What Happened to Aerith? - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth SOLVED

[@PhilipHarts]

What is your theory on the ending and how part 3 ends?? Subscribe for more! Follow my Twitch here: www.twitch.tv/philiphartshorn My Discord here: discord.gg/J85mKhG Watch my film work here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fILKZpVsl8aafdU Watch my couple channel here: www.youtube.com/@PhilipandAliya Follow my Twitter: Twitter.com/philipharts

[@schrodingersbabyseal]

Wrong… its all genesis

[@ectogamut]

It's genesises all the way down

[@PhilipHarts]

I can’t wait for the second Genesis and Sephiroth duel… this time with fatal consequences 🗿

[@Melterer]

I literally hope he shows up, and as soon as he goes to talk, sephiroth just ends him immediately in a "dont waste my time" kind of way. Would be amazing.

[@fumeking701]

Wrong... it's all mia, mario

[@xcom54]

Genesis is going to summon the power of the planet to create the Loveless Cinematic Universe.

[@DJChamber]

Here's the thing that really throws me off, I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on this. Why did we see a bullet going directly towards Zack's head which would have certainly killed him on the spot, then get swooped away by the whisper wind at the very last second? That was not how he died originally. There was the speech with Cloud holding him and Zack giving him the buster sword afterwards, which couldn't have happened if Zack had been shot in the head. Why do you think they would have made that specific change in Rebirth? It doesn't make any real sense with any theory I've heard, including that everything is just revised, showing us the lifestream, and moving directly into Advent Children. Is that also just a dream and a meaningless/cinematic change? Or it was his desire to be saved by an invisible force, which he would later realized was Aerith? Either way doesn't quite do it for me. But very interested to know your thoughts! Great video!

[@Clink2000]

What i then dont understand is Aerith constantly saying from Remake and Rebirth - that “the future, although it is already written can be changed.” And also, think about all the ending in Remake. They literally showed the ending scenes of OG FF7. When the characters ask each other, “what the hell was that?”, Red 13 says, “it’s a glimpse of tomorrow (meaning the future) if we fail here today.” Well… they beat the arbiters of fate, so the exact ending of FF7 will not be the same. If they honestly do, i’m going to be disappointed. So what, all those hints, all those breadcrumbs were just a fake out? I think the third part will HAVE to be different, somehow. How? I’m not really sure, but SOMETHING is going on and i think we’ll see in part 3.

[@DevilHunter1994]

It's very possible that our characters simply misunderstood what they were seeing at the end of Remake, and did something they shouldn't have. They're not all knowing, and players of the OG know that the very events that the characters seemed so scared of ultimately lead to the planet's salvation in the end. I honestly think the Whispers, and future visions are going to play into FFVII's enviromental themes, with the ultimate message being that we need to pay attention to the needs of the planet, and really start listening when it's trying to tell us something. I think the planet was sending those future visions as a way to try to tell our party what it needed to survive, and the party took that message the completely wrong way. I imagine as our party was fighting the Whispers, the planet was basically screaming: "What are you doing!? Sephiroth is playing you all for fools! You're literally killing me! STOOOOOP!!!!"

[@SamuelSabharwal]

@@DevilHunter1994thats the most worrying and lame thing they could do

[@DevilHunter1994]

@@SamuelSabharwal Agree to disagree I guess. To me, it seems like the option that makes the most narrative, and thematic sense.

[@TrueBlueMajikDewd]

I feel like these theories actively disregard Advent Children. Cloud seeing Aerith isn't something exclusive to this game. He sees Aerith when he's driving to the forgotten capitol, he sees her again when fighting Bahamut, and Cloud sees her and Zack again at the end of the movie. Tifa on the other hand only looks at Cloud. Nobody else reacts to Aerith and Zack being in the church at the end of the movie other than the kids. Aerith likely has some vague control over who sees her. And in the original game Cloud sees her when if he goes to the church after she passes. This really isn't something new this game came up with.

[@cynicalidealist11]

I adore the ending so much. This is my theory: It’s lifestream Aerith. That’s why Nanaki can sense her too, if she was just in clouds head he wouldn’t sense her. I also don’t think she’s Jenova because I don’t think jenova would say “goodbye” like that at the end. How is she appearing to Cloud though? Maybe it’s a function of Holy. Before handing Cloud the white materia in the church cloud says “but your mom gave that to you” and Aerith replies “this isn’t about me though, it’s about saving the world, *and you*. If it is because of the white materia then that could also be how aeriths mom appeared to her in traces of two pasts after her death. I think Aerith did this as a Hail Mary to prevent clouds mind from breaking completely, which would have been an early checkmate for Sephiroth in this 4D chess game between Sephiroth and Aerith. That’s why Sephiroth says “that shouldn’t be here, very poor form” when he sees the white materia in the sleeping forest and also why he says “I underestimated you” to Aerith. It’s because she subverted sephiroths plan of breaking cloud in that moment. When Aerith says those lines to cloud at the end about how it’s a second home to her and how she’ll keep praying to stop meteor etc, we as the players can understand that she’s actually talking about the lifestream. However she’s saying it to cloud as if shes talking about the forgotten capital, as if that is the second home where she’ll continue praying, it’s because she’s coddling him, protecting his mind from the reality that she’s dead. She has to sell him a story for why she’s not joining the party onward. That’s why cloud even questions it one time and says “but what if something happens?”, and she says “then I’ll send up smoke!”, and he’s like “I’ll keep an eye out”. He fully believes she’s alive and merely continuing her prayers at the forgotten capital. And she’s helping him believe this lie not because she wants to but because she has to for the sake of keeping clouds fragile mind intact just a little bit longer, all in an effort to defeat Sephiroth.

