Tidus

Tidus (ティーダ) is a character in Square Enix's Final Fantasy series and the main protagonist of the 2001 role-playing video game Final Fantasy X. Tidus is a 17-year-old from the city of Zanarkand who is transported to the world of Spira following an attack by the creature Sin. Shortly after his arrival he meets and joins Yuna, a summoner and her guardians in a pilgrimage to kill Sin, after learning the massive creature is his missing father Jecht. He has appeared in other video games, including the Final Fantasy X sequel X-2 where his belonging remains unknown but can be recruited as a playable character in the international version. He is also present as a child in the Kingdom Hearts series, and several Square Enix crossover games as alternate takes.

Tidus was designed by Tetsuya Nomura with a cheerful appearance, in contrast to previous Final Fantasy protagonists. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima wanted to expand the relationship between player and character with monologues describing the game's setting. While the narrative was initially focused on the romance between Tidus and Yuna, Square provided a major focus on his misrelationship with Jecht in order to provide a major impact in the setting. Tidus is voiced primarily by Masakazu Morita in Japanese and James Arnold Taylor in English. Both actors enjoyed voicing the character, and Morita also performed his motion capture.

He has been generally well received by video-game critics. Tidus' cheerful personality and heroic traits make him an appealing protagonist, contrasting with previous male characters in the franchise and comparable to messiah figures or other famous heroes in fiction. His character development and romantic relationship with Yuna are considered among the best in video games, although reviewers and fans were divided on Taylor's voicing. Tidus has been popular with fans, often ranking as one of the best Final Fantasy characters in polls. Action figures and Tidus-related jewelry have been produced, and he is a popular cosplay character.

Creation and development
Before the development of Final Fantasy X, game scenario writer Kazushige Nojima was concerned about the relationship between the player and the main character in a Final Fantasy title and wanted to try to make the story easier to follow. Since the player and the main character find themselves in a new world, Nojima wanted Tidus' understanding of that world to track the player's progress in the game. Nojima felt that Tidus was the easiest character to draw in the first half of Final Fantasy X, because character and player learn about the storyline together. Nojima created a brief description of Tidus for character designer Tetsuya Nomura, and Nomura created a sketch for input from Nojima and other staff members. Nomura was asked to design Tidus differently from the game's theme so he would stand out. Movie director Hiroshi Kuwabara noted the difficulty the developers had in making Tidus and the other main characters realistic. The staff wanted to use an undead person as a playable character, and Tidus was meant to be that character. During the game's development, however, Nojima saw a film with a similar idea for its protagonist. The role of an undead person was then given to a secondary character, Auron. Director Yoshinori Kitase said that in the development of Final Fantasy X, one of the staff's main objectives was to focus on the romance between Tidus and Yuna.

Nomura mentioned the contrast between the lead male and female protagonists established by their names; Tidus' name is based on the Okinawan word for "sun", and Yuna's name means "night" in Okinawan. The contrast is also indicated by the items required to empower their celestial weapons: the sun sigil and crest for Tidus, and the moon sigil and crest for Yuna. Because a player can change Tidus' name, the character is not referred to by name in audible dialogue, but a character in Dream Zanarkand uses Tidus' name in a dialogue box. The only other in-game appearance of his name is "Tidu" in Spiran script on the nameplate of an Auroch locker in the Luca stadium. Before Final Fantasy X's release, Tidus was known to the media as Tida. In early 2001, PlayOnline changed the character's name to "Tidus". Because his name is never spoken in FFX, its intended pronunciation has been debated. Interviews with James Arnold Taylor and spoken dialogue in the English versions of Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts (with cameo appearances by the character) indicate that it is pronounced ; in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II, Tidus' name is pronounced. According to Taylor, it was pronounced during the localization of FFX because the narrator of an early English trailer pronounced it that way.

