All the best and wildest Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth theories

theories about Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the sequel, FF7 Rebirthhave been whirling ever since players witnessed the earth-shattering final moments of Remake FF7. As words appeared on the screen that read, “The unknown journey will continue,” the brains of FF7 fans everywhere filled with wild speculation about what that journey might entail. And thanks to the FF7 Rebirth debut trailer and the longer trailer shown at Summer Game Fest 2023, FF7 fans have developed some very solid theories. Let’s get into it.

[Ed. note: This article contains full spoilers for the original Final Fantasy 7 as well as Final Fantasy 7 Remake.]

ShinraCorp used fake imagery in the newscast

Let’s start with the first and most obvious “theory” – a revelation so obvious we can confidently say it’s an early plot point of FF7 Rebirth. At the very beginning of the FF7 Rebirth trailer to SGF 2023, there’s an in-fiction newscast featuring many of the game’s main characters – members of the eco-terrorist group Avalanche – unconscious, loaded onto medical stretchers. Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII don’t just look unconscious in this broadcast; they look like they could be dead. But we all know FF7 Rebirth won’t kill his entire cast (except Cloud, who is mysteriously absent). What is going on here?

The answer lies in the newscast itself. Note the logos on the screen: “Shinra Broadcasting Service” at the top left and “SNNet News” at the bottom right. That’s right, Shinra News Network is one thing, and it’s ShinraCorp’s propaganda arm. It’s quite logical to assume that these images of dead-looking Avalanche members have been faked to mislead the public. It’s remotely possible that this footage depicts an alternate timeline where somehow all the main characters were injured or even died, but more likely – given who’s broadcasting it – this image is fake news.

Sephiroth killed Tifa, and the Tifa we know is not Tifa

The ending of the SGF ’23 trailer is a bit confusing, but a little less so in the Japanese version, here translated by Audrey Lamsam, Twitch streamer and CEO of Aitai Japan. Watch the last few seconds of the trailer and listen to Sephiroth’s words as he appears to mortally wound Tifa Lockhart.

For those who haven’t played the original FF7or just can’t quite remember what happens, this final scene in the trailer is a recreation of a scene that took place in that first game. Five years prior to the main plot of FF7, Sephiroth slaughters the townspeople of Tifa and Cloud’s hometown of Nibelheim, then burns the village to the ground. Tifa discovers this and confronts Sephiroth, screaming that he killed her father and tries to attack him in retaliation. Sephiroth easily overcomes and injures Tifa, but in the original FF7Tifa recovers from that wound and is rescued by a man named Zangan who takes her in and teaches her martial arts (so she can become the wombo combo queen as we know it today).

The version of the events depicted in the FF7 Rebirth trailer could be exactly the same as in the original game – Sephiroth attacks Tifa, as shown here, but she survives (not shown yet). But it’s Sephiroth’s dialogue that keeps fans coming up with wild theories. In Audrey Lamsam’s translation of the Japanese trailer, Sephiroth says in voiceover, “I was the one who killed Tifa. If so, who is she?”

Fans have taken “who is she” to suggest that the Tifa we’ve seen during the quest for the main story Remake FF7 is not the Tifa who grew up in Nibelheim with Cloud. Instead, Tifa was killed by Sephiroth five years ago. This other woman who resembles Tifa is instead a product of something related to Sephiroth’s alien “mother” figure Jenova, who has the ability to mimic human forms. This is further emphasized by Sephiroth’s monologue leading into the final scene with Tifa, in which he says (according to Lamsam’s translation): “Once upon a time there lived a monster who could see into your soul and change its shape. It could transform and shape those you fear, those you love, and control them.

Alternatively, Tifa could have been injected with Jenova cells as part of the Jenova project, which is what happened to Cloud and Zack (at the hands of mad scientist Professor Hojo). According to the original FF7 timeline, Zack was strong enough to withstand the influence of these cells, while the weaker Cloud was more susceptible to them. What if, in a new timeline of Remake FF7, Tifa wasn’t rescued by Zangan and was instead pushed into the Jenova Project along with Cloud and Zack? Is that why Sephiroth suggests she’s not the same girl – because she’s been changed by Hojo’s experiments?

Sephiroth is just playing mind games

There’s no one quite like Sephiroth when it comes to living up to the “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss” motto. He just likes to fuck people, especially Cloud. Sowing distrust among Cloud and his friends seems perfectly plausible for Sephiroth. The implication that some mysterious “monster” has been controlling Tifa all along would certainly shake Cloud’s grip on reality – especially since that’s already a shaky thing – and it doesn’t even have to be true.

There have always been multiple timelines

Remake FF7 already suggested Zack Fair somehow survived, which would be a huge change in the course of events compared to the original FF7. Fans have been assuming it ever since Redo And Rebirth take place in a different timeline where Zack survived. But what if there are more than two timelines? Like it, way more?

This was already true as a theory Remake FF7 came out. For example, the image of the Nibelheim incident in the original FF7 is slightly different from the image elsewhere. In crisis coreFor example, the incident is told from Zack Fair’s perspective, so you’d expect it to be different in an emotional sense – but there’s no reason why some of the actual events should change in any way. The rest of the Compilation of FF7including several others FF7 spin-offs, has even more minor differences and contradictions from the original game’s story.

Image: Square Enix

What actually happened five years ago in Nibelheim? Is it the memories of the characters that are fallible here, or is it the story itself that keeps changing – perhaps because it’s never set in stone? Personally, I don’t need to explain these inconsistencies by claiming that there is a multiverse, although that certainly works as a theory. Instead, I like to assume that the FF7 series is all about how slippery the truth is, especially when human memories and trauma are involved, and even more so when old myths about the nature of life are involved. themselves involved. This is a series of events that just doesn’t have an easy explanation, but it sure could make for a cool story.

The same goes for all our theories about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Who knows what will happen, or if any of our attempts to explain it will actually succeed? We can all hope we get a good story out of the experience, and so far it certainly seems likely.