[@PhilipHarts]

Love this. Can’t wait for part 3!

[@MrLightlike78]

Why I think we're in sequel territory: At the end of og Holy and the lifestream meld together before connecting with meteor followed by a bright flash and credits. I think Holy and the lifestream melding is the catalyst for Remake. Imo, Holy is that rainbow effect you see throughout the story..when Zack decides left or right, when Seph is info dumping Cloud in the lifestream, in Aerith's dream, when Aerith puts the real Holy materia in her ribbon, and when Seph is above city of the ancients and the sky opens up. Holys' whole deal is to get rid of everything bad for the planet....meteor, weapon and possibly the humans. So, what's going on? Holy is experiencing and judging humanity via the lifestream to see if they are worthy to exist. The fly in the ointment? Seph/jenova cells(geo stigma) is still in the lifestream. So you have this tug of war: Sephiroth trying to show the ugliness of humanity and Aerith going nononono, there's still good stuff here!!! I know Hamaguchi is writing it...but I'm going full Nomura with this theory. 36:49 you can really see it here with the rainbow in the clouds...what comes out afterwards? Lifestream.

[@DJChamber]

Wow, that is a brilliant theory, never even considered anything along those lines!

[@sevhoss]

I do believe this is a sequel in a sense that Sephiroth is seemingly course correcting where he went wrong in the original games. Maybe he successfully reconstructs his body in FF7AC and that's where he starts planning. I'm not sure. All I know is I am so appreciative this was the route they went. I love having these questions, I love theorizing over a game that I should have most of the answers for because it already exists. Embracing the revisions as he calls it instead of lamenting that we're not getting a 1 for 1 story just feels great. No remake has been able to pull off what FF7 has done.

[@airget]

Here is a fun theory I'd like to throw your way. Play through the Final Boss fight again, but imagine it takes place in 3 different realities. At the start of the fight when you fight Jenova, no matter what you do, Cloud will always be the last target engaged with Jenova before you defeat her. (Reality 1) When the dust settles and your allies re-enter, think about how they talk, they don't speak as if someone was just stabbed, they talk like they are defeating a final evil and everything is alright, this is the reality where Cloud did save Aerith (Reality 2) Also consider how the arena is falling apart and it gives this "final final boss" vibe like they are going to defeat Jenova/Sephiroth there and then Then Cloud disappears (Everyone HP/MP is restored a very sneaky way to hide the fact that we are fighting within different realities) and fights with Zack in an alternate "falling reality" where they fight Jenova at the same time (Reality 1) is fighting Jenova and then of course Zack and Cloud fighting Sephiroth seperately but still in sync, it's not something you can just keep swapping between each fight with but at that point I imagine it like this when Cloud and Zack are fighting together they are fighting in (Reality 2), when Zack is by himself he is in (Reality 3) and when Cloud and Aerith fight they are in (Reality 3) But basically think about the cutscene before the rest of the gang fights Jenova/Bahamut Arisen (Reality 1), they say Cloud disappeared however it is never made clear if this is him disappearing after (Reality 2) or if he had disappeared when the dust settled and he wasn't there. At the end though when it comes to fighting "Sephiroth Reborn" who exist within all 3 (Realities) I do believe the intent is them fighting them all at the same time, which I feel is further proved by how Cloud and Zack both have access to their Synergy attacks even though they aren't within the same realm but the idea is they all al fighting Sephiroth at the same time and are so in tune that they are still able to synergize their attacks even through other realities. Another thing to consider which I feel would solidify this theory is that we learn that realities that pretty much hit a "Dead End" are erased from existance, in this case (Reality 2) and (Reality 3), even though they have to fight and win against Jenova so he doesn't overpower (Reality 1) the sad truth becomes saving Aerith in (Reality 2) leads to a Dead End event because without her being in the Lifestream and able to interact with Holy she would be unable to save the planet at the end of the game. Similarly (Reality 3) is already a dead reality that they are fighting in, it is just a space in which Cloud, Zack and Aerith are capable of interacting with one another. Finally, there is no way Aerith would lie to Cloud like that, why would she say "I saw what you did back there Cloud, Thank you." Why would she lie to Cloud about him saving her in another reality? Aerith realizes that with the changes made Cloud did defy reality in one timeleine where he did save her but the cruel reality becomes that in order for her to fulfil her destiny her life needs to end there, and knowing that it is a dead end timeleine she continues to fight on to point Cloud back towards the proper destiny/reality. If I could ask the director one question I would ask him if the Final Fight takes place in multiple realities and if Cloud's allies that we fight with are from 2 different realities, one where she was saved, and one where she died. Since one last thing to consider when they fight Bahamut Arisen, the platform never changes, nothing is falling apart, reality isn't imploding on itself unlike the fight with Jenova Lifeclinger where everything is breaking apart like reality is disappearing in a sense. Another thing to take note is how the platform for both the last phase of Jenova Lifeclinger and Sephiroth Arisen are completely different it gives off heavy vibes that the Whispers knowing that this reality where Aerith was saved was to unstable and removed them from that reality and placed them into the reality where they need to be.

