Rebirth through Altered Memories | Game Analysis #30
The first proper Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer at Summer Game Fest 2023 provided a bunch of new story and plot mysteries to chew on and we will dive into all of them.
Table of Contents
Introduction
After an involuntary hiatus caused by several factors, I’m getting back into the weeds to deliver answers to the mysteries lurking in the first proper Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer which premiered at the tail end of Summer Game Fest 2023.
Disclaimer: When the third trailer dropped during the State of Play stream on September 14th, I was still writing furiously on this article, making great progress. Only the last chapter was left—The Big Picture. To not taint this article with foresight and knowledge from that new trailer, I decided not to watch the State of Play stream and go dark until after I publish this article.
Thus, everything you read in here is only based off of knowledge prior to the release of this 3rd trailer. Whether you trust me on this is inconsequential to me. My main goal is to bring you all as a genuine analysis as possible and not to garner brownie points by “being right.”
Anyway, back to the article.
The trailer starts off with a bang showing a live Shinra news broadcast presenting a scene which does not connect to its predecessor at all: a Midgar damaged by a tornado that wrecked sectors 2, 1, and 0, and—most disturbingly—Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith being wheeled into helicopters on stretchers. Are they just injured or even dead? Where is Cloud? Is that him underneath that black robe following the others through the Whirlwind Maze to the Reunion?
Amongst all that confusion, we are presented with a lot of new but familiar sights, encounters, and locations, lulling us into the warm blanket of nostalgia, telling us it’s all going to be OK. Those other strange visuals aren’t real.
…or are they?
⚠️ Warning: You are now entering spoiler territory for the entire Final Fantasy VII canon, including the original game, the compilation, the novels, and Remake.
Warm-Up
Let’s get through all of that one question at a time, starting with entering the lush greenery where this unknown journey continues, getting a few less mind-blowing segments out of the way before we tackle the good stuff.
White Portal
What’s the symbolism of walking through the white exit?
While this might just represent realistic lighting when entering a new area bathed in bright sunlight after spending a longer period of time in a dark space, it could hold significant symbolism.
Here, we exit an interior space through a gate into white light in front of us. In Zack’s bonus scene at the end of Episode INTERmission, he enters an indoor space through a gate filled with white light behind him. Furthermore, Zack pulls the gate wings towards the light while Cloud pushes them into the light. Even the camera is flipped. Zack looks and moves towards us while Cloud looks and moves away with his back turned to us. Quite the opposing imagery, like them crossing paths across time and space in a shot filled with white light.
Beside that last one, Remake shows more scenes happening in a purely white space. Each time in a metaphysical context, like True Cloud talking to Facade Cloud or experiencing a flashback of Sephiroth talking about his birthright.
The white light could therefore be considered a portal to and from memories. Zack emerges from the planet’s established memory where he died into a new world where he lives while Cloud’s party emerges from the dark depths of doomed world and dives into a new version of the planet’s memory resembling the original continuity, albeit one without any guard rails. The Universe of Creation, as a seemingly innocuous comment on the storyboard for Cloud and Sephiroth’s clash at the Edge of Creation found in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Ultimania book on page 270 suggests.
Sounds like Cloud’s continuity is about creating a new future based on the original chain of events while Zack’s continuity is filled with destruction, death, and despair. Sephiroth’s triple-D…
Anyway, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the words “The Unknown Journey Continues” are shown right before Cloud opens the door and only begin to fade out when white light starts seeping in from the outside.
I could be reading too much into it, but Remake has been using such symbolism a lot, so we cannot discount it.
Lifestream Particles
Why are Lifestream particles floating around the area close to the back exit of Kalm?
Good question. Normally, we only see Lifestream particles emerge from Mako reactor exhausts and the pools within, as well as Mako pipe leaks as seen in Remake’s opening cinematic.
Here, however, green Lifestream particles are ascending from the ground and dancing above the flowers before disappearing again. And only during the scene where the party enters the lush outside world behind what we can presume to be Kalm’s outer wall or an outpost close by.
The only other place in the trailer with Lifestream particles is the Nibelheim reactor’s interior outside of Jenova’s chamber where Tifa attacks Sephiroth. But again, the source of those particles are broken Mako pipes.
Even though a few blue pipes can be spotted in that scene and the following run through the field, those green particles do not seem rise from any of those pipes directly. During shots containing visible particles, Aerith talks about the planet still going strong despite everything they’ve done to it. During and after Red XIII’s retort that it only appears this way, no more particles can be seen.
Aerith: “Wow! Just look at it all. It’s so green, even after everything we’ve done to it. It’s still going strong.”
Red XIII: “It may look that way, but in reality, it’s barely hanging on.”
We also haven’t seen any wild Lifestream particles in Remake or any other Final Fantasy VII entry thus far—unless I’m forgetting about an instance. If so, please let me know. The source is always either a leaky Mako pipe, a Mako pool, a killed enemy, or a dream.
The source of the Lifestream particles at the start of Rebirth’s First Look teaser trailer is debatable but if the leaky pipe during the fade-in at the start is not the source, we would how have 2 instances of wild Lifestream particles, both in the context of Rebirth and possibly connected to memories.
Or they merely represent the abundance of life in this place, leading Aerith to feel good for the planet.
Glitched Transition
Why does the screen start glitching when Tifa asks what Sephiroth is doing here in the present?
The trailer director pulled a sneaky one here. Before the glitch becomes too strong or the scene transitions to the next, it cuts to black and the next thing we see is the Reunion Walk through the Whirlwind Maze, identical to one of Cloud’s visions in Remake, specifically chapter 3 when being touched by Marco at Stargazer Heights. But more on that later.
I firmly believe that those 2 scenes mentioned above are not connected in any way and that only the trailer editing makes them seem like they are.
In all honesty, I think this green memory glitch fading in over Tifa asking what Sephiroth was doing 5 years ago is a simple transition back into Cloud’s retelling of the events of the Nibelheim incident 5 years ago. And since that retelling—while true in its core—is partially a false and partially suppressed memory, the transition telegraphs this by showing that green glitch effect. Just like the transitions to and from a partially false childhood memory of Tifa in Remake chapter 1, for example.
Yuffie’s Fear
Why is Yuffie so afraid of what’s happening with Sephiroth in the cargo ship’s engine room?
This is not much of a mystery but still worth talking about due to its implications.
Yuffie becomes frightened, even terrorized, when Sephiroth turns into purple smoke and fills a good chunk of the room with it during the transformation to one of Jenova’s monstrous forms. None of the others had such a visceral reaction to the same effect in president Shinra’s suite at the top floor of the Shinra building.
It is possible that she’s just afraid of such ghastly and supernatural displays, like Tifa is afraid of ghosts. Even if that were true, her reaction here seems a bit over the top. Or does it? Think back at what she experienced towards the end of Episode INTERmission deep in Shinra’s belly: Deepground. Their confrontation with Nero specifically. He exuded a lot of purple “stuff” like particles, tentacles, and smoke, too.
Furthermore, she had to watch Nero gruesomely stab and, from her perspective, kill Sonon before the latter shoved her into the elevator’s safety. Her intense reaction to a similar purple sight is thus understandable.
And it implies that the Yuffie in our party has gone through all the events depicted during Episode INTERmission, being barred from entering Seventh Heaven by Whispers included.
Barret’s Tattoo
There have been talks about Barret’s tattoo not being present in the news broadcast scene. While interesting if true, it merely fell victim to YouTube’s video compression. That it appears blurry at first even in the much sharper PlayStation Store version of the trailer doesn’t help either. However, when the motion blur effect subsides, we can clearly see his tattoo of a black skull surrounded by red tribal flames underneath the dirt and soot on his arm.
I initially didn’t plan on including this detail due to its irrelevant nature, but I felt the urge to do so anyway so nobody can claim that I missed it or didn’t talk about it.
So, there you go. You’re welcome. 🙂
Getting Serious
After that warm-up with basic explanations, references, and symbolism, let’s tackle the more serious parts before going off the rails with this trailer’s crazy mysteries.
Outfit Change
Why does Yuffie have a slightly different outfit and what changed?
Animations, Ratings & Fitting in
The first answer is as simple as it’s boring. Her INTERmission outfit, which is very close to her original one, might have posed problems for certain animations and possibly ratings—she’s 16, wears a singular braced fishnet stocking, has her almost-hot-pants unbuttoned, and shows a sizable midriff. She will play a much bigger role in Rebirth after all. Episode INTERmission by contrast only consisted of 2 chapters and Yuffie was covered up by the Moogle cloak for almost half of it.1
But why didn’t they just apply this redesign from the start? Fan service, presumably. And to not upset the core fans by changing some core aspects of her original outfit. But by providing this faithful version of Yuffie in a DLC—small changes aside—her redesign for Rebirth doesn’t come as such a shock. Though, I suppose purists still want Nomura’s heads on a spike for belting up her pants. I still remember the uproar over Tifa’s rather tame redesign…
Personally, I prefer Yuffie’s adjusted outfit. The segmented arm guard looks more interesting compared to the rather bland, single-unit, and unicolored original guard and a practical thigh bag trumps fishnet stockings attached to an unwieldy and uncomfortable-looking leg braces contraption. Her Rebirth redesign feels similar to that of the other characters and thus makes her fit in a bit better, at least in my opinion. Possibly another reason for the design change.
