[Spoilers] What is Anima supposed to be?

[Bwonsamdi the Dead]

I really like her, as you can probably see with my name. (I've Cosplayed her, made paintings of her, and am even wanting to get a small tattoo of her in the future) But one thing that I just don't get is her appearance. What is she? I get that she's supposed to look creepy, but is she based on anything from other works of Pop Culture?

[GengisGien]

Oh gosh! It's been two years, I know.
Nevertheless, I would like to point out one detail that you may be unaware of and that might add something to your theories: in Italian "anima", literally means "soul".

[Scheneighnay]

Originally posted by GengisGien:

Oh gosh! It's been two years, I know.
Nevertheless, I would like to point out one detail that you may be unaware of and that might add something to your theories: in Italian "anima", literally means "soul".

that's not really that important of a tidbit to be worth the necro.

[zeddy1111]

What wasn't stated anywhere is that Animas Attacks go around the defense of the enemy and that she is able to make more than the normal 9999 Damage that the normal fayths mostly are only able to. And that a Final aeon should be able to "pierce sins shell" what could be assumed his defense.
What isn't clearly said but could be speculated: Yunalesca mentions that the summoning of the final aeon (most likely to defeat sin) would kill the summoner and we know what yu-yevon does when his present summon is killed: he takes over the next aeon on the field and tries to kill the person/party that killed the previous summon. If the final aeon is the strongest of all the aeons of the summoner, then he/she would pretty much be Fricked up. Also note: Belgmene teaches you that a summon can be different strong under different summoners. That would be the case why Seymour's Anima isn't so strong as Yuna's, because Seymour isn't such a good summoner but has a Summon that's initially better than Bahamut.

I'm on the side that the line between final aeon and normal aeon is quite small or blurry, that final aeons only are very strong aeons (maybe because of their relationship with the summoner directly (emotional boost) or indirectly because the summoner made the summon because of this bond his/her strongest trained one). Don't forget: It's Yevon-teachings about the final aeon-thing and we all know how trustworthy this bunch is... And Yunalesca is part of it, she only tells you that noone can defeat sin and summoner + high summon has to die, when the party confronts her.

Edit: It's obvious that Seymours Mother had intended to become Seymours Final Aeon, but Seymour didn't wanted that. If she is or not, depends on how you would define a final aeon. Because the game never made it clear if they're really so different from normal aeons.
It could be enough to be a final aeon that it's made from yunalesca from someone you hold dear.
It could be that only afterwards, after the act of "defeating sin" and being a martyr, someone gets announced as high summoner + final aeon.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by zeddy1111:

What wasn't stated anywhere is that Animas Attacks go around the defense of the enemy and that she is able to make more than the normal 9999 Damage that the normal fayths mostly are only able to. And that a Final aeon should be able to "pierce sins shell" what could be assumed his defense.

Bahamut and the Magus Sisters also have automatic break damage limit. The other aeons acquire it as you unlock each character's celestial weapon.

Neither Anima's regular attacks nor her overdrive ignore DEF. Only her Pain attack does - it's a magic attack that ignore MDEF.

[razacka]

I am positive that anima is seymours final aeon. The definition of a final aeon is the sacrifice of a summoner's close bond, in this case his mother. I don't think strength has much to do with the name, just the act itself. Maybe at the time of the sacrifice it was strong enough to beat sin who knows(since it's not guaranteed even with a final aeon), but surely by the time Yuna acquired anima and fought seymour, his mother's fayth wanted Yuna to defeat him hence why she did. Remember, fayths are dead but they're still channeling power through summoners to allow them to use said power, and I'm sure they have the say in how much power they want to share. If you don't buy that, then the fact is simply Yuna is a stronger summoner than Seymour, period. I mean aeons do reflect their summoners stats no?

[Tacosupreme]

To be honest I feel like Seymours's mom blamed herself for his greed. She says this when you speak to her when you get anima . It's rather tragic if you ask me.

[zeddy1111]

Originally posted by Hinnyuu:

Originally posted by zeddy1111:

What wasn't stated anywhere is that Animas Attacks go around the defense of the enemy and that she is able to make more than the normal 9999 Damage that the normal fayths mostly are only able to. And that a Final aeon should be able to "pierce sins shell" what could be assumed his defense.

Bahamut and the Magus Sisters also have automatic break damage limit. The other aeons acquire it as you unlock each character's celestial weapon.

Neither Anima's regular attacks nor her overdrive ignore DEF. Only her Pain attack does - it's a magic attack that ignore MDEF.

