Mystiquepriestess18 - Mystique Priestess18 - Tumblr Blog

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part Vb)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange

Part Va: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/658885243477032960/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange

______________________________________

Warning: As always, I copy paste this warning over and over just in case you ignore it and keep reading down. “This series is very controversial, it may not fit with what you know or remember about Crisis Core. So please, read the former parts (I did put the link to Part I in case you are new reader) before putting your foot further down below.” P/s: I welcome all kind of discussion. I love discussion. But this subject is an OBJECTIVE subject, please make sure to keep your bias and prejudice out of discussion, also, I don’t welcome character dissing or using fallacies in arguments, thank you.  ______________________________________

Given several days of me not updating the series, how much do you still remember about it without rereading it? 

Your brain is designed to stay focus on the event that happens right in front of your eyes, that’s why you have the thing called as “temporal memory”. But of course, while it helped you keeping track on upcoming events, temporal memory will erase anything that exceeds its amount of remember time, so you simply can’t rely on your own brain to remember all of the events happening in a scenario. Hence why you are always suggested to note down important stuffs, so you can get noticed about them if you don’t remember. 

Remember last time I asked you about what Genesis held in his hand during his first meeting with Zack in Banora’s apple juice facility?  I know you would instantly say that it was his book, LOVELESS… 

… but of course, it’s not.  It was a torn and either soaked or burnt paper. 

So, again, the question is, why does this information matter? 

Let me ask you another question. Remember that book LOVELESS? Asides from that one single scene in the training room battle cutscene, where else did you see it in the whole game? 

Well, the answer is, nowhere. You don’t see that book appearing anywhere else, except for that one scene. 

Then, where did it go? 

Of course, this again is another case, of Desyncing Information.  You know, Genesis is always considered a douche, for being envious toward Sephiroth, and while I did clear up this mess in the other parts of this series, I want to talk about you feel like Genesis is a douche if you just play the game once and never go back to dig out the hidden things around. 

One is because you see that Genesis treated Zack quite like an asshole, and since you are in love with Zack, you see that Genesis is an asshole. 

Then you are also in love with Sephiroth, so seeing Genesis being envious of Sephiroth’s glory, you think that he is a douche for doing so. 

And then while Angeal and Sephiroth suffered from their mental breakdown after learning that they are “monsters”, Genesis actually doesn’t show any sight of being in a mental breakdown or suffering mentally from learning that he himself is a “monster”. You don’t get any info about his background or see him struggling, nothing blatant to prove that he is a sad, suffering character. 

All those reasons above are why you find it hard to sympathize with Genesis. And I understand, I was like you all too, I have the feeling that he is not truly a douche, but it was hard to look for any proof about it. But then when I actually play the game myself, with the knowledge of what is about to happen, I realized that I should have looks more carefully into minor details. 

Just like how I pointed out that one very small sentence during a dialogue could change a whole understand about a scene, now, one very small detail that you would actually have missed during your first time playing, is about to change your view on Genesis’ character. 

That one paper he held in that Banora’s facility scene is in sync with the one paper you saw flying to the chair during the scene when Weiss and Nero picked Genesis up into the helicopter. The first time you saw Genesis in the game, he was holding one paper, and reciting the first act of LOVELESS. The last time you saw him, there is also a paper, and Genesis’s voice reciting the last act of LOVELESS. 

Coincident? I think not. 

So we can safely assume that torn and damage page we saw is actually a page from Genesis’s LOVELESS book, just like the blank, clean page we saw at the end. Still, where is the book if the pages are now like that? 

You guess it. 

The transition from the book to the torn pages happen outside of what is shown in the game. So here is my theory. 

You saw the book still intact in the training room scene, then Genesis went MIA to rebel against Shinra, when you met him after his whole mess, you saw the page. That means Genesis somehow tore the book apart, even tried to burn it or soak it, because who do you think would be able to touch that book aside from Genesis himself? Like, yeah, obviously it can only be him doing so, that’s why the torn pages stayed with him till the end. And the time the transition happened, was also the time that Genesis suffered from learning that he is a “monster”. Genesis loves that LOVELESS book so much he decorated and brings it to his side anytime, anywhere he goes, then how could it becomes like that. To my speculation, Genesis tore the books out in his rage of mental breakdown, where he damaged the thing he loved the most. 

In conclusion, Genesis is just like Angeal and Sephiroth, he did suffer from the mental breakdown, just that it’s not so clear for you to see, so when you don’t see it, you just deem Genesis as an asshole. 

 ___________________________________

Thanks for coming to my Ted-talk, I will see you around in the next part. 

Part Vc: 

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part Va)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

Part IV conclusion: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/658109128619802624/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

______________________________________

Warning: As always, I copy paste this warning over and over just in case you ignore it and keep reading down. “This series is very controversial, it may not fit with what you know or remember about Crisis Core. So please, read the former parts (I did put the link to Part I in case you are new reader) before putting your foot further down below.”  P/s: I welcome all kind of discussion. I love discussion. But this subject is an OBJECTIVE subject, please make sure to keep your bias and prejudice out of discussion, also, I don’t welcome character dissing or using fallacies in arguments, thank you.  ______________________________________

Do you sometimes find that when you are focusing on a scene in a movie, suddenly the screen goes black, and then you couldn’t remember all the details that appear on the screen just several seconds before it? 

Or when you focus your sight too much on an object in front of you, you cannot see clearly what is going around the two sides of your face? Or when you focus too much on an event happening, you lose your attention on the other events happening in the background?

These are normal phenomena happen with your brain when you force it to focus on something, either it’s your temporal memory or your peripheral senses, they all cause you to lose grasp on the events or details happening in the background of a scenario. 

And believe it or not, the writers/directors of FFVII, especially Crisis Core, know that you love Zack so much, that you will simply focus on him, without paying attention to what’s going on in the background. I did say this in the other parts, but I have to repeat it here, in case you forget about it.

So, in this part, we will talk about another problem in the narrative of Crisis Core. Since I don’t have a proper definition for it, I will simply call it… 

Desyncing Information. 

Do you feel like there are some certain information that you should have seen/read at a certain scene in the game, but instead, you get it a lot sooner, or a lot later than it should be given to you?  Well, that’s exactly the problem here. 

The first detail I want to point out is the “four years” information that was given to you through Aerith’s letter at the end of Crisis Core. It gave you the knowledge that Zack and Cloud has been stuck in the underground laboratory for approximately four years since the event of Nibelheim. 

So, what’s the matter to it? 

While focusing on Zack, you didn’t realize that Genesis’ degradation didn’t even change at all through out all four years, you can see clearly that in Nibelheim, Genesis was greyed from his head to his chest, and during the scene on the bridge, it stayed the same.  According to the 10th Anniversary Ultimania, the time that the incident in the training room was midsummer [ μ ] - εγλ 0000. We see Genesis started to get greyed by the degradation was on April 2nd, [ ν ] - εγλ 0001, during the event of Modeioheim, less than one year since he got the injury. 

