FF7剧情秘密究极研究（E文好的请进）
2001-11-13 22:40 | quale
Introduction
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We are floating through space, our vision constantly shifting examining the stars around us. We hear screaming coming, we look around but we cannot find where the screaming is coming from. What is happening? Suddenly everything goes black. The scene changes.
A beautiful girl is facing us, she stands up and begins to walk. We realize that she is in an alleyway. She emerges from the alley and we begin to rise, away from her, revealing a clear shot of the monstrously large city that this girl lives in. Although this girl doesn't realize it yet, these screams are the cries of her home world, which is in it's death throws and she is the only person alive that can stop these screams and save this world.
Her name is Aeris (heiress) and she is the last surviving member of an all but extinct race that holds the key to defeating a powerful nemesis, which craves nothing less than the very destruction of the planet on which she lives.
Thus, begins Final Fantasy VII, a remarkable RPG that is masterful in all respects of good story telling and manages to move us, even while it confuses us to the point of sheer frustration.
If most of us were asked to describe the story of Final Fantasy VII in one paragraph (describing it in one sentence would be a run on sentence no matter how hard we tried), we would probably say something like, "Final Fantasy VII is the story of Cloud, Aeris, and their friends who try and save the world from Sephiroth and the Shinra, who are destroying the Earth.
Shinra is doing it by draining out the Earth's Lifestream, the lifeblood of the planet, which is the energy that all living souls are made of, through its large Mako Reactors. Sephiroth is doing it by summoning a giant meteor that is going to destroy everything, allowing him to converge with this energy and claim if for his own to become a 'God.'
Ultimately, the 9 heroes of the game defeat Sephiroth and all the members of Shinra (although Aeris loses her life in the process) and unleash Holy, the ultimate white magic, which is the only thing that can destroy the meteor.
It succeeds in doing so but also sucks the humans, who have been doing all this damage, back into the Lifestream, realizing that their existence was a terrible error.
This leaves only Nanaki, the teams sentient wolf-like friend, to live out his life propagating his species on the planet and remembering not to repeat past mistakes."
On the surface, this is a good interpretation of the game. All of this stuff is shown to us throughout the games development.
But as Alazlam Durai says in Final Fantasy Tactics "we also know that what we see with our eyes alone isn't necessarily the truth...Won't you join me on a journey for the 'truth'?" In Final Fantasy VII, we have an apparent story that seems to fill all the gaps and create a rather tragic ending for our heroes.
But as Bugenhagen says in his first meeting with Cloud, "Well, that is a bad example. Looking up too much makes you lose perspective. When it's time for this planet to die, you'll understand that you know absolutely nothing."
Indeed, Final Fantasy VII also has another story, one that is strewn throughout the game in fragments and arranged in scattered order. A story in which the most crucial revelations come in the places where we are least likely to notice them.
It is this story that we will explore in this segment of this FAQ. I will cite the actual text of the game whenever making any sort of point about the story.
Part I - Defining the Story
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When we first meet Sephiroth he is a cold, emotionless man who seems almost totally disconnected from the people around him. The only time we ever hear him talk of anybody with any sense of respect at all is when he refers to Professor Gast. In contrast to this, Sephiroth speaks of Hojo, who is revealed to be his father much later in the game, as "an inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes."
When Sephiroth and Cloud (it is actually Zack who witnesses this scene and later tells Cloud the story) enter the Mako reactor at Nibelheim together and discover the monsters contained inside Sephiroth says, "...now I see, Hojo. But, even doing this, will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast." He goes on to explain the origin of the monsters in this exchange..
Sephiroth: "Normal members of SOLDIER are humans who have been showered with Mako. You're different from the others, but still human. But what are they? They've been exposed to a high degree of Mako, far more than you."
Cloud: "...Is this some kind of monster?"
Sephiroth: "Exactly. And it's Hojo of Shinra that produced these monsters (note the foreshadowing right here). Mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are."
Cloud: "Normal members of SOLDIER? You mean you're different? H.. hey, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth: "N... no.... ...was I? ...Was I created this way too? Am I the same as all these monsters.....
Cloud: "...Sephiroth."
Sephiroth: "You saw it! All of them.... were humans...."
Cloud: "Human!? No way!"
Sephiroth: "....I've always felt since I was small... that I was different from the others. Special, in some way. But... not like this.... Am I... human?"
At this point, Sephiroth is clearly freaking out. He starts striking at the various monster stasis chambers with his sword and also covers his head with his hands and begins shaking. This shaking is suspiciously similar to the shaking that Cloud does on his two trips to destroy the Mako Reactors in Midgar and also does later in the game when he is being manipulated by Sephiroth. This is very strange, but what is the connection? When Sephiroth questions how he was created he is on to something, but the knowledge drives him to insanity before he can find out the full extent of the truth.
After this, all Hell breaks loose. Sephiroth disappears for three nights in the Shinra Mansion's basement, reading the files, which reveal the nature of his creation. He goes bonkers, burns down the town, and breaks into the Mako Reactor in the mountains, nearly killing Zack and Tifa in the process. He is stopped by Cloud who, in anger over the murder of his friends and his mother, throws him into the Lifestream, even after having Sephiroth's sword shoved straight through him (the same way Aeris dies). How is it that Cloud, little Cloud, who spends most of the game being manipulated by Sephiroth, is able to lift up and hurl "the great Sephiroth" over the ledge? Well he was keeping his promise to Tifa, for one thing. But more than that, could it be that Cloud is a lot stronger than he seems while Sephiroth isn't nearly as strong as he seems?
Earlier in the game, when Cloud and Sephiroth Nibelheim, Sephiroth asks Cloud how it feels to be in his hometown, going on to reveal that he never had a hometown. When Cloud asks about his family Sephiroth replies that his mother was Jenova, who died giving birth to him. He only laughs when he is asked about his father saying, "What does it matter?"
Later on in the game we find out that Jenova is not Sephiroth's mother at all. Sephiroth's mother is a human woman named Lucretia and his father is revealed to be Hojo of Shinra Inc. What does this mean?
Later on in the game, we encounter a very different Sephiroth in the Temple of Ancients. It is in this encounter that Sephiroth reveals his plan to become a God, hence this exchange..
Sephiroth: "Look well."
Cloud: "At what!?"
Sephiroth: "At that which adds to the knowledge of (he pauses)... I am becoming one with the planet. Mother..... it's almost time.... Soon..... we will become one."
Aeris: "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. The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury. ...What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the planet? Think how much energy would be gathered! Ha ha ha. And at the center of that injury, will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine. By merging with the energy of the planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the planet... I will cease to exist as I am now. Only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul.
Aeris: "An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet? Injure... the Planet?"
Sephiroth: "Behold that mural. The Ultimate Destructive Magic... Meteor."
He takes off, telling Cloud to "Wake up!!" Aeris reveals that Meteor is a magical force, which propels through space, finding small planets and crashing into them, thus destroying them. Cloud goes to the mural and begins to freak out again, his hands covered over his head, his spirit visibly being removed from his body, symbolizing how disconnected from reality Cloud is. Afterwards, the group comprises a plan to get the Black Materia out of the Temple of Ancients. They succeed but Sephiroth shows up and steals it from them, through his manipulation of Cloud, then forcing Cloud to attack Aeris.
Cloud goes blank and wakes up in a dream, with Aeris speaking to him through some sort of telepathy in this exchange..
Aeris: "Cloud, can you hear me?"
Cloud: "Yeah, I hear you. Sorry for what happened."
Aeris: "Don't worry about it."
Cloud: "...I can't help it..."
Aeris: "Oh... Then, why don't you REALLY worry about it? And let me handle Sephiroth. And Cloud, you take care of yourself. So you don't have a breakdown, okay?"
Good old, Aeris. She's running in to certain death and she still has that spark of optimism, which permits her to joke about what things that really aren't very funny. But this exchange is really interesting because it is one of the main dialogues that presents the nature of the relationship between Cloud and Aeris. When Aeris and Cloud are on the Gondola in the Gold Saucer she has this exchange with Cloud..
Aeris: "......first off, it bothered me how you looked exactly alike. Two completely different people, but look exactly the same. The way you walk, gesture... I think I must have seen him again, in you... But, you're different. Things are different... Cloud... I'm searching for you."
Cloud: "... ?"
Aeris: "I want to meet you."
Cloud: "But I'm right here."
Aeris: "I know, I know... what I mean is... I want to meet... you."
We already know about Aeris' lost love and that his name was Zack and he was a member of SOLDIER. Yet Cloud, when asked by Aeris in Midgar, remembers nothing about Zack. Later on in the game, however, we found out the Zack was the actual member of SOLDIER who was at Nibelheim and Cloud was just one of the low ranking members. Cloud was totally confused by his subsequent infusion of Mako and Jenova cells, done by Hojo and it is over half way through the game before he pieces his reality together. Yet Aeris sees that Cloud is not all himself ("I'm searching for you."). She sees his apparent similarities to Zack and knows that something is not right. Aeris is Clouds connection with his present. Tifa is his connection with his past, as revealed through her knowledge of the events of Nibelheim and her disclosure of them to him in the Lifestream.
This is the most of apparent of three character triangles, each involving Cloud and Aeris, that appear in the game. There exists another one between Cloud, Aeris, and Zack. There is also a third triangle within the game that we will explore.
When Cloud and party reach the City of Ancients they try and save Aeris, but fail miserably, as evidenced when Sephiroth cleanly slides his sword through her spine, after failing to manipulate Cloud into doing it for him. Earlier in the game Sephiroth says, "The Jenova Project wanted to produce people with the powers of the ancients, no, the Cetra. I am the one that was produced. Professor Gast, leader of the Jenova project, produced me." This is down right eerie because shortly afterwards, in Icicle Inn, we find out that Professor Gast was also Aeris' father. Professor Gast who "produced" Sephiroth and fathered Aeris. This creates a kind of pseudo brother/sister relationship between Sephiroth and Aeris and thus reveals the third character triangle found within the game involving Aeris and Cloud. It also serves as a reminder too how disconnected Sephiroth is from reality.
After Sephiroth kills Aeris he tells Cloud, "Ha, ha, ha... Stop acting as if you were sad. There's no need to act as though you're angry either." He begins to float into the air, "Because, Cloud, you are..." He trails off, almost as if confused by something, leaving another Jenova incarnation to stall them. They kill the seemingly puppet creature and it is Jenova who finishes these five critical words, "Because you are... a puppet." This is the only time in the game that Jenova speaks. Why is it Jenova who says this? What does this mean?
The chase for Sephiroth begins again with them chasing him to the Northern Crater. When Cloud finally confronts Sephiroth in the Nibelheim illusion, Sephiroth unleashes another shocker, that Cloud is a clone with false memories, who was constructed by Hojo five years before in the laboratory of the Shinra Mansion. When Tifa, who knows that Cloud wasn't at Nibelheim, begins to doubt Cloud, he becomes agitated with her. Sephiroth tells Cloud, "Don't blame Tifa. The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words is the power of Jenova. Inside of you Jenova has merged with Tifa's memories, creating you. Out of Tifa's memory, a boy named Cloud might've just been part of them."
We tend to overlook this line, just as we over look the 'you are a puppet' line, because of the shock of the revelation Sephiroth makes to Cloud and Jenova doesn't really seem to be very powerful, but her abilities of illusion are obviously STRONG. Then again, there are a lot of things in this game that seem to be something while actually being something very different. Very interesting, indeed.
