I don't know about the purple guy, but I read that he's suppose to be her rival. Not sure why. I think one of the articles said that both of them (Lightning & The Purple Man) have the same goal, but they want to accomplish it in their own way. I thought Hope was annoying in the first game, but when I saw the trailer I got excited lol. He looks good though! I wonder what the rest of the characters are going to look like and who the new villain is going to be?