LogFAQs > #954838296

I've always liked the theory of Kuja's Ultima killing the party (and maybe destroying the crystal too), and Necron being the soul-sorting function of the Iifa Tree trying to send their spirits to the afterlife. There's lots of circumstantial evidence for it too - supposedly, Hades was originally the final boss instead but the creators thought that was too "obvious", plus the hell-like location Zidane and co wake up in. The "refusing to die" idea shows up again with the unsent in FFX, and its use here would tie perfectly into IX's overall key theme of life and what one does with it - for the final boss of the game to be the party members choosing to live by literally defeating an embodiment of death is a pretty perfect climax thematically. But it's definitely open to interpretation, which I also don't hate!

(Also, Vivi being absent from the ending and the implied meaning there totally passed me by when I first beat this game as a kid. Sadly, on a rewatch the suggestion is not all that ambiguous. Lovely ending either way though, I think Vivi's story had a happy ending regardless.)

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