Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough (16 page)

The story of
Final Fantasy VII
is set in a world essentially controlled by the Shinra Electric Power Company. Cloud Strife and a diverse group seek to stop Shinra from sucking away the planet’s life. Shinra’s power allows it to act as a world government, with outposts on the other continents of the world to maintain control. But much of the story surrounds the city of Midgar, the industrial metropolis of Shinra. The upper levels of Midgar, where the upper class lives, are contrasted with the slums below the city, where the vast majority of the laboring class dwells. The slums, Sector 7 in particular, are the home of the resistance led by AVALANCHE. In the ultimate act of class conflict, Shinra collapses the upper plate of Sector 7, killing the entire population. All of this is backstory, however, to the plan by Sephiroth to use the Lifestream to be reborn as a god. Cloud is eventually victorious, although it is a mixed victory. While much of the Shinra executive is destroyed, as is Sephiroth (or so we think), Aeris loses her life, and most of Midgar is laid to waste and, as we learn later in the movie
Advent Children
, the poor become desolate and sickness runs rampant as a result of our heroes’ actions.

Final Fantasy
, Interrupted

It is curious—and odd—that the Marxist conception of history has found no fulfillment in any of the
Final Fantasy
worlds. While in
Final Fantasy VII
, we have perhaps the closest example of change occurring with the reaction against Shinra, most of the worlds have either rejected industrialization, such as in
Final Fantasy X
; are on the precipice of accepting industrialization, such as in
Final Fantasy IX
; or have only recently re-embraced it, as in
Final Fantasy X2
. Karl Marx wrote during a period of rapid and unprecedented change in the Western world, not unlike many of the worlds of
Final Fantasy
. So, why has the Marxist conception of history stalled in these (and our own) worlds? Perhaps it is because these societies have not matured to the point where a utopian existence is possible. While at the end of
VII
, Shinra may be rejected, capitalism as an economic structure persists. In
X2
, the readoption of large-scale industrialization is only in its infancy and only time will tell. If rumors are true, the soon-to-be-released
Final Fantasy XIII
will be set in a futuristic world. So, perhaps the Moogles and other oppressed folk in that world will be ready to embrace, dare I say, the final
Final Fantasy
.

NOTES

1
Preface to
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
, p. 389. Unless otherwise indicated, all references are from David McLellan, ed.,
Karl Marx: Selected Writings
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977).

2
The Communist Manifesto
, p. 222.

3
Karl Marx,
Capital
, vol. 1, translated by Ben Fowkes (London: Penguin, 1976), p. 344.

4
Preface to
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
, p. 389.

5
Marx,
The German Ideology
, p. 390.

6
Marx,
Theses on Feuerbach
, p. 158.

7
Marx,
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
, p. 300.

11

SIN, OTHERWORLDLINESS, AND THE DOWNSIDE TO HOPE

David Hahn

Final Fantasy X
portrays a world plagued by Sin. The people of Spira cope with the existence of this overwhelming terror by placing their faith in the religion of Yevon and the Summoners, who allegedly are the only ones capable of saving Spira and of initiating the longed-for Calm. Although such a faith may give comfort to the Spirans, worldly philosophers such as Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) would find little solace in either the Yevonites’ or the Summoners’ belief systems. Both philosophers would lament the effect that the Yevonite religion has had on the population of Spira and would condemn it for encouraging the Spirans to place their hope in a false “otherworldliness” at the expense of their present lives.

Backstories

Niccolò Machiavelli is famous (or infamous) for his political writings, which include
The Art of War
,
The Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livy
, and, of course, his most famous book,
The Prince
.
¹
Machiavelli served as secretary to the Ten of Florence, negotiating foreign affairs and treaties. His career put him in touch with many of the most powerful and colorful persons of his day: King Louis XII, Pope Alexander VI and his infamous son Cesare Borgia, as well as Leonardo Da Vinci. Such contacts gave Machiavelli a unique perspective on how the powerful lived—and died.

Nietzsche’s philosophical fame comes from his criticisms of Christian morality in the books
Beyond Good and Evil
,
Of the Genealogy of Morals
, and his most popular book,
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
. Nietzsche saw contemporary morality as the unfortunate reversal of the classical values of the Greeks and the pagan Romans.

The two philosophers had a similar goal: they desired a return to the spirit of action, a focus on this world, and a will to power. Both blamed modern religion for much that ails us. Their criticisms and recommendations not only applied to their respective societies, they continue to resound today, and they can even provide some advice to the people of Spira.

The Dream of Spira

A world without Sin. . . . That is the dream of all Yevon’s children and we will use that power even if it means our lives.

