Zack and Tifa might have something in common
Zack's possible role in FFVII Rebirth and beyond
Table of Contents
Background & Inception
In a previous video essay, we theorised about what Zack’s new purpose could be, now that he exists in some form beyond his destined death on the cliff just outside of Midgar.
If his essence and consciousness now wanders the corrupted negative Lifestream, he might end up healing a lot of tortured and trapped souls just by his fair-weathered nature alone—by being himself. This would then counteract and weaken Jenova’s—and by extension Sephiroth’s—influence on the planet and its memories and fight for the planet from the other side, so to speak.
However, this might be too specific of a theory and direction. While polishing up the upcoming video Game Analysis #28, which covers parts of the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth First Look teaser trailer, I had an epiphany.
I included an annotation within the video at the fitting spot to let viewers know about my thoughts, but 2 sentences is not nearly enough to do this topic any justice, so here we are.
It’s all about Memories
The theory from the 3 hours long video essay outlined above, while honouring Final Fantasy VII’s lore, does not quite play into the overarching theme of memories.
The Lifestream contains the memories made by all lifeforms that are born on, live on, and return to the planet.
When loved ones pass away, their memories remain within those left behind.
Jenova is able to read and replicate memories to appear as somebody else to other people, like pretending to be a Cetra’s deceased loved one to trick and deceive and eventually infect them and turn them into monsters. It can also make a black-hooded Sephiroth copy look like Sephiroth or even Jenova’s true form to others, in addition to inducing mass-hallucinations.
The powers of a Materia orb is based on memories held within, which represent the knowledge of those who already returned to the planet.
Final Fantasy VII’s main mystery and plot twist revolves around Cloud’s jumbled and suppressed memories and true identity.
And this last point is what we’re focusing on today.
Cloud’s unreliable memories
The combination of Cloud’s catatonic state due to Mako poisoning induced by prolonged exposure to Mako and the trauma of witnessing his friend and idol Zack being gunned down and then dying in his arms break Cloud’s psyche and mind completely. However, by picking up the Buster Sword and becoming Zack’s living legacy, Cloud has now a new purpose.
Upon meeting Tifa again at the sector 7 undercity train station, Cloud’s weakness and susceptibility allows the Jenova cells within him to read Tifa’s memories of Cloud and form a new identity based on his dreams and ideals. He became a SOLDIER First Class, like his idol Sephiroth, met his childhood friend, Tifa, again during the Nibelheim incident, then quit SOLDIER after Sephiroth’s death to become a mercenary—originally Zack’s plan after for their new life—and has now reunited with his childhood friend.
But as we learn much later in the story, Cloud wasn’t really close to Tifa and failed to become a SOLDIER on top of that. He only accompanied Zack, the real SOLDIER to Nibelheim as a security detail. But since he never showed his face to Tifa, she had no idea that Cloud was there with her all along. This discrepancy is what makes this plot twist so powerful. Most of what SOLDIER Cloud claims to be and has experienced is actually true in essence, just the perspective is off.
However, after falling into the Lifestream and thus having access to Cloud’s subconscious, Tifa is able to piece his mixed-up and suppressed memories back together. The unreliable narrator is no more.
The New Mystery
But what has this to do with Zack’s role in Rebirth?
Since Square Enix released Crisis Core Reunion for all major platforms in December 2022—around 1 year before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s supposed release—the mystery about who Cloud really is and what really happened 5 years ago during the Nibelheim incident is no more. Players who have never played the original game are now prone to have this intriguing mystery and plot twist spoiled for them, especially since the Lifestream segment with Cloud and Tifa won’t even happen in Rebirth.
What’s worse, new players are even encouraged by the developers themselves to play Crisis Core Reunion before Rebirth’s release to experience the full backstory of and context around Zack, who will play an important role in this second installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.
Below are a few excerpts from an interview conducted by the Japanese outlet 4Gamer.net with Final Fantasy VII Remake producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Tetsuya Nomura expressing this sentiment.
