Tidus

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Tidus
Tidus, painted by Tetsuya Nomura
Game series	Final Fantasy series
First game	Final Fantasy X
Designed by	Tetsuya Nomura
Voice actor(s) (English)	James Arnold Taylor Cree Summer (younger) Shaun Fleming (Kingdom Hearts)
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Masakazu Morita Yuuto Nakamura (younger)
Motion capture actor	Masakazu Morita
In-Universe Information
Weapon	Longswords
Special ability	Time magic
Overdrive	Swordplay
Race	Human, Dream of the Fayth
Home	Dream Zanarkand
Age	17

Tidus (ティーダ, Tīda^?) is the protagonist in the Square-Enix role-playing video game Final Fantasy X. As the leading character, the player controls Tidus through the world based in the game, manipulating his actions through the unfolding storyline in traditional Final Fantasy style.

The storyline of Final Fantasy X revolves around Tidus, a rising blitzball star player from Zanarkand. After a mysterious creature called "Sin" attacked his hometown, Tidus was seemingly transported to the world of Spira. Lost, confused, and feeling out of place, Tidus soon meets a newly-fledged summoner, Yuna, and her guardians. The summoner is soon to set out on a pilgrimage in an attempt to put an end to the very creature that attacked Tidus' city, and by joining them, Tidus hopes he will find his way home.

James Arnold Taylor, the English voice actor for Tidus, has mentioned that Tidus' maturity goes through stages of development during the story, and that his voice reflects this, i.e., the points of narration offered by Tidus sound mature, while those from when the game began had a higher pitch. James Arnold Taylor interview (help·info) Additionally, since the player can rename Tidus in Final Fantasy X, he is not referred to by name, nor is he referred to as Tidus in Final Fantasy X-2; instead he is only referred to with stressed pronouns.

Contents 1 Character design 2 Game plot 2.1 Final Fantasy X 2.2 Final Fantasy X-2 3 Other appearances 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Character design

The game's scenario writer, Kazushige Nojima, has expressed that the relationship between the player and the main character in a Final Fantasy title is always something he's concerned with, and that when penning Final Fantasy X, he wanted to try something new. He wanted to attempt establishing a connection between the player and character such that — since both are finding themselves in a new world — the player's progress through that world and growing knowledge about it would be reflected in Tidus' own ever-developing understanding, a connection allowed to the player through Tidus' first-person narration of most of Final Fantasy X, in which the player (controlling Tidus) advances that narration.^[1]

For his part, Character Designer Tetsuya Nomura has expressed that — after designing serious and moody main characters for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII — he wanted to give Tidus a cheerful attitude and appearance, which is reflected in the name Kazushige Nojima chose for him (Tiida is the Okinawan word for "sun").^[2][3] He's also explained that he wanted his clothing and accessories to suggest a relationship with the sea. For example, his outfit bears a distinctive blue theme, and the symbol of Tidus' blitzball team — which appears on his clothing — is designed after a fishing hook, while also designed such that it's an amalgamation of the letters "J" and "T" (the first letters of Tidus' name and that of his father, Jecht).^[4]

Nomura has also mentioned that a contrast between the lead male and female protagonists was established by Yuna's name meaning "night" in Okinawan.^[5] This contrast is also represented with the items required to empower their Celestial Weapons: the Sun Sigil and the Sun Crest for Tidus', and the Moon Sigil and Moon Crest for Yuna's.

Similar to the rest of the characters seen in Final Fantasy X, Tidus' abilities are built around a classic Final Fantasy job class, in his case that of the Fighter class, which is normally considered a balanced melee class. However, Tidus also features many abilities from the Time Mage class in the form of supportive spells for himself and his group. As a blitzball player, Tidus is able to fight underwater, and is one of three characters who can do so.

Because he is never directly referred to by name during audible dialogue (but is referred to by name in text-only dialogue) — due to the player having the option to change his default name — the pronunciation of his name among fans is sometimes unclear. His name as featured in Final Fantasy X is pronounced "Tee-dus." This was confirmed in dialogue from Kingdom Hearts — which featured the character in a cameo — and by interviews with James Arnold Taylor, Tidus' English voice actor.^[6] More recently, this pronunciation was used by the narrator of the History of Final Fantasy featurette (included with Final Fantasy XII Collector's Edition) in the portion covering Final Fantasy X. In Kingdom Hearts II, however, Selphie Tilmitt pronounces his name "Tie-dus," which has led to more confusion amongst fans.