Nojima said that he cried during the game's ending, when Tidus and Yuna are separated and Tidus vanishes. For the sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, producer Kitase thought that the greatest fan expectation was for the reunion of Tidus and Yuna after their separation in the first game. The game generated rumors about Tidus' connection with the villain, Shuyin, who was physically similar and had the same actors. Square responded that such a storyline, given Tidus' nature, would be too complicated. For the remastering of Final Fantasy X and X-2, producer Kitase's motivation was to have people too young to have played the games experience them; his son was only old enough to know the characters of Tidus and Yuna from Dissidia Final Fantasy and its prequel.

Design
Designer Nomura said that he wanted Tidus' clothing and accessories to suggest a relationship with the sea. Tidus' clothing has a distinctive blue motif; his blitzball team logo, based on a fish hook, is an amalgam of the letters "J" and "T" (the first letters of Tidus' name and that of his father, Jecht).

Tidus' design was specifically made to stand out within the world of Spira. Because of the improvements with the technology when compared with previous Final Fantasy games, Nomura also wanted to make Tidus' face more realistic and make his built more noticeable especially when compared with previous Final Fantasy characters who had a scrawny look. Square specifically asked for Tidus to have an Asian vibe. Both Tidus and comrade share the key color blue with the former making match with the ocean. Artist Yusuke Naora also worked on Tidus' design and his relation to the sea, which he found hard to draw and transform into CGI.

The developers had difficulty with Tidus and Yuna's kissing scene, since they were unaccustomed to animating romantic scenes. According to Visual Works director Kazuyuki Ikumori, this was due to the use of 3D models, and it was revised several times due to a negative response from female staff members. Tidus was initially a rude plumber who was part of a delinquent gang, but Kitase said he would be a weak protagonist and he was made an athlete instead.

Personality
According to Nomura, he wanted to give Tidus a cheerful persona and appearance after designing serious, moody main characters for Final Fantasy VII and VIII. He wanted to continue the recent trend of sky-related names, and Kazushige Nojima chose a name based on tiida (Okinawan for "sun"). Nojima called Tidus' personality "lively" and compared him to Final Fantasy VIII's Laguna Loire and Zell Dincht, two other cheerful characters. The chemistry behind Tidus and Yuna was made so that the latter is sacrificing everything she has to defeat Sin while the former tags despite lacking knowledge about the world. Though Tidus is portrayed as ignorant initially due to not knowing the world of Spira, his growth across the story was specifically written to make his character arc more notable, especially because in the end he saves the world. One of the most important scenes from Tidus and Yuna is when the latter is kidnapped by Al Bhed and, upon saving her, Tidus loudly claims he and the Guardians will protect from everybody so they should not be concerned. This leads to Yuna moving her lips intending to thank Tidus leading to a similar kind response. Nevertheless, Yuna and Tidus' lines were kept as subtitles. While Nojima wrote the character, the scenes where the protagonist's and Yuna's relationship becomes intimate was written by Daisuke Watanabe as Nojima had problems writing the duo in a proper romantic relationship. In restrospect, Nojima believes such scene was well executed as he believes the couple's comfort helped Yuna finished her character arc in the process.

His relationship with his father was based on "stories throughout the ages, such as the ancient Greek legends" and would reveal the key to the weakness of Sin, the game's main antagonist. Kitase noted that, in contrast to previous orphan characters seen in the franchise, Tidus' character arc included accepting Jecht's seeking redemption for Tidus' child abuse. Kitase felt that the voice acting and facial expression were crucial to Tidus at this stage. Motomu Toriyama said that when Final Fantasy X was released, he saw the story from Tidus' point of view: "about parent, child and family". Although FFX was originally centered on the relationship between Tidus and Yuna, the addition of Jecht's character and his feud with son was added later in the making of the game to provide more focus on how the father and son produce a bigger impact in Spira's history rather than the romantic couple. Kitase found the story between Tidus and Jecht to be more moving than the story between Tidus and Yuna.

