Tidus Aislinn

> "*Listen to my story. This... may be our last chance*"
> ― Tidus
>
>

**Tidus Aislinn** is a rising star blitzball player from Zanarkand. After the gargantuan monster known as Sin attacks his hometown, Tidus is transported to the world of Spira. Lost, confused, and seemingly out of place, Tidus meets a newly-fledged summoner named Yuna, and her guardians. Yuna is to set out on a pilgrimage in an attempt to put an end to Sin, and by joining Yuna on her pilgrimage, Tidus hopes he will find his way home.

## Profile

### Personality

Tidus is a youthful teen with an upbeat and carefree attitude who at first appears childish. He turns more serious when things get hectic, and despite his carefree ways, conceals a troubled past. Tidus is sensitive and even when giving an emotional response to most of his arguments, he tends to give a good rationale, for example, when he explains to Yuna about his views on the Yevon faith.

Having been picked on throughout his childhood by his blitzball-playing father motivated Tidus to become a blitzball player himself. To Tidus's dismay, he still resembles his father who tended to deny his position, take things easy, and never worry about the present situation leaving things for the morrow, a trait Tidus despised about him. Tidus's similarities with his father are pointed out by Auron who says Tidus is "the one running away". A lot of Tidus's personality is shaped by the comments he used to receive from his father, and how he grew up to resent him. Despite having been verbally offensive, at heart, Jecht was proud of his son and his resolve. As the story develops, Tidus must confront his childhood and his relationship with his father.

Living out his new life in Spira, Tidus matures and changes from a self-centered and outspoken athlete to a selfless hero. This theme is hinted in the flashbacks of when Jecht helped defeat Sin in his own pilgrimage, as well as in a conversation between Yuna and Tidus, where Yuna states defeating Sin and bringing happiness to Spira makes any price worthwhile and how at the journey's conclusion, Tidus has come around to her way of thinking.

### Appearance

Tidus has disheveled blond hair that is brown in his childhood flashbacks, and sometimes appears silverish. He wears the logo of his blitzball team as a silver pendant, and otherwise dresses in the usual blitzball player's uniform. The logo of Zanarkand Abes is printed on his right trouser-leg. Tidus puts his own flair on the regular blitzball player's outfit by having one shorter and one longer trouser-leg, similar to Jecht, who wore a sash on his right side over a pair of shorts. Tidus wears yellow and black shoes, a gauntlet on his left hand and a black glove on the other, a yellow jacket with a white hood and a blue pauldron and armor over his left arm. The dark dungaree-type outfit he wears over his other clothes is fastened with a black belt that has a metal chain.

## Powers and Weapons

Tidus is a classical Warrior character and uses basic swords and shields during battle. He can be considered part Time Mage because he can cast spells like Haste and Slow. His stats are normal for an all-rounder; he lags behind Auron in terms of Strength and Defense but makes up for it with high Agility, Evasion and Accuracy growth, allowing him to dispatch the speedier fiends. Tidus begins Final Fantasy X with no special commands, but will quickly learn Cheer, Flee, and Delay Attack.

Tidus's Overdrive is Swordplay. When Counter-attacking a fiend on the ground he performs a regular attack; when counter-attacking a fiend in the air, he lifts his sword high and swings to the right; when countering underwater Tidus simply reverse-swings his sword as if attacking a flying fiend, and performs a regular attack when attacking a faster fiend e.g. Maelspike

Weapons

Tidus can use swords and shields.

## History

Tidus, a citizen of Zanarkand, is about to play blitzball in the Jecht Memorial Cup - a tournament in honor of his lost father who mysteriously vanished ten years ago while on a blitzball training expedition out at sea. A successful blitzball player, people talked about how his skills were unequaled, which left pressure on Tidus to match, if not surpass, his father's skill.

During the tournament Zanarkand is attacked by Sin, an immense creature shrouded in water. The city is destroyed in its path but Tidus escapes before the blitzball stadium collapses. Tidus teams up with Auron, Jecht's old friend and Tidus's mentor, and together they fight their way to Sin. Auron drags Tidus into the monster's depths, claiming this is the beginning of his story.

Tidus awakens in the Baaj Temple area in the world of Spira where he runs into the eccentric salvager race, the Al Bhed. He befriends an Al Bhed girl named Rikku and tells her about his life in Zanarkand, as well as his career as the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. Rikku is reluctant to believe him, asking if he breathed in Sin's toxin, which is known to induce amnesia. After Tidus claims he is telling the truth, Rikku decides to take his word, but not before telling him a thousand years have passed since Zanarkand's destruction. Rikku tells Tidus that since Zanarkand is a holy place it would be wise not to tell any Yevonites about his life there. After being knocked off the ship by another Sin attack, Tidus awakens at the shores of Besaid Island.

## Relationships

### **Jecht**

Tidus never really had a good relationship with his father, Jecht put him down a lot and Tidus hated him for most of his life.

### **Gippal**

Gippal hated Tidus because of his close, somewhat flirtatious, relationship with Rikku, however Tidus never felt any animosity towards the other man - in fact, he believed himself and Gippal to be friends.

### **Baralai**

Again, Baralai held intense animosity towards Tidus, likely because of his relationship with Yuna, but also because their personalities were so different.

## Trivia

### Etymology

Tidus draws its name from the Okinawan word "tida" meaning "sun" which is meant to complement Yuna's name which means "moon" in the same language. His surname, Aislinn, also derives from the Irish meaning, vision, dream. This references his status as a Dream of the Fayth.

## Gallery

1/8