillar to support Cocoon over Pulse.
Lightning, Sazh, Hope, and Snow awoke from crystal stasis on Gran Pulse's surface beneath the newly crystallized Cocoon with their brands gone. As Serah and Dajh appeared over the horizon, they realized Vanille and Fang fulfilled their Focus for all of them. The crystallized Vanille and Fang remained asleep within the core of Cocoon's pillar.
===Final Fantasy XIII -Episode i-===
thumb|left|Fang and Vanille crystallize after saving Cocoon.
Vanille felt at peace after helping reverse the harm she unintentionally caused. She believed they would meet again someday and told everyone to live their lives as she and Fang watched over them. Vanille knew that Serah would be strong enough to handle the realization of her and Fang's crimes and told Snow to stand by her. After reassuring Fang that Serah would forgive her for getting her involved, they felt goddess Etro smiling. After hearing Fang tell Snow and Lightning not to try and rescue them, Vanille laughed and said, "What are you gonna do? You know what they're like..."
===Final Fantasy XIII-2===
Dreaming within the pillar, Vanille reflected on how she and Fang felt Etro's presence the first time they turned to crystal and again when they held up Cocoon as Ragnarok. Remembering how the priests of Oerba referred to Etro as a dark and scary goddess, Vanille wondered if they were wrong. She recalled Hope's visits to her and Fang and urged him to save the future. She tried calling out to Serah to tell her she and Fang had a dream about being in a new place with a young man and woman they had never met. Seeing their happiness, Vanille told Serah not to give up and make a future where everyone is happy again.
Vanille and Fang appeared to Serah in her dream in the Void Beyond, explaining they could connect since they were all dreaming. They had come to save Serah from being trapped in the endless dream Caius Ballad placed her in, and Serah's friend, Noel, needed her help before he became trapped in a dream of his own. Resuming their role in maintaining the pillar, Vanille and Fang disappeared, leaving a portal to lead Serah to Noel. By the year 500 AF, Hope, the Academy, and Sazh, saved the crystal holding Vanille and Fang before the crystallized Cocoon finally fell.
Vanille appeared in the paradox ending, "Vanille's Truth", where Serah, Mog, and Noel found her in Oerba XXX AF. In this alternate timeline, a crystallized Vanille remained in Oerba after the War of Transgression, still lamenting her inability to fight for those she cared about and how she was not there for Fang as promised. Serah heard Vanille's voice and vowed to find Fang for her.
===Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII===
Four hundred eighty-seven years later, Vanille and Fang awoke from crystal stasis in Luxerion in Nova Chrysalia, the world formed after Chaos entered the mortal realm. Vanille realized she could hear the voices of the dead. Lumina, a mysterious girl resembling a young Serah, found Vanille and Fang, and the Order of Salvation housed them within the Luxerion Cathedral. Once the Order learned about Vanille's new power, they dubbed her a "saint" and confined her to the cathedral "for her safety". After a few years of living under the Order's care, Fang grew to distrust those in the upper ranks and learned of the Soulsong, a ritual to purify the dead at the cost of Vanille's life.
Fang tried taking Vanille away but burdened by guilt, Vanille refused and intended to carry out the Soulsong despite knowing it would kill her. As Fang left for the Dead Dunes to find the holy clavis, a divine relic the Order sought for the ritual, Vanille remained in the cathedral under the Order's protection. For the next four or five years, she worked with the Order to prepare for the Soulsong and spent her days listening to the dead and giving hope to the populace. Becoming a curiosity to the public, citizens frequented the cathedral, hoping to meet Vanille. Lumina often visited her as well, and the two became friends.
Thirteen days before the world's end, Lightning awoke from her crystal sleep, became the savior, and visited Luxerion. After hearing about Lightning's exploits, Vanille requested to see her. After saving Noel's soul, Lightning headed for Cathedral Plaza, where Vanille's servant, Aremiah, told Lightning a precious crystal shard belonging to Vanille was missing. When Vanille awoke from crystal stasis, she found herself grasping a piece of crystal, and it has been her prized possession ever since as it lets her glimpse the estranged Fang. Lightning found the shard with a delivery company employee who claimed someone high up in the Order gave it to them with no receiver's address. Lightning theorized someone from the Order wanted to steal it from Vanille. Lightning returned the crystal to Aremiah and was granted passage into the cathedral at night.
