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Bring the chill!

Shiva, also known as the Twin Sisters of Shiva, is Snow's Eidolon in Final Fantasy XIII. The Twin Sisters, Stiria (シヴァ・スティリア, Shiva Sutiria?) and Nix (シヴァ・ニクス, Shiva Nikusu?), are ice-elemental mechanical women who can transform and merge into a motorcycle.

Profile[]

Shiva's Gestalt Mode.

The elder sister Stiria has dark blue skin with a pale blue claw mark on her right eye. She has dark blue and white color palette with bronze highlights. Stiria's torso serves as the front half of the motorcycle, with the wheel on her head as the front wheel, the protrusion near where her ears should be as the handlebars, and her legs as the exhaust pipes.

Nix has pale blue skin with a blue skintight clothing and silver metal armor. Her headdress, which becomes the back wheel well, has Etro script for "Shiva". Beneath her visor is a dark blue claw mark on her left eye. She wields a floating wheel. Nix's forearm and head serves as the backrest of the motorcycle.

The Latin writing on the sphere of ice during the summoning animation reads:

By the grace of Etro, twin rulers arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of Winter wastes.
A name in blood, a pact of ice. Shiva shall rise, her bond eternal and unyielding.
Aurora Borealis
Aurora Australis

Story[]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Final Fantasy XIII[]

Shiva Sisters

The Twin Sisters appear before Snow.

Eidolons are entities who reside in Valhalla, the middle world between the mortal realm and the unseen realm of the dead. They answer to Goddess Etro, the deity that rules over Valhalla, who sends them out to help l'Cie who struggle with their Focus.

Snow faces Stiria and Nix in Lake Bresha after remaining behind while Lightning and the others moved on. He is apprehended by PSICOM, and when surrounded, inadvertently summons Shiva. After the Shiva Sisters annihilate the PSICOM forces, the sisters turn against Snow, who must defeat them to tame them. His eidolith manifests as a heart-shaped crystal, which he can from then on take from his l'Cie brand and shatter to call forth Shiva's aid in battle.

Snow summons the Twin Sisters when the party returns to Cocoon from their excursion on Gran Pulse. They crash a grand prix event in Eden and ride through the racetrack with their Eidolons in Gestalt Mode. After Cocoon falls and is crystallized, Snow awakes with his l'Cie brand gone and is presumably no longer able to summon the Shiva Sisters.

Final Fantasy XIII-2[]

FFXIII2 The Future is Hope2

Snow sitting on his motorcycle in the paradox ending "The Future is Hope".

The Shiva Sisters help Lightning fight Caius in Valhalla, but are of different color then Snow's Shiva, suggesting they are an alternate form, like Caius's Chaos Bahamut.

Snow becomes a l'Cie again, and in the paradox ending, "The Future is Hope," he drives the Shiva motorcycle onto a quest after exposing Alyssa Zaidelle's treachery.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII[]

LRFFXIII Styria & Nix

Shiva Sisters bid farewell.

The Shiva Sisters appear during Lightning's final battle when Snow summons them to shield her. Afterward, the Shiva Sisters bid farewell to the party and disappear alongside the other Eidolons. There is also a general store in Yusnaan called Nix and Styria General Store, named after the Shiva Sisters.

Spoilers end here.

Gameplay[]

Boss[]

XIII shiva atb charge

Snow fights the Shiva Sisters.

The battle with Shiva is the first Eidolon fight in Final Fantasy XIII. The tutorial for Eidolon battles appears before the battle starts.

Since Snow fights his Eidolons alone, Stiria cannot be targeted, but instead heals Snow as he has no other support. Shiva Sisters "yield to those who defend against attacks," so the simplest method of victory is to Paradigm Shift to Sentinel and repeatedly use Steelguard.

Summon[]

While summoned, the sisters have separate ATB Gauges, but both will be dismissed if their shared SP Gauge falls to zero. This is compensated by Stiria not being able to be directly targeted. In normal mode, Stiria focuses on the Medic and Ravager roles, healing Snow and dealing ice-elemental damage to enemies. Nix focuses on a Commando role, although she does have Blizzara at her disposal. While Stiria cannot be targeted by enemies, she can still be damaged by area attacks.

