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The purpose of this document is to present my thesis on Magic and
memories in Final Fantasy. Essentially, I seek to present that Spirit
Energy and/or memories are the source of Magicks in the Final
Fantasies. Further, I seek to express the possibility that all Final
Fantasy worlds since (or, at the least, the worlds of Final Fantasy
VII, VIII, IX, X/X-2, Tactics, and The Spirits Within) have a
Lifestream.
Note that there will be Spoilers ahead from Final Fantasy VI, VII,
VIII, IX, X, X-2, Tactics, The Spirits Within, and Unlimited.
In FFVII, there is a concept of the souls of those who die returning
to the Planet:
Bugenhagen:
"Well, let's get to the subject."
"Eventually... all humans die. What happens to them after they die?"
"The body decomposes, and returns to the Planet. That much
everyone knows. What about their consciousness, their hearts and their
souls?"
"The soul too returns to the Planet."
"And not only those of humans, but everything on this Planet.
In fact, all living things in the universe, are the same."
"The spirits that return to the Planet, merge with one
another and roam the Planet."
"They roam, converge, and divide, becoming a swell, called
the 'Lifestream'."
"Lifestream.... In other words, a path of energy of the souls
roaming the Planet."
"'Spirit Energy' is a word that you should never forget."
"A new life... children are blessed with Spirit energy and
are brought into the world."
"Then, the time comes when they die and once again return to
the Planet..."
We're further made aware that the game's Materia (the spheres through
which people in this world access Magicks) are crystallized Spirit
Energy, condensing and crystallizing when it has gone to the Planet's
surface, occurring through both natural and artificially-induced means
(Mako siphoning). Further still, it would seem that when one has died
and their Spirit Energy returns to the Planet, it takes with it the
knowledge (memories) of the individual that it had provided the energy
of life for, and it is through these memories that the wielders of
Materia connect to the Planet and call forth Magicks:
(Stated by Sephiroth on Mt. Nibel.)
"...the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the
materia."
"Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land
and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet
calling up magic..... or so they say."
The same concepts show up in The Spirits Within, in which it is said
that the spirits of those who die return to the "Gaia," (the spirit of
the Earth) taking with them the experiences (memories) of their
lifetimes, these experiences allowing the Gaia to grow, and with the
implication offered that the Spirit Energy will be recycled and put
back onto the surface world to supply another living being with Spirit
Energy:
(Stated by Aki, quoting Dr. Sid's journal.)
"All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit. Each new
spirit is housed in a physical body. ...Through their experiences on
Earth each spirit matures and grows. When the physical body dies the
mature spirit enriched by its life on Earth returns to Gaia bringing
with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow."
FFIX has this concept, as well (referred to as the "cycle of souls" by
Garland), though the source of souls is only referred to as "the light
[of Gaia]" rather than "the Lifestream" or "the Gaia." It's further
made apparent that the Planet Terra also has a "light." To better
explain this and the connection of these "lights" to the Lifestream of
Final Fantasy VII and the Gaia of The Spirits Within, I will here
explain the nature of Garland's plan to have Terra assimilate Gaia:
In Pandemonium, Garland tells Zidane that this was his plan for Gaia:
"I have no intention of destroying Gaia. I only wish to make
Gaia into Terra."
What does Garland mean by this? Was he going to cause the Planets to
collide and merge through accretion in a cataclysmic smashing together
of celestial bodies? Was he going to teleport Terra's matter into the
space being occupied by Gaia's, merging the two into a form that would
be both of the previously existing Planets, but neither at the same
time?
Perhaps that would have been part of the process at some stage (the
memory of Terra and another Planet apparently physically fusing
witnessed in Memoria would lend some measure of support to such a
theory), but one thing can be certain: What Garland was speaking of
was replacing Gaia's Lifestream/Gaia/Spirit Energy with Terra's. Like
the Earth of The Spirits Within and the Gaia of Final Fantasy VII, the
Gaia and Terra of Final Fantasy IX -- and, indeed, all Planets
if we're to take Mikoto's statement in Bran Bal at face value -- have
Lifestreams/Gaias:
"Planets have a cycle of souls. Souls are born from the planet,
and then return to it."
