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Spira (Final Fantasy X)
Encyclopedia
The fictional events of the Square Enix
role-playing video games Final Fantasy X
and Final Fantasy X-2
take place in a world called . As befits its name, Spira is characterized by cycles and repetition, such as the spiral of death that the world endures, the many spheres found in Spira, the Blitzball sphere pools, the prayer to Yevon, the Sphere Grid, and Spira's cycle of life energy emerging from within the planet's core, granting life to all its living inhabitants, and then returning to the core when a life form dies.
As an invention of Square Enix, Spira is one of the first Final Fantasy worlds to feature consistent, all-encompassing spiritual and mythological influences within the planet's civilizations and their inhabitants' daily lives. The world of Spira itself is very different from the mainly Europe
an-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on southeast Asia
, most notably with respect to its vegetation, topography and architecture. For Zanarkand, the Uzbek
city of Samarkand
has been cited as an inspiration.
atmosphere of Final Fantasy VII
and Final Fantasy VIII
, instead desiring a "simple fantasy world". To Kitase, the word "fantasy" did not indicate a purely medieval-European setting, so he intentionally set out with the objective of redefining the stereotype held in players' minds. Conveniently, character designer Tetsuya Nomura
had expressed an interest in designing a world with a dominantly Asian theme, and thus, the world of Spira was born in the minds of its creators.
For his part, Nomura identified the South Pacific
, Thailand
, and Japan
as major influences on the cultural and geographic design of Spira, particularly in regard to the geographic locations of Besaid and Kilika. He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games most notably in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process.
The main landmass of Spira is surrounded by small islands, including: Besaid, a tropical town serving as the origin of Yuna's pilgrimage; Kilika, a larger island featuring dense jungles and numerous conflicts during the games; and the desert island of Bikanel, which is also the location of the Al Bhed's headquarters — "Home". The ruins of Baaj Temple are on an island to the south of the Spira mainland; this is where Tidus begins his journey in Spira.
The mainland of Spira is where the bulk of Final Fantasy X takes place. The southernmost location, Luca, is a large city home to Spira's pastime, Blitzball. North of Luca is the mountainous area of Djose, which features a Yevonite temple. Connecting Luca and Djose are several roads: the Mi'ihen Highroad, a historical path that features Chocobo
s for transportation; the Mushroom Rock Road, home of the failed operation to defeat Sin; and Djose Highroad, a rocky path that forks north into the Moonflow and east to Djose Temple.
The Moonflow is a large river running through the heart of Spira, featuring shoopuff rides, ancient ruins, and a high density of pyreflies. A path from the Moonflow leads to Guadosalam, home of the Guado race and the gateway to the . North of Guadosalam are the Thunder Plains, which are the site of a never-ending thunderstorm made safe by lighting rods calibrated by the Al Bhed. The Thunder Plains lead into Macalania, a sparkling forest complemented by a frozen lake and a Yevonite temple.
Bevelle, the spiritual center of the Yevon religion, lies on a thin strip of land slightly north of Macalania. The city is built as a series of layers, with the headquarters of Yevon located at the top. The Via Purifico, located beneath Bevelle, serves as an oubliette for outcasts. Further north are the Calm Lands, a series of plains that have been the site of numerous battles in Spira's history; the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, an equally historical area; and Mt. Gagazet, home of the Ronsos. Lastly, the sacred city of Zanarkand is on the northern tip of the Spiran mainland, reduced to ruins by the Machina War one thousand years before the events of Final Fantasy X.
Final Fantasy X-2 features several changes to the locations of Spira. The Djose Temple, abandoned by a faltering Yevon after Final Fantasy X, becomes the headquarters of the Machine Faction; likewise, the Youth League sets up their headquarters at the site of the failed operation on the Mushroom Rock Road. Bevelle remains the capital of the New Yevon faction, although the game introduces a large, technological area hidden beneath the city. Several new enterprises have been started, including: a new pastime in Luca called Sphere Break; a group of entertainers at the Moonflow; a tourist service at the Zanarkand Ruins; and machina transportion in favor of Chocobos on the Mi'ihen Highroad. Lastly, the death of the Aeons at the end of Final Fantasy X causes the Macalania forest and lake to melt, sinking the former Yevon temple and destroying the forest's life. Final Fantasy X-2 also introduces floating ruins atop Mt. Gagazet, and previously unexplored caverns throughout Spira.
. They are also allowed to participate in the Yevon-sponsored blitzball tournaments. Rikku
is an Al Bhed, and Yuna
is part Al Bhed on her mother's side. With the collapse of the teachings of Yevon and the wider acceptance of machina at the end of Final Fantasy X, prejudice against the Al Bhed seems to have eased significantly by the time of Final Fantasy X-2, though it is still present.
The Al Bhed speak their own 'language' which is really just a substitution cipher
of English, a system of transposing certain letters for others; however, within the game world, it is intended to be an actual language. It shares the same syntax
and grammar of English
. The original Japanese version of the cipher uses the syllable
-based kana
system of writing where each symbol represents a combination of "consonant + vowel" (or simply a vowel). Certain keywords are not translated into Al Bhed in the game, to give the impression of use of loanwords compared to modern foreign languages. Most keywords are proper noun
s, but some common nouns also are not translated, such as "fiend" ("Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!"/A fiend! In human disguise!), "magic" ("Ouin bnaleuic magic yht Aeons yna caymat"/Your precious magic and Aeons are sealed), and "airship".
s do not have any overwhelming skill in magic or in fighting, but are suited to fit into whatever role they are needed in. They are described as an ethnically and politically diverse species.
s. The Hypello live primarily in and around the area of the Moonflow. Though extremely quick and agile swimmers, they are curiously the only race in Spira that does not participate in blitzball tournaments, as their "lackadaisical disposition draws them to less strenuous pastimes", or, put more simply, because of their laid-back nature. Many other people find it hard to tell Hypello apart, male and female. The male Hypello are all voiced by John DeMita
.
-like humanoid
s who live on Mt. Gagazet, which they consider sacred and guard fiercely. Ronso are formidable warriors, being much taller and stronger than humans, and are known for their strong sense of honor and loyalty, as well as their pride and quickness to anger. Kimahri has no particular path on the Sphere Grid, and according to Lulu "Has learned the Fiends way of fighting". This references his overdrive, which is the use of an enemy ability he has learned. He is similar to the Blue Mage class in other Final Fantasy games. The long, sharp horn sported by all adult male Ronso is a symbol of esteem and a source of great pride to the wearer, and to lose this horn is considered extremely shameful. Kimahri Ronso, one of Yuna
's guardians in Final Fantasy X
, is something of an outsider among his people, being of comparatively small stature and having previously lost his horn in a fight with one of his peers. Near the end of Final Fantasy X, Seymour Guado rampaged up Mt. Gagazet and killed all in his path in pursuit of Yuna. Of those killed during his ascent of the slope, many (or potentially all) were Ronso, including Maester (although he relinquishes this title) Kelk Ronso (the current elder). After the Eternal Calm began, Kimahri returned to Gagazet to help rebuild his home and restore his people's honor. He was named elder of the tribe by his kinsmen, and has resided on Gagazet ever since. But Seymour's genocide was not forgotten, instead sparking hatred and plans of revenge among the recovering Ronso tribe. Filled with hatred for the slaughter of their people, the Ronso youth came to despise the Guado, whom they felt were responsible for supporting Seymour as their leader.
Spira also features various animal species. Although most of these are drawn from real animals, such as cats, dogs, birds and butterflies, a few fictional species appear, such as the gigantic shoopuf and the chocobo. Both are used primarily for transport purposes. Most other unusual creatures encountered in Final Fantasy X are fiends, monsters created from the restless dead by Pyreflies to devour the living.
During Final Fantasy X, life in Spira is simple, as technological advancement has come to a halt in the one thousand years since Sin's appearance and the rise of the Yevonite religion. For several hundred years, the population's culture revolved around the temples of Yevon. A strict code of accepted social behaviors—such as distrust towards the Al Bhed race and their use of "machina", a perpetual fear of Sin, and atonement for past sins—were common characteristics of devout Yevonites.
Tensions between the various races exist, mainly with regards to the Al Bhed's ostracism from the rest of Spira due to religious beliefs. However, other hostilities exist. Midway through Final Fantasy X and throughout most of Final Fantasy X-2, the Ronso (with the notable exception of Kimahri) become openly hostile towards the Guado, due to the Guado leader, Seymour Guado, massacring many of the Ronso.
Blitzball, a worldwide sport
ing pastime in Spira, is one of the few ways that all the races in Spira can come together and find temporary escape from the hardships of the world. By the beginning of Final Fantasy X-2 however, the dismantling of the Yevon temples had resulted in each individual in Spira trying to adjust to a world without religion in their own way. The defeat of Sin also allowed the population to become more fun-loving and carefree, with many individuals now actively pursuing leisures such as blitzball, attending concerts (starring the former summoner Yuna), and taking part in a coin-collecting fad called Sphere Break.
