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tidus still aged in the void sleep — personally to me, the pilgrimage took just under a year, given the size of spira and sin’s overall presence. a pilgrimage, in general, is a lengthy journey so it wouldn’t surprise me if it took them longer but it makes sense for it to be a 6-12 month trip. in this period of time though tidus experienced his “birthday” so to speak. granted his birthday was as real as the dreamt zanarkand but to him it was real. his birthday was a very real thing to him too, even if it wasn’t celebrated much by his parents — his dad being more inclined to gift him jecht-shot merch or blitzballs for practice. still, when it came round to his birthday in spira he never said anything. he kept it quiet, a private wish of “happy birthday, me” being uttered as they trekked up mt. gagazet — he turned eighteen and that was that.

it’s also worth noting events of mobius will become canon here. tidus’ sleep evoked a dream for him, that dream being palamecia and his encounters with the warrior of light and echo. it’s no wonder that valefor appeared to him either, trying to give him hope. his fayth-sister held unshakeable bonds to yuna, her summoner & to her brother in the dream. she gave him the hope to reunite and brother yojimbo gave him the courage. unlike the canonical event, tidus fully remembers it too. he remembers echo, wol & meeting valefor in the dream of palamecia. he remembers her words to wake him up, the crystal shining bright and his return.

he still aged during this time, emerging as a nineteen — going on twenty year old warrior with a new sense of maturity.

lastly, this is a tiny hc dump post i guess — shuyin is a direct ancestor of tidus. shuyin and lenne were unfortunate souls bound by a red string, forced to reunite in every lifetime one way or another. a warrior and a mage, in love for eons. tidus was drawn to yuna through genuine, thoughtful love and admiration, and also by fate. he was destined to find her, a memory of lenne given life. this cycle would have continued, had shuyin’s own pyreflies not been so full of his hate — it was halted when yuna put his shadow to rest, giving him the reunion he deserved with his lost love. tidus and yuna are the last of this fateful binding, their own union set to create tales of love and poems of eternal adoration for generations.

it’s worth knowing too that shuyin was not the start of this red string, it had been in place before him with his own ancestors. he was just one of many in their lineage to be struck by fate.

tldr tidus is neither immutable nor age locked.

i will write him in ffx based verses where he is 17-18, 18-19 in his palamecia dream and 19-20 in x-2. i will age him as time goes by in his verse storylines. he is not an ash ketchum character, he is aging and growing much like yuna, lulu, wakka and so on.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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SHUYIN IS AN ANCESTOR OF TIDUS’ MOTHER; who for the sake of personal blog canon we will call lynessa — as previously stated on this blog,  shuyin and lenne were just one of many couples bound by the strings of fate.  a couple drawn together from the start of their lives till the end.  lynessa was part of this same binding,  drawn to jecht and swore to be with him until she passed.  tidus was drawn to yuna,  his own “current - day” lenne.

the visual similarities,  according to developers was just a coincidence and model-reuse but we don’t accept that here, no no.  genetics are strong with lynessa’s side of the family,  blond hair more common in the boys than it is with the girls - seen clearly with lynessa  &  the fact her hair is more aligned to the darker shades of blonde.

tidus is a direct descendant of shuyin,  thus the easy convincing that hey,  imprisoned man must be him and of course,  gives more clarity into yuna’s complete belief that its him  &  he’s in love with this lenne woman  ( who is actually like a thousand times grandmother to him ) – and its why yuna felt him so strongly,  even as a cluster of angered pyreflies presenting a shadow-self version of him.  he was drawn to someone who held a connection to his bloodline.  a connection to someone who looked like his lost-love.

the  strings of fate  do not end with tidus and yuna explicitly,  there is no doubt that their own children if they have any  will also become enamoured with someone who exhibits traits of either person.  any daughters will fall for a man who exhibits heroism ( yes,  jecht had acts of heroism amidst his fuelled ego )  and devotion  ( he was devoted to his wife,  he just struggled to show it which is not a prerequisite. )  the sons will fall for a selfless woman,  who gives herself to everyone and everything,  sacrificing herself for the sake of the world and asking nothing in return.  difference being,  as they are alive now in the blossoming spira of modernity their story can be preserved.  they will become myths told to hopeful children who dream of their one &  will become poetry recited by lovelorn bards — their story retold through every media of the boy who came from a dream  &  the summoner-in-training.  if they were able to,  this would have been the same for shuyin and lenne - albeit more sorrowful as he died without hearing lenne’s final utterance of love.

