PTM
04-20-2002, 04:21 AM
Remember…
*Spoilers*
This theory starts off talking about who is to blame for the events that took course during the game. It then expands to talk about JENOVA cells in general, and what they do to a person. It’s really two theories in one, if you think about it, but they flow together well. Enjoy!
Sharing the Blame and an Expansive View on JENOVA Cells
Many people think that JENOVA is solely to blame, and that Sephiroth was simply, as Cloud was, her puppet. Well, there are several faults to this argument.
It is impossible to prove. There is absolutely no substantial proof in the game that he is being controlled by JENOVA. In fact, there are several facts that suggest that he was in control:
1. He went ballistic AFTER discovering the "truth" (or so he thought) in Nibelheim Library. JENOVA did NOTHING to provoke him into looking into that reactor hole, into reading those manuscripts, or into killing those people! Had JENOVA been controlling him, the statistical probability of him going ballistic at a time that coincided precisely with the events at Nibelheim and his discovery of his “true identity” is only slightly less than infinite to 1.
2. JENOVA was annihilated by Cloud and Co. before the battle with Bizarro Sephiroth (although this is debatable). Sephiroth still was insane after her death.
3. Sephiroth is the one who will appear at the vortex of Lifestream – not JENOVA. If JENOVA was in charge, one would believe that she would be the one who would like to draw on the energy and that she would be the one who would wish to attain godship. It doesn’t make sense that she’d allow her “son” (and “son” is in quotes for a reason) to do it, ignoring herself. Especially since we know about her desire for power, destruction, etc. Her Satanic reference would truly prove that she would be the one who would thirst for the energy, leading her to appear in person at the vortex, not her “son” (see thread “Evil Theory *Spoilers*”).
4. Hojo denies JENOVA’s will. He disrupts the Mako cannon in the name of Sephiroth, not JENOVA – he is not subject to her whims, even though he had infused in himself her cells.
5. JENOVA has no power to summon those who still have mental capacity enough to disobey her. Lucrecia, Hojo, and possibly Vincent, all have JENOVA cells inside of them, and yet not one of them obey the urge to unify at the Northern Crater. If she can’t check those with lesser wills than Sephiroth, than it is simply non-sensible to believe that she can control Sephiroth. I’ll elaborate on “Sephiroth’s Will” a little later in this theory.
Insanity does not necessarily diminish mental capacity. Many people have checked themselves into Mental Institutions under pretext of mental instability.
He was not insane. Traumatic instances do not cause insanity. This is a FACT. Only physically traumatic instances may cause insanity - damage incurred during birth, from outside circumstance, or from a defect acquired during fetal growth are good examples of this. People don't go insane after finding out they were a clone.
He was driven by revenge - not insanity. He wanted to exact his revenge on the world by crippling it, and then, ironically, utilizing it in itself to fuel his energy which he would use to destroy it! Don't you see the beauty of it? His REVENGE and his HATRED drove him to do what he did - not his insanity.
Scientifically, an injection of outside cells cannot lead to mind control. If that were the case, than nobody would ever get blood transfusions or organ operations because they'd be enslaved by the donor. The reason the Sephiroth Clones were being "controlled" by the JENOVA cells was because they were mentally brain dead and their physical bodies were being attracted towards Sephiroth by the cell's desire to reunite - not by the cell's want to control. JENOVA didn't tell them what to do, they were like pieces of iron being drawn to a magnet. JENOVA did have mind controlling capabilities, but these do not surface during the game and are effectively limited out of the equation because of JENOVA's physical state - she was divided into the bodies of worthless clones. Although seemingly in control of Cloud, it is easy to conjecture that this is not the case. Cloud desired to assist Sephiroth, not JENOVA. He desired to reunite with her - as did all the clones - but SEPHIROTH, not JENOVA, commanded him to deposit the Black Materia into the Mako Chrysalis where Sephiroth was stationed. Cloud obeyed for a few reasons:
1. He consciously obeyed. During the visit to the Northern Crater, Sephiroth shows Cloud what “really” happened at Nibelheim 5 years ago. It was in this way that Sephiroth exposed to Cloud who he “really” was, and it was in this way that Sephiroth destroyed him (mentally). He does not fight Sephiroth when Sephiroth asks for the Black Materia, because his will is not there – he no longer cares for life. “Why continue wasting my time protecting the Black Materia anymore? Life is pointless… I’m only a creation…” would be typical thoughts one could expect to be floating through Cloud’s mind at this time.