At Yevon's order, most of the surviving common citizens and summoners of Zanarkand gave up their lives to become fayth, whom Yevon would then use to conjure a summoned form of Zanarkand, using their memories as the basis for this massive summon. This summoned replica of the city was to be an ideal paradise, removed from conflict and those who would infringe upon this city's tranquility. This summoned version of the real Zanarkand is called .
To accomplish this, Yevon manifested the city out at sea in an undisclosed location, far removed from the Spiran mainland and the warmongering Bevelle. As an added protective measure, Yevon created a gravity magic-forged armor. Using the gravity magic to surround himself with pyreflies, he led them to create an armor that would terrify all Spira: the monster known as . However, not only was this armor designed to protect Dream Zanarkand, but he also "programmed" it to attack areas with high populations and advanced technology, thus bringing technological progress to a halt and keeping the people of the mainland from giving much thought to what may lie far out at sea.
Unfortunately for Yevon (now to be known as "Ebon-Ju", or "Yu Yevon" in English, meaning "the Curse of Yevon"), maintaining his summoned city and creating Sin was a greater strain on his human mind than even he—who was considered peerless amongst summoners—could handle. His humanity rapidly faded, and all that was left was the instincts to maintain the summoning (Dream Zanarkand), and to protect this summoning from other Spirans, by means of terrorising them enough to quash curiosity about what was out in the ocean, and by destroying all means they had of finding (even accidentally) or threatening Dream Zanarkand . Sin's first act as an instinctive beast, "programmed" to destroy advanced technology, was to decimate the original Zanarkand. Sin would then go on to bring dread to Spira's citizens for a millennium.
The teachings of Yevon—said to have been left by Yevon to his daughter, Lady Yunalesca—were implemented by Bevelle to maintain order. They did so by leading Spirans to believe that Spira may someday be free of Sin, should they atone for their "sins". In actuality, Yunalesca and Yevon are believed to have planned it this way from the start. Bevelle believed Sin to be an aeon summoned by Yevon as revenge for conquering Zanarkand's defenders. In a deal with Yunalesca to appease Yevon's wrath, she offered to provide them with a means to maintain order and hope for the common people—Yevon's teachings—in exchange for them ensuring that Yevon be praised and glorified. They agreed, and the temples of Yevon were born, teaching that machina were forbidden (another means of preventing advanced technology from revealing Dream Zanarkand's location), that Sin was a result of humanity's pride and use of machina in the first place, and that Sin could only be vanquished when humanity had attained purity and been cleansed of its past sins. Until then, it was said that only the ritual known as "the Final Summoning" would provide brief reprieves from Sin's terror, called the .
Calms would come when a summoner managed to complete the summoner's pilgrimage, obtaining their Final Aeon from the unsent spirit of Yunalesca in the ruins of Zanarkand. Yunalesca herself was the first high summoner, transforming her husband Zaon into a fayth, and using him as her Final Aeon to defeat Sin. The Final Summoning requires that the bond between the summoner and the individual who becomes a fayth for the Final Summoning be a powerful, personal bond, such as that between siblings, friends, or spouses. Only then would the bond between the Final Aeon and the summoner provide enough power to shatter Sin's armor. Unfortunately, the art of the Final Summoning only ensured that Sin would return, as Yu Yevon's spirit would emerge from the cracked armor of the defeated Sin, and possess the Final Aeon that had destroyed the monstrosity, using that Final Aeon as the core for a new Sin, beginning the cycle anew. The Final Aeon, now in the control of Yu Yevon, kills the no longer needed summoner. Yunalesca herself faced this fate, but her conviction to pass on the Final Summoning kept her in Spira as an unsent. After the defeat of Sin, the Calm would then follow, providing a brief period of respite from Sin's destruction while Yu Yevon created a new Sin around the Final Aeon he had possessed.
Thus it was for one thousand years: Sin would be defeated, the summoner who achieved the feat would die, and Sin would be born anew, then defeated and born anew, again and again, leaving destruction and sorrow in its wake all across Spira. This repetition of death was known as "the spiral of death". The spiral of death had repeated itself at least five times before the beginning of Final Fantasy X.
During their pilgrimage in Final Fantasy X, Yuna and her guardians came to learn of the corruption, hypocrisy and horrific internal workings in Bevelle. Their victory set the people free.
Many new groups began to appear at this time, including the Youth League, the New Yevon Party, the Machine Faction, and various sphere hunter groups. Both the Youth League and New Yevon sought High Summoner Yuna's support in the hopes of bolstering their political presence, but she chose to remain neutral, instead becoming a sphere hunter. As time went on, tensions between the Youth League and New Yevon began building toward a violent head, but Yuna managed to prevent history from repeating itself by showing the people the folly of such conflicts. The coming of the Eternal Calm also brought the discovery of ancient ruins atop Mt. Gagazet, as well as a civilization of cactuars called the "Cactuar Nation".
Sometime during the two-year gap between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, the once-sacred ruins of Zanarkand were transformed into a tourist attraction by former summoner Isaaru and Al Bhed leader Cid; Yuna
and Rikku
—Yuna in particular—were both understandably angered by this, Rikku going so far as to state that it was like "turning the ruins of Home into a theme park".
, Persia
, Arabia
, Greece
, and Rome
.
are regarded as a symbol of impermanence and the human soul.
Though they have been harnessed to many uses, both good and ill, they appear to lack self-awareness and any identifiable agenda in their inert form. In this respect, they would seem to be nothing more than an aspect of nature, permeating everything and everyone in Spira. Pyreflies are usually invisible, but can be seen when a fiend is killed or when a summoner performs a sending (in which the spirits of the dead are sent back to the Farplane, Spira's core). Despite their rare appearances elsewhere, they are regularly seen around the Moonflow, Zanarkand, or within the Farplane. The Al Bhed hold a theory that pyreflies are responsible for images of the dead that appear on the Farplane, believing that pyreflies react to a person's memories and show them images of people they knew. However, only images of the dead—and specifically the dead whose pyreflies have been sent to the Farplane—will appear.
Summoners are able to manipulate pyreflies in the formation of aeons—and in the sending of the souls of the dead—due to an inherent affinity for harnessing and channeling spiritual energy. Only a few people on Spira have "the gift" of being able to manipulate spirit energy to form aeons, although there are many humans and fiends around Spira who can harness this magical energy to perform magic spells. The Guado especially have an affinity for this, due to their race having lived in close proximity to the Farplane for generations. However, very few black mages and white mages are able to become summoners, and even fewer can withstand the hardships of a summoner's pilgrimage and become high summoners, the honorific title given to the summoners who completed their pilgrimage and defeated Sin.
Aside from X and its sequel, pyreflies have only appeared in one other Square-Enix game to date: Kingdom Hearts II
. A similar concept however has been present in many earlier Final Fantasy games, most notably Mako and Materia in Final Fantasy VII
. They also briefly appeared but without explanation at the death of Fickblix in Final Fantasy XI
.
If the sending is not performed, the body's spirit may remain trapped in the physical plane. Depending on the circumstances of his or her death, that spirit may grow envious of the living. Eventually, this envy grows into hatred so strong as to cause the unsent spirit's pyreflies to coalesce in the form of a fiend, a fully substantial and dangerous monster. It is known, however, that someone who accepts death while still alive will travel to the Farplane after death without any assistance. This is seen in the cases of both Tidus' mother and Yuna's father, High Summoner Braska, a summoner who willingly gave his life in battle with Sin.
The unsent are usually unwilling to enter the Farplane using the gateway in Guadosalam. This is believed to be because they may be physically unable to leave once they have done so and are wary of taking the risk. They are also vulnerable to the effects of the sending, which can banish the disembodied spirit to the Farplane and disperse their pyreflies, usually no matter how strong the will that binds them. There have, however, been three notable exceptions to the practice of permanently banishing an unsent. In the case of Maester Jyscal Guado, his spirit manifested in his living form twice after death and emerged from the Farplane, despite having been sent prior to both occasions (the first time by his son, Maester Seymour, and the second time by High Summoner Yuna). He first re-emerges when seen walking directly out of the Farplane gate in Guadosalam. His second return is discovered in Final Fantasy X-2 in the Via Infinito beneath the city of Bevelle. The other case of an enduring unsent is seen in Final Fantasy X-2, as the unsent known as "Shuyin" enters the Farplane of his own volition and displays no difficulty maintaining his form there. After the party's battle with the Unsent Lady Yunalesca in FFX, it is discovered that Auron himself is an Unsent. This idea is hinted at earlier in the game, when Auron refuses to enter the Farplane. Auron is finally sent when Yuna performs the Sending of her Aeons, in order to defeat Sin. Yuna initially notices this and hesitates to continue, but Auron tells her to continue doing so, having finally fulfilled his promise to his friends.