(Translation by DeepL, clean-up by Vyzzuvazzadth)
Kitase: “FFVII REMAKE is a very important title in the FFVII compilation series. In FFVII REMAKE, Zack has more opportunities to appear than in the original. So, we wanted everyone who played FFVII REMAKE to get to know the character of Zack better and dig deeper into him. That is why we decided to develop an HD remastered version of CCFFVII, in which Zack is the main character. […]”
Kitase: “No, it was not in our plans [to release an HD remastered version of CCFFVII] when we started the FFVII Remake project. However, during the development of FFVII REMAKE, Zack became more featured than in the original, so we thought that some fans might want to play CCFFVII. However, since CCFFVII is a PSP title, it is currently not easy to play. Therefore, we decided to release the HD remastered version on many platforms in order to make it available to as many people as possible.”
Kitase: “If you are interested in the character Zack, who appeared in FFVII REMAKE, please play CCFFVIIR, where his drama is fully depicted. Also, please check how what is depicted in CCFFVIIR will be connected in FFVII REBIRTH.”
Nomura: “For those of you who have only played FFVII REMAKE or played the CCFFVII event in FFVII THE FIRST SOLDIER, there are a few of you who may be asking, "Who is Zack? We believe that by playing CCFFVIIR, those of you who know Zack will understand why he is so special and why you feel so attached to him. In the future, Zack will also appear in FFVII EVER CRISIS and other games, and while Cloud and Sephiroth are popular in FFVII, I hope many of you will know that Zack is just as special as they are.”
— Source: https://www.4gamer.net/games/638/G063881/20220628070/
This means that a new mystery and twist has to be introduced to keep things fresh. In Remake, Sephiroth’s early meddling, Aerith’s knowledge of the future, and especially the existence of the Whispers, the Arbiters of Fate created the new mystery to keep fans of the original game on their toes instead retreading the exact same chain of events just presented in modern visuals.
In Rebirth and beyond, the new mystery will revolve around Zack as teased in Remake’s and INTERmission’s ending scenes. Even the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth First Look teaser trailer focuses heavily on Zack and his renewed existence. So what’s the deal with that?
An Unreliable World
Yes, I’m going there. The following video is what partially inspired me to write this article. It goes over the same issues outlined above and how the rest of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy is not about Cloud, the unreliable narrator, as that has been spoiled already, but about an unreliable world.
In Game Analysis #24, we propose the idea that the events in Remake take place entirely in the Lifestream, the planet’s memories. At least up to entering the Singularity. And as we could see, those memories were messed with by Sephiroth and to a lesser extent, Aerith. The Whispers, the planet’s memory police tried their best to counteract those changes and keep history intact, but after kicking their butts, we are entering uncharted territory.
The whole world of Final Fantasy VII has now become unreliable due to those changes. Rebirth’s First Look teaser trailer even hints at this with its 3rd question stinger “What is fact and what is fiction?“ and it’s Japanese counterpart「何が真実か?」which translates to “What is true?“
Isn’t it interesting how they focus on this concept in Rebirth already, even though Cloud’s plot twist certainly won’t resolve itself in the next game? It really seems like that’s not the focal point anymore—as it’s been spoiled already—so a new but similar mystery and twist has to take its place.
Enter Zack, the new wildcard and unknown factor in this whole affair, who might now implicitly be tasked with helping the planet to mend its unreliable and jumbled memories, just like Tifa helped (and hopefully still will help) Cloud do the same with his memories?
Both Sephiroth and Jenova benefit from false memories as that allows them to corrupt the Lifestream and eventually absorb it before leaving the planet with it, and living in perpetuity by repeating this cycle over and over again on other planets. Correcting those false memories is certainly going to counteract their plans.
While Cloud has to deal with his own memory issues, Zack will have to deal with the planet’s memory issues. Fixing both is the best way to prevent Sephiroth from achieving his goal. It’s how Cloud managed to break away from Sephiroth’s hold and control over him in the original game—until Advent Children bulldozed in, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Doing the same for the planet will eventually sever Sephiroth’s and Jenova’s control over it.
It’s all about memories.
For Sephiroth, for Aerith, for Cloud, for the planet, and for us.