Recalling what is said concerning the return of souls to the Planets
of VII and The Spirits Within, we find that we have the same concepts
present in Final Fantasy IX as we had present in those two games. In
other words, both Gaia and Terra have a Lifestream.
From this, we can establish that all these worlds have a Lifestream.
With this in mind, recall that the Gaia of the Phantom Homeworld was
attempting to take over the Gaia of the Earth, changing the Earth's
blue Gaia into the Phantom Homeworld's red Gaia. In the event that
this sounds familiar, it certainly should, as this changing of blue to
red is precisely what Garland spoke of doing in regard to Gaia and
Terra:
Garland:
"We must sort the souls."
"I want to disrupt Gaia's cycle and drain its souls, filling the void
with the souls of Terra."
"To speed the cycle of souls is to speed the work as a whole. Thus, war..."
"And in time... Gaia's souls are gone, and Gaia becomes Terra."
Zidane
"But...how!?"
Garland
"You saw it with your own eyes. You saw the Iifa Tree and the Mist it emits.."
"The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider. The Mist you see
comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."
Zidane
"Oh yeah? But we stopped the Mist! So much for that!"
Garland
"All you saw was the back of the tree..."
"Come and see for yourself. See the true form of this planet."
Zidane
"What is this?"
Garland
"Think of it as an observatory. A place to measure the radiance of
Gaia and Terra."
Zidane
"What are you talking about? And what is this weird light?"
Garland
"That is the center of the planet. The end and the beginning of the
cycle of souls."
"The light remains Gaia's, for now, but when the blue changes to
crimson, all will belong to Terra, and its restoration will be
complete."
Garland tells Zidane that he was going to show him the true
form of Terra, and then proceeded to show him the light that was at
the center of Gaia, further stating that this light was the beginning
and end of the Cycle of Souls: In other words, Gaia's Lifestream.
Keeping in mind that Garland said he would show Zidane the true
form of Terra, that would mean that he didn't regard the physical
material that they could see and walked upon as the true form of the
Planet, rather regarding the Lifestream of the Planet itself as its
true form, all the physical material around it just being a shell of
sorts to contain it and upon which it could cultivate life.
Recalling once again that the Gaia of the Phantom Homeworld in The
Spirits Within was changing the Earth's Gaia from blue to red, this
would mean, then, that what Garland was trying to do was the same
thing: Replace Gaia's Lifestream with Terra's, converting the
Lifestream already present and housing Terra's Lifestream in the
vessel of physical material upon which life had been cultivated and
reared by Gaia.
The Gaia concept of The Spirits Within is exactly the same as the
Lifestream concept of Final Fantasy VII and the Cycle of Souls of
Final Fantasy IX. Earth's Gaia (The Spirits Within) is that Planet's
Lifestream, the same as Gaia's Lifestream (Final Fantasy VII) is that
Planet's Gaia, with the Gaia and Terra of Final Fantasy IX having
these "lights."
Based on what we're told in Final Fantasy VII and The Spirits Within,
we know that the memories of the dead will be taken to the Planet's
Lifestream/Gaia/Crystal/Whatever, yet in Final Fantasy IX we see this
process interrupted by the Iifa Tree. As a result, Mist covers much of
one continent and later the whole world. Black Mages, beings with the
inherent ability to use Magicks, are created from this Mist.
Garland says the Mist was formed of the stagnant souls of the dead
that were unable to return to the core of the Planet. In other words,
they were composed of Spirit Energy that could not return:
Garland:
"The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider.
The Mist you see comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."