The most notable difference between fiends and the unsent is that, while fiends are instinctual creatures whose primary behavior is to prey on the living, unsent are in control of their own minds as well as the pyreflies that compose their forms. This level of control enables unsent not only to keep their form, but also to alter it as they see fit. Despite their differences, both powerful fiends and powerful unsent can attract fiends or instill malevolence in inert pyreflies. Unsent also show adept-level control over pyreflies in their use of high level magic, possibly due to their high affinity with pyreflies.
", such as the meaning used by Plato, who used the word "aeon" to denote the eternal world of ideas and the Gnostic who call aeons the various emanations of their gods.
During the events of Final Fantasy X, the fayth of the aeon Bahamut (housed in Bevelle) serves as the chosen representative of the fayth as a collective. The fayth aids High Summoner Yuna
and her guardians in bringing the spiral of death to an end, which results in their own passing. In Final Fantasy X-2, the fayth return in their aeon forms, this time having been overcome by the despair and malice of Shuyin, rendering them his unwilling puppets of chaos. Yuna and her allies must unite to free both the fayth and Shuyin from the darkness that has consumed them.
Ten aeons are identified in Final Fantasy X: Valefor, Ifrit, Shiva, Ixion, Bahamut, Anima, Yojimbo and the three Magus Sisters. Each one of these aeons has a fayth associated with it, but there are many more fayth on Mt. Gagazet, being used by Yu Yevon to summon Dream Zanarkand. The game builds on mythological figures through the inclusion of the aeons (see list of aeons), such as the Arabic Ifrit
, the Hindu
deity Shiva
and even the Jungian figure Anima
and the demon Valefor
. Although both Valefor and Anima are generally thought to be male, they are both revealed to be female (Anima, according to Carl Jung
, is the feminine side of a male's unconscious mind). After obtaining the airship and re-visiting the chamber of the Fayth at Besaid Temple, Valefor's fayth, a little girl, appears. As for Anima, she was Seymour Guado's mother before sacrificing herself to become the fayth for his Aeon and can be found at Baaj Temple.
series, most notably Final Fantasy VII, where the planet's Lifestream (the massive collective of that world's spiritual energy) takes the form of tendrils of flowing green energy. Through both natural and artificial processes, the Lifestream condenses into and is crystallized into a solid form called "materia" (analogous to Spira's spheres). (It should be noted that the producer of Mako in FF VII is a mega-corporation called Shinra, whose practice of harnessing mako was killing the planet.)
In interviews published in the Final Fantasy X Ultimania
Ω and Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania guidebooks, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima
and producer Yoshinori Kitase
revealed that Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X-2 share a plot-related connection, in which the Shin-ra corporation in Final Fantasy VII is founded on another planet after about one thousand years, after space travel became possible, by descendants of Shinra of the Gullwings in Final Fantasy X-2. This connection was conceived of only after Final Fantasy X was already finished and realized in Final Fantasy X-2 riding on the success of the original game. Thus, this plot element is not reflected in the gameplay or storylines of Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X.
Yevon picks and chooses what machina it allows the people to use. The general rule is that any machina that has applications as a weapon are forbidden. This means that benign machina, such as the blitzball stadium and the shoopuf lifts on the Moonflow, are allowed by the clergy. Yevon holds that the reason no weapon-based machina are allowed is that they will reignite the war of one thousand years ago which brought Sin to Spira in the first place (choosing to leave out the fact that Sin was created by Bevelle’s enemy, Yu Yevon, a Zanarkand summoner, as a means of destroying Bevelle). While this explanation is partially true, the real reason the church keeps checks on machina is to control the denizens of Spira, as the church freely uses machina weapons for its own purposes. Since the church is the only power in Spira with machina weapons, it can easily squash any rebellion its citizens might try to enact, ensuring its dominance. It is for this reason that the Al Bhed are so dangerous to the Yevon clergy: since the Al Bhed also freely use machina as well, they are a threat to the church’s previously uncontested control of Spira.
Late in the game, it is revealed that the Final Summoning has no true hope of ever defeating Sin, and is simply a ruse to keep the clergy in power and the people ignorant as to Sin’s true nature. The Yevon religion commands that a summoner have at least one Guardian; this is to ensure that when a summoner reaches Zanarkand, there is always an available soul to become the Final Aeon. Because Guardians are not allowed within Fayth Chambers, they are not aware of many of the secrets of Yevon, and by the time they do become aware of any possible secrets, the death of Summoner and Guardian effectively keeps the secret. The maesters (with the possible exception of Kelk Ronso; it is never revealed how many of the church’s secrets he does and does not know) know full well of this deception, but continue to instill it in the people to remain in power. It is also revealed that Yo Mika, the man who has been Yevon’s grand maester for the past fifty years, is actually an unsent. Likewise it is revealed that Yevon set up the disastrous Operation Mi’ihen as nothing more than a means to instill further loyalty to the teachings. By making the Crusaders use machina that the church knew would never win against Sin, the church set them up to fall. The plan was that the Crusaders who used the machina would be ex-communicated; then when the Operation was a disaster any survivors would come to the conclusion that the only path to destroy Sin lay in the teachings (using forbidden machina clearly didn’t work), and that any path that deviated from Yevon would lead to ruin. Through several clever manipulations such as these, the church has continued to remain in power.
By the end of Final Fantasy X, the Yevon religion was effectively disbanded once evidence of its corruption was discovered, and its remaining priests volunteered the truth. Half a year later, the moral teachings of Yevon were revitalized in the form of the New Yevon Party, later led in Final Fantasy X-2 by Praetor Baralai. Although technically a splinter group of Yevon, the New Yevon party was not a religion, but a simple philosophy, their motto and position on Spira's advancement being "One thing at a time".
. As of the events of Final Fantasy X, Grand Maester Yo Mika had held the position for fifty years. The Grand Maester is both religious and political leader of Spira, being in command of a large army of warrior monks with which Yevonite government is enforced.
Below the grand maester are three positions simply referred to by the title a station similar to that of a Cardinal
. The maesters have many duties within the Yevon order including making laws, presiding over Yevon’s High Court, and overseeing Yevon's civil, military, and spiritual affairs. A representative of each of Spira's three main races serves as a maester: Maester Wen Kinoc represents the regular humans; Maester Seymour Guado represents the Guado; and Maester Kelk Ronso represents the Ronso tribe.
The next step down are the priests of Yevon. Their job is to attend to the temples throughout the land. Each temple has a high priest who presides over the temple and its staff, much like an abbot, head monk or a mother superior. Maester Seymour himself is the high priest of Macalania Temple. Many priests are summoners or former summoners, and tend to wear multicolored vestment
s of white, green and orange. Additionally, male human priests are bold or bare shaven heads
while female priests and male non-human priests such as Jyscal and Kelk retain their hair, as does the half-human, half-Guado Seymour.
Below the priests are the , a position that is something of a cross between a saint
and a miko
. Summoners are charged with the greatest responsibility of all: to journey to Zanarkand, obtain the Final Aeon and destroy Sin, and thus giving Spira a decade of Calm before Sin returns. Summoners also perform the sending, the ritual that guides the souls of the dead to peace on the Farplane. The title of which was always given posthumously until High Summoner Yuna brought the Eternal Calm, refers to summoners who have defeated Sin.
Lastly, Yevon has a number of acolytes, similar to deacon
s, laypersons
or nun
s. They work throughout Spira performing various duties for the temples.
.
The Crusaders (formerly known as the "Crimson Blades") were a loosely-knit army that existed to protect towns and temples from Sin. The group was founded by Lord Mi'ihen, who made a journey to Bevelle 800 years ago to calm the maesters' fears that he was assembling an army to conquer them. Mi'ihen managed to win their trust, and the Crimson Blades were thereafter inducted into the Yevon clergy as the Crusaders. The road Mi'ihen had walked was renamed the "Mi'ihen Highroad" in his honor. Unlike guardians, Crusaders are directly related to the temples. No non-Yevonite is permitted to serve as a Crusader, although there are unofficial chapters composed entirely of people who have been excommunicated. All of the Crusaders were excommunicated, however, when they set up Operation Mi'ihen, a joint Crusader-Al Bhed attempt to destroy Sin with a giant machina weapon. The operation failed and the Crusaders were largely eradicated in the process. Those that survived either joined the Youth League or the Leblanc Syndicate.
The Crimson Squad was formed around the time of Operation Mi'ihen. The temples of Yevon intended to create a group that would be an elite unit to replace the recently excommunicated Crusaders, and conducted a training and selection process for the Crimson Squad, of which the best candidates would be assigned leadership of Crusader chapters across Spira. However, only three candidates survived the final exercise – Baralai, Nooj
and Gippal, all of whom would eventually lead one of the three political factions during the events of Final Fantasy X-2 – all of whom were targeted for execution thereafter due to what they had learned of Vegnagun, a giant machina relic of Bevelle's hidden past with power enough to destroy the whole of Spira if used improperly. With the three candidates in hiding and the rest dead, the group was never put into action. Unlike the Crusaders, non-Yevonites (such as Gippal) were allowed to train with the Crimson Squad.
