Beacon515L
05-25-2009, 08:04 AM
Hiya FFShrine,
I consider myself a fan of FFTA and am somewhat dissapointed with the way it doesn't gel with the rest of the Ivalice Alliance. I then stumbled upon the FFWiki article on Ivalice, (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ivalice) and got thinking. The proposed continuity appears to be all nice and cohesive with the exception of FFTA, so I decided to try and write it in as painlessly as possible.
The result was an email I sent to a fanfiction writer friend of mine, from which I quote:
I found a couple of passages with curious implications:
"It is possible that the presence of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in Ivalice itself is a retcon, as material related to FFTA noted the existence of a civilization that was destroyed by Noah's flood; this implies that St. Ivalice is of our world, and considering Marche's former home, the large presence of automobiles, and the wide temperature difference between north and south, it could very well be situated in the United States."
"The Montblanc, Nono, and Ezel that appear in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are part of the dream world Mewt created with the help from the Gran Grimoire, and thus are not real (although Montblanc possibly does have memories from when he was at the dream world Ivalice). However, Montblanc, Nono, and Ezel are real in the other games they appear in."
The former passage is more interesting than important, but the latter presents several intersting points:
Assume Montblanc, Nono and Ezel are real at some point in the real Ivalice's chronology.
Further assume that the Ivalice Mewt has created is not the real Ivalice.
Further assume that Ivalice is in fact the real world (supported by the FFTA documentation reffering to Kiltia's descrution by Noah's flood and the following: "At some point, a great catastrophe hits Ivalice, wiping out many landmarks and even taking out the race of the moogles. The other races disappear in this time. Man starts refering to the previous era as the Golden Era. He starts building again from the ground up."
Hence:
FFTA2 seems to take place in the real Ivalice, as Luso travelled back in time, where Mewt formed a dream world. However, the Montblanc of FFTA2 has the memories of the (ostensibly fake and chronologically far later) Montblanc of FFTA (case in point - if Montblanc falls in battle, he calls out for Marche). This presents a paradox - if Mewt created the dream world and everything in it inspired by his favourite video game (which must be FFTA2, being Montblanc's only other appearance) then the two Montblancs are seperate entities incogniziant of each other. However, this would make it impossible for the real Montblanc to know about his other self, Marche, Clan Nutsy or anything at all that took place in FFTA. Hence, Mewt can't have created the dream world.
This poses an interesting question: if Mewt didn't create the dream world, what did he do?
I propose that the "dream world" Ivalice of FFTA is no less real than the real world, and is in fact a part of the real Ivalice chronology, just prior to the Ivalice part of FFTA2. Thus, the protagonists visited Ivalice, they did not create it. This would allow Montblanc to exist across both games (there being only one Montblanc) and resolve that paradox. The implication is, however, that while we assumed that Mewt created the dream world, it made sense that the world was made to be perfect in Mewt's - and anyone else's eyes. I therefore suggest that in order to intergrate them into the world, certain changes were made, and by changes, I'm suggesting that the kingdom of Ivalice you see in FFTA cropped up for the explicit purpose of accomodating them (one could also suggest that their visiting Ivalice caused these changes, hence, you create a circular paradox which I have no intention of resolving. XD). This does have another problem, creating a predestination paradox - as FFTA must take place before FFTA2, it must also take place before Vagrant Story (in which the Gran Grimore was created, or at least, the only other mention of Kiltia is made, hence, I infer its creation). This would mean that the protagonists of FFTA travelled back to Ivalice prior to the creation of the Gran Grimore. In changing Ivalice's history by virtue of their being there, they may have possibly stopped The Light of Kiltia from forming, and hence the Gran Grimore, hence then events of FFTA from happening. However, I assert that their presence in fact caused the future, hence causing a predestination paradox.
And who might have orchestrated this? Why, the Li-Grim, the manifestation of desires, the wish granter, whom you could well perceive as being omnipresent, if you think about it ("I am the wish-gatherer. I am the world-maker. Desire is the thread that binds the world together.").
My theory does of course have a massive flaw - the supposition that the Totema hold the world together. Well, here I take a leaf out of Doctor Who's book (awesome show):
"Designed by the Master in "The Sound of Drums", the device is constructed from the Doctor's TARDIS, centred around the main console with several large pipes leading into it, installed on the airborne aircraft carrier Valiant. The paradox machine uses the power of the TARDIS to prevent the universe from collapsing under the inherent logical contradiction of a grandfather paradox when the Toclafane kill their ancestors, modern day humans. When destroyed, it has the effect of reversing time up to the point immediately before it was originally activated. However, those in proximity to the device are immune to this effect by virtue of being in the "eye of the storm", the radius of which is at least sufficient to encompass the Valiant."