Lightning found Vanille and Lumina in the Hall of Devotion. Vanille led Lightning underground to God's Sanctum and showed her a concentration of Chaos around the altar, which Lumina referred to as the "wind of sorrow", lost souls in suffering. Vanille explained the cathedral attracted the souls of those who died after Valhalla's Chaos burst through Etro's gate and that she could hear every cry of their pain. Lumina said the Order sought to the save the dead from their anguish by offering them oblivion and needed Vanille to call them to her. Lightning asked if Vanille could handle millions of souls simultaneously, but she believed she had no choice. Lumina said the souls had built up for years, and if Vanille did not call them to her and they ever escaped, they would destroy the world and the future.
Vanille believed that she and Fang awoke to atone for the deaths caused by their past actions. Though Fang left years ago to find the holy clavis, Vanille didn't worry as her crystal shard showed Fang happy. Vanille could hear the dead, felt their pain, and desired to use her power to help them find peace; thus, she chose to stay in the cathedral. Even though she'd like to see the others again, she knew it was impossible since Sazh had left for the Wildlands, Snow couldn't leave Yusnaan since he was the patron, and Hope had disappeared. Vanille had wanted to gather everyone to greet Lightning upon her return, but they had gone their separate ways.
As Lightning searched for the clavis with Fang in the Dead Dunes, she learned Vanille continued to dwell on her past sins; Vanille believed her new power was God's way of punishing her and intended to atone by performing the Soulsong. When they found the holy clavis in the Clavis Chamber, Fang tried to destroy it, but the Order's Secutors appeared and stole it. Fang told Lightning that the Order sought the clavis for its ability to summon souls, and she left the Order to find the clavis and keep it away from Vanille. Lumina appeared and revealed she led the Secutors to their location and said the Secutors were taking the clavis to Luxerion, where, on the world's final day, Vanille would perform the Soulsong and erase the dead, including Serah.
When Lightning returned to Luxerion, Vanille told her the holy clavis acted like a coffin to contain the dead when she called them to her during the ritual. She said that even if the Soulsong wiped out the dead, she needed to do it; otherwise, the souls would suffer inside the Chaos forever. Vanille believed that after the Soulsong killed her, she would join the dead, erased from everyone's memory with them. At the end of the 11th day, Lightning learned from the souls of the dead in the form of Cid Raines that, unknown to Vanille, she had the power to help them be reborn in the new world.
On the eve of the Apocalypse, Lumina revealed the Order sought to destroy the dead and erase their existence from the living's memories, "purifying" them of their burdened pasts so they could be reborn in the new world with a clean slate and live in bliss as per the god Bhunivelze's vision. The Order kept the truth from Vanille and tricked her into believing the Soulsong would save the dead from their suffering. With help from Noel, Lightning entered the Temple of Light and found Fang. In God's Sanctum, with several disciples, sentries, and the Order's high priestess present, Vanille faced the clavis and began the Soulsong. Lightning and Fang interfered and divulged the Order's true motives, but Vanille couldn't ignore the dead's cries and felt the need to pay for her sins.
At Lightning's urging, Vanille listened to the dead. The high priestess attempts to force her to continue the ritual by claiming her pain stemmed from the dead's corruption by the Chaos. Vanille learned none of the dead wished for oblivion, and she kept hearing them because, despite their suffering, they wanted to be reborn. She stopped the Soulsong and decided to guide the souls to the Ark so they could be reborn in the new world.
