Ending & Zack Explained! [3/3] - FFVII Remake Mysteries [4/4] | Game Analysis #27
The ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake created many questions about the future of several characters—Zack's survival above all. Let's dive into those lingering mysteries and make sense of them all.
Table of Contents
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3 ⟵ you are here
Timelines, Lifestream & Realities
Introduction
Greetings fellow Scholars of the Lifestream!
I’m Vyzzuvazzadth from the Cosmo Canyon Observatory and today, we will finish our analysis of Remake part 1’s ending and the mysteries around Zack. If you haven’t read the previous two articles already, we highly encourage you to do so before you continue.
Still here? Fantastic! Strap in and enjoy the last part of this fourth and last journey through the mysteries of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
⚠️ As always, spoilers ahead. ⚠️
Timelines, Lifestream & Realities
Before we dive into the future of the Remake project, let’s tackle a few points related to the Lifestream. When talking about the changes in the timeline, we kept referring to a rewritten reality and a Lifestream realm where Zack exists as a new and separate entity, all the while dismissing multiple timelines outright. Since many players and fans still believe in some form of multiple timelines or multiverses, let’s address this topic now and answer another question posed at the start of this analysis.
Are there multiple timelines or just one?
Spoilers: there’s just one timeline. However, thanks to the concept of the Lifestream and memories, which are a huge part of Final Fantasy VII’s lore, we can distinguish between two different worlds, so to speak. One world, which represents the world of the living, now free of fate and open to new outcomes, and another world, which represents the afterlife, the planet’s memories, the Promised land, take your pick.
The advantage of going this route with our theories and conclusions is that we stay in line with the lore, story, themes, and events connected to the concept of life, death, cycle of life, and memories. This concept is also rather easy to understand: every lifeform is born from the planet and returns to the planet upon death, enriching the Lifestream with new memories, knowledge, and experiences. Naturally, certain details can get confusing, especially when it comes to anomalies like Sephiroth and Aerith, but in general, it’s a solid framework which doesn’t allow infinite possibilities.
As soon as one introduces multiple timelines or multiverses, things get convoluted very fast and it’s hard for storytellers to follow their own rules, stay consistent, and not leave plot holes behind left, right, and center. However, let’s entertain the idea of branching or parallel timelines anyway, if only to debunk them.
First of all, Final Fantasy VII’s lore does include neither multiple timelines nor multiverses in any way. To introduce those now would go against everything established so far and unnecessarily convolute the remade story, which—according to the creators—will largely follow the original chain of events.
Second, what would have caused those new timelines or universes to exist? What changes would they exhibit and to what end? Why create this entirely new concept? We only need to look at the first question to see that those concepts have no leg to stand on in Remake’s context. The only cause for splitting the timeline or the creation of parallel universes would be the defeat of the Whispers. For this to work, one needs to assume that, upon destroying the Whispers, every single interference by them is undone. However, this creates a whole new set of problems, namely: paradoxes.
The following examples show how all events changed through the lack of Whispers interventions are mutually exclusive.
Cloud would miss the train
and later the others leaving for the second bombing mission,
he would kill Reno,
Aerith would fall off the balustrade,
then be captured,
they’d arrive at the pillar early,
the sector 7 plate would still be intact,
Cloud would remember his past by seeing the test subject tanks
and by Hojo spilling the beans about it,
Aerith would be able to tell the others what’s really going on,
Barret would die,
as would the others later on during the highway chase,
twice.
For every single undone intervention, a new timeline or parallel world would be created.
But to what end? How would Remake’s new mysteries or even Final Fantasy VII’s story overall benefit from this? You could argue that all changes are undone, and their ramifications purged, as if the Whispers never intervened in the first place, but changes made by Sephiroth & Aerith remain.
We could create an entire video about all those what-ifs resulting from this premise so let’s keep this very brief. Cloud would certainly not catch the same train as Avalanche since nobody would separate Aerith and Cloud by force. While he might still end up at Seventh Heaven, relations between the characters would certainly be different, and the chance for Cloud not joining the others on the second mission is high. If this happens, so many things can and will go wrong, resulting in an entirely different story. We’re already building a pile of assumptions and what-ifs with no concrete evidence as none of the ending scenes even hint at the story having played out differently this drastically.
Let’s return to the Whispers. According to Whisper Harbinger’s Enemy Intel description, “they are connected to all threads of time and space that shape the planet’s fate”, a.k.a. memories.
This in turn means that they can enter any memory, correct changes, and leave again without being tied to said change. If the Whispers cease to exist, their changes remain. Their demise therefore only results in a new future, one based on previous changes and one where the Whispers won’t be able to interfere anymore. All changes they deemed non-threatening, or weren’t able to correct before their disappearance, remain intact, resulting in the timeline being rewritten.
But why is the Whisper dome visible in the past? First of all, it’s only visible to us, not Zack, so its only purpose is to connect the end of the highway to Cloud’s memories of Zack’s last stand. Remember, the Whispers are connected to all threads of time and space. This connection seems to hold up until the Whispers’ defeat, where Zack was able to change his destiny thanks to the Whisper’s intervention, allowing him to see the Whisper dome exploding.
What about changes made by the Whispers themselves or Sephiroth while in control of them? Simple: this causes the existing timeline to be overwritten, as we already established. Contrary to a new timeline being created, which would only complicate matters. This is where Ockham’s Razor comes into play.
Furthermore, if just Zack’s survival created a new timeline, it would be off by a few months compared to the original timeline for the crossing to make sense, which is also nonsensical and prone to convolution.
Moreover, how can Zack’s church scene be explained through different timelines or parallel universes without layering assumptions over more assumptions?
Lastly, the expression “a future timeline” in Whisper Rubrum, Viridi, and Croceo’s Enemy Intel description does not refer to multiple timelines.
The original Japanese version of Whisper Rubrum’s Enemy Intel description says the following: “A being drawn from and embodied by a future destiny. Wielding a sword, it seeks to protect the future that will shape it.”
In layman’s terms: those three Whisper entities are drawn from a point in the future and by fighting the party, they are trying to make sure said future is still going to happen. All on the same timeline.
