Why Vanille is the best female character ever. (And I also have a section dedicated to Penelo too.)
One reason why FFXIII is my favorite is because Vanille is clearly the best female character ever.
Vanille is an example of the old school female character. Vanille is the Snow White, the Cinderella, the type of girl that people dislike nowadays.
Lightning is an example of (newer and hipper) type of female character. Of course even if you don't like Lightning, there are many female characters similar to her.
An "independent woman" that shoots first before asking questions, knows Kung Fu, causes many explosions, doesn't care if innocent people die or not (Independent Woman, yo!), etc.
Lightning being really independent.
Imagine if l'Cie were people infected with some virus or something that gave you super powers but slowly turned you into zombies. They move those infected out because they need to be safe. That's the XIII cast.
Lightning: We are infected with a virus that is contagious and they are trying to ditch us! I'm fairly sure the president is evil. I am going on top of the world trade center and going to blow it up. Then I am going to take down the president.
Everyone else: OMG don't do that.
Vanille: But Serah said our focus might be to save Cocoon, not destroy it. (Vanille was fine being with the party at that point.)
Lightning: How I live is up to me. (I'm really independent. Screw you guys.)
Lightning: Going to the world trade center to blow it up now. See you guys later. Join me if you want.
(This is when Vanille does her own thing because she knows Lightning's plan doesn't make any sense but Vanille doesn't know she is in a JRPG.)
Vanille: How I live is also up to me too. *Runs away to minimize as much harm as possible*.
Now, you see both points of views.
The Vanille - The old school female. The one that does the right thing but isn't cool enough because she isn't killing people.
One of the best scenes with Vanille is the scene where Vanille does her wishing thing over a dead soldier to pay her respects for the life she had to end. Vanille cares (notice what Vanille in the beginning of the scene).
On the other hand, you have the Lightning (the Korra, the (newer and hipper) Rapunzel, the female person that doesn't hesitate to kill and resort to physical violence. Sometimes depicted where showing off badassery is more important than making sense.
Before I go on, I'll list the other greatest female characters of all time. Penelo's section is important.
Special Mention female characters:
1. Arciela (Seekers of Adoulin) - Without being forced too (or due to cultural expectations), Arciela starts off the story by helping people. Later we find out most people do not like Arciela.
Later on, when things get serious, Arciela does what she thinks is the right thing to do despite what others say.
2. Lilisette because Lilisette is actually clearly Rinoa from Final Fantasy 8 in the Final Fantasy 11 universe. After Ultimecia died at the end of FF8, after many time loops, somehow Ultimecia sent her soul to the FF11 universe and there Ultimecia (who is really Rinoa of course) is reincarnated as Lilisette (who then becomes Lady Lilith only be defeated by another version of Lilisette).
Lilisette = Lady Lilith (future version of Lilisette trying to save the world). Rinoa = Ultimecia (future version of Rinoa trying to save the world). Clearly Lilisette = Rinoa = Ultimecia = Lady Lilith. It all makes sense now.
3. Mumor - Prishe and Nashmeira were too busy bossing you around and getting
into trouble (and stealing credit from all the work you did). Mumor on the otherhand is the strongest female character in XI (proven by the fact she is the strongest and last boss in Heroines' Holdfest) and she is strong because she simply trains and uses her powers to entertain people (Mumor using her powers for good and not for killing indiscriminately, but has super powers if she needs to fight evil). Clearly, a winner.
4. Penelo - Because she cared about Vaan and wanted him out of trouble. That's really deep. Usually if a female character has motives, they need "serious reasons" for having them. Either it's someone dying, or their town is destroyed or something.
There needs to be "serious reasons" or else they don't count as actual true reasons (especially not for a female character).
Spoiler: show
Basically, the difference between reactive characters compared to proactive. Some characters only do good as a reaction to something. Some characters do good regardless of anything. Most female characters are reactive characters (they don't do good unless something serious happens to make them do good). Lightning is an example. In an attempt to make Lightning that "tough person", they actually painted Lightning as a reactive character.
Spoiler: show
So the difference between Korra and Aang is noticeable (and is basically how most female and male characters compare).
Female characters don't do good unless you kill off their husband (Ashe), attempt to send Meteor (Aerith), mind control them and force them to commit murder (Terra), force them to commit murder (Celes), attack their dragon (Lenna), raze their town (Rydia), etc.
Or maybe the female character does good only because they are related to the chosen one (Rikku), are employed to do it (Selphie and Quistis), have to follow her father's footsteps (Yuffie), or they need to be talked with first (Tifa), etc.
A good female character apparently can't have positive motivations (or be active) without having some sort of "serious reason" for them. Most female characters need to react to something before they can have any sort of positive motivations.
Cloud is a cool guy without any serious reasons (yes, even before he copied Zack, he helped people and did cool positive stuff). Zack. Zidane. Maybe Squall. Bartz is just doing whatever. Tidus just plays blitzball but happens to save the world whenever. Snow is this too (doesn't need any reason).
