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17
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175m (5'9")
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Zanarkand
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Longsword
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Time magic
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Swordplay
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(Japanese: ティーダ ''Tiida'') is the main
Protagonist in the
Square-Enix Role-playing Video Game ''
Final Fantasy X ''. As the leading character, the player controls Tidus through the world based in the game, manipulating his actions through the unfolding storyline in traditional ''
Final Fantasy '' style. ''Final Fantasy X'' was the first title of the ''Final Fantasy'' series featured on the
Sony PlayStation 2 .
The storyline of ''Final Fantasy X'' revolves around Tidus, a rising
Blitzball star player from
Zanarkand . After a mysterious creature called "
Sin " attacked his hometown, Tidus was seemingly transported to the world of
Spira . Lost, confused, and feeling out of place, Tidus soon meets a newly-fledged
Summoner ,
Yuna , and her
Guardians . The summoner is soon to set out on a pilgrimage in an attempt to put an end to the very creature that attacked Tidus' city, and by joining them, Tidus hopes he will find his way home.
The game's scenario writer,
Kazushige Nojima , has expressed that the relationship between the player and the main character in a ''Final Fantasy'' title is always something he's concerned with, and that when penning ''Final Fantasy X'', he wanted to try something new. He wanted to attempt establishing a connection between the player and character such that — since both are finding themselves in a new world — the player's progress through that world and growing knowledge about it would be reflected in Tidus' own ever-developing understanding, a connection allowed to the player through Tidus' first-person narration of most of ''Final Fantasy X'', in which the player (controlling Tidus) advances that narration.
1
For his part, Character Designer
Tetsuya Nomura has expressed that — after designing serious and moody main characters for ''Final Fantasy VII'' and ''Final Fantasy VIII'' — he wanted to give Tidus a cheerful attitude and appearance, which is reflected in the name Kazushige Nojima chose for him (''Tiida'' is the
Okinawan word for "sun").
23 He's also explained that he wanted his clothing and accessories to suggest a relationship with the sea. For example, his outfit bears a distinctive blue theme, and the symbol of Tidus' blitzball team — which appears on his clothing — is designed after a fishing hook, while also designed such that it's an amalgamation of the letters "J" and "T" (the first letters of Tidus' name and that of his father, Jecht).
4
Nomura has also mentioned that a contrast between the lead male and female protagonists was established by Yuna's name meaning "night" in Okinawan.
5 This contrast is also represented with the items required to empower their Celestial Weapons: the Sun Sigil and the Sun Crest for Tidus', and the Moon Sigil and Moon Crest for Yuna's.
Like the other characters in ''Final Fantasy X'', Tidus' abilities are built around a classic ''Final Fantasy'' job class, in his case that of the
Fighter class, which is normally considered a balanced melee class. However, Tidus also features many abilities from the
Time Mage class in the form of supportive spells for himself and his group.
Because he is never directly referred to by name during audible dialogue — due to the player having the option to change his default name — the pronunciation of his name among fans is sometimes unclear, though its direct
Katakana to
Romaji form would be "Teeda." As such, his name as featured in ''Final Fantasy X'' is pronounced "Tee-dus." This was confirmed in dialogue from ''
Kingdom Hearts '' — which featured the character in a cameo — and by interviews with James Arnold Taylor, Tidus' English voice actor.
6 In ''
Kingdom Hearts II '', however,
Selphie Tilmitt pronounces his name "Tie-dus," which has led to more confusion amongst fans.
The game begins with an in-game cutscene showcasing the party of main characters around a campfire backdropped by the wreckage of Zanarkand. As the camera work focuses on Tidus while he ascends a small hill and looks over the ruins, it is accompanied by the game's opening line, spoken by Tidus: "Listen to my story."
The suggestion that ''Final Fantasy X'' is Tidus' story is enforced by Tidus' first-person narration throughout much of the game, and is mentioned at various points in the game's dialogue. "This is it. This is your story. It all begins here."
(''Final Fantasy X'') "Look not to others for knowledge. This is your journey, too." ... / '''Tidus:''' "...Auron's right. This is our... This is my story."
(''Final Fantasy X'')'''Tidus:''' "I'll go ask Yunalesca. She's got to know something." / '''Rikku:''' "You really think she'll help you?" / '''Tidus:''' "I don't know, but I have to try. This is my story. It'll go the way I want it... or I'll end it here."
