Examination Into The Naming Of FFVII - Before Crisiss Zirconiade

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 :’). 

😂😂

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. 

Finally, its AeriSeph Week! 💐✨

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

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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

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: 

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.

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💐 Thank You! 💐

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