With all that being said: let’s stay in the confines of the lore, work with what’s already been established by the compilation and Remake itself, make as few assumptions as possible, and prioritize the simplest conclusions.
Where do the ending scenes happen?
We were also wondering where each of the numerous ending scenes happen. In the new reality or the Lifestream? Which ones are canon to Cloud’s and which ones to Zack’s journey? Naturally, we can’t conclusively confirm anything, but by taking everything we talked before into account and paying attention to visual cues, the game paints a rather clear picture.
All scenes where the Whisper dome explodes, or golden particles are visible happen by day. This observation leads to a few conclusions.
In Crisis Core, Zack dies during rainfall and overcast weather. In Remake’s ending, he is victorious while it’s still sunny, which is one of the biggest indicators for a definite survival. At least in memory.
Sectors 5 and 7 are also cast in daylight, which means it’s already past dawn in the overwritten timeline when we defeat the Whispers.
This indicates that the scenes with Marle and the others rebuilding Sector 7 and Biggs waking up in the Leaf House happen after we enter the Singularity where Midgar was still cast in darkness.
On the timeline, Zack’s ending scene happens over two months before the first bombing mission, which leads me to the conclusion that the memory link between Cloud and Zack was still active when the former bravered Sephiroth to pieces. This explains why we see the explosion in Zack’s scene but not in Sector 7’s ending, where the golden particles appear out of nowhere without any prior explosion. Almost as if the ripple effect from the Whispers’ defeat affects Zack the most…
Marlene’s ending scene happens still during the sunny part of the day as well. Which is strange, as the communication between Barret and Marlene through the flowers seems to happen congruently, but the lighting is different in both scenes. From sunny to overcast. On the other hand, Marlene’s scene uses in-engine assets and lighting while the ending scene of the whole party is a pre-rendered one which was created by a different team with different assets.
When we look at Rufus’ ending scene, we also notice something odd. It’s still night but the Whisper dome explodes by day. So why does Rufus see no Whispers anymore? We can still see dark clouds in the sky after all, proving that Rufus’ ending scene happens long before those depicting the slums. It’s possible that the game shows the scene from the perspective of Tseng and Heidegger instead, in which case we wouldn’t see any Whispers at all.
However, this would contradict the scene at the beginning of Chapter 18 where the only Whisper-free shot was one from Tseng’s point of view which lasts only a few seconds.
During the rest of that scene, the Whispers are always visible, even with Tseng in the frame. But why are they absent in Rufus’ ending scene? It’s either a big oversight or Rufus has lost the Sight again. It’s hard to say why. Maybe the Whispers only needed to show him their existence for a brief period to make him realize that this world has more to offer than Shinra and their pursuit of world domination.
In any case, we’re certain that only Zack’s ending scene happens in the Lifestream while the others all happen in the new and overwritten timeline with all changes from Remake’s first instalment applied.1
This sentiment is underlined by Zack’s visit to the church where he finds only misery and negativity, while the aforementioned ending scenes exude joy and positivity.
Connection to LOVELESS
And this duality between positivity and negativity also applies to LOVELESS, the jar of marmite among fans. However, one can glean some very intriguing interpretations from its inclusion and significance in the story.
As we talked about in a previous analysis, Remake is considered the fifth entry in the Compilation and LOVELESS is comprised of five acts. However, only the first line of the fifth act remains. The rest has been lost to time.
In Crisis Core, Genesis finishes this fifth act himself, which by the end of Crisis Core basically becomes his new reality. It represents Genesis’ new mindset and promise to protect the world when the time comes.
Applied to Remake, this means that the fifth act of the Compilation is mostly fiction but becomes the new reality at the end. This fits our conclusion from Game Analysis #24 about Aerith’s Secrets to a T. The first instalment of Remake happens in the planet’s memories, making it and any difference to the original game fiction. But after defying destiny and defeating the Whispers, this fiction becomes the new reality. It is, however, not a completely new reality. The scaffolding of the story remains, like the first line of LOVELESS Act V, but everything else is subject to change and reinterpretation.
What if Zack is real
Even though we’ve been harping about a single timeline and Zack existing as a separate entity in the memories of the planet, there is another possibility we’d like to discuss, to be sure we cover all the bases. What if Zack is actually alive now and exists in the same reality or realm as Cloud and the others? What would this proposal entail, and would it solve the mystery around Zack’s reappearance?
I had a similar idea in the past, a time before Episode INTERmission’s existence where nothing besides Zack’s survival was known. However, his theory involved a lot of assumptions, so I threw it in the bin eventually. You can already sense that we still don’t subscribe to this idea, so let’s address the issues one by one.
First off, how is it even possible?
The only way for Zack to survive his last stand is for the Whispers to change past memories, actively altering future events succeeding Zack’s survival. After defeating fate, alterations to memories cannot be undone anymore and remain intact, overriding the future as a result, creating a new reality and discarding the old continuity to prevent paradoxes.
But here’s where it gets tricky.
Buster Sword Paradox
Two Buster Swords cannot exist in the same plane of existence. So how come Zack still has it strapped to his back when visiting the church, all the while Cloud is carrying the same one on their way to Kalm? Maybe Zack visits the church before the first bombing mission happens and for some unknown reason leaves it with Cloud before that, which would preserve the events in Midgar we previously witnessed.
But why? What was Zack doing while we ran around Midgar? What sword is he wielding now? What would his new purpose and goal be? My initial and discarded theory revolved around Zack becoming the planet’s new guardian and receiving knowledge of the original timeline to help him assume and carry out the Whispers’ duty. He would drop Cloud off near sector 7, Buster Sword included, and then stay in the shadows, making sure not to disrupt the continuity unless absolutely necessary.
This would mean that everything we played through happened the same, except that Zack is now running around as well, probably following Cloud from a distance or something. But to what end? With what purpose? What influence should his renewed existence exert? You see, we’re losing ourselves in wild assumptions again.
Changed Midgar continuity
But what if, thanks to Zack’s existence, the events in Midgar played out completely differently?