(''Final Fantasy X'')'''Tidus:''' "Everyone! This is the last time we fight together, okay?" / '''Wakka:''' "Huh?" / '''Tidus:''' "What I'm trying to say is... after we beat Yu Yevon, I'll disappear!" / '''Lulu:''' "What are you talking about?" / '''Tidus:''' "I'm saying goodbye!" / '''Rikku:''' "Not now!" / '''Tidus:''' "I know it's selfish... but this is my story!"
(''Final Fantasy X'') Tidus then recounts how events have lead to the present. At the beginning of his role in the story, Tidus, an inhabitant of Zanarkand, is preparing to play blitzball in the Jecht Memorial Cup — a tournament in honor of his lost father, Jecht. Ten years prior to the events of the game, Jecht mysteriously disappeared while on a blitzball training expedition out at sea.'''Zanar:''' "I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air!" .../ '''Zanar:''' "Anyways... Ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today!"
(''Final Fantasy X'')'''Tidus:''' "Sounds like him, but it can't be him." / '''Yuna:''' "Why not?" / '''Tidus:''' "My old man, he died. Ten years ago, off the coast of Zanarkand." / '''Yuna:''' "I'm sorry." / '''Tidus:''' "He went out to sea for training one day...and never came back. And no one's seen him since then." / '''Yuna:''' "Why, that's the day that Jecht came to Spira. It's true! I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago!"
(''Final Fantasy X'') A successful blitzball player, Tidus felt the pressure to match, if not surpass, his father's skill. Tidus holds animosity toward Jecht for this and other reasons, including the fact that his mother would ignore Tidus in favor of giving attention to Jecht and because his disappearance led to his mother giving up the will to live.'''Yuna:''' "What would you do if you found him?" / '''Tidus:''' "Who knows? I thought he died ten years ago. Well... I'd probably just smack him one. After everything he put Mom and me through. And because he was famous, I was always... Well, you should know, Yuna. Your father's famous, too. Everyone in Spira knows him, right? Ain't it tough?"
(''Final Fantasy X'')'''Tidus:''' "I think I just figured something out." / '''Yuna:''' "What?" / '''Tidus:''' "Why I hate my old man." ... / '''Tidus:''' "Whenever my old man was around, my mother wouldn't even look at me. Maybe that's when I started to resent him, even hate him. When he left us... Mom just lost her energy." ... / '''Tidus:''' "The old lady next door told me... when a lovebird dies, the one left behind... It just gives up living so it can join its mate. It was just like that. I hated my old man even more."
(''Final Fantasy X'')
During the tournament, Zanarkand is attacked by an immense creature shrouded in water. The city is destroyed in its path, and Tidus manages to escape a similar fate before the blitzball stadium collapses. While the destruction goes on, Tidus spots
Auron , an old friend of Jecht and mentor to Tidus. Auron claims he has been waiting for Tidus, and reveals that the creature is called "Sin." Auron and Tidus fight their way towards Sin, much to Tidus' confusion. Once there, Auron drags Tidus into the depths of Sin, claiming his story begins here.
Tidus awakens to find himself in the world of Spira, where he quickly runs into the eccentric salvager race, the
Al Bhed , and learns from a young Al Bhed girl named "
Rikku " that
1000 Years have passed since the destruction of Zanarkand. After another attack by Sin — who Rikku says has been a plague on humanity ever since Zanarkand fell — Tidus arrives at
Besaid Island . It is here that he meets Yuna - a summoner who plans to embark on a pilgrimage to bring about the destruction of Sin. Along with her guardians
Lulu ,
Wakka and
Kimahri , Tidus navigates his way throughout Spira in the hope of finding his way home. Along the way, Tidus reunites with Auron, and even Rikku also joins the party as a guardian.
Throughout the game, Tidus slowly matures, changing from a somewhat naive and self-centered youth into a selfless hero. This transformation is also hinted — through several flashback sequences — to have occurred in Jecht himself, who Auron reveals to have taken part in a similar journey ten years earlier. Auron further reveals to Tidus that Yuna's father, Lord
Braska , Jecht and himself achieved with that journey the very goal that Yuna was currently seeking in her mission. "Hey man, there's no way. That's just impossible." / '''Auron:''' "Nothing impossible about it. Jecht, Braska, and I... Together we defeated Sin, ten years ago."
