livvyplaysfinalfantasy: This moment happens at 1:39 in the video. Lightning lets out a gasp the mome
livvyplaysfinalfantasy: This moment happens at 1:39 in the video. Lightning lets out a gasp the moment “Serah” reveals her real name, but she gives no other reaction and shows very little emotion. Throughout the game, Lightning has been determined to keep hold of two things, even when everything else seems lost: her pride, and her privacy. Lightning told Hope that she discarded her birth name when her parents died, thinking that a new name would give her the strength she needed to protect her sister. When Snow later asked her for her real name, she replied, “Have Serah tell you - when she comes back.” Both boys know how important that name is to her. It represents Lightning’s past, a past that she would rather not share. Lightning’s secrecy is never presented as a bad thing… which is good, because it’s not a bad thing. Unlike Vanille and Fang, Lightning has nothing to “atone” for, except with herself. She cannot forgive herself for being absent from Serah’s life while she worked long hours for the Guardian Corps, or for failing to believe that Serah had become a l'Cie. That is her own struggle, her own past, and she has every right to keep it hidden. I’ve always loved the fact that Lightning is such a secretive person, because it shows that you don’t have to sacrifice every last bit of yourself to save the day. That’s a pretty powerful message, especially for women and girls. What Barthandelus does is unearth Lightning’s greatest secret for everyone else to see, for no reason other than to get to her. He takes the one thing that has always been hers - her privacy - and shatters it before her eyes. Lightning is left too stunned for words. Snow immediately intervenes to prevent more damage from being done, which might be one of the greatest moments in his friendship with Lightning thus far. -- source link