Predictions and Conflict Over the Plot of Final Fantasy Dissidia 012 (Duodecim)

The second major area of debate concerning Dissidia’s story deals in whether the gods, Cosmos and Chaos, are anthropomorphic entities that have existed since time immemorial and actually embody the concepts of Harmony and Discord, thus keeping all creation in balance, or are far more mortal creations of others mortals, created relatively recently.

Fans who hold to the latter view point to the following line from Chaos Report #5 as the foundation for this interpretation: “Harmony and Discord are both created beings.” They then identify the stories about creating new beings in the Chaos and Cosmos Reports with this interpretation and conclude that the creation of Cosmos at the very least is detailed in the Reports as the clone of Cid’s wife. Thus, the line from Chaos Report #1 “the country culled his memories to create a new being…one of harmony that could subdue and control discord” is conflated with these lines from Cosmos Report #5:

“As I suffered under the grief of having abetted
the murder of countless innocent people, I
overheard word of another research project
being conducted by the army.

This was to make a clone… one of myself. With it,
the state would control the child as they wished,
without having to use me.”

On the surface, this interpretation does appear to make sense. Cosmos could certainly be described as “a being of harmony,” and — as the god opposed to Chaos in Dissidia — the notion that she could “subdue and control discord” doesn’t seem outrageous in the slightest, especially if she had been the clone of Cid’s wife, who was intended to be used as a tool to control Cid’s adopted son, an entity who could wield the power of discord.

As well, this line from Chaos Report #2 may be seen as indicating that Cid had a hand in the creation of a being of harmony with some relation to his wife — a relation to her as her clone, according to this view: “Even if I can create a being of harmony to manipulate discord, I cannot recreate the one I loved.”

However, under any extensive scrutiny, this interpretation of events quickly falls apart.

First, this view provides no explanation for the creation of the child who could wield the power of discord, nor does it point to any passages from the Chaos or Cosmos Reports that could indicate the creation of Chaos. Both are just there, with the latter explained away simply on the basis that if Cid could create Cosmos then surely he could create Chaos as well.

Secondly, and more noteworthy, I would argue, Cid was imprisoned at the time of the creation of his wife’s clone according to Chaos Reports #5 and 6, and so would have been unable to have any hand in the creation of the clone. This would further mean that the “being of harmony who could subdue and control discord” — which he did create — could not be the clone. Therefore, we must look elsewhere for the identity of the “being of harmony” — and we shall momentarily. First, however, let us address what fans such as I believe to be the intended and better supported origin for Cosmos and Chaos.

If we look at the first Chaos Report, we find mention first of “the discord” — an apparently ethereal power “that consumes and controls all others.” We are also then told of a being who controlled it, but who “had no desire to destroy any more than was necessary.” While the view holding that Cid created Chaos and Cosmos would also espouse that this being was Cid’s adopted son — as he would only carry out the military’s wishes for destruction when instructed to by Cid’s wife — this writer feels that the choice of wording in “had no desire to destroy any more than was necessary” points to someone else.

More to the point, I feel that such a description is indicative of a being who considers some destruction necessary – as though it were part of the natural order of things. In my mind, this harkens back to these lines from Chaos Report #4: “Each of the two entities overflowed with a pure, unwavering strength. But it was precisely their diametric nature that kept the power in check and stabilized the world.”

The context of the Reports –- as well as one of the game’s primary themes of balance, as also demonstrated in Cecil Harvey — makes it clear that these lines refer to Chaos and Cosmos. In other words, both Harmony and Discord –- and, consequently, both preservation and destruction –- are vital to the natural order.

Now that we’re getting into the nature of Chaos and Cosmos, let’s also look at an exchange Chaos has with Garland shortly before the final battle of Dissidia. In this discussion, he reveals his recollection of a time when he and Cosmos existed in balance with one another:

Chaos: “I was having a long dream– in the midst of disorder…”
Garland: “So you are awake. What kind of dream was it?”
Chaos: “Hmph… It was ridiculous. Cosmos and I were governing the world together.”
Garland: “…! That’s–”
Chaos: “Laughable, is it not? In that world, I was a god that suppressed disorder. But strangely, the images are still vivid in my eyes… All the people smiling…the warmth of the days I spent with Cosmos… For one who has lost all memory, why did the dream have to be so cruel?”