Their Gestalt Gauge increases by driving up enemy chain gauges and by defending against enemy attacks as a Sentinel. In Gestalt Mode, the Shiva Sisters transform into a motorcycle Snow can ride, and Stiria's stats are used for the damage calculations.

Stats[]

Stiria has 3 ATB bars and Nix has 4. The Eidolon's rank is the sum of Snow's current Crystarium level and the number of roles Snow has advanced to level 5.

Rank SP Stiria Nix
PA MA PA MA
5 2480 177 193 188 150
6 3488 205 224 219 175
7 4768 323 355 347 277
8 12180 442 483 472 377
9 20544 1557 1702 1660 1328
10 24928 1824 1994 1995 1556
11 27420 2006 2193 2140 1712
12 30163 2207 2412 2354 1883
13 33179 2427 2653 2589 2071
14 36496 2670 2919 2848 2278
15 41971 3071 3357 3276 2620
16 50365 3685 4028 3931 3144

Stiria's abilities[]

Ability ATB Cost Description Image
Blizzard 1 Inflicts ice magic damage on one opponent. Stiria using Blizzard from FFXIII
Blizzara 2 Inflicts ice magic damage on opponents within a small radius. Stiria using Blizzara from FFXIII
Blizzaga 3 Inflicts ice magic damage on opponents within a large radius. Stiria using Blizzaga from FFXIII
Curaga 1 Fully restores summoner's HP. Stiria using Curaga from FFXIII
Esuna 1 Removes the most recently inflicted status ailment on one ally. Stiria using Esuna from FFXIII
Arise Auto Fully restores summoner's HP and removes all status ailments. Stiria using Arise from FFXIII
Penetration Auto Ignores target's fire, ice, lightning and water resistances when attacking. N/A

Against few enemies, Stiria attacks the enemy Snow is targeting with Blizzard and does nothing while her ATB gauge charges. For enemies with high hitboxes, she will use Blizzara, and for clustered or distant enemies, she will attack with Blizzaga.

If Snow is afflicted with a negative status, she casts Esuna. If Snow's HP is below 70%, she casts Curaga. If either his HP or the Eidolon's SP reaches 0, she will cast Arise before being dismissed.

Nix's abilities[]

Ability ATB Cost Description Image
Wheel Rap 1 Inflicts physical damage on one opponent. Wheel Rap from FFXIII
Flip Kick 1 Inflicts physical damage and launches a staggered opponent in the air. Flip Kick from FFXIII
Wheel Grind 1 Inflicts multiple physical damage on one opponent. Wheel Grind from FFXIII
Wheel Toss 1 Inflicts physical damage on one opponent from long range. Wheel Toss from FFXIII
Pirouette 2 Inflicts physical damage on multiple opponents within a small radius. Pirouette from FFXIII
Blizzara 2 Inflicts ice magic damage on opponents within a small radius. Nix using Blizzara from FFXIII
ATB Charge Auto ATB gauge fills with x1.5 times the normal speed. If Nix is within range of her target and her ATB gauge is less than 60% full, ATB charge activates. ATB Charge from FFXIII
Penetration Auto Ignores target's fire, ice, lightning and water resistances when attacking. N/A

Nix normally attacks the enemy Snow is targeting with Wheel Rap three times, followed by Flip Kick, Wheel Toss, or Wheel Grind. If there are many enemies close together, she will use Pirouette twice in succession. If the enemy resists physical attacks, she will attack exclusively with Blizzara. She also casts Blizzara on distant enemies.

If the enemy is staggered, she will use Flip Kick immediately if the enemy is not launched, then use Wheel Toss or Blizzara. While the ATB gauge charges, she closes in on the enemy she is targeting, and ATB Charge accelerates the charge rate.

