The Final Fantasy Mythology

[Wolf Kanno]

This is NOT a discussion about the real world mythology tat FF uses but rather about the games themselves and the mythology they create. From the Farplanes of Spira, to the Lifestream of Gaia, to the guidance of alien races in the Blue Planet of FFIV.

This is a discussion about the world designs of the FF series and their own uniques mythologies and ideals that exist within their frame of mind. I've always been rather impressed on how complete all the worlds feel. I can even respect FFX's though I find FFI's more profound.

In the series we have seen the cycle of soul's in VII and IX, they influence of higher powers on life in IV, IX, and XII. Industrial revolutions (VI and VII), lost ancient civilizations (pretty much all of them) Each game presents a different history and world view. From FFI's cycle of fate, FFII's political turmoil, FFIII's theme of balance, FFIV's idea of life on other worlds and redemption, FFV's fantastic cosmology and its theme of inheritance, FFVIU's industrial dystopian opera, VII's ecological cyber punk fantasy, VIII's time traveling world of magic and plotics, IX's world of balanced themes, X's spiral of death, XI's world and history, and XII's political and historical impact of events.

So what were your favorite worlds and themes that the FF series has explored?

[Freya]

I like FFXII actually. They just seemed, I dunno it just felt like it was on a global scale with politics. The tension and such between the nations. I liked it :p

That and the XI world. Just mainly cause you could pretty much interact with everything. The lore and the world, well you were creating it. It wasn't like preset. You killed that boss because you wanted to not because you had to to get to a new point in the story.

The thing I do prefer of Warcraft series over the FF series is the warcraft lore has all the games linked together. So while in the FF series i'll see like a Cid or something and i'll get all excited, in the Warcraft series I'll see guys in WoW that I haven't seen since like warcraft II and I'll really get excited.

I just wish the FF series had more characters that transferred over into games. So I can jump for glee when I see them.

[Marshall Banana]

The world of FFVIII would be much cooler if players could explore it fully as Squall and Laguna/in two different time periods. I don't really grasp the extent or effect of Adel's tyranny (or sorceresses in general) in/on the world!

[Wolf Kanno]

The world of FFVIII would be much cooler if players could explore it fully as Squall and Laguna/in two different time periods. I don't really grasp the extent or effect of Adel's tyranny (or sorceresses in general) in/on the world!

That would have been so cool. :cool:

I really felt VIII had a lot of potential. Though I do like the idea of a huge PMC organization that raises orphans as soldiers. I really wish we could have gone more into this.

[G13]

I thought the world of X was quite impressive. I like it's take on technology, Don't touch it, don't look at it, don't even think about touching it or looking at it, or Sin'll get you! I really thought that was interesting. It felt like it was trying to break away from the continuity of the series. Usually the technology and the magic is coexisting, like without one the other would be unattainable, but in X they're warring with each other.

Whenever I think of VII, I think of the Dark Ages. The way the world is reminds me of what I heard about the Dark Ages in the third grade. The Planet has seen happier times, but we don't know them. All we know is the barren soil surrounding the Mako Reactors and the the iron fist of Shin-Ra.

Also, IX had the first real feel of an FF game in a long time. Don't get me wrong, I love VII and VIII, but IX was something else. I really don't know how to explain it. The feel of the world was something I hadn't felt since VI.

[Elpizo]

I like III. The idea that there was a Light and Dark world and that Darkness does not equal evil was a nice first for the series. Also, the fact that too much Light caused such dramas 1000 years ago was a shock for all those Light = good people. I like the idea of balance between the two worlds, and the effects of a disturbed balance were quite noticable in III: the surface world was frozen in time for 1000 years (making Xande the most succesful villain in the entire series). The entire balance thing was a nice twist and a kick in the behind of everybody who said "darkness must equal evil!".

IX had some very interesting and relatively deep ideas as well. But that game was just a masterpiece, so that is to be expected.

[Sword]

VIII really interested me. What Marshall Banana said would be really interesting but I would also like it to go into detail about the origin of sorceresses and how they decended from the Great Hyne, who is only loosely referenced to in the game.