And after that, we see him changed from half greyed to fully greyed, if we count from the time Zack met him after breaking out of the laboratory, December 19th  [ ν ] - εγλ 0006, then the time we see him fully greyed, is on September  [ ν ] - εγλ 0007, in Banora Underground.  

Without the “four years” information, you would normally think that his degradation is not weird, because you assume that it only took Zack less than one year to break out of the laboratory. But now you realize that huge time gap of 4 years, and Genesis just stayed the same.  Don’t you find it weird that those four years that Genesis’s degradation stayed the same is also the four years that Zack is stuck in the laboratory?  Could there be any relation between Zack and Genesis’ degradation?  Welp, at first, we literally see nothing relating between them, but if you consider one factor, that Zack is the only one chasing and killing Genesis’ copies, then there may be something.  Remember that to create those copies, Genesis literally cuts off his cells and give them to his followers. My theory is that, if the connection between Genesis and his copies are kind of similar to the connection between Angeal and the A-copies, then Genesis would have a part of him inside each of the G-copies. Therefore, it works like the hocruxes in Harry Potter, each copy carries one part of Genesis, so when they die, Genesis get weakened. And without anyone going around killing the copies during those 4 years, Genesis doesn’t degrade more. 

So… that’s it, for the first section of part V.  I will see you in the next section. 

(do you remember what Genesis was holding in his hand during the first time Zack encountered him in Banora?)  _____________________________________ Part Vb: 

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part IV conclusion)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange

Part IVb: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/657521891798614016/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange

_______________________________________

Warning: As always, I copy paste this warning over and over just in case you ignore it and keep reading down.

“This series is very controversial, it may not fit with what you know or remember about Crisis Core. So please, read the former parts (I did put the link to Part I in case you are new reader) before putting your foot further down below.”

Also, as a new issue rising with this part, I emphasize this again READ THE OTHER PARTS. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, I put that phrase like two times in just this warning.

P/s: I welcome all kind of discussion. I love discussion. But this subject is an OBJECTIVE subject, please make sure to keep your bias and prejudice out of discussion, also, I don’t welcome character dissing or using fallacies in arguments, thank you.

_______________________________________

Summary of part IVa and IVb:

- Zack’s POV has a lot of misleading aspect, it makes you deliberately choose to look away from the bigger problem and focus on the smaller but more appealing problem to your eyes.

- Sephiroth, whether he really makes an astounding achievement in the Wutai War or not, is still used as a propaganda by Shinra to lure in new recruits for the war. This process was repeating over and over, and since Shinra treat SOLDIER members with inequality, there is not a single other SOLDIER gets the privilege to be hailed as “Hero” like Sephiroth.

- Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth, Lazard, and of course the whole SOLDIER department along with President Shinra know about this unfair working ethic circling around. But they developed different reactions towards the situations, resulting in Genesis leading a large group of 2nd and 3rd to go rebelling against Shinra (with the secret help of Lazard) while the others stay loyal to Shinra (like Sephiroth), or eventually coming up to their own demises through paradoxical ideology (like Angeal).

So the final problem of this part is: Why are most of us feeling alright with all of these above?

Please take this into account when you think about this problem: Crisis Core was the last release of the Compilation, I mean, the team released three games (FFVII Original, Before Crisis and Dirge of Cerberus), one movie (Advent Children), two novels (On the Way to a Smile and The Children are Alright) ahead of Crisis Core. Even if you don’t have access to the novels and Before Crisis, you would have at least playing through OG/DoC or watched Advent Children, right? Then the team of writers/directors have established “Shinra is an evil company” in your head. This fact was repeated over and over throughout all the Compilation.

But then…

You came to Crisis Core.

And you became like a new player.

You suddenly, abruptly forgot that “Shinra is an evil company”.

Without you recognizing it, you felt that working for Shinra may be fine…

You have become Zack.

But, halt there for a second. If you have read all through this theory, and I thank you for doing so, you would be having two types of reaction:

- You feel like “Yeah, I did suspect that. I mean, it doesn’t feel right as I played through the game.”

- You feel like “Why didn’t I notice this before?”

And you would be surprised that the more you think you know about FFVII before you reach Crisis Core, you have higher chance to fall to the second option. New players, who only entered the fandom for a short while, or played Crisis Core as their very first game to get on with FFVII will fall for the first option.

This is a result of an effect called as “Dunning-Kruger effect”.

Dunning-Kruger effect is a hypothetical cognitive bias stating that people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. Notably, the bias results from an internal illusion in people of low ability and from an external misperception in people of high ability; that is, “the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others”.

With players who have had a lot of time with the franchise before Crisis Core, Dunning-Kruger effect happened when they spent time with other parts and thought that they have understood most of what are represented in FFVII, thus, they came to Crisis Core, thinking confidently that “Yeah, I know the basic set up of the story, I know this, I know that, so nothing can really surprised me.” This thinking eventually leading to them not paying enough attention at the details hidden in plain sight, like, yeah, you know Shinra is evil, and Zack was still thinking that working for Shinra is right, and then you think that whoever opposed Zack must be bad, while you didn’t recognize that you are also saying whoever opposing Shinra is bad. Just thinking like the writers/directors dug a very big hole right in front of your eyes with all stuff released before Crisis Core, you saw them doing so, but yet you still step into that hole.

With players who came to Crisis Core after they go through Remake, well, then they literally have very little knowledge about FFVII. They came to Crisis Core to gain more knowledge, but, problem is, they already have the bias from Remake. I mean, who really don’t get any info from the fandom? In example, with that “Sephiroth is just a victim, him burning down Nibelheim is just a tantrum” circling around the fandom, they easily get the prejudice that “Sephiroth was just a victim, he is not guilty of anything”, while in fact, Sephiroth burning down Nibelheim was because he thinks he is the last surviving Cetra, he was superior over humans and the he was destined to ruled over the Planet, and to be fair, you can’t say that “burning the whole town and murdering the people there just because of believing oneself to be superior than the others” is not guilty. The misconception echoing throughout the fandom, or fanon, usually got to the new players faster than the canon itself. Therefore, without a proper checking, these new players suffered the Dunning-Kruger effect, they tend to believe in what they read/hear from other people in the fandom with too much confidence that they don’t even check it for themselves, resulting in the misunderstanding of Crisis Core’s problem.

However, if you are an old fans or a recently new player who just played Remake and came to Crisis Core, and still feel that the narrative here is a bit weird, then congratulation, you have dodged the Dunning-Kruger effect. Yay!

After all, I can’t claim that my writing in this whole theory thing is right. It’s all just my speculation, and I won’t force you to accept my speculation. I wrote this all out is for discussion.

