FINAL FANTASY XIII: Reminiscence Tracer Of The Memories

C8: Hope Estheim Part 2

Aoede:
“How did the citizens react? I assume some may have been happy to be rid of the effects of aging, but I heard that even though nobody was getting any older, it was still possible to die of sickness, or by accident. And with no new children, the population can only decrease. In the long run, mankind will surely –“

Hope:
“Face extinction. An obvious conclusion, not exactly rocket science.”

Aoede:
“Surely a lot of people must have despaired when they learned of the truth?”

Hope:
“Yes, we knew that as soon as we announced this, people would stop caring about anything and everything, the crime rate and number of suicides would sky-rocket, riots would break out everywhere… We predicted that it would be disastrous to publish our findings. So we took preventive measures, made sure it wouldn’t turn out like that.”

Aoede:
“…You’re not saying you concealed the fact that no one was getting any older?”

Hope:
“No, of course not. Even if we hid the truth, it was going to be obvious to everyone that no one was getting older after a few years. We told the public the truth, all of it, held nothing back. But we embellished it with “hope”, and that “hope” was Conseil de Renaissance.”

Aoede:
“That was the organization that grew out of the Academy, wasn’t it? You were the leader, and Snow and Noel were part of it, too. From what I understand, it served to protect the citizens from the threat of the Chaos, and was an organization that functioned much like government – but what did you mean by it being “hope”?”

Hope:
“Conseil de Renaissance’s mission, above all else, was to save humanity from despair. When we made it known that mankind no longer aged, we also announced the creation of Conseil de Renaissance. I made a speech, tried to reach out to the better judgment of the people. “If children are no longer born, mankind will eventually die out. Therefore I ask you for your cooperation, that we may overcome these desperate times together. As we make our stand against the invading Chaos, science will reveal the true nature of the Chaos to us, and we will find a way to welcome children to this world again. There will come a day when a new life is born. To this end, Conseil de Renaissance will do whatever it can.” – that was more or less how it went. Fortunately, the citizens didn’t take it too badly. The fact that we were all unaging was now out there in the open, but we saw virtually no adverse effects on society.”

Aoede:
“Well, you lived up to your name, you gave the people hope.”

Aoede means it as a joke, but Hope’s reaction surprises her: his mouth twists into a self-deprecating smile.

Hope:
“Or you could say I distracted them, made them look away from despair. In actual fact, our research on the Chaos and our unaging bodies was then rudimentary at best, and we hadn’t the least idea when and how we were going to come upon the solution. I couldn’t see hope anywhere, but I pretended it was there and in clear view. I gave them a band-aid for their wounds.”

Aoede:
“Everyone was living in fear of the Chaos, and you had to shield them from despair. I don’t think there was any other way to go about it…”

Hope:
“You’re right, and that’s what I told myself. After creating the council, I was no longer a scientist intent on finding the truth. Instead, I found myself acting more and more like a politician, making compromises, accepting them. And around then, the fal’Cie suddenly appeared.”

False Hope

Aoede and Hope quickly go over what they know of the fal’Cie; at the time, everyone lived in the manmade Cocoon, but eventually even Cocoon began to show signs of erosion from the effects of the Chaos. Left as is, the manmade Cocoon would eventually cease to function, and mankind would lose the only safe place to live in – just when the people were beginning to feel uneasy, fal’Cie Pandemonium showed up, without any warning. It worked the lands, made them habitable, constructed cities, produced food and resources.