—Isaaru

The dream of the absence of Sin is only a temporary reality. The Final Aeon cannot destroy Sin; it can only force it into absence. This period of time, the Calm, is worth it, nonetheless. As Tidus explains, “Even for a little while . . . people can sleep in their beds without being afraid. That kind of time is worth anything.” This is the motive that drives the Summoners in their task.

Because the population of Spira values the Calm so highly, the Summoners risk everything to accomplish this task. The hope that the people have in the Calm is so significant that in the words of Lady Yunalesca, it “allows us to accept fate, however tragic it might be.” Machiavelli and Nietzsche were both deeply suspicious of the belief that all suffering will be worth it because in the future that suffering will be rewarded. Whether the reward is true or not doesn’t matter; what matters is the
idea
of it. Machiavelli, for instance, was not concerned with the question of whether Christianity was true; what concerned him was how Christianity affected people’s political lives.

The people of Spira suffer for the promise of an otherworldly reward. They want the Calm, but the religion preaches something more. Beneath the veneer of the Calm is also the complete eradication of Sin, which can be accomplished by the piety of the people. They shun technology as forbidden, in the hope of this potential reward. But should they?

To answer that question, let’s concern ourselves with the story of Wakka’s brother Chappu. We are told during the adventure that Chappu was a Crusader, in the military branch of the theocracy, and went to battle Sin. Initially, he left with a Yevon-approved sword but defied the teachings, laying it down for an Al Bhed weapon (we can assume it was some sort of firearm). During the battle with Sin, he was killed. The teachings of the religion place the blame of his death on Chappu’s use of a gun. Although Chappu’s choice was a practical one (after all, a gun is a safer weapon for the user than a sword is), Wakka blames Chappu for his own death. Furthermore, Wakka uses the tragedy as fuel for his own fundamentalism. In fact, the very idea of an attack on Sin by anyone other than a Summoner is derided by Yevon as a reckless exercise in pride, outside of their teachings.

While the people of Spira rely on a future without Sin, Machiavelli’s people rely on an existence without suffering after this world. This reliance on the incentive of heaven weakens a person’s ability to act now. Even princes were unlikely to act preemptively or violently. Instead, they waited for problems to arise so that they could act with the blessings of the Church. Princes were concerned not so much with the state or the citizens but with their status in the next life. Machiavelli decried this, lamenting, “He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.”
²

According to Christian doctrine, wars are just only if fought according to certain guidelines (known as the Just War Theory). Wars of aggression are prohibited, and the violence of war should be the last resort, after all other forms of conflict resolution have failed. As a consequence, princes who wished to be good Christians would delay combat as long as possible (often to their detriment) and finally, when they did go to war, would hire mercenary armies to fight for them. This reliance on professional armies was often inefficient and dangerous for those who hired them because mercenaries fight only when paid, when it is convenient for them to fight, and when it is safest for them. Also, the mercenaries had a tendency to switch loyalties to the highest bidder. A prince takes a lot of risks when he avoids dirtying his hands with sinful acts.
³
We can see this in the attitude of the Maesters during Operation Mi’ihen. Maesters Seymour and Kinoc are both present for the joint operation between the Al Bhed and the Crusaders, but Seymour states that he is there not as a Maester but as a citizen of Spira. Although present for observation, the two cannot participate because that would “dirty their hands.” This prevents Seymour from using his considerable power to aid the attack.

Whether in Spira or in Renaissance Italy, the reluctance of those in charge to take the actions necessary to their state’s security remains a problem. The common threat, according to Machiavelli, is that religious indoctrination prevents those who fight from gaining the full support of their respective populations and government.

Striving for the Farplane

Life is but a passing dream, but the death that follows is eternal.

—Maester Seymour

With few exceptions, religion teaches us that this world is merely a temporary step in a much larger journey. What really matters is the life to come. The quality of that life depends on whether we live this life according to the virtues and values proscribed by our respective religions. Nietzsche saw tremendous lost opportunities in this life-denying mind-set. Worldly glory and accomplishments are not only ignored, they’re transformed into vices by modern religion.

The old religions of Classical Greece and Rome didn’t worship the meek and the humble but rather the accomplished. In contrast, otherworldly religions such as Christianity praise the characteristics of the meek and the humble, esteeming them not because they make this life easier but because they guarantee the paradise of the next life. The old religions don’t have this feature because their afterlife contains no reward. The Greek concept of Hades is not a place of eternal punishment; it was literally just a house for the dead.

