Chapter 22: Disk 3.7 - Esto Gaza & Mount Gulug

[Zidane enters the "Weird-looking structure", a.k.a. Esto Gaza. The words "Esto Gaza" appear on the screen. Zidane runs into the building. He looks around; only one person is in the entire place, and that person is in front of him. The rest of the characters enter behind him]

Bishop "What do you beggars want?" [Vivi trips and falls] "You are in a holy place. Keep the noise down." "Hmph! Just like the other pointy-hats! No manners at all."

Zidane "Hey, mister, what did you just say? Have you seen some guys that look like my friend here?"

Bishop "How dare you address me so!" "I am the priest of Esto Gaza, the holy place in which you stand. Mind your tongue, child." "Are you in league with that brazen crew?"

Zidane "Tell me where they went! Was there a little girl with them?" "My friend's life is in danger! Tell me what you know, now!"

Bishop "All life is equal. The living will return to the stars." "Through the Path of Souls on the Shimmering Island."

That isn't what Zidane asked, what made this guy start saying this?

Also considering that the Shimmering Island is actually a way to Terra, what is the basis of Esto Gaza's spirituality here?

Zidane "What are you talking about? Didn't the black mages have a girl with them?"

Steiner "How dare a man of the cloth turn a blind eye to evil!"

Bishop "I just watched them." "Besides, they didn't do anything wrong."

…Really? A guy like Kuja who wears a man thong and has an unconscious little girl with him didn't set off any alarm bells for you?

[Flashback scene. A young boy jumps around frantically; his mother comes on, and drags him off screen. The bishop watches on as tons of black mages walk on screen, in a straight line, then off screen]

Bishop "They barged in, hundreds of them! So, that was the dreaded black mage army..." "They headed straight for Mount Gulug without even looking at me."

Wait, how does this guy know about the Black Mages? Isn't this place supposed to be isolated? Couple that with the whole "tourist attraction" makes the world building one big mess.

Zidane "Mount Gulug?"

As in the location in FFI of the same name, get it? The FFI stuff will get even more blatant once we get to the shrines and the four fiends.

Bishop "An enormous volcano that went extinct in the days of old." "Legend has it that a race of great moles lived within the caverns."

Now we are injecting a pointless lore bit about moles in here? Honestly it would have been simpler to just say that people in Esto Gaza just mined the place.

Bishop "But that was very long ago. No mortal has entered those depths ever since the entrance was mysteriously sealed."

Apparently the Gulug stone is what unlocks that seal, which is why Kuja wanted it. But why? So he could extract the Eidolons from the summoners? Why couldn't he just set up an extraction circle in the Desert Palace and do that there as soon as Zidane and the summoners were captured, instead of setting up that dumb fetch quest for the Gulug Stone? Is it because of the location? That's stupid because geographic positioning/environment was never implied to have a part in Eidolon extraction, considering Alexandria had an extraction circle in it's dungeon that was clearly set up there by Kuja.

Also why was the entranced sealed in the first place, and how did the item that unlocks it, the Gulug stone, wind up all the way in Oeilvert on a whole other continent? This is never explained. Mount Gulug seems to have some connection to Terra, what with the Terra emblem at the bottom, and the Gulug stone, and several places from Terra shifted to Gaia from the fusion attempt, the Ultimania stating them to be Oeilvert, Desert Palace and Ipsen's Castle, and apparently Mount Gulug, but what is confusing is the treasure chests. Places from Terra have different treasure chests from Gaia, the Terra chests are blue while Gaia chests are brown and also differently shaped, the blue chests can be found in Oeilvert and Ipsen's Castle (in the Desert Palace's case, it has absolutely no treasure chests in it, you get items from the blood stones instead) but in Mount Gulug the chests are the brown Gaia ones.

The moles couldn't have done the sealing of the entrance, because they had no idea about Terra and how would they even know about Oeilvert and putting the Gulug Stone there?

What is the connection with the extraction ritual and Terra anyways? The extraction circles use the Terra symbol, but it's never really explained.

[The flood of black mages stop. A black mage carrying Eiko, followed by Zorn, Thorn, and Kuja, go where the others went. The screen returns to the present]

Bishop "They passed through here and went straight to Mount Gulug."

Zidane "And? What about the girl?"

