Summary: Chapter 7, part 1. Velis guides us through the world of the Yarhi. Feolthanos’ plan. Penelo and Vaan are beyond adorable.
Chapter 7, Part 1: Illusions Within – Lesrekta, Isle of Illusions
-We wake up somewhere strange. A sunset-colored island with a tree.
-This is PART 1 of chapter 7. The first time RW has divided a chapter in this way.
-Vaan is solid, but the others are sort of transluscent. Then they all poof out, leaving Vaan alone.
-Scene change to a black screen. Llyud appears. This is SO TRIPPY.
-The map is black, everything is black, except for Vaan and Llyud. Narration appears:
“Llyud cannot put his feelings into words. Anger, sorrow. You are no stranger to what he feels, Vaan.”
This must be the Judge of Wings talking.
-The screen fades. Vaan is back on the island, now with Balthier and Fran.
AND BALTHIER SHOOTS VAAN. This has to be a dream or illusion.
-That voice reappears. “Can you hear me, Vaan? The world you see exists only within your mind. It is the world in which we live.”
WAIT WAIT WAIT. The world in which we live. This is the World of Illusions? The world of the Yarhi.
-These images reflect Vaan’s inner state. His suspicion of Balthier, the emptiness he gets from Llyud.
-A pretty and mysterious piano melody begins to play.
-The voice questions Vaan, wonders whether all this doubt reflects what Vaan truly feels.
“You said you would never let yourselves forget that which is truly important. Who’s important to you, Vaan? You know the answer. Don’t let it slip away.”
I can now see a world map of sorts and it looks beautifully autumnal.
-There are three areas: Illusion’s Home, End of Dreams, and The Neverwood.
---
Never Alone – The Neverwood (7-1)
-The party is split into three groups: Llyud and Penelo in one group, Kytes and Filo, and Vaan on his own.
-Haunting music plays.
-I start with Vaan. We have to fight our way to reunite, so I have to micromanage the three groups.
-Vaan has a Yarhi army of six tonberries. So creepy to see them with us.
-With each reunion, there’s a nice moment where Vaan sees them and a puff of magic reflects his joy.
-We defeat all the monsters, and then… they all disappear. The screen turns black and white.
???: “Somewhat heavy-handed, I know. I’m sorry.” THAT WAS A TRICK BY WHATEVER THIS IS (still assuming it’s the Judge).
Odd though, since it seems like a trick to keep Vaan from despair. Why is she helping? Or maybe she’s manipulating us.
Chapter 7, Part 1: Illusions Within – Lesrekta, Isle of Illusions
-We wake up somewhere strange. A sunset-colored island with a tree.
-This is PART 1 of chapter 7. The first time RW has divided a chapter in this way.
-Vaan is solid, but the others are sort of transluscent. Then they all poof out, leaving Vaan alone.
-Scene change to a black screen. Llyud appears. This is SO TRIPPY.
-The map is black, everything is black, except for Vaan and Llyud. Narration appears:
“Llyud cannot put his feelings into words. Anger, sorrow. You are no stranger to what he feels, Vaan.”
This must be the Judge of Wings talking.
-The screen fades. Vaan is back on the island, now with Balthier and Fran.
AND BALTHIER SHOOTS VAAN. This has to be a dream or illusion.
-That voice reappears. “Can you hear me, Vaan? The world you see exists only within your mind. It is the world in which we live.”
WAIT WAIT WAIT. The world in which we live. This is the World of Illusions? The world of the Yarhi.
-These images reflect Vaan’s inner state. His suspicion of Balthier, the emptiness he gets from Llyud.
-A pretty and mysterious piano melody begins to play.
-The voice questions Vaan, wonders whether all this doubt reflects what Vaan truly feels.
“You said you would never let yourselves forget that which is truly important. Who’s important to you, Vaan? You know the answer. Don’t let it slip away.”
I can now see a world map of sorts and it looks beautifully autumnal.
-There are three areas: Illusion’s Home, End of Dreams, and The Neverwood.
---
Never Alone – The Neverwood (7-1)
-The party is split into three groups: Llyud and Penelo in one group, Kytes and Filo, and Vaan on his own.
-Haunting music plays.
-I start with Vaan. We have to fight our way to reunite, so I have to micromanage the three groups.
-Vaan has a Yarhi army of six tonberries. So creepy to see them with us.
-With each reunion, there’s a nice moment where Vaan sees them and a puff of magic reflects his joy.
-We defeat all the monsters, and then… they all disappear. The screen turns black and white.
???: “Somewhat heavy-handed, I know. I’m sorry.” THAT WAS A TRICK BY WHATEVER THIS IS (still assuming it’s the Judge).
Odd though, since it seems like a trick to keep Vaan from despair. Why is she helping? Or maybe she’s manipulating us.
-Then a Great Malboro poofs into view and our party returns. I’m so confused.
-We take it out easily, but as suddenly as they came back, our party disappears leaving Vaan alone.
[Later edit: Vaan was the only one with Yarhi. That should’ve clued me into it being his illusion.]
-Found a dress here btw called Maduin Gear. That’s an FFIX callback, isn’t it? To Mog?
---
Reminiscence – The Neverwood (7-2)
-We switch perspectives to the real Penelo, Kytes, Llyud, and Filo.
PENELO: “[Vaan’s] probably off moping somewhere. He’s useless on his own.” Lolol
-Ooh, there’s a puzzle! We can examine flowers blooming to open new paths.
