The Al Bhed are a fictional race in the games Final Fantasy X and its sequel. Because of their use of forbidden "machina" (machines), they are viewed with suspicion by the Yevonite majority of humans. They are human in every way, except that the irises of their eyes are swirling green. As a result they often wear googles so they can walk among Yevonites. Another mark of the Al Bhed is that most of them have blonde hair.

During the Eternal Calm in Final Fantasy X-2, the Al Bhed were accepted by the rest of Spira. Now integrated with the populance, some Al Bhed intend to push Spira to a new age in the form of Machine Faction.

Al Bhed language

The Al Bhed speak a different language to the rest of Spira. The player has a chance to "learn" this language during the game.

In the game the Al Bhed language is rendered as a cipher: a "secret code" spoken only by the Al Bhed. It is not considered a language, as real languages have their own words, grammar structures and syntax. Al Bhed is just a system of transposing letters for others so that it seems like a foreign language - but Al Bhed grammar is exactly the same as English and the syntax (word order) has not changed.

Here is how to convert English to Al Bhed:

English to Al Bhed

|A = Y | B = P | C = L | D = T | E = A | F = V | G = K | H = R | I = E |J = Z | K = G | L = M | M = S | N = H | O = U | P = B | Q = X | R = N |S = C | T = D | U = I | V = J | W = F | X = Q | Y = O | Z = W |

However, certain words are not translated into Al Bhed. These are known as keywords and include proper nouns, nouns and subjects. Names of people, places and things are left untranslated, as shown when the Al Bhed on the ship exclaim "Sin ec lusa" (Sin is come). Sin is a name, so it does not get translated. Subjects of sentences are also not translated. We see this at Baaj Temple, when Tidus is captured by the Al Bhed. One of them says "Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!" (A fiend! In human disguise!) They do not translate 'fiend' as it is the subject of the sentence. Another example is when Rikku's brother Aniki attacks Tidus & Co. in Macalania. He says "Ouin bnaleuic magic yht Aeons yna caymat" (Your precious magic and Aeons are sealed). Magic is the subject of the sentence, while Aeons is a proper noun. In-game, these non-translated words (rendered here in bold) are made visible by being printed in pink text, whereas translated words are blue. (The player learns the language by picking up items which automatically translate a single letter from Al Bhed to English; likewise, the translated letters appear pink, resulting sometimes in bizarre statements such as "Ouir breleuis magic yht Aeons yne seymet!")

See also

• Substitution cipher
• ROT13

External Links

• Al-bhed translator