Shinto in Final Fantasy

Aren't you a bit young for spirits?

Earlier this week i made a post where i mentioned that i feel that several elements in Final Fantasy are based on the Shinto religion. In this post i am going to try and elaborate a bit on that, “wild”, claim. Don’t worry, this will still be spoiler free.

Shinto is one of the major religions in Japan. It is part of many peoples lives, and is often practiced alongside of buddhism. It is based on an old form of spirit worship where spirits are said to inhabit all kinds of things, like trees, houses, rocks, and swords. It is is characterized by being polytheistic, worshipping nature, and showing a great respect for the ancestors. The word Shinto literally means “Way of the Gods”. Modern Shinto is practiced at shrines spread across the country, and consists of purification rituals, homage to the gods and ancestors, and prayers of protection and good fortune.

Shinto ‘the game’

In Final Fantasy XIII the main setting is about some mechanical creatures called the fal’Cie who are created by a being known as the maker. These fal’Cie now rest in the world, and can be both good and evil. That means they are silent beings, inhabiting a shell, and working their ways in the human world… just like the Kanji spirits known from Shinto.

In the game you get charged with a mission by a fal’Cie (I won’t go into more detail due to the spoil). This is not unlike several Shinto legends where a protagonist is charged, or works in cooperation with a spirit. I can’t go into much more detail without beginning to spoil, but i hope i have made my point a bit more clear.

What i find really interesting about the Final Fantasy XIII story is that it clearly shows a tendency that is also seen in japanese cinema, and animated movies. The Japanese are transferring their view of the world and the system of spirits that are said to inhabit it. They are showing us how, by interacting with these spirits, life’s can be changed in elaborate and interesting ways.

Religious gaming?

Please note that i am not making this out as a bad thing, actually i find this development very interesting. It shows how one culture is now, and has been for a while, transmitting their beliefs and past unto a new audience by using an entirely new media – games. Japanese cinema has been doing this for a long time, but i believe that games are a much more direct medium for creating a ‘true’ understanding in the mind of others than cinema is. By actually interacting with the story and its unique world view, players are better able to understand the underlying and deeper meaning. Again, this is not to say that Final Fantasy is made to brainwash us westerners. But it does provide a very interesting, and alternative, view on japanese mythology.

Final Fantasy XIII is providing me with some very interesting insights, and I am now considering getting a hold of some old consoles, so i can actually play the old Final Fantasy games. So i guess my horizon might be broadening even more now.