How did Anima get in Zanarkand?

[Ergroilnin]

So I was just reading random stuff about FFX and I wondered about this part of the story.

All high summoners had some guardians and had to fight their way through to show their potential to Yunalesca. But then there is just 10 years old cry baby Seymour and his if I remember correctly dying mother. How the hell did those two get all the way to Yunalesca?

I think it's not mentioned in the game at all but perhaps I forgot about it? If there really isn't any, what are your speculations on the matter?

[Christmas]

That's weird, I read it as "How did Anime get in Zanarkand?" instead of ""How did Anima get in Zanarkand?" and I wanted to post something crazy.

PS: I think it's "How did Anime get in Zanarkand?" afterall right!?

[Ergroilnin]

Haha I actually misspelt the thread and then corrected it so it shows Anime on main page but is corrected here.

[Christmas]

Just message a staff to fix it or just leave it. I think it's funny. XD

[Shauna]

Christmas has gone crazy. There's no anime in Zanarkand and that's not even the topic of the thread!

(You're welcome :3)

[Depression Moon]

I don't see how it's so unbelievable. You've had many children in the series battling their way through monsters. I just wonder what job class his mother was. Seymour was obviously a Sage/Summoner. It also sounds like Yuna was one of the very few summoners who had a large group of summoners. All the ones you meet in the game either have one or two guardians while she has six.

[Christmas]

Christmas has gone crazy. There's no anime in Zanarkand and that's not even the topic of the thread!

(You're welcome :3)

[Ergroilnin]

I don't see how it's so unbelievable.

Never said it's so unbelievable but I never saw any mention of Seymour being able to summon anything else (IIRC the pilgrimage for the aeons is mainly for bonding with the person who will be then sacrificed to make the final aeon so in case of mother and son that were close it wasn't needed) and I doubt he had any real powers at 10.

And perhaps his mother could've been powerful while still alive for all we know, but if she was sick it's less probable.

One thing that came up in my mind is that since his father Maester Jyscal definitely knew about Yunalesca like the rest of Maesters, he perhaps knew how to get to her easier than through fighting. Of course there is absolutely no evidence on this so it's pure speculation on my part.

[Sephiroth]

His father was one of the Yevon Leaders. It is not unreasonable that some chosen people of Yevon had easy access to Zanarkand. Yevon was present in Zanarkand anyway. The ruins were full of Yevon Unsents and the priest who greeted you at the Temple gate also was an Unsent.

[blackmage_nuke]

In my memory I thought Seymour was crying because he didnt want his mother to die to become the final aeon (understandable) and his mother wasnt dying so much as insisting she should die to become and aeon. We only really get one scene with Seymour in his youth. It's possible at all other times he is some kind of supermage.

Or maybe he was just flooded with master spheres on his sphere grid like steroids.

[Tavrobel]

They probably fought their way there, like anyone else. The fact that they made it to the inner chamber should be proof enough for Yunalesca to start the Final Aeon process. Something makes me think that Seymour's mother did all of the work (despite knowing that she was dying), and that Seymour only started being a useful magus after he received Anima.

Not that children using magic in Spira is unheard of. Brother obviously knew how to use Thunder, because he's why Rikku is afraid of thunder.

Auron
"This dome is filled with pyreflies. It's like one gigantic sphere."
"People's thoughts remain here. Forever."

[They make their way through the dome, arrive at one ghostly image of a young boy and his mother. Behind them, a man stands silently. Note that the boy has blue hair...]

"No! Mother, no! I don't want you to become a fayth!"

"There is no other way."
"Use me and defeat Sin."
"Only then will the people accept you."

"I don't care about them!"
"I need you, Mother! No one else!"

"I don't...have much time left."

[They all vanish]

Wakka
"Hey, wasn't that...?"

Rikku
"Seymour?"

Zanarkand Ruins Transcription

[Tidus returns to the "Ruins" from the start of the game, and jumps into the water. Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku are shown floating in it]

[Geosagaeno fight]

[[...] after that, you go into the Chamber of the Fayth. Yuna prays. The ghostly image of the fayth appears: it's Seymour's mother!]

Yuna
"You are Maester Seymour's mother."

"So you know. Yet still you seek my aid?"
"My son... Do you not hate him?"
[They're silent]
"It is all right."
"He is the one who sowed the seeds of hatred. He is to blame."
[She turns. We see an image of the young Seymour, sitting, crying]
"But I am at fault for letting him become what he was."

[Scene change. We see a slightly older Seymour just....standing in a room with several bouquets of flowers]

"He was always alone--half Guado, half man."
"I wanted to give him the strength to live by himself."
"And so I became a fayth."
"But..."
"because I let him taste power, he began to thirst for more."
"He was not satisifed with my aeon. He wanted more. More power."

[Scene change back to the group]

Tidus
"And he found Sin."

"Yes."
"Come, summoner. I will bestow you with my power:"
"The Dark Aeon, Anima."
"Destroy Sin, and my son's obsession with it."
"Though it is small recompense for what I did to him."

Baaj Temple Transcription

[Mo-Nercy]

Seymour's mother wanted to become the Final Aeon for him to use against Sin so that he could win the people's love and respect after having been ostracised from the Guado community and exiled to Baaj... That's basically what we learn of Seymour in Zanarkand.

But yeah, it doesn't really make sense with the story. A summoner can't receive a Final Aeon from Yunalesca unless he/she has prayed at every other fayth in Spira's temples (minus the Stolen Fayth Cavern and Remiem), but Seymour seemed to have gone straight from Baaj to Zanarkand without acquiring any other aeons (how did they even do that? Boat?)

And then her fayth is stored back at Baaj anyway? So does that mean Seymour's mother just wanted to become a normal fayth and aeon for her son instead of the Final Aeon.. If so, why bother going to Zanarkand at all?

[Ergroilnin]

IIRC they don't really need any other aeons and the pilgrimage is simply to build the necessary bond for Final Aeon. Also Anima is final aeon for Seymour, obvious from the "use me and defeat Sin".

I really think that only difference between normal aeons and final aeons is for the summoners that had strong bond with them, that's what gives the extraordinery power and also that's what's kills them when Yu Yevon emerges from Sin to possess the Final Aeon and sever their strong bond with the summoner.