What does this story mean to you?

[Flying Arrow]

I am somewhat ardently opposed to the concept of 'theme' in literature

I think most of us who were subjected to 'What was the author thinking/symbolising here?' in English class agree with this statement.

I don't understand either of these comments. Are you saying that you're simply not interested in analyzing stories or do you saying that there are no themes or messages in stories? If the former, that's cool, but if it's the latter I have to counter that stories are told/presented in very specific ways (chosen by the author(s)) which give meaning to what you're hearing or seeing. Most stories that are sensibly written have a 'theme' - in fact, I'd argue that the theme is the story. In the case of FFVI, one of the themes is that a country which allows its ambition for expansion to get out of hand inevitably causes ruin for themselves and those around them.

In the end, anyone who tries to grab Ultimate Power just ends up wrecking trout for everyone else, and outright destroys their own humanity. Note how most of the towns manage to scrape by, but Vector itself (the center of the imperialist ambition) is nothing but a tower of garbage.