10 Times Details Reveal the Tragic Nature of Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy 10 has a default atmosphere that's quite somber overall, especially compared to the way that other games in the franchise are, where you tend to have more sections that have some levity to them.

With FF10, the feeling of the environment and story maintains a subdued quality that leaves you with the knowledge that something is wrong, even if you don't know the true tragedy about how the cycle of Sin works.

Although Final Fantasy 7 and 9 usually get the bulk of player attention, Final Fantasy 10 is another highlight for the franchise. Each game has moments that leave you devastated, but the slow build-up of those moments in FF10 makes them hit even harder.

10 The Destruction of Zanarkand

Let's Start By Wiping Out an Entire City

While there's a lot to be unpacked about the nature of the opening sequence in FF10 and the truth about Zanarkand, it's bold to say the least that the game starts off with a high-stakes Blitzball game, only to quickly shift to an apocalyptic-level disaster. You might not understand everything about Sin yet, but this scene acts as a crash course in the level of destruction it can cause.

This opening also acts as a clever narrative tool. By leaving Tidus as confused as you are after he ends up on a boat, you learn about the world alongside him in a way that feels natural and has you understand that something is being kept from him, which you also don't know about at that point.

9 Yuna's Sending

A Scene That's as Beautiful as It Is Heartbreaking

When starting your journey, you don't entirely know the details about a Summoner's role and their pilgrimage, so you get to learn about it as you encounter situations as one of Yuna's guardians. As you reach a village that has recently been destroyed by Sin, you learn that Summoners have the crucial role of performing a Sending.

A Sending is when a Summoner performs a ritual that allows the souls of the dead to head to the Farplane, where they'll find peace. It's tragic that each orb during this scene is somebody who lost their life, but it's also tragic that if Yuna's group hadn't arrived, then they could have been stuck as Unsent, unable to go to the Farplane.

8 Al Bhed Hate

The Point at Which Faith and Science Collide

The Al Bhed are a race in FF10 who are defined by their spiral pupils and a culture that embraces machina, which are machines that are generally forbidden by followers of Yu Yevon. Rikku is the Al Bhed character that you'll see the most during your playthrough, and she happens to be Yuna's cousin.

The tragic part of this hate towards the Al Bhed is that they use machina in an attempt to find other ways to defeat Sin that don't rely on Summoners, while followers of Yu Yevon believe that Sin is a punishment for the use of machina. As a result, you have one group trying to save Summoners from sacrificing themselves, and another that believes that these sacrifices are better than using machina.

7 Yunalesca's Fate

She Gave Up Peace for the Sake of Others

Yunalesca is mentioned a few times throughout the game, but you actually get to meet her in the final section. Considering she was the first Summoner to defeat Sin and bring a Calm, she definitely shouldn't still be alive at this point in time. The truth is that she's been dead since defeating Sin.

As the first Summoner to defeat Sin and understand the Final Summoning, Yunalesca made the decision to stay behind in Zanarkand as an Unsent. Here, she would greet Summoners at the end of their pilgrimage and explain how the Final Summoning works, allowing them to continue the cycle by ushering in a Calm.

6 Auron's Fate

His Promises Tethered Him to Life

Similar to Yunalesca, Auron is also an Unsent who clings to life because he intends to fulfill the promises he made to Braska and Jecht before they died. He rejected the mechanics of the Final Summoning, but Jecht agreed to it, which led to Braska defeating Sin with Jecht, and Auron left as the last of the trio alive.

In anger, Auron would attack Yunalesca and be mortally wounded by her, surviving only long enough to make sure Yuna would have somebody to take care of it. It had to be difficult for him to accompany the children of the two friends he couldn't save, knowing that Yuna intended to meet the same fate as her father.

5 Fayth

The Fayth Aren't as Abstract as They Seem

Fayth are what allow Summoners to call Aeons in order to help them. However, Fayth aren't as similar to gods as they are somewhat considered in Spira. They were even normal humans at one point, but they made the decision to go through a ritual that would remove their souls from their bodies while alive, and those souls would then be sealed in tablets.

Summoners pray to the Fayth to ask for the power to summon their Aeon, making stops at each Chamber of the Fayth along their pilgrimage to defeat Sin. The true tragedy is that the Fayth would likely know how the pilgrimage ends, so they're deciding who to help on their way to sacrificing themselves.

4 The Pilgrimage

Summoners Knowingly Travel to Die

Summoners might not know all the details of the Final Summoning, but they are aware of the fact that defeating Sin means they have to sacrifice themselves as a price. Despite that, several Summoners still undergo a pilgrimage when Sin reappears at the end of a Calm, because they understand that one sacrifice is worth the period of peace that will spare countless others.

Most Summoners would likely love to be able to keep living and spend time with their loved ones, but Spira has put them in a position where they have the ability to save countless others from dying. They looked at the numbers and made the decision that one death is worth the lives of many.

3 Yu Yevon's Religion

A Tool for Defeating Sin

The Fayth are tied to the Yevon religion because it was Yu Yevon who preserved a number of souls a thousand years ago when Zanarkand was going to be destroyed, turning the residents into Fayth to live on in that form instead. Unfortunately, Yu Yevon was the reason for Sin's creation, and despite Yunalesca defeating it, Sin would regenerate repeatedly using Zaon's Aeon as its core.

Yunalesca, daughter of Yu Yevon, didn't create the Yevon religion, nor does she know how it originated. While it doesn't take into consideration what really happened in history, Yevon's religious structure benefits Yunalesca and Spira as a whole, as it keeps preparing Summoners to bring about the next Calm.

2 Auron's Knowledge

Auron Knows From the Start What's in Zanarkand

While the main characters, aside from Tidus, go on the pilgrimage knowing that the end requires Yuna to die, only Auron knows the full truth behind Yunalesca's presence and the nature of the Final Summoning, as well as the truth about Sin. This likely plays a role in why he becomes a guardian for Yuna, not just to protect his friend's daughter, but because he wants another chance to change the outcome.

Overall, Auron is a tragic character, but he decided to prolong his presence in Spira rather than find peace in the Farplane. Similar to the nature of Summoners, Auron understood that there was still a role for him to play in the cyclical battle between Sin and Spira, and he was willing to wait to move on to the Farplane.

1 Tidus' Ignorance

Everybody Keeps Tidus From Knowing the Truth

To Tidus, the somber attitude of everybody around Summoners doesn't make the most sense, but he witnesses Yuna summoning Aeons and performing a Sending, and that's likely enough to let him know they're important in Spira. He simply doesn't know the final purpose of a Summoner.

It makes sense to keep the truth from Tidus. As far as the rest of the group—aside from Auron—know, he's a victim of Sin who's still suffering from the trauma of that encounter, leaving his memories muddled. When that's combined with his obvious feelings towards Yuna, it's not a surprise that the group's unspoken decision is to keep him from knowing the end of the pilgrimage.

The entire franchise is filled with tragic characters and moments that are difficult to get through, but there are also moments in these games that are simply badass, getting your adrenaline pumping. Even with its own moments of victory, the general emotional vibe of Final Fantasy 10 is tragedy and heartbreak.