Flare

Flare Ulu (フレア・ウル) is a secondary character in Zill O'll. She may share an ending with the protagonist in the revamp, Zill O'll ~infinite~, but she is available as an optional party member only in the PSP port.

Her official age is 18 years old at the start of the game, but her canonical age is closer to 80 years old.

Role in Games
Although she is not initially aware of it, Flare is a clone of the original Priestess of the Fire God Ulkarne. The original Flare was the last descendant of the shrine's ancient founder, Ulu, and was killed by Shemhaza. He created the current Flare to appease the fire deity and to protect the temple's seal.

Shemhaza instructed his clone to always stay within the temple and to never venture down its mountain path. The village elder was the only person to visit her domain. Given no incentive to ever leave her vigil over the seal, Flare obediently obeyed him. Over the years she was aware that the Weapon of Darkness, the Imprisoning Bracelet, was being used to maintain her body. Since she believed the artifact was being used to fulfill her duty, however, Flare never questioned the elder's choice to abuse its demonic powers.

The protagonist may choose to visit her within the temple. After Shemhaza's death, he/she may choose to reveal the truth of her creation to her. Without Shemhaza's magic to sustain her, Flare accepts that she is living on borrowed time and hopes she can at least fulfill her duties to the fire god before her body deteriorates.

Like the other elemental priestesses, Flare is eventually kidnapped by Shali about midway into the game's story and used to fuel the ancient sunken kingdom, Ladlas. The protagonist may choose to locate the kingdom and stop its demonic flight. Should he/she fail to find it in time, the four priestesses will have their magic completely drained and will die when Ladlas swiftly plummets from the sky. Alternatively, the protagonist can find the kingdom before its flight but fail to save the priestesses before their magic runs out. Flare may use the last of her powers to teleport him/her to safety, but she perishes in the following crash back to earth.

If the protagonist rescues the priestesses, Flare returns to the temple in Ulkarne. A visit with her near the end of the game reveals that she is dying. She permits the protagonist's safe passage to the fire deity's seal. As his/her party visits the disembodied Ulkarne, Flare breathes her last off screen.

Her death is unavoidable in the original game, but infinite includes additional events which may lead to her survival. Flare's personal events reveals her insecurity without the elder and her desire to find her role in her limited existence. Rather than being kidnapped by Shali, the young boy entices Flare to join him for Ladlas's flight. She believes she finally has a purpose for living and willingly leaves the temple with him. If the protagonist fails to save her from Ladlas's flight, she telepathically communicates her newly discovered longing for him/her and genuinely thanks him/her before her death.

Saving her from the kingdom's fall leaves Flare confused. She doesn't understand why the protagonist would prevent her from fulfilling one of her duties nor does she understand their concern for her. When Flare's death draws near soon afterwards, the protagonist happens to see her when she collapses. As he/she walks towards her toppled form, the Imprisoning Bracelet in their possession activates and partially restores Flare's vitality. Since the bracelet's powers have been significantly weakened by Shemhaza, it poses no threat to the protagonist's soul.

The bracelet grants her enough time to perform her final duty for the fire god. After the protagonist breaks the seal over Tiera's body, Flare believes she has no further purpose for living. When the protagonist stays within Ulkarne's inn, she sneaks into his/her room during the night to search for the Imprisoning Bracelet. Her entry awakens him/her and he/she chases after her. Flare explains her actions and implores the protagonist to give her the Weapon of Darkness so she can discard it. If the protagonist agrees to do so, he/she will never see Flare again.

In the event he/she refuses, Flare responds with her conflicted thoughts for living and woefully accuses him/her of being too cowardly to end her life. Through her conflicted tears, however, Flare admits her desire to continue living due to the love she has for him/her. Since her body is too frail to travel, she patiently waits for the protagonist's return at the temple in infinite. The player can unlock additional events beyond this point in infinite plus, which leads to her recruitment in the protagonist's party.

Flare's ending can only be seen with male protagonists. He chooses to give up his adventuring life to live with her at the temple. She asks if he regrets his choice to stay with her, yet his decision to stay doesn't waver. As she bashfully cuddles next to him, Flare voices her mutual devotion to him.

Development
According to commentary in supplementary material, Flare is a character who was favored by developers since the original game. They pitied her inevitable demise and lamented that they didn't include an event to save her. When planning for the revamps began, one of the popular requests amongst the team was to include at least one scenario which lets her live.

Personality
For her entire life, Flare has been raised by Shemhaza to only focus on her duties as a priestess. As such, she equated her profession as her sole purpose in life, even objectifying herself as a "tool" or "husk" for her duty. Flare has never sought companionship as she believes it interferes with her vigil in the temple. She has never identified loneliness or any need for herself. The small mountain temple is her entire world.

Flare at first rebukes the protagonist's visits as meaningless and incomprehensible obstructions to her duty. She believes that she has absolutely no use for him/her and that they gain nothing from seeing her. The more she sees him/her, however, the more her opinions waver with the emotions she experiences. She is confused when she is happy to have his/her beside her; she is baffled when he/she insists she has more to live for beyond her role as a priestess; she doesn't understand her painful yearning for him/her. As she becomes familiar with the protagonist, Flare unknowingly addresses them by name (with the -sama honorific) and is ashamed to show him/her her dying body. It takes time for her to realize that she is in love with him/her due to their kindness towards her. She particularly feels as if she is eternally bound to heroes.

Fighting Style
Like most sorcerers, Flare possesses a strong magic stat and a wide variety of spells. Her vitality, attack, and speed are her prominent flaws. Her default weapon has a holy element, which may prove useful against certain end game bosses.

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