Tales of Symphonia/Plot

Plot

Tales of Symphonia is part of the Tales of series

Lloyd Irving and his friend, Genis Sage accompany the chosen, Colette Brunel and her guardians, Raine Sage and Kratos Aurion on her journey of world regeneration. The purpose of the journey is to replenish Sylvarant with mana, a necessary energy to their survival.^{[NGC 1]} The path of the journey consists of five temples which must be unsealed by Colette. On their journey, they meet Sheena Fujibayashi who comes from Tethe'alla, a world parallel to Sylvarant. She tells them about how the two worlds vie for each other's mana through the journey of regeneration.^{[NGC 2]} Hoping to find answers from the angel Remiel, the party meets him at the final seal and are betrayed by Remiel and Kratos; both are revealed to be part of Cruxis, an evil organization led by Mithos Yggdrasill.

The party leaves for Tethe'alla to search for a way to save both worlds and are joined by Zelos Wilder, Presea Combatir, and Regal Bryant. The party learns that awakening the Summon Spirits in both worlds will sever the mana tie between them.^{[NGC 3]} Believing that to be the answer, they successfully sever all mana ties between the two worlds.^{[NGC 4]} Their actions instead destabilize the Great Seed, the supplier of mana to both worlds, causing it to grow and engulf Sylvarant at an exponential rate.^{[NGC 5]} After the party re-stabilizes the seed, they learn from Yuan Ka-Fai about the origins of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and how they used to be one world but was split by Mithos with the Eternal Sword; the party realizes they can save the world if they wield the Eternal Sword, merge the worlds, and germinate the Great Seed. They decide to confront and defeat Mithos before seeking the Eternal Sword.

Kratos is revealed to have been gathering materials to have Lloyd use the Eternal Sword. He succeeds but Mithos survives his apparent death and possesses a member from the party before fleeing to the comet Derris-Kharlan. Mithos attempts to take the Great Seed with him but is foiled and killed by Lloyd. Using the Eternal Sword, Lloyd merges Sylvarant and Tethe'alla together and germinates the Great Seed into a Giant Kharlan Tree to supply the world with mana.^{[NGC 6]}

Plot development

Takumi Miyajima, the game's writer, explained Tales of Symphonia was planned to create a "unique symphonia", dependent on the player's choices and the affection system.^[1] Miyajima wrote many scenarios, with the most significant events centered on Zelos Wilder. Originally, Zelos' death was supposed to be canon. His survival would have been dependent on the affection system: He would die early on if he was ranked the lowest in the affection system, would die at the end if he ranked in the middle, and would only survive if he ranked the top. However, the development staff suggested to have Kratos Aurion return to the party and the team discussed how it would work. The change in scenario had Miyajima rework Zelos' death into a non-canon path of the story.^[1] While generally a self-contained story, Symphonia apparently takes place within either the same or a similar timeline to the first Tales game, Tales of Phantasia.^[2]

References

↑ ^a ^b Viva Tales of (in Japanese). 2013 (November). {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ 「テイルズオブシンフォニアイラスト集」藤島康介のキャラクター仕事 [Kosuke Fujishima Character Works: Tales of Symphonia Illustrations] (in Japanese). Ichijinsha / Studio DNA. 26 January 2004. p. 60. ISBN 978-4758010191.

Primary references

Tales of Symphonia, Namco, July 13, 2004 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |developer= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |platform= ignored (help)

↑ Raine: Today is the Day of Prophecy. It is a very important day, which the Chosen of Mana will receive an oracle from the Goddess Martel. Now, Chosen One...Colette. Tell us about the journey of world regeneration. /Colette: It is a journey to seal the Desians. Upon passing the trials of the Goddess Martel, the Summon Spirit that protect the world awaken, and mana is restored.
↑ Sheena: My world is called Tethe’alla. [...] The two worlds lie directly adjacent to each other. They just can’t see one another. Our scholars say they exist on shifted dimensions. Anyway, the two worlds can’t see or touch each other, but they do in fact exist next to and affect each other. [...] They vie for the supply of mana. When one world weakens, the mana from that world flows to the other. As a result, one world is always flourishing, and the other waning. Sort of like an hourglass. [...] Sylvarant’s mana is flowing to Tethe'alla. Therefore, Sylvarant is in decline. Without mana, crops won’t grow and magic becomes unusable. If there is no mana, the Summon Spirits that protect the world alongside the Goddess Martel can’t survive in Sylvarant either. As a result, the world slips even further down the path of destruction. /Raine: Then the Chosen’s world regeneration is actually the process of reversing the mana flow?/Sheena: Exactly. When the Chosen breaks the seal, the mana flow reverses, and the Summon Spirit that governs the seal awakens.
↑ Undine: Mana flows from the world in which the Summon Spirits sleep to the world in which the Summon Spirits are awake. This is the first time the Summon Spirits have been awakened in both worlds at the same time. Because of this, the mana connecting the two worlds has been eliminated.
↑ Lloyd: Does that mean that Sylvarant and Tethe’alla have stopped competing for each other’s mana?/Volt: .../Raine:I do not know. The only thing certain is that the flow of mana between the worlds has been severed./Undine: Yes. Eventually the worlds shall separate.../Genis: You mean the two worlds will split apart?/Zelos: That’s perfect! Then they’ll stop competing for each other’s mana!
↑ Kratos: Having lost the stability afforded by the protection of the Summon Spirits, the Great Seed has gone out of control. /Yuan: No! The purpose of the Summon Spirits was to isolate the Great Seed from the outside world and prevent it from growing! /Kratos: That was only half of it. The two worlds were forced out of phase by Yggdrasill. They should have drifted apart from each other and have been consumed by the void. But this was prevented from happening because the Great Seed was placed in the center between the two worlds. [...] The Great Seed is constantly being pulled upon from both worlds as they try to separate from one another. It’s a miracle that this delicate balance held up for even this long. /Yuan: Wait! So the mana links served as a cage to contain the Great Seed in the space between the two worlds? Is that what you’re saying? /Kratos: Exactly. And because you provided the unstable Great Seed with mana, germinated in a twisted form and has gone out of control. It’s even engulfed Martel. /Lloyd: Who cares why this happened! I wanna know what’s gonna happen if we can’t stop this thing!/Yuan: If what Kratos says is true, then Sylvarant will be consumed and destroyed by the Great Seed. And if Sylvarant is destroyed, Tethe’alla will be destroyed as well, as it is linked by the Holy Ground of Kharlan and the Otherworldly Gate.
↑ Origin: The world was originally separated into two in order to prevent its destruction. If it returns to its true form, the world lacks the mana to support itself. The land is dying. /Lloyd: I don’t need to know why it’s dying! What do we need to do to stop it?/Origin: Support the two worlds by linking them with the Giant Tree. That is the only way to stop the destruction of the land. [...] Lloyd: This is my final wish. Eternal Sword [...] Rise Giant Kharlan Tree!