This presents us with the suggestion that Spirit Energy provides
power, and that is, indeed, the case. In Final Fantasy VII, the
Shin-Ra corporation draws Spirit Energy out of the Planet, it taking
on a more compressed form called "Mako." This Mako is then converted
to allow Shin-Ra to provide electricity, the Mako becoming electrical
energy and then being converted into whatever forms of energy that it
may be used toward as electrical energy, such as light energy, heat
energy, and kinetic energy. Further notable is, again, that the source
of Magic in this game is Materia, condensed and crysalized Spirit
Energy from the Lifestream, it acting as a link between its wielder
and the Planet, as the knowledge (memories) within the Materia
interacts between the two, allowing the wielder to call Magicks forth.
Further, JENOVA/Sephiroth's plot in Final Fantasy VII was to deal a
fatal would to the Planet, resulting in a massive outpouring of Spirit
Energy from within the Planet to that area to heal the wound, only
it/he/they would be at the wound and would absorb the Spirit Energy as
it came forth.
In Final Fantasy X and X-2, we see Spheres used as a frequent source
of power, them being, interestingly enough, in the shape that Final
Fantasy VII's Materia takes on. In X-2, we learn that Spheres are
composed of Pyreflies:
(In Cloister Infinity/Cloister 100 of the Via Infinito.)
Rikku: So what happened to everyone's Spheres?
Trema: Destroyed. Turned to Pyreflies and scattered.
A further note of interest is that we frequently see the souls of the
dead composed of Pyreflies through Final Fantasy X and X-2's Unsent
characters, such as Auron, Seymour, Belgemine, Lady Ginnem, and
Maester Mika. Further still, the Farplane (the resting place of the
world of Spira's dead) has many Pyreflies floating about it. When
people and Fiends die, Pyreflies are given off from their forms, or,
in the case of the Fiends, their bodies disippitate into the Pyreflies
of which they are composed. With this in mind, the nature of Fiends as
explained in Final Fantasy X should be recalled:
(Stated by Lulu in Kilika.)
"The dead need guidance."
"Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate."
"They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive."
"You see, they envy the living."
"And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate."
"Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on
the living."
"Sad, isn't it?"
"The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."
It should also be noted that Pyreflies are what are seen fading away
when a Sending occurs. Further still, when one has been sent to the
Farplane, their image will appear there amongst the Pyreflies that
float about there in response to one's memory of the sent deceased.
From all of this we can infer that the Pyreflies of an individual are
their very soul, or -- as Final Fantasy VII put it -- their "Spirit
Energy."
Keeping in mind for a moment that Materia is crystallized Spirit
Energy, in regard to Final Fantasy X, it should be noted that all
abilities learned in that game are learned on the Sphere Grid
(bolded for emphasis), and the abilities seen in Final Fantasy X-2 are
learned through the use of the Dressspheres (bolded for
emphasis). In other words, the magical abilities that people learn in
Spira come from Spheres, just as the magical abilities people display
in Final Fantasy VII come from the Spheres of that world: Materia.
The Dresspheres of Final Fantasy X-2 are clearly shown to be the
crystalized Pyreflies/Spirit Energy of People of the past. Lenne's
memories were the basis for the Songtstress Dressphere, and her spirit
is even seen emerging from the Dressphere after the final
confrontation with Shuyin. It is because of this that Shuyin often
confused Yuna for Lenne during the game:
Buddy: Lenne, huh?
Shinra: Yeah, the girl from the Songstress dressphere.
Yuna: That's Lenne?
Shinra: Sure. She wore that dress one thousand years ago.
Rikku: Why didn't you tell us?
Shinra: No one asked. Besides, all I knew was her name. What's to tell?
Yuna: (narrating) What Shinra said surprised me, but only a little. So
there really was a connection.
Rikku: Okay, okay. So, the reason Shuyin keeps calling Yuna "Lenne" is --
Paine: Because of that dressphere?
Taking all of this into account, let's now consider what Shinra of
Final Fantasy X-2 says concerning the Farplane, where a vast amount of
Pyreflies can be seen:
Shinra: Aha...
Yuna: What are you looking at?
Shinra: Farplane data.
Shinra: The more I study it, the more fascinating it gets. There's
limitless energy swirling around in there.