Bishop "Oh, yes. One of the black mages carried a little girl, too."

Vivi "That's gotta be Eiko!"

Zidane "Well, now we know! We gotta get to Mount Gulug!"

Vivi "I'm going, too!" "I think everyone will understand."

Zidane "Yeah. They can't let Kuja control them forever!"

Kuja is less controlling them and more manipulating them, get your words right, Zidane.

[You choose your team: Zidane, Vivi, and two others. They head to Mount Gulug]

[The words "Mount Gulug" appear on the screen]

There are some bulletin boards you see left by the moles one of them says this: "I heard you should pull down the lever a second time. Une the Mole"

Try to abstract from everything and just imagine such an inscription on a real bulletin board.

[Zidane and company descend the Volcano village, running into some Red Dragons along the way. Eventually, they make their way above a room, where they peer down]

Skipping ahead.

[The screen changes back to the extraction place. Eiko is on the ground, Zorn and Thorn standing in front of her, and Kuja & the black mages in the background]

Zorn "That was odd."

Thorn "Odd, that was."

Zorn "We failed again!"

Thorn "Again we have failed!"

Zorn "Did you make some mistake?"

Thorn "Make mistake, I did not! Yours, the mistake must be!"

Zorn "I made no mistake at all!"

Thorn "The truth, do you speak?"

Do you really feel the need to drag out Zorn's and Thorn's scenes and repeat words that were just said, writers?

[Kuja walks up to them]

Zorn "Of course, I speak the truth!"

Kuja "Will you two just shut up!?"

Something that should have been said to Zorn and Thorn a long time ago, but the same goes for you too, Kuja, especially with your dumb poetry, and people complain about Genesis from FFVII: Crisis Core for this! (In fact, it seems that Kuja might as well be a proto-Genesis, minus the man-thong)

Zorn "I-It's his fault!"

Thorn "H-His fault, it is!" "The one who messed up is you!"

Zorn "You're the one who messed up!"

Kuja "I said shut up!" "I don't want to hear excuses!" "I sense power from within her. Continue the extraction!"

Zorn "Continuing further will endanger the subject's life!"

Thorn "Only at the age of sixteen can eidolons be extracted!"

Then why didn't you three just take Garnet before instead? Especially since Garent (at this point) has twice the amount of Eidolons that Eiko has? Why didn't you just do the extraction at the Desert Palace when everyone was captured? Does the plot demand that the extraction ritual not be performed on the same character twice?

Kuja "You two just don't get it!" "I need an eidolon more powerful than Alexander!" "An eidolon with the power to bury Garland!"

And what makes you think there is an Eidolon "more powerful than Alexander"? The whole reason you went after Alexander in the first place was because it was the most powerful Gaia Eidolon, if there actually was an Eidolon more powerful than Alexander, wouldn't you have gone after it from the start instead of setting up that whole thing with Brahne to get the Alexander jewel pieces, and what makes you think Eiko would just have it? Kuja is just being delusional at this point. The only Eidolon that could be as strong as Alexander would be Ark, which is a Terra Eidolon, but Kuja doesn't even seem to be aware about Ark.

Kuja "His powers are so incredible; I cannot even come close."

Funny, because back in chapter 19 after you failed to get Alexander and arrived at the Desert Palace, you were gloating about how Garland "couldn't do anything to you". Were you just coping before?

Kuja "I must destroy him before Terra's plan is activated, or my soul will no longer be my own!" "Who cares if she lives? I want that eidolon!"

What does "my soul will no longer be my own" even mean? This is pretty much where the game just starts juggling the words "life", "death", "souls", "Gaia", "Terra" and "memories" in no particular order.

[Kuja walks back to where he was standing before. Zorn and Thorn turn around and approach Eiko; Mog jumps out of her dress and startles them]

"Kupo!"

Zorn "Where did that come from?"

Thorn "You, get out of our way!"

Zorn & Thorn [Turning to face Kuja] "Master!"

Kuja "Well!?"

"Kupo...!"

Zorn "Her pet moogle is interfering with the extraction process!"

Thorn "Certain are we that it caused the failure!"

Wait, wasn't it because of her age?

Kuja "Kill the runt! We're running out of time!"

"Kupo...!"

[Eiko wakes up]

Eiko "Mog..." "No, Mog. Hide behind me..." "Mog? What is it?"