The other world for the followers of Yevon does not happen after they die. Instead, it is a hypothetical future in which Sin does not exist. Still, there are important similarities. For instance, the Summoners who have given their lives to defeat Sin are revered in Spira as religious martyrs. The sacrifice of life, the repudiation of this existence, is given the highest accolade. Any attempt to solve the dilemma of Sin while trying to preserve one’s life is viewed as a serious transgression. Thus, after Yuna refuses to sacrifice herself and one of her guardians, she is rebuked by Maester Mika, “Clad in it [Sin], Yu-Yevon is invincible. And the only thing that could have pierced that armor you have destroyed! Nothing can stop it now.”

The death of the Summoner is necessary to destroy Sin, according to Yevon. Any attempts by the Crusaders, the Al Bhed, or joint operations like Operation Mi’ihen are doomed to failure because while people die in these attacks on Sin, they are not sacrificed like the Summoners. The Christian parallel is obvious: only through the sacrifice and death of Jesus can the doors to paradise open. This is why Nietzsche despised Christianity and all otherworldly religions: they focus on death and preach a resignation of this world.

The result of this negative attitude regarding this world is that the average Spirans cannot seek paradise for themselves. Unless they are Summoners, the most they can do is be pious and wait. Fettered by the precepts of Yevon, they are not allowed to use technology. Their religion has made them perpetual victims. Furthermore, they are taught that they are responsible for Sin’s existence. As Yuna explains, “Sin is our punishment for our vanity. And it will not go away until we’ve atoned.”

The vanity they must atone for was expressed in their use of machina. According to the teachings of Yevon, machina signifies Spira’s contempt for nature, seeking to conquer it through the use of technology. As the party rides on an elephantine creature called a “Shoopuf or Shipafu” Wakka points out a sunken city beneath the river and offers the Yevonite explanation for the city’s original existence, “they just wanted to prove they could defy the laws of nature.” He calls the city’s destruction “a good lesson.” Such indoctrination stunts the development of Spira because it imposes a limitation on intellectual development. Tidus is even rebuked by Wakka when he asks why Maester Mika hasn’t retired at such an old age. Questioning the religion is not tolerated.

The Value Inversion

This inversion of the value-positing eye—this need to direct one’s view outward instead of back to oneself—is the essence of resentment: in order to exist, slave morality always first needs a hostile external world.

Friedrich Nietzsche
⁴

Because the Sin of Spira is external, developing a worldly paradise is impossible. It is through this externality of Sin that Yevon’s theocracy is able to maintain such a powerful hold on the population. For Spira, Sin is not an idea but a tangible and terrible being capable of wanton death and destruction on an apocalyptic scale. Faith in the Summoners and in the teachings is effective because Sin is a graphic and real physical thing. It makes the average Spiran more apt to imagine a world without the mundane evils, such as the pain, guilt, and suffering that characterize most of our lives.

Nietzsche would interpret the Spiran situation as he would that produced by Christianity, which, as he saw it, inverts morality so that it plays to the strengths of the masses, rather than to the strengths of the few. Otherworldly religions play on the fears of the troubled masses in order to gain support for a new way of thinking that would subvert the old hierarchies. In
Beyond Good and Evil
and
On the Genealogy of Morals
, Nietzsche explained the overturning of values that has led us to our modern conception of morality.

In the past, the classical ages of Greece and Rome, what was considered good were the values of the nobility: those things that were useful and that brought glory in this life. Anything that was to be deemed “good” had to serve a purpose and serve it well. Things that were lowly, wretched, and useless were considered “bad.”
⁵
Our word
evil
did not exist for these people at their time. Nietzsche, in
Ecce Homo
, called this “the great rebellion against the dominion of
noble
values.”
⁶
Feeling powerless, the common people revolted against the aristocracy.

They didn’t revolt using pitchforks, Aeons, or machina because they didn’t have the strength or courage to. Instead, they revolted by using a new mode of thinking that inverted the values of society. With the aid of the upstart Christian religion, they relabeled the values of the nobility, associating the nobles’ conception of “good” with a newly created concept: “evil.” At the same time, the traits that were deemed “bad” by the nobility were transformed into “good.” Thus, the very things that were prized so highly by the nobles (opulence, extravagance, pride, and strength) were changed into “sins” (wrath, greed, pride, lust, and so on). The commoner’s way of life—poor, weak, sickly—became the basis of the new morality. As a result, the highest value is placed on being the lowliest of people. This new morality encourages humility and promises a perfect life in the next world as a reward. In Spira, the obvious parallel is in the forbiddance of technology. Sin was created by a Summoner who feared that machina would wipe out his city; after a thousand years, the use of machina is forbidden not only in law but also in spirit. The only machina used is that of the Al Bhed, who are deemed heretics.