"Eden? The Sanctum's seat of power. Oh, that's a great idea. Just charge right in there. Give 'em a taste of l'Cie terror!"
—Sazh
Eden(エデン,Eden?), known as the "Seat of the Sanctum", is the capital city of Cocoon in Final Fantasy XIII. Named after its patron fal'Cie of the same name, it serves as the center of Cocoon's governing body, the Sanctum. Eden floats in the sky high over Cocoon and thus can only be reached by airship or a railway connected to Palumpolum.
This city, Cocoon's capital, shares its name with its fal'Cie patron. Host to the world's centers of culture and government, it functions as the heart of human society on Cocoon.
At the city's core rises the monumental Edenhall, seat of the Sanctum's administration. The fal'Cie Eden dwells deep within the structure's interior.
Little is revealed about Eden in the game's early portions other than the fact it is the seat of power for Cocoon's theocratic government. Initially, Lightning believes the fal'Cie Eden is manipulating the Sanctum and responsible for the Purge and all of the misfortune that has befallen her. She and Hope consequently spend a significant portion of the game attempting to reach Eden and exact revenge.
However, when the pair reach Palumpolum, Hope's observation that the fal'Cie treat humans "like pets" causes Lightning to realize the life she had under the fal'Cie's care was essentially meaningless, and that her plan for revenge is petty and foolish. Moreover, the party eventually discovers it is not Eden, but the Sanctum's PrimarchGalenth Dysley who is manipulating the Sanctum, and that Dysley in turn is merely a disguised form of the fal'Cie Barthandelus.
Lightning and the group prepare to face a Behemoth King.
Eden plays a key role later in the game due to the fact it houses the fal'Cie Orphan, whose destruction is revealed to be the party's "true" Focus. Because Orphan powers the entirety of Cocoon's infrastructure and its destruction essentially equates to Cocoon's destruction, the party attempts to flee to Gran Pulse to avoid their Focus, even knowing that the consequence is transforming into Cie'th.
However, Barthandelus is able to draw them back to Eden by inciting significant political and military uproar, chiefest among which is convincing the Cavalry that Orphan is the mastermind behind the recent Pulsian threats. This forces the party to return in an attempt to thwart the misguided Cavalry and put an end to Barthandelus once and for all.
The party end up returning to Eden in the middle of a grand prix race, and summon their Eidolons. While this is all happening Rygdea and the Cavalry storm Cid Raines's office and murder him, after which the entire building explodes. The fal'Cie summon Pulsian wildlife from the Fifth Ark and the oretoises and behemoths storm the capital. Yaag Rosch deploys PSICOM to fight the Pulse invasion, their target also to capture the rogue l'Cie.
The party make their way through the chaos, meeting NORA on their way. NORA go to help the civilians while the party continues onward towards Orphan. They end up fighting Yaag Rosch in his Proudclad, after which they convince him they are on the same side. Rosch commands the PSICOM forces to abandon the l'Cie operations, and instead help get the civilians to safety. He is then attacked by Humbabas, but he pulls out a grenade and detonates it, killing the monsters and himself in the process.
After Orphan's destruction, Eden is shown to lose all power and large parts of it collapse, but when Ragnarok appears above Eden, all the Pulsian wildlife is sucked into it. After Ragnarok crystallizes Cocoon, many citizens have managed to evacuate from Eden, while being aided by PSICOM and Guardian Corps forces alike.
In the early development for Final Fantasy XIII-2, Eden, the great floating city of Cocoon, has collapsed to Lake Bresha that lies at the bottom of crystallized Cocoon. Later, a different concept to the Lake Bresha version, Eden has been collapsed on Gran Pulse, at Archylte Steppe. The scene was to be in the distant future where the ancient capital of Cocoon would have been covered by different kinds of plants, flowers and other vegetation.[1]
Three of Eden's locations share their names with those of past summons (Ramuh, Siren and Leviathan).
Eden, Hanging Edge and Sunleth Waterscape were the first locations to be revealed, shown in the E3 2006 trailer, albeit their names were unknown at the time.
While standing on the Leviathan Plaza and looking at the Edenhall, there is number "13" on the left wall of the entrance.
A certain concept art was later used as a location in Serendipity in Final Fantasy XIII-2.
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Artwork of Lightning, Snow and Vanille in Eden.
Artwork of the Party and their Eidolons in Eden.
Concept art.
Concept art.
Eden in the sky in Vile Peaks concept art.
Lightning in the sky of Eden.
Grand Prix Circuit concept art.
Edenhall concept art.
Concept art of the city.
Concept art of the city (2).
Artwork of Cid's office.
City artwork (1).
City artwork (2).
City artwork (3).
Artwork.
Lightning outside Edenhall.
Eden in the night sky of Vile Peaks.
Eden seen from Fal'Cie 'Phoenix'.
Eden in Lake Bresha, concept art for Final Fantasy XIII-2.
