guys i have an ff7 theory

:Contents:
-1) Purpose

-2) Frequently Asked Questions

-3) Theories and In-Depth Analysis
-Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
1) The Origin of the Silver-Haired Men
2) How Sephiroth was Able to Return in Advent Children
3) The Origin of the Shadow Creepers
4) Sephiroth: Gone Forever?
5) The Final Battle Between Cloud and Sephiroth was not a Hallucination
6) Sephiroth Formed His Masamune Out of Thin Air
7) Symbolism in Advent Children
-Final Fantasy VII
1) The JENOVA Thesis
-Explanation of JENOVA and its Goal
-Explanation of the Powers of JENOVA
-Explanation of Sephiroth's Identity
-The Roles of JENOVA and Sephiroth: The Puppet Master Theorem
-Explanation of Just Who Cloud Really Was
-Cloud Was Not a Failed Clone
-The Sephiroth Clones are not Genetic Duplicates of Sephiroth
-The Purpose of the Sephiroth Clone Experiment
-The Sephiroth Clone With a "1" Tattoo Did Not Take on Sephiroth's Form, Nor
Did Sephiroth Have Such a Tattoo Himself
-The Sephiroth Forms Encountered Throughout the Game are Pieces of JENOVA
2) The Identity of the Voice in Cloud's Head
3) It Had Been Five Years Since Cloud Was Last in Nibelheim with Tifa
4) Explanation of the Lost Identities of the Black-Cloaked Sephiroth Clones,
And Why Cloud Didn't Lose His Own
5) Zack Is Not The Man In The Pipe In The Slums of Midgar
6) Vincent Is Not Sephiroth's Father
7) Aerith's Death Wasn't Necessary in Order to Summon Holy
8) Aerith Did Not Sacrifice Herself
9) Explanation of the Behaviour of the WEAPONs
10) The Battle During the Game's Ending was a Real Conflict
11) Why Holy Failed and the Truth About the Lifestream's Role in Saving the
World
12) The Cetra are not from Another Planet
13) The Promised Land Revealed
14) The Cetra Were Really Nomads
15) Bizarro Sephiroth and Safer Sephiroth: What they are
16) What Did Hojo Do to Red XIII?
17) Explanation of the Sphere Cloud Sees During The Ending of Final Fantasy
VII
18) Contrasting Cait Sith No. 1's "Death" With Aerith's
19) All that Remained of Sephiroth's Body After His Fall Into The Mt. Nibel
Mako Reactor Was its Torso
20) Vincent Does Not Have a Prosthetic Arm
21) Are Spira and Gaia Connected?
22) Analyzing the Storyline of Final Fantasy VII Based on Its Symbolism

-Bonus Essay-
Spirit Energy and Memories: The Magic of Final Fantasy

-4) Acknowledgements


(1)
--Purpose--

The purpose of this document is to shed light upon and -- offer analysis of --
the storyline of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the CGI sequel to Final
Fantasy VII, the Square-Enix RPG released in January of 1997 for the Sony
PlayStation game console, as well as its predecessor, the original Final
Fantasy VII.



(2)
-Frequently Asked Questions-

The first part of this document is a list of frequently asked questions
concerning the film (hey, this IS an FAQ after all) and their answers. They're
seperate from the main body of the article as they are questions with definite
answers that also happen to be very short. No theorizing required for these.
The questions that require theorizing will be further down. Note that much of
the information in this FAQ comes from the Director's Commentary included with
the Advent Children DVD. Those that are of my own devising will have "-SoS-"
placed beneath them.

*Question (hereafter abbreviated "Q"): What was the name of the form of
Bahamut that Kadaj summoned?
*Answer (hereafter abbreviated "A"): Bahamut SIN (also romanized as "Bahamut
SHIN"), or "Bahamut TREMOR." The prefix and suffixes in the names of the
alternate Bahamuts come from old Japanese fighter planes. For instance,
Bahamut ZERO is "Bahamut REKISHI" in Japanese, and NEO Bahamut is
"KAI Bahamut."


*Q: Why wasn't Cait Sith's Moogle Toysaurus in the film? It doesn't show up in
the present or in the flashback to Final Fantasy VII's last battle.
*A: The Toysaurus was left out due to the amount of extra time and work that
would have been required to render it into the film.


*Q: What does the wolf that appears at Zack's place of death, Aerith's church,
and the City of the Ancients symbolize?
*A: It's a symbol of Cloud's guilt and regret. As a result of being unable to
do anything to save Aerith and Zack, he blamed himself for their deaths. The
symbolism of the wolf also works in regard to the expression "lone wolf," as
Cloud has chosen to live away from others while he awaits death from
Geostigma. Continuing this line of symbolism, Cloud wears symbols of a wolf's
head and his motorcycle is named "Fenrir," the name bore by Loki's wolf child
in Norse Mythology.


*Q: What is the name of Cloud's new sword?
*A: "First Tsurugi," or "First Sword."


*Q: What is the name of the Limit Break that Cloud used to finish off
Sephiroth?
*A: "Choukyuu Bushin Hakazan Version 5" is its name. One of the more accurate
translations of the term is "Super Ultimate War *** Champion Slash." "Choukyuu
Bushin Hakazan" was the name used for Cloud's original ultimate Limit Break,
and this was localized as "Omnislash" in English. Therefore, one can call this
new Limit Break "Omnislash Version 5."

The suffix "Version 5" was added, by the way, because the form of the attack
seen in the film was the fifth version of the attack that they developed to
use in that scene.


*Q: What were those dark clouds that Sephiroth called forth before his battle
with Cloud began? Some of them even had tendrils.
*A: It was something of a negative Lifestream, composed of the Spirit Energy
of those who had died with Geostigma. Their Spirit Energy became corrupted by
the influence of JENOVA's Cells and was, thus, under Sephiroth's control.


*Q: What is Geostigma?
*A: "Geostigma" is the name given to the side-effects of an internal struggle
between JENOVA's Cells and one's own Spirit Energy, gifted to them at
conception by the Lifestream. These side-effects result from the Spirit Energy
causing one's body to basically over-tax itself in trying to expel JENOVA's
Cells from within. These side-effects consist of extreme fatigue, open sores
on the surface of the skin, and discolouration of the skin. It is actually
these negative side-effects that contribute to an individual's death rather
than the presence of JENOVA Cells alone.
-SoS-


*Q: How did people the world over become infected with JENOVA's Cells?
*A: When the Lifestream spread over the world at the end of Final Fantasy VII,
it unintentionally carried JENOVA's remains to the population. JENOVA's body
had been blown apart inside the Planet and its pieces fell into the
Lifestream.
-SoS-


*Q: Didn't Tseng die in Final Fantasy VII? I recall Elena saying to Cloud
"...you really got guts doin' my boss in like that!".
*A: Obviously Tseng didn't die since he is present in the film sequel. While
the PlayStation version of Final Fantasy VII released in North America
certainly made it seem that Tseng had died due to Elena's statement, this was,
in fact, a major mistranslation, and was corrected with the PC version in
which Elena says "...you really got guts messin' my boss up like that!".

Also notable is that if one speaks to the wounded Tseng in the Temple of the
Ancients after he has given Cloud and company the Keystone, he will say
"I'm... still alive...." Apparently, while Cloud and the others were inside
the Temple of the Ancients, Tseng was discovered badly wounded and rescued.
Despite his massive wound, he survived. That Tseng was discovered before the
Temple of the Ancients became the Black Materia would actually explain how it
is that the other Turks would have known about Tseng being injured in the
first place.
-SoS-


*Q: Didn't Rufus die in Final Fantasy VII when Diamond WEAPON blasted his
office?
*A: As with Tseng, no, Rufus obviously didn't since he is present in the film
sequel. Rufus is never explicitly identified as dead, though Heidegger,
Scarlet, and Reeve all assume it to be the case. Though injured when he was
engulfed in the explosion that enveloped his office, he certainly did not die.
-SoS-


*Q: What were the names of the Silver-Haired Men's weapons and what kind of
weapons were they?
*A: -Kadaj's weapons-
The Souba (a double-bladed katana)

-Yazoo's weapons-
A Velvet Nightmare (a double-barreled gun designed to look like two
swords set side-by-side)

-Loz's weapons-
A Velvet Nightmare (a double-barreled gun designed to look like two
swords set side-by-side)
The Dual Hound (a pile bunker designed to function as a stun gun)
-SoS-


*Q: Do the Velvet Nightmare weapons function as swords as well or only as
guns?
*A: They function only as guns. While Yazoo does use his Velvet Nightmare to
block Cloud's sword during a fight, the weapons lack an actual blade. Both the
official North American and Japanese Advent Children websites state that the
Velvet Nightmares lack any sword function:

(Yazoo's profile on the official North American Advent Children website)
"A youth who is unbound by worldly matters and thus a bit of an enigma. Yazoo
carries the 'Velvet Nightmare,' a firearm designed after two parallel swords,
but with gun functionality only."
-SoS-


*Q: Could the title of "Gunblades" be given to the Velvet Nightmares as it was
to Squall and Seifer's weapons in Final Fantasy VIII?
*A: No. The Gunblades of Final Fantasy VIII only function as swords. The
Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania Guide states that the gun mechanism on those
weapons merely is used to rupture shells in the "firing" chamber, producing a
vibration along the length of the weapons' blades. Here follows a translation
of the Gunblade section of the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania Guide:

(Translated by DarkAngel)
"GUNBLADE
Combining the sword with a standard shotgun

Aerith knew that something was wrong with the situation, and that the person
Cloud believed himself to be was not the person he actually was. She was
unable to fully explore this matter, however, nor the matter of the
ever-deepening love triangle that formed between herself, Cloud, and Tifa.
Tragedy would strike Aerith's life and those of all who knew her. After
Sephiroth revealed his plan in the Temple of the Ancients, Aerith could feel
herself being guided to the Cetra's Ancient City on the northern continent.
She knew not what awaited her there, only that she was being led to a secret
that could possibly combat Meteor. Once Aerith arrived there, she learned that
the White Materia she had inherited from her mother, a relic she had formerly
believed to have no function, was actually the Materia that would allow one to
connect to the Planet to bring forth Holy, the ultimate White Magic Spell, the
only Spell which may stand against Meteor, the ultimate Black Magic Spell.

While praying to the Planet on an altar in the Ancient City, Aerith was
unexpectedly impaled on Sephiroth's sword as a shapeshifted piece of JENOVA
descended from above. Aerith's life ended and her spirit quickly departed,
leaving sorrow and anguish to those who had known her. However, there was some
cause for joy, though her grief-stricken companions were unaware of it for
some time. Before Aerith's life was taken from her, she had successfully
connected to the Planet and activated Holy. It was being held back by
Sephiroth's will from within the Planet, but the Spell was, nonetheless,
active and ready to stand against Meteor if it could only be released. This
task fell to her friends once they discovered that Aerith had left them with
hope to save their Planet.

The surviving eight members of AVALANCHE journeyed to the centre of the
Planet, confronted Sephiroth and the extraterrestrial "Crisis from the Sky"
named "JENOVA," and managed to defeat them. With these foes overcome, Holy was
free to make its stand against Meteor, which was now directly over Midgar and
bearing down upon it. Despite Holy being released, it had been held back for
too long, and as it struggled against the ultimate destructive Spell in the
skies over Midgar, their clash was damaging the surrounding area. Holy was no
longer able to realize its full potency after being held back for several
weeks, and Meteor was stronger. Not only was Holy's furious clash with Meteor
damaging Midgar and the surrounding area of the Planet, but Meteor was
actually winning, seemingly rendering Aerith's final act, AVALANCHE's
desperate attempts to carry out Aerith's plan, and Holy's own efforts futile.

This was not to be so, however, as Aerith's spirit was able to guide the
Lifestream to arise from within the bowels of the Planet and converge on
Midgar, its many emerald-coloured strands colliding beneath Holy and rising up
into it, adding enough strength to the Spell for it to stand equal with
Meteor. With the strength of the two Spells equal, and recognizing the concept
that the equal but opposite positive force applied to a negative force will
negate both, the White and Black Magic Spells were rendered sterile, canceling
one another out and saving the Planet. Even in death, Aerith's heart was ever
with her friends and the people of Gaia, and it was her that delivered them
salvation in their darkest hour.
-SoS-


*Q: Who is Denzel?
*A: Denzel is one of the orphans afflicted with Geostigma taken care of by
Cloud and Tifa. He had previously been the son of a Shin-Ra employee living on
the Upper Plate. When Shin-Ra destroyed the Sector 7 Support Pillar, Denzel's
mother and father were inside Sector 7 at the time and were killed in the
subsequent disaster. He was taken in by a kind woman and the two looked after
one another until Meteor's descent, when the Lifestream flooded across Midgar.

Acting as an accidental catalyst, the Lifestream had carried the remains of
JENOVA's destroyed body to the population of the world, and as it's tendrils
passed through them, the JENOVA Cells within took hold. Many -- including the
woman who taken in Denzel -- died shortly thereafter, while others, like
Denzel, would only become infected later. This infection of JENOVA Cells would
result in the widespread maladay known as "Geostigma." Over a year later,
after living with other orphaned children and fending for himself, Denzel
would be discovered by Cloud and Tifa, who would then take him into their
care.

For more on Denzel, refer to the novella entitled "On the Way to a Smile."
-SoS-


*Q: What is the Planet's name?
*A: While it's often believed that Final Fantasy VII's Planet doesn't have a
name, it, in fact, is named "Gaia." This became evident at the 2004
Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), when the Square-Enix booth gave away
pamphlets concerning Advent Children that refer to the Planet as "Gaia." Here
is a scan of one of those pamphlets:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/AdventChildrenE3Handout.
jpg

With this in mind, recall that in Final Fantasy VII, the frozen area that must
be scaled to reach the Northern Crater is called "Gaea's Cliffs." Depending on
the phoenetic values one is recognizing, "ae" and "ai" can have the same
pronunciation, and such spellings as this are often interchangable as far as
accuracy goes when translating. In other words, an alternate spelling for the
name of that location on Final Fantasy VII's Planet is "Gaia's Cliffs."

The name of the Planet is most certainly "Gaia."
-SoS-


*Q: Is Vincent immortal?
*A: Yes. After being killed by Hojo approximately 23 years before the original
game began and then being brought back to life through his experimentation,
Vincent's aging stopped. He's now immortal, retaining the youth he had at 27
years of age even two decades later.
-SoS-


*Q: Is Vincent undead?
*A: For all intents and purposes, yes. He was murdered by Hojo when he was
shot approximately 23 years before the original game began. However, Hojo's
experimentation brought him back to life as an immortal with extraordinary
strength and powers.
-SoS-


*Q: How old was Sephiroth?
*A: While no official materials have offered an exact age for Sephiroth, it
can be roughly determined -- very roughly, I'm afraid -- due to information in
the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega Guide. It's stated that Lucrecia gave
birth to Sephiroth 25 to 30 years before the original game began. Thus,
Sephiroth was 20 to 25 years old during the Nibelheim incident, and 25 to 30
years old during the main events of the original game.

Due to Sephiroth having died at the end of Final Fantasy VII and due to him
technically not being alive again until Advent Children, two years later, his
age should technically still be considered as 25 to 30 years during Advent
Children.
-SoS-


*Q: How old is Vincent?
*A: As with Sephiroth age, no exact age has been offered for Vincent. However,
unlike with Sephiroth's age, Vincent's age can be almost exactly determined
due to the time of Lucrecia's disappearance. According to the Final Fantasy
VII Ultimania Omega Guide, this event occurred approximately 23 years before
the main events of the original game, as did Vincent's murder at Hojo's hands
and the subsequent experimentation that Hojo conducted on Vincent which
revived him but left him ageless. We know that Vincent was 27 at the time of
his death and subsequent revival, placing him at approximately 50 years old in
the original game (48 to 52 years old using a 2 year margin of error), and
approximately 52 years old in Advent Children (50 to 54 years old, again,
using our margin of error).
-SoS-


*Q: How old was Zack?
*A: Zack was 18 years old during the Nibelheim incident, 22 years old at the
time of escaping from the Shinra Mansion with Cloud, and 23 years old at the
time of his death shortly before the main events of the original game began.
This information has been confirmed by Final Fantasy VII: Last Order which
shows a case file on the Nibelheim incident with Zack's profile including the
information that he was 18 years of age during the incident.
-SoS-


*Q: How old is Denzel?
*A: Denzel's age as of the present day in Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a
Smile -- Case of Denzel is 10 years old. It is said that the Meteor incident
occurred four years before this, placing Denzel at 8 years old in Final
Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
-SoS-


*Q: Can Vincent fly?
*A: Apparently he can fly short distances, yes. Considering how reserved and
focused all of his movements are, however, it may be that he doesn't employ
this ability for extended periods of time to prevent bringing on his
transformations.
-SoS-


*Q: Can Cloud fly?
*A: Not anytime he wants to like Vincent, but he does fly briefly when
performing Omnislash Version 5 on Sephiroth at the end of the film. This is
theoretically something that anyone could do via a surge in their Spirit
Energy (what we know as a "Limit Break"), and we do witness Aerith's staff
levitating a few times in the original game while she performed some of her
Limit Breaks or casted Spells.

While he can't fly anytime he wishes, he can jump VERY high. When jumping
during earlier scenes, notice that his momentum putters out shortly before his
landings. He isn't flying at those points, but his jumps are impressive to say
the least.
-SoS-


*Q: Who is Cloud truly in love with? Aerith or Tifa?
*A: This is a matter deeply mired in personal opinion, and that is exactly how
Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, and Kazushige Nojima intend to leave it.
There is no answer to this question due partly to the fact that the player's
choices influence who Cloud's affection is greatest for in the original game,
and due to the film intentionally offering no indication of who his affection
is greatest for. The only truly assured statement is "He cares about them both
very much."
-SoS-


*Q: Why does Vincent ask Tifa where he can acquire a phone when he shows up to
battle Bahamut SIN?
*A: After he rescued Cloud in the Sleeping Forest, Marlene asked Vincent if he
had a mobile phone so that she could call Tifa, due to Cloud having lost his
own during his fight with the Silver-Haired Men. Vincent didn't have one,
however, and was embarassed by Marlene's reaction of near-disbelief to
Vincent's lack of a phone. Further, Cloud informed Vincent that he would let
him know how his attempt to find forgiveness of his "sins" went -- a matter
that would likely be of personal interest to Vincent considering his own
history of accusing himself of committing sins -- gesturing with his hand that
he would call him. Vincent would be unable to keep in touch with Cloud and his
other comrades easily if he continued to conduct himself without a phone.
Therefore, he intended to buy one and "catch up with the times" so to speak.

As for whether or not he ever got around to doing this, as can be seen -- or,
more accurately, heard -- in Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII (a video
included with Advent Children), Vincent does, indeed, acquire a mobile after
the events of Advent Children.

(Note: Thanks to my wife, Carys, for pointing out the multiple reasons why
Vincent would likely have an interest in having a phone, beyond simply feeling
embarassed at Marlene's reaction.)
-SoS-


*Q: Is Rufus truly reformed? He didn't even tell Cloud that he had the remains
of JENOVA or that he was planning to rebuild the Shin-Ra Corporation. That
seems to suggest that he had a hidden agenda.
*A: Rufus' hidden agenda was merely keeping the box containing the remains of
JENOVA hidden. He didn't want to in any way risk the Silver-Haired Men finding
it and using its contents. He didn't even tell his Turks that he had the box
with him, despite their loyalty to him. He didn't tell Cloud that the Turks
found it because Cloud was being uncooperative at the time and it was obvious
that Cloud wasn't going to join them. Thus, why Rufus said "Nothing... we
found nothing. You don't have to worry about it." Rufus wasn't going to give
Cloud that kind of information without knowing that he could count on him.