This consequently means that Cloud and friends entered a new and different continuity where each of them now exists twice. One version of them defeated fate, exited the Singularity, and is now hunting down Sephiroth. The other version did Gaia-knows-what in Midgar and is probably still there. Barret’s Avalanche cell got caught and incarcerated, Aerith is still selling flowers, and Red XIII still resides in his test chamber. And Cloud? Probably Marco’s neighbour, sewing his own black robe as we speak.
But what was Zack doing all this time? Did he get involved with Avalanche while Tifa tended to Cloud?
Is president Shinra still alive or did Rufus dispose of him using old guard Avalanche instead? Maybe Cloud and the others all died in some way or another, as foreshadowed multiple times during the game.
This would at least remove the issue of them existing twice but not answer anything about Zack’s purpose, future or continued involvement. And again, we need to resort to random assumptions which lead us nowhere to be frank.
Platefall undone
Another interesting question: did Platefall happen or not?
Some people believe that the distressed people Zack finds in the church are Platefall survivors seeking solace in an abandoned place of worship. But why there and not during chapter 14? Sure, maybe people only made it there after we left for the Shinra building. But would Zack really wait over two months to try and find Aerith at the church?2 And again, he has the Buster Sword, so events clearly would have happened differently, leading to the mess previously discussed.
Alternate Purpose
Lastly, with Zack alive and kicking, he’d need a purpose and a goal, one which would involve Cloud, Aerith and Sephiroth in some way. Otherwise, his survival would mean nothing. So, what could he be up to? This heavily depends on what happend in Midgar. If everybody died, he’s probably after Sephiroth, like the others, meaning their paths would cross at some point. But wouldn’t that be redundant? Zack and Cloud, same sword, similar fighting style, same goal, similar journey… Doesn’t feel right.
They also cannot meet until after Cloud regains his true memories and persona, lest the story is meant to break apart much sooner, of which there are no indicators for besides random assumptions. If everything played out the same and Zack observed from the shadows, he’d just continue to do so and intervene at some point in the future, to make sure Sephiroth doesn’t win, or Aerith doesn’t die.
This sounds a bit more believable but still feels weird. What story is there to tell that benefits the Remake project besides a walking Deus-Ex Machina? If everybody’s still in Midgar but Aerith is missing for some reason, Zack could just be searching for her and eventually meet the whole group. Still, how does this contribute to the new story?
Again, we’re running in circles around a pile of assumptions. So, let’s focus on evidence found in the original game, Remake, the compilation, and other canon auxiliary works instead.
World of Final Fantasy: Maxima
And one of these auxiliary works is none other than World of Final Fantasy: Maxima, an extended version of the original World of Final Fantasy, which was incidentally revealed at the very same press conference at E3 2015 as Final Fantasy VII Remake. More specifically right before it. Most likely a coincidence but still worth mentioning.
In any case, Maxima contains new characters, side stories, mini-games and battles, and among the new characters is none other than…
wait for it…
Zack freaking Fair!3 And his inclusion in Grymoire is fascinating.
Zack’s profile
To provide the whole picture, I’d like to read the entirety of his entry in the game’s “Who is Who” section, as it contains a summary of his appearance and a few stingers possibly relevant to his inclusion in Remake.
Death
Long before Reynn and Lann appeared in Grymoire, a catastrophic incident revolving around Shinra occurred, during which Zack sacrificed his life to protect his friend Cloud. Cloud has borne the burden of Zack’s death ever since.
Revival
Mako, which exists in small amounts in Grymoire, is said to be derived from a massive flow of spiritual energy known as the Lifestream. It was here that Zack’s soul sunk into after death, but due to Shinra’s use of the mysterious life-form Jenova’s powers, Zack finds himself alive again on Grymoire. The world had called upon a new Champion to arise, and now a miracle has occurred...
Rebirth
Soon after returning to life, the dense mako energy in the place where he awoke (and the residual mako energy within his body) puts Zack into a state of total frenzy while battling Mirages. It is only when Bahamut siphons all of the mako out of him as nourishment that Zack returns to his normal state. Back to his usual spirited self, Zack is guided by Hauyn to a reunion with his friend Cloud. What new adventures—or new battles—await him, nobody knows...
Can you see the parallels to Zack’s appearance in Final Fantasy VII Remake?
Setting: Grymoire
With that in mind, World of Final Fantasy’s setting, Grymoire, provides another piece of evidence for Zack’s location in Remake. A Grimoire is basically a textbook of magic.
This means that the Grymoire in World of Final Fantasy—the home of the Lilikin, the chibi bobblehead characters—is basically a fantasy world described in a book. It’s where we encounter many Final Fantasy characters in small representations of their respective worlds, an amalgamation of fragments from the games they originate.
One could even say it’s like a compilation of memories we have from those different Final Fantasy games. Not so different from the Lifestream holding memories of past events and lives, right?
Furthermore, the one who wrote Gymoire and therefore created the World of Final Fantasy setting in the first place, the literal God, is also the one who calls Reynn and Lann, the game’s protagonists to her world so both may amend their past mistakes.
In Remake’s case, the developers—or more specifically the creative masterminds behind Remake’s direction—represent “God” who wrote the story and provided Cloud and Aerith an opportunity to amend their “mistakes” which lead to the bad ending.
Hauyn’s role
Back to Zack. After his revival and rebirth in Grymoire, he’s guided by Hauyn to a Reunion with Cloud. Although that reunion never happens as far as I know, so this point is left open, just like in Remake.
Hauyn, who has been imprisoned by Lann in the past because she tried to stop them from screwing up the world. Trapped in a cage outside of time. First imprisoned and later guides Zack to a Reunion?
Hauyn’s appearance is also quite curious. White, long hair, black robe-like attire opened at the front, knee-high black boots, and to top it off she also dons a black hood! Does anybody else get Sephiroth and black-robed people vibes here or is it just me?
Her character profile also talks about appearances in other worlds where only sadness awaits her, and that destiny is not on her side. Quite Sephiroth-like, isn’t it? He wants to change his destiny after all.