[@NYCHeavyHitz212]

This is why this ending pisses me off because it doesn't have to be this much.

[@mattgiove]

Has anyone noticed the background of clouds lifestream scene is the same as the sky in "zacks timeline"?

[@Lee313FGC]

Its kinda fucked up aris gets cloud to fall in love with her 😅 knowing she will die

[@Radriar___9946]

Both scenes happened. Cloud blocks Sephiroth, and Aerith still dies. The only difference is Sephiroth didn't stab Aerith, Cloud did. Cloud blocks the shot, the sword lands on the ground next to Cloud, then Sephiroth makes him pick up the sword and kill Aerith. Watch the scene again and it makes sense. The party was blocked off by the whispers, so they only have Cloud's fractured recollection of what happened. As with Nibelhiem, the player is presented with scenes that they view as objective only for it to be revealed that it’s the result of Cloud’s broke mind. All of Rebirth, especially in the Temple of the Ancients, showed Cloud losing control of his body. Sephiroth calls Cloud a puppet both before and immediately after Aerith’s death, also saying. “How can you ever hope to see the truth with such clouded eyes,” once again referring to his broke mind. When it's revealed that Cloud killed Aerith, it will be a HUGE gut punch and possibly even more impactful than the original. THAT is how you make Aerith's death hit again, even for long time fans. And if this doesn’t happen, then Square knows I’m onto them and they changed it.

[@Kitth3n]

How are you figuring that cloud stabbed her? I’m not seeing it. It is weird though that in first shot of materia bouncing, she’s still falling, and you’d think Sephiroth would be right behind her, but he’s not. Unless he had already walked away and it took her a bit to fall, but that would also be weird if it took cloud that long to turn around.

[@coinslot123]

Nope doing too much with it.

[@winshifter]

Actually, makes sense and fits with the rest of the scenes where Cloud goes weird and starts stabbing people saying that it's not death, it's just homecoming. I rewatched the scene, and it's true, Sephiroth was never close to Aerith after Cloud blocked him, but the sword was, and there is a cut of the scene, so a lot of things could have happened in that span of the moment. Also, if you watch Tifa's perspective, Cloud has blood in his dominant hand, as if he was the one who stabbed Aerith, so Tifa is wondering if Cloud did it in one of those moments where he seems to be possesed by Sephiroth. That would make a lot of sense given that it was shown earlier in Gongaga, then in Nibelheim and latter in Temple of the Ancients. But is not the first time it is shown, actually it was also shown in Remake, when they followed Jhonny, Cloud was about to kill him and Tifa stopped him. Aerith saw the same after Cloud defeated Reno on the church, he was about to kill Reno and Aerith tried to stop him, but the whispers intervened. So Cloud going murderous was kind of hinted on Remake and fully shown in Rebirth. That would also explain why Sephiroth wanted to take control of the whispers and doesn't seem to be doing anything with them in Rebirth, he simply needed to avoid the whispers to intervene in the Aerith's death scene in order to further control and torture Cloud.

[@sirguru690]

The life stream is the quantum field where time exist forever and at a moment. Sephiroth is a consciousness that exist in quantum field. Not existing but present. Cloud is just schrodingers cat. When observed by Sephiroth, he breaks down into a state of being cloud or not cloud. The black materia is the equation that calculates how gravity fits into the quantum field theory (which we dont have because it's special). Sephiroth needs that equation so he can collapse the quantum field (lifestream) into a form that is existing in the material world. Yeah Final Fantasy 7 is just someones wierd explanation of quantum field theory. Oh also, white materia is hope (a subset of consciousness)

[@palazzo1113]

I'm subbing mostly because your voice is perfect for storytelling. But the analysis is amazing too.

