Jecht



Jecht ['dʒɛktʰ] is a non-player character and a reluctant antagonist in Final Fantasy X. He is Tidus's father; one of High Summoner Braska's legendary guardians, and a major blitzball star player in his hometown of Zanarkand. Jecht is a tall, muscular man, with a tendency to drink heavily, and wields a large black sword in battle.

In person, Jecht only appears in flashbacks and in movie spheres dotted around Spira, and also at the very end of the game.

Jecht's voice is provided by in Japanese, and  in English (where Jecht is pronounced ).

Appearance and Personality
Jecht is a muscular and tanned 30 year old man with long unruly black hair and red eyes. His only clothing is a pair of black shorts with an orange and red sash covering his right leg, a red headband, and a metal gauntlet covering his left arm. A black tattoo of the Zanarkand Abes symbol emblazons his chest. In his concept art and in Dissidia Jecht wields a large black sword with red markings on it resembling dolphins. He is never shown wielding this sword himself in Final Fantasy X, but as Braska's Final Aeon he wields a larger version of this in the second phase of the battle, and is mentioned to have fought with a sword during Braska's pilgrimage.

As Braska's Final Aeon, Jecht is a large, deformed version of his human form with brown scales and horns, and crests of spikes emerging from his back and shoulders. He wears a larger version of his headband, his hair is white and emerges in tufts from the spikes around his head, and his eyes glow. His Zanarkand Abes tattoo is white, and his body below the waist vanishes into a trail of spikes - in Final Fantasy X, Braska's Final Aeon floats in the air, while in Dissidia Jecht possesses legs. His right hand is of normal proportions to his body, and is used to wield his sword, while his left hand is a large claw.

On the surface, Jecht is a surly and arrogant man and a bully at heart. He frequently refers to himself as "The Great Jecht" (Jecht-sama in the Japanese releases, giving himself a respectful, in this case arrogant, honorific), and is known to Spira as "Sir Jecht" due to being a famous Guardian. Jecht considers himself the best blitzball player there is and loves fame and glamor, asking Braska several times if there will be any celebratory events on their pilgrimage. Jecht's career hit a slump when he began drinking, and it was rumored he was going to retire, though he was quick to deny this and claimed he could quit drinking if he chose. Jecht used to be emotionally abusive to Tidus, giving him the nickname "crybaby", and otherwise brushing him off or berating him.

Despite his numerous flaws, Jecht is a good man at heart. He criticizes Tidus frequently, but does so in the hope of encouraging Tidus to try harder and disprove him. Jecht does love Tidus, but has trouble expressing it: a sentimental message to Tidus on a sphere is cut off with Jecht mumbling, "Remember, you're my son. And... well, uh... never mind. I'm no good at these things". A flashback shows Jecht telling Braska and Auron his dream is to train Tidus into a star blitzball player like himself.

Beyond Tidus, Jecht is generally good-natured. He enjoys the "Hymn of the Fayth," and is well-loved by his fans, to the extent of a blitzball tournament in Zanarkand being named in his honor. When the party learns about the Chocobo Eater and Tidus says they must help because "it's the right thing to do", Auron laughs and explains Jecht used to say the same thing, which ended up causing problems for the group.

Final Fantasy X
Jecht came to Spira from a magically-summoned replica of Zanarkand, created from the memories of its original citizens, and maintained by Yu Yevon, the summoner who was Zanarkand's leader one thousand years prior to the events of Final Fantasy X. Jecht became a star blitzball player, perfecting his own technique, "Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III", otherwise known as the Jecht Shot.

In the present, Jecht's son, Tidus, claims he hates his father for putting him and his mother through hard times, and because he was left under a lot of pressure to live up to Jecht's fame. Whenever Jecht was around, according to Tidus, his mother ignored her son to spend time with her husband. Jecht ran into trouble as he began to drink excessively, and because of this some theorized he should retire, but Jecht insisted that he still was the best. Jecht disappeared one day while training out at sea, where he came in contact with Sin resting in the waters. Sin pulled Jecht out of the dream and transported him into present-day Spira, where he was seen as a crazy drunkard and locked up in Bevelle.

Soon after his imprisonment, Braska visited Jecht and requested he become his guardian along with Auron - a warrior monk of Bevelle who had fallen from grace. Auron, wary of Jecht, objected to him being a guardian, but Braska thought it the perfect irony for three of the most unlikely people to defeat Sin; a drunken blitzball player from Zanarkand, a summoner with a "heathen" Al Bhed wife and a "half-breed" daughter (namely Yuna), and a disgraced warrior monk. Before they departed, Jecht told Yuna numerous stories about his Zanarkand; because of this, she is the only one of the playable characters (aside from Rikku and Auron himself) who is not skeptical of the idea that Tidus comes from Zanarkand ten years later.

During the earlier parts of their journey, Jecht's tendency to drink sometimes got him into trouble, most notably at the Moonflow where he mistook a Shoopuf for a fiend and wounded it, forcing Braska to pay for the damage with all of their travel money. After this incident, Jecht gives up drinking anything stronger than Shoopuf milk for fear his family would be ashamed of him, and out of embarrassment for what he had forced Braska to do. Jecht records their journey to show his wife and Tidus, still hopeful he will find a way home some day.

Over the course of Braska's pilgrimage, Jecht matures as he learns about Spira and what became of Zanarkand. His personal journey mirrors what Tidus would go through ten years later. According to Auron, Jecht would often suggest they help people along the way because it is "the right thing to do", which always led to trouble for the three. Jecht came to accept he was trapped in Spira with no hope to return to Zanarkand, and left behind spheres to help guide Tidus's journey, should the same fate befall him.

