Guadosalam
-omg. I can’t believe I missed this. It just hit me when I loaded up the game for this session that the logo is Yuna performing the Sending! I could be wrong, but am pretty sure I’m not. That’s awesome.
-The Guado really believe themselves to be superior. Guardians of the Farplane. I guess if my race (or is it species? Going with race for now) were tasked with guarding what may well be the afterlife, I’d feel pretty superior too.
-It seems like the Guado seeking to get along with other races is only a recent thing, perhaps from the introduction of Yevon only a generation ago. Personal theory: Seymour may seek to ultimately reassert Guado superiority.
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Road to Farplane/Farplane Gates
-This is all within the tree-like Guadosalam still.
-Pyreflies flit about along the road.
-The sound effects here are eerie. Haunting. Alien.
-Ok, I’m officially nervous. The Farplane Gates are very close to Guadosalam. Reminds me of a cross between an aquarium and the esper world gate in FFVI.
-Tidus is creeped out as much as I am. Bless him for asking so many good questions.
-Auron is not coming. “Searching the past to find the future. This is all that is there. I need it not.” I keep thinking how Seymour said he smelled the Farplane on Auron. So if Auron died and came back, maybe going back would keep him permanently.
-Rikku says that the pyreflies take on the illusion of the dead through memories and impressions emanating from the living. Very interesting. So if Person A was sweet and kind to everyone, but I remember them as brutal and nasty for some reason, then they could appear differently to me from others.
-She’s not coming to the Farplane either. Wants her memories to stay internal. I don’t blame her. If the Farplane were real, I don’t know that I’d want to enter.
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The Farplane
-Is Tidus seeing Chappu?
-Yuna’s seeing her parents.
-WHOOOOA THAT WIDE ANGLE VIEW HOLY SHIT
LOOK AT THIS PLACE
-IT’S LIKE THE SENDING DIALED UP TO 11
(which makes sense, given what this place is)
-Tidus worries that Yuna seeing her parents here might make Yuna consider Seymour’s proposal more seriously. I wouldn’t blame here. Again, I don’t know enough about the culture to judge their standards for marriage.
-Interesting. Lulu, Wakka, and Yuna are all looking out, but Kimahri is not. Is he afraid to see something?
-Wakka has a whole one-way conversation with Chappu’s image. “Chappu” doesn’t talk back. Not abnormal. Seems like Wakka talking to a grave, updating the deceased on recent news, on meeting Tidus.
-So while Rikku believes the pyreflies are just reflections, Wakka seems to honestly think he’s speaking directly to Chappu’s spirit. Perhaps he is. I like that there’s this phenomena and it’s interpreted so differently.
-Lulu. She’s looking at Chappu as well.
LOLOL TIDUS IS TRYING TO MATCHMAKE LULU WITH WAKKA. Right there with ya buddy. She says no fucking way, shutting that down hard (perhaps protesting a bit much? ).
LULU: “Goodbye, Chappu. You always said I looked grumpy, but those were the happiest days of my life.”
-Yuna has decided. She wants to make everyone happy, and feels this marriage is a way to do that. Well.. I mean, I suppose, and I see where you’re coming from with your summoner training, but will it make YOU happy too?
-Tidus continues his climb atop the Best FF Protagonists List by not being a dickwagon about this. He doesn’t yell or try to dismiss this. He accepts that this is what Yuna wants, and immediately says they should go tell Seymour. No doubt a part of him – a big part probably – is jealous, but he knows this isn’t about him.
-no
No no no no no
Yuna wants him to try calling Sir Jecht. I didn’t even think of this when I gave my hypothetical before, but this is exactly that case! Yuna’s vision of Jecht would probably have been a loving protector. Tidus’… will be different.
-Oh!! I was mistaken. He doesn’t show up because he’s alive (as Sin). I had misunderstood the pyreflies. I thought that any old pyrefly reflected the thoughts and memories of the living, but it seems that it really is just the specific pyreflies of the specific remembered dead that get called up. The “Chappu” image actually used to be Chappu.
-OMG TIDUS’ MOTHERRRRRRR
-I don’t care how many times I say this. I don’t care if I’m a broken record. I’m saying it again: Tidus asks phenomenal, helpful questions about the lore. He wants to know why he’s seeing her when nobody ever performed the Sending for her. A great question!
-Yuna believes she accepted death even while alive. After all, the Sending is only to help ensure that the dead let go of life. Tidus’ mother must not have needed that. Why though? E
-Flashback time. Something that Tidus now realizes about why he hates Jecht so much. (Not that I need more than “Jecht was an abusive asshole.”)
-Was Tidus jealous of Jecht? A bit more Oedipal of a reason than I was expecting.
-And when Jecht left, Tidus’ mother (who I don’t think has a name yet, now that I think about it) lost her energy. And so Tidus blames Jecht for his mother’s death.
-Is that literally how his mother died? Of a broken heart?
-Auron is here in this flashback.
-Ok. Ready to go.
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Farplane Gate
-So here we are, outside the Gate, minding our own business. Yuna’s about to give her answer to Seymour. When LORD JYSCAL starts trying to bust out of the Farplane!!
-Why? Is he trying to warn Yuna away from Seymour?
-Auron tells Yuna to perform the sending, to send Jyscal back.
-Auron is hurting. What’s going on? Something about him really disagrees with the Farplane.
-She performs the Sending. Jyscal fades, and a sphere of some sort drops out of him. A physical sphere.
-Wakka is shaken as we walk away. Lulu believes that it was really Lord Jyscal, that Jyscal was sent, but that a powerful emotion kept him from going to the Farplane fully anyway. (Sticking to my theory that he was murdered by Seymour and is trying to warn people.)
AURON: “It means he died an unclean death.” AHA!! My theory is bolstered.
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Guadosalam
-Apparently, my theory is not new. As we leave, the Guado guarding the gate (tongue-twister if ever I heard one) tells us to not spread rumors of Lord Jyscal that might destabilize Spira.
-New dialogue around town. Tidus is talking about seeing Jyscal, and the Guado are repulsed by the idea that Jyscal didn’t die in peace, that he might be “haunting” them. They don’t believe it.
-We approach the mansion. Yuna enters, but before she does, Auron warns her – huh. That’s a surprise. I thought he was going to warn her not to marry Seymour, but he instead warns her that Jyscal is a Guado problem, not hers. Does he think that mentioning it will make Yuna a target?
-Lulu is still neutral on the subject of Yuna’s marriage. She’s okay with a marriage not being for love.
I can respect that. Again, it’s not my culture, but I know historically and even today in different cultures there are other reasons for marriage than love, many of which could still result in a fine and successful marriage.
(Granted, I don’t think that’s the case here because I believe Seymour is likely evil and murderous, but I’m speaking in general.)
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Next time: Dunno. I’ll guess that there’s some immediate hiccup in the marriage plans of Seymour and Yuna to deal with.
