Author Topic: I'm creeped out by the book, but I think it's actually GOOD. Spoilers ahead  (Read 2070 times)

UltimaGriever

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Omg thanks! I'm gonna read it now! :o

I don't know about Spira being governed by fayth, but by the spirits of the Farplane, and that it might be possible that there is an entity there akin to a god as Minerva is to the Lifestream, considering that FFVII is actually in FFX's future. But what I think is really awkward is that there is no mention of fayth being races other than human. No Al Bhed fayth (which is understandable, since they were always considered lower class), no Guado fayth, no Ronso fayth, no Hypello fayth either... just humans. This leads me to believe that the art was indeed created by ancient humans, who pursued even greater power, to create the art of summoning, trying first with pyreflies found loose in the world, to experimenting with other humans' pyreflies - hence why there's more than one way to create fayth.

Good point. Macalania Forest could have been a lush forest with a giant lake by its side until the temple with the fayth was placed there. Then the effects of the fayth on the environment made the lake and the forest freeze all over, and, when it vanished, everything started to melt. :)

The game doesn't make it very clear the difference between natural born fiends and those born from the dead's anger and hate, but perhaps they're one and the same.

Yevon might have placed taboo on anything prior to its age. That's why we never knew about the gods, or the aeon cores, which I'm not really really sure their creation actually involves sex. That's why the Al Bhed can't build new machina anymore, just salvage old ones. It's ironic that Bevelle, who branded Yevon and Yunalesca as heretics who should be put to death, was the heart of his religion and to this day keeps so many secrets that date from before the war, including their old religion and secrets on building machina, the key to their victory over Zanarkand in the war.

The Machina War was, to me, an interesting event that was seen by many characters differently. The Yevoners blame the war on the Al Bhed: there was even a mass execution of them when the war ended. Yevon's fayth blame it on Bevelle and their machina, but they never mention them also having summoners on the front lines, neither do they say that Zanarkand actually had a head-start due to them using machina themselves, including airships. We only hear one side of the story: the side that's widely known to everyone, including the fayth, due to Yevon's influence over the world during and after the war. Yevon paints himself as the victim, because he had to sacrifice his people just to create a fac-simile of his city (meaning he cared more about his city's memory than with the citizens themselves), because Bevelle was so mean to him and his brainwashing that he had no choice than to summon a gargantuan beast to threaten Bevelle with oblivion with it, only to keep it around to protect his summoning of the city he used to rule and punish everyone for his and Bevelle's mistakes for one thousand years, and only God knows how many more had Yuna actually used the Final Aeon to destroy it. Only Maechen is able to give us something more than the fayth's self-pity (the summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a chance whining - this was only around the end of the war) by saying that Yevon was actually the ruler of Zanarkand, that the Hymn of the Fayth was sung in defiance of Bevelle (it's actually a prayer to Yevon, instead of the gods of Bevelle's religion) and that Zanarkand's destruction was planned by Yevon, just to show off his might so that Bevelle would surrender already. He had Yunalesca run away with Zaon prior to summoning Sin, told her to create an aeon off of him and summoned Sin out of the souls of the dead soldiers. Then he used Sin to destroy Zanarkand, devoid of any life thanks to everyone having been turned to fayth, and Yunalesca returned to the ruins, transformed Zaon into a fayth and waited. In the meanwhile, Bevelle's troops raided Gagazet and found only ruins where Zanarkand had been and an uncountable number of fayth. Sin then emerged from the ruins and did nothing, because Yevon wanted them to witness his might and return to Bevelle. Then the rumors flew in Bevelle regarding Sin, saying that the people of Zanarkand became the fayth who called Sin. They were only half-right, though, for the fayth did not have anything to do with Sin. Then Yunalesca went to Bevelle to confront them, saying that she has the means of subduing the creature and that she is the only one who knows it, and that if they didn't abide by her rules then Sin would crush Bevelle into oblivion and destroy Spira. Bevelle couldn't have done anything. They were helpless. They had Vegnagun, but they were unsure of whether it was safe to use or not, so, in any case, they were essentially doomed if they didn't just give up. So they did, and Yunalesca subjected them to the shame of worshipping Yevon, spreading and enforcing his teachings to all of Spira before she went off to fulfill her end of the bargain. She summoned Zaon's aeon and it destroyed Sin's carcass, but Yevon emerged from it and possessed the aeon, severing her mental link to the aeon and killing her in the process. Because she needed to remain to ensure that others would do the same, she lingered as an unsent and returned to her hall in Zanarkand's ruins, waiting for her successors, fully knowing their attempts were in vain. Nobody would ever cease her lord father's reign over the land.

I liked it whenever the war was mentioned because nobody, apart from those who lived and fought in it, could ever give testimony to what happened, and, even if they did, it was most likely biased. Lenne and Shuyin were biased towards Zanarkand. Valm and Kush were biased towards Bevelle. I liked the novel in that it gave us insight into both sides of the coin, not just "Zanarkand had summoners and Bevelle had machina" stuff they said in the games. Never did they mention Yunalesca and Yevon would brainwash their people into fighting, that she would even goad soldiers to fight endlessly by insinuating they would have sexual contact with her once they came back (at least that was implied from what the soldier said in the novel). The game didn't show the bloody, gory side of the war, and anyone past their childhood surely knows that wars mean death, blood and gore above anything else.
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