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Anima the Pain of Choice
Anima is first used to save Luca after an elaborate plan hatched by Seymour and his people. His mother serves as the fayth. Anima dives much into self pain and suffering which makes sense for the suffering of both Seymour and his mother that were out casted by the Guado people. She and Seymour did suffer a lot of discrimination and Jyscal mentions he was not strong enough to save his wife or son. However, I feel that the fayth for Anima wanted to give Seymour power despite what it cost for her. I think she wanted him to be able to face anything that came his way. Unfortunately, I feel like this also meant she got to watch the lengths he went too. Which ended up causing her more pain and grief.
The interesting thing about Anima to me is that she is a final aeon. She is the embodiment of the desire to stop Sin. The general idea of Anima, I think is atonement both for pushing her son into a corner (which she feels she did) and not being strong enough to do more about it.
I feel like it must have been very difficult for her. She wanted nothing more than to protect her son. She wanted to lift him onto a pedestal and she went so far as to give her own life so that he might flourish. So, I cannot imagine how difficult the choice she made was. On one hand, he would gain respect for defeating sin. In the same thought though, she would willingly be sacrificing her son for the sake of that respect. It was so worth it to her that she gave her life for it. I think her death and choosing to become the final aeon for Seymour is probably part of what led him to behave the way he did. I can't imagine what it must have been like for a young Seymour to realize his mother died for the sake of his life and for trying to get him reverence. That's a large burden to carry and as a child, I'm afraid it wouldn't do more than place a very heavy burden upon him. An honor it might be to stop sin, how confident would a child be to know that he killed his mother for his own gain? How confident could he be knowing that the one person he knew loved him was now gone?
After seeing him slowly corrupt, I start to feel like Anima had little choice in the matter to join Yuna. She wanted to stop Seymour and felt like Yuna was the only one that really could. Yuna was the only one who stood up to Seymour, so maybe that's why Anima ultimately decided that she would too. I have mixed feelings about Anima in general. My feelings are compacted by the choices she made. I understand her desire to protect, cherish, and hold up her son. I know she wanted what was best for him. Yet, I feel like those choices are ultimately what made him as twisted as he was. She was the support pillar he had. She died so he could stop sin and then she assisted Yuna too. The pain of choices that others make is too real and the inability to fully understand what another is thinking or how they might act can drive one crazy. I think a lot of Seymour's behavior comes from simply not caring about how things go about anymore. And I believe that the majority of that attitude comes from witnessing his mother's choices. I believe that Anima's influence over Seymour is also what caused her a great amount of pain. She knew that she made a choice her son was not pleased with. Although she'd always be with him, I do not feel that was the mother he needed. I get the feeling she knew that too and that's what causes her greatest suffering.