Aeon (Final Fantasy X)



Aeons ['eɪ.ɑnz] are the summons in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 (however, they cannot be summoned by the player in Final Fantasy X-2). The aeons are obtained by completing the Cloister of Trials at each of Spira's temples. They are different from most summons in the Final Fantasy series, as they can be controlled by the player once summoned, and they can only be summoned by Yuna.

Obtaining all aeons in the Final Fantasy X HD Remaster version earns the trophy Summon Master.

Story
Aeons are the physical realization of the fayth's dreams. The fayth communicate with summoners who pray to them within the Chamber of the Fayth, and establish a mental link between the fayth and the summoner. Using this link, the fayth gives their dream a physical form: an aeon. Aeons are powerful creatures only a summoner can use in battle. Most aeons resemble their respective fayth, so it can be assumed the aeon takes on aspects of the person whose soul is sealed inside the fayth statue.

Many summoners can communicate with any one fayth to establish a mental link with them enabling them to then summon the fayth's aeon, but only one summoner can call on a particular fayth's power at any one time. This is why during the aeon duels two of the same aeon cannot battle one another.

The fayth are likely the aeons themselves, or otherwise are in control of them, as evidenced when Bahamut's fayth encourages Yuna to call the aeons in her battle with Yu Yevon, saying: "Promise me you'll call us?" and "We aeons...call us!!". This is further supported by the connection between Seymour's mother and her aeon Anima.

The aeons give the summoner the undying loyalty for one thing in return: to stop dreaming and be at peace with the final destruction of Sin. However, if the summoner summons the Final Aeon to vanquish Sin, Yu Yevon at its core possesses the Final Aeon, killing the summoner, and turns the Final Aeon into a new Sin, perpetuating an endless cycle.

Bahamut's fayth asks for Tidus, a citizen of Dream Zanarkand, to find a way to vanquish Sin permanently so the fayth can be at rest, freed from the duty of summoning aeons and the spectral version of Zanarkand Yu Yevon continually summons. Tidus joins summoner Yuna on her pilgrimage, during which she prays at different temples to receive the fayth's blessing and thus gains the ability to summon their aeons. After obtaining her first aeon, Valefor, Yuna summons it on the town square to show the villagers she has become a full-fledged summoner.

Yuna's pilgrimage takes her through Luca where fiends invade the blitzball stadium during the final game of the tournament, and Maester Seymour Guado summons Anima to destroy them. Yuna and the crowd are in awe, and Yuna comments on Seymour's aeon's power. On the Mi'ihen Highroad Yuna runs into Belgemine, a summoner who has dedicated her life in honing other summoners' skills in preparation for their final battle against Sin. She challenges Yuna to a duel of aeons.

The party eventually discovers Seymour had murdered his father to succeed him as Maester, and when they confront him Seymour summons Anima to vanquish them. Yuna has just obtained Shiva from the Macalania Temple and prevails and Seymour is killed, but Yuna is unable to send him and he becomes an unsent. During their escape from the temple Yuna and her guardians run into Sin who whisks them away to Bikanel desert where they find the hidden Al Bhed town of Home and the summoners the Al Bhed had kidnapped to stop their pilgrimage. As Home is being invaded, the summoners fend off against the invaders by summoning aeons, but in the end the town is obliterated.

Yuna is being forced to marry Seymour in Bevelle, but she feigns to commit suicide and jumps off the cathedral tower. She summons Valefor mid-air who flies Yuna to the Bevelle Temple where she obtains Bahamut, but Yuna and her guardians are arrested for aggression toward a Maester, and banished to the dungeons below Bevelle. They escape, but Yuna must battle a fellow summoner, Isaaru, in a contest of aeons, though she emerges victorious.

Yuna runs into Belgemine again for another aeon duel in the Calm Lands, and finds the hidden aeon Yojimbo from the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth. The hidden Remiem Temple is only accessed on a chocobo where Yuna discovers Belgemine is an unsent, and obtains the ultimate aeon Magus Sisters. On the Al Bheds' airship, the Fahrenheit, the party finds Baaj where Seymour had sealed Anima's fayth, and Yuna obtains her as an aeon.

