Tidus

Tidus is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy X. He is a teenager who is an expert blitzball player from the city of Zanarkand, and is the son of Jecht. In the game, Tidus's adventure begins when he gets transported to the world of Spira, following an attack by the creature Sin. Tidus arrives on Besaid Island, where he meets a few friends, including a young woman named Yuna, and joins them in a pilgrimage to kill Sin.
Tidus also appears in the game's sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, where he has a major role in the story but makes a few appearances. Tidus also makes a few minor appearances in the Kingdom Hearts series as a child. He is a playable fighter in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series.
== History ==
=== Final Fantasy series ===
==== Final Fantasy X ====
In Final Fantasy X, Tidus is first shown in an opening cutscene that shows the party 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...this may be our last chance." From there, he narrates the events of much of the game up to the point of the characters around the campfire, revealing his thoughts on certain aspects of his journey, often from his current mindset.
Tidus recounts how events have led to the present. It begins with him preparing to play blitzball in the Jecht Memorial Cup — a tournament in honor of his lost father, Jecht, who was an expert blitzball player. Ten years prior to the events of the game, Jecht mysteriously disappeared while on a blitzball training expedition out at sea. 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.
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 named 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 Al Bhed, an eccentric salvager race, who initially mistake him to be a fiend in human form. Tidus learns from a young Al Bhed girl named Rikku that 1,000 years have passed since Zanarkand was destroy. After another attack by Sin — whom Rikku says has been a plague on humanity ever since Zanarkand fell – Tidus arrives at Besaid Island. Here, Tidus meets Yuna – a summoner who plans to embark on a pilgrimage to bring about the destruction of Sin – and her accompanying 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 Rikku also joins the party as a guardian.
Throughout the game, Tidus slowly matures, changing from a somewhat naive, cocky 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 (he initially joins to get out of jail and get home, then realizes that he will never get home and devotes himself to destroying Sin regardless of the cost). 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. However, Sin returns every time it is destroyed, and Auron reveals – much to Tidus' horror and confusion – that Jecht himself has returned as Sin, and warns Tidus not to tell anyone, especially Yuna.
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 – elude him for some time.
As the party approaches Zanarkand, another disquieting fact is revealed: Tidus is not actually an ordinary human being. He, and the Zanarkand he hails from, are dreams of the fayth, the same as the aeons. Their city, Dream Zanarkand, was created 1,000 years earlier at the same time as when the original Zanarkand was destroyed, when Sin was created in the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle.
The fayth of the aeon Bahamut reveals to Tidus that they would like him to find a means to permanently defeat Sin, so that they can all finally rest. However, the fayth also reveals to him that if Sin is permanently defeated, the summoning of Dream Zanarkand and its people (including Tidus) will cease.
Tidus reaches Zanarkand Ruins with Yuna and her other guardians, and on the outskirts of the ruins, tells the group his story – this is the source of his narration. Inside Zanarkand, they learn from Lady Yunalesca that Yuna must choose one of her guardians to become her fayth for the Final Summoning. Tidus argues with Lulu and Wakka (who volunteer to be the fayth) that they must find another way to destroy Sin forever, and they see his ideals as impractical. Yuna, however, refuses to undergo the rite of the Final Aeon after learning that it can never defeat Sin, and the party fights and defeats Yunalesca. Without Yunalesca, the Final Aeon can never again be summoned, 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 attack Sin directly and enter its shell. Eventually, they find Jecht and Tidus is reunited with his estranged father, who transforms into his Final Aeon form and is defeated by the party. After Yuna summons her Aeons to weaken Yu Yevon — who possesses each Final Aeon and re-creates Sin — Tidus tells his friends he will be leaving after they defeat Sin but doesn't say why – much to their confusion. 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. As a result of this, Aeons can no longer be summoned – all Yuna's aeons were defeated before Yu Yevon, and were sent after the last battle. Tidus himself says goodbye on top of their airship – having previously warned his shocked companions that he will disappear after their victory – and starts to walk away knowing that he will soon vanish. Yuna runs after him and, much to her shock and the shock of her companions, runs straight through him as his existence is starting to unravel. Yuna tells him that she loves him (in the Japanese version of the game, she says "Thank you" instead, basically thanking Tidus for protecting, supporting, and loving her), his only answer is to place his non-corporeal arms around her to show her that he cares. Tidus then dives off the airship Fahrenheit into the clouds below, reuniting with the spirits of Auron, Jecht, and Braska in the Farplane. He gives a "high-five" to his father, signifying that he has forgiven him.
After the credits of the game have completed, a short cutscene will show Tidus waking up underwater and swimming towards the surface.