She also has a deep-seated grudge against Reynn and Lann, like Sephiroth has one for Cloud and Aerith, although the one against Cloud also contains a respectful admiration for his powers.
While many other characteristics and story points do not match, there are enough around to warrant this breakdown.
Summary
To summarize: Zack is reborn in a fantasy world and guided by somebody resembling Sephiroth to a Reunion with Cloud. Maybe all of this is just coincidence and an amalgamation of individual concepts to form a new compelling narrative in a spin-off Final Fantasy title.
But what if it isn’t?
What if it’s foreshadowing for what’s happening in Remake? Zack being reborn in a world of memories and then led to a Reunion by Sephiroth? This certainly lends more credence to our previous conclusion that Sephiroth needs Zack’s memories and beyond that maybe even for additional steps in his big plan. Props to @ZackReturns4 on Twitter for bringing Zack’s inclusion in Maxima to my attention!
The Future of Remake
Now, what does this mean for future instalment in this huge Final Fantasy VII Remake project? The short answer: a lot! The real answer: it’s complicated. Like in previous analyses, we’re going to tread into speculation territory again but are simultaneously trying to reach a conclusion we’re comfortable with committing to.
The analysis so far
To make sure we’re all on the same page and caught up, let’s do a quick recap of previous conclusions and predictions made during this enlightening journey through all the juicy Final Fantasy VII Remake mysteries.
After Advent Children, Sephiroth had no possibility to return to the surface of the planet anymore and was therefore trapped in the Lifestream, hanging on to his memories of Cloud and Cloud’s memories of him.
After the summoning of Omega Weapon and subsequent destruction, Sephiroth might have seen a new opportunity to sail the cosmos. For that to work, however, he needed to get rid of Jenova’s corruption and somehow revive Omega Weapon or trick the planet into creating a new one. He might have also tried different approaches, every one of which have failed.
Eventually, seven seconds before the end of the planet, the complete corruption of its life force, the ceasing of the cycle of souls, he managed to reach out and connect to a past memory in the Lifestream. The only memory he still had a connection to: Cloud. This is how Remake begins, with Sephiroth trying to change the planet’s memories by manipulating Cloud before his fateful journey even begins. As this proves more difficult than expected, he also needs to overcome the forces which try their hardest to keep the planet’s memories intact: the Whispers. With them gone, he is then able to rewrite history, the future, and thus change the latest point in time—seven seconds before the end of the planet—in his favor. This allows him to change circumstances and generate a situation in which he’s able to put his final plan into action. Revoke Jenova’s influence and hold over him and call forth Omega Weapon. He then will, with Cloud’s help, be able to take control over Omega Weapon and with it finally leave the planet and sail the cosmos to reach and rule over the Promised Land, becoming life itself.
Aerith, just like in the Lifestream White chapters of On the Way to a Smile and in Advent Children, reads Sephiroth’s plans through the Lifestream and tries to counteract his actions. She connects to the planet’s memory version of her and injects it with additional memories, allowing her to make changes to the past to thwart Sephiroth’s meddling. However, just like Sephiroth, she’s hindered again and again by the memory police and thus has to try over and over again to put changes into place which will support her quest to counteract Sephiroth. But little does she know that she plays right into his hands by defeating fate. Unless she’s aware of the risks and just doesn’t see any other way to help and save the planet and her friends.
By defying destiny, all changes made to the planet’s memories are committed to the new reality, creating an opportunity to reshape the future. But who will succeed? Sephiroth or Aerith?
Expectations
Speaking of Aerith, we promised towards the end of Game Analysis #26 to talk more about what memories remain after escaping the Singularity. We will also talk about other expectations we have for future titles.
Remaining memories
Let’s start with the memories of our main cast. In general, we can say with high certainty that all five characters still remember everything that happened before and in the Singularity. One big hint comes from Barret who remarks towards Cloud “I thought you beat him.” during their ending scene on the cliff.
This indicates that they all remember Cloud going full Braver on Sephiroth and the resulting orange and purple explosion. Plus, nobody remarks on being teleported from the end of the highway to the cliff.
How much Aerith still remembers from the previous timeline encompassing the original game and the compilation is not just unknown, it’s even inconclusive when analyzing her behavior. When Tifa asks “So… what now?” Aerith can only silently shake her head with an anxious expression on her face.
This means she has no idea what’s ahead. But this alone is no indication in any direction. What’s pretty clear is that she has no more access to additional future memories as the timeline is now being overwritten, making the previous canon after Midgar obsolete and therefore inaccessible.
But the question remains: Did Aerith, Cloud, Marlene, and Red XIII retain their knowledge of the future received during this first game in the Remake project? We can see three different scenarios:
Scenario 1
All four characters still have access to all additional memories.
We know that Cloud almost certainly won’t talk about them. He’s also the one who received the least coherent batch of memories. Only fragments, which only react to triggers. But what about Aerith and Red XIII? Will they reveal their foresight to the others? So far, they haven’t. Aerith would also be a great actor in the scene near Kalm if she was still clairvoyant.
During the base game, if you are aware of her additional knowledge, her behavior will give it away. In some scenes even if you aren’t aware of it. Aerith feels quite different in INTERmission’s bonus scenes.
As mentioned in a previous analysis, Red XIII’s line on the cliff in the ending is basically the inverse of his original line after descending from the highway to the ground.
In INTERmission’s bonus scenes, Red XIII remains silent the whole way. Has he reverted to his original self where he only plans to stick around until they reach his hometown, or does he remember everything and remains silent because of that?
While intriguing, this scenario also bears incalculable danger. Handling a known story which has now become volatile, with two conscious clairvoyants and one with unstable visions, is going to be a walk on the high wire in a thunderstorm. However, it also provides an opportunity: players of the original game also know what should happen, like Aerith and Red XIII. This could improve identification with those characters.
Scenario 2
All knowledge previously granted by future Aerith is gone.
Here, we assume that the visions received during the battle against Whisper Harbinger are also gone.
This would put all characters almost on the same level as they were in the original game, just with many additional and changed experiences from Midgar, strengthening their relationships.
