Harry Potter and FFX-2

by Rachel Viniar

My extreme laziness is a contributing factor to the fact that this is being written now. I just got around to reading all the editorials, and one of them caught my eye immediately – HP vs. FFX. I am an avid fan of the Final Fantasy games, and seeing that FFX (my favorite of the series) and Harry Potter were compared just pulled me in.

Reading that editorial made me see so many different parallels in the worlds of Spira and Harry’s world. It also made me think of the not-so-recent sequel to FFX – Final Fantasy X-2.

Allow me to summarize for those of you who have never played. In FFX-2, Rikku discovers a sphere showing what she thinks is an image of Tidus. This leads Yuna to join the Gullwings, a group of sphere hunters, in search of more clues about her lost love. Along her journey, she discovers more and more about Spira’s past, and how events that happened one thousand years ago parallel and affect the events happening to her now. The image is not of Tidus but of Shuyin, and that his summoner lover is not Yuna, but Lenne. Lenne is dead, and Shuyin was thought to be dead as well. However, his memory, his spirit, is still around, and it thinks that Yuna is Lenne. He decides to finally destroy Spira so that he and Lenne can live in peace.

Now, for starters, we have the obvious parallels of the Trios. Yuna is the leader of the group. She is well-known by everyone in Spira, as she defeated Sin for good two years ago. She was even well-known before she defeated it, as she was the daughter of High Summoner Braska, who defeated Sin ten years prior to FFX.

Rikku is a somewhat hyperactive Al Bhed who was one of Yuna’s guardians during her first journey. Rikku is very instinctive and somewhat annoying; she thinks purely with her heart. She is also Yuna’s cousin – Yuna’s mother was the sister of Sid, Rikku’s father. Yuna trusts Rikku a lot and feels she can tell her anything. Funnily enough, Rikku’s brother has a crush on Yuna.

Then there’s Paine. She’s a tough and sarcastic Al Bhed whose past is somewhat unknown. She is definitely the brains of the group, and sometimes she even seems to be only brains, and no heart. Very little is known about her, since she was not in FFX at all. But as time goes on, she lightens up and becomes friendlier towards Yuna and Rikku. By the end of the game they are all true best friends.

The parallels are obvious. Yuna = Harry. They’re both well-known from birth and both have famous fathers. Their mothers were both from the ‘lower’ groups (an Al Bhed and a Muggleborn). The last defeat of Sin by her father took place ten years before FFX, which is also the same amount of time between Harry’s first defeat of Voldemort and his entrance into the Wizarding World.

Rikku is obviously Ron. They both follow their instincts and even seem a bit childish at times. Both of them have siblings who crush on the leader (Brother and Ginny). Ron is from the Weasley family, a poorer pureblood family who are not looked upon highly by the rest of the world. Rikku is a scorned Al Bhed who is placed slightly above the others as the daughter of their leader and a guardian of the High Summoner. Ron and Harry are also most likely related, as we all think that the Potter family is pureblooded and most purebloods have interbred with each other.

Of course, Paine is Hermione. Tough and callous at first, and not even true friends with the others, but eventually, both Hermione and Paine lightened up enough to be friends with Ron and Harry/ Rikku and Yuna. Both are the brains and sensibility behind the operations. Also, Paine is a member of the hated Al Bhed, just as Hermione is a ‘hated’ Muggleborn.

In FFX, we relate the followers of Yevon with the Death Eaters, and Yuna’s band with the Order. However, in FFX-2 the distinctions are not as clear.

I believe we can relate both warring groups with a group on the side of the good. Now, let me state that when I played, I joined the Youth League, so my opinions are slightly biased in their favor. If the tables were turned, I might have said opposite about each group.

New Yevon is the Ministry of Magic. I only say this because the old order of Yevon was the main government of Spira. New Yevon thinks they are doing what is right, but it turns out that they have a bit of fault laid on them for being very secretive and not sharing information with the masses, and trying to cover things up, just like the old Yevon. Both are led by men (Baralai/Fudge) who think they are doing right but are actually inflicting some harm. Also, in the end of FFX-2, Baralai becomes the vessel for Shuyin and winds up helping in his plot to destroy Spira.