In Zanarkand Yuna discovers one of her guardians must be made a fayth for her personal Final Aeon. Should their bond be strong enough the Final Aeon could destroy Sin, but Yu Yevon at its core would survive and make the Final Aeon into a new Sin. Yuna doesn't want to perpetuate Spira's suffering in this manner and discards Final Summoning as a false rite. Instead, the party decides to invade Sin's innards with the airship to destroy Yu Yevon directly. Yuna can visit the temples of Yevon at this point to speak to the fayth, and Bahamut's fayth urges Yuna to call on the aeons for the final battle.

Inside Sin the party destroys Braska's Final Aeon freeing Yu Yevon, who one by one possesses Yuna's aeons whom she must then destroy. With all the aeons killed Yu Yevon has nowhere to hide, and the party destroys him for good. Sin explodes on the skies of Spira and the fayth can finally rest. Their souls depart the fayth statues to the Farplane and aeons disappear from Spira.

After the onset of the Eternal Calm summoners can no longer call forth aeons. The unsent spirit Shuyin possesses the fayth on the Farplane and sends their aeons to Spira to attack the temples. Yuna vanquishes them one by one, and at the end of her quest sends Shuyin to his final rest.

Summoning
Yuna has access to the Summon command. When she summons an aeon, the rest of the party leaves the area and even KO'd allies get up and leave, although if the aeon is dismissed the party member will collapse after reentering the field.

After being summoned, the player controls the aeon who will act like a regular party member with its own HP and stats. Aeons are immune to status effects (except for Curse and Delay), but some can be vulnerable to elements. Aeons can be dismissed through the Dismiss command, which causes the party to return to the battle. If the aeon dies, the same thing happens, but it can't be summoned again during the same battle.

Aeons, like the player characters, have Overdrives (with the exception of Yojimbo). Their Overdrive meters are charged by giving and taking damage in battle, or avoiding an attack. The gauge is also filled when Yuna uses her Grand Summon Overdrive. After the respective aeons' Overdrive is launched, the Overdrive returns to the state it was in prior to the Grand Summoning, meaning if the gauge was full before the aeon was Grand Summoned, the aeon can launch two Overdrives in a row. When an aeon is defeated the gauge is reset to zero.

While Yojimbo lacks an Overdrive, keeping the gauge filled will slightly increase the probability of him using his better attacks.

During an aeon's summoning animation a glyph briefly appears on the ground or in the air and the aeon emerges through it. The glyphs are circular geometric patterns that are also seen in the Zanarkand and Baaj Cloisters of Trials, and each aeon has a unique one.

Aeons can launch the Boost and Shield commands from the sub-commands menu. Boost increases the damage the aeon receives, but greatly increases the rate at which the Overdrive gauge fills up. Shield does the opposite—both damage and Overdrive increases are reduced. When an aeon is used against Seymour Flux or Seymour Natus, they will only have one turn to attack before he uses a special attack called Banish to destroy the aeon. Seymour is not the only enemy who may instantly KO an aeon; a Tonberry has a special attack to deal with aeons, where the it makes a small replica of the aeon before striking it with its knife and killing the original.

Improving stats
An aeon's stats can be boosted by using spheres and the Aeon's Soul, obtained from Belgemine the third time she is fought.

How aeon's stats naturally increase.
Aeons' stats rise naturally with Yuna's but also with the number of battles the team participates.

Auto-abilities
Aeons also have "equipment" with auto-abilities, though it is not generally visible in-game. Aeons' weapons initially contain an empty slot, followed by Piercing, followed by an empty slot, and finally another empty slot. Bahamut, Anima and the Magus Sisters have Break Damage Limit instead of the first empty slot, and Valefor does not have Piercing.

Once the respective Celestial Weapons are upgraded with at least the crests, the first empty slot changes to Break Damage Limit. Aeons' armor does not change; they always contain Sensor, a blank slot, Break HP Limit and Break MP Limit; the elemental aeons have their respective element Eater instead of the blank slot.