And yet, there are more to discuss about the narrative of Crisis Core, although, if you read up to this point of this theory, you have to admit that the writers/directors of Crisis Core played you like a fiddle. They know how you would look upon the game, and they actually wrote it in a way to fool you.

_______________________________________

Thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk. I will see you next time, with a different problem to discuss.

Part Va: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/658885243477032960/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part IVb)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

Part IVa: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/657248451885678592/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange   _____________________________________

Warning: As always, I copy paste this warning over and over just in case you ignore it and keep reading down.   “This series is very controversial, it may not fit with what you know or remember about Crisis Core. So please, read the former parts (I did put the link to Part I in case you are new reader) before putting your foot further down below.” Also, as a new issue rising with this part, I emphasize this again READ THE OTHER PARTS. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, I put that phrase like two times in just this warning.  P/s: I welcome all kind of discussion. I love discussion. But this subject is an OBJECTIVE subject, please make sure to keep your bias and prejudice out of discussion, also, I don’t welcome character dissing or using fallacies in arguments, thank you.  _____________________________________

Summary of Part IVa:  - Zack’s POV has a lot of misleading aspect, it makes you deliberately choose to look away from the bigger problem and focus on the smaller but more appealing problem to your eyes.  - Sephiroth, whether he really makes an astounding achievement in the Wutai War or not, is still used a propaganda by Shinra to lure in new recruits for the war. This process was repeating over and over, and since Shinra treat SOLDIER members with inequality, there is not a single other SOLDIER gets the privilege to be hailed as “Hero” like Sephiroth. 

Moving on, we will tackle the next problem. 

3. When all for one but one isn’t for all or… 

So we know for sure that Shinra treats SOLDIERs members with unfairness, the problem is, who knows about it, and how do they react against it? 

-This email of Lazard was sent right before you encounter Genesis for the first time in Banora’s apple juice facility. You can see clearly that this email has several words that are very ambiguous: “parental bonds”, “non-biological ties”, “respect”, “appreciation”, “ill blood”. And while this email has many different layers of meaning towards many people, I want to dissect the aspect that this part focuses on. Why would Lazard send Zack this letter just right before Zack encountered Genesis? Well, we later know that Genesis’ parents in Banora are not his biological parents, that line of “Just as happiness can be found in non-biological ties” along with the fact that Genesis’ parents funded the fanclubs for their adopted child probably points out that Lazard knows Genesis got the recognition from his adoptive parents. So when Lazard wrote that other part “Without them, “ill blood” is born”, it means that Lazard knows exactly what the problem with Genesis is, as he states “ill blood is prone to lead to tragedy, and ill blood sometimes affects our missions.” Lazard is one of the people who know about the inequality in SOLDIER, but he can’t do anything more than just issues order down, because everything is still under the control of President Shinra. Therefore, this email, along with Lazard’s betrayal against Shinra later in game shows that Lazard is also frustrated with the state of unfairness circling around SOLDIER department, and since he can’t do anything to change it, he can only choose one thing: betrayal. 

- Genesis and Angeal obviously know about the unfair treatment in SOLDIER, the conversation above pointed out that Genesis told Angeal about that and let Angeal decide whether to join him in rebelling or not. “Can you really live on that side?”, the question hits the nail on Angeal’s head, not only because it questions his decision to not siding with his childhood friend, but also because it strikes directly on his “honor”. You see, Angeal bound himself to a vivid definition, “honor”, you don’t know what kind of honor it is. Is it “honor” of helping Midgar’s civilians, or is it “honor” of doing the right thing, or is it “honor” of serving Shinra? Overall, if you choose “honor” of serving Shinra, then knowing that Shinra is an evil corporation that benefits on the suffering of people, would you really call it an “honor”? Angeal keeps hesitating between siding with Shinra (as he still went back to stop Genesis from raiding the HQ and killing Hojo) and rebelling (as he helped Hollander escape). Point is, hesitation is his own problem, despite knowing about the horrendous things Shinra did, Angeal still didn’t inform Zack about it, his silence keeps Zack in the darkness for more than half the game. Eventually, as the paradox grew too much to fathom, Angeal chooses to end himself with Zack’s hand. 

- What is a petty person? The definition of petty is someone who gets caught up in small details. An example of petty is a person who gets very angry when someone accidentally steps on their foot. Petty is defined as something relatively worthless or unimportant. An example of petty is cash kept on hand for very small purchases. So here you can see Sephiroth replies “Petty” to Genesis’s claim “After all, your glory should have been mine”, it means that Sephiroth deems “glory” as a trivial thing. If Sephiroth deemed “glory” as a trivial thing, then why didn’t he give it up to Genesis easily like how he quickly gave the “Hero” role in a LOVELESS play for Genesis? The question Genesis gave out at the beginning of this conversation “If we were to enact it, would I play the hero, or would you?” acted in sync with the claim “After all, your glory should have been mine”, the former was the metaphor for the latter and they both have the same goal. But Sephiroth answered differently to them, meaning that Sephiroth fell to Genesis’s reverse psychology, all Genesis wanted is for Sephiroth to admit, that he knew about the unfairness in SOLDIER. By saying that Genesis was being “petty”, Sephiroth admitted that Genesis has his share in the achievements that were all given to Sephiroth and that Genesis should be recognized for what he dedicated to the company, but since Sephiroth saw “glory” as trivial, he didn’t feel the same to Genesis about it. To Sephiroth, whom glory was given like daily meal, whether he did the mission or not, glory still becomes his, it’s similar to a spoiled rich kid seeing money as trivial. But to Genesis, who strived to get acknowledged, earning glory is like goal of his life for joining SOLDIER yet never did, it’s similar to a person worked hard to earn the recognition in life but never got recognized for what they do. Sephiroth, although having no ill will to act apathetic to Genesis’ struggle, his inaction towards the problem was also one of the reason the friendship fell apart. 

Overall, while Angeal and Sephiroth didn’t directly contribute to the mess in Crisis Core, their silence and inaction still play a role in the ignition of the crisis.  Try imagine yourself being the witness to a crime, if you can’t do anything to stop, at least speak out against it so the criminal can be brought to light; if you stay quiet, or choose to deliberately ignore it, you will be deemed as the accomplice to the criminal.  ________________________________________

Thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk, we will conclude this part next time. 

Part IV conclusion: 

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part IVa)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

Part IV preface: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/656609254197936128/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange  ___________________________________ 

Warning: As always, I copy paste this warning over and over just in case you ignore it and keep reading down.  “This series is very controversial, it may not fit with what you know or remember about Crisis Core. So please, read the former parts (I did put the link to Part I in case you are new reader) before putting your foot further down below.” P/s: I welcome all kind of discussion. I love discussion. But this subject is an OBJECTIVE subject, please make sure to keep your bias and prejudice out of discussion. Thank you.  ___________________________________

A 1st class SOLDIER deserted, taking a handful of 2nd and 3rd class SOLDIERs with him, the mass desertion was so devastating that it crippled the SOLDIER department. But… 

A young man strives forwards with all he can, hoping one day he would be recognized as the “Hero” only to realize that… 

An ambiguous email from the leader of the department, talking with encrypted words… 

The “Hero” who has the privilege to veto orders… 

When everything falls apart, just comfortably throws the blame on someone you has prejudices about, no matter if that is right or wrong. 

