The purpose of this document is to present my thesis on Magic and memories in Final Fantasy. Essentially, I seek to present that Spirit Energy and/or memories are the source of Magicks in the Final Fantasies. Further, I seek to express the possibility that all Final Fantasy worlds (or, at the least, the worlds of Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X/X-2, Tactics, and The Spirits Within) have a Lifestream.
Note that there will be Spoilers ahead from Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, Tactics, Tactics Advance, The Spirits Within, and Unlimited.
In FFVII, there is a concept of the souls of those who die returning to the Planet:
Bugenhagen:
"Well, let's get to the subject."
"Eventually... all humans die. What happens to them after they die?"
"The body decomposes, and returns to the Planet. That much everyone knows. What about their consciousness, their hearts and their souls?"
"The soul too returns to the Planet."
"And not only those of humans, but everything on this Planet. In fact, all living things in the universe, are the same."
"The spirits that return to the Planet, merge with one another and roam the Planet."
"They roam, converge, and divide, becoming a swell, called the 'Lifestream'."
"Lifestream.... In other words, a path of energy of the souls roaming the Planet."
"'Spirit Energy' is a word that you should never forget."
"A new life... children are blessed with Spirit energy and are brought into the world."
"Then, the time comes when they die and once again return to the Planet..."
We're further made aware that the game's Materia (the spheres through which people in this world access Magicks) are crystalized Spirit Energy, condensing and crystalizing when it has gone to the Planet's surface, occurring through both natural and artifically-induced means (Mako siphoning). Further still, it would seem that when one has died and their Spirit Energy returns to the Planet, it takes with it the knowledge (memories) of the individual that it had provided the energy of life for, and it is through these memories that the wielders of Materia connect to the Planet and call forth Magicks:
(Stated by Sephiroth on Mt. Nibel.)
"...the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the
materia."
"Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land
and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet
calling up magic..... or so they say."
The same concepts show up in The Spirits Within, in which it is said that the spirits of those who die return to the "Gaia," (the spirit of the Earth) taking with them the experiences (memories) of their lifetimes, these experiences allowing the Gaia to grow, and with the implication offered that the Spirit Energy will be recycled and put back onto the surface world to supply another living being with Spirit Energy:
(Stated by Aki, quoting Dr. Sid's journal.)
"All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit. Each new spirit is housed in a physical body. ...Through their experiences on Earth each spirit matures and grows. When the physical body dies the mature spirit enriched by its life on Earth returns to Gaia bringing with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow."
FFIX has this concept, as well (referred to as the "cycle of souls" by Garland), though the source of souls is only referred to as "the light [of Gaia]" rather than "the Lifestream" or "the Gaia." It's further made apparent that the Planet Terra also has a "light." To better explain this and the connection of these "lights" to the Lifestream of Final Fantasy VII and the Gaia of The Spirits Within, I will here explain the nature of Garland's plan to have Terra assimilate Gaia:
In Pandemonium, Garland tells Zidane that this was his plan for Gaia:
"I have no intention of destroying Gaia. I only wish to make Gaia into Terra."
What does Garland mean by this? Was he going to cause the Planets to collide and merge through accretion in a cataclysmic smashing together of celestial bodies? Was he going to teleport Terra's matter into the space being occupied by Gaia's, merging the two into a form that would be both of the previously existing Planets, but neither at the same time?
Perhaps that would have been part of the process at some stage (the memory of Terra and another Planet apparently physically fusing witnessed in Memoria would lend some measure of support to such a theory), but one thing can be certain: What Garland was speaking of was replacing Gaia's Lifestream/Gaia/Spirit Energy with Terra's. Like the Earth of The Spirits Within and the Gaia of Final Fantasy VII, the Gaia and Terra of Final Fantasy IX -- and, indeed,
all Planets if we're to take Mikoto's statement in Bran Bal at face value -- have Lifestreams/Gaias:
"Planets have a cycle of souls. Souls are born from the planet, and then return to it."
Recalling what is said concerning the return of souls to the Planets of VII and The Spirits Within, we find that we have the same concepts present in Final Fantasy IX as we had present in those two games. In other words, both Gaia and Terra have a Lifestream.
