Soo true! And then the following lines, "had I realized, had i thought it through, would you be here in my embrace?" The song is defo trying to tell us more!
Just found a woman in the sector seven slums. She's talking about loveless play. 'the finale is a little different but if you watch it you'll understand why.' playing myself for the third time now. Different things spotted each time. Great video Pez
26:06 Cloud's feelings toward Aerith (romantic or not) do not come from Zack. Jenova's cells created fake memories and Cloud accepted them by weakness. Nothing more. If he had Zack's memories, he would behave like Zack or would recognise Aerith. Aerith has always been Cloud's therapist. She has always affected his behaviour: In FF7 Cloud started to become kinder after meeting her, in AC he forgave himslef after she told hilm so. Even KH and dissidia give that impression.
those memories weren't fake at all. those were experiences he actually had, he literally saw it with his own eyes (as a grunt.) jenova cells molded cloud's weak mind and imprinted the memories he had with zack and put himself in zack's position, thus believes he was a first class soldier, says he was at nibelheim (which he was, just as a grunt. this is why tifa gets confused, because she never saw him. there's also a part in the remake when cloud says '5 years' and tifa goes 'huh?' because it was actually 7 years since she's seen him), la de da. but other than that, you're right. zack basically doesn't 'exist' in cloud's mind, so he can't 'be zack.'
Not even that - Cloud created those memories from OBSERVING Zack's actions at Nibelheim. Remember when it was suggested Tifa's memories of Cloud were all made up by Jenova too? I've always thought of Jenova as just a giant gaslight on the memory front. Cloud admitted it was all a creation of his own making on the Highwind after the lifestream sequence. Jenova's impact/influence was to draw Cloud to the reunion, same as the cloaked characters, and to manipulate his actions, when needed. The therapist line is a bit of a stretch on this vid, but makes for a fun idea. He becomes more well-rounded with her because she sees through his tough guy persona, calling it BS from the start. He also wasn't trying to gain the tough guy respect from a terrorist organization from her either...
Exactly that. I'm so tired of the fandom's persistence in keeping the tried and tired "it's Zack's feelings! " Anytime any semblance of affection from Cloud is shown towards Aerith. He has never had Zack's feelings, *ever*. The only thing he ever had was his misconception of being a Soldier 1st Class.
@@namea99 They're just stupid keep pushing there ship called 'Cloti' that they didn't realize that Cloud also has his own personality and emotions not just because of Zack.
When Aerith says "Every time the Whispers touch me I lose a part of myself". This is a good way to explain someone having their memories taken. Imagine if that were you. You can't say you lost a memory if you can't remember ever having it. Next Aerith says "Follow the yellow flowers" and we see a scene of a Yellow flower being destroyed followed by the whispers. The whispers just took that memory from her. I believe Aerith starts out as knowing quite a bit but gets her memories taken in pieces throughout the game. At the end Sephiroth says to her "Those with clouded eyes see nothing but shadows". He knows that Aeriths vision is incomplete unlike his and uses that as an argument against her. Aerith is very perceptive and doesn't need clear visions to piece together what's happening. Part of her knowledge and part of her instinct is yelling at her that Sephiroth is wrong and a threat and that they need to stop him.
Or: a theory of mine.... Aerith is not of this “timeline”. The Aerith we see in remake reminds me so much of the Aerith in the ORIGINAL. Perhaps she was able to Transend time, unto the new Remake of FF 7
aerith is receiving knowledge from the planet throughout the whole game. she's trying to stop the "bad" ending aka the og ending, as seen when red says "this is a glimpse of the future if we fail here today" in reference to the glimpse we saw of the after credits scene in the og of red running. the whispers are trying to make her forget so that things can go as originally planned
I am an OG fan for FF7 and i have to say I love it, I love how the story is now limitless i dont understand why people hate it being changed so much in this remake seeing Aerith alive is not just a dream now is a possibility.
10:00 The first time Sephiroth makes an appearance out of Cloud's illusions is when he passes by Palmer (which is supposed to be a pivotal moment, hence the ominous approach and "below chest" camera angle even though we have seen Sephiroth multiple times before). Unless Cloud has been meeting Palmer in secret to have some tea with butter or whatever, I think this is related to Jenova's proximity more than any kind of memory transfer by touch.
Yes. And Aerith lives because Seph doesn't try to kill her to keep her from manipulating the Lifestream, and SHE becomes the sniveling shell of a person he did in all subsequent titles. I think Seph still has to die, but outside of the planet so he never joins the lifestream. Ha, strap him on the outside of the rocket and keep the huge materia on this time. Take him and the meteor out all at once.
This is why i keep telling y'all that the dream scene with Aerith is the canon one. Aside from Cloud always saying "She's calling out to me" in the morning after even if you got Tifa and Barret scene, Cloud will always say that and also aside from the only optional scene to shown in the Credits, just the allusions and the presence of the lifestream is why its one of the most important scene in the game. Shipping bias aside, it's really a powerful scene.
They way I analyzed it is that all 3 scenes are Canon. SOLDIERS are light sleepers. So it makes sense that he'd get up when he heard Barret go to the garden, then Madam M points it out to him that someone saw him in the garden. The sky sites it's early in the night. Tifa's scene occurs later in the night, referenced by the sky being darker. Here, he tells Tifa, his waking up quickly is a SOLDIER thing. This may be a very subtle reference or even a stretch, but Andrea Rhodea asks Cloud if he found what he was looking for at Corneo's... Cloud says yes, and Andrea tells him to never let it go. Definitely a reference to Tifa, but may be a stretch to equate that to their garden scene. And Aerith's is a dream sequence. But because whichever Aerith this is, she even said that it's almost morning. And the sky was partly before sunrise and by partly Lifestream. This mechanic was built for replayability and rewards... So all scenes are canon, not just Aerith's.
@@LexTan Thats what i thought too, all are canon but some people just stupidly points out Aerith's not canon coz of their shipping biases. out of all them Aerith's is the most important, just notice how Cloud is much more talkative in her scene, its because its actually Clouds Resolution scene, not Aeriths. If you look at the scene description, it says Tifa, Barret and Clouds Resolution Cloud's resolve is to save Aerith. His coming for her, hence that's why it's the only scene found in the credits, Coz its Clouds.
aerith's resolution scene is actually cloud's; it is HIS dream. it is the longest scene out of the 3, cloud has the most lines in this resolution. if all 3 were canon, we'd experience all 3 at 'different times of the night' like someone else suggested. nope. when you're at aerith's house, you're supposed to be going to sleep. sleeping leads to cloud dreaming. barret speaks about avalance while tifa speaks about aerith, the flower, and losing everything.. cloud's the only dream that focuses on the canon task at hand: saving aerith. it really doesn't get anymore canon than that.
By Aerith saying "follow them, the yellow flowers". Could this be that she is foreshadowing her death? Meaning once she is gone physically, the only way she can guide the party towards the right path is to literally leave signs of those flowers created by her from the lifestream at certain points where the gang needs directions down the road? Idk just a crackpot theory lol.
I have thought that too lol. Like could she leave a literal trail. Maybe that's how she directs them towards the forgotten capital. Could go down like that. Clouds journey in advent children drives him past field of yellow flowers at the end. I think theres both a literal and symbolic thing going on with the flowers. Marlene pointed to it straight after her interaction with Aerith to
People tend to forget that, Aerith’s death in OG.. allowed her to navigate the lifestream and call on it, combined with the Holy materia to save the world. Cloud defeat Sephiroth obviously needs to happen but, even with that...meteor hits Earth. It is Aerith’s activity in the lifestream that saves the world. She is the foil for the black materia. If she doesn’t die, humanity will not be spared by meteor. Sephiroth may desire more so to keep her alive, than kill her.
Man its the best stuff! You don't make any sense to other hoomans and you are convicted as a fringe mad man. But this is a nice place. A juicy place. A place of infinite potential... come join me 😆
Totally forgot to mention that but yeah, even the theme is perhaps teasing us with the notion the reality of FF7Remake is playing more like a dream in Cloud's mind
the line "Follow them. The yellow flowers." is in quote marks. seems to me more so that she was repeating the line that had been told to her. whether it was at that moment (from the planet) or some memory
I do like this theory!! My one thought on the 'dream' scene with Aerith, I feel like it's OG Aerith coming back from the lifestream to speak to Cloud, a lot of what she says makes sense to say to someone who she's known a while not in that short space of time. She also wants to prepare Cloud for her dying. I don't think it was ever really a dream as such
TLDW: Aerith is subtly working on the the mind of the planet aswell as Cloud in getting them to drop their BS The Remake had significant moments of Cloud's mind interfacing with reality. Seph bridge, Aerith house & possibly the Nibelheim/Midgar overlay + the VR machine. He is the most successful Jenova experiment so he too may have hallucination/dreamweaving capabilities. Saved you 32 minutes 😉
If this is true then no wonder we never saw a flashback to Cloud defeating Sephiroth in Nibelhiem! I mean standing in front of Jenova powered up this ability of Cloud's enough to make his illusion of Seph tangible in the Remake. Imagine if this is to set up for the reveal that in Nibelhiem this then latent ability was 1st tapped into when Cloud summoned impossible strength to throw off Seph! Perhaps being born in Nibelhiem where so much experimentation with Jenova happened subtly influenced both Cloud & Tifa; she is able to literally enter Cloud's personality after all. This would also explain why Cloud was so sure of himself before leaving to join SOLDIER yet away from Nibelhiem was so thoroughly unremarkable, then when home in Nibelhiem again achieves the impossible in defeating Seph. Hojo's experimentation on Cloud afterwards (still in Nibelhiem) simply enhanced this previously latent ability. Just my mind swirling thoughts coming off of this amazing theory 😅 Thanks for such an awesome video Pez xx
I'm starting to wonder now all the symbolism used in the game, especially with the materia: Yellow materia - skills that the player must actively choose to initiate. Purple materia - gives (mainly) passive attributes, especially when the characters are not currently the leader during battle. Can that be construed with Yellow (actively choosing actions in order to follow the true narrative) and Purple (letting the false narrative run its course, i.e. not doing anything)
Cloud affecting reality and us seeing what Cloud's mind *thinks* is happening (or is making happen?) would explain that weird interlude with the cats outside of Jessie's house. 4 cats that are basically analogs for the B-Team plus Cloud just wander by and completely captivate his attention for no discernible reason. Its an odd scene.
