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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: 

Read more here:

Vice

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

SOLDIER First Class.

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