Portrayals
Masakazu Morita voiced Tidus in Japanese. He called the character a career highlight, comparable to his voicing of Bleach manga protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. Morita also enjoyed performing Tidus' motion capture, which gave him a greater understanding of the character's personality; when he recorded Tidus' dialogue for the game, he moved his body. Morita said that Tidus was his favorite, calling him "the most outstanding, most special character to me". As his first work as an actor, he has fond memories of voicing Tidus and interacting with other Final Fantasy X staff members. Morita said that there was no difficulty in working as Tidus, since the character's personality was similar to his own, and he did not need to study the character. However, he was concerned that if fans did not enjoy Tidus it would impact his career. When announcing the Japanese actor, Square said that Morita was chosen because he also did the motion capture for Zell (which would make fans remember previous games). Across FFX there are also flashback scenes which depict a seven-year old Tidus. For these scenes Tidus is instead voiced by Yūto Nakamura.

For the fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy, Morita returned to voice Tidus. He was concerned about being able to perform the character's lines like the original Final Fantasy series, since it had been nearly a decade since he voiced Tidus. By that time, he was also more accustomed to acting as Ichigo and Keiji Maeda from Capcom's Sengoku Basara hack-and-slash games and the characters had a different vocal tone than Tidus'. When Moriata returned to voice Tidus, he tried to make it match his original performance. When the game director complimented Morita for keeping the character's tone, Morita was relieved and joked that he felt younger.

James Arnold Taylor was Tidus' English-language voice. Taylor was offered the role by voice director Jack Fletcher (who believed that he would fit the character), and translator Alexander O. Smith explained Tidus to him. In contrast to Morita, Taylor made the character friendlier and less serious with the staff's approval. After recording Final Fantasy X, Taylor said that he would enjoy voicing Tidus again; the character was "like an old friend to me now. I know so much more about him now than I did when we first started, knowing hardly anything about him. I would really hate it if anybody else voiced him". Recording the game took Taylor three-and-a-half months, and he enjoyed the experience.

According to Taylor, it would be unrealistic for Tidus to hide emotion. He said that although there were things he would change about his performance (such as the scene where Tidus and Yuna begin laughing together), he was grateful for the warm fan reception of his work. Smith felt that the forced-laugh scene was adapted well from the original Japanese scene, because of how "stilted and out of place" it was in the original version. Smith was confused by Morita and Mayuko Aoki's performance, but after discussing it with Nojima he found it well done in both languages and called it "awkward" and "funny". When Final Fantasy X was re-released in 2013, Taylor said that he was proud to be Tidus' voice. For Dissidia NT, Taylor commented that while Tidus' new role would seem new to players due to how he is led once again into battle, people would still find him as an appealing new trait. IGN said that the character "has a tendency to speak a little too high and fast when he gets excited". This led to several negative responses. On the other hand, PSXextreme liked Taylor's work in voicing Tidus. In one scene, Yuna tells Tidus to laugh (to cheer him up) and Tidus forces a laugh. Although fans criticised the laughter as too forced, Taylor stated that it was an intentionally "awkward, goofy, dumb laugh".

Kikunosuke Onoe V portrayed Tidus in the Final Fantasy X Kabuki adaptation from 2023. In promoting the play, Morita appeared in commercials, asking fans to go see it. Morita expressed his excitement over Final Fantasy X being retold and that his character would be portrayed by Onoe as a result of his popularity.

Final Fantasy X series
In Final Fantasy X, Tidus is a player in the underwater sport of blitzball in an advanced, technological version of Zanarkand. Belying his cheerful, carefree attitude, Tidus hates his absent father, Jecht—initially because of his mother's neglect, and later for their rivalry at blitzball. During a blitzball tournament, Zanarkand is destroyed by a huge, shrouded creature known as Sin. Sin transports Tidus and Jecht's friend, Auron, to the world of Spira. After his arrival on Spira, Tidus drifts to the island of Besaid and joins a number of guardians on a journey to help Yuna defeat Sin. Tidus joins them in the hope of finding his way home.