In summary, from all this, we can establish that all these worlds have a Lifestream. With this in mind, recall that the Gaia of the Phantom Homeworld was attempting to take over the Gaia of the Earth, changing the Earth's blue Gaia into the Phantom Homeworld's red Gaia. In the event that this sounds familiar, it certainly should, as this changing of blue to red is precisely what Garland spoke of doing in regard to Gaia and Terra:
Garland
"We must sort the souls."
"I want to disrupt Gaia's cycle and drain its souls, filling the void with the souls of Terra."
"To speed the cycle of souls is to speed the work as a whole. Thus, war..."
"And in time... Gaia's souls are gone, and Gaia becomes Terra."
Zidane
"But...how!?"
Garland
"You saw it with your own eyes. You saw the Iifa Tree and the Mist it emits."
"The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider. The Mist you see comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."
Zidane
"Oh yeah? But we stopped the Mist! So much for that!"
Garland
"All you saw was the back of the tree..."
"Come and see for yourself. See the true form of this planet."
Zidane
"What is this?"
Garland
"Think of it as an observatory. A place to measure the radiance of Gaia and Terra."
Zidane
"What are you talking about? And what is this weird light?"
Garland
"That is the center of the planet. The end and the beginning of the cycle of souls."
"The light remains Gaia's, for now, but when the blue changes to crimson, all will belong to Terra, and its restoration will be complete."
Garland tells Zidane that he was going to show him the
true form of Terra, and then proceeded to show him the light that was at the center of Gaia, further stating that this light was the beginning and end of the Cycle of Souls: In other words, Gaia's Lifestream. Keeping in mind that Garland said he would show Zidane the
true form of Terra, that would mean that he didn't regard the physical material that they could see and walked upon as the true form of the Planet, rather regarding the Lifestream of the Planet itself as its true form, all the physical material around it just being a shell of sorts to contain it and upon which it could cultivate life.
Recalling once again that the Gaia of the Phantom Homeworld in The Spirits Within was changing the Earth's Gaia from blue to red, this would mean, then, that what Garland was trying to do was the same thing: Replace Gaia's Lifestream with Terra's, converting the Lifestream already present and housing Terra's Lifestream in the vessel of physical material upon which life had been cultivated and reared by Gaia.
In summary, the Gaia concept of The Spirits Within is exactly the same as the Lifestream concept of Final Fantasy VII and the Cycle of Souls of Final Fantasy IX. Earth's Gaia (The Spirits Within) is that Planet's Lifestream, the same as Gaia's Lifestream (Final Fantasy VII) is that Planet's Gaia, with Gaia and Terra of Final Fantasy IX having the same concept with these "lights" at their cores.
To put it another way, Lifestream = Gaia = "Light."
Next, based on what we're told in Final Fantasy VII and The Spirits Within, we know that the memories of the dead will be taken to the Planet's Lifestream/Gaia/"Light"/Whatever, yet in Final Fantasy IX we see this process interrupted by the Iifa Tree. As a result, Mist covers much of one continent and later the whole world. Further, much of the world is desolate, as was the area around Midgar in Final Fantasy VII, the heart of Mako siphoning (notable because in both cases, the life force of the Planet was being drained).
Black Mages, beings with the inherent ability to use Magicks, are created from this Mist that now covers Gaia. Garland says the Mist was formed of the stagnant souls of the dead that were unable to return to the core of the Planet. In other words, they were composed of Spirit Energy that could not return to the core of the Planet:
Garland: "The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider. The Mist you see comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."
This presents us with the suggestion that Spirit Energy provides power, and that is, indeed, the case. In Final Fantasy VII, the Shin-Ra corporation draws Spirit Energy out of the Planet, it taking on a more compressed form called "Mako." This Mako is then converted to allow Shin-Ra to provide electricity, the Mako becoming electrical energy and then being converted into whatever forms of energy that it may be used toward as electrical energy, such as light energy, heat energy, and kinetic energy. Further notable is, again, that the source of Magic in this game is Materia, condensed and crysalized Spirit Energy from the Lifestream, it acting as a link between its wielder and the Planet, as the knowledge (memories) within the Materia interacts between the two, allowing the wielder to call Magicks forth. Further, Sephiroth's plot in Final Fantasy VII was to deal a massive would to the Planet, resulting in a massive outpouring of Spirit Energy from within the Planet to that area to heal the wound, only he would be at the wound and would absorb the Spirit Energy as it came forth.