[Marky Tee]

reminds me of that conjecture page on the final fantasy wiki which suggests 8 and 3 could be the same world

i find this idea realy intrguing
and a helluva lot more fun and believable than R=U :p

[Wolf Kanno]

I thought the world of X was quite impressive. I like it's take on technology, Don't touch it, don't look at it, don't even think about touching it or looking at it, or Sin'll get you! I really thought that was interesting. It felt like it was trying to break away from the continuity of the series. Usually the technology and the magic is coexisting, like without one the other would be unattainable, but in X they're warring with each other.

Its funny cause if you think about it, X and VI are reversed in their themes a bit. Granted, context is different for both but its amusing to think about.

In VI, Magic is a dreadful force that wiped out civilization a thousand years ago. The world rebuilt and technology became the forefront of the new civilization. Magic itself is the center piece to a massive world coalition against the Empire who wishes to utilize it for military purposes. In X, science is blamed for the wrath of Sin and is banned by the Yevon faith. Spira itself is a world that relies on magic but unbeknowest to them all, technology hides in the shadows. Its interesting to see how they reversed the theme.


Whenever I think of VII, I think of the Dark Ages. The way the world is reminds me of what I heard about the Dark Ages in the third grade. The Planet has seen happier times, but we don't know them. All we know is the barren soil surrounding the Mako Reactors and the the iron fist of Shin-Ra.

I'm curious to know more about this statement cause it doesn't make much sense to me I'm afraid. I'd love to hear some elaboration. Personally I see VII like the First Industrial Revolution. A world where the sudden realization of a new energy source and technology has allowed it to make massive technological leaps faster than culture can keep up. A lot of the social commentary in the game suggest people who are lost in the rapidily expanding new culture created by Mako Energy.



I like III. The idea that there was a Light and Dark world and that Darkness does not equal evil was a nice first for the series. Also, the fact that too much Light caused such dramas 1000 years ago was a shock for all those Light = good people. I like the idea of balance between the two worlds, and the effects of a disturbed balance were quite noticable in III: the surface world was frozen in time for 1000 years (making Xande the most succesful villain in the entire series). The entire balance thing was a nice twist and a kick in the behind of everybody who said "darkness must equal evil!"

This is why I love FFIII, its theme and mythology really put it ahead of its time for Rpgs. The theme of Balance was excellently played and I love hearing the tales of the "Civilization of Light" that was destroyed by the Crystal's chosen Dark Warriors to restore the balance.

[G13]

Whenever I think of VII, I think of the Dark Ages. The way the world is reminds me of what I heard about the Dark Ages in the third grade. The Planet has seen happier times, but we don't know them. All we know is the barren soil surrounding the Mako Reactors and the the iron fist of Shin-Ra.

I'm curious to know more about this statement cause it doesn't make much sense to me I'm afraid. I'd love to hear some elaboration. Personally I see VII like the First Industrial Revolution. A world where the sudden realization of a new energy source and technology has allowed it to make massive technological leaps faster than culture can keep up. A lot of the social commentary in the game suggest people who are lost in the rapidily expanding new culture created by Mako Energy.

I wasn't necessarily saying that the world was in an economical crisis, just that there are a few elements that feel like the Dark Ages to me. A "king" leading the people for little more than his own gain, "peasants" forced to live in less than desirable living conditions because they can't afford anything better, and when out on the map the world is darkish, like it's constantly under a storm cloud. I was in fourth grade when I learned about the Dark Ages so a dark world was what I pictured.

[Bolivar]

What first comes to mind is the world of VII, which represents the market revolution where transnational corporations begin to replace governments and the lines between economics and politics becomes blurred. With globalization being the buzz word of the 1990's, the game couldn't have come at a better time, especially with Playstation bringing older gamers back into the fold. Ironically, I would still say the gaming population en masse hadn't matured enough for it. While the effects of this transformation, especially on the environment, might have been the norm for political science journals, it was far ahead of most video games at the time..

[Heath]

I loved the geo-political drama involved in XII. It certainly seemed very much like a world fraught with strife, particularly when viewed from the occupation of Dalmasca.

As for VII, I thought the majority of the commentary and references were about the 20th century in general. Particularly the concept of mega-cities taking over rural areas where people fell out of touch and lost a sense of belonging to a community, while the cities drift on and on for ever and our natural world is destroyed in the name of progress.

