The connection between Tidus and Shuyin?

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Was there ever an explanation as to why they're so similar to eachother, all the way down to their moveset?

General consensus seems to be that there isn't a connection, only that Shuyin's silhouette needed to look like Tidus in order for Yuna to start her sphere hunting journey.

I always liked to think that the Fayth modeled dream Zanarkand after people who existed in the real Zanarkand.

[Sephex]

I always liked to think that the Fayth modeled dream Zanarkand after people who existed in the real Zanarkand.

Yep. That right there is what I always assumed. I figure it is sort of like dreaming in real life where the most random stuff will be "wrong" in the dreaming world, but it makes sense at the time.

I never read any official source or whatever on why those two look alike. I also think it was just a good excuse for Yuna to start working for Charlie.

[Mr. Carnelian]

I absolutely agree with both of you.
It seemed pretty clear to me that Tidus was a dream based on Shuyin.

[Karifean]

The main problem I have with this interpretation is that Dream Zanarkand existed for 1000 years. It's very plausible that its first inhabitants were based off real Zanarkand, but those would've been gone after one generation.

I'm more fond of the theory that Tidus is a distant descendant of (Dream) Shuyin's.

[Mr. Carnelian]

The main problem I have with this interpretation is that Dream Zanarkand existed for 1000 years. It's very plausible that its first inhabitants were based off real Zanarkand, but those would've been gone after one generation.

Why would they have been gone?
It's a dream, time doesn't have to pass like it would in the real world.

[Karifean]

Why would they have been gone?
It's a dream, time doesn't have to pass like it would in the real world.

Jecht's disappearance in Dream Zanarkand matches up with his appearance in Spira, and Tidus was still a boy then, indicating that time was flowing perfectly normally in Dream Zanarkand. With that it becomes quite a big stretch to assume otherwise.

Also, I always find calling it a dream confusing because it implies it's not real. While it's true that yes, it's a "dream", it's a dream given shape to by a summoning. Thus it's as real as anything else.

[Mr. Carnelian]

I had assumed that time was cyclical in dream Zanarkand, that the same people lived the same dream lives over and over.

Wasn't that the point of the dream, to keep everything in a state of stasis, so that Zanarkand would live on, unchanging?