The Big Final Fantasy VII Remake Sephiroth Theory

It’s been roughly a month since the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Since then, a lot of people have finished the game and all sorts of theories have been flooding various subreddits, Twitter and other social media platforms. I want to go through one of the big theories revolving around Final Fantasy VII Remake Sephiroth. There is a lot more to talk about than just this particular theory, but I’m going to focus on this specific one. We could be here all day if I was to go through everything. Alright everyone, let’s mosey.

SPOILER WARNING: I WILL BE GOING INTO DETAIL ABOUT CERTAIN EVENTS THROUGHOUT REMAKE ALONG WITH SPOILERS TO THE ORIGINAL GAME AND OTHER PIECES OF THE COMPILATION OF FFVII.

The Black Feather and Lifestream Black

As you guys may have noticed throughout your own playthrough’s, the black feather is shown numerous times throughout the entirety of the story. Literally, from start to finish. Recall the very first trailer shown in 2015 where the feather falls into the puddle, or the first piece of key-art of Cloud in the foreground and Sephiroth in the background with the black wing. In chapter 1, just before you plant the bomb, Cloud has a headache before seeing a single black feather fall to the floor. All the way to the ending, where Cloud crushes the feather to dust as the party leaves Midgar. In chapter 2 when Cloud meets Sephiroth, the music track in the background is ‘The Promised Land’ which is a piece specifically from Advent Children.

Don’t just write this off as a random music choice either, this game’s music has been chosen and placed very purposefully in specific scenes. In the opening of the game as Aerith is kneeling in front of the broken pipe, she abruptly turns as soon as the music changes. The intro theme is overlayed by the theme of ‘One Winged Angel’. Listen closely, as Aerith turns you can hear the latin words of his theme “Estuan Interius Ira Vehementi” or “Burning Inside With Violent Anger”. 

Sephiroth is only ever shown with a black wing twice: during the fight against Safer Sephiroth at the end of the original FFVII; and in Advent Children when Kadaj retrieves part of Jenova, allowing Sephiroth to return. A quick note for those wondering how Sephiroth is able to come back through Kadaj, one of his remnants, despite Cloud having beaten him at the end of Final Fantast VII. 

There is a small collection of stories called ‘Lifestream White’ and ‘Lifestream Black’ found in the book ‘On a Way to A Smile’ written by Kazushige Nojima. These specific stories center around Aerith (white) and Sephiroth (black) after they enter the lifestream post FFVII and before the events of Advent Children. The stories go over the fact that Sephiroth learns of a way to prevent being absorbed by the lifestream, that if he could make someone a core, he could still exist, regardless of the fact he is no longer physically there. He makes Cloud the core, knowing that Cloud would never forget him. As long as Cloud is alive, Sephiroth can return. 

Sephiroth’s Memory & Use Of The Lifestream

Now knowing that Sephiroth needs Cloud in order to return, that scene in the alleyway after the Bombing Mission becomes a lot more interesting, right? Cloud see’s Sephiroth, gets led into an alleyway where Sephiroth proceeds to tell Cloud that “He must live” and “Hold onto that hate”. He’s not just doing this to sound like Itachi, he does this to make himself a constant presence in Cloud’s mind. He even begins to describe the desperate cries from Cloud’s mother, begging to let her son live while she was being killed. It’s almost like Sephiroth is branding himself in Cloud mind. Whenever Cloud feels a strong sense of hatred or helplessness, he is reminded of Sephiroth. 

But wait, how does Sephiroth know all of this? Well, remember when I mentioned that Sephiroth refused to be completely absorbed by the lifestream? Considering Sephiroth is closely related to Jenova, a being not of this planet, he can move and spread his will throughout the lifestream. This is even shown through Geostigma! When the lifestream bursts to the surface to protect the planet from meteor, Sephiroth had already begun infecting it. Each person who came into contact with the lifestream was infected with the Geostigma. We don’t know exactly how much power he has and it could be possible for the Sephiroth in Advent Children to have sent information back to the version of himself stuck in the Northern Crater in Final Fantasy VII.

I was personally coming to a lot of these conclusions myself, so I was onboard with this theory. When you consider all of these things, it’s very hard to ignore that this Sephiroth is the same as the one from Advent Children. During the final fight against Sephiroth in the Remake, the powers he displays are exactly the same as in Advent Children.

What is Final Fantasy VII Remake Sephiroth’s Goal?

Sephiroth definitely knows the events of the original game, just look at how meta he is throughout the entire game. Go and rewatch the scene of Sephiroth and Cloud at the Edge of Creation. Sephiroth says things hinting at events he shouldn’t know about yet, he even blocks Cloud’s Omnislash! So now, he’s taking actions to change the way that fate is meant to play out. When he pulls Cloud into the alleyway in chapter 2, it’s because he wants to delay his meeting with Aerith, but the Whispers intervene and delay Aerith to make sure their meeting happens. You start to understand that Sephiroth is the entire reasoning for the Whispers having to make their move. As he tries to alter the way events play out, the Whispers try to fix them and keep fate in-line with that of the original game. 

The most mind blowing part is during the fight against the Whisper Harbinger and the three Whisper generals. Sephiroth challenges us to change fate, opening a portal which Aerith then augments turning it from purple/black to white. Aerith certainly knows something, not as much as Sephiroth, but she seems to be gaining information from the planet. During the fight, the party are shown glimpses of the future, the original FFVII’s ending. As we fight the 3 generals, you may have thought they represent Cloud, Tifa and Barret as they all wield similar weapons. That’s not the case though, they represent Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo, Sephiroth’s remnants. Remember in Advent Children when Kadaj summons Bahamut? The three whisper generals fuse into that same summon!

Concerning the Harbinger, there is only one other being in FFVII ever called Harbinger: “The calamity from the skies. Heavens Dark Harbinger – Jenova” is what Vincent says in Advent Children. If you assess the Harbinger, it is called an “Accretion” otherwise known as a growth after gradual, accumulative layers. The reunion project! The Harbinger and her generals are the Whispers’ last line of defense in an attempt to stop the party from changing fate completely. Every time we cut a limb and do damage to the Harbinger, we are shown more glimpses from the future of the original game. We see the Holy materia falling after Aerith’s death and the meteor as it begins its descent towards the planet.

Every time we see these flash forwards, the party is urged forward believing they are making a change and as a result, they can stop these events from ever taking place. We all believe that we are doing the right thing in beating the Whispers. When really, we have just removed the only thing that was hindering Sephiroth’s attempts at changing history. Sephiroth manipulated the party and the player into removing the planet’s defense against him and now, Sephiroth no longer has this obstacle blocking him. 

That wraps it up for this specific theory on Sephiroth, and those parts of the Remake’s ending. What’s crazy is that this goes deeper and I could talk about it even more, but I don’t want to make you all dive down this rabbit hole any further, because there really isn’t any return. 

Please remember that these are all theories and no matter how many different things people come up with, chances are, none of us will be exactly right.

Thanks for joining me in my rambling about FFVII. I’m seriously suffering from the post-FFVII Remake depression… STILL. So talking about this kind of stuff is quite cathartic for me.

Want more? Check out our Waifu Review for Final Fantasy VII Remake!

You can get Final Fantasy VII Remake on Amazon here!

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Conor Evans
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