[@FailroadExpress]

It's definitely hard to say what exactly is going on with Aerith at the end. I like your explanation. A lot of it makes total sense. I'm still leaning towards the Ending Aerith being from the Lifestream and possibly one other place. We may be seeing more than one Aerith at the end.

[@MrLightlike78]

Ooo yeah, the whole lifestream white bit where she ponders if she could use avatars like Seph does. She cites not wanting to do this as she wants Cloud to see her...but it makes you wonder if maybe she figured out how she could do this using her own soul/ body w/e.

[@jeremyfields9009]

Cloud doesn’t just see Aerith in AC because of guilt it’s because her consciousness lives on inside him. That’s why she appears to him during the end credits of AC.

[@PhilipHarts]

Yes but her function in the story is to represent Cloud’s guilt, which he lets go and forgives himself for in the film, letting Aerith go and moving on to live his life.

[@nicoarmin8997]

Want to know what happened at the end of Rebirth? Well, it's simple: the writers put the party in a situation very similar to Empire Strikes Back and similar second volume titles. They added a little bit of artistic license and expression. And then players didn't get exactly what they wanted, when they wanted. So all the entitled "fans" and "critics" rated the game unfairly because they "didn't like the ending"-- sabotaging the game from achieving the awards it deserves. That's what happened.

[@TevyaSmolka]

I love the ending it’s amazing on my opinion

[@coolguychecker7329]

This is a great video, I appreciate that you're very focused on the meaning of narrative decisions in the remake trilogy, as that's clearly the level the devs are on but most of the fans aren't. But I think two of the ideas you put forth here don't cohere very well. On the one hand you say they want to say something with these decisions given the cinematic language and writing choices, but on the other hand you say they want to tie up the remake trilogy as a complete package containing all the lore of the other FFVII compilation games. I don't see these as being mutually compatible for most players of the remake trilogy, i.e. people like me who didn't bother with the rest of the FFVII content. For example, after analyzing how the subjective perspective of the ending frames Aerith's interactions with Cloud as a manifestation of his guilt, you suggest that Deep Ground should make an appearance in part 3, but what meaning would that contribute to the main story or the characters besides very literal, rote revenge for Yuffie? Even within Rebirth itself, when Zack's Crisis Core character motto is interjected in the middle of Rebirth's rollercoaster ending, what does that mean for Cloud's guilt or anything else happening on screen? Why should I care about Zack's embracing his dreams as an enforcer of a colonizing megalomaniac corporation that we saw 30 hours back hugely damaged his hometown? Because the ending invokes this multiversal perspective repeatedly, it's no longer just Cloud's subjective experience. Portraying Zack in the middle of all of this invokes everything else about him so far in the story, including his questionable service to Shinra. Zack's presence turns the ending into a thematic mess of ideas. I personally think this thematic noise is done intentionally to breed disorientation in players, to capture that feeling of the original of not being really sure if Aerith was fully dead or not. But it comes at the sacrifice of obscuring what they're trying to say, as evidenced by you being one of the few voices championing this meaning-based analysis of the game.

[@SamuelSabharwal]

Incredible comment

[@alchemike6346]

THANK YOU for bringing FFX up, that is probably a key element that most are missing about this,Nojima was writer of X he himself believes that Both X and VII happens in the same world (heck Shinra is literally in the photo in remake) it's not surprising he is using rules he made for that world here IT's literally how the idea of dreams and such works in FFX (without getting into spoilers but if you remember THAT twist everything basically clears up),most just think this is some multiverse shenanigans without realizing how deep the connection with X is in this case. Without even bringing the parallels that this remakes keeps on giving they clearly wanted to cement that connection between the two.

[@sinistersaint]

This. All of this.

[@UncleMoke476]

I still don't understand what the purpose of Remake's story was if they weren't going to actually change anything in Rebirth. There was such a focus on them changing the timeline with the whispers and multiple characters remembering the original game's story. The ending of Remake even states that the future is now unknown, but we got the exact same story in Rebirth, just more fleshed out.

[@SamuelSabharwal]

Lame backtracked story

[@coinslot123]

Can still change the ending without ruining the story like bringing dead characters back to life

[@BlackMetal-uv6qm]

The purpose was to bring back Zack and possibly Aerith's survival that they were teasing relentlessly. If she will be gone anyway then you are right. The whole new setup was a waste of time, money and a mockery of Aerith fans who will probably leave SE for good after this.

[@mattgiove]

Yall crack me up 😂 aerith isn't gonna live. They're retelling the story while also keeping the main points the same. They've said over and over they're not changing the story

[@pandamonium9255]

None of these characters are allowed to move on. We the fans aren’t even allowed that. Jenova grips us all.

[@Rob_Banks_TV]

Finally someone else understands.

[@gatheringstormgaming9061]

Hey I saw you in the crowd at Tribeca! Nice to see I was correct

[@cardcaptoryue]

See my interpretation is that she tapped into the mako inside Cloud. Through the same manipulations of Jenova/Sephiroth. I think she is now his guiding voice, not Zack. Shes dead but she guides him even now.