But what if the visions from the Singularity remained? This would provide surface knowledge about pivotal events like Aerith’s death, Meteorfall, and Red XIII’s future. In that case, they would still be blind to the rest of the story, which sounds like a good balance between having foresight and retaining their original character arcs, especially Red XIII. This option provides less problems for the new narrative but is also the safe option with less interesting scenarios.
Scenario 3
Everybody besides Aerith retains memories granted to them through Aerith’s touch.
With all memories after Midgar being rewritten, future Aerith will cease to exist. However, this scenario only works if future Aerith had remote-controlled her counterpart in the planet’s memories instead of injecting memories into her past self. With Aerith’s future essence gone due to the rewrite process, her future knowledge is, too.
The others, however, were injected with memories, so they should have retained them all. We know nothing about Marlene’s additional knowledge and can only speculate about the extent which was granted to Red XIII. Hopefully nothing about his father…
In INTERmission’s bonus scenes, Aerith doesn’t act like she still remembers everything from the original timeline. Only feelings remain. This makes scenarios 2 and 3 more likely.
Additionally, in the light novel Traces of Two Pasts, she talks about having lost abilities she exhibited during childhood, like Astral Projection and seeing souls transitioning from death to the afterlife. She reveals this to Tifa while disguised as Shinra guards on the ferry to Costa Del Sol. Another hint that she might have lost her clairvoyance. But again, she could just be a better actor than in part one.
What about Sephiroth?
We never saw his future version grant any additional knowledge to his memory version sitting in the Northern Crater, so we can assume he now knows the same plus his experiences in Shinra HQ. However, it is also possible that he was able to read ripples and changes in the Lifestream and acquired additional knowledge that way.
What’s quite certain in our opinion is that the Sephiroth who we fought at the end of Remake won’t appear anymore in this rewritten reality as shown by the dispersing feather in the ending.5 At least not until we reach the end of the world again. I believe that Edge-of-Creation-Sephiroth is now merely waiting for the changes to the planet’s memory and past to catch up to his present. Once it does, Memory-Sephiroth will merge with Edge-of-Creation-Sephiroth and Cloud will need to make a decision before those seven seconds until the end run out.
In any case, we’re curious how much Sephiroth’s knowledge in upcoming instalments has changed compared to the original story.
Inventory, gear, and abilities
The second point on our list of expectations is related to gameplay and has to do with progress. Will our gear, inventory, and abilities carry over to the next instalment? This question has been prevalent in many discussions about part 2 and beyond. Since this topic would fill an entire video, we’ll keep this one very brief, but it’s worth mentioning as it relates to the newly introduced mysteries. Kyr0sis and I recorded a whole episode about this topic in The Reunion: An FF7R Podcast. Feel free to check it out afterwards.
If this multi-part Remake would just cover the original story without any of those new elements, transferring everything, or at least most progress over would be almost a requirement. After all, it’s a continuous story where a reset of progress made in a previous segment would be counterintuitive and, frankly, jarring, even though we’re talking about full games. However, even in this scenario, it would be possible to adjust the events a bit to warrant an inventory reset between games. Let’s take my proposed trilogy from Game Talk #1 as an example.
At the end of the highway, they could have introduced an event in which the group is caught in an explosion or something which tears apart their weapons and inventory bags. The public execution at Junon alone can be easily used as an excuse to reset the inventory, although characters not captured—like Cid, Yuffie and Cait—would need further elaboration.
While gear and inventory would reset in this scenario, learned abilities should remain, as those are not tied to equipment but character experience. And this is exactly what we’re expecting in the next instalment to happen. The characters retain abilities like Braver, Maximum Fury, Star Shower, Arcane Ward, and Stardust Ray but everything besides the basic equipment would be gone. To not alienate players and especially completionists of the first instalment, they could introduce a mechanic that provides bonuses for having acquired certain things during the Midgar arc.
Anyway, that’s not the subject of this segment. What matters is why we think that gear and inventory will reset. It connects to our theory that part 1 happens in the planet’s memories and that the original timeline is now being overwritten based on the changes during the Midgar segment. Since we’re basically in a new reality now and not just a bunch of memories, it also makes sense to reset gameplay-related aspects for the unknown journey ahead.
However, we do believe that progress will carry over across all upcoming instalments as all of them will take place in the same continuity and reality, at least according to our prediction. And here’s a teaser for an eventual episode of Game Talk about splitting the story into 4 games instead of the previously proposed trilogy: What if this first instalment represents the prologue to a trilogy covering this new continuity? Food for thought.6
Are the Whispers really gone?
The next point covers the Whispers. Are they really gone and out of the picture? Or will they eventually return?
Hard to say, but we currently believe that they will not be able to interfere, let alone appear anymore as we’re not in the planet’s memories anymore. However, this is not the whole story. We proposed earlier that Zack now resides in the Lifestream as a new and separate entity, like Aerith in the Lifestream White Chapters or even in Maiden who Travels the Planet. The Whispers represent souls in the Lifestream, also known as the cries of the planet, tasked with protecting the planet’s memories as the agents of the planetary Weapon called Whisper Harbinger. We can thus expect to see them return in some form during Zack’s journey. However, it’s more probable that they only reappear during the new and final ending of this Remake project, the final battle for the planet, as suggested in Game Analysis #26.
In short, don’t expect them to return anytime soon. An early reappearance would feel like a betrayal anyway as the first game made a huge deal about their interference and eventual disappearance.7
Two Realities
The penultimate point is basically just a reiteration of a point made earlier. We expect there to be two distinct realities going forward: The new and unknown future encompassing the original chain of events but remade—diverging more as we progress further into the unknown—and the Lifestream, where Zack’s new journey takes place.
Zack’s integration
Which leads us to the last point of expectations: Zack’s integration into upcoming instalments. This has been a theory for a long time now and was probably first brought up in one of the theory discussions with Maximilian Dood as a guest.8 Yes, we’re talking about the so-called Laguna segments.
