In addition to being one of the more mechanically enjoyable Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy X arguably has one of the best stories across the entire series. Not only that, all characters in Final Fantasy X play a pivotal role in helping to lend the story gravitas. Hitting emotional highs and lows that few series games before it or since have been able to match, the narrative at the center of Final Fantasy X is an incredibly moving and narratively rich tale that any fan of the series owes it to themselves to experience. Perhaps the largest contributing factor to the success of Final Fantasy X‘s story is its tragic protagonist and cast of companions that join him as he attempts to rid the world of Sin once and for all.
Though the central figure in Final Fantasy X is the young Blitzball player Tidus, there’s plenty of argument to be made that his love interest Yuna is actually Final Fantasy X‘s main character with the importance she has to the overall narrative. Accompanying them both are one of the best ensemble casts across the entire Final Fantasy series, along with some recurring villains with just as complex and tragic backstories as the best in the franchise. Rather than cover every single one of the important characters in Final Fantasy X (including all of the Summoners and the Guardians), this list focuses on the adventuring party and the game’s antagonists.
Tidus
Tidus is the young and hopeful protagonist at the center of Final Fantasy X, and when players meet him he is a somewhat naive, but talented, professional Blitzball player. His father, Jecht, is also a major star in the world of Blitzball along with being a bit of a folk hero in Tidus’ native Zanarkand. When Sin attacks the city of Zanarkand, Tidus mysteriously transports to the strange world of Spira. It’s here that the young hero meets Yuna, a young summoner embarking on a pilgrimage to stop Sin at the cost of her own life. Tidus, looking for a way back to Zanarkand, decides to accompany Yuna. Throughout his travels through Spira with Yuna, Tidus begins to mature and find a sense of his place in the world, as well as fall in love with Yuna.
Eventually, players discover that Tidus is not real, but instead a projection of a false reality manufactured by the ancient summoner Yu Yevon. In order to preserve the ancient city of Zanarkand, the summoner Yu Yevon creates a facsimile of the metropolis, along with all of its residents, dooming the world to a never-ending cycle of death and rebirth at the hands of Sin in the process. Even in the face of learning this truth, Tidus bravely moves forward with his mission, knowing that succeeding will mean the end of his existence.
Yuna
Following in the footsteps of her father before her, Yuna decides to become one of Spira’s Summoners that are tasked with defeating the massive monster known as Sin. When players first meet Yuna she is getting ready to embark on her Summoner’s pilgrimage to face off against Sin by sacrificing her own life. Meeting Tidus eventually imparts the lesson that life is worth living, and together the two resolve to find a way to defeat Sin that won’t result in Yuna dying. Her ability to control Aeons makes her one of the most powerful characters in Final Fantasy X, but her connection to Tidus and the love that the two grow to share for one another makes her one of its most important.
Like Tidus, Yuna is young and naive but earnest and kind, trying to see the best in people and putting her own emotions and needs aside for the benefit of others. Despite her own desire to see Tidus remain with her in Spira, Yuna presses on and defeats Sin, then emerges as the new High Summoner following Sin’s defeat and the rebuilding of Spira.
Auron
Aside form Tidus, Auron is the first party member that players control in Final Fantasy X during the game’s introduction. As a close friend of Tidus’ father Jecht, Auron is Tidus’ caretaker and guardian, and helps him escape destruction at the hands of Sin when the massive beast attacks Zanarkand. After arriving in Spira, players learn that Auron is regarded as one of the more famous Guardians and he agrees to serve Yuna as her Guardian on her pilgrimage to stop Sin. Auron is similar in demeanor and purpose to the recurring Cid character in Final Fantasy games as the party’s resident voice of reason and experience.
Kimahri
Kimahri is a friend and protector of Yuna who also happens to belong to the Ronso tribe — a race of cat-like humanoid beings with horns. Although initially not trusting of Tidus and Wakka, he eventually warms up to them as they join Yuna on her pilgrimage. Although he’s much larger than Tidus or any of his companions, Kimahri is much smaller than other Ronso and has a broken horn, leading him to be a character of few words thanks to his own insecurities. That said, he is always ready to defend those he cares about and does not hesitate to use his great strength in defense of his allies. Above all else, Kimahri concerns himself with Yuna’s well-being and her success on her pilgrimage.
