Final Fantasy IX: What happened to Vivi?

[SPOILER WARNING]: This essays contains heavy spoilers of Final Fantasy IX.
Yes, Vivi died. As sad as it is, the little black mage does stop working at the end of the game. I don't want to rub salt into the wound but he dies. He dies. He dies. He dies.

Dead like a fish.

There, I said it. I'm sorry but I don't get why this has become such a difficult conclusion to accept. A lot of characters die in this game. Garnet's mom died in the beginning. Queen Brahne died in the middle. Garland died at the end. Bunch of black mages and people from Alexandria and Lindblum and Burmecia died in between. Why is it so different because the most lovable, innocent,  saddest and sweetest character is implied to have died as well? Oh, right.


Anyway, before we dive into this heart-breaking analysis, let's first start off with an excerpt from final.fantasy.wikia, my favorite website: 

"Vivi is a black mage created in Dali by Alexandria after Queen Brahne learns of this technology from Kuja. Vivi is a prototype black mage who fell out of the cargo ship into a forest near Treno.^[2] Two months later^[2] he was found by a qu named Quan who raised Vivi out of the hope he would grow big enough for him to eat, but after six months Vivi was still as short as before." 

So, what do we know? 

Beside that his loving relationship with his grandpa is kind of hilariously disturbing, we know that Vivi was one of the first black mage prototypes created by Queen Brahne (or Kuja), and that it is mentioned in the game that Vivi's prototype "lasts longer." While not specified how long, it is implied to be longer than that of normal black mages, which I believe lasts around  1 year. MysterPixel nicely states: "After Vivi was created, black mage production moved to creating mages that were less advanced and less durable, but allowed them to produced more easily and quickly."

Ok, so we know this: 

Vivi lives longer than normal black mages
but he's still a black mage
... which means he has an expiration date.

Vivi was 6 months old at the beginning of the game. Tantalus visits Alexandria once a year to perform, so the ending takes place exactly 1 year after Zidane first kidnapped Garnet. Vivi stopped working sometime during this period of time. 

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How do we know it's exactly one year (or less than one year if counting from Garnet's departure from Zidane?) and not two or three years? 

Because first of all: no apparent changes in characters. Eiko, most apparently, is still a child, as well is Puck. Since Garnet and Eiko are of same species, we know that Eiko will change in appearance. Also she only just recently addressed Cid as her father as we can infer from his astonished yet blissful reaction. She probably wouldn't take several years before deciding to call him father after being adopted. 

Secondly, Beatrix' resign. Beatrix said "My duty is finished here" as was about to leave the castle. This is because she has fulfilled her duty in protecting the princess now that Garnet is the Queen. If you remember, Garnet was never crowned a Queen during the game because Bahamut attacked Alexandria during the coronation festivities. There's not reason for her to say "My duty is over" two-three years into Queen Garnet's reign. 

Thirdly, it makes no sense why it shouldn't. Exactly one year after the beginning of the game sounds great and makes sense because the characters all finally get to unite again after being apart for several months. If they were apart for five years, then I don't think they'd be as sentimental as they appeared to be at the end of the game. They'd probably be like "Fuck, it's  "I want to be your canary again"?! I've watched it 5 times already!"

Lastly, This is not an important aspect of the game, neither in the story or in proving my Vivi is dead theory. Ehem. 

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How do we know he stopped? Look at the ending.

"I always talked about you, Zidane. 

How you were a very special person to us, because you taught us all how important life is."

"You taught me that life doesn't last forever. 

That's why we have to help each other and live life to the fullest."

"Even if you say goodbye, you'll always be in our hearts. 

So, I know we're not alone anymore."

"Why I was born... How I wanted to live... 

Thanks for giving me time to think."

"To keep doing what you set your heart on... It's a very hard thing to do. 

We were all so courageous..."

"What to do when I felt lonely... That was the only thing you couldn't teach me. 

But we need to figure out the answer for ourselves..."

"I'm so happy I met everyone... I wish we could've gone on more adventures. 

But I guess we all have to say goodbye someday."

"Everyone... Thank you. Farewell." 

"My memories will be part of the sky..."