I find the memory theme so interesting because it draws parallels between both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X. Memories caused some spirits to not be absorbed by the lifestream. According to Lifestream White 2, these spirits had feelings of hatred toward the planet. When Aerith looks closely at these spirits, she sees that the spirit is holding onto these emotions due to their memories. When people visit the Farplane in FFX, they can see their loved ones because the pyreflies are using their memories to project. The fayth on Mt. Gagazet were able to dream Dream Zanarkand because of their memories of real Zanarkand. People use dress spheres due to the spheres holding a memory in FFX-2. VII Remake shows a scene of the Cetra taking energy from the lifestream and creating materia (reminds me of dress spheres to be honest). I’m sure the lifestream itself holds memory. Based on your theory, Cloud honestly sounds like a walking, talking fayth if he’s able to project a reality using his memories. Very interesting theory, Pez.
Everyone dies eventually. - Aerith talking about her fate, an important line for the rest of the conversation So we need to make the most of the time we have-to live our lives the way we wanna live. Every minute...every moment, matters. - What She has been trying to do since meeting Cloud, despite knowing her fate. She hesitates, she had fun making the most of the time she has with Cloud, but it's back to reality. She's started to realize that her wanting to be happy and live a normal life with Cloud is a fantasy, "not real" Time to say goodbye. I'm glad I met you, Cloud. I really am. I'm grateful for all the words we've shared. For all the moments and the memories. You've made me more happy than you know. And I'll always cherish what you've given me. - She starts to say her goodbyes, telling him that while living in the moment with him she was able to be happy. But whatever happens, you can't fall in love with me. Even if you think you have...it's not real. - A protective statement, with the context of everything said, especially line one, it's meant to spare him. It not being real, doesn't mean his feelings, but probably their ability to be in a relationship. Her existence is uncertain, she can't have a normal relationship and life. She knows him being in love with her is futile if she isn't going to be alive to reciprocate those feelings, causing him to suffer. Cloud was her friend, her beloved - a symbol of what was important to her, and someone to be protected. - On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream Black and Lifestream White The woman wondered if Cloud could help her. However, that might lead to Cloud getting hurt as well. The Cloud she knew had a very fragile heart. - On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream Black and Lifestream White Cloud is Cloud. The jcells couldn't use any of Zack's memories to rebuild Cloud's ego because none of it collaborated with Cloud's ideal self. Cloud didn't want to be Zack, the person, he just wanted to be a first-class soldier like him. So there was no point in taking memories of life in Gongaga. Absorbing anything from Zack, even feelings, would have conflicted with who Cloud wanted to be, which was Cloud who wasn't a weak failure. The jcells weren't just a sponge absorbing everything from everyone. Tifa's memories, however, did collaborate with Cloud's ideal self. He's Cloud, a boy from her childhood who she hasn't seen in 7 years. The jcells ignored the 7 years part and instead made it 5 to make it seem like he was the first-class soldier who returned to Nibelheim, not the guy hiding in shame for not making it. They made a promise at the well, and she started to think about him more after he went off to become a soldier, elevating his importance to her over the years from not a childhood friend to a childhood friend. - Cloud: "It's complicated." He just used Zack as a reference for his ideal, using his own memories of Zack the soldier, not the person. He used him as a template for what a first-class soldier was like and then deleted him from his memory so it wouldn't conflict with his new narrative. This is what Aerith "saw" in Cloud, as far as Zack goes. Someone who walked, gestured, and carried themselves in a similar way.
All well good points, however Aerith's love is Zack Fair not Cloud Strife. She wants to live with her friends yes, but wants Zack back by her side as well.
@@sakuracardcaptor4709 move on, on novellas aerith already says she def love cloud more than zack, aerith already move on from her first love and you should too
Actually “思” Omoi means more like "thought", it's not directly "hope", and for that it can also mean emotion or the feeling of missing someone/something, " Direct translate of Hope is "希望“ Kibou. Also, "田" is not windows, it means rice field. And the windows in this scene isn't even shaped like it so I feel it's a stretch. I feel the point about the Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum) and the pens make more sense. Ornithogalum is a flower that's associated with the birth of Christ and it symbolizes purity, hope, and forgiveness.
This, my friends, is the reason why I subscribed to this channel. His theories. I've been here dice the ff15 days and I love every one of his theory videos! KEEP EM COMING KUPO! 😁
Interesting theory. I think another reason why Aerith is playing the role of therapist is to try to outwit Sephiroth. If Sephiroth knows how the OG played out, his best strategy is to kill Tifa instead of Aerith so that Aerith doesn't join the Lifestream and Tifa can't put Cloud's true personality back together, allowing him to continue to be a pawn for Sephiroth. So perhaps Aerith is trying to help Cloud put his own mind back together earlier so that he has the strength he needs to ward off Sephiroth's influence earlier.
Got a theory for you guys: The Remake is setting up to kill someone besides Aerith based on relationship points and the fact that Sephiroth knows what happens if he executes his plan the same way as he originally did
This is incredible bro! I'll definitely need to watch it again, but Sephiroth taking the narrative by taking charge of destiny is INSANE!! I swear this rolls into your theory about God Cloud, that is, if the defense mechanism aspect is true.
Nice video Pez You should read this info: The symbolism of Terrier(Terrier Stamp) - The spirit of the terrier dogs urges you to persevere with your current mission. It guides you not to waver, no matter how tough things may seem. The results may be slow in coming but hang in there. You need to remain focused on your goal. Your courage, faith, and determination will pay off in the end
So much going on in this theory, pez, I'm gonna need to rewatch this a few times to process it all! I'm loving the comparison of Cloud and the Planet, even as just analogies of each other, as the Hero's journey is reflected in the overall story. Aerith has always had a guiding/supporting role, and putting her on a planetary/cosmic scale deservedly amps up her role in the Remake massively.
I found it odd that Cloud's headaches would appear either when Sephiroth was involved, or when Cloud began to remember something from his true past, as if a defense mechanism against his trauma was preventing him from remembering anything painfull. The idea that the headaches thus have the same role for Cloud as the whispers do have for the planet is very credible. That both the headaches and whispers are here to prevent Cloud and the Planet to become vulnerables, vulnerable against the truth and trauma for Cloud, and vulnerable against the change of destiny for the Planet. I had already thought before about the fact that there were parallels between the Planet Gaïa and Cloud. Both are plagued by the crimes of the Shinra and by the infection of Jenova (the mako reactors and the serious wounds of the planets caused by the calamity, the inhuman experiments he underwent at the hands of the scientists of the shinra and the presence of J-cells and S-cells in his organism for Cloud). In the original game, Sephiroth seeks to impose his will on Cloud and Gaia, and in the Remake, we can say that Sephiroth seeks to manipulate Cloud as well as the Planet, and apparently would like to prevent their end. The role of Aerith in all of this thus takes on its full meaning : During the Post-Meteor events, Aerith does her utmost to purify and soothe the souls of those who have died from geostigma, and in the long run this helps the planet to heal itself better . Also, it is thanks to Aerith that Tifa was protected from the harmful effects of mako and thus helped her heal Cloud's broken spirit in Mideel. Yep, Aerith is totally a therapist for Cloud and the Planet ^^ Change and truth are frightening to a child, the Planet has instincts and reactions comparable to those of a child, and Cloud himself is described as similar to an orphan child by Biggs. Aerith would therefore be there to encourage Cloud and the Planet to overcome their fears, those fears that prevent them from growing up and moving towards a future where they would be freer. To free themselves of those defense mechamnisms which hurt Cloud and the Planet more than they realize. Then in the Remake, making sure to break the chains of fate is a bit like encouraging the planet to overcome this fear that prompts it to use the whispers defense mechanism, just as Aerith quietly encourages Cloud to be more himself, and especially to go to save Tifa in chapter 9, the one that can help the real Cloud to Re-emerge. Aerith's role in the Remake is to help Cloud and the Planet cope with their wounds and trauma in a more healthy way. Cloud's being a dreamweaver is an insane theory and yet it would make so much sense ! Your theories never stop to amaze me
Like how do you come up with these theories? Its so deep and makes so much sense. Mind. Blown. I never noticed the part where Tifa only saw Sephiroth after she touched Cloud. I never questioned if it could be BECAUSE she touched him. Many keen observations Peasant!
I started following this channel for news coverage, lore dives and theories. I love this kind of content from pez. Philosophy is so interesting. I know that streaming play throughs keeps pez alive 😂 but I miss these kinds of videos
Final Fantasy Peasant your content let’s me feel the excitement around something very special to me. It’s the only place I can so keep making these kinds of videos please ❤️
Aerith and therepy... I'm already sold one minute deep. VII has my heart all the way, but playing IX was my therepy when I hit an existential crisis a year ago. Pez is good therepy, too. And my professional therepist is the bomb too.
Great video! Love this theory. 😁 This is not really related to this theory but it came to my mind when Jenova theme played at the end of the video: Does anyone else hear the words "Déjà vu" at the end of the Jenova Quickening? Am I only one 😂
I really dig this theory! It threw me back to when I played through the OG, the intensity of the story kinda mind fucking you. When I played the remake the alteration didn't bother me because I was incredibly entranced by the realism of the graphics and so on that I didn't really dive head first into the story alteration. But now you throw this theory out there, it's bringing back so many nostalgic feelings for the storyline. I'm going to play through it again and really analyze the plot with this new view! Thanks man!!
