It’s been several years since playing and finishing Final Fantasy X. While it’s not the first Final Fantasy game I’ve played, but the first in the series to play all the way through. The reason I went through the entire story in a few months is because of one character. Auron has changed my life… and the way I play RPGs.

Auron’s influence is not the same you would find in characters of other RPGs or in Final Fantasy. While everyone loves Reno, Cloud, Squall, Zidane, and Aeris, Auron stands out from everyone else for obvious reasons.

He respects others and even offers advice to those in need. From the looks of things, he’s been through so much that he’s come a long way from the personality of a spoiled Warrior Monk to an awesome, wise (and handsome) old man-even for someone still young…

As expected, his influence turned on my Otaku switch; collecting fanart, reading fanfiction-anything with him on it, even claiming him as a boyfriend a figure I recently purchased.

After Final Fantasy X was over and gone, I was very sad-and not just because of the game itself (involving spoilers). A few years passed since the release of Final Fantasy X-2… and Kingdom Hearts II: with Auron who makes a cameo appearance. When I heard the announcement, I was very lucky to have taken up the Kingdom Hearts series after refusing to see Disney and Square-Enix characters together.

Playing Kingdom Hearts after despising the fact that characters from two different franchises are joined together is a miracle in itself. You could say it was inspired by Auron. Very mild spoilers: Not because he appears in the game, but in Final Fantasy X, he was not very fond of Jecht, but he grew to accept him…

Another example of his kindness: One of my favorite scenes from the game involving Auron and Tidus after the Blitzball game incident. May contain spoilers.

That’s why I think Auron is the character of the decade. If it wasn’t for him, my world would be pretty empty right about now-or having eventually to accept Cloud as the hero of the decade for the second time in the 2000s… I could always fangirl over Vegeta, Maes Hughes, L, or Byakuya, but still…

This post has been especially written for the Japan Blog Matsuri, hosted by Reesan of Lonelee Planet (Thanks!). The theme for January 2010 is “Famous Japanese People”.