The unspecified end monologue dedicated to Zidane is the most evident, uhhh, evidence that Vivi went "BYE" and expired because those were Vivi's last words.

"My memories will be part of the sky..." is not everyday statements. Most people usually don't utter "Everyone... Thank you. Farewell" unless they know they're about to fade into eternal sleep. The word "farewell" should be an obvious indicator that he's departing from the world. 

We know the monlogue belongs to Vivi nobody in the game is as philosophical and deep as Vivi, although he is only six months old (So, Mozart. You composed a song at 6 years old? Well, Vivi questioned his life when he was 6 months). Steiner is simple-minded. Amarant is arrogant. Quina is a nuthead. Freya and Eiko never had any deep life philosophy conflicts. It would make no sense if Garnet said the speech. I don't recall Garnet having some existential crisis. 

Vivi's so deep. I could totally imagine him following up with "To be, or not to be?" 

At the end of the day, Vivi has the mentality of a growing child. A child needs guidance. If they were forced from creation to obey and destroy like the black mages in Kuja's army, they'd lose all their self-will. But Vivi was raised by a toad and fell under Zidane's lead, who him to seek out the truth behind his existence, to believe in himself (as well as leading him into a casanova lifestyle with his girl advice) and to make decisions for himself. Vivi was inspired by the monkey's confidence and enthusiastic outlook on life more than anyone else, and so it would be natural that he would dedicate his last breath to his hero.

The most significant evidence, though, is the fact that he was the only one who didn't appear at the ending. 

Another excerpt from final.fantasy.wikia agrees with the conclusion: 

"The monologue during the ending is spoken by Vivi, indicating he has expired by the time the ending takes place, as he is saying goodbye to his friends and the final words of his monologue are "Farewell. My memories will be part of the sky", an allusion to death in the world of Final Fantasy IX. Because the speaker of the lines is not specified it has incited speculation among fans on Vivi's fate and who is the speaker of the monologue. The game's Japanese version is more explicit on the issue, as the speaker uses a speech pattern and pronouns that only Vivi used throughout the game."

Always trust the Japanese with their legitimate version. 


But still. Some people believe that Vivi is alive because he sent his sons to watch the play instead. Sons? Oh, right. The mini Vivis. A lot of people seem to believe that mini Vivis are Vivi's sons.

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Speaking of which, I want to talk about whether or not Quina gave birth to Vivis son or whatever idiocy people come up with.

The mini Vivi lookalikes are not  Vivi's biologically  reproduced heirs. The idea alone just sounds ridiculous to me. Vivi is 6 months and has a body of a 9 years old! 6 months!! 9 years old!! Did you reproduce at the age of  6 months?! Could your body reproduce when you were 9 years old? Can you imagine Vivi reproducing? 

For people that say since he married Quina, they must've had children afterward ... this is probably the weirdest and sickest fan fiction I've ever come across. Quina and Vivi's marriage, first of all, doesn't hold any genuine significance whatsoever. In the game, it's optional. Zidane and Garnet married too, but it doesn't mean they lawfully married. It was a ploy to get past the gate. Secondly, Quina is a he/she. It doesn't have a specific gender. Thirdly, it was never never hinted that Quina and Vivi had any sort of relationship going on. Unless you think the fact that Vivi always thought Quina looks like his grandpa has some kind of hidden romantic, sexual implication. Not to mention, Quina probably would've accidentally eaten Vivi during the process. Yuck. 

Makes me question the cause behind Vivi's death

Also, black mages can't biologically reproduce. 
Oh whoops, did I just throw Life at your precious Iifa tree?

Kuja told the party that black mages were made to obey and destroy; in order words, they were created to use black magic.  While the obey part obviously didn't work his way, there is no denial in the fact that black mages are some powerful creatures.  But the important part here is: they were created. Indeed, black mages (who all seem to be males) were created of giant balls of trapped Mist. So in that sense all black mages are related. Who is the mother of all mages? A machine! Tadaaah! 

