ATHLETE

World

game

dream

During Tidus' first couple days spent in Spira, mainly on Besaid Island, he has a few notable dreams. Perhaps it was from shock, or perhaps it was from homesickness, but the dreams help give us a bit more insight into what Tidus was thinking at the time, and more about that crazy alcoholic father of his (actually, I don't remember if it was ever mentioned that Jecht was an alcoholic but I've always been under the impression that he is. He just seems like the type, y'know?). I also found his dream highly amusing, thus this page.

The night before Yuna and her guardians were to leave for Kilika Island, Tidus had a dream. In the dream, he was standing on the docks of Besaid Island with Yuna by his side. Both characters look anxiously out over the sea and then, Yuna turns to face Tidus. She opens her mouth to tell him that they must hurry if they are going to go to Zanarkand together, or they might get caught trying to escape.

Not only was this shocking and unpredicted at this early stage of the game, Tidus is also wildly surprised. It's too early for us to elope! Tidus secretly thinks. I think we're all thinking that. I don't know about everyone else, but it was pretty obvious that Tidus and Yuna were going to be love interests in the game. I just didn't expect such a thing so early in the game. Before Tidus can utter a response, Rikku comes racing down the dock towards them in her scuba diving outfit. Tidus hasn't seen Rikku in a while, and of all places, she shows up in his dream.

Jogging on the spot, Rikku angrily tells Tidus, "Hey! You promised to go to Zanarkand with me!" As the player, we suddenly realize what's going on -- Tidus has developed a crush on both Rikku and Yuna! Oh, that playboy. He's having conflicting feelings on which girl he should 'go for'. The unsettling reality that he may never be able to go home doesn't stop him from developing crushes on the pretty girls around him.

Not so happy

At this point, Tidus' dream changes and he suddenly goes from being a seventeen-year old boy to a ten-year old child. In his child form, little Tidus is crying and his father, Jecht, is nearby taunting him, telling him that he can never amount to anything and that he's nothing but a cry baby. We get the feeling that Tidus has a sort of father-complex and understand his deep hatred for his father just a little more. I mean, his dad is kind of a jerk, no?

Oddly enough, Yuna and Rikku never left his dream. They stand beside him, and cheer the young Tidus on, telling him to stand up for himself and express his true feelings. Their encouragement allows Tidus to finally shout the words, "I hate you!" to his father, something he has been dying to say but could never say, since it would be awkward for Tidus, the star player of the Zanarkand Abes to announce to the world that he despises his father, the legendary blitzball player, and have the media dig into his private life. Yuna and Rikku's encouragement is what he needed the most when he was ten years old, but in reality, they were never there, and Tidus had no one to support him. Perhaps what Tidus really needed was some motherly love (his mother, as we learn later, cared more about Jecht than Tidus), and in his dream, Yuna and Rikku were the females there to support him.

This dream shows that Tidus had always felt a bit lost and incapable of expressing his feelings properly. To the world, he had always needed to put up a protective wall, and show everyone a happy face, that there is nothing bothering him. However, this dream shows that our cheerful, happy-go-lucky athlete isn't all that he appears to be on the outside.