Notice how few female characters (compared to male) do any good unless they have serious reasons for them?
Penelo is just a nice girl and that's her only reason. That's why she is 4th (after Vanille) best female character.
She looked after and stood up for Vaan, even though she didn't have to. Went on the adventure and risked her life, even though she didn't have to.
Penelo's background is so simple and basically has almost nothing that really influences her (I mean, we know Penelo and Vaan were childhood friends but with Penelo's personality, it seemed like she was the one who started the friendship with Vaan and not the other way).
Tifa wasn't interested in Cloud until Cloud told Tifa how he would join SOLDIER.
Penelo, not knowing what she was getting into, did so much positive before any other female characters did.
Penelo's family took care of Vaan and Reks after they lost their family. I'd imagine it was Penelo who told her parents that “there are two homeless kids outside; maybe we should help them out” (Penolo says).
Meanwhile, in an alternative version of Final Fantasy 7 (where instead of Aerith being the chosen one and the last of her kind, it's Tifa).
Cloud: Aerith, you have to come and join us and help us! Your stats seem high. I have materia. Join me and Tifa and the others and lets fight bad guys.
Aerith: No can do. I am not the chosen one or the last of her kind. You guys don't need me. I am going to stay here and just be an NPC. You guys have fun though.
Cloud: But Aerith, your stats are really high! We need help! Help Aerith!
Aerith: You don't need me. Tifa is the chosen one. I'm just going to stand here and be an NPC.
Cloud: Nooo!! Well, I guess we'll get going then.
Aerith: See you guys. I am an NPC now.
Spoiler: show
Penelo on the other hand, is no NPC. Penelo (despite not having any serious reasons or serious backstory) went out and tried to save the world. Even before things got serious in the story, Penelo helped out Vaan and did tons of positive stuff.
Spoiler: show
In fact, I honestly do say Penelo is such an underrated character. Penelo could have ditched everyone but without any reason at all, she helps save the world. Penelo doesn't need her husband getting killed, her town getting destroyed, being mind controlled, being the chosen one, etc to do positive; she already does positive because she is simply a nice girl.
Sometimes I wonder if Penelo is the best female character ever. I guess Mumor is similar (Mumor doesn't need serious reasons). Rinoa/Lilisette (because they are the same person) does have serious reasons but they are “really serious” and kind of crazy. Rinoa/Lilisette does her plan alone and without much support, so that is why she wins over Mumor and Penelo.
Arciela is kind of a mix. Arciela is depicted to do positive stuff before any serious stuff + later when serious stuff occurs, she does sort of have to do it alone (though with the help of the player). So in that case, Arciela is like Penelo/Mumor + Rinoa/Lilisette in one.
Vanille is the greatest of them all though. Of course, Penelo is still close despite being fourth (after Vanille) best female character.
Lets go back to Vanille again for a bit and show why Vanille is the greatest and best female character of all time.
Lets compare Lightning first (and basically every other female character in the FF series):
Lightning:
Spoiler: show
Overall, there has never been a point in the story that shows Lightning did anything positive outside of cultural expectations or being told to do so. The time she tries to defy things is when Cocoon tried to ditch her. However her plan was to kill people (despite the fact that she never really explained or analyzed how this would make things better; Lightning just assumed that the president is evil).
Vanille:
Spoiler: show
More reasons why Vanille is the best:
Spoiler: show
While Vanille may seem typical, when you compare her to every other female character in the FF series, Vanille is clearly the best (maybe Lilisette/Rinoa can compete with her but she was pushed to do good and she wasn't shown to defy what was expected of her to do good, we don't know if Lilisette/Rinoa would have otherwise).
Vanille is clearly the best female character ever. Vanille is uniquely presented in the game.
It's not Ashe, Terra, Celes, Aerith, Tifa, Lenna, Prishe (definitely not Prishe, Prishe didn't even do much and just bossed you around and stole the credit at the end of the game; even Lion did more than Prishe since Lion helped you escape from the Crystal Warriors while Prishe just throws you in front of danger to do all the work) or any of those other girls. It's Vanille. Unlike those other girls, Vanille had to deal with being alone and trying to make the best choices for her situation. Unlike the other girls, Vanille didn't just react to do good, she started doing good from the beginning. Finally, Vanille had to also face a lot (being trapped in a crystal form while still being conscious for 500+ years for example).
That's why Vanille is the best female character. Some may not like Vanille because she seems like a fan service only character (or some dislike her because of the way she acts) but if you analyze her, Vanille is clearly the best female character of the series (and maybe of all time too).
Overall, that's my topic on why Vanille, Arciela, Rinoa/Lilisette/Lilith/Ultimecia (because they are all the same person obviously), Mumor, and Penelo are the greatest female characters of all time.