It becomes obvious toward the end of the film that Rufus was truly reformed,
as he makes a speech to Kadaj in which he says that he will submit to the
authority of the Planet and the order of life, also adding that he and the
others will be victorious over Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz in doing so.
-SoS-


*Q: Do Aerith and Zack's ghosts appear in the photograph of the entire team
that appears after the credits of the film have rolled?
*A: No, they do not. Refer to this close-up image of the photograph:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/FamilyPhotographs.jpg


As can be plainly seen here, they are not present. While the smudge near Cloud
coupled with the support joint of the structure behind him is often mistaken
to form Zack's right shoulder and face, they are not at all parts of Zack.
When seeing this occur, one's mind is merely attempting to ascertain an
identity to the image based on recognizable patterns. In other words, it's an
optical illusion formed by one's own mind. While one may argue that this was
done intentionally by Square-Enix, it should be kept in mind that this
illusion really only takes form when one is looking at a smaller version of
this photo rather than a close-up. For an example of a smaller version of the
image, look to this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/FamilyPhotographsSmaller
.png


While one may still yet argue that since the image was rendered by people,
whatever is there is there intentionally, and, thus, it was Square-Enix's
intention that this illusion be formed, it should be kept in mind also that
there are other points of light on the photgraph aside from the smudge near
Cloud, and that they distort as the camera angle rotates; further still, there
is a light source pointing down at the photograph diagonally from above (refer
to this shot of Cloud's desk that comes before the close-up on the photograph:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/LightSource.jpg),
meaning that the smudge is intended to be glare. Further yet, it hardly makes
sense for Square-Enix to attempt to have an illusion of Zack present without
having one of Aerith. Aerith was actually a member of AVALANCHE, whereas Zack
was not. Finally, it should also be noted that both Zack and Aerith's spirits
had said their goodbyes and left together before the photograph was taken.
There's nothing logical about concluding that Square-Enix attempted to form
such an illusion intentionally.
-SoS-


*Q: The box that held JENOVA's "head" was a bit small for holding an entire
head. Was that what was actually in it?
*A: According to Takeshi Nozue, Co-Director of the film (as stated in an
interview in the Advent Children Prologue book), the contents of the box are
referred to as "the head," but what the box actually contains is just the
random remains of JENOVA's Cells. Of course, this might mean that some
material from its head was within the box, but Nozue doesn't indicate it to
necessarily be the case. They simply refer to the box's contents as "the head"
for simplicity's sake.
-SoS-


*Q: Why does Kadaj scream out in anguish when he looks into the box holding
JENOVA's remains?
*A: According to the script of the film packaged with the Ultimate Edition of
the film -- the one that includes the Advent Pieces collection -- Cloud's
sword shattered the box further after Rufus' earlier shot and damaged some of
the contents. It also goes on to say that Kadaj assumed Rufus was solely
responsible for the damage rather than Cloud. Why it bothers to say this, I
personally don't understand, as it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference who
Kadaj believed was responsible.
-SoS-


*Q: What is it that Reno often adds to the end of his sentences? What does it
mean?
*A: He's adding "to" to the ends of his sentences. It's basically used for the
same purpose that "yo" has colloquially in English: To add emphasis
(example: "What's up, yo?").

That said, he phrases it differently and with different levels of relevance
depending on how he does so. For example, he places "yo" before it on two
occasions, both times early in the movie when speaking to Tseng. This
indicates that Reno has respect for Tseng. While one should still never use
something like this when speaking to a superior, as it's considered rude, the
fact that Reno uses the more polite "yo" instead of its harsher, more
masculine form "zo" -- which he usually uses -- when speaking to Tseng
displays that he respects the leader of the Turks.

(Note: Thanks to my wife, Carys, for all this information.)
-SoS-


*Q: What is the black substance that permeates the water at the City of the
Ancients when Kadaj steps into it?
*A: It was his will.
-SoS-

*Q: Why do Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz have the children drink the water that
Kadaj's will permeated throughout?
*A: This was to activate the JENOVA Cells within them, causing their Reunion
instinct to take over. The idea was that the children would then be drawn to
the location of JENOVA's remains, allowing the Silver-Haired Men to locate
their "Mother."
-SoS-


*Q: "Aerith" or "Aeris"?: Which Should it be? What's the origin of this name?
*A: In Japanese there are the Katakana and Hiragana alphabets, as well as the
Romaji alphabet (there's also Kanji, but that's irrelevant in regard to this
matter; Romaji, by the way, is basically "Englishized Japanese," an alphabet
in which English characters are used to represent Japanese sounds).

"Aerith" -- and, consequently, "Aeris -- is a Japanese transliteration of the
English word "Earth, as confirmed by the Final Fantasy VII: Kaitai Shinsho
guide:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Aerith.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Aerith2.jpg

Hiragana is used for Japanese names, however, as Aerith's name isn't of
Japanese origin, Katakana (the Japanese alphabet used for words that are not
of Japanese origin) is used. The writing of "Earth" in Katakana is "Earisu."
This is because it's standard for vowels to follow consonants in Japanese
("n" being the only exception; thus, the "i" after "r") and the Japanese
language has no "th" characters, instead using "su." It will become "Aeris" as
a result of writing it in romaji (again, the alphabet in which English
characters represent Japanese sounds) to represent how it sounds when spoken
in Japanese ("Air-reese"; the Japanese "ea" sounds akin to the English "air").

"Aerith," the official romanization of the name, should technically never
occur. As it's written, it's essentially a combination of the romaji form of
the Japanese transliteration of "Earth" and the original form of the word in
English. It's technically impossible for this to occur in romaji because there
is no "th" sound in Japanese to be represented by romaji characters.
Nonetheless, it's the official romanization chosen by the creators of Final
Fantasy VII as a matter of preference, and has been the cause of a senseless
amount of debate among the fandom.

In conclusion, "Aeris" and "Aerith" are pronounced the same way ("Air-reese")
-- as both are romanizations of a Japanese transliteration -- a concept that
renders the spelling "Aerith" impossible as far as the rules -- and purpose --
of romaji are concerned. In any event, "Aerith" IS the official spelling of
the character's name, though the spelling SHOULD technically be "Aeris" in
romaji so as to properly represent the name's pronunciation. In any event, the
pronunciation should always be "Air-reese" regardless of the use of "Aeris" or
"Aerith" as its spelling.

All that said, there are two alternate -- and technically accurate -- names by
which one could choose to refer to Aerith:

1) "Earisu," the Katakana spelling of "Earth"

&

2) "Earth," the original word itself, which the Katakana spelling was intended
to represent.

(Note: A huge thanks goes to my wife, Carys, for this explanation of Japanese
reading and writing; I made quite a few errors in my "understanding" of
Japanese prior to your instruction.)
-SoS-


*Q: "Lockhart" or "Lockheart"? Which is actually Tifa's last name?
*A: "Lockhart" (without the "e") is Tifa's last name. Though it has been
published as "Lockheart" in official materials over the years, it was always
in the English versions of such materials that this misprint saw the light of
day. In Japanese materials, including the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega
Guide -- which was compiled by Studio BentStuff and published by Square-Enix
themselves, the creators and owners of Final Fantasy VII -- it is spelled as
"Lockhart," indicating it to be the actual intended spelling. Just as with
Squall Leonhart of Final Fantasy VIII, there is no "e" in the "hart" part of
the name.
-SoS-


*Q: Cid's new Airship, the Sierra, bears a name reminiscent of his assistant
Shera. Is there any connection there?
*A: Yes. The Airship is actually named after Shera. "Shera" was a
mistranslation in the original Final Fantasy VII. "Sierra" is her actual name.
-SoS-


*Q: Does Reeve have an official last name?
*A: Yes. It's been officially confirmed to be "Tuesti" by Final Fantasy VII:
Dirge of Cerberus promotional materials.
-SoS-


*Q: Does Lucrecia have an official last name?
*A: Yes. It's been officially confirmed to be "Crescent" by Final Fantasy VII:
Dirge of Cerberus promotional materials.
-SoS-


*Q: Was Aerith ever intended to be revived?
*A: Perhaps the most enduring matter of speculation concerning Final Fantasy
VII is whether or not Aerith was intended to die, whether her death could be
prevented, and whether or not she could be revived after her death. In the
case all of these metters, I will touch upon them one at a time and reveal the
truth.

First, to the matter of Aerith's death being preventable. It should be kept in
mind that there is no alternate FMV in the scene where Aerith's death takes
place. This can be ascertained easily through the use of the PC Version of the
game and reading all the FMV data aon the disc, or through any computer
program that can read FMV data straight off of the PlayStation game discs.

Granted, perhaps there would be no FMV if she didn't die. However, in this
eventuality, consider how much of the storyline would be altered if Aerith did
not die:

Aside from all the dialogue that speaks of Aerith in the past tense, there's
the fact that if she were to live, going to speak with Bugenhagen during Disk
2 would be rendered unnecessary, going to the City of the Ancients after, as
well, as would the search for what became of the White Materia, in which
Bugenhagen sends the party off to find the Key of the Ancients in order to
activate the Ancient Machine in the City of the Ancients.

It was only after activating that machine that the party learned that the
White Materia was glowing a pale green, meaning that Aerith's prayer had went
through and the White Materia had already been activated. It was also the
above incident that allowed them to learn that Holy was activated, but wasn't
moving because JENOVA/Sephiroth was holding it back. Further, the party learns
that the Junon Canon had been moved and that Diamond WEAPON was approaching
Midgar while still at the City of the Ancients, which immediately preceded the
battle with Diamond WEAPON, the apparent death of Rufus Shinra, and the final
showdown with the Shin-Ra. This being the case, essentially the entire manner
in which things play out for the rest of the game beyond Aerith's death would
be altered in one form or another, with the majority of these being major
changes.

Also, in regard to both this matter, and the matter of Aerith being revived,
consider that the ending itself would have needed to be altered, as she is not
with the main party in the Northern Crater, nor on the Highwind, and only a
ghostly image of her appears in the wake of the Lifestream during the ending.
Considering how much of the game would have needed to be altered, it's not at
all possible for Aerith to be revived -- or intended to be so in regard to the
final version of the script -- while preserving the integrity of the storyline
itself. Granted, it may yet be argued that in earlier versions of the script,
such a revival was intended but later removed -- and it's also true that in
the first draft of the script, Aerith was not intended to die at all -- that
simply isn't the case and is a matter which shall be touched upon later; as
far as the original draft of the script goes, this examination is focusing
solely on the developers' intentions at the time of conceiving of Aerith's
death.

To those who may argue that GameSharks allow for Aerith to be revived, and
that there are even different lines that she will say from the generic lines
random other characters will say when in her place at that point (such as the
"I'm sick of this" line -- which can be seen farther down -- after the
snowboarding crash incident), keep in mind that GameSharks only alter existing
memory that is on the discs, and that her lines are still -- nonetheless --
pretty generic, and nothing significant in regard to the storyline, nor
anything necessarily Aerith-specific based on what is said. It's basically a
rearranging of what is already there, not something that can unlock new
aspects of the game, or be a key to unlocking the hidden parts of its
storyline. Characters such as Cid and Yuffie have lines as early in the game
as the Mithril Mines beyond the Chocobo Ranch, yet they're also generic lines.
With this in mind, any generic lines from Aerith beyond the point in the game
where she should be dead should not be regarded as significant, nor indicative
of a possible -- or intended -- resurrection.

It should also be pointed out that the GameSharks don't provide access to any
scene involving a revival of Aerith. They simply allow Aerith's battle and
envrionment map renderings to be present when they shouldn't be, just as
Sephiroth can be placed into the player's battle formation, as is shown in the
pictures below:

(Note: The first of these screenshots ("Aerith in the snow") comes from Final
Fantasy VII Citadel: http://www.ff7citadel.com/index.shtml)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/secsnow1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/sephchaos.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/BraveSephiroth_979415243
.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/UltimaSephiroth_97941524
4.jpg


This function of Game Sharks and other gamecode-hacking programs is simply to
rearrange the existing code within the game. That's why one can be at the
Northern Crater on Disc 1. The entire game, in terms of environment and
battle maps, was placed on the first disc, but the seperate discs were needed
due to the FMV sequences taking up so much space. Being that the ending FMVs
on Disc 3 are longer than most all the rest of the FMVs put together, it
should be obvious that there's no extra space for FMVs depicting altered
versions of the ending, featuring Aerith in the Northern Crater with the
party, or on the Highwind with them. In fact, Aerith being alive and being
there would completely screw-up what IS in the ending, such as Cloud seeing
Aerith's hand after the mental battle that occurs against Sephiroth's form,
Cloud saying "An answer from the Planet... the Promised Land...I think I can
meet her... there," and then Aerith appearing in the wake of the Lifestream
just as Meteor was being destroyed.

Further, being that there wasn't even enough space to take into account in the
FMVs that the player might do something as simple as recruit Vincent or Yuffie
-- due to them not being viewable in any FMVs -- it should be very obvious
that no such thing would be done with Aerith in the event of a revival. For
that matter, all of the FMV coding on the discs can be read and copied
straight from the discs themselves with programs designed for just that
purpose, and with the PC Versions of the game, all the FMV sequences on the
discs could be saved straight off the discs. No alternate ending FMVs are
present on the third disc of the game in either the PlayStation or PC format
of any version of the game.

More to the concept of whether or not such a revival was ever intended, all
the game's FMV sequences, including the one in which Aerith died and the
ending FMV, were all made during 1995. They were the first things that were
made aside from the script that the game would follow, made even before
environment maps. The game wasn't released in Japan until January 31, 1997.
The FMVs were completed more than a year before the game was released, and the
final version of the script was completed even before the FMVs.

While it has long been claimed by many that Final Fantasy VII was incomplete,
an intended resurrection of Aerith being left out due to time constraints --
and true that the original Japanese release suffered from time constraints,
and despite pushing back the release date a full month to work on the game
longer, they still failed to add in a pivotal scene of backstory (Cloud's
flashback in the Shinra Mansion basement on Disc 3 in which remembers his and
Zack's escape from Nibelheim) -- the game was completed in the half year of
time between the game's Japanese release and its North American release. The
additions made were on the order of the flashback sequence in the Shinra
Mansion's basement on Disc 3, the boss fight against Diamond WEAPON, the two
optional mega bosses (Ruby and Emerald WEAPONs), and a few other small things
in regard to Materia, equipment, and items that were added into the North
American release.

With the exception of the first addition mentioned in the previous sentence,
none of these were of absolutely pivotal importance to the main plot, yet
those who have argued that the game remained incomplete even after its North
American release expect for one to assume that such comparitively
insignificant matters were thrust to the forefront of the developers'
priorities, rather than an Aerith resurrection, which would have been a
massive plot element. Common consideration of the order of priority, as well
as consideration of the fact that the pivotal plot addition of the flashback
sequence in the Shinra Mansion's basement render such an argument ridiculus.

At this point, I wish to present the most important bit of information that
argues against the notion of an Aerith resurrection having ever been intended:
The proof. During an interview in the May 2003 issue of EDGE magazine, Tetsuya
Nomura (Character Designer of Final Fantasy VII) and Yoshinori Kitase
(Director and Co-Scenario Writer of Final Fantasy VII) speak on their
respective intentions and hopes for Aerith's death, and touch upon the matter
of a resurrection.

Nomura, concerning Aerith's death:
"Back at the time we were designing the game, I was frustrated with the
perennial cliche where the protagonist loves someone very much and so has to
sacrifice himself and die in a dramatic fashion to express that love. We found
this was the case in both games and movies, both eastern and western. But I
wanted to say something different, something realistic. I mean, is it right to
set such an example to people?"

Kitase's follow up to Nomura's comments about Aerith's death:
"In the real world, things are very different. You just need to look around
you. Nobody wants to die that way. People die of disease and accident. Death
comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad attached to it. It
leaves, not a dramatic feeling, but a feeling of emptiness. When you lose
someone you loved very much you feel this big empty space and think 'If I had
known this was coming I would have done things differently.' These are the
feelings I wanted to arouse in the players with Aerith's death relatively
early in the game. Feelings of reality and not Hollywood."

Kitase, concerning the fans' responses to Aerith's death, and the possibility
of her being revived:
"The world was expecting us to bring her back to life, as this is the classic
convention. But we did not. We had decided this from the beginning. There was
a lot of reaction from Japanese users. Some of them were very sad about it,
while others were angry. We even received a lengthy petition addressed to our
scenario writer asking for Aerith's revival. But there are many meanings in
Aerith's death and that could never happen."

Here, we have proof from one of the core creators of Final Fantasy VII that
no such resurrection was ever intended, even from the inception of the concept
of Aerith's death.

Finally, I wish to emphasise once more that -- contrary to popular belief --
neither the Japanese nor the International Version of FFVII included an Aerith
revival. As has been previously stated, the Japanese Version didn't feature
as much as the North American Version. As for the International Version
(re-release in Japan), it is identical to the version that North America
received, with the only exceptions being a few novelty items that are
available within the game (such as Johnny's Jacket), and a bonus disc that
came with the game in which vehicle schematics, an item list featuring
pictures of the items, and concept designs could be seen. While North America
has been shafted in regard to International Releases ever since, with FFVII it
did receive it in every capacity that relates to the storyline itself. It was
the first and only version released in North America.

In conclusion, with all the evidence born of logical reasoning, as well as the
proof from the very lips of the Director/Co-Scenario Writer of Final Fantasy
VII -- who also happens to be the Producer of Advent Children -- its is
unquestionably fact that Aerith was never intended to be revived.


Points often brought forward to argue that a revival of Aerith was intended
and why they don't actually support the notion:

(Note: These are taken from RTSmith005's contribution in falsehead's Final
Fantasy VII Plot Analysis FAQ at GameFAQs. I've reworded the points that were
made, but they still convey the same intention. Here is the URL to that FAQ:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/final_fantasy_vii_plot.txt)

*Point: At the bottom of the Northern Crater, before going down to fight
JENOVA, there's a spot for everyone to stand, but there's also a ledge that's
empty where Aerith could have been intended to stand.

*Response: Technically, there's more than just one spot where Aerith could
have conceivably been placed. This, in and of itself, does nothing to suggest
that the notion was intended by the developers.


*Point: For the battle against Bizarro Sephiroth, if the player has acquired
all the game's characters (this meaning including Vincent and Yuffie), they
will have only 8 party members, not enough to form three full parties if
prompted to do so when battling the boss.

*Response: As with the matter of there being an "empty ledge" above the area
of the final battles, this alone does nothing to support the notion.


*Point: Throughout the game, Cloud has to make decisions that extend
favoritism to either Tifa or Aerith (or Barret or Yuffie, as well), yet after
Aerith's death, the matter is dropped and no longer affects anything. Surely
it was intended to affect more than just who Cloud dates at the Gold Saucer.

*Response: It does affect more than that. It affects the dialogue and dynamic
between Cloud and Tifa when they spend the night together beneath the Highwind
after Hojo's defeat and before the descent into the Northern Crater. If
Cloud's affection value for Tifa is high to moderate, their dialogue will be
much more indicative of a close relationship and strong feelings for one
another. If Cloud's affection value for Tifa is low, however, the dialogue
will be rather one-sided in regard to affection, with Tifa being openly
affectionate toward Cloud, while he seems to have little in the way of strong
attachment to her. Screenshots, as well as a script comparison of the matter,
can be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/ffviilovetriangle/LastNight.htm

(Note: This webpage is part of the website known as "Destiny Fulfilled" (http:
//www.geocities.com/ffviidestiny/) and is in no way the product of my own
labors.)


*Point: Aerith's ultimate weapon, the Princess Guard, has only seven single
slots for Materia and gains AP, whereas every other character's ultimate
weapon has eight slots consisting of four linked segments, and with none of
them gaining AP. This would suggest that this wasn't really intended to be her
ultimate weapon.

*Response: If the player were to suddenly acquire a weapon for Aerith that was
far superior to the other weapons for her in terms of its flexibility,
specifically if it gained no AP, that could possibly convey that this was
intended to be her ultimate and final weapon, thereby prematurely conveying
her imminent permanent departure from the party.


*Point: Aerith's Umbrella weapon has a higher attack power than her ultimate
weapon, the Princess Guard, yet every other character's best weapons have a
higher attack power than any of their other weapons. This could also suggest
that this wasn't really intended to be her ultimate weapon.

*Response: Again, if Aerith were to suddenly acquire a weapon far superior to
her other weapons in every regard, that could possibly convey that this was
intended to be her ultimate -- and, thus, her final -- weapon, prematurely
conveying that Aerith's permanent farewell would be soon.