Yeah Im wondering if he did that to just stop Cloud glimpsing a memory Sephiroth hasn't rewritten yet. Or if Seph actually stole the memory from him, the way Aerith gives memories too party memebers. Maybe Seph took it for himself. Cool few ways to interpret it but I love the possibilities
This is a very interesting theory and while watching it I did start to wonder what if the events in the game are really just Cloud under hypnosis, being guided by Aerith through a dream to help Cloud try to fix his mind, which has been twisted by so much trauma. The scene at the end of the game where the Whispers disappear could be a glimpse of the true events that are being teased to us. And if this could be so then what if Aerith's "death" is her letting Cloud continue the journey to the truth on his own, with Tifa, his best friend and the person who knows him best being the rock to tie him to reality, but Tifa was also selected because she had a part in Cloud's mind being twisted because she was scared to correct the false memories and stop the lies in the past, thus Aerith wants Tifa to be the one to help Cloud finish his journey to show Tifa that Cloud needs the truth. The flash of Aerith praying and the White Materia could be from when Cloud was put under hypnosis. After all therapist have tools that help them to put people into those trance like states, a lighter, a gem on a chain, etc. So what if that White Materia was just a ball that Aerith used for Cloud to watch while she put him under? In regards to the role Sephy would play in this, well, Cloud Idolized Seph, meaning that Seph holds a special place in Cloud's heart and mind. They say don't meet your heroes. What if Cloud had met Seph and it was a bad experience? What if Seph was cruel to people? Or what if Cloud met Seph on a battlefield during one of the worst battles in history? The kind of battle in which many of the friends Cloud was finally able to make were cut down before him and Sephiroth, trying to keep Cloud focused and alive appeared harsh and demanding to him, telling him to "get over it" and "stop crying". A moment like that would stick in his mind and help to paint the imagine of Seph over with a monster rather than someone who had tried to help Cloud in staying alive. When you think of it, this kind of makes sense as Sephiroth is seen as the root of all evil with Jenova as an explanation for how Sephy got so powerful. But in reality Cloud gave this created version of Sephy all that power himself because he needed a villain to blame all the wrongs in his life on. Everything bad that happens in the game happens because of Sephy. Even when they get sent to the desert prison it's because Sephy killed people and they got blamed for it. Finally, what if the Reunion is actually the end result of Cloud therapy? What if the Reunion is the healing of Cloud's mind and the uncovering of the truth he has spent so long running from. The scene in the Crate where he begs Hojo to give him a number is his attempt to create a new lie for himself to hide behind, but by that point his mind is starting to reject the lies and thus the only one to try to continue the lies is the created Seph in Cloud's mind, everyone else his mind created is rebelling against the lies cause he is starting to want the truth himself, but his fear of it allows his greatest demon, Sephiroth, to continue trying to keep the lies going because Cloud has given that creation so much power. This is why Sephiroth is the final boss. And all the times he reappears afterwards is because personal demons never truly go away. They linger in the background waiting for a time to come back when we're at our weakest. This is just my thoughts that came from this theory vid. Let me know what you guys think and share your own if you want. Who knows, maybe we'll crack ff7r with our theories or maybe we'll inspire a fanfic writer or two.
@MAVERICX Well I base the Seph doing something on a battlefield that made Cloud's view of him shift on the fact that in the past Cloud did something good and he got punished for it (saving Tifa in the mountains when she fell while looking for her mother but the town blaming him for her getting hurt thus leading to him getting singled out and picked on), thus to have someone he respects and looks up to, and possibly has never interacted with before then, snap at him harshly on a battlefield would bring to mind how his town turned against him, which was a trauma in itself, thus plant a seed for dark Sephiroth. But I can see that it might be a bit too much. It's just hard to try to figure how Sephiroth might've come to be the villain, unless perhaps his whole existence is a construct of Cloud's mind.
I love your theories! It makes a lot of sense that this is the case, considering Aerith’s powers and knowledge of the FFVII world. I wonder how this will change late-game cloud and his actions as well.
what if in the lifestream the events of FF7 keep playing over and over again for all the spirits within it and the planets memories, and bassicly subjecting themselves to trauma over and over again when in reality they're all ...well passed on...and all of this is happening after FF7 the planet has gotten rid of all the humans already, and that's why we see everyone here. Aerith is trying to get the planet to stop reliving these traumas again, and again and to leave the souls to rest in peace. "Cloud, it's over, it's been over. Please , you just have to let it go...let me go."
That moment when Square made a FF7 sequel and named it a remake to fool us all! Here we are, all worried about not having the full game and how long it will take to get the 3 disc's of content in these beautiful graphics whilst squeenix is like "YOU FOOLS! YOU YET NOT SEE OUR TRUE INTENTIONS! FF7 WAS NEVER FINISHED, MERELY A STORY NOT FULLY TOLD YET!" I had a feeling that Aerith knew some shit while playing the game, that she might know the future, but most of it went over my head as I was enjoying the remake. Now that I've watched this video, future parts of the remake I'll be over analyzing it as I play it. Legit can't wait to see where this shit goes!
Don't know if you've heard this theory or not but I recently read one where it states that Cait Sith's appearance meant more than initially thought; he wasn't there just to try and stop the plate from collapsing or put there for a dramatic tease, yes trying to stop the collapse was probably was the goal but he was also most likely there to save who he could which meant that it's highly likely he's the one to save Biggs (and possibly Jessie)
Oh yeah I put that theory forward to. The possiblity that he went in and tried to help save people after he clearly arrived too late to stop the collapse. Reeve seems way more compassionate in this Remake than even his OG self
What if I told you, that FF7 starts with Aerith in front of the mako leak then when you beat it we get to see Aerith again in front of the mako leak and then she knows everything. The remake is the sequel that takes place right after the OG where she is in front of the mako leak and knows everything. But Sephiroth does too and that's why it eludes his presence in the new rendition of Midgar City of Mako theme?
Calling it now... Cloud is going to save our beloved flower girl and right after Tifa is going to start yelling at Cloud that he has to come back and it's just flat out not going to make any sense why Tifa would say that until Cloud looks down and he's in a wheelchair
I think aerith was remembering what some1 had told her. When she says follow the yellow flowers it looks like she's recalling it not communicating it to any1
I still wonder if everything that happens after the whisper gets in Cloud's face while he is sleeping is a dream. Perhaps part two will pick up with Cloud being trapped in that dream only to be awoken to find they have not taken out reactor 5 yet.
Not sure how Cait Sith's lines about Cloud and Aerith's stars aligning aren't romantic. After stating that they're perfect for each other and their stars showing a great future, he immediately follows up with "I'll be your matchmaker, preacher..." both of which suggest marriage and therefore a romantic relationship.
There are some really good points here. The 4-5 part cyclic models common in psychology (abuse, grief, Piaget's learning thingy, etc) could be in many ways analogous to the five part structure of Loveless. I'm starting to think that Remake will end with Aerith getting Sephiroth to achieve peace with him, breaking the cycle.
As a *psychoanalyst* ... FF7 and FF7R as a howl is a "Chaos Kampf" between the Death/Thanatos drive (Sephiroth) and the Eros drive (Aerith)! And Cloud is like Sephiroth (same trauma in childhood) a bit more on the Death drive (depression, anxiety attacks, dangerous behavior/reckless behavior, passiv and active aggressiv) side of life. "Borderline personality disorder" (Cloud has 6 from 9 criteria, but I show 2 very important ones) in the DSM V have this criteria -> * Identity disturbance with markedly or persistently unstable self-image or sense of self (memory issues) * Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms (Sephiroth visual visions) Cloud : Archetype: Dark Knight (Byronic Hero), IQ: 125 -135, Introvert, Disagreeable, high in Neuroticism, and ... PTSD, inferiority complex, Borderline personality disorder (subtype: +++ Petulant, + Self-destructive), bit on the death drive side (Freud) and dismissive-avoidant A2 Subtype (Attachment Theory)
The memory filtering process is something everyone does to have a good narrative and believe system. But by Cloud it becomes some kind of repression (Freud) to keep his sanity or at least sane enough to keep going. Sephiroth acting more like the oedipal/tyrannical mother with manipulation and gas lighting, he even protect Cloud from harm like a oedipal mother (see IT from Stephan King)
Balls. I recently just started having the time to dive into these theories and you gotta drop this shit. Considering how untangibly the set of writers they have are.....and they're given 2-4 games to write it, this makes sense.
Aerith fans wants aerith to have Tifa's role so badly it's sad, i thought Aerith was the ultimate heroine and the love of Cloud's life? Why yall want to erase so badly the NPC Tifa who matters very little to Cloud? the ''Tifa also contributes to this role'' cracked me up man
very convincing theory. if any of these theories are correct and the hints are intentional. these writers at square enix are geniuses and near divine XD
When it's all said and done, one day in the future, this might go down as the greatest concept/multi media creation ever made. A self aware story and a level of interactionary theory crafting like no other.
Thats what I am hoping. If the Remake can pull off not just a super self aware story of itself BEING a remake. But also question the interpretive nature of experiance & story telling, this could be some very clever writing in the making. Or just standard Nomura crack :P which is just as addictive lol
Even when in Advent Children when Cloud sees Aerith in that field of yellow flowers plays into it and Sephiroth's infatuation with Cloud would finally make sense
This hit me hard. I have a friend that was basically like Aerith and I thought I fell in love with her. But u guess it's just transference. Shows what I know about love 🙃
Thing is did Cloud trigger the VR? I always assumed it was a Jenova/Seph trick. But when Cloud makes the dream space happen with Aerith AND the projection of Nibelheim over Midgar AND Seph turning real at the bridge. I dunno mane, I think Cloud is integrated with his Jenova cells in a way noone else is and could be giving him mild dreamweaving capabilities.
@@FinalFantasyPeasant just remembered that I think Jenova Dreamweaver was actually referred to as Jenova pulse on EU versions. Excluding UK of course. I may have remembered wrong. Part two needs to hurry up already :(
This is exactly along the lines i have been working out although you have made a few good points....this is why the wait for Part 2 is becoming unbearable,
Your thought near the end about Cloud "dreaming" reality... this is what they should have done in FF XV when Noctis was in the Crystal for years... playback all dreamscapes and possibilities that led up to that part... in FFXV it would have been great to dream Noctis as in the Demo leading up to his fights in Somnambulus (or whereever)... why just throw that important story away that you never see in the released game? Same for FFVII. There is a point in the story where the preceding events could be dreamnt and redreamnt, such as in the Mako Chamber at Neibleheim, before the reality of the real story takes place.
Was it all a dream? Will I never know? Foolish and blind to everything Had I realized, had i thought it through Would you be here, in my embrace? It's like the lyrics are bascially telling us the plot of the game 😅👍
I wonder if they'll show the background of the calamity from the sky. The cetra background etc. So much from the days of the ancients that we never heard, the "watchgoers" or whatever they're called may leave deeper detail to who Jenova is, as well as her purpose...
Just pointing out that the first Change we ever see in this game to the original, is that yellow flower getting crushed in the opening cinematic. It was the first added thing that wasn't in the original opening.
In one of your videos you said something about "Did Sephiroth freeze Aerith?" referring to when Cloud first runs into Aerith and Sephiroth shows up and I thought that too but I started playing my boyfriend's copy and when I got to that part I watched Aerith instead of Sephiroth and she actually does move she closes her mouth and like sways on the spot a bit and they also do the headache effect when Sephiroth touches Aerith's shoulder, so can she see Sephiroth after this point just like Cloud can? (I'm only at the flower scene right after this so not sure but thought I'd mention it and also not sure if it's been talked about yet) (also keeping your theories in mind while playing)
Cloud: I never was in SOLDIER. I made up the stories about what happened to me five years ago, about being in SOLDIER. I left my village looking for glory, but never made it in to SOLDIER...... I was so ashamed of being so weak; then I heard this story from my friend Zack... And I created an illusion of myself made up of what I had seen in my life...... And I continued to play the charade as if it were true. Barret: Illusion, huh...? Pretty damn strong for a llusion, I'd say. Cloud: I'm physically built like someone in SOLDIER. Hojo's plan to clone Sephiroth wasn't that difficult. It was just the same procedure they use when creating members of SOLDIER. You see, someone in SOLDIER isn't simply exposed to Mako energy. Their bodies are actually injected with Jenova cells...... For better or worse, only the strong can enter SOLDIER. It has nothing to do with Jenova Reunion. But weak people...... like me, get lost in the whole thing. The combination of Jenova cells, Sephiroth's strong will and my own weakness are what created me. Everyone knew that. I'm...... Cloud. ......the master of my own illusionary world. But I can't remain trapped in an illusion any more...... I'm going to live my life without pretending. ------ Taken from OG English Script. So, Nope, Cloud does not have Zack's consciousness or feelings as if he was being possessed by Zack. He was manipulated by Sephiroth/Jenova cells and his own denial of failures into believing of becoming the dream he never gets to have -- to be a SOLDIER.