Those who have played Final Fantasy VIII will know what this means. For those who have not, let me quickly explain the concept while keeping the comparison as spoiler-free as possible. Laguna is a male character in Final Fantasy VIII. During the game, the players will play through several shorter segments here and there where they control Laguna and his two comrades instead of Squall, the actual protagonist. Those segments basically tell a parallel storyline which has no direct impact on Squall’s journey. Of course, those segments bear much more significance than outlined, but that’s as far as we can go without treading into spoiler territory.
What does this mean for future Remake instalments? We assume that we will switch to Zack’s side of the story for a short intermission segment at certain points in Cloud’s story. Remake and Episode INTERmission already laid the groundwork for this idea by showing us four scenes involving Zack: his last stand, his survival, traveling to Midgar with Cloud, and returning to the church. We expect the frequency of those scenes to pick up as we play through the rest of the story. Whether those segments with Zack are going to be playable or shown as cutscenes remains to be seen. However, there is a good chance that they are going to contain gameplay elements and even battles.
Some might feel apprehensive towards being taken out of the story for yet another Zack segment every now and then. However, there are enough points in the story where such an intermission can fit in. Remake has already established the vastness of the planet using road signs, visual scale, and even time measurements.
Even on the comparatively small world map in the original game, the Chocobo Farm is around 3 times as far away from Kalm than Kalm is from Midgar.
While automatic or manual vehicle travel might be a recurring thing in subsequent instalments, it’s doubtful that the whole journey happens seamlessly like in Final Fantasy XV or God of War.
Zack segments can therefore act as a bridge to connect locations separated by long travel distances. Time jumps are necessary anyway to keep up a comfortable pace during story and gameplay. Instead of just cutting to black, why not inject the next segment of Zack’s journey?
Zack’s Journey
Speaking of, what will Zack’s journey even encompass? What will he experience? Putting his new purpose aside for a moment, what immediate and follow-up goals will he pursue? Since INTERmission left us with Zack entering a church full of random hurting NPCs and a conspicuously absent Aerith, we strongly believe that the search for Aerith will be Zack’s first self-imposed mission. However, he won’t find her for a long while. Instead, he will stumble upon many tortured souls roaming the Lifestream, unable to return to the stream of souls.
But why?
Remember Aerith’s experience in the Lifestream White chapters? She came across many such tortured and mostly angry souls full of rage and they all refused to properly return to the planet. She had to relieve them of their agony and eventually called forth all remaining souls of not yet dispersed Cetra to help her tackle this huge task. However, Aerith’s essence currently roams the world of the living and since the planet is on the brink of death, the Cetran souls who helped Aerith back then have most likely already been fully dispersed.
This means that Zack is basically the only one left—for now at least—to help all those who died in pain and agony, full of regret or guilt. His new journey could therefore encompass meeting souls trapped in limbo, like Jessie’s father, and ease their pain and suffering by just being himself, making friends, and removing their worries. This would certainly decrease the corruption one soul at a time and return strength to the planet and prepare it for its final stand.
Just for fun, who could Zack meet while travelling the Lifestream?
We already established that Jessie can be considered dead, so there’s a very high chance Zack could meet a distressed Jessie, mulling over the victims of her bombs and how she deserves to suffer.
Dyne is also a good candidate for later in the story as he’s been consumed by rage, regret, and grief. So much so that he decides to end the suffering on his own terms.
Cloud’s and Tifa’s parents might also make an appearance at some point, as well as Ifalna and later Bugenhagen.
Claudia succumbed to Sephiroth’s fire and blade, Tifa’s mother Thea passed away due to her illness and her father Brian was also one of Sephiroth’s victims.
Ifalna on the other hand has none of those feelings as far as we can tell, so her appearance could either serve as a mentor role or be mere fanservice. We hope for the former.
Bugenhagen died in peace of old age, so his inclusion would parallel that of Ifalna, if anything.
At the end of Episode INTERmission, Sonon basically died, with a lot of pain, sadness and regret in his heart. However, we don’t know Nero’s plans for him, so he might still be trapped in Deepground.
It’s also possible that Zack encounters victims of Sector 7’s destruction and many others that will die during Cloud’s journey, like all those Shinra soldiers we mow down wherever they stand in his way. As if to keep killing and pushing down his true past as an infantryman…
Speaking of Shinra, what if Zack encounters the president himself? What about Heidegger and Scarlet after being blown up inside Proud Clod a.k.a. Pride and Joy?
Whatever ends up happening and whoever Zack will encounter, the first occurrence of a person we know to be either dead or alive, as well as Stamp’s design, will confirm or debunk a lot if not everything.
Different Roles, Same Goal
We’re really close to the conclusion of Final Fantasy VII Remake’s mysteries, so let’s summarize Zack’s side of the story and put it into the context of the main story. We established that Zack starts off searching for Aerith and then meets other distressed souls on his way, realizing his higher calling: to ease the suffering of those in pain or full of rage. This will lead to a decrease of corrupted souls and relieve the Lifestream of pressure from Jenova, which in turn would benefit Cloud’s journey towards defeating Sephiroth and thus Jenova for good. But before Cloud can do that, he needs to find his true self.
While doing so, it’s possible that he and Tifa may encounter Zack or even Aerith during their time in the Lifestream. Since he’s learning about the truth there, meeting Zack would pose no continuity problems but instead set up an eventual clash with Sephiroth at the end of Remake’s last instalment. They could also opt to retell Zack and Cloud’s escape at that point in the story instead of keeping it an optional scene only triggered when interacting with the Mako tanks in Nibelheim later on.
In the end, Zack and Cloud have different roles but the same goal: get rid of Jenova’s corruption once and for all, which includes Sephiroth, the embodiment of Jenova’s will and legacy. Sephiroth, carrying Jenova’s legacy and Cloud, carrying Zack’s legacy. The former corrupted by pure evil and the latter influenced by pure goodness. Quite the parallel, isn’t it?
This legacy might be the biggest reason why Sephiroth needs to remove Jenova’s influence over him as this seems to be his main crutch on the way of achieving his goal. Similar to Cloud, who needs to shed the false SOLDIER persona he imposed on himself to become whole and independent again and stand up against Sephiroth. Who, by detaching himself from Jenova, wouldn’t need to be contained by the planet or fought and defeated by Cloud anymore, especially if he still considers making Cloud his new vessel.
