Sephiroth's Endgame [6/6] - FFVII Remake Mysteries [3/4] | Game Analysis #26
Cloud's memory glitches and Sephiroth's appearances are more numerous and contain new elements regarding Remake's mysteries. And it all leads to Sephiroth's new endgame, his plan to remake the future.
Table of contents
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6 ⟵ you are here
Greetings, fellow Scholars of the Lifestream!
This is the conclusion of our multi-part analysis about Sephiroth’s Endgame. If you haven’t read the previous five articles yet, please do so now as you’d be missing out on a lot of information otherwise.
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All caught up? Fantastic! Let’s jump into the wormhole and continue our journey.
⚠️We’re about to spoil the Moogle out of the original Final Fantasy VII, its compilation entries, and the Remake. You’ve been warned.⚠️
Part 4: Sephiroth’s Endgame
In the previous chapter, we tried to answer all the questions posed in the very beginning of this analysis and I hope we succeeded. However, we still have one last thing to discuss and that’s Sephiroth’s endgame, also known as the ending of the Final Fantasy VII remake project and the Final Fantasy VII canon as a whole.
We believe it doesn’t just end with the same sequence of events as the original story did: defeating Sephiroth and stopping Meteor in the nick of time. The reason for this lies in Remake’s nature. It’s considered the fifth installment in the compilation by the creators1 and thus acts as a sequel to previous games, fully acknowledging their existence.
That’s why we think it should also end in a way which finally completes the story, giving the “Final” in Final Fantasy finally some meaning.
So, what could happen instead? How could Final Fantasy VII’s story end? To answer that, we’ll have to do some groundwork first, as always, so let’s get to it.
Groundwork
Remaining Knowledge
We’ll go more deeply into this first point in a future video about the ending, but what happens to Aerith’s and Red XIII’s additional memory after defying destiny? Aerith reacts to Tifa’s questions in a way which suggests that she has no idea what comes next. On the other hand, Red XIII lends them his nose for the hunt instead of proclaiming that he’ll only accompany them until they reach Cosmo Canyon.
For the story to not derail too much, it would make sense for those two clairvoyants to lose their knowledge of the future they gained before escaping the Singularity. Rewriting all memories building upon the events in Midgar will inevitably erase future Aerith’s memories and if memory Aerith was just being piloted by future Aerith, knowledge about the previous future will be lost. This means that Aerith will not know what’s ahead on their journey. Red XIII on the other hand was actively injected with memories, so he should retain all of them regardless of circumstances.2
While we don’t know which memories Aerith returned to him, it would be beneficial for his character arc and the story at Cosmo Canyon if he didn’t know the truth about Seto, his father. Anyway, everyone most likely still remembers all events which led them here, the flashes of their previous future included. Meaning, they still know more now than they did in the original story at that point. Additionally, overcoming new obstacles like The Drum and the Singularity strengthened their comradery, which can still lead to Red XIII’s changed lines even with his additional knowledge now missing.
Red XIII (original)
”I’m going back to my hometown.
I’ll go with you as far as that.”Red XIII (Remake)
If it’s to be a hunt, you could use a nose like mine.
Furthermore, when looking at Episode INTERmission’s epilogue, we can safely say that Aerith has lost her additional knowledge of the future which she repeatedly portrayed in part 1, at least consciously. After being dropped off by Chocobo Bill and the first drops of rain begin to bathe their clothes, Aerith Looks happy about the rain, the complete opposite reaction to what she exhibited in the main game’s ending.
But then, after being asked by Cloud if she’s gonna be okay, she confirms but then grows confused as to why her stomach is suddenly in knots, as if her body and spirit know what happens next, but her mind doesn’t.
After all, she’s still a Cetra and in tune with the planet. It’s no stretch to believe that she can feel upcoming events. Even in the original game, she was drawn to places and knew what to do, without knowing specifics.
Red XIII, however, the only other character with knowledge of the future, stays silent in all scenes. Curious.3
Comparatively, the other three clearly don’t feel anything of the sorts and are in good spirits, especially Barret: “That’s its way of telling you that it’s hungry.” So are we, Barret, so are we. Hungry for part 2.
Another interpretation could be related to the following scene with Zack, but that’s for another time.
