Palutena

Palutena, the Goddess of Light, as depicted in Uprising.
Palutena
Species	Goddess
Hair color	Green
Eye color	Green
Voiced by	Ali Hillis (2012) Brandy Kopp (2014-Present)
Debut	Kid Icarus

Palutena is the Goddess of Light who appears throughout the Kid Icarus series as a primary supporting character. She acts as a leader and a guide to Pit.

Background

Palutena was the ruler of Skyworld since the ancient times when gods and men lived together in harmony. In those times, she shared her reign with Medusa, the goddess of darkness. Palutena lived within the Palace in the Sky and sent light so that men could cultivate crops and live in happiness and peace. But Medusa disrupted the peace by ruining crops and turning people into stone. This caused Palutena to change Medusa into a hideous creature out of anger and banish her to the Underworld. However, Medusa then united with the monsters of the Underworld and waged a war against Palutena.

Classic Games

Medusa eventually won the war after a surprise attack. Palutena was imprisoned within the Palace in the Sky while Medusa took over Skyworld and turned Palutena's army into stones while stealing the Three Sacred Treasures. Palutena's strength was drained, but she was able to reach out to Pit, the leader of her bodyguards who was imprisoned in the Underworld, and gave him a bow and arrow. Pit was able to fight his way through the various monsters and rescued Palutena after destroying Medusa with the Three Sacred Treasures in the first Kid Icarus. Palutena then awarded Pit with a new body and a kiss.

The events of Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters were then set into motion by a disturbing dream experience by Palutena. She called in her soothsayer to interpret it, who said it foretold the coming of a great evil called Orcos. Palutena then summoned Pit and told him so that he could prepare for Orcos's coming by training until he was worthy of wielding the Three Sacred Treasures, which he would need to defeat Orcos. Pit had finished his task and returned to the palace just as Orcos arrived and turned Palutena into stone, then captured her. However, Pit was able to destroy Orcos and save Palutena yet again.

Uprising

After a lengthy downtime, Palutena called Pit back into action after Medusa made a surprise return and began to war against the world of humans once again. She had no idea how Medusa could have returned, but this time instead of being captured, she guided Pit as he went on missions to weaken Medusa's forces, providing both advice and friendly banter. She also granted the gift of flight to him, which Pit could only use for five minute intervals.

Together, they slowly made their way through Medusa's commanders and destroyed the Mirror of Truth, which was going to be used to produce more Underworld monsters. However, the Mirror was still able to produce a copy of Pit that would be known as Dark Pit. Although Dark Pit refused to follow any leader and even refused the Underworld army, Palutena still initially sent Pit to put an end to Dark Pit due to his penchant for violence. But after Dark Pit escaped, she refocused on the war efforts against Medusa. They only had to make a detour into outer space to retrieve the Three Sacred Treasures, which Palutena had tried to hide within constellations, only for space pirates to steal them. After resolving that mess, Pit followed Palutena's guidance as he made his way into the Underworld and destroyed Medusa again.

That seemed to be the end of the adventure, but then Hades surfaced and claimed responsibility for Medusa's resurrection. Her campaign had just been a distraction while Hades prepared his own plans. The battle soon began anew with Palutena commanding Pit against Hades's forces. She first sent him to investigate something called a Wish Seed that the Underworld forces were apparently seeking from the Immortal Phoenix at a volcano. The truth soon became apparent: there was no Seed, and Hades was really using the rumors to provoke mankind into fighting over the Seed. Palutena had Pit defeat the Phoenix anyway in order to prevent it from attacking the humans, but Hades was able to spin this into spreading rumors that the Wish Seed had been claimed in order to fan the flames of war.

Palutena tried to seek a way to pacify humanity's war, but Viridi, a goddess who Palutena knew only through reputation, intervened with her own destructive plan. She used a Reset Bomb to wipe out the whole battlefield. Viridi was seeking to tear down humanity for their crimes, while Palutena was trying to keep in mind that the humans were a lot like the gods. She then sent Pit after Viridi and had him destroy her Reset Bomb Factory. His next stop was the Lunar Sanctum that Arlon ran for Viridi. Palutena guided Pit in shutting it down while remaining unaware of its purpose. Once the Lunar Sanctum was inactive, the Chaos Kin was able to escape, but Palutena was unaware of its significance.

She then had Pit intervene in a battle between the Underworld Army and the Forces of Nature, at which point he was able to defeat another of Viridi's lieutenants, Phosphora. Soon afterwards, the war was interrupted by a sudden invasion from a mysterious alien force known as the Aurum. Under these circumstances, Viridi and Hades made a temporary truce with Palutena as they all worked together in repelling the Aurum invasion. She was even able to joke around with them. Pyrrhon ended up being more of a nuisance than an ally and became an unwilling battery for the Aurum Brain, but Pit was able to save the day.

A dramatic change soon occurred, as the Chaos Kin managed to infect Palutena at some point. It began consuming her soul while gaining control over her. Under this influence, Palutena adopted a cold and ruthless stance against humanity, and she sent her forces out to destroy both mankind and the Underworld Army. As for Pit, his soul was imprisoned in the form of a ring, while his body acted as a mindless puppet fighting for the corrupt Palutena's army. It was not until three years later that Pit regained his body and discovered the situation.