[@RebirthFacts]

Have you ever considered the idea of two endings ? the Lake scene and the Final cutscene ?

[@Johan92Johansson]

Great summary. Well done. I love this game so much and your skill to see the smallest of details makes your playthrough one of the verry best.

[@wtfbluestrife]

If life is energy, then aerith could still still connect to cloud. Think mycelim or even electricity through steel. Electricity can transfer from 1 steel bar to another even without touching, it'll just be weaker. Even trees can communicate with trees within a short distance by sending signals from root to root through the soil itself.

[@ectogamut]

I'm waiting for Part 3's DXRacer chair before sitting down

[@Enomino1]

The part where cloud is holding Aerith and he is glitching between his monologue and his new perspective. In the new perspective, Cloud is crying. Expressing so much emotion as he holds a still living and smiling Aerith. But when it glitches to the monologue, where we remember from the original, Cloud expresses words of grief, emotion, and sadness, , in Rebirth's iteration, the glitch, there are no tears and his lips are moving but there is no sound. As Sephiroth says, a puppet, void of emotion (no tears), and empty words (voice muted). With your theory, it makes more sense. The version of Cloud facing his traumas, the guilt of not saving Aerith is the glitch. Its what Tifa see. Its Tifa's reality. Its the version of Cloud Tifa hasn't mentally rescued yet. And then there is Cloud's new perspective. The lie. The fabrication. Its the version of Cloud that is expressive and caring. This lie is shielding him from the grief and traumas of guilt. I swear this new iteration of FF7 through the Re:trilogy. I have no words. I cant wait to play the final installment when it comes out.

[@verussadap]

They did that ending so well from Cloud's perspective that it messed up a lot of people for not seeing the obvious outcome lol. Anyways great video, couldn't agree more!

[@Dis2good]

And it’s literally driving people crazy IRL too 😂

[@verussadap]

@@Dis2good Lol yeah, those people need stop playing this trilogy 😆

[@Angelalex242]

...Alternate realities, of course, is the other option. I think the Re triology is designed to answer the question: What if Aerith could be saved?

[@wtfbluestrife]

It's also possible that the reason only cloud can communicate with aerith and Zack is because he's the only one whose had extreme exposure to mako. Which is the liquid for of the lifestream. Meaning cloud literally has a high concentrated amount of the lifestream inside him.

[@Oscar-x8n6e]

24:10 to 24:35 omg you hit the nail in the head. Wonderful writing 🥺

[@genjiharvester1876]

If there were to be any shred of redemption for Sephiroth... I picture the final epilogue to be him sitting off alone at some distant vantage within the lifestream, more or less atoning and thinking. And then childhood Aerith comes up to him and shares a few tender words and asks him to play with her. And he cracks a bit of a smile. And that's a wrap. I don't know... Some would call it maudlin, but hey, if properly earned and executed well...

[@TheOppositeOfLegend]

Forgive me if this was already mentioned but I just noticed that Sephiroth mimics how Masamune was wielding the Masamune. I wonder if it is also a sword style as well. It would be interesting if the Masamune has some sort of sentience.

[@WhiteCresentKnight]

I just want Aerith and Zack to have the relationship they could never have in the lifestream

[@Joshiepoo2525]

Great video! So curious how, if it’s not a sequel, they’ll tie it into AC without feeling like the culmination of this new decade-long saga is homework to go watch AC again.

[@PhilipHarts]

I think I it can be both a ending to everything with Sephiroth for that sequel satisfaction, while telling the original story better and revising the whole compilation to finally be one cohesive consistent feeling work instead of several stories that feel very separate in style. I talk about this a little at the end.

[@Kitth3n]

Great video as always. The Jenova theory is fun, but I’m not completely sold on it just yet. I think the seeds are there, very intentionally, but not necessarily because it’s true. Sephiroth will surely try to convince Cloud (and the player) of it like he did all throughout Rebirth with Tifa. He tried to convince Cloud Tifa isn’t Tifa, even though she is. I think he’s doing the same with Aerith. He desperately needs Cloud to distrust the actual lifestream Aerith. And perhaps Jenovaerith is a part of that plan. My point being that it works with or without one. So in that sense having it solely being J-Aerith at the end does kind of unnecessarily undermine the emptional impact of the ending. Side note-Even if there is a Jenovaerith, it can’t just be that. We know theres also a Lifestream Aerith, as seen in AC and parts of Rebirth. Of course there could be both, but that raises questions like why wouldn’t LS-Aerith show up and tell cloud about J-Aerith and try to dissuade him immediately? If she’s truly omniscient she should know about it. (TBF maybe she will in part 3 or we just have to suspend our disbelief when it comes to omniscience. If Obi wan always showed up and helped Luke, there wouldn’t be much of a story)

[@PhilipHarts]

I cover this in the video, I say that it is advent children style Aerith.