In the final battle between Cloud & Co. against Sephiroth, we face four separate entities. The first of these is Jenova noted by her face and two enormous tentacles, who is easily dispatched, and we've finally killed her for good, or have we?
In the second battle we face Bizarro Sephiroth, a monstrous form of Sephiroth that symbolizes Sephiroth's conversion with Jenova. Look very carefully at this monster. In the torso area, we can clearly identify Sephiroth's face, but look on top of the monster above Sephiroth, at the head, and you'll see Jenova, her two tentacles dangling in front of Sephiroth. Watch the monsters movement when it attacks. Jenova's two tentacles lift and begin dangling over Sephiroth's head, like a puppeteer controlling her favorite puppet.
In the third battle, the most difficult of the four battles, we face Safer Sephiroth. This angelic form of Sephiroth is highlighted by its monstrous wing where it's right arm should be. Note the colors of this wing, blue, white, reddish brown, and black, exactly the same colors that the three Jenova monsters spread through out the game consist of. This battle is the one that gives us the true indication of Jenova's aforementioned power of illusion, hence the ridiculously long Super Nova summon spell which shows a comet tearing through planets before detonating the sun, causing a super nova which eats up the rest of the planets. Also, take note of the translation of the final lyric in the aria sung during this piece.
Veni, veni, venias,
Ne me mori facias
...
(Come, come, O come,)
(Do not let me die)
(The winged one of the lower reaches.)
In the fourth battle, Cloud fights Sephiroth face to face, without the power of Jenova to contend with...and utterly slaughters Sephiroth. Yet, Sephiroth seemed so strong during the game. How can he be this weak? The answer is simple. Sephiroth seems weak because Sephiroth is weak. He is merely a puppet of Jenova, hence the revelation of the true villain of Final Fantasy VII.
So now that we know that Sephiroth's not the real villain, what exactly is Jenova, anyway? Let's journey to Icicle Inn, watch a certain videotape which just happens to be titled "The Original Crisis," and find out. When we go into Professor Gast's old house, we see a video of him and Ifalna. Ifalna explains that the Cetra were wiped out by something called 'the Crisis from the Sky.' This creature was an alien life form that came from outer space and insinuated itself into the Cetra's various cultures throughout the world, gained their trust, and then spread a plague into their society gradually killing almost all of them off. It also crashed something enormous into the Planet (possibly Meteor), causing a wound, at the northern crater, which was never able to heal. Ifalna describes the creatures appearance in this line, "When the Cetra were preparing to depart from the land they loved...That's when it appeared. It looked like ...our...our dead mothers...and our dead brothers. Showing us specters of their past." Whatever this creature was, it had the ability to reach into people minds and show them illusions, thus altering their memories.
It is interesting that Sephiroth calls the crater the Promised Land when he kills Aeris, when it is, in fact, an injury that threatens the planet (another one of the games illusions). After the plague, a few of the Ancients managed to survive, track the creature down, and seal it away. However they weren't able to destroy it because of its remarkable ability to replicate itself.
In the second video, we find out the name of this 'Crisis from the Sky' and the name is, surprise, Jenova. And poor old brilliant, but doomed Professor Gast, what can he do with this information but turn away from Ifalna, as if deeply disturbed by something? Hey, didn't he head up some scientific experiment for the Shinra called 'The Jenova Project?' or something? So now we know that Jenova killed off the Cetra, whereas as Sephiroth puts the blame on "those who appeared that disliked their journey" for their demise and believes he and Jenova to be the sole survivors of the Cetra as revealed in his revelation to Cloud/Zack in the Shinra mansion basement. Jenova was sealed away and forgotten. Two thousand years later and thirty years before the beginning of the game, Jenova is rediscovered.
In the years that immediately follow a huge world war breaks out and the first Mako Reactors are created. Is this a coincidence? When Sephiroth is in the Shinra basement, going insane, he reads aloud this document "Jenova Project approved. The use of Mako Reactor number one approved for use." Wow, the first Mako reactor was set up exactly at the time when the Jenova Project, and the creation of Sephiroth, was set into motion.
Jenova was not simply manipulating Sephiroth. She was manipulating everything. She was the founder of the Shinra (translated as 'God') Corporation. Remember when Cloud freaks out just before he sets the bombs up that are to destroy the Mako Reactors in Midgar? This is because he is going against the will of Jenova. She subliminally guided the scientists under her wing to create Sephiroth, her 'son.' She set up the Mako Reactors to weaken the planet and prepare it for its easy destruction. Look at the seal around Holy before the final battle and you'll see that it consists of a red colored rock structure, just like Meteor. Jenova used the power of the Black Materia in order to contain Holy. Remember how the Shinra originally were weapons manufacturers who grew in wealth from the war that occurred? She probably started that war as part of her plan to attain the wealth to build the Mako reactors, which would be her tool for her enslavement of the human race. She even implanted her cells into the most elite of her army, SOLDIER, in order to have a powerful fighting force of slaves to serve her. She accomplishes her ends in the present, just as she did in the past, by insinuating herself into the ruling society, taking control of it, and manipulating it, all the while keeping her true self and her efforts unseen.
Part II - The Dramatic Themes of Final Fantasy VII and the Game's Ending
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So far we have identified two completely different stories that exist within FFVII. There is the 'apparent but false' story that shows the world being destroyed by foolish human beings (Sephiroth and the Shinra). There is also the 'hidden but true' story that shows us that Jenova is manipulating everything. In contrast to this we have Cloud, the apparent protagonist. We also have our hidden protagonist, Aeris (as Cloud puts it, "She was so close, we couldn't see her") who, in addition to being the first and last character we see in the game, is the one who accomplishes the major task (the summoning of Holy) which saves the life of the planet. Cloud, in turn, attacks Aeris twice and gives up the Black Materia twice and doesn't start being a productive member of the party until after his experience in the Lifestream.
On opposite ends of the spectrum, we have Sephiroth our "apparent but false" antagonist and the "hidden but true" antagonist, Jenova. Aeris and Jenova are the exact opposite of each other, different in just about every way possible. Aeris is the last Cetra, a race that was characterized by its migrations into various star systems. They would colonize, cultivate, and communicate with these planets until the eventual move to continue their search for the Promised Land. Jenova goes onto planets, destroys them, and claims their life energy for its own. Aeris ('heiress' of the knowledge of the Cetra) is the symbol for life and truth in the game with her constant excitement about the future and her own natural abilities to heal herself and those around her, as well as her insight that all is not right with Cloud. Jenova, in turn, represents illusion and destruction in its most absolute form and is also able to reassemble itself whenever it is dismembered. Note the contrast between Aeris' healing ability and Jenova's ability to reconstruct itself after it is destroyed.
Cloud and Sephiroth, by contrast, seem to be less protagonist/antagonist and more flip sides of each other. Both are men who have been deceived about their past and want to find out the truth about themselves, but are mislead from this agenda by Jenova. Cloud comes to believe that he is a clone of Sephiroth. Sephiroth comes to believe that Jenova is his mother and that they are both Ancients when, in fact, his mother is Lucretia, a human woman and Jenova is an alien creature bent on the destruction of the Planet for her own rise to power. Both characters are 'puppets' of the monster Jenova. Both characters spend time in the Lifestream, an experience which sets both of them on their true path of accomplishment. Both characters are infused with the Jenova cells at the hands of Hojo.
The terms 'nothing is what it seems' defines the theme of Final Fantasy VII. In fact, it defines each of the characters in the game as well. All of the heroes in this game undergo a realization where they have to confront a belief about their past which is proved to be false. Let's look at all of them.
Cid spends years blaming Shera for the failure of his rocket launch. Later on in the game he finds out that the oxygen tank that she was trying to fix, which stalled his launch, was actually malfunctioning, just as she said. Shera didn't ruin Cid's dream, she probably saved his life.
Vincent spends years in stasis, punishing himself for his involvement in the Jenova project. Later on, he determines that hiding from the problem won't solve anything and that he must confront it in order to atone for his past mistakes ("I was frozen in time, but now I feel my time is just beginning!").
Yuffie spends the first part of the game trying to steal all the Materia from the group, in order to help restore the power of her hometown, Wutai. Later on, she realizes that Cloud and his party are the ones who are really fighting for the future of the human race and that this fight is her true quest.
Cait Sith is really Reeve, of Shinra Inc. But more so, Cait Sith/Reeve realizes that the Shinra/Sephiroth/Jenova is the threat, and that Cloud, Aeris, and Co. are the solution and must come to terms with being able to betray the Shinra and follow his own morals.
Nanaki believes that is father was a coward who abandoned Cosmo Canyon to save his own hide. Later on, he finds out that his father was the hero who saved Cosmo Canyon from destruction by the Gi Tribe.
Tifa believes that something terrible will happen if she tells Cloud that Zack was the member of SOLDIER who was really at Nibelheim. Later on in the game, that knowledge proves to be the key to uncovering the truth about Clouds past, a revelation that allows him to finally resist Sephiroth and Jenova and fight against them.
Barrett is the mastermind behind the destruction of the first two Mako reactors, an act he defines as being for the future of the planet. Later on, Barrett says that the Mako reactor attack was the wrong way of doing things since it cost innocent people their lives. He goes on to reveal that he is really fighting for the future of Marlene, his late best friends daughter.
Cloud, the "false hero" is the most screwed up character in the game and needs no analysis to prove this. He is the symbol of 'nothing is what it seems.' He is the character from whose eyes the story is told, yet he is revealed to have totally false memories about his past. His true memories aren't revealed until he and Tifa are in the Lifestream together and even then, they don't seem to realize that Sephiroth is just Jenova's slave. This is what serves to make the story so confusing. By telling the story through Clouds eyes we, the player, see reality as Jenova wishes Cloud to experience it. Cloud doesn't realize what is really going on until the end of the game and never says so out loud, but rather implies it, through this line, "I think I'm beginning to understand...an answer from the planet." Aeris, the hero, is the most honest character in the game yet, as Tifa puts it, "She talked about the future more than any of us... Although she never talked about it to us, she must've had a rough life... I think Aeris looked forward to tomorrow and the future more than anyone... She must've had many, many dreams..."
In the epilogue of the game, which takes place five hundred years after the games conclusion, we see Nanaki and his children running up a hill to reveal a shot of a long abandoned Midgar and the plant (planet) life that has grown over it. There are no humans to be seen anywhere. The most common argument I've heard in defining the meaning of this ending is that humans caused the destruction and were summoned back into the Lifestream by Holy because they were a mistake. From the reality presented on the surface of the game, this is the strongest argument. Yet, we also know that most of what is evident about Final Fantasy VII is false. The truth of the game is subtly told in various hints spread throughout the game.
Humans were a creation of the planet. They existed within the natural cycle of the planet, posing no real threat to it. The destruction in this story is all caused by Jenova, who is an alien life form which exists outside of the natural cycle of the planet and manipulates this cycle (namely, humanity and the Cetra) to achieve her own ends. What does the epilogue with Nanaki really show us? Midgar was virtually trashed during Meteor's descent into the planet and would have been long since abandoned by humanity in the five centuries that passed on the planet between the game's ending and its epilogue, if they indeed continued to exist after Holy is released.