Plot Inclusion
The second answer is tied to the lore. She visited the AVALANCHE outpost at Fort Condor2 and upgraded her arm guard to a segmented one for better mobility and stability, replaced the purposeless leg braces stocking combo with a handy side bag strapped to her left thigh doubling as a belt for her pants, and lost the yellow bandana hanging from her shoulder guard. A pretty neat gear upgrade for her upcoming adventures. It would also represent her growth between her time in Midgar and the unknown journey with the others during Rebirth.
Tied to the New Mystery
And then there’s this third and rather crazy possibility. She was not in the Singularity when Cloud’s party defied fate and was thus subject to the changes caused by the Whispers’ demise, like everybody else. However, that cannot be reconciled with the rest of our existing theories regarding Remake and Rebirth.3 Furthermore, Yuffie was wearing her previous outfit when overlooking the (supposed) Midgardsormr marshes on a Chocobo. According to the developers,4 she left Midgar around the same time as Cloud’s party. That scene with her on the Chocobo can thus not take place before Remake chapter 18. Moreover, she’s not in the altered reality with an alive Zack, Terrier Stamp, and a burning Midgar (allegedly) as she meets up with Cloud and the others later. Episode INTERmission and thus Remake happened in her “timeline.”
Unless you’d like to make a case for the Yuffie in Episode INTERmission’s post-credit scene not being the same one who joins Cloud’s party during their unknown journey in Rebirth. While theoretically possible, I fail to see this twist having any benefit for Rebirth’s plot or storytelling. Sure, we’re shown other main characters in a seemingly different continuity. However, Yuffie’s Chocobo scene is not displayed in a way that screams parallel universe and paradox like the beginning of Rebirth’s Summer Game Fest trailer. On the contrary, it fits perfectly into the flow of events Cloud & friends are in.
Impostor
Is Tifa really an impostor?
At the end of the Summer Game Fest trailer, Sephiroth asks Cloud whether he knows that Sephiroth killed “her” and who “she” is.
Sephiroth: “Do you know that I killed her? So, who is she?”
It’s not entirely clear in the English version that he is referring to Tifa through dialogue alone as Aerith would be another fitting candidate, though it can be inferred by the imagery shown during those lines: Sephiroth cutting down Tifa after her failed attempt to take revenge for her dad and village by attacking Sephiroth with his own weapon, the Masamune. In Japanese and German on the other hand, Tifa is called by name, making it definitive.
German:
Sephiroth: “Tifa died by my hand. So, who is this woman?“5
Japanese:
Sephiroth: “I'm supposed to have killed Tifa. So, who is that?”6
This clearly suggests that Sephiroth tries to make Cloud doubt Tifa’s legitimacy and thus break down their bond. A bond that stands in conflict with Sephiroth’s attempts to exert control over Cloud. A bond which will eventually mend Cloud’s mind. Sephiroth cannot allow that to happen, so he aims to break them apart.
This is another contributing piece of evidence to our theory that Sephiroth traveled back into past memories of the planet to change history in his favor.7 He seems to know a lot about future events—just like Aerith.8 How else would he appear earlier than expected and act differently if that were not the case? He already tried to keep Cloud away from his friends-to-be in Remake—especially Aerith—and seems to continue to do so in Rebirth but focusing on Tifa now; Cloud’s emotional support pillar and anchor to his true past.
Interestingly, Rebirth’s First Look teaser trailer already planted the seed of Tifa possibly being an impostor. Cloud tells Tifa and the others in what state he found her in upon arriving at the Nibelheim reactor following Sephiroth’s arson raid on their hometown. Cloud thought she was a goner. In the original story, Tifa remained silent. But in Rebirth, she wants clarification as it sounded to her like Cloud thinks she died back then and that her present self is just an impostor.9 The seeds for this division have already been sown.
However, I do not believe that what Rebirth presents to us is actually true. She’s the same Tifa that Cloud grew up with. But as mentioned before, Sephiroth needs to mess with Cloud’s head to break his spirit and tear him apart from his friends; Tifa specifically. By making him doubt her, Cloud will lose an important mental support pillar.
By making both of them believe that current-day Tifa is a clone or doppelganger of the real Tifa who was killed by Sephiroth 5 years ago, they would certainly grow more distant over time. It will also mess with the player. Since we’re not bound by fate any longer, such changes in the narrative would be possible.
Diving into the Mystery
It’s time to sink our teeth into the meatiest part of this trailer: Shinra’s live broadcast of the disaster that just took place in Midgar. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s start with facts and innocuous yet significant discrepancies.
Destructive Tornado
What is the scale of the damage?
According to the news anchor of Shinra’s live broadcast, a tornado is responsible for the damage we see on screen.
News anchor: “We’re still here at the scene of this terrible disaster. Caused by a massive tornado which swept through sector 0, 1, and 2. Amidst the wreckage of the expressway, search and rescue operations are already in progress.”
A tornado, huh? Where have we seen one before? On several occasions, actually. In Remake chapter 16 during Sephiroth’s extra showcase after the regular Cosmos Theater presentation in the Shinra building, we see a partial recreation of the original game’s ending where Meteor’s fiery tornadoes rip into Midgar before Holy shows up.
Incidentally, they start by wrecking sector 2 between reactors number 2 (弐) and 3 (参) and end at the Shinra building in sector 0, the same order of sectors the news anchor mentioned. Just a coincidence or ingenious foreshadowing? Furthermore—and that might also be just coincidence—during Sephiroth’s appearance in chapter 18 after beating Whisper Harbinger, it’s mainly the sector 2 plate that’s being lifted up by the Meteor tornadoes.
But that’s not all. Also in chapter 18 but much earlier, the party is chased and sucked up by two purple soul tornadoes10 at the end of the expressway in the second Midgar behind the Whisper portal Sephiroth created and Aerith purified—the Singularity. However, those tornadoes emerge in sector 5, not 2. Keep this in mind.
And lo and behold, the first of those very same tornadoes briefly makes an appearance in the Summer Game Fest 2023 rebirth trailer as well. Where you ask? During the first seven frames11 before the news footage of the disaster is shown. While similar, it does look quite different to its Remake version, most likely because this section of the trailer is pre-rendered cinematic footage and not in-engine capture and thus had to be completely redone.
While the Meteor’s tornadoes might have been foreshadowing for a destroyed sector 2, the tornado being talked about is certainly the one from Remake chapter 18 which sucked up memory copies of a crane and even a chunk of the expressway itself.
However, that happened in the Singularity and also in sector 5. While unconfirmed, the glitched images of this very tornado from Remake right before the news broadcast about the aftermath of a tornado is indication enough for me to draw the conclusion that those are connected.
Furthermore, those tornadoes did lift lots of debris into the air, which was used by Whisper Harbinger to lob at Cloud and as floating platforms by our party to fight and defy the Arbiter of Fate. If such a tornado ripped through Midgar, not in the Singularity where the image of Midgar seemed to only be a representation of the memory of it, it would certainly cause damage of a scale this news broadcast shows to us:
Broken buildings around the Shinra building in sector 0,
Half of the sector 2 plate missing, similar to sector 6,
Fires everywhere in sectors 2 and 1, as well as a in sector 3 adjacent to sector 2.
It does look like that tornado in the Singularity had a mirror twin somewhere which wrecked Midgar in the way we’re shown here. But why in sector 2? Let’s put a pin in that for now.
Innocuous Change
Why “News Today” and not “Midgar Today”?
We found another change that feels weird and doesn’t seem to have any obvious reason behind it. In Remake, all news broadcasts contain 2 elements: the SNNet NEWS logo and a rectangular label reading “MIDGAR TODAY.” While the SNNet logo remains the same, albeit a bit fancied-up with several red diamond shaped elements behind it, the white text label now reads “NEWS TODAY.“
Why?
It’s such a small and innocuous change which doesn’t seem to matter, yet they decided to do it anyway while keeping the SSNet NEWS logo intact. You could argue that the live broadcast format asks for a different term. However, a completely new and ostentatious banner in the top left already exists which tells us that it is in fact a live broadcast. News is news, live or not. Even the broadcast in Remake chapter 7 was live, but still said MIDGAR TODAY and didn’t even use a live broadcast banner.
Another strange deviation to the pile.
More Questionable Observations
Are there other discrepancies?
A big one is the layout of buildings and facilities on the sector 2 and 3 plates. Near the Shinra building in sector 0, almost everything seems to match the official key art render of Remake Midgar. However, the farther away from the center, the less the similarities as displayed by the comparison below.
With this live broadcast being a pre-rendered cinematic scene, you’d think they would reuse an already existing Midgar model, like the one from the key art render. Can this be explained away by assuming that both were made by different teams, that the cinematic cutscene team used assets from the skybox team, for example, or is there more to it?
When comparing the key art render and the scene from the trailer to Remake’s opening movie—also a pre-rendered cinematic scene—it is clear that the burning Midgar model in the trailer scene is a different model. The key art render of Midgar and the Midgar in Remake’s opening movie show the exact same model with the same details on the plates.
So why, then, has Rebirth’s representation of Midgar in this strange opening scene a different city layout on the plates? On to the pile it goes.
Wrong Sectors
Why sectors 2, 1, and 0?