Imprint
In any case, could there be more to Aerith’s feelings? If this first game in the Remake project takes place in the Lifestream’s memory, the whole compilation has already taken place in the real world. If we assume that—even after resetting and rewriting the timeline—all events from the whole compilation of Final Fantasy VII left an imprint on the new timeline, Aerith could very well feel it all or receive glimpses.
Sephiroth might also possess more information than before. After all, he’s still sitting in the Northern Crater, connected to the Lifestream, which gives him an edge over the others in terms of knowledge.
Dirge of Cerberus
I know you probably don’t want to hear it,4 but the lore established in Dirge of Cerberus is very much ingrained into Remake’s DNA, just like Advent Children, Before Crisis, and Crisis Core. Chapter 13 made a start with having our characters explore a part of Deepground and Episode INTERmission shoves it directly into our faces with identical Deepground soldiers and especially Weiss and Nero’s appearances.
What else is exclusive to Dirge of Cerberus which could also make an appearance in Remake? Vincent will now enjoy a much more important role, which also includes Chaos and the Protomateria. And what are those connected to? Omega Weapon, the climax of Dirge of Cerberus’ story. Keep this in mind for later.
The New Ending
Where It All Starts
Let’s first try to establish how Remake’s story even came to be. In the far future, beyond 500 years after the events of the original game, the planet is about to die. Why over 500 years? The first flash of future memory we see during the fight against Whisper Harbinger shows Red XIII running through a valley with his 2 cubs, which happens 500 years after Final Fantasy VII.
If this memory already exists in the Lifestream, it must have already happened. And since Sephiroth and Jenova were never fully defeated, their corruption would slowly but surely engulf everything. Geostigma as well as the lingering hatred are no more thanks to Aerith’s cure. Sephiroth lacks therefore connection to the surface and most likely also to the pure Lifestream, and thus Cloud. With Omega Weapon destroyed in Dirge of Cerberus,5 the planet might not even be able to purify and return the Lifestream to the cosmos anymore and thus just rots away into oblivion, “Slowly, silently, painfully.”
However, Sephiroth seems to have found a way to connect to Cloud’s essence once again and, as a last resort, attempts to change the Lifestream’s memory and with it the past to reshape the future as he always wanted.
Eventually, he manages to change those memories enough and manipulate the party into defying fate and freeing him from his prison, creating a basis for a potential future victory, even if the version we saw of him in the game potentially doesn’t exist anymore.
Possibilities
With new preconditions in place, he now might be able to pull off what he failed to do before. Three attempts already failed, with the first one having been extinguished by Cloud five years ago before Sephiroth was even able to set anything into motion.
However, this is what led to the second plan in the first place. Sephiroth learned more about the Cetra, Holy, and especially Meteor while traveling the Lifestream, which gave him the idea of summoning Meteor to inflict such a great wound to the planet that it has no other choice than sending in all the Lifestream to mend the wound, where Sephiroth would be waiting and absorb it all, ascending to godhood, which would allow him to shape the future and life in general.
An evolution of that plan involved corrupting the Lifestream completely, chocking the planet to death and then use it as his vessel to travel the cosmos and find a new planet to inhabit, like Jenova did before him.
Every single plan failed, but those were attempted before Dirge of Cerberus even happened. This led Sephiroth to learn about Omega Weapon, the planet’s failsafe.
What is Omega Weapon’s purpose?
It appears when the planet’s existence is at risk. When Chaos awakens as a result of a spreading corruption, it returns all life to the planet, prompting Omega Weapon to awaken which then absorbs the planetary Lifestream and returns it to the cosmic one. The planet is then left behind as a dead and empty shell of its former self.
In Dirge of Cerberus, Deepground abducts thousands of people with uncorrupted souls and kills them in Chaos’ stead to lure Omega Weapon forward by tricking the planet into thinking that its life is in danger.
But there’s much more to this system. According to the Omega reports found throughout Dirge of Cerberus, we also learn that the planet has a filtration system which filters out terra corrupt, stagnant Lifestream, corruption. Those eight reports represent excerpts of Grimoire Valentine’s and Lucrecia Crecent’s scientific diaries covering their research of Omega and Chaos based on an over 2000 years old Cetran scripture.
In the last three reports, numbers 6 through 8, we learn that the crystal cave within which we find Lucrecia in the original game acts as an overflow reservoir for the stagnant Lifestream, also known as Terra Corrupt.