To understand the contrast between the 'apparent but false' ending and the 'hidden but true' ending, you merely have to look at the very, very end of the game. After the conclusion of the epilogue, the Final Fantasy VII logo appears and we hear a strange noise. This sound consists of birds chirping, water flowing, and various other sounds of the cycle of nature. Listen closely and you'll also hear the laughter of children contained within these sounds, hence a possible revelation that humanity does not vanish at the games end.
But this isn't the only evidence of this that is contained within the game. To understand this, you must look closely at the game's ending before the credits occur. After Cloud defeats Sephiroth in the fourth of the games four battles, Sephiroth explodes into Lifestream energy that has is colored RED, signifying the contamination of his life force by Jenova. Red is the primary color of both Jenova and Meteor. Watch this scene closely. Cloud is left standing alone. A stream of light emerges from the ground and circles around Cloud. This stream is clearly Holy as it is identical to the streams that later emerge from the Planet and destroy Meteor.
The red Lifestream energy of Sephiroth also surrounds Cloud and enters him. Holy then enters Cloud, combining with him and the Sephiroth/Jenova life force, culminating in a bright flash of light. This bright flash of light also occurs at the end of the game when Holy is vanquishing Meteor, only we don't get to see what happens afterwards, which is why understanding this scene is so important to understanding the meaning of the games ending. After, the flash of light, Holy vanishes. The Sephiroth life force emerges once again from Cloud, only this time it is colored GREEN. This all symbolizes the cleansing of both Cloud and Sephiroth of the Jenova life force that is inside of them by Holy.
Notice that Cloud does not vanish after this encounter. Indeed, only moments later, the airship is propelled out of the Northern Crater by Holy. Again, neither the team, nor the airship vanishes. In fact, their lives are virtually saved by Holy's movement. If they'd remained in the Northern Crater, they'd all have certainly died.
Remember this exchange that the team has with Bugenhagen at the City of Ancients, which is also the most commonly misinterpreted line in the game. (I'll capitalize the most important words in this dialogue to illustrate my point.)
Bugenhagen: "The knowledge of the Ancients swirling around here is telling me one thing. The planet's in a crisis... A crisis beyond human power or endless time. It says when the time comes, we must search for 'Holy.'"
Cloud: "Holy?"
Bugenhagen: "Holy... the ultimate White Magic. Magic that might stand against Meteor. Perhaps our last hope to save the planet from Meteor. If a soul seeking Holy reaches the Planet, it will appear. Ho, Ho, Hoooo. Meteor, Weapon, everything will disappear. PERHAPS, even ourselves."
Cloud: "Even us?"
Bugenhagen: "It is up to the planet to decide. What is best for the Planet. What is bad for the Planet. ALL THAT IS BAD WILL DISSAPPEAR. THAT IS ALL. Hoo, hoo, hoo, I wonder which we humans are?"
So it seems that the humans didn't disappear after all. It was bold move on Square's part to make sure that this game could only be understood through its subtleties. After all, they spent thirty million dollars on this game, they must have felt obligated to create an RPG that had a challenging story as well as an entertaining one. This is an art form after all. 'Normal' RPG's offer endings that provide closure to the characters. Final Fantasy VII has an ending which offers no closure and can only be understood through the subtle hints that are dropped throughout the game. I guess we all would have liked to see what "really" happens afterward, but then again, how often is it that we see a story that is truly original?
Yet, just as everything in the 'apparent' story of this game is contrasted by the 'hidden' story, there exists another riddle within the game to finalize this contrast. There are two mysteries that remains unexplained, the meaning of Aeris' hand reaching towards Cloud after his cleansing of Jenova, which is signified by her musical theme, a theme which is only played during parts of the story that relate to her.
The other mystery is what the appearance of Aeris in the final scene of the game, showing her head lifting up and her eyes opening. Does this symbolize Aeris returning to the Planet or does it symbolize her being resurrected? After all, the last thing she says to Cloud is, "Then, I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over." The truth is that the only way to understand the meaning of this puzzling riddle is to understand the mythology that Final Fantasy VII is based on. This is what we shall explore in the next segment of this FAQ.
Part III: The Riddle of the Promised Land
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Sephiroth's name comes from the Jewish mystical text, the Kaballah. Sephiroth's goal in the game is his Jenova influenced desire to converge with the Planet and become a God. The murder of Aeris manipulates the player into hating Sephiroth, thus diverting our attention from the fact that he is really just a tragic character who is being manipulated by Jenova. Note the look of horror on his face as he dies. Sephiroth obviously wasn't afraid of dying. It was his goal to kill his body and become a new life form. His fear at the end of the game seems to imply a terrifying revelation, as if he has suddenly realized what was being done to him and the terrible actions it caused him to perform. Personally, I like to think that Sephiroth's life energy visits his real mother, Lucretia, to say good-bye and then returns to the planet.
The Sefirot of the Kaballah represents the ten branches of the Tree of Life, which are interconnected by twenty-two paths. The first nine branches are symbolized in the game by its 9 heroes. The tenth branch is called Malkut and is characterized by Harry Gersh in his work, "The Sacred Book of the Jews," like this, "Malkut has no special attributes but is a kind of funnel through which the qualities of the upper nine sefirot are transmitted to the physical world. It is therefore also called Shechinah, the Spirit of God."
Malkut, the tenth branch, is portrayed in the game by the White Materia (Remember
what Aeris first says about the White Materia, "...but mine is special. It is good for absolutely nothing." This quote from George Sassoon and Rodney Dale in their work, "The Mana Machine," illustrates Sephiroth and his fate perfectly, "To the Babylonians, it [the Tree of Life] was a tree with magical fruit, which could only be picked from the gods. Dire consequences befell any mortal who dared to pluck from its branches."
The Kaballah also speaks of an eleventh, hidden branch. This branch is called Da'ath and is represented in the game by the Lifestream. This quote from Rebecca Salem describes the Da'ath, "Here is the highest point of the human mind: the home of the brainstorm or creative energy that is brought into manifestation on the earthly plain."
In Celtic Mythology, the development of which was highly influenced by the mystical ideas found in the Kaballah, magic is a process of altering the structure of the physical reality through the sheer force of ones own will. The use of magic requires one to gain mastery over the five elements, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit and use them in the construction of spells. Note how this parallels the magical system of Final Fantasy (and almost every other RPG in existence), which features magical spells based on all these elements. As Bugenhagen puts it when he first meets Cloud, "Spirit energy is a word you should never forget."
Celtic Mythology often uses numbers to symbolize mystical ideas. Three and all multiples of three are the fundamental numbers which were believed to have magical power. Nine was considered the most important of these multiples for its ability to return to itself. If you multiply nine by any single digit number and then add the two numbers you get as your answer, their sum will always be nine (Example: 2x9=18, 1+8=9 / 6x9=54, 5+4=9).
In Final Fantasy VII, the number 3 and all its multiples are employed in a strange repetition. (Just before the final battle, Barrett says, "Look at the number.") Here is a list of some examples.
1. There are three characters in the player's party at any one time.
2. There are nine characters in the game total (Note that Sephiroth is in your party briefly during Clouds flashback bringing the number to 10, the same number as the branches found on the tree of life. This is another way of symbolizing that Sephiroth is a victim, not a villain.)
3. There are three incarnations of Jenova fought during the game (Jenova Birth, Life, and Death)
4. There are six primary characters which lead the Shinra at the beginning of the game (President Shinra, Hojo, Scarlet, Heidegger, Palmer, and Reeve) When President Shinra
dies, Rufus immediately shows up, stabilizing the number.
5. On the world map, there are a total of thirty locations which can be entered (I counted these up by looking at the world map in the official strategy guide. There were actually 36 locations, but six of them were just chocobo tracks, although this still comes to another multiple of three.)
6. Each character has 6 Limit Break attacks which come naturally to them (except Cait Sith, who only has two, which is one third of six, and is not a real character, but rather Reeve of Shinra.) The seventh limit break can only come through mastery of the fist six.
7. Aeris, the true hero, is the third character we meet in the game (after Cloud and Barrett). Note that we don't learn Aeris' name until after we meet Tifa, making her seem to be character number four (another contrast between the 'apparent' and 'hidden' realities of the story.)
8. In the game's final battle, we fight four different monsters. Yet each of these four monsters represents 3 different forms of both Sephiroth and Jenova. Numerically, the
pattern can be illustrated like this, with the left side representing Jenova and the right side, Sephiroth: 1-2/3-3/2-1. If you add these numbers up (1+2+3+2+3+1) you will get 12, another multiple of 3. Note that 4 (the number of battles) times 3(the number of forms of Jenova and Sephiroth) also equals 12. If you add only the center numbers of the conversion up (2+3+2+3) you will get 10, the number of spheres on the Tree of Life, which represents the state of immortality that Sephiroth/Jenova are trying to attain.
9. There are 69 floors in the Shinra headquarters. '69' is a numerical symbol for convergence (as well as being... well, you know ). Shinra translates as meaning 'God.' If you put these to words into a sentence summarizing Jenova's goal in the game you'll come up with something like, "Jenova wishes to destroy the planet and 'converge' with its Lifestream energy to become a 'God.'" (Square sure did put some intense planning into this game, didn't they?)
10. There are 241 species of monsters spread throughout this game (not counting the final battle). Multiply 2x4 and then add 1 and you will get 9.
11. The first Cait Sith is destroyed in the Temple of Ancients and is replaced by another. Add another 1 (Reeve) to this 2 and you get 3.
12. In the Mural room in the Temple of Ancients, there are nine pillars in the room, eight on the wall and one different looking pillar, characterized by a sphere at its top, that is located on the altar on the right side of the room. There are eight torches in the room with another point of light represented by the Black Materia illusion floating above the pillar. The Black Materia illusion is a light color when we first see it, but turns dark after we touch it.
I've found other repetitions of three in the game, but I've basically illustrated my point enough for the numerical pattern to become evident. Replay the game and look for yourselves.
All of the charaters' ages in the game are multiples of three with the exception of Aeris, Tifa, and Yuffie (all of which are potential love interest for Cloud, although it is very difficult to see the 'date' with Yuffie, and I have never taken the time to get it). Aeris' age is 22, the same as the number of paths interconnecting the branches of the Tree of Life. Tifa's age is 20, I'm not really sure what this means, but I think that zero in the number may be meant to somehow symbolize Tifa's secret from Cloud. Yuffie's age is 16, multiply 1x6 and you get six, which is still a multiple of three (Yuffie is also the sixth character found in the game, if you find her at your earliest opportunity, just before you first reach Junon.)
As I mentioned earlier, in Final Fantasy VII there are three character triangles involving Cloud and Aeris. These are
1. Cloud, Aeris, and Zack
2. Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa
3. Cloud, Aeris, and Sephiroth
Add the numerical points of these character triangles and you will get 9, the number that always returns to itself. These triangles serve to illustrate various choices that Cloud makes during the game which are fundamental to his growth. The choice between Tifa and Aeris is very obvious and is up to the player to decide. The choice between Zack and Aeris is personified when Cloud emerges from the Lifestream and vows to live without lying to himself. Zack represents the false past that Cloud constructed for himself under Jenova's influence.
Aeris represents Clouds connection to reality ("I'm searching for you.") The choice between Aeris and Sephiroth is personified when Cloud refuses to obey Sephiroth's command and kill Aeris at the end of the first disc. If Cloud chooses Aeris in the Tifa/Aeris triangle, then Aeris becomes the point of focus for all three triangles. Here is a visual illustration of these triangles. (C=Cloud, A=Aeris, T=Tifa, S=Sephiroth, Z=Zack)
C
S/A Z/A
C A/T C
If you look at these triangles carefully, you will notice that there is a fourth, inverted triangle within the structure where Aeris is the three points of focus. Note that the points of focus are in the center, with Cloud being represented on the outside of the triangle. Aeris within Cloud. What does this mean? As Cloud puts it in his conversation with Tifa at the end of disc 2, "Everybody has an irreplaceable something their holding onto." In the Tree of Life, the first nine sephirots are grouped in threes. Each triad is comprised of a masculine element, a feminine element, and a combining element. The three triads represent:
1. The world of thought
2. The world of emotions and morality
3. The world of nature
Note how this parallels the above structure. Even Tifa can be determined as the masculine element as she is presented in the game as being somewhat of a tomboy with many masculine traits (she is a martial arts expert who wears men's clothes), whereas Aeris is more of an angelic waif and very, very feminine to boot.
Each one of the three triads on the Tree of Life symbolizes a different element. The first represents the world of thought and is personified by the choice between Zack and Aeris, which occurs inside Clouds head while he is in the Lifestream with Tifa. The second represents the world of emotion and morals and is personified by Clouds choice between Tifa and Aeris, his two love interests.
The third triad represents the world of nature and is personified by Cloud's refusal to kill Aeris at Sephiroth/Jenova's command. Everything in the 'apparent' and 'hidden' stories has parallel contrasts. There is also a second trilogy of character triangles in this story. These triangles consist of:
1. Hojo, Jenova, and Sephiroth
2. Hojo, Jenova, and Lucretia
3. Hojo, Jenova, and Professor Gast
The structure can be illustrated like this: (H=Hojo, J=Jenova S=Sephiroth, G=Gast, L=Lucretia):
H
L/J G/J
H S/J H
Once again, each of these triangles is brought into focus by a choice Hojo makes. His choice between Jenova and Sephiroth (his son) is personified when he chooses to inject the cells of Jenova into Sephiroth while he is in the womb (the world of thought).
The second choice is personified when he chooses to give Lucretia, his lover who is carrying is child, to Professor Gast's Jenova Project and then doesn't allow her to see the child, thus creating the illusion for Sephiroth that Jenova is his real mother (the world of emotions and morals.)
The third choice is made when Hojo has Professor Gast killed (the world of nature.)
If you add the number of characters in these two trilogies together (5+5) you get another 10. If you subtract Sephiroth, who appears once in both sets of trilogies, you get another 9 (damn, this is gettin' trippy!).
The inverted triangle, which is highlighted in these structures by the three connecting points of Aeris and Jenova, is an important symbol in Celtic Mythology. It is called the Triangle of Manifestation. This triangle symbolizes the creation life through three points:
God (Masculine Element)
Goddess (Feminine Element)
Manifest Creation
The three triangles of Hojo illustrate the choice Hojo made that ultimately lead to the creation of the "false" Sephiroth, who never had any real choice except to become a
slave of Jenova. The three triangles of Cloud seem to symbolize that Cloud somehow keeps Aeris alive, but how is this possible. Let's take a look at some of the hints regarding this that are spread throughout the game.
When President Shinra dies, we see Sephiroth's sword shoved through him in exactly the way he kills Aeris later on. He is immediately replaced by his son, which could foreshadow Aeris' rebirth. When Aeris speaks to Cloud in his dream before taking off to the City of the Ancients the last thing she says is, "The secret is just up here. At least it should be. I feel it. It feels like I'm being lead by something. Well, I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over." This line implies that Aeris knows that she is being protected by something far greater than herself and that she will be safe if she prays for Holy, no matter what happens.
After all, she knows that Sephiroth is going to be after her. She probably also knew that Jenova was the real threat because her mothers voice would have told her. Also remember that Holy is "the Ultimate White Magic," which is the magic of Healing. If any magic could perform a resurrection, it is Holy.
When Tifa and Cloud are on their way to revisit the City of Ancients to find out what Aeris was really doing there, they have this exchange:
Tifa: "I wonder what Aeris 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..."
When we re-enter the church at Midgar, we see a specter of Aeris that disappears if we get too close. Aeris has not returned to the Planet yet, but why not? What is she waiting for?
When Aeris runs away from Cloud in the Sleeping Forest dream, we see her run into a white sphere of light, symbolizing Holy. If you look closely as Aeris falls through the waters during her burial, notice that she falls into a sphere. As the fade out occurs a circular light surrounding the sphere, grows smaller and smaller as she falls, as though it is absorbing her body.
In the game's ending, there are two appearances of Aeris. The first is the hand reaching from the white light of Holy out to Cloud, as though Holy is creating a new body for her. This could also symbolize Aeris reaching out to Cloud to pull him into Holy and back into the Lifestream with her since, when the scene shifts back to reality, Cloud is about to fall off the ledge he is standing on and die.
In the first scene of the game, we see Aeris' head facing straight at us, her eyes already open (life). When Sephiroth draws his sword from her body we see her eyes close (death). In the final scene we see Aeris' head nodding upward and her eyes opening (returning to the Planet or resurrection).
We have already established that many major truths in this game are illustrated in the places where we are least likely to notice them. The most fundamentally absurd scene in the game is the show at the Gold Saucer during Aeris and Cloud's date. The scene is so goofy that we are totally encouraged to play it as mischievously as possible (another way the game diverts us from its truths).
Let's look at the entire scene through the path to the happy ending. I will add what I think to be the secret references to the story and what they mean in brackets.
Narrator:
Long, long ago... An evil shadow appeared over the peaceful kingdom of Galdia...
[Jenova, "the winged one of the lower reaches," who started reaping her destruction upon the planet 30 years before the game begins]
Princess Rosa was just kidnapped by the Evil Dragon King Valvados.
[Aeris was killed by Sephiroth/Jenova]
What will become of her?
[What is Aeris' true fate?]
Just then, the legendary hero, Alfred, appears!!
Knight:
"Oh...... you must be the legendary hero... Alfred! Hey, it's your line.
[It's your decision to make]
Yeah, you. Ahem! Oh, you must be the legendary hero... Alfred! By my soul, please... please save Princess Rosa
[In your soul you can save Aeris]
Now... please talk... to the King!!
King:
Oh... legendary hero, Aldred. You have come to save my beloved Rosa...
On the peak of a dangerous mountain...dwells the Evil Dragon King, Valvados...
[In the Northern Crater dwells Jenova. Note that both Jenova and Valvados have three syllables in their names]
who's kidnapped Princess Rosa...
[who has killed Aeris]
But... you can't beat the Evil Dragon King now!
[Cloud is still too confused about himself to fight Jenova]
Talk to one who can help you...
[talk to Tifa Lockheart, who holds 'locked' within her 'heart,' the key to Clouds true past]
Cloud has two choices:
1. The knight (a symbol of force)
2. The wizard (a symbol for wisdom)
Let's have Cloud choose the wizard.
Wizard:
I am the great wizard, Vorman.
[I am truth]
What do you wish to know?
Cloud:
The Evil Dragon King's weakness
[Jenova's weakness]
Vorman:
Ahh, the weakness of the Evil Dragon King. It must be, it must be... Yes, it must be... True Love [Truth and Love]! The power of love... Is the only weapon that can withstand the fangs of the Evil Dragon King...!
[Only love can save Aeris from death]
Oh what is going to happen next?
[Only Cloud can decide Aeris' fate]
Oh... legendary hero... look!
EDK:
Gaaaaaaaah! I am the Evil Dragon King.... Valvados!
[I am Jenova]
I have not harmed the Princess...
[Aeris is being contained inside Holy, which has been sealed]
I have been expecting... you!
Aeris:
Please help me... legendary hero!
[Please save me from Jenova, Cloud!]
How was that?
EDK:
Gaaaaaah! Here I come, legendary hero... Alfred! I already know... your name!
[I have been controlling you all along]
Vorman:
And now... legendary hero... Here is what will happen... to your beloved... A kiss! The power of True Love!!
[Aeris will return through Clouds love]
Aeris:
Cloud... I mean, Alfred...
Evil Dragon King:
Arrggaahhh! Curses... The power of... love!!
King:
Oh... behold! Love has... triumphed!
[Cloud's love has brought back Aeris]
Now let's all return... and celebrate.
Yes let's... yes let's... !
Narrator:
Oh, how profound the power of love...
[profound means 'within,' Holy is contained at the center of the planet]
And so the legendary hero Alfred and our story live on happily ever after.
[Cloud defeats Jenova and Sephiroth and finds Aeris in the Promised Land]
If you choose Tifa over Aeris, it breaks the points of focus that symbolize Aeris and the Triangle of Manifestation. I think that Aeris' resurrection is determined by whom Cloud chooses in the love triangle. If Cloud chooses Aeris, he completes the Triangle of Manifestation and brings Aeris back, through the power of love, when he is touched by Holy (Note that Aeris hand appears immediately after Cloud is touched by Holy and this scene immediately shifts to a shot of Tifa's hand reaching towards Cloud). If he chooses Tifa, Aeris goes back into the Lifestream. After all, any good RPG will often let you decide something fundamental to the fate of your protagonist.
Remember what Aeris says about the Promised Land, "You don't 'know' where the Promised Land of the Ancients is. You search and travel until you feel it. Like you just know, '... this is the Promised Land.'"
The Promised Land is not a place, but something you find in your heart. When Cloud is snapped back into reality at the end of the game, he says to Tifa, "I think I'm beginning to understand. An answer from the planet... The Promised Land... I think I can meet her there." Cloud somehow knows that he can bring Aeris back by keeping her alive in his heart. If Cloud loves Aeris then she is his Promised Land, thus providing the explanation for her resurrection when Cloud is touched by Holy. But Aeris loves Cloud no matter how he feels.
If Cloud chooses Tifa over her, then she has no real reason to come back. She is better off in the Lifestream with her own race. This resurrection/Lifestream return riddle is somewhat ambiguous. But, when you understand the mythological references in the game, the choice between Aeris and Tifa steers it to a more likely possibility, which is why I think this determines Aeris' fate.
I think Square put this riddle in the game as a sort of 'reward' for people who take the time to read about the mythology on which the game is based. They wanted to encode something in the game, which could only be understood by understanding the most subtle levels of the game. I can really see why Square of Japan translated FFVII themselves. There were just way too many symbolic elements encoded into the game for them to risk it all being ruined by having someone else translate it.
FFVII touches a level of depth in both its dramatic story telling and in its symbolism that has never been approached by another RPG. I've never played a video game which has challenged me more in it's requirement of the player to think about it's story in order to understand it. This is a very confusing story and I hope that I've done a good job of explaining the tale and its intriguing mythological basis.
If I've done my job right, then may this FAQ serve as an affirmation of appreciation that inspires the many FFVII fans to play the game once again, with new eyes...
-
Oh, please. Warping the minds of men and shepherding the masses has
always been your Church's domain. You lure sheep with empty miracles and
a dead God. ...Or perhaps you, too, are a sheep, Samantha. A poor little
lamb, bleating for your faith as though it were milk of the poppy. Yet
mark your savior well, for he is one of the demons you so fear, Samantha. --Sydney Losstarot
------------
We are floating through space, our vision constantly shifting examining the stars around us. We hear screaming coming, we look around but we cannot find where the screaming is coming from. What is happening? Suddenly everything goes black. The scene changes.