But to become this “pure” being, he needs to remember his past before Jenova got a hold of him. He needs not only Cloud but Zack as well. Two wielders of the Buster Sword bearing its legacy. A legacy he seems to despise as seen at the Edge of Creation where he strikes the Buster Sword out of Cloud’s hands, as if to say: “Forget your past, your legacy. Embrace your new future. My Future.”
On the other side of the equation, both Zack and Cloud need to thwart Sephiroth’s plans. And by being in different realms of existence, Zack and Cloud will need to approach the matter in different ways. Interestingly, Aerith switches sides halfway through. After summoning Holy, the counter to Meteor, she might join Zack’s quest in cleaning up the Lifestream while Cloud and the others need to take care of the physical representation of Sephiroth and Jenova.
That’s our prediction anyway. And we have another one for you. Are you ready? One last prediction for how the final instalment of this gigantic Remake project could end.
The End of Remake
We already proposed a big bold theory at the end of Game Analysis #26 where we focused on Sephiroth, Cloud and some concepts established in the Compilation. But what about Zack? We mentioned him only briefly in said theory, so let’s elaborate on his part in the supposed end of the Final Fantasy VII canon.
With everything we established so far, there is a high chance that Cloud’s group and Zack, alone or teamed up with other souls, both need to take on Sephiroth and Jenova. But how exactly? There are too many possibilities so let’s just throw around a few what-ifs.
Zack could extinguish Jenova and its influence in the Lifestream while Cloud and the others take on a reborn Sephiroth in the world of the living, stopping him from taking over Cloud and/or Omega. Maybe exterminating Jenova is only step one for both teams and Sephiroth is next as he still has one foot in the afterlife and the other in the world of the living represented by the recreated body.
In the previous analysis, I completely forgot about this next possibility: what if Sephiroth snatches the Protomateria from Vincent and uses it to take control over the Omega Protocol? Maybe he enacts it before the final battle, making it take place entirely within the planet’s life force. A battle of memories, fighting over which ones will persevere…
What if Cloud and Zack can only defeat Sephiroth for good by performing a synergized ultimate Omnislash?
No, not with a combined Lifestream Blade! Don’t get any weird ideas…
Anyway… Cloud was not able to overcome Sephiroth at the end of the first instalment, but with Zack at his side, they may succeed.
Right? …no? …imagine this never happened…
Whatever ends up happening, I’m pretty certain that we will experience the final battle for the planet in which all major players will participate, which hopefully leads to the planet’s essence being returned safely to the cosmic Lifestream, devoid of any alien corruption.
What about the Whispers? They are representations of Lifestream and memory essence after all. They may even make a return near the end, battling it out in the Lifestream. Corrupted souls against pure ones. How cool would it look like to see an army of them clash in the background while fighting Jenova with Zack? This would beautifully depict the final clash of souls deciding the fate of the planet, with our protagonists and antagonists at the front lines of this Final Conflict. The final entry in the Compilation. The end of the battle between those protecting the natural cycle of life and those trying to disrupt it and making it their own.
Now, what if Sephiroth did siphon Zack’s memories of himself through Cloud? Would this change anything? We mentioned that this could be the reason why he addresses Cloud differently at the Edge of Creation. Because Sephiroth remembers his past from before he went mad. But since the current future is being erased and overwritten by this new Unknown Journey, why would that even matter? Enter Zack as a conscious entity in the Lifestream, brimming with memories of Sephiroth. A Sephiroth before going mad, almost disseminated into the Lifestream, and giving up his past to spread his memories and despair all over the planet. A Sephiroth free of Jenova’s corruption and influence.
Sephiroth’s current essence is still sitting in the Northern Crater, rebuilding his new body, in the company of Jenova’s head. During the past five years after Cloud ended his life, he browsed the abundant knowledge flowing through the Lifestream and learned basically everything about the planet and its history.
With Zack now also travelling the Lifestream, being able to actively remember him, Northern Crater Sephiroth could very well notice Zack and start retrieving his own memories over time, basically repeating what Edge of Creation Sephiroth pulled off in Remake’s chapter 18. After regaining his past, Sephiroth will need us to annihilate Jenova completely, freeing his new body of its corruption. This might happen after Meteorfall or even earlier when receiving the Black Materia. This will allow him to ascend to true godhood. A god with two wings instead of just one. The perfect being Hojo tried to create but kept failing.
Maybe Genesis plays a part in this, one way or another? His wing sprouts on the opposing side compared to Sephiroth after all.9
It’s still unclear whether Sephiroth needs Cloud to become his new vessel or merely his help in getting a hold of the Black Materia and later disintegrate Jenova for him. However, with Zack in the picture, Zack and Cloud taking on a Sephiroth with two wings would beautifully merge Zack’s and Cloud’s individual clashes with Sephiroth in the past. Both lost against him before: Zack in Nibelheim and Cloud at the Edge of Creation. Cloud’s victories in the original game and in Advent Children have been undone by rewriting the timeline.
In this new continuity, none of them were ever able to overcome Sephiroth in a duel. Now is the time to take revenge and overcome this winged creature once and for all.
Competing realities
This segment was cut from the video version but I’ll leave it here for you to enjoy. Take it with a grain of salt, though. I did remove it for a reason, after all.
Now, there’s another possibility on how this new and unknown journey could be handled in the grand scheme of things. Big thanks to Tommy on our CCO Discord server for bringing this possibility to my attention.
My main impression and theory is that Cloud and the others now reside in the rewritten reality and Zack’s essence still resides in the Lifestream as a memory. But there is another possibility. The Edge of Creation depicts the planet’s current state, some unknown time after Nanaki’s run through the valley 500 years after Meteorfall.
If Cloud’s continuity depicts a reality which replaces the old post-Midgar continuity, what would become of the planet’s state shown at the Edge of Creation? Erased and gone and everything is living again? Hardly. That’s why I also proposed the idea that the remaining two games could depict the overriding of the old post-Midgar continuity in real time. This means that we’re still not on the surface of the planet but living through the process of changing memories that will ultimately influence the Edge of Creation, seven seconds before the planet’s demise. This in turn would result in a change of the path of space and time through some kind of power, as Motomu Toriyama explains in the Material Ultimania Plus book.