(''Final Fantasy X'') However, Sin returns every time it is destroyed, and Auron reveals — much to Tidus' horror and confusion — that Jecht himself has returned as Sin.'''Yuna:''' "Sin dies and is reborn." / "I get it! I thought it was weird. Yuna's dad defeated Sin ten years ago, right? But Sin's still here! Didn't make much sense till now."
(''Final Fantasy X'') "Is he alive?" / '''Auron:''' "It depends on what you mean by 'alive'. He is no longer human. But then... I felt something of Jecht there in that shell, couldn't you? You must have felt him when you came in contact with Sin." / "It can't be..." / '''Auron:''' "It is. Sin is Jecht."
(''Final Fantasy X'')
As the game progresses, Tidus learns more about Spira and the concept of the summoner's pilgrimage, but the answers to some of his questions — particularly why his father has become Sin, why Sin returns each time it is destroyed and why Zanarkand was supposedly destroyed 1,000 years in the past when Tidus remembered it being attacked only a short time before — allude him for some time. He also begins falling in love with Yuna — despite a warning from Lulu that he should not allow himself to "I shouldn't have to say this, but don't fall in love with her."
(''Final Fantasy X'') — and shifts more toward Yuna's way of thinking (that the sacrifice of oneself is worth the happiness that destroying Sin would bring to people). For her own part, Yuna begins to approach situations in a manner more similar to Tidus (questioning everything rather than accepting it at face value).'''Tidus:''' "Yuna, why does Sin always come back?" / '''Yuna:''' "Sin is our punishment for our vanity. And it will not go away until we've atoned." / '''Tidus:''' "How do we do that? What did we do that was so bad in the first place? Was it using lots of machina or something? Oh... Wait, was that such a bad thing, really?" / '''Yuna:''' "It's funny... Ever since I was young, I never questioned it. But now that you ask me if it is that bad or not...I don't know. There are so many things I don't know."
(''Final Fantasy X'') Tidus also begins relinquishing the hatred he long held for his father, and, in time, learns the answers to all of his questions, much to his dismay.
In truth, if one summons the , the spirit inside Sin, rises from the ruined remains of the creature and possesses the aeon which defeated Sin, slowly transforming it into a new Sin. "Even if you defeat Sin with the Final Summoning, Yu Yevon will live. Yu Yevon will join with the Final Aeon. He will transform it into a new Sin.... Then, protected by this new Sin he has created, Yu Yevon continues the summoning."
(''Final Fantasy X'') It was this fate which claimed Tidus' father, Jecht. Despite the maturity he gained along his journey and his willingness to sacrifice himself to aid Braska in bringing the Calm to Spira's people, he was rewarded only with the additional cost of being forced to bring chaos as the new incarnation of Sin.
As the party approaches Zanarkand, another disquieting fact is revealed: neither Tidus nor Jecht are actually ordinary human beings. They, and the Zanarkand they hail from, are dreams of the , a war which Zanarkand could not hope to win. As a result, Yevon, Zanarkand's leader, sought to preserve his city's memory, even if he could not save the original. "Long ago, there was a war.... A war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Bevelle's machina assured their victory from the start. Spira had never seen such power. The summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a chance. Zanarkand was doomed to oblivion. That's why we tried to save it – if only in a memory.... The remaining summoners and the townspeople that survived the war... They all became fayth – fayth for the summoning."
(''Final Fantasy X'')
Thus, he had his city's surviving people become fayth on nearby
Mt. Gagazet , and he then used their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in its image, far removed from the Spiran mainland and war. Additionally, he created Sin by drawing on millions of
Pyreflies and coalescing them around his body.
7 "Spira has lost its only hope. Destruction is inevitable. Yu Yevon's spiral of death will consume us all. I have no desire to watch Spira die...." / '''Rikku:''' "Wait, gramps! Who's Yu Yevon?" / "He who crafts the souls of the dead into unholy armor. An armor called Sin."
