Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough by William Irwin, Michel S. Beaulieu Page B

the protagonists are out to save the world, the world they are saving is the world they live in, and saving the world you live in is something that is ultimately in every person’s self-interest, regardless of how selfish he or she may be. For example, Tidus from Final Fantasy X may be striving to rid Spira of the rampaging monster Sin, but Tidus is in just as much danger from Sin’s surprise attacks as anyone else on Spira is. At the beginning of the game, Sin has already destroyed Tidus’s home city of Zanarkand, and Tidus has every reason to believe that if Sin strikes his location again, he won’t get away with his life. Similarly, Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII might be fighting to prevent the world of Gaia from being enslaved by Shinra corporation and the would-be god Sephiroth, but if Sephiroth were to succeed, Cloud Strife himself would be just as much a slave as anyone else was. In light of this, it could be argued that the characters are very much acting in accordance with their own self-interest and so are acting in a way that Hobbes would approve of.
    I don’t think Hobbes would buy this argument for a second, though. It might be true that the Heroes are saving their own skins along with everyone else’s, but what we know of their characters almost always tells us that they are doing it out of sheer nobility. The four Light Warriors of the very first Final Fantasy don’t seem to have any purpose in life other than doing good for others, appearing out of nowhere in accordance with prophecy to bring balance to the world. Similarly, the rebel Heroes of Final Fantasy II put themselves in great personal danger to overthrow the evil Palamecian Empire, danger that must outweigh any personal good they could gain from a change of government. The Heroes of Final Fantasy III are trying to restore balance to the world because a crystal they found tells them that it is their duty to do so—taking advice from a crystal may be a strange decision, but their quest is an altruistic one. The Dark Knight Cecil Harvey of Final Fantasy IV starts the game secure in a prestigious job working for an evil king, then loses it all by developing a conscience and deciding to be a Hero.
    Hobbes might be a little more approving of the wanderer Bartz from Final Fantasy V. Bartz is trying to save the world from the Wizard Exdeath. That may sound altruistic, but if Bartz fails to prevent Exdeath’s return, everything on the planet will die, including himself. It is absolutely in Bartz’s best interests, then, to prevent Exdeath’s return. We might try to paint Bartz as a Hobbesian hero, letting nothing stand in the way of his quest to do what is best for himself. Even before Bartz is given this quest, however, we have seen him twice risk his life to save strangers from attacking Goblins, so there is no question where his real priorities lie. Final Fantasy VI focuses again on political rebels who are risking far more than they can hope to gain personally from a revolution.
    Final Fantasy VII is a particularly tricky and interesting case. Its main protagonist is, of course, the famous Cloud Strife, the idol of an army of cosplayers and anyone else who loves implausibly large swords. 3 Cloud likes to play his cards close to the vest and never quite makes his motivations clear. As the game begins, Cloud seems the perfect Hobbesian, dedicated to using his gifts for personal benefit by selling his skills as a mercenary. Then he gets involved in the resistance group AVALANCHE, and things get murkier. He devotes himself to opposing the evil Sephiroth, but why? Is it because if Sephiroth is not thwarted, he will gain godlike power over everyone, and Cloud is simply protecting his own freedom? Is it because Cloud wants revenge for the way Sephiroth manipulated his memories or for Sephiroth’s murder of the flower girl Aeris? Or does Cloud, behind the cynicism, really want to protect the people of the world Gaia from an awful fate? We simply