Final Fantasy Tactics: No War But Class War - Who Controls the Past?

What is the nature of history? How can we distinguish between conflicting accounts of the same historic event? Who is it that determines the stories we are told, and what influence does the present have upon the past?
Through a critical examination of the narrative of Final Fantasy Tactics players are provided with an entertaining and engrossing method of exploring the study of history.
Follow me on Twitter: @study_of_swords
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Chapters:
0:00 Foreword
1:46 Intro
2:21 Arazlam’s Quest
9:31 The Great Man Theory of History
19:08 Historic Revisionism
30:39 History from Below
37:43 No War But Class War
48:11 Afterword
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Sources:
Arnold, John. “History from below - some medievalist perspectives”, manyheadedmonster.wordpress.c..., The Many Headed Monster. “The Future of History from Below, 2013. accessed December 4, 2020.
Briggs, Chris. “Household possessions of the 14th and 15th century peasantry”,manyheadedmonster.wordpress.c..., The Many Headed Monster. “The Future of History from Below, 2013. accessed December 4, 2020.
Bukh, Alexander. “Decoding “Hate the Korean Wave” and “Introduction to China”: A Case Study of Japanese University Students.” In Otmazgin, Nissim. Suter, Rebecca. Eds. Rewriting History in Manga:
Stories for the Nation. Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2016.
Carlyle, Thomas. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2013.
Edelstein, Alan. Everybody is Sitting on the Curb: How and why America's Heroes Disappeared. Prager Publishers, West Port, 1996. (No, not that Prager)
Fronza, E. Memory and Punishment: Historical Denialism, Free Speech and the Limits of Criminal Law. Doredrecht, Springer Press, 2018.
Gray II, Gary. “What Arazlam Changed from the War of the Lions”. Final Fantasy Blog. finalfantasyblog.com/what-ara... (accessed November 20, 2020)
Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. Rev 2nd ed. (New York, Verso, 1990)
McMahon, Darrin. “The Fate of Nations Is The Work Of Genius: The French Revolution and the Great Man Theory of History.” In Bell, Rethinking the Age of Revolutions: France and the Birth of the Modern World. David., Mintzker, Yair. Eds. New York, Oxford University Press. 2013. (Kindle Edition, 2018)
Metzger, Scott A., Paxton, Richard J. “Gaming History: A Framework for What Video Games Teach About the Past”. Theory and Research in Social Education. 2016.
O’Dwyer, Shaun. “The Yasukuni Shrine and the Competing Patriotic Pasts of East Asia”. History and Memory, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2010), pp. 147-177
Ramey, Lynn T., Pugh, Tison. Race, Class and Gender in “Medieval” Cinema. Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2007.
Thompson, E.P. The Making of the English Working Class. Penguin Classics, Toronto, 2013.
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Music: Used with the gracious permission of the excellent Jacob Shrum, please check out his ongoing work remastering the complete FFT OST: / @jacobshrum
Jacob Shrum: Final Fantasy Tactics OST - Brave Story Remastered +
Jacob Shrum: Final Fantasy Tactics OST - Delita’s Theme Remastered +
Jacob Shrum: Final Fantasy Tactics OST - Hero’s Theme Remastered +
Jacob Shrum: Final Fantasy Tactics OST - Pub Theme Remastered +
Jacob Shrum: Final Fantasy Tactics OST - Antipyretic Remastered +
Lenin Lover 1917: Medieval Soviet Anthem - • Soviet National Anthem...
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[@LeoGarciaTech]

Everytime I replay chapter 1, I always feel so bad about Milueda/Wiegraf and the Corps Brigade. I agree that the monarchy has done more to harm the citizens of Ivalice than the actual demons. Great video, really enjoyed the series.