Guardians are similar to bodyguard
s, and are the protectors of summoners, though not directly related to the temples. A summoner chooses any number of guardians to accompany him or her on the quest for the Final Aeon, and the guardians are not required to be Yevonites – although choosing non-Yevonite guardians is not only rare, but also looked down upon by some – as was the case with Rikku
, who was Al Bhed. The unofficial title of "Legendary Guardian" was used in reference to Auron, because he was the only guardian that managed to survive the process of killing Sin, even though the creature revived once again, as well as being fatally wounded by Lady Yunalesca.
Chocobo
Knights are an elite group of crusaders who ride into battle on Chocobos. Lucil, Elma, and Clasko are the only three that the player directly encounters, though it is shown during Operation Mi'ihen that there are many more among the ranks of the Crusaders. Their main duty is to protect the Mi'ihen High road and to fight Sin. When the Eternal Calm became, The Chocobo Knights disbanded and joined the Youth League.
. This is the traditional greeting of Yevonites one to another, especially among the clergy. The gesture evolved from the blitzball sign for victory.
Additionally, summoners are obligated to perform a "sending" (a dance that sends the souls of the deceased to the Farplane, a place that grants eternal rest) preventing the pyreflies of the dead from manifesting as fiends.
Aside from these two practices, the most well known practice is that of singing the . During the entire millennium before the Eternal Calm, the fayth residing in the inner sanctum of each temple could be heard singing the Hymn of the Fayth. It is initially described as a gift from Yevon himself, given to soothe the hearts of the faithful and the souls of the dead. However, it is later revealed that it was in fact a song sung by the people of Zanarkand in defiance of Bevelle. After the defeat of Zanarkand and the creation of Sin, those groups of people who still stood in open defiance of Bevelle and the newly formed temples of Yevon, continued to sing the song in protest. After initially placing a ban on the hymn, the temples decided — in an attempt to bury the fact that Yevon had been an enemy of Bevelle — to claim the song as their own, and it eventually became a part of Yevon's official dogma.
Though the Hymn's words apparently have no discernible meaning within the context of Spira, their lyricist and scenario writer, Kazushige Nojima, composed a small puzzle with the lyrics, using Japanese syllables. Their co-composer, Nobuo Uematsu
, also composed the music while co-composer, Masashi Hamauzu
, arranged the music as well. When properly deciphered, they form sentences that translates thus:
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
role-playing video games Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth title in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and will be re-released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2012...
and Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X-2
is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X...
take place in a world called . As befits its name, Spira is characterized by cycles and repetition, such as the spiral of death that the world endures, the many spheres found in Spira, the Blitzball sphere pools, the prayer to Yevon, the Sphere Grid, and Spira's cycle of life energy emerging from within the planet's core, granting life to all its living inhabitants, and then returning to the core when a life form dies.
As an invention of Square Enix, Spira is one of the first Final Fantasy worlds to feature consistent, all-encompassing spiritual and mythological influences within the planet's civilizations and their inhabitants' daily lives. The world of Spira itself is very different from the mainly Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, most notably with respect to its vegetation, topography and architecture. For Zanarkand, the Uzbek
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
city of Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
has been cited as an inspiration.
Concept and creation
In speaking about the inspiration behind Spira, producer Yoshinori Kitase recounted that players had found fault with the sci-fiScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
atmosphere of Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
and Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII
is a role-playing video game released for the PlayStation in 1999 and for Windows-based personal computers in 2000. It was developed and published by Square as the Final Fantasy series' eighth title, removing magic point-based spell-casting and the first title to consistently use realistically...
, instead desiring a "simple fantasy world". To Kitase, the word "fantasy" did not indicate a purely medieval-European setting, so he intentionally set out with the objective of redefining the stereotype held in players' minds. Conveniently, character designer Tetsuya Nomura
Tetsuya Nomura
is a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
had expressed an interest in designing a world with a dominantly Asian theme, and thus, the world of Spira was born in the minds of its creators.
For his part, Nomura identified the South Pacific
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as major influences on the cultural and geographic design of Spira, particularly in regard to the geographic locations of Besaid and Kilika. He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games most notably in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process.
Geography
The mainland of Spira is where the bulk of Final Fantasy X takes place. The southernmost location, Luca, is a large city home to Spira's pastime, Blitzball. North of Luca is the mountainous area of Djose, which features a Yevonite temple. Connecting Luca and Djose are several roads: the Mi'ihen Highroad, a historical path that features Chocobo
Chocobo
A is a fictional creature from the Final Fantasy video game series. The creature is a large and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden and otherwise used by player characters during gameplay...
s for transportation; the Mushroom Rock Road, home of the failed operation to defeat Sin; and Djose Highroad, a rocky path that forks north into the Moonflow and east to Djose Temple.
The Moonflow is a large river running through the heart of Spira, featuring shoopuff rides, ancient ruins, and a high density of pyreflies. A path from the Moonflow leads to Guadosalam, home of the Guado race and the gateway to the . North of Guadosalam are the Thunder Plains, which are the site of a never-ending thunderstorm made safe by lighting rods calibrated by the Al Bhed. The Thunder Plains lead into Macalania, a sparkling forest complemented by a frozen lake and a Yevonite temple.
Final Fantasy X-2 features several changes to the locations of Spira. The Djose Temple, abandoned by a faltering Yevon after Final Fantasy X, becomes the headquarters of the Machine Faction; likewise, the Youth League sets up their headquarters at the site of the failed operation on the Mushroom Rock Road. Bevelle remains the capital of the New Yevon faction, although the game introduces a large, technological area hidden beneath the city. Several new enterprises have been started, including: a new pastime in Luca called Sphere Break; a group of entertainers at the Moonflow; a tourist service at the Zanarkand Ruins; and machina transportion in favor of Chocobos on the Mi'ihen Highroad. Lastly, the death of the Aeons at the end of Final Fantasy X causes the Macalania forest and lake to melt, sinking the former Yevon temple and destroying the forest's life. Final Fantasy X-2 also introduces floating ruins atop Mt. Gagazet, and previously unexplored caverns throughout Spira.
Locations within Spira
- Besaid
- Kilika
- Luca
- Mi'ihen Highroad
- Mushroom Rock
- Djose
- Moonflow
- Guadosalam
- Farplane
- Thunder Plains
- Macalania
- Bikanel
- Bevelle
- Calm Lands
- Cavern of the Stolen Fayth
- Mt. Gagazet
- Zanarkand
- Baaj
- Omega Ruins
- Cave Ruins
- Chocobo Ranch
- Den of Woe
- Fiend Colony
- Ruin Depths
- Via Infinito
- Yadonoki Tower
- Coliseum
Creatures and races
Although it is predominantly populated by humans, Spira features a variety of races. The people of Spira mainly reside in small towns and villages, though some live in more urban cities such as Bevelle and Luca.Al Bhed
The Al Bhed are an ethnicity of humans in Spira. They differ biologically from ordinary humans in that all possess blonde hair and green eyes with spiral-shaped pupils. As a result, they often wear goggles so they can walk among Yevonites (ironically, these goggles usually make them stand out even more, which may suggest they serve some other purpose, such as shielding their eyes from the stinging sands of their home island of Bikanel). The Al Bhed are also the only group in Spira who openly oppose the teachings of Yevon, specifically the ban on machina and the use of the Final Summoning. For these reasons, they are often ostracized by the Yevonite majority. Despite this persecution, some Al Bhed have still managed to find acceptance, most notably Rin, who operates a chain of travel agencies throughout the world of SpiraSpira (Final Fantasy X)
The fictional events of the Square Enix role-playing video games Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 take place in a world called . As befits its name, Spira is characterized by cycles and repetition, such as the spiral of death that the world endures, the many spheres found in Spira, the...
. They are also allowed to participate in the Yevon-sponsored blitzball tournaments. Rikku
Rikku
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series, and a protagonist in both Final Fantasy X and X-2.-Concept and creation:Rikku was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who also designed other characters from Final Fantasy X and X-2. She is voiced by Tara Strong and Marika Matsumoto in the English and...
is an Al Bhed, and Yuna
Yuna (Final Fantasy)
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series. She is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy X and the main protagonist of the sequel Final Fantasy X-2. She was designed by Tetsuya Nomura and voiced by Hedy Burress and Mayuko Aoki in the English and Japanese versions, respectively...
is part Al Bhed on her mother's side. With the collapse of the teachings of Yevon and the wider acceptance of machina at the end of Final Fantasy X, prejudice against the Al Bhed seems to have eased significantly by the time of Final Fantasy X-2, though it is still present.
