(Music from Final Fantasy X Soundtrack)
Game Backstory:
In Spira there once was a super city called Zanarkand. It was defeated and greatly damaged during a machina (machine) war with Bevelle. The Zanarkand survivors and a summoner named Yevon could not bear to see Zanarkand destroyed, so they decided to preserve it, if only in a dream. Yevon led the survivors to a place on Mount Gagazet and turned them into fayth. Fayth are the souls of people who willingly undergo a ritual that removes the souls from their still-living bodies and seals them in stone tablets that grant summoners power. Yevon used these fayth to summon a Dream Zanarkand.
Afraid that someone might find these fayth and try to destroy the Dream Zanarkand, Yevon created a whale-like, destruction-causing armor that would later be called Sin. He instructed Sin to destroy places with large populations and places that heavily relied on machines. Eventually, the strain of all of the summoning caused Yevon to lose control of Sin and, while acting on instinct, Sin destroyed Zanarkand. Yevon’s daughter,
SPOILER ALERT: This Page Recounts the Entire Story of Final Fantasy X
Zanarkand Before and After Sin
Summoner Yunalesca, then took her father’s teachings to Bevelle so that the people of Spira would have a way of calming Sin after she has died. Then she and her husband sacrifice themselves to defeat Sin. Sometime later, Sin is reborn. Thus the cycle began. Over the next 1,000 years, a number of summoners, hoping that their battle with Sin will truly defeat it, sacrifice their lives. Despite their sacrifices, Sin always returned after a short time of peace.
A little more than ten years before the game begins, Sin is rampaging across Spira once more, and it somehow enters Dream Zanarkand and takes a star blitzball player named Jecht out of it. Jecht becomes one of two guardians (or body guards) for a summoner named Braska, and helps Braska travel to the Zanarkand ruins. The Zanarkand ruins is where summoners meet Yunalesca's unsent soul, or ghost, and are given the monster, called the Final Aeon, that is necessary to defeat Sin. It is generally thought that this Final Aeon will simply be supplied by Yunalesca, but all summoners who reach Yunalesca come to find that they must actually choose one of their guardians to be turned into a fayth for the Final Aeon. Soon after Braska is told this shocking news, Jecht offers himself to become the fayth. When Braska (or any summoner) uses the Final Aeon to defeat Sin, he dies, and the Final Aeon (and its fayth) is then possessed by Yevon to become the seed for a new Sin that will reappear in Spira after "the Calm." The Sin formed from Jecht appears in Spira around eight years after Braska’s sacrifice (possibly sooner).
Sin
Game Begins
At the time that the game begins, Jecht navigates Sin to Dream Zanarkand and uses it to take his son, Tidus, out. Jecht leaves Tidus on the shores of Besaid where Tidus meets summoner Yuna (Braska's daughter), and her guardians. Tidus joins Yuna, and eventually becomes one of her guardians, as she journeys through Spira to Zanarkand. Along the way, Tidus learns that Jecht is Sin, that Jecht wants Tidus to end him and the torturous rampaging, and the devastating fact that all summoners who fight Sin die. Tidus also has to help Yuna as a psychopath maester (governor) tries to convince Yuna to marry him. As Yuna and Tidus uncover this maester's horrible secrets, they stumble upon the truth that Spira’s government is corrupt and being led by an unsent soul. In addition, they are told that Sin can never be truly defeated, and yet a summoner’s sacrifice is still worthwhile. Yuna is so shaken by this that she almost quits her journey. When she decides to continue, she leads her guardians on toward Zanarkand.
On Mount Gagazet, the travelers find the many fayth that maintain Dream Zanarkand. Tidus touches one of these fayth and is given a vision
Yunalesca (middle of circle), Yuna (purple skirt), and guardians
a way to truly defeat Sin. When they ask, Yunalesca tells them that there is no way, and explains how Yevon possesses each victorious Final Aeon to create a new Sin. The teachings of Yevon say that, if the people fully atone for their sins, Sin will one day disappear. This has been Spira's hope for so long. Because of this, one of Yuna's guardians asks if the teachings are then untrue. Yunalesca responds that hope is comforting and allows people to accept their fate no matter how tragic it is. It also gives the people of Spira the hope necessary to keep them from drowning in sorrow. Yuna disputes this, and doesn't allow herself be convinced to do what all other summoners have done before her. Yuna vows to defeat Sin without false hope, and Yunalesca calls her a fool. Yunalesca decides to "free [Yuna] before [she] can drown in [her] own sorrow," and attacks Yuna's party. Yunalesca is defeated, and the ability of any summoner getting the Final Aeon in the future is destroyed.
With this burden on their shoulders, Yuna's group tries to devise a plan that will truly defeat Sin. After gathering some more information from the fayth, they finally have a plan.
Yuna (purple skirt), Tidus (left in yellow jacket) and guardians
With the help of the people of Spira, they sedate Sin by singing Jecht’s favorite song, the "Hymn of the Fayth." While Sin is in a stupor, Yuna and her guardians find and attack Sin’s weak points. Once Sin is weakened, they attack it head-on until it opens its mouth. Yuna and the guardians enter Sin and search for Jecht. Along the way, they run into the unsent soul of the psycho maester. He is planning to control Sin from the inside so that he might destroy Spira, granting it “eternal sleep.” Yuna and her guardians defeat the maester and send him to the afterlife. They continue until they find Jecht. Jecht and Tidus share some last words before Yuna’s team is forced to fight against Jecht in his Final Aeon form. When they have defeated it, Yevon leaves Jecht, and the battlefield changes. Yuna uses her summons to fight Yevon, but eventually Yuna and her guardians must fight him on their own. When they defeat Yevon, Sin is sent to the afterlife and the fayth gain the rest they desired. Tidus begins to fade along with the other dreams of the fayth, and he says his goodbyes. Then Tidus embraces his destiny. Sometime later, we see that Yuna is still hoping to see Tidus again as she prepares to give a speech to all of Spira, motivating them to move forward while remembering the people they have lost and the dreams that have faded. After the credits, we see Tidus waking in some underwater place, and swimming to the surface.
Trivia: In the Japanese script, Yuna says "Thank you," not "I love you."
explaining that he, his father, and his home are all dreams, and the fayth who are creating these dreams are tired. Just before Tidus wakes, the fayth ask Tidus if he and his father (who have been touched by Sin and become more than dreams) will help them rest. Tidus wakes and doesn’t tell anyone about what he has seen. The group continues to Zanarkand.
In Zanarkand, the group sees visions of Braska and his guardians as they came closer to the point of no return. Yuna's group continues and meets Yunalesca. She reveals to them the secret that the summoner must choose a guardian to become a fayth for the Final Aeon. They are shocked and Yunalesca gives Yuna time to choose. During that time, the group sees a vision of Jecht offering himself up to become the fayth for Braska. They then argue briefly about what their next move should be before they decide to ask Yunalesca if there is