Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: The Quickening > Final Fantasy X > The Pros of the Yevon Religion

[Prodigal Knight]

Religion is supposed to comfort people, and in a sense, Yevon fulfilled this by concealing the truth and meaning behind Sin's existence. The people were sheltered under a veil of false hope. But while they prayed at their temples and followed the teachings, many were dying. Spira's population was greatly devastated by Sin's destruction. Yevon added to the spiral of death as described by Auron:

"Summoners challenge the bringer of death, Sin, and die doing so. Guardians give their lives to protect their summoner. The fayth are the souls of the dead. Even the maesters of Yevon are unsent. Spira is full of death... Only Sin is reborn, and then only to bring more death. It is a cycle of death, spiraling endlessly."

Let us not forget the real reason why the pilgrimages exist in the first place. People were frightened to sleep in their beds at night. Many families suffered due to Sin's attacks. Entire lives were destroyed within mere seconds as demonstrated during Sin's collision with Kilika. Yuna, as well as her father Braska before her, chose to become a summoner in order to "make people's sorrow go away, not cover it up with lies."

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to live in a world where I'd be constantly fearing for my life, never knowing if the friends and family I was talking to today would still be around tomorrow after a bout with a gigantic turtle-like, gravity-manipulating monster. The fact that Yevon forbids questioning the "teachings" limits the ideas and creativity of people. In order to remain in power, the will of the ones in charge (i.e. the Maesters of Yevon in this case) must be absolute. By living free of independent thinking for a millennium, Sin was allowed to ravage Spira mercilessly, only taking a break to regenerate during the Calm.

Yevon offered stability in times of the Sin crisis. It provided a focus point for hope. It started out as an honest religion seeking atonement from Sin and appeasement for Yu Yevon, but it only offered temporary solutions for the major problem plaguing the lives of all Spirians. The pilgrimages added to the death tolls.

Now as for Yevon's take on machina... Well, I like modern conveniences. One look at Besaid and you know Yevon didn't only ban guns and cannons. I think they took the ban a little too far. Then again, that could possibly be due to frequent Sin attacks. I suppose having communication satellites and the like all around the island wouldn't be too grand an idea with the possibility of destruction very high.

[Tabris]

Yeah, it was mainly due to frequent Sin attacks. Why spend a lot of time and resources on technology when Sin will obliviate it anyway?

Of course, it would be better Yevon, the Spirans and Al Bhed worked together to try and find a way to get rid of Sin forever. Having that said, I fully understand Yevon's distrust for machina and technology, as I share quite a bit of the sentiments.

I am not defending every decision made by the Yevon Maesters, not at all. But I do see several positive aspects with the Yevon faith, and several negative aspects with the Al Bhed-way of life.

[cally777]

I think that one thing people have trouble accepting is that good can come out of evil and vice-versa. Technology isn't always good and conflict isn't always bad. Tech can advance medicine or ways of killing. War is destructive, but also sometimes leads to progress.

Eg The conflict between New Yevon and the Youth Lge in X2 could be seen as negative, but also a positive debate about where Spira was heading after 1000 years of stagnation. The Machine Society also produced good machina like the high road transports.

[Tabris]

Yeah, not all machina are bad - and that was never what Yevon meant either. (Luca Stadium is one example of legal machina). But human's craving for power lead to powerful weapon and destructive technology.

Having that said, it's the human lust for power which really is the power, not the machina itself. Technology is neutral, just like religion.

[Marky Tee]

the way i see it...the yevon religion was probably,like most of our religions well meaning to start with but its us people that made it corrupt

that is if the yevon religion wasnt totaly corrupt to start with cause of like who the deity actualy is
im not so sure about that