Yuna: Limitless energy?
Shinra: The life force that flows through our planet...I think.
Shinra: With a little work, we could probably extract the energy in a
useable form.
Brother: Sweet!
Shinra: Of course, that'd take generations.
Brother: That's no fun!
Buddy: Well, still, it is something worth shooting for.
Yuna: Think how much Spira would change if we ever got it to work!
Yuna: Maybe one day we could build a city full of light, one that never sleeps!
Shinra: No doubt about it.
Yuna: Just imagine!
Yuna: But I'll never get to see it...will I...
*Shinra shaking his head meaning NO*
Brother: Shinra! Don't make Yuna sad!
Shinra: Right. My bad.
Note that Shinra's words suggest the same concept as the use of Mako
Reactors seen in Final Fantasy VII.
As with Final Fantasy VII, in Final Fantasy X we also see Spirit
Energy used as a source of increasing one's power. When People and
Fiends die, Pyreflies are given off. After Seymour has murdered
Maester Kinoc, he absorbs the Pyreflies from Kinoc's body and those
that three Guado and a soldier of Bevelle give off, transforming into
Seymour Natus. This is a strong indication that the Pyreflies are the
free-floating Spirit Energy of the dead, and can be harnessed as a
source of power the same as Spirit Energy is in Final Fantasy VII.
Also, note that the Pyreflies reside within the Planet, and that the
Pyreflies constituting the souls of one that is sent will be sent
there, as one who has not died or has not been sent cannot be seen on
the Farplane.
Moving on, in The Spirits Within, we're told that the Ovopacks used to
power everything were derived from micro-organisms, their "bioetheric
energy" (their Spirit Energy) drawn out to be used as a power source
and contained in these packs. One of the Eight Spirits used to counter
the Phantom Homeworld's Gaia was one of these Ovopacks:
Aki: "We're very close."
Gray: "I don't see anything."
Gray: "You're not gonna tell me it's him?"
Ryan: "That's impossible."
Aki: "It's not the soldier. It's his ovopack."
Gray: "How do you explain that? Packs power the weapons, the barrier
cities. I mean it's just bioetheric energy."
Aki: "And to create that energy we use living tissue; single cell organisms.."
Gray: "You're telling me his backpack is the seventh spirit."
Aki: "Yes."
Again, Spirit Energy was the source of power, in this case, used to
power the weapons employed against the Phantoms and the barrier that
kept them out of the new New York City.
On the subject of the Phantoms themselves, they were ghosts of a world
destroyed, carried to the Earth on a chunk of their own Planet that
contained their world's Gaia. When this chunk of their homeworld (the
Phantom Meteor) slammed into the Earth, their world's Gaia essentially
poisoned Earth's Gaia and began attempting to convert it into itself.
It seems that the Gaia of the Phantom homeworld was attempting to take
the Earth's physical material as a new vessel until it itself was
negated from existence by the Spirit Wave of the Eight Spirits of
Earth.
Next, with Final Fantasy VIII, we find a less obvious but no less
striking matter. Scattered across the world of Final Fantasy VIII are
Draw Points, areas on the surface of the Planet where tendrils of
energy leak out and can be "drawn" into one who is junctioned to a
Guardian Force (Final Fantasy VIII's version of Summon Creatures),
allowing one access to Magicks. Further, energy can likewise be
"drawn" from monsters and even other people, leaving similar energy
trails behind as it is transferred from one being to another as it
does when pulled out of the Planet and into an individual's body. The
striking thing about this is that the Draw Points that leak energy out
of the Planet bear a significant resemblance to the Mako Fountains of
Final Fantasy VII, areas in that world where Spirit Energy leaked out
of the Planet, condensed, and became Materia:
A
Draw Point.
A
Mako Fountain.
While they don't bear an exact resemblance, conceptually
they're akin: Both involve energy leaking up out of the Planet and
through to the surface. In other words, when drawing Magicks out of
the Planet, one is drawing Spirit Energy out of it, gaining access to
a certain number of Spells associated with the memories contained in
the Spirit Energy that was drawn.