What you see may just be the tip of the iceberg.  The question is…  Who is the one that should take the blame? 

1. Zack sees life through rose colored glasses 

Zack’s POV in the beginning of the game gives you an important perspective to examine. It’s his naivete.  Shinra is good.  Sephiroth is his hero.  Angeal is his honorable mentor, who can do no wrong.  Genesis is… an asshole deserter who took a bunch of 2nds and 3rds with him, crippling the department, in other word, Genesis is a traitor in Zack’s eyes.  At the start, to Zack, the world is just white and black, the good and the bad. He has no concept of the in between, the grey zone. 

When Zack first started to join SOLDIER, his goal is to become the “Hero” as he was inspired by the heroic figure, Sephiroth. At the end of Crisis Core, before you fought Genesis in Banora Underground, you also realized that Genesis used to be like Zack, inspired by the “heroic Sephiroth”.

Then what about the other SOLDIERs in the department? How many of them are like that? Inspired by this one “heroic” Sephiroth to join in SOLDIER?

Do you start to feel like this is is similar to fishing with a bait? 

And I know you guys reading up to this point may think that “Yeah, we all know Shinra is evil, what’s the problem with them using Sephiroth as a bait to lure in young men to join SOLDIER?”  Well, congratulation, you hit the right spot. That’s exactly what I want to speak about.  Why do you feel comfortable with that information? 

While you think you are not under the effect of Zack’s POV, the sad news is, you are. Because, you didn’t realize that you too, are being comfortable with just knowing about it but doing nothing.  You see Zack at the protagonist of the story, he is on the right side, which in this case, is on Shinra’s side. So then anything that opposes Zack, or opposes Shinra, must be wrong, no?  No matter how you deny it, saying that you know Shinra is evil, when you start playing Crisis Core, you subconsciously adapt to Zack’s POV, thus, you start brushing off minor, complex and ambiguous details that could rival your belief.

This leads to the next problem that we have to discuss. 

2. Unfairness and Inequality in SOLDIER

So according to Genesis’s diary in Crisis Core and Tifa’s memory in Trace of Two Past, we get the information about Sephiroth has been famous as the “Hero” since he was very young. 

We don’t know the exact date in the diary that Genesis wrote that line “the hero Sephiroth” but we know for sure that he and Angeal joined SOLDIER from when they are still in their teenage years, because Crisis Core began in [ μ ] - εγλ 0000, at that point, Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth are just 20 years old. So they have to be working in SOLDIER for years before that, for Angeal and Genesis to reach 1st class rank. Therefore we can assume that Genesis and Angeal must have joined SOLDIER in their teenage years.  

The Trace of Two Pasts novel gives us the info that when Tifa was 6 or 7 years old, her mother compared Cloud to Sephiroth, saying that Cloud could be even more beautiful than Sephiroth. Tifa is born in  [ μ ] - εγλ 1987 and Sephiroth is born in  [ μ ] - εγλ 1980, according to the FFVII Timeline on the wikia (if you found any source stating differently from this, please let me know), so we can tell that Sephiroth was just 13-14 years old when he was already hailed as the “hero”, for he was well-known amongst people not in Midgar. 

Even if Sephiroth is truly strong that he can solo defeat many Wutai soldiers at once, but since war is never a solo effort, if Sephiroth fought in one battlefield, there has to be other SOLDIER group fighting on different battlefields during Wutai War, right? 

Then, where are they?  You can say that Sephiroth is a “hero” of one battlefield, but you can’t say that he is the “hero” of a whole war. Even in a possibly mythical war like the Trojan war, there can’t just be one hero. 

We know for sure that it’s not “Sephiroth soloing the whole Wutaian army” because in Dirge of Cerberus online section, we know that Shinra has like 13 SOLDIER Units working during the Wutai war, with the exception of 14th SOLDIER Unit, the Lost Force.   So… if Sephiroth can really solo the whole battle out on his own, according to Shinra hailing him as he only “Hero”, then why do Shinra have to enlist more SOLDIER participants, 13 Units is not a small number of people.  And if they all work together in Wutai War, where are they? Why don’t they get recoginition for their work? 

And then we witness ourselves that Zack works on his own, with Angeal’s guidance, to subdue Fort Tamblin, Sephiroth did nothing there. Still, Sephiroth got the glory of winning Fort Tamblin, Zack’s name was never once mentioned. 

And when Zack got frustrated…

… all Kunsel told him is 

The way Kunsel speaks this sentence shows that this situation has been repeated over and over, it has become a normal custom.  The company’s media decide who will be “hero”, that’s just how it is. 

If we can see this with our own eyes, then what else flowing below the surface can’t we see?  If just like we see Zack being lured in joining SOLDIER by the “heroic figure” of Sephiroth and then Zack himself realizing that he would never become the “hero” because the company “chooses” heroes, then, isn’t it the same case for all the other SOLDIERs in the department, those that stayed/accepted (like Angeal) and those that deserted/refused (like Genesis) alike, and the only exception is Sephiroth, because he is the chosen “hero”?

Isn’t “Heroic figure Sephiroth” just a imaginary title crafted by the propaganda of an evil company?  _________________________________ 

That’s the end for part IVa, thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk.  We will continue this problem in the next part. 

Part IVb: 

SOLDIER First Class.

One big happy chaotic family ✨

So I welcomed another member into Final Fantasy Void BroTP, the Trash Uncle, Ardyn Izunia.  They are now an extremely chaotic gang. 

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part IV preface)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

Part IIIb: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/655899595763859456/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

_______________________________________

Warning: Again, I warn you, this series is very controversial, it may not fit with what you know or remember about Crisis Core. So please, read the former parts (I did put the link to Part I in case you are new reader) before putting your foot further down below.  P/S: I welcome all kind of discussion. I love discussion. But this subject is an OBJECTIVE subject, please make sure to keep your bias and prejudice out of discussion. Thank you. 

_______________________________________

The real matter at hand and why you didn’t realize it 

I usually compare the narrative of Crisis Core like a minefield and people just happily hug the mines while they go kaboom with them. 

In Crisis Core, the is a very big elephant in the room but most of the time, people forget that it exists.  So here I will give you some cutscenes and a mail that I will analyze later on the main writing of this part. These things are important but they are very short and people mostly don’t remember them, not not remember them exactly.  Remember to look carefully at each word used in the sentences and the way the scenes are laid out (even the motions of the characters), they may be extremely important. 