[@LunalovaniaGaming]

I fully 100% believe that the Aerith at the end of Rebirth is Jenova, and I can prove it. "Those you fear, those you love, those you hate, Jenova will become anyone to fool her prey." They drive this home a lot in rebirth. Everything that "Aerith" says to cloud at the end, is what the real Aerith has already said to him in Remake AND in Rebirth. "And if I said I wasnt?" Aerith says this with the exact same inflection when they were at the park in remake and cloud asks her if she's going to be okay going home. "Dont worry, its like a second home." She says this the exact same way in Remake when cloud has a dream at Aeriths house and he talks to her outside, referring to the shinra HQ building, and thats when she says, "dont worry, its like a second home." Everything she says, she has already said it, showing Jenovas mimickry. Another piece of proof is: The real Aerith just got done telling cloud in the sleeping forest to not focus on Sephiroth, cause she's the only one that can stop him, that he needs to focus on himself and find the real him. So at the end, when "Aerith" makes cloud "promise to stop sephiroth," it doesnt make sense cause she just told him she is the only one that can stop him. And that is why im 100% convinced that the Aerith at the end is not our real Aerith, and in fact is Jenova pretending to be Aerith, mimicking her by using Clouds memories of her to shape the illusion.

[@PhilipHarts]

I love that. I talk about this idea near the end of the video.

[@LunalovaniaGaming]

@PhilipHarts I'm still watching the video lol I just really wanted to comment lol 😊🤝

[@gregbrown6921]

Plus it’s different, and want to make R part 3 a little different

[@RebirthFacts]

Aerith mentions the city of the Cetra in the French version and the Japanese version. Aerith never mentioned before that she will need to pray to stop the meteor. Aerith doesn't ask Cloud to promise anything in the Japanese or even in the French version. If Aerith is Jenova or an illusion, there’s absolutely no reason to show her saying goodbye when there’s no one there to see her. Moreover, why would Jenova say 'Goodbye'?

[@LunalovaniaGaming]

@RebirthFacts I still think it's jenova. Why would she tell cloud not worry about sephiroth and that only she can stop him and to find clouds true self, only to completely do a 180 an hour later and say screw finding your true self cloud, promise you'll stop sephiroth? The other statements she makes are the exact same as in remake. I can't ignore that. And I can't ignore her making him promise to stop sephiroth when she just told him at the sleeping forest to not worry about him. Sorry, but I'm not changing my opinions. We will just have to wait until part 3. 🤝

[@sinistersaint]

Dude. This was so well broken down - thank you for such a clear, rational explanation of your thoughts. I always saw the ending as "Cloud is losing his shit," but I didn't pick up on how we were seeing things from Tifa's perspective vs. Cloud's. I'm so excited for Part 3, and I'm trying hard not to think about how long we have to wait for its release 🥺

[@dxracer]

Thank you so much for sharing! You did a great job.

[@didzilla360]

I felt cheated and having that big moment taken away. I did not feel the same impact as did back in 97’…

[@fattmusiek5452]

This is bless, this video dropping. Stoked man, digging in

[@ExploitedWorker]

I think your views on the ending are some of the closest so far. The multiverse theories are understandable from the perspective of someone new to the story, but as someone very familiar with the original, I see how this interpretation fits so well with the original narrative while portraying the deeper metaphysical elements so well that weren't a part of the original. The 3rd part is going to be phenomenal.

[@Blag_Cog]

What you chose to show while giving the spoiler warning was crazy lmfao I played the og tho so im good

[@Aaa-t5x]

Where can i find your EC Masume play, Philip??

[@ReviewFriends]

If Zack is in the same place as Aerith, than he's pretty much been dead, the whole time, right? The whole thing about Zack being alive is pretty much just a Red Herring than.

[@ExploitedWorker]

I think Zack's part is to help give more context to how the lifestream works, and he'll help in Cloud's mental battles with Sephiroth and Jenova, much like the ending for Rebirth.

[@philiphall6351]

With FF7OG it isn't explained how the black materia made Sephiroth reborn. But With the change In FF7 Part 3, The reunion of Worlds, I believe the black materia's function is to be Sephioths version of revive. Which excels a "complete" form of Sephiroth. Basically like Cell in DBZ Against Gohan. It will of course be used to summon Meteor but not in the way of OG. With the knowledge of the ancients already learnt travelling realities. i believe this is purely added knowledge inside the materia to enhance his powers further, not the Orb power to summon the end of the world.