In Final Fantasy X and X-2, we see Spheres used as a frequent source of power, them being, interestingly enough, in the shape that Final Fantasy VII's Materia takes on. In Final Fantasy X, we learn that Spheres are made when absorbing and recording people's memories to water that has a higher-than-average concentration of Pyreflies:
(In Macalania Woods, at the lake where the Spherimorph was fought.)
Tidus
"This place..."
"It's just water, isn't it?"
Auron
"This is what spheres are made of."
"It absorbs and preserves people's memories."
Then, in X-2, we learn that Spheres are composed of Pyreflies:
(In Cloister Infinity/Cloister 100 of the Via Infinito.)
Rikku: So what happened to everyone's Spheres?
Trema: Destroyed. Turned to Pyreflies and scattered.
(Note: Keep this matter of the Spheres being formed when absorbing memories and then later being revealed to be composed of Pyreflies in mind.)
A further note of interest is that we frequently see the souls of the dead composed of Pyreflies through Final Fantasy X and X-2's Unsent characters, such as Auron, Seymour, Belgemine, Lady Ginnem, and Maester Mika. Further still, the Farplane (the resting place of the world of Spira's dead) has many Pyreflies floating about it. When people and Fiends die, Pyreflies are given off from their forms, or, in the case of the Fiends, their bodies disippitate into the Pyreflies of which they are composed. With this in mind, the nature of Fiends as explained in Final Fantasy X should be recalled:
(Stated by Lulu in Kilika.)
"The dead need guidance."
"Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate."
"They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive."
"You see, they envy the living."
"And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate."
"Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living."
"Sad, isn't it?"
"The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace."
It should also be noted that Pyreflies are what are seen fading away when a Sending occurs. Further still, when one has been sent to the Farplane, their image will appear there amongst the Pyreflies that float about there in response to one's memory of the sent deceased. From all of this we can infer that the Pyreflies of an individual are their very soul, or -- as Final Fantasy VII put it -- their "Spirit Energy."
Keeping in mind for a moment that Materia is crystalized Spirit Energy, in regard to Final Fantasy X, it should be noted that all abilities learned in that game are learned on the
Sphere Grid (bolded for emphasis), and the abilities seen in Final Fantasy X-2 are learned through the use of the Dres
spheres (bolded for emphasis). In other words, the magical abilities that people learn in Spira come from Spheres, just as the magical abilities people display in Final Fantasy VII come from the Spheres of that world: Materia.
The Dresspheres of Final Fantasy X-2 are clearly shown to be the crystalized Pyreflies/Spirit Energy of People of the past. Lenne's memories were the basis for the Songtstress Dressphere, and her spirit is even seen emerging from the Dressphere after the final confrontation with Shuyin. It is because of this that Shuyin often confused Yuna for Lenne during the game:
Buddy: Lenne, huh?
Shinra: Yeah, the girl from the Songstress dressphere.
Yuna: That's Lenne?
Shinra: Sure. She wore that dress one thousand years ago.
Rikku: Why didn't you tell us?
Shinra: No one asked. Besides, all I knew was her name. What's to tell?
Yuna: (Narrating) What Shinra said surprised me, but only a little. So
there really was a connection.
Rikku: Okay, okay. So, the reason Shuyin keeps calling Yuna "Lenne" is --
Paine: Because of that dressphere?
To summarize things thus far, we can conclude that Lifestream = Gaia = "Light" and that Spirit Energy = Pyreflies. We can also conclude that Materia = Spheres. Thus, it can be concluded that Lifestream = Gaia = "Light" = Spirit Energy = Pyreflies = Materia = Spheres.