Exhibit 1: 

Exhibit 2: 

Exhibit 3: 

Exhibit 4: 

Exhibit 5: 

Like I said, these are very important stuffs, treat them carefully.  I will see you guys again, in the next part.  _____________________________________

Part IVa: 

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part IIIb)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

Part IIIa: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/655899595763859456/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

________________________________________

Warning: Sincerely, this part takes on an even more controversial route than last part. Please read the previous parts first before reading further on this part. (I did have the link to part I in case you are new reader)

Also, please keep an open mind when you read this. I appreciate any kind of discussion about theories, but please, try to keep your bias out when we discuss on an objective subject. Thank you.

________________________________________

The Mails (b) 

So we have the fundamental basic on how reliable the mails from the fanclubs could be. One person’s fanclub is mostly right when they wrote about their idol, but they may not be right about the others in the trio. 

Last time, we took a look in the Keepers of Honor’s mail, this time, we will take a look in the Silver Elite’s mail. 

Like, I think you would have already guessed out which mail it is, it’s not that hard.  

“The memory of silver winds

Sephiroth is known to value his private life, but there was a time when he had two best friends. We’d like to share a story of this threesome guaranteed to raise a smile.

The SOLDIER trio would use the training room exclusively as their playground, but in order to retain their 1st Class dignity, they would sneak in only after the 2nd Class members had gone home. Then they would proceed to have one of the three stand with a dumbapple on his head, while the other two would throw their swords at the apple to pierce it!

Sephiroth always won, his Masamune always striking every dumbapple dead center.” 

So, what’s the problem with this mail? It’s just a fun snippet about what the trio do in their free time, right? 

The first thing we notice about this mail is it’s title, “The memory of silver winds”. It then raises the very first problem about this. 

In the last part, I introduce the “Rashoumon Effect” to you guys, and it’s really important to bring it back here again. 

When you realize that you are facing a problem affected by Rashoumon effect, you should be aware of two things: one is that you don’t have enough proofs to confirm what the heck happened and two is the witnesses may not provide accurate testimony, either because of their memory got tampered by emotion, situation or even their own decision. 

Therefore, the title of this mail has a red flag that it’s just a “memory”, thus, it can totally be not accurate, due to, a lot of reasons. But of course, it can still be accurate, right? Then let’s move on to the next problems this mail brings about.  

“The SOLDIER trio would use the training room exclusively as their playground, but in order to retain their 1st Class dignity, they would sneak in only after the 2nd Class members had gone home.” 

In one of the very first mail Zack got from Kunsel, we got some information. 

Kunsel points out that “Genesis never found group activities appealing”, so it contradicts with the info “The SOLDIER trio would use the training room exclusively as their playground”. However, taken in the famous “training simulation room” cutscene, we find details contradict even more. 

Yes, we actually have a cutscene, which is trustable, of the trio in the training room and the mail from Silver Elite did say that too, we can assume that Kunsel’s stating was a wrong point of view on Genesis. The part “in order of retain their 1st Class dignity” shows that “Genesis never found group activities appealing” is a facade, Genesis acted like he doesn’t enjoy group activities, but in truth, he does, similarly to Angeal and Sephiroth. 

Therefore we can confirm that at least, to this part, the mail from Silver Elite is not wrong about the trio. 

Moving on to the next problem, and I repeat again, from the warning, this is the controversial part. 

“Then they would proceed to have one of the three stand with a dumbapple on his head, while the other two would throw their swords at the apple to pierce it!”

While this sentence sounds fun, what I want to discuss is the reliability. 

First of all, about the dumbapples. We don’t see much dumbapples around in Crisis Core, and especially in Shinra HQ. The places we can spot dumbapples are in Banora, in that one weird room of Shinra Mansion, and a few times Genesis takes it out.  

So to say that the trio would use dumbapples as a dartboard, would mean you have to see those apples around very much, but of course, you don’t. Since the dumbapples are not in abundance, wasting them as a sword throwing boards would be extremely illogical. 

The second issue with this comes from Genesis’s side. To say that the trio would get into the apple sword throwing game means that Genesis would have to agree to play on his own will, so would Angeal, and this may not be true. 

Genesis doesn’t bring the dumbapple out that frequently. We don’t even see him holding the dumabpple until Junon event. In which, he held out the apple as a way to reminisce about Angeal, who has just passed away not long ago. Besides, the Junon’s Sister Ray is a special place to him, it’s the place where the trio had had their very last friendly moment with each other (before the disaster occurred).

The other times he hold the dumbapple are: 

- Nibelheim Reactor, where he offered the apple to Sephiroth, as a way to ask Sephiroth to join him. 

- The bridge scene, where he is seen holding the apple and caressing it to his cheek. 

- In Gongaga, where he offers the apple along with “proving” his theory about the gift of the Goddess for Zack, but when Zack refuses, Genesis simply drops the apple into Zack’s hand. This later proves useful as Zack finally realized that Genesis could be in Banora due to the apple. (I’m pretty sure that when Angeal called Zack as “puppy”, he means Zack’s brain is of a puppy due to how slow he realizes the hints).  

Something to take note about is when Zack found Genesis’s diary. 

Overall, this very small amount of times we see Genesis holding out the dumbapple, his gestures towards it, and his dream to “serve the hero Sephiroth” the apples one day, show that he literally treasures those apples. He held the apple in reminiscence to his dead friend, he wished to serve the apples to his “hero” and he used the apples as a way to invite people to join him. Such a person, with that much respect for the dumbapples, would agree to use them as sword throwing boards? I don’t think so. 

Therefore, this part of the mail about the trio throwing swords at apples as a game may sound fine with Sephiroth, but it doesn’t with Genesis. And knowing Angeal, he grows up in Banora, he sees the dumbapples as precious fruit, and he comes from a poor family, thus, wasting food for games would not sound acceptable to him. 

In conclusion, this mail of Silver Elite can only be trusted from the first half, the rest is totally made up, whether is is made up by Sephiroth’s fans, or even by Sephiroth himself, I am not sure, but I can be sure, the trio would logically never come in the training room to just throw swords at dumbapples. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk. I will see you later, with a new problem.  ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ 

_______________________________________

Part IV: 

Finally they met!

Chibi Void bros.

Read more here:

Vice

Adobe Tells Users They Can Get Sued for Using Old Versions of Photoshop

"You are no longer licensed to use the software," Adobe told them.

😂😂

My headcanon with Genesis and Caius are both entities that can exist in the Void and they made friend with each other.  And Genesis just embraces his bastard birb synergy. 

