ATHLETE

World

game

guardian

Being thrusted into a completely different world a thousand years into the future, and still, our blonde-haired hero still manages to snag himself a part-time job. Well, there's no pay involved but still, that's pretty impressive.

qualifications

• In good physical health, as he is a star athlete.
• Works well with others, co-operative and accustomed to teamwork (since he was on a sports team and all).
• Not afraid to assume a leadership position. In fact, most of the time, he steps up to the plate himself.

I should stop making up a resume for Tidus.

How he got the position

When Tidus attempted to enter the Cloister of Trials in the Besaid Temple, he was stopped by one of the temple priests who told him that only summoners, apprentice summoners and their guardians may enter. Tidus has no idea what any of these occupations are, but he soon finds out. He deliberately breaks the rule anyway and enters the Cloister of Trials, only to realize how severe this was. And why did he want to enter the Cloister of Trials in the first place? Because it's no fun standing outside by yourself waiting for your new friends to come out (well, I suppose most of them are just acquaintances, rather than friends, at that time).

His new friends-slash-acquaintances are generally nice people and allow Tidus to tag along with them (since he doesn't have anywhere to go), but there are some problems with this set up. Whenever Yuna, Wakka, and the other guardians entered a temple, it would mean leaving Tidus waiting outside until everyone came back out, which wouldn't be that bad but Tidus has a way of screwing things up. Tidus fell prey to one of Donna's pranks and ended up breaking temple rules again. It seemed that leaving Tidus alone for even a second was not a very smart thing to do.

Yuna thinks up a brilliant plan: she proposed that Tidus become one of her guardians. A guardian is just what it sounds like -- they guard the summoner on her journey to acquire the final aeon. Yuna had many guardians, and it would appear she was favoring quantity over quality, but truth be told, all her guardians are important people that she holds dear to her and would trust her life in the hands of any of them. This should explain the importance that Yuna already felt for Tidus when she asked him to be her guardian. Though it may not have been feelings of love at the moment, she certainly wanted to keep him by her side.

When she first proposed this idea, the whole party was more than a bit shocked, including Tidus -- he did not know the young summoner put so much trust in him. Wakka, being Tidus' blitzball friend, agreed that it was a good idea since Tidus seemed to be able to wield a sword pretty well. Lulu, who had a rather bad first impression of Tidus, felt that the timing was not right and there was no need for Yuna to have an extra guardian. Although nobody officially stated him being the new guardian, it was around this time that everyone -- whether they liked it or not -- accepted Tidus as part of their traveling crew and as Yuna's guardian. Which was fine and dandy since that meant Tidus can enter temples' Cloister of Trials without making a scene anymore.

His duties

As Yuna's guardian, he and the others must protect Yuna from harm's way until she reaches the final battle with Sin. Tidus initial assumptions about the job were that all you had to do was swing a sword around and kill monsters while protecting the beauty on her sacred journey. Although it would seem as if that is all there is to it, there is a part of the job description that nobody knew about -- the only way to obtain the Final Aeon to defeat Sin is if one of the guardians merge with the aeon Lady Yunalesca gives. In essence, the guardian becomes the Final Aeon and after the battle, dies. Everybody was very shocked upon hearing this, and although Lulu and Wakka volunteer to give themselves up, Yuna refuses. Tidus isn't heroic enough to offer himself up for the sacrifice, but he thinks nobody should do it. It isn't worth sacrificing your life for, since the defeat of Sin lasts only for a while (a few weeks, I believe, possibly months); it will simply respawn again.

Through becoming a guardian, Tidus learned to become more caring and understanding of the people around him. He becomes absolutely determined to protect Yuna until the end, becoming a true guardian, and not some sort of sacrificial lamb.