Seymour Guado (FFX)

Appearance

Seymour is a tall Guado-human hybrid who has purple eyes, light blue hair with two long horn-like locks running down his back, and a large bang of hair falling over his face. His ornate robes are unlike the other maesters', being predominantly dark blue with red trimmings and a green sash. The robe above Seymour's waist is open, exposing his chest with leonine tattoos concept art of Seymour's tattos, and his sleeves fall to partially cover his hands.

As a half-Guado, Seymour's fingers are more pointed than a human's, but not as long as a Guado's. His ears are rounded and human-like, unlike the elfish ears of the Guado. The veins on Seymour's face are pronounced and there are veins arching over his stomach, another trait passed from the Guado. Seymour wields a staff in battle, though he is more proficient with magic.

Personality

Seymour believes, as many do, that Sin is eternal and sees death as a release from the sorrow of life. Seymour appears courteous and affable and is popular among Yevonites.

Due to his harsh and lonely upbringing, Seymour has nihilistic views on life. When confronted, he drops the pretenses and reveals his true nature as an arrogant and cruel man. He has feelings for Summoner Yuna, whom he proposes to, but much of this attraction is due to a desire to gain her powers so that he can become the next Sin.

Seymour does not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in the way of his objectives, rationalizing that by murdering them, he has saved them from the pain of life. The Guado considered his birth a heresy and he had to witness his mother turn into a fayth. Final Fantasy X-2 shows that Seymour gave Baralai refuge without asking for anything in return.

Seymour is the son of Jyscal, who became leader of the Guado, and a human woman. Though his existence was meant to foster friendship between the Guado and human races, it only made him the target of both races' hatred. Fearing strife from his people over what they saw as an impure abomination, Jyscal had the wife of his retainer, Tromell, take the eight-year-old Seymour and his mother out of Guadosalam in the dead of night and bring them to the remote island of Baaj to live in exile.

When he was but ten years old, Seymour was brought to Zanarkand, where his mother intended to become a fayth so that her son could use her aeon incarnation to win the peoples' love by destroying Sin and bringing the Calm. Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega elaborates that Seymour's mother was dying, which motivated her desire to become a fayth for her son, even though she knew of the mechanics of the Final Summoning through Jyscal, as the Guado possess their own records that tell of Spira's sealed histories in fragments. Jyscal was aware of Seymour and his mother going to the Zanarkand Ruins and privately supported it. Not caring for acceptance if it meant losing her, Seymour mourned for his mother and didn't use her aeon, Anima, to battle Sin. Seymour returned to Baaj alone and spent his remaining childhood in the temple, where his isolation inspired his nihilistic views on life and death.

At eighteen years of age, during High Summoner Braska's Calm, Seymour's exile was revoked and he was summoned back to Guadosalam to help his father in the duties of a Yevon priest. A year later, Jyscal became a maester of Yevon as part of Grand Maester Yo Mika's "sub-races appeasement policy".

Seven years after returning to Guadosalam, Seymour assumed the post of high priest of Macalania Temple at Mika's nomination. He secretly traveled to the Zanarkand Ruins to transport Anima's fayth to the abandoned Baaj Temple and sealed it up. Afterwards, Seymour frequented Baaj and, during these visits, began formulating his plan.[2] The rejection and loneliness of his childhood and his mother's sacrifice had made Seymour nihilistic and he longed to become Sin and destroy the world, "releasing" Spirans from the suffering of existence. Only two weeks prior to Tidus' arrival in Spira, Seymour murdered his father under mysterious circumstances and succeeded him as the leader of the Guado and as a maester of Yevon. Seymour is the first summoner ever appointed a maester of Yevon in the temple's long history.

Yuna and her guardians encounter Seymour in Luca when Grand Maester Yo Mika announces Seymour's position as a maester. Seymour secretly has fiends released within the blitzball stadium to win the spectators' trust by summoning Anima to dispatch them. Seymour meets Yuna and her companions soon after when their pilgrimage is hindered due to a combined effort of the Crusaders and Al Bhed to battle Sin using machina, called Operation Mi'ihen. Though machina use violates Yevon's teachings, Seymour respects the groups' hope of saving Spira, though both he and Maester Kinoc know that it will fail. As Sin appears at the call of Sinspawn Gui, Seymour protects Yuna from the creature before aiding her and Auron in destroying it. Afterwards, while discussing with Yuna how her role as a summoner is to be a beacon of strength to the people, Seymour offers to be her beacon.