I therefore suggest that the Li-Grim and the Totema constitude a paradox machine to allow the events of FFTA to happen. Also, as the protagonists were in the eye of the storm, they retained their memories when they left, allowing Marche, Ritz, Doned and Mewt to remember and move on from it, and Montblanc and company to remember them, hence resolving all other paradoxes. Finally, when the paradox is resolved, Marche and co. get sent back to their time, while Montblanc and co. stay in Ivalice.
This coencides with Split Ends as well. If we assume that the Li-Grim and the Totema are all just manifestations of the Gran Grimore's power, then we can further assume that the Gran Grimore is the Paradox Machine, but capable not only of sustaining paradoxes but the warping of spacetime, hence permitting time travel. This allows for not only the events of FFTA to take place, but also Split Ends by simply repeating the process.
Anyways, that's my ramblings for the evening (morning? 3 AM XD). Let me know if there's holes in it (and if you can find a way to explain how Mrs. Radiuju goes Viera and back under my theory, my kudos to you. XD).
She replied:
That's amazing! I haven't really found any holes in your theory, and I have no idea why Miss Radiuju turned viera other than that it fit well with the rest of the story... besides, using your theory, how do you explain how the three bullies end up as zombies in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance? Which creates a hole in my plotline as well... if they're zombies how did I make them actual humans in my installment.
To which I replied:
I would suggest that the adaptations the world made to accomodate the protagonists are reciprocal - that is, changes were made to them to better suit the world as well (explains why Marche became a soldier, Ritz a fencer, cetera, et cetera). It therefore follows that they became zombies to better suit the world they find themselves in. This could also explain Mrs. Radiuju and such. I would suggest that the reason the Bullies were human in Split Ends would be that the process is random but can be influenced by desire. All of the protagonists had some sort of drive to return home (or something similar, don't feel like attempting to list them all XD). Hence, as the bullies don't understand what's going on entirely, all they want, initially, is to stay safe, so they suffer no appreciable change beyond attire and classes.
Anyways, anyone wanna try and poke holes in this theory so that I can rebut them? XD
I consider myself a fan of FFTA and am somewhat dissapointed with the way it doesn't gel with the rest of the Ivalice Alliance. I then stumbled upon the FFWiki article on Ivalice, (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ivalice) and got thinking. The proposed continuity appears to be all nice and cohesive with the exception of FFTA, so I decided to try and write it in as painlessly as possible.
The result was an email I sent to a fanfiction writer friend of mine, from which I quote:
I found a couple of passages with curious implications:
"It is possible that the presence of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in Ivalice itself is a retcon, as material related to FFTA noted the existence of a civilization that was destroyed by Noah's flood; this implies that St. Ivalice is of our world, and considering Marche's former home, the large presence of automobiles, and the wide temperature difference between north and south, it could very well be situated in the United States."
"The Montblanc, Nono, and Ezel that appear in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are part of the dream world Mewt created with the help from the Gran Grimoire, and thus are not real (although Montblanc possibly does have memories from when he was at the dream world Ivalice). However, Montblanc, Nono, and Ezel are real in the other games they appear in."
The former passage is more interesting than important, but the latter presents several intersting points:
Assume Montblanc, Nono and Ezel are real at some point in the real Ivalice's chronology.
Further assume that the Ivalice Mewt has created is not the real Ivalice.
Further assume that Ivalice is in fact the real world (supported by the FFTA documentation reffering to Kiltia's descrution by Noah's flood and the following: "At some point, a great catastrophe hits Ivalice, wiping out many landmarks and even taking out the race of the moogles. The other races disappear in this time. Man starts refering to the previous era as the Golden Era. He starts building again from the ground up."
Hence:
FFTA2 seems to take place in the real Ivalice, as Luso travelled back in time, where Mewt formed a dream world. However, the Montblanc of FFTA2 has the memories of the (ostensibly fake and chronologically far later) Montblanc of FFTA (case in point - if Montblanc falls in battle, he calls out for Marche). This presents a paradox - if Mewt created the dream world and everything in it inspired by his favourite video game (which must be FFTA2, being Montblanc's only other appearance) then the two Montblancs are seperate entities incogniziant of each other. However, this would make it impossible for the real Montblanc to know about his other self, Marche, Clan Nutsy or anything at all that took place in FFTA. Hence, Mewt can't have created the dream world.