Because Vivi is an older prototype, he is apparently stronger as well

So nope, Vivi and Quina can't reproduce because I don't even think Vivi has any kind of reproduction system going on. He's a male because what distinguishes females from males is the sexual part and since none of the black mages can reproduce they're all by default males. Plus the Black mages all look like Vivis and I'm sure some toad mixture would fuck up the system, at least appearance-wise. 

Mini Vivi: "So, this is Alexandria..."

Puck: "Pick up the pace, will ya!? ....I don't believe it! Vivi!"

Mini Vivi: "Vivi?... How do you know that name!?"

Puck:  "What are you talking about? It's me, Puck! How could you forget me!?"

Mini Vivi:"Puck...?"

Puck: "You know, Puck!"

Mini Vivi: "The-The Prince of Bumecia!?"

Puck: "Oh, come on! What's wrong with you? If you're not Vivi, then who are you!?"

Mini Vivi:"I'm... Vivi's son!"

Puck: "Yeeeeow! Look at all the Vivis!"


Mini Vivis obviously have a relation with Vivi, since they are the exact replicates of Vivi. 

But how are the mini Vivis created? The first part I don't know. Since Mist doesn't exist anymore, I'm not sure how they make black mages without it. But because we don't know doesn't make the theory that they were reproduced by Vivi and more reasonable. It's still stupid. I'd take a guess and say that they found a way to produce black mages via black magic. Maybe used the remains of expired black mages or something.

Why are they dressed as Vivis? Well, why were the previous black mages dressed the same? They were dressed in clothing decided by their creator. It would make sense if the mini Vivis dressed similarly to Vivi because Vivi created them. Vivi is an extraordinarily strong black magic user after all. And maybe with the help of that smart black mage no. 288, they figured something out. That or the mini Vivis were created by someone else but spent some time with Vivi or were told of him so they dressed up the same way as he did to imitate or honor him. The mini Vivi doesn't know Puck personally but he knows of him because Vivi has told them of his journey and of his friendships.

But why does the mini Vivi call himself Vivi's son? Because why not? Just like how Vivi called his toad adoptive parent his grandpa, it is normal for children to call people close to them for their relatives. The black mage was searching for a word to describe his relation with Vivi and he hesitated before he came up with "Vivi's son!" I also don't think the word "son" in this context has the biological meaning attached to it but rather the psychological aspect of it.

However, there is an overarching idea covering all these points: Vivi's memories live on.
A good chunk of FFIX was dedicated to the abstract discussion of memories and how they will live on from one living to the next. That all life is connected, and thus we all have a purpose in life. This is implied explicitly in the mini Vivis. Their clothes, their referring themselves as to Vivi's sons, and their own memories of Vivi, are all proofs that Vivi's memories live on. 

Hope this clear things up.

If you still want to believe he's alive or mini Vivis are his sons and whatever, feel free to do so, but I'd say you're clutching on loose straws.

I don't know why it matters so much whether or not mini Vivis and Vivi are biologically connected because in the end, if anything we've learned from FFIX it's that biological relations don't matter. Garnet's mom and father died to protect her when she was a child and she was raised by Queen Brahne and the King. She was protected by Dr. Tot, Cid, Steiner and Beatrix. None of which are related to her. Zidane is a genome created among many others to be a vessel for Terra's souls but he found his home among the Tantalus crew and he fought against his own creators. If biological relations mattered, he and his Kuja would be "brothers," and you saw how he reacted to that news. Eiko's parents died and she was protected by moogles and eidolons.  She is later adopted by Regent Cid and his wife. Quina .. well, Quina has one parent that functions as both mom and dad. Vivi himself was raised by a toad. The message of FFIX was never "Biological family matters!" but "Be yourself, value friendships and live happily, knowing that you have a place among your loved ones." 

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Well. 

If that is true, Vivi is still dead.
If it's not true, Vivi is still dead.

It doesn't make sense that Vivi would be able to prolong his life span because we already learned from the fight with Garland, that when he created Kuja, he gave Kuja a limited life span. If Kuja isn't able to prolong his own lifespan and he's the one who created Vivi, how'd you expect Vivi to figure it out? Also, if anything, the very end of the game when that random final boss-that-nobody-needed Necron (shortened for Necro, meaning death) popped out of nowhere  should have made the issue pretty damn clear.