[edit] Game plot

[edit] Final Fantasy X

The game begins with an in-game cutscene showcasing the party of main characters around a campfire backdropped by the wreckage of Zanarkand. As the camera work focuses on Tidus while he ascends a small hill and looks over the ruins, it is accompanied by the game's opening line, spoken by Tidus: "Listen to my story...this may be our last chance." From there, he narrates the events of much of the game up to this point to the characters around the campfire, revealing his thoughts on certain aspects of his journey, often from his current mindset )"It would be a long time...before I ever really understood the reason why Yuna let Luzzu pass [to fight Sin and potentially die, based on the player's decisions] that day.")

The suggestion that Final Fantasy X is Tidus' story is enforced by Tidus' first-person narration throughout much of the game, and is mentioned at various points in the game's dialogue.^{[7][8][9][10]} Tidus then recounts how events have lead to the present. At the beginning of his role in the story, Tidus, an inhabitant of Zanarkand, is preparing to play blitzball in the Jecht Memorial Cup — a tournament in honor of his lost father, Jecht. Ten years prior to the events of the game, Jecht mysteriously disappeared while on a blitzball training expedition out at sea.^[11][12] A successful blitzball player, Tidus felt the pressure to match, if not surpass, his father's skill. Tidus holds animosity toward Jecht for this and other reasons, including the fact that his mother would ignore Tidus in favor of giving attention to Jecht and because his disappearance led to his mother giving up the will to live.^[13][14]

During the tournament, Zanarkand is attacked by an immense creature shrouded in water. The city is destroyed in its path, and Tidus manages to escape a similar fate before the blitzball stadium collapses. While the destruction goes on, Tidus spots Auron, an old friend of Jecht and mentor to Tidus. Auron claims he has been waiting for Tidus, and reveals that the creature is called "Sin." Auron and Tidus fight their way towards Sin, much to Tidus' confusion. Once there, Auron drags Tidus into the depths of Sin, claiming his story begins here.

Tidus awakens to find himself in the world of Spira, where he quickly runs into the eccentric salvager race, the Al Bhed, and learns from a young Al Bhed girl named "Rikku" that 1000 years have passed since the destruction of Zanarkand. After another attack by Sin — who Rikku says has been a plague on humanity ever since Zanarkand fell — Tidus arrives at Besaid Island. It is here that he meets Yuna - a summoner who plans to embark on a pilgrimage to bring about the destruction of Sin. Along with her guardians Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri, Tidus navigates his way throughout Spira in the hope of finding his way home. Along the way, Tidus reunites with Auron, and even Rikku also joins the party as a guardian.

Throughout the game, Tidus slowly matures, changing from a somewhat naive and self-centered youth into a selfless hero. This transformation is also hinted — through several flashback sequences — to have occurred in Jecht himself, who Auron reveals to have taken part in a similar journey ten years earlier (he initially joins to get out of jail and get home, then realizes that he will never get home and devotes himself to destroying Sin regardless of the cost). Auron further reveals to Tidus that Yuna's father, Lord Braska, Jecht and himself achieved with that journey the very goal that Yuna was currently seeking in her mission.^[15] However, Sin returns every time it is destroyed, and Auron reveals — much to Tidus' horror and confusion — that Jecht himself has returned as Sin.^[16][17]

As the game progresses, Tidus learns more about Spira and the concept of the summoner's pilgrimage, but the answers to some of his questions — particularly why his father has become Sin, why Sin returns each time it is destroyed and why Zanarkand was supposedly destroyed 1,000 years in the past when Tidus remembered it being attacked only a short time before — elude him for some time. He also falls in love with Yuna — despite a warning from Lulu that he should not allow himself to.^[18] Tidus also begins relinquishing the hatred he long held for his father, and, in time, learns the answers to all of his questions, much to his dismay. Tidus is also the most adamantly opposed to Yuna sacrificing herself (the Final Summoning results in the summoner's death), with the possible exception of Rikku, possibly given that he, unlike the Yevonite members of the party, has not been raised to accept sacrifice.

As the party approaches Zanarkand, another disquieting fact is revealed: Tidus is not actually an ordinary human being. He, and the Zanarkand he hails from, are dreams of the fayth, the same as the aeons.^[19] Their city, Dream Zanarkand, was created 1,000 years earlier at the same time as the destruction of the original Zanarkand, when Sin was created in the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle.

