Do Puppetmasters exist in Ezorea?

[Brightshadow]

Now I'm curious whether Papalymo thinks Vivi looks like a mammet.

Vivi is a puppet...it is explained in FF9.

[Eloah]

Vivi is a puppet...it is explained in FF9.

Vivi in 9 wasn't a puppet, at least not how I think you're referencing it. It was established that he was different from the other Black Mages, being the prototype and all, and unlike the others, he had free will and sentience from the start of his life; since he was lost right after his creation. Remember Vivi's whole story arc is about existentialism ("How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we don't exist...") and he acts as a grounder for Zidane when he goes through a similar issue.

To clarify, he was designed to be a puppet, but didn't become a puppet. Think of it like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit.

[Iscah]

Vivi is a puppet...it is explained in FF9.

While it's made clear in the end that he's some kind of artificial being, a great deal of discussion goes into whether he's human or not - suggesting that he looks human to the other characters in the story.