This poses an interesting question: if Mewt didn't create the dream world, what did he do?
I propose that the "dream world" Ivalice of FFTA is no less real than the real world, and is in fact a part of the real Ivalice chronology, just prior to the Ivalice part of FFTA2. Thus, the protagonists visited Ivalice, they did not create it. This would allow Montblanc to exist across both games (there being only one Montblanc) and resolve that paradox. The implication is, however, that while we assumed that Mewt created the dream world, it made sense that the world was made to be perfect in Mewt's - and anyone else's eyes. I therefore suggest that in order to intergrate them into the world, certain changes were made, and by changes, I'm suggesting that the kingdom of Ivalice you see in FFTA cropped up for the explicit purpose of accomodating them (one could also suggest that their visiting Ivalice caused these changes, hence, you create a circular paradox which I have no intention of resolving. XD). This does have another problem, creating a predestination paradox - as FFTA must take place before FFTA2, it must also take place before Vagrant Story (in which the Gran Grimore was created, or at least, the only other mention of Kiltia is made, hence, I infer its creation). This would mean that the protagonists of FFTA travelled back to Ivalice prior to the creation of the Gran Grimore. In changing Ivalice's history by virtue of their being there, they may have possibly stopped The Light of Kiltia from forming, and hence the Gran Grimore, hence then events of FFTA from happening. However, I assert that their presence in fact caused the future, hence causing a predestination paradox.
And who might have orchestrated this? Why, the Li-Grim, the manifestation of desires, the wish granter, whom you could well perceive as being omnipresent, if you think about it ("I am the wish-gatherer. I am the world-maker. Desire is the thread that binds the world together.").
My theory does of course have a massive flaw - the supposition that the Totema hold the world together. Well, here I take a leaf out of Doctor Who's book (awesome show):
"Designed by the Master in "The Sound of Drums", the device is constructed from the Doctor's TARDIS, centred around the main console with several large pipes leading into it, installed on the airborne aircraft carrier Valiant. The paradox machine uses the power of the TARDIS to prevent the universe from collapsing under the inherent logical contradiction of a grandfather paradox when the Toclafane kill their ancestors, modern day humans. When destroyed, it has the effect of reversing time up to the point immediately before it was originally activated. However, those in proximity to the device are immune to this effect by virtue of being in the "eye of the storm", the radius of which is at least sufficient to encompass the Valiant."
I therefore suggest that the Li-Grim and the Totema constitude a paradox machine to allow the events of FFTA to happen. Also, as the protagonists were in the eye of the storm, they retained their memories when they left, allowing Marche, Ritz, Doned and Mewt to remember and move on from it, and Montblanc and company to remember them, hence resolving all other paradoxes. Finally, when the paradox is resolved, Marche and co. get sent back to their time, while Montblanc and co. stay in Ivalice.
This coencides with Split Ends as well. If we assume that the Li-Grim and the Totema are all just manifestations of the Gran Grimore's power, then we can further assume that the Gran Grimore is the Paradox Machine, but capable not only of sustaining paradoxes but the warping of spacetime, hence permitting time travel. This allows for not only the events of FFTA to take place, but also Split Ends by simply repeating the process.
Anyways, that's my ramblings for the evening (morning? 3 AM XD). Let me know if there's holes in it (and if you can find a way to explain how Mrs. Radiuju goes Viera and back under my theory, my kudos to you. XD).
She replied:
That's amazing! I haven't really found any holes in your theory, and I have no idea why Miss Radiuju turned viera other than that it fit well with the rest of the story... besides, using your theory, how do you explain how the three bullies end up as zombies in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance? Which creates a hole in my plotline as well... if they're zombies how did I make them actual humans in my installment.
To which I replied:
I would suggest that the adaptations the world made to accomodate the protagonists are reciprocal - that is, changes were made to them to better suit the world as well (explains why Marche became a soldier, Ritz a fencer, cetera, et cetera). It therefore follows that they became zombies to better suit the world they find themselves in. This could also explain Mrs. Radiuju and such. I would suggest that the reason the Bullies were human in Split Ends would be that the process is random but can be influenced by desire. All of the protagonists had some sort of drive to return home (or something similar, don't feel like attempting to list them all XD). Hence, as the bullies don't understand what's going on entirely, all they want, initially, is to stay safe, so they suffer no appreciable change beyond attire and classes.
Anyways, anyone wanna try and poke holes in this theory so that I can rebut them? XD