Let’s return to our pinned thought and talk about the sector numbers. The tornado within the Singularity happens just outside of sector 5. The Shinra building’s front looks right at reactor number 5, as seen in this screenshot from chapter 7 where the fight against Airbuster takes place right in front of the 5th reactor which has a perfect view on the front of the Shinra building.
When everybody gets sucked up by the tornado, we can also see the Shinra building in the background looking towards us and just afterwards, Cloud is floating above sector 5 as we can see the unfinished sector 6 just to the left.
Furthermore, each reactor sits in the separation gap between its own and the lower-numbered sector as seen in this screenshot depicting the broken and unfinished sector 6 plate which is located between reactors number 6 (六) and 7 (七).
So, if we are talking about the end of the expressway before and within the Singularity, we are also talking about sector 5. Meaning, even if that tornado also appeared in the version of Midgar pre Singularity, it would still wreck sector 5 and not 2. Moreover, even within the Singularity, we did not see any tornado destroying sector 5. It only sucked up our party into the air and turned objects into debris by copying them. While Cloud is floating high up in the air above Midgar, no damage can be seen below.
What if this is somehow The First Soldier version of Midgar? According to this official screenshot, the Shinra building’s front is looking towards reactor number 1.
Either somebody did not get the memo about how Midgar is constructed, or there’s more behind it. The First Soldier reactor’s backside is also flat, like those seen during and after Zack’s last stand.
However, those do not bear any numbers on their backs, conveniently hiding any connection to The First Soldier. However, sector 6 is correctly situated to the Shinra building’s front right here compared to The First Soldier where it’s located to the Shinra building’s rear left. So, that connection also does not hold up. Plus, as discussed above, Midgar’s layout, at least closer towards sector 0, is in line with Remake’s version of Midgar—the correct one. Yes, we do not see any reactor’s backside in the Rebirth trailer’s live broadcast scene, so that is something we need to have a lookout for in a future trailer or the game itself when it drops.
With all that being said, this Shinra news broadcast talking about sectors 2, 1, and 0 is not referring to the same tornado we witnessed at the end of Remake. At least not directly. Which leads us to the next question.
Fact or Fiction
Could the news broadcast be a fake propaganda video?
Spoilers: no. At least I cannot find any evidence or logical reasoning for it being one.
Why? It looks and sounds too sincere and we have never seen completely doctored footage thus far. Only real ones taken out of context and reused, like AVALANCHE breaking through a fence in sector 1’s reactor premises during a broadcast in the context of the reactor 5 bombing. Footage of citizens in the sector 5 undercity, the aftermath of the bombing, and the interview with Scarlet were also real.
Shinra would also not be able to pretend that a city-wide catastrophe which everybody can see is happening right now, as a lack thereof would be noticed instantly. What’s more, they also don’t blame an enemy for this atrocity and just report on the situation. At least in the segment we are shown. Moreover, they are mentioning a search and rescue operation while Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith are shown on screen, implying that they are mere victims of the catastrophe. Again, it is possible that we are missing key information for this segment and Shinra will blame this on somebody or a group later in the broadcast.
It also does not seem to be initiated or crafted by Shinra. It’s live footage of a disaster not caused by themselves in some fashion or even a clear enemy, rather by higher forces, like a tornado of souls.12
Was it just a random desert tornado or is it connected to the Singularity after all? to answer that, we need to have a closer look at more details this segment provides.
Questioning Reality
We are now foraging into treacherous grounds. Reality is not what it seams. Stay alert at all times. Never stop asking questions.
Critical Condition
Are Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, and Aerith dead or only severely injured and unconscious?
Hard to say. They are placed on stretchers and wheeled into helicopters, each with a blanket thrown onto them and not stuffed into body bags. This is how you would handle injured individuals. Unless Shinra paramedics handle fallen individuals like this, too. Who knows.
It is true that body bags would cover our view on them, but there are ways around this: have them zip the bags up after we get a good look on them or leave them open at the top for the scene. That’s how it’s done in movies and TV shows.
There is another detail to consider which points towards them only being injured and unconscious. Tifa’s arm flops down halfway through the shot. You don’t have to be dead for this to happen. On the contrary, rigor mortis13 would even prevent that from happening. Though it heavily depends on how much time has passed between their death and this scene in the trailer. If this search and rescue mission happens no more than maybe 2-4 hours after their death, rigor mortis may not have set in yet in the arms.
In any case, it is more likely that Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith are not dead in this scene.
Quick aside: It’s a nice touch that Barret and Tifa a.k.a. AVALANCHE are shown being moved into a helicopter together while Red XIII and Aerith share another helicopter, both being the supposed last of their kind.
That’s nice and good and all, but… How in the stagnant Lifestream are our heroes and heroines caught up in a tornado that never existed while simultaneously running through fields, forests, and mines across the planet!? Where is Cloud!?
All in due time.
Sephiroth’s Feather
Why does Sephiroth’s feather have a white tuft at its base?
“Sephiroth’s feather? Where?”
Right after the close-up on Aerith’s face, another series of glitched images—14 frames this time, another multiple of 7—flash across the screen. This time, they depict a pre-rendered cinematic version of the falling feather near the end of the expressway just after Cloud screeches to a halt upon having another vision of Sephiroth further ahead on the road.
There are 2 interesting points to this glitch. One concerning the image, the other the location in the trailer.
White Tuft
As with the first glitched images, we get a glimpse of a scene that happened in Remake. As if a memory from somewhere else seeps into the current reality. But more on that later.
The feather shown in the Rebirth trailer bears a white tuft at its base instead of a black one as seen in Remake. What’s more, that white tuft looks eerily similar to the one on the white feather floating towards Zack and Cloud in Rebirth’s First Look teaser trailer.
If we look even closer, the rest of both feathers also looks nearly identical, down to the structure and how the individual barbs flow and fall. Quite curious, isn’t it? Just a matter of asset re-usage—both are pre-rendered cinematic cutscenes for the same game—and color palette swap, or is the white feather Sephiroth in disguise, making sure Cloud follows his new path, one more to Sephiroth’s liking?
Hold that thought. That’s for later.
While I’m inclined to believe that this is merely a product of improved fidelity in a pre-rendered cinematic scene compared to an in-engine cutscene combined with asset re-usage—as Ockham’s Razor demands—one cannot deny that Sephiroth’s black feather in Remake’s ending cinematic, which is also pre-rendered and presumably made by the same team (Square Enix Image Studio Division), does not bear that white tuft and instead only a few lighter-colored barbs at its base.
On the other hand, it is possible that they just wanted to portray feathers more realistically as most feathers do bear such a white tuft, like those of a Turkey Vulture (left) or a Bald Eagle (right).
Although the feathers of some birds are lacking such a fluffy tuft at their base, like those of a Boat-Tailed Grackle.
If you fancy a perusal through an assortment of avian plumage, feel free to visit this page here.
In essence: it’s either merely a stylistic choice or this slow whitening of Sephiroth’s feather bears significant lore meaning. Is he trying to purify himself of Jenova’s influence and corruption to use Omega and leave the planet to sail the cosmos? After all, Weiss was born from pure Lifestream with the goal to pilot Omega, which was thwarted by a forceful merging with Nero, a being born from stagnant Lifestream.
Interestingly, the field and battle UI both contain more white elements in Rebirth compared to Remake
Connection to Aerith
Now on to the second interesting point regarding Sephiroth’s black feather glitch.
It incidentally appears right after the close-up shot on a seemingly dead Aerith. Could it be any more on the nose, punch in the face, or hammer on the head?
This also reminds me of this one image from the E3 2015 reveal trailer where we see a few yellow lilies—Aerith’s signature flower—lying on the ground and a black feather floating down onto a puddle reflecting a one-winged angel statue. A black feather bearing a majestic and also black tuft. Not white. Huh.
I think the imagery of and references to Aerith’s original fate are overwhelming at this point.
“They only show all of that to make the twist of her living even more impactful!“
Perhaps, but I prefer evidence over conjecture and the evidence keeps pointing to her dying—through imagery, dialogue, and even interviews.
Larger Context
With this set of glitched images and the first one depicting the tornado, I can confidently say that both sets of glitches represent a window into a different memory realm from the live broadcast’s point of view. Meaning, the tornado and Sephiroth’s feather stem from the Remake continuity we played through and this live broadcast shows a scene from an alternate continuity.
Furthermore, the tornado the news anchor is talking about was most likely just such a purple tornado encroaching on our party in the Singularity. And the focus on Sephiroth’s feather indicates to me that this live broadcast is a result of his manipulations with memories. But more on that later.
Whispers Return
Why are there Whispers flying around the place?
“What are you talking about, Vyzz. Have you gone mad?”
Not at all. Look very closely. And please watch the PlayStation Store version of the trailer. YouTube’s compression is not kind to such crucial details.
I, too, once thought that those flying particles were mere ashen particles and light, dancing debris like paper or something similar. However, when you start analyzing the movement and behavior of those flying particles, you will change your mind.
Top left: A Whisper which flies downwards towards the expressway and vanishes into the tarmac one frame after the one shown here. What other “particle” can fly through concrete like that?
Top right: This one floats casually towards the spot shown here, stays put for a bit, then swirls around and descends. Silhouette and behavior of this one are unmistakably those of a Whisper.