By the time they reached Zanarkand, Jecht, Auron and Braska had bonded and became close friends, and Jecht offered to give up his life to become Braska's Final Aeon, knowing he could never return home. As one last favor, Jecht asked Auron to look after Tidus, believing Auron could find a way to Dream Zanarkand. Though Auron protests Jecht's choice, knowing Sin will eventually return, Jecht assures Auron he'll think of a way to stop Sin's continual reincarnation.

Although Jecht defeated Sin as Braska's Final Aeon, the "spiral of death" surrounding Sin continued; Yu Yevon's spirit possessed him and transformed Jecht into the core of the new Sin, leaving Jecht's soul trapped within the creature for ten years. Unable to completely fight back against the powerful instincts Yu Yevon had instilled within Sin, the only times Jecht can operate of his own free will is for the brief moments when he hears the "Hymn of the Fayth". Jecht eventually manages to assert some control and make his way to Dream Zanarkand, where he communicates with the now-unsent Auron and transports him and Tidus to Spira, hoping that Tidus would be able to find a way to destroy Sin for good where he had failed.

While in Spira, Tidus would reminisce about Jecht frequently, not suspecting the beast Sin is his father. When Auron reveals the truth, Tidus initially rejects the notion. Tidus eventually senses Jecht within Sin, and with Auron's urgings, realizes Jecht's desire is for Tidus to kill him and free him from being forced to destroy Spira. Tidus and his comrades are later stunned to find Sin complacently listening to the "Hymn of the Fayth", the song Jecht enjoyed as a human. Tidus accepts what he must do and promises Jecht he will find a way to end the cycle and free him.

Using the Fahrenheit to broadcast the Hymn across Spira, Tidus's group manages to bring all of Spira together in song, calming Sin momentarily. This allows them to fight their way through the beast's innards and confront Jecht at Sin's core. Able to speak to his son one final time, Jecht transforms into Braska's Final Aeon, and is defeated by Tidus and his allies. Dying, Jecht and Tidus finally make peace, and Yuna uses her aeons to weaken Yu Yevon's spirit making him vulnerable for the first time in a thousand years. The group unleashes an assault on him directly, destroying Yu Yevon and ending Spira's spiral of death.

Following this, Jecht is reunited with Tidus in the Farplane, where the two slap a jovial high five.

Final Fantasy X-2
Jecht appears in a short flashback from the scholar Maechen during Chapter 5 at the Zanarkand Ruins. Jecht also has a small voice cameo in the final battles along with Braska and Auron, during which time they give Yuna encouraging words and advice on where to strike Vegnagun. Not surprisingly, as Shuyin resembles his son, Jecht calls him a crybaby as well as one that needs a "good spanking".

Jecht makes an appearance in Cactuar creature ending in International + Last Mission.

In Battle
Jecht is fought at the end of the game in the form of Braska's Final Aeon. Due to the fight with Yu Yevon commonly being considered a story formality due to the extreme ease with which he is defeated, Braska's Final Aeon effectively acts as the final boss of the game.

Development
Daisuke Watanabe considered having Auron actually be Jecht in disguise, watching Tidus all along, but the team did not want to make Jecht have a leading part in the story, so they gave up on this idea.

Musical Themes
"Jecht's Theme" is a laid-back melody with steel-stringed guitar solos following Western style, performed by Tsuyoshi Sekito. It appears in the original soundtrack as the second track of Disc 3.

The music that plays during the final confrontation against Braska's Final Aeon within Sin is "Otherworld", a heavy metal style song with English lyrics that was uncommon for a Final Fantasy game. Noticeably, the only other time the song plays is during Sin's attack on Dream Zanarkand in the opening FMV.

Dissidia Final Fantasy


Chaos has summoned a combined force of Final Fantasy's ultimate villains in an attempt to gain control of a number of Crystals, gaining total control of the Final Fantasy worlds. Jecht is one of these villains and stands as the villain representing Final Fantasy X, opposing Tidus, his son.

Jecht has no true interest in serving Chaos, fighting only on the Emperor's word that he and Tidus will be allowed to return home when the war ends. Golbez warns him that the Emperor is only using him, and when Jecht discovers he has been manipulated, he rebels and attacks the Emperor. Disowned by the other Warriors of Chaos, Jecht retreats and fights Tidus alone.

Later in the game, it is revealed Jecht was a member of Cosmos's ranks during past conflicts between Cosmos and Chaos. His servitude to the God of Discord is simply another component of the Emperor's grand scheme to destroy Cosmos and end the war, by using Jecht to manifest a Crystal attuned to darkness that the Emperor can use to achieve greater power.

His alternate outfit is a palette swap, which colors his sash and spikes red, and his sword gains red colorings with gold details, in an allusion to Auron.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Jecht reappears in the prequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy alongside all the other characters from the original. This time he is aligned with Cosmos and acts as Yuna's guardian as they travel. His opponent is Tidus, having been newly summoned by the Emperor to defeat Jecht. When the Emperor attempts to strike down Yuna as she tries to awaken Tidus's lost memories, Tidus takes the attack for her.

Jecht tends to him while Yuna fights the Emperor, and passes his light to Tidus to save his life. This converts Tidus to a Warrior of Cosmos but leaves Jecht an empty shell. The Emperor takes his body to Chaos to be reborn as a Warrior of Chaos, knowing that Jecht will be able to create a Crystal in the next cycle.

Jecht's alternate outfit is redone to resemble his Final Fantasy X appearance, while his second alternate outfit is the uniform of the Zanarkand Abes, consisting of black and white shorts with black arm coverings.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Jecht is present in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game and is represented by two Fire-elemental cards, one depicting his Dissidia Final Fantasy artwork and the other depicting his Alt 2 outfit EX Mode. His Dissidia art card is able to use his Ultimate Jecht Shot attack, while his Alt 2 EX Mode card can use his Blitz King EX Burst.