Length of Braska's Calm

[Donald Trump]

Ah yeds.
It's often assumed that the Calm created by Braska lasts around ten years. However, it is likely that is considerably less than that.

Firstly, after Tidus washes on Besaid and explains that he was attacked by Sin, no one seems shocked or terrified that Sin has reappeared. Therefore, Sin was probably around before then.
Secondly, Chappu's death. Chappu is killed a year before the start of the game which means the Calm lasted at most 9 years.
Finally, Lady Ginnem who was the summoner that died in the cavern of the stolen fayth and Lulu was her guardian. Her summoner after that, the one that quit was 6 months before the start of the game. Lulu was probably his Guardian for a couple of months, so she started being his Guardian about 8 months before the start of the game. Based on the fact that Lady Ginnem made it to the cavern of stolen fayth, also since because Lulu was her only Guardian they probably would have moved quite slowly, furthermore Lulu's feelings of failure would have meant she would have waited a while before taking on another pilgrimage as Guardian, I think that Lulu probably became Lady Ginnem's Guardian around 18 months prior to the beginning of the game. I also think that it is unlikely that summoners started pilgrimages before Sin reappeared. So Sin probably reappeared half a year to a couple of months before Lady Ginnem started her pilgrimage.
Therefore the Calm Braska created when he killed Sin was at most 9 years long. Very possibly less too, eight to eight and a half years long. It's also possible that it was even less than that.

 

[Will Graham]

AI hadn't thought of this at all, Halicity. I assumed the Calm wasn't precisely ten years to the day, but I didn't expect it to be that much shorter. I would agree that nobody seemed surprised to see Sin return. In fact I don't think the people of Besaid would have known about him yet if he only returned with Tidus. Sin only attacked the Al-Bhed boat, so how would people know it had returned to the world? It surely would not be enough time for all of those summoners to start their pilgrimage.

 

[CryofthePlanet]

Also keep in mind that in X-2, nobody questions that the Calm is eternal, even though it was only 2 years later. When Tidus realizes that Sin just comes back and seems surprised, Yuna notes how it's worth it for the people of Spira to sleep soundly in their beds and live without fear, if only for a little while. Used to assume it was around 10 years, but when you actually think about it, it just doesn't add up. It'd have to be much shorter than 10 years.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

i always thought that was a bit of a funny grey area. i've also always wondered why summoners don't do mass pilgramages, then when sin reappears they can fight him straight away and not have (presumably) several months of him terrorising the world. we know that several summoners take the pilgrimage at the same time, so it's safe to assume that more than one reaches zanarkand and obtains the final aeon, so surely they should, or at the very least could, be prepared for sin's return, thus minimising the loss of life as much as possible.