2. He believed himself to be a Sephiroth Clone, and as such subject to his "master's" wishes. Rather or not there was any real force compelling him to obey Sephiroth remains to be seen – however, he believed it was his “duty” to obey Sephiroth, and as such complied.
3. Sephiroth was inherently powerful. His injection of JENOVA cells, his advanced subjection to Mako radiation, and God knows what else, allows him superior powers of mental strength. This is proven by his ability to resist infusion into the Lifestream even after being severely wounded and then thrust into the Mako pit in the Nibelheim reactor by Cloud – a free fall of several hundred feet into pure Mako. Mako has been shown to be highly toxic to humans (when Cloud was subjected to intense levels of it he barely escaped with his life; this after the doctors said no normal human could ever survive it). He resists his diffusion through his will, not by the JENOVA cells.
Some may argue that the JENOVA cells were rejected from the Planet, because they were "foreign." This can't be, because throughout the course of the game we are shown the elimination of Sephiroth Clones, and the final death of Sephiroth. This proves that JENOVA cells can re-infuse. If they couldn't, then all those possessing them would be immortal - and believe me, PLENTY of people were injected with JENOVA cells by Shinra and not one of them besides Sephiroth came back from the grave.
But does this discredit the idea that JENOVA cells do lead to a corruption of the mind and of general control by JENOVA? Absolutely not. Although what I said above tends to prove that JENOVA cells don't mean anything more than increased physical and mental strength (due to a chemical reaction caused by the institution of JENOVA cells against a Human cellular backdrop), it is still highly feasible that JENOVA may exert some control over those with her cells in her. How can I say this without effectively contradicting myself? Easy - she does not directly control her "children." Rather, the voices inside her children telling them what to do are the schizophrenic voices of themselves after being subjected to cells. The cells act as a disease, rather than as pathways of communication between JENOVA and her "children." They directly affect the tissue of their host (either through a chemical reaction incited by the meeting of her special “JENOVA cells” and the host’s “Human cells” or through a cancer-like disease instigation), allowing for a twin-command effect. That is to say, it halves the person into two different sides - the human side and the JENOVA side. The human side is subjected to voices from the JENOVA side - metaphorically and realistically. I hope you understand my meaning, because it can get a bit confusing. Basically this is what I'm saying:
"JENOVA cells infiltrate a host body. The body is then basically ruled by two entities: the JENOVA side and the normal Human side. The Human side and the JENOVA side are like two personalities - this produces a schizophrenic sort of effect, which leads to voices in the heads of the hosts, uncontrollable spasms, and, as the case is with those suffering from advanced multiple-personality disorder, fluctuation of physical control of the body between the Human side and the JENOVA side."
This statement goes hand in hand with my one of my previous theories (see thread: “Evil Theory *Spoilers*”) which makes several statements about the idea of “halves” in Final Fantasy 7. When reading “Evil Theory *Spoilers*,” pay particular attention to the parts that deal with Sephiroth and Aeris being halves. Although not directly linked to what I’m saying now, it does go a long way to help clarify my intent.
So does this mean that the voices in Cloud's head aren’t Sephiroth, and that it is solely Cloud’s second, JENOVA-ruled, half who is in control? And does this discredit the idea that Sephiroth controls Cloud? Well, I tend to lean towards the Schizophrenic theory that I’ve been talking about thus far as being what truly is going on. However, there are still other feasible explanations, most of which deal with schizophrenia as well. Namingly:
“The voice in Cloud's head could be a stream of suppressed memories trying to escape from the inner recesses of his subconscious. Wrought with turmoil, the ‘real’ Cloud could be trying to burn through the thick fog of lies with a single voice of truth trying to guide him towards what really happened 5 years prior to the game in Nibelheim.”