Taking all of this into account, let's now take things a step further and consider what Shinra of Final Fantasy X-2 says concerning the Farplane, where a vast amount of Pyreflies can be seen:
Shinra: Aha...
Yuna: What are you looking at?
Shinra: Farplane data.
Shinra: The more I study it, the more fascinating it gets. There's limitless energy swirling around in there.
Yuna: Limitless energy?
Shinra: The life force that flows through our planet...I think.
Shinra: With a little work, we could probably extract the energy in a useable form.
Brother: Sweet!
Shinra: Of course, that'd take generations.
Brother: That's no fun!
Buddy: Well, still, it is something worth shooting for.
Yuna: Think how much Spira would change if we ever got it to work!
Yuna: Maybe one day we could build a city full of light, one that never sleeps!
Shinra: No doubt about it.
Yuna: Just imagine!
Yuna: But I'll never get to see it...will I...
::Shinra shakes his head to say "No"::
Brother: Shinra! Don't make Yuna sad!
Shinra: Right. My bad.
Note that Shinra's words suggest the same concept as the use of Mako Reactors seen in Final Fantasy VII.
As with Final Fantasy VII, in Final Fantasy X we also see Spirit Energy used as a source of increasing one's power. When People and Fiends die, Pyreflies are given off. After Seymour has murdered Maester Kinoc, he absorbs the Pyreflies from Kinoc's body and those that three Guado and a soldier of Bevelle give off, transforming into Seymour Natus. This is a strong indication that the Pyreflies are the free-floating Spirit Energy of the dead, and can be harnessed as a source of power the same as Spirit Energy is in Final Fantasy VII. In fact, we have absolute confirmation of this through Sin. Yu Yevon formed this armour of immense power by gathering Pyreflies around himself and holding them together with Gravity Spells, then forming from them the monstrosity that would ravage Spira for 1000 years.
Also, note that the Pyreflies reside within the Planet, and that the Pyreflies constituting the souls of one that is Sent will be sent there, as one who has not accepted death while still alive or has not died and then been Sent cannot be seen on the Farplane.
Moving on, in The Spirits Within, we're told that the OVOpacks used to power everything were derived from micro-organisms, their "bioetheric energy" (their Spirit Energy) drawn out to be used as a power source and contained in these packs. One of the Eight Spirits used to counter the Phantom Homeworld's Gaia was one of these OVOpacks:
(In the battlefield wasteland of Tuscon, Arizona.)
Aki: "We're very close."
Gray: "I don't see anything."
Gray: "You're not gonna tell me it's him?"
Ryan: "That's impossible."
Aki: "It's not the soldier. It's his OVOpack."
Gray: "How do you explain that? Packs power the weapons, the barrier cities. I mean it's just bioetheric energy."
Aki: "And to create that energy we use living tissue; single cell organisms."
Gray: "You're telling me his backpack is the seventh spirit."
Aki: "Yes."
Again, Spirit Energy was the source of power, in this case, used to power the weapons employed against the Phantoms, the barrier that kept them out of the new New York City, and the Zeus Cannon.
On the subject of the Phantoms themselves, they were ghosts of a world destroyed, carried to the Earth on a chunk of their own Planet that contained their world's Gaia. When this chunk of their homeworld (the Phantom Meteor) slammed into the Earth, their world's Gaia essentially poisoned Earth's Gaia and began attempting to convert it into itself. It seems that the Gaia of the Phantom homeworld was attempting to take the Earth's physical material as a new vessel until it itself was negated from existance by the Spirit Wave of the Eight Spirits of Earth.
Next, with Final Fantasy VIII, we find a less obvious but no less striking matter. Scattered across the world of Final Fantasy VIII are Draw Points, areas on the surface of the Planet where tendrils of energy leak out and can be "drawn" into one who is junctioned to a Guardian Force (Final Fantasy VIII's version of Summon Creatures), allowing one access to Magicks. Further, energy can likewise be "drawn" from monsters and even other people, leaving similar energy trails behind as it is transferred from one being to another as it does when pulled out of the Planet and into an individual's body. The striking thing about this is that the Draw Points that leak energy out of the Planet bear a significant resemblance to the Mako Fountains of Final Fantasy VII, areas in that world where Spirit Energy leaked out of the Planet, condensed, and became Materia:
A Draw Point.