*Point: When the player acquires Aerith's final Limit Break, in all
likelihood, she is already dead, as one essentially must know what they have
to do to acquire and make use of it before her death, and must go out of their
way a great deal to do so, spending a large amount of time in order to
actually make use of it. This would somewhat suggest that the player has it
before they should.

*Response: But the fact remains that the player can have it before Aerith's
death by making use of the Buggy supplied by Dio, riding it into Costa del Sol
and returning to the Midgar continent, then fulfilling the requirements for
obtaining a piece of Mithril, and later giving it to the Weapon Seller east of
Gongaga in exchange for the Great Gospel. Further, the player can make use of
it before Aerith's death provided that they raise her Limit Break levels to
the point that the Great Gospel item can be used to teach her this final Limit
Break.

The fact that she can get it before her death and use it completely undermines
this point in regard to reviving her. Further, consider that if Aerith were
meant to be revived, or were meant to remain alive, that -- with her final
Limit Break -- the latter Boss battles of the game would be made ridiculously
simple.

While true that it takes a great deal of time to actually acquire and make use
of it before Aerith's death, it's simply an extra challenge for players to
take on during the course of the game.


*Point: In front of the steps up to the altar where Aerith dies in the City of
the Ancients, there is a doorway in the background that cannot be reached.
Programmers usually don't waste the time and effort to put stuff like that in
a game if there's not supposed to be a way of reaching it or going through it.

*Response: Final Fantasy's programmers pretty much always have done that. For
that matter, they do it in VII on more than one occasion. In the first few
minutes of the game even, there's a doorway right behind the first Save Point
in the Mako Reactor that AVALANCHE blows up, yet one cannot pass through this
doorway. The programmers even bothered to render doors that can be opened into
small rooms that contain absolutely no items and where no cutscenes take
place, such as what appears to be a storage room in the inn of Sector 6's Wall
Market. One can merely open the door and take about one step forward before
they can't go any further. Things like this are just there to give the player
the feeling of actually being in a real world. The same is true of that
doorway in the City of the Ancients. If all we ever see or interact with/in is
all there ever was shown to be, it would be somewhat more difficult to immerse
oneself into the fictional world of the game, as this would remind them that
they are playing a game.


*Point: If one looks at the floor of the altar when Cloud is almost forced to
kill Aerith, there is a spiral staircase. While it's possibly intended to be
the reflection of the spiral staircase above, the glass dome around the altar
Aerith is kneeling on should already be reflecting it. There must be another
staircase beneath the altar.

*Response: There obviously isn't. Compare this picture of the support column
of the altar to the reflection on the floor when Cloud stands before Aerith:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/AerithFacingtheStairs.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/AerithandCloudintheCityofthe
Ancients2.jpg


Most obviously, the spiral staircase is too wide to go down through that
column, and when considering what its depth would be in regard to that
reflection, it would be far enough down that it would already be below the
point of the column where it became narrow.

For that matter, Aerith's death scene and that environment map are riddled
with mistakes as it is. Depending on the version one is playing, when
approaching the altar, she either has her back to the stairs or is facing
them. In any event, when Cloud gets up there and holds his sword above her,
she's facing the stairs. As the FMV of her death begins, she is still facing
the stairs. When the Sephiroth form descends, it isn't wearing gloves, nor is
there a glass dome around the altar any longer. When Aerith is skewered, not
only is the Sephiroth form now wearing gloves, but the stairs are behind both
Aerith and the Sephiroth form. When the FMV ends, the Sephiroth form is now
facing the stairs and there a glass dome around the altar once again.

One more mistake added to that list is hardly a surprise.


*Point: There are solo FMV shots of each character in the game manual or on
its cover. All of these actually do occur in-game or realistically could have
(Tifa sitting on the well in Nibelheim, Vincent sitting atop the Shinra
Mansion and looking across Nibelheim, Yuffie overlooking Wutai from atop Mt.
Dachao, etc.), yet the shot of Aerith depicts her looking at the Highwind at a
close distance. When Cloud first saw the Highwind at such a distance, Aerith
was not with him. Further, Aerith is dead before Tifa, Barret, and the others
steal the Highwind later in the game. Also notable is that she's wearing a
white skirt here instead of her pink one. This is a heavy indication that the
developers intended to revive Aerith.

*Response: Aerith isn't wearing white in that FMV shot. She's wearing her
standard outfit. The manner in which the light shines on her makes it appear
as though she is wearing a white skirt, however, the pink hue of her skirt can
still be easily observed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Final%20Fantasy%20VII/Ae
rithandtheHighwind.jpg


As far as it having never occurred in-game goes, that's hardly to be taken as
an indication of the developers' intentions. For that matter, the FMV shot of
Barret Wallace involves him holding Marlene while standing in Aerith's church.
That hardly could have taken place during the course of the game, as Barret
doesn't see Marlene during the game after leaving her in Elmyra's care, nor
would the church have looked the same if the scene had taken place after the
game due to the damage rendered to Midgar and the church during Meteor's
descent (as can be seen by comparing shots of the church during the game to
shots of the church in Advent Children):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Final%20Fantasy%20VII/Ba
rretandMarleneinAerithsChurch.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Final%20Fantasy%20VII/Ae
rithsChurchinAdventChildren.jpg


Supposing that Barret saw Marlene the day after Shin-Ra was defeated, he would
have gone to Kalm to see her and not to Midgar anyway.

While one may argue that Barret and Marlene had visited the church before the
game unfolds, that's rather going out on a limb, as it's never suggested and
needs to be kept in mind that Midgar is vast in size and the odds of Barret
having taken Marlene for a stroll through the dangerous city to Aerith's
church before they even knew Aerith is unlikely. For that matter, just because
Aerith wasn't with Cloud when he saw the Highwind doesn't mean she couldn't
have gotten as close to it as he did. The other members of AVALANCHE had to
find a way up to the upper level of Junon somehow, after all, and we're not
told much of what they did or saw on the way, with the only exception being
that we're told that Aerith DID see the Highwind:

(On the Shin-Ra Cargo Ship)
A soldier
"Umm.... It's me, Aerith."
Aerith
"Hey, Cloud. Did you see the Airship at Junon?"

Cloud
"...I heard it was big, but I didn't expect it to be THAT big."

Aerith
"That was REALLY something."


*Point: From a conversation between Cloud and Tifa rather late in the game,
there's foreshadowing of a possible resurrection of Aerith, as Tifa speaks of
Aerith having always been one to speak of the future:

Tifa
"I wonder what Aerith felt... when she was on that altar...?"

Cloud
"I'm sure she wanted to give her life for the planet..."

Tifa
"Really? I wonder? I don't think that's it at all."
"I think she didn't think she would die at all, but that she planned
on coming back all along."
"She always used to talk about the 'Next time'."
"She talked about the future more than any of us..."


*Response: The point here was not that Aerith had intended to die and return,
or that the developers intended her to do so. She, indeed, had no idea that
she was going to die, which is why she spoke of the future and of coming back
when things were finished with Sephiroth. Based on the aforementioned
interview in the May 2003 issue of EDGE magazine, we can determine that the
point of this scene was to emphasise the realistic nature of death: It's
unexpected and there's no time to prepare for it:

Yoshinori Kitase on the Subject of Aerith's Death:
"In the real world, things are very different. You just need to look around
you. Nobody wants to die that way. People die of disease and accident. Death
comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad attached to it. It
leaves, not a dramatic feeling, but a feeling of emptiness. When you lose
someone you loved very much you feel this big empty space and think 'If I had
known this was coming I would have done things differently.' These are the
feelings I wanted to arouse in the players with Aerith's death relatively
early in the game. Feelings of reality and not Hollywood."


*Point: Probably the strongest piece of evidence toward the truth of this
matter is that when you go back to Aerith's church on Disc 3 of the game after
getting the Key to Sector 5 in the Bone Village, you'll see her ghost appear
briefly. This is obviously part of a side quest that wasn't fully completed.

*Response: That "ghost" will actually appear even on Disc 1 while Aerith is
STILL ALIVE, appearing in the same manner as it will on Disc 3 and
disappearing just as quickly. One can return there after Aerith has been
kidnapped by Tseng on Disc 1 and see the image the same as they can later in
the game. For that matter, the children in the church say nothing which would
suggest the presence of Aerith in any form. At best, it's simply Cloud's
memories.

(Note: Much more information concerning the "ghost" phenomenon can be found at
Final Fantasy VII Citadel (http://www.ff7citadel.com/secrets/sa_church.shtml),
the first site to list the discovery of Aerith's "ghost" being visible in the
church on Disc 1, and also the only known site with documentation of
discoveries of the "ghost" made by hacking the game's code. My thanks to
Canadian Ninja for bringing the presence of the "ghost" on Disc 1 to my
attention.)
-SoS-


*Q: Did the Death of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mother Inspire Aerith's Death?
*A: No. One of the most common misconceptions concerning Final Fantasy VII is
that the death of the mother of Hironobu Sakaguchi (Executive Producer and
story conceptualist of Final Fantasy VII) inspired the death of Aerith, or
that she was originally intended to be resurrected, yet his mother's death
inspired the development team not to bring her back to life. In either case,
this is wrong.

This belief most often arises from a misunderstanding -- or misinterpretation
-- of an interview Sakaguchi had with PlayStation Underground in 1997. In the
second issue of the quarterly CD publication, an interview with Sakaguchi was
included in which he touched upon various poins concerning the production of
Final Fantasy VII. While answering the question "Are there any new themes in
Final Fantasy VII?" he answered with the following:

"When we were creating Final Fantasy III, my mother passed away, and ever
since I have been thinking about the theme 'life.' Life exists in many things,
and I was curious about what would happen if I attempted to analyze life in a
mathematical and logical way. Maybe this was my approach in overcoming the
grief I was experiencing. This is the first time in the series that this
particular theme actually appears in the game itself. See if you can spot it!"


Where a misunderstanding arises from this is that -- either intentionally or
accidentally -- someone at some point in time replaced "Final Fantasy III"
with "Final Fantasy VII" in Sakaguchi's response, thus resulting in him having
been misquoted many times over the years. Sakaguchi's mother most certainly
did not die during the production of Final Fantasy VII. She died in 1988,
during the production of Final Fantasy III, as Sakaguchi suggested in the
actual transcript of the interview.

Of this we can be certain, as Sakaguchi wrote the foreword to The Making of
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (published in 2001), and stated that it had
been 13 years since he lost his mother. Here follows proof concerning the
book:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/TSWBookTitlePage.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/BookCopyrightPage.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/13Years.jpg


One conceivable explanation concerning the misquoting of Sakaguchi over the
years is that some people may have confused the Final Fantasy III that
Sakaguchi was talking about with the game that was released in North America
as "Final Fantasy III" (Final Fantasy VI). Thus, the rumour may have taken off
from there, with people thinking that Final Fantasy VII was the next Final
Fantasy made after his mother's death.

Finally, it was not Sakaguchi at all who came up with the concept of Aerith's
death. It was Character Designer Tetsuya Nomura, tiring of the cliched
dramatic deaths that were so commonplace in Eastern and Western game in film,
usually involving self-sacrifice. With Final Fantasy VII, both Nomura and
Yoshinori Kitase (the game's Director) -- whom Nomura passed the idea on to --
wanted to say something about death that was realistic and final, empty rather
than dramatic, depressing instead of awe-inspiring. Thus, it was, that the
idea was not even Sakaguchi's. He merely approved it.
-SoS-


*Q: What is written on the plaque on the helmet JENOVA wears in the Nibelheim
flashback?
*A: It varies from one version of that scene to another. Thus far, there have
been three different versions of the writing on the plaque:

1) In the original game FMV showing the plaque, it said the following:

"JENOVA
MADE IN HONG KONG
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1996
SQUER COMPANY LIMITED"


2) In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the plaque said this:
"JENOVA
|

*Q: Did JENOVA come to the Planet on Meteor, on a regular meteorite, or did it
simply smack into the Planet with its own body?
*A: According to Chapter 5 of "Maiden Who Travels the Planet," a short novella
starring Aerith (featured in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega Guide),
JENOVA came to the Planet on a normal meteor, and it was this impact which
produced the Planet's great scar that is known as "the Northern Crater."
-SoS-


*Q: Just what DID that "Watch out! This isn't just a reactor!" line early in
the game mean?
*A: Translated literally from Japanese, the line would be "Eye increase as for
this there is no simply a power plant!" Obviously, "Eye increase" became
"Watch out!" and "...as for this there is no simply a power plant!" became
"This isn't just a reactor!" As far as the context of the situation goes,
"Open your eyes!" or "Take notice!" would work better in English than "Watch
out!", as this was the first of many attempts by Cloud's subconscious to get
him to remember the truth of his past (for more on that, refer to the "The
Identity of the Voice in Cloud's Head" article in the "Theories and In-Depth
Analysis" section of this document). Note that the next time Cloud is in that
same area of a Mako Reactor, he has a flashback (the first of several) to Tifa
cradling her father's dead body in Nibelheim's Mako Reactor.

To clarify, the voice is telling Cloud that as far as the Reactor's personal
significance to him goes, it is more than just a place that supplies
electricity ("This isn't just a reactor!").
-SoS-



(3)
--Theories and In-Depth Analysis--

-Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

In this section, we will examine the larger points of speculation and debate
concerning Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, as well as address some
analytical matters of the work. It is my hope that these articles will bring
a greater appreciation of the title to others, as they have to myself.

1) -The Origin of the Silver-Haired Men (Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz)-

The most hotly-debated aspect of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the CGI
(computer generated imagery) film sequel to the original Final Fantasy VII,
concerns the origin and nature of Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz, commonly referred to
as "the Silver-Haired Men" (or "SHM" for short) by the fandom of Final Fantasy
VII. Most often misinterpreted as being part of the Sephiroth Clone project
that Hojo conducted five years before the main events of the original game, or
as being individuals that were genetically altered with JENOVA's Cells prior
to birth the same as Sephiroth was, I will here explain the true nature of
these three enigmatic young men.

The official translation by Square-Enix used the term "Remnants of Sephiroth"
to refer to Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz. While this is an accuarate term, it's
somewhat inconclusive. It lacks the complete context of just what the three
are. The Japanese term used for the three is "Shinentai," which literally
means "Thought" and "Physical body." It is most commonly used to identify
spirits that manifest a physical form to remain in the world due to the need
or desire to fulfill some unfinished business from their lifetime. The word
has this connotation because the thoughts (spirit) of the deceased individual
in question manifest into a physical body.

When examining the matter of the Shinentai in Final Fantasy VII: Advent
Children, we should keep in mind just how ever-present a force the Lifestream
-- and, consequently, Spirit Energy -- happen to be, the point here being that
Spirit Energy (spirits/souls) are an authentic aspect of the nature of the
story's world, easily leaving open the door for a concept such as Shinentai to
be present. As Bugenhagen once said, while the cycle of Spirit Energy
theoretically functions in the manner that when a living life form dies, its
Spirit Energy/soul/spirit returns to the Lifestream, only for this energy to
be placed into a newly conceived life form, "there are exceptions." A
Shinentai would be a very obvious exception to this "rule."

The point being made here is that what we witness with Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz
is an actual illustration of the concept of Shinentai at work. The
Silver-Haired Men are -- quite literally -- "Spirits of Sephiroth," or
"Shinentai of Sephiroth." They are his thoughts made manifest into physical
bodies through Spirit Energy. When Sephiroth was defeated by Cloud at the end
of Final Fantasy VII, his consciousness was absorbed into the Lifestream.
However, Sephiroth's will is -- as was said by Tetsuya Nomura in The Distance:
The Making of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children -- above all and second to
none. He refused to allow himself to be absorbed into the Lifestream to simply
become a memory. As such, his consciousness -- as it dispersed through the
Lifestream's Spirit Energy -- contaminated the surrounding Spirit Energy with
his will, and he then made himself manifest once more, though he was now
divided into three seperate entities, all with seperate aspects of his
consciousness, and, thereby, their own unique personalities.

For evidence of this, we can first look to their appearances. Like Sephiroth,
they all had silver hair, green cat-like eyes, and wore black leather outfits.
Further notable is that they were all left-handed. Sephiroth led with his left
arm when fighting, often swinging using just his left arm, but never just his
right. Even when holding the hilt of his sword with both hands, he was leading
with his left. When not swinging the sword and simply holding it, it was
always in his left hand with this hand close to the blade, clearly
establishing his left hand as his dominant hand. With Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz,
their left hands also dominated the use of their weapons. Kadaj fought the
same as Sephiroth, using his left arm to swing, even choosing to use just his
left arm in the Sleeping Forest and later when holding the box containing
JENOVA's remains in his right hand. Yazoo used his left hand for holding and
firing his Velvet Nightmare, and also when using the gun to parry Cloud's
sword strikes. Loz's Dual Hound was on his left arm, and he also used his left
hand to fire his Velvet Nightmare when firing at Cloud alongside Yazoo in the
Sleeping Forest.

We further find evidence of this concept with the Silver-Haired Men's ability
to summon and control the Shadow Creepers, beings that are also made manifest
from Spirit Energy that has become tainted by Sephiroth's will. When Cloud and
Sephiroth have their final confrontation near the end of the film, Sephiroth
summons a large dark cloud in the sky. This "negative Lifestream" as Nomura
called it consisted of the Spirit Energy of those who had died due to
Geostigma. Their Spirit Energy had become corrupted by the JENOVA Cells
present in their bodies, causing it to not only take on this dark appearance,
but also to be subservient to Sephiroth's will, as well as that of his
Shinentai. The Shadow Creepers take form out of the very same style of dark
mist as the negative Lifestream, and likewise disperse back into it when
defeated or dismissed.

Further still, we find yet four more inferences of this concept. The first is
when Kadaj places the Bahamut SIN Materia into his left forearm. Dark mist --
like that of the negative Lifestream -- rises from the spot on his arm as the
Materia sinks into it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/DarkMist.jpg


This unnatural composition of the Silver-Haired Men would further explain how
it was that these three were able to absorb Materia into their bodies in the
first place.

For the second of these final inferences concerning the Silver-Haired Men's
origin, we will now look to when Kadaj steps into the lake in the City of the
Ancients. A dark cloud disperses from him, contaminating the water in the same
manner as Sephiroth's will contaminated countless amounts of Spirit Energy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Contamination.jpg


Next, we shall look to the moment when Kadaj takes JENOVA's remains into his
own body, absorbing it directly into his torso. At this time, we once again
see dark mist rise from Kadaj's body:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Assimilation.jpg


Finally, note that when Kadaj dies, his body dissipated by Great Gospel, it
disperses into green Spirit Energy, the natural colour of Spirit Energy, no
longer black as had been the mist that arose from his form on previous
occasions:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Salvation.jpg


The Spirit Energy of which his form was composed had been cleansed. We also
see this process underway with Yazoo and Loz after Kadaj's death.

While it might be also seem possible that the Silver-Haired Men could have
been formed of Sephiroth's consciousness as dispersed throughout JENOVA's
Cells (due mainly to their instinct for the Reunion, as well as the fact that
Aerith's Great Gospel dissipated them just as it did the JENOVA Cells within
Cloud and the other victims of Geostigma) and transformed from them, thus
making the three be entirely composed of that viral tissue, it should be noted
that they didn't feel anything actually drawing them toward JENOVA, unlike the
Clones in Final Fantasy VII, and unlike the children in Advent Children. In
fact, it was for the purpose of locating JENOVA's remains that the
Silver-Haired Men took the children afflicted with Geostigma and activated the
JENOVA Cells within them. They were to essentially be used as bloodhounds that
would lead the Silver-Haired Men to their "Mother." This is why Kadaj, Yazoo,
and Loz believed JENOVA's remains to be buried beneath the Midgar memorial
statue in Edge, as the children had formed a circle around it. Regarding the
matter of their instinct for a Reunion with JENOVA's Cells, due to the three
being Sephiroth's divided consciousness -- and with Kadaj making it clear that
the three felt an instinctual drive to become whole and could also feel the
will of Sephiroth himself -- as well as desiring the affection and approval of
a mother, this matter is easily explained in that Sephiroth's will would wish
for them to join with JENOVA's remains, thus granting him a means to manifest
himself directly once again, and they would personally desire to please
JENOVA, believing joining with JENOVA's remains to be the means by which to do
that.