It’s also where they find the Protomateria, whose purpose is to control Chaos and thus prolong the planet’s life. It basically acts as the Lifestream’s filtration system and thus keeps Chaos at bay.
The same location is also deemed the birthplace of Chaos itself, which is why we obtain Vincent’s level 4 Limit Break Chaos in this very cave after speaking to Lucrecia and fighting some battles to “kill time.”
Without the Protomateria, the slowly accumulating Terra Corrupt would eventually trigger Chaos’ awakening, which would then return all Life to the Lifestream and in turn awaken Omega Weapon.
The Protomateria itself was created by the planet several millennia ago, either to combat naturally occurring stagnation or as a response to Terra Corrupt entering the Lifestream caused after Jenova’s arrival. What if the planet approached its time and was willing to let Chaos loose onto the world, what would that mean exactly? Report number 7 provides us with the answer:
Before Omega begins his journey to the sea of stars, Chaos will scourge the world of all things living, sending them back to the Lifestream... Only to be left with the burden of bearing the discarded remains of a dying world.
Chaos does not just kill everything, it also absorbs all impurity and then stays behind on the barren planet, left alone only to die alone along with the planet, while Omega takes off with the purified Lifestream.
I know, it’s a lot of information to digest, but necessary to understand what we propose Sephiroth’s new plan could look like and how the ending of Remake’s final part might play out.
We already established that the chain of events will mostly remain the same compared to the original. Producer Yoshinori Kitase even confirmed that the rest of Remake will resemble the Final Fantasy VII we know.
And much later after Intergrade’s release, former co-director and now full director Naoki Hamaguchi and co-director & scenario designer Motomu Toriyama confirmed this again.6
Therefore, Sephiroth will still manipulate the party and Cloud into retrieving and handing over the Black Materia, break Cloud’s sanity, receive the Black Materia and Cloud will end up in the Lifestream. Aerith still needs to summon Holy while Sephiroth also still needs to Summon Meteor and then suppress Holy. Aerith also still has to die so she cannot counteract Sephiroth’s manipulations anymore. Plus, her death will inflame Cloud’s hatred and guilt, making him even more manipulable. Details might differ, of course, as Toriyama-San explains in the interview focusing on the Honeybee Inn, but the general flow will be retained.
But now, Sephiroth has some aces up his sleeve.
It’s safe to assume that the version of him sitting in the Northern Crater has gained knowledge through reading the Lifestream’s memories from before the timeline reset. He also finally seems to have realized that he cannot defeat Cloud. Instead, he most likely aims for a cooperation in the form of bringing Cloud to become his vessel in the world of the living. Just like he used Kadaj in Advent Children but then lost against Cloud. His worst and only nemesis and strongest vessel. 2 birds with one stone.
Another theory also keeps floating around which proposes that Sephiroth might be after Tifa now, Cloud’s biggest and basically only support pillar. This might be hinted at in Sephiroth’s additional presentation in the Shinra building’s visual entertainment hall and his four possible lines towards Tifa in the final battle.
However, this would considerably alter the story from that point on and go against the writers’ and directors’ vision of keeping the core of Final Fantasy VII intact. That’s why we believe that Tifa won’t die this time around, but Sephiroth might either attempt a kill and fail or make Cloud temporarily believe that he did.7
Anyway, back to Sephiroth’s aces.
Which now also includes Omega Weapon as it most likely exists again due to the reset of the timeline.8 Another safe assumption we can make is that the stories of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus won’t happen anymore, and the ending of the Remake will also describe the end of the whole compilation.9 Evidence for this can be found in the game itself which includes a myriad of nods to the compilation in a way which reframes Remake as the definitive work assimilating the Compilation.
Moreover, in the Ultimania interview, director Nomura-San confirms that the Remake represents the fifth installment in Final Fantasy VII’s compilation and has been planned to be so for a long time.
We also know that the famous play LOVELESS consists of five acts, with the fifth act being lost to time, which is why Genesis writes his own interpretation of it.
Why is this important? Square Enix distributed pamphlets on their Final Fantasy VII Remake orchestra tour in Japan, which luckily have been acquired and translated by our dear Remake community member Audrey. This pamphlet, which effectively represents a Midgar newspaper published by Shinra, also contains very intriguing articles about LOVELESS.