Sorry some of the stuff i wrote wasn't very well thought through xD

But it can get over 99999 Damage (with short animation) and with normal length it's even the possibly strongest attack in the game. (1,6 million) But that 's not even the point. The final Aeon is quite literally the final Aeon for a summoner. Because Yu Yevon kills the summoner (in one way or another) after summoning it. Anima would have been Seymours Final Aeon, if he had choosen to fight Sin wih it. But Seymour didn't wanted that. Only his Mother wanted that.
If you think about why there is statdifference between other summoners aeons, although they summon the same fayth as Yuna would do: The stats symbolize the Bond between summoner and Aeon. That would be the reason why Yunas Anima is stronger than Seymors, because his mother hates how her son behaves and treats the rest of the world.She even asks/begs to end his evil-doing. (Don't know the exact words)

[Casurin]

Originally posted by zeddy1111:

Because Yu Yevon kills the summoner (in one way or another) after summoning it.

For all we know and what the game shows - no, the act of summoning the final aeon kills the summoner.
But for arguments sake lets say that is not the case and YuYevon tries to kill the summoner:
The summon, when taken over by him, is no stronger than the original, summoners have multiple other summons and their guards. The final Aeon would have to be extra-ordinally much stronger than anything else to beat an entire lineup solo - unlike Anima that only is a bit stronger.

The game just gives way too few details, but everything points towards the final-summoning requiring the sacrficie of a strong bond from both sides - the summoner and the summoned, both losing their lives.

[TheLunes]

I'm a few years late to the a discussion that has already died, but I was bored reading FFX lore and stumbled across this thread and decided to put in my two cents. This is sort of headcanon-y, so I'm not saying that this definitely IS how it is supposed to work, but is instead my understanding of it as a kid.

Playing the game in my younger years, the final aeon didn't really strike me as being much different than any other aeon; all-in-all, an aeon is an aeon (albeit, some were inherently more powerful than others). And any aeon could be used by any summoner if a given Fayth grants a summoner their aid.

But a summoner is able to use an aeon to greater effect if that summoner has a more personal bond with a given Fayth. For example, if Braska had never used Jecht's aeon to fight Sin, and thus Jecht had never become Sin, then Yuna could have used Jecht's aeon like any other. BUT not to the same effect that Braska could, because of the bond he shared with Jecht. Which is why he is "Braska's" Final Aeon. It's relative and Yuna would still have to visit Yunalesca to get her own Final Aeon. Yuna weilding Jecht's aeon wouldn't be able to defeat Sin.

All aeon's strength grows in proportion to the summoner (and this is even kind of shown to the player via the in-game stats; as Yuna's stats grow, so do her aeons). But a close personal bond between a Fayth and a summoner enhances the aeon's power.

If a hypothetical summoner was very close to Valefore's Fayth while they were both alive, that summoner might have been able to use Valefore as their "Final Aeon".

Yunalesca probably wasn't the only one to ever exist in Spira that was able to create a Fayth, but she IS the only person remaining currently (during the events of the story) that can. But I imagine other Fayth were created in the exact same way, and the Fayth that Yunalesca creates aren't special due to Yunalesca being the one creating them.

For Seymour's mother, she did become Seymour's Final Aeon, but Seymour never fought Sin, so the power his mother has as a Fayth remained. The reason you're able to fight Seymour's Final Aeon, Anima, in Macalania Temple without getting absolutely destroyed (aside from the fact that your party would likely not stand much of a chance against something that should be able to kill the end-game boss, aka "game-balancing" issues) is that Seymour has lost his close ties with his mother at this point, or rather his mother no longer feels the same love for her son that she did when she willingly gave her life to become a Fayth. You get this from her dialogue where she asks Yuna to stop her son and decides to lend Yuna her power.

I doubt Seymour would be able to kill Sin with his final aeon later in his life, when the bulk of the game's story takes place...and let's be honest, it's not like he has the people skills to get someone else to willingly sacrifice themselves to create another one. Nor was facing Sin as a summoner his goal anyways. I'm still not sure how he planned to retain his agency while another powerful summoner like Yu Yevon would be attempting to control him as an aeon, but that's another topic.

This all means that the aeons Yuna collects along her pilgrimage are only there to aid her in making it to Zanarkand alive. They won't suffice for killing Sin and bringing the Calm because...well, basically the power of friendship/love. As far as the lore goes, that boost is the only way an aeon can increase its power enough to be capable of defeating Sin.