The Al Bhed (spoilers)

[Artemisia]

I've seen some references to Yuna being "half-Al Bhed, half human", namely FF wiki's character bio for her. Does this imply that Al Bhed are a completely different species? That they are not human? Or are they simply a different race with their own unique characteristics, i.e. the swirly pupils? I've always assumed the latter. Those swirly pupils would make their vision really funky. Just an afterthought

 

[C i d]

Well according to FFwiki, the likes of the Al-Bhed, Ronso, Hypello, Guado are of different 'races', instead of 'species'.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Final_Fantasy_X_Races

I'm also pretty sure it's officially stated that FFXII groups like Seeq, bangaa, humes, etc are of different 'races' too.

So it's pretty safe to say that in all or most of the FF worlds, organisms who differ significantly in terms of anatomy, are still considered as 'races' as long as they are sentient.

Although it's not official, I really doubt a Hypello can interbreed with humans/al-bhed, because it's so morphologically different from them. So in OUR world, scientists would have classified Hypello as a different species as humans/al-bhed. But in THEIR world, they are called 'races'.

This is because, in our world, a species is a population whose members are able to interbreed to produce offspring which are fertile (i.e. can further reproduce). Thus, if two members cannot interbreed, they are of a different species.

Then again, this is a fantasy world. There really is no consistent clear-cut classification of whether two different groups are of different 'race' or 'species', throughout the series. But a general pattern we see is, any sentient organisms are classified as races, no matter how different they look. Monsters/fiends are classified as different species as these sentient organisms even though some monsters are humanoid.



So if you want an answer from our world's perspective, it's very safe to say that the al-bhed and the FFX humans are of a different race, NOT species. Because they can interbreed to produce fertile offspring (unless you can prove to me that Yuna is sterile lol).

Another reason is, like you said, the al-bhed is very similar to FFX humans, just like how all the races in our world are anatomicaly very similar, apart from some tiny differences, in this case, the eyes and hair.

The 'FFX human' may simply be viewed as just another race instead of a group of races. So the al-bhed+FFX humans+Guado+Hypello are grouped together and taken as 'humans' according our world's definition. In turn, FFX's humans may have 'sub-races' consisting of people with oriental faces and western faces, etc.

These are mostly speculations though.

As a conclusion, I really think that there's no black and white kind of distinction when it comes to defining a race or species in the fantasy world. This is because, they have different magic and scientific theories as ours. It's like asking a question whether a humanoid alien is of a different species or race as earth's humans, when these aliens have different definitions on what is a species and what is a race.

 

[Grimer]

Well according to FFwiki, the likes of the Al-Bhed, Ronso, Hypello, Guado are of different 'races', instead of 'species'.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Final_Fantasy_X_Races

I'm also pretty sure it's officially stated that FFXII groups like Seeq, bangaa, humes, etc are of different 'races' too.

So it's pretty safe to say that in all or most of the FF worlds, organisms who differ significantly in terms of anatomy, are still considered as 'races' as long as they are sentient.

Although it's not official, I really doubt a Hypello can interbreed with humans/al-bhed, because it's so morphologically different from them. So in OUR world, scientists would have classified Hypello as a different species as humans/al-bhed. But in THEIR world, they are called 'races'.

This is because, in our world, a species is a population whose members are able to interbreed to produce offspring which are fertile (i.e. can further reproduce). Thus, if two members cannot interbreed, they are of a different species.

Then again, this is a fantasy world. There really is no consistent clear-cut classification of whether two different groups are of different 'race' or 'species', throughout the series. But a general pattern we see is, any sentient organisms are classified as races, no matter how different they look. Monsters/fiends are classified as different species as these sentient organisms even though some monsters are humanoid.



So if you want an answer from our world's perspective, it's very safe to say that the al-bhed and the FFX humans are of a different race, NOT species. Because they can interbreed to produce fertile offspring (unless you can prove to me that Yuna is sterile lol).

Another reason is, like you said, the al-bhed is very similar to FFX humans, just like how all the races in our world are anatomicaly very similar, apart from some tiny differences, in this case, the eyes and hair.

The 'FFX human' may simply be viewed as just another race instead of a group of races. So the al-bhed+FFX humans+Guado+Hypello are grouped together and taken as 'humans' according our world's definition. In turn, FFX's humans may have 'sub-races' consisting of people with oriental faces and western faces, etc.

These are mostly speculations though.

As a conclusion, I really think that there's no black and white kind of distinction when it comes to defining a race or species in the fantasy world. This is because, they have different magic and scientific theories as ours. It's like asking a question whether a humanoid alien is of a different species or race as earth's humans, when these aliens have different definitions on what is a species and what is a race.

Thanks for clearing that up. I wasnt sure if the Ronso were considered people or animals.

 

[Busta]

With no looking into wiki stuff, I've always perceived the Al-Bhed as the same Human Species, but basically another race. When you look at their features, and human-like characteristics, there are soooo many similarities, it's not like it's a difference between humans and giraffes or something bizzare like that.

So I think same species, different race. However, take a look at Ronso's and Guado's, and I believe that's when you get into differeing species types.