Similarly, when drawing energy from a monster or another person, one
is drawing on Spirit Energy out of that being, gaining access to
Spells associated with the memories contained in that Spirit Energy:
Drawing
Magic.
Finally, in regard to Final Fantasy: Unlimited, throughout this series
various types of sandy materials (more various in color than the
different types of Materia) known as "Soil" were the fuel for powering
certain weaponry and many machines. Not surprisingly, the revelation
comes that Soil is the Life Crystals of the dead. In other words, the
crystallized Spirit Energy of the dead.
Based on all this, we can establish that Spirit Energy and
Lifestream-like concepts are a staple of at least the worlds of Final
Fantasy VII, IX, X/X-2, Unlimited, and The Spirits Within, as well as
possibly Final Fantasy VIII.
However, we can draw something else from all of this due to some
specific elements of the nature of Spirit Energy/Pyreflies seen in
Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X/X-2, and specific elements
regarding the nature of Summons as seen in Final Fantasy VIII and IX:
Spirit Energy itself would only seem to be half of the equation in
regard to the source of power. The other half is memories. In fact, it
may well be that it is the memories themselves that allow
Spirit Energy to provide power in the first place!
This conclusion can be drawn for several reasons:
As mentioned before, in Final Fantasy VII, when explaining the
function of Materia, Sephiroth says the following:
"...the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia."
"Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the
Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and
the planet calling up magic..... or so they say."
Materia contains the knowledge of the Ancients. To put it another way,
their memories. Now let's recall once more what The Spirits Within
states to be taken to the Gaia of the Earth upon the death of a
creature:
"All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit. Each new
spirit is housed in a physical body. ...Through their experiences on
Earth each spirit matures and grows. When the physical body dies the
mature spirit enriched by its life on Earth returns to Gaia bringing
with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow."
The experiences of those who die are taken with their Spirit Energy
back to the Gaia. In other words once again, their memories. This
time, however, we learn that these memories actually serve to allow
Gaias/Lifestreams to grow.
Consider now Sin, the Aeons, and Dream Zanarkand of FFX and X-2: Sin,
the Aeons, and Dream Zanarkand were bound to existance by the dreaming
of those pople who had lived in Zanarkand before and during the war
with Bevelle: The Fayth. When it became apparent that the war with
Bevelle was lost, Yu Yevon had them become the Fayth Cluster on Mt.
Gagazet, where they would generate their memories and he would tap
into them, and from them create Dream Zanarkand, so that the Zanarkand
they knew would live on. They generated memories of the Zanarkand they
had known while they were forced into a perpetual cycle of dreaming by
Yu Yevon, him tapping into the dreams they generated to create Dream
Zanarkand and its living, breathing, reproducing inhabitants. Actual
life was made from these memories. With this in mind, it may be that
memories act to nurture and strengthen Spirit Energy, this being why a
Gaia or Lifestream will grow from the memories that become one with
it.
In addition to the memories of Zanarkand that Yu Yevon pulled from the
Fayth on Mt. Gagazet being used to create Dream Zanarkand, he also
used them to create Sin, the malevolent force that would terrorize
Spira for a thousand years. Note the Zanarkand-like architecture on
Sin's head, alluding to the creature having been formed from the very
memories of that place:
The
ruins of Zanarkand.
Another
shot of Zanarkand's ruins.
Sin's
head.
A
closer shot of Sin's head.
A
shot of Sin's head clearly displaying the Zanarkand-like architecture
that is on top.
This shows us beyond all doubt that memories themselves are power. The
Aeons, also, were produced from the dreams of Fayth, possibly -- if
not probably -- based on something of their memories.
Something else worthy of note is that Pyreflies constantly react to
the memories of those who come around them, as is shown to occur on
the Farplane, and in the ruins of Zanarkand. Further still, the Unsent
-- being composed of Pyreflies -- can even process their own memories
through the Pyreflies and allow others to see them, such as when Auron
shows to Tidus the promise he had made to Jecht to look after Tidus:
Auron
"We must talk."