If you really played the OG, the whole point of Cloud’s identity crisis is that Sephiroth was able to make him believe that he is just his puppet by letting him assumed that his false recollection of the Nibelheim tragedy is true. Thus, when the truth was revealed to him - that it was actually Zack in his place (and forgetting that he was there too when the tragedy happened), he suddenly questioned his existence as a real person and/or doubt that he had his own free will (when during the OG course of events, Sephiroth was able to make him do things against his liking because of the JENOVA cells injected inside him.) He was thinking that maybe Sephiroth was right about him being just his remnant (that he was just like the black hooded people or Kadaj gang in AC). That’s how the war hero planning to get even with Cloud - to destroy him mentally and emotionally by invalidating his feelings (look back to Sephiroth’s last words to Cloud after killing Aerith - he invalidated Cloud’s feelings and told him he was just a puppet.) But, thankfully, the lifestream sequence happened, with the help of Tifa (and Aerith for making sure they survived from the exposure to the lifestream - lorewise, if I wouldn’t assume it was Aerith who aid them - like how it was told in the canon novel The Maiden Who Travels the Planet -, I doubt that the two could ever get out alive), they were able to isolate and pinpoint that Cloud had distorted memories of that event only. And he was starting to remember that he was there too when the tragedy happened (Tifa was only informed at that time too because she didn’t know too), while he also realized all his other past memories remained intact and are true being a real resident of Nibelheim. In that lifestream scene, we found out that Tifa and Cloud had an accident and Cloud was blamed for it. Tifa and Cloud weren’t close back when they were kids because of the boys surrounding her made him an outcast. That’s why, at the start, she was having a hard time convincing him that they were indeed childhood friends, even about their promise scene being true because it’s the only time they had an actual interaction. But nevertheless, she was the only living witness to validate Cloud’s existence. Cloud just went out there assuming he was a 1st Class SOLDIER because the mako poisoning messed up how his brain functions. Thus, with poor cognitive performance, he associated himself so much with Zack’s accomplishments as a SOLDIER (and you may say that part of the reason is ‘becoming a SOLDIER’ is Cloud’s failed dream/frustration). Psychologists might be able to explain it better how it works if we will apply real-life logic. But moving on, so when he and Tifa digged deeper into his consciousness and finally learned that all his past memories are true and only his memories of the tragedy is false (or half false because he was really there but the actual events just happened differently from what he believed plus his vague memories up to their escape to Midgar) - He realized that he just really didn’t make it as a SOLDIER but that doesn’t totally mean that he wasn’t a real person who has his own will after all. Despite being delusional and ashamed fool, he can still live out his dream as a hero to save the people dear to him - Therefore, he was able to break free from Sephiroth’s evil manipulation and, more than ever, he is determined to stop him. That’s what actually made Cloud’s whole character arc beautiful (which is almost comparable with FFIX Vivi). That’s why, for me, Cloud is somehow still being himself both in the OG and Remake. Meaning, the “Fake Cloud” we are saying here is the Cloud being himself (egocentric, rude, indifferent) but only assuming he was once a SOLDIER. That’s why he was portrayed cocky and pretending-to-know-his-ways when, at times, he was just as clueless (like Aerith pointed it out to him few times in the Remake and OG). You may say Zack influenced him to be a mercenary, but how exactly to be one, it’s still Cloud’s own way and experience as we see in the game (OG and Remake). If you still believe that Cloud possessed Zack’s memories, think of the following questions: 1) Why Cloud doesn’t recognize every person Zack met? The Turks? Zack’s parents in Gongaga? More importantly, Aerith? Cloud even forgot Aerith the 2nd time he met her in the church, right? 2) Why Cloud doesn’t feel any “deja vu” when he visits places where Zack had been? Why is he not familiar with Aerith’s Church and him falling inside it? It happened the same way to Zack, true? 3) Why can he still remember correctly his childhood in Nibelheim, along with his memories of his mother? 4) Outside the Nibelheim tragedy up to their escape to Midgar, are there any other memories of Cloud distorted? 5) Did we see any trace of Zack’s memories inside Cloud’s consciousness during the lifestream sequence? Did we filtered out a memory about Zack? 6) Memories should change our behavior and personality (so many movies and literature out there also show how it’s supposed to work) but how come Cloud and Zack remained polar opposites? Zack being people person and warm while Cloud remained aloof and cold? If you can rationalize around these questions well enough to support your claim, then I might believe you. Otherwise, I’m still convinced that Cloud doesn’t have his friend’s memories like literally in his head as how most of you assumed it. Zack may have hugely influenced him - like being a mercenary, but how exactly to be one is still Cloud’s own experience.
The Dreamland Aerith talks about is zanakand and Cid did not leave FFX planet, but he travelled to the future. Something happened in FFX that somehow sent yunalesca into the sky, and their history was forgotten and memories where wiped out. Did yunalesca return as Jenova instead of sin? I'm starting to think sin was sent by the planet to fight the humans BSh (Before Shinra) once Yuna killed sin the planet fell in shock and destroyed the calm lands in FFX maybe that's how jenova/yunalesca body was sent to the sky after the events of ffx-2. Hundreds of years later Everything was forgotten or hidden away, and the ancient people (Clearly the Al bheds) we're assigned to repopulate human civilization and rewrite history.. Aerith being the last Al bhedian resulted a conflict with the planet. Knowing Seymour descendant sephiroth craves its destruction like it did with spira and wanting to resurrect jenova/yunalesca. I think Aerith is Yuna and Tidus descendant and Cloud and Zack is Auron and his purpose is to protect the summoner/ancient, which Tidus is also an ancient in FFX since he also travelled to the future. Even young Auron resembles Angeal. I think I'm crazy lol
I find it interesting when you have both sides being concerned for the planet at one point and this is obviously when barret is doing his 'can you hear the planet screaming out in pain' speech and ALSO when we speak with sephiroth for the first time and he says 'our beloved planet is dying'. Another thing I thought up while watching this theory video is back in the bedroom when Aerith is in that trance state and (I totally agree with you on this) talking to the planet, I feel like she's saying follow them...as in follow the gang, the yellow flower....in other words the guy I marked at the beginning with a yellow flower. Follow and protect him as he will help you.
Oooh thats really cool. Also you could say that maybe Marlene was 'marked'. First thing after Aerith gifts her with something, Marlene goes to the yellow flower. She also tends yellow flowers at the church when she is living with Elmyra. So yeah, Aerith could be 'marking' those the planet needs to accompany to find the truth/resolution
@@FinalFantasyPeasant exactly. Like you said, the planet is just trying to defend itself and not really caring who gets hurt in the process. This way Aerith can just give the planet a heads up that there are some who are fighting to save it and need to be spared.
Hey think about this arieth said that she could come back to life sephiroth but didnt want to do it one way what If arieth is working with future arieth to get him to remember her a certain way so she can come back into the game after she dies so the effect of her dying is there but your still getting her back
I think she also considered making remnants of herself. She saw the remnants Seph made and thought about doing it, which is wild to think. Remnants Aeriths all demonstrating an amplified aspect of her personality. The sassy remnant would be sassing off the charts!
The new theme goes "Was it all a dream? Will I never know?"
Yes exactly! I cant believe I forgot to mention, was in my notes aswell
Was it real or just my fantasy? Oops sorry wrong FF.
probano 😂
Soo true! And then the following lines, "had I realized, had i thought it through, would you be here in my embrace?"
The song is defo trying to tell us more!
Or we could be getting Rick Rolled new theme could be, "I'm never gonna give you up" the song matches the perfected dance in the Honeybee Inn
Just found a woman in the sector seven slums. She's talking about loveless play. 'the finale is a little different but if you watch it you'll understand why.' playing myself for the third time now. Different things spotted each time. Great video Pez
26:06 Cloud's feelings toward Aerith (romantic or not) do not come from Zack. Jenova's cells created fake memories and Cloud accepted them by weakness. Nothing more. If he had Zack's memories, he would behave like Zack or would recognise Aerith.
Aerith has always been Cloud's therapist. She has always affected his behaviour: In FF7 Cloud started to become kinder after meeting her, in AC he forgave himslef after she told hilm so. Even KH and dissidia give that impression.
those memories weren't fake at all. those were experiences he actually had, he literally saw it with his own eyes (as a grunt.) jenova cells molded cloud's weak mind and imprinted the memories he had with zack and put himself in zack's position, thus believes he was a first class soldier, says he was at nibelheim (which he was, just as a grunt. this is why tifa gets confused, because she never saw him. there's also a part in the remake when cloud says '5 years' and tifa goes 'huh?' because it was actually 7 years since she's seen him), la de da. but other than that, you're right. zack basically doesn't 'exist' in cloud's mind, so he can't 'be zack.'
@@geminuri I agree with you
Not even that - Cloud created those memories from OBSERVING Zack's actions at Nibelheim. Remember when it was suggested Tifa's memories of Cloud were all made up by Jenova too? I've always thought of Jenova as just a giant gaslight on the memory front. Cloud admitted it was all a creation of his own making on the Highwind after the lifestream sequence. Jenova's impact/influence was to draw Cloud to the reunion, same as the cloaked characters, and to manipulate his actions, when needed.
The therapist line is a bit of a stretch on this vid, but makes for a fun idea. He becomes more well-rounded with her because she sees through his tough guy persona, calling it BS from the start. He also wasn't trying to gain the tough guy respect from a terrorist organization from her either...
Exactly that. I'm so tired of the fandom's persistence in keeping the tried and tired "it's Zack's feelings! " Anytime any semblance of affection from Cloud is shown towards Aerith. He has never had Zack's feelings, *ever*. The only thing he ever had was his misconception of being a Soldier 1st Class.