THE STRINGS OF FATE would never end with shuyin.  he was reunited with lenne,  giving him the closure he needed  &  putting him to rest,  but it is just one of the many mysterious workings of the world.  they are bound. always.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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what are you the god of?

patron of promises

they call you naive: of all the things to be the patron of, you have tackled the most mercurial of things. promises can easily be reduced to empty words, the precursor to brokenness, and truly, you have seen so many end in such a way. but you have also seen promises be kept, whether expected to or not. in a way, the gamble of it all charms you the most. think of professions and vows screamed in guttural voices, of saying sweet things laced with uncertainty, of beautiful edifices built on unstable land, completely at the mercy of the quaking, crumbling earth. you are the god of the hopeful, of those struggling to find the good in their blackening hearts.

the god of uncertain things, of saccharine words said with pure conviction. a refuge for defiant souls, shelter for those who make poor choices but have good intentions. god of oaths both broken and kept, god of sleeping early so that the new day can sooner begin, god of wonder. you string together the words filled with assurance and rain down belief, on both the promiser and the promised. the bringer of hope, however frayed and frail it may be.

#( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( dash game. ) a little laughter for the pilgrimage. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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anyways tidus is so hopelessly in love when it happens that his brain goes empty and he just imagines happy scenarios they can be in together. he has this dumb habit of daydreaming on the pilgrimage, picturing himself and yuna going through his zanarkand and what they’d be doing. like tidus introducing her to his surrogate/found family ( who are actually fayths, mostly fayths she’s prayed to as well! :c ) or teaching her blitzball techniques and getting her backstage passes, introducing her to his fellow abes and going on midnight walks. he fantasises so much on their future, he sometimes forgets it won’t happen.

#( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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also,  uh,  you’re not gonna see any hate towards either of tidus’ parents here.  there is an acknowledgement that their parenting skills weren’t the best,  and that neither of them knew what they were doing but i’m not gonna demonise their actions,  or vilify them.  tidus’ arrival was thrust upon them without preparation  &  there was still some maturing needed between them.  they were young and foolish.  tidus,  for all his emotions and thoughts on jecht,  does love his dad.

he doesn’t know how to express it or say it,  but the first step for tidus is forgiveness and forgiving his father for not knowing any better.  second is that tidus understands  that jecht didn’t know how to be a parent.  he did what he could,  it wasn’t great but he was trying to teach his son in the only manner and method he knew how.

there is always this … tug,  at his heart,  that they couldn’t have repaired their relationship.  that there wasn’t any way to make amends.  dissidia based content will give tidus the opportunity,  and there is a little hope in me that i can write that,  but overall …

tidus loves his dad.  deep down. he loves his mum too.  they just … got it wrong.  that’s all.

#( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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planned headcanons include:

sacrificed lamb ,  the boy who would be aeon  —  tidus is the aeon leviathan ,  mighty serpent drowned in the depths of the spiran seas.  /  he was supposed to have his own fayth to be prayed at,  but alas.  he does not,  and so he becomes the one to FREE THEM.

tidus’ connections to bahamut,  the boy who became the draconic aeon.  why he sees him  more than anyone,  and why his words are most important.  (  its more than just bahamut being the king of summons or w/e in other games )

tidus’ bonds in the dream zanarkand,  including the other aeons and why — though he won’t say it,  seeing them again at the fayths made him feel sick and confused,  until he learns of what he is.

as leviathan,  tidus being subconciously attached to yuna.  her pain is his.  her loss of the aeons is his.  they hurt,  she hurts,  he hurts.

#( archives. ) one day he will return. #( out. ) & the sun beckons. #the importance of fayths & aeons to tidus : yes please.

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the world put pressure on your shoulders every second and i could see you break — all it took was for my hand to reach you and i could see the relief in your eyes.