Wakka
Wakka is a native of the Spiran nation of Besaid who meets Tidus after he washes up on its shores. Initially showing confusion over Tidus’ arrival, Wakka eventually warms up to Tidus after seeing his Blitzball skills in action as a fellow Blitzball player. The two quickly become friends, prompting Wakka to introduce Tidus to his childhood friends Yuna and Lulu. Like both Lulu and Yuna, Wakka is a victim of the repeated attacks of Sin, having lost his parents to a particular attack during his childhood. Despite these hardships, Wakka maintains a positive and upbeat demeanor that helps to keep the party’s spirits afloat during the story’s darker turns.
Lulu
Both Lulu and Wakka share a connection with Yuna after all three of them growing up together in Besaid. Like Wakka, Lulu views Yuna as a sister. Formerly romantically tied to Wakka’s deceased brother, Lulu appears cold and stoic on the surface but has an undercurrent of warmth and caring that lies just underneath her grieving exterior. Even though Lulu doesn’t initially believe Tidus’ story, she chooses to join up with him and Yuna as she embarks on her pilgrimage to expel Sin. Contrary to both Wakka and Yuna, Lulu is not as devout a follower of the teachings of Yu Yevon and routinely questions the main driving religion of Spira.
Rikku
Rikku is both the youngest of the party members in Final Fantasy X and the first one that Tidus meets after mysteriously ending up in Spira (though he can’t understand her at first). Even though players meet Rikku first, she’s actally the last of the guardians to join up with Yuna on her pilgrimage to fight Sin. Her father, Cid, is actually Yuna’s uncle, making her and Yuna cousins, and the two share a deep bond as both friends and family members. Endlessly positive and optimistic, Rikku is occasionally at-odds with the dire nature of the party’s main mission but also remains a consistent light to help lift Yuna’s spirits.
Seymour
Seymour is both a recurring villain throughout Final Fantasy X and a high-ranking member of the temple of Yevon, giving him authority over all Summoners, including Yuna. As one might expect from a villain in a position of authority, Seymour regularly abuses his position and place of influence to help facilitate his own sinister ends, including trying to force Yuna into becoming his wife. Seymour is notable for his pessimistic and bleak outlook on life in Spira, viewing death as a favorable release to the persistent attacks from Sin. Players encounter Seymour as both a temporary party member and a recurring boss fight, all the way up through his final form as Seymour Omnis.
Jecht
Tidus’ father Jecht is a former Zanarkand Blitzball star and a one-time Guardian of the Summoner Braska — Yuna’s father. His regular heavy use of alcohol turns Jecht into an emotionally abusive and unavailable father to Tidus, and his accidental journey into Spira sets forth the events for him to eventually become the entity known as Sin. Ultimately, Jecht’s journey as Braska’s Guardian and the pilgrimage to stop Sin sees him become the monstrosity is a mirror to Tidus’ own journey throughout the events of Final Fantasy X. As antagonist to his son’s role as protagonist, the two are essentially a mirror to one another.
Sin
Sin is an eternal force that continually terrorizes the world of Spira, earning its name thanks to the people’s belief that the monstrosity is a punishment for the actions of their ancestors and reliance on Machina. The teachings of the ancient summoner Yu Yevon refer to the beast as both the beginning and end of all things, both fearing and revering Sin in the same breath. Sin is actually a weapon of mass destruction created by the ancient summoner Yu Yevon as part of a last-ditch effort to save and preserve ancient Zanarkand, dooming all of existence to an eternal conflict in the process and continually using powerful individuals as the core of Sin, including Jecht.
Yu Yevon
Yu Yevon is an ancient Summoner hailing from the Zanarkand of millennia ago, creating the massive beast Sin as a means to destroy the nation of Bevelle and preserve Zanarkand for all eternity. In the process, Yu Yevon dooms all of existence to an eternal cycle of destruction at the hands of Sin, but also proliferates his teachings throughout the world to influence new generations of Summoners that make pilgrimages to defeat the creature, only to see their essence absorbed to become the new core of Sin. When players finally enter Sin at the end of Final Fantasy X and defeat both Jecht and Seymour, a final battle against the meditating spirit of Yu Yevon awaits the party before Sin is purged and Zanarkand ceases to exist, bringing peace to Spira.