The fayth of the aeon Bahamut reveals to Tidus that they would like him to find a means to permanently defeat Sin, so that they can all finally rest. However, the fayth also reveals to him that if he does that, the summoning of Dream Zanarkand and all its people — including Tidus himself — will disappear.^[20]

Tidus reaches Zanarkand's ruins with Yuna and her other guardians, and on the outskirts of the ruins, tells the group his story- this is the source of his narration. Inside Zanarkand, they learn from Lady Yunalesca that Yuna must choose one of her guardians to become her fayth for the Final Summoning. Tidus argues with Lulu and Wakka (who volunteer to be the fayth) that they must find another way to destroy Sin forever, and they see his ideals as impractical. Yuna, however, refuses to undergo the rite of the Final Aeon after learning that it can never defeat Sin, and the party fights and defeats Yunalesca. Without Yunalesca, the Final Aeon can never again be summoned, leaving Yuna and her companions with only the option of truly finding an alternative method of vanquishing Sin, one that will not allow the creature to return.

To achieve this, they attack Sin directly and enter its shell. Eventually, they find Jecht and Tidus is reunited with his estranged father, who transforms into his Final Aeon form and is defeated by the party. After Yuna summons her Aeons to weaken Yu Yevon ("the immortal" who possesses each Final Aeon and re-creates Sin), Tidus tells his friends he will be leaving after they defeat Sin but doesn't say why - much to their confusion. The party engages Yu Yevon in a final battle and destroys him, ridding the world of Sin permanently, as well as allowing the fayth to depart and the summoning of Dream Zanarkand to end. As a result of this, Aeons can no longer be summoned - all Yuna's aeons were defeated before Yu Yevon, and were sent after the last battle. Tidus himself says goodbye on top of their airship (having previously warned his shocked companions that he will disappear after their victory) and starts to walk away knowing that he will soon vanish. Yuna runs after him and, much to her shock and the shock of her companions, runs straight through him as his existence is starting to unravel. Yuna tells him that she loves him (in the Japanese version of the game, she says "Thank you" instead, basically thanking Tidus for protecting, supporting, and loving her), his only answer is to place his non-corporeal arms around her to show her that he cares. Tidus then dives off the airship Fahrenheit into the clouds below, reuniting with the spirits of Auron, Jecht, and Braska in the Farplane. He gives a "high-five" to his father, signifying that he has forgiven him.

After the credits of the game have completed, a short cutscene will show Tidus waking up underwater and swimming towards the surface. This is explained in Final Fantasy X-2 if the player performs certain actions during the game.

[edit] Final Fantasy X-2

Tidus figures prominently into the plot of Final Fantasy X-2, though his appearances in the sequel are few. Also, because players have the option of renaming Tidus in Final Fantasy X, he is exclusively referred to with pronouns ("he" and "him"), and Rikku calls him "you-know-who" in Final Fantasy X-2. Two years after the events of Final Fantasy X end, Rikku shows Yuna a sphere found by Kimahri on Mt. Gagazet displaying a young man who looks like Tidus trapped in a prison. This compels Yuna to join the Gullwings, a sphere-hunting group, and travel around Spira in the hopes of finding more clues that Tidus may be alive.

The individual seen in the sphere is eventually revealed to be Shuyin instead, but if the player presses the "X" button during the final scene in the Farplane, the player will be rewarded with an extra scene that features Tidus being revived by the fayth in gratitude of Yuna saving the world a second time. He is then reunited with her (the "swimming upwards" clip is shown, and it is shown that he has been returned to Besaid) and allowed to live out a natural lifespan, so long as the Fayth can maintain it. In the ending, Yuna also begins narrating the events of the game to Tidus.

If the player can manage to complete the game with 100% completion rate (doing not only the main storyline missions, but many other optional tasks), there is another final scene with Tidus and Yuna, at the Zanarkand ruins, in which he reveals the nature of his return.

[edit] Other appearances

• A younger version of Tidus appears in Kingdom Hearts along with younger versions of Wakka and Final Fantasy VIII's Selphie Tilmitt. He is 13 years old. This Tidus (voiced by Shaun Fleming to make him sound younger) is an energetic boy who is confident in his athletic ability and enjoys sparring with main characters Sora and Riku. He also likes to go on little adventures around Destiny Island with Wakka. In the sequel Kingdom Hearts II, he does not actually appear within the storyline, but is briefly mentioned, by Selphie who says Tidus and Wakka are "all wrapped up in their ball game" (an obvious reference to Blitzball).
• Along with Auron and Yuna, Tidus appears in Itadaki Street Special.
• Evan Bernard of Time Crisis 4 bears a resemblance in appearance to Tidus by the exact shape of their hair.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Behind The Game — Interview with James Arnold Taylor, Tidus' English voice actor
• Dream Image — Tidus fansite
• Solaria - Tidus fansite

v • d • e Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2

X Characters • X-2 characters Tidus • Yuna • Auron • Wakka • Kimahri Ronso • Lulu • Rikku Jecht • Seymour Guado • Paine History of Spira • Places in Spira • Al Bhed language Final Fantasy X Soundtracks • Final Fantasy X-2 Soundtrack