Game Pros and Cons

[Skyblade]

Well that still doesn't fit the other part. Yevon is in every part of the government and people's lives. I don't see how this could be anything but a theocracy.

Then you are either admitting that Yevon is a God (or at least that the people of Spira treat him as one), or misunderstanding the definition of Theocracy, which I added in my last post.

I'm pretty sure theocracy just means the nation and government are ruled according to the religion. Religion in turn does not mandate worship of a deity.

And Mika sent himself because "I have no desire to watch Spira die." I guess it is cowardice in that he was afraid the world was doomed to destruction...

Also you should read the origin of the Yevon faith. Maechen tells it to you if you find him on Gagazet.

Maechen
"Rumors flew in Bevelle about Sin's sudden appearance."
"They said that the people of Zanarkand became the fayth, that they had called Sin."
"And that the man responsible..."
"was none other than the summoner Yevon, ruler of Zanarkand!"
"Yes, the lord father of Lady Yunalesca."
"On the eve of Zanarkand's destruction, Lady Yunalesca..."
"had fled to safety with her husband, Zaon."
"Later, the two used the Final Summoning to defeat Sin."
"Yet the people of Bevelle still feared Yu Yevon."
"It was to quell his wrath that they revered him, and first spread his teachings."
"And so were born the temples of Yevon."
"I suppose it's possible Yunalesca had planned it that way from the start!"
"A fair trade, she defeats Sin in exchange for her lord father's honor."
"Of course, there's no proof. No, the facts are lost in the mists of time."
"And who'd admit Yevon was an enemy of Bevelle?"
"You can bet the temples had a hand in covering that one up!"
"And that, as they say, is that."

Final Fantasy X | 10 | FFX | FF10 - Script - Maechen - FFWA

Bevelle did all that stuff because from the first they were trying to avoid Sin killing everybody. Mika's complete despair when he hears Yunalesca is defeated is proof enough he was not just some tyrant who ruled over Spira because he was in love with power. He did it because he sincerely believed Yevon was the only way to keep the world even vaguely well-off.

If you look at it, all the villains of the game had their own idea of how best to "save Spira." Yunalesca echoes many of the same sentiments as Mika and Seymour took their logic to its natural, extreme conclusion.

Mika: "Men die. Beasts die. Trees dies. Even continents perish. Only the power of death truly commands in Spira. Resisting its power is futile."

Yuna: "All the people who have opposed Sin... Their battles, their sacrifices, were they all in vain?"

Mika: "Not in vain. No matter how many summoners give their lives, Sin cannot be truly defeated. The rebirth CANNOT be stopped. Yet the courage of those who fight gives the people hope. There is nothing futile in the life and death of a summoner."

Auron: "Never futile but never-ending."

Mika: "Indeed that is the essence of Yevon. Yevon is embodied by eternal, unchanging continuity, summoner."

-------------------------------

Yunalesca: "Hope is...comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it might be. [...] Yevon's teachings and the Final Summoning give the people of Spira hope. Without hope, they would drown in their sorrow."

And then Seymour sees that this horrible "false hope" life that is perpetuated and unstoppable by all accounts as being far worse than death itself. As Yunalesca tells the group, "it is better for you to die in hope than to live in despair. Let me be your liberator." That might as well be Seymour's motto.

Yes, indeed. Seymour and Mika. Two people who demonstrate firsthand just how liberating death is. Who see that death has allowed them to put aside all their worries and problems and just fade away into an eternal peace. Oh, wait...


And, again, how did Yevon's teachings spread? They worshipped the entity that was slaughtering them. Not unlike the death cults worshipping Kefka in Final Fantasy VI. For that matter, how do we know that his teachings were actually his? We never hear about Yu-Yevon's teachings first hand. He was a summoner, and that's about all we know. Who taught the people about him? To fear and worship him? That machina were bad, and not to use them? He certainly didn't, nor did he preach about it, since he was kind of in the middle of summoning his "armor" (also, if Sin is just armor for Yevon, why does it slaughter everything? Armor is passive, it defends, it doesn't attack). It was almost certainly Yunalesca, teaching them (as she hung around after being killed) what to believe and what to follow, as Maechen hints.

Also, the fact that people starting the movement may have had good intentions is utterly irrelevant. The religion is wrong, the beliefs are wrong, everything about it, down to the core fundamental teachings, is a lie. Perhaps the lie is being perpetrated for good reason, but it's still a lie. Which, again, goes back to what I said. Religious people (like Mika) may be portrayed positively (although, really, he wasn't. Like, at all), but religion itself always is portrayed negatively.