Nora Estheim

Nora Estheim is a minor character in Final Fantasy XIII. She's a resident of Palumpolum, Hope Estheim's mother, and Bartholomew Estheim's wife, hoping to repair the fractured relationship between her husband and son.
==History==
===Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-===
After six months of planning to heal the rift between Hope and his dad, Nora took her son on a ten-day vacation in the seaside town of Bodhum to see the annual fireworks show. After checking in to their beach resort condo, Nora and Hope visited the shopping mall and looked at chocobo chicks in a pet shop. They unknowingly inspired Lightning to plan a vacation away from Bodhum for her birthday to spend time with her sister Serah.
Five days later, Bartholomew called Nora to tell her an urgent business trip had come up in the evening. Hope doesn't believe it since his father often neglects him and Nora for his job and resents Nora for never blaming Bartholomew for breaking his promises. Forcing her voice into a happy tone, Nora told Bartholomew that since the cleanup operation after the incident three days prior had ended, she wanted to visit Euride Gorge as they had planned. When Hope said his father wasn't coming, Nora said Bartholomew would join them in time for the festival, and there was nothing he could do about it since the Euride incident affected his job. Hope's harsh words hurt Nora, so he changed the subject and helped her wash the vegetables she got from Yuj, Maqui, and Lebreau. When Hope called Nora shameless for getting the vegetables for free, she said she was a tough mother and laughed.
Nora and Hope visited Euride the following day, but the plaza was closed off, and the place was full of PSICOM soldiers. After seeing the fal'Cie Kujata, they headed back to the entrance and heard people passing by talking about a little boy getting hurt in the accident. Nora expressed her hopes that the child doesn't die since there's nothing worse than a child dying before their parent. Hope thought that regardless of when a family member dies, it's still sad for those left behind. Nora asked if Hope hates his father and said Bartholomew isn't good at these things, but many people in the Sanctum depend on him, and he wants to do a good job. Hope assured Nora he was not mad at his father since he would join them for the fireworks. Hope considered talking to his dad on the night of the festival if it would make Nora happy.
During the show two days later, Bartholomew couldn't make it. Nora wished upon the fireworks, and Hope laughed at her sentimentality. Nora wished Bartholomew would join them next year, but Hope claimed they were better off without his father. Unbeknownst to them, PSICOM discovered the Pulse fal'Cie Anima within the nearby Pulse Vestige.
The following day, the Sanctum announced the discovery, and the town's subsequent quarantine trapped Hope and Nora. Among a group of tourists at the train station, a frantic Nora begged with a PSICOM soldier for Hope to be allowed to return home, willing to stay behind herself, but her pleas went ignored. The Sanctum sentenced them to be Purged to Pulse with everyone else in Bodhum, and they spent the night in the barricaded town. Queuing for the Purge train the following day, Nora and Hope met Vanille when she bumped into Nora in the station. After ensuring Vanille wasn't hurt, Nora and Vanille briefly spoke about where they were from, but Nora stopped asking questions to tend to the troubled Hope. Because of Nora's kindness, Vanille joined them aboard the train.
===Final Fantasy XIII===
After entering the Hanging Edge, Lightning and Sazh Katzroy derailed their Purge train. Nora, Hope, and Vanille were among the stranded group found by Snow Villiers and his rebel group, NORA. Telling Hope not to worry, Nora volunteered to fight alongside Snow against PSICOM. As she and the rebels went down the bridge, the rest of NORA moved Hope, Vanille, and the other Purgees to another location for safety.
The resistance drove off a group of soldiers, but a Havoc Skytank attacked the rebels. Snow failed to grab a dropped rocket launcher while under heavy fire. Before the Skytank could fire its main cannon, Nora took the rocket launcher and downed it, saving Snow's life. As the Skytank descended, its central cannon fired, destroying the bridge they were on and gravely injuring Nora.
As everyone on the other side of the destroyed bridge slid off, Snow tried to drag Nora back to safety, but the piece of the bridge they were on tilted, and they slid down. He grabbed hold of Nora's hand and the bridge's edge. She begged Snow to get "him" home before succumbing to her injuries from the blast. Snow tried to hold on to Nora's lifeless body but lost his grip, with Vanille and Hope watching from afar. Since Nora died while saving Snow's life, Hope blamed Snow for her death, and it drove him to accompany Vanille and follow Snow into the Pulse Vestige, where Anima branded him a Pulse l'Cie.
When the remainder of the group split up in the Vile Peaks, Hope joined Lightning in her vendetta against the Sanctum to grow stronger and eventually face Snow. In the Gapra Whitewood, taking Lightning's advice to form a plan to help him fight, Hope named his revenge plan after his late mother—Operation Nora. When Lightning told Hope that not Snow but the Sanctum killed Nora, he decided to punish both.
In Palumpolum, after Snow and Fang saved Hope and Lightning, the latter forced Hope to go with Snow as they split up. As he ran through the city with Snow, Hope listened to the NORA leader unknowingly insult Nora and the events that led to her death. Stopping to rest in the Rivera Towers section of the city, Hope recalled Nora from a childhood memory, pushing him to confront Snow, revealing Nora as his mother, and making Snow realize Hope was the one Nora meant before she died. Hope nearly killed Snow, and the latter saved Hope from a deadly fall; Snow apologized for endangering Nora and failing to save her. Hope realized he used revenge to cope with her death and give himself a reason to survive, so Hope put his mother's death behind him and ended Operation Nora. At Hope's house, Snow and Hope told Bartholomew what happened to Nora. Though he grieved for her, Bartholomew forgave Snow for fulfilling Nora's dying wish: getting Hope home.
===Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments Before===
In the six months after the Day of Ragnarok, Cavalry Captain Rygdea summoned Bartholomew to a secret meeting in Palumpolum's historic concert hall and showed him an ID card containing internal documents from the Sanctum made by the late PSICOM official Yaag Rosch. As they projected footage of PSICOM carrying out the Purge, Bartholomew imagined the horrors Nora and Hope suffered. Nora supposedly saved Snow's life twice: when she shot down the Havoc Skytank and when she unknowingly shielded him from the explosion that killed her. Bartholomew punished himself for using work as an excuse not to go to Bodhum with Hope and Nora; if he had gone, they would have been together during the Purge, and he wouldn't have let Nora pick up a gun.
He learns the fal'Cie, who were using the l'Cie to destroy Cocoon and sacrifice its inhabitants to bring back the Maker, were secretly helping the l'Cie. Bartholomew recalled the absurdity of the truth that the fal'Cie the people of Cocoon saw as gods for centuries sought out a god themselves at the cost of innocent lives like Nora. Rygdea planned to use the Purge footage to expose the truth behind everything that led to Cocoon's fall so the former Sanctum members would be held accountable. He asked Bartholomew to join the new provisional government and put his political and business connections to good use.
Bartholomew recalled Nora telling him how Hope wrote an essay about wanting to become a researcher like his father. She said it was proof he was doing a job worthy of Hope to think that way. Nora noted that when Hope was older, he would have a father to look up to and be proud of and thus be able to live with his head held high even long after they died. The memory of Nora's encouragement persuaded Bartholomew to accept Rygdea's offer. However, he wanted to build a public research institute that would publicize its findings without government interference, so people's hatred towards Pulse would vanish, and nothing like the Purge would happen again. He wished to form a higher education parallel to the institution for children like Hope, an institute that eventually became known as the Academy.
===Final Fantasy XIII-2===
Hope mentioned Nora in the Yaschas Massif in 1X AF when saying that he wants to bring Lightning, Vanille, Fang, and his mother back, as he believes that he could alter the events before the Day of Ragnarok due to the time distortion.
===Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII===
After Lightning defeated Bhunivelze and freed Hope from his control, Nora and Bartholomew's spirits offered him the chance to reunite with them in the new world. Hope chose to save Lightning from falling into darkness instead and helped her and his friends end Bhunivelze's reign over humanity.
In the follow-up novel, Final Fantasy XIII: Reminiscence -tracer of memories-, there is no mention of Hope's parents, and he lives alone as a young man.
==Characteristics==
===Datalog===
Nora is Hope's mother.
Worried about the worsening relationship between her son and his father, Nora wonders how to break down the barriers Hope has created. Wanting to protect her boy from the horrors of the Purge, she volunteers to join the battle, but is killed during the chaotic conflict.
Nora begs Snow to get Hope home, but the NORA leader never hears the boy's name before she slips from his grasp.
===Appearance===
Nora has green eyes and layered shoulder-length warm silver hair. She wears a simple brown necklace under a key lime and cream-colored summer knit wrap sweater dress with a brown leather waistband, off-shoulder sleeves, ivory capri pants, and brown wedge sandals.
===Personality===
Nora cares deeply for her son and husband but is troubled by their relationship growing ever more distant since Hope reached the teenager's problematic age. In Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-, it's mentioned that Nora never opposes her husband and would make excuses for his inability to spend time with her and Hope because of his job. The Final Fantasy XIII Scenario Ultimania describes Nora as a cheerful but elegant upper-class housewife with a sense of casualness. She's also said to be good at sports. She has a sense of humor, often calling herself strong because she is a mother. As Hope's mother, she is very protective of him and willing to risk her life to ensure his safety.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Artniks===
Nao Ikeda's sketch of Nora appears as a trading card.
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Nora appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Wind-elemental backup cards featuring her sketch artwork by Nao Ikeda.
Nora TCG.png|Nora [2-042C] Chapter series card.
Nora 1-079R from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Nora [1-079R] Opus series card.
===Final Fantasy Portal App===
Nora appears as a Triple Triad card.
==Behind the scenes==
Nao Ikeda designed Nora.
Nora's iconic line, "Moms are tough," is quoted by a woman in Final Fantasy Type-0. The quote is also alluded to in Final Fantasy XV: Comrades, where a woman in Old Lestallum says: "The only people I know I can entrust my kids' safety with are other mothers. Moms are tough, after all."
===Voice===
Nora's Japanese voice actress is Komina Matsushita, and her English voice actress is Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, who also voiced Rosso the Crimson in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.
==Gallery==
Nora-ffxiii-model.png|In-game render.
Nora-and-Hope-at-fireworks-FFXIII.jpg|Nora and Hope at the fireworks display.
Nora wishes.png|Nora wishes upon the fireworks.
Nora Moms Are Tough.png|"Moms are tough."
Nora saves Snow.png|Nora saves Snow.
Nora & the fateful explosion.png|An explosion wounds Nora.
Nora's last words.png|Nora's last words.
Nora dead or unconscious.png|Nora dies from her injuries.
Nora Palumpolum.png|Hope's apparition of Nora in Palumpolum.
Nora photo.PNG|A photo of Nora in the Estheim Residence.
Noras Flashback Cameo.png|Nora's cameo appearance in Vanille and Lightning's flashback of the fireworks.
==Etymology==
 
==Citations==
de:Nora Estheim
fr:Nora Estheim
pl:Nora Estheim
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XIII