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| #6 - Jecht (Final Fantasy X) |
Y’know, in hindsight, if I could do this list all over again, I probably would include Delita on the list proper, because Jecht here is also a character I feel conflicted about calling a villain, but due to his place in the game thematically and physically, I figured he deserved a place on this list.
Again, this backstory is a long one. Jecht is the father of Tidus and a resident of Dream Zanarkand, an illusionary copy of a city destroyed almost a thousand years beforehand. He was an ace Blitzball player, a proud alcoholic, and when it came to parenting… eh, he’s trying, but he evidently never got the memo that once you’re a parent, it stops being about you. After accidentally winding up in Spira, he finds himself being roped into a pilgrimage to the ruins of the real Zanarkand, now considered a holy city, with Summoner Braska and his guardian, Auron, as he attempts to find a way back home. Over the course of the pilgrimage, he begins to change as a person, learns humility, and begins to care about something larger than himself.
The purpose of the pilgrimage was for Braska to obtain the power to summon the Final Aeon, a being capable of defeating the gigantic monster Sin. However, they discover that one of Braska’s guardians must become the Final Aeon. Jecht, having given up hope on ever making it back to “his” Zanarkand, agrees, if for no other reason than to do something meaningful with his life. However, it turns out that as the Final Aeon, after Sin is defeated, Yu Yevon, the being controlling Sin, took control of him and transformed him into the new Sin. Having been transformed into an engine of destruction and controlled by a mindless parasite whose only concern is self-preservation, Jecht, with what little control he has left, sets in motion to bring his son to Spira to kill both him and Yu Yevon, and put an end to the vicious cycle once and for all.
I noticed that in Final Fantasy, characters who appear primarily in flashback have a tendency to be the most interesting ones. Laguna from Final Fantasy VIII is a shining example, and Jecht is another. His transformation from a self-centered abusive parent into a truly selfless hero becomes utterly tragic when he is transformed into an actual monster, and once you discover his true nature, it’s surprisingly easy to feel the pain he’s going through.
His primary function in the narrative is as the source of Tidus’s insecurities. Everything about his personality traces back to the way Jecht raised him, and in a way, he could be seen as sort of a mirror image of his father, as if he grew up specifically to avoid being like him. Throughout the story Tidus has to struggle with being connected to Jecht by the few who know that connection, and unlike his love interest (and arguably the real protagonist) Yuna, who is proud to be the daughter of Braska, Tidus is desperately trying to live down his relationship to him. It’s kind of weird, Jecht is most effective as a foil to other characters rather than being a great character in his own right.
At first I was iffy on putting him on this list because he is technically being controlled by another being (same reason why Golbez didn’t make the list). However, as we clearly see at several points, both on his fixation with Tidus and the mechanics of the final boss, he has at least some free will left. His primary goal, as I said before, is to maneuver Tidus and his group to finally kill him. As such, it’s left ambiguous how much of his destructive actions are the result of Yu Yevon’s programming, and how much was intentional to achieve his goal. Is it a stretch? Maybe. But that interpretation is there if you look for it.
Topping it all off is an epic and brutal final battle scored to a heavy metal song of all things, and you’ve got a sympathetic antagonist whose actions have far-reaching consequences for all involved and leaves a huge impact.
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