(''Final Fantasy X'') His intention was that Sin would serve to protect him and the fayth while he summoned Dream Zanarkand, and that it would also provide a means to destroy machina (machines) and prevent anyone on the mainland from discovering Dream Zanarkand. While Sin performed this function — and its instruction to attack any large settlements of people, in the further hopes that the populace of the mainland would be too pre-occupied with Sin to consider journeying far out to sea — as instructed, Yevon, for his part, would become known as "Yu Yevon" ("the Curse of Yevon") and lose his own humanity, becoming nothing more than a disembodied spirit that existed with only the desire to maintain Dream Zanarkand's existence.'''Fayth:''' "Tell me, what do you know about Yu Yevon?..." / '''Yuna:''' "Sin is his armor. It protects him." / '''Fayth:''' "Yu Yevon was once a summoner, long ago. He was peerless. Yet now he lives for one purpose: only to summon. He is neither good, nor evil. He is awake, yet he dreams."
(''Final Fantasy X'')
The fayth of the aeon form of Lady
Yunalesca ,
The Yevon Religion's figurehead: aside from the Final Summoning, there is no other known method of defeating Sin. "If I die, so does the Final Aeon. And with it, Spira's only hope." / '''Tidus:''' "Then we'll find Spira a new hope!" / "Fool. There is no other way."
(''Final Fantasy X'') Yuna, however, is unwilling to sacrifice any of her guardians, and refuses to accept the Final Summoning. "Yevon's teachings and the Final Summoning give the people of Spira hope. Without hope, they would drown in their sorrow. Now, choose. Who will be your fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?" / '''Yuna:''' "No one. I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira, and would have gladly died for them. But no more! The Final Summoning... is a false tradition that should be thrown away."
(''Final Fantasy X'')
Yunalesca becomes dismayed at Yuna's defiance of the rites of the summoner's pilgrimage and attempts to kill her and her guardians. A fierce battle ensues, Yunalesca is defeated and her spirit abandons the Zanarkand ruins. Without Yunalesca, the Final Aeon can never again be attained, leaving Yuna and her companions with only the option of truly finding an alternative method of vanquishing Sin, one that will not allow the creature to return.
To achieve this, they attempt a straightforward assault on Sin, cracking open its shell and invading the interior of its body. Eventually, they find Jecht and Tidus is reunited with his estranged father. Their reunion is cut short, however, for Jecht reveals that Tidus and his companions must fight and defeat him in order to bring an end to Sin and Yu Yevon. Once defeated, he urges Yuna to summon her remaining aeons and use them to weaken Yu Yevon, leaving him vulnerable for the first time in 1,000 years. After she does so, Tidus reveals to his companions — including the young woman he has fallen in love with — that once Yu Yevon falls, his own life will be forfeit. Confused but determined, the party engages Yu Yevon in a final battle and destroys him, ridding the world of Sin permanently, as well as allowing the fayth to depart and the summoning of Dream Zanarkand to end. Tidus himself then begins to vanish, and after offering Yuna a painful farewell, he dives off the airship Fahrenheit into the clouds below, where the awaiting spirits of Braska, Auron (also revealed to be an unsent) and Jecht welcome him to the
Farplane .
Tidus also figures prominently into the plot of ''
Final Fantasy X-2 '', though his appearances in the sequel are few. Also, because players have the option of renaming Tidus in ''Final Fantasy X'', he is exclusively referred to with pronouns ("he" and "him"), and Rikku calls him "you-know-who" in ''Final Fantasy X-2''. Two years after the events of ''Final Fantasy X'' end, Kimahri discovers a
Sphere displaying a young man who looks like Tidus trapped in a prison. This compels Yuna to join the
Gullwings , a sphere-hunting group, and travel around Spira in the hopes of finding more clues that Tidus may be alive.
The individual seen in the sphere is eventually revealed to be
Shuyin instead, but if certain conditions are met during play of ''Final Fantasy X-2'', the player will be rewarded with an extra scene that features Tidus being revived by the fayth in gratitude of Yuna saving the world a second time. He is then reunited with her and allowed to live out a natural lifespan.
- James Arnold Taylor, the English voice actor for Tidus, has mentioned that Tidus' maturity goes through stages of development during the story, and that his voice reflects this, i.e., the points of narration offered by Tidus sound mature, while those from when the game began had a higher pitch and sounded younger.
- Behind The Game — Interview with James Arnold Taylor, Tidus' English voice actor