====Final Fantasy X-2====
In Final Fantasy X-2, Tidus figures prominently into the plot, although he makes few appearances. Because players have the option of renaming Tidus in Final Fantasy X, he is exclusively referred to with pronouns ("he" and "him") just like in the previous game. Tidus is also unlockable character who can play blitzball, but under the name of "Star Player."
Two years after Final Fantasy Xs events, Yuna sees a sphere displaying a young man resembling Tidus trapped in a prison. This compels her 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 another man named Shuyin instead. Depending on the player's development during the game, the fayth will appear to Yuna in the game's ending, telling her they can make Tidus return to her. Tidus then appears in Spira and is reunited with Yuna. If the player can manage to complete the game with 100% completion rate, there is another final scene with Tidus and Yuna, in which the former reveals the nature of his return, stating that although he is unsure whether he is still a dream or not, he wishes to stay with her.
In Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission an illusion of Tidus appears as a boss character, and after the game's playthrough, he is mentioned to be living in Besaid alongside Yuna.
===Kingdom Hearts series===
====Kingdom Hearts====
In Kingdom Hearts, Tidus is a friend of Sora, Riku, and Kairi, and is a resident of the Destiny Islands, spending most of his time with Wakka and Selphie. His character model is also used for a regular non-playable character in Traverse Town
In Sora's Dive to the Heart, Tidus appears in the Destiny Islands area along with Wakka and Selphie. If talked to, Tidus asks Sora, "What are you so afraid of?" From a menu, the player can have Sora respond by saying either "getting old," "being different," or "being indecisive."
Later, if Sora talks to Tidus, he offers to duel him. If Sora declines the offer, one of Tidus's possible remarks is that he and Wakka are working on a ball game, a vague reference to Blitzball. If Sora wins against Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie in their respective duels, he can duel all three of them at once.
If Sora loses a practice battle with Tidus on the second day in the Destiny Islands, Tidus performs his victory pose from Final Fantasy X, which is throwing his sword upward and then catching it before swinging it to his side.
Tidus reappears on the island once Sora defeats Ansem and the worlds are restored.
====Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories====
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Tidus appears with Wakka and Selphie in both Sora's and Riku's stories as part of the memory-based Destiny Islands in Castle Oblivion. Some time after Sora goes to sleep, the real Tidus is seen playing with Wakka and Selphie on a beach while Kairi is facing the Small Island.
====Kingdom Hearts II====
In Kingdom Hearts II, Tidus does not physically appear, and is only briefly mentioned once by Selphie, who says that Tidus and Wakka are too busy with their "ball game" (another reference to Blitzball) to go to Destiny Islands with her.
====Kingdom Hearts coded / Kingdom Hearts Re:coded====
In Kingdom Hearts coded, Tidus makes a third appearance, this time as a data version of himself, alongside Wakka and Selphie. He appears in the data version of Destiny Islands, collected from memory of before it was destroyed by the Heartless. He was searching for the reason behind the blocks all over the island. Tidus saw the Black Coated man right near the waterfall, but does not tell Sora of the man's whereabouts until being defeated by Data-Sora.
In Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, an illusion of Tidus appears in Castle Oblivion where he states he had a dream that he was teleported into another dimension. This is a reference to Final Fantasy X when Tidus is taken into Spira.
===Dissidia Final Fantasy series===
====Dissidia Final Fantasy====
In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Tidus is featured as the hero from Final Fantasy X along with his father, Jecht, who is his respective villain. To match the game's overall character designs, Tetsuya Nomura designed Tidus to look younger than his Final Fantasy X appearance Gifford, Kevin (June 18, 2008). "New Final Fantasy: Dissidia Details". 1UP.com. Retrieved February 10, 2022. but still older than in the Kingdom Hearts games.
Like in Final Fantasy X, Tidus hates his father, Jecht, causing to separate from his comrades in order to face him personally. In the outcome, he manages to reconcile with Jecht and gains a crystal he and the other characters were asked to obtain. Various of Tidus's traits, such as his thoughts and actions, are retained from Final Fantasy X.
====Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy====
Along the entire cast, Tidus reappears in the prequel Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, representing Chaos in the previous war. When confronted by Yuna, Tidus sacrifices his life to save her from an attack from Emperor. However, he is saved by Jecht to later become a Warrior of Cosmos.
==Trivia==
*Tidus' dialogues, monologues and character songs were also included in the CDs Final Fantasy X Vocal Collection and feel/Go dream: Yuna & Tidus.
==References==
Category:Playable characters
Category:Final Fantasy X characters