This discussion reveals two very important pieces to the puzzle we have been discussing. First, we learn that Chaos has lost his memories, a fact reinforced a moment later by Garland himself (“You had no memory, so I guided you in accordance to the Great Will’s wish”).

Second, due to Chaos’s dream — so vivid as to be more than a mere dream — we learn that Chaos indeed lived in balance with Cosmos once upon a time. In fact, he actively suppressed disorder despite being the god of Discord!

This is the kind of entity we should expect to be described with “no desire to destroy any more than was necessary.”

We can also certainly trust this dream to be a genuine memory due to the fact that — with Cosmos’s death not long prior — the world was sinking ever deeper into disorder, the natural alignment thrown off. The world itself screamed, memories once lost were found, and Chaos despaired.

Furthermore, the recovery of memories that should be beyond recovery is especially emphasized here given that Chaos is but one of three characters undergoing such wonderment. The other two are Squall, who recalls his memories of Rinoa (“I remembered this promise I made… There’s someone waiting for me”), and Sephiroth, who recalls his suicide in the previous cycle of Dissidia’s war:

Sephiroth: “As disorder grows in strength, I seem to be regaining my memory. I once took my own life… Perhaps to find a lasting truth beyond this world’s illusions.”
Garland: “That is absurd. You cannot have regained memories from before you died.”

What we know then is that Chaos has lost his memories. That brings us back around to Chaos Report #1 and this line about the one who bore the power of discord but “had no desire to destroy more than was necessary”: “the country culled his memories to create a new being…one of harmony that could subdue and control discord.”

Stated plainly, I believe Chaos’s memories were “culled” by Cid and the Lufaine nation in order to create “a being of harmony who could subdue and control discord.”

What then of “Harmony and discord are both created beings?” What of “Even if I can create a being of harmony to manipulate discord, I cannot recreate the one I loved”?

With regard to the first quote, I don’t deny its presence, nor do I disagree with what it says — Chaos and Cosmos are both created beings. Where I disagree is with the notion that they were created by Cid.

Where then did they come from? Who created them? I believe we find the answer in a line from Cid during the game’s secret ending: “Even harmony and discord are concepts born of the human mind, after all.”

As beings who embody these concepts, their origin would be the same as that of the concepts themselves — the thoughts and memories of living beings. In this way, they are much like the Endless of Vertigo comics, as seen in Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” series. There, anthropomorphic entities that served to embody and fulfill the functions of various concepts are featured — among them Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Delirium and Destruction.

Appropriate to the comparison and poignantly stated by Dream in a lecture to Desire in issue #16, “Lost Hearts” (pg. 22):

“We the Endless are the servants of the living — not their masters. We exist because they know, deep in their hearts, that we exist. When the last living thing has left the universe, then our task will be done. And we do not manipulate them. If anything, they manipulate us. We are their toys. Their dolls, if you will.”

This is more or less how I believe we are intended to view Cosmos and Chaos — as anthropomorphic embodiments of Harmony and Discord, but with the added significance, of course, that if they should truly die, then all creation follows with them.

This concept of the thoughts of mortals influencing the nature and existence of magical beings of greater power than the beings whose memories created them is seen in other works of Final Fantasy, perhaps most notably Final Fantasy IX. As implied by the writings on the Eidolon Wall of Madain Sari, and as explicitly explained in Final Fantasy IX Ultimania translations, the memories of the living lead to the creation of the powerful Eidolon creatures on that world.

That addressed, as promised, we can turn our attention now to this quote: “Even if I can create a being of harmony to manipulate discord, I cannot recreate the one I love.” What was Cid talking about if he was not talking about replacing his wife? If he was not talking about the clone of his wife? If he was not talking about Cosmos? Who was this being created from Chaos’s lost memories?