Shuyin: Ryu Kaze translation of Ultimania Guide

In regard to the young man named "Shuyin," the "Shuyin" that appears in the story is not Shuyin himself. It is not exactly his corpse. The Shuyin in the story is full of the despair, hatred and negative destructive thoughts of the Shuyin of 1000 years ago, preserved by pyreflies -- which became the "shadow" of Shuyin.

As seen in the Yevon Dome in X, in places where pyreflies are densely packed, they will remember moments from the past and project them. In regard to the Shuyin in the story, these kinds of phantom thoughts began acting on their own, in a unique case of those who have died.

The difference between the corpse and the "shadow" is that its pyreflies do not possess the means of ordinary physical interaction. While the "shadow" of Shuyin lacks physical substance, it is possible for it to produce extensions of itself and for it to directly influence the state of mind of those around it (as seen inside the sealed cave). In order for it to begin physically interacting with the living world outside, it needed to possess someone to act as a vessel. In order to be a suitable vessel for it, someone must be of similar disposition and have the physical and spiritual strength he needs. Furthering this need to find what is considered a suitable vessel is that if the current vessel should lose consciousness, transferring to a new one is not possible.

Ryu comments:

It talks about him in the UO as though he's not really Shuyin, but in all the ways that really matter (emotions and memories) he is; I'm not even sure what became of the life energy of the original Shuyin, but if its memories were somehow imprinted on other pyreflies, I'd guess that it merged with them or something. So for all intents and purposes, this "shadow" is Shuyin but it's completely focused on his despair and hate

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