The Role of Necron (Spoilers Abound; Read At Your Own Risk)

[Squall of SeeD]

Thanks for your input, Gwelenguchenkus.

I'm not too sure I buy the whole 'convincing necron' that life is not worth living thing.

Which of us brought that up? I'm not sure that I know what you mean.

But f the crystal is destroyed and you are on the hill of despair, I think the hill of despair is symbolism that this is Zidane and co.'s last chance to fight for their world, or else the universe will return to zero.

...

--Zidane and co. die, or nearly die after the shattering of the crystal, but are given the souls of their other party members to give them strength to fight necron.

The Crystal wasn't destroyed, though. Kuja blasts the others with Ultima then tumbles off without making any attack on the Crystal.

How do we know Garland personally created the Iifa tree, anyway? Is there a quote for that?

Yes, there is actually:

"Life on Terra was coming to an end... We had no choice but to proceed with the fusion, which tragically destroyed Terra's native civilizations."
"Terra was too old to assimilate everything."
"Thus, I created the Iifa Tree to regulate the flow of souls back to Terra."

(Bolded for emphasis.)

--I think i's important to note waht garland truly means when he speaks of a world where life and death exist. you see, Garland is killing the lives on gaia, and assimilating them to his own people, to give them life (this is how I took it). This explains how life and death can exist together.

Possibly, but for certain he states that he is trying to achieve an existance for beings in which they will have transcended life and death. What he means by this exactly is uncertain. I take it to mean an existance that is perpetual, no killing of other life to continue one's own, and no ending of life and, thus, no necessity to take the life of another to continue one's own. An existance beyond the reach of either life or death.

--Garland wanted life, he just chose a different means to get it. Necron doesn't want what garland wanted, he just wants complete nothingness.

That's possible, though in all fairness, we don't know what this Zero World is. Only that there's no Crystal there and that being alive isn't a status one would have there.

more notes later, I've got a class to go to.

I'll be looking forward to them.

I don't care enough to argue about it. Necron's deal is ambiguous enough that I'm fine with Squall of SeeD thinking whatever he wants to think.

...

As you wish.

[Masamune·1600]

Here's a theory, not about Necron's role in the game in terms of plot, but as a thread to other games. I don't, of course, refer to a literal connection (we've discussed this before), but rather to the myriad references to previous Final Fantasies that occur in FFIX. While all the explicit references, in terms of name, story, and facility, have likely been identified and/or explored, there may be certain implicit references to previous FF's that are not so easily determined.

In my view (or at least for the speculative purposes of this post), I would interpret Necron as homage to the ideas of Zeromus and Neo Ex-Death. In previous contentions on behalf of Necron's role in FFIX in this thread, similarities to the dialogue of Zeromus were pointed out.

(Zeromus' final words.)

Quote:
Zeromus: I will not...perish...so long as evil...dwells in the hearts...of mankind. G...gh... GRRRAAGH!



(Necron's final words.)

Quote:
"This is not the end."
"I am eternal..."
"...as long as there is life and death..."

Such a similarity should not be ignored, particularly in light of the multitude of clearly intentional references to previous Final Fantasies that were placed in the game. In fact, Zeromus' words could be Necron's: if evil exists in the hearts of men, then the possibility of one or more individuals seeking some ultimate destruction or negation also exists. Thus, as long as evil is perpetuated, so is the potential for Necron to see reason to perform his nullifying work.

Furthermore, in saying "nullifying", I suggest that Necron's purpose was more than to kill, to turn life to death. Rather, Necron sought something more profound and more horrible: the negation, the very dissolution of existence as we understand it.

(Necron): "I exist for one purpose..."
"To return everything back to the zero world, where there is no life and no crystal to give life."
"In a world of nothing, fear does not exist. This is the world that all life desires."

Necron, according to the dialogue, desires to return "everything" to the "zero world." Not only is this zero world a place with no life, it is also a place with no crystal. If the crystal, which gives life, disappears, then theoretically even the possibility of life also vanishes. Also, the crystal deals heavily with the idea of memory.

Voice of Garland: You have entered a new realm. There are no more
words. There is no more space... Follow your memory, and march forth...

Zidane: Garland, what exactly is our memory!?

Voice of Garland: .........

Zidane: Why can I remember other people's experiences and events that
happened before my time?

Voice of Garland: .........

Zidane: Garland, please! Tell me!

Voice of Garland: ...Do not limit memory to just one individual's
experiences from birth. That is only the surface. Every life born into
this world, whether natural or artificial, requires a parent. And that
parent also requires a parent. Life is connected, one to another... If
you trace the root of all life, there exists one source. The same can
be said for memory. All life constitutes an intelligence that holds
memory beyond experience. Memory is not isolated within individuals. It
is an accumulation of generations of memories that continues to evolve.
You can say that memory and evolution go hand in hand. But most life-
forms do not understand the true nature of memories... ...which explains
why most memories never cross paths.

