ATHLETE

World

game

truth

Late into the game, a shocking truth is discovered that changes Tidus' whole world around and upside down. It's quite a shocker and a huge spoiler ...

This wouldn't be totally terrible if it weren't for the fact that the Fayth are becoming tired. They want to stop dreaming soon. If they should stop, then Tidus' existance will be no longer. This was a very shocking revelation for our blonde hero, and he became understandably upset and distraught over this matter. However, he hid this secret behind his happy persona and pretended there was nothing wrong at all. He tends to do that with his problems.

Wait, what?

The story of the dreaming Fayth goes back a thousand years into the past, back when the real Zanarkand (not the dreamt up one that Tidus came from) and Bevelle were battling against one another for unknown reasons, in what was later to be known as the Machina War. The war probably had something to do with machina ... Unfortunately, Zanarkand was on the losing end. The city's main line of defense and offense consisted of summoners and their aeons, while Bevelle was more technologically advanced and had huge machina to help them.

The leader of Zanarkand at the time was Yu Yevon and he could not bear to see his precious city destroyed. And so, Yu Yevon worked towards a way to preserve his dear city. He ended up asking the Fayth -- spirits of the dead with magical powers (!!!) -- to create a dream world, a dream version of his city. Even after the war and Zanarkand was destroyed, the Fayth continued to dream about Zanarkand, indeed allowing the city and its people within it to live on. The Fayth dreamed for a thousand years without stopping, and it's rather understandable that they would like to wake up soon.

The Fayth tried to recreate all the same buildings and same people in dream Zanarkand as they were in the real Zanarkand, but it seems that making a perfect duplicate can be complicated. The creation of Tidus is very likely based on a seventeen year old boy from the real Zanarkand. His name was Shuyin, a famous blitzball player (sound familiar?) When the Fayth were re-creating Shuyin, he must have became a bit altered, and the result was Tidus. Tidus is the dream version of Shuyin.

Though it's unclear how Jecht was transported into the real Spira (all we know was that he was training by the sea one day and mysteriously disappeared), Tidus was taken a thousand years into the future by Sin. Since Sin was Tidus' father at the time, Jecht could link the dream Zanarkand and the real Zanarkand together and take his son for a real ride. The only explanation I can assume is that Jecht must have reacted with some pyreflies (dead spirits; similar to the Fayth), which conflict with the Fayth's dreaming and he was allowed to cross time and space, into reality. Similarily, when Tidus came in contact with Sin, he was allowed to cross time because Sin is a thing of reality. It is all very confusing, I know, but that is how I have understood the story at least.

When Tidus uncovers the truth about his existence (that he is nothing more than a mere dream image, that he is the son of Sin, and that if the Fayth stopped dreaming, he will cease to exist -- it's a lot to digest) he had a hard time trying to accept it all. He held the power to stop the cycle of life and death, but it meant sacrificing his own existance.