The Al Bhed speak their own 'language' which is really just a substitution cipher
Substitution cipher
In cryptography, a substitution cipher is a method of encryption by which units of plaintext are replaced with ciphertext according to a regular system; the "units" may be single letters , pairs of letters, triplets of letters, mixtures of the above, and so forth...
of English, a system of transposing certain letters for others; however, within the game world, it is intended to be an actual language. It shares the same syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and grammar of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The original Japanese version of the cipher uses the syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
-based kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
system of writing where each symbol represents a combination of "consonant + vowel" (or simply a vowel). Certain keywords are not translated into Al Bhed in the game, to give the impression of use of loanwords compared to modern foreign languages. Most keywords are proper noun
Proper noun
A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...
s, but some common nouns also are not translated, such as "fiend" ("Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!"/A fiend! In human disguise!), "magic" ("Ouin bnaleuic magic yht Aeons yna caymat"/Your precious magic and Aeons are sealed), and "airship".
Guado
The Guado are an arboreal humanoid race. They are set apart by their long limbs and fingers, pale skin, and wild, tangled hair. Their hair ranges in color from more normal browns, blonds, and greys to vivid greens and blues. They are the keepers of the entryway to the Farplane, where the dead are sent. The Guado possess the unique ability to "smell the deceased" and other ill-defined abilities related to pyreflies. The Guado were converted to Yevon by their leader, Jyscal Guado (later appointed a Maester of Yevon), but were ironically led down the path of ruin by Lord Jyscal's own son, the megalomaniacal Seymour Guado. After Sin was destroyed, the Guado, despised by the rest of Spira (most prominently the Ronso as a result of Seymour genocidally slaughtering a large portion of their race) for their deeds under Seymour's leadership, abandoned their ancestral city of Guadosalam and took up residence in the dying forest of Macalania. Guado can breed with humans. Seymour himself was half-human, the result of an effort on Jyscal's part to foster friendship between Humans and the Guado by taking a Human wife.Humans
HumanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s do not have any overwhelming skill in magic or in fighting, but are suited to fit into whatever role they are needed in. They are described as an ethnically and politically diverse species.
Hypello
The Hypello are a docile, amphibious race. They have blue skin and a characteristic manner of speaking which makes most of their speech sound slurred. This gives most people the impression that they are yokelYokel
Yokel is a derogatory term referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people.-Stereotype:In the US, it is used to describe someone living in rural areas...
s. The Hypello live primarily in and around the area of the Moonflow. Though extremely quick and agile swimmers, they are curiously the only race in Spira that does not participate in blitzball tournaments, as their "lackadaisical disposition draws them to less strenuous pastimes", or, put more simply, because of their laid-back nature. Many other people find it hard to tell Hypello apart, male and female. The male Hypello are all voiced by John DeMita
John DeMita
John DeMita is a California based Voice, Television and Film Actor. He is married to Julia Fletcher. He is most recognized as the voice of Dosu Kinuta on the hit anime series Naruto. He can also be recognized in the many films he has done...
.
Ronso
The Ronso are a race of blue furred, lionLion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
-like humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
s who live on Mt. Gagazet, which they consider sacred and guard fiercely. Ronso are formidable warriors, being much taller and stronger than humans, and are known for their strong sense of honor and loyalty, as well as their pride and quickness to anger. Kimahri has no particular path on the Sphere Grid, and according to Lulu "Has learned the Fiends way of fighting". This references his overdrive, which is the use of an enemy ability he has learned. He is similar to the Blue Mage class in other Final Fantasy games. The long, sharp horn sported by all adult male Ronso is a symbol of esteem and a source of great pride to the wearer, and to lose this horn is considered extremely shameful. Kimahri Ronso, one of Yuna
Yuna (Final Fantasy)
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series. She is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy X and the main protagonist of the sequel Final Fantasy X-2. She was designed by Tetsuya Nomura and voiced by Hedy Burress and Mayuko Aoki in the English and Japanese versions, respectively...
's guardians in Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth title in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and will be re-released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2012...
, is something of an outsider among his people, being of comparatively small stature and having previously lost his horn in a fight with one of his peers. Near the end of Final Fantasy X, Seymour Guado rampaged up Mt. Gagazet and killed all in his path in pursuit of Yuna. Of those killed during his ascent of the slope, many (or potentially all) were Ronso, including Maester (although he relinquishes this title) Kelk Ronso (the current elder). After the Eternal Calm began, Kimahri returned to Gagazet to help rebuild his home and restore his people's honor. He was named elder of the tribe by his kinsmen, and has resided on Gagazet ever since. But Seymour's genocide was not forgotten, instead sparking hatred and plans of revenge among the recovering Ronso tribe. Filled with hatred for the slaughter of their people, the Ronso youth came to despise the Guado, whom they felt were responsible for supporting Seymour as their leader.
Spira also features various animal species. Although most of these are drawn from real animals, such as cats, dogs, birds and butterflies, a few fictional species appear, such as the gigantic shoopuf and the chocobo. Both are used primarily for transport purposes. Most other unusual creatures encountered in Final Fantasy X are fiends, monsters created from the restless dead by Pyreflies to devour the living.
During Final Fantasy X, life in Spira is simple, as technological advancement has come to a halt in the one thousand years since Sin's appearance and the rise of the Yevonite religion. For several hundred years, the population's culture revolved around the temples of Yevon. A strict code of accepted social behaviors—such as distrust towards the Al Bhed race and their use of "machina", a perpetual fear of Sin, and atonement for past sins—were common characteristics of devout Yevonites.
Tensions between the various races exist, mainly with regards to the Al Bhed's ostracism from the rest of Spira due to religious beliefs. However, other hostilities exist. Midway through Final Fantasy X and throughout most of Final Fantasy X-2, the Ronso (with the notable exception of Kimahri) become openly hostile towards the Guado, due to the Guado leader, Seymour Guado, massacring many of the Ronso.
Blitzball, a worldwide sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
ing pastime in Spira, is one of the few ways that all the races in Spira can come together and find temporary escape from the hardships of the world. By the beginning of Final Fantasy X-2 however, the dismantling of the Yevon temples had resulted in each individual in Spira trying to adjust to a world without religion in their own way. The defeat of Sin also allowed the population to become more fun-loving and carefree, with many individuals now actively pursuing leisures such as blitzball, attending concerts (starring the former summoner Yuna), and taking part in a coin-collecting fad called Sphere Break.
History
One thousand years before the events of Final Fantasy X, there was a great war—called the "Machina War"—between the cities of Zanarkand and Bevelle. Yevon, Zanarkand's ruler, could see that his city's summoners were no match for Bevelle's machina, but he was unwilling to allow his city to be swallowed up into the pages of history. He devised a plan to preserve Zanarkand's memory for all eternity, even if he could not save the city itself.At Yevon's order, most of the surviving common citizens and summoners of Zanarkand gave up their lives to become fayth, whom Yevon would then use to conjure a summoned form of Zanarkand, using their memories as the basis for this massive summon. This summoned replica of the city was to be an ideal paradise, removed from conflict and those who would infringe upon this city's tranquility. This summoned version of the real Zanarkand is called .
To accomplish this, Yevon manifested the city out at sea in an undisclosed location, far removed from the Spiran mainland and the warmongering Bevelle. As an added protective measure, Yevon created a gravity magic-forged armor. Using the gravity magic to surround himself with pyreflies, he led them to create an armor that would terrify all Spira: the monster known as . However, not only was this armor designed to protect Dream Zanarkand, but he also "programmed" it to attack areas with high populations and advanced technology, thus bringing technological progress to a halt and keeping the people of the mainland from giving much thought to what may lie far out at sea.
Unfortunately for Yevon (now to be known as "Ebon-Ju", or "Yu Yevon" in English, meaning "the Curse of Yevon"), maintaining his summoned city and creating Sin was a greater strain on his human mind than even he—who was considered peerless amongst summoners—could handle. His humanity rapidly faded, and all that was left was the instincts to maintain the summoning (Dream Zanarkand), and to protect this summoning from other Spirans, by means of terrorising them enough to quash curiosity about what was out in the ocean, and by destroying all means they had of finding (even accidentally) or threatening Dream Zanarkand . Sin's first act as an instinctive beast, "programmed" to destroy advanced technology, was to decimate the original Zanarkand. Sin would then go on to bring dread to Spira's citizens for a millennium.
The teachings of Yevon—said to have been left by Yevon to his daughter, Lady Yunalesca—were implemented by Bevelle to maintain order. They did so by leading Spirans to believe that Spira may someday be free of Sin, should they atone for their "sins". In actuality, Yunalesca and Yevon are believed to have planned it this way from the start. Bevelle believed Sin to be an aeon summoned by Yevon as revenge for conquering Zanarkand's defenders. In a deal with Yunalesca to appease Yevon's wrath, she offered to provide them with a means to maintain order and hope for the common people—Yevon's teachings—in exchange for them ensuring that Yevon be praised and glorified. They agreed, and the temples of Yevon were born, teaching that machina were forbidden (another means of preventing advanced technology from revealing Dream Zanarkand's location), that Sin was a result of humanity's pride and use of machina in the first place, and that Sin could only be vanquished when humanity had attained purity and been cleansed of its past sins. Until then, it was said that only the ritual known as "the Final Summoning" would provide brief reprieves from Sin's terror, called the .