Bottom left: This chap comes barrel-rolling from the bright gap between the pillars of smoke near the reactor flying towards the top left. This is probably the one looking the most like a Whisper.
Bottom right: This one emerges from just above the low-flying helicopter and zooms right towards the upper left corner, slowly rolling around. Again, the silhouette heavily reminds of a Whisper.
There are dozens more on screen but those four listed above deserve a call-out for being the most conspicuous entities.
We’ve established that those flying particles are indeed Whispers. But why are they even here? Didn’t we defeat them at the end of Remake and made them explode using Braver?
In the continuity that follows the events of Remake, now unlocked by our actions in the Singularity, the Whispers are indeed gone, creating this unknown journey. At least that’s the most sensible interpretation if everything we did and experience during Remake has any meaning.
We already documented several irregularities and oddities about this live broadcast above. The existence of the Whispers just add more to the pile. However, they help guiding us into the right direction.
Seeing Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith injured in a disaster we never experienced, paired with the existence of Whispers can only lead to one conclusion: this scene does not happen in the same reality as Remake and our party’s journey across the planet since both continuities contradict each other.
But how is that possible? Patience. It will all be clear in the end.
Time and Space
Where and when is this catastrophe taking place?
This is probably the hardest question of them all.
You could answer with “in Midgar during our battle in the Singularity“ but that’s not really what this question is about. As mentioned before, this scene contradicts Remake and the rest of Rebirth’s trailer. In terms of time it must take place in the morning after our escape from the Shinra building, that much is certain. Otherwise, Barret and the others would not be there. Unless they went for a joyride across Midgar’s expressways and got caught up in this unfortunate event. Yeah… no.
The “where” is more interesting. As mentioned before, it cannot take place in the same continuity or reality as the unknown journey with Cloud and the others chasing Sephiroth and traveling the planet. We’ll go into more detail later but it’s entirely possible that this live broadcast happens in the continuity where Zack lives.
While this is mere conjecture, all those discrepancies I described above do remind of something: Terrier Stamp. It’s another thing that contradicts Remake’s continuity—as well as the square reactors and double-layered plates in the Midgar revealed after the Whisper dome explodes, but I’ve covered that in Game Analysis #27 already extensively.
Terrier Stamp, NEWS TODAY, Whispers, AVALANCHE injured/dead and without Cloud… Something ain’t right here.
Clouded Horizon
Speaking of Cloud, where is he? And I’m not talking about the one we see running around the fields with the others.
Conspicuous Absence
Why is Cloud missing?
During the live broadcast in the beginning of the trailer, we only see Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith, but no Cloud anywhere. It’s as if AVALANCHE tried to do AVALANCHE things and failed due to lacking Cloud’s strength.
It’s also interesting how Cloud is all alone right after everybody gets whirled high up into the air by those two tornadoes in the Singularity. Then he meets up with Barret and Tifa first and after 2 battles, the trio finally meets up with Red XIII and Aerith. Doesn’t that remind you of something else? Barret and Tifa together and Red XIII and Aerith together?
Again, could all be coincidence. The groupings do make sense. Tifa and Barret are a part of AVALANCHE while Aerith and Red XIII share the memory of the future and represent both the last of their kind. On the other hand, why not load the best bros and best gals on the same helicopter each? Pairing up by friendship status works, too. Maybe due to weight and load capacity? Red XIII and especially Barret are much heavier than Tifa and Aerith combined, so the pairing in the trailer makes the most sense in that regard.
Long story short: it’s a nice parallel but certainly not evidence enough, let alone proof for anything. Though we should still keep it in mind.
But there is more to Cloud’s absence.
Gone to Reunion
Why is now Cloud shown in the vision of the Reunion at the Whirlwind Maze?
Later in the trailer, we are shown an exact replication of the vision Cloud receives upon being grabbed by the ankle by Marco at Stargazer Heights. With the only difference that it’s Cloud underneath the hood instead of (presumably) Marco. everything else is literally identical.
What if Cloud never inherited Zack’s legacy because the latter never died, kept suffering from the effects of Mako poisoning, ended up in Tifa’s care next to Marco or even instead of Marco—or in a completely different place, never meeting Tifa at all—and later walked off like all the other numbered and robed individuals while AVALANCHE was doing AVALANCHE things? Wouldn’t he eventually end up at the Reunion at the northern crater in the Whirlwind Maze with all the other Hojo experiments?
Next question: wouldn’t that also neatly play into Sephiroth’s plan of using Cloud as his puppet and eventually as his vessel for his Rebirth, allowing him to either avert the planet’s demise or leave it behind before it dies?
Food for thought.
In any case, this does feel like another vision and not a real event. What if possible futures of another reality start bleeding into the continuity where this unknown journey takes place and Cloud and the others are still largely following the original chain of events? Or maybe it’s just Cloud who is able to unconsciously tap into that other possibility of a story which may or may not actually exist or which even tries to compete with their reality.
Tifa’s Doubts
What is the meaning of Tifa asking Aerith about her doubts regarding Cloud’s story?
First off, this dialogue never happens in the original game.
Tifa: “I was wondering, what’s Cloud been doing this past 5 years? Where’s he been?”
Aerith: “And…you’re asking me this?”
Tifa: “This is gonna sound crazy, but…as far as I know, Cloud was never in Nibelheim 5 years ago.”
Tifa never brought that doubt up to anybody. Not even during Sephiroth’s illusion of a burning Nibelheim at the northern crater where he shows Cloud, Tifa, and the third party member the photo of Sephiroth, Tifa, and Zack. She does tell Cloud not to listen to or think about Sephiroth’s words calling Cloud an incomplete clone constructed by Hojo and even calls out that it is a lie. She doesn’t want to contribute to Sephiroth’s manipulations. Yet, she cannot tell her full truth—that she never saw Cloud in Nibelheim 5 years ago—because she doesn’t know how without making things worse.
The whole point of the reveal about Cloud never having made it into SOLDIER was to keep this fact hidden until the Lifestream sequence with him and Tifa where the whole truth comes to light by reconciling Tifa’s memories with Cloud’s true past.
Tifa bringing up this doubt out loud seems like a huge change. At least at surface level. Tifa is talking to Aerith here. We do not know who else is present, so it is entirely possible that Tifa only confides in Aerith about her doubts and nobody else. In that sense, it would not contradict the original story in any way.
However, we the players do witness their conversation in Rebirth, making us doubt both Cloud and Tifa instead of just experiencing her doubts locked in her heart14 from the outside perspective in the form of silence and suspicious comments during the original story.
Combining this with the newly established plot point of Tifa possibly being an impostor informs us about Rebirth’s direction. Tifa has not encountered or seen Cloud in Nibelheim 5 years ago. Still, Cloud’s tale about that incident was on point, at least in terms of events, so how is it possible that he knows so much as if he was there?
Tifa might start doubting her own memories or even existence, especially considering that she should have died at Sephiroth’s hands. Cloud thought she was a goner, implying that she should not have survived, and at an undefined point in the future, Sephiroth claims to have killed Tifa back then. What is fact and what is fiction?
It is entirely possible that Sephiroth now tries to flip the original narrative on its head by making it seem like Tifa is the one misremembering and not being what she claims to be while at the same time reinforcing Cloud’s delusions, driving a wedge between them.
If he manages to emotionally and eventually physically separate Tifa from Cloud before proceeding to break his mind anyway using the same tactic as in the original story—showing Cloud the photo with Zack instead of Cloud and claiming that Cloud was just a failed Sephiroth clone, not even given a number—Tifa will not be there to put Cloud’s mind back together.
This is how I believe Sephiroth will try to make Cloud into his puppet. At the end of Remake, Cloud refused to join Sephiroth in his quest to defy destiny. Cloud had still too much agency and the bonds with his friends was still too strong.
To achieve compliance, Sephiroth needs to sever the bond between Tifa and Cloud, and get rid of Aerith in a more final way.15 She’s trying to find the real Cloud after all—Which might point to the Aerith Gold Saucer Date being locked in and canon now. With those two main support pillars gone, Sephiroth only needs to somehow make sure that Cloud’s true self remains suppressed and that he doesn’t reconvene with the rest of the party anymore.
But back to the dialogue itself. Where might it take place? Hard to tell. However, if the main chain of events remains, it has to happen before traveling to the Temple of the Ancients as there are no more opportunities afterwards for Tifa and Aerith to talk to each other.
I also think that they should not wait for too long after the flashback concludes. Two possibilities would be the ferry ride to Costa Del Sol—Aerith and Tifa are talking there in private while undercover as Shinra troops16—or at Costa Del Sol afterwards where all party members go about their businesses by themselves for a bit.
However, there’s a more poignant location for this conversation to take place: Gongaga, Zack’s hometown. It is completely optional in the original game, but you can visit Zack’s parents there and talk to them to learn about their son having joined SOLDIER but they haven’t heard from him in years.
If you bring Aerith and Tifa with you, they both leave the house and Cloud can talk to both individually afterwards. With the whole party being present for most events in Rebirth, even during battles,17 it is therefore possible that Tifa pulls Aerith aside for a moment to ask about Cloud after they all visited Zack’s home together. It’s Zack who Tifa remembers being in Nibelheim after all. Not Cloud. So it would be the perfect time to bring it up to her best friend in private.
