Rufus Shinra Explained | Final Fantasy VII Analysis
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
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Let's discuss Rufus Shinra!
In this episode we see Rufus Shinra explained. From his sudden appearance following the death of his father, to his scheming in the later events of Advent Children, the Rufus Shinra story is one of mystery, ruthlessness and dubious allegiance.
© Sony Pictures - All footage of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children has been used for the purposes of review and falls under Fair Use criteria.
© Square Enix - All game & movie footage belongs to its rightful copyright holders and has been used in accordance with its terms of licence. The content in this video has been compiled in accordance with fair use/fair dealing criteria.
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This video covers various aspects of final fantasy 7 lore including:
Rufus Shinra origins
Rufus Shinra death
Rufus Advent Children
Whether Rufus Shinra is a good guy
#FinalFantasy7 #FinalFantasy #RufusShinra #FF7 #gamediscourses
![[FFVII AC Complete] Dialogue Kadaj/Rufus (français)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E5nO7EHz_EM/mqdefault.jpg)
This video has been edited and re-uploaded to comply with Sony following a copyright dispute. This time I've endeavoured to ensure it falls under the remit of Fair Use, so apologies if you’ve already seen it. If you enjoy the episode please share and/or subscribe. More Final Fantasy analysis coming soon! And a playlist of my current Final Fantasy discourses here: ruclips.net/p/PLZWhz2atvtVhKtMRler9T3-0-nhu9KX91
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Rufus is one of those characters that have multiple dimensions to his character of being villain, Anti-Villain and Anti-hero:
Villain: He is antagonist to Cloud and by extension AVALANCHE and is very willing to kill our heroes and rule with force
Anti-Villain: It is very possible that he believes that Shinra and it's extraction of Mako energy is necessary to ensure Gaia's political and economic security. He is very pragmatic and seemingly wants to ally with Cloud and AVALANCHE against Sephiroth realizing he is a genuinely bigger threat. Finally he also takes a more hands on approach in fighting off threats to the planet which unlike his father.
Anti-Hero: In Advent Children and other expanded material, he tries to help Cloud stop Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo from potentially resurrecting Sephiroth. He also seems take a more responsible role as he funds efforts to rebuild the planet's society after the events of the OG. Moreover in Dirge of Cerberus he also funds the World Regenesis Organization which is a government established by Reeve Tuesti to help further restructure the planet's society.
The character design of Rufus in the remake is incredible looking, and his boss fight with Cloud at the end to die for. They certainly kept his cold almost unfeeling demeanor. There was that scene where Heidegger referred to him as the VP and Rufus ignored him. Then Tseung comes up and calls him the president, and Rufus responds to him. He's an enigmatic antagonist almost in the same way Sephiroth is.
I always thought that has to do with Rufus being more trusting to the Turks because they are more loyal to him due to saving them from execution in Before Crisis. Additionally I feel that most of the Old Guard never really trusted Rufus and vice versa due to Rufus previous plot of overthrowing his father in Before Crisis.
Honestly he's just a really morally grey character.
Definitely just like any character
I haven't played the game since 2002 but if I recall correctly, after they find the sephiroth cave and it's about to collapse, Rufus tells Avalanche they can escape with him on his airship. He seemed genuine about the offer but then has them arrested. He tells them, almost as if he needs to let them know this, that it isn't personal but he needs to appease the fearful public who need someone to blame for the meteor in the sky.
I had imagined him, back then, being advised by the other shinra execs to do this as this seems to occur in politics.
It could have been that he had planned to arrest them all along, take advantage of that opportunity that they were vulnerable, but i never thought of him plotting evil shit ten steps ahead. He is resourceful so in my opinion he most likely offered the ride without any sinister plot in mind but then due to public panic he decided to arrest Avalanche who were already with him.
Also my own favorite thing about him, (that you failed to mention as part of his super interesting character) is his habit of roasting his execs. That shit is hilarious. "Stop that stupid horse laugh" and "you're a second rate scientist" are iconic Rufus quotes lol
I agree that Rufus Shinra is a complex and interesting character. I just finished reading "On the Way to a Smile" and I would have taken all of this video at face value had I not read it. I actually bought it BECAUSE I heard there was a Rufus/Turks section that connected the end of the game to AC, and I wanted the whole story. After watching your thorough analysis, I can only conclude that "On The Way to a Smile" must be the single most revealing piece of cannon content for Rufus Shinra as his chapter is mostly from his point of view and his memories of his childhood with his asshole father as well as his involvement in the rebuilding process and his work trying to find a cure for geostigma.