@@namea99 They're just stupid keep pushing there ship called 'Cloti' that they didn't realize that Cloud also has his own personality and emotions not just because of Zack.
When Aerith says "Every time the Whispers touch me I lose a part of myself". This is a good way to explain someone having their memories taken. Imagine if that were you. You can't say you lost a memory if you can't remember ever having it. Next Aerith says "Follow the yellow flowers" and we see a scene of a Yellow flower being destroyed followed by the whispers. The whispers just took that memory from her.
I believe Aerith starts out as knowing quite a bit but gets her memories taken in pieces throughout the game. At the end Sephiroth says to her "Those with clouded eyes see nothing but shadows". He knows that Aeriths vision is incomplete unlike his and uses that as an argument against her. Aerith is very perceptive and doesn't need clear visions to piece together what's happening. Part of her knowledge and part of her instinct is yelling at her that Sephiroth is wrong and a threat and that they need to stop him.
Or: a theory of mine....
Aerith is not of this “timeline”. The Aerith we see in remake reminds me so much of the Aerith in the ORIGINAL.
Perhaps she was able to Transend time, unto the new Remake of FF 7
aerith is receiving knowledge from the planet throughout the whole game. she's trying to stop the "bad" ending aka the og ending, as seen when red says "this is a glimpse of the future if we fail here today" in reference to the glimpse we saw of the after credits scene in the og of red running. the whispers are trying to make her forget so that things can go as originally planned
i think that opening scene in the ally was her getting *all* the info at once, hence the terror and running, and bit by bit its stripped away from her
I am an OG fan for FF7 and i have to say I love it, I love how the story is now limitless i dont understand why people hate it being changed so much in this remake seeing Aerith alive is not just a dream now is a possibility.
Bruh it's legit 🔥
10:00 The first time Sephiroth makes an appearance out of Cloud's illusions is when he passes by Palmer (which is supposed to be a pivotal moment, hence the ominous approach and "below chest" camera angle even though we have seen Sephiroth multiple times before). Unless Cloud has been meeting Palmer in secret to have some tea with butter or whatever, I think this is related to Jenova's proximity more than any kind of memory transfer by touch.
I predict Cloud will end up dying, to finally sever Sephiroths clinging memory outside of the lifestream
Yes. And Aerith lives because Seph doesn't try to kill her to keep her from manipulating the Lifestream, and SHE becomes the sniveling shell of a person he did in all subsequent titles.
I think Seph still has to die, but outside of the planet so he never joins the lifestream. Ha, strap him on the outside of the rocket and keep the huge materia on this time. Take him and the meteor out all at once.
This is why i keep telling y'all that the dream scene with Aerith is the canon one. Aside from Cloud always saying "She's calling out to me" in the morning after even if you got Tifa and Barret scene, Cloud will always say that and also aside from the only optional scene to shown in the Credits, just the allusions and the presence of the lifestream is why its one of the most important scene in the game. Shipping bias aside, it's really a powerful scene.
They way I analyzed it is that all 3 scenes are Canon.
SOLDIERS are light sleepers. So it makes sense that he'd get up when he heard Barret go to the garden, then Madam M points it out to him that someone saw him in the garden. The sky sites it's early in the night.
Tifa's scene occurs later in the night, referenced by the sky being darker. Here, he tells Tifa, his waking up quickly is a SOLDIER thing. This may be a very subtle reference or even a stretch, but Andrea Rhodea asks Cloud if he found what he was looking for at Corneo's... Cloud says yes, and Andrea tells him to never let it go. Definitely a reference to Tifa, but may be a stretch to equate that to their garden scene.
And Aerith's is a dream sequence. But because whichever Aerith this is, she even said that it's almost morning. And the sky was partly before sunrise and by partly Lifestream.
This mechanic was built for replayability and rewards... So all scenes are canon, not just Aerith's.
I think they hint at all of them being cannon but Aerith's the most important
@@LexTan Thats what i thought too, all are canon but some people just stupidly points out Aerith's not canon coz of their shipping biases.
out of all them Aerith's is the most important, just notice how Cloud is much more talkative in her scene, its because its actually Clouds Resolution scene, not Aeriths.
If you look at the scene description, it says Tifa, Barret and Clouds Resolution Cloud's resolve is to save Aerith. His coming for her, hence that's why it's the only scene found in the credits, Coz its Clouds.
Aerith is calling to all of them not just Cloud.
aerith's resolution scene is actually cloud's; it is HIS dream. it is the longest scene out of the 3, cloud has the most lines in this resolution. if all 3 were canon, we'd experience all 3 at 'different times of the night' like someone else suggested. nope. when you're at aerith's house, you're supposed to be going to sleep. sleeping leads to cloud dreaming. barret speaks about avalance while tifa speaks about aerith, the flower, and losing everything.. cloud's the only dream that focuses on the canon task at hand: saving aerith. it really doesn't get anymore canon than that.
FF7 Remake is so juicy. Square really outdid themselves with this one. Loved the video.
By Aerith saying "follow them, the yellow flowers". Could this be that she is foreshadowing her death? Meaning once she is gone physically, the only way she can guide the party towards the right path is to literally leave signs of those flowers created by her from the lifestream at certain points where the gang needs directions down the road? Idk just a crackpot theory lol.
I have thought that too lol. Like could she leave a literal trail. Maybe that's how she directs them towards the forgotten capital. Could go down like that. Clouds journey in advent children drives him past field of yellow flowers at the end.
I think theres both a literal and symbolic thing going on with the flowers. Marlene pointed to it straight after her interaction with Aerith to
People tend to forget that, Aerith’s death in OG.. allowed her to navigate the lifestream and call on it, combined with the Holy materia to save the world. Cloud defeat Sephiroth obviously needs to happen but, even with that...meteor hits Earth. It is Aerith’s activity in the lifestream that saves the world. She is the foil for the black materia. If she doesn’t die, humanity will not be spared by meteor. Sephiroth may desire more so to keep her alive, than kill her.
I see pez has finally got his hands on some of what NOMURA was smoking when he made kh recoded
Man its the best stuff! You don't make any sense to other hoomans and you are convicted as a fringe mad man. But this is a nice place. A juicy place. A place of infinite potential... come join me 😆
@@FinalFantasyPeasant i wonder if there is extra darkness there
@@FinalFantasyPeasant shoulda ended with "cmon, joint me".
Actually fun fact Nomura did came up with KH Coded when he was drunk XD
30:08 a line of the song "Hollow" instantly crossed my mind : was it all a dream, will I never know...
Totally forgot to mention that but yeah, even the theme is perhaps teasing us with the notion the reality of FF7Remake is playing more like a dream in Cloud's mind
the line "Follow them. The yellow flowers." is in quote marks. seems to me more so that she was repeating the line that had been told to her. whether it was at that moment (from the planet) or some memory
🤔
I do like this theory!!
My one thought on the 'dream' scene with Aerith, I feel like it's OG Aerith coming back from the lifestream to speak to Cloud, a lot of what she says makes sense to say to someone who she's known a while not in that short space of time. She also wants to prepare Cloud for her dying. I don't think it was ever really a dream as such
Only problem with memory becoming tangible is that Palmer saw Sephiroth I believe before the group ever got to Hojo's lab.
TLDW: Aerith is subtly working on the the mind of the planet aswell as Cloud in getting them to drop their BS
The Remake had significant moments of Cloud's mind interfacing with reality. Seph bridge, Aerith house & possibly the Nibelheim/Midgar overlay + the VR machine. He is the most successful Jenova experiment so he too may have hallucination/dreamweaving capabilities.
Saved you 32 minutes 😉
What were you smoking bro
If this is true then no wonder we never saw a flashback to Cloud defeating Sephiroth in Nibelhiem!
I mean standing in front of Jenova powered up this ability of Cloud's enough to make his illusion of Seph tangible in the Remake. Imagine if this is to set up for the reveal that in Nibelhiem this then latent ability was 1st tapped into when Cloud summoned impossible strength to throw off Seph! Perhaps being born in Nibelhiem where so much experimentation with Jenova happened subtly influenced both Cloud & Tifa; she is able to literally enter Cloud's personality after all.
This would also explain why Cloud was so sure of himself before leaving to join SOLDIER yet away from Nibelhiem was so thoroughly unremarkable, then when home in Nibelhiem again achieves the impossible in defeating Seph.
Hojo's experimentation on Cloud afterwards (still in Nibelhiem) simply enhanced this previously latent ability.
Just my mind swirling thoughts coming off of this amazing theory 😅 Thanks for such an awesome video Pez xx
And yet you failed to mention her greatest breakthrough in Cloud's rehabilitation; teaching him how to high five.
Awesome theory!
Are you trying to get me to not watch your videos, it's not gonna work
I think it is not a coincidence that in arts purple is the opposite of yellow.
When I hear you say Ho ho hooo! I can’t not think of Bugenhagen
I'm starting to wonder now all the symbolism used in the game, especially with the materia:
Yellow materia - skills that the player must actively choose to initiate.
Purple materia - gives (mainly) passive attributes, especially when the characters are not currently the leader during battle.
Can that be construed with Yellow (actively choosing actions in order to follow the true narrative) and Purple (letting the false narrative run its course, i.e. not doing anything)
Cloud affecting reality and us seeing what Cloud's mind *thinks* is happening (or is making happen?) would explain that weird interlude with the cats outside of Jessie's house. 4 cats that are basically analogs for the B-Team plus Cloud just wander by and completely captivate his attention for no discernible reason. Its an odd scene.
I find the memory theme so interesting because it draws parallels between both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X. Memories caused some spirits to not be absorbed by the lifestream. According to Lifestream White 2, these spirits had feelings of hatred toward the planet. When Aerith looks closely at these spirits, she sees that the spirit is holding onto these emotions due to their memories. When people visit the Farplane in FFX, they can see their loved ones because the pyreflies are using their memories to project. The fayth on Mt. Gagazet were able to dream Dream Zanarkand because of their memories of real Zanarkand. People use dress spheres due to the spheres holding a memory in FFX-2. VII Remake shows a scene of the Cetra taking energy from the lifestream and creating materia (reminds me of dress spheres to be honest). I’m sure the lifestream itself holds memory. Based on your theory, Cloud honestly sounds like a walking, talking fayth if he’s able to project a reality using his memories.
Very interesting theory, Pez.
Everyone dies eventually. - Aerith talking about her fate, an important line for the rest of the conversation
So we need to make the most of the time we have-to live our lives the way we wanna live. Every minute...every moment, matters. - What She has been trying to do since meeting Cloud, despite knowing her fate.
She hesitates, she had fun making the most of the time she has with Cloud, but it's back to reality. She's started to realize that her wanting to be happy and live a normal life with Cloud is a fantasy, "not real" Time to say goodbye.
I'm glad I met you, Cloud. I really am. I'm grateful for all the words we've shared. For all the moments and the memories. You've made me more happy than you know. And I'll always cherish what you've given me. - She starts to say her goodbyes, telling him that while living in the moment with him she was able to be happy.
But whatever happens, you can't fall in love with me. Even if you think you have...it's not real. - A protective statement, with the context of everything said, especially line one, it's meant to spare him. It not being real, doesn't mean his feelings, but probably their ability to be in a relationship. Her existence is uncertain, she can't have a normal relationship and life. She knows him being in love with her is futile if she isn't going to be alive to reciprocate those feelings, causing him to suffer.
Cloud was her friend, her beloved - a symbol of what was important to her, and someone to be protected. - On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream Black and Lifestream White
The woman wondered if Cloud could help her. However, that might lead to Cloud getting hurt as well. The Cloud she knew had a very fragile heart. - On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream Black and Lifestream White
Cloud is Cloud. The jcells couldn't use any of Zack's memories to rebuild Cloud's ego because none of it collaborated with Cloud's ideal self. Cloud didn't want to be Zack, the person, he just wanted to be a first-class soldier like him. So there was no point in taking memories of life in Gongaga. Absorbing anything from Zack, even feelings, would have conflicted with who Cloud wanted to be, which was Cloud who wasn't a weak failure. The jcells weren't just a sponge absorbing everything from everyone. Tifa's memories, however, did collaborate with Cloud's ideal self. He's Cloud, a boy from her childhood who she hasn't seen in 7 years. The jcells ignored the 7 years part and instead made it 5 to make it seem like he was the first-class soldier who returned to Nibelheim, not the guy hiding in shame for not making it. They made a promise at the well, and she started to think about him more after he went off to become a soldier, elevating his importance to her over the years from not a childhood friend to a childhood friend. - Cloud: "It's complicated."
He just used Zack as a reference for his ideal, using his own memories of Zack the soldier, not the person. He used him as a template for what a first-class soldier was like and then deleted him from his memory so it wouldn't conflict with his new narrative. This is what Aerith "saw" in Cloud, as far as Zack goes. Someone who walked, gestured, and carried themselves in a similar way.
All well good points, however Aerith's love is Zack Fair not Cloud Strife. She wants to live with her friends yes, but wants Zack back by her side as well.
@@sakuracardcaptor4709 move on, on novellas aerith already says she def love cloud more than zack, aerith already move on from her first love and you should too
good point, i 100% agree with you
Actually “思” Omoi means more like "thought", it's not directly "hope", and for that it can also mean emotion or the feeling of missing someone/something, " Direct translate of Hope is "希望“ Kibou. Also, "田" is not windows, it means rice field. And the windows in this scene isn't even shaped like it so I feel it's a stretch.
I feel the point about the Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum) and the pens make more sense. Ornithogalum is a flower that's associated with the birth of Christ and it symbolizes purity, hope, and forgiveness.
This, my friends, is the reason why I subscribed to this channel. His theories. I've been here dice the ff15 days and I love every one of his theory videos! KEEP EM COMING KUPO! 😁
"the planet is calling for you" quote from sephiroth gets a whole new meaning ^^
Interesting theory. I think another reason why Aerith is playing the role of therapist is to try to outwit Sephiroth. If Sephiroth knows how the OG played out, his best strategy is to kill Tifa instead of Aerith so that Aerith doesn't join the Lifestream and Tifa can't put Cloud's true personality back together, allowing him to continue to be a pawn for Sephiroth. So perhaps Aerith is trying to help Cloud put his own mind back together earlier so that he has the strength he needs to ward off Sephiroth's influence earlier.
Got a theory for you guys: The Remake is setting up to kill someone besides Aerith based on relationship points and the fact that Sephiroth knows what happens if he executes his plan the same way as he originally did
I love listening to you go on tangents of theories haha they keep my joy about jrpg games alive
You're givin' me FFVIIR chills, bro :-) Great job!
glad i have all these videos to watch in anticipation for part 2
This is incredible bro! I'll definitely need to watch it again, but Sephiroth taking the narrative by taking charge of destiny is INSANE!! I swear this rolls into your theory about God Cloud, that is, if the defense mechanism aspect is true.
Nice video Pez
You should read this info: The symbolism of Terrier(Terrier Stamp) - The spirit of the terrier dogs urges you to persevere with your current mission. It guides you not to waver, no matter how tough things may seem.
The results may be slow in coming but hang in there.
You need to remain focused on your goal. Your courage, faith, and determination will pay off in the end
Damn, owning a Terrier dog of my own this just made my chest puff with inspiration ☺️😁
@@FinalFantasyPeasant Yeah it does
It also fits Zack's character perfectly
So much going on in this theory, pez, I'm gonna need to rewatch this a few times to process it all! I'm loving the comparison of Cloud and the Planet, even as just analogies of each other, as the Hero's journey is reflected in the overall story. Aerith has always had a guiding/supporting role, and putting her on a planetary/cosmic scale deservedly amps up her role in the Remake massively.
Damn you are so good at coming up with these theories!! Love it! You have me fully convinced every time haha
I found it odd that Cloud's headaches would appear either when Sephiroth was involved, or when Cloud began to remember something from his true past, as if a defense mechanism against his trauma was preventing him from remembering anything painfull. The idea that the headaches thus have the same role for Cloud as the whispers do have for the planet is very credible.
That both the headaches and whispers are here to prevent Cloud and the Planet to become vulnerables, vulnerable against the truth and trauma for Cloud, and vulnerable against the change of destiny for the Planet.
I had already thought before about the fact that there were parallels between the Planet Gaïa and Cloud. Both are plagued by the crimes of the Shinra and by the infection of Jenova (the mako reactors and the serious wounds of the planets caused by the calamity, the inhuman experiments he underwent at the hands of the scientists of the shinra and the presence of J-cells and S-cells in his organism for Cloud). In the original game, Sephiroth seeks to impose his will on Cloud and Gaia, and in the Remake, we can say that Sephiroth seeks to manipulate Cloud as well as the Planet, and apparently would like to prevent their end. The role of Aerith in all of this thus takes on its full meaning : During the Post-Meteor events, Aerith does her utmost to purify and soothe the souls of those who have died from geostigma, and in the long run this helps the planet to heal itself better . Also, it is thanks to Aerith that Tifa was protected from the harmful effects of mako and thus helped her heal Cloud's broken spirit in Mideel. Yep, Aerith is totally a therapist for Cloud and the Planet ^^
Change and truth are frightening to a child, the Planet has instincts and reactions comparable to those of a child, and Cloud himself is described as similar to an orphan child by Biggs. Aerith would therefore be there to encourage Cloud and the Planet to overcome their fears, those fears that prevent them from growing up and moving towards a future where they would be freer. To free themselves of those defense mechamnisms which hurt Cloud and the Planet more than they realize. Then in the Remake, making sure to break the chains of fate is a bit like encouraging the planet to overcome this fear that prompts it to use the whispers defense mechanism, just as Aerith quietly encourages Cloud to be more himself, and especially to go to save Tifa in chapter 9, the one that can help the real Cloud to Re-emerge. Aerith's role in the Remake is to help Cloud and the Planet cope with their wounds and trauma in a more healthy way.
Cloud's being a dreamweaver is an insane theory and yet it would make so much sense ! Your theories never stop to amaze me
Aerith is the hot professional therapist 😳 but seriously this video hit me in the feels and my love for Aerith has grown 😍
Pez, Level 12 theory: Aerith utters "Genesis" instead of "Zack" in that scene with Cloud.
pretty sure she says "zack fair"
It’s treason then
Damn dude, every single one of your videos give me chills, please keep the theories coming👍🏻😁
Like how do you come up with these theories? Its so deep and makes so much sense. Mind. Blown.
I never noticed the part where Tifa only saw Sephiroth after she touched Cloud. I never questioned if it could be BECAUSE she touched him. Many keen observations Peasant!
I started following this channel for news coverage, lore dives and theories. I love this kind of content from pez. Philosophy is so interesting. I know that streaming play throughs keeps pez alive 😂 but I miss these kinds of videos
Wow, thank you!
Final Fantasy Peasant your content let’s me feel the excitement around something very special to me. It’s the only place I can so keep making these kinds of videos please ❤️
Aerith and therepy... I'm already sold one minute deep. VII has my heart all the way, but playing IX was my therepy when I hit an existential crisis a year ago. Pez is good therepy, too. And my professional therepist is the bomb too.
Great video! Love this theory. 😁 This is not really related to this theory but it came to my mind when Jenova theme played at the end of the video: Does anyone else hear the words "Déjà vu" at the end of the Jenova Quickening? Am I only one 😂
I really dig this theory! It threw me back to when I played through the OG, the intensity of the story kinda mind fucking you. When I played the remake the alteration didn't bother me because I was incredibly entranced by the realism of the graphics and so on that I didn't really dive head first into the story alteration. But now you throw this theory out there, it's bringing back so many nostalgic feelings for the storyline. I'm going to play through it again and really analyze the plot with this new view! Thanks man!!
Oh my gosh the part describing why Sephiroth grabbed Cloud’s hand at the end of the game makes SO much sense!!! 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
Yeah Im wondering if he did that to just stop Cloud glimpsing a memory Sephiroth hasn't rewritten yet. Or if Seph actually stole the memory from him, the way Aerith gives memories too party memebers. Maybe Seph took it for himself.
Cool few ways to interpret it but I love the possibilities
This is a very interesting theory and while watching it I did start to wonder what if the events in the game are really just Cloud under hypnosis, being guided by Aerith through a dream to help Cloud try to fix his mind, which has been twisted by so much trauma. The scene at the end of the game where the Whispers disappear could be a glimpse of the true events that are being teased to us. And if this could be so then what if Aerith's "death" is her letting Cloud continue the journey to the truth on his own, with Tifa, his best friend and the person who knows him best being the rock to tie him to reality, but Tifa was also selected because she had a part in Cloud's mind being twisted because she was scared to correct the false memories and stop the lies in the past, thus Aerith wants Tifa to be the one to help Cloud finish his journey to show Tifa that Cloud needs the truth.
The flash of Aerith praying and the White Materia could be from when Cloud was put under hypnosis. After all therapist have tools that help them to put people into those trance like states, a lighter, a gem on a chain, etc. So what if that White Materia was just a ball that Aerith used for Cloud to watch while she put him under?