#◜♡◞ 𝑮𝑬𝑵𝑬𝑹𝑨𝑳 𝑫𝒀𝑵: 𝑻𝑰𝑫𝑼𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝒀𝑼𝑵𝑨 / beloved dawn and dusk ˏ hearts ache and beat as one. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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ur gonna see a lot of ooc and metas for a while and i’m sorry.

reviewing the scenes at home once again, because i was just showing daisy some artwork of valefor and tidus—it really kind of hits me how wakka, after saying the al bhed were done for  softens a bit.  his racism was hugely prevalent beforehand, but he’s started looking at rikku as a kid sister or something, rather than another al bhed. the fact that rikku turns to him, of all people for comfort and rests against him; broken and tired of the fighting—and he responds with, “damn those guado! what were they thinking?” and, despite me not being a huge fan of him as a character overall … he has his turnaround moment. the moment where he recognises his misjudgements, that rikku was right.  they weren’t always like this.  and while what they were doing to protect the summoners wasn’t the right way to handle it, they did it because they needed to, or felt like they did. and though his own familial losses were different with regards to chappu; i think he realises then that this was brought on because of yuna.. rikku wanted to keep them safe.

i mean, he calls them out on it. “you kidnapped them.” & then “i get why you did it …”  and then of course,  oblivious tidus unaware of the why.  but wakka does begin to change his opinion and look at the al bhed as actual people, his religion is still important to him,  which is painfully valid because at the end of the day,  some of us have our religions to keep us grounded, to give us hope—believing in your faith isn’t bad, wakka is passionate about yevon because it’s all he’s known and its what gave him comfort when chappu died. 

god this whole .. thing in home just hurts. its there he learns for the first time that they’ll die. its there wakka begins to open himself up. its there he sees the summoners isaaru & dona, two people who walk in yevon’s path as idols essentially, giving the al bhed sendings even though they may not follow yevon’s teachings. they put aside differences to give them all peace. everyone has this moment of  we’re all fucked up.  i guess.

and rikku’s emotional break over yuna’s potential death… it tears me up inside. dona and isaaru summoning their aeons,  symbolic  as they’re the first two yuna acquires. tidus running straight ahead into their version of valefor ( i like to assume dona summoned her, and isaaru summoned his ifrit )  because that was the first aeon he “met” — that being a blog-based thing okay — the first aeon he saw, so he associates valefor to yuna. valefor and yuna are so intrinsically connected, they are  bound  so that’s what he knows… he runs to valefor, lashing out though he doesn’t mean to, breaking down and beginning his process of grief. before yuna’s already died he is  MOURNING  because of all the promises he made to her, those promises he’d inevitably break because she won’t make it. 

you know what stands out to me too?  valefor.  this isn’t yuna’s valefor, but she still knows and feels it, she still sees his pain and though its so tiny… valefor’s little nod, the way her head dips as he cracks.  god help me i’m emotional.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #i remembered my hc and i cried a bit. #tidus is wholly attached to valefor as a person and as an aeon #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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i’m going to break canon with my post regarding tidus is an aeon but i don’t care. i hate how he’s just “a citizen of dream zanarkand” because they’re saying tidus is, and never was, his own person. i already broke this by specifying that SHUYIN IS TIDUS’ ANCESTOR. and i will continue to break this by reinforcing my own headcanon that tidus was a drowned fayth. i’m working on it right now so if i vanish from convos … that’s why hehehe.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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                                        TIDUS IS LEVIATHAN.

he is no dream, not the kind that was expected.  he has no fayth to call his own.  not anymore.  that sits far below the depths of zanarkand’s ruins, resting in the sands of the deep sea.  his image forever burned into the circular shrine, serpents tail erecting from his tailbone.  he lives in the dream forged from memories of those sacrificed to yu yevon,  with the other fayth who await their summoner.  but he never gets one.  he never gets to form a covenant with someone who seeks his aid, so he wanders, he waits.