“Secondly, we may even go so far as to think it was Zack's voice, because he was so close to the former SOLDIER. People have reported many instances where loved ones have made apparitions and/or brought messages from beyond the grave (whether or not these are true are debatable). Seeing as FF7 already bends the laws of science, why not bring in supernatural ideas as well?”
“Building off of this, it is probably more plausible to say that it is ‘Zack.’ (Zack in quotes is different from Zack without). ‘Zack’ is nothing but an alternate personality conceived by Cloud after Zack was murdered at the hands of Shinra MP's outside of Midgar just prior to the game's beginning (or was he? No substantial proof of his death, but let's not get into that). This ‘guiding voice’ may be Cloud's form of coping with the trauma of not being able to save his best friend from the bloody hands of the Shinra, from not being there to protect Tifa from Sephiroth, and from not being there to protect Tifa from falling off of the bridge (Cloud's early childhood).”
Speaking of Zack, it may be argued that what I said couldn’t possibly be correct, seeing as he was never divided and the Gast memoirs on the floor of the Shinra Mansion state that he had “no reaction” to JENOVA cells. This is easily explained.
As with most mental disorders in the real world, the JENOVA schizophrenia is spurred by a traumatic event. This event creates a window of opportunity, a temporary lowering of the mental shielding, a moment to strike, so to speak. It is during this time that JENOVA cells are able to multiply most rapidly, filling the void left by the mind of the host as it retreats deep within itself to help deal with the tragedy that it just witnessed.
Cloud and Sephiroth are good proof to this argument. Both of them became enslaved by JENOVA just shortly after witnessing traumatic events – Sephiroth discovered that he was “created,” and as a result burned Nibelheim, which caused Cloud great emotional agony (also, Tifa was hurt; her pain seems to be a focal point on which Cloud’s mental condition pivots throughout the game). Already having JENOVA cells within him, Sephiroth’s transformation into a vindictive, JENOVA schizophrenic was immediate following his “discovery.” Cloud was still clean – it wouldn’t be until later that the cells would enter his body. It would be soon enough, however, to allow the cells to infiltrate his mind; he was injected mere days after the incident and his mind was still recovering. Zack, Lucrecia, Vincent, and Hojo do not become JENOVA schizophrenics because they are not subject to the same type of trauma. It wasn’t Zack’s hometown that was burned; Hojo suffered no real trauma throughout the game. Lucrecia and Vincent do suffer great distress, but let it be noted that they deal with it differently – instead of retreating within themselves and then lashing out blaming others, they blame themselves and seal themselves away from society – this different concoction of events may serve to hamper the progression of JENOVA cells. Outside stimuli, hatred, etc. may be necessities to helping JENOVA cells propagate.
As for the Sephiroth clones; their lack of any real existence other than for being shells and carriers for the JENOVA cells don’t make any impact on my theory. They aren’t real people, and they never were. They lacked the human half to begin with, and they lack the mind in the first place. These empty bodies are worthless in the eyes of this theory, and rather or not they go along with this theory does not prove or negate this theory.
- ***
Copyright (c) 2002-2003
Please ask permission before using this theory!
[EDIT: Fixed a grammatical error]
*Spoilers*
This theory starts off talking about who is to blame for the events that took course during the game. It then expands to talk about JENOVA cells in general, and what they do to a person. It’s really two theories in one, if you think about it, but they flow together well. Enjoy!
Sharing the Blame and an Expansive View on JENOVA Cells
Many people think that JENOVA is solely to blame, and that Sephiroth was simply, as Cloud was, her puppet. Well, there are several faults to this argument.