Even so, it is a topic she should ask Cloud directly, hence Aerith’s confused reply. How would Aerith know anyway?18 But Tifa just cannot talk to Cloud about this huge discrepancy yet. What if she’s the one misremembering? Yes, she already prodded Cloud about 5 years ago and what he had been doing since in Remake chapter 3, but Cloud did always have some kind of answer. However, Tifa also witnessed Cloud’s headache episodes and is most likely afraid to cause him more pain when confronting him directly, so she needs to make sure it’s not her that’s in the wrong.
And this is exactly what can lead to the divide between them, one desired by Sephiroth.
The Big Picture
Faithfulness
How faithful is Rebirth to the original game?
Rebirth continues what Remake started. Keep the core storyline, lore, and characters intact, build around that core by adding non-destructive expansions, and supplementing that package with a new mystery to keep things fresh instead of merely retreading known grounds.
Naturally, this approach inevitably leads to certain changes, like never visiting AVALANCHE’s hideout or replacing the prison with Aerith’s childhood home in Remake, so that’s also something we need to keep in mind when forming our expectations around Rebirth, even if those first two trailers haven’t shown any such deviations yet.
Direct retelling
This second trailer already shows very familiar scenes and places:
Their room in the Kalm inn where Cloud tells the others of the Nibelheim incident,
The Chocobo Farm,
The Mythril mines where we meet Rude and Elena,
Junon in the distance, complete with its signature canon as well as the beloved Highwind,
The passenger ferry’s engine room where the battle against Jenova BIRTH takes place,
And last but not least Tifa’s almost fatal confrontation with Sephiroth in the Nibelheim reactor.
We even get to see a small portion of Bugenhagen’s presentation about planetary life in his observatory by using a very beautiful projection of the solar system as visual aid.
Bugenhagen: “The Lifestream. It is the very essence of our star. The blood coursing through its planetary veins.”
Also note that this is yet another pre-rendered cinematic cutscene. Even with the high fidelity of games developed on current-generation hardware, like the PS5, certain scenes still require this format in order to be depicted as envisioned. Just like the original game.
We are also treated with a glimpse of a few known enemies, like a gray variation of the Wayward Wolf that first appeared in Episode INTERmission (possibly a Kalm Fang due to its color scheme and the existence of an Elfadunk in the distance), a Capparwire home to the Junon region and even an Elfadunk that roams the fields between Kalm and Chocobo Farm.
Some lines of dialogue in this trailer are also in line with the original retelling:
Rufus: “According to Hojo, they’re connected to Sephiroth. Shadows of the man I believe he called them?”
Who is he talking to, though? Possibly Cid, as he wants his Tiny Bronco to pursue Sephiroth. Though I do think this scenario is one of those that will receive a substantial overhaul due to the ridiculousness of the president of the worlds most powerful and influential company needing a tiny one-seater double-decker plane from a disgraced rocket pilot.
Rufus: “I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco. We're going after Sephiroth. But seems like we've been going in the wrong direction. But now, we think we know where he's headed. But, we have to cross the ocean. That's why we want your plane...”
Furthermore, the Japanese version of his line is more direct and reveals more information that the flowery but vague English localization:
Rufus: “They could be called manifestations of Sephiroth. If we follow, they will lead us to the real Sephiroth.”19
Another line that is congruent with the original story is the following:
Sephiroth: “They say she’s a monster. That she can peer inside you. Into the depths of your soul. That she can become those you hate, those you fear, those you love.”
The German and Japanese versions tell the same in essence, but provide more context.
German:
Sephiroth: “Long ago, there existed a monster. It could change its shape at will to deceive humans. Sometimes benevolent, sometimes terrifying, whatever was required at the time.”20
Japanese:
Sephiroth: “There was once a monster. This monster read the hearts of people and changed its shape. Showing the faces of those you fear, of those you love, controlling people.”21
While it is spoken over the scene in the passenger ferry’s engine room, I believe that this line stems from somewhere else in the game entirely. One fitting place would be right after Jenovaroth22 tricks Barret or Red XIII into bringing Cloud the Black Materia by making himself—Jenova’s body—look like Tifa and hiding the other party members from the scene through the power of illusion. Another point would be a bit earlier just before the fight against Jenova DEATH where Jenovaroth talks about the end of this body’s usefulness.
Expansions
As mentioned, Rebirth also seeks to expand on the faithful foundation a lot, as shown by the following scenes and elements:
It seems we exit Kalm through a backdoor leading right to the cliffs to the north-east instead of leaving it normally through its main entrance. It could also represent a small outpost close to Kalm with walls of similar architecture and connected to it by a tunnel. Are we being followed and have to sneak out of town?
Chocobos will receive more importance in terms of gameplay besides letting us cross swamps and other areas without being forced into random battles. According to the UI, we can call and mount our Chocobos at any time. No more Chocobo Lure and cumbersome battles to catch them for a one-off ride. While mounted, we are even able to scent and scour. Is this some variation of Chocobo Hot and Cold from Final Fantasy IX? Sniffing out treasure and then scour for it using the Chocobo’s beak? This would certainly add an additional layer to traversal and exploration.
R1 for calling a Chocobo, up for Scent and down for Scour. New bosses will also stand in our way, like this Mythril Golem in the Mythril Mines as well as Rude and Elena towards the end of the same location.
The sight of this golem boss monster makes me hopeful for a bigger focus on summon Materia and the lore behind them. There is a big one embedded right where one of its eyes would be. That supposed Mythril Golem also assembles itself before the battle commences. As if it had been summoned…
I’m sure there will be tons more expansions like this, similar to what we have seen in Remake with chapter 4 “Mad Dash”, lots of new side activity in certain locations, new characters with their own story and role in the game or even a completely new location like the Shinra underground test site in chapter 13 which was a reference to Deepground.
New mystery
While faithfulness is important to retain the look and feel for this remake trilogy and keep the main experience and story intact, expansions are also necessary due to the changed scope, what is now possible with today’s technology, and to flesh out the faithful experience with new and hopefully exciting content that keeps our journey across the planet fresh and does not just feel like a replay of the same game with prettier graphics and a remade soundtrack.
But what really makes this project special is the inclusion of new mysteries that run alongside the known story and events, even enriching them.23 How can you provide an experience similar to 1997 with the same wow factor in a remake of a 25+ years old game? You add new elements which keep even veterans on their toes throughout the whole story and lead players to consistently talk about the game, all the cool things they experienced, and its new mysteries for years to come, just like the original game did and still does to a certain degree due to its rich lore…and the compilation.
In the case of Remake, those elements were the Whispers, Aerith’s knowledge, Sephiroth’s additional appearances, and Zack’s and even Biggs’ survival, among other smaller aspects.
In Rebirth, we have this live broadcast of an event that contradicts the ending of Remake, Tifa’s questioning of Cloud’s side of the story and Sephiroth’s manipulation regarding the real Tifa having been dead for 5 years. Unresolved mysteries from Remake will also play into those points.
This trailer even makes such a connection at the Kalm inn before Cloud begins his retelling of the Nibelheim incident. In the original story, only Barret mentions Sephiroth and asks Cloud to tell his story.
Here, Cloud adds the fact that they fought him, which follows up on one of Remake’s new mysteries.
Cloud: “Sephiroth was in Midgar. We fought him. Whatever happened, he’s alive.”
Tifa: “This is gonna sound crazy, but…as far as I know, Cloud was never in Nibelheim 5 years ago.”
This confirms that our party remembers everything that happened in Remake. Those events are a part of their continuity. Whether the world around them does too is another issue.
Trailer Direction
Before we attempt to solve Rebirth’s mystery as good as we can with the limited amount of information, let’s quickly go over how the trailer is constructed.
Like in the First Look teaser trailer, it is enveloped by displays or the mention of new mysteries in Rebirth. The trailer begins with a scene entirely dedicated to a piece of the additional plot elements—an alternate aftermath of Remake’s conclusion—and ends with Sephiroth claiming that Tifa died by his hands and implying that the Tifa in Cloud’s party is somebody else.
Between those segments, we are shown many scenes that either reflect or enhance the original game’s chain of events, locations, and characters, just like in the First Look teaser trailer.
With one exception: Cloud under a black robe’s hood stuttering:
Cloud: “Re…u…nion.”
I’m pretty sure they decided to intersperse this longer trailer with an additional scene related to the new mysteries to not keep us too comfortable among all those other scenes familiar to us or new but still compliant with the original story and world.
I’m looking forward to seeing how future trailers are constructed. If they remain consistent, we can expect Rebirth to start and end with new plot elements, though I’m still hoping for a cold opening with Cloud and Sephiroth riding in the back of the Shinra truck on their way to Nibelheim.
Connecting the Dots
How does this new mystery fit into the original retelling?
Alright, let’s now finally try to connect all those mysteries we talked at length about in previous chapters to form a hopefully coherent picture.
First let’s summarize all those points discussed and add open ends from Remake. Will we be able to connect the dots yet?