Tidus
"What?"
Auron
"There is something you should know."
Tidus
"I know...it's about you, right?"
Auron
"I am also an unsent."
"You are not surprised?"
Tidus
"I think I kinda knew. It was Yunalesca, wasn't it?"
Auron
"When Braska and Jecht died defeating Sin..."
"I just couldn't accept it."
"I came back here... tried to avenge them."
"But she struck me down."
"Somehow I made my way, crawling, down Mount Gagazet."
"But my strength left me just outside Bevelle. That's where Kimahri found me."
"I told him about Yuna... just before I died."
"I've been wandering ever since, never going to the Farplane."
Tidus
"Auron..."
Auron
"Don't make that face. Being dead has its advantages."
"I was able to ride Sin and go to your Zanarkand."
Tidus
"And you've been watching over me since then, haven't you?"
"Why?"
"What's the big idea? Why me?"
Auron
"It is one of those things that is difficult to explain."
"Very well, I will show you."
::Auron walks to the middle of the room::
Auron
"My memories."
::Auron kneels and several Pyreflies rise from his form. We're then
shown images of Braska and Jecht, as seen through Auron's eyes 10
years earlier::
Jecht
"Can I ask you one last favor?"
"Uh..."
"Nah. Never mind."
Auron
"Out with it!"
Jecht
"Okay. Listen good."
"Take care of my son."
"My son, in Zanarkand. He's such a crybaby."
"He needs someone there to hold his hand, see?"
"Take care of him, will you?"
Auron
"But how am I supposed to go to Zanarkand?"
Jecht
"Hey! You said it yourself!"
"There must be a way to get there, right? You'll find it."
Auron
"All right, I will!"
"I give you my word."
"I'll take care of your son. I'll guard him with my life."
Jecht
"Thanks, Auron."
::Jecht approaches Auron and hugs him::
Jecht
"You were always such a stiff, but that's what I liked about you."
::The scene shifts back to Auron and Tidus in Zanarkand::
Auron
"That is why."
Something else worthy of note comes from The Spirits Within and Final
Fantasy X-2. In The Spirits Within, Aki -- having a piece of a
Phantom's spirit contained within her body -- frequently experienced
that Phantom's memories of its final moments of life. Similarily, in
X-2, Yuna frequently experienced Lenne's memories of her final moments
of life as well as occasionally felt her feelings.
Taking a brief step back to the concept of Spirit Energy crystallizing,
in Final Fantasy: Tactics, upon the death of a character in a battle
(once the timer above their body reached "0"), a message reading
"[Insert character's name]'s spirit became a crystal" will often
appear, accompanied by the fallen unit's body being replaced on the
battlefield by a crystal. If another character moves to that space and
takes the crystal, they can either use it to replenish their HP and
MP, or to learn a Spell or other ability that the fallen character had
known. In other words, they can absorb a memory of that fallen
character. Granted, this isn't a huge point and is the only possible
connection to the matter in Final Fantasy: Tactics, and there's no
indication that other Spells and abilities are learned in a manner
that is associated with either Spirit Energy or memories, but I felt
that this was a point that shouldn't be left out.
Similarly, in Final Fantasy VI, upon the death of an Esper, its
spiritual essence would crystallize into objects known as "Magicite."
Despite the Esper being dead, if someone was in possession of a
Magicite, they could call the being forth in battle. Further still,
they could learn Spells from the Magicite, these being Spells the
Esper itself had known or is associated with, such as the Fire Spells
that can be learned from Ifrit's Magicite.
In a somewhat similar concept, in Final Fantasy VIII, without Guardian
Forces, people could do nothing more than battle with their own
physical prowess and skills of warfare. They would have no access to
Magicks whatsoever without GFs unless they were a Sorceress. When
Junctioned to a GF, however, they have the potential for a great
arsenal of magical Spells to be at their disposal, yet junctioning
oneself to a GF causes memory loss over time, suggesting that the GF
draws on the memories of its Junction partner in order to supply them
the power it does (not just calling the GF forth, but drawing,
stocking, and junctioning Magicks), the one junctioned to a GF acting
as a Fayth of sorts:
(After Squall and the other main characters -- minus Rinoa -- discover
that they grew up together, but that all of them but Irvine had
forgotten.)