In regards to the role Sephy would play in this, well, Cloud Idolized Seph, meaning that Seph holds a special place in Cloud's heart and mind. They say don't meet your heroes. What if Cloud had met Seph and it was a bad experience? What if Seph was cruel to people? Or what if Cloud met Seph on a battlefield during one of the worst battles in history? The kind of battle in which many of the friends Cloud was finally able to make were cut down before him and Sephiroth, trying to keep Cloud focused and alive appeared harsh and demanding to him, telling him to "get over it" and "stop crying". A moment like that would stick in his mind and help to paint the imagine of Seph over with a monster rather than someone who had tried to help Cloud in staying alive.
When you think of it, this kind of makes sense as Sephiroth is seen as the root of all evil with Jenova as an explanation for how Sephy got so powerful. But in reality Cloud gave this created version of Sephy all that power himself because he needed a villain to blame all the wrongs in his life on. Everything bad that happens in the game happens because of Sephy. Even when they get sent to the desert prison it's because Sephy killed people and they got blamed for it.
Finally, what if the Reunion is actually the end result of Cloud therapy? What if the Reunion is the healing of Cloud's mind and the uncovering of the truth he has spent so long running from. The scene in the Crate where he begs Hojo to give him a number is his attempt to create a new lie for himself to hide behind, but by that point his mind is starting to reject the lies and thus the only one to try to continue the lies is the created Seph in Cloud's mind, everyone else his mind created is rebelling against the lies cause he is starting to want the truth himself, but his fear of it allows his greatest demon, Sephiroth, to continue trying to keep the lies going because Cloud has given that creation so much power. This is why Sephiroth is the final boss. And all the times he reappears afterwards is because personal demons never truly go away. They linger in the background waiting for a time to come back when we're at our weakest.
This is just my thoughts that came from this theory vid. Let me know what you guys think and share your own if you want. Who knows, maybe we'll crack ff7r with our theories or maybe we'll inspire a fanfic writer or two.
@MAVERICX Well I base the Seph doing something on a battlefield that made Cloud's view of him shift on the fact that in the past Cloud did something good and he got punished for it (saving Tifa in the mountains when she fell while looking for her mother but the town blaming him for her getting hurt thus leading to him getting singled out and picked on), thus to have someone he respects and looks up to, and possibly has never interacted with before then, snap at him harshly on a battlefield would bring to mind how his town turned against him, which was a trauma in itself, thus plant a seed for dark Sephiroth. But I can see that it might be a bit too much. It's just hard to try to figure how Sephiroth might've come to be the villain, unless perhaps his whole existence is a construct of Cloud's mind.
lmao i love your videos dude, they are nuts in the best way possible. whew! much to think about! :)
Someone’s gotta come back to this once the 2nd and 3rd parts are released to see how much of this comes true.
Another great vid Pez!
Legend!
I love your theories! It makes a lot of sense that this is the case, considering Aerith’s powers and knowledge of the FFVII world. I wonder how this will change late-game cloud and his actions as well.
Really enjoyed this video! Though I have to admit, some of it was strongly reminiscent of dissecting the AQA Anthology back in Year 10 xD
what if in the lifestream the events of FF7 keep playing over and over again for all the spirits within it and the planets memories, and bassicly subjecting themselves to trauma over and over again when in reality they're all ...well passed on...and all of this is happening after FF7 the planet has gotten rid of all the humans already, and that's why we see everyone here. Aerith is trying to get the planet to stop reliving these traumas again, and again and to leave the souls to rest in peace.
"Cloud, it's over, it's been over. Please , you just have to let it go...let me go."
Sounds like Undertale all over again.
fascinating theory again pez! i almost enjoy these more than the actual game lmao
This theory makes more sense than what I would anticipate nomura would write into the story
OMG, where did you come up with this? It’s just amazing, really like it!!!!
That was breathtaking.
That moment when Square made a FF7 sequel and named it a remake to fool us all! Here we are, all worried about not having the full game and how long it will take to get the 3 disc's of content in these beautiful graphics whilst squeenix is like "YOU FOOLS! YOU YET NOT SEE OUR TRUE INTENTIONS! FF7 WAS NEVER FINISHED, MERELY A STORY NOT FULLY TOLD YET!"
I had a feeling that Aerith knew some shit while playing the game, that she might know the future, but most of it went over my head as I was enjoying the remake. Now that I've watched this video, future parts of the remake I'll be over analyzing it as I play it. Legit can't wait to see where this shit goes!
Don't know if you've heard this theory or not but I recently read one where it states that Cait Sith's appearance meant more than initially thought; he wasn't there just to try and stop the plate from collapsing or put there for a dramatic tease, yes trying to stop the collapse was probably was the goal but he was also most likely there to save who he could which meant that it's highly likely he's the one to save Biggs (and possibly Jessie)
Oh yeah I put that theory forward to. The possiblity that he went in and tried to help save people after he clearly arrived too late to stop the collapse. Reeve seems way more compassionate in this Remake than even his OG self
What if I told you, that FF7 starts with Aerith in front of the mako leak then when you beat it we get to see Aerith again in front of the mako leak and then she knows everything. The remake is the sequel that takes place right after the OG where she is in front of the mako leak and knows everything. But Sephiroth does too and that's why it eludes his presence in the new rendition of Midgar City of Mako theme?
I bet Nomura writes his games based on a compilation of various theories people come up with and then of course throwing in his own crazy concepts.
Calling it now... Cloud is going to save our beloved flower girl and right after Tifa is going to start yelling at Cloud that he has to come back and it's just flat out not going to make any sense why Tifa would say that until Cloud looks down and he's in a wheelchair
After watching Cloud have his headaches, it looks like when your echo kicks in in FFxiv.
I think aerith was remembering what some1 had told her. When she says follow the yellow flowers it looks like she's recalling it not communicating it to any1
The yellow flower means sad boy clouds head.
I can never see the remake the same way! I'm falling for in love with the game ever more now than when I finished it
I still wonder if everything that happens after the whisper gets in Cloud's face while he is sleeping is a dream. Perhaps part two will pick up with Cloud being trapped in that dream only to be awoken to find they have not taken out reactor 5 yet.
Not sure how Cait Sith's lines about Cloud and Aerith's stars aligning aren't romantic. After stating that they're perfect for each other and their stars showing a great future, he immediately follows up with "I'll be your matchmaker, preacher..." both of which suggest marriage and therefore a romantic relationship.
Ok, this is amazing!
...Why is this video is so good
There are some really good points here. The 4-5 part cyclic models common in psychology (abuse, grief, Piaget's learning thingy, etc) could be in many ways analogous to the five part structure of Loveless. I'm starting to think that Remake will end with Aerith getting Sephiroth to achieve peace with him, breaking the cycle.
As a *psychoanalyst* ... FF7 and FF7R as a howl is a "Chaos Kampf" between the Death/Thanatos drive (Sephiroth) and the Eros drive (Aerith)!
And Cloud is like Sephiroth (same trauma in childhood) a bit more on the Death drive (depression, anxiety attacks, dangerous behavior/reckless behavior, passiv and active aggressiv) side of life.
"Borderline personality disorder" (Cloud has 6 from 9 criteria, but I show 2 very important ones) in the DSM V have this criteria ->
* Identity disturbance with markedly or persistently unstable self-image or sense of self (memory issues)
* Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms (Sephiroth visual visions)
Cloud : Archetype: Dark Knight (Byronic Hero), IQ: 125 -135, Introvert, Disagreeable, high in Neuroticism, and ... PTSD, inferiority complex, Borderline personality disorder (subtype: +++ Petulant, + Self-destructive), bit on the death drive side (Freud) and dismissive-avoidant A2 Subtype (Attachment Theory)
The memory filtering process is something everyone does to have a good narrative and believe system. But by Cloud it becomes some kind of repression (Freud) to keep his sanity or at least sane enough to keep going.
Sephiroth acting more like the oedipal/tyrannical mother with manipulation and gas lighting, he even protect Cloud from harm like a oedipal mother (see IT from Stephan King)
Balls. I recently just started having the time to dive into these theories and you gotta drop this shit. Considering how untangibly the set of writers they have are.....and they're given 2-4 games to write it, this makes sense.
Aerith fans wants aerith to have Tifa's role so badly it's sad, i thought Aerith was the ultimate heroine and the love of Cloud's life? Why yall want to erase so badly the NPC Tifa who matters very little to Cloud?
the ''Tifa also contributes to this role'' cracked me up man
very convincing theory. if any of these theories are correct and the hints are intentional. these writers at square enix are geniuses and near divine XD
When it's all said and done, one day in the future, this might go down as the greatest concept/multi media creation ever made. A self aware story and a level of interactionary theory crafting like no other.
Thats what I am hoping. If the Remake can pull off not just a super self aware story of itself BEING a remake. But also question the interpretive nature of experiance & story telling, this could be some very clever writing in the making. Or just standard Nomura crack :P which is just as addictive lol
Even when in Advent Children when Cloud sees Aerith in that field of yellow flowers plays into it and Sephiroth's infatuation with Cloud would finally make sense
This hit me hard. I have a friend that was basically like Aerith and I thought I fell in love with her. But u guess it's just transference. Shows what I know about love 🙃
Hahahaha, dude, the first seven seconds of that video killed me. "This is gonna get you off"
I have been watching this video in the evening before going to sleep😂
The VR machine messing with Clouds mind and Jenova being in the CENTER of Midgar...hmmmm.
I think we need to look deeper into Chadwick/Hojo/Jenova.
Thing is did Cloud trigger the VR? I always assumed it was a Jenova/Seph trick. But when Cloud makes the dream space happen with Aerith AND the projection of Nibelheim over Midgar AND Seph turning real at the bridge.
I dunno mane, I think Cloud is integrated with his Jenova cells in a way noone else is and could be giving him mild dreamweaving capabilities.
The name Dreamweaver was only a UK US translation I think.
Jenova Dreamweaver was called Beat in the Japanese and other European versions I think.
@@Matt-fy5vx ooh thats pretty interesting, never knew
@@FinalFantasyPeasant just remembered that I think Jenova Dreamweaver was actually referred to as Jenova pulse on EU versions. Excluding UK of course.
I may have remembered wrong. Part two needs to hurry up already :(
TBH i don't think Sephiroth is the truest Villain and i think the truest villains is Either JENOVA itself and or Genesis and his so called Godess.
The quickest video I've ever clicked on ever.
This is exactly along the lines i have been working out although you have made a few good points....this is why the wait for Part 2 is becoming unbearable,
Your thought near the end about Cloud "dreaming" reality... this is what they should have done in FF XV when Noctis was in the Crystal for years... playback all dreamscapes and possibilities that led up to that part... in FFXV it would have been great to dream Noctis as in the Demo leading up to his fights in Somnambulus (or whereever)... why just throw that important story away that you never see in the released game? Same for FFVII. There is a point in the story where the preceding events could be dreamnt and redreamnt, such as in the Mako Chamber at Neibleheim, before the reality of the real story takes place.