-Found a “Connoisseur’s Guide.” Maybe more weapon upgrades, or something that opens up cooking quests for Penelo.
-The party gets more worried as we search. Penelo stops joking: “He’d never leave any of us when we’re in trouble.”
-Even Llyud misses Vaan, in his own way. He feels a pain in his chest.
-We found him! …spoke too soon. He disappeared.
-The screen turns black and white again, and that narrator voice reappears:
“This is the realm of the Yarhi. A place where anima is given form.”
-If the aegyl lack emotion because they lost their anima, it makes sense that Llyud’s emotions have begun to awaken in the world of anima.
-The party sees Penelo is despondent and leave to give her some time alone.
-She tries talking to Vaan. Tells him he doesn’t have to face all these doubts and trials alone.
PENELO: “Ever since we met, you’ve done nothing but get me in trouble. So if that’s what you’re worried about, don’t. I’m used to it.
“I never told you this, but sometimes, when we’re flying, I get scared. But it never lasts, because I know you’re with me. But without you… I could never fly.”
DAWWWWW
-These words are enough. They call out to Vaan, and he appears before her.
AWWWW SHE KISSES HIM AWWWWWWW
The party reunites. This is really sweet.
---
End of Dreams
-Vaan’s wonders: why did Balthier did what he did? Can he be trusted? (Yes, he can.)
-Good. Vaan plans to give Balthier the benefit of the doubt.
-We’re in the End of Dreams. This seems to be a hub of sorts where I can talk to the others.
-Llyud found anima, a flame burning within him.
-Penelo doesn’t think the voice was the Judge of Wings. Neither do I anymore. It’s too kind, empathetic.
-I thought it might be the god, Feolthanos, but Penelo senses something familiar. So perhaps someone we met? (lol watch it be Migelo or something)
-Everyone’s emotions are heightened here.
-We’re abohut to leave when Vaan stops and says something to Penelo:
“I think there’s something wrong with me. Up until now, I’d have given anything to explore a place like this. But now, I don’t know. I guess I’m worried about you and the others.”
Vaan reminds me more and more of one particular past FF character: Bartz, from FFV. He started out like wind, a roamer and explorer. Then he found friends, a family.
It’s a strange thing, to not want to keep moving after a lifetime on the run.
“I don’t have to leave anymore.
What I have is right here.
Spent my nights and days before
Searching the world for what’s right here.”
-They walk out of the zone together.
---
Where the Heart Lies – Illusion’s Home (7-3)
-Illusion’s Home is the last part of this island.
-There are a crapload of Yarhi milling about here. The voice speaks: “At last you’ve come.”
-IT’S VELIS! That’s why he was familiar to Penelo.
-Vaan is pissed. Why did Velis play all these mindgames with us? Why not just TELL us his tale?
-Some Yarhi are much higher level, but I no longer think it’s because I’m underleveled. This is just supposed to be a tough mission.
-Velis says they don’t feel emotion here. They’re “imperfect, incomplete.” He sees himself as a beast born of Mydia’s anima. We’re fighting to free him.
-This world was created by auraliths, made real by the stolen anima of the aegyl. AHA! So when Balthier destroyed the auraliths, he was trying to restore the aegyl’s anima.
-When evil taints the anima, beasts appear. The aegyl summon Yarhi to fight the beasts, and in doing so they surrender their anima further. A vicious cycle that drains the aegyl. To what end?
-The more we summon Yarhi, the more we lose our anima.
-We defeat Velis. He thanks us and reverts from Odin form to human form.
VELIS: “You are not the ones I’m trying to help.”
-Flashback to the moment Mydia asked for power from Feolthanos.
“Feolthanos, who holds dominion over this world, claimed Mydia’s anima. To wrest away the last shred of emotion left to her, he had her summon me. He did this well knowing the imperfect, incomplete creature I would be.”
Feolthanos is the Big Bad. He granted Mydia’s request to wrench away her anima and to do so in a way guaranteed to hurt Mydia.
-He’s been using the auraliths to harvest the aegyl’s anima. That harvested anima rests here, in the World of Illusion. Both the aegyl and Yarhi are enslaved to Feolthanos in some way.
OH NOOOO – Velis brought us here so that he could be destroyed. Doing so may return the Judge of Wings’ – Mydia’s – anima back to her.
He wants us to free ALL the Yarhi from Feolthanos, who plans to use this power to lay siege to Ivalice. Why? Not sure yet.
-Our new mission is to destroy the auraliths before Feolthanos gets to them, thus freeing the anima trapped within.
I don’t understand why the Judge of Wings was destroying the auraliths. If she’s on Team Feolthanos, wouldn’t he want her to leave the auraliths intact?
-This has got to be a world-shaking moment for Llyud. He may have a chance after all to take part in all the emotions he’s observed from a distance this whole time.
-The last auralith is in the Keep of Forgotten Time, the seat of Feolthanos’s power.
-Mydia knows where the Keep is. Her anima was stolen, so we’ll go retrieve it. Sounds like we may have ourselves a Golbez-esque ally soon.
-Velis finally fades – hopefully for good (not cause I dislike him, but rather cause he wants that). He leaves behind a sword.
-Vaan picks it up in a brief cinematic. The World of Illusion is even more beautiful in this format.
-He swings it about a bit. Penelo hugs him close.
End of chapter 7, part 1.
---
Next time: snap back to reality.
