Just did one of my semi-regular dememe searches for “auron” and it turns out someone asked a question about Braska’s pilgrimage on a post that just closed tonight … I’m thrilled to see people who aren’t me discussing FFX in the year of our lord etc., but disappointed that I just missed the post rolling over without being able to reply (tbh probably good for them that I didn’t have the chance to expound on every single one of my beliefs about the topic). This is something I wanted to note down my thoughts on at some point anyway, so I might as well do it now and feel like I’m talking about something vaguely relevant in contemporary fandom discourse (lol as if).

The question was about how Yuna gets to know Jecht before/during Braska’s pilgrimage. Braska clearly didn’t take her with him so it can’t have happened on the road, but she has a couple of lines in the game that imply she was well acquainted with Jecht:

Yuna: You know that team?

Tidus: Putting people down … they’re as bad as my old man!

Yuna: But Sir Jecht was a kind and gentle man!

and:

Yuna: I do believe your Zanarkand exists. I really do, you know.

Tidus: How come?

Yuna: Sir Jecht used to always tell me stories. It’d be great to see your home someday.

As I see it, there are three ways Yuna could have got to know Jecht:

The perception of Jecht as “a kind and gentle man” could also be influenced by general beliefs among the Spiran population. We know there’s a sort of folk memory of Auron and a myth that’s been created around him as the “legendary guardian”, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest there could also be common beliefs about Jecht. So, conceivably, if Yuna characterises Jecht that way, it doesn’t necessarily mean she knew him personally (although the other line provides firmer evidence).

Bonus question: did Yuna know Auron at this stage? In the sphere she records for her guardians, she says this:

Sir Auron, Kimahri told me: when my father wanted me taken from Bevelle to Besaid – it was you who told Kimahri, right? I had always wanted to meet you someday. I am truly glad that I had that chance.

The use of “meet you” rather than e.g. “meet you again” really makes it sound as if they hadn’t been acquainted before, unless this is a result of awkwardness in the expression (or inaccuracies in the translation, but I prefer considering this kind of thing from an entirely in-world perspective). This may suggest that Auron and Braska didn’t know each other that well before the pilgrimage, or perhaps that if they did, Auron was convinced that it wasn’t his place to get in the way of Braska and Yuna’s relationship. (In the WIP I’ve gone for the latter interpretation, mostly because I’m pushing the “Auron has been pining after Braska for a very long time” agenda.)

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