Come to think of it, Pearl is the very first game character tribute I've ever made. Strange much?
My attachment to video games is quite different from that of anime, manga or novels. Because every character and relationship feels so real in a game, I find it difficult to write about them in a fangirl-y manner, which more or less kills the essence of shrine-making for me. But that doesn't mean I don't want to share my opinions, and Pearl was made as an effort to overcome any barrier I might have felt before in regard to game tributes.
Why Lenne?
My love for NPCs in video games is enormous. To name a few: Schala of Chrono Trigger, Zack of FFVII, Raine of FFVIII and most recently, Larsa of FFXII if you don't count the Zodiac System remake.
Among them all, Lenne is possibly the most special even though she had the shortest screen time.
With Zanarkand's original hero gone and a battle system I (fiercely) disliked, FFX-2 didn't appeal to me as a must-play until Lenne, the mysterious songstress of a forgotten past, caught my eye. I believe that no Final Fantasy is complete without a touch of tragedy, and Lenne's presence offered exactly that: her story was simple yet heartbreaking, exotic yet hardly overdone. As FFX/X-2 fansites disappeared one after another in recent months, Lenne naturally became part of my top priority after valendia.org was registered. We've got to preserve what we can of the fandom.