To complete the ritual, the high priestess struck Vanille down for her defiance and had the holy clavis begin to drain her life, producing a light powerful enough to eradicate the souls. With Snow's timely arrival, he destroyed the clavis, and the released energy obliterated the high priestess. Guiding the dead to the Ark with Fang's help also saved Vanille's soul. After the final bell on the world tolled, Bhunivelze took the souls of Vanille, Snow, Fang, and Noel. She returned to Lightning's side during the final battle before witnessing Nova Chrysalia's destruction. She then accompanied her friends to the new world, no longer a tool of the gods.
===Final Fantasy XIII: Reminiscence -tracer of memories-===
Fang and Vanille stayed together in the new world and moved to an arid region near a remote village in an area that's full of cattle ranches and rocky wilderness. The pair made their abode amid abandoned ruins as they "remind them of home". A reporter named Aoede interviewed the two to uncover the truth behind people's suppressed memories of another world. Fang and Vanille explained how they saved Cocoon by turning to crystal and remaining asleep for centuries. Hope had their crystal salvaged from the pillar before it shattered, and the organization he had formed, the Conseil de Renaissance, safeguarded them.
When they awoke, Vanille had wanted to thank Hope, but Bhunivelze had already kidnapped him, and the pair fell under the Order's watchful eye. As she saw the Order's teachings act as a lifeline for the suffering populace after Hope's disappearance, Vanille wanted to help the organization as their saint, unaware they were manipulating her and using her as a means to an end. The Order told her what she wanted to hear and convinced her that, by following their orders, she could help everyone.
They didn't know how or why they awoke from crystal stasis but speculated that either Bhunivelze or Lumina was responsible. Fang described Lumina as a "Chaos personified" brat who was yet attached to Vanille. Vanille believed Lumina woke them to have someone to indulge her because although she came across as a spiteful prankster, Lumina was a lonely girl who wanted attention.
Fang said that many of the Order's followers were decent people who treated her and Vanille well. However, those in the upper echelons were rotten garbage who exploited Vanille's desire to help the suffering populace and atone for the past to control her. Fang explained the Order would have erased everyone's memories if Lightning had not saved everyone. When Aoede gushed over learning more about Lightning and wanted to thank her in person, Vanille and Fang assured her that Lightning's wish for the world had come true if everyone was content with living in the new world.
==Characteristics==
===Appearance===
In Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2, Vanille has bright red hair tied in curled pigtails, green eyes, and pierced ears with silver hoop earrings. She has the physical appearance of a 19-year-old. According to an interview with Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, Japanese model and singer Meisa Kuroki inspired Vanille's face. The Namibian Himba women's traditional clothes inspired Vanille's outfit. She wears a pink halter top, an ombré orange and yellow skirt, beige boots, and a fur pelt around her waist to carry her weapon, made from a bear she defeated herself, according to the Dengeki PS3 magazine. She wears numerous bracelets, three beaded necklaces, and beads attached to various sections. Vanille's l'Cie brand is on her upper-left thigh, hidden by her skirt.
In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille wears a headdress resembling a mix of a dupatta and a religious habit. It has a red, gold, and transparent pink veil covering her hair and shoulders and gold ornaments covering her forehead. It has two silver horn-like ornaments attached to the back and curving around the sides of her head, evoking the image of a halo befitting Vanille's new holy status and resembling Bhunivelze's crest, which serves as the Order's emblem.
===Personality===
In Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille has an eccentric child-like innocence. In Episode Zero -Promise-, Fang mentions that Vanille loves caring for animals and cooking, though her meals are sometimes bland. She is thoughtful and empathetic, easily driven to tears, and cares deeply for others, especially her childhood friend Fang. She takes offense when others mock her intelligence and accuse her of not taking things seriously. Despite many hardships, Vanille remains a caring and upbeat person who tries to stay positive in situations others deem hopeless. Vanille uses her carefree persona to mask her fear and guilt; when her guard drops, she wallows in her misery and beats herself up for her flaws. During her journey, Vanille learns to stop running from her problems and past mistakes and become strong enough to fight for her friends and beliefs.