Was it all a dream?
Will I never know?
Foolish and blind to everything
Had I realized, had i thought it through
Would you be here, in my embrace?
It's like the lyrics are bascially telling us the plot of the game 😅👍
I wonder if they'll show the background of the calamity from the sky. The cetra background etc. So much from the days of the ancients that we never heard, the "watchgoers" or whatever they're called may leave deeper detail to who Jenova is, as well as her purpose...
Just pointing out that the first Change we ever see in this game to the original, is that yellow flower getting crushed in the opening cinematic. It was the first added thing that wasn't in the original opening.
In one of your videos you said something about "Did Sephiroth freeze Aerith?" referring to when Cloud first runs into Aerith and Sephiroth shows up and I thought that too but I started playing my boyfriend's copy and when I got to that part I watched Aerith instead of Sephiroth and she actually does move she closes her mouth and like sways on the spot a bit and they also do the headache effect when Sephiroth touches Aerith's shoulder, so can she see Sephiroth after this point just like Cloud can? (I'm only at the flower scene right after this so not sure but thought I'd mention it and also not sure if it's been talked about yet) (also keeping your theories in mind while playing)
Mmmm that's juicy theory right there. Cooked to perfection 🤤👌
Cloud: I never was in SOLDIER. I made up the stories about what happened to me five years ago, about being in SOLDIER. I left my village looking for glory,
but never made it in to SOLDIER...... I was so ashamed of being so weak; then I heard this story from my friend Zack... And I created an illusion of myself
made up of what I had seen in my life...... And I continued to play the charade as if it were true.
Barret: Illusion, huh...? Pretty damn strong for a llusion, I'd say.
Cloud: I'm physically built like someone in SOLDIER. Hojo's plan to clone Sephiroth wasn't that difficult. It was just the same procedure they use when creating members of SOLDIER. You see, someone in SOLDIER isn't simply exposed to Mako energy. Their bodies are actually injected with Jenova cells...... For better or worse, only the strong can enter SOLDIER. It has nothing to do with Jenova Reunion. But weak people...... like me, get lost in the whole thing. The combination of Jenova cells, Sephiroth's strong will and my own weakness are what created me. Everyone knew that. I'm...... Cloud. ......the master of my own illusionary world. But I can't remain trapped in an illusion any more......
I'm going to live my life without pretending.
------
Taken from OG English Script. So, Nope, Cloud does not have Zack's consciousness or feelings as if he was being possessed by Zack. He was manipulated by Sephiroth/Jenova cells and his own denial of failures into believing of becoming the dream he never gets to have -- to be a SOLDIER.
If you really played the OG, the whole point of Cloud’s identity crisis is that Sephiroth was able to make him believe that he is just his puppet by letting him assumed that his false recollection of the Nibelheim tragedy is true. Thus, when the truth was revealed to him - that it was actually Zack in his place (and forgetting that he was there too when the tragedy happened), he suddenly questioned his existence as a real person and/or doubt that he had his own free will (when during the OG course of events, Sephiroth was able to make him do things against his liking because of the JENOVA cells injected inside him.) He was thinking that maybe Sephiroth was right about him being just his remnant (that he was just like the black hooded people or Kadaj gang in AC). That’s how the war hero planning to get even with Cloud - to destroy him mentally and emotionally by invalidating his feelings (look back to Sephiroth’s last words to Cloud after killing Aerith - he invalidated Cloud’s feelings and told him he was just a puppet.)
But, thankfully, the lifestream sequence happened, with the help of Tifa (and Aerith for making sure they survived from the exposure to the lifestream - lorewise, if I wouldn’t assume it was Aerith who aid them - like how it was told in the canon novel The Maiden Who Travels the Planet -, I doubt that the two could ever get out alive), they were able to isolate and pinpoint that Cloud had distorted memories of that event only. And he was starting to remember that he was there too when the tragedy happened (Tifa was only informed at that time too because she didn’t know too), while he also realized all his other past memories remained intact and are true being a real resident of Nibelheim. In that lifestream scene, we found out that Tifa and Cloud had an accident and Cloud was blamed for it. Tifa and Cloud weren’t close back when they were kids because of the boys surrounding her made him an outcast. That’s why, at the start, she was having a hard time convincing him that they were indeed childhood friends, even about their promise scene being true because it’s the only time they had an actual interaction. But nevertheless, she was the only living witness to validate Cloud’s existence.
Cloud just went out there assuming he was a 1st Class SOLDIER because the mako poisoning messed up how his brain functions. Thus, with poor cognitive performance, he associated himself so much with Zack’s accomplishments as a SOLDIER (and you may say that part of the reason is ‘becoming a SOLDIER’ is Cloud’s failed dream/frustration). Psychologists might be able to explain it better how it works if we will apply real-life logic.
But moving on, so when he and Tifa digged deeper into his consciousness and finally learned that all his past memories are true and only his memories of the tragedy is false (or half false because he was really there but the actual events just happened differently from what he believed plus his vague memories up to their escape to Midgar) - He realized that he just really didn’t make it as a SOLDIER but that doesn’t totally mean that he wasn’t a real person who has his own will after all. Despite being delusional and ashamed fool, he can still live out his dream as a hero to save the people dear to him - Therefore, he was able to break free from Sephiroth’s evil manipulation and, more than ever, he is determined to stop him. That’s what actually made Cloud’s whole character arc beautiful (which is almost comparable with FFIX Vivi).
That’s why, for me, Cloud is somehow still being himself both in the OG and Remake. Meaning, the “Fake Cloud” we are saying here is the Cloud being himself (egocentric, rude, indifferent) but only assuming he was once a SOLDIER. That’s why he was portrayed cocky and pretending-to-know-his-ways when, at times, he was just as clueless (like Aerith pointed it out to him few times in the Remake and OG). You may say Zack influenced him to be a mercenary, but how exactly to be one, it’s still Cloud’s own way and experience as we see in the game (OG and Remake).
If you still believe that Cloud possessed Zack’s memories, think of the following questions:
1) Why Cloud doesn’t recognize every person Zack met? The Turks? Zack’s parents in Gongaga? More importantly, Aerith? Cloud even forgot Aerith the 2nd time he met her in the church, right?
2) Why Cloud doesn’t feel any “deja vu” when he visits places where Zack had been? Why is he not familiar with Aerith’s Church and him falling inside it? It happened the same way to Zack, true?
3) Why can he still remember correctly his childhood in Nibelheim, along with his memories of his mother?
4) Outside the Nibelheim tragedy up to their escape to Midgar, are there any other memories of Cloud distorted?
5) Did we see any trace of Zack’s memories inside Cloud’s consciousness during the lifestream sequence? Did we filtered out a memory about Zack?
6) Memories should change our behavior and personality (so many movies and literature out there also show how it’s supposed to work) but how come Cloud and Zack remained polar opposites? Zack being people person and warm while Cloud remained aloof and cold?
If you can rationalize around these questions well enough to support your claim, then I might believe you. Otherwise, I’m still convinced that Cloud doesn’t have his friend’s memories like literally in his head as how most of you assumed it. Zack may have hugely influenced him - like being a mercenary, but how exactly to be one is still Cloud’s own experience.
A note on Biggs which a few people miss is that he too wore a pink Bandana.
That kanji for hope was a good find tho :)
The kanji actually means 'think/feel'.
The Dreamland Aerith talks about is zanakand and Cid did not leave FFX planet, but he travelled to the future. Something happened in FFX that somehow sent yunalesca into the sky, and their history was forgotten and memories where wiped out. Did yunalesca return as Jenova instead of sin? I'm starting to think sin was sent by the planet to fight the humans BSh (Before Shinra) once Yuna killed sin the planet fell in shock and destroyed the calm lands in FFX maybe that's how jenova/yunalesca body was sent to the sky after the events of ffx-2. Hundreds of years later Everything was forgotten or hidden away, and the ancient people (Clearly the Al bheds) we're assigned to repopulate human civilization and rewrite history.. Aerith being the last Al bhedian resulted a conflict with the planet. Knowing Seymour descendant sephiroth craves its destruction like it did with spira and wanting to resurrect jenova/yunalesca. I think Aerith is Yuna and Tidus descendant and Cloud and Zack is Auron and his purpose is to protect the summoner/ancient, which Tidus is also an ancient in FFX since he also travelled to the future. Even young Auron resembles Angeal. I think I'm crazy lol
So you say that the Cetra is the descendants of the Al Bhed?
@@yosuakrisnando Could be lol idk
I find it interesting when you have both sides being concerned for the planet at one point and this is obviously when barret is doing his 'can you hear the planet screaming out in pain' speech and ALSO when we speak with sephiroth for the first time and he says 'our beloved planet is dying'.
Another thing I thought up while watching this theory video is back in the bedroom when Aerith is in that trance state and (I totally agree with you on this) talking to the planet, I feel like she's saying follow them...as in follow the gang, the yellow flower....in other words the guy I marked at the beginning with a yellow flower. Follow and protect him as he will help you.
Oooh thats really cool. Also you could say that maybe Marlene was 'marked'. First thing after Aerith gifts her with something, Marlene goes to the yellow flower. She also tends yellow flowers at the church when she is living with Elmyra.
So yeah, Aerith could be 'marking' those the planet needs to accompany to find the truth/resolution
@@FinalFantasyPeasant exactly. Like you said, the planet is just trying to defend itself and not really caring who gets hurt in the process. This way Aerith can just give the planet a heads up that there are some who are fighting to save it and need to be spared.
Hate to break it to ya, Pez, but that kanji isn't 'hope'. It's 'think/feel'. Also, I don't really see it there.
What if the whole remake is a dream, the dream cloud has while in the lifestream during the original FFVII.
Hey think about this arieth said that she could come back to life sephiroth but didnt want to do it one way what If arieth is working with future arieth to get him to remember her a certain way so she can come back into the game after she dies so the effect of her dying is there but your still getting her back
I think she also considered making remnants of herself. She saw the remnants Seph made and thought about doing it, which is wild to think. Remnants Aeriths all demonstrating an amplified aspect of her personality. The sassy remnant would be sassing off the charts!
My head cannon says that Remake takes place after the events in "on the way to a smile".
Rank S theory crafting. Love it
This one blew my mind🎆
Official new title "creepy uncle Seph." So it is written. So shall it be known. LMFAO
Dreamweaver ah....🤔 damn that is a pretty out there thought.