Nice! 👏👏👏

Of Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos and the strange narrative POV of FFVII-Crisis Core (Part IIIa)

Part I: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/650462647672766464/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange

Part II conclusion: https://buffaloborgine.tumblr.com/post/653809930861674496/of-zack-fair-genesis-rhapsodos-and-the-strange 

_______________________________________________

Warning: Sincerely, this part takes on a very controversial route. Please read the previous parts first before reading further on this part. (I did have the link to part I in case you are new reader)

Also, please keep an open mind when you read this. I appreciate any kind of discussion about theories, but please, try to keep your bias out when we discuss on an objective subject. Thank you. 

_________________________________________

Before we get to the main problem of this part, let me introduce you to a term that maybe you have heard somewhere before: the Rashoumon effect. 

The Rashomon effect is a term related to the notorious unreliability of eyewitnesses. It describes a situation in which an event is given contradictory interpretations or descriptions by the individuals involved. 

This is a kind of effect that is used very frequently in detective stuffs, as a way to fool the audiences, driving them away from the main problem, the objective truth.

Why am I telling you about this? Well, in many Japanese stuffs, ranging from movies, books to games, no matter what the genre is, the Rashoumon effect is utilized to create plot twists. And of course Rashoumon effect is also used in FFVII as well. 

Take one example, the Deepground incident in Dirge of Cerberus. While Vincent and the WRO believed that Weiss is the one leading Deepground at that time, and we don’t even get to know the truth that Nero is the real leader of Deepground until Vincent and Yuffie finally barged in the throne hall in Reactor 0. It’s just one of the clearest example of the Rashoumon effect in FFVII. And if you have read the other parts of this theory series, you may see the pattern of Rashoumon effect in both events that I have pointed out: the Genesis’s parents’ grave and the Seven Wonders. 

So, let’s move onto our main problem this time. 

_________________________________________

The Mails. 

One of the strangest systems that occurred in Crisis Core, is the mail system, 

Zack can access the mails through his phone, along with many other systems like Materia Fusion, Equipment, Shop, DMW, Mission and some others. 

Problem with the Mails is that, reading one mail from one person may give you a contradictive information to the info you took from the mail of another person, and it even contradicts with the details you discovered in places around the game. Because mails are written according to the view point of the writers, will get confused with many info that the mails provide. 

However the worst problem with the mails is that Zack only receives the mails, he never answers them. We never see Zack point of view in this, which in turn, forcing us to use our own point of view to examine the information given by the mails. 

Here, I want to discuss the reliability of one of the most well-known CC mails: the 1sts’ fanclubs’ mails. 

Keepers of Honor 

Fanclub of Angeal, the group releases mails that provide “unauthorized” info about Angeal’s profile. While there is not much to take from the mails of Keeper of Honor, there is one particular mail we have to look into. 

“Angeal Fan Club Newsletter 313

Today’s update features a conversation between Angeal and Genesis.

G: You’d better do something about those plants in your room.

A: Those plants represent nature. Some of us converse with nature to hone our spirit and honor.

G: And some of us are getting bugs in our rooms because of those blasted things.

A: Come on. Don’t you remember? We used to have bugs in our rooms all the time when we were kids.

G: That’s why I hate them. And the past? It can stay there. We’re in Midgar. We’re not supposed to have nature here.

City-born Genesis, and nature-lover Angeal: so completely different, yet friends all the same.” 

Just when Zack came to Fort Tamblin with Angeal, Angeal told Zack about the dumbapple. And one those lines is: 

Angeal confirmed that Genesis, his childhood friend grew up with him in Banora. But in the mail above, the Keeper of Honor believes that Genesis is “city-born”. Although the word itself can be understood in two ways, one is “born in the city” and the other is “having city life style”, if you first read into it, you will immediately think that they mean Genesis is born in the city, which is not true, the other meaning may fit with the situation more, perhaps? So we could agree with them that Angeal loves nature and Genesis has a city lifestyle, thus, Genesis gets annoyed with nature, right? 

Guess what? When Zack found out Genesis’s diary, the info may get contradictive. 

Consider the fact that Genesis won an award for inventing the Banora White Apple juice, it means that he has to have a great love for nature, especially the apple trees and the fruit to actually spend time to invent a the juice. 

This info and Angeal’s confirmation contradicts with the info given by the mail from Keeper of Honor. This means the fanclubs’ mails themselves are just sources with medium liability, especially when the fanclub of one person wrote about a different person in the trio. Besides, the event described in the fanclubs’ mails may not even exist, because in Keeper of Honor’s mails, those are “unauthorized” Angeal’s profile. 

In conclusion, by not showing Zack’s replies to the mails to the players, Crisis Core forced the players to check the reliability of the mails given to Zack through their own perception, not everything written in the mails are true because they are affected by the POV and biases of the ones giving them out. 

I think that’s enough for the beginning of this part, we will continue on the other ambiguous mails in the next parts. Thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk and have a nice day. 

_________________________________________

Part IIIb: 

AeriSeph Week Day 1 Prompt: Conflict/Connection 💞

Aerith x Sephiroth - Separate Ways (Conflict x Connection)

My submission for AeriSeph Week 2021 Event for Day 1 Prompt's theme which is Conflict / Connection.

"And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." ~ Kahlil Gibran

This is inspired by a fanfic I read where Aerith and Sephiroth are lovers but due to the circumstance when Sephiroth learned about Project S and Jenova, he began to change. He became fixated on his desire to become god which leads to their separate ways.

Despite of that, Aerith knows deep in her heart that the real Sephiroth is not like that. Through all the times they've been together, she holds deep inside that no matter what, she will never give up for the both of them and of course for the Planet.

Before Sephiroth's crisis began, she already heard voices from the Planet about the "sleepless nights" he had. It made her worry about the premonitions she has been seeing in her dreams about him that she would always pray to the Planet to give her the guidance she needs to prevent it from happening.

So the main theme of this head canon of mine is that despite the conflict they had due to external circumstances, their connection with each other still remains. They both know that they love each other, only that, Sephiroth forgets because of his "crisis".

Aerith keeps on telling him that "Love will find him and will break the chains that bind him" because she has faith for the both of them.

And she keeps on telling him too that, "You know I still love you though we touched and went our separate ways."

And in the end, Love Wins 💖

📩 I uploaded this video in my YouTube Channel.

💌 Please check it out!

💐 Thank You! 💐

#AeriSephWeek2021 #AeriSephWeek #aerisephweek2021 #aerisephweek

Finally, its AeriSeph Week! 💐✨

You may now start posting your entries with the following hashtag #aerisephweek2021 so we can feature your works here.

Have fun!🤩

📬 If you have any questions, feel free to ask us.

Examination into the naming of FFVII - Before Crisis’s Zirconiade

Yeah, I mean, why don’t we look a bit more into why this thing below has a weird name? 

Despite having a structure similar to the WEAPON, this thing is considered as a Summon, as its title in Before Crisis is “Ultimate Weapon” and “World Burner”.  Besides, it doesn’t have the word “WEAPON” when we call it so, let’s just agree that this thing is a Summon. 