In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille has become a follower of Bhunivelze and helps the Order carry out his will due to living under the group's protection and being subjected to its doctrine. She is close friends with Lumina, who describes them as "thick as thieves". Vanille has become solemn, rarely showing a trace of her upbeat nature, still regretting the suffering her past actions caused, and hopes to use her new power to make amends. In Final Fantasy XIII: Reminiscence -tracer of memories-, Fang describes Vanille as taking everything seriously, making her easy to manipulate by telling her what she wants to hear, and Vanille describes herself as occasionally stubborn but mostly a gullible pushover.
==Gameplay==
Vanille is playable in Final Fantasy XIII with main roles as Ravager, Saboteur, and Medic, making her a more support-oriented party member. She wields binding rods in battle, and her Eidolon—whom she acquires last of all party members—is the Earth-elemental Hecatoncheir. Her full ATB skill is Death. She has slow casting animations but high Magic Power and more HP than the party's other dedicated mage character: Hope.
The "Instrument of Faith" trophy/achievement uses Vanille's eidolith. A replica of her eidolith appears as an adornment for monster allies in Final Fantasy XIII-2.
==Musical themes==
===Final Fantasy XIII===
"Vanille's Theme" is composed of solo piano and represents her cheerful nature and inner guilt. "Prelude to Final Fantasy XIII" recurs as a motif within "Vanille's Theme", intended to reflect her role as the game's narrator and originator of the story.
Variants of her theme include three orchestral arrangements: "Lost Hope", "Eidolons on Parade", and "Memories of Happier Days". "Face It Later", "Sulyya Springs", and the beginning of "The Road Home" have a short reprise of her leitmotif. "Nascent Requiem", the final battle theme, and "Determination" have an orchestral motif of her tune. "Memories of Happier Days" starts with solo piano like the original theme but turns into a melancholy yet uplifting orchestral piece.
===Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII===
"The Captive Saint" begins with a revised version of "Memories of Happier Days" and transitions into a calm and then ultimately eerie piece. It plays when Lightning reunites with Vanille, and they converse in God's Sanctum. "Memories of Happier Days" plays when Lightning reunites with Mog in the Wildlands and when Lightning completes Bhakti's quest, "The Life of a Machine" in the Dead Dunes. It is mixed into the end credits theme, "Credits ~Light Eternal~". "A New World", which plays as Vanille and Fang guide the dead to the Ark, also reprises Vanille's leitmotif.
===Arrangement album appearances===
====Piano Collections: Final Fantasy XIII====
"Vanille's Theme" is part of the medley "Vanille's Theme ~ Memories of Happier Days ~ The Road Home" as the sixth track on the album.
==Other appearances==
Vanille has appeared in the following media throughout the Final Fantasy series:
*Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character.
* Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call as a playable character.
*Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as an ally and a summonable Legend.
*Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
*Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Brave Exvius as a summonable vision.
*Mobius Final Fantasy as an ability card.
*Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
*Triple Triad as a series of cards.
Vanille's Binding Rod is also one of the special weapons rewards in the event Lightning Strikes in Final Fantasy XIV.
==Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances==
Vanille has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy media:
*Kingdom Hearts series as an avatar.
==Behind the scenes==
According to the Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega, the development team at one point considered making Vanille the official main character; however, they dismissed the idea as they had already released a trailer and art featuring Lightning in that role.
Of all the main characters introduced since Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille might be the one who changed the least. In the original game, her lies cost many people their lives. The torture she suffered from the resultant guilt led Vanille to believe that sacrificing herself to save the souls of the dead would rectify everything, but her "purity" made her easy to mislead about the actual consequences of her well-intentioned sacrifice.
A photo of Vanille and Fang can be found in Oerba on a table in the house where Bhakti is found, proof of their past existence.
The Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega has a l'Cie brand progression chart showing each of the events that make each character's brand advance. It goes from stage 1 to 3 when she realizes it is her fault Dajh became a Sanctum l'Cie. It advances to 4 when meeting Serah on the beach and when Vanille shows her brand to the others in Lake Bresha, it is in this stage. It progresses to 5 when Sazh talks about Dajh in the Sunleth Waterscape, and Vanille realizes Sazh is Dajh's father. It goes from stage 5 to 7 when Nabaat reveals Vanille's involvement in the Euride incident; to 8 when the party's l'Cie powers are fully awoken in the Fifth Ark; to 11 during the party's initial exploration of Gran Pulse; to 12 when the party arrives in Eden; and to stage 13 when she transforms into Ragnarok with Fang. Unlike the others, Vanille's brand never turns white, likely because Etro does not interact with her as she does with them (reverting Fang from her Ragnarok state during the War of Transgression and possibly releasing the others from their Cie'th state when they face Orphan). Vanille's brand is barely visible due to her skirt covering it.
Final Fantasy XIII includes a nude character model for Vanille for the scene where she comes out of crystal stasis. 
The intro cutscene before the title screen of Final Fantasy XIII shows Vanille, but the scene of her overlooking Gran Pulse isn't part of the actual game.
===Voice===
Vanille and Fang speak with an accent different from the rest of the party. They speak in an Okinawan dialect of Japanese in the original version and with an Australian accent in the English localization. The idea to cast two characters with Australian accents came from the localization team, who requested the voice directing team to look for either Australian- or New Zealand-sounding voices. The rationale was for Fang and Vanille to sound like they're from another world, but more in the sense of their voices having a different melody rather than a thick accent.
Vanille's Japanese voice actress is Yukari Fukui. Vanille shares her Japanese voice actress with Terra Branford from Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.
Her English voice actress is Georgia van Cuylenburg, who spent six months recording Vanille's dialogue. She had two recording sessions per week, which lasted four hours.Georgia van Cuylenburg Interview with Myouterspace As with the rest of the English cast of Final Fantasy XIII, Georgia van Cuylenburg listened to the original Japanese dialogue, which had been recorded first, for tone reference.
While the other characters in Final Fantasy XIII were intended to be "Americanized", Georgia van Cuylenburg was asked to adhere to the original Japanese performance and use a "high, squeaky, and upbeat" voice, as Vanille initially wants to mislead others with her happiness. Georgia van Cuylenburg has stated the most challenging aspect of voicing Vanille was making a high-pitched moan required for the character, which wasn't easy to make sound natural.
During the February 2014 interview with Final Fantasy Union, Georgia van Cuylenburg commented how she and Vanille are alike with their past since Georgia also hid some issues under a carefree girl's guise. She compared Vanille's breakdown in the scene with Sazh to a similar situation from years before recording Vanille when she lost her hair to alopecia, which helped her relate to Vanille and enhanced her performance.Final Fantasy Union's February 2014 interview with Georgia van Cuylenburg, @8m50s
==Merchandise==
Action figures of Vanille were released as part of the Play Arts series.
Ffvanille-play-arts02.jpg|Vanille Play Arts figurine.
==Gallery==
==Etymology and symbolism==
Vanille's full name means "Vanille of the Dia clan, from the village of Oerba".
 This may allude to her bright personality.
With a long "i" sound, the Japanese pronunciation of Dia is also a common Japanese abbreviation for "diamond", possibly relating to Hecatoncheir being an Earth-elemental summon. Vanille shares her clan name with the spell Dia from Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy XI.
The characters of Fang and Vanille are based on the Ragnarok myth of Líf ("life") and Lífþrasir ("eager for life")—the only humans who will survive Ragnarok. They sleep through the earth's destruction and, upon awakening, will find the world verdant again. Líf and Lífþrasir will become the progenitors of a new race of humans; their descendants will inhabit the earth, congruent with the original idea that Fang was to be a male character.
==Citations==
de:Oerba Dia Vanille
es:Oerba Dia Vanille
fr:Oerba Dia Vanille
pl:Oerba Dia Vanille
pt-br:Oerba Dia Vanille
ru:Орба Диа Ваниль
Category:L'Cie
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIII
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIII-2
Category:Characters in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII