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#Post#: 1070--------------------------------------------------
I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD. Spo
ilers ahead
By: UltimaGriever Date: July 14, 2015, 4:08 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
After reading the novella a few times, I've related some of the
information to what's been provided by the games and I'm
absolutely creeped out by some stuff, namely Yevon itself and
the whole Machina War black-and-white drama.
Zanarkand was never truly a victim. Yu Yevon and Yunalesca
brainwashed their (very young) soldiers into fighting. I'm quite
sure that they are the "Mage of Zanarkand" and the "Summoner
Princess" mentioned in the novel, respectively. This would mean
that they exerted an abnormal kind of control over Zanarkand's
population, even so that they ALL agreed to become fayth
(!!!!!!!!!!) for Dream Zanarkand's summoning. One of Zanarkand's
soldiers mentioned that he "had" to fight to "win" the
Princess's heart (even though Yunalesca was already married) and
that she had kissed him. Yevon and Yunalesca played really dirty
to get to win this war.
Zanarkand had machina, too. And, in the beginning of the war,
they had machinery even more advanced than Bevelle's. It was
only when Bevelle decided to take on the arms race that it won,
presumably by the aid of the Bedohls (Al Bhed). Not that Bevelle
was innocent either, the Machina War was essentially a holy war
in that it only started when the head of Bevelle decreed
Yunalesca and Yu Yevon heretics for not following their
polytheist doctrine and declaring themselves as gods instead.
The fayth, when created by Yu Yevon's ways, were unable to pass
on to afterlife, having their souls trapped in the world of the
living for as long as he existed. This method of creating fayth
bound their existence to that of Yu Yevon's, and they had to
worship him, even though, after so many centuries, they got
tired of being unable to just let go and depart to the Farplane.
They were forced to sing the Hymn of the Fayth, which is a
Japanese anagram meaning unconditional worship to Yu Yevon and
keeps the fayth dreaming. I would guess Bevelle found that to be
outrageous and vowed to purge Spira from this kind of heathen.
When you enter Yunalesca's room, you hear an off-key chorus of
male voices singing the Hymn of the Fayth. I think it could be
possible that the other Final Aeon fayths might be the ones
singing. They sound like they're in despair, because their souls
are kind of trapped there, unable to become aeons because they
already were (Sin) but they're not anymore, and even though
they're not technically fayths anymore, they can't move on
because of their nature as dying as fayths. I don't know if I'm
being sufficiently clear, but.. :(
That Yu Yevon was actually able to convince every last citizen
of Zanarkand to give their lives up to become fayth for his
megalomaniac summoning is enough to get one to think. Nobody can
convince everyone 100% of an idea, let alone suggest that
everyone commit collective suicide just so I can recreate a
memory because we've lost the war either way. Maybe a small
sect, but not the entire population of Zanarkand. Considering
that Zanarkand was a fairly huge city, it should've had a huge
population, and it's widely known that not a single thing would
get voted unanimously among a huge populace: someone, even if
only 1 person, would disagree upon it. Yet every living citizen
of Zanarkand (it's not mentioned if unsents can become fayth -
even though Seymour wanted to become one) agreed upon Yu Yevon's
decision of turning everybody into fayth, and it's stated
in-game that the person must be willing to undergo the ceremony
for it to be successful. IMHO Yu Yevon and Yunalesca basically
have the entire population under what could be compared to a
city-wide Imperius Curse, in that the people cater to their
every whim: if someone were told by Yunalesca or Yevon to throw
themselves under a train, they would do it without a second
thought and without question. It's much worse than the post-war
teachings of Yevon, in that some people had the choice of
following them or not (namely, the Al Bhed/Auron).
Bevelle's soldiers were not far from that, although. They
fiercely believed that their deities existed (much like Orthodox
Christians/Muslims) and would kill on the spot anyone who defied
their religion. They scouted for people who seemed to be
talented in the arts of summoning and took them from their
families since they were very little, as early as 4 or 5 years
old, to train in special camps. They were bestowed with a god's
name thereafter and would be referred to by that name until
their deaths. They were basically indoctrinated from the very
beginning of understanding the world surrounding them and forced
to serve the authorities to the end of their lives. Kush, for
instance, seemed like a spoiled brat to Valm in the beginning,
but she didn't know better, having been raised that way. They
thought they were fighting for their gods. They knew no better
than that.
After the war, Bevelle was forced to swallow Yevon's BS and to
revere him in order to quell Sin's wrath. Yevon managed to stun
Spira's advance for a whole millennium. That's how narcissistic
one can get, folks.
#Post#: 1071--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: ChercheurObscur Date: July 14, 2015, 5:49 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Yevon had controlled
everyone's mind in order to send them to the front or to turn
them into fayths ! He was a very powerful mage. He certainly was
familiar with pyreflies, I think. And by dint of playing more
and more with them, he became a horrible entity.
The funny fact would be Tidus becoming a "new Yu Yevon". It's
not absurd when you know that he's a result of will and
pyreflies more and more mysterious. We don't even know his
condition when he comes back to Spira. I wouldn't mind if Nojima
chose this path for Tidus in FFX-3 :P
#Post#: 1072--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: Danko Kaji Date: July 14, 2015, 7:45 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Okay. I only saw a piece of that whole picture when reading the
novel, but this? This is amazing. I can't wait to refer to this
properly in my rewrite of the novel. So much UNTAPPED
POTENTIAL!!!
#Post#: 1073--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: UltimaGriever Date: July 15, 2015, 8:42 am
---------------------------------------------------------
The fayth used to say that Yu Yevon was peerless. Would it mean,
then, that he had some degree of control over the pyreflies of
the living? This would reasonably explain how he sent so many
people to the front lines, and how he managed to get the very
rest of his people to undergo mass suicide. It's like Kim
Jong-un and North Korea, except that there are people who
disagree with him - otherwise there wouldn't be any forced labor
camps in NK. But no - in-game and novella sources seem to point
towards mass brainwashing taking place in Zanarkand.
What I found curious is that the souls that had been Yevon's
fayth seem to have a different nature than that of those who
were not. Souls of the "normal" (that is, those who hadn't been
fayth) dead didn't ever manifest on the Farplane as more than
illusions projected by the living's memories (this could be
possible in the core of the Farplane, where Auron, Jecht and
Braska were heard talking to Yuna during the battle with
Vegnagun/Shuyin on X-2), however the souls of the fayth
manifested at will and had a consciousness of their own. They
could also manifest as the aeons they represented, and, in doing
so, they were also tangible. Yevon's way of creating fayth was
done in a way that altered the very nature of the soul, in that
the person couldn't really die even if it could be freed
someday.
Listening to the Hymn of the Fayth and that BGM that plays when
you're within Sin/that dream Tidus had in Mt. Gagazet gives me
all the creeps possible after realizing all this stuff. :o
EDIT: I believe Yu Yevon died at some point, but never noticed,
because he had to keep up with summoning from hundreds of
thousands of fayth AND controlling Sin... The bug-like form was
most likely for greater ease in possessing aeons so he could use
their pyreflies to form another carcass for Sin, and then he'd
throw the previous soul away (presumably to the Farplane or to
that room where Yunalesca lurks - when you get it you'll poop
bricks).
EDIT 2: When I was a kid I dreamed of living in a city like
Zanarkand. I don't anymore. *shudders*
#Post#: 1077--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: Danko Kaji Date: July 16, 2015, 1:01 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I always wondered whether or not Unsents were capable of
Summoning (I mean, do you need to be alive to sustain that
unique mental connection? Or is the soul a base requirement?),
and then I noticed Belgemine and Ginnem were able to summon
their The Magus Sisters and Yojimbo respectively. It's odd that
Seymour (and to a certain extent Yunalesca) chose not to summon,
unless they couldn't?
Also, while going through Fiend Tales in FFX-2, I learned that a
fiend's capable of beckoning a loved one in the Farplane. And if
this counts as a hint for future characters, a Flan Azul (a
Guado in his past life) had been loyal to Seymour Guado once and
still retains that loyalty. In the end of his tale, he still
believes Seymour may still exist in the living realm and
departed to look for him. There's so much we don't know about
the nature of things, especially when it comes to unique
exceptions of already common knowledge.
I mean, if we're getting all these different methods of
Summoning, what had been the original method and for what
purpose? I have a theory Summoning may have been an ancient art
that originated from the Guado until humans (or Bevelle) stole
their secrets and redeveloped the magic for their own purposes.
Knowing Bevelle, it monopolized the secrets of Summoning until
Yevon and his daughter fled, thus inevitably causing it to
spread and alter once more. The Myst village in FFIV had the
Summoning art restricted to their settlement until an imposter
King sought to eradicate their people for fear of future threat,
and that makes me wonder if something similar happened in FFX
many years before Yevon's time.
#Post#: 1078--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: UltimaGriever Date: July 16, 2015, 8:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I believe they chose not to summon anymore. Can't say anything
about Yunalesca, but Seymour did choose not to, because since
his almighty aeon who should be capable of defeating Sin itself
had been felled by normal people without Final Aeons, he
regarded them to be weak and, therefore, did not want to use
them again. Perhaps Yunalesca didn't have any purpose to summon
at all, since she was confined to that weird hall of Zanarkand
Dome which I find creepy as hell, and think the souls that had
become fayth there are trapped for eternity, unable to manifest
as aeons and to depart to the Farplane.
Could it be possible that that Flan Azul beckoned Seymour? If it
is, then it's plausible that Sin came back, since Seymour was
obsessed with it to the point of insanity.
As for summoning, I believe it's unnatural. The summoner is
actually using human souls as weapons. They prevent that
person's soul from resting after their death and use them at
will to project monstrous deformed versions of them who are
bound to the will of the summoner. They have almost no say as to
how they are being used. Yevon's fayth suffered for a thousand
years before someone put an end to their misery. Even Auron
noted that "the dead should be allowed to rest". It's basically
the same for the Aeon Cores.
#Post#: 1082--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: Danko Kaji Date: July 16, 2015, 8:04 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
You make a very good point about Seymour. Thank you.
I think it's entirely possible that the Flan Azul beckoned
Seymour. But I highly doubt Seymour beckoned Sin. Reason being,
it's very dubious whether or not a "beckoned" incarnate spirit
can beckon as well. Going from the behavior of Maelu's mother in
-Will-, and to an unclear extent Tidus, those who have been
beckoned do not seem to possess a full independent will of their
own; they are a constant, interchanging reflection of the
person's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of whoever beckoned
them. Maelu's mother spoke and behave exactly how the daughter
wanted (or expected) her to be, and the mother's spirit
(although not entirely solid, because Yuna and Kurgum could
tell) retained enough semblance of consciousness where she
resisted Maelu's father's attempts to reject her presence.
Compared to a young girl's will to beckon, Yuna's beckoning must
be ten times stronger, so naturally Tidus would be harder to
pinpoint as a spirit. Although I'm starting to suspect her
feelings for Tidus are deteriorating (or maybe because of
physical distance?), because he's definitely a lot weaker after
a year.
Anyway, my initial point was, Seymour couldn't have beckoned Sin
due to his own (possible) beckoned status; plus, I honestly
don't think he has that ambition anymore. Unlike the Via
Infinito bosses who refused to rest in the Farplane (Yo Mika,
Kinoc, Jyscal, Zaon, and Yunalesca; some of them were sent!),
Seymour was curiously absent from the events of FFX-2. You'd
think that if he still wished to end Spira through a mass
genocide of misplaced sympathy, he'd make himself known. I
believe that, despite the fact he fought to win, Seymour didn't
suffer an unclean defeat by Yuna's hand. Not only did she
finally Send him, he didn't forcibly reemerge from the Farplane
like his father. I think winding up in the Farplane stripped him
of his regret and hatred. There's a wonderful Seymour/Yuna
one-shot that explores that concept.
Perhaps to us, Summoning is unnatural. It's an ancient art that
"tames" or weaponizes magical beasts to fight for us. It's too
much power for any one person capable of even channeling such
mystical beings, using your own body and life force to anchor
them. However, I actually believe there's a positive,
self-sacrificing aspect to them (that does not include literally
killing the Summoner). It's entirely possible that many a
millennia before the start of advanced civilizations, the Fayth
were willing advocates of maintaining the world order - that
once they become spirits infused within statue, they had shrines
built for them (until maybe later where the volunteers were
dwindling and the rising power of humanity began to use those
who were "a crime against nature" such as children of inbreeding
between different races to provide Fayth for the world). Perhaps
Carbuncle had always stood as the spirit presiding over
Macalania Woods, until Shiva's reign over the land buried him
beneath a prison of ice. Maybe Quazecotl dwells deep within the
waters of the Thunder Plains, which could be the reason why that
entire region suffers from never-ending thunder storms. Maybe
that temple YRP found atop the highest peak of Mt. Gagazet used
to serve as Leviathan's home (wouldn't it be really cool if
Leviathan's spirit used to be a wise, old Hypello?). And maybe
the 'voice of the mountain' the Ronso often refer to could be
Fenrir communicating with them.
Sure, there's the unfortunate implication that living beings
used to serve the Fayth, worshipping them and channeling out
their will unto the planet out of sense of innate obligation.
And then humans rose to further their intelligent, seeking
purpose for themselves, eventually inventing man-made technology
and opening new path ways for alternate living (that does show
they can function in a world without them). This gradual, slow
change through the generations drew people away from traditional
worship. I believe the Summoning art had been exclusive to the
Guado, or ancestors of the Guado, because of what their initial
roles are - gatekeepers of the Farplane, masters of pyrefly
manipulation. Aside from a minority of humans, Guados are the
only ones sensitive to pyreflies (which serves as the basis for
all magic and phenomenon). And I also don't believe those
statues that the Fayth reside in are made up of any normal
stone. Normally I would have thought the souls used to become
Fayth transform into the stone, until I remembered seeing the
souls vacate their statues. So maybe the Ronso were masons who
provided the material and sculpted the statues for the Guado to
use. What if the stone they used had been soaked in mountain
water seeped with stardust from the constant meteor showers that
rained over the highest peak (that temple, perhaps?), which
could explain why the pyreflies, or a person's soul, is able to
stay anchored in such a statue. After all, pyreflies are
attracted to other pyreflies and water. Pyreflies are shown to
traverse the universe as rivers of energy similar to the
Lifestream in FFVII (thanks to Seymour's recording), so it
wouldn't be all too strange if some portions of that energy
condensed and fell from the streams to become "shooting stars."
I don't know. I'm just mass speculating at this point. 8)
It seems like the Spiran Council's whole stance on the beckoning
epidemic is 'the dead should be allowed to rest.' That even
casts a dark light on Yuna's act of intercepting Kurgum's duties
as something entirely intrusive, if not a violation of some
sacred philosophy. No wonder the Yevoner hunters think the
Yevoners' stance on living are profane (not that I'm justifying
them or anything).
#Post#: 1083--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: UltimaGriever Date: July 17, 2015, 9:06 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Now that I think of it, it seems really possible that he might
have let go of his hatred even before he was sent. When he was
finally defeated, he seemed to accept that it was nigh time for
him, and I could hear a tone of gratitude that it was Yuna, and
no one else, who got to send him in the end. I'd guess hard that
he really did love her, in his own twisted way. He was never
impolite to her, only to her guardians, Tidus to a greater
extent. This is why I absolutely love Seymour/Yuna, and btw, I
want to read that one-shot! :o
To the life-cycle point of view, summoning is highly unnatural.
It may be a millennial art, but that doesn't make it less
natural to the life and death order, in that it prevents the
souls of the dead from going to the Farplane OR from becoming
fiends: they remain trapped, as if they were still alive,
retaining a consciousness of their own and something akin to a
hive mind, only to manifest physically as aeons when a summoner
beckons. Of course, because of all these implications, one could
only be turned into fayth if he/she him/herself showed the
desire to become so, fully knowing his/her fate in eternal
limbo. This may also be why Yuna states in the book that it's
not the summoner who takes the initiative to bond, but the
fayth.
I believe the "voice of the mountain" the Ronso heard was the
Dream Zanarkand fayth. It is stated by Maechen that, when
Bevelle troopers climbed Gagazet to reach Zanarkand, they found
the city completely deserted and a multitude of the fayth
singing the Hymn of the Fayth. The "voices" the Ronso hear from
the mountain most likely stem from the fayth answering to them.
But the game never mentioned anything like aeons that weren't
manifested by fayth, just the effects of there already being
fayth in the environment, such as the fayth from Macalania
Temple (Shiva) causing the lake to remain frozen and giving life
to the forest: when the fayth vanished, the lake melted, causing
the temple to sink to the bottom of it, and the forest began to
die slowly.
What was seen prior to the end of the Machina War was technology
and summoning arts living together. There were MANY huge cities,
not just Luca, Bevelle and Zanarkand: ruins of those lost cities
can be seen spread throughout Spira, most likely destroyed by
Sin. It isn't known if all those cities, allied to either side
or not, had summoners, but Ifarnal is said to hail from Luca, so
it's possible that the art of summoning wasn't exclusive to only
Bevelle and Zanarkand. The whole thing that sparked the war was
pure religious spite: while Bevelle had this polytheist religion
hitherto unmentioned, the people of Zanarkand worshiped their
ruler, Yu Yevon, and his family. And they fought with all they
had, from machina to summoners, except the Bedohls managed to
outrun Zanarkand in the arms race and Yevon found himself forced
to do what he did, given his immense amount of control over the
peoples' lives. This is why I don't believe the Bedohls ever
served Zanarkand: have you ever seen a Yevonite Al Bhed, or a
different sect of these separate from the Al Bhed we know?
Although it MIGHT be possible that, if there really were any of
them in Zanarkand, they most likely gave in to Yevon and became
fayth for DZ.
#Post#: 1095--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: Danko Kaji Date: July 18, 2015, 1:58 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=UltimaGriever link=topic=51.msg1083#msg1083
date=1437141974]
This is why I absolutely love Seymour/Yuna, and btw, I want to
read that one-shot! :o
[/quote]
Here's the link. ;3
HTML https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3445591/1/Closure
I actually fancy Seymour/Yuna myself, if not
Seymour/Yuna/Baralai. ;) I believe another reason why Seymour
fell in love with Yuna was because she resembled his mother (it
doesn't help they share the same voice actor). Because Yuna and
Seymour are singularities of the world, being half-breeds from
their respective cultures, they could understand each other's
pain and hardship better than anyone. I'm a sucker for that kind
of couple chemistry. :3
Maybe Spira started out as a world governed by Fayth in times of
antiquity. Even if humans and other intelligent life forms are
capable of becoming Summoners, I highly doubt the ancient art
originated from humans. Because Guados are not human, it
probably made all the more sense to them. Human nature always
perseveres in their pursuit for knowledge and power; the Hypello
are content with their lackadaisical lifestyle, the Ronso kept
to their mountain, and the Guado to their forests. Only Al Bhed,
an off branch of humans, are the only other race shown to want
more than what they already have. Spira must have been a planet
saturated with an abundance of pyreflies, and there must have
been a prehistoric age of chaos - where the dead coexisted with
the living. Maybe pyreflies latched onto other life forms, such
as the trees which grew to develop humanoid characteristics, and
polar lions that evolved into beings capable of speech, learning
to walk on their hind legs, and amphibians who became the
Hypellos we know today.
The fact that a Goddess existed in the lore of FFVII makes me
wonder if another type of God existed around FFX's time, perhaps
an otherworldly being who dwells (or appears) in the Farplane.
For all intents and purposes, the Farplane acts as the inner
core of the planet (considering pyreflies are pure energy that
circulates throughout space and are the "breath" of the soul).
Perhaps that God manipulated pyreflies to craft living beings in
his/her image, and that is why so many races are humanoid.
Although the fiends we see in FFX are mainly those that are
coalescence of pyreflies born from the lingering will of dead
people, maybe the fiends were originally a part of the natural
food chain. Fiends may have walked the earth as animals and not
reincarnated humans, and during the 1000 years of tyranny under
Sin, natural-born fiends blended with reincarnated ones. There's
so much we don't know about Spira in its years of yore, only
stories relevant to Yevon's age. Sigh.
You're right. That mural-Fayth could have been the "voice" for
all we know. If only certain things were more clear. Hmph.
As for Macalania Woods, what had it been before Shiva's
existence? A normal forest? Because the region must have existed
before she froze the entire area within ice and crystal. Perhaps
the woods are dying without Shiva, because it's melting - having
been frozen for too long that the trees and plant life adapted
to the temperature and are now dying under the rapid climate
change.
You provide such incredible insight to the Machina War, I am in
awe. <3
#Post#: 1097--------------------------------------------------
Re: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD.
Spoilers ahead
By: UltimaGriever Date: July 18, 2015, 9:16 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Omg thanks! I'm gonna read it now! :o
I don't know about Spira being governed by fayth, but by the
spirits of the Farplane, and that it might be possible that
there is an entity there akin to a god as Minerva is to the
Lifestream, considering that FFVII is actually in FFX's future.
But what I think is really awkward is that there is no mention
of fayth being races other than human. No Al Bhed fayth (which
is understandable, since they were always considered lower
class), no Guado fayth, no Ronso fayth, no Hypello fayth
either... just humans. This leads me to believe that the art was
indeed created by ancient humans, who pursued even greater
power, to create the art of summoning, trying first with
pyreflies found loose in the world, to experimenting with other
humans' pyreflies - hence why there's more than one way to
create fayth.
Good point. Macalania Forest could have been a lush forest with
a giant lake by its side until the temple with the fayth was
placed there. Then the effects of the fayth on the environment
made the lake and the forest freeze all over, and, when it
vanished, everything started to melt. :)
The game doesn't make it very clear the difference between
natural born fiends and those born from the dead's anger and
hate, but perhaps they're one and the same.
Yevon might have placed taboo on anything prior to its age.
That's why we never knew about the gods, or the aeon cores,
which I'm not really really sure their creation actually
involves sex. That's why the Al Bhed can't build new machina
anymore, just salvage old ones. It's ironic that Bevelle, who
branded Yevon and Yunalesca as heretics who should be put to
death, was the heart of his religion and to this day keeps so
many secrets that date from before the war, including their old
religion and secrets on building machina, the key to their
victory over Zanarkand in the war.
The Machina War was, to me, an interesting event that was seen
by many characters differently. The Yevoners blame the war on
the Al Bhed: there was even a mass execution of them when the
war ended. Yevon's fayth blame it on Bevelle and their machina,
but they never mention them also having summoners on the front
lines, neither do they say that Zanarkand actually had a
head-start due to them using machina themselves, including
airships. We only hear one side of the story: the side that's
widely known to everyone, including the fayth, due to Yevon's
influence over the world during and after the war. Yevon paints
himself as the victim, because he had to sacrifice his people
just to create a fac-simile of his city (meaning he cared more
about his city's memory than with the citizens themselves),
because Bevelle was so mean to him and his brainwashing that he
had no choice than to summon a gargantuan beast to threaten
Bevelle with oblivion with it, only to keep it around to protect
his summoning of the city he used to rule and punish everyone
for his and Bevelle's mistakes for one thousand years, and only
God knows how many more had Yuna actually used the Final Aeon to
destroy it. Only Maechen is able to give us something more than
the fayth's self-pity (the summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a
chance whining - this was only around the end of the war) by
saying that Yevon was actually the ruler of Zanarkand, that the
Hymn of the Fayth was sung in defiance of Bevelle (it's actually
a prayer to Yevon, instead of the gods of Bevelle's religion)
and that Zanarkand's destruction was planned by Yevon, just to
show off his might so that Bevelle would surrender already. He
had Yunalesca run away with Zaon prior to summoning Sin, told
her to create an aeon off of him and summoned Sin out of the
souls of the dead soldiers. Then he used Sin to destroy
Zanarkand, devoid of any life thanks to everyone having been
turned to fayth, and Yunalesca returned to the ruins,
transformed Zaon into a fayth and waited. In the meanwhile,
Bevelle's troops raided Gagazet and found only ruins where
Zanarkand had been and an uncountable number of fayth. Sin then
emerged from the ruins and did nothing, because Yevon wanted
them to witness his might and return to Bevelle. Then the rumors
flew in Bevelle regarding Sin, saying that the people of
Zanarkand became the fayth who called Sin. They were only
half-right, though, for the fayth did not have anything to do
with Sin. Then Yunalesca went to Bevelle to confront them,
saying that she has the means of subduing the creature and that
she is the only one who knows it, and that if they didn't abide
by her rules then Sin would crush Bevelle into oblivion and
destroy Spira. Bevelle couldn't have done anything. They were
helpless. They had Vegnagun, but they were unsure of whether it
was safe to use or not, so, in any case, they were essentially
doomed if they didn't just give up. So they did, and Yunalesca
subjected them to the shame of worshipping Yevon, spreading and
enforcing his teachings to all of Spira before she went off to
fulfill her end of the bargain. She summoned Zaon's aeon and it
destroyed Sin's carcass, but Yevon emerged from it and possessed
the aeon, severing her mental link to the aeon and killing her
in the process. Because she needed to remain to ensure that
others would do the same, she lingered as an unsent and returned
to her hall in Zanarkand's ruins, waiting for her successors,
fully knowing their attempts were in vain. Nobody would ever
cease her lord father's reign over the land.
I liked it whenever the war was mentioned because nobody, apart
from those who lived and fought in it, could ever give testimony
to what happened, and, even if they did, it was most likely
biased. Lenne and Shuyin were biased towards Zanarkand. Valm and
Kush were biased towards Bevelle. I liked the novel in that it
gave us insight into both sides of the coin, not just "Zanarkand
had summoners and Bevelle had machina" stuff they said in the
games. Never did they mention Yunalesca and Yevon would
brainwash their people into fighting, that she would even goad
soldiers to fight endlessly by insinuating they would have
sexual contact with her once they came back (at least that was
implied from what the soldier said in the novel). The game
didn't show the bloody, gory side of the war, and anyone past
their childhood surely knows that wars mean death, blood and
gore above anything else.
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