A beautiful girl is facing us, she stands up and begins to walk. We realize that she is in an alleyway. She emerges from the alley and we begin to rise, away from her, revealing a clear shot of the monstrously large city that this girl lives in. Although this girl doesn't realize it yet, these screams are the cries of her home world, which is in it's death throws and she is the only person alive that can stop these screams and save this world.
Her name is Aeris (heiress) and she is the last surviving member of an all but extinct race that holds the key to defeating a powerful nemesis, which craves nothing less than the very destruction of the planet on which she lives.
Thus, begins Final Fantasy VII, a remarkable RPG that is masterful in all respects of good story telling and manages to move us, even while it confuses us to the point of sheer frustration.
If most of us were asked to describe the story of Final Fantasy VII in one paragraph (describing it in one sentence would be a run on sentence no matter how hard we tried), we would probably say something like, "Final Fantasy VII is the story of Cloud, Aeris, and their friends who try and save the world from Sephiroth and the Shinra, who are destroying the Earth.
Shinra is doing it by draining out the Earth's Lifestream, the lifeblood of the planet, which is the energy that all living souls are made of, through its large Mako Reactors. Sephiroth is doing it by summoning a giant meteor that is going to destroy everything, allowing him to converge with this energy and claim if for his own to become a 'God.'
Ultimately, the 9 heroes of the game defeat Sephiroth and all the members of Shinra (although Aeris loses her life in the process) and unleash Holy, the ultimate white magic, which is the only thing that can destroy the meteor.
It succeeds in doing so but also sucks the humans, who have been doing all this damage, back into the Lifestream, realizing that their existence was a terrible error.
This leaves only Nanaki, the teams sentient wolf-like friend, to live out his life propagating his species on the planet and remembering not to repeat past mistakes."
On the surface, this is a good interpretation of the game. All of this stuff is shown to us throughout the games development.
But as Alazlam Durai says in Final Fantasy Tactics "we also know that what we see with our eyes alone isn't necessarily the truth...Won't you join me on a journey for the 'truth'?" In Final Fantasy VII, we have an apparent story that seems to fill all the gaps and create a rather tragic ending for our heroes.
But as Bugenhagen says in his first meeting with Cloud, "Well, that is a bad example. Looking up too much makes you lose perspective. When it's time for this planet to die, you'll understand that you know absolutely nothing."
Indeed, Final Fantasy VII also has another story, one that is strewn throughout the game in fragments and arranged in scattered order. A story in which the most crucial revelations come in the places where we are least likely to notice them.
It is this story that we will explore in this segment of this FAQ. I will cite the actual text of the game whenever making any sort of point about the story.
Part I - Defining the Story
---------------------------
When we first meet Sephiroth he is a cold, emotionless man who seems almost totally disconnected from the people around him. The only time we ever hear him talk of anybody with any sense of respect at all is when he refers to Professor Gast. In contrast to this, Sephiroth speaks of Hojo, who is revealed to be his father much later in the game, as "an inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes."
When Sephiroth and Cloud (it is actually Zack who witnesses this scene and later tells Cloud the story) enter the Mako reactor at Nibelheim together and discover the monsters contained inside Sephiroth says, "...now I see, Hojo. But, even doing this, will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast." He goes on to explain the origin of the monsters in this exchange..
Sephiroth: "Normal members of SOLDIER are humans who have been showered with Mako. You're different from the others, but still human. But what are they? They've been exposed to a high degree of Mako, far more than you."
Cloud: "...Is this some kind of monster?"
Sephiroth: "Exactly. And it's Hojo of Shinra that produced these monsters (note the foreshadowing right here). Mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are."
Cloud: "Normal members of SOLDIER? You mean you're different? H.. hey, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth: "N... no.... ...was I? ...Was I created this way too? Am I the same as all these monsters.....
Cloud: "...Sephiroth."
Sephiroth: "You saw it! All of them.... were humans...."
Cloud: "Human!? No way!"
Sephiroth: "....I've always felt since I was small... that I was different from the others. Special, in some way. But... not like this.... Am I... human?"
At this point, Sephiroth is clearly freaking out. He starts striking at the various monster stasis chambers with his sword and also covers his head with his hands and begins shaking. This shaking is suspiciously similar to the shaking that Cloud does on his two trips to destroy the Mako Reactors in Midgar and also does later in the game when he is being manipulated by Sephiroth. This is very strange, but what is the connection? When Sephiroth questions how he was created he is on to something, but the knowledge drives him to insanity before he can find out the full extent of the truth.
After this, all Hell breaks loose. Sephiroth disappears for three nights in the Shinra Mansion's basement, reading the files, which reveal the nature of his creation. He goes bonkers, burns down the town, and breaks into the Mako Reactor in the mountains, nearly killing Zack and Tifa in the process. He is stopped by Cloud who, in anger over the murder of his friends and his mother, throws him into the Lifestream, even after having Sephiroth's sword shoved straight through him (the same way Aeris dies). How is it that Cloud, little Cloud, who spends most of the game being manipulated by Sephiroth, is able to lift up and hurl "the great Sephiroth" over the ledge? Well he was keeping his promise to Tifa, for one thing. But more than that, could it be that Cloud is a lot stronger than he seems while Sephiroth isn't nearly as strong as he seems?
Earlier in the game, when Cloud and Sephiroth Nibelheim, Sephiroth asks Cloud how it feels to be in his hometown, going on to reveal that he never had a hometown. When Cloud asks about his family Sephiroth replies that his mother was Jenova, who died giving birth to him. He only laughs when he is asked about his father saying, "What does it matter?"
Later on in the game we find out that Jenova is not Sephiroth's mother at all. Sephiroth's mother is a human woman named Lucretia and his father is revealed to be Hojo of Shinra Inc. What does this mean?
Later on in the game, we encounter a very different Sephiroth in the Temple of Ancients. It is in this encounter that Sephiroth reveals his plan to become a God, hence this exchange..
Sephiroth: "Look well."
Cloud: "At what!?"
Sephiroth: "At that which adds to the knowledge of (he pauses)... I am becoming one with the planet. Mother..... it's almost time.... Soon..... we will become one."
Aeris: "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. The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury. ...What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the planet? Think how much energy would be gathered! Ha ha ha. And at the center of that injury, will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine. By merging with the energy of the planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the planet... I will cease to exist as I am now. Only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul.
Aeris: "An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet? Injure... the Planet?"
Sephiroth: "Behold that mural. The Ultimate Destructive Magic... Meteor."
He takes off, telling Cloud to "Wake up!!" Aeris reveals that Meteor is a magical force, which propels through space, finding small planets and crashing into them, thus destroying them. Cloud goes to the mural and begins to freak out again, his hands covered over his head, his spirit visibly being removed from his body, symbolizing how disconnected from reality Cloud is. Afterwards, the group comprises a plan to get the Black Materia out of the Temple of Ancients. They succeed but Sephiroth shows up and steals it from them, through his manipulation of Cloud, then forcing Cloud to attack Aeris.
Cloud goes blank and wakes up in a dream, with Aeris speaking to him through some sort of telepathy in this exchange..
Aeris: "Cloud, can you hear me?"
Cloud: "Yeah, I hear you. Sorry for what happened."
Aeris: "Don't worry about it."
Cloud: "...I can't help it..."
Aeris: "Oh... Then, why don't you REALLY worry about it? And let me handle Sephiroth. And Cloud, you take care of yourself. So you don't have a breakdown, okay?"
Good old, Aeris. She's running in to certain death and she still has that spark of optimism, which permits her to joke about what things that really aren't very funny. But this exchange is really interesting because it is one of the main dialogues that presents the nature of the relationship between Cloud and Aeris. When Aeris and Cloud are on the Gondola in the Gold Saucer she has this exchange with Cloud..
Aeris: "......first off, it bothered me how you looked exactly alike. Two completely different people, but look exactly the same. The way you walk, gesture... I think I must have seen him again, in you... But, you're different. Things are different... Cloud... I'm searching for you."
Cloud: "... ?"
Aeris: "I want to meet you."
Cloud: "But I'm right here."
Aeris: "I know, I know... what I mean is... I want to meet... you."
We already know about Aeris' lost love and that his name was Zack and he was a member of SOLDIER. Yet Cloud, when asked by Aeris in Midgar, remembers nothing about Zack. Later on in the game, however, we found out the Zack was the actual member of SOLDIER who was at Nibelheim and Cloud was just one of the low ranking members. Cloud was totally confused by his subsequent infusion of Mako and Jenova cells, done by Hojo and it is over half way through the game before he pieces his reality together. Yet Aeris sees that Cloud is not all himself ("I'm searching for you."). She sees his apparent similarities to Zack and knows that something is not right. Aeris is Clouds connection with his present. Tifa is his connection with his past, as revealed through her knowledge of the events of Nibelheim and her disclosure of them to him in the Lifestream.
This is the most of apparent of three character triangles, each involving Cloud and Aeris, that appear in the game. There exists another one between Cloud, Aeris, and Zack. There is also a third triangle within the game that we will explore.
When Cloud and party reach the City of Ancients they try and save Aeris, but fail miserably, as evidenced when Sephiroth cleanly slides his sword through her spine, after failing to manipulate Cloud into doing it for him. Earlier in the game Sephiroth says, "The Jenova Project wanted to produce people with the powers of the ancients, no, the Cetra. I am the one that was produced. Professor Gast, leader of the Jenova project, produced me." This is down right eerie because shortly afterwards, in Icicle Inn, we find out that Professor Gast was also Aeris' father. Professor Gast who "produced" Sephiroth and fathered Aeris. This creates a kind of pseudo brother/sister relationship between Sephiroth and Aeris and thus reveals the third character triangle found within the game involving Aeris and Cloud. It also serves as a reminder too how disconnected Sephiroth is from reality.
After Sephiroth kills Aeris he tells Cloud, "Ha, ha, ha... Stop acting as if you were sad. There's no need to act as though you're angry either." He begins to float into the air, "Because, Cloud, you are..." He trails off, almost as if confused by something, leaving another Jenova incarnation to stall them. They kill the seemingly puppet creature and it is Jenova who finishes these five critical words, "Because you are... a puppet." This is the only time in the game that Jenova speaks. Why is it Jenova who says this? What does this mean?
The chase for Sephiroth begins again with them chasing him to the Northern Crater. When Cloud finally confronts Sephiroth in the Nibelheim illusion, Sephiroth unleashes another shocker, that Cloud is a clone with false memories, who was constructed by Hojo five years before in the laboratory of the Shinra Mansion. When Tifa, who knows that Cloud wasn't at Nibelheim, begins to doubt Cloud, he becomes agitated with her. Sephiroth tells Cloud, "Don't blame Tifa. The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words is the power of Jenova. Inside of you Jenova has merged with Tifa's memories, creating you. Out of Tifa's memory, a boy named Cloud might've just been part of them."
We tend to overlook this line, just as we over look the 'you are a puppet' line, because of the shock of the revelation Sephiroth makes to Cloud and Jenova doesn't really seem to be very powerful, but her abilities of illusion are obviously STRONG. Then again, there are a lot of things in this game that seem to be something while actually being something very different. Very interesting, indeed.