A major bit of character development starts at the moment he is nearly killed by the destruction of Shinra tower when he discovers a secret escape route that his father had installed in the new office when Rufus was just a boy. The escape hatch was little Rufus's idea. He recalls that his father detested it, but said he would build one in for his son, if he ever became president, and would mark it with a big "L" for Loser. Child Rufus's escape idea ends up saving his life, but he has to encounter all of the "loser" images his father placed ironically in the escape hatch and the panic room it violently deposits him into. With a broken foot and broken ribs, overdosing on pain pills in a spare white room with a giant "L" on the ceiling, Rufus laughs hysterically at everything he and his father came to be...
When Reno and Rude finally find him, he is badly injured. After that, Rufus ends up being kidnapped, twice, and held at the mercy of some very unsavory people while trying to get the new settlement of Edge up and running. He uses both of his captors towards his own goals even though he is chained up and beaten in one situation and held in a cave for months with geostigma patients in another. He absolutely displays the calm, level-headed "heroism" in the face of almost certain death again and again, as your video points out, but he is ironically infected by geostigma when he tries to altruistically help a civilian in a flood situation and believes he is going to die.
In other words, I now see AC as a continuation of the development that started when he was lying on his back laughing hysterically at the "L" on the ceiling. While he does evince a continuing desire to maintain a foothold of power, he knows that he can no longer do it by being the asshole of fear he promised to be in the game. Many more people are saved by his direct intervention as a result of his work after Meteor than died by his hand before it. Though Rufus will never let any one person know the cards he has, I see as a calculated decision out of an abundance of caution. Even in AC, after Cloud rejects Rufus, Reno and Rude show up to help find the orphans. While it is easy to see this as maneuvering towards a good faith relationship with Cloud, the Turks, under Rufus' direction, are an influential aspect of the resolution of the story.
He may not be a straight "good guy," but his focus appears to be on rebuilding and saving the world. Even if it's self-serving, he is fully committed to it, and for all those reasons and the many you listed in your excellent video, Rufus Shinra is an exceptionally interesting character.
Thanks for filling in the additional plot points. I read On the Way to a Smile this year and also found it gave a lot of clarity to certain character arcs, and particularly inner-monologues that we don't necessarily see in any other FF7 media. And absolutely agree that it bridges FF7 with AC quite convincingly regarding Rufus.
This was an amazing read! cheers for this!
Yes shinra brought the humans race out of low industrial era to a full-blown modern city cyberpunk society with tons of benefits helping the world growl and even built the great city Midgar lol
rufus shinra reminds me of seto kaiba but without the silly cards.
I think that too
Less anger issues too
“My deck has no pathetic silly cards kaiba”
Who needs silly cards when you have dorky coins 😂😂😂😂😂
@@jamessmall8096The coins where 100% unnecessary. Facts my guy
Rufus is one of my favourite characters in the Compilation precisely because his actions are left open to interpretation. I really enjoyed this video. It's nice to see Rufus being given serious consideration and not dismissed as a mere trope. I think you nailed it.
Thanks man, I think Rufus is a great character too.
Did you read "On The Way To Smile: Episode Shinra". It explains a lot, why Rufus became more empathetic and switched from bad to good side. Even though it's not completely black and white. His character is very complex. That's why I like him.
One thing for sure, he is handsome
Rufus is definitely an interesting case wrt how fan reaction and expansion materials can reframe characters or, as with Cloud sometimes, completely change their personalities.
In 7 proper, Rufus definitely comes off as a ruthless, indifferent antagonist. In later materials, they make Rufus a schemer, and then in On the Way to a Smile he's shown to have a conscience and be slightly nerdy. There's still a very mild hint of ruthlessness, IIRC, because he's stuck with a scientist who is studying Geostigma that "mysteriously" gets murdered when Rufus realizes the scientist isn't really interested in a cure.
Effectively, I thin Rufus is someone that got an upgrade once Square noticed he was getting popular. My personal opinion is that Rufus does want power and prestige, but is generally pragmatic that he has to have a world and a functioning society because you can't be a king of nothing.
eta: There is another even more obscure mini-story starring... Evan? who is a side character (and Rufus's bastard brother) in the story "The Kids are All Right" which is meant to be Turks-focused. Rufus is noticeably trolling in it.
