So I was on GameFAQs.com the other day and found this wonderfully written summary of one of my favorite video game characters of all time, Vivi from Final Fantasy IX. I want to share that summary with you. It talks about the turning point in his story and how it changes him. Here it is...
“Performance has an odd history with the Final Fantasy series, often used as a literary device allowing for micro-narratives and backstory to be introduced naturally rather than through dry exposition. You have the opera from Final Fantasy VI, as well as the musical performance for Squall in Final Fantasy VIII, and the Pompa Sancta parade in Final Fantasy XIII. It's a device often used by Shakespeare with his "play within a play," so its only natural that the game most aligned with Shakespearian style not only include its own example of performance, but feature it prominently right in the opening with the Tantalous Troupe and a play written by "Lord Avon," no less (who may or may not be a summoner if you think about the implications behind the books at Madain Sari).
Final Fantasy IX is more or less a love letter to Shakespeare in a number of ways. In fact, I would argue the opening of Disk 3 and the hyjinx surrounding Eiko's love letter is no less than a Shakespearian comedy on fast-forward. On a broader level though, the influence of Shakespeare can be seen in the writing of the game for its use of imagery, metaphor, and established symbolism behind its characters from a jumping dragoon living in a land of constant rain falling from the sky to an angry brawler that overtly identifies with the color red. Sure we may have seen some level of symbolism applied to characters in the past; Final Fantasy III for example had its four main characters represent courage, kindness, affection, and determination. However, no other game in the series has come close to Final Fantasy IX when it comes to developing characters with full arcs that each end up contributing to a holistic message beyond the events of the game at hand; an act the Bard readily achieves in his best of works. When the curtain draws, we can understand Final Fantasy IX at its core is a game about life. In other words; to be, or not to be.
Now I include this (regrettably long) premise that Final Fantasy IX is about life to also relay that no other character in the game so fully embodies the theme of life quite like Vivi, down to the meaning behind his very name. Zidane may be the story's protagonist, however it's Vivi's journey that most closely relates to the core events of the game and its ultimate resolution. Not only that, but while achieving this, Vivi is also able to relate and build on the core conflicts of each of the other main characters, for those are his conflicts as well. Zidane and origin. Steiner and purpose. Eiko and isolation. Dagger and resolve. Quina and experience. Freya and unrequited love. Amarant and the utility of power. These can all be observed through Vivi as well at varying points in the game. Most importantly you have Kuja and mortality, although the two certainly went in opposite directions on that one.
Vivi begins his journey as a blank slate and typical outsider to the degree that his goal is simply to learn "who" he is, although revelation after revelation will soon change the wording of that question to a "what." It's easy to start ignoring Vivi's anomalous status and inexperience, although the game does tend to find poignant ways to remind you; encountering Puck in Cleyra for instance has other characters acknowledging the prince while Vivi simply refers to him as "the first friend he ever had" (to which players get to think "oh man, I even saw that happen"). We learn that he is a powerful mage, and that there are others like him in service to the Queen which would place him in opposition to his brethren. We learn that Black Mages are manufactured (the going theory is that Vivi is a prototype), and that they can exhibit signs of sentience and self-thought as evidenced by a Black Waltz encounter where Mages begin to crowd around Vivi for protection. These thoughts are later confirmed upon discovering a hidden village where Black Mages formerly in service to the Queen have abandoned their warring objectives to live in peace.
BUT THEN: Vivi discovers the Black Mage graveyard and learns his kind has a life expectancy.
Vivi just learned he's going to die. That's a big revelation that hits us all at some point in life, and often goes unacknowledged in other stories as an inevitability to (hopefully) occur long after the curtain closes, conveniently sweeping a morbid truth under the rug. For a more direct comparison, Kuja learned about his own mortality later in the game, and his reaction was to wipe out all existence, so that's one option. Vivi takes the news a little better, although he still needs some time to himself for a bit of reflection. When leaving the Black Mage Village, Zidane mentions to Dagger that he expects Vivi will wish to stay behind to be with his own kind, but then Vivi surprises them both by continuing on their journey like a trooper. Death may be an outcome, but it's not an objective. Following the graveyard, Vivi has accepted that the purpose of life is not to die; but rather, to live, and he's not done living yet! Probably the greatest (yet deceptively subtle) insight we have into Vivi's ongoing attitude in the back half of the game occurs at the start of Disk 3 where Vivi runs into Blank, and in response to a simple "How'ya been?" he sums up an undoubtedly emotionally-draining journey as "Well a lot of things have happened, but I'm doing fine."
It's at this point where I lament that there is not a larger and thereby more huggable Vivi plush toy available in the Square-Enix store.
Vivi does in fact die before the final curtain closes, but not before showing that he, and the rest of the party for that matter haven't given up on life (that's why Necron shows up out of nowhere at the end, for the record). His parting words are read while we witness the characters reuniting along with his "children" for a final rendition of "I Want to be Your Canary," closing with the same performance delivered during the introduction. Final Fantasy IX ends as it begins, although not without creating a host of memories for the player, memories that (should the game be believed), will one day live on in the sky.”
For the rest of the Top 10 list that this is from please check it out here
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
lidryem:
Love 💜
rambo:
I'm inclined to agree with you, sir!