Mog "Eiko, thank you for everything."

Eiko "Mog, what are you saying?"

[Sparkles of green and blue energy begin to get charged to Mog]

Mog "Don't worry, kupo. I will always be with you, kupo."

Why does Mog keep saying Kupo, when she isn't even actually a moogle and is dropping the disguise now?

[Screen changes to show Zidane running down the stairs to the room]

Eiko "Mog!"

Zidane "This way!?" [A bright white flash prevents him from entering the room] "Woah!"

[Screen changes back to Eiko, Mog, Zorn and Thorn. Kuja and the black mages have long since walked off screen]

Eiko "Mog!"

[Mog is now shining bright blue; you can't even see her body anymore]

Zorn "We will put you to death!"

Thorn "Put you to death, we will!"

[Battle of Eiko vs. Zorn and Thorn. At the very beginning of the battle, at the top of the screen, the follow messages are shown]

Mog "Eiko! Use Terra Homing, kupo!"

Eiko "Okay!"

[Eiko summons "Terra Homing". The gigantic beast Madeen absolutely annihilates Zorn and Thorn. They fall down, defeated. The screen fades to black]

Madeen "I wanted to be by your side, Eiko... so I became Mog." "Don't worry. I'll always watch over you, kupo."

And now is when you decide to assume your true form and help? When there were plenty of moments before when you should have done this?

[Screen returns to the extraction room. Zidane approaches Zorn and Thorn's fallen bodies]

Zidane "!" "Eiko, are you okay?"

Eiko "I'm alright." "Mog saved me..." "I never knew that Mog was an eidolon." "She always looked after me... disguised as a moogle." "Even though... even though she was weak..." "She fought her best to protect me."

She wasn't weak though, that was just an act, and pretty stupid considering everything that has been happening as I've said above.

Zidane "So that's what happened..."

[A green light descends from above, transforming into Mog's Ribbon, which Eiko catches in her hands]

Eiko "Mog's ribbon..." "Mog..."

[Received Ribbon!]

Zidane "It's alright, Eiko." "Mog'll always watch over you."

I don't see why Madeen can't just change back into moogle form, we saw with Ramuh that he was able to shift between a normal human form and his true form.

Eiko "You're right..."

Kuja "How can that-"

[Everyone turns around to see Kuja walking back on screen]

Kuja "That moogle went into a Trance!?"

No, it was actually an Eidolon that was simply assuming it's true form. But speaking of which, what I've mentioned back in chapter 2 about Trance is coming up now…

Zidane "Kuja!"

Kuja "So...an eruption of anger against one's surroundings induces a complete Trance!" "It's not the will to live, nor is it the desire to protect another!"

Okay soooo…

-Kuja was in Burmecia when the party fought Beatrix and used trances.

-Mog didn't use trance, she just reincarnated into her natural form, Madeen.

-In what way is Trance an "eruption of rage against the environment"? Trance accumulates over a dozen battles and activates at the most inopportune moment.

-In the party, everything, even the worthless crap-eater Quina, even the rusty tin-can and the six-year-old, are able to trance with might and energy - and Kuja never knew about any this? What nonsense! Even Steiner of all people had some knowledge of it, with what he said when Zidane first Tranced in the Evil Forest. There is a frigging library in the Desert Palace where Kuja lives, he never looked through any of those books on Trance or the Alexandria Library? (Especially with how Terra archives should have way more knowledge about Trance) Heck one of the whole reasons that Zidane was supposed to be superior to Kuja was that Zidane could Trance and Kuja couldn't (as stated in the Ultimania), Kuja never found that out from any data files?

Before this point, as I've explained in chapter 2, Trance was just a gameplay gimmick with absolutely no references or lore outside of battle, but now, out of nowhere, and pretty nonsensically in regards to Kuja thinking that Mog "Tranced", Trance has suddenly and forcefully become a major plot point, and makes Kuja's whole hunt for the Eidolons, which took up 70% of the game, a huge waste of time.

Zidane "Man, you're really goin' off! Hello!?"

Kuja "That means...I simply need a powerful soul, even if that soul is not my own!" "No, wait..." "And it can be found there!" "Hahahaha!"

Except that later on you don't take one soul, you take multiple.

Zidane "Kuja! What are you plotting?"