'You can't be a king of nothing', great point, that perfectly summarises my idea of Rufus. He's ruthless when he needs to be, but overtly a pragmatic individual, which is why he straddles the realms of good and bad - it just depends if the circumstance serves his interest. I also agree he started becoming fan service, but from what I've seen he stays interesting.
Just throwing this out there: Rufus only has that scientist killed when he both abandons the idea of finding a cure _and_ when he presses Rufus to find Jenova, because he's more interested in creating more Sephiroths than helping people that are dying.
The remake is coming next year , we only hope they extend more the story of Rufus
Let's hope so!
@Roger Martí Gonzalvo how he's just a generic anime villan so far.
As far as I can tell, how I see him in my head, he's completely self-serving. He lies, manipulates and turns any situation to his advantage. He's more tactical in the way he gets rid of enemies (unlike Sephiroth with his god-like powers), such as convincing Cloud to join him to defeat Kadaj, since at that moment, I don't think he was in any condition to do that himself. He would, if he could, I'm sure.
Just gonna add in some Remake details here: When he claims the seat as president, he ignores someone calling him vice-president and acknowledges Tseng when he calls him Mr. President. He does see himself in high regard, but doesn't need any confirmation, so he leans toward psychopathy more than narcissism. Also, when he meets Cloud in the Remake he asks if he's a Soldier and then says "that would mean that I own you."
I think he sees the Turks as valuable tools. I do think he trusts them with his life, but doesn't consider them friends. I think his somewhat angry reaction at Kadaj is more of a "you broke a highly valued asset of mine." Like some guy trashed your car to prove a point and you're like "Alright, what do you want?!"
Besides, isn't it possible Rufus manipulated the whole thing just so he could get cured from the Geostigma? That's what I would do.
On a last note: yes, he does possess good qualities. Courage, leadership, confidence, intelligence... but those aren't necessarily heroic qualities. Lots of villains have these qualities, it's just their motives and even more their actions that tend to go dark side. I still love him though :p I genuinely admire how he operates. Very interesting. Btw, the Remake has the same Japanese voice actor for him :)
Rufus wasn't overseas. Rufus was imprisoned by the Turks in their office, because he was funding Avalanche. The Turks caught him, and President Shinra (father) told everyone he was overseas to protect his son's image.
@Fresh Beginnings did you play Before Crisis?
He was _after_ Before Crisis.
to me the scene from ac where kadaj throws elena and tsengs badges is an actual moment of empathy or sadness i think its known? from before crisis he and the director of the turks VELD had a decent relationship even almost like a father to which im not sure if rufus tried to save him but i think so? this could mean possibly rufus could care for tseng and elena and i know the turks and rufus didnt always get along because he was so self serving as well as they kind of were ? but i i feel like a relationship between them kind of grew inbetween some events of ff7 onto ac
thats just how i feel rufus is actually legit my fav character from ff7, in my mind i try to play him as neutral or apathetic but not bad as ik he came from an abusive father i can see where he comes from
Yeah Rufus is also one of my favourites in FF7, and like you my personal opinion (and what I'd like to believe), is that he does care for things, albeit in a very stoic way. I always felt the defence of Junon is a testament to this, although he'd never outrightly say 'we need to protect people' the same could be said for that altercation with Kadaj.
To me. Rufus was the good guy who didn't know he was a good guy until too late in Advent Children
Im really hoping part two of the FF remake does not just follow the some path as the original again with only minor changes here or there. They defeated the Arbinger of Fate therefore nothing should go like it did in the original after Midgar.
