Serah Farron

[Jonathan]

Serah Farron (セラ・ファロン Sera Faron?) is an 18-year-old human from Cocoon. After their parents die years prior to the start of the game, Lightning, then still called Claire, raises Serah and sets out to become a protector for her, but her devotion to that goal causes tensions between them. Eventually, Serah becomes engaged to Snow days prior to the start of the game, and Lightning strongly objects to their relationship. Serah eventually reveals to Snow and Lightning that, while exploring the Pulse Vestage where the fal'Cie Anima was kept,[59] she has been made a Pulse l'Cie.[60] However, Lightning refuses to believe Serah's revelations, inadvertently causing Serah to be captured by Anima.[61] Although given the Focus to become Ragnarok, she changes her Focus through her own will, then imparts her new mission, to save Cocoon, to Lightning and Snow before turning to crystal after being found.[62] The change of her Focus eventually inspires the other l'Cie to do the same.

[Jonathan]

After the party defeats Orphan at the end of the game, Serah, along with Dajh, resumes her life as a human. Serah reconciles with Lightning, who accepts her relationship with Snow afterwards.

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Serah is the only one who remembers Lightning being on Gran Pulse after she is taken to Valhalla, with all the others believing she sacrificed herself to save Cocoon.[64] She eventually becomes a teacher in the village of New Bodhum, the town she and Snow help build on Gran Pulse,[65] before it is invaded by monsters three years after the fall of Cocoon.[66] Serah is aided by Noel Kreiss, who tells her of Lightning's fate and his own mission. After Serah accepts Noel's offer to be brought to Lightning, the two embark on a journey across time to find her sister. In the process, Serah encounters Caius Ballad, while learning from Paddra Nsu-Yeul that she possesses the same detrimental ability as her to see the future.[67] Despite learning that she would die herself if she continues seeing visions

[Jonathan]

of the future, Serah resolves to change the future for everyone's sake.[68] However, after Caius's defeat and returning to Gran Pulse five hundred years in her future, Serah has another vision and dies moments before Gran Pulse is infected by Valhalla's chaos. Serah appears to Lightning in Valhalla as a spirit, telling her she knew that she could have died from her visions but still took the risk regardless. Serah promises Lightning that they will see each other again as long as Lightning promises to remember her.[69] In Lightning Returns, Serah's soul, which has been kept safe within Lightning, is removed and cast away by Bhunivelze.[70] Lumina acts as a shelter for Serah's soul, resulting in the two being similar in appearance.[71] Bhunivelze also creates a false version of Serah to keep Lightning in line.[72] This false Serah, who develops feelings for her 'sister' arrives when Lightning intends to become the protector of the new world and persuades her to accept her vulnerabilities and call for aid.[73]

[Jonathan]

The real Serah reunites with Lightning and her allies, and travels with them to the new world.

Early in the development of XIII, Serah was meant to be a playable character, but was eventually delegated to a supporting character because of technical issues.[47] Tetsuya Nomura, in an interview, said that he designed Serah's hair so that her silhouette would mirror Lightning's.[18] For XIII-2, the developers decided to change Serah and Lightning's roles, with Serah becoming the game's main protagonist, while Lightning was the object of her quest.[74] Yusuke Naora was told to design Serah's new costume like the "plug suit" outfits from Neon Genesis Evangelion and was asked to give her a necklace for plot reasons.[75] Part of the challenge for the game was making Serah more active, but maintaining her femininity,[28] which is the reason she was given a bow as her weapon.[76] Another reason behind the design of her weapon was the fact that the developers wanted to give the characters means to attack both up close

[Jonathan]

and at long range.[77] Aside from Naora's design, Yuko Oshima of AKB48 was asked to design two potential DLC outfits for Serah: a black combat outfit titled "Exposure and Defense" (later retitled "Style and Steel"),[78] and a second red-and-white outfit titled "Little Red Riding Hood", meant to be indicative of Serah's change into an adult.[79] After a popular vote, the former costume was chosen and released in April 2012.[78][80] Serah is voiced by Laura Bailey in English and by Minako Kotobuki in Japanese.