As for them being survivors of the Sephiroth Copy Project, that is most
certainly not the case as none of the individuals involved in that experiment
had silver hair or green cat-like eyes; they looked just as they always had,
only now with the glow in their eyes that comes as a result of being infused
with Mako. For evidence of this, look to Cloud and the Clone branded with the
"2" tattoo, who can be seen early in the game in the Slums of Sector 5 resting
in a pipe: Cloud's hair was blonde and his eyes were blue, and Clone 2's hair
was black and his eyes were brown:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Clone2.jpg


Further notable -- at least as far as the concept of them being JENOVA-Homo
Sapien hybrids like Sephiroth -- is that they're never mentioned in Before
Crisis or the original Final Fantasy VII. If President Shinra had them
lounging around his headquarters when Sephiroth was unavailable during
Episode 7 in Before Crisis, he would have called them in instead. However, the
individual he requested was Zack, the SOLDIER considered second only to
Sephiroth, even taking Zack off the mission he had been sent on with Sephiroth
to handle the current situation. Even Shalau Rui and Azul from Dirge of
Cerberus have made appearances in Before Crisis, so it would be absurd to
conclude that such important characters as the Silver-Haired Men would have
gone unmentioned if they existed back then.

With all this in mind, recall that Shinentai are not at all a foreign concept
to Final Fantasy. In fact, in Final Fantasy X and X-2, there are numerous
Shinentai encountered throughout the game, though we were introduced to such
individuals as "Unsent." These were individuals who were dissatisfied with
their deaths and could not peacefully go to the Farplane where their Spirit
Energy (Pyreflies) could "deposit" their memories and then be used once again
for granting life to living beings. Powerful emotions coupled with their
strong wills kept these individuals' spirits bound to the physical realm, even
allowing them to manifest physical bodies for themselves that were fully
capable of physical interaction directly from their Pyreflies. For all of the
individuals' who became Unsent, there was a case of unfinished business to
attend to, just as the concept of a Shinentai would imply.

For that matter, the concept isn't foreign even to Final Fantasy VII. Several
individuals from Beginner's Hall in Sector 7 who died when the Slums were
crushed beneath the Upper Plate can be found in the Respectable Inn in Junon,
their curiosity having prevented them from peacefully returning to the Planet.
Another example of such a concept can be seen with the vengeful spirits of the
Gi Tribe. Their hatred of the people of Cosmo Canyon allowed them to remain
present in the living world and to even manifest forms capable of physical
interaction. The hatred these spirits bore for the still-living people of
Cosmo Canyon and their subsequent manifestation as monsters is reminiscent of
the Fiends of Final Fantasy X and X-2, the malevolent spirits of the dead who
came to evny and hate the living. Yet another example of Shinentai is found
with the spirits of some Cetra within the Temple of the Ancients, their
spirits having remained behind to protect the Black Materia. Recall that
Aerith said that those were the "spirit bodies" of the Ancients; once again,
"Shinentai" translates to "thought" and "body," the mind/consciousness being
synonomus with the spirit in the Japanese way of thinking.

Therefore, in conclusion, when Sephiroth's body was dismembered, his Spirit
Energy unbound from it, and his will (thoughts) absorbed into the Lifestream,
his will contaminated that Spirit Energy it came into contact with, allowing
him some measure of control over that energy while he resised the Lifestream's
attempt to absorb him, resulting in his divided consciousness manifesting into
the three Silver-Haired Men known as "Kadaj," "Yazoo," and "Loz." It is for
this reason that they are called "Shinentai of Sephiroth," or "Remnants." His
thoughts (will) contaminated some Spirit Energy of the Lifestream, and his
powerful will allowed him to pull out of it and manifest physical bodies for
the personalities his divided consciousness took on (Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz).
The context of the term "Shinentai" clearly establishes the three as something\
that remained of Sephiroth's thoughts and manifested from them, and with this
kept in mind and then consideration given to the inferences of the
Silver-Haired Men's bodies being composed of negative Lifestream, we can
conclusively determine that Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were essentially Shinentai
of Sephiroth in the traditional sense: They were physical manifestations of
his will through contaminated Spirit Energy.

Points Often Brought Forward to Suggest that the Silver-Haired Men were
Surviving Sephiroth Clones from the Sephiroth Copy Project or Individuals Who
Were the Result of Exactly the Same Experimentation as Sephiroth, Along with
Responses to these Points:

*Point: The Silver-Haired Men are given age-ranges on the official Advent
Children website under their profiles. Yazoo and Loz are said to be in their
twenties, and Kadaj is said to be a teenager. With this in mind, they
certainly can't be only two years old or younger. They must be survivors of
the Sephiroth Copy Project or other Homo Sapien/JENOVA hybrids.

*Response: The official website is a promotional tool, which is obviously not
intended to reveal the finer aspects of the story, and, therefore, only states
the age-ranges that the three would appear to fall under. While true that ages
aren't even given for Denzel, Marlene, or Zack on the official website,
despite us being aware of their ages through other materials part of the
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (Denzel is 8, Marlene is 6, and Zack was 23
at the time of his death), yet age-ranges are given for Yazoo, Loz, and Kadaj,
it should be kept in mind that in the past, Square-Enix has intentionally
published erroneous and even outright false information to prevent leaking
spoilers, or to mislead players of their games into thinking one thing up
until the point that another was revealed as truth during the game itself.
This was done with the Final Fantasy X Scenario Ultimania Guide regarding
certain information about the Temples of Yevon and the nature and origin of
Sin.

That in mind, the very context of the term "Shinentai" establishes that the
Silver-Haired Men are not normal people. This word establishes that they're
something that took form from that which remained of Sephiroth's thoughts.
Considering the context of the word, plus the contaminated Lifestream that the
three are seemingly composed of, plus Sephiroth's assimilation into the
Lifestream at the end of Final Fantasy VII, we have the explanation for the
Silver-Haired Men's origin right in front of us.

The only "inconsistency" this leaves is age-ranges on a promotional website
that's obviously not supposed to give away the story to begin with, and would
intentionally mislead viewers if necessary in order to maintain the integrity
of a plot point's revelation. In this case, the viewers were obviously
intentionally misled so as to believe that the Silver-Haired Men were normal
people, rather than giving them suggestion -- or lack thereof -- enough to
ponder that they may be Shinentai of Sephiroth.


*Point: If the Silver-Haired Men underwent the same procedure as Sephiroth
prior to birth, then they would also have the attribute that he does of their
bodies being completely composed of JENOVA's Cells, and could, thus, still be
in the age-ranges reported on the official Advent Children website, and it
would make sense that they would dissipate when Aerith's Great Gospel touched
them.

*Response: While this is true, there is, however, no suggestion to this effect
offered in the film's story, nor is it very logical. If the three had been
around prior to Sephiroth's defeat by AVALANCHE in Final Fantasy VII, back
when AVALANCHE was consistently offering problems for Shin-Ra, it makes little
sense for them not to have pitted the three against the rebel group.

Further notable, once again, the very context of the term "Shinentai"
establishes that the Silver-Haired Men are not normal people. It establishes
that they're something that took form from that which remained of Sephiroth
himself, and in light of the consistent inferences to them being composed of
contaminated Spirit Energy, that is the far more likely possibility.

As far as their dissiptation due to Great Gospel goes, the influence of JENOVA
and Sephiroth is a blight to the Planet and something to be purged; Great
Gospel was used in Final Fantasy VII to the effect of complete recovery for
characters in all respects, removing all negative Status Effects and fully
restoring their HP and MP. While such things as Status Effects, HP, and MP are
aspects of gameplay and have no place in storyline matters, the implication is
obviously that the Limit Break completely purges negative influences.
Considering that the influence of Sephiroth had contaminated some of the
Planet's Spirit Energy, it fully makes sense for Great Gospel to purge the
Spirit Energy of that negative influence.


*Point: Where would the three newborn adults have suddenly acquired
motorcycles mounted with machine guns (Tetsuya Nomura stated in the Director's
Commentary on the DVD that the motorcycles have machine guns mounted on their
fronts), their clothing, and their weapons were they Shinentai of Sephiroth?
Further, where would they have acquired the skills to use their vehicles and
weapons? Further still, where would they have acquired knowledge of Cloud, as
well as a personal vendetta against him for what he did to "Mother"? Were they
individuals that melded with JENOVA's Cells prior to birth and were also part
of Shin-Ra, one can explain their battle prowess, their weaponry, and their
knowledge of Cloud and his defeat of Sephiroth (or JENOVA, as they viewed it
seperately from Sephiroth), and, thus, their enmity for Cloud, as well. This
would also explain them having Rufus' phone number. While on the subject of
their celular phones, who was footing the bill for their use of such things?

*Response: Kadaj and Sephiroth both randomly spawn their clothing and weapons
out of thin air. Sephiroth's Masamune simply appears when he fights Cloud
because he willed it to, and his clothes replaced Kadaj's when Kadaj united
with JENOVA's Cells. When Sephiroth is defeated and reverts into Kadaj,
Kadaj's clothes have returned, and Sephiroth's Masamune has become a second
Souba katana for Kadaj, replacing the one he lost earlier when Cloud used
Finishing Touch against him. That in mind, it's hardly a mystery that Kadaj,
Yazoo, and Loz are using custom weapons and have black outfits. These things
simiply manifested the same as Sephiroth's clothing and sword manifested. Note
that their clothes dissipate along with their bodies when Aerith's Great
Gospel hits them. For that matter, the very fact that Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz's
clothing would be akin to Sephiroth's suggests a subconscious connection to
him.

On to the matter of the trio's mobile phones, it's hardly a requirement that
they were using mobile phones that required a company contract. Not all mobile
phones in reality are operated through satellite relays of signals maintained
by companies that charge a fee for this service. Many operate through radio
waves relayed on the ground through towers connected to the landline telephone
infrastructure, with no fee being charged for their use. There are many mobile
phones sold that require no company contract and can simply connect to the
basic landline telephone infrastructure.

Regarding the Silver-Haired Men's skills and battle prowess, being that they
would be Shinentai of Sephiroth, it's to be expected that they would retain
some of his thoughts and/or memories, even if -- as Kadaj said -- they don't
feel like they personally knew him. By Kadaj's own admission, he could feel
Sephiroth, despite not actually knowing him on a personal or conscious level.
Further, considering that they've inherited Sephiroth's left-handed nature, as
well as his taste in clothes, his hair colour, and his eyes, it's not much of
a stretch to assume that they would inherit some of his memories pertaining to
battle. As for their enmity for Cloud, this would also arise from Sephiroth's
thoughts.

Finally, on the matter of their motorcycles, if it's plausible to assume that
the three were to be individuals that underwent the same experimentation as
Sephiroth, yet they've somehow alluded anyone being aware of them, mentioning
them, or enlisting them to take out Shin-Ra's problems for over 20 years, then
it's equally plausible, if not more so, to assume that they simply stole these
motorcycles from somewhere. A brief gander at Cloud's own motorcycle shows
that this world features some unique and interesting vehicles.


*Point: How did Rufus & Vincent know the SHM were Shinentai of Sephiroth? Who
told them? Did Sephiroth's will float down from the sky and manifest right in
front of Rufus?

*Response: Rufus knew because Kadaj tells him after laying a beating on Reno
and Rude in the first half of the film. Vincent knew because he's good at
finding things out. Notice that he's the only one to figure out what Geostigma
was too (Kadaj doesn't count; he knew what it was by virtue of who and what he
was).


*Point: Why do the Silver-Haired Men have incomplete knowledge of Sephiroth's
life and the circumstances surrounding his acquiring JENOVA's powers? All of
the other Shinentai from Final Fantasy VII mentioned above have knowledge of
their lifetimes (the guys from Beginner's Hall, the Cetra in the Temple of the
Ancients, and presumably the Gi Tribe, as well, to some extent). As
Sephiroth's Shinentai, there is little to no reason for the Silver-Haired
Men's knowledge to be so selective regarding what they do and do not know.

*Response: Sephiroth's consciousness was split into three. That's "A to B"
explanation enough regarding the incomplete knowledge of the Silver-Haired
Men. For that matter, the Shinentai in the Temple of the Ancients had
forgotten how to talk and they weren't split into three. Further still, a
certain Shinentai in Final Fantasy X and X-2 who knows lots of things
(Maechen) had probably forgotten more about his lifetime (including the fact
that he was dead) than he remembered, so Shinentai who are incomplete to start
with and who have their own personalities independent of the original
singular personality not knowing a few things is a perfectly reasonable
occurrence.


*Point: Why would the Silver-Haired Men only show loyalty to Jenova, but
apparently despise Sephiroth? Manifestations of his own will should like him.
In Sephiroth's spirit energy, Sephiroth's self-love and ego were in there.
One would think that manifestations of his own Spirit Energy would have
acquired a bit of adoration for him on top of their obsession with JENOVA.

*Response: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz know that they are Shinentai of Sephiroth.
They also know that they aren't him and have their own personalities. They
also believe that he might return in the event that "Mother" favours him over
them. That's reason enough to dislike him right there. Children typically
don't like to think that their mother favours another of her children more.

As for the Silver-Haired Men's obsession with JENOVA, there's likely two
reasons for this:

1. Despite the Shinentai having their own individuality, they still feel
Sephiroth, something that Kadaj tells Rufus. His desire would be for the
Shinentai to find JENOVA's Cells so that Sephiroth's Spirit Energy could be
placed back into a body, giving him life once again.

2. The Silver-Haired Men are new life. They're two years old at the most. It's
natural for life forms -- especially children -- to want a mother. Rufus says
this, and it's been officially said that the theme of this movie is family. It
shouldn't really need to go deeper than Sephiroth's influence playing on them
and them desiring a mother to explain their obsession with JENOVA, but we also
have the theme of family to drive it home even moreso.

For more to consider in this regard, let's consider the psychological studies
of Harry F. Harlow. In the late 1950s, he worked with infant Rhesus Monkies
who -- like Homo Sapien babies -- need to be nursed and display a significant
spectrum of thoughts and emotions. Harlow's experiments involved taking infant
monkies from their mothers and giving them two artificial mothers, one made of
wire and the other made of cloth. The wire mother was given a bottle for the
infant to drink from, while the cloth mother was simply a source of warmth and
comfort. The infant monkies would stay with the wire mothers no longer than
was necessary in order to gain nourishment, and would then return to the cloth
mother, which, rather notably, they could only cuddle with, as it was unable
to cuddle them back, yet they still preferred contact with this artificial
mother over the other, despite it having the means by which they would gain
nourishment. Further still, when the cloth mothers were given the infant
monkeys' bottles, the infants would ignore the wire mothers altogether.

In other words, children desire affection. They want a mother who will give
them comfort. It is a natural tendency of living things to seek this
affection, and in light of Tetsuya Nomura stating in the October 2005 issue
of Electronic Gaming Monthly (Issue #196) that Kadaj -- and we can,
consequently, include Yazoo and Loz into this description, as well -- should
be regarded as a child who has not known a mother's love, the obsession of the
Shinentai for JENOVA is easily explained.

As far as loyalty to Sephiroth goes, were the Shinentai actually Sephiroth
Clones/Copies, or even Homo Sapien-JENOVA hybrids like him, rather than
Shinentai, they should be displaying such loyalties then, for sure.
Considering how obsessed they are to have a mother, their willingness to
accept whatever their mother decided (Kadaj concedes to dropping everything at
the mere suggestion from Aerith when mistaking her for JENOVA), and their
consummate desire for "her" approval, they don't exactly wreak of having a
personality like Zack's (that is to say, the personality of an individual
comfortable with theirself and who would thereby be strong-willed). That in
mind, there's no reason they should have failed to respond to Sephiroth's call
to the Reunion in the original Final Fantasy VII, and all individuals who were
weak-willed and DID respond to that call were enamored of him, which the
Silver-Haired Men obviously aren't (the notable exception to this being Cloud,
but his was a unique case on quite a few levels).


In conclusion, the three Silver-Haired Men were physical manifestations of
Sephiroth's consciousness as formed through the Spirit Energy of the
Lifestream that his mind contaminated and became enthralled by his will.

2) -How Sephiroth was Able to Return in Advent Children-

Quite simply, Sephiroth's divided consciousness (made manifest through
contaminated Spirit Energy as Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz) needed to join with
JENOVA's remaining Cells in order to grant Sephiroth the means to impose his
will and transmogrify the remains of JENOVA into his form once again. These
three Shinentai, or "Remnants," of Sephiroth then felt an instinctual urge to
acquire the remains of JENOVA and merge with them. This instinct came from
Sephiroth's desire to become whole once again and to unleash his vengeance
upon the world, and their own desire for a mother.

However, Shin-Ra, of course, interfered in this matter, the Turks recovering
the remains of JENOVA from the Northern Crater before the Shinentai could.
When Kadaj does finally acquire the remains of JENOVA from Rufus Shinra and
melds with those remains, his body transforms into Sephiroth and became the
vessel for Sephiroth's will. The reason this occurred was because Sephiroth's
will was hindered by it having been previously divided and manifested
seperately into Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz, thus, granting the three individuals
their own seperate personalities rather than them being Sephiroth himself.
With what remained of JENOVA's Cells being introduced into Kadaj's system,
however, and with him completely submitting hiimself to the will attached to
them (Kadaj believed that will to be JENOVA's rather than Sephiroth's; he was
unaware that the two were no longer seperate entities, and that, rather,
Sephiroth's consciously perceiving mind had replaced JENOVA's original purely
instinctual one), Sephiroth's will was able to to manifest itself directly
once again.

While Sephiroth only managed to complete this process with Kadaj alone due to
more interference from the Turks, it was enough for him to manifest himself
and his will through the bit of his consciousness that took part in the
formation of Kadaj and those JENOVA Cells that had been in Rufus' possession.



3) -The Origin of the Shadow Creepers-

An often-pondered question concerning the film's plot is how Kadaj, Yazoo, and
Loz could call forth and dismiss -- at will -- the large beasts that attack
Cloud early in the movie, and are later released upon the populace of Edge,
seeing as how they do this without Materia. The answer to this question lies
with the negative Lifestream that Sephiroth calls forth during his battle with
Cloud. This negative Lifestream was composed of the Spirit Energy of those who
had died with Geostigma. Their Spirit Energy became corrupted and
"JENOVA-fied," thus, it could be controlled by the Silver-Haired Men who had
similar origins.

Tapping into this negative Spirit Energy, the Silver-Haired Men could manifest
it as the beasts called "Shadow Creepers." For evidence of this, look to the
fact that the Shadow Creepers disperse into a black cloud when destroyed or
dismissed, these black clouds being akin to the large swirling mass of dark
clouds that Sephiroth later calls forth, as well as the dark mist that rises
from Kadaj's form on two occasions (once when he places Bahamut SIN's Materia
into his left forearm, and a second time when he plunges the remains of JENOVA
into his chest).



4) -Sephiroth: Gone Forever?-

An often-raised question concerning Advent Children is this: "Is Sephiroth
forever vanquished?" The answer is... "Most likely." While as long as there
are JENOVA Cells in existance, it's possible that Sephiroth's will remains on
some level -- as his will once permeated all JENOVA Cells in existance -- and
that he may one day return somehow. That said, it's most likely that he's
been vanquished to the Lifestream for all time.

As of the ending of Advent Children, a great victory has been won for
AVALANCHE and for the Planet: Many of JENOVA's Cells have been destroyed. In
fact, most have in all likelihood. Those that were within Cloud have been
destroyed by Aerith's Great Gospel, as have all those that were spread amongst
the populace of Midgar and had inflicted them with Geostigma as a result.
Further still, those the world over who may have been afflicted with Geostigma
would likely make a journey to Aerith's church in the ruined Slums of Sector 5
to be cured. On top of this, those Cells that composed the remains of JENOVA
in the box Rufus had were destroyed along with Kadaj.