In the final battle between Cloud & Co. against Sephiroth, we face four separate entities. The first of these is Jenova noted by her face and two enormous tentacles, who is easily dispatched, and we've finally killed her for good, or have we?
In the second battle we face Bizarro Sephiroth, a monstrous form of Sephiroth that symbolizes Sephiroth's conversion with Jenova. Look very carefully at this monster. In the torso area, we can clearly identify Sephiroth's face, but look on top of the monster above Sephiroth, at the head, and you'll see Jenova, her two tentacles dangling in front of Sephiroth. Watch the monsters movement when it attacks. Jenova's two tentacles lift and begin dangling over Sephiroth's head, like a puppeteer controlling her favorite puppet.
In the third battle, the most difficult of the four battles, we face Safer Sephiroth. This angelic form of Sephiroth is highlighted by its monstrous wing where it's right arm should be. Note the colors of this wing, blue, white, reddish brown, and black, exactly the same colors that the three Jenova monsters spread through out the game consist of. This battle is the one that gives us the true indication of Jenova's aforementioned power of illusion, hence the ridiculously long Super Nova summon spell which shows a comet tearing through planets before detonating the sun, causing a super nova which eats up the rest of the planets. Also, take note of the translation of the final lyric in the aria sung during this piece.
Veni, veni, venias,
Ne me mori facias
...
(Come, come, O come,)
(Do not let me die)
(The winged one of the lower reaches.)
In the fourth battle, Cloud fights Sephiroth face to face, without the power of Jenova to contend with...and utterly slaughters Sephiroth. Yet, Sephiroth seemed so strong during the game. How can he be this weak? The answer is simple. Sephiroth seems weak because Sephiroth is weak. He is merely a puppet of Jenova, hence the revelation of the true villain of Final Fantasy VII.
So now that we know that Sephiroth's not the real villain, what exactly is Jenova, anyway? Let's journey to Icicle Inn, watch a certain videotape which just happens to be titled "The Original Crisis," and find out. When we go into Professor Gast's old house, we see a video of him and Ifalna. Ifalna explains that the Cetra were wiped out by something called 'the Crisis from the Sky.' This creature was an alien life form that came from outer space and insinuated itself into the Cetra's various cultures throughout the world, gained their trust, and then spread a plague into their society gradually killing almost all of them off. It also crashed something enormous into the Planet (possibly Meteor), causing a wound, at the northern crater, which was never able to heal. Ifalna describes the creatures appearance in this line, "When the Cetra were preparing to depart from the land they loved...That's when it appeared. It looked like ...our...our dead mothers...and our dead brothers. Showing us specters of their past." Whatever this creature was, it had the ability to reach into people minds and show them illusions, thus altering their memories.
It is interesting that Sephiroth calls the crater the Promised Land when he kills Aeris, when it is, in fact, an injury that threatens the planet (another one of the games illusions). After the plague, a few of the Ancients managed to survive, track the creature down, and seal it away. However they weren't able to destroy it because of its remarkable ability to replicate itself.
In the second video, we find out the name of this 'Crisis from the Sky' and the name is, surprise, Jenova. And poor old brilliant, but doomed Professor Gast, what can he do with this information but turn away from Ifalna, as if deeply disturbed by something? Hey, didn't he head up some scientific experiment for the Shinra called 'The Jenova Project?' or something? So now we know that Jenova killed off the Cetra, whereas as Sephiroth puts the blame on "those who appeared that disliked their journey" for their demise and believes he and Jenova to be the sole survivors of the Cetra as revealed in his revelation to Cloud/Zack in the Shinra mansion basement. Jenova was sealed away and forgotten. Two thousand years later and thirty years before the beginning of the game, Jenova is rediscovered.
In the years that immediately follow a huge world war breaks out and the first Mako Reactors are created. Is this a coincidence? When Sephiroth is in the Shinra basement, going insane, he reads aloud this document "Jenova Project approved. The use of Mako Reactor number one approved for use." Wow, the first Mako reactor was set up exactly at the time when the Jenova Project, and the creation of Sephiroth, was set into motion.
Jenova was not simply manipulating Sephiroth. She was manipulating everything. She was the founder of the Shinra (translated as 'God') Corporation. Remember when Cloud freaks out just before he sets the bombs up that are to destroy the Mako Reactors in Midgar? This is because he is going against the will of Jenova. She subliminally guided the scientists under her wing to create Sephiroth, her 'son.' She set up the Mako Reactors to weaken the planet and prepare it for its easy destruction. Look at the seal around Holy before the final battle and you'll see that it consists of a red colored rock structure, just like Meteor. Jenova used the power of the Black Materia in order to contain Holy. Remember how the Shinra originally were weapons manufacturers who grew in wealth from the war that occurred? She probably started that war as part of her plan to attain the wealth to build the Mako reactors, which would be her tool for her enslavement of the human race. She even implanted her cells into the most elite of her army, SOLDIER, in order to have a powerful fighting force of slaves to serve her. She accomplishes her ends in the present, just as she did in the past, by insinuating herself into the ruling society, taking control of it, and manipulating it, all the while keeping her true self and her efforts unseen.
Part II - The Dramatic Themes of Final Fantasy VII and the Game's Ending
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So far we have identified two completely different stories that exist within FFVII. There is the 'apparent but false' story that shows the world being destroyed by foolish human beings (Sephiroth and the Shinra). There is also the 'hidden but true' story that shows us that Jenova is manipulating everything. In contrast to this we have Cloud, the apparent protagonist. We also have our hidden protagonist, Aeris (as Cloud puts it, "She was so close, we couldn't see her") who, in addition to being the first and last character we see in the game, is the one who accomplishes the major task (the summoning of Holy) which saves the life of the planet. Cloud, in turn, attacks Aeris twice and gives up the Black Materia twice and doesn't start being a productive member of the party until after his experience in the Lifestream.
On opposite ends of the spectrum, we have Sephiroth our "apparent but false" antagonist and the "hidden but true" antagonist, Jenova. Aeris and Jenova are the exact opposite of each other, different in just about every way possible. Aeris is the last Cetra, a race that was characterized by its migrations into various star systems. They would colonize, cultivate, and communicate with these planets until the eventual move to continue their search for the Promised Land. Jenova goes onto planets, destroys them, and claims their life energy for its own. Aeris ('heiress' of the knowledge of the Cetra) is the symbol for life and truth in the game with her constant excitement about the future and her own natural abilities to heal herself and those around her, as well as her insight that all is not right with Cloud. Jenova, in turn, represents illusion and destruction in its most absolute form and is also able to reassemble itself whenever it is dismembered. Note the contrast between Aeris' healing ability and Jenova's ability to reconstruct itself after it is destroyed.
Cloud and Sephiroth, by contrast, seem to be less protagonist/antagonist and more flip sides of each other. Both are men who have been deceived about their past and want to find out the truth about themselves, but are mislead from this agenda by Jenova. Cloud comes to believe that he is a clone of Sephiroth. Sephiroth comes to believe that Jenova is his mother and that they are both Ancients when, in fact, his mother is Lucretia, a human woman and Jenova is an alien creature bent on the destruction of the Planet for her own rise to power. Both characters are 'puppets' of the monster Jenova. Both characters spend time in the Lifestream, an experience which sets both of them on their true path of accomplishment. Both characters are infused with the Jenova cells at the hands of Hojo.
The terms 'nothing is what it seems' defines the theme of Final Fantasy VII. In fact, it defines each of the characters in the game as well. All of the heroes in this game undergo a realization where they have to confront a belief about their past which is proved to be false. Let's look at all of them.
Cid spends years blaming Shera for the failure of his rocket launch. Later on in the game he finds out that the oxygen tank that she was trying to fix, which stalled his launch, was actually malfunctioning, just as she said. Shera didn't ruin Cid's dream, she probably saved his life.
Vincent spends years in stasis, punishing himself for his involvement in the Jenova project. Later on, he determines that hiding from the problem won't solve anything and that he must confront it in order to atone for his past mistakes ("I was frozen in time, but now I feel my time is just beginning!").
Yuffie spends the first part of the game trying to steal all the Materia from the group, in order to help restore the power of her hometown, Wutai. Later on, she realizes that Cloud and his party are the ones who are really fighting for the future of the human race and that this fight is her true quest.
Cait Sith is really Reeve, of Shinra Inc. But more so, Cait Sith/Reeve realizes that the Shinra/Sephiroth/Jenova is the threat, and that Cloud, Aeris, and Co. are the solution and must come to terms with being able to betray the Shinra and follow his own morals.
Nanaki believes that is father was a coward who abandoned Cosmo Canyon to save his own hide. Later on, he finds out that his father was the hero who saved Cosmo Canyon from destruction by the Gi Tribe.
Tifa believes that something terrible will happen if she tells Cloud that Zack was the member of SOLDIER who was really at Nibelheim. Later on in the game, that knowledge proves to be the key to uncovering the truth about Clouds past, a revelation that allows him to finally resist Sephiroth and Jenova and fight against them.
Barrett is the mastermind behind the destruction of the first two Mako reactors, an act he defines as being for the future of the planet. Later on, Barrett says that the Mako reactor attack was the wrong way of doing things since it cost innocent people their lives. He goes on to reveal that he is really fighting for the future of Marlene, his late best friends daughter.
Cloud, the "false hero" is the most screwed up character in the game and needs no analysis to prove this. He is the symbol of 'nothing is what it seems.' He is the character from whose eyes the story is told, yet he is revealed to have totally false memories about his past. His true memories aren't revealed until he and Tifa are in the Lifestream together and even then, they don't seem to realize that Sephiroth is just Jenova's slave. This is what serves to make the story so confusing. By telling the story through Clouds eyes we, the player, see reality as Jenova wishes Cloud to experience it. Cloud doesn't realize what is really going on until the end of the game and never says so out loud, but rather implies it, through this line, "I think I'm beginning to understand...an answer from the planet." Aeris, the hero, is the most honest character in the game yet, as Tifa puts it, "She talked about the future more than any of us... Although she never talked about it to us, she must've had a rough life... I think Aeris looked forward to tomorrow and the future more than anyone... She must've had many, many dreams..."
In the epilogue of the game, which takes place five hundred years after the games conclusion, we see Nanaki and his children running up a hill to reveal a shot of a long abandoned Midgar and the plant (planet) life that has grown over it. There are no humans to be seen anywhere. The most common argument I've heard in defining the meaning of this ending is that humans caused the destruction and were summoned back into the Lifestream by Holy because they were a mistake. From the reality presented on the surface of the game, this is the strongest argument. Yet, we also know that most of what is evident about Final Fantasy VII is false. The truth of the game is subtly told in various hints spread throughout the game.
Humans were a creation of the planet. They existed within the natural cycle of the planet, posing no real threat to it. The destruction in this story is all caused by Jenova, who is an alien life form which exists outside of the natural cycle of the planet and manipulates this cycle (namely, humanity and the Cetra) to achieve her own ends. What does the epilogue with Nanaki really show us? Midgar was virtually trashed during Meteor's descent into the planet and would have been long since abandoned by humanity in the five centuries that passed on the planet between the game's ending and its epilogue, if they indeed continued to exist after Holy is released.
