Shuyin

Shuyin (シューイン, Shūin) is the primary antagonist and final boss of Final Fantasy X-2. He is known to have a striking resemblance to Tidus. When Yuna is given a sphere Kimahri found on Mt. Gagazet, showing Shuyin in a cell beneath Bevelle, she mistakes the man in the image for Tidus, which sets her off on her career as a sphere hunter. Like Tidus, he is voiced by James Arnold Taylor in English and Masakazu Morita in Japanese.

Because of the similarity in appearance to his son, when Jecht's spirit, along with Braska's and Auron's, gives words of encouragement and advice to the Gullwings during the final battle, he calls Shuyin a crybaby.

Unlike most unsent, Shuyin has the ability to people, controlling those who are as deep in malice as he is. He can also possess Fayth, using their Aeons to help him. It is also believed that Shuyin's resemblance to Tidus is more than coincidental, and that the Fayth summoning Dream Zanarkand "dreamed" Tidus in an attempt to recreate what they remembered of Shuyin, as they were charged with remembering and preserving every aspect of the destroyed city.

Life in Zanarkand
The story of Shuyin begins about one thousand years before that of Tidus and Yuna. Shuyin was a famous Blitzball player in Zanarkand, and the lover of a popular songstress named Lenne, who was also talented in the arts of summoning.

Unfortunately, they lived during the time when Zanarkand was at war with the powerful city of Bevelle. Zanarkand ordered all summoners to the front lines, including Lenne, and Shuyin was drafted into the army to become a soldier. Eventually, Lenne was captured and held prisoner in Bevelle. Shuyin believed the only way to save Lenne was to activate Vegnagun, Bevelle's enormous machina weapon that was imbued with magic and would attack people indiscriminately, not being able to tell friend from foe, and also possessed enough power to destroy all of Spira. Because of this, Vegnagun was stored away in a heavily guarded chamber with no intention of ever being used. Shuyin managed to penetrate deep into the heart of the complex, finally standing before Vegnagun's hulking, inanimate form.

However, an alarm sounded, and Shuyin was captured and forced into a cage by Bevelle soldiers. He managed to escape the cage and once again came upon Vegnagun. By this time, he had realized Vegnagun might be controlled by an organ-like musical instrument atop its head. Shuyin climbed upon Vegnagun's head and began playing the organ. As beautiful musical notes gushed forth, Vegnagun’s eyes lit up and it began to stir and a huge cannon protruded from its mouth. At that moment, Lenne appeared, pleading for Shuyin to stop. And Shuyin did stop, so amazed and relieved to find Lenne standing before him. The titanic machina deactivated, the echoing sound of boots could be heard rushing toward them. Shuyin and Lenne embraced and looked into each other's eyes, knowing their end was near.

The Bevelle soldiers arrived and as one, fired their rifles at the couple and Shuyin and Lenne collapsed to the floor. A tear trickled from Lenne’s eye, and the two died. Her final words were to tell Shuyin she loved him, but he never heard her. Interestingly, because of Lenne's spirit and memories in the Songstress dressphere, Yuna had an identical dream of herself and Tidus dying the exact same way.

Shuyin remained a lonely soul for a thousand years, searching for his lover; he tried to awaken a weapon that would end the war that consumed his world, and his love.

Shuyin's Spirit Lingers
Shuyin’s spirit was filled with such hatred and desire for vengeance it didn't dissolve in the Farplane, but instead lingered on and existed for a thousand more years, filled with grief and despair, a shadow of his former self. He dwelt within a small cavern beneath the Mushroom Rock Road called the Den of Woe, where his body is believed to have been buried. The cave was filled with pyreflies that replayed his memories again and again, a constant reminder of Lenne, the love he had lost.

When the Fayth created the Dream Zanarkand, Tidus was born through the Fayth's memories of Shuyin, making both of them the same person, risking anything they can to save their loved ones. It is also hinted that Shuyin has the same cheerful personality as Tidus, but due to the grief, anger, and despair inside him, he does not show that trait in the story.

Maester Wen Kinoc sent the Crimson Squad recruits to the Den of Woe for their final training mission. Among these recruits were Baralai, Gippal, Nooj, and Paine. Little did they know, however, that Kinoc was planning to have them killed if and when they survived and were able to report their findings back to him in order to keep the information secret. All of the recruits, except Baralai, Gippal, Nooj, and Paine, were driven mad and slaughtered each other because of exposure to Shuyin’s near-tangible grief and despair. Shuyin was able to weaken Nooj without breaking his mind and inhabited his body. Later, when the surviving Crimson Squad members had escaped the cave and Kinoc’s machinations, they set sail on a ship and later arrived at one of Rin's travel agencies. After they said their final farewells and turned to depart, Shuyin suddenly took control of Nooj's body and used his rifle to shoot all three friends in the back. Although they were not gravely wounded, it caused great enmity and confusion among the companions, as they had no knowledge of why "Nooj" would do such a thing.