Command abilities
After obtaining the Summoner's Soul from Belgemine, when she is fought for the second time, aeons can learn most abilities available to the main party by using items in specific quantities. For example, Ixion can learn Full Break by giving up two Dark Matter. Only Yojimbo and the Magus Sisters cannot learn abilities this way—theirs are set.

List of aeons
Only five of the game's aeons are required as dictated by the game's plotline. The other three are optional.

Valefor


The aeon of Besaid Temple. Valefor's fayth is that of a small girl. She has high evasion and speed, but only mediocre attack power, though this changes later in the game. Valefor can deal non-elemental damage and cause a turn delay with her special attack, Sonic Wings, and with her two Overdrives, the default Energy Ray and the more powerful Energy Blast. Valefor is the only aeon to have two Overdrives.

Energy Blast must be obtained by speaking to a girl and her dog in Besaid Village. To break the damage limit, Yuna must have obtained her Nirvana, and power it up with the Moon Crest. Later in the game Valefor is so fast that if Sonic Wings is used repeatedly against a single opponent, the opponent will never have an opportunity to attack. Because Valefor is a flying aeon some enemies cannot hit Valefor at all due to their attacks only hitting ground targets (an example being Omega Ruins' Demonolith), and therefore, their attacks are out of range.

Ifrit


Ifrit, the Fire aeon, is located at the Kilika Temple. His fayth is a male Crusader. Ifrit specializes in the Fire element, but his special attack, Meteor Strike, is a non-elemental attack, which bypasses the Protect status. His Overdrive, Hellfire, is a powerful Fire assault in which Ifrit hurls fireballs at the enemy, and finishes by throwing a chunk of earth at them.

Ifrit has high defense, rivaling Bahamut's; however, his attack and HP are lower. As with all the elemental aeons, Ifrit can be healed by using spells of his own element on himself, meaning Fire spells are an easy way to restore his HP. To break the damage limit, Wakka must upgrade his World Champion using the Jupiter Crest.

Ixion


Located at the Djose Temple, Ixion is the Lightning aeon. Ixion manifests as a unicorn with a gargantuan horn. It possesses high Magic and Magic Defense and uses the attack Aerospark to deal damage and dispel all positive status enhancements (except Auto-Life) from the target, and the ultimate Lightning attack, Thor's Hammer, encases the enemy in a field of electricity and sends it crashing into every other enemy on the field.

Ixion can heal by using Lightning-based elemental attacks on itself. Ixion's fayth is a man in a sailor's outfit, and to break the damage limit, the Saturn Crest must be used on Kimahri's Spirit Lance.

Shiva


Shiva is the Ice-elemental aeon of the Macalania Temple. Her fayth is a Macalanian priestess, and she possesses high evasion and speed. Shiva's Heavenly Strike deals out non-elemental damage and inflicts Threaten status (and not delay as says in the description the game), and her signature attack, Diamond Dust, freezes the battlefield and all of Shiva's opposition. With a snap of her fingers, the ice shatters, and deals Ice damage to all enemies.

Shiva rivals Bahamut in power due to her high speed and evasion; combined with Haste she becomes a force to be reckoned with. Unlike Bahamut, Shiva can heal herself with Ice-elemental attacks, furthering her use early on. Shiva can break the damage limit once Lulu's Onion Knight has been upgraded with the Venus Crest.

Bahamut


Bahamut is the final mandatory summon. The Palace of St. Bevelle is where Bahamut's fayth—a young boy, seemingly the same age as Valefor's fayth—resides. In Final Fantasy X, Bahamut's fayth acts as the collective representative of all fayth, and communicates with Tidus and Yuna.

Bahamut is considered the strongest of all the storyline summons, albeit not very fast, and backs this claim up with his powerful Impulse attack and Mega Flare Overdrive, both dealing non-elemental damage. Bahamut can break the damage limit initially.

Optional aeons
The optional aeons must be sought out outside of the main story.