Calms would come when a summoner managed to complete the summoner's pilgrimage, obtaining their Final Aeon from the unsent spirit of Yunalesca in the ruins of Zanarkand. Yunalesca herself was the first high summoner, transforming her husband Zaon into a fayth, and using him as her Final Aeon to defeat Sin. The Final Summoning requires that the bond between the summoner and the individual who becomes a fayth for the Final Summoning be a powerful, personal bond, such as that between siblings, friends, or spouses. Only then would the bond between the Final Aeon and the summoner provide enough power to shatter Sin's armor. Unfortunately, the art of the Final Summoning only ensured that Sin would return, as Yu Yevon's spirit would emerge from the cracked armor of the defeated Sin, and possess the Final Aeon that had destroyed the monstrosity, using that Final Aeon as the core for a new Sin, beginning the cycle anew. The Final Aeon, now in the control of Yu Yevon, kills the no longer needed summoner. Yunalesca herself faced this fate, but her conviction to pass on the Final Summoning kept her in Spira as an unsent. After the defeat of Sin, the Calm would then follow, providing a brief period of respite from Sin's destruction while Yu Yevon created a new Sin around the Final Aeon he had possessed.
Thus it was for one thousand years: Sin would be defeated, the summoner who achieved the feat would die, and Sin would be born anew, then defeated and born anew, again and again, leaving destruction and sorrow in its wake all across Spira. This repetition of death was known as "the spiral of death". The spiral of death had repeated itself at least five times before the beginning of Final Fantasy X.
Final Fantasy X
In the one thousand years that followed Sin's creation and the destruction of Zanarkand, Spira became a rustic land, almost completely devoid of large cities and higher civilization. Due to the actions of Sin, and the Yevon ban on machina, few territories reached larger than hamlet size, as they were destroyed by Sin and their populations decimated before they were able to develop. The only cities left larger than small villages were Luca, which houses the only blitzball stadium in Spira, and Bevelle, the center of the temples of Yevon. The people of Spira lived in constant fear of Sin, and yearned for the Calm, which daring summoners would set out to bring to Spira each time a new Sin emerged. However, the pilgrimage of Summoner Yuna at last brought this cycle to an end. The period that followed was known as the .Final Fantasy X-2
As a result of the events in Final Fantasy X, in Final Fantasy X-2 the teachings of Yevon were no longer deemed valid, and association with machina and the Al Bhed people no longer sacrilegious. Spirans in general had a positive outlook with the onset of the Eternal Calm. Young people were especially quick to abandon Yevon and embrace machina, eager to change Spira for the better, while many of the older generation felt the changes sweeping Spira were happening too quickly.Many new groups began to appear at this time, including the Youth League, the New Yevon Party, the Machine Faction, and various sphere hunter groups. Both the Youth League and New Yevon sought High Summoner Yuna's support in the hopes of bolstering their political presence, but she chose to remain neutral, instead becoming a sphere hunter. As time went on, tensions between the Youth League and New Yevon began building toward a violent head, but Yuna managed to prevent history from repeating itself by showing the people the folly of such conflicts. The coming of the Eternal Calm also brought the discovery of ancient ruins atop Mt. Gagazet, as well as a civilization of cactuars called the "Cactuar Nation".
Sometime during the two-year gap between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, the once-sacred ruins of Zanarkand were transformed into a tourist attraction by former summoner Isaaru and Al Bhed leader Cid; Yuna
Yuna (Final Fantasy)
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series. She is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy X and the main protagonist of the sequel Final Fantasy X-2. She was designed by Tetsuya Nomura and voiced by Hedy Burress and Mayuko Aoki in the English and Japanese versions, respectively...
and Rikku
Rikku
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series, and a protagonist in both Final Fantasy X and X-2.-Concept and creation:Rikku was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who also designed other characters from Final Fantasy X and X-2. She is voiced by Tara Strong and Marika Matsumoto in the English and...
—Yuna in particular—were both understandably angered by this, Rikku going so far as to state that it was like "turning the ruins of Home into a theme park".
Magic and technology
In the world of Final Fantasy X and its sequel, many supernatural elements influence events in the fictional world of Spira, defining the life of the planet's inhabitants. Magic, spiritual energy, and the power of memories are heavily intertwined, and their effects manifest in a number of situations, including sporting events, religious practices, technology, and even in some of the native wildlife of the planet. As with previous Final Fantasy titles, Final Fantasy X borrows a number of ideas and names from past and present cultures, such as Japan and Southeast Asia, with additional influences from the ancient myths of IndiaHindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
, Persia
Persian mythology
Persian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, some involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Drawn from the legendary past of the Iranian cultural continent which especially consists of the state of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, they reflect the...
, Arabia
Arabian mythology
Arabian mythology comprises the ancient, pre-Islamic beliefs of the Arabs. Prior to Islam the Kaaba of Mecca was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djinn, demigods, or simply tribal gods and other assorted deities which represented the polytheistic culture of pre-Islamic Arabia...
, Greece
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, and Rome
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
.
Pyreflies
Pyreflies are a mysterious, naturally occurring phenomenon that heavily influence the events of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, as well as the world of Spira at large. Heavily prevalent throughout Spira, these "bundles of life energy" are closely associated with death and other spiritual events and entities. As they are depicted as floating, flickering balls of light, they are possibly inspired by the Japanese culture's long-standing tradition in which firefliesFireflies
Fireflies is a novel by Shiva Naipaul originally published in 1970. It was his first book, a comic novel set in Trinidad. In an essay in An Unfinished Journey, Naipaul described how in 1968 as a final year student at Oxford University studying Chinese, he had been moved to write down a sentence,...
are regarded as a symbol of impermanence and the human soul.
Though they have been harnessed to many uses, both good and ill, they appear to lack self-awareness and any identifiable agenda in their inert form. In this respect, they would seem to be nothing more than an aspect of nature, permeating everything and everyone in Spira. Pyreflies are usually invisible, but can be seen when a fiend is killed or when a summoner performs a sending (in which the spirits of the dead are sent back to the Farplane, Spira's core). Despite their rare appearances elsewhere, they are regularly seen around the Moonflow, Zanarkand, or within the Farplane. The Al Bhed hold a theory that pyreflies are responsible for images of the dead that appear on the Farplane, believing that pyreflies react to a person's memories and show them images of people they knew. However, only images of the dead—and specifically the dead whose pyreflies have been sent to the Farplane—will appear.
Summoners are able to manipulate pyreflies in the formation of aeons—and in the sending of the souls of the dead—due to an inherent affinity for harnessing and channeling spiritual energy. Only a few people on Spira have "the gift" of being able to manipulate spirit energy to form aeons, although there are many humans and fiends around Spira who can harness this magical energy to perform magic spells. The Guado especially have an affinity for this, due to their race having lived in close proximity to the Farplane for generations. However, very few black mages and white mages are able to become summoners, and even fewer can withstand the hardships of a summoner's pilgrimage and become high summoners, the honorific title given to the summoners who completed their pilgrimage and defeated Sin.
Aside from X and its sequel, pyreflies have only appeared in one other Square-Enix game to date: Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
. A similar concept however has been present in many earlier Final Fantasy games, most notably Mako and Materia in Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
. They also briefly appeared but without explanation at the death of Fickblix in Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XI
, also known as Final Fantasy XI Online, is a MMORPG developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002...
.
Spheres
In addition to their spiritual affiliations, pyreflies are also associated with many commonplace technological innovations. Such innovations include sphere-shaped recording devices formed from the crystallized mixture of pyreflies and water (simply called "spheres"), and large, suspended spherical conglomerations of congealed water (called "sphere pools") that serve as the playing field for blitzball games.Death and afterlife
In Final Fantasy X, when a person dies suddenly and unexpectedly, his or her body cannot simply be laid to rest. Before proper burial, the spirit or life force (which manifests itself in the form of pyreflies) must be released from the body and given "guidance" to the Farplane, the final resting place of departed souls. As experts versed in the art of manipulating pyreflies, only summoners can provide this guidance, coaxing the spirits of the dead from their bodies in a ritual known as a .If the sending is not performed, the body's spirit may remain trapped in the physical plane. Depending on the circumstances of his or her death, that spirit may grow envious of the living. Eventually, this envy grows into hatred so strong as to cause the unsent spirit's pyreflies to coalesce in the form of a fiend, a fully substantial and dangerous monster. It is known, however, that someone who accepts death while still alive will travel to the Farplane after death without any assistance. This is seen in the cases of both Tidus' mother and Yuna's father, High Summoner Braska, a summoner who willingly gave his life in battle with Sin.