Summary & Reminders
Rebirth has so far established the following mystery fragments:
An Inverse parallel between Cloud and Zack when opening doors to and from an area bathed in white light,
Free-floating Lifestream particles with seemingly no source other than nature itself,
Yuffie's PTSD-like reaction from her encounter with Nero and losing and thus failing Sonon,
Yuffie's "upgraded" outfit,
The implication that the Tifa in our party might be an impostor,
A tornado destroying parts of sectors 2, 1, and 0 instead of 5,
Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith being wheeled on stretchers into helicopters by Shinra's search and rescue team,
Glitched images showing a purple tornado from the Singularity and Sephiroth's black feather with an additional white tuft at its base, both shots stemming from Remake,
The change from MIDGAR TODAY to NEWS TODAY,
The partially different city layout on the plates compared to Remake,
The return of the Whispers around Midgar's partial destruction,
The absence of Cloud among his injured or dead friends being recovered from a destroyed expressway,
Cloud being underneath the black robe instead of another victim of Hojo's experiments during the very same vision of the future seen in Remake already,
The bigger focus on and presentation of Tifa's doubts about Cloud's story of and whereabouts in Nibelheim 5 years ago,
And the points from the First Look trailer like Zack hobbling towards Midgar's sector 6 dragging a still catatonic Cloud along while being followed by a white feather and a myriad of Lifestream particles floating among mist above them.
Any unsolved mysteries from Remake are as follows:
Sephiroth’s early appearances, expanded knowledge, and ability to resist the Whispers and eventually control them,
Aerith’s knowledge about the future (the full original story),
The Whisper’s role at the location of Zack’s last stand,
What exactly Aerith did to Sephiroth’s portal,
The future of Remake’s now unlocked continuity after defying destiny,
How and where Zack is alive,
Why the Stamp mascot is now of a different breed,
Why the flowers can now talk again and how Marlene can understand their language,
How and why Biggs is now also alive,
And why Zack encounters a bunch of sad and depressed people in the sector 5 church instead of Aerith.
We also need to consider the following points:
During Remake, Sephiroth seems intent on breaking Cloud’s spirits much earlier and move him onto a path of solitude, never meeting his friends, especially Aerith and Tifa who pose the biggest threat by diminishing or even breaking Sephiroth’s hold on Cloud.
We don’t know if Cloud’s party resides and their unknown journey happens in the same continuity as those witnessing the Whisper dome’s disintegration, like Zack, Marle & co., the children in sector 5, Biggs, and even Marlene. Is there even a separate continuity? Our extensive analysis says yes, but let’s not rule it out completely. Not yet.
Sephiroth takes Cloud’s consciousness into a space that represents the planet 7 seconds before its demise, the Edge of Creation. Were the planet to die, so would its children, Sephiroth included, but he will not end and neither does he want Cloud to end. He wants Cloud to help him defy that destiny. But Cloud refuses, leading Sephiroth to continue to harass him until he complies and Sephiroth can defy his destiny and either avert the planet’s demise or persist even if it does perish.
Aerith seems to have tried to change the chain of events in Midgar, too, just like Sephiroth, but the Whispers kept kicking her back out of the planet’s memories and reverted them to the original state. Every time the Whispers touch her, she loses a part of herself. The memories of the future which Lifestream Aerith provided Memory Aerith24. During her discovery scene, Aerith thinks about just giving up. It’s what she does best. In Game Analysis #24 about Aerith’s secret, I propose that she’s talking about trying to change things but keeps failing. The last moment Lifestream Aerith can re-inject Memory Aerith with foresight is right before they enter the portal.
Speaking of which, Sephiroth seems to slice the portal into the Whisper dome for Cloud only. To have him enter the Singularity and free him of his prison to then use him as the vessel for his rebirth—Presumably. However, Aerith immediately stops Cloud from blindly following Sephiroth and then enchants the portal in some way and they all eventually passed through. Because of this, Cloud is able to reconvene with the others during the battle against Whisper Harbinger and again while fighting Sephiroth himself. His friends were there all the way. But what if Cloud went in alone? Remember the chapter title “Destiny’s Crossroads“ and one of Aerith’s lines at the end of the expressway saying the same exact words. Crossroads. Two possibilities…
A Cloudless Journey
Considering everything mentioned above, the whole picture becomes much clearer, though there are some unknowns remaining because we are still lacking crucial information and context. Let’s try anyway, starting with Zack and Cloud approaching Midgar together.
Without inheriting Zack’s legacy, Cloud would either never show up in the sector 7 undercity and thus not become a part of AVALANCHE, or he did but took over the role of Marco and remained in Stargazer Heights in Tifa’s care.
In Remake chapter 8 in the children’s hideout after the encounter with the black-robed man with the number 2 tattoo, the military boy wearing shades mentions that that robed man used to be a SOLDIER.
Boy: “My dad told me that that man, he used to be a SOLDIER when he was younger.“
Nayo says something similar about Marco, Number 49, in Episode INTERmission.
Nayo: “That’s what happens if you don’t make the grade as a SOLDIER…or when the military’s done using you“
“if you don’t make the grade as a SOLDIER“ is a direct call-out to Cloud and what Hojo did to him after the Nibelheim incident. “When the military’s done using you“ most likely refers to number 2 in the sector 5 undercity as we don’t know about Marco’s history.25
With Zack alive, Cloud is bound to end up like this eventually as the trigger for becoming Zack’s living legacy, which was a vital component in becoming that ex-SOLDIER persona, never happens.
At the end of Episode INTERmission’s string of post-credit scenes, Zack is standing in front of the sector 5 undercity church, clearly expecting Aerith to be there when entering. He still carries the Buster Sword—Angeal’s legacy—but no Cloud in tow. Which means that Cloud is vegetating away somewhere in a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform and without the Buster Sword.
That’s as far as we can go on this route without delving into pure speculation territory.
I mentioned earlier that we don’t see Cloud in that live news broadcast at the beginning of the trailer. If he never takes on that ex-SOLDIER persona, he won’t be hired by AVALANCHE, which could lead to the other four being caught up by that mysterious tornado during their escape on the expressway in sector 2. But we cannot in good conscience connect those 2 events without a massive amount of assumptions.26
One theory going around ever since fans started speculation about Remake’s mysteries is that defeating the Whispers undoes all their interventions, too. in Game Analysis #27 “Zack & Ending Explained“ I go into exactly this issue and visualize the problem using the graphic below:
Each event with an intervention by the Whispers would create a new timeline where the story leads into different direction of varying degrees. Handling such a scenario would dilute the storytelling going forward way too much. The only way I can see this working is to take one or two of those branching timelines and weave them into the plot somehow and either ignore the rest or only briefly show or even just mention fragments of them.
So, hypothetically, the topmost branch where the defeated helicopter crashes into the Shinra sA-37 type Motor Tricycle the others are driving and injuring or even killing them in an explosion without the Whispers intervention. Only Cloud makes it out unscathed. this would result in a scenario where Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and Aerith are found injured or dead while Cloud is missing. However, there is no tornado involved, so we can toss this one in the bin, along with all other branches as there is no point in pursuing this path any further.
However, there is another way how that scenario at the beginning of the Summer Game Fest 2023 Rebirth trailer could come to pass.
Destiny’s Crossroads
Let’s continue on the point raised earlier about Sephiroth’s portal, why Aerith changes it, and the real meaning behind the term “Destiny’s Crossroads.”
The following theory has crossed my mind while writing this last chapter of this article, so it’s very fresh and might not be rock-solid, but still the best explanation I could find for the situation our cloudless party finds themselves in during this trailer’s first scene. I don’t remember anybody talking about this either, though to be fair, I have barely consumed any content about Rebirth since this trailer dropped during the finale of Summer Game Fest 2023, mostly to not influence my own analysis.
Without any further ado, here it is. Are you ready? It’s going to be a long and complex one.
Remake chapter 18 happens normally up to Sephiroth slicing a portal into the Whisper dome at the end of the unfinished expressway. He tells Cloud that he is waiting. In Japanese, however, he tells Cloud to hurry up.
Sephiroth: “Come quickly, Cloud“27
Cloud then begins to follow Sephiroth after a few seconds of deliberation, which is a more fitting reaction to Sephiroth’s Japanese line as his English line doesn’t exude urgency but rather calm impatience. In Remake, Aerith immediately grabs Cloud’s arm and stops him from entering the portal alone, expressing that this is the point of no return and after changing the portal, she calls this place Destiny’s Crossroads.
“Point of no return” and “crossroads” are synonyms. In Japanese, Aerith uses the same word in both instances: 分かれ道 (wakaremichi), which translates to forked road, crossroads, or turning point, among other similar terms.
Here, she refers to them not being able to return to this world once they defeat destiny as the past would be set in stone afterwards. She says as much at the beginning of the First Look teaser trailer. I’m not sure about the specific mechanics but this sounds like there won’t be a “Lifestream Aerith” anymore who is able to influence past memories and no Arbiters of Fate who will rectify deviations from the timeline.
Though I’m not sure what else they could do at this point other than entering the portal and defy destiny. Twiddling their thumbs and wait until the storm passes? I don’t think so. In conclusion, they have to go through with their intention either way.
Also note that Aerith does not know why she stopped Cloud upon his inquiry right after.
Cloud: “Then why did you stop me?“
Aerith: “I’m not really sure.“
This is an important detail. Keep this in mind.
