Quan

[rubah]

So, was anyone else horrified when they realized why Vivi's grandfather died?

(SPOILER) I've always gotten this sick feeling of respect when reading about scientists who have died in the line of their work. Like Marie and Pierre Curie developing radiation sickness, Quan starving himself to death in some sort of zen mind-over-matter search of finding nutrition without eating is ghastly, and so sad to me.

I didn't catch on the first time I played the game, but reviewing the ATEs and scenes in Quan's Dwelling made it very obvious now.

[Rantz]

Is it really implied that it's the reason he died? I never picked up on that, despite having seen those scenes many times.

[rubah]

If you go there with Vivi, he'll talk about how all the cooking implements are pretty much destroyed, and that his grandpa "Didn't eat much towards the end", which at first, makes it sound like he's just sick, but in the flashback where you see him catch Vivi, he talks about his work on his theory of fulfillment without eating.

So no, it doesn't explicitly say that, but it seems pretty evident to me.

[Rantz]

It's an interesting theory :o

[Clo]

I just replayed the game, and I don't remember catching that dialogue. I want to go to one of my save points now and see, because that's a little disturbing.

Not really surprising though; people say FFIX is childish in appearance, but it really handled a lot of existential and mature themes.

[Ezme]

I just thought he didn't eat much before he died.... old people do lose their appetites, some care homes will go as far as force feeding residents. Malnourishment is a huge problem amoungst the elderly. My grandfather is 87 and his appetite is tiny compared to what it was.

[Roogle]

I agree with Welshwonder. It has been some time since I played the game, but I assumed that the grandfather had died because he was growing old and lost his appetite due to his poor health. Are you implying that he chose to starve himself for philosophical reasons? I'm not sure if I'm following the implications correctly.

[Rantz]

Well, he did almost certainly eat less because he learned to "eat with his imagination" (not due to poor health). I'm not so sure that starvation led to his death, though - it's not impossible, but I don't feel like it was really implied. That could just be because I've never considered the possibility, though.

[Mo-Nercy]

I saw it that same way rubah did. The little scene with Quan talking about his philosophy to "eat with his imagination" just led me down that train of thought. It was very sad. =[

[Depression Moon]

Huh, interesting. I never actually thought about how he died.

[black orb]

>>> Quan wanted to eat Vivi too..

[Vivisteiner]

I agree with ruuuuubaaaaaaaahs interpretation.

[Freya]

Yeah I always got that it was him starving himself for science enlightenment! Which is really smurfed up.

[Jiro]

I never looked at it that way before, but it does make a whole lot of sense. So very horrible though.