Unsent
In rare cases, a spirit of the dead may resist the transformation into a fiend, even when not sent. If a deceased individual possesses a powerful will and strong feelings regarding an unfinished purpose in the world of the living, the spirit's pyreflies form in the image of their original body. These beings, who may act and function for the most part as they did in life, are referred to as and may be benign or malicious, depending upon the nature of the individual.The unsent are usually unwilling to enter the Farplane using the gateway in Guadosalam. This is believed to be because they may be physically unable to leave once they have done so and are wary of taking the risk. They are also vulnerable to the effects of the sending, which can banish the disembodied spirit to the Farplane and disperse their pyreflies, usually no matter how strong the will that binds them. There have, however, been three notable exceptions to the practice of permanently banishing an unsent. In the case of Maester Jyscal Guado, his spirit manifested in his living form twice after death and emerged from the Farplane, despite having been sent prior to both occasions (the first time by his son, Maester Seymour, and the second time by High Summoner Yuna). He first re-emerges when seen walking directly out of the Farplane gate in Guadosalam. His second return is discovered in Final Fantasy X-2 in the Via Infinito beneath the city of Bevelle. The other case of an enduring unsent is seen in Final Fantasy X-2, as the unsent known as "Shuyin" enters the Farplane of his own volition and displays no difficulty maintaining his form there. After the party's battle with the Unsent Lady Yunalesca in FFX, it is discovered that Auron himself is an Unsent. This idea is hinted at earlier in the game, when Auron refuses to enter the Farplane. Auron is finally sent when Yuna performs the Sending of her Aeons, in order to defeat Sin. Yuna initially notices this and hesitates to continue, but Auron tells her to continue doing so, having finally fulfilled his promise to his friends.
The most notable difference between fiends and the unsent is that, while fiends are instinctual creatures whose primary behavior is to prey on the living, unsent are in control of their own minds as well as the pyreflies that compose their forms. This level of control enables unsent not only to keep their form, but also to alter it as they see fit. Despite their differences, both powerful fiends and powerful unsent can attract fiends or instill malevolence in inert pyreflies. Unsent also show adept-level control over pyreflies in their use of high level magic, possibly due to their high affinity with pyreflies.
Aeons and fayth
The are humans who willingly give up their lives to have their souls sealed in statues. Their existence as a fayth allows them to commune with summoners with whom they have established a mental link. This link grants a summoner access to a fayth's dreams and enables him or her to physically realize those dreams as , powerful creatures which may be employed to aid the summoner in battle or in a time of special need. Aeons bear some resemblances to their corresponding Fayth statues, suggesting that the appearances of the fayth statues themselves may be "blueprints" for each Aeon. Moreover, the game seems to build on the ancient meanings for the Greek word "aeonAeon
The word aeon, also spelled eon or æon , originally means "life", and/or "being", though it then tended to mean "age", "forever" or "for eternity". It is a Latin transliteration from the koine Greek word , from the archaic . In Homer it typically refers to life or lifespan...
", such as the meaning used by Plato, who used the word "aeon" to denote the eternal world of ideas and the Gnostic who call aeons the various emanations of their gods.
During the events of Final Fantasy X, the fayth of the aeon Bahamut (housed in Bevelle) serves as the chosen representative of the fayth as a collective. The fayth aids High Summoner Yuna
Yuna (Final Fantasy)
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series. She is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy X and the main protagonist of the sequel Final Fantasy X-2. She was designed by Tetsuya Nomura and voiced by Hedy Burress and Mayuko Aoki in the English and Japanese versions, respectively...
and her guardians in bringing the spiral of death to an end, which results in their own passing. In Final Fantasy X-2, the fayth return in their aeon forms, this time having been overcome by the despair and malice of Shuyin, rendering them his unwilling puppets of chaos. Yuna and her allies must unite to free both the fayth and Shuyin from the darkness that has consumed them.
Ten aeons are identified in Final Fantasy X: Valefor, Ifrit, Shiva, Ixion, Bahamut, Anima, Yojimbo and the three Magus Sisters. Each one of these aeons has a fayth associated with it, but there are many more fayth on Mt. Gagazet, being used by Yu Yevon to summon Dream Zanarkand. The game builds on mythological figures through the inclusion of the aeons (see list of aeons), such as the Arabic Ifrit
Ifrit
Ifrit—also spelled, efreet, ifreet, afreet, and afrit —are supernatural creatures in Arabic and Islamic cultures...
, the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
deity Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
and even the Jungian figure Anima
Anima (Jung)
The anima and animus, in Carl Jung's school of analytical psychology, are the two primary anthropomorphic archetypes of the unconscious mind, as opposed to both the theriomorphic and inferior-function of the shadow archetypes, as well as the abstract symbol sets that formulate the archetype of the...
and the demon Valefor
Valefar
In demonology, Valefar is a Duke of Hell. He tempts people to steal and is in charge of a good relationship among thieves. Valefar is considered a good familiar by his associates "till they are caught in the trap." He commands ten legions of demons....
. Although both Valefor and Anima are generally thought to be male, they are both revealed to be female (Anima, according to Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
, is the feminine side of a male's unconscious mind). After obtaining the airship and re-visiting the chamber of the Fayth at Besaid Temple, Valefor's fayth, a little girl, appears. As for Anima, she was Seymour Guado's mother before sacrificing herself to become the fayth for his Aeon and can be found at Baaj Temple.
Pyreflies as an energy source
Aside from the various commonplace technological applications of pyreflies seen in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, within the latter game's story these "bundles of life energy" are used as a source of raw energy to empower the giant machina, Vegnagun. Furthermore, Shinra of the Gullwings suggests that the life energy flowing through Spira on the Farplane could possibly be harnessed for the purpose of supplying electricity to a city. This use of spiritual energy to power technology has been used in several other games of the Final FantasyFinal Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series, most notably Final Fantasy VII, where the planet's Lifestream (the massive collective of that world's spiritual energy) takes the form of tendrils of flowing green energy. Through both natural and artificial processes, the Lifestream condenses into and is crystallized into a solid form called "materia" (analogous to Spira's spheres). (It should be noted that the producer of Mako in FF VII is a mega-corporation called Shinra, whose practice of harnessing mako was killing the planet.)
In interviews published in the Final Fantasy X Ultimania
Ultimania
This is a list of companion books relating to games developed and published by Square Enix. Starting with Final Fantasy III, Square began publishing guide books for its games which traditionally include additional content such as developer interviews and expanded plot and setting information...
Ω and Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania guidebooks, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima
Kazushige Nojima
is a Japanese game scenario writer and is the founder of Stellavista Ltd.. He is best known for writing parts of Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game series—namely Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2—and the Kingdom Hearts series...
and producer Yoshinori Kitase
Yoshinori Kitase
is a Japanese game producer and former game director that has been working for Square Enix since April 1, 1990. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and is currently the manager of 1st Production Department....
revealed that Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X-2 share a plot-related connection, in which the Shin-ra corporation in Final Fantasy VII is founded on another planet after about one thousand years, after space travel became possible, by descendants of Shinra of the Gullwings in Final Fantasy X-2. This connection was conceived of only after Final Fantasy X was already finished and realized in Final Fantasy X-2 riding on the success of the original game. Thus, this plot element is not reflected in the gameplay or storylines of Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X.
Yevon
Religion has remained a part of life for many of the peoples of Spira, with a large majority of the population describing themselves as "Yevonites". Though by the end of Final Fantasy X some people had begun to question them, nevertheless the teachings of Yevon were millennium-old and heavily influential. The Yevonite clergy taught that Sin was a divine punishment set upon the people for their pride in the use of machines (known as "machina"). As a result, the temples forbade the use of modern technology, and promoted a culture of atonement for past sins in the hopes of appeasing Sin. The only method of defeating Sin deemed acceptable by the temples was the use of the Final Aeon.Yevon picks and chooses what machina it allows the people to use. The general rule is that any machina that has applications as a weapon are forbidden. This means that benign machina, such as the blitzball stadium and the shoopuf lifts on the Moonflow, are allowed by the clergy. Yevon holds that the reason no weapon-based machina are allowed is that they will reignite the war of one thousand years ago which brought Sin to Spira in the first place (choosing to leave out the fact that Sin was created by Bevelle’s enemy, Yu Yevon, a Zanarkand summoner, as a means of destroying Bevelle). While this explanation is partially true, the real reason the church keeps checks on machina is to control the denizens of Spira, as the church freely uses machina weapons for its own purposes. Since the church is the only power in Spira with machina weapons, it can easily squash any rebellion its citizens might try to enact, ensuring its dominance. It is for this reason that the Al Bhed are so dangerous to the Yevon clergy: since the Al Bhed also freely use machina as well, they are a threat to the church’s previously uncontested control of Spira.