[@genonunez8527]

Philip bro great video you're awesome been a fan for awhile! What do you think of my theory? I think Cloud is the one that killed Aerith in the rainbow world. Cuz Cloud deflects Sephiroths Sword, destiny changed but Aerith still ends up dead in the rainbow world that was created with cloud crying profusely. How? Why? Because Cloud being puppeted by Sephiroth killed her. The Devs wanted to make a big impactful change without completely derailing the story/characters. So they created these Dream worlds where Cloud can still accidentally kill Arieth resulting in Clouds guilt consuming him putting him in a broken state of mind as we see at the end of Rebirth. But still not robbing Sephiroth of his iconic villain role of killing Arieth because she still dies by his hand in the real world. Sephiroth smiles as Cloud deflects the sword because he knows he can get cloud to kill Arieth, resulting in Arieth force ghosting to consul him, resulting in Clouds mind to break and be confused, resulting in Tifa and party distancing themselves from him, resulting in cloud losing all hope and succoming to be a robbed man like he sees himself as in his vision.

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you so much, and that’s a Great theory. It would be extra brutal, and a shocking twist for sure, making Sephiroth evil more evil and cloud even more guilty.

[@0style]

Here is my theory that FF7 is heavily influenced by the Bible, the Human experience, which is mimicking ideas from the “other proposed FF7” Xenogears: Sephiroth is the biblical fallen one, the metaphor of what happens to those who seek knowledge to the extent of gaining even knowledge that hurts us (learning about his background and not learning about the love that causes his creation). Cloud (me, you, us) desires to be perfect and like his role model at the cost of hurting those we loved in our childhood, (personally) thinking that we will be able to better our hometown friends and family [classic Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey”]. Aerith is the “messiah” of this game, all knowing, all benevolent, the one who is all good and shows the protagonist how to live and the first character to show him affection. The whispers are a biblical idea of spirit: holy and evil spirits, vying for us, the protagonist, to follow the good white spirits and reject the wicked black influence. Every moment of our wakefulness we are charged with two options: 1) be selfless and be obedient to the essence of “Good” or 2) be selfish and be disobedient to the essence of “Good” essentially, choosing to be a child forever a parasite (the way Sephiroth exists in the life stream). Sorry I typed all this during those building a chair scenes. Felt like an ad and got carried away with typing out my pet theory thanks to my adhd. I think we who are strongly drawn to this story understand the concept of sacrifice to a cellular, spiritual level of the idea of being saved by the sacrifice of someone kind, benevolent, and loving to us in the way that we can never give back to the ones that brought us to life except to love others and perpetuate being good to others. Added on thoughts: The new trilogy is called a remake, rebirth, re”something” it’s an addition to the original three disc game in the same vein as Star wars new trilogy is just part of the story. So this continuation of the story of PS1 is basically Sephiroth trying to change his destiny for the new generation of gamers. Time is rhyme that not all things are exactly repeated but rhyme with past events. This instance of Sephiroth is of the same essence of a fallen one. A Lucifer type (biblically beautiful and perfect in his ways) wants to prevent his destined downfall (the PS1 timeline, book of Revelation) by influencing Cloud (you the reader) with the black whispers trying to convince you that bad is good and good is bad, by appealing to your pathos through his sad unloved background as a created unloved lab specimen.

[@Kitth3n]

Sephiroth’s character and presumed motivations (especially after all the ever crisis stuff) in the re-trilogy is very reminiscent of Krelian to me.

[@0style]

@ Krelian, a 美男子 (Bidanshi) character with high intellect is very much in line with the Judeo-Christian concept of Lucifer.

[@EspirituViejo]

Lo único que hiciste fue explicar lo que sucede en FF7OG. Ya sabemos lo que pasó ahí. Hay varias cosas que quedan inconclusas y simplemente las salteaste: Tifa ve ambas realidades, cuando Aerith muere, y cuando no muere. Red percibe la presencia de Aerith. El final está hecho para confundir. Para que nadie sepa qué pasó, y se mantenga el misterio hasta el final de la historia. Todas las «teorías» son incorrectas, porque todas se pueden refutar en base a lo se mostró hasta ahora en esta versión del juego, que es diferente al OG, CC, o AC.

[@phgo91vga]

Best Breakdown I have seen so far! One question, why did Aerith didn't questioned Cloud holding the Black Materia, what do you think is gonna be the payoff from the ending? It was Jenova/Sephiroth or she knows the time-line through white whispers connection and wants Cloud to follow the events and delivering the black materia to "Top-Half" Sephiroth?

[@mortalballgt52]

9:34 was that Wing-Chin? 😂😂😂

[@brycetheoddball]

Bro where’d you get your buster sword

[@barisaxman2]

Hey Phil, great video. Have you considered making a video analysing the ending fight sequences? I feel like a lot happens and I would personally be interested in a play by play of the fights.

[@TicoDK]

After all this months I'm finally getting to cope with the ending, It was just too much shoved down your throat... The smiley Aerith from the doomed timeline is too creepy though. LUL

[@emelie87]

I don't agree. I think she's very much alive, but good analysis.

[@makoccino6844]

Those who look with clouded eyes see nothing but shadows.