A Mako Fountain.
While they don't bear an
exact resemblance, conceptually they're akin: Both involve energy leaking up out of the Planet and through to the surface. In other words, when drawing Magicks out of the Planet, one is drawing Spirit Energy out of it, gaining access to a certain number of Spells associated with the memories contained in the Spirit Energy that was drawn.
Similarily, when drawing energy from a monster or another person, one is drawing on Spirit Energy out of that being, gaining access to Spells associated with the memories contained in that Spirit Energy:
Drawing Magic.
Finally, in regard to Final Fantasy: Unlimited, throughout this series various types of sandy materials (more various in color than the different types of Materia) known as "Soil" were the fuel for powering certain weaponry and many machines. Not surprisingly, the revelation comes that Soil is the Life Crystals of the dead. In other words, the crystalized Spirit Energy of the dead.
Based on all this, we can establish that Spirit Energy and Lifestream-like concepts are a staple of at least the worlds of Final Fantasy VII, IX, X/X-2, Unlimited, and The Spirits Within, as well as possibly Final Fantasy VIII, and that Spirit Energy was a source of power in all of them.
However, we can draw something else from all of this due to some specific elements of the nature of Spirit Energy/Pyreflies seen in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X/X-2, and specific elements regarding the nature of Summons as seen in Final Fantasy VIII and IX: Spirit Energy itself would only seem to be half of the equation in regard to the source of power. The other half is memories. In fact, it may well be that it is the memories
themselves that allow Spirit Energy to provide power in the first place!
This conclusion can be drawn for several reasons:
As mentioned before, in Final Fantasy VII, when explaining the function of Materia, Sephiroth says the following:
"...the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia."
"Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic..... or so they say."
Materia contains the knowledge of the Ancients. To put it another way, their memories. Now let's recall once more what The Spirits Within states to be taken to the Gaia of the Earth upon the death of a creature:
"All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit. Each new spirit is housed in a physical body. ...Through their experiences on Earth each spirit matures and grows. When the physical body dies the mature spirit enriched by its life on Earth returns to Gaia bringing with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow."
The experiences of those who die are taken with their Spirit Energy back to the Gaia. In other words once again, their memories. This time, however, we learn that these memories actually serve to allow Gaias/Lifestreams to
grow.
Consider now the Aeons and Dream Zanarkand of FFX and X-2. Dream Zanarkand was bound to existance by the dreaming of those pople who had lived in Zanarkand before and during the war with Bevelle: The Fayth. When it became apparent that the war with Bevelle was lost, Yu Yevon had them become the Fayth Cluster on Mt. Gagazet, where they would generate their memories and he would tap into them, and from them create Dream Zanarkand, so that the Zanarkand they knew would live on. They generated memories of the Zanarkand they had known while they were caught in a perpetual cycle of dreaming by Yu Yevon never ending his summoning, him tapping into the dreams they generated to create Dream Zanarkand and its living, breathing, reproducing inhabtiants. Actual life was made from these memories.
The Aeons, also, were produced from tapping into the dreams of Fayth, possibly -- if not likely -- based on their memories.
Something else worthy of note is that Pyreflies constantly react, displaying the memories associated with them, as is shown to occur on the Farplane, and in the ruins of Zanarkand. Further still, the Unsent -- being composed of Pyreflies -- can even process their own memories through the Pyreflies and allow others to see them, such as when Auron shows to Tidus the promise he had made to Jecht to look after Tidus:
Tidus
"What's the big idea? Why me?"
Auron
"It is one of those things that is difficult to explain."
"Very well, I will show you."
::Auron walks to the middle of the room::
Auron
"My memories."
::Auron kneels and several Pyreflies rise from his form. We're then shown images of Braska and Jecht, as seen through Auron's eyes 10 years earlier::
Something else worthy of note comes from The Spirits Within and Final Fantasy X-2. In The Spirits Within, Aki -- having a piece of a Phantom's spirit contained within her body -- frequently experienced that Phantom's memories of its final moments of life. Similarily, in X-2, Yuna frequently experienced Lenne's memories of her final moments of life as well as occasionally felt her feelings.