Shuyin left a part of himself in all three friends, implanting in them a desire to seek out Vegnagun. The largest part of him remained in Nooj, and he used them as his eyes and ears in Spira. He saw the senseless violence and Yevon's corruption, and concluded that Spira hadn't changed and resolved to "fix" it. During the two years that followed he manipulated Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai, gathering information about Vegnagun and its location. Once he had located the terrible weapon, he took control of Nooj again, using his body to go to Bevelle and steal Vegnagun. However, Nooj's hatred of Vegnagun caused it to "awake" and it fled into the Farplane, taking with it Bahamut's Fayth. It is implied that Shuyin may also have had some summoning powers of his own as he summons Bahamut to fight the Gullwings. Frustrated at his failure, Shuyin/Nooj disappeared though it was unclear as to where. He was recorded leaving by Ormi of the LeBlanc Syndicate during the first infiltration of Bevelle.

Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj later met in the complex underneath the city of Bevelle to discuss Vegnagun's disappearance. Shuyin then left Nooj’s body and took control of Baralai, who was still angry at Nooj for shooting him and Gippal two years ago, using his anger to take control of him. Shuyin then used a spell that would take him back to the Farplane and to Vegnagun.

Retaking Vegnagun
Meanwhile, Shuyin had taken control of Vegnagun after he was freed from the Den of Woe and used it to burrow tunnels from the Farplane that led to each Chamber of the Fayth in the temples of Yevon. The now lifeless statues of the Fayth were removed, and fiends poured in from the inter-dimensional tunnels into the temples. Shuyin also took control of the Aeons, bending the magical creatures to his will.

With the help of Yuna and the Gullwings, the temples were cleansed of the fiends and the corrupted Aeons. It was during one such battle with the Aeon Ixion that Yuna fell into the tunnel in Djose Temple and ended up in the Farplane Glen where she encountered Shuyin, who mistook her for Lenne because she happened to be donning the songstress dressphere. Shuyin told her about his plans to use Vegnagun’s gigantic cannon in order to destroy Spira and end all of humanity's constant fighting and warring. Shuyin then stepped through a portal that would take him directly to Vegnagun. Gippal and Nooj had arrived by this time and passed through the portal as well in order to save Spira and free their friend Baralai. The portal disappeared behind them, leaving Yuna behind.

The Gullwings later encountered Shuyin in the Den of Woe, where his spirit continued to dwell. His grief and despair took over Rikku and Paine, who started to attack Yuna. Shuyin showed a frightened Yuna his memories of how he tried to use Vegnagun and how he and Lenne died. Yuna aimed her gun at Shuyin, hoping he would not come near her. Shuyin told her this is their story and called her Lenne. Yuna angrily told him not to make her tell him she is not Lenne, much to Shuyin's amusement. Paine and Rikku attacked Yuna, but were beaten. Finally back to their senses, they felt as though Shuyin was a nightmare and learned he had some serious regrets for his feelings to act on their own. Paine explained his despair was strong enough to crush the minds of the Crimson Squad and have them kill each other. Shuyin revealed he's been using Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai and summoned illusions of them, which the Gullwings fight.

Thinking back to when Nooj shot her, Gippal, and Baralai, Paine understood that Shuyin possessed him to do so. Paine and Yuna decided to try and free Nooj from Shuyin, but Rikku persuaded them to free Baralai instead, explaining that when they were in the Bevelle Underground, a cloud of pyreflies transferred from Nooj's body to Baralai's as Shuyin shifted his control from one to the other.

Yuna, Rikku, Paine, as well as LeBlanc and her cronies Ormi and Logos decided to follow Gippal and Nooj deep into the Farplane and help them defeat Shuyin. They arrived in a part of the Farplane that Shuyin had created. After Yuna, Rikku, and Paine defeated Vegnagun, Shuyin became aware that Yuna was not Lenne. Enraged, he attacked them, and they managed to fend him off. Lenne's spirit then stepped out of Yuna’s dressphere. Apparently, she had dwelt there in a semi-dormant state for a millennium and had only just awakened. Lenne soothed Shuyin, and the two faded away, together once again.

In Battle
Shuyin's actions in battle are limited. He alternates regular attacks with special attacks based on Tidus's Swordplay Overdrives. His stance and attack movements are also identical to Tidus.

During Terror of Zanarkand, the equivalent of Tidus's Blitz Ace, Shuyin uses the World Champion, Wakka's Celestial Weapon from Final Fantasy X.

Trivia

 * Shuyin's weapon bears a striking resemblance to the Defender seen in the Final Fantasy IV DS version.

Shuyin