Kuja "I am done with you!"

Vivi "W-Wait a minute!"

[Vivi runs forward. Kuja does a quick energy blast, knocking him back, and jolting Zorn and Thorn's bodies as well]

Zidane "Vivi! Look out!"

Kuja "Don't worry, I hear these twins put on quite a good show." "Of course, they're really not twins at all..."

Vivi "Wait! What about the black mages?"

[Vivi follows Kuja]

Zidane "No, Vivi! It's too dangerous!" [Zidane runs after him, but is knocked back by a burst of energy from Zorn and Thorn's bodies] "Whoa!"

Eiko "Zidane, something wrong."

Zidane "I thought we defeated them!"

[Their bodies lift in the air, and begin to join. Boss Battle: Your team (Zidane, Eiko, and the other two of your choice excluding Vivi) vs. Meltigemini. At the end, it's destroyed and defeated. The screen resumes with Zidane standing in the middle of the room; Vivi walks on screen along with two black mages]

Well, yes, again, it is not explained at all what Zorn and Thorn are and why they now phallomorphed into a single whole monster, but not anytime before. Kuja's dialogue about them "not really being twins" suggests that Kuja knew about this, and that Zorn and Thorn work for him, but earlier in the game we saw them taking orders from Brahne instead, and when Brahne dismissed them in Disk 2 they don't immediately go to Kuja, even saying that they "can't live without the queen's backing", and were going to speak with Garnet on Disk 3 to let them back into the castle until Blank and Marcus showed up. The Ultimania doesn't help and simply reveals that they are both over eighty years old.

Zidane "Vivi, where's Kuja? Did he get away!?" "Vivi?"

[Vivi shakes his head]

Vivi "Everyone knew he was lying... but they still followed him." "He said that our life spans can't be extended, and that we were fools for believing him."

Zidane "What!? Kuja said that?"

When did Kuja say this? During the fight with Meltigemini? I thought he was trying to escape?

Black Mage No. 78 "I-I'm so sorry... for all I've done..."

Zidane "You guys don't have to apologize. Where are the others?"

Vivi "They were so shocked to hear it, they're all sitting down over there." "Zidane! What am I supposed to tell them!?"

That they are actually people that were already dead and have been temporarily resurrected into artificial bodies?

Zidane "Vivi..." [The two black mages walk off screen. Vivi follows them] "Hey, Vivi, where're you going?"

[Vivi stops, and turns around]

Vivi "All I can do... is just sit with them."

[Vivi walks off screen]

Zidane "That bastard! When I get my hands on him-"

Woman "Pardon me, but is someone there?"

[Zidane runs in the direction of her voice, and opens the door. In the next screen, a woman is standing, with a bed behind her. She's garbed in a chic white flowing dress. Zidane walks in, followed by Dagger and Eiko]

This is Hilda, Cid's wife that has been repeatedly mentioned and was held prisoner by Kuja, but what's confusing is how she seems to be in a fully set up bedroom despite Kuja just getting here and clearly didn't have time to set this all up, and why even would he, why did he even bother bringing her along when he could have just left her back at the Desert Palace?

Skipping ahead.

[Regent Cid enters the room]

Regent Cid "Oh! My darling ribbit Hilda! I finally found you ribbit!"

[He hops up to her. She turns around]

Hilda "I do not remember ever marrying a toad."

Regent Cid "I-It's me ribbit! Cid!"

[She turns around and looks at him]

Hilda "Of course, that moustache... It really is you!"

You didn't immediately notice the moustache when he walked in?

Regent Cid "Hilda, come back to the castle ribbit and return me to my former self ribbit!"

Hilda "Dreadfully sorry, my sugar cup, but I surrendered your favourite airship to a man named Kuja."

Only because you took it in the first place to "blow off some steam", as opposed to just using a regular Mist-powered airship, or going to a bar.

Regent Cid "Forget about it ribbit! As long as you're alright ribbit!"

Hilda "Oh, my sweet froggy-woggy!"

There is more wholesome and charming love between these two than with Zidane and Garnet, which just makes me more irritated.

Eiko "So, uhh... You know Kuja?" "I'm gonna make him pay! Please tell me all about him!"

Hilda "Very well, my dear. I shall tell you everything once we reach Lindblum."

[Screen fades to black]

End of Chapter 22.