when, exactly, did this boy become a fayth?  many would ask, but he can’t quite remember.  he knows his ancestor wanted to do sacrifice himself for his own summoner, albeit out of love … and not an aeon’s existence.  the aftermath of the war, their bloodline carrying down decades.  it was sometime during the rise of a new high summoner.  their name was █████ and they were his hope,  he was a fresh - faced seventeen year old boy.  swore himself to protect them and lay down his life.  on the shores of what remained of zanarkand, the ruins that held his ancestral home — they enacted the yevonite rites with their blessing  &  he gave his life.  he, who belonged to the sea, became everything he was destined to become.  his summoner took him onward to yunalesca, they turned a guardian into a martyr, a final aeon blessed.

and so, he sat.  in this dream that was made of the remnants of zanarkand.  the civilians dreaming on.  his summoner’s death meant his temporary dream ended  &  the calm of five years arrived.  his life in dream zanarkand came to fruition in the strangest of ways.  a father he never realised he had.  soon his memories of the world before faded into nothing.  all he knew was this man, jecht.  he was his father, right?  someone must’ve been dreaming of him, for his existence to persist in zanarkand.  but he wasn’t there forever.

neither of them knew the truth.  jecht didn’t know his son was leviathan,  tidus didn’t know that this was just someone latching onto a past that was lost.  their bond was tumultuous,  some truth laid between the blurry lines of their lives together.  they were a real father and son pair.  once upon a time.  tidus’ sacrifice was done partially out of determination, to prove to jecht that he was worth something.  that he could do it.  he could be strong.

he still doesn’t know how jecht came to be in the dream.  he doesn’t know if he became a fayth, or if someone was dreaming him up.  they never really tried to figure it out.  all he knows is, that’s his dad … and he’s stuck with him.

jecht touching sin in the dream was unusual, it was very rare for sin to manifest in the dream, but that is the pain of the fayths. they manifested him into the dream again.  they called on yu yevon, be it to beg him to release them from their shackles—or to try and defy him, none knows.  jecht swam the waters of dream zanarkand to train his “blitzball” skills and then … he vanished.  he became real.

tidus’ own manifestation into spira came from jecht’s sin unknowingly coming into close contact with his fayth, thus he grazed the shrine of his son beneath the seas and remembered.  he had a boy.  a boy he loved but couldn’t express it.  not the way he wanted to.  auron’s temporary appearance to throw tidus into sin was intentional.  he heard jecht’s wailings as sin, knew that he yearned to bring his son to spira.  to have him put his soul to rest.  tidus hadn’t touched sin, however.  so he is still a walking dream, a fayth wandering and seeking out a summoner.

and a summoner he found.  he could not give to her his aeon,  he had forgotten he even was one.  but he was drawn to her like he was his first.  not only was it the fervent strings bringing them together, but the need for an aeon to find someone to call them forth for war.  the other aeons knew.  they knew he was a boy, human-looking, but a serpent within.  had he given himself as the final aeon, then leviathan would break free in its darkest figure.  his form gigantic, writhing sea-snake summoning every tide  &  calling on the waves.  tormented and ruined by the poisoning of yu yevon in his soul.

unknowingly, tidus’ attachments to yuna formed an unconscious covenant.  not one to call leviathan to the fray, but every time he felt pain, so did she.  yuna’s attachments to her aeons meant  feeling their pain  and the two never quite recognise that  she felt his aches.  felt his heart break every time they spoke of jecht, when the realisations hit. this is something i’ll touch upon on @starfayth in regards to yuna feeling the aeons emotions.  but she felt all of his.  which is why the macalania woods scene held more passion for them, because yuna felt her own love and adoration … and a heightened sense of his.  their emotional bond became so fierce that it was hard for them to differentiate sometimes.

and when he faded.  the dreaming aeon put to rest at last …  she felt that final ache.  that final crack in his heart, a dagger through the chest.  he felt her sadness  &  she felt every ounce of his grief.  if only he touched sin.

if only he could make himself an aeon-dream made real.

while this is a headcanon to align with my portrayal of yuna, i am more than happy for other yuna writers (as well as aurons, jechts, aeons) to incorporate this into threads with my tidus. as for the nameless summoner, they are left info-less to allow plot potential with other characters / crossovers.  your muse wants to be tidus’ first summoner?  let’s fucking go.  ♡