Anima


Anima can be sought out after the party has the airship, has found the Baaj Temple, and after having collected the Destruction Treasures in all six Cloisters of Trials. Anima is found waiting in Baaj Temple's Chamber of the Fayth. Her fayth is Seymour Guado's mother, whom Yunalesca turned into a fayth so Seymour could become a powerful summoner. This triggered a lust for power, and his eventual search for a way to control the ultimate power: Sin.

Anima offers her powers to Yuna in the hopes she can stop Seymour. The help bar when summoning her inside Sin says "Thus I atone". Similarly, if she is summoned during the battle against Seymour Omnis, he will remark on her opposing him, saying "You would oppose me as well? So be it".

In battle, Anima is extremely strong. Her special attack, Pain, deals high damage, inflicting Instant Death to an enemy. Her Overdrive, Oblivion, deals colossal damage to all foes. In the PAL, International, and HD Remaster versions, Oblivion deals 16 hits of damage instead of just one, as it does in the NTSC and Japanese versions.

Yojimbo


Originally located at a Temple of Yevon, Yojimbo's fayth—a Crusader and his dog—is now within the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth. To obtain Yojimbo, the player must defeat Lady Ginnem's Yojimbo, and then offer Yojimbo's fayth a large sum of gil, usually in excess of 200,000. If the player then pays Yojimbo triple what he is asking, he will give two Teleport Spheres as a token of his appreciation. This will still work after having "haggled" with him. Lulu tells Tidus that Yojimbo was stolen from a temple because people (possibly Al Bhed) did not want summoners to sacrifice themselves while calling the Final Aeon.

Yojimbo is a unique aeon, as his attacks are based on a complex calculation of loyalty, pay, his Overdrive bar, and random chance, and are executed by giving him gil. He must be paid at least 1 gil to act. The larger the sum, the better the attack, and frequent use and paying large sums of money make his stronger attacks more probable.

When given gil, Yojimbo will use one of four moves: Daigoro (which involves his dog of the same name attacking in his stead), Kozuka, Wakizashi, or Zanmato. Daigoro and Kozuka injure a single foe, Wakizashi one or many, and Zanmato instantly kills all opponents facing Yojimbo by slicing them with his sword, including bosses and superbosses. While Yojimbo has no Overdrive, the chance of executing Zanmato increases with a full Overdrive bar.

Yojimbo requires Auron's Masamune to be upgraded with the Mars Crest to break the damage limit.

The Magus Sisters


The last aeons obtained in the game, the Magus Sisters, can be obtained once the player has received all other aeons, the Blossom Crown and the Flower Sceptre. The Magus Sisters' fayth, three young women, can then be approached in the Remiem Temple.

Cindy the ladybug, Sandy the praying mantis, and Mindy the bee, each has her own field of expertise. Cindy excels at White Magic, Mindy at Black Magic and defense, and Sandy at physical attacks and support White Magic, although Cindy is the one who knows Ultima, and Mindy has one of the most powerful attacks in the game, Passado, her special attack which deals 15 hits of physical damage to a single target. Cindy's special attack deals physical damage to all enemies and is called Camisade, and Sandy's special attack is a powerful physical assault called Razzia that hits all targets.

Commanding the sisters is different from the other aeons. The player can only "suggest" what they should do, which could result in them doing anything, including having a rest, or casting Cure on another sister in dire need of Curaga. The sisters are still very powerful, as they can deal high damage from the beginning.

To launch their Overdrive, each sister's bar must be full, and the command "Combine powers!" selected. Delta Attack deals high damage to all foes, either in one lump sum, as it does in the NTSC and Japanese versions, or six successive hits like it does in PAL, International and HD Remaster versions.

The Magus Sisters are named after the bosses of the same names from Final Fantasy IV.

Final Aeon
Final Aeon is not a specific aeon, but unique to every summoner who completes his or her pilgrimage. At the end of their pilgrimage the summoner will meet Lady Yunalesca, who will turn one of the summoner's guardians into an aeon used for the Final Summoning. The aeon becomes the shell for Yu Yevon to manifest the next Sin after the Calm.

