Lacus Clyne

 A popular female vocalist, she became the co-leader of the Clyne Faction and leader of the Three Ships Alliance during the First Alliance-PLANT War.

Personality and Character

At first glance, Lacus appears to be naive and a bit of an airhead, but it is only due to her idealistic and pacifistic nature. Beneath the surface as a pop star and a PLANT idol, she is actually a very deep and philosophical person, as she demonstrates when she delivers speeches throughout the series - mainly about the widening rift between Naturals and Coordinators, the ironies of calling for peace yet doing so with weapons in hand, and the real causes of war as being within the human heart itself. As the leader of the Clyne Faction (and later the Three Ships Alliance and Terminal), Lacus is very charismatic, strong-willed, and determined to see their fight for peace through to the end. Like her father, Siegel Clyne, Lacus wishes to see a world where Naturals and Coordinators would willingly work together and coexist in harmony, disregarding the notion that Coordinators are an evolved species. Being a pacifist, Lacus holds a strong dislike for war, expressing that they are simply started and repeated through a neverending cycle of attack and retaliation.

Skills and Abilities

Because Lacus is a coordinator, her mind and body are enhanced above a normal human's abilities; the full aspects of her abilities are undefined. Lacus' most outstanding talents lie in singing and dancing, as she developed into an influential cultural pop icon in PLANT. She is shown to have a good sense of delegation and command for those that work under her. Lacus Clyne has the ability to enter SEED mode as well. When in SEED mode, her delegation and coordination abilities are enhanced for commanding the Eternal; her full abilities are unknown.

History

First Alliance-PLANT War

Lacus Clyne was born the daughter of PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne. She developed a career as an idol singer which brought her enormous popularity in the PLANTs. She was engaged to Athrun Zala for political reasons. Upon their engagement, Athrun went to their home to hand her a bouquet of roses much to her delight. When the First Alliance-PLANT War started, things changed between them as they are both preoccupied with their agendas during the war they rarely got the chance to meet or speak with one another. Despite that, Lacus always anticipated the day she and Athrun will meet again.

Meeting Kira Yamato

When she was dispatched on the civilian space vessel Silverwind to the ruins of Junius Seven for an upcoming memorial service, her vessel was attacked by an Earth Alliance Nelson-class battleship, which was given information by Kenav Luchini to believe that the vessel was actually a military ship. A fight broke out aboard the ship, but not before a life pod carrying Lacus was jettisoned, and departed safely away due to the efforts of Junk Guild tech Lowe Guele in his MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame. Her life pod was subsequently rescued by the Kira Yamato and brought aboard the Archangel.

Even though they are technically enemies, Lacus was kind and respectful towards everybody on board the Archangel, and most of them treated her the same way. (Sai Argyle did question whether the reason she has such a lovely singing voice was due to her genetic alterations.) However, Flay Allster refused to shake hands and scorns her kindness because she was a Coordinator. During her time on the Archangel, Lacus spent a lot of time with Kira and the two started to bond as they saw how kind the other was.

Later, when Flay's father's escort was attacked by ZAFT forces, Flay dragged Lacus to the bridge and said that she would kill Lacus if ZAFT didn't cease their attack at once. Before anyone could react her father dies when his ship, the Montgomery, exploded. Lacus showed compassion towards Flay after her father's death, despite having been threatened by her. As the ZAFT forces continue their assault, Natarle Badgiruel informed them that the Archangel had Lacus on board, thus prompting them to withdraw. When Kira nearly had an emotional breakdown on one of the observation decks due to Flay's abusive words, Lacus comforted him and learned that he shared a friendship with Athrun.

Kira later smuggled Lacus off the Archangel and returned her to Athrun, who once again beseeched him to join ZAFT. As before, Kira turned him down because he wanted to protect his friends on board the Archangel. This saddens Lacus, as she knew that Kira and Athrun are both good people that were forced to fight one another because of this war. As Athrun returned to the Vesalius with Lacus, Rau Le Creuset launched in his ZGMF-515 CGUE to begin an assault on the Archangel. Lacus quickly picked up the intercom and ordered him to stop his aggression at once, due to her being a memorial representative of Junius Seven.

Lacus momentarily stayed on the Vesalius while waiting for the ship to fetch her and return her to PLANTs. She kept on going out of her room and was told to stay there since it was a warship. Athrun then comes over to visit her. She saw Athrun stare at her worriedly and ask him what the matter was. Athrun asks her how she was feeling after being taken as a hostage. Lacus replied that Kira treated her very well, which makes Athrun angry. As he blurted out his disgust about Kira choosing to side with the Earth forces, Lacus tried to comfort him by reaching her hand to his cheek, but Athrun avoided the gesture. He then apologized and bid farewell. Before he left, Lacus pointed out the bitter expression he always had. Athrun replied that he can't exactly fight a war with a big smile on his face and shut the door leaving Lacus stunned.

The next day, Athrun escorted Lacus to the ship. Lacus was disappointed that their meeting was short. Athrun replied that everyone was worried at PLANTs. Before Lacus boarded the ship she told Athrun that she was looking forward to the day they'll meet again.

When Athrun visited Lacus at her home in PLANTs, they discussed Kira and Lacus mentions that she was quite "fond" of Kira, much to Athrun's surprise. The two then spent time walking around the garden talking. Athrun however, was unable to stay for dinner much to Lacus' disappointment since her father was going home and wanted to see him. Athrun reassured her by saying he'll come to visit her again making Lacus' face light up with anticipation and told him she'll look forward to that day. Athrun then leaned forward Lacus (she was surprised at first until she understood the gesture) with her eyes closed. Athrun then kissed her on the lips (on the cheek in the remastered version) and bid her goodbye. As Athrun left, Lacus told Mr. Pink that Athrun was really a busy person.

Second meeting with Kira

Later in the war, a wounded Kira was brought to Lacus' home by Clyne family friend Reverend Malchio. Lacus nursed Kira back to health with the help of her father and Malchio. Kira and Lacus became even closer during his stay. When Kira was unsure if it was alright for him to be there with them, Lacus assured him that he could stay at her home as long as he wanted. However, when Siegel Clyne received word of Patrick Zala's deception - that the target for Operation Spitbreak was the Earth Alliance headquarters JOSH-A in Alaska, instead of the intended Panama Base - Kira wanted to return to Earth to save his friends aboard the Archangel. In response, Lacus provided Kira with a ZAFT Red uniform and helped him steal the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam. Before he left, Lacus granted Kira "her strength" by means of a kiss on his cheek, showing him that he has her support and affection.

Because of her helping Kira, Lacus and her father Siegel were declared traitors. As part of the "Clyne Faction", they tried to inform the people about the genocidal ambitions of Patrick Zala, and Siegel was gunned down by ZAFT soldiers under Patrick Zala's command. While in hiding, Lacus met with Athrun and explained why she helped Kira and that if Athrun kept blindly following the path he was on, she and Kira would ultimately become his enemies. Just then, soldiers of the PLANT radical faction tried to assassinate her, but she and Athrun were saved by members of the Clyne Faction, notably Martin DaCosta.