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( hc. ) he risen from seas ; leviathan claim your land. #does this make sense? doubt it. but i devote myself to building my own canon daily bc the games give us so little. #or they give us a mishmash mess of canon ... ie. will and ein no daisho. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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ffvii affection mechanics are cute and all but this:

Affection mechanics is a hidden gameplay element that governs certain cutscenes. Tidus’s actions with other party members can decide who talks to Tidus in cutscenes and who throws the blitzball during Tidus’s Overdrive Blitz Ace. How each character is chosen is based upon a hidden “affection” value in the game’s code. All of the main characters (except Tidus) have an affection value. At the beginning of the game, all characters’ affection values start at zero, but can be increased whenever Tidus heals a party member, whenever Tidus intercepts an enemy attack intended for another party member using either Guard or Sentinel, and whenever the player speaks first to a party member during times where everyone is spread out across the area. Whenever Tidus attacks another party member, their affection value decreases.

this is cute as hell.  whoever tidus protects, heals and shields the most … becomes his blitzball thrower.  heck.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #THIS IS CUTE WTF. #i've played ffx a lot over the years since it released. #and i still didnt know this. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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Redraw of an old piece I did back in 2005, my interpretation of Tidus as a fayth had Yuna gone through with the Final Summoning. ^^ I actually started drawing this redraw back in 2011 but never finished it and found it the other day in my files. So… I finished it.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( verse. ) o` mighty leviathan! #( sun. ) & it is he. might of the tides. #the og art piece is what inspired my leviathan approach and seeing the redraw. djcsbdhb. #although its not final summoning au. its Tidus is Actually A Fayth AU. refer to prior HC. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( verse. ) o` mighty leviathan! #( tide. ) 'lo he rises from the depths. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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kotaro lives alone is such a good show but it emotionally hurts me  &  now has me thinking about how tidus fended for himself a lot growing up, because his mom just wasn’t emotionally or physically there for him much  &  jecht was, y’know … off being jecht. tidus definitely relied on the neighbours  &  anyone he could find to make his meals and help him bathe.  ;w;

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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I give you my word. I’ll take care of your son. I’ll guard him with my life. [x]

#◜☼◞ 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑨𝑳 𝑫𝒀𝑵: 𝑨𝑼𝑹𝑶𝑵 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑰𝑫𝑼�� / you who witnessed growth ˏ encouraging the sun to rise at dawn. #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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i see that ask reply and i think jecht never knew his son gave his life. jecht never got to know that his boy, his son willingly gave up his life to become a fayth, an aeon for a summoner back in zanarkand. that he just said “i need to save everyone, i need to save them.” and let himself become leviathan.

jecht never got to know the sacrifices he made, and the impact he’s had. 

and for them to now potentially have that moment, that reconciliation. oh boy. tidus gets to tell his dad with pride, once he remembers, that he did something great. no i didn’t throw my life away, i gave it all so that we could stop sin. but that passion. that grief. tied deep into the depths that he may still walk. wandering. pining. aching. that he may be the one to put the aeons to rest, let the fayths sleep. that his presence in the world before was so strong, so great, that even in a dream he exists.

he gets to puff out his chest and say, well …. i did the same as you, i guess. except he never became a final aeon and he didn’t become the new sin. but god. these two both sacrificed themselves out of a sense of duty and devotion—which i know is questionable for jecht but i do suspect that jecht did have these in his heart. that he did it because he felt like he needed to.

i need jecht knowing his son’s fate. i need him knowing that his son didn’t waste his life. i need him to know that his son is brave, kind and headstrong. that, for all its worth, he had an impact on his life. positive and negative, but overall he did help shape tidus into who he is. tidus feels everything so much, his emotions are so violently passionate and loud & that is a good thing.

#( out. ) & the sun beckons. #my brain: rotting at the thought of fayth family reuniting. #my brain also: rotting at the concept of them meeting in the farplane instead and jecht questioning WHY...... #( archives. ) one day he will return.

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✏️ ... maybe, pretty please?

◈ ╼ ༺ :|   Send a ✏️and I’ll draw your muse || @sunblitz   |: ༻ ╼ ◈

#( archives. ) one day he will return.