Squall
"...Why is it that we forgot?"
"We grew up together as kids...How's that possible...?"
Irvine
"How about this?"
"...The price we pay for using the GF."
"The GF provides us its power."
"But the GF makes its own place inside our brain..."
Quistis
"So you're saying that the area is where our memories are stored?"
"No...! That's just a rumor the GF critics are spreading."
Zell
"So if we keep relying on the GF, we won't be able to remember a lot of things?"
Quistis
"There's no way Headmaster Cid would allow such a dangerous thing!"
Irvine
"Then how is it that I remember, while everyone else has forgotten?"
"Well...?"
"In my case, I hadn't junctioned a GF until recently."
"That's why I remember a lot more than you guys."
Quistis
"How about you, Selphie?"
"Your first experience with the GF was when you came to Balamb Garden,
right?"
Selphie
"...Yeah."
....
Selphie
"I have a confession to make!"
Selphie
"When I was 12, I went on an outdoor training session."
"I found a GF inside one of the monsters I defeated..."
"I junctioned that GF for a while. So I have experience with GF, too."
"But...but, it's really weird! I can't remember the name of that GF!"
Quistis
"It must be the GF's fault…
The GFs take up residence within one's mind, drawing on their
memories, and possibly placing the memories associated with the Spells
they "learn" there. Spells can be lost if drawn from a party member,
or if just plucked out of their mind and cast away, as Ultimecia often
does to party members during the final battles of the game.
Like those that came before it, Final Fantasy IX also has a strong
connection to memories. The game emphasizes all memory and life having
began at a single source, known as the Crystal. All life is connected,
each having its beginning with the crystal, no matter how far back in
time it is that the Crystal propagated life into existence. The game
has a place known as "Memoria," which literally means "Memory" in
several languages, and in which the characters trace their own Spirit
Energy's memories back to the
beginning of its existence with the Crystal, all of them even able to
recall that their world was once entirely covered with water, despite
this having been, perhaps, millions or billions of years before their
lifetimes. Zidane was even able to recall things of Gaia's far past,
despite being from Terra, this being because all life has a single
source when one traces it back far
enough: The Crystal.
This, of course, still leaves us to question whether or not the
Magicks of Final Fantasy IX are connected to Spirit Energy or
memories, as they are in no obvious way derived from memories beyond
the connection with the Black Mages being composed of Mist, which is
stagnant Spirit Energy, which would contain memories. On this Gaia,
Magicks are learned by equipping oneself with certain equipment for a
certain period of time, rather than by equipping oneself with Materia,
Spheres, or some other crystalline object. Granted, Kuja gained a
great deal of magical power when he absorbed the souls that were
trapped within the Invincible, but that still only leaves us to
connect only the Black Mages' and Kuja's Magicks to Spirit Energy
and/or memories.
However, consider the writing on the Eidolon Wall of Madain Sari. It
would seem that some of the Summoners of Madain
Sari determined that the legends of Eidolons were the basis of their
creation, and not the other way around, essentially meaning that the
memory of these beings amongst the citizens of a village or tribe
would manifest the Eidolon according to their customs and conceptions
of these what these beings were like, essentially meaning the
collective memory of these cultures would create the beings, even
affecting the forms they would take:
(Written on the Eidolon Wall in Madain Sari, and accessible after performing
the small sidequest necessary to reveal all of the writing on the wall.)
The Legend of Eidolons
"We discovered eidolons by researching legends documented from around
the world. The Thunder God, Ramuh, is one of those legends. Some
theorize that the eidolons were created from the legends, and not the
other way around."
....
The First Eidolon Discovered, Shiva
"Shiva took the form of a young girl when she was first discovered.