Taking a brief step back to the concept of Spirit Energy crystalizing, in Final Fantasy: Tactics, upon the death of a character in a battle (once the timer above their body reached "0"), a message reading "[Insert character's name]'s spirit became a crystal" will often appear, accompanied by the fallen unit's body being replaced on the battlefield by a crystal. If another character moves to that space and takes the crystal, they can either use it to replenish their HP and MP, or to learn a Spell or other ability that the fallen character had known. In other words, they can absorb a memory of that fallen character. Granted, this isn't a huge point and is the only possible connection to the matter in Final Fantasy: Tactics, and there's no indication that other Spells and abilities are learned in a manner that is associated with either Spirit Energy or memories, but I felt that this was a point that shouldn't be left out.
Similarily, in Final Fantasy VI, upon the death of an Esper, its spiritual essence would crystalize into objects known as "Magicite." Despite the Esper being dead, if someone was in possession of a Magicite, they could call the being forth in battle. Further still, they could learn Spells from the Magicite, these being Spells the Esper itself had known or is associated with, such as the Fire Spells that can be learned from Ifrit's Magicite.
In a somewhat similar concept, in Final Fantasy VIII, while people could use Para-Magic, a method of energy manipulation that simulated the Witch Embodiment, their own physical prowess and skills of warfare were far more conventional than any Magic they could use unless they were junctioned to a Guardian Force. When Junctioned to a GF, they would have the potential for a great arsenal of magical Spells to be at their disposal, and they could increase their own strength and abilities exponentially, yet junctioning oneself to a GF causes memory loss over time, suggesting that the GF draws on the memories of its Junction partner in order to supply them the power it does (not just calling the GF forth, but drawing, stocking, and junctioning Magicks), the one junctioned to a GF acting as a Fayth of sorts:
(After Squall and the other main characters -- minus Rinoa -- discover that they grew up together, but that all of them but Irvine had forgotten.)
Squall
"...Why is it that we forgot?"
"We grew up together as kids...How's that possible...?"
Irvine
"How about this?"
"...The price we pay for using the GF."
"The GF provides us its power."
"But the GF makes its own place inside our brain..."
Quistis
"So you're saying that the area is where our memories are stored?"
"No...! That's just a rumor the GF critics are spreading."
Zell
"So if we keep relying on the GF, we won't be able to remember a lot of things?"
Quistis
"There's no way Headmaster Cid would allow such a dangerous thing!"
Irvine
"Then how is it that I remember, while everyone else has forgotten?"
"Well...?"
"In my case, I hadn't junctioned a GF until recently."
"That's why I remember a lot more than you guys."
Quistis
"How about you, Selphie?"
"Your first experience with the GF was when you came to Balamb Garden,
right?"
Selphie
"...Yeah."
...
Selphie
"I have a confession to make!"
Selphie
"When I was 12, I went on an outdoor training session."
"I found a GF inside one of the monsters I defeated..."
"I junctioned that GF for a while. So I have experience with GF, too."
"But...but, it's really weird! I can't remember the name of that GF!"
Quistis
"It must be the GF's fault...
The GFs take up residence within one's mind, drawing on their memories, and possbily placing the memories associated with the Spells they "learn" there. Spells can be lost if drawn from a party member, or if just plucked out of their mind and cast away, as Ultimecia often does to party members during the final battles of the game.
Like those that came before it, Final Fantasy IX also has a strong connection to memories. The game emphasises all memory and life having began at a single source, known as the Crystal. All life is connected, each having its beginning with the crystal, no matter how far back in time it is that the Crystal propagated life into existance. The game has a place known as "Memoria," which literally means "Memory" in several languages, and in which the characters trace their own Spirit Energy's memories back to the
beginning of its existance with the Crystal, all of them even able to recall that their world was once entirely covered with water, despite this having been, perhaps, millions or billions of years before their lifetimes. Zidane was even able to recall things of Gaia's far past, despite being from Terra, this being because all life has a single source when one traces it back far
enough: The Crystal.