My mini-essay on how Rufus Shinra later represents the power of Humanity .....it's gone. But Rufus, while you may think of him as evil or immoral....he still represents the pinnacle of the power of the human mind, he does not rely on superhuman strength, or mastery of magic, or supernatural predisposition.....his strength comes from the power of the human vessel itself, when given unlimited resources, and that's as much an argument for the planet as any other.....humans rocks and Rufus is the peak of natural human intelligent ability. He may very well be the best of us muggles in a fantasy world filled with incredible
Yes I really like those points about his representation of humanity. The essays disappeared? :/ anyway, very nice observations, it's the way I view him now and makes him all the more interesting.
so Rufus is an almost batman like character in the sense that he uses his mind and resources to complete his goals however morally ambiguous lol. He is my favorite character tho.
has anyone ever noticed rufus has MAKO eyes.....just wondering ?? this is one of the reasons i never got taken by surprise seeing him in advent children...the close up of his face during the artillery from weapon hitting the ShinRa building with him inside was a foreshadowing survival moment..and you can see them again when he jumps of that building in advent children
@@Ko700el Interesting I thought it was his natural colour as I don't recall seeing any green. I'll be sure to watch in on my next AC watch thanks!
Why did Rufus need the Tiny Bronco in the first place? He had helicopters and airships galore lol
I see Rufus Shinra more as an anti-hero, like Seto Kaiba.
Keep it going!! Glad to rewatch
Rufus in my opinion, never changed, only the context did.
He is really only fixated on his own goals, now that doesn't mean he can't feel or that he is completely uninterested in the people at large, it's jut not what he thinks about first. In advent children his goals and cloud's are united which put them on the same side, but let's be honest if that changes he will stab cloud in the back. Reno's slip of the tongue only confirms what cloud was already suspecting, his softer demeanor is more indicative of him not really having the same tool at his disposition then when he was shinra C.E.O.
Personally I think Rufus acknowledges Shinra's necessity in being rebuilt as it has the power and resources to do so. Without the one reigning power, there's absolute chaos. It's not necessarily him wanting to be back on top for the sake of it. In the 2 years before Advent Children, Rufus is quite aware of the anti-Shinra sentiment but that doesn't stop him from still trying to dole out its resources to rebuild the city and help the populace. I think Reno's slip was bad because it made it seem like they just wanted to rule the world again. Not that they needed protection because Rufus had Jenova's remains with him and Kadaj needed them to resurrect Sephiroth. He was trying to stop it from starting.
@@Kaboomboo You're probably right to some extent, but Rufus has always been characterized by his ambition, (he could have been straightforward to cloud but wasn't, that's why Reno's slip is so important) It's really hard to dissociate Shinra from him, and he actively works to make it harder, If she goes well so does he and vice versa, it's probably useful to the world, but not selfless in the least ;)
@@devanis Well I don't see why Rufus would be "straight" with Cloud. Rufus never shows his hand. He's wouldn't likely come out and say "oh by the way, I actually _do_ have the remains. Be totally awesome if you could help me." He'd never reveal that. And he knows Cloud would be cynical, so that's why he plays coy. He knows Cloud wouldn't buy Rufus suddenly turning good and he knows he'll always be "Shinra" first, so he's just playing into what he knows Cloud believes.
NGL, due to his battle model, I always read Rufus's dialogue in FFVII with a JFK voice
Quality 😂
@Redcoat I genuinely can't wait to see the expansions to these analyses given the new material.
cloud and rufus look like they could be related in some way.. I did read an article of reddit, by someone unknown, that president shinra may be the father of cloud strife.. so that would make rufus cloud's brother. don't know if this is true?
Interesting, I've not heard this before. I'll look up the theory and check it out! I can't recall any dialogue or interaction that would lean to this idea (Shinra Snr says in the reactor he has no idea who Cloud is, and Cloud mentions nothing about a father figure), but I guess this theory must have something to back it up If it's out there - and they do look somewhat similar.
Hard to say as Rufus is around 25 and cloud is 18-21 in ff7
Possible... given how many illegitimate children President Shinra had >.>
@@xord5530 not sure why you said 18 to 21 and not just 21, because Cloud’s definitely 21 in FF7, as he was 16 during the Nibelheim incident which was stated to have taken place 5 years before the events of FF7.
Ya know Rufus Shinra was something like Prince Lotor from Voltron cause like him Rufus wanted to take over from his father so badly. At first Rufus was no better than his pops, he wanted to control the world with FEAR! Although unlike his pops he believed Sephiroth really was still alive and decidedl they didn't need Aerith to help them look for the so called promised land but they could just pursue and follow Sephiroth to it, course it was not what they thought it was.
I believe it was only when he was nearly killed by weapon in the Shinra tower office that he started to open his eyes about everything Shinra has done and then had a change of heart in the movie FF7 AC, then as you said started funding Reeve's WRO organization dedicated to healing the planet in FF7 Dirge of Cerberus.
