I was just wondering how did Jenova get in the hands on shinra? like wasn't she/it supposed to be disastrous and take the life stream?

SPOILER ALERT

It's revealed during the course of the game how Jenova came to be - basically it is an alien being that crashed to the Planet on a meteor thousands of years before the game's events, where it infected the Cetra, turning them into monsters and sending them mad. The surviving Cetra banded together and defeated Jenova, where they sealed it away deep within the Northern Crater, where it had first landed. However, Jenova wasn't dead - it was merely in stasis.

2000 years later, the Shinra uncovered it, and mistook it for a Cetra (as it was in a geological strata from that time period). It was only later that Professor Gast, the leader of the Shinra's Jenova Project (which was set up with the intention of creating humans with Cetra powers, in order to reveal the location of the quasi-mythical 'Promised Land' which the Shinra hoped to exploit for their own avaricious ends), discovered Ilfana, a real surviving Cetra who told him the horrifying truth - Jenova was not a Cetra, but the being responsible for the Cetra's destruction.

But by that stage it was too late - the Shinra were using Jenova to enhance the powers of humans for their SOLDIER special forces unit and thus was far too useful to abandon.

Thus setting the stage for the game's (and Compilation's) tragic events.

That's it in a kuponut shell in any event.

Omg thank you! it's been a while since I played the game and my friend asked me about her and im like.....uh....idk lol

Hey enkidoh, i thought jenova was supposed to be dead, because i keep hearing:Jenova is a dead husk being controlled, but it clearly managed to escape shinra corp, and kill'everyone, because sephiroth was Spoiler alert !!Encased in ice!!

Sorry for the late reply - been distracted with the FFXIV 2.0 Alpha these last few days ;).

MORE SPOILERS

From how it's referred in the Compilation and the original game, and how it is actually shown, Jenova seems to be virtually immortal from a cellular level - even Hojo states that even if Jenova is dismembered it's cells try to recombine and become whole again - what he referred to as the 'Reunion'. In fact, destroying Jenova actually made things worse - it's cells diffused into the Lifestream where began to corrupt and assimilate itself into it, causing the Geostigma outbreak shown in Advent Children.

As for who is controlling who, Sephiroth-Jenova or vice versa, has always been kept very ambiguous even in the Compilation,but it seems to be subtlety hinted that Jenova is simply an emotionless, quasi-immortal monster, a fusion of cells with little directive other than to consume life. Sephiroth might be subconsciously influenced by the Jenova inside him, but most of his megalomania is simply an Orpheus complex brought about by an obsession with the fictitious image he has of his 'real mother'.

That is clearly shown time and time again - he really is acting under his own volition - Jenova has nothing to do with it.

Also, Sephiroth wasn't encased in ice at the Northern Crater, it was materia he was encased in (or rather, semi-crystallised Mako - hence why Cloud's arm easily pushes into it when he gave him the Black Materia.

Ifalna says he appears, and wins over the confidence of most cetra, and infected them with a virus, but it couldn't be sephiroth, because it was 2000 year earlier.
Also:Did jenova always have the ability to shapeshift? It looked like our dead mothers and brothers said Ifalna.

Ifalna says he appears, and wins over the confidence of most cetra, and infected them with a virus, but it couldn't be sephiroth, because it was 2000 year earlier.
Also:Did jenova always have the ability to shapeshift? It looked like our dead mothers and brothers said Ifalna.

had to look this up but here is you're answer kind of..

Sephiroth: Cloud... Don't blame Tifa. The ability to change one's looks, voice,
and words, is the power of Jenova. Inside of you, Jenova has merged with Tifa's
memories, creating you. Out of Tifa's memory...... A boy named Cloud might've
just been a part of them.

scene from the whirlwind maze....Apparently sephiroth sort of has a similar ability since he created kadaj, yazoo, and loz after he was defeated in the northern crater, they were fused together from his thoughts.....

Are you saying cloud manipulated tifas memories? because i could tell you that is false, because tifa knew it was a lie, unless all people with jenova cells somehow can feel other people's memories, and experience them, but there is no proof either.Zack told cloud about his background, while other things he witnessed.Is it possible, that jenova is a male? She said he appeared, and infected the cetra.

i don't know, that might be possible, but then that doesn't explain why sephiroth an the others are always referring to jenova as mother. but i mean she or it does have the ability to shapeshift....now that i think about it sephiroth does for sure to, because he takes form of one of the characters in whirlwind to trick you in to giving him the black materia...or maybe tifa was infected an he , and jenova can only control an shapeshift into ppl or beings that have been infected with the stigma.?..they did leave alot of stuff out of this story, it makes me mad...i would like to see a movie or game about when jenova first arrived and the cetra defeated it ...i need to kno more haha.....And nostalgia it looks like ur starting to take a liking to final fantasy 7!!!(:

Sephiroth always refereed to Jenova as his 'mother' as that was just what Hojo virtually brainwashed into him when he was growing up. He didn't realize though that Hojo was simply being metaphorical (in that as he had Jenova's cells injected into him when he was still a foetus), but because Lucrecia's existence was kept hidden from him, Sephiroth basically grew up thinking Jenova was a real person who was his missing mother. During the Nibelheim incident, the reports on the Jenova Project written by Hojo seemed to confirm what Hojo has always told him.

In any event, he becomes so deluded that Lucrecia could be standing in front of him with open arms saying 'MY SON! I LOVE YOU!" and he wouldn't even acknowledge her as his mother.

Its an ok game, but highly overrated.I am trying to understand unexplained things, because ff7 doesn't property explain everything, like:Is sephiroth only a villain due to insanity? or has there always been more? because he is more like a rabid dog who bites, because he was beaten constantly, rather than several layers defining a character.I find cloud more or less the same as the beginning, cept he has self confidence.At heart, cloud is an asshole.He thought he was better than tifa's friends, and he stole his best friends identity, so he could feel better about himself after a humiliation of not making it to soldier, and he left the dead body of his rescuer(zack) who died after rescuing him, and not once weeping, but he had the info all along.He is an asshole, and a loser.

[...] I find cloud more or less the same as the beginning, cept he has self confidence.At heart, cloud is an asshole.He thought he was better than tifa's friends, and he stole his best friends identity, so he could feel better about himself after a humiliation of not making it to soldier, and he left the dead body of his rescuer(zack) who died after rescuing him, and not once weeping, but he had the info all along.He is an asshole, and a loser.
It's been a couple of years since I played the game, so my knowledge may not be correct, but I remember the "Cloud-stealing-Zack's Persona-crap" being a consequence of a mixture of things? (Hojo's experiments on the kid which left him pretty much demented for a while, J-E-N-O-V-A's cells' "power", the shock/trauma sustained by witnessing his friend's death helplessly...).

In regards to the not once weeping thing... You might want to replay the game: that bonus scene made a good job of showing Strife trembling and screaming at the sky for the era. And about leaving the body of his friend behind, again, I don't remember Cloud being in a condition which allowed him to do more than what he did. Hell, even a good deal of that Advent Children movie basically revolves around Cloud blaming himself for a few deaths. He's not that much of an asshole, not on purpose, at least.