[@ExploitedWorker]

We will see in part 3

[@holographicwing]

@@makoccino6844 Said by the worlds most honest and upstanding man known for his truthfulness lol

[@tonymaccaroni1683]

Yeah I think so too. But somehow FF7 has the only fandom where it hurts people's souls if the heroine escapes a monstrous fate.

[@coinslot123]

If she was alive they would have made it more obvious in this game. Not in part 3. They wouldn't have made rebirth ending so convoluted

[@4-kathryn]

22:48 I don't think Aerith knew her fate at all in the original game.. her dialogue appeared to be generic positive messaging, she's not a gloomy person, she even giggled in that very scene. It makes sense she would inform Cloud, "And let me handle Sephiroth." I don't get the vibe she knew what was about to happen. (I'm re-watching the scene now), why would Aerith say, " . . . I'll be going now. I'll come back when it''s all over" , it doesn't make sense to say that if she truly knew of her fate. I have been enjoying your video but that point you made doesn't make sense to me.

[@PhilipHarts]

“I’ll come back when it’s all over” - she does, she comes back at the end and stops meteor with the life stream.

[@2ndPlacePrize]

Minutes in loving it so far BUT Jeesus!!! Is the music a bit loud when trying to listen

[@qhodave]

Great summery and observations 👌🏻

[@chrismarble85]

Incorrect. Aerith is able to interact with different timelines, and so is cloud by the end. Theres plenty of evidence of this throughout both games.

[@PhilipHarts]

Yes but they’re not timelines or separate universes they are just dreams of people hopes and wills that persist shortly until they are absorbed into the lifestream, like Aerith’s forest scene in the original expanded upon. Or FFX dreams. That’s how I view them, there is fairly strong evidence for that.

[@DevilHunter1994]

@@PhilipHarts To further support what you've said, I believe Nojima already mentioned that we shouldn't think of this as a standard multiverse, like something we would see in your typical Superhero Comic. That statement right there should be enough to tell us not to think of these worlds as alternate timelines, since alternate timelines would literally just be a standard multiverse. The term "dream worlds" really does seem to fit what's happening here. Even Aerith herself specifically refers to the world she created in chapter 14 as a dream. They really do seem to be just short lived realities existing within the lifestream, and they will eventually fade away. The only world that can truly be saved seems to be FFVII's main world.

[@xcom54]

Great video. 👍Really appreciate it.

[@gregbrown6921]

I think Aerith is Jenova at the tiny bronco at the end, esp cause cloud is hiding the black materia

[@goblin7372]

He doesn't want Aerith to know he has it. Sephiroth is mind controlling cloud. Did you catch how cloud said lets go to the mountains at the end of the game. Well Sephiroth REAL body is at the mountains in a crystal recovering from when cloud throws his body in the lifesteam. Cloud IS going to bring and give sephiroth the black material.

[@zhivakirchanski5809]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@TriNguyen-iu2vi]

If you think about how far graphics in video games have come ! its actaully not very impressive at all! considering ff7 advent children came out in 2014 if Im correct..

[@Drakan86]

Wrong. Advent children is 20 years old almost. It released september 2005... If you wanna think of leaps in graphics just look at FFXIII which released on the PS3 in 2009 15 years ago.... Even by todays standards it holds up extremely well ..and cinematics are gorgeous

[@TriNguyen-iu2vi]

@Drakan86 wow it release 2005 I didn't even. So ff7 rebirth graphics doesnt really hold up then!! Considering I cant tell the significant difference.. from advent children

[@Kitth3n]

Advent children is a pre-rendered movie, not a game.

[@TriNguyen-iu2vi]

@Kitth3n still using live motion pictures from actors. The CGI is using very similar technology

[@Kitth3n]

@@TriNguyen-iu2viYeah but what I’m saying is that if advent children was playable it wouldn’t have looked as good. You can afford to make things look much better when you’re rendering one frame every 30 hours as opposed to games rendering at least 30 frames per second. You can’t compare the two

[@goblin7372]

I want to know what happened to sephiroth after advent children!?

[@PhilipHarts]

I explain a cool idea for that in this video!

[@goblin7372]

We will definitely see Aerith in the final battle in the next game! There's is no way she would leave us to fight alone. Even if it's a single heal out of nowhere at a critical point or something like that! Like one last final goodbye and everything will be ok cloud.

[@airget]

I think we could even see her during the game. If Cloud plays the unreliable narrator it is easy enough to keep Aerith as a playable character but the dialogue is done in such a way where she only interacts with Cloud. This could occur up to when Cloud reaches Sephiroth's true body and he turns around realizing Aerith isn't there. At that point maybe we'll get fragments of what Cloud said back when Aerith died but we won't get the whole scene until Tifa snaps him back into reality and they both watch as Cloud accepts the reality of what happened to Aerith.

[@kentendo2672]

Great Gospel incoming