When Yuna's party arrives in Guadosalam, having entertained Baralai before them, Seymour summons the party to his manor, where he shows a sphere depicting the ancient city of Zanarkand. It displays images of Lady Yunalesca, the first summoner said to have defeated Sin with the Final Aeon, and her husband, Lord Zaon. Seymour asks Yuna to marry him, if not for love, then to give the people of Spira reason to celebrate. Seymour gives her leave to think his offer over and departs for Macalania Temple. Seymour recognizes Auron, one of Yuna's guardians, as an unsent, stating that the Guado are keen to the scent of the Farplane.

When Yuna's visit to the Farplane ends with her sending the spirit of Jyscal, who had tried to leave, Yuna learns of Seymour's act of patricide from the sphere that the spirit leaves behind. Not wanting to get her guardians involved, Yuna decides to accept Seymour's proposal to personally deal with him. Arriving after Yuna and Seymour entered the Macalania Temple's Cloister of Trials, her guardians find Jyscal's sphere in Yuna's belongings and view it. Confronted by Yuna's guardians before Yuna emerges from the Chamber of the Fayth, Seymour admits his crime while deducing Yuna's true intentions. The confrontation escalates and, after his bodyguards and Anima are defeated, Seymour falls in battle and dies. Tromell and the Guado carry away his lifeless body, refusing to let Yuna perform the sending, and Tromell destroys Jyscal's sphere. Due to his emotional ties to the world, Seymour's spirit becomes an unsent.

When Yuna is taken by the Al Bhed to their secret settlement on Bikanel island, the Guado abduct her during their attack on Home. Once Yuna is brought to Bevelle, Seymour marries her, despite her guardians crashing the wedding. Seymour uses them as hostages to force Yuna to comply under the lie that he would spare her guardians once the ceremony is complete. Yuna summons Valefor to escape while her guardians use Rikku's flash bomb as a distraction to meet up with her in Bevelle Temple, after which they are arrested by Yevon officials.

Yuna and her guardians are placed on trial for treason, with Yuna pleading her case to the maesters of Seymour's actions and nature. Kelk Ronso is disturbed to learn that Seymour murdered his father and Mika reveals himself as an unsent. Yuna and her guardians are thrown into the Via Purifico and Seymour volunteers to guard the exit in case they emerge alive. Maester Kinoc, not trusting Seymour, accompanies him. After Yuna and her guardians escape, they find Seymour waiting for them on the Highbridge. Seymour has murdered Kinoc and explains his views on life and death along with his goal to use Yuna to become the next Sin so that he can save Spira by killing everyone. Seymour then absorbs the surrounding pyreflies, including those around Kinoc's corpse, and becomes Seymour Natus, whom the party battles. He is defeated and the group escapes Bevelle.

Yuna and her group continue the pilgrimage to Mt. Gagazet, where the Ronso live. Kelk Ronso, having abandoned Yevon, allows Yuna to pass while he and his kin hold off her pursuers. The Guado then invade Gagazet, with Seymour killing off Kelk and any Ronso standing in his way. At the mountain's summit, Seymour overhears Tidus speak about his father, Jecht, who is the current incarnation of Sin. Offering Tidus his father's freedom, Seymour tells Kimahri—a Ronso and one of Yuna's guardians—the fate of his people before transforming into Seymour Flux. He is again defeated and vanishes.

Yuna makes it to Zanarkand, but upon learning of the Final Summoning's true nature, she rejects it. The party is forced to kill Yunalesca, ending the tradition of Final Summoning for good. The party then finds a new way to battle Sin by attacking it directly and invading it with Cid's airship. Inside, they discover that Seymour has been absorbed by Sin as he attempts to learn how to control it from the inside. Stating that Sin is unstoppable without Yunalesca and the Final Aeon, Seymour becomes Seymour Omnis. During the battle, if Yuna summons Anima, Seymour remarks "You would oppose me as well? So be it!" Once he is defeated, Seymour prophesies that Spira's sorrow will prevail even after he is gone and Yuna finally sends him.