Love this character so I really enjoyed your video on him. Great job!
Also, what are your thoughts on the theory floating about that Rufus might be either a Cetra (or related somehow) or someone with Jenova cells in him?
One piece of evidence to the former seems to be how he made an offhand comment about President Shinra’s office not having an escape route once when he was a child. (Similar to Aerith saying weird shit as a kid.) This escape route would eventually save his life years later when the WEAPON attacks Midgar.
As for the latter, some people believe that his dogged pursuit of Sephiroth and him knowing which way to go might be a subtle hint that he is being drawn towards the Northern Crater via Jenova Reunion.
Either way, the fact that President Shinra, a man known to put sentiment aside and act ruthless didn’t do anything cruel or dangerous in response to Rufus’ attempts on his life or his funding of Avalanche strikes as a bit odd to me. Maybe President Shinra is secretly a big softie for Rufus (I doubt it). Or maybe there’s something special about this guy.
Add to this the fact that he’s been aged up in the Remake so that his new birth year is around the time Jenova was discovered and it creates a series of rather odd breadcrumbs.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I like the idea of him being drawn towards the Jenova reunion it would add an interesting twist to his pursuit of Sephiroth I think. He also has a very similar stoic demeanor such as we see in Sephiroth... but it's not a theory I'd heard of or considered before. Interesting to see if they were to play with it in the Remake.
So. In OG he looked like Cloud. And in Remake. He looks and slightly sounds like Sephiroth. Expecially when he says "Which means that I own you"
True. I think the OG version is where a lot of rumours sprung up around Cloud and Rufus being related, and Shinra Snr. being Cloud's father somehow. I think they need to be careful and maintain Rufus being distinct from Sephiroth because they're both cool in their own respective ways. Same with Cloud and Vincent, there's a lot of reserved cool people in FFVII that have their own particular subtleties.
Still we have to conside, thats the original FF7 stood for itself. Before the novels and compilation. And in this original closed story, he stays the cold bad guy. And dies in the end.
I still like to see FF7 for what it was, before they add so much stuff to it.
With an uncertain fate for humanity and... a dead rufus.
I find rufus to be a deuteragonist to cloud.
Enjoyable and insightful video.
... I CANT BELIEVE HE’S ALIVE!
To be fair, if my father was shit I wouldn't care about his death either.
If I lived in this game i be his girlfriend so fast ⏩⏩
I always liked Rufus, but bringing him back in FF7 AC was bullshit no way in hell that scene of him in his office during Diamond Weapons attack wasnt a flat out death.
I prefer his orange hair still
{After Video}
Friend: What is it?
Me: ..Do you think.. Rufus would react if I touch his butt?
Friend: LMFAO
Me: I am being serious.
Friend: Find out then-
Me: I wanted to but-
Friend: But?
Me: He's on a wheelchair! ;-;
Friend: PFFT!!
Out of all of the comments on the internet, this is the most retarded.
#rufusisntblond
He always had lighter hair in his cutscenes in OG. The redder/strawberry blond tint, I think was more for readability.
I think it was to differentiate him from Cloud further. Or the animators just got lazy.
Rufus turning up alive in Advent Children was just fanservice. Same goes for Sephiroth turning up alive, Aerith and Zack after death, the Turks' depiction.
I don't even think that AC is Canon.
Rufus Shinra survived the explosion using an escape tunnel this is stated in the book writed by the creator of Final Fantasy 7
@\m/ Heretic Emo!!! \m/ None of that was shown in the actual FF7. And Sakugachi isn't at Square anymore.
@@galten7361 Rufus ShinRa death was only stated by Heiddeger he escaped the explosion...
Why he was so calm when he was watching the Diamond Weapon hits???
Even in the advent children he was able to stand up this means that the wheelchair was only a facade...
Rufus Shinra is too badass he can manipulate death like he manipulates people and the situation
>Rufus ShinRa death was only stated by Heiddeger he escaped the explosion...
We see him engulfed in the blast with no escape hatch so no.
>Why he was so calm when he was watching the Diamond Weapon hits???
He accepted his coming death
>Even in the advent children he was able to stand up this means that the wheelchair was only a facade...
Advent Children is glorified fanservice that has the major characters fight like babby's first shonen anime.