Credit to chaos2 for the narration:

Necron:

You stand before the final dimension, and I am the darkness of eternity...

All life bears death from birth.

Life fears death, but lives only to die.

It starts with anxiety.

Anxiety becomes fear.

Fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate... hate leads to suffering...

The only cure for this fear is total destruction.

Kuja was a victim of his own fear. He concluded he could only save himself by destroying the origin of all things -- the crystal.

Zidane:

What the heck are you talking about?

Why are you telling me all this?

Necron:

...Now, the theory is undeniable.

Kuja's action proves it. All things live to perish.

At last, life has uncovered this truth. Now, it is time to end this world.

Zidane:

Wh-What do you mean by that!?

Necron:

I exist for one purpose...

To return everything back to the zero world, where there is no life and no crystal to give life.

In a world of nothing, fear does not exist. This is the world that all life desires.

Zidane:

Who the hell do you think you are!?

You're not ending anything! Never, not as long as we have the will to live!

Necron:

Foolish creature...*

Your fears have already deluded you.

One day, you will choose destruction over existence, as Kuja did.

When he sought to destroy the crystal, the purpose of life ended.

Now, come...

Final battle against Necron

Necron:

Why defy your fate? Is the will to live that powerful...?

This is not the end. I am eternal... ...as long as there is life and death...

          

* why does this remind me so much of another speech I've heard ...? *coughyunalescacough*

What the battle with Necron shows is that those that search immortality are deluded with fear for death. "All life bears death from birth ... and lives to die." The paradoxical cycle is an element that goes throughout the game. From the fact that Lifa Tree is actually dead to  the fact that the Mist from a dead tree is used to create life that only lives to die.  Kuja, who is created to destroy life in Gaia to give life to Terra, gives life to black mages in order to kill other life.  FFIX implies and in some places outrightly screams in your face that life and death go hand in hand, and one cannot be without the other.

Vivi, as well, is meant to die some day. 

But why did Vivi have to die at the end? Why couldn't they have included him and made him date after the game was over?

Because his death is needed to fulfill his character completely. Vivi's purpose in the game is to shed light to the concept of life itself.  Every character is used to represent some facet of life. Zidane with "VIRTUE," Garnet with "DEVOTION," and Steiner with "DILEMMA" etc. In his character image, he is shown to represent "SORROW" because sorrow and life are intertwined in the sense that you can't have one without the other. Arguably, the purpose of life is to be happy and thus the opposite emotion, sorrow, will be a constant companion. That's why all living things need to be able to cope with sorrow. Vivi's journey in the game from the beginning was to discover the truth behind his existence and realize the sorrow that came along with the discovery, which included among others: the purpose of his creation, the danger of his kind, and the forthcoming death. Vivi is, in my eyes, the embodiment of life.

Eyes brighter than my future

Vivi's character was from the beginning portrayed to be that of a newborn child. He is full of innocence, naivety, harmlessness, and curiosity. He is pure and untainted albeit a bit on the clumsy side. Together with Zidane, Vivi learned many aspects of life through the adventures, including the harsh facets of it. War, betrayal, injustice, evilness, death... Vivi lived through others' lives while journeying through his own. 

But during his journey he also experienced life as he witnessed in awe the wonder of a newborn chocobo in the Black Mage village. The irony of birth happening in a village where its citizens are all doomed to forth-coming death is both a heart-wrenching and significant turning point. The birth of a new life gives a sense of hope, conviviality and purpose to the black mages. Those who are dying can live by protecting an innocent life. The newborn chocobo was not born a monster, and Vivi himself realized that he was once also born like that. He might have been created for an evil purpose, but his birth itself is significant and innocent. 

At some point in the game, he had a break down as he became despaired by the reality he faced; but by the end of the game, he came to terms with his sorrow and to peace with himself. He had found the true meaning of his life and he had conquered its difficulties and reaped its benefits. He had been happy. He had, in a sense, fulfilled his life journey. Although Vivi only lived for a short while, he lived.

... 

But in the end, all life lives to die.

And Vivi's death symbolizes that.

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