What I want to point out here is the name. “Zirconiade” is a non-existing word, it is totally fabricated by the writer.  Nonetheless, even made-up things come from things that really exist, as a base, or reference.  So let’s see where this “Zirconiade” thing comes from. 

First of all, we have the prefix “zircon”. Zirconium (Zr) is the 40th element in the periodic table. The name zirconium is taken from the name of the mineral zircon (the word is related to Persian zargun (zircon; zar-gun, “gold-like” or “as gold”)), the most important source of zirconium. Then we have the suffix “iade”, which is close to “iad”, in Greek, it means “relate to”. Therefore, we can translate the name “Zirconiade” into “Something relates to zircon”.  So the first thing you think of when talking about a metal is probably its crystal form, right?  Here is a crystal of zircon:

See the similarity in color theme yet? So crystallize zirconium has a range of color from yellow, orange to red, and the Zirconiade has a theme color of mainly red with gold blades.  So, there you go, you got a reference for what the thing is based on.  The point is, that crystal does have a name. It’s called as “Hyacinth” or “Jacinth”.  In religious aspect, jacinth has been supposed to designate the same stone as the ligure (Hebrew leshem) mentioned in Exodus 28:19 as the first stone of the third row in the breastplate (Hoshen/choshen) of the tunic (ephod) of the High Priest of Israel. In Revelation 9:17, the word is simply descriptive of colour. In Revelation 21:19–20, it is mentioned as one of the foundational stones of the New Jerusalem. This leads my research a bit further into reading about the “breastplate of the Israeli High Priest”. So here is what I found: 

“The priestly breastplate (Hebrew: חֹשֶׁן‎ ẖošen) was a sacred breastplate worn by the High Priest of the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus. In the biblical account, the breastplate is sometimes termed the breastplate of judgment, because the Urim and Thummim were placed within it. These stones were, at times, used to determine God’s will in a particular situation (Exodus 28:30). Using these stones did not always determine God’s will (Samuel 28:6)“. “Whether there is any pattern to the choice of gemstones depends on their identity. Taking the majority view of scholars in regard to the identity of the gems, and including the implication from the Book of Revelation that the onyx at the end of the fourth row was a sardonyx, there are four colours – red, green, yellow, and blue – each represented by a clear gem (red – carbuncle, green – heliodor, yellow – chrysolite, blue – amethyst), an opaque gem (red – carnelian/red jasper, green – green jasper, yellow – yellow jasper/yellow serpentine, blue – lapis lazuli), and a striped gem (red – sardonyx, green – malachite, yellow – pale golden agate, blue – sky-blue agate). The four colours of red, green, yellow, and blue, are the first four colours (apart from black and white) distinguished by languages, and are distinguished in all cultures with at least six colour distinctions (the other two being black and white). These colours roughly correspond to the sensitivities of the retinal ganglion cells. (The retinal ganglia process colour by positioning it within a blue to yellow range, and separately positioning it within a red to green range.)“ What we can take out from this is that the stones on the High Priest’s breastplate were “at times, used to determine God’s will” but not always “determine God’s will” and that those stones have a pattern of four colors: red, green, yellow and blue. So, does this has any connection to FFVII anyway? Well, yes. If you look at how Fuhito wanted to use Zirconiade, you can see the reference of “determine God’s will”. Fuhito is a student of Bubenhagen while idolizing Hojo at the same, he believes that the Planet needs to heal and deems humanity as the source of harm, so humanity needs to return to the Planet so the Planet could heal. Fuhito thinks he himself acted on behalf of the Planet’s will, so, yeah, you see where this is going. Besides, the pattern of four colors is also seen in Before Crisis, because the Zirconiade needs to be empowered by four support materias, which have the exact colors according to the pattern described above: red, green, yellow and blue.  In conclusion, we can see that the Zirconiade literally represents a force that serves the will of the Planet. Although, by the time Fuhito summoned it, it’s not really representing the will of the Planet, is it?  Let’s get back to the other name, “Hyacinth”. So hyacinth comes from “hyacinthus”, a flower with the name of Greek origin.  

If you are familiar with Greek Mythology, then you may have heard about Apollo’s affair with Hyacinthus. It ended up in tragedy but we won’t talk about it here. The flower itself in Greek culture, is associated with springs and rebirth, while in Roman Catholic tradition, it represents prudence, constancy, desire of heaven and peace of mind.  The problem here is that Zirconiade is meant to be “World Burner”, the destruction of the whole world while “Hyacinth” represents “rebirth”, “desire of heaven”. If we combine these two very opposite meanings, we can get something hideous, like Zirconiade brings about rebirth from the ashes or it shows desire for heaven achieved by destruction. Overall, it fits with Fuhito’s mindset of burning the world, so that the Planet can heal. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk. I’m glad this doesn’t become a series of writing :’). 

1 week to go!!!

We are so excited for AeriSeph Week 2021 🤩🤩🤩

Void bros. 

Without the heart, the head has no compassion– Without the head, the heart has no reason– Without the hand, both are nothing– Without all three co-existing, There is no balance to any one

A theory on what (or who) is the cause of the time paradox/time distortion phenomenon in FFVII Remake (Part I)

Warning: It’s very long wall of words so take your time to read because this writing consists of the elements taken from other Final Fantasy titles and even spin-offs. Many details are taken from Final Fantasy wikia and from my own experiences with the games.  _______________________________________

Before we start talking about this subject, please ask yourself this question: 

“If you have the power to control time and space, thus making you a time traveler, but you only have one chance to time travel, when and where would you travel to? To an unknown future? Return to a point in the past where your best memory lies? Or to that point in the past that you made the heaviest mistakes so you can fix them? Remember, you only have enough power to do it one time.” 

If you take this problem seriously, yes seriously, I think you may choose the same to mine: to travel back to the point where you made the heaviest mistakes to fix them. Maybe it is not the same for all people, some may think they will move to the unknown future because they only have one chance to time travel, why wasting it on reminiscing the past, but if it’s to travel back to the past, I think many will choose to go back to fix their mistake rather than reliving a moment of memory. 

That’s the basic I took to write this theory. For many characters in a franchise, all have their own problems in the past, would they choose to begin again at a random point in their past, or would they choose to go back to fix their heaviest mistakes they made?  ________________________________________

Part I: The fundamental set up of Final Fantasy multiverse - Void

To be in a multiverse means that there rules that one realm has to follow. This is shown in Dissidia series, as all the realms of Final Fantasy multiverse are connected through the flow of a certain anti-matter, Void. The world of Dissidia, or World B, exists like a singularity connected to the Interdimensional Rift, which is basically a Void gate since the Void was cast into the Interdimensional Rift and expanded in it, as shown in FFV. As featured in many FF realms, Void is a very special type of matter, it exists beyond time and space and it flows in between the realms. Thus, people who got stranded into the Void if not totally lose themselves due to the nihilistic nature of it, may get the ability to time and space travel, they become rendered as existence beyond time and space, and is known as Dimensional Travelers.   The two most well-known Dimensional Travelers are Gilgamesh (first appears in FFV) and Shinryu (first appear in FFI): 

Void is not presented in all realms, it may exist in all the realms but only becomes a presented force in some of them. However, we need to look at the concept used to set up Void in Final Fantasy. 