When he meets Auron, Tidus learns that Jecht and Auron made the same pilgrimage ten years before to protect the summoner Braska (Yuna's father) and defeated Sin (who Jecht was then reborn as). As the journey continues, Tidus, losing hope that he will return home, begins a romantic relationship with Yuna and swears not to let her die after the guardians tell him that Sin's battle will kill her. When the party approaches Zanarkand, Tidus learns that he and Zanarkand are the dreams of dead people known as fayth. "Dream" Zanarkand was created when Sin was born during the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle and the original Zanarkand was destroyed. If Sin is permanently defeated, the summoning of Dream Zanarkand and its people (including Tidus) will cease. In the real Zanarkand, the group decides to find a way to destroy Sin which does not require the sacrifice of a guardian or a summoner. They attack Sin, entering its shell. They eventually find Jecht (whom they must defeat to eliminate Sin), and Tidus makes peace with his father in the aftermath. After defeating the spirit of Yu Yevon (who is responsible for Sin's rebirth), the fayth are allowed to leave and the summoning of Dream Zanarkand ends. As he vanishes, Tidus says goodbye to his friends and joins the spirits of Auron, Jecht and Braska in the afterlife.

Tidus makes few appearances in the plot of the 2003 sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, although meeting him is the player's objective. Two years after the events of FFX, Yuna sees a sphere with a young man resembling Tidus trapped in a prison. She joins the Gullwings, a sphere-hunting group, and travels around Spira in the hope of finding more clues that Tidus is alive. The individual in the sphere is later revealed as Shuyin. Depending on the player's development during the game, the fayth will appear to Yuna at the end and tell her that they can make Tidus return to her. He then appears in Spira, and he and Yuna are reunited. In another final scene, Tidus unsure whether or not he is still a dream wants to remain with Yuna. He is also an unlockable character as Star Player, a blitzball player. In Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission (the game's updated version), Tidus is a recruitable playable character for battles. An extra episode, set after the original game's play-through, reveals that he is living in Besaid with Yuna. An illusion of Tidus also appears as a boss character.

Tidus' dialogue, monologues and songs were included on the Final Fantasy X Vocal Collection and feel/Go dream: Yuna & Tidus CDs. Although he does not fully understand that he is not the fayth dream, Tidus feels that disappearing would be preferable to making Yuna cry again. The novel Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishou~, set after Final Fantasy X-2, explores Tidus and Yuna's visit to Besaid Island 1,000 years before. The HD remastered version of Final Fantasy X and X-2, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, adds an audio drama (Final Fantasy X: Will) in which Tidus is a new blitzball star who appears to be concealing an injury. After Yuna breaks up with him, Tidus helps her on a quest to defeat a reborn Sin. Onoe Kikunosuke portrays Tidus in the 2023 kabuki play adaptation of Final Fantasy X, including his child persona.

Other appearances
He also appears in games outside the Final Fantasy X, and a younger version is a friend of the protagonists Sora and Riku in the Kingdom Hearts series. In Kingdom Hearts, Tidus appears with younger versions of Wakka and Final Fantasy VIII's Selphie as an optional sparring opponent. The character makes a cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and is mentioned briefly in Kingdom Hearts II. A digital replica of Tidus is a boss character in Kingdom Hearts Coded, and he appears with Auron and Yuna in the board game-based Itadaki Street Special.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy (an action game with several Final Fantasy heroes and villains), Tidus is the hero from Final Fantasy X: a warrior from the goddess, Cosmos, whose father works for the rival god Chaos. Tidus has two uniforms in this game, and his thoughts and actions refer to FFX. With the cast, he reappears in the prequel Dissidia 012 and represents Chaos in the previous war. Tidus is confronted by Yuna and offers his life to save her from an attack by the villain Emperor, but is saved by Jecht to become a warrior of Cosmos. He appears in the third entry in the series, Dissidia NT.