Now comes the crux of it all. What if Aerith didn’t stop Cloud from entering that portal? This whole encounter with Sephiroth at the end of the expressway and the Whisper dome barring them from continuing never happened in the original continuity, so Aerith cannot know that entering the dark purple portal would be a bad thing and that Cloud has to be stopped other than the fact that evil Sephiroth created it. So why is she so quick to desperately stop Cloud with all of her might?
I propose the theory that the first time—yes, you read that right—Cloud began walking towards the portal with nobody stopping him and eventually entered. However, unlike Aerith’s bright yellow portal, it immediately closed on the others, leaving them behind, finally isolating Cloud from his friends. In the Singularity, similar events might have taken place, like the tornado sucking Cloud up into the sky above Midgar and the battle against Whisper Harbinger, including Cloud prevailing and shattering its purple heart, freeing Sephiroth from his prison.
Being all alone, he would not stand a chance against Sephiroth, just like at the Edge of Creation. I could see Sephiroth managing to get Cloud to submit to him eventually and joining him in defying destiny, together. Maybe he even shows Cloud images of the other side where Tifa and the others have fallen victim to that mysterious tornado. Wouldn’t Cloud want to save them? With Sephiroth’s help, he could.
In Remake, we see two tornadoes chasing and flanking the party in the Singularity and eventually separating them. If Cloud was the only one there, the second tornado could have instead materialized on the other side of the now closed portal, eventually leading to the scene we see in this second Rebirth trailer. Since we did not defeat the Whispers, they are still around, now controlled by Sephiroth.
Lifestream Aerith would have had to witness yet another failure to positively change the timeline and counteract Sephiroth’s manipulations. But since she seems to still have access to the planet’s memories, the past is still malleable. She thus provides Memory Aerith this additional knowledge she garnered from that failed timeline.
Now it suddenly makes sense why Aerith instantly and frantically stops Cloud from walking towards the portal but does not really know why she does that, and why she imbues the portal with her memory magic: to presumably keep it open and allow everybody to walk through, leading to the chain of events we see in the game.
This time, Lifestream Aerith provides insight to her memory representation about a future that is based on Remake’s chain of events instead of the usual foresight about the original story. The Whispers also have no incentive to reset the timeline as we are in uncharted territory anyway, hence the Whisper dome’s existence. They are in emergency mode and their only purpose now is to contain the fate-changing entities within Midgar. This also means that both eventualities exist simultaneously, at least temporarily.
But when exactly does Memory Aerith obtain this information about the chain of events leading to them losing Cloud to Sephiroth? Most likely just before Sephiroth creates the portal, right after we return from the Flashback to Zack’s last stand. The camera zooms out from Aerith’s shocked face after all. While I initially thought that she saw Zack, too, I now believe that what she saw was the result of Cloud entering the portal alone, hence her terrified expression.
And right after, Sephiroth looks content, turns around, and slices the portal into the Whisper dome before telling Cloud to follow him, which he does, but is now stopped by Aerith.
“Crossroads” or “forked road” now makes a bit more sense, doesn’t it? This simple choice of stopping Cloud or letting him go on alone create two vastly different paths forward. Aerith utters the terms “point of no return“ and “Destiny’s Crossroads" right after stopping Cloud and stabilizing the portal, both actions tied directly to Aerith’s decision to change the future.
Now, she truly does not know what lies ahead.
Alternate Reality
But what about Zack?
Before Sephiroth creates the portal, a bunch of Whispers scream at the party, leading us to see the beginning of Zack’s last stand where four Whispers are flying through enemy ranks. We established in Game Analysis #27 that those four could have been sent by Sephiroth to lower Shinra’s lethality with the purpose to make Zack survive this ordeal.
He already plans to lure Cloud into the Singularity alone and needs to set events in motion where Cloud does not become who he is now and making Zack survive is the easiest way to do accomplish this, as detailed earlier. However, I believe that this change only affects the “bad timeline” where Cloud enters the Singularity alone, which means that in the unknown journey where the whole party is still together and well, Zack remains dead.
How is this possible? Remember how the camera zooms in on Cloud before Zack’s last stand begins? Sephiroth does not influence the past itself but only Cloud’s past. Cloud defeats Whisper Harbinger and Sephiroth with his friends by his side, which disrupts the seed Sephiroth planted and keeps Cloud’s memories intact. But if Cloud enters the portal alone, without the support of his friends, he cannot resist Sephiroth’s manipulations and overwhelming power. The planted seed will sprout and Zack will survive in Cloud’s memories.
As proposed before, both paths would exist in parallel temporarily until the party defeats Sephiroth and thus the Whispers who constantly tried to uphold destiny. Afterwards, the unknown journey that is based on the original game and the events in Remake is set in stone and the only continuity in the planet’s memories going forward.
However, the Cloud from that second, now obsolete memory branch—the one who entered the Singularity alone—is still in there. The Singularity is a place outside of time and space and thus unaffected by any changes to the planet’s memories.28 This means that the “bad timeline” that Aerith managed to avert by loading a previous save state still exists in Captured Cloud’s memories.29
This is why Sephiroth was smiling when attacked and defeated by Cloud in the Singularity. The party defeated destiny for him, making it possible for Sephiroth to influence the unknown journey. Plus, he has Captured Cloud’s altered memories which he can foster and, with Captured Cloud believing he’s an obedient Sephiroth clone, ultimately use to bring forth his Rebirth.
It’s all about memories. Change the memories, change the future.
Does that mean we now have three Clouds and three continuities? No, there are only two each. One Cloud starts on the unknown journey and the other one remains in Sephiroth’s clutches in the Singularity in whose memories Zack survived his last stand and where Cloud’s friends were caught up in a tornado disaster in Midgar.
Wrapping Up
After this lengthy and admittedly complex explanation of my thoughts and theory, I’d like to try and provide a coherent summary and tie up loose ends.
Summary
Sephiroth needs to change the past and he needs Cloud for that to succeed. His will is intrinsically tied to Cloud’s memories, as detailed in the Lifestream Black chapters in the novel “On the Way to a Smile.” That’s why he needs Cloud to remember him. In Advent Children, he achieves that by spreading Geostigma and in Remake, he appears to Cloud in chapter 2 already, taunting him with his painful memories of a burning Nibelheim before telling him to hold on to that hatred, or to simply not forget about Sephiroth in the Japanese version.
That’s why he needs to separate Cloud from the others and manipulate his memories so that he believes he never inherited Zack’s legacy and instead became another one of those black-robed experiments with the sole purpose to follow Sephiroth and join the Reunion, as we can see in this altered vision with Cloud underneath that hood.
Sephiroth tries to achieve that multiple times but keeps failing, until he attains enough control over the Whispers and the memories they seek to protect that he’s able to manipulate them into entering emergency mode and quarantine Midgar, which allows Sephiroth to create a portal to outside of the planet’s memories and time and space where he is imprisoned by Whisper Harbinger. After only Cloud enters the portal, Sephiroth’s plan succeeds in creating a continuity where Cloud is his servant instead of his nemesis.
However, Lifestream Aerith is still able to save the Remake continuity by letting her memory representation know about the portal who then stops Cloud from entering it alone, leading to the ending we know. This unknown journey can be regarded as a second chance to put Sephiroth in his place. The alternate reality in Captured Cloud’s memories imposed onto the planet must not be let loose.
Ending Scenes
But what about all those ending scenes after the Edge of Creation? I think that only Zack’s survival happens in Captured Cloud’s altered memories and the rest takes place in Remake’s continuity which leads to the unknown journey.
As discussed in Game Analysis #27, the Whisper dome appears in the memory of Zack’s last stand because it has been connected to the present through the Whispers swirling around the party standing before Sephiroth at the end of the expressway.30
The same party who defeat Sephiroth and thus ends his hold over them. With this main threat eliminated and our party on their way to Kalm as ordained, the Whisper dome explodes and the corrupted Whispers dissolve into bright yellow particles to presumably return to the Lifestream. As Zack is now also an agent of change due to his defiance of fate, he is able to witness this spectacle. Unless he only sees the explosion and the golden particles but not the gray Whispers. We don’t know.
Anyway, as mentioned just before, this connection between the events at the end of the expressway and Cloud’s memories about Zack’s last stand could explain how Zack’s survival, his and Cloud’s arrival in Midgar, Shinra’s live broadcast regarding the disaster caused by a tornado, and even Zack’s visit at the sector 5 undercity church are all connected.
Since that memory is recalled and manipulated during the night of AVALANCHE’s escape on the expressway, it is entirely possible that in Captured Cloud’s memories, Zack approaches Midgar on the same day the others are recovered on the destroyed expressway after the tornado hit sectors 2, 1, and 0, which is on the opposite side of sector 6 and thus the fire and smoke are not visible from there. This also means that Zack arrives in Midgar with Cloud after Remake already happened. Which would also explain why we are shown his arrival at the sector 5 church after our unknown journey party is dropped off near Kalm.
Episode INTERmission’s post-credit scene with Zack at the sector 5 undercity church would then tie in with this second Rebirth trailer’s opening scene. After reaching Midgar, leaving Cloud in the care of a doctor, and cleaning himself up, he immediately goes to meet up with Aerith, only to find the people of sector 5 mourning her after seeing her and the others on TV, fearing for the worst. That's at least one possibility to tie this scene with Zack into this alternate continuity.