She now appears as a grown woman. Eidolons adapt their forms to the
time and culture in which they appear. Shiva illustrates this theory.
In certain areas, Shiva is depicted as a snow fairy. This cannot be
verified, since the only written document that remains is in the
summoner village. People associate Shiva with the snow fairy. Why she
changes forms remains a mystery."
With this in mind, recall that the memories of the Fayth were used to
create people in Dream Zanarkand who were alive in every way. Memories
made life, just as they make the Gaias/Lifestreams of their worlds
grow. As it was in that case, so is it in this one: Memories gave
birth to life. Tidus, a Dream of the Fayth, even begins pooling off
Pyreflies/Spirig Energy as he began to vanish from Spira during X's
ending, displaying that he also had Spirit Energy, and -- perhaps --
was Spirit Energy given form in the first place, being created from
memories (more on this toward the end of this document).
Moving on, it is through objects that one calls the Eidolons forth, a
Garnet used to bring Bahamut forth, for instance, or Pumice used to
bring forth Ark. These legendary creatures have somehow gained an
association to these items. No doubt the customs (collective memories)
of those from whom the legends -- and, thus, the Eidolons -- arose
established these assocations, thus essentially allowing these items
to act as a Summon Materia would. It's said in Final Fantasy VII that
the knoweldge (memories) within the Materia allows one to call forth
Magicks, and this would include Summons, as well. The game shows us an
example of this through the Eidolon known as Madeen, the Ribbon it
carried as Mog allowing it to be called forth by Eiko.
Likewise, then, it must be, that the items that allow one to learn
Spells such as Fire have had memories become associated with them,
instilling these items with the Spells out of the very concept of them
being associated with such Spells. Essentially, it's a massive case of
"mind over matter."
In conclusion, I believe that every world in Final Fantasy may have a
Lifestream, and that access to Spirit Energy containing memories -- or
raw memories themselves -- play a large role in how Magicks can
be accessed. Granted, the Goddess Statues of Final Fantasy VI and the
Sorceress Power of Final Fantasy VIII may suggest to us that there is
a "true" form of Magic for their worlds, with Spirit Energy and/or
memories -- accessed in different ways depending on the world and/or
situations -- allowing one to simulate the concept. Perhaps Magicite
usage -- drawing on the memories within the crystallized Spirit Energy
-- allow one to simulate the nature of some true form of Magic in VI,
or the use of Para-Magic through GFs in VIII allows one to simulate
the nature of some form of true Magic in that game (it was developed
to simulate the Sorceress Power in the first place). Or perhaps it is
that the Goddess Statues only had their power in the first place due
to the belief that they had such power, and the subsequent
belief that all Magicks in the world were dependent on the endurance
of the power instilled in the Statues remaining bound to some vessel,
whether it was the statues themselves or Kefka's body.
In any event, what is certain is that Spirit Energy and memories
can provide power, and have done so in -- at the least -- Final
Fantasy VI, VII, VIII, IX, X/X-2, Tactics, and The Spirits Within, and
that the worlds of at least VII, IX, and The Spirits Within have a
Lifestream, though there's significant indication of such a
possibility in regard to VIII and X/X-2's worlds, as well.
Perhaps it is even the case that it is not Spirit Energy that provides
power so much as it is memories themselves, for we have seen memories
provide power even when separate from Spirit Energy, and even give
life, that which Spirit Energy is said to do. Perhaps it is even so
that memories spawn Spirit Energy in the first place, as Tidus of
Final Fantasy X had Spirit Energy, despite having been a Dream of the
Fayth, his very existence maintained by a flow of memories.
While we cannot answer all of this questions, we can hypothesize, and
it is my belief that it is memories that give rise to Spirit
Energy to begin with based on all that we see them do, even without
the presence of Spirit Energy, and with it being said that it is
memories that allows the swell of Spirit Energy within Planets to
grow. The answers will hopefully continue to come forth, even as the
memories of these tales continue to grow.
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