Legendary guardian? I was just a boy. A boy about your age, actually. I wanted to change the world, too. But I changed nothing. That is my story.
Final Fantasy X is an interesting game. Often considered the last great Final Fantasy Square made (notice I said often, not always, so calm down, XII-lovers, X-haters, and otherwise) it set out to tell a riveting story with very specific themes and motifs, in a much more cinematic way than we had ever seen before. Relationships were a big part of the game's story.
If you call to mind the word "relationship" when thinking about Final Fantasy X, you would probably call to mind a number of characters.
Tidus and his blossoming love with Yuna.
Tidus and his tumultuous father issues with Jecht.
Wakka and his prejudice against Al-Bhed in general, and overcoming the loss of his brother Chappu.
Yuna and Rikku, cousins from different worlds.
But one you might not call to mind immediately is Tidus and Auron, or at least not in the way I'm thinking. For most of the game, these two have a very clear mentor/student relationship, with Auron acting as the world-wizened soul who teaches Tidus what he needs to know and guides him in the right direction.
But when I think of these two, I like to start at the beginning. We see a younger Auron accompanying Braska and Jecht during several flashbacks in the game.
Before I get into how young Auron relates to Tidus, we should look at how this trio's dynamic worked. There was Braska, the calm, wise, and responsible centerpiece of their journey. There was Auron, his steadfast friend and guardian with a strong sense of justice. Then there was Jecht, the headstrong and arrogant sidekick who gradually matured and became someone much better than he was. Braska kept them in line, Jecht had a can-do attitude, and Auron put doing the right thing above all else.
When you look at these three, they are obvious predecessors to the party you control in the main game. Braska is very much a proto-Yuna. So that would make Jecht a proto-Tidus, and Auron basically a proto-Auron, as he's still there... right?
I don't think so. Other than being an outcast, if you look at the group's behavior and how they interact with each other, the young Auron is much more like Tidus than Jecht.
He places Braska's safety above all else. He wants to see Sin defeated. He's hot-tempered and easy to provoke when things don't go as planned or when they don't go the way he thinks they should. He even thinks of Jecht in a similar way to Tidus - a worthless drunken blowhard. This is all very, very similar to how Tidus wants to protect Yuna, how he blows a gasket when things go south, how he thinks lowly of Jecht, and how he can't accept the bleak reality of Spira.
Young Auron ends up discovering the truth of Sin and its endless reincarnations, ends up discovering the truth of the sacrifice necessary to temporarily defeat him, ends up discovering the truth of the Yevon religion and Yevon and Yunalesca's lies. He protests, unable to accept it, unable to reconcile his sense of righteousness and justice with these truths. He takes up arms against Yunalesca because of this, and dies. Jecht sacrifices himself to become Braska's final Aeon, and all of Auron's protests are for naught. Braska dies, Jecht becomes the new incarnation of Sin. Auron is forced to live with this as an unsent, becoming reclusive, brooding, barely speaking unless he has to and dropping his headstrong nature for a somber and reserved one.
Auron is who Tidus would have become had he failed in his journey.
And when we watch the older Auron guide Tidus throughout his own journey, we can see how he's placed all of his youthful idealism in him. How he realizes that his time is up, he failed. But Tidus still has a chance, so he puts everything he has into guiding him towards his old goals, even if it means cheating death for over a decade. This is doubly effective because it brings the redemption of Jecht full circle. Auron initially distrusted Jecht and considered him worthless, but grew to see him as a close friend and a comrade. Then, in the end, he places all of his hopes in his son.
And when Tidus does eventually defeat Sin, Auron can finally feel like he's righted all the wrongs he failed to do while he was alive, and also completes Jecht's redemption story.
Auron is as much a father to Tidus as Jecht was, or at least a really, really cool uncle.
It's a relationship you can't fully understand the depths of until a replay, once you know everything about Spira and Auron's past.
It's as beautiful as any romance or fatherly redemption, and an underlooked part of the game, I think.
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