It's true that Sephiroth's "body" is really all JENOVA Cells that exist, and
that it shouldn't be forgotten, nor should the fact that while most have been
destroyed, some small few remain in former members of SOLDIER, and
the Deep Ground SOLDIERs living in the catacombs beneath Midgar. That said,
how many carriers of JENOVA's Cells that there there may still be is unknown,
especially in light of the former members of SOLDIER possibly having suffered
from Geostigma in the two years since Meteor's destruction, just as Cloud had
(recall that the Sephiroth Copy Project that Cloud was part of involved the
same experimental procedures used with members of SOLDIER). With that in mind,
if the former members of SOLDIER have all died, then the only JENOVA Cells
remaining in existance as of the beginning of Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of
Cerberus (which begins one year after Advent Children ends) may be those in
the Deep Ground SOLDIERs, who will themselves be Vincent and the World
Restoration Organization's (WRO) adversaries in Dirge of Cerberus.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, it should be noted that Sephiroth's
consciousness was unable to act through JENOVA's Cells and simply force the
remains of JENOVA in Rufus' possession to go to Kadaj, whereas in Final
Fantasy VII, Sephiroth had been perfectly capable of controlling JENOVA Cells
from all the way across the Planet. What's notable here is that throughout
most of the film, Sephiroth's consciousness was divided between his three
Shinentai, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz, the physical embodiments of his Spirit
Energy and that Spirit Energy which his consciousness leaked into as the
Lifestream attempted to absorb him at the end of Final Fantasy VII. That in
mind, his will was unable to impose itself through JENOVA's Cells while his
consciousness was divided from them, and, further, at the end of Advent
Children, the Spirit Energy of which Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were composed is
purged of Sephiroth's malevolent influence by Aerith's Great Gospel, this
made apparent by them dissipating into purified green Spirit Energy rather
than the black negative Spirit Energy seen several times throughout the film.
For that matter, it wasn't even red Spirit Energy such as Sephiroth's had been
at the end of Final Fantasy VII.

What this means is that Sephiroth's own already previously divided Spirit
Energy has been returned to the Lifestream, freed of his influence, where it
will be diluted even further, binding Sephiroth's Spirit Energy to the
Lifestream forevermore, his consciousness divided and his own individuality
undone. While it's true that Sephiroth has an extremely strong will
(indeed, the strongest will of all according to Kazushige Nojima and Tetsuya
Nomura), his consciousness had already been previously diluted by his first
death and return to the Lifestream, from which he only managed to escape with
his consciousness divided into three and his will not as potent as it
otherwise would have been, and Sephiroth now faces his diluted consciousness
being vanquished to the Lifestream a second time to be diluted further, only
this time sent back seperately (there are nearly three full minutes between
Kadaj's passing and the deaths of Yazoo and Loz), making his already massive
predicament all the worse in the event that his consciousness was even still
present by the time his Spirit Energy was sent back to the Lifestream the
second time.

With not even so much as tainted Spirit Energy present with Sephiroth's second
-- and final -- death, his already diluted consciousness shall be diluted
ever further into the Lifestream, leaving, at most, a whisper of hate and
malevolence.

5) -The Final Battle Between Cloud and Sephiroth was not a Hallucination-

Perhaps the greatest misconception concerning Final Fantasy VII: Advent
Children, is that the final battle that took place between Cloud and Sephiroth
was a battle in Cloud's mind, with the actual physical battle being between
Cloud and Kadaj. However, this is simply not so and I will here explain why.

First and most notably, throughout the film, the Scenario Writer, Kazushige
Nojima, served to offer foreshadowing toward the physical event of Kadaj
becoming Sephiroth. This was done first when Kadaj spoke to Rufus in Healin,
during which time he kneeled before him. Several flashes of Sephiroth himself
kneeling before Rufus instead of Kadaj are shown at this time. Shortly
thereafter, in the City of the Ancients, during his speech to the children
afflicted with Geostigma, Kadaj's form is yet again replaced by Sephiroth's
briefly at the moment he releases a wave of energy from himself. Later still,
we find that Kadaj tells Rufus that should the Reunion of the
Shinentai/Remnants and JENOVA's remaining Cells take place, Sephiroth will
return. Finally, we find Vincent outright stating that the natural development
of Kadaj's existance as a Shinentai of Sephiroth will have the end result of
him becoming Sephiroth. With all this foreshadowing and these hints offered
throughout the film up to the point of Sephiroth's return, one would have to
conclude that Nojima-san was simply incompetent in how he wrote this story if
it was not his intention that the opponent Cloud battled was really Sephiroth.

This would be true, first, because the foreshadowing -- itself a literary
device -- offered up to this point would be useless; second, because the
manner in which the story unfolded suggested the exact OPPOSITE of this battle
being a hallucination, as everyone in Edge witnessed the descent of the
negative Lifestream Sephiroth called forth (the black tendril-like clouds that
darkened the sky and descended on the ruins of Midgar were identied by Tetsuya
Nomura in the Director's Commentary on the film's DVD as something of a
negative Lifestream, composed of the Spirit Energy of those who had died
because of Geostigma), and the members of AVALANCHE onboard the Sierra
witnessed Cloud's victory. While one might argue that Cloud was simply
suffering from hallucinations due to him having been known to suffer from
mental problems in the past, those mental problems were never on the order of
outright schizophrenia, perceiving stimuli that is not at all present. Cloud
suffered from an identity crisis and a weak self-esteem, which further led to
an inability to accept himself for who he was, not schizophrenia. Even having
multiple personalities is not the same as having schizophrenia. Multiple
Personality Disorder is the case of an individual having two or more\
disconnected fragments of their psyche. Schizophrenia is the condition of
interpreting stimuli that isn't present, or interpreting it in a manner that
is not congruent with reality. Though the term comes from the Greek for
"Shattered Mind," this is in reference to the inability to properly interpret
stimuli, not in reference to a fragmented psyche.

Also notable is the very obvious fact that Cloud's identity and self-esteem
issues were more or less repaired in Final Fantasy VII, with him even coming
to accept himself for who he is, admitting his weaknesses and his true self to
those closest to him onboard the Highwind. It had been this inability to
accept himself for who he was that had made him weak enough to be Sephiroth's
puppet in the first place, and as a result of accepting himself for himself,
Cloud was able to fend off Sephiroth's will during the ending of the game. At
worst, during Advent Children, Cloud is suffering from guilt and
self-loathing, neither of which is exactly on par with schizophrenia.

Something else worthy of consideration is the simple fact that there is no
line of differentiation between reality and a hallucination produced by
Cloud's mind. While one might argue that the presence of the negative
Lifestream was said line of differentation, there's the obvious fact tha
Sephiroth was present for a full minute before he even conjured up the
negative Lifestream, and was further present for another fifteen seconds after
the negative Lifestream had begun to clear. Also worthy of noting here is that
after Sephiroth's defeat, Kadaj has a Souba once again, despite his having
been lost a few minutes before. Kadaj's second Souba is what remained of the
Masamune that Sephiroth had conjured during his appearance.

The argument has also been made that the flashes of cells (represented as the
flashes that occasionally appear during the movie with a blue flash) on-screen
marked the line of demarcation for the beginning of Cloud's hallucination, but
this argument is flawed in that such flashes occur frequently throughout the
film, even when Cloud is not present. To conclude that these were the lines of
demarcation between hallucinating and perceiving reality for Cloud is to
conclude that many characters throughout the game were suffering similar bouts
of disassociation with reality.

Also notable is that Sephiroth clearly flies, something that Kadaj and even
Cloud cannot do. Further still, Sephiroth is much more powerful than Kadaj.
During Cloud's battle with Kadaj, it was Kadaj that was on the defensive; he
was clearly outmatched. In fact, Kadaj never so much as lands a single blow on
Cloud. Sephiroth, however, had Cloud on the defensive during their entire
battle and landed several hits against him and would have actually been able
to end the fight by running Cloud through with his sword had he chosen to
skewer him in a vital area rather than in his organless shoulder. While one
might argue that absorbing JENOVA's extra remaining Cells made Kadaj more
powerful, granting him the ability to fly, greater battle prowess than Cloud,
and even a Masamune if he so wished it, there's also the very simple fact that
Sephiroth does not have Kadaj's personality.

Kadaj was a conflicted, unsure boy. Sephiroth was a self-confident, stable
man. Kadaj didn't even know if he would retain his own personality should he
merge with JENVOA's remains. He didn't know if he would be taken over by
Sephiroth or not. Nonetheless, he carried out his instinct to merge with
JENOVA's Cells simply out of the hope that it might please a mother he had
never known. Sephiroth on the other hand knew exactly what the results of his
actions would be, what he wanted, and how he was going to go about achieving
it. Sephiroth spoke and acted with confidence, even skewering Cloud through
his shoulder rather than his heart, simply because he was confident enough in
himself that he didn't believe he was going to lose, no matter how long he
dragged the battle out, or how many chances he gave Cloud to get back up. He
was intent on breaking Cloud's spirit. As he told him, he wished to give him
despair; he wanted to take away what was precious to him. Kadaj, on the other
hand, was desperate and would have taken an opportunity to kill Cloud as soon
as it arose.

On top of all that, there's also the fact that Sephiroth speaks of his goal,
taking advantage of the malady known as Geostigma to achieve his plan. The
Spirit Energy of those who died with Geostigma would become contaminated, and
would, thus, infringe upon the positive Lifestream over time. Basically, the
Spirit Energy of those who died due to Geostigma would become "JENOVA-fied,"
granting Sephiroth dominance over that Spirit Energy. Eventually, he would
have enough of this Spirit Energy bent to his will that he could use it to
assimilate the rest of the positive Lifestream.

With all this in mind, there's absolutely no indication that Cloud was
hallucinating. All indication points to what viewers of Advent Children
witnessed as the final battle having been the true final battle. The idea that
Cloud was experiencing a hallucinogenic battle with Sephiroth while actually
fighting Kadaj requires assuming many things, none of which have any support:

1) That the Scenario Writer offered continuous foreshadowing and hints that
Kadaj would become Sephiroth -- even going so far as to have Vincent outright
state that Kadaj's natural development as a Shinentai of Sephiroth would have
him become Sephiroth -- but never went anywhere with the idea in reality.

2) That Kadaj gained the ability to fly.

3) That Kadaj somehow gained a completely different personality, lost his
aggressive and desperate drive to take Cloud out at the earliest available
time, and suddenly gained a confidence boost as though he had spent a lifetime
in therapy, but despite all this, was still himself... and that he then
reverted into his old unsure, desperate-to-get-to-talk-to-Mother self after
Cloud beat him.

4) That Cloud conjured up a goal for Sephiroth who he wasn't even fighting.

5) That Cloud conceived of a negative Lifestream in the first place, and that
the Director would bother to mention this in a manner that suggests it is part
of what actually took place in the film, not in a manner that would suggest it
to be the line of demarcation between reality and insanity.

6) That Kadaj falls out of the sky, inexplicably losing his ability to fly
after being wounded by Cloud.

7) That Cloud and Kadaj had an apocalyptic, epic showdown that we don't get
to see.

8) That the Writer was a moron.


While one might argue that things in a story can be interpreted any number of
ways even despite a lack of support, this applies to themes, symbols, subtext,
and other subtleties. This does not, however, apply to events that are
explicitly illustrated or stated to have occurred. Interpretations must fall
in line with what has otherwise been presented as fact, not distort or alter
it to fit the interpretations themselves.



6) -Sephiroth Formed His Masamune Out of Thin Air-

A common question concerning Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children pertains to
how he acquired his Masamune before his battle with Cloud began. Some have
concluded that Kadaj landed in the vicinity of his Souba (his double-bladed
katana) that he dropped a moment before, and that Sephiroth then used Kadaj's
Souba to block Cloud's strike, and that he then transmutated the Souba into
his Masamune. Seemingly, support for this notion would come from the fact that
when Sephiroth is defeated and he disperses, his Masamune has been
transmutated into Kadaj's Souba. However, this is not accurate and I will here
explain why.

While Kadaj does fall in the general direction that his Souba had fallen, when
he lands, stands up, and then stretches out his arms toward the descending
Cloud, there is no indication that there is a sword in his hands:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/KadajsTransformation.jpg


Further still, we find that in the very first frame we see when the camera
angle switches from looking at Sephiroth blocking Cloud's attack to the
close-up of the two, the hilt that Sephiroth is holding doesn't have a blade
at all, and that Sephiroth had blocked Cloud's attack with his will:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/KadajsTransformation3.jp
g


We then find that Sephiroth wills a blade for his sword into existance, the
blade taking form out of thin air:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/KadajsTransformation4.jp
g


Also notable is that there are no tassles attached to either side of the hilt
that Sephiroth is holding, whereas there is a tassle attached to both sides of
the hilt of Kadaj's Souba:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Tassle.jpg


Interestingly enough, when Sephiroth is defeated and his body reverts into
Kadaj's, the Masamune becomes a second Souba, tassles and all:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/Squall_of_Seed/Tassle2.jpg



Based on these observations, we can conclusively determine that Sephiroth did
not transmutate Kadaj's Souba into the Masamune, but, rather, he simply willed
it into existance, the same as his clothing and the metal shoulder plates he
wore.



7) -Symbolism in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children-

*"Advent Children": The term "Advent" means "An anticipated arrival." In the
case of Christian Mythology, it refers to the Second Coming of Christ. In the
case of Advent Children, the title was used as the film featured the return of
Sephiroth, the "New ***." The "Children" in question in the title would be
Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, the children who were afflicted with Geostigma, and
possibly Cloud himself.

*"Kadaj": This name is a take on "Kaddish," a Jewish prayer of mourning.

*Aerith's Role: Aerith has essentially become the will of the Planet itself.
She guided its Lifestream to the salvation of humanity at the end of Final
Fantasy VII, and she again guides the will of the Planet in Advent Children,
bringing Great Gospel to cure Cloud and others of Geostigma, destroying all
JENOVA Cells that she touches with it. The symbolism here is that she has
become "Mother Earth," the name given to the spirit of the Planet Earth in
many cultures. Recall that Aerith's name is a Japanese transliteration of the
English word "Earth."

*Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz as a Trinity: According to Christianity, *** is
composed of three spiritual components, or personas; one might even call them
different functions. These are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Man
also is said to be composed of a trinity, in this case consisting of the Mind,
the Body, and the Soul. Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz are a trinity that arose from
Sephiroth's defeat at the end of Final Fantasy VII. His will manifested them
from the Spirit Energy it contaminated, thus, they are him, though they have
different personas from his as individuals.

*Cloud Pouring Water on Denzel's Head: This is symbolic of Baptism, the
concept in which one anointed with the Spirit of *** and empowered with his
authority to cleanse one of their sins pours water on the head of a repentant
sinner, the action symbolizing that the individual is cleansed of their past
evil and is granted spiritual rebirth. In the film, this was symbolized by
Cloud "baptizing" Denzel in pouring water on his head and cleansing him of the
"evil" of JENOVA's Cells, curing him of Geostigma.

-Final Fantasy VII

To better understand Advent Children, one may benefit from a greater
understanding of its predecessor, the original Final Fantasy VII. In this
section, I will offer in-depth analyses and explanations concerning some major
-- and minor -- aspects of Final Fantasy VII's plot.

1) _-The JENOVA Thesis-_

-Explanation of JENOVA and its Goal-

JENOVA is an ancient lifeform that arrived on the Planet Gaia some 2,000 years
before the main events of the game. Its landing site was the giant fissure --
and wound to the Planet -- known as the "Northern Crater." The area where
JENOVA had arrived was in the vicinity of the land known as the "Knowlespole"
in those days. The Knowlespole was likely a lush and fertile land, as it was
the home of a Cetra tribe that had cultivated it. These Cetra at the
Knowlesple had been the first to discover the Planet's wound and attempted to
help the Planet heal, using their abilities to guide the Planet's flow of
Spirit Energy to the wound. However, the wound was too severe, and would have
to be left to the Planet to heal on its own. Further still, due to the
Planet's Spirit Energy being redirected to the Northern Crater, the land
around the area of the Crater -- the Cetra's Knowlespole -- withered away, and
the Planet tried to persuade the Cetra to leave the land they loved.

As they prepared to abandon their land, a being appeared at the Northern
Crater and approached them, feigning friendship, appearing to them (either
through projected psychic illusions, or through shapeshifting) as their dead
relatives. When it got close enough, it infected those Cetra that it could
with a virus that caused insanity and physical transformation into monsters,
and then proceeded to approach other Cetra clans and do the same to them.
This being was JENOVA, the Crisis from the Sky:

Gast
"Tell us Ifalna... Where is the land called 'Knowlespole'?"

Ifalna
"Knowlespole refers to this area. The Cetra then began a
Planet-reading."

Gast
"Ifalna, what exactly does Planet-reading entail?"

Ifalna
"...I can't explain it very well, but it's like having a conversation
with the Planet..."
"It said something fell from the sky making a large wound."
"Thousands of Cetra pulled together, trying to heal the Planet..."
"But, due to the severity of the wound, it was only able to heal
itself, over many years."

Gast
"Do the Ancients, rather, the Cetra, have special powers to heal the
Planet?"

Ifalna
"No, it's not that kind of power. The life force of all living things
on this Planet becomes the energy."
"The Cetra tried desperately to cultivate the land so as not to
diminish the needed energy..."

Gast
"Hmm, even here so close to the North Cave, the snow never melts."
"Is that because the planet's energy is gathered here to heal its
injury?"

Ifalna
"Yes, the energy that was needed to heal the Planet withered away the
land... then the Planet..."
"The Planet tried to persuade the Cetra to leave the Knowlespole,
but..."

Gast
"Ifalna... Let's take a break."

Ifalna
"I'm all right... When the Cetra... were preparing to part with the
land they loved..."
"That's when it appeared!"
"It looked like... our... our dead mothers... and our dead brothers.
Showing us spectres of their past."

Gast
"Who is the person that appeared at the North Cave? I haven't any
idea."

Ifalna
"That's when the one who injured the Planet... or the 'crisis from
the sky', as we call him, came."
"He first approached as a friend, deceived them, and finally......
gave them the virus."
"The Cetra were attacked by the virus and went mad... transforming
into monsters."
"Then, just as he had at the Knowlespole."
"He approached other Cetra clans...... infecting them with... the
virus..."


A small number of uninfected Cetra banded together and mounted an assault on
the Crisis, defeating it and sealing it away, though how is not explained in
the game. JENOVA is eventually discovered by Professor Gast of Shin-Ra Inc.,
studied, and falsely believed to have been a Cetra by the Professor. Sadly, he
and his assistant Hojo extract some of the creature's Cells and use them to
the effort of enhancing Sephiroth while still in the womb of his mother,
Lucrecia, in an attempt to create a new Cetra, and thus a great many of the
problems that have to be faced by AVALANCHE and the Planet Gaia begin.

The exact details of the creature's origin are unknown, but what it is, and
what it's goal was, can be determined. JENOVA was essentially a virus. The
virus it unleashed upon the Cetra was actually its own Cells, which are stated
in-game to be capable of changing form:

"The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words, is the power of Jenova."

Viruses have two goals: 1) Survival, and 2) replication. By infecting other
life forms, JENOVA was replicating, as these other creatures would be part of
JENOVA itself, an extension of the creature.

We find further suggestion of this concept in the official Final Fantasy VII
novel, "On the Way to a Smile," written by Kazushige Nojima, which serves to
bridge the two-year gap between the events of Final Fantasy VII and those of
Advent Children. In this story, Denzel tells Reeve that those people INFECTED
(note the terminology) with JENOVA's Cells that were spread by the Lifestream
flowing across Midgar were discharging a black pus through the pores of their
bodies. With this in mind, recall that the malady known as "Geostigma" is
revealed in the film to be the result of the body overworking itself in an
effort to rid itself of JENOVA's Cells. When JENOVA's Cells entered people, at
first they would discharge this black pus, as this is the body's natural
reaction to an intrusion by viruses: One's natural immune system involuntarily
rushes white blood cells to the location of an infectious substance within
one's body in an attempt to contain it and then discharge it from the body.
That's exactly what was happening with those infected by JENOVA's Cells.
However, the virus was too strong to be removed as simply as random bacteria
would be.

In regard to the creature's gender, while it typically appears as a female
during the main events of the game, in light of its ability to change its
shape ("Sephiroth: 'Cloud... Don't blame Tifa. The ability to change one's
looks, voice, and words, is the power of Jenova.'"), and it -- or parts of it
to be more specific -- taking the form of Sephiroth during the course of the
game, it cannot be reasonably classified as female with any strong measure of
certainty, nor as male. It may very well be genderless.

