Shuyin



Shuyin (シューイン) is the primary antagonist and final boss of Final Fantasy X-2. He has 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, Shuyin is voiced by in English and  in Japanese.

Unlike most unsent, Shuyin's spirit 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. It is also possible that Shuyin's dream self is an ancestor of Tidus.

Appearance and Personality
Shuyin has shoulder-length, disheveled blond hair and blue eyes. He wears a jacket with a yellow back and pale dark-green front, with a blue armlet and red-and-black elbow-long square sleeves. On his left hand he wears a black glove with a green cuff and red elbow-long sleeve, while his right glove is plain black without decorations. He wears black shorts and yellow boots with high footings. His sword has a black hilt and light blue to black blade.

Having been gunned down trying to bring Vegnagun to life, Shuyin is an unsent driven by nothing except the thought of revenge against those responsible for killing him and his lover, Lenne. Shuyin has the ability to possess others' physical bodies, manipulating their movements and thoughts. His grief and anger are so strong that he has the power to drive those he possesses insane, and cause them to turn on anyone in sight.

Although Shuyin is the main antagonist of the game, all his actions can be explained as a wish for atoning for his past and fulfilling his rather personal role of a guardian, but also of a lover, of Lenne. His 'failure' to use a powerful Yevon machina to kill Sin for his lover to not to be killed as she was sent to the front lines and disability to protect her caused his spirit to be corrupted with many negative feelings and emotions, eventually driving him insane.

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

They lived during the time when Zanarkand was at war with the city of Bevelle. Zanarkand ordered all summoners to the front lines, including Lenne. Shuyin believed the only way to save Lenne was to activate Vegnagun, Bevelle's machina weapon imbued with magic that would attack people indiscriminately, not being able to tell friend from foe. Vegnagun possessed enough power to destroy all of Spira, and because of this, it was stored away in a heavily guarded chamber with no intention of ever being used.

Shuyin penetrated into the heart of the complex, but was captured and forced into a cage by Bevelle soldiers. He escaped 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. Vegnagun's eyes lit up and it began to stir and a huge cannon protruded from its mouth, but at that moment Lenne appeared, pleading for Shuyin to stop. Shuyin was amazed to find Lenne standing before him and the two embraced each other. The Bevelle soldiers arrived and as one, fired their rifles at the couple and Shuyin and Lenne collapsed to the floor. Lenne's final words were to tell Shuyin she loved him, but he never heard her.

Because of Lenne's spirit and memories in the songstress dressphere, during Final Fantasy X-2 Yuna has an identical dream of herself and Tidus dying the same way.

Shuyin's spirit was filled with such hatred and desire for vengeance it didn't dissolve in the Farplane, but lingered on and existed for a thousand more years, filled with grief and despair, a shadow of his former self. He dwelt within a 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.

Before the events of Final Fantasy X, 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 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. The recruits were driven mad and slaughtered each other due to exposure to Shuyin's grief and despair. Shuyin weakened Nooj without breaking his mind and inhabited his body.

When the surviving Crimson Squad members escaped the cave and Kinoc's machinations, they set sail on a ship and later arrived at one of Rin's travel agencies. Saying their final farewells and turning to depart, Shuyin took control of Nooj's body and shot his three friends in the back. Although they were not gravely wounded, it caused enmity and confusion among the companions, as they had no knowledge of why "Nooj" would do such a thing.

Shuyin used Nooj's eyes and ears in Spira and 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 Shuyin manipulates Nooj to go to Bevelle and steal Vegnagun. Nooj's hatred causes it to "awake" and it flees into the Farplane.

Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj meet in the complex underneath the city of Bevelle to discuss Vegnagun's disappearance. Shuyin leaves Nooj's body and takes control of Baralai, who is still angry at Nooj for shooting him and Gippal two years ago. Baralai, now controlled by Shuyin, departs to the Farplane to find Vegnagun, with Nooj and Gippal in pursuit.

Shuyin takes control of the aeons, and fiends begin to pour out of the temples' Chambers of the Fayth. With the help of Yuna and the Gullwings, the temples are cleansed, but during one such battle with the aeon Ixion Yuna falls into the tunnel in Djose Temple and ends up in the Farplane Glen where she encounters Shuyin.

Shuyin mistakes Yuna for Lenne because she is wearing the Songstress dressphere and tells her about his plans to use Vegnagun's cannon to destroy Spira and end all of humanity's warring. Shuyin steps through a portal that would take him directly to Vegnagun. Gippal and Nooj find Yuna, and pass through the portal as well in order to save Spira and free their friend Baralai. The portal disappears, leaving Yuna behind.

The Gullwings later encounter Shuyin's spirit imprinted in the pyreflies of the Den of Woe. Shuyin's grief and despair take over Rikku and Paine, who attack Yuna, forcing her to attack her comrades in hopes of saving them. The pyreflies show Shuyin's memories of how he tried to use Vegnagun and how he and Lenne died. Yuna aims her gun at a ghostly image of Shuyin, but Shuyin tells her this is their story and calls her Lenne.

After the Gullwings get back to their senses they conclude that Shuyin has serious regrets for his feelings to have begun acting on their own. Paine explains his despair was strong enough to crush the minds of the Crimson Squad and have them kill each other. Shuyin reveals he's been using Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai and summons illusions of them for the Gullwings to fight.

Thinking back to when Nooj shot her, Gippal, and Baralai, Paine realizes Shuyin possessed him to do so. Paine and Yuna decide to try and free Nooj from Shuyin, but Rikku persuades 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 follow Gippal and Nooj deep into the Farplane and help them defeat Shuyin. After Yuna, Rikku, and Paine defeat Vegnagun, Shuyin realizes Yuna is not Lenne and, enraged, attacks them. Lenne's spirit steps out of Yuna's dressphere and soothes Shuyin, and the two fade 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's.

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

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Shuyin appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game depicted with his official artwork. His sole card is part of the Aqua" set.

Trivia

 * Because of the similarity in appearance to his son, when Jecht's spirit gives words of encouragement and advice to the Gullwings during the final battle, he calls Shuyin a crybaby.
 * There is some speculation among fans that Shuyin was a blitzball player in ante bellum Zanarkand due to the fact he uses a blitzball during his Overdrive, Terror of Zanarkand. His costume also resembles Tidus's blitzball uniform.
 * During the FMV under Bevelle where Shuyin and Lenne are confronted by Bevelle guards, the scene where he looks back at the guards Shuyin's eyes are black. The reason for this could be bad lighting, a change for emphasis, or simply a mistake. This quirk is present in both the "1000 Words" concert and the Den of Woe mission.
 * In Japanese mythology, an is a manifestation of the soul of a living person separately from their body. The Ikiryo are said to be able "to possess another living person without the originator even being aware of it." The spirits are not "tied to whomever they possess," and "may freely move about bodies." Shuyin possesses Nooj for the majority of time and later changes his host to Baralai.

Shuyin