Both are basically a representation of Remake in relation to the original and the fans. I’m not going to read them here, but you can pause the video and do so yourself. When you do, replace “LOVELESS” with “Final Fantasy VII”, “play” with “original”, “musical” with “Remake” and “watch” with “play” and then you know what I’m talking about.
While this alone is just a nice parallel to the real world, the fact that they even included those articles does support the theory about Remake representing LOVELESS act five. The line about the ending being different in the musical compared to the play also further points towards Remake ending differently than the original did and thus bringing the story of Final Fantasy VII to an end.
Additionally, the second article talks about an encore shortly after the main piece’s debut. This most likely refers to the DLC Episode INTERmission, which kind of acts as an encore to the first part.10
With that being said: how could this new ending play out?
Before we tackle this last segment of this huge Behemoth of a mystery surrounding Sephiroth and Cloud, huge thanks to TheRealNanaki, who helped us formulate the theory I’m about to present to you.
Thank you, our dear friend, wherever you currently are.
Reaching the Promised Land
As discussed before, the Remake will most likely follow the same story and main chain of events up to the final segment. To bring an end to the overall story of Final Fantasy VII, the ending needs to differ. With all the pieces in place, Sephiroth’s goal, his failed attempts, his new plans, the reset of the timeline, and all the concepts established in the compilation, here’s how we think the new ending could play out.
The party and Sephiroth follow a very similar path right up to the end, as Sephiroth still needs Meteor to crash into the planet. And this time, he will succeed.
Wait… what now?
We’ll go more into the details in a future video but the gist of it is that the current Lifestream is basically almost or even fully corrupted which is why Aerith won’t be able to call it for help, even though she’s in it. Yes, Sephiroth still needs her to die, as described earlier. Her death is a big motivator for Cloud to stop Sephiroth at all costs, which leads to the showdown in the Whirlwind Maze. Additionally, Aerith is a foil to Sephiroth’s manipulations of Cloud which are necessary to initiate Meteor Fall.
Furthermore, even Remake part 1 contains a hint towards Aerith’s certain death. Two of the future flashes during the Whisper Harbinger battle show Aerith’s demise and in both instances, Cloud visibly suffers from a headache, unlike after the flash depicting his duel with Sephiroth.
Moreover, the visions of Aerith praying and her Holy Materia falling into the pond below and glowing on its floor are a new creation, like Platefall and the Reunion at the Whirlwind Maze in chapter 3 and both either have or will come true.
Yes, the scene of Aerith’s burial is also lifted from Advent Children, but what’s very interesting is that the flashes of a praying Aerith and the Holy Materia are shown on three separate occasions: in chapter 8 in the church, in chapter 16 in Shinra’s visual entertainment hall, and during the Whisper Harbinger battle.
This repetition seems deliberate and if it means anything, it’s that Aerith is still going to die. Additionally, herself as well as Sephiroth do subtly refer to her fate several times during the game.
Sephiroth
You are too weak to save anyone.Aerith
All right, but don’t think you can rely on me forever,
mister.Aerith
Everyone dies eventually.
So we need to make the most of the time we
have – to live our lives the way we wanna live.
Every minute… every moment, matters.
Lastly, Meteor is shown four times in the game. Twice from Midgar’s point of view and twice in a vision of the future. All but the last example are scenes created from scratch for Remake. This also seems to reinforce its existence in the future, no matter what.
Which brings us back to Sephiroth succeeding at crashing Meteor into the planet, initiating his true end game. An end game alluded to by Aerith’s opinion about how Sephiroth aims to save the planet, which was revealed in the Material Ultimania Plus book’s game script chapter.
The damage caused by Meteor will initiate the planet’s Omega protocol, activating Chaos within Vincent. Due to the amount of corruption and death, the Protomateria won’t be able to contain Chaos anymore and thus can’t prolong the planet’s fate any longer. Vincent’s Chaos form might start killing all remaining life on the planet and purify all corrupted souls while Omega gathers pure Lifestream filtered through Vincent’s Protomateria, preparing for take-off into the cosmos. Cloud and the others might be able to stop him and bring him back to sanity.
Vyzz
“Maybe Genesis swoops in as Minerva’s champion to try and hold back Vincent…
I’ll see myself out.”
…Anyway, this proposed ending scenario with Omega has strong ties to Vincent’s nature and has therefore a big chance of making it into the new narrative.
Furthermore, the heavy emphasis on Deepground in Episode INTERmission prepared the stage for the inclusion of even more Dirge of Cerberus lore, of which we’re sure there will be much more of, especially with Vincent certainly not being an optional party member anymore. This is also why we believe that Omega Weapon will play a big role in Remake’s and thus Sephiroth’s endgame. However, Omega only welcomes purified Lifestream, as to not corrupt the cosmic one. And since Sephiroth’s essence is still considered corrupt, his spirit needs to break free so he can enter Omega and hijack it from within to fulfill his goal of traveling the cosmos with the Lifestream in his control and become the ruler of the new world, his Promised Land.
This is where Cloud comes in. Instead of Jenova, Negative Lifestream, and the planet, he needs Cloud to become his new vessel to achieve the aforementioned goal. That’s why he needs Cloud to become strong-bodied and at the same time weak-willed. That’s why we have a feeling that Sephiroth will also appear more often in future parts, for example while Tifa is trying to piece Cloud’s mind back together. Maybe to plant a seed that will enable future takeovers?
Maybe Zack and Aerith need to protect the 2 from Sephiroth in a new parallel side story?
Anyway, if Sephiroth succeeds, he would be able to use Cloud as a pure vessel to enter and control Omega Weapon, just like his father before him used Weiss the Immaculate’s body in Dirge of Cerberus. It was the same there. Hojo needed Weiss to stay pure to enter and control Omega Weapon. However, this plan was doomed to fail after Nero, a being of purely corrupted and stagnant Lifestream, joined with Weiss.
Now, how can Cloud and the others prevent Sephiroth from achieving this goal? It’s hard to predict the details, but the main idea is that the final boss gauntlet still happens, but within the negative or stagnant Lifestream. Sephiroth needs them to beat Jenova for him. In the end, the same one-on-one confrontation happens between Cloud and Sephiroth, at the Edge of Creation. It’s the battle over Cloud’s mind. If Sephiroth wins, he’ll be able to use Cloud as a vessel. But if Cloud wins this time, Sephiroth will remain in the corrupted part of the Lifestream which will be left behind on the empty shell of a planet, rotting away.
However, thanks to the connection between Cloud and Sephiroth, it might be impossible to get rid of Sephiroth completely. Unless Cloud takes countermeasures, of which we can see three.
First, with Aerith already being a part of the Lifestream, she might be able to sever their connection.
Second, INTERmission’s post-credit scene showing Zack in a weird bizarro version of reality might allude to him being destined to counter Sephiroth’s shenanigans from within the Lifestream. First alone, then with Aerith. Cloud and the others are then meant to take care of the physical representation of Sephiroth. A double kill if you will, similar to how we defeat the main antagonist in Final Fantasy II.11
The third and last possibility is the darkest one. Cloud might decide to take on Vincent’s burden, become Chaos himself and thus stay behind on the dying planet with Sephiroth while the others can escape. It’s Chaos’ fate after all. To stay behind and eventually fade into oblivion.
Is that the choice Cloud has to make in those remaining seven seconds Sephiroth was talking about at the Edge of Creation? Seven seconds before Omega Weapon takes off for good? Taking off to a new world, the true Promised Land; the place sought by Shinra, Sephiroth and the Cetra which essentially represents the next stage in the cycle of life. On the planet or in the cosmos.
Is this what Sephiroth refers to at the Edge of Creation? The cosmic Lifestream?
Sephiroth
Our world will become a part of it… one day.
But I… will not end.
He says while looking at the bright nebula above, his new world. So that’s what it’s all about. He wants to travel the cosmos for all eternity and basically become the arbiter and ruler of life itself. And he needs Cloud to achieve this goal. Without Cloud, Sephiroth cannot succeed…
So, we covered Sephiroth’s goal extensively, but what’s the goal of our heroes and by extension us players? In short, basically the same as in the original: We extinguish the corruption of the Lifestream and the planet by bringing Shinra to its knees, defeating Jenova and eliminating Sephiroth. Curing the planet, so to speak. In Remake, the stakes are higher but it’s about eliminating the same corruption and disease but for good this time. Completely annihilate it, delete it from existence.