The Youth League is the Order of the Phoenix. Both are led by a wise man (Nooj/Dumbledore) and have quite a multitude of members who before had various jobs. Consider Lucil, an old member of the Chocobo Knights, or Maroda, who used to be a guardian for a Summoner of Yevon. They all, however, come together to fight for the greater good. Maroda is in this case comparable to anyone who followed the Ministry of Magic before joining the Order. I would relate Lucil to McGonagall in this case, as both try to take over in the leader’s absence (McGonagall as the Assistant Headmistress).

Harry, Ron, and Hermione join the Order, but they just as easily could have been influenced by the Ministry. But the Order has many of their old friends (the Weasleys, Dumbledore) and so they wind up on that side. I want to compare Lulu to Sirius a bit, because she has always been on Yuna’s side and in FFX-2 Yuna and friends share a lot with her, and come to her when she thinks they need to. However, she does disappear from the journey quite a bit, and is not an active part. This is similar to the way we think that even though Sirius is not dead, he will not play as active a part in the rest of the journey as before. Yuna has also equated Lulu as part of her surrogate family, as Harry and Sirius are.

Now, on to the game story parallels.

A thousand years ago, there was a great war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Lenne was a summoner and a famous songstress, while Shuyin was a blitzball player and Lenne’s lover. Shuyin was determined not to let them send Lenne out to the front lines, so he attempted to steal Vegnagun, Bevelle’s ultimate weapon. However, the men of Bevelle discovered and captured him. However, he escaped, and ran to the secret chamber where Vegnagun was stored. He met with Lenne there; however, the Bevelle soldiers chased him and found them. They shot them both, killing them. Shuyin died first, before Lenne was able to tell him that she loved him. So he did not truly die, and his angry spirit lived on. Eventually his spirit possessed the bodies of others, and he used them to try to find Vegnagun again and continue his plans of destroying Spira.

Shuyin is Voldemort. Although Voldemort was not defeated due to his love the first time, he was defeated because he was attempting to gain a power that he was not able to use, and Harry stopped him. However he did not die and his spirit was still around. He also used the bodies of others (think Quirrell) to try to help him achieve his goal. But, once again, in the final battle, we know that Harry will defeat Voldemort just as Yuna defeated Shuyin.

Before I conclude this, I want to draw some quick parallels between the First War and the Second War and Spira’s history. This was inspired by a theory I read that draws parallels between the Order in the First and Second Wars. Here I want to compare the ‘war’ ten years previous to FFX with Yuna’s ‘war’. Braska, Yuna’s father, had a wife (a member of the hated Al Bhed), a child, and two major friends/guardians, one of whom had a curious origin (Jecht). Similarly, James had his wife, a member of the hated clan (Lily, a Muggleborn), his child (Harry), and his two true friends (Sirius and Remus), one of whom had his secret (Remus the werewolf). Also, it is curious that Auron, who parallels with Sirius, became a surrogate father to Tidus as Sirius did for Harry, until Sirius died and Auron was sent to the Farplane. You can also draw parallels between the group of FFX-2 and this group (Yuna as Braska, Rikku as Auron, and Paine as Jecht). This brings to mind the fact that Auron was present in both Braska’s journey and FFX, just as Rikku is present in both FFX and FFX-2. There are a lot of parallels of groups I have made here. I’m going to summarize them to end this comparison.

Second War as FFX-2

Harry=Yuna
Ron=Rikku
Hermione=Paine
Baralai=Fudge
Nooj=Dumbledore
Lucil=McGonagall
Lulu=Sirius
Shuyin=Voldemort

First War as Braska’s Journey

James=Braska
Lily=Yuna’s mother
Remus=Auron
Sirius=Jecht
Voldemort=Sin

Braska’s Journey as FFX-2

Braska=Yuna
Jecht=Paine
Auron=Rikku
Sin=Shuyin

And just for reference…

First War as Second War

James=Harry
Ginny=Lily
Remus=Hermione
Sirius=Ron
Voldemort=himself

I want to conclude by saying: NONE OF IT IS MINE!!!! FFX and FFX-2 are property of Square Enix, and Harry Potter and related characters belong to the Goddess of HP herself, J.K. Rowling.

Thank you for reading. I hope you found it enjoyable, or at least, interesting. Compliments and constructive criticism is welcomed; all flames will be used to heat my house.

Reach me through e-mail, AmethystAngel689@aol.com, but please notify me in the subject that you are writing about my editorial. Otherwise I’m likely to think it’s spam and click on the little Report Spam button, which would really suck for you.

Happy HP-ing!