Palutena

Palutena, the Goddess of Light
Palutena
Species	Goddess
Hair color	Green
Eye color	Green
Voiced by	Ali Hillis (2012) Brandy Kopp (2014)
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 gave her gift of flight, 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 Dark Pit. Although the Dark Pit refused to follow any leader and even refused the Underworld army, Palutena still initially set Pit on putting 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. And so with Palutena's guidance, Pit managed to make his way into the Underworld and destroyed Medusa again.

This 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. So 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 whom 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, but 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, so 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 wound 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, which was a result of the Chaos Kin managing to infect Palutena. 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 humanity 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 wasn't until three years later that Pit regained his body and discovered the situation.

Pit managed to make his way to the possessed Palutena and managed to free her from the Chaos Kin by attacking it. The reunion was shortlived, however, as the Chaos Kin proceeded to rip Palutena's soul 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 wound up sacrificing himself in the meantime by burning up his wings to save Dark Pit.

However, 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. Bur during this mission, they 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 swore off all 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 he 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 they would need a new Sacred Treasure to defeat Hades, so they went to see Dyntos. who could forge a new one. Pit was first 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 alright.

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. And once Hades was destroyed, she began to enjoy the new prosperity, while also appearing to grant Dark Pit some power of flight. She 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

• Palutena also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Within "The Subspace Emissary", she appears to give Pit his bow before he sets out on his adventure. She also appears in the background during Pit's Final Smash, when he summons Palutena's centurions to fight off the other opponents. Finally, a trophy of Palutena is also available in the game.
• She appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U as a playable character. She uses her staff, shield and magical abilities in combat. Outside of her playable appearance, in the Wii U version, when Pit does a Smash taunt in the Palutena's Temple stage, it can trigger conversations in which Pit and Palutena (sometimes interrupted by Viridi and on singular occasions Dark Pit and Chrom) discuss the other fighters in a tone similar to their Uprising banter. Her appearance is accompanied by a trophy in both versions of the game. The 3DS version also has an extra trophy for her as well as a trophy for Pseudo-Palutena, while the Wii U version has a trophy for her Final Smash.

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.