To understand the contrast between the 'apparent but false' ending and the 'hidden but true' ending, you merely have to look at the very, very end of the game. After the conclusion of the epilogue, the Final Fantasy VII logo appears and we hear a strange noise. This sound consists of birds chirping, water flowing, and various other sounds of the cycle of nature. Listen closely and you'll also hear the laughter of children contained within these sounds, hence a possible revelation that humanity does not vanish at the games end.
But this isn't the only evidence of this that is contained within the game. To understand this, you must look closely at the game's ending before the credits occur. After Cloud defeats Sephiroth in the fourth of the games four battles, Sephiroth explodes into Lifestream energy that has is colored RED, signifying the contamination of his life force by Jenova. Red is the primary color of both Jenova and Meteor. Watch this scene closely. Cloud is left standing alone. A stream of light emerges from the ground and circles around Cloud. This stream is clearly Holy as it is identical to the streams that later emerge from the Planet and destroy Meteor.
The red Lifestream energy of Sephiroth also surrounds Cloud and enters him. Holy then enters Cloud, combining with him and the Sephiroth/Jenova life force, culminating in a bright flash of light. This bright flash of light also occurs at the end of the game when Holy is vanquishing Meteor, only we don't get to see what happens afterwards, which is why understanding this scene is so important to understanding the meaning of the games ending. After, the flash of light, Holy vanishes. The Sephiroth life force emerges once again from Cloud, only this time it is colored GREEN. This all symbolizes the cleansing of both Cloud and Sephiroth of the Jenova life force that is inside of them by Holy.
Notice that Cloud does not vanish after this encounter. Indeed, only moments later, the airship is propelled out of the Northern Crater by Holy. Again, neither the team, nor the airship vanishes. In fact, their lives are virtually saved by Holy's movement. If they'd remained in the Northern Crater, they'd all have certainly died.
Remember this exchange that the team has with Bugenhagen at the City of Ancients, which is also the most commonly misinterpreted line in the game. (I'll capitalize the most important words in this dialogue to illustrate my point.)
Bugenhagen: "The knowledge of the Ancients swirling around here is telling me one thing. The planet's in a crisis... A crisis beyond human power or endless time. It says when the time comes, we must search for 'Holy.'"
Cloud: "Holy?"
Bugenhagen: "Holy... the ultimate White Magic. Magic that might stand against Meteor. Perhaps our last hope to save the planet from Meteor. If a soul seeking Holy reaches the Planet, it will appear. Ho, Ho, Hoooo. Meteor, Weapon, everything will disappear. PERHAPS, even ourselves."
Cloud: "Even us?"
Bugenhagen: "It is up to the planet to decide. What is best for the Planet. What is bad for the Planet. ALL THAT IS BAD WILL DISSAPPEAR. THAT IS ALL. Hoo, hoo, hoo, I wonder which we humans are?"
So it seems that the humans didn't disappear after all. It was bold move on Square's part to make sure that this game could only be understood through its subtleties. After all, they spent thirty million dollars on this game, they must have felt obligated to create an RPG that had a challenging story as well as an entertaining one. This is an art form after all. 'Normal' RPG's offer endings that provide closure to the characters. Final Fantasy VII has an ending which offers no closure and can only be understood through the subtle hints that are dropped throughout the game. I guess we all would have liked to see what "really" happens afterward, but then again, how often is it that we see a story that is truly original?
Yet, just as everything in the 'apparent' story of this game is contrasted by the 'hidden' story, there exists another riddle within the game to finalize this contrast. There are two mysteries that remains unexplained, the meaning of Aeris' hand reaching towards Cloud after his cleansing of Jenova, which is signified by her musical theme, a theme which is only played during parts of the story that relate to her.
The other mystery is what the appearance of Aeris in the final scene of the game, showing her head lifting up and her eyes opening. Does this symbolize Aeris returning to the Planet or does it symbolize her being resurrected? After all, the last thing she says to Cloud is, "Then, I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over." The truth is that the only way to understand the meaning of this puzzling riddle is to understand the mythology that Final Fantasy VII is based on. This is what we shall explore in the next segment of this FAQ.
Part III: The Riddle of the Promised Land
-----------------------------------------
Sephiroth's name comes from the Jewish mystical text, the Kaballah. Sephiroth's goal in the game is his Jenova influenced desire to converge with the Planet and become a God. The murder of Aeris manipulates the player into hating Sephiroth, thus diverting our attention from the fact that he is really just a tragic character who is being manipulated by Jenova. Note the look of horror on his face as he dies. Sephiroth obviously wasn't afraid of dying. It was his goal to kill his body and become a new life form. His fear at the end of the game seems to imply a terrifying revelation, as if he has suddenly realized what was being done to him and the terrible actions it caused him to perform. Personally, I like to think that Sephiroth's life energy visits his real mother, Lucretia, to say good-bye and then returns to the planet.
The Sefirot of the Kaballah represents the ten branches of the Tree of Life, which are interconnected by twenty-two paths. The first nine branches are symbolized in the game by its 9 heroes. The tenth branch is called Malkut and is characterized by Harry Gersh in his work, "The Sacred Book of the Jews," like this, "Malkut has no special attributes but is a kind of funnel through which the qualities of the upper nine sefirot are transmitted to the physical world. It is therefore also called Shechinah, the Spirit of God."
Malkut, the tenth branch, is portrayed in the game by the White Materia (Remember
what Aeris first says about the White Materia, "...but mine is special. It is good for absolutely nothing." This quote from George Sassoon and Rodney Dale in their work, "The Mana Machine," illustrates Sephiroth and his fate perfectly, "To the Babylonians, it [the Tree of Life] was a tree with magical fruit, which could only be picked from the gods. Dire consequences befell any mortal who dared to pluck from its branches."
The Kaballah also speaks of an eleventh, hidden branch. This branch is called Da'ath and is represented in the game by the Lifestream. This quote from Rebecca Salem describes the Da'ath, "Here is the highest point of the human mind: the home of the brainstorm or creative energy that is brought into manifestation on the earthly plain."
In Celtic Mythology, the development of which was highly influenced by the mystical ideas found in the Kaballah, magic is a process of altering the structure of the physical reality through the sheer force of ones own will. The use of magic requires one to gain mastery over the five elements, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit and use them in the construction of spells. Note how this parallels the magical system of Final Fantasy (and almost every other RPG in existence), which features magical spells based on all these elements. As Bugenhagen puts it when he first meets Cloud, "Spirit energy is a word you should never forget."
Celtic Mythology often uses numbers to symbolize mystical ideas. Three and all multiples of three are the fundamental numbers which were believed to have magical power. Nine was considered the most important of these multiples for its ability to return to itself. If you multiply nine by any single digit number and then add the two numbers you get as your answer, their sum will always be nine (Example: 2x9=18, 1+8=9 / 6x9=54, 5+4=9).
In Final Fantasy VII, the number 3 and all its multiples are employed in a strange repetition. (Just before the final battle, Barrett says, "Look at the number.") Here is a list of some examples.
1. There are three characters in the player's party at any one time.
2. There are nine characters in the game total (Note that Sephiroth is in your party briefly during Clouds flashback bringing the number to 10, the same number as the branches found on the tree of life. This is another way of symbolizing that Sephiroth is a victim, not a villain.)
3. There are three incarnations of Jenova fought during the game (Jenova Birth, Life, and Death)
4. There are six primary characters which lead the Shinra at the beginning of the game (President Shinra, Hojo, Scarlet, Heidegger, Palmer, and Reeve) When President Shinra
dies, Rufus immediately shows up, stabilizing the number.
5. On the world map, there are a total of thirty locations which can be entered (I counted these up by looking at the world map in the official strategy guide. There were actually 36 locations, but six of them were just chocobo tracks, although this still comes to another multiple of three.)
6. Each character has 6 Limit Break attacks which come naturally to them (except Cait Sith, who only has two, which is one third of six, and is not a real character, but rather Reeve of Shinra.) The seventh limit break can only come through mastery of the fist six.
7. Aeris, the true hero, is the third character we meet in the game (after Cloud and Barrett). Note that we don't learn Aeris' name until after we meet Tifa, making her seem to be character number four (another contrast between the 'apparent' and 'hidden' realities of the story.)
8. In the game's final battle, we fight four different monsters. Yet each of these four monsters represents 3 different forms of both Sephiroth and Jenova. Numerically, the
pattern can be illustrated like this, with the left side representing Jenova and the right side, Sephiroth: 1-2/3-3/2-1. If you add these numbers up (1+2+3+2+3+1) you will get 12, another multiple of 3. Note that 4 (the number of battles) times 3(the number of forms of Jenova and Sephiroth) also equals 12. If you add only the center numbers of the conversion up (2+3+2+3) you will get 10, the number of spheres on the Tree of Life, which represents the state of immortality that Sephiroth/Jenova are trying to attain.
9. There are 69 floors in the Shinra headquarters. '69' is a numerical symbol for convergence (as well as being... well, you know ). Shinra translates as meaning 'God.' If you put these to words into a sentence summarizing Jenova's goal in the game you'll come up with something like, "Jenova wishes to destroy the planet and 'converge' with its Lifestream energy to become a 'God.'" (Square sure did put some intense planning into this game, didn't they?)
10. There are 241 species of monsters spread throughout this game (not counting the final battle). Multiply 2x4 and then add 1 and you will get 9.
11. The first Cait Sith is destroyed in the Temple of Ancients and is replaced by another. Add another 1 (Reeve) to this 2 and you get 3.
12. In the Mural room in the Temple of Ancients, there are nine pillars in the room, eight on the wall and one different looking pillar, characterized by a sphere at its top, that is located on the altar on the right side of the room. There are eight torches in the room with another point of light represented by the Black Materia illusion floating above the pillar. The Black Materia illusion is a light color when we first see it, but turns dark after we touch it.
I've found other repetitions of three in the game, but I've basically illustrated my point enough for the numerical pattern to become evident. Replay the game and look for yourselves.
All of the charaters' ages in the game are multiples of three with the exception of Aeris, Tifa, and Yuffie (all of which are potential love interest for Cloud, although it is very difficult to see the 'date' with Yuffie, and I have never taken the time to get it). Aeris' age is 22, the same as the number of paths interconnecting the branches of the Tree of Life. Tifa's age is 20, I'm not really sure what this means, but I think that zero in the number may be meant to somehow symbolize Tifa's secret from Cloud. Yuffie's age is 16, multiply 1x6 and you get six, which is still a multiple of three (Yuffie is also the sixth character found in the game, if you find her at your earliest opportunity, just before you first reach Junon.)
As I mentioned earlier, in Final Fantasy VII there are three character triangles involving Cloud and Aeris. These are
1. Cloud, Aeris, and Zack
2. Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa
3. Cloud, Aeris, and Sephiroth
Add the numerical points of these character triangles and you will get 9, the number that always returns to itself. These triangles serve to illustrate various choices that Cloud makes during the game which are fundamental to his growth. The choice between Tifa and Aeris is very obvious and is up to the player to decide. The choice between Zack and Aeris is personified when Cloud emerges from the Lifestream and vows to live without lying to himself. Zack represents the false past that Cloud constructed for himself under Jenova's influence.