With Viridi's aid, Pit managed to make his way to the possessed Palutena and defeated the Chaos Kin in order to free her. The reunion was shortlived, as the Chaos Kin proceeded to rip Palutena's soul from her physical form and disappeared into the Chaos Vortex, while Palutena's body turned to stone. Pit and Dark Pit worked together to follow and destroy the Chaos Kin. Palutena was soon restored to her normal self, but Pit had sacrificed himself in the process, as he had burned up his wings to save Dark Pit.

The goddesses knew of a way to save Pit. Palutena and Viridi both guided Dark Pit in a trip to the Underworld to find the Reset Spring, which could restore Pit's life. During this mission, they also learned the truth of Hades' plan: he was sacrificing the souls of the dead in order to turn them into monsters, sometimes reshaping and/or combining them into monsters. Palutena was appalled by this, but Dark Pit told off all three of the gods because of the lives that were lost to their war. Dark Pit was able to successfully revive Pit at the Rewind Spring, and Pit was finally reunited with Palutena.

They were then able to return to the goal of defeating Hades. Palutena sent Pit into the Underworld with the Three Sacred Treasures to fight Hades, but the plan went awry. The Treasures were destroyed, and Pit was swallowed by Hades. Dark Pit was eventually able to save Pit, at which point Palutena pulled them both out from the area. Palutena realized that they would need a new Sacred Treasure to defeat Hades, so they went to see Dyntos. who could forge a new one. Pit was then subjected to Dyntos's Three Trials. Palutena was there to guide Pit through most of these challenges, except for one in which the enemy appeared to be a Palutena who was under the Chaos Kin's control again. However, that enemy turned out to be a hideous Pseudo-Palutena, and the real one was still her normal self.

With the Trials complete, Pit was given a giant mech suit known as the Great Sacred Treasure. Palutena continued to observe and advise Pit during his final battle with Hades. Once Hades was destroyed, she began to enjoy the new prosperity, while also appearing to grant Dark Pit some power of flight. Palutena and Pit tried to talk reason into Viridi regarding the finer points of humanity, since in the end, the gods were as flawed as the humans were.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi design based on Palutena's appearance could be unlocked by scanning her amiibo.
• In Super Mario Maker, an 8-bit version of Palutena's modern design appeared as one of the Mystery Mushroom costumes that Mario could transform into. Her costume could be unlocked by completing a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or harder, or by scanning her amiibo.

Super Smash Bros.

Palutena has appeared in several games of the Super Smash Bros. series, starting with a non-playable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and then appearing as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She uses her staff, shield and magical abilities in combat. In Ultimate, she is an unlockable character who can be unlocked through the game's variable-based system for unlocking characters, or by awakening her in Adventure Mode.

Non-Playable Appearances

Her appearances in Brawl included a cameo appearance in "The Subspace Emissary", where she gave Pit his bow before he set out on his adventure. She also appeared in the background during Pit's original Final Smash, which involved him summoning Palutena's centurions to fight off the other opponents.

In the Wii U game and Ultimate, Palutena can also appear in special Palutena's Guidance conversations that can be triggered by smash taunting with Pit in the Palutena's Temple stage. In these conversations, Pit and Palutena discuss another fighter present on the battlefield in a tone similar to their banter from Uprising. They usually discuss a mix of general information on the character's personality and/or history as well as information on how they battle in the game. Viridi often joins in on these conversations, and there are also singular conversations where Dark Pit, Chrom (in the 3DS/Wii U game) or Alucard (in Ultimate) also take part in conversations.

Ultimate: Adventure and Classic Modes

In the Adventure Mode of Ultimate, she was seen in the opening cutscene, where she tried to erect a magical barrier against Galeem's beam of light, only for it to still overtake her. After she was taken by the beam, it causes Pit and Dark Pit to lose their powers of flight and fall to the beams as well. Palutena could later be found in the area known as The Final Battle, where she was under the control of Galeem and was one of the last champions (and the last of the brainwashed fighter) fighting for the forces of light. Defeating her in battle would awaken her true self and recruit her into the playable roster.

Palutena's personal Classic Mode route as called "A Little Divine Intervention". It followed the theme of Palutena fighting opponents from series in which some sort of deities, gods or spirits were prevalent, ending with a battle against a group of Pits and Dark Pits and a boss battle with Master Hand (and Crazy Hand on higher difficulties).

Trophies/Spirits

Palutena has also been represented by a trophy in Brawl, two trophies in the 3DS/Wii U installment plus a trophy for her Final Smash in the Wii U game and a trophy for Pseudo-Palutena in the 3DS version, as well as two Spirits (a Fighter Spirit of herself and a Novice-rank Support Spirit of Pseudo-Palutena) in Ultimate.

Other Media

• Several official anime shorts were created to promote the release of Uprising, and Palutena has appearances in all of them. In Thanatos Rising, she fulfills her usual role as Pit's adviser in battle, and in Medusa's Revenge, she narrates the backstory of Medua. She is the main character of the third short, Palutena's Revolting Dinner, where she attempts to cook a vegetable surprise for Pit, but she accidentally brings all of the vegetables to life and ends up fending them off when they try to attack er. There was also later an anime trailer that was used to reveal Palutena's presence in the fourth Super Smash Bros., in which Palutena intervenes in a battle between Link and Pit.

Trivia

• Her name is based on Pallas Athena, the Greek god of wisdom and war.