Final Points
I know, moving around Zack’s last stand to December 15th looks like a convenient trick to fit everything together, but there is evidence pointing to this actually being the case:
In Remake’s ending cinematic, Cloud and Aerith cross paths with Zack and catatonic Cloud. The white light signifies a connection through memories. It seems that this altered continuity from Captured Cloud’s memories already starts seeping into the planet’s memories.
After being dropped off near Kalm during Episode INTERmission’s string of post-credit scenes, Aerith claims to have her stomach in knots. and what do we see in the very next scene? Zack standing in front of the church’s entrance, deliberating how to greet Aerith.
And there exist more parallels to tie Zack’s survival and Shinra’s live broadcast about the tornado disaster together:
Both scenes should not exist as both contradict the original timeline. The unknown journey on the other hand neatly adheres to it. So far at least.
Both contain specific details with distinctly differences to Remake’s and Rebirth’s main continuity. Terrier Stamp in Zack’s scene and the NEWS TODAY label in the live broadcast, among the other discrepancies I mentioned in an earlier segment.
But one question remains: why are Whispers flying frantically over the damaged plates during the live broadcast and why are they even visible on a camera recording? Unfortunately, this is something I will need to cover another time as I wasn’t able to come up with an explanation I’m comfortable sharing as of yet. Furthermore, I need to finish this article and watch the new trailer shown at the State of Play stream from September 14th 2023. Maybe it provides some answers, who knows.
For now, this has to be enough.
Phew, finally done!
I know, this is a lot to take in and I also had to make some assumptions to explain certain circumstances and events, but I think that this approach of thinking about Remake and Rebirth’s mysteries explains a lot without having to craft a whole strings of events to make the theory work. We have no doppelgangers, no Zack in the same continuity as Cloud’s unknown journey party messing everything up, and many unclear things make more sense now in retrospect, like Aerith’s behavior at the end of the expressway.
But what do you think? Have I gone completely crazy? Am I making sense? Am I completely off-base or am I onto something here? Let me know in the comments below or on our CCO discord!
In any case, thank you so much for bearing with me through this almost insurmountable wall of text. As a reward, you may keep any typos you find.
I’m finally free and will immediately mosey off to watch the recording of the State of Play stream I missed and dissect the third FFVII Rebirth trailer afterwards.
Take care everybody!
Vyzzuvazzadth, signing off.
Or over 90% if you completed the Fort Condor mini game before the Centipede boss encounter. Or below 10% if you decided to obtain all 6 Materia from her version of Whack-a-Box mini game in the weapon development facility in Shinra’s basement. Mini games aside, Yuffie’s story screen time in her original outfit amount to roughly 60% of Episode INTERmission.
It is unconfirmed that Fort Condor acts as an AVALANCHE base and thus mere personal head canon. However, Fort Condor is constantly attacked by Shinra but keep fighting back. I’m sure they would gladly ally with AVALANCHE and provide space for another base of operations of one of their cells.
See chapter Timelines & Realities in game Analysis #27 “Zack & Ending Explained“ to learn more about our stance about a single continuity.
In the FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus book, co-director Motomu Toriyama elaborates on Yuffie’s escape from Midgar after the sector 7 plate collapse, timing included.
Original line: “Tifa starb durch meine Hand. Wer ist also diese Frau?“ — Translated by Vyzzuvazzadth
Original line: 「ティフアは俺が殺したはずた。ならばあれは誰だ。」— Translated using DeepL
Watch Game Analysis #26 for more about Sephiroth’s endgame and memory traveling.
For more about what Aerith knows and why, watch Game Analysis #24.
See chapter Childhood Friends in our Game Analysis #29 article for more details.
7 frames… Coincidence? I think not!
I’m sorry, I could not resist.
Temporary stiffening of muscles shortly after death. Read the section about rigor mortis on this page for more details.
Her surname is Lockhart for a reason.
See chapter The Promised Land in Game Analysis #26 for more context.
See page 199 of the light novel Traces of Two Pasts, the first page of Traces of Aerith. There, she and Tifa make their way into the cargo bay of the passenger ferry Shinra-8 where she tells the latter about her past.
You can spot the inactive members in their battle stance just outside of the battle arena in some frames in the trailer. Barret and Aerith are even shooting at enemies despite not being in the active battle party. But more on that in a future article.
Not even with her memories of the future. She was already dead by the time Tifa helped Cloud reassemble his true past. On the other hand, she could have read Cloud’s memories in the Lifestream. Sephiroth was able to gain an insurmountable amount of knowledge by traveling the Lifestream for 5 years after all, too.
Original line: 「あれはセフイロスの、言ってみれば分身。追えば、セフイロス本人にたどり着く。」 — Translated using DeepL
Original line: “Einst gab es ein Monster. Es konnte seine Gestalt beliebig wandeln, um die Menschen zu täuschen.Mal gütig, mal furchteinflössend, wie es gerade nötig war.“ — Translation by Vyzzuvazzadth
Original line: 「かって怪物がいた。その怪物は人の心を読み姿を変えた。恐れる顔、愛する顔を見せて人を動かしたという。」 — Translated using DeepL
Jenovaroth is a combination of Jenova and Sephiroth and describes its being in one word. Jenova’s body is controlled by Sephiroth’s will residing in his reconstructing body at the northern crater where also Jenova’s head is located. Furthermore, Jenova appears as Sephiroth to our party and others thanks to its mimicry abilities. This is why Cloud and the others think they are pursuing Sephiroth when in reality, they are merely following Jenova’s body. A similar thing happens in Remake where the black-hooded men number 2 and 49 also appear as Sephiroth to others in the Shinra building.
Depends on who you ask. Some will tell you that all additional mysteries can die in a fire and rot in a ditch. It’s a matter of taste, as always.
Lifestream Aerith refers to the lingering and conscious will of Aerith still residing the Lifestream ever since her death at the Forgotten Capital. The one that asks the Lifestream to help repel Meteor and who keeps appearing during Advent Children.
Memory Aerith refers to the one we see in Remake. The representation of her in the planet’s memories of past events since its birth. All characters in Remake are memory versions of themselves, except for Sephiroth when he appears and talks to Cloud directly and Aerith during her resolution scene in chapter 14.
And to all survivors of the Shinra’s Special Geological Survey Unit introduced in Picturing the Past (a story about Aerith’s paintings 15 years prior to FFVII, published in the FFVII Remake World Premiere book and the novel Traces of Two Pasts), who were used as Hojo’s test subjects and thus turned into such black-robed individuals, like Lilisa Meg, number 24.
Example: AVALANCHE could have gone through a similar journey, met up with Aerith, and gone to the Shinra building to rescue her and meet Red XIII, only to escape soon after. With her additional memories, Aerith could have even set many of the original events into motion while working around the issue of either a missing or a catatonic Cloud. Unless Zack filled in that role and later abandoned the others when Midgar got hit by that mysterious tornado, for whose appearance we’d have to pull an explanation out of our arses. Too many assumptions, too few tangible connections to Remake, Rebirth trailers, the lore, the compilation, and even storytelling norms. Let’s let this dead horse rest already.
I proposed in Game Analysis #26 “Sephiroth’s Endgame” that the Singularity could represent the negative Lifestream which is corrupted by Jenova cells and thus separate from the pure Lifestream which is part of the cycle of life and represents the planet’s memories of all events from inception to oblivion.
Let’s refer to the Cloud who followed Sephiroth into the purple portal alone Captured Cloud as his mind and memories are captured by Sephiroth.
That’s at least the best explanation I could come up with so far. All other options have their own issues. Feel free to tell me about your explanation for why the Whisper dome envelops Midgar at an event that is supposed to happen around 3 months prior.
A wonderfully detailed and fab article!!
I think this all makes a lot of sense!
The only part I’m not sold on is the ‘captured cloud’ idea.
From where I’m standing, I see the purple tornadoes that sucked up copies of the infrastructure and ‘replicated’ bits of midgar, did the same to our party.
Sucking them up and enabling them to continue to defy destiny and continue in the unknown continuity.
Therefore, in the reality left behind, we have a Tifa, Barrett, red and aerith all in a comatose state following the destruction of the left behind midgar, as seen on the news report.
Due to zacks survival, cloud remains catatonic also, and as you say never joins avalanche - ‘resetting’ him back to zacks position following his survival.
You’d then have 2 separate parties for rebirth, both with no overlapping characters -
1) Zack and a comatose cloud entering midgar, with Zack as primary playable character - meeting other defiers of fate - Biggs etc. Cloud never becoming the ex-soldier and Zack leaving him in the care of Kiriu as he goes off to find aerith and forge his own new destiny. All other members of the OG party are conveniently comatose.(whilst their other versions go off exploring the unknown continuity.)
2) The ‘unknown destiny’ party - adventuring the world and chasing sephiroth, whilst their left behind versions are all out of action in the new world where Zack survived and avalanche fails its attack on shinra.
I can see sephiroth as meddling in both worlds, from his third position of continuity - being that of OG timelines end, and him going back into each of these two, to attempt to retcon his own demise in the OG FF7
I look forward to an in depth breakdown of the state of play trailer next!
Excellent observation! It was a long read, but you gave me lots to think about and discuss with friends, I look forward to your next breakdown.