[@StudyofSwords]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@JacobShrum]

Best one yet! Congrats on finishing the series proper. I wish I had something of substance to add add after watching all this haha, but I think I’ll just have to let it all sink in for now Looking forward to the extras 👍👍

[@StudyofSwords]

Glad.you enjoyed it. 🙏

[@dksu]

Just finished the series. Great analysis, and reminded me why I love this game. I think you're absolutely correct about Ramza's role as bastard and class traitor. One interesting aspect of the game that crossed my mind as I was watching is the dynamic of revolution and counter-revolution. While it's true that Ramza becomes a class fighter, he struggles in the wake of Wiegraf's defeated revolution. The revolutionary forces are scattered and disorganized, but many of them are re-organized in a new way by the forces of the right-wing counter-revolution led by the Church under the influence of the Lucavi-possessed Templarate. As has often happened throughout history, when the left is defeated and disorganized, the desire for justice and revenge pushes of a fraction of the oppressed and exploited to come under the leadership of the 'revolutionaries' of the radical right, seeking to overturn the established order from the perspective of reaction. Powerlessness, desperation and lust for revenge drove Wiegraf into the arms of the church (and ultimately evil itself), but Ramza took up the mantle of the oppressed in conditions shaped by their defeat.

[@StudyofSwords]

Glad you enjoyed the series.

[@aspookyblunt]

Love these! You deserve more exposure!

[@StudyofSwords]

Thank you so much. Really do appreciate the support!

[@ryandude3]

I love this game. I love historiography and social theory. Thanks for diving into the former using the latter!

[@StudyofSwords]

I see you're a man of culture as well. Historiography is probably one of the most utterly fascinating aspects of the study of history, and so I will take any opportunity presented to me to discuss it. Cheers!

[@DoeSwiftandBond]

Watching these for the first time! Bravo. Inspiring to a tee- ever plan to revisit tactics? Perhaps delving deeper in how the Zodiac braves truly are portrayed in the current state of the game and what was the true narrative of St.Ajora VS the templars, how orlandu with his stone and such go so far back in history? Also the stated truth that FFXII is the past of final fantasy tactics- how does the FFXII war of the gods, the espers tie in conjunction with the Lucavi we see in tactics? Mere suggestions. Thanks and good work.

[@StudyofSwords]

To be honest, at the moment I don't think it's likely I'll be returning to FFT or Ivalice. I'm one of those people who did not enjoy FFXII, so I haven't got much that's worthwhile to say about it. Haven't played XIV either. Really glad you enjoyed the videos. Cheers.

[@lenn2875]

I love these videos so much, thank you and keep up the awesome work!

[@StudyofSwords]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed them.

[@Miraihi]

Awesome as always. Your analysis makes the works of other Final Fantasy youtubers seem shallow. And I'm sure that no one of them is gonna mention your videos in any point because they are spineless and love to pretend that there's no politics in Final Fantasy.

[@StudyofSwords]

The funny thing is I didn't even intend to focus on FF, it just sort of worked out that I wanted to make the FFVII Marxist reading video, and it sort of spiraled out of there. After the miscellany video I'm pivoting pretty hard into weeb/anitube content as that's where a lot of my research interests lie, so it will probably be a while before I dive back into FF or games in general. I tend to listen to a lot of game ost's/remixes when researching/writing and was reminded of Xenogears, which interestingly enough, appears to have a good number of more thematic/analytic examination videos than the FF's, so might be interesting to wade into that discourse in the future. But thanks a lot, I really do appreciate your support and kind words.

[@ParagonSLC]

I think the additional source of info that you’re referring to with regards to Azalaam is the sword and gem mentioned in the opening animation. ‘In sword etched he his fading memories, in stone his tempered skill.’

[@StudyofSwords]

Those are the Zodiac Stones( Auracite). Hence why the subtitle is "The Zodiac Brave Story". There's nothing which really indicates that Arazlam has the Auracite.

[@Kuudere-Kun]

33:29 if your channel has any Fujoshi fans, I recommend the Becket movies starring peter O'Toole and Richard Burton, it's absolutely a stealthily Gay film.

[@leftistthought2572]

No rambling about epistemology? D'aaaaaaaaaaaw

[@StudyofSwords]

No. Epistemology is not fun for anyone.

[@leftistthought2572]

@@StudyofSwords it is fun for me. ;)