Zidane: ...So, what am I gonna find by tracing back our roots?

Voice of Garland: ...A presence that presides over all life and memories.
The crystal...

Zidane: Crystal...

There is clearly a difference between dying and having never existed. But if both life and memory are so intimately tied to the crystal, and memory is a quality that transcends individuals (for the purpose of the game), then eliminating the crystal obliterates all memory. Gven that the crystal gives tangible form to life, this effectively voids everything that had ever happened.

As noted in a previous post, it's possible that the zero world doesn't necessarily imply total negation. However, it is a possibility. What's really relevant, however, is this: the idea bears striking similarity to a previous FF concept. Note that I managed to sneak in the word "voids." Clearly, negation and nothingness are not new concepts to the series. Neo Ex-Death, the final boss of FFV, is the very embodiment of the Void. Similarly, Necron can be interpreted as the embodiment, or more accurately the will, of negation. However, even if you find these ideas difficult to accept, the fact remains that Necron bears a clear resemblance to Neo Ex-Death.

Furthermore, "Necron" was not the original name for this entity. The Japanese version of the game calls it the "Darkness of Eternity", which still appears in the dialogue.

Zidane: U-Ugh... What happened to the crystal...? ...Where is this?

Unknown Voice: You stand before the final dimension, and I am the
darkness of eternity...

Zidane: Wh-Who are you!?

Necron, the Darkness of Eternity, is just that. He is the force that would remove the light, the crystal, from existence. And who's to say that, at least in theory, the crystal is not responsible for time? If the crystal disappears, taking with it time, then the darkness of eternity (you can, for fun, compare this to Chrono Cross' Darkness of Time if you like) becomes a chilling reality. Neo Ex-Death, should it prevail against Bartz and company, would seem to signify the victory of the Void over that which currently exists. The Void is a plot device, and can be interpreted in different ways, but I don't think it's too great a stretch to compare the darkness of eternity idea.

Throughout this post, I've constructed a view of Necron as a force to essentially dissolve existence. That can be argued from a number of postions, but such a theory was not my main intent. Rather, I hoped to point out similarities between Necron and Zeromus and Neo Ex-Death. Necron is a plot element, certainly, but it is also more than that: Necron recalls FFIV and FFV, allowing veteran gamers to once more recall their past experiences.

[Squall of SeeD]

Thanks for your input, masamune. You brought up some good points. I agree that the similarities are very strong and certainly shouldn't be ignored.

Come to think of it, Necron representing the intention of nothingness, acting as the Arbiter of the Void so to speak, may actually fit with it being the Iifa Tree's core function. I have to warn you that a lot of speculation and conjecture is going to follow, and I'm not by any means suggesting that this is certainly the way of things, but it is something worth consideration, I believe, and seems possible and potentially plausible in my own mind:

Necron has a consciousness and the capacity to think, obviously, whatever it may be. Supposing that Garland did create Necron and gave it the function of disrupting the Cycle of Souls within Gaia, the souls must go somewhere when they are dismissed. Suppose that they were cast into the Void by Necron, and -- as time went on -- Necron, aware of Garland's view of life (that it exists hand-in-hand with death and that life is death itself as life must cause death in order to endure) due to Garland being his maker, chose to test the validity of Garland's hypothesis, and so it chose to observe Kuja, another of Garland's creations.

After witnessing Kuja's self-destructive actions that took place on a cosmic scale, Necron concluded that Garland's theory was correct ("...Now, the theory is undeniable." "Kuja's action proves it. All things live to perish.") and then took the purpose for which Garland had created it further than was ever intended, choosing to expand its range of negation beyond just Gaia's souls and to the universe itself. If ever a being that existed for the purpose that the Iifa Tree had been given were to expand its range of function further, this would be the logical form of expansion, I would think.


What do you think?

[Masamune·1600]

It's certainly possible. Although I'm reluctant to link Necron to Garland or the Iifa Tree, there are numerous details that support the idea. From there, it's not too difficult to see the scenario you envision play out. My only question would be why Garland ever gave Necron such power as to negate the universe, but, depending on how we define the Void, it was perhaps necessary. I personally think it's difficult to pin any single theory to Necron, but this one certainly has potential for further exploration. In any case, the idea is certainly an interesting one, and any conjecture that stimulates thought is most definitely a good thing.

[Zerlina]

Did anyone else kind of feel like Necron really just...came out of nowhere...

[nik0tine]

All I know is that Necron is the whitest black dude I have ever seen.

[eestlinc]

Necron is awesome. I think it makes perfect sense to come across some sort of "eternal watchman" of sorts. Sure he seems random, but just because you had no idea he existed beforehand (and how would anyone have any idea?) it doesn't make him an afterthought. Besides, don't you wish every FF had an extra boss at the end after you beat the enemy you think is the final boss? Wouldn't it be cool to fight the meteor after killing off Sephiroth?