Void (Aether/Emptiness/Nothingness) happens to have multiple definitions, depending on which category you fit it into.  In astronomy, Cosmic voids are vast spaces between filaments (the largest-scale structures in the universe), which contain very few or no galaxies. In other words, Voids are where you can’t find anything in it.  In general philosophy, we have the term “Nihilism”, is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, expressing negation (i.e., denial of) towards general aspects of life that are widely accepted within humanity as objectively real, with the root of word “nihility”, meaning “nothingness”.        In Godai, or Japanese Five Elements Philosophy, Void is of particular importance as the highest of the elements, it represents those things beyond and within our everyday comprehension, particularly those things composed of pure energy before they manifest; the emptiness that the energy is made up of. Bodily, Void represents spirit, thought, and creative energy. It represents the creation of phenomena. It can also be associated with the potential of power, creativity, spontaneity, and inventiveness. In Hinduism, Nirvana is a state of perfect quietude, freedom, highest happiness as well as the liberation from or ending of samsara, the repeating cycle of birth, life and death.

Throughout all the Final Fantasy realms, we see these concepts are used to build either characters, or phenomenon. Many antagonists have nihilism as their motivation, namely Exdeath (V), Kefka Palazzo (VI), Necron (IX), Seymour Guado (X), Caius Ballad (XIII) and Ardyn Izunia (XV). The representation of Void as a type of nothingness space exists in FFI, FFIII, FFV, FFVIII, FFXIII. And Void as an element is seen through out FF realms not directly but mainly through the element crystals: the four crystals seen in many FF realms are of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind elements, these are the four elements in Godai, in the rank of ascension: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind then Void. 

And then we have to look back at FFVII. Even if it looks distinctively different from most of the other realms, it is still a part of the Final Fantasy multiverse. Thus, there will be Void seeping into FFVII realm in a certain kind of form. 

The question is, where do you see it? And in what form?

- First of all, we need to look at the concept of Godai in FFVII. Like I explained above, Godai consists of five elements (with their correspondent colors) in the rank of physical and spiritual ascension: Earth (Black), Water (Blue), Fire (Red), Air (White), Void (basically multicolored or colorless, depends on how you think it is). Of course, listing it like this, where do you see these colors before? 

That’s right, it’s the colored Tsviets, Nero the Sable represents Earth, Azul the Cerulean represents Water, Rosso the Crimson represents Fire and Weiss the Immaculate represents Air.  

Even their designs fit in somewhat reversal to the four elements’ traits in Godai:  1. Earth: stability/stubbornness; holding ground and using strength and presence (source: strength) 2. Water: flexibility/emotionalism; defensive angling and footwork to overextend the attacker before counterattacking (source: power) 3. Fire: aggression/fear; using high energy attacks defensively (source: energy) 4. Air: wisdom/love; evasive, elusive methods that redirect attacks away from their targets (source: resiliency) We all know that Weiss is basically the strongest of the colored Tsviets, and he represents Air, the second highest in the chain of ascension. Even his name, Weiss, is pronounced as “Vice”, either means a very powerful thing, or that of a “person in second in command”. These details hinting the existence of someone above Weiss in the chain of ascension to represents Void. 

- Secondly, we need to look for the concept of nihilism in FFVII. In short explanation, nihilism is a kind of philosophy that deem existence as meaningless. In a positive way, it encourages finding values outsides of physical existence, but in a negative way, it is basically what it means.  It’s not hard to see where this concept could be around in FFVII, as we know in DoC online, Weiss told the Restrictor that “Aren’t you the one saying that death is always with you as long as you are a part of Deepground?”, which shows that his view on existence is trivial, to the point that it may be meaningless. We also see that all the colored Tsviets share the same motive, either that is endless battles (Azul) or that existence means nothing if you are not free (Rosso) or that existence is meaningless without your brother (Weiss and Nero), they all share the nihilistic view. 

- Thirdly, we can look for Void as a nothingness space. This is easy, as we already saw it in DoC, when Nero transported Vincent into an empty space known as “Oblivion”, well, basically “Oblivion” is a word associated to Void. Not even that. what we see in Intergrade implies that Nero’s darkness is actually Void, because with his movesets named, we get “Dark Matter”, “Abyssal Wings”, which is clear indication that it is related to Void more that just normal Darkness element. Not only that, Nero is the only character in FFVII up till now has the ability to “Spatial Shift”, which is one of the two powers Void can give, the other is probably “Chrono Shift”, but we don’t see Nero uses anything related to time, so we are sure he only receives Void power to a certain extend. 

- Lastly, let’s look at the concept of Nirvana. As stated above, Nirvana is considered to be a form of Void, where souls are freed from the cycle of birth and death to achieve perfect happiness and freedom. You may realize where this concept is if you played or watched FFVII OG, because it is the exact concept of the Promised Land.  “ …The Promised Land. So you want to know…? There is no one place called the Promised Land. That’s what I believe. No no, it does exist. Hmmm…… you can say that too. In other words, it doesn’t exist for us, but it did for the Ancients. The Promised Land is the resting place of the Ancients. The life of the Ancients is one continuous journey. A journey to grow trees and plants, produce animals, and to raise Mako energy. Their harsh journeys continued throughout their lives… The place they returned to after their long journey… Their burial land is the Promised Land. Huh? Supreme Happiness? I believe that, for the Ancients, it was the moment that they were able to return to their Planet. At that moment they were released from their fate, and gained their supreme happiness… At least that’s what I believe. I really don’t know whether or not it’s the truth now. “ - Elder Hargo at Cosmo Canyon. 

So, there you have it, FFVII does follow the rule of the FF multiverse as there is Void existing in it in many different forms.  And we know that Void is the matter that grant the ability to shift in space and time for the one that can command it. Remake and OG are probably two parallel timeline, existing in a time paradox, so if you think about it, Void must be taken into account for this phenomenon. 

The question is, who or what commanded the power of Void to create this time paradox? 

We will continue in the next part. Thanks for coming to my Ted-Talk. ________________________________________

Part II:  

“The sea is nothing but a library of all the tears in history.”

— Lemony Snicket, The End. (via bergtagen)

“I like nothing better than losing myself in nature and drawing…”

— Vincent Van Gogh, from The Complete Letters (via violentwavesofemotion)

The benefit of having Void power in you. 

Look who just moseyed on in…