The planet was ready to die, corrupted, without letting any of that corruption escape to infect the cosmic Lifestream, but Sephiroth found a way to change and reset the status quo. Now it’s our task to cleanse as much of the corruption as possible so that the pure part of the Lifestream can escape the planet while the corrupted part with Jenova’s essence stays on the remaining shell to die. Our heroes will then return to the Lifestream and—transported by the cosmic traveler Omega Weapon—be reborn on a new planet, light years away, ready for a new life, in whatever form that may be.
Vyzz
So… what about Genesis?
You thought I was joking before, right? I wasn’t.
Take it away, Kuta!
Sure… Genesis might actually make an appearance during this new ending segment. After all, he’s Minerva’s champion and “seals himself in the flooded chamber on his own volition, in order to prepare for the day when a crisis threatens the world.”12
Meteorfall and the Omega Protocol certainly qualify as a world-threatening crisis. But it’s unclear on which side he’ll be on. Minerva represents the planet’s will, which places Genesis on the side of the planet. It’s also unclear which form he’ll appear in and how he’ll look like. Genesis Weapon confirmed? What if he’s the new Omega Weapon? In any case, this analysis is about Sephiroth and not Genesis, so we’ll leave it at that. Sorry Peeps!13
With all of this being said, the probability of this new ending playing out exactly like this is miniscule. But that’s not what this theory and prediction is about. It’s the concept of how it could play out. The direction if you will. Our conclusion is based on Compilation lore, the precedent set up by the first part, and Episode INTERmission further cementing Dirge of Cerberus lore as well as setting up Zack’s new role. The notion of Remake being the fifth Compilation entry and thus a sequel also plays into this.
The announcement of Ever Crisis even solidifies this idea as Square Enix wants us to be able to experience the original game and the Compilation entries in a singular package.
…in addition to rake in cash, of course.
Nomura-San even refers to Ever Crisis as a “timeline of the Final Fantasy VII series,” as if to say that this is what everybody needs to play to get up to speed about the old timeline since Remake won’t replace the original story but expand on it.
Yes, Ever Crisis uses a megaton of Remake assets, but it will still tell the original story as evidenced by the reactor scene where Cloud hears a voice and doesn’t see a feather.
Possible Foreshadowing
Alright, before we finally conclude this gargantuan analysis, let me show you a few interesting bits of possible foreshadowing for the new ending proposed before. Sephiroth needs Cloud’s help to defy destiny. This is a big hint towards a new strategy that involves using Cloud to change Sephiroth’s current destiny.
At the sector 7 train station, among other places, we can spot graffiti saying: “Use your imagination” and “Shoot for the stars.” Theorists, use your imagination! The characters will literally shoot for the stars. Omega Weapon does shoot for the stars in that sense, doesn’t it?
And then there’s this blue creature sitting atop beagle Stamp in the alleyway right after Cloud meets Sephiroth for the first time. Yes, it appears elsewhere, but this location bears a lot of meaning. It’s a blue female-looking creature with the head of a young child, sitting on a Cloud! It has a star attached to its head and there’s a white rocket taking off placed above it.
Furthermore, on the same wall but closer to where Cloud met Sephiroth, we can spot the head of a blue female with some tentacles framing it plus yellow stars.
This to me says that Jenova’s head is with Sephiroth, thus the proximity to the previous scene while the body manipulates Stamp a.k.a. Cloud saying to “shoot for the stars” using a “white rocket.” This white rocket might symbolize Omega Weapon containing pure or “white” Lifestream.
But wait, that blue creature does have a head! Yes, but one of a small child, maybe five years of age? It’s been five years since Jenova lost her head…
The yellow stars could also symbolize where that blue creature originally hails from. I think the Jenova vibes are overwhelming at this point.
Now, where else do we see that blue alien? It’s also seen above another Stamp graffiti between train tracks showing the way in chapter 5 as well as on the vending machine in Wall Market that sells The Sauce.
Above the Stamp graffiti, it seems to stand for a guide to Cloud, but what about the vending machine? That one’s not even mandatory to interact with. The answer might be in the visuals of The Sauce. In the inventory, it looks like the surface of a body of water looked at from below. And Water is usually used in the context of Lifestream. Pure Lifestream, which is returned to the cosmos by Omega Weapon.