[Nov_2013_Viva_Tales-7] Viva Tales of (in Japanese). 2013 (November). {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[8] 「テイルズオブシンフォニアイラスト集」藤島康介のキャラクター仕事 [Kosuke Fujishima Character Works: Tales of Symphonia Illustrations] (in Japanese). Ichijinsha / Studio DNA. 26 January 2004. p. 60. ISBN 978-4758010191.

[1] Raine: Today is the Day of Prophecy. It is a very important day, which the Chosen of Mana will receive an oracle from the Goddess Martel. Now, Chosen One...Colette. Tell us about the journey of world regeneration. /Colette: It is a journey to seal the Desians. Upon passing the trials of the Goddess Martel, the Summon Spirit that protect the world awaken, and mana is restored.

[2] Sheena: My world is called Tethe’alla. [...] The two worlds lie directly adjacent to each other. They just can’t see one another. Our scholars say they exist on shifted dimensions. Anyway, the two worlds can’t see or touch each other, but they do in fact exist next to and affect each other. [...] They vie for the supply of mana. When one world weakens, the mana from that world flows to the other. As a result, one world is always flourishing, and the other waning. Sort of like an hourglass. [...] Sylvarant’s mana is flowing to Tethe'alla. Therefore, Sylvarant is in decline. Without mana, crops won’t grow and magic becomes unusable. If there is no mana, the Summon Spirits that protect the world alongside the Goddess Martel can’t survive in Sylvarant either. As a result, the world slips even further down the path of destruction. /Raine: Then the Chosen’s world regeneration is actually the process of reversing the mana flow?/Sheena: Exactly. When the Chosen breaks the seal, the mana flow reverses, and the Summon Spirit that governs the seal awakens.

[3] Undine: Mana flows from the world in which the Summon Spirits sleep to the world in which the Summon Spirits are awake. This is the first time the Summon Spirits have been awakened in both worlds at the same time. Because of this, the mana connecting the two worlds has been eliminated.

[4] Lloyd: Does that mean that Sylvarant and Tethe’alla have stopped competing for each other’s mana?/Volt: .../Raine:I do not know. The only thing certain is that the flow of mana between the worlds has been severed./Undine: Yes. Eventually the worlds shall separate.../Genis: You mean the two worlds will split apart?/Zelos: That’s perfect! Then they’ll stop competing for each other’s mana!

[5] Kratos: Having lost the stability afforded by the protection of the Summon Spirits, the Great Seed has gone out of control. /Yuan: No! The purpose of the Summon Spirits was to isolate the Great Seed from the outside world and prevent it from growing! /Kratos: That was only half of it. The two worlds were forced out of phase by Yggdrasill. They should have drifted apart from each other and have been consumed by the void. But this was prevented from happening because the Great Seed was placed in the center between the two worlds. [...] The Great Seed is constantly being pulled upon from both worlds as they try to separate from one another. It’s a miracle that this delicate balance held up for even this long. /Yuan: Wait! So the mana links served as a cage to contain the Great Seed in the space between the two worlds? Is that what you’re saying? /Kratos: Exactly. And because you provided the unstable Great Seed with mana, germinated in a twisted form and has gone out of control. It’s even engulfed Martel. /Lloyd: Who cares why this happened! I wanna know what’s gonna happen if we can’t stop this thing!/Yuan: If what Kratos says is true, then Sylvarant will be consumed and destroyed by the Great Seed. And if Sylvarant is destroyed, Tethe’alla will be destroyed as well, as it is linked by the Holy Ground of Kharlan and the Otherworldly Gate.

[6] Origin: The world was originally separated into two in order to prevent its destruction. If it returns to its true form, the world lacks the mana to support itself. The land is dying. /Lloyd: I don’t need to know why it’s dying! What do we need to do to stop it?/Origin: Support the two worlds by linking them with the Giant Tree. That is the only way to stop the destruction of the land. [...] Lloyd: This is my final wish. Eternal Sword [...] Rise Giant Kharlan Tree!

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