[Depression Moon]

Regardless of what I think of XII's story it probably has one of the highest numbers in any FF that gives history about it's world, I don't really remember any of it, but I know it's there.
I liked X's change of pace in story with view's on death religion and technology.

IX had several revolving things and you learned about some of it's history through garland, and that Ragtimer enemy. I had hoped I could have learned a little more about Lindblum and Alexandria and maybe the random city in the middle of nowhere Daguerro.
Also I would like to add the Eidolon's to the list although I recall the Eidolon wall, but I'm not sure what was really there.

[Crimson]

I'd have to go with IX, I just love the way they incorporated the industrial era in the magical world of FF.

[Marky Tee]

and lost a sense of belonging to a community



you still get that with big cities
ive certainly never felt as if i werent part of a comunity living in a big place

[Wolf Kanno]

You know, I've been doing research on the background of FFVI and was lucky to run into quite a bit of info on FFIV in my search. Now the bad thing is that the title I really would have loved to stumble across and actually tried to search for and found jack squat of was FFV.

I'd love to learn more about Enuo, the Void, and how the world came to be split in twine. I've always felt part of V's problem was that it utilized a mythology that was not always presented to the player in a way they could really understand.

[auronlu]

Mythology makes me jump into a thread.

Guardian XIII -- I love your insight that despite the industrial trappings of FFVII, it is very medieval in outlook in the sense of a stagnant status quo with memories of a more "advanced" civilization once upon a time, but now everything and everyone is so locked into the role where they're born. And the Shinra family is very feudal. That almost makes the Turks into Knights Templars (a bad analogy, as they didn't serve a particular king, but it just has a touch of that). The Wutains are like Gypsies or Jews or some other group considered "foreign" and suspect, except unlike those two groups, they aren't really integrated into another country; they keep to themselves.
The analogy breaks down if pushed, but it's a lens for looking at Midgar (what a mythological name that is-- the Norse version of "Middle Earth") that I hadn't seen at all.

Mythology is absolutely what drew me to FFX.

We have an animist culture -- which seems to me to be pre-Yevon -- with people who sacrifice themselves to become spirits, which powerful spiritualists can then summon. Summons are common to all of FF, but I felt that they were integrated into the religion, culture and magic system of Spira very deeply. And there's the aspect that they are people who gave their lives to fight Sin. Although apparently there were fayth and aeons and summoners in the machina war, so it's an amazing, troubling concept: why did people sacrifice themselves before that?

There is the incredibly Jungian connection between death and dreams in FFX. Reams of books have been written in analytical psychology about the way our minds associate dreams and death, and how we "die" in a way, each night, when we lose consciousness and go into that Otherworld only accessible in dreams: an alternate reality unique to every one of us. In FFX, as Maechen says, pyreflies may the unreal real for all to see, and the aeons are the dreams of the fayth made real through the soul of the summoner. Essentially, in this world, your dreams can manifest as physical reality, but you have to be in a suspended animation, a "death", as a fayth, in order for your dreams to come true!

And Tidus is a dream that becomes "alive" and real by coming into contact with the powerful magic that creates the shell of Sin: it was meant to maintain Sin as a large, stable, manifested aeon, but when he touches it, it gives him a solidity and reality he didn't have before. Until Sin goes away, and the magic maintaining it stops maintaining him, too. (In X-2, a different sort of "manifesting magic" is used to bring him back: the physical anchor is no longer Sin, but the bodies/memories of loved ones in the real world helping to provide an anchor for him there, so the pyreflies have something to "connect" him with in Spira.)

I love the examination in FFX of organized religion versus innate faith and ethics. The religion is corrupt and founded on lies. Yet dreams and magic are more true, more visible in their world than ours.

I love the mythology built up around the Calm and pilgrimage as a means of providing people with hope on the one hand -- one of the Four Functions of Mythology mentioned by Joseph Campbell is that it helps us make sense of the incomprehensible and terrible cruelty of existence, with death and plague and all the rest -- and on the other hand, the pilgrimage and the promise of the Calm are a means of social control, lies to keep the people passive and obedient to Yevon.

That is the positive and negative power of myth in a nutshell: it can be immensely inspiring, but it can also be used as propaganda.

Wolf Cano: Many apologies for having not added to your question, but I still need to get the compilation and go back and play the games before VII!