FF10 takes the approach from say F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby that the main character of the story is not the leader, but rather the narrator to an extraordinary epic, whose most important figure is Yuna, a tough-minded female leader. Tidus remains a fun-loving sort who actually disappears at the end, as if metaphorically after his story is complete. (In fact, throughout the game, Tidus refers to the entire episode as his story.) The fact that Tidus is a dream reminds us of the fact that this game is in fact just a metaphorical journey taken by us gamers (time and time again, just as in the world of Spira), and that once the journey is over, the game is complete. I find this an amusing way to announce its own genre to the player, while simulaneously incorporating the idea of the Sin, the evil that occurs over and over again until its root, found in the final Aeon and hence summoned by us, is destroyed. FF10 then is a symbolic cleansing of the evil that perpetually regenerates in us, and it claims that the real tragedy is that the superficial solution that people take to general problems can not cleanse away the true filth that is inherent in society. Zanarkand and Bevelle's perpetual war drives the imagination of the Zanarkand survivors, which drives the perpetual, recurrent Sin, and only the end of the lingering dream can bring peace, not the temporary solutions of Yunalesca.

To be continued.