NOTE: That JENOVA had taken a male's form before this point, and that the
Cetra had not even identified it as having a gender for certain, is something
that is often fallaciously made reference to based on the following dialogue:

Gast
"Who is the person that appeared at the North Cave? I haven't any
idea."

Ifalna
"That's when the one who injured the Planet... or the 'crisis from
the sky', as we call it, came."
"HE first approached as a friend, deceived them, and finally......
gave them the virus."
"The Cetra were attacked by the virus and went mad... transforming
into monsters."
"Then, just as HE had at the Knowlespole."
"HE approached other Cetra clans...... infecting them with... the
virus..."


Note that other times, JENOVA is simply referred to as an "it":

Cloud: "...Did IT get away? Jenova...?"


Barret: "Where's ITS $#&*&@ head? This whole thing's stupid. Let's keep
goin'."


Ifalna: "When the Cetra... were preparing to part with the land they loved..."
"That's when IT appeared!"
"IT looked like... our... our dead mothers... and our dead brothers. Showing
us spectres of their past."


Further, while the PlayStation Version of FFVII's script has JENOVA being
referred to as a "he" during those first parts of Ifalna's story related above
from the Original Crisis Reports seen at Icicle Inn, in the PC Version of the
script, in which many errors were corrected, all dialogue during the Original
Crisis Reports refers to JENOVA as an "it." Taking this into account, the
gender references within the PlayStation version of the script would not be
valid in regard to discussing the matter of JENOVA. JENOVA's shapeshifting
abilities and the fact that Ifalna didn't identify the creature by any gender
tells us that JENOVA cannot reasonably be considered as definitely being
female, or definitely having a gender at all.



-Explanation of the Powers of JENOVA-

Based on what we're told by Ifalna ("It looked like... our... our dead
mothers... and our dead brothers. Showing us spectres of their past."), and
the illusions that appear during the Reunion so as to display the events that
had taken place in Nibelheim five years before the main events of the game, we
know that JENOVA had the capacity to create powerful illusions of a realistic
nature.

We also know that JENOVA had the capacity to shapeshift:

Sephiroth: "The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words, is the power
of Jenova."

We're further made aware of this through separated parts of JENOVA -- such as
its arm/tentacle -- transforming into large creatures that were complete with
their own heads, despite being separated from the head of JENOVA's body, and
the main body itself. Further still, this is brought to our attention
through separated parts of JENOVA having taken on the form of Sephiroth, as
we're shown through JENOVA-DEATH's transformation and also through the
appearance of JENOVA-LIFE, as well:

Cloud
"Sephiroth!!!"

::AVALANCHE runs toward Sephiroth and stands behind him; he doesn't turn to
face them::

"This is the end!"

Sephiroth
"You're right. This is the end of this body's usefulness."

::The area goes dark and Sephiroth vanishes, leaving only a plume of dark
smoke::

Cloud
"He disappeared!?"

Tifa
"He might still be nearby......"

...

::Later, Sephiroth reappears, hovering above the party as the light returns to
the area, with his sword drawn. He descends upon AVALANCHE, knocking them to
the ground as he had done back on the Shin-Ra cargo ship. He then lands and
slowly turns to face them and assumes a battle-ready position as AVALANCHE
gets back to its feet; the battle with JENOVA-DEATH commences::

Cloud
"Jenova's cells..."
"...hmm. So that's what this is all about."
"The Jenova Reunion..."

Tifa
"Not Sephiroth!? You mean all this time it wasn't Sephiroth we were after?"

::Cloud shakes his head::


Cloud
"My fingers are tingling.
My mouth is dry.
My eyes are burning!"

Sephiroth
"What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings
too?"

Cloud
"Of course! Who do you think I am!?"

Sephiroth
"Ha, ha, ha...... Stop acting as if you were sad."
"There's no need to act as though you're angry either."

Sephiroth
"Because, Cloud. You are..."

::The battle with JENOVA-LIFE commences; when the battle ends, the screen
fades to black::

Jenova
"Because, you are...... a puppet."


We also know that those with JENOVA Cells within them can be controlled by
Sephiroth, with his will able to permeate each JENOVA Cell, despite them being
separated. This is displayed on more than one occasion in regard to Cloud and
the black-cloaked experiments that were drawn to the Reunion, as they were
ordered to bring the Black Materia by Sephiroth.

We're also made aware that the JENOVA Cells were capable of phasing through
solid objects, and then solidifying again afterward, similar to the Martian
Manhunter/Jonn Jonz of DC Comics, as we see a form of Sephiroth phase up
through the floor in the Shin-Ra cargo ship, after having slaughtered the
Shin-Ra crew onboard.

We're further made aware of the fact these Cells could phase through solid
objects and then solidfy once again because a Sephiroth form does so at the
Temple of the Ancients, phasing down through the cieling behind Tseng,
solidifying and speaking with him momentarily before skewering him with a
sword.

As for another of JENOVA's abilities, we know that beings with JENOVA Cells
within them can fly or even just float in the air, as Cloud is lifted into the
air at the Reunion. JENOVA-SYNTHESIS itself, the form of JENOVA fought within
the Planet at the bottom of the Northern Crater, flew up to the area where it
battled AVALANCHE and was floating during the battle against it.

Based on all these things, we can conclude that JENOVA was a being of vast
psychokinetic/telekinetic and telepathic power that, through the virtue of the
afore-mentioned abilities, possessed the capacity to alter its form at will,
create realistic illusions, fly/levitate, phase through solid objects and then
solidify once again, and either itself or Sephiroth could use the presence of
its Cells in another being's body as a conduit into that being's mind.



-Explanation of Sephiroth's Identity-

Sephiroth was the son of Hojo and Lucrecia (not Vincent and Lucrecia, as is
often misinterpreted). While still a developing fetus in Lucrecia's womb, he
was brought into contact with JENOVA Cells through Gast and Hojo's
experimentation when the Cells of the ancient being were injected into
Lucrecia's womb, the Cells then melding with his still developing body and
becoming one with his natural cells, being distributed throughout his entire
body as it formed and developed. He was told that his Mother's name was
"Jenova," though why he was told this is and the intent behind doing so are
unknown.

We learn in the game that the purpose of Gast's JENOVA Project was to produce
people with the powers of the Cetra, and based on Shin-Ra's later actions in
regard to Aerith, it's likely that -- as they believed JENOVA to be a Cetra,
or Ancient, one of the original caretakers of the Planet -- they believed the
child would be a Cetra by having melded with JENOVA's Cells, and that it could
lead them to the Promised Land of the Cetra, a land of bliss, which they
further believed to be rich with Spirit Energy from which they could derive
Mako.

However, at roughly thirty years of age, while on a mission to investigate
monster appearances in the Nibelheim area, in the library of the Shin-Ra
Mansion, Sephiroth discovers the scientific journals of Professor Gast. Making
a connection between the JENOVA of Gast's experiments and the Jenova he had
been told was his mother, as well as contemplating that he may have been
produced through experiments involving Mako, he believed himself to be the son
of this JENOVA -- or, more accurately, a being produced from its genetic
material -- and that he and JENOVA were the last of the Ancients (Cetra):

Sephiroth
"Hmph... traitor."

Cloud
"Traitor?"

Sephiroth
"You ignorant traitor. I'll tell you."

Sephiroth
"This Planet originally belonged to the Cetra. Cetra was a itinerant
race. They would migrate in, settle the Planet, then move on..."
"At the end of their harsh, hard journey, they would find the
Promised Land and supreme happiness."

Sephiroth
"But, those that disliked the journey appeared. Those who stopped
their migrations built shelters and elected to lead an easier life."
"They took that which the Cetra and the planet had made without
giving one whit in return!"

Sephiroth
"Those are your ancestors."

Cloud
"Sephiroth..."

Sephiroth
"Long ago, disaster struck this planet."

Sephiroth
"Your ancestors escaped... They survived because they hid."
"The Planet was saved by sacrificing the Cetra. After that, your
ancestors continued to increase."

Sephiroth
"Now all that's left of the Cetra is in these reports."

Cloud
"What does that have to do with you?"

Sephiroth
"Don't you get it?"

Sephiroth
"An Ancient named Jenova was found in the geological stratum of 2000
years ago."
"The Jenova Project."

Sephiroth
"The Jenova Project wanted to produce people with the powers of the
Ancients..... no, the Cetra."

Sephiroth
"...I am the one that was produced."

Cloud
"Pr... produced!?"

Sephiroth
"Yes."
"Professor Gast, leader of the Jenova Project and genius scientist,
produced me."

Cloud
"How... how did he...?"

Cloud
"Se... Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth
"Out of my way. I'm going to see my mother."


He then began to believe himself to be superior to all other Homo Sapiens, and
began viewing the rest of humanity as usurpers of a world that rightfully
belonged to himself and JENOVA.

After arriving at this belief, Sephiroth proceeds to slaughter the citizens of
Nibelheim and raze the town to the ground. Zack and Tifa go after him, Tifa
attempting to kill him with his own sword, which he had left behind when he
killed her father. Cloud also follows after, determined to protect Tifa this
time, as he had failed to do years before. Tifa and Zack follow Sephiroth to
the Mt. Nibel Reactor. After taking his weapon back, nearly fatally wounding
Tifa, and then dispatching Zack when he arrives, Cloud charges into JENOVA's
Room where Sephiroth is preparing to free the being, grabbing Zack's sword
from the floor and carrying it with him as he goes, taking Sephiroth by
surprise as he enters and stabbing him through his back. While Cloud tends to
Tifa, Sephiroth takes JENOVA's head off, likely too weakened from Cloud's
attack to take the rest of its body with him, and then attempts to leave with
the head. However, Cloud goes after him again. As Sephiroth attempts to leave,
Cloud rushes him, yet Sephiroth skewers Cloud with his sword and holds him
above the heart of the Mako Reactor, a direct path into the Lifestream. This
is when Cloud -- likely in a moment of adrenaline-charged desperation before
his body gave out -- grasped the blade of Sephiroth's sword and hurled his
opponent away from him, using the sword that had skewered him as his pivot.
Sephiroth then flees, leaping into the Lifestream with JENOVA's head held to
him.

After this, Sephiroth's body is carried to the Northern Crater where the
Planet's Spirit Energy was being constantly directed in order to heal the
wound that is the Crater. There, Sephiroth's body becomes encased in Mako
(condensed Spirit Energy). In the present, Sephiroth acts as the embodiment of
JENOVA's will, acting to use the Black Materia to bring down Meteor and render
a massive wound unto the Planet. Sephiroth then intended to join with the
Spirit Energy that would be gathered as a result, and become one with the
Planet.

After Sephiroth is defeated by AVALANCHE and his body destroyed, the battle
between Sephiroth and Cloud actually takes place solely as a mental battle of
wills (as is evident by Cloud not having moved from where he was standing
before his "journey" to face Sephiroth began), in which Cloud defeats
Sephiroth's will. With this done, Holy -- the Ultimate White Magic, which
could have been able to stand against Meteor -- began to move.

-The Roles of JENOVA and Sephiroth: The Puppet Master Theorem-

The long debated matter of Final Fantasy VII: The Puppet Master Theorem; was
JENOVA or Sephiroth in control? Who was the grand manipulator, the mastermind
behind it all? I will here present the truth of the matter.

Before examining this matter, it may be best to first explain what JENOVA is
and functions as: A virus. Whatever its origins, JENOVA's behaviour 2,000
years before the main events of the game was indicative of that of a virus,
the goals of a virus being to spread and to replicate. This is exactly what
JENOVA does upon its arrival on the world of Gaia. It approaches the Cetra,
tricking them with its appearance by appearing as their dead relatives, and
then it released upon them what Ifalna referred to as "the virus." She said
that this virus drove the Cetra insane and turned them into monsters.

At face value, this may sound like an attack. But think a bit further: Ifalna
is not saying that these Cetra were being killed; rather, she is saying that
they were being TRANSFORMED. JENOVA's Cells are known to cause mutations. As
Sephiroth says at the Northern Crater, "The power to change one's looks,
voice, and words is the power of Jenova." What, then, was JENOVA releasing
upon the Cetra? Its very own Cells. It was transforming them into more of
itself. JENOVA was seeking to replicate.

We find further suggestion of this concept in the official Final Fantasy VII
novel, "On the Way to a Smile," written by Kazushige Nojima, which serves to
bridge the two-year gap between the events of Final Fantasy VII and those of
Advent Children. In this story, Denzel tells Reeve that those people INFECTED
(note the terminology) with JENOVA's Cells that were spread by the Lifestream
flowing across Midgar were discharging a black pus through the pores of their
bodies. With this in mind, recall that the malady known as "Geostigma" is
revealed in the film to be the result of the body overworking itself in an
effort to rid itself of JENOVA's Cells. When JENOVA's Cells entered people, at
first they would discharge this black pus, as this is the body's natural
reaction to an intrusion by viruses: One's natural immune system involuntarily
rushes white blood cells to the location of an infectious substance within
one's body in an attempt to contain it and then discharge it from the body.
That's exactly what was happening with those infected by JENOVA's Cells.
However, the virus was too strong to be removed as simply as random bacteria
would be.

With that touched upon, I will now move on to the events of the game itself.
I would argue that the acts of murdering President Shinra, much of the Shin-Ra
personnel in the Shin-Ra headquarters, and Aerith were Sephiroth's, being
committed while he carried out the new JENOVA's will: His own will. Sephiroth
was essentially the ebmodiment of JENOVA in a native of the Planet of Gaia,
while still retaining his own individuality. JENOVA's will was never so much
that of consciously perceiving thought processes, but, rather, that of an
instinctual beast, a virus seeking to perform one function: To make more of
itself.

What became Sephiroth's intent was JENOVA's will all along, though in a
completely different context. JENOVA Cells had been injected into the womb of
Lucrecia, Sephiroth's mother, when Sephiroth was still a developing fetus, and
there the Cells melded with his body as it developed, becoming one with every
aspect of his body as it developed into its normal infant form. In some
respects, one could argue that Sephiroth was essentially an extension of
JENOVA, or, perhaps, an evolved form of the creature, existing as a hyrbid of
it and Gaia's Homo Sapiens.

It has been argued by many that Sephiroth was controlling JENOVA, and it has
also been argued that JENOVA was outright controlling Sephiroth, yet I have
come to conclude that what we witness throughout the game was simply
Sephiroth's natural growth into that which he always was: The new JENOVA. One
might even say he was a mutation of the virus that JENOVA was.

Once Sephiroth fell into the Lifestream with JENOVA's head, his life changed.
The knowledge of the Lifestream would have become privy to him. Sephiroth
would have come to learn just what JENOVA was, and just who he was. Sephiroth
then simply desired to assume the role of that which he now was: A virus. He
wanted to become everything. He wanted the world to be his. He wanted
everything to be part of himself, just as he and JENOVA were part of one
another. He wanted to shape the future in his own image, living now as the
JENOVA virus with the mind and emotions he had as a consciously perceiving
human being:

(Inside the Temple of the Ancients, and Out)
Sephiroth
"I am becoming one with the Planet."

Tseng
"One with the Planet?"

Sephiroth
"You stupid fools. You have never even thought about it."
"All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom...
knowledge..."
"I will meld with it all. I will become one with it... It will
become one with me."

...

Aerith
"How do you intend to become one with the Planet?"

Sephiroth
"It's simple."
"Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the
injury."

Sephiroth
"The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury."

Sephiroth
"...What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the
very life of the Planet?"
"Think how much energy would be gathered!"

Sephiroth
"Ha ha ha. And at the center of that injury, will be me."
"All that boundless energy will be mine."

Sephiroth
"By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a
new life forn, a new existence."
"Melding with the Planet... I will cease to exist as I am now."
"Only to be reborn as a '***' to rule over every soul."

...

Sephiroth
"I'm far superior to the Ancients."
"I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and
wisdom of the Ancients."
"I also gained the knowledge and wisdom of those after the extinction
of the Ancients."
"And soon, I will create the future."


As can be seen here, Sephiroth desired to become one with everything else. He
desired to make everything be a part of him. He desired to replicate.
Sephiroth's growth was essentially that of introducing conscious perception to
a viral entity that "thought" based on instinct.

Sephiroth's goal is further supported by the game's CGI film sequel, Final
Fantasy VII: Advent Children. During the film, after Sephiroth has been reborn
due to JENOVA's Cells that were in Rufus Shinra's possession merging with
Kadaj, he tells Cloud that his goal is to use Gaia itself as a vessel to sail
the cosmos until he can find another Planet, one which has not yet been
"corrupted" by the presence of Homo Sapiens. He then intends to make this
world be his new "paradise."

In summary, I would describe the matter of JENOVA and Sephiroth as an
evolution in which JENOVA's instincts became part of the will within a
human being that could be regarded as JENOVA's evolved offspring: Sephiroth.
On the whole, the plot that unveiled was formed of a symbiotic existance,
perhaps even a fusion, between JENOVA and its Gaian
embodiment/mutation/evolution, Sephiroth.

Does this mean that Sephiroth really is the Puppet Master of Final Fantasy
VII? Yes. JENOVA's instincts play out through Sephiroth, however, it was not
consciously manipulating or controlling him into doing anything, nor was he
technically controlling it. He WAS JENOVA, or, rather, it's evolved form.
There was not any puppeteering going on except that which was exerted over
Cloud and the black-cloaked Clones from Nibelheim. There was just growth.
Sephiroth could control all of JENOVA's Cells that were disembodied and could
manipulate those in whom they were injected, but he was not controlling JENOVA
because the JENOVA that the Cetra had known no longer existed and all that
remained was him. He simply grew as a mutation of JENOVA.

An argument that JENOVA controlled Sephiroth rather simply falls apart, as
it's made obvious in both Final Fantasy VII (the original game) and Advent
Children that Sephiroth's own will was being exerted. In Final Fantasy VII,
Sephiroth's utmost enmity toward Cloud and consistent mental torture of the
protagonist displays that Sephiroth himself was certainly very much aware and
active, as JENOVA would have no cause to render such agony unto Cloud, whereas
Sephiroth, one who was filled with pride -- pride that had been hurt when
Cloud overpowered him five years earlier -- would. Further still, he speaks of
JENOVA in the third-person. This continues into Advent Children, when he
speaks of sailing the cosmos "As Mother did before me."

Symbolically, Sephiroth could be described in much the same way as Jesus
Christ is described in regard to *** in Christianity: An embodiment that is
not so much a separate entity as it is a separate function, or different face
to the same being. Sephiroth is to JENOVA what Jesus is to ***. This was
likely set up in such a manner intentionally, as JENOVA's name is a
bastardization of the Hebrew "YHWH"/"JHVH" (commonly localized in English as
"Yahweh"/"Jehovah"), possibly combined with the Latin word "Nova" to form a
blended word meaning "New ***." The music that plays as Safer Sephiroth
hatches from Bizarro Sephiroth is called "Birth of a ***," reflecting these
concepts. Further of note regarding this Jesus-like symbolism is that
Christian mythology recognizes that Jesus was *** made manifest in a human
woman's womb. The closest thing to such an occurrence takes place in Final
Fantasy VII's backstory regarding Sephiroth, as the Cells of JENOVA ( the "New
***") were injected into the womb of Sephiroth's mother, Lucrecia, where they
merged with Sephiroth's body as it developed. Further still, we find that the
CGI film sequel to Final Fantasy VII is entitled "Advent Children," the
"Advent of Christ" being another name for what is known as "the Second Coming
of Christ." In this film, we witness the "second coming" of Sephiroth.

In conclusion, my determination is that there was no issue of control in the
first place, as Sephiroth WAS JENOVA, but an evolved -- or, rather, mutated --
form of an instinctual, viral creature that didn't operate on the higher level
of consciousness that Homo Sapiens -- consciously perceiving beings -- do. In
fact, Square-Enix's Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega Guide, published in
September of 2005, confirms this, stating that Sephiroth, with his higher
level of consciousness, assumed rulership over JENOVA's Cells.


(Note: The rest of this article will contain points that are often brought up
in favour of either JENOVA or Sephiroth being in control of the other; each
point will receive a response as though it were made by one holding the
opposite view, detailing why the point fails to support the possibility in
question; note that the points brought up below do not necessarily express
the views of this author; their placement here is simply for the purpose of
recording the history of points that were brought up by both sides during the
8 years of speculation between the game's release and the official
confirmation from Square-Enix that Sephiroth was in control.)