Tidus is a playable character in the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy rhythm game. He also appears in World of Final Fantasy, and Fortune Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary. Tidus' disappearance between Final Fantasy X and its sequel is also explained in the game Mobius Final Fantasy. Trapped in an underworld-like place known as Palamecia, Tidus joins forces with a warrior known as Wol. The two join on a quest to become fully Warrior of Light though Tidus uses as a distraction since he does not care about his own well-being, satisfied with his actions in Spira. After seeing one of Yuna's creatures disappear from Palamecia, Tidus decides to search for a way to return to Spira. Following more battles, Tidus finds a crystal which allows him to be teleported back to the world. His latest appearance is in the mobile phone game Final Fantasy Explorers-Force.

Reception
Tidus had a positive reception in video-game publications. Several critics often praised Tidus for his cheerful personality contrasting previous brooding leads. According to GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin, players might not initially like the character but would eventually find him "suitably endearing". Kasavin wrote that Tidus had the "surprising depth" characteristic of past Final Fantasy protagonists. Complex described him as the second-best Final Fantasy character, surpassed only by Cloud, praising Tidus' personality. GameZone regarded the protagonist as "a complete mixture of everything cheesy and everything emotional" while also highlighting his differences with the brooding Cloud and the antagonistic Sephiroth. The 1UP.com staff described Tidus as the "good kind of jock" because of his support for the game's other protagonists, but his anger and growth kept him from being a "stereotypical boy scout". In the book Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century, the writers recalled that Tidus' characterization differs in the original Japanese release of Final Fantasy X and its English dub; the localized version failed to emulate the original Tidus. In regards to the character's hobby, RPGFan said that the Bliztball was well integrated into the narrative as Tidus and Wakka becomes close friends in a short amount of time as a result of having the same passion. At the same, Wakka acts like a mentor to Tidus when the latter believes they should not focus on a sport in moments a chaos only for the former to tell the protagonist that Spira's citizens are fascinated by the idea of such sport.

Tidus was also compared with other kind heroes in the franchise including Zidane Tribal from Final Fantasy IX and Vaan from Final Fantasy XII as these three characters come across as less prominent in the main narrative than other characters featured. Christian Nutt of GamesRadar wrote that despite initial issues, Tidus' character development during the game made him more likable. Atlus character designer Kazuma Kaneko called him "a dashing lead character". The revelation of his true nature as a being created by the Fayth and apparent death confused critics though gave a sad impression. His gradual care for his abusive father was appreciated. 1UP found him the worst-dressed video-game character, Raymon Padilla of GameSpy called him a "garishly dressed Leonardo DiCaprio", whose flaws make him appealing. In Console Video Games and Global Corporations, Mia Consalvo stated that although Tidus was designed from a Western's perspective which contrasted the others' Eastern designs, the game managed to blend their looks and appeal to the audience. According to Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto, Tidus cosplay has been popular.

The relationship between Tidus and Yuna was described as one of the video-game "great loves" by GameSpot, and is often cited as one of the best romances in gaming too. Tidus and Yuna were regarded by The Inquirer as memorable video-game couples, with Tidus' self-sacrifice and their farewell noted. In 2001, Tidus and Yuna won Game Informer Best Couple of the Year award. Their kiss also gathered attention. Yuna's English voice actress, Hedy Burress, said that Tidus' interaction with Yuna gave her a humanized, "womanly aspect". Ash Parrish from Kotaku said the kiss scenes Tidus and Yuna share in the forest underwater was one of the "first sex scenes" in his life due to erotic atmosphere which contrasted quite relationships from the previous games as well as the song "Suteki da ne" which helped improve more the romantic atmosphere. This was further amplified by the next dialogue where the new couple swear their eternal love for each other. Den of Geek cited the eventual kiss in latter parts of as one of the best scenes in the entire franchise. To commemorate the franchise's 20th anniversary, Square released figurines of Tidus and other Final Fantasy protagonists.