Gestalt Mode[]

Name ATB Cost Move PS3/360 Image
Wheelie 3 Up X/Up A Wheelie from FFXIII
Charge forward and deal non-elemental damage to target.
Spinfreeze 3 Down X/Down A Spinfreeze from FFXIII
Deal ice damage to surrounding targets and launch staggered ones into the air.
Icicle Drift 3 Left or right X/Left or right A Icicle Drift from FFXIII
Deal non-elemental damage by sliding into enemies.
Ice Ramp 3 Circle/B Ice Ramp Pt1 from FFXIII
Jump off conjured ramp and deal ice damage.
Diamond Dust All Triangle/Y Diamond Dust Pt2 from FFXIII
Deal ice damage to all targets.

Diamond Dust raises the chain gauge by a various amount based on level prior to dealing damage:[2]

Level 1: 6.0 * 3 + 17.00 * 5 = 103.00
Level 2: 6.0 * 7 + 17.00 * 6 = 144.00
Level 3: 6.0 * 9 + 17.00 * 8 = 200.00

Other appearances[]

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]

Some of the Eidolons appear.

Ability Cards
Legend Cards
Ffxiirw Shivan iconThis section about Summon magic in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]

Stiria and Nix appear as enemies whose abilities may be imparted to the delegation's units as Soul Break skills.

World of Final Fantasy[]

Shiva-Ixion, a variant of Shiva based on the Shiva Sisters, appears accompanying Snow. She's one of the few Mirages that can't be imprisoned in any way.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]

The Shiva Sisters appear in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Ice-elemental Summon cards.

Final Fantasy Portal App[]

Shiva appears as a Triple Triad card.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]

Guardian Cross[]

GC Shiva

Manifest in the twin sisters Nix and Styria, this icy Eidolon sends shivers down enemy spines.

Description
Impresario-ffvi-iosThis section in Guardian Cross is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.


Behind the scenes[]

The Shiva Sisters represent the Farron sisters, Lightning and Serah.[3]

FFXIII-2 Scrapped Snow Motorcycle Minigame

Abandoned DLC idea for Final Fantasy XIII-2.

The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega reveals scrapped plans for an extension to Snow's downloadable scenario episode, titled "Perpetual Battlefield". Alongside the existing part of the episode in the Coliseum, there would have been a separate minigame in which players would play as Snow as he rode through the Archylte Steppe and try to kill 30 monsters using Snow's skillset—which included being able to spin, drift, jump and use a water-based spell. Once this part of the DLC was scrapped, it was used as a base for the Chocobo Racing minigame in Serendipity.[4]

Merchandise[]

T-shirts with Eidolon designs have been on sale in the Japanese Square Enix store. The shirts cost ¥3,900, with two versions, Odin or Shiva. The Eidolons have also been made into action figures in the Final Fantasy Creatures Kai Vol. 3 series. These figures cost ¥6,240 a piece. Final Fantasy XIII -Play Arts Kai- Shiva Bike Action Figure Set with Nix and Stiria was released in November 2010 with the Shiva Sisters, which could either be assembled separately or into a bike as they appear in Gestalt Mode.

Gallery[]

Concept art
Screenshots and renders

Etymology[]

Shiva (also spelled Śiva) is a Hindu god. The Hindu Shiva once saved the world by consuming poison, giving him blue skin around the area of the neck and throat. Shiva is a male god, but can merge with his consort Parvati to become Ardhanari, an androgynous Hindu god of duality. Shiva is the god of destruction along with Vishnu, who is the god of preservation, and Brahma, the god of creation. Together they are the three principle deities of the Trimurti (Hindu Triad). It is believed he periodically destroys the world, then recreates it.

Shiva has different human forms, males and females. When he was in his avatar form, he spent most of his times in the Himalayan snow mountain. Shiva in the Final Fantasy series is likely inspired by one of his female avatars.

The Japanese pronunciation "Shiba" could refer to the English word "shiver", which in Japanese would sound like "shi-ba" or "shi-va".

Stiria is Latin for "icicle".

The German Nix and Nixe (and Nixie) are types of river merman and mermaid who may lure men to drown, like the Scandinavian type, akin to the Celtic Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren. Nixes in folklore became water sprites who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, fish, and snake. The females with the tail of a fish. When they are in human forms, they can be recognized by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are portrayed as malicious in some stories but harmless and friendly in others.

References[]

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