Points Often Brought Forward to Suggest Sephiroth's Control, but Which Don't
Necessarily Support the Possibility:

*Point: Sephiroth fell into the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and wisdom
of the Ancients. He says as much himself at the Temple of the Ancients. It was
him that was doing everything.

*Response: There's also the fact that JENOVA's head fell into the Lifestream
with Sephiroth (refer to this picture: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/
Squall_of_Seed/Final%20Fantasy%20VII/SephirothsFall.jpg), so this in no way
grants Sephiroth a superior position in regard to the Puppet Master Theorem.
The whole perspective of the matter of JENOVA having influence over him is due
to the presence of JENOVA's Cells in his body and brain. Accessing any
information that he gained while floating about in there should have been
theoretically as simple as speaking into his mind or even examining its own
thoughts.


*Point: JENOVA was already braindead all along, defeated by the Cetra 2000
years before the game begins. Sephiroth just utilized its power in the
present. If the creature were not a vegetable all along, why did it wait so
long to break free or to manipulate Sephiroth into freeing it?

*Response: JENOVA was still very much alive. Ifalna's statement concerning
JENOVA at Icicle Inn should be kept in mind:

"Even though Jenova is confined, it could come back to life at some time..."
"The Planet has not fully healed itself yet. It is still watching Jenova."


Ifalna specifically tells us that the creature wasn't dead, and, further yet,
there's the fact that Sephiroth -- while standing outside of JENOVA's Room in
Mt. Nibel's Mako Reactor -- reacts as Cloud does whenever another psyche
entered his mind in how he clutched at his head after he began questioning his
origin. This suggests the possibilty that JENOVA was awake again and entering
his mind. Further still, there's the fact that JENOVA's Cells were still
functioning, as they must have been doing so in the interim between JENOVA
being discovered by Gast and Hojo determining that JENOVA's Cells would seek
to reunite if seperated, a determination that he made before Sephiroth ever
fell into the Lifestream.

As for JENOVA having waited "so long" to take action, JENOVA had been confined
for over 2000 years, and was used for experimentation while still confined for
the last 25 of those years. Considering the creature's power, whatever means
the Cetra used to confine it must have taken a toll on it and left it
weakened. It may have simply not had the power to reach out to Sephiroth all
the way across the world, or may not have even awakened once more until he
came into close proximity with it, the presence of its Cells within him
lending a "spark" of sorts to JENOVA's consciousness. What is certain,
however, is that JENOVA was not dead.

*Point: The fact that the pieces of JENOVA took on Sephiroth's form in the
first place suggests that Sephiroth was the manipulator.

*Response: Or it could simply be that he was carrying out JENOVA's will by
employing his own methods.


*Point: During the Reunion, Hojo specifically says that Sephiroth's will was
manipulating the Sephiroth Clones:

"Sephiroth is not just content to diffuse his will into the Lifestream; he
wants to maniplate the Clones himself."


*Response: Yes, it's obvious that the Reunion was being used for another
purpose. The Clones were naturally being drawn to JENOVA, but were being sent
on a side trip of sorts to look for the Black Materia as they made their way
to JENOVA for the Reunion. If Sephiroth were the one ordering them to do this,
that still doesn't remove the possibility of JENOVA having given him the ideas
for the main points in question.


*Point: The Sephiroth Clones wear black because Sephiroth does, and also
refer to him as "the great Sephiroth" and their master to whom they were to
take the Black Materia. This, coupled with the fact that Lucrecia had been
seeing Sephiroth in her dreams around the time the call of the Reunion went
out, is strong evidence toward Sephiroth having been the grand manipulator.

*Response: Again, it's obvious that the Reunion was used for another purpose,
but Sephiroth may have simply been making use of the Clones while they were on
their way to the Reunion. That still doesn't negate the possibility that
Meteor and melding with the Lifestream were JENOVA's ideas. Him serving as a
tool of JENOVA could easily involve him having manipulated the Clones and them
perceiving him as their master.


*Point: The final boss battle (the Safer Sephiroth fight) is fought against
Sephiroth, not JENOVA. If JENOVA were in control or if neither was controlling
the other, why would it put itself in danger by fighting AVALANCHE instead of
sending Sephiroth? It got killed in the JENOVA-SYNTHESIS battle. For that
matter, it's a rule of RPGs that the last opponent you fight is the true
villain.

*Response: The final boss battle is fought against a transformed Sephiroth,
obviously transformed through JENOVA's Cells, and bearing a wing in place of
its right arm that is composed of the same colors as JENOVA-BIRTH,
JENOVA-LIFE, and JENOVA-DEATH. JENOVA wasn't killed in the JENOVA-SYNTHESIS
battle. The fact that its individual parts can act while separated from the
main body, or that its head being removed from its body without killing it,
shows that the creature lived so long as its Cells remained. It had Cells in
Sephiroth.

For that matter, JENOVA's Cells are a present, active force in Final Fantasy
VII: Advent Children, based two years after the game ended. JENOVA wasn't
killed at the end of Final Fantasy VII. It was present in the final battle as
much as Sephiroth due to the presence of its Cells in his body.

As far as the last opponent fought in RPGs always being the true villain goes,
that wasn't the case with Necron in Final Fantasy IX. Not only does this
"rule" not hold true with all RPGs, but it doesn't even hold true within the
same RPG franchise as Final Fantasy VII.

In any event, JENOVA most likely needed Sephiroth's body to absorb the
Lifestream as its own wasn't of Gaia, so even were it outright controlling
him, sending his body to get destroyed wouldn't have been wise.


*Point: Sephiroth wasn't speaking at the end because he was too busy
concentrating on holding back Holy.

*Response: Sephiroth had been holding back Holy for weeks as it was, even
while he was being his usual cocky self and rambling on as before (immediately
after killing Aerith at the City of the Ancients, and at the Northern Crater).
There's no reason for holding back Holy to suddenly be such an arduous task
that he can't speak even while he talked as much as he ever did before while
doing so.

For that matter, he created realistic illusions of Nibelheim in the Northern
Crater while Holy was being held back, as well as summoned Meteor. Were
holding back Holy something that would strap one for power and focus so
greatly, one has to wonder where Sephiroth found the time and focus to
belittle Cloud and diminish his confidence in himself through both verbal
assaults and visual illusions, as well as call down a giant chunk of rock and
fire.


*Point: Sephiroth is the one promoted as the main villain by pretty much
everything in the game: He is the one that Cloud is seeking revenge upon, he
is the one with the theme that has vocals in it, and he is the one that the
party believes is their adversary. The game generally promotes the idea that
he is the villain.

*Response: Chrono Trigger does much the same thing in regard to Magus.
Granted, he is eventually revealed to not be the game's main villain, but up
until the point that one actually fights and defeats him, they've been led to
believe that he is the one behind Lavos. Everything from the little girl in
Leene Square talking about the Wizard that was defeated 400 years before to
the battle that is taking place at that very moment encourages the player to
believe that. However, he wasn't.

As far as musical themes go, Magus has the theme with the darker tone, and the
only point in the game with vocals of any kind is heard when confronting him,
it being chanting that was either his own chanting of the Spell that he was
going to use to summon Lavos, or just something added to further darken the
mood.

That said, however, Sephiroth was most certainly promoted as the main
ANTAGONIST of the game, and being a villain, that also serves to make him the
main villainous antagonist. However, that doesn't necessarily make him the
main villain, though that really depends on one's opinion of the term "main
villain." If one believes that the main villain of a game is the one that has
the greatest amount of contrast with the main protagonist, then that would be
true of Sephiroth, for certain.

For the purposes of this response, however, the term is being used to
designate the villain that is behind the tragic and villainous events taking
place, in which case Sephiroth certainly has a major hand in things, but is
being viewed more as a consenting tool toward that end rather than the
mastermind behind it.

I would describe the matter as thus: In "The Lord of the Rings," the main
protagonist is Frodo, and the main villain is Sauron. However, the main
villainous antagonist is the One Ring, created from some of Sauron's own power
and with a will of its own that can only serve to follow Sauron's will. In
this analogy, I would argue that Sephiroth is the One Ring, whereas JENOVA is
Sauron.


Points Often Brought Forth to Suggest JENOVA's Control, but Which Don't
Necessarily Support the Possibility:

*Point: Sephiroth displayed no powers at any time in his life, including the
Nibelheim incident, beyond his physical prowess, higher-than-average strength,
and what magical powers were granted to him through the use of Materia. Such
Spells as Pale Horse and Super Nova were not naturally his, and, further, it
is obvious that not all of Sephiroth's powers would have come from absorbing
Spirit Energy out of the Planet, for much of the powers that beings in
Sephiroth's form display are illusions and abilities pertaining to
telekinesis and telepathy, the telekinesis of which we see displayed when
JENOVA-SYNTHESIS flies, and the telepathy of which we know JENOVA had based on
Ifalna's description of JENOVA's appearance 2000 years before the main events
of the game:

"It looked like... our... our dead mothers... and our dead brothers. Showing
us spectres of their past."


Ifalna's recounting of what transpired 2000 years before the main events of
the game, as well as various in-game points such as JENOVA's ability to have
its Cells take on other forms and its ability to fly in its JENOVA-SYNTHESIS
form make it apparent that JENOVA was a being of vast mental power, its
abilities extending -- but not necessarily limited -- to astral projections,
telekinesis, telepathy, and generating realistic illusions. These abilities
are also those abilities displayed by Sephiroth, or someone/something that
looks like him. That being the case, we know that Sephiroth -- if it, indeed,
was him performing such acts -- would have acquired his powers of illusion and
other powers of a psychic nature from JENOVA, in which case it could have been
using him without him even knowing it. The origin of these powers strongly
indicates that it was JENOVA using HIM.

*Response: While true that Sephiroth would have acquired such powers from
JENOVA, that doesn't necessarily rule out the legendary SOLDIER from having
somehow utilized those powers independently of the creature's mind. Falling
into the Lifestream together, it may well be that JENOVA and Sephiroth's minds
linked in much the same way that Tifa and Cloud's did when they fell into the
Lifestream together in Mideel, or perhaps -- if JENOVA were incapable of
interacting with the Planet's Spirit Energy -- Sephiroth chose to reach out to
JENOVA's mind while the two were in the Lifestream and he acquired its psychic
abilities in that way. Further still, the creature may have even been letting
him use its powers without him realizing it.


*Point: Back in Nibelheim, Sephiroth states that he was under orders to take
the Planet back for the Cetra. Who gave him these orders? We never see anyone
do so. Obviously, JENOVA telepathically transmitted them to him:

Cloud
"Sephiroth..."
"My family! My hometown! How could you do this to them!?"

Sephiroth
"Ha, ha, ha..... They've come again, mother."

Sephiroth
"With her superior power, knowledge, and magic, Mother was destined
to become the ruler of this Planet."

But they...
Those worthless creatures
are stealing the planet from Mother
But now I'm here with you
so don't worry

Cloud
"What about MY sadness!? My family... friends... The sadness of
having my hometown taken away from me!?"
"It's the same as your sadness!"

Sephiroth
"Ha, ha, ha... my sadness? What do I have to be sad about?"
"I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to be the leader of this
Planet."
"I have orders to take this planet back from you stupid people for
the Cetra. What am I supposed to be sad about?"


This is the most ****ing piece of evidence toward Sephiroth having been the
manipulator. Who chose him? Who were his orders from? JENOVA.

*Response: The possibility that he would have been simply insane -- or just
angry -- and was assuming that he was bound to such "duties" shouldn't be
ignored, and are a strong possibility in light of how unstable he was at the
time. In any event, "I have orders..." was a mistranslation. The original
Japanese should read "I was born to take this planet back from you stupid
people for the Cetra."
(Thanks to my wife, Carys, for finding this error in translation.)


*Point: The Sephiroth forms seen throughout the game were pieces of JENOVA.
That's obviously an indication that both he and his identity were being
manipulated, perhaps even to cause Shin-Ra to believe they were dealing with
their most powerful soldier returned rogue rather than an interplanetary
menace.

We know that JENOVA's pieces took on Sephiroth's form for the following
reasons: JENOVA's Cells can change their form ("Sephiroth: 'Cloud... Don't
blame Tifa. The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words, is the power
of Jenova.'"), so it would be simple enough for its pieces to appear as
Sephiroth. When the forms of Sephiroth fly off into the air those times
they're encountered on the Shin-Ra cargo ship and in the City of the Ancients,
boss battles against parts of JENOVA follow, and in the case of the form
flying away at the City of the Ancients, something falls, it being a piece of
JENOVA. Many have taken this to mean that Sephiroth, a Sephiroth Clone with an
altered appearance, or an astral projection of Sephiroth capable of physical
interaction flew away and dropped the pieces, due mainly to Cloud's statement
on the cargo ship that Sephiroth was carrying JENOVA ("He was carrying Jenova
with him"). However, no rendering of Sephiroth carrying anything at that point
was placed into the game, even while JENOVA's head was rendered during the
scene in which Sephiroth carries it. The validity of Cloud's statement can
further be called into question as, perhaps, having been an assumption on his
part; AVALANCHE had just been knocked to the floor -- as they would be later
in the Whirlwind Maze -- as the Sephiroth form flew away, and possibly
wouldn't have had a good look at the Sephiroth form as it ascended into the
air in the first place, so with a piece of JENOVA falling and transforming
before them, he may have simply assumed Sephiroth must have been carrying
JENOVA's body.

Just for clarification, it should be noted that the Sephiroth form on the
Shin-Ra cargo ship was more than likely the entirety of JENOVA's body which
had escaped from the Shin-Ra headquarters. In the instances of the slaughter
of Shin-Ra personnel in both cases, either Red XIII or a Shin-Ra employee
makes note that the perpetrator couldn't be human (Red XIII: "No human could
have done this"; Shin-Ra employee on the cargo ship: ""....the Engine Room...
a suspicious..... character... No... there's no way.... that...... not a
human..... That thing's not human....."), and back in the Shin-Ra
headquarters, JENOVA's containment vessel appeared to have been blasted open
from within. Further, Palmer makes no note of the Sephiroth form that killed
President Shinra carrying JENOVA with it at the time of murdering President
Shinra. This is because that form of Sephiroth WAS JENOVA. Also notable is
that the Sephiroth form on the cargo ship doesn't recognize Cloud, whereas
later forms of Sephiroth that show up do.

Despite Cloud's statement on the ship, there is evidence that the second and
third JENOVA bosses (LIFE and DEATH) were actually the Sephiroth forms
themselves, transforming to face the party. First, in regard to the real
Sephiroth having been present, his real body had been encased in Mako in the
Northern Crater all this time, and could not have been off doing those things
seen in the game. Further, of his own body, only the torso remained. In regard
to the possibility of Clone transformations, when Aerith is murdered, the
Sephiroth form that killed her rises into the air and vanishes, followed by
something small falling to the ground from the spot where the Sephiroth form
had been, commencing the battle against JENOVA-LIFE.

Also consider that the Sephiroth form seen at the Northern Crater -- who
slaughters the Sephiroth Clones that had been Hojo's experiements from
Nibelheim -- descends upon the party, lands near them, turns to face them in a
battle-ready position just as AVALANCHE stands and prepares to fight, and
before the battle against this being begins, the form of Sephiroth is seen on
the environment map as being AVALANCHE's opponent, yet when the battle begins
and switches to the battle map, JENOVA-DEATH is in the Sephiroth form's place.
The scene further shows that Cloud had realized that it had not been
Sephiroth's real body that AVALANCHE had been chasing at all:

Cloud
"Sephiroth!!!"

::AVALANCHE runs toward Sephiroth and stands behind him; he doesn't turn to
face them::

"This is the end!"

Sephiroth
"You're right. This is the end of this body's usefulness."

::The area goes dark and Sephiroth vanishes, leaving only a plume of dark
smoke::

Cloud
"He disappeared!?"

Tifa
"He might still be nearby......"

...

::Later, Sephiroth reappears, hovering above the party as the light returns to
the area, with his sword drawn. He descends upon AVALANCHE, knocking them to
the ground as he had done back on the Shin-Ra cargo ship. He then lands and
slowly turns to face them and assumes a battle-ready position as AVALANCHE
gets back to its feet; the battle with JENOVA-DEATH commences::

Cloud
"Jenova's cells..."
"...hmm. So that's what this is all about."
"The Jenova Reunion..."

Tifa
"Not Sephiroth!? You mean all this time it wasn't Sephiroth we were after?"

::Cloud shakes his head::


This scene also shows that -- with the Reunion complete by killing Hojo's
experiments and some falling down into the Northern Crater where their Cells
could be reclaimed, and with the time to call Meteor almost at hand --
Sephiroth no longer needed that piece of JENOVA to go about in Sephiroth's
form, thus, the line "This is the end of this body's usefulness." Also notable
is that when JENOVA-DEATH is defeated, left behind in its place is the Black
Materia, which Cloud had handed over to a Sephiroth form earlier in the game.

At this point, one could argue that this only proves that the Sephiroth forms
are what transformed into the JENOVA bosses, and not that they are pieces of
JENOVA. However, referring back to JENOVA-BIRTH, when it is defeated, it
reverts into a tentacle of JENOVA that the party recognizes as having been
part of JENOVA's body back in the Shin-Ra headquarters:

Tifa
"I've seen this somewhere... before."

Cloud
"...Jenova. The arm of Jenova."

Aerith
"Jenova... With this thing?"


With this kept in mind, again recall that when the form of Sephiroth rises
into the air in the City of the Ancients, it is something small that falls
from its location and then transforms.

With all this in mind, the Sephiroth forms encountered throughout the game
were most certainly pieces of JENOVA -- or, in the case of the forms in the
Shin-Ra headquarters and on the cargo ship, its entire body -- in Sephiroth's
form, the exceptions to this, of course, being those seen after JENOVA-DEATH
was defeated. Both of the Sephiroth forms seen after that point were astral
projections. It should be noted that neither of these performed any kind of
physical interaction (the picture that the one inside the Crater lifted was
also an illusion), and both vanished, though not in the same manner as did the
one in the City of the Ancients, which simply vanished, only for a piece of
JENOVA to fall and emit red light, and then rise up as JENOVA-LIFE.

*Respone: All this information only proves that the Sephiroth forms were
pieces of JENOVA. This alone does not confirm JENOVA as the Puppet Master, as
Sephiroth may have been acting through these pieces. In any event, if JENOVA
wished to mislead Shin-Ra as to who they were dealing with, it could have
simply become a random "nobody" instead of taking on Sephiroth's form. For it
to have done so, there simply must be more to the matter. Of course, what more
there may be to the matter may only be that JENOVA was manipulating Sephiroth
into carrying out its will.

"Let me be alone." Sephiroth said, darkly. He felt angry and confused at the moment. His left hand was clenched around the hilt of his sword so tightly that had it not been gloved and not extremely pale, Cloud might have seen his knuckles turning white.

Cloud almost turned and left, but something stopped him.

"No."

Sephiroth blinked. "You dare disobey me?!" he spun around, swinging his sword at Cloud.

Cloud, who had anticipated that Sephiroth might do something like that, blocked the blow with his own sword.

Sephiroth struck again and again, but Cloud blocked him each time.

"I learned from the best."

The words were barely heard over the din of steel on steel. But they were heard and Sephiroth smiled, briefly, at the compliment.

"Sephiroth, please stop this," Cloud pleaded. "Look, I don't care how you were created or what anyone says. You're still the Sephiroth I've always loved." He went very pale. He'd meant to say 'admired'. He did love Sephiroth, but he hadn't meant to blurt it out like that.

Sephiroth turned in surprise. "You... *love* me?"

Cloud nodded.

~Here it comes,~ he thought to himself. ~This is where he kicks me out and has me booted from SOLDIER.~

"Cloud," Sephiroth's voice wavered a little. A tremor of rage was Cloud's guess.

Cloud was shaking his head. "Look, I know it was stupid of me to admit that, and I'm sorry, but its true and I can't do a thing about it. And since you're about to throw me out of SOLDIER, may I go and pack please?"

"I love you, too."

Cloud blinked. Had the General just said...?

"Sir?" Cloud was very nonplussed. "But I'm..."

"Just a grunt?" Sephiroth knew where this was going already. Why would a high rank officer fall in love with a newly recruited grunt?