Analysis as a heroic figure
In "Procedural Religion in Videogames: A narratological and ludological analysis of how religious ideas are reflected, rejected and reconfigured in Final Fantasy X and Bloodborne", Kristofer F. Sjølie University of Oslo claims that Tidus and the player are both given commentary about religion in the world of Spira and come with their own answers about how this should continue. Both the protagonist and the player immerse themselves into the lore of Spira as the game continues which is needed to beat the game. This eventually leads to Tidus and the player rejecting the world's religion most notably when Yu Yevon is revealed and the player has to defeat him to end Sin's chaos permanently. Sjølie notes there is a clear contrast between Tidus and the protagonist of a similar game, Bloodborne, due to whether or not both find their own answers with how to deal with society in their respective worlds as well as if the player can choose them. While analyzing the handling of religious figures, University of Newfoundland said that Tidus' characterization and role in the game might be similar to Christianity as he and Yuna come as an example to society as people who can make their own decisions rather than listening to others in the world of Spira. The scene where the protagonist questions Yuna's love for antagonistic Seymour also serves as an example of how Tidus is able to properly reconsider the summoner's own feelings and free will which further enhances her character arc when rebelling against her supposed superior, Yunalesca. Meanwhile, Tidus' vulnerability when it comes to being trapped in another world serves as an example for those who are struggling with their freedom when they are at a loss. Despite his initial immature personality, Tidus develops into a more serious teenager the more he travels which results in him repeating Auron's words of the "This is my story". This is caused by the love he develops for Yuna and the rest of his new friends. His eventual sacrifice when defeating Yu Yevon were also compared with Jesus' last actions to let his people survive. His origins and reason to live and fight were compared with Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles who finds his purpose to fight for a new world in his video game.

Some writers also compared Tidus with famous figures in fiction. Mark Ivan Host from Cleveland State University commented that while at first the journey Tidus undergoes in Final Fantasy X might come across as generic due to how he explores a new world, faces danger and commits patricide while killing Jecht to save the world, there is deeper meaning with how the protagonist has to deal the narrative; A common element shown in Final Fantasy X involves repetition as summoners and guardians travel across the world to defeat the antagonist Sin every decade. Tidus often receives advice from his caretaker Auron similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi appearing to Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. Tidus is unaware of Auron's deceased nature until the fight against Yunalesca where both the player and the protagonist learn of the issues involving the status quo the world suffers. Tidus' action causes the world to renew society after ending Spira's circle of destruction comparable to post-World War II stories. While at first Tidus is meant to replace his father as the new vessel of Sin, the narrative challenges to add a proper closure to the chaos. Seymour also comes across as Tidus' antithesis as, while he wants to destroy Sin, he aims to be the new creature and destroy the world. The differences between Tidus and Seymour make Tidus comes across a more human character as he does not want to actually kill Jecht and instead reconcile just like Luke wishes to do with Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi and instead make peace with him. While defeating Jecht comes across as a success to the player, Tidus instead expresses angst when grabbing his father's dying body. This led to another comparison between the protagonist and Luke Skywalker during Vader's death by Christopher Michael Bingham from Washington State University, giving the game one the emotions experienced during video game play is different from other media. In The Kingdom's Shōnen Heart Transcultural Character Design and the JRPG, Rachael Hutchinson compares Tidus' disappearance to Riku's ending in the first Kingdom Hearts game but, while Tidus' case is taken in a mature fashion, Riku's story evokes shonen manga tropes due to his return in the next game as a more stereotypical hero when returning. In the book, Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens: The Digital Role-Playing Game, authors Gerald A. Voorhees and Joshua Call compared Tidus with Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud Strife in appearance and weapon, but they found the former more realistic than the latter.

In Science Fiction Video Games Neal Roger Tringham describes Final Fantasy X as a game that focuses on melancholy by having Tidus disappear due to him taking down Sin with his town being also taken in the process. While the game often deals with the concept of dead spirits, Joseph Roach notes Tidus' nature of being a "Fayth" does not involve death but instead a memory-like being who stands out among the Fayths for how mature is his portrayal in the narrative. However, while Tidus becomes more heroic in the game to the point he manages to defeat Yu Yevon and end the cycle of death from Spira, he is still haunted by death in the process as a result of the Fayths not being able to maintain his physical form. Through his journeys and relationship with Yuna, Roach notes that Tidus manages to become his own individual especially in Final Fantasy X-2 due to him regaining his body.