Jecht



Jecht is a non-player character (and technically a major antagonist) in Final Fantasy X. He is the father of Tidus; legendary Guardian of High Summoner Braska, as well as being a major blitzball star in his hometown of Zanarkand.

Jecht is tall, muscular, surly man with a tendency to drink heavily. He has a powerful blitzball move called the "Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III," in which he kicks the ball into one opponent, it rebounds, hits another opponent, rebounds again and is then kicked into the goal by him.

The raspy voice of Jecht is provided by Masuo Amada in Japanese, and Gregg Berger in English (where Jecht is ).

Zanarkand
Jecht came to Spira from a magically-summoned replica of Zanarkand, created from the memories of those who lived in the original and maintained by Yu Yevon, the Summoner who was the leader of Zanarkand a thousand years before the events of Final Fantasy X.

In the present, Jecht's son, Tidus, claims that 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, Tidus's mother didn't pay her son any attention. (So Tidus claims.) Furthermore, Jecht constantly criticized his son and called him a "crybaby." Truthfully, Jecht loved Tidus with all his heart, but was unable to express it in a gentle way. What he desired most was to make his son strong and thought that his criticisms would do this. Tidus, however, took Jecht's insults at face value, not seeing the intentions behind them, and grew to hate him.

Going to Spira
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 taken as a crazy drunkard and locked up in Bevelle.

Soon after his imprisonment, Braska visited Jecht and requested he become one of two Guardians, the other being Auron - a Bevelle monk who had fallen from grace. Auron objected to Jecht being a Guardian but Braska thought it the perfect irony: three of the most unlikely people defeating Sin.

During the earlier parts of their journey, Jecht's tendency to drink sometimes got him into trouble, most notably when on the Moonflow when he once thought that a shoopuf was a giant Fiend and wounded it, forcing Braska to pay for the damage with all of his travel money. After this incident, however, Jecht gives up drinking for fear that his family would be ashamed of him.

Over the course of Braska's pilgrimage, Jecht matured as he learned about Spira and what became of Zanarkand, his own personal journey mirroring what Tidus would go through 10 years later.

Braska's Final Aeon
By the time they reached Zanarkand, Jecht, Auron and Braska had bonded and became close friends, and it was Jecht who offered to give up his life to become Braska's Final Aeon, knowing that he could never return home. As one last favour, Jecht asked Auron to look after Tidus, believing that Auron could find a way to the Dream Zanarkand.

As the Final Aeon, Jecht defeated Sin, but the "spiral of death" surrounding Sin continued. Yu Yevon's spirit possessed the Final Aeon and transformed him 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 could operate of his own free will was for brief moments when he heard the Hymn of the Fayth.

Utilizing this weakness of Jecht's to briefly immobilize Sin; Tidus, Yuna and their companions fought their way through the armor and confronted Jecht. There they fought and defeated him, Tidus finally making peace with his father. After Jecht's spirit was finally laid to rest, Yuna and her guardians used her aeons to weaken the spirit of Yu Yevon, making him vulnerable for the first time in a thousand years. They then unleashed an assault on him directly, destroying him and ending Spira's spiral of death.

In the Farplane, Tidus and Jecht slap hands, indicating that Tidus has forgiven his father.

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

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, resulting in total control of the Final Fantasy worlds. Jecht is one of these villains. He stands as the villain opposing Tidus. Jecht's body has been redesigned with elements of his Final Aeon form, including various spikes emerging from his body, but his core appearance is identical to his original appearance. His alternate costume is an altered version of his original design from Final Fantasy X

His son Tidus accuses Jecht of deceiving him and demands to know why he has sided with the villains. Jecht taunts Tidus with his stubborness, implying his son is more like him than he would care to believe. He has been seen alongside the other villains in the Chaos Shrine as well; when Jecht listens to the Emperor's speech about their plans, his facial expression appears rather bored. He is also seen in CG sequences fighting Firion. In Jecht's story, although he has allied with the Warriors of Chaos, he has no interest in conquering the world and seeks the Crystals for his own reasons, which are revealed during the game. He does care for Tidus but acts without thinking and cannot express himself to him, making their relationship rocky. He is also a boss in Firion's story. Many fans have questioned why Square Enix chose Jecht over Seymour Guado as the antagonist representing Final Fantasy X. When questioned about Jecht's inclusion, members of the development team stated that Jecht had more of an emotional connection to Tidus than Seymour - choosing Seymour as the villain would require Yuna to be the playable hero, because of her ties to him.

In battle, Jecht is described as "the ultimate in-fighter" and attacks with slow, powerful combos with his sword. His Brave attacks grow stronger as he gains Brave Points, making him even more dangerous. The timing and flow of his combos depend on the player's button commands, so they can stop a combo and execute an HP attack without warning. Jecht's EX Mode is his Final Aeon form and though his EX Mode bonus has not been given a name, it allows Jecht to completely overwhelm his opponents without any pauses. For his EX Burst, King of the Blitz, he flings his enemies with a kick, slashes them with his sword then kicks a boulder at them. The attack has the same timer Tidus has, and the O button has to be pressed when the cursor reaches the center. If succeeded the first time, the second bar appears to power the attack up further.