avi tekin @avitekin - Twitter Profile

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about 1 year ago

Over the past few weeks, I shared my Final Fantasy Remake trilogy theory. Now I’m compiling it here in its entirety, with minor adjustments, to make it easier to follow. #FinalFantasyVII #FF7R #FinalFantasyVIIRemake #FinalFantasyVIIRebirth #Theory —◇— We’re not witnessing multiple timelines. We’re witnessing multiple lifetimes. Sephiroth has trapped Cloud and the others in an endless reincarnation loop. Each life is a slightly different replay — designed to amplify suffering, especially loss, which is “the chief among” the negative emotions and the source of power for the Black Materia. It’s also the central theme and struggle of the entire game. The line “Seven seconds till the end.” isn’t about time. It’s symbolic. Seven lives. Cloud’s last chance(s) to break free. “What will you do with it?” Sephiroth asks. We’ve seen six different Stamp dogs across Remake and Rebirth. That might not be a design gimmick or a red herring — it could be a marker for each cycle. If you count Advent Children, maybe that was one too. A full loop. Already lived or being lived simultaneously. Sephiroth talks about a “reunion of worlds”. But it’s not worlds. It’s lives — a culmination of all negative experiences to gather enough power to end it all. When Aerith gives Cloud a flower and says, “People give these when lovers reunite.” maybe she means it. Maybe they’ve met over and over again. The Whispers aren’t just enforcers of fate. The dark ones maintain the loop, while the white ones might be echoes of failed versions of our party: fragments of past selves doing their best to guide them toward positive outcomes, like trying to stop them from entering the Forgotten Capital. The “Whisper Harbingers” at the end of Remake — omni forms of Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo from Advent Children — aren’t just callbacks. They’re manifestations of pain and suffering, sent to keep the loop intact. —◇— Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Zack, and Red XIII have either fallen into the Lifestream or been deeply exposed to mako. A Cosmo Canyon NPC says the planet stores every memory. Some hear them. Some feel them. Cloud’s visions of Aerith’s death in Remake aren’t prophecy. They’re residue. Aerith’s stoic behavior at the end of Remake, before the Singularity, feels like someone who’s been through it all. I believe that Aerith is fully aware of what’s going on, just like the one who says goodbye to Cloud in the church right before pushing him into another lifetime. Surprise surprise: Cloud’s not losing his mind like everyone thinks he does. He actually saw Aerith both live and die. He both saved her and didn't. Thanks to Sephiroth’s “blessing”, he’s also becoming omni — he just doesn’t know it yet. This time, he’s not the unreliable narrator, and that’s our big twist. So, Cloud is both delulu and not; he can see Aerith and the rift in the sky at the end of Rebirth because of this. We know that materia is condensed mako, which comes from the Lifestream: pure memory and emotion made solid. The Black Materia feeds on suffering. The White Materia contains memories. Maybe it doesn’t just summon Holy. Maybe Aerith gave it to Cloud to remind him of the lives he’s lived before. —◇— As for how Sephiroth was able to do all of this, it's because he found a way to manipulate the Lifestream itself after falling into it, basically poisoning the very essence of the planet. He gained access to the memory, emotion, and life cycles of all living things. Imagine the power of someone who’s lived a billion lives. That’s why he’s able to trap our characters in lifetimes. The same seems to be true for all-knowing Aerith, who is an ancient, became one with the Lifestream after her death and can now move between lives as well, wielding great power. This is essentially a battle between Aerith and Sephiroth for full control of the Lifestream. Sephiroth’s goal isn’t just to defy fate — but to defeat death itself and transcend it. Jenova wants to consume life. Sephiroth wants to control it because he’s had enough of “the cycle of life and death”. He loops until he becomes strong enough to defeat Jenova and reshape reality — and bring Cloud with him. Not through force, but through shared memory. He’s making Cloud hate the cycle too, until he eventually understands him and makes the choice willingly. I think the final game could be called Remind, Remember, or Recall. Because the only way to break the cycle is for Cloud to remember the lives that came before. And this time, to choose differently. #FinalFantasyVIIRemind #FinalFantasyVIIRecall —☉— PS: I excluded the following: ''Cloud’s line “You’ve done it before, you can do it again.” hits even harder if it’s not hope, but memory.'' Because this part of the theory lost weight since I’ve learned the original Japanese line is just “You can do it.”

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