Late in the game, it is revealed that the Final Summoning has no true hope of ever defeating Sin, and is simply a ruse to keep the clergy in power and the people ignorant as to Sin’s true nature. The Yevon religion commands that a summoner have at least one Guardian; this is to ensure that when a summoner reaches Zanarkand, there is always an available soul to become the Final Aeon. Because Guardians are not allowed within Fayth Chambers, they are not aware of many of the secrets of Yevon, and by the time they do become aware of any possible secrets, the death of Summoner and Guardian effectively keeps the secret. The maesters (with the possible exception of Kelk Ronso; it is never revealed how many of the church’s secrets he does and does not know) know full well of this deception, but continue to instill it in the people to remain in power. It is also revealed that Yo Mika, the man who has been Yevon’s grand maester for the past fifty years, is actually an unsent. Likewise it is revealed that Yevon set up the disastrous Operation Mi’ihen as nothing more than a means to instill further loyalty to the teachings. By making the Crusaders use machina that the church knew would never win against Sin, the church set them up to fall. The plan was that the Crusaders who used the machina would be ex-communicated; then when the Operation was a disaster any survivors would come to the conclusion that the only path to destroy Sin lay in the teachings (using forbidden machina clearly didn’t work), and that any path that deviated from Yevon would lead to ruin. Through several clever manipulations such as these, the church has continued to remain in power.
By the end of Final Fantasy X, the Yevon religion was effectively disbanded once evidence of its corruption was discovered, and its remaining priests volunteered the truth. Half a year later, the moral teachings of Yevon were revitalized in the form of the New Yevon Party, later led in Final Fantasy X-2 by Praetor Baralai. Although technically a splinter group of Yevon, the New Yevon party was not a religion, but a simple philosophy, their motto and position on Spira's advancement being "One thing at a time".
Hierarchy
At the top of Yevon’s hierarchy is the an office similar to that of a PopePope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. As of the events of Final Fantasy X, Grand Maester Yo Mika had held the position for fifty years. The Grand Maester is both religious and political leader of Spira, being in command of a large army of warrior monks with which Yevonite government is enforced.
Below the grand maester are three positions simply referred to by the title a station similar to that of a Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
. The maesters have many duties within the Yevon order including making laws, presiding over Yevon’s High Court, and overseeing Yevon's civil, military, and spiritual affairs. A representative of each of Spira's three main races serves as a maester: Maester Wen Kinoc represents the regular humans; Maester Seymour Guado represents the Guado; and Maester Kelk Ronso represents the Ronso tribe.
The next step down are the priests of Yevon. Their job is to attend to the temples throughout the land. Each temple has a high priest who presides over the temple and its staff, much like an abbot, head monk or a mother superior. Maester Seymour himself is the high priest of Macalania Temple. Many priests are summoners or former summoners, and tend to wear multicolored vestment
Vestment
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans...
s of white, green and orange. Additionally, male human priests are bold or bare shaven heads
Tonsure
Tonsure is the traditional practice of Christian churches of cutting or shaving the hair from the scalp of clerics, monastics, and, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, all baptized members...
while female priests and male non-human priests such as Jyscal and Kelk retain their hair, as does the half-human, half-Guado Seymour.
Below the priests are the , a position that is something of a cross between a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
and a miko
Miko
is a Japanese term that anciently meant a "female shaman, spirit medium" who conveyed oracles from kami , and currently means a "shrine maiden; virgin consecrated to a deity" who serves at Shinto shrines.-Word:...
. Summoners are charged with the greatest responsibility of all: to journey to Zanarkand, obtain the Final Aeon and destroy Sin, and thus giving Spira a decade of Calm before Sin returns. Summoners also perform the sending, the ritual that guides the souls of the dead to peace on the Farplane. The title of which was always given posthumously until High Summoner Yuna brought the Eternal Calm, refers to summoners who have defeated Sin.
Lastly, Yevon has a number of acolytes, similar to deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
s, laypersons
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
or nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
s. They work throughout Spira performing various duties for the temples.
Militant factions
Warrior monks serve as protectors to the maesters and the temples, stationed primarily in the city of Bevelle. Maester Wen Kinoc was once a warrior monk, as was the "legendary guardian" Auron. They are loosely similar to the Catholic Church's Swiss GuardSwiss Guard
Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
.
The Crusaders (formerly known as the "Crimson Blades") were a loosely-knit army that existed to protect towns and temples from Sin. The group was founded by Lord Mi'ihen, who made a journey to Bevelle 800 years ago to calm the maesters' fears that he was assembling an army to conquer them. Mi'ihen managed to win their trust, and the Crimson Blades were thereafter inducted into the Yevon clergy as the Crusaders. The road Mi'ihen had walked was renamed the "Mi'ihen Highroad" in his honor. Unlike guardians, Crusaders are directly related to the temples. No non-Yevonite is permitted to serve as a Crusader, although there are unofficial chapters composed entirely of people who have been excommunicated. All of the Crusaders were excommunicated, however, when they set up Operation Mi'ihen, a joint Crusader-Al Bhed attempt to destroy Sin with a giant machina weapon. The operation failed and the Crusaders were largely eradicated in the process. Those that survived either joined the Youth League or the Leblanc Syndicate.
The Crimson Squad was formed around the time of Operation Mi'ihen. The temples of Yevon intended to create a group that would be an elite unit to replace the recently excommunicated Crusaders, and conducted a training and selection process for the Crimson Squad, of which the best candidates would be assigned leadership of Crusader chapters across Spira. However, only three candidates survived the final exercise – Baralai, Nooj
NooJ
NooJ is a development environment used to construct large-coverage, formalized descriptions of natural languages and to apply them to large corpora in real time.-Author:...
and Gippal, all of whom would eventually lead one of the three political factions during the events of Final Fantasy X-2 – all of whom were targeted for execution thereafter due to what they had learned of Vegnagun, a giant machina relic of Bevelle's hidden past with power enough to destroy the whole of Spira if used improperly. With the three candidates in hiding and the rest dead, the group was never put into action. Unlike the Crusaders, non-Yevonites (such as Gippal) were allowed to train with the Crimson Squad.
Guardians are similar to bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
s, and are the protectors of summoners, though not directly related to the temples. A summoner chooses any number of guardians to accompany him or her on the quest for the Final Aeon, and the guardians are not required to be Yevonites – although choosing non-Yevonite guardians is not only rare, but also looked down upon by some – as was the case with Rikku
Rikku
is a player character in the Final Fantasy series, and a protagonist in both Final Fantasy X and X-2.-Concept and creation:Rikku was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who also designed other characters from Final Fantasy X and X-2. She is voiced by Tara Strong and Marika Matsumoto in the English and...
, who was Al Bhed. The unofficial title of "Legendary Guardian" was used in reference to Auron, because he was the only guardian that managed to survive the process of killing Sin, even though the creature revived once again, as well as being fatally wounded by Lady Yunalesca.
Chocobo
Chocobo
A is a fictional creature from the Final Fantasy video game series. The creature is a large and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden and otherwise used by player characters during gameplay...
Knights are an elite group of crusaders who ride into battle on Chocobos. Lucil, Elma, and Clasko are the only three that the player directly encounters, though it is shown during Operation Mi'ihen that there are many more among the ranks of the Crusaders. Their main duty is to protect the Mi'ihen High road and to fight Sin. When the Eternal Calm became, The Chocobo Knights disbanded and joined the Youth League.
Practices
The gesture of prayer to Yevon is a gesticulation that begins with one holding their hands out to either side, then bringing them in front of their chest, as though holding a sphere, and bowingBowing (social)
Bowing is the act of lowering the torso and head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. It is most prominent in Asian cultures but it is also typical of nobility and aristocracy in many countries and distinctively in Europe. Sometimes the gesture may be limited to lowering...
. This is the traditional greeting of Yevonites one to another, especially among the clergy. The gesture evolved from the blitzball sign for victory.
Additionally, summoners are obligated to perform a "sending" (a dance that sends the souls of the deceased to the Farplane, a place that grants eternal rest) preventing the pyreflies of the dead from manifesting as fiends.
Aside from these two practices, the most well known practice is that of singing the . During the entire millennium before the Eternal Calm, the fayth residing in the inner sanctum of each temple could be heard singing the Hymn of the Fayth. It is initially described as a gift from Yevon himself, given to soothe the hearts of the faithful and the souls of the dead. However, it is later revealed that it was in fact a song sung by the people of Zanarkand in defiance of Bevelle. After the defeat of Zanarkand and the creation of Sin, those groups of people who still stood in open defiance of Bevelle and the newly formed temples of Yevon, continued to sing the song in protest. After initially placing a ban on the hymn, the temples decided — in an attempt to bury the fact that Yevon had been an enemy of Bevelle — to claim the song as their own, and it eventually became a part of Yevon's official dogma.
Though the Hymn's words apparently have no discernible meaning within the context of Spira, their lyricist and scenario writer, Kazushige Nojima, composed a small puzzle with the lyrics, using Japanese syllables. Their co-composer, Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, also composed the music while co-composer, Masashi Hamauzu
Masashi Hamauzu
is a Japanese video game composer who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010. He is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. Born into a musical family in Germany, Hamauzu was raised in Japan...
, arranged the music as well. When properly deciphered, they form sentences that translates thus:
Pray to Yu Yevon. Dream, fayth. Forever and ever, grant us prosperity.