This, of course, still leaves us to question whether or not the Magicks of Final Fantasy IX are connected to Spirit Energy or
memories, as they are in no obvious way derived from memories beyond the connection with the Black Mages being composed of Mist, which is stagnant Spirit Energy, which would contain memories. On this Gaia, Magicks are learned by equipping oneself with certain equipment for a certain period of time, rather than by equpping oneself with Materia, Spheres, or some other crystalline object. Granted, Kuja gained a great deal of magical power when he absorbed the souls that were trapped within the Invincible, but that still only leaves us to connect only the Black Mages' and Kuja's Magicks to Spirit Energy and/or memories.
However, consider the writing on the Eidolon Wall of Madain Sari. It would seem that some of the Summoners of Madain
Sari determined that the legends of Eidolons were the basis of their creation, and not the other way around, essentially meaning that the memory of these beings amongst the citizens of a village or tribe would manifest the Eidolon according to their customs and conceptions of these what these beings were like, essentially meaning the collective memory of these cultures would create the beings, even affecting the forms they would take:
(Written on the Eidolon Wall in Madain Sari, and accessible after performing
the small sidequest necessary to reveal all of the writing on the wall.)
The Legend of Eidolons
"We discovered eidolons by researching legends documented from around the world. The Thunder God, Ramuh, is one of those legends. Some theorize that the eidolons were created from the legends, and not the other way around."
...
The First Eidolon Discovered, Shiva
"Shiva took the form of a young girl when she was first discovered. She now appears as a grown woman. Eidolons adapt their forms to the time and culture in which they appear. Shiva illustrates this theory. In certain areas, Shiva is depicted as a snow fairy. This cannot be verified, since the only written document that remains is in the summoner village. People associate Shiva with the snow fairy. Why she changes forms remains a mystery."
With this in mind, recall that the memories of the Fayth were used to create people in Dream Zanarkand who were alive in every way. Memories made life, just as they make the Gaias/Lifestreams of their worlds grow. As it was in that case, so is it in this one: Memories gave birth to life. Tidus, a Dream of the Fayth/Aeon, even begins pooling off Pyreflies/Spirit Energy as he began to vanish from Spira during X's ending, displaying that he also had Spirit Energy, and -- perhaps -- was Spirit Energy given form in the first place, being created from memories (more on this toward the end of this document).
We also find memories coming to life in that Kuja recreates the Four Chaoses and sends them against Zidane and the others in Memoria. To do this, he accessed the memories of the Crystal, pulled them out, and gave them form:
Kuja
"Nice of you to come."
"I'm surprised you beat the 4 Chaoses that I created from the crystal's memory."
Moving on, it is through objects that one calls the Eidolons forth, a Garnet used to bring Bahamut forth, for instance, or Pumice used to bring forth Ark. These legendary creatures have somehow gained an association to these items. No doubt the customs (collective memories) of those from whom the legends -- and, thus, the Eidolons -- arose established these assocations, thus essentially allowing these items to act as a Summon Materia would. It's said in Final Fantasy VII that the knoweldge (memories) within the Materia allows one to call forth Magicks, and this would include Summons, as well. The game shows us an example of this through the Eidolon known as Madeen, the Ribbon it carried as Mog allowing it to be called forth by Eiko.
Likewise, then, it must be, that the items that allow one to learn Spells such as Fire have had memories become associated with them, instilling these items with the Spells out of the very concept of them being associated with such Spells. Essentially, it's a massive case of "mind over matter."
To summarize all this, Memories/Spirit Energy/Pyreflies = Lifestream = Gaia = "Light" = Materia = Spheres = Magic/Power.