Cloud nodded. "And you're a..."

"General?" Sephiroth supplied again.

Another nod from Cloud.

"And that means what?" Sephiroth asked. He'd never really cared about titles so Cloud being a 'mere' grunt didn't phase him.

"So it doesn't bother you?" Cloud could feel his heart thumping in his chest. "What about what the others will say?"

"It's just talk," Sephiroth shrugged.

Cloud's heart was beating so fast now, he thought it would come out of his chest. Sephiroth loved him! But did he dare ask.

"What's on your mind?" Sephiroth inquired as he sheathed Masamune and headed for the door.

"I have a question I want to ask you." Cloud told Sephiroth.

"Go ahead."

They were crossing the town square when Cloud, realizing that if he waited he would lose the courage, suddenly asked,

"Will you marry me?"

Everyone within earshot turned to face them. Cloud turned beet red. He hadn't meant for others to hear him. For a moment he was terrified that Sephiroth might be angered by Cloud's public proposal; then he heard Sephiroth's laughter. At first he was relieved, then he felt a little upset. Did Sephiroth think the whole thing had been a joke?

"I'm not joking, Seph'." Cloud told him.

"I know." Sephiroth replied. "I'm laughing because I'm so incredibly happy right now."

The others that were still around them were listening intently to the exchange, hanging on every word uttered between the two men from SOLDIER.

"What's going on?" A woman asked a friend as she arrived and saw everyone staring at Cloud and Sephiroth.

"That blond kid just proposed to General Sephiroth," the friend explained. "We're just waiting to see what the General's answer wil

be."

Sephiroth nodded. "Yes." he told Cloud, elliciting a cheer from the crowd that had gathered around them.

-Chapter 2-

Several reporters were in the crowd that had gathered around and they went into an instant flurry of activity as soon as they heard Sephiroth's answer. There were too many to keep track of and they were in a jumble so it was hard to tell which reporter was asking which question.

"So, what's it like to be engaged to the greatest SOLDIER ever known?" a male voice wanted to know.

Cloud nudged Sephiroth, "Hey, they just asked you a question."

Sephiroth laughed and Cloud and the others joined in. "You keep *that* up, dearest, and you're going to be sleeping in the hall on our wedding night."

"Actually," Cloud quickly amended, "I'm very honored that Sephiroth said 'yes.'"

"Were you surprised at the proposal, sir?" a female voice asked.

"Yes." Sephiroth agreed.

"How do you think Shinra will react to this engagement?" another female voice wanted to know.

Sephiroth eyes gleamed dangerously and there was a dark edge to his voice as he spoke. "They had *better* like it."

"But, sir," a female voice called out, "sir, what if Shinra doesn't like it?"

"Listen, lady," Sephiroth told her, "this is the first time in my life that I've been truly happy and I'm not letting anyone take that away from me. Now if you'll excuse us."

The reporters and the rest of the crowd watched as Sephiroth and Cloud made their way back to the Inn. The couple-to-be spoke to the innkeeper at the door, then went inside.

"Please, please." the innkeeper told the throng of reporters, "General Sephiroth and his fiance would like a bit of privacy. Please do not crowd the door. Please, sirs, I must insist that you please

clear my door so that my customers may come and go as they wish."

After nearly thirty minutes, the last of the reporters finally gave up and went home. Just as he was rounding the corner, he heard Sephiroth's voice on the porch.

"Hmm.. I was just about to tell some reporter some really interesting things," the voice teased, "oh well..." then the door closed.

The reporter, realizing that Sephiroth had been watching him and knew he was waiting for Sephiroth to do just that, realized that the General was poking fun at him. With a scream of annoyance, the stomped off home.

-Chapter 3-

Sephiroth and Cloud walked into their room at the Inn and collapsed onto their respective beds.

"I thought we'd never get away from those reporters." Cloud panted.

"Tell me about it." Sephiroth agreed. "Hey, you think we should quit?"

"You mean not get married?" Cloud felt a lump in his throat. Was Sephiroth rejecting him?

"No." Sephiroth shook his head. "I was serious when I said that about that being the happiest moment of my life to date. I mean, do you think we should quit SOLDIER?"

"I don't know." Cloud admitted. "I do know that if they say we can't marry, I will leave. I love you, Seph." He went over to the window and looked out at his home town. "I won't be able to work with you if we can't marry. It'll just be too painful to see you every day and know I can't have you."

"I feel the same way." Sephiroth agreed. "So, if they say they won't permit us to marry, then we will leave. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Cloud gave a firm nod. "Now, how do we tell them?"

"There's a formal dinner ceremony being held in my honor next weekend that President Shinra and all the other high-ranking SOLDIERs will be attending." Sephiroth informed Cloud. "I suggest we tell them then. That way, we can let everyone know at once and it will save time."

"But what will we say?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth smiled. "Leave that to me."

-Chapter 4a-



"Sir," a security guard informed Cloud, "I'm very sorry, but this gathering is for high-ranking members of SOLDIER only. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

"I happen to be a close friend of General Sephiroth." Cloud pointed out.

"Everyone is a close friend of the General." the guard remarked, tiredly. "Now kindly return to..." he stopped and snapped to attention as General Sephiroth walked up to them.

Sephiroth leaned over and exchanged a chaste kiss with Cloud. "Problem?"

Cloud nodded then looked back at the doorguard who was suddenly feeling a *lot* less sure of himself.

"Um... sirs...?" the guard squeaked.

"You didn't know Cloud and I are madly in love, right?" Sephiroth asked.

The guard was so shocked by this that he couldn't speak. He shook his head, rapidly.

"And you were just trying to protect me, right?" Sephiroth went on.

The guard nodded, still speechless.

"Well, then, I don't see anything wrong with that, do you, Cloud?" Sephiroth asked Cloud as he wrapped an arm around the blond SOLDIER's waist and led him through the door.

Cloud shook his head. "No, he's doing a fine job, Seph'."

"You think we should recommend him for a promotion?" Sephiroth suggested.

"I don't know." Cloud mused as they moved out of the guard's hearing range, "It's so hard to find a good security guard these days..."

-Chapter 4b-

"Good point." Sephiroth agreed as they made their way over to the main table. Another general was sitting in a chair next to a vacant seat that had been reserved for Sephiroth.

Sephiroth cleared his throat and the man looked up. "Stand up, please, sir." Sephiroth said, in a firm but polite tone.

The man stood up. He had a number of years' seniority over Sephiroth, but Sephiroth was Shinra's pride and he knew that if anyone said anything against Sephiroth, the rest of SOLDIER would probably simultaneously shoot him through the lungs.

"Cloud," Sephiroth said, "go ahead and sit down."

"Seph'," Cloud looked at the seat that had recently been vacated, then at the recently deprived other General.

"It's okay." the man insisted. "Really. I've been sitting behind a desk all day. I don't mind standing a bit. It'll give me a chance to stretch my legs.

Sephiroth sat down in his own seat and turned to Cloud. "These meetings are always so tedious. Its always a bunch of stuffy old Generals."

"And one handsome young General." Cloud offered.

"...who has to listen to them!" they both burst out laughing, leaning on each other as they patted each other's shoulders in that way that dear friends do when they just can't stop laughing.

"Well, this is something different," President Shinra remarked as he took his place at the head of the table. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile before, General Sephiroth. I assume this grunt has somehow manaaged to make you happy."

Sephiroth nodded. "That's why I love him so much." he replied.

Professor Hojo, who had been sipping the glass of ice-water placed before him, ended spraying most of what he'd been drinking on a General across the table from him. He spun around and glared at Sephiroth. "WHAT?!"

Sephiroth drew his sword and pointed the tip at Hojo's throat. "I said, I love him. Got a problem with that?"

Hojo shook his head and Sephiroth sheathed the sword.

"Good." Sephiroth said with a voice that said that the matter was closed. He turned to Cloud and was about to say something when the MC mentioned his name. "Oops, gotta go give one of those speeches these old brass-types seem to love so much."

"Maybe the just love the sound of your voice?" Cloud offered. "I know I do."

Sephiroth took the stage, to thunderous applause.

"I'd like to thank each and every one of you for honoring me tonight. And a special thank you to everyone at my table including President Shinra, Professor Hojo, and my fiance, Cloud Strife."

A hush permeated the room as everyone stared at the General in shock.

"And since I seem to have just put you all into a state of shock, I guess I don't have to give this long-winded speech that was written for me." Setting it down on the podium, he returned to his table, exchanged a kiss with Cloud, and sat down in the chair he'd earlier vacated.

All at once, people started to chat. The sound of voices discussing the unexpected engagement could be heard filling the room.

-Chapter 5-

"General Sephiroth," President Shinra inquired, "would you tell me why you chose to ask a grunt for his hand in marriage?"

"I didn't," Sephiroth replied, taking a sip of his ice-water.

"So, that was just a joke?" President Shinra asked.

"No." Sephiroth replied.

"But you just said there wasn't a proposal." President Shinra looked up as the waiter arrived with everyone's food.

"Congratulations on your engagement, sir." the man told Sephiroth.

"Thank you," Sephiroth smiled. "Perhaps your staff would like to cater the reception afterword?"

The waiter couldn't believe his fortune. He was being asked to cater what would surely turn out to be the wedding of the century!

"We would be honored, sir." he nodded.

"Well, that takes care of part of the reception," Cloud remarked.

"Yes," Sephiroth agreed. "at least we know the food will be good."

The waiter politely excused himself, and went to serve the other attendees, smiling all the while.

"Sephiroth?" President Shinra began again, returning them to his earlier question.

"Cloud proposed to me." Sephiroth explained. "By then we'd made it very clear that we loved each other so I accepted. I don't know what I would've done if he hadn't been there to support me there. I'm afraid I had a bad moment. There was some information there which upset me pretty badly. We found a room that was related to something called the 'Jenova Project'. What I'd like to know is what was it, and why does it have the same name as my mother?"

"It doesn't."

The voice came from the doorway and everyone turned to see a man standing there. He was dressed in black pants and a black shirt with a red cloak, red bandanna, and red-tipped black boots. At his side, he carried a silver gun in a black holster.

"How did you get past security?" Hojo demanded.

"Must I remind you," the man asked as he approached the table, "that I was the founder and first leader of the Turks?" he turned to Sephiroth. "Sephiroth, your mother's name was Lucrecia. She was a scientist working under Dr. Gast on a project, the Jenova Project, which was named after a specimen we found that had been buried in a geological strata for over two thousand years. Gast named the specimen-"

"Jenova?" Sephiroth realized.

"Correct." the man had reached the table and now leaned on it."When they discovered Lucrecia was with child, Professor Hojo elected to attempted an experiment to see what the results would be if mako and Jenova injections were given to an unborn child."

"Secu-" Hojo began, only to find Masamune's tip pressed against his adam's apple.

"I want to hear this." Sephiroth warned.

"How do you know all this?" Cloud asked the man.

"My name is Vincent Valentine. " the man told Cloud. "I was Lucrecia's lover. And I am Sephiroth's father."

"LIAR!" Hojo sprang to his feet. "Lucrecia was my wife!"

"He's still not yours, Hojo." Vincent shook his head. "Let's face it, you're too scrawny, too weak, too pathetic... and you could count your sperm on a one-fingered hand."

When Sephiroth burst out laughing, Hojo snapped. With a fury that he'd never displayed before, the scientist violently slapped Sephiroth across the face.

Before Sephiroth could react, Vincent grabbed Hojo and slammed him up against the wall.

"If you ever touch my son again," the former Turk warned. "I'll kill you."

*Point: On the Shin-Ra cargo ship, the Sephiroth form that rises up from the
floor doesn't recognize Cloud, despite Cloud having been the very one who
threw him into the Lifestream, yet later -- at the Temple of the Ancients and
beyond -- suddenly seems to know all about him and is intent on tormenting
him:

(On the Shin-Ra cargo ship)
Cloud
"Is it........ Sephiroth?"

Cloud
"No... not Sephiroth!"

"........After a long sleep..."

"...the time..."
"...time has....... come....."

Aerith
"Look, Cloud!!"

Cloud
"Sephiroth! You're alive!"

"........Who are you?"

Cloud
"You don't remember me!? I'm Cloud!"

"Cloud..."

Cloud
"Sephiroth! What are you thinking!? What are you doing!?"

"...the time..... is now......"


Sephiroth should have recognized him, yet JENOVA probably wouldn't. Had
Sephiroth been in control at all, he should have recognized the face of the
one who threw him into the Lifestream.

*Response: The point that was made resolves itself: Sephiroth would have
recognized him; JENOVA probably wouldn't. This was simply the first step in
Sephiroth's plan to cause Cloud to question who he was and fill him with
self-doubt, as well as a bit of literary foreshadowing to all not being as it
seemed with Cloud.



-Explanation of Just Who Cloud Really Was-

Was he a genetic duplicate of Sephiroth? Was he made from JENOVA's Cells? Or
was he a real person? I will here explain the truth in full.

Cloud was a boy who grew up in Nibelheim and left around the time he was 14 or
15, in the hopes of joining SOLDIER and becoming strong like the legendary
Sephiroth. The reason he wanted to do this was two fold: 1) He wanted to
impress Tifa, and 2) He wanted to be able to protect Tifa if she ever needed
rescuing, as he had been unable to once before.

He had been an outcast among the children of Nibelheim, whereas Tifa was very
popular, and barely noticed that he existed. Then her mother died one day, and
she ran out of her house in grief and began to climb Mt. Nibel, and Cloud
followed. However, on the rope bridge leading into the mountain, Tifa missed
her step, losing her balance, and though Cloud tried to save her, he could
not, and both fell into the gorge. Cloud was barely hurt, while Tifa was in a
coma for a week, others putting the blame for the entire matter on Cloud,
believing him to have taken Tifa into the mountains.

Cloud was determined that he wasn't going to be so useless again, and so he
wanted to join SOLDIER, become stronger, and prove his worth and hopefully
gain Tifa's attention. The Spring before leaving Nibelheim, he had called Tifa
out to the town well and told her of his decision, and after doing so, she
asked him to make a promise to her that if she were ever in trouble that he
would come rescue her, which happened to be one of his reasons for wanting to
join SOLDIER to begin with, and so he promised.

He leaves Nibelheim the next Summer and goes to Midgar in the hopes of joining
SOLDIER. Of course, he doesn't make the cut and is deeply ashamed, which is
why he insists upon hiding his identity from Tifa when he returns to Nibelheim
as part of Zack and Sephiroth's entourage.

After the events that take place during their mission there (Sephiroth's
destruction of Nibelheim, murder of its People, and his assault upon Tifa,
Zack, and Cloud, culminating in Cloud defeating Sephiroth and the
silver-haired villain taking his plunge into the Lifestream beneath the Mt.
Nibel Mako Reactor), Cloud and Zack are captured by Hojo, along with the
remaining survivors of Nibelheim, and over the course of the next four years
are captives in his laboratory in the Shinra Mansion, where he performs Mako
infusion upon Cloud and the other survivors, as well as injects them with
JENOVA Cells. Hojo's Sephiroth "Clone" project was unsuccessful in regard to
Zack as his body failed to have the desired effect to the JENOVA Cells,
whereas Cloud's had said reaction, as was also the case with the black-cloaked
folks seen throughout the game, them having actually been the other survivors
of the Nibelheim massacre:

(From the Escapee Reports in the back of the Shinra Mansion's Library)
Escapee Report No. 2
Description of the time of capture.
A - Former member of SOLDIER/Number ( )
No effect could be detected from either Mako Radiation Therapy or Jenova on
him.
B - Regular/Number ( )
Reaction to Jenova detected.


Those in whom the Mako had been infused, but did not have a resistance to the
effects of Mako Poisoning as Zack and other members of SOLDIER did, suffered
from extreme Mako Poisoning, likely due to an overload of knowledge in their
minds. This is because Mako is derived from the Lifestream, which itself
contains the knowledge of those who have lived before. The result of this is
that those with a low sense of self-awareness/self-acceptance -- usually
having weak wills as a result -- lose their identities and very sense of self.
Having been unaccepting of who they were before, as so few people are, having
many other thoughts suddenly flooding their minds made it almost impossible
for them to determine their own place among them, and, as a result, they
became little more than vegetables in mind.

After four years of imprisonment, Zack manages to break himself and Cloud out
of the Shinra Mansion, and they make their way back to Midgar during the next
year, with Cloud in a semi-catatonic state the entire way, suffering from the
effects of extreme Mako Poisoning. When they finally return to the outskirts
of Midgar, Zack is gunned-down and killed by Shinra soldiers and Cloud is left
to die. Cloud, however, survives, and takes Zack's sword, stumbling his way
into Midgar, and is then found by Tifa at the train station. Due to the
fragile state of his mind at this time, he had little concept of his own
identity remaining to him, beyond that concept which he had aspired to be like
and had been able to witness in another for the last five years: Zack.

This, along with the memory-duplicating abilities of the JENOVA Cells within
Cloud, kept him from remaining with a broken mind as the black-cloaked folks
did. He had Zack's identity to focus on during his weakened state, and -- in
an attempt for him to be able to accept himself -- his mind used the JENOVA
Cells within him to duplicate what Cloud saw and heard from Zack as though
Cloud had been the one at the centre of those events himself, and then
imprinted these false memories onto Cloud's own psyche. This alone, however,
didn't provide Cloud with the entirety of his new personality. When Cloud was
discovered by Tifa at the train station in Sector 7 of Midgar, the JENOVA
Cells also duplicated Tifa's memories of Cloud, and, likewise, imposed these
onto Cloud's shattered psyche. With these two sets of duplicated memories and
mannerisms, Cloud was given a new personality that would allow him to function
as an individual once again, even if it would mean that he had a flawed
recollection of some of his past. Amongst the copied characteristics Cloud
gained, he adopted several characteristics of Zack's personality and
mannerisms at this point, even incorporating events in Nibelheim involving
Zack into his mind as events that had involved him instead.

This was made all the easier by the fact that he was now wearing a SOLDIER's
uniform, was in possession of Zack's sword, and possessed great strength and
agility due to Hojo's experimentation. Cloud had an identity to focus on with
which to pull himself out of his lost state amidst all the memories floating
around in his head that were not his own, whereas the black-cloaked folks did
not. This would later spell disaster, however.

Hojo and Cloud both later believe Cloud to have been a failed experiment due
to Cloud having never been issued a number as the black-cloaked folks were.
Cloud is first told by Sephiroth at the Reunion that he was an incomplete
Sephiroth Clone, and Cloud himself then goes on to tell Hojo that he had been
a failure. It was a result of Cloud coming to believe he had been nothing
more than a failed Sephiroth Clone and that he had been simply manufactured in
Hojo's lab that led him to simply hand the Black Materia over to Sephiroth,
allowing Meteor to be summoned forth. What Cloud did not yet remember at this
time, however, was Zack's role in his past, including the fact that Zack had
broken himself and Cloud out of the Shinra Mansion shortly before the main
events of the game began, and before Cloud could be given a number. Cloud
had, in actuality, been a success. In fact, Hojo later regarded him as the
only success:

(On the Sister Ray, near the end of Disc 2.)
Cloud
"Hojo! Stop right there!!"

Hojo
"Oh... the failure."

Cloud
"At least remember my name! It's Cloud!"

Hojo
"Every time I see you, I..."
"It pains me that I had so little scientific sense..."

Hojo
"I evaluated you as a failed project."
"But, you are the only one that succeeded as a Sephiroth-clone."
"Heh, heh, heh......... I'm even beginning to hate myself."

You spelt Aeris wrong.

No, it's Aerithhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

TWO OF THESE POSTS ARE UNLIKE ALL THE OTHERS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpB_RYo3XOs

This guy are sick.

[quote=Klarth;607113][URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpB_RYo3XOs[/URL]


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DVY4ajb57os

I wanna bang Haruhi so ******* hard.

COPY PASTE 10-4 GOOD BUDDY

Haha, FF6 is on Wikipedia's front page today.

I'll be ****ed to read all of that mess, Klarth. Is there an abridged version to your nonsense?

yes here it is

sephiroth inserts his big sword into cloud's tight anus

the end

And everyone lived happily ever after.

Except for Cloud's anus.

that was very informative thank you