Now, if Cloud’s new continuity still happens in the planet’s memories, what about Zack’s continuity? We established that both reside in different planes of existence, but there is only one Lifestream!
Here’s where it gets interesting but also a bit tricky. Zack’s and Cloud’s continuities could be two possible new futures and only one of them will persevere and reach the Edge of Creation. But how can this be possible? Positive and Negative Lifestream. The former still in the hands of the planet but waning, the latter corrupted by Sephiroth ever since Meteorfall. Cloud’s new continuity runs along the positive Lifestream while Zack must find his way through the Negative Lifestream, a realm wrought with negative emotions and corrupted souls.
This neatly fit with established theories and conclusions and would set Cloud’s and Zack’s new purposes as follows: Protecting the remaining positive Lifestream and cleansing the Negative Lifestream. All in preparation for the final confrontation with Sephiroth and Jenova to provide a safe journey for Omega Weapon to guide the Lifestream into the cosmos.
Meta Commentary
Of course, I might be completely off on this one, though I do believe I’m on to something here. Memories and the cycle of life are probably the most important concepts in Final Fantasy VII’s lore and story and should therefore be taken into account when making predictions and crafting theories. Furthermore, those concepts also spill over into reality. Remake is not just a game. It’s a journey through many players’ childhood or teenage memories. We reminisce and revel in the great time we had when playing through the original game over and over again, watching our heroes in high definition for the first time, playing as our favorite quasi-vampire, experiencing the story from Zack’s perspective, and watching YouTube videos of a game which fans outside of Japan never got to enjoy.
With Remake part 1 literally taking place in the planet’s memories,10 the developers took this project to another level and represented our experience as fans of the original game within Remake’s lore. The planet, being called a kid back then, having grown old and weary since then, basically represents us players having grown older over the past 25 years.
The Lifestream then stands for our own memories of the past we’re so fond of and want to protect, just like the planet wants to protect its own memories by deploying the Whispers at the sight of a threat.
And who tries to tamper with the planet’s memories?
Sephiroth.
And who has changed and will continue to change the events in Remake compared to the original?
Square Enix.
Or more specifically Tetsuya Nomura himself. Why? Let me show you:
It was not just him trying to be cool, it was literally foreshadowing! Just like this key art from Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary in 2017 with a One-Winged Sephiroth in the background.
And there’s more. We can make out substantial audio differences during the intro cinematic between the vanilla and Intergrade versions of the game, one of them associated with Tetsuya Nomura. Sound effects accompanying credit text displays have been generally improved or changed.
However, one of them has been altered significantly for Intergrade. You guessed it, it’s Tetsuya Nomura’s name, which is now accompanied by an ostentatious and very menacing sound effect contrary to the subtle boom sound and low bass note in vanilla. Almost as if Sephiroth’s influence has increased. Listen closely:
Fascinating, isn’t it?
This wouldn’t even be the first time Nomura-San incorporates a real-world development story into a game. If you consider this one theory of The Night Sky Prince as true, that is. In the Kingdom Hearts III Re:MIND DLC, the new secret boss battle and its outcome seems to be a metaphor for Nomura’s struggles regarding Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Kingdom Hearts III. It was either putting Kingdom Hearts III into stasis or abandoning Versus XIII, which was later turned into a different game helmed by a different director: Final Fantasy XV, directed by Hajime Tabata.
For more context, please watch The Night Sky Prince’s full theory below.
This being said: Is Nomura-San doing the same here? He is the creative head of the project after all and was even the first game’s main director.
Does Defying Destiny represent the tampering of our own memories of the original game in a Remake of it, which contains the concept of memories as one of its biggest lore components? Is this question mark version of Sephiroth, as the Ultimania book calls him, actually Nomura-San himself?!
It all makes sense now!!
Outro
Phew… and with this daring prediction and crazy meta theory, we conclude our long running series of analysis videos covering the mysteries of Final Fantasy VII Remake. I hope you were able to learn something new and enjoyed the ride! What’s your take on Zack’s new purpose? What does this unknown journey have in store for him and the others? Does this final conclusion make sense to you? Am I on point or have I gone completely off the rails? Let us know in the comments below or on our Discord server.
But before you do, let me express my deepest gratitude to all our supporters, viewers, active Discord members, and content creators who contributed in any way, shape, or form to the creation of those in-depth analysis videos. Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know exactly what’s next, but I do have a few topics in mind I’d like to cover this year. So, please be excited!
That being said, thank you all so much for sticking with us until the end of this video and have a wonderful day.
Stay safe and take care!
Vyzzuvazzadth signing off.
Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on your opinion on an alive Biggs in the Beagle world—this turned out to be partially wrong. FFVII Rebirth confirms Biggs to be alive in the Terrier world, which in turn means that all other scenes containing golden Whisper dust also depict the Terrier world. Marlene’s ending scene should therefore happen in the Terrier world as well, given the identical bright and sunny lighting, though this remains unconfirmed. Marlene exists in both worlds and we don’t see the yellow lilies in FFVII Rebirth’s Terrier world anymore—that world is devoid of living flowers in general. This would point towards Marlene’s ending scene happening in the Beagle world instead. Either we have to wait until the third and final installment or we’ll never know for sure.
Remember that Zack’s last stand happened around two months prior to the first bombing mission on the FFVII timeline.
That account unfortunately does not exist anymore.
Well… about that. FFVII Rebirth wants to have a word with you.
It has been since confirmed that the Remake series we indeed be a trilogy, not four games, or even just two. This discussion has therefore become obsolete.
About that…Rebirth introduced them again in chapter 9. But now there are two types: black and white instead of just gray.
Dropped Frames and Easy Allies respectively.
Alternative thought: Zack’s final battle in Crisis Core happens against Genesis while Cloud’s final battles in the original game and Advent Children is fought against Sephiroth. Merging both metaphorically results in a two-winged Sephiroth
According to previous theories. No official confirmation exists.