Development
The summoning system was revamped for Final Fantasy X, because the developers strove for a more seamless battle experience. The process of acquiring each aeon was made an important element to the main story and this made the developers invest in the summons' design.

Shintaro Takai, the game's battle art director, says the following in the "Beyond Final Fantasy" feature included with the International and PAL versions of Final Fantasy X:

By emphasizing the relationship between Yuna and the aeons gave the game's final scene, where she must part with them, even more impact.

Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishō
Anima and Yojimbo appear as summons.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Yuna uses Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion, Shiva and Bahamut as regular attacks in battles. Unlike in Final Fantasy X, the aeons in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy emerge partially from their summoning crests; this is for ease of animating the attacks. During her EX Mode Yuna can summon two aeons at once, and her EX Burst is To the Farplane, where she calls out all aeons at once to attack while performing a sending ritual.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Some of the aeons appear in Pictlogica Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Yuna appears as a Legend and can summon her aeons.


 * Ability Cards

Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Valefor appears in Final Fantasy Record Keeper and uses Energy Blast. Other aeons also appear as enemies.

Mobius Final Fantasy
Aeons from Final Fantasy X appear.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Some aeons appear in this Final Fantasy trading card game published in Japan by Square Enix.

Triple Triad
Ixion and Valefor appear on Triple Triad cards in the version available via Final Fantasy Portal App.

Other media
In episode IV of th fan-made Dead Fantasy series, Yuna summons Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion, Shiva and Bahamut to help her in a fight Kasumi and her clones.

Bahamut cards exist in the mobile card game Million Arthur, designed after the summon's Final Fantasy X appearance.

Merchandise
Made by Kotobukiya, the Bahamut figurine depicts the aeon in detail, with a paint job that has a metallic sheen and comes with a display stand. Anima's figure is part of the Final Fantasy X Monster Collection series. Valefor has appeared in the Final Fantasy Creatures Kai Vol 1 series of monster figures.

In the Final Fantasy Master Creatures series, Ifrit has appeared in Vol 2 and Shiva in Vol 3. Shiva and Ixion appear in the first Final Fantasy Creatures set. Yojimbo appears in both, Final Fantasy X Action Figure Collection, and in Final Fantasy Master Creatures, in both his original color and as a Dark Aeon.

Etymology and symbolism
The Siddham Sanskrit script, which is the basis for the script of Yevon in Final Fantasy X, is used by the Shingon School of Buddhism that draws on early Hindu traditions. One traditional concept is that deities manifest their thoughts or spiritual energy in the physical world on several different "wavelengths": Sound, Form, and Symbol. The form through which a deity can manifest, is an anthropomorphic representation that is not the deity itself, but a living form humans can comprehend. The form physically expresses the deity's essence, in the same vein the aeons represent the fayth's dreams rather than their temporal bodies.

In some Hindu and Buddhist practices one can invoke a deity through the physical representation of a statue, similar to the link between aeons and fayth in Final Fantasy X. The symbol through which deity can manifest is a mandala (Buddhist tradition) or yantra (Hindu tradition), a geometric pattern which distills the deity's essence into a visual representation. This is similar to how aeons in Final Fantasy X are represented by glyphs, which appear in the temples and during the aeons' summoning animations, the aeon often emerging into the physical world through the glyph.

Trivia

 * During the ending FMV all storyline aeons are present with the inclusion of Anima.
 * If the player uses a weapon with the Sensor ability on the aeons when they are possessed by Yu Yevon, a message from their fayth begs the party to defeat them:
 * Valefor: "Strike me down".
 * Ifrit: "Extinguish me".
 * Ixion: "End it here".
 * Shiva: "Please... Defeat me".
 * Bahamut: "Soon... Eternal rest".
 * Anima: "Thus I atone".
 * Yojimbo: "Take my life".
 * Cindy: "Stop the suffering".
 * Sandy: "Don't cry".
 * Mindy: "Gotta say goodbye".