In conclusion, I believe that every world in Final Fantasy may have a Lifestream, and that access to Spirit Energy containing memories -- or raw memories themselves -- play a large role in how Magicks
can be accessed. Granted, the Goddess Statues of Final Fantasy VI and the Witch Embodiment of Final Fantasy VIII may suggest to us that there is a "true" form of Magic for their worlds, with Spirit Energy and/or memories -- accessed in different ways depending on the world and/or situations -- allowing one to simulate the concept. Perhaps Magicite usage -- drawing on the memories within the crystalized Spirit Energy -- allow one to simulate the nature of some true form of Magic in VI, or the use of Para-Magic in VIII allows one to simulate the nature of some form of true Magic in that game (it was developed to simulate the Witch Embodiment in the first place). Or perhaps it is that the Goddess Statues only had their power in the first place due to the
belief that they had such power, and the subsequent belief that all Magicks in the world were dependent on the endurance of the power instilled in the Statues remaining bound to some vessel, whether it was the statues themselves or Kefka's body.
In any event, what is certain is that Spirit Energy and memories
can provide power, and have done so in -- at the least -- Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII, IX, X/X-2, Tactics, Unlimited, and The Spirits Within, and that the worlds of at least VII, IX, and The Spirits Within have a Lifestream, though there's significant indication of such a possibility in regard to VIII and X/X-2's worlds, as well.
All this shows us beyond all doubt that memories themselves are power. Perhaps it is even the case that it is not Spirit Energy that provides power so much as it is memories themselves, for we have seen memories provide power even when separate from Spirit Energy (in the summoning of Dream Zanarkand), and even give life, that which Spirit Energy is said to do. Perhaps it is even so that memories spawn Spirit Energy in the first place, as Tidus of Final Fantasy X had Spirit Energy, despite having been a Dream of the Fayth, his very existance maintained by a flow of memories.
While we possibly cannot answer all questions, we can hypothesize, and it is my belief that it
is memories that give rise to Spirit Energy to begin with based on all that we see them do, even without the presence of Spirit Energy, and with it being said that it is memories that allows the swell of Spirit Energy within Planets to grow. As for how this could happen, consider that memories pertain to our senses of touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste, the basic aspects by which we measure life. Arguably, they could also pertain to a sixth sense of "touching with the mind." With these memories consisting of those things by which life is measured, and with their status as energy, it may well be that the energy takes form based on the memories within.
Thus, Memories = Spirit Energy = Pyreflies = Lifestream = Gaia = "Light" = Materia = Spheres = Magic/Power.
Additional Support: From masamune1600 of EyesonFF's Forum comes this bit of information on Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance, which serves as an addendum to the information presented in my article, and was made in response to it:
If the crystals were not necessary world-threads, if Ivalice remained after all the crystals had been destroyed, what was their purpose? And if Ivalice remained, why did the destruction of crystals trigger Mewt's memories? I would propose that the crystals were the embodiment of the desires of the inhabitants of Ivalice. These inhabitants were derivative of Mewt's mind; therefore, each crystal shattered also shattered part of the illusion. The vast charade of Ivalice lost collective desire as each crystal was destroyed, and so Ivalice did unravel, but not completely. The crystals, in embodying Ivalice's desires, can also be interpreted as memories. Mewt's memories gave rise to the inhabitants; their desires were a function of Mewt's memories. In wanting to forget, to push the memories of reality away, Mewt defined the desire of Ivalice as a desire to exist. This existance would nullify reality, sealing away the unpleasant memories of suffering. So, each crystal's destruction forced memory back to Mewt.
Side note: The Totema, guardians of the crystals, are easily explained by this theory. If each Totema is representative of a different race of Ivalice, then the totality of the five Totema would defend the collective desires of the citizens of Ivalice.
Now, the crystals themselves don't seem to lend to magic directly, but they are partial foundations of that world. The false world of Ivalice can be interpreted, in fact, to be constructed purely from memories and desires. If this is the case, then the world is dependent on memory for its survival. In FFVII, as you pointed out, the planet needs Spirit Energy. On the party's first trip to Cosmo Canyon, the player sees what just might happen to the planet should that Energy keep being condensed and refined into Mako. In both these cases, then, we see the worlds, such as they are, dependent upon the manifestation of memory for continuation.
The answers will hopefully continue to come forth, even as the memories of these tales continue to grow.
Originally Posted by Autumn Rain
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