Aeris represents Clouds connection to reality ("I'm searching for you.") The choice between Aeris and Sephiroth is personified when Cloud refuses to obey Sephiroth's command and kill Aeris at the end of the first disc. If Cloud chooses Aeris in the Tifa/Aeris triangle, then Aeris becomes the point of focus for all three triangles. Here is a visual illustration of these triangles. (C=Cloud, A=Aeris, T=Tifa, S=Sephiroth, Z=Zack)
C
S/A Z/A
C A/T C
If you look at these triangles carefully, you will notice that there is a fourth, inverted triangle within the structure where Aeris is the three points of focus. Note that the points of focus are in the center, with Cloud being represented on the outside of the triangle. Aeris within Cloud. What does this mean? As Cloud puts it in his conversation with Tifa at the end of disc 2, "Everybody has an irreplaceable something their holding onto." In the Tree of Life, the first nine sephirots are grouped in threes. Each triad is comprised of a masculine element, a feminine element, and a combining element. The three triads represent:
1. The world of thought
2. The world of emotions and morality
3. The world of nature
Note how this parallels the above structure. Even Tifa can be determined as the masculine element as she is presented in the game as being somewhat of a tomboy with many masculine traits (she is a martial arts expert who wears men's clothes), whereas Aeris is more of an angelic waif and very, very feminine to boot.
Each one of the three triads on the Tree of Life symbolizes a different element. The first represents the world of thought and is personified by the choice between Zack and Aeris, which occurs inside Clouds head while he is in the Lifestream with Tifa. The second represents the world of emotion and morals and is personified by Clouds choice between Tifa and Aeris, his two love interests.
The third triad represents the world of nature and is personified by Cloud's refusal to kill Aeris at Sephiroth/Jenova's command. Everything in the 'apparent' and 'hidden' stories has parallel contrasts. There is also a second trilogy of character triangles in this story. These triangles consist of:
1. Hojo, Jenova, and Sephiroth
2. Hojo, Jenova, and Lucretia
3. Hojo, Jenova, and Professor Gast
The structure can be illustrated like this: (H=Hojo, J=Jenova S=Sephiroth, G=Gast, L=Lucretia):
H
L/J G/J
H S/J H
Once again, each of these triangles is brought into focus by a choice Hojo makes. His choice between Jenova and Sephiroth (his son) is personified when he chooses to inject the cells of Jenova into Sephiroth while he is in the womb (the world of thought).
The second choice is personified when he chooses to give Lucretia, his lover who is carrying is child, to Professor Gast's Jenova Project and then doesn't allow her to see the child, thus creating the illusion for Sephiroth that Jenova is his real mother (the world of emotions and morals.)
The third choice is made when Hojo has Professor Gast killed (the world of nature.)
If you add the number of characters in these two trilogies together (5+5) you get another 10. If you subtract Sephiroth, who appears once in both sets of trilogies, you get another 9 (damn, this is gettin' trippy!).
The inverted triangle, which is highlighted in these structures by the three connecting points of Aeris and Jenova, is an important symbol in Celtic Mythology. It is called the Triangle of Manifestation. This triangle symbolizes the creation life through three points:
God (Masculine Element)
Goddess (Feminine Element)
Manifest Creation
The three triangles of Hojo illustrate the choice Hojo made that ultimately lead to the creation of the "false" Sephiroth, who never had any real choice except to become a
slave of Jenova. The three triangles of Cloud seem to symbolize that Cloud somehow keeps Aeris alive, but how is this possible. Let's take a look at some of the hints regarding this that are spread throughout the game.
When President Shinra dies, we see Sephiroth's sword shoved through him in exactly the way he kills Aeris later on. He is immediately replaced by his son, which could foreshadow Aeris' rebirth. When Aeris speaks to Cloud in his dream before taking off to the City of the Ancients the last thing she says is, "The secret is just up here. At least it should be. I feel it. It feels like I'm being lead by something. Well, I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over." This line implies that Aeris knows that she is being protected by something far greater than herself and that she will be safe if she prays for Holy, no matter what happens.
After all, she knows that Sephiroth is going to be after her. She probably also knew that Jenova was the real threat because her mothers voice would have told her. Also remember that Holy is "the Ultimate White Magic," which is the magic of Healing. If any magic could perform a resurrection, it is Holy.
When Tifa and Cloud are on their way to revisit the City of Ancients to find out what Aeris was really doing there, they have this exchange:
Tifa: "I wonder what Aeris 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..."
When we re-enter the church at Midgar, we see a specter of Aeris that disappears if we get too close. Aeris has not returned to the Planet yet, but why not? What is she waiting for?
When Aeris runs away from Cloud in the Sleeping Forest dream, we see her run into a white sphere of light, symbolizing Holy. If you look closely as Aeris falls through the waters during her burial, notice that she falls into a sphere. As the fade out occurs a circular light surrounding the sphere, grows smaller and smaller as she falls, as though it is absorbing her body.
In the game's ending, there are two appearances of Aeris. The first is the hand reaching from the white light of Holy out to Cloud, as though Holy is creating a new body for her. This could also symbolize Aeris reaching out to Cloud to pull him into Holy and back into the Lifestream with her since, when the scene shifts back to reality, Cloud is about to fall off the ledge he is standing on and die.
In the first scene of the game, we see Aeris' head facing straight at us, her eyes already open (life). When Sephiroth draws his sword from her body we see her eyes close (death). In the final scene we see Aeris' head nodding upward and her eyes opening (returning to the Planet or resurrection).
We have already established that many major truths in this game are illustrated in the places where we are least likely to notice them. The most fundamentally absurd scene in the game is the show at the Gold Saucer during Aeris and Cloud's date. The scene is so goofy that we are totally encouraged to play it as mischievously as possible (another way the game diverts us from its truths).
Let's look at the entire scene through the path to the happy ending. I will add what I think to be the secret references to the story and what they mean in brackets.
Narrator:
Long, long ago... An evil shadow appeared over the peaceful kingdom of Galdia...
[Jenova, "the winged one of the lower reaches," who started reaping her destruction upon the planet 30 years before the game begins]
Princess Rosa was just kidnapped by the Evil Dragon King Valvados.
[Aeris was killed by Sephiroth/Jenova]
What will become of her?
[What is Aeris' true fate?]
Just then, the legendary hero, Alfred, appears!!
Knight:
"Oh...... you must be the legendary hero... Alfred! Hey, it's your line.
[It's your decision to make]
Yeah, you. Ahem! Oh, you must be the legendary hero... Alfred! By my soul, please... please save Princess Rosa
[In your soul you can save Aeris]
Now... please talk... to the King!!
King:
Oh... legendary hero, Aldred. You have come to save my beloved Rosa...
On the peak of a dangerous mountain...dwells the Evil Dragon King, Valvados...
[In the Northern Crater dwells Jenova. Note that both Jenova and Valvados have three syllables in their names]
who's kidnapped Princess Rosa...
[who has killed Aeris]
But... you can't beat the Evil Dragon King now!
[Cloud is still too confused about himself to fight Jenova]
Talk to one who can help you...
[talk to Tifa Lockheart, who holds 'locked' within her 'heart,' the key to Clouds true past]
Cloud has two choices:
1. The knight (a symbol of force)
2. The wizard (a symbol for wisdom)
Let's have Cloud choose the wizard.
Wizard:
I am the great wizard, Vorman.
[I am truth]
What do you wish to know?
Cloud:
The Evil Dragon King's weakness
[Jenova's weakness]
Vorman:
Ahh, the weakness of the Evil Dragon King. It must be, it must be... Yes, it must be... True Love [Truth and Love]! The power of love... Is the only weapon that can withstand the fangs of the Evil Dragon King...!
[Only love can save Aeris from death]
Oh what is going to happen next?
[Only Cloud can decide Aeris' fate]
Oh... legendary hero... look!
EDK:
Gaaaaaaaah! I am the Evil Dragon King.... Valvados!
[I am Jenova]
I have not harmed the Princess...
[Aeris is being contained inside Holy, which has been sealed]
I have been expecting... you!
Aeris:
Please help me... legendary hero!
[Please save me from Jenova, Cloud!]
How was that?
EDK:
Gaaaaaah! Here I come, legendary hero... Alfred! I already know... your name!
[I have been controlling you all along]
Vorman:
And now... legendary hero... Here is what will happen... to your beloved... A kiss! The power of True Love!!
[Aeris will return through Clouds love]
Aeris:
Cloud... I mean, Alfred...
Evil Dragon King:
Arrggaahhh! Curses... The power of... love!!
King:
Oh... behold! Love has... triumphed!
[Cloud's love has brought back Aeris]
Now let's all return... and celebrate.
Yes let's... yes let's... !
Narrator:
Oh, how profound the power of love...
[profound means 'within,' Holy is contained at the center of the planet]
And so the legendary hero Alfred and our story live on happily ever after.
[Cloud defeats Jenova and Sephiroth and finds Aeris in the Promised Land]
If you choose Tifa over Aeris, it breaks the points of focus that symbolize Aeris and the Triangle of Manifestation. I think that Aeris' resurrection is determined by whom Cloud chooses in the love triangle. If Cloud chooses Aeris, he completes the Triangle of Manifestation and brings Aeris back, through the power of love, when he is touched by Holy (Note that Aeris hand appears immediately after Cloud is touched by Holy and this scene immediately shifts to a shot of Tifa's hand reaching towards Cloud). If he chooses Tifa, Aeris goes back into the Lifestream. After all, any good RPG will often let you decide something fundamental to the fate of your protagonist.
Remember what Aeris says about the Promised Land, "You don't 'know' where the Promised Land of the Ancients is. You search and travel until you feel it. Like you just know, '... this is the Promised Land.'"
The Promised Land is not a place, but something you find in your heart. When Cloud is snapped back into reality at the end of the game, he says to Tifa, "I think I'm beginning to understand. An answer from the planet... The Promised Land... I think I can meet her there." Cloud somehow knows that he can bring Aeris back by keeping her alive in his heart. If Cloud loves Aeris then she is his Promised Land, thus providing the explanation for her resurrection when Cloud is touched by Holy. But Aeris loves Cloud no matter how he feels.
If Cloud chooses Tifa over her, then she has no real reason to come back. She is better off in the Lifestream with her own race. This resurrection/Lifestream return riddle is somewhat ambiguous. But, when you understand the mythological references in the game, the choice between Aeris and Tifa steers it to a more likely possibility, which is why I think this determines Aeris' fate.
I think Square put this riddle in the game as a sort of 'reward' for people who take the time to read about the mythology on which the game is based. They wanted to encode something in the game, which could only be understood by understanding the most subtle levels of the game. I can really see why Square of Japan translated FFVII themselves. There were just way too many symbolic elements encoded into the game for them to risk it all being ruined by having someone else translate it.
FFVII touches a level of depth in both its dramatic story telling and in its symbolism that has never been approached by another RPG. I've never played a video game which has challenged me more in it's requirement of the player to think about it's story in order to understand it. This is a very confusing story and I hope that I've done a good job of explaining the tale and its intriguing mythological basis.
If I've done my job right, then may this FAQ serve as an affirmation of appreciation that inspires the many FFVII fans to play the game once again, with new eyes...
-
Oh, please. Warping the minds of men and shepherding the masses has
always been your Church's domain. You lure sheep with empty miracles and
a dead God. ...Or perhaps you, too, are a sheep, Samantha. A poor little
lamb, bleating for your faith as though it were milk of the poppy. Yet
mark your savior well, for he is one of the demons you so fear, Samantha. --Sydney Losstarot