Final Fantasy X and His Dark Material

    These weeks, I got in touch with similar stories. Golden Compass (a.k.a. His Dark Material Trilogy) and Final Fantasy X. Wait, some of you might wonder, what is so similar in those two stories? Yet, the answer is the theme.

    We already know, that HDM Trilogy is famous because of the atheism idea. How Philip Pullman tried to explain us that the recent 'God' is basically an angel trying to act as God, a false God. And thus, in his way, he tried to even create a false netherworld, hindering the soul of the dead to merge with the very essence of nature. Yet, in the end, Lyra and Will managed to slay that greedy angel. Some God-slaying story, eh?

    Well, when playing the infamous Final Fantasy X, I also find the essence of God-slaying story. Some people might not notice this, but Yevon is the center of Spira, his teaching has become their guidance in living their lives, worshipped, and even everything revolves around the temple of Yevon for a thousand years. Therefore, this automatically places Yevon as some sort of 'God', with his teaching to forbid machina. But who is this Yevon guy? Story revealed him as the corrupted summoner 1000 years ago, who was obsessed to be some kind of ruler.

    Furthermore, the concept of Sin (who appeared every 10 years, and brings chaos to Spira until he was defeated by another Summoner) for me is similar to the concept of Jesus' passion. Why? Simple! Sin is portrayed as the devil for people's sin. It will linger in Spira as long as people haven't atoned for their Sin. Yet to defeat Sin, a summoner and the guardian have to undergo a pilgrimage (meaning, journeying through Spira and pray in every temple), which is often rough and might invite death. Isn't this in some extends similar to the Passion of Christ? Yet, in the end, to defeat Sin (a.k.a. the sin of the people), a summoner has to sacrifice himself. The crucifix, eh?

    Some God-slaying story, eh? However, the simple point that strikes me is that in both plots, most people are often trapped within the teaching and the ritual, which sometimes ridiculous, and forget the real essence of God. So, which do you prefer? God or dogmas??

    I just hope that this smal writing will be a stepping stone for a further discussion.