Penultimate point: why does Red XIII call the scene of him running through the valley 500 years into the future implicitly the bad ending? Because Omega wouldn’t exist anymore to return life to the cosmos.14
Final point: Cloud’s decision within those seven seconds until the end might also have been foreshadowed. You might remember Don Corneo’s question to the three Avalanche Kittens before he pulls the lever to send them into the sewers. The player, and by extension Cloud, receives exactly seven seconds for answering Corneo’s question. If you don’t select one of the three options, the scene continues after those seven seconds and chapter 9 ends.
Makes you think whether Cloud can really impact the planet’s future within those seven seconds. Could it be impossible to completely avert the end of the world? According to our theory, Omega always leaves the planet. It’s just a matter of whether Sephiroth takes over control or is left behind on the planet to rot away into oblivion, becoming a mere fleeting memory.
Convinced yet? If not, please tell us about your take on how the Remake could end in the comments below or even on our discord server! We always welcome interesting discussions. If you enjoyed your time and were able to learn something new, leave a like and subscribe to not miss out on future analysis articles.
Before I let you go; we would like to express our gratitude to the rest of the Final Fantasy VII Remake community for their contribution to theory crafting or translations, which helped tremendously with refining our understanding of this gigantic mystery box.
Scholars of the Lifestream (Discord)
Thank you so much for joining us on this journey and we hope to see you again in the next analysis.
Stay safe and take care!
— Vyzz
This concludes the sixth and final article covering Sephiroth’s Endgame.
Due to the sheer amount of content, I decided to split it into 6 parts. Not only for the first video releases of this analysis back then (10 videos) but also for their transcripts here, even though I linked the full video up top. The table of contents also encompass all six articles and be present in all of them for easy navigation, all the while keeping the article length and footnotes at a manageable size.
"Back when we were developing the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, it was launched as the fifth entry after AC [Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children], BC [Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII], CC [Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII], and DC [Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII], though only as a project plan.“
— Tetsuya Nomura, Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania Development Staff Interviews, Part 2, page 742
Rebirth addressed that issue with all of them forgetting memories of the future. It’s not confirmed for Cloud, but Aerith and Red XIII are actively talking about having lost memories of a future they were once privy of. The only one who confirmed to have retained knowledge of future events gifted by Aerith is Marlene, albeit only in the Terrier world, as far as we know.
Cloud’s knowledge is unreliable and spotty, and the extent of Marlene’s knowledge is unknown. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at least reveals that her version in the Terrier world knows about Aerith’s fate in the Forgotten Capital, that a scary man with long grey hair will kill her, and that Cloud tries to save her but is too late.
The general fanbase at least. Lore enthusiasts will most likely appreciate this segment!
The developers revealed that the Omega Weapon forcibly summoned by Deepground was not the real deal but rather a fake whose function deviated from its true counterpart and thus had a detrimental impact on the planet. This implies that the real Omega Protocol is still in place and could be triggered with the right planetary crisis.
Those interviews were published in The Washington Post and on Square Enix’s blog respectively.
Which is actually the case in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth where he tries to stab Tifa while inside the baby Weapon’s green Magnus Materia core after falling into the destroyed Mako reactor in Gongaga and subsequently swallowed by said baby Weapon. And who is responsible for pushing Tifa into the Mako pool in the first place? Cloud under Sephiroth’s influence. Two predictions, two hits.
Or was never gone in the first place, as the developer interview in Dirge of Cerberus’ Official Complete Guide suggests.
This is debatable, since Tetsuya Nomura revealed in an Interview published by The Guardian that Advent Children fans will be well catered for since the whole remake trilogy will “link up“ to it. Whether this was wrongfully interpreted by the translator or by us, or his statement really means what it sounds like remains to be seen. It’s therefore possible that the third installment won’t end differently and thus complete the compilation, rather bring the story back on track, leading directly into the known canon, essentially saving the planet’s memories (which would be a bit lame in my humble opinion).
Plus, “intermission” represents a segment between two acts in a theater play, just like Episode INTERmission bridges the gap between Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth.
Only in the Dawn of Souls version released on the Gameboy Advance, packaged with the first Final Fantasy.
Quote from the Scenario Q&A found in the Crisis Core Ultimania under A6-3.
“Peeps” refers to our dear CCO Scholar “Peeps Nibbles” who’s an avid Genesis enthusiast.