It is impossible to prove. There is absolutely no substantial proof in the game that he is being controlled by JENOVA. In fact, there are several facts that suggest that he was in control:
1. He went ballistic AFTER discovering the "truth" (or so he thought) in Nibelheim Library. JENOVA did NOTHING to provoke him into looking into that reactor hole, into reading those manuscripts, or into killing those people! Had JENOVA been controlling him, the statistical probability of him going ballistic at a time that coincided precisely with the events at Nibelheim and his discovery of his “true identity” is only slightly less than infinite to 1.
2. JENOVA was annihilated by Cloud and Co. before the battle with Bizarro Sephiroth (although this is debatable). Sephiroth still was insane after her death.
3. Sephiroth is the one who will appear at the vortex of Lifestream – not JENOVA. If JENOVA was in charge, one would believe that she would be the one who would like to draw on the energy and that she would be the one who would wish to attain godship. It doesn’t make sense that she’d allow her “son” (and “son” is in quotes for a reason) to do it, ignoring herself. Especially since we know about her desire for power, destruction, etc. Her Satanic reference would truly prove that she would be the one who would thirst for the energy, leading her to appear in person at the vortex, not her “son” (see thread “Evil Theory *Spoilers*”).
4. Hojo denies JENOVA’s will. He disrupts the Mako cannon in the name of Sephiroth, not JENOVA – he is not subject to her whims, even though he had infused in himself her cells.
5. JENOVA has no power to summon those who still have mental capacity enough to disobey her. Lucrecia, Hojo, and possibly Vincent, all have JENOVA cells inside of them, and yet not one of them obey the urge to unify at the Northern Crater. If she can’t check those with lesser wills than Sephiroth, than it is simply non-sensible to believe that she can control Sephiroth. I’ll elaborate on “Sephiroth’s Will” a little later in this theory.
Insanity does not necessarily diminish mental capacity. Many people have checked themselves into Mental Institutions under pretext of mental instability.
He was not insane. Traumatic instances do not cause insanity. This is a FACT. Only physically traumatic instances may cause insanity - damage incurred during birth, from outside circumstance, or from a defect acquired during fetal growth are good examples of this. People don't go insane after finding out they were a clone.
He was driven by revenge - not insanity. He wanted to exact his revenge on the world by crippling it, and then, ironically, utilizing it in itself to fuel his energy which he would use to destroy it! Don't you see the beauty of it? His REVENGE and his HATRED drove him to do what he did - not his insanity.
Scientifically, an injection of outside cells cannot lead to mind control. If that were the case, than nobody would ever get blood transfusions or organ operations because they'd be enslaved by the donor. The reason the Sephiroth Clones were being "controlled" by the JENOVA cells was because they were mentally brain dead and their physical bodies were being attracted towards Sephiroth by the cell's desire to reunite - not by the cell's want to control. JENOVA didn't tell them what to do, they were like pieces of iron being drawn to a magnet. JENOVA did have mind controlling capabilities, but these do not surface during the game and are effectively limited out of the equation because of JENOVA's physical state - she was divided into the bodies of worthless clones. Although seemingly in control of Cloud, it is easy to conjecture that this is not the case. Cloud desired to assist Sephiroth, not JENOVA. He desired to reunite with her - as did all the clones - but SEPHIROTH, not JENOVA, commanded him to deposit the Black Materia into the Mako Chrysalis where Sephiroth was stationed. Cloud obeyed for a few reasons:
1. He consciously obeyed. During the visit to the Northern Crater, Sephiroth shows Cloud what “really” happened at Nibelheim 5 years ago. It was in this way that Sephiroth exposed to Cloud who he “really” was, and it was in this way that Sephiroth destroyed him (mentally). He does not fight Sephiroth when Sephiroth asks for the Black Materia, because his will is not there – he no longer cares for life. “Why continue wasting my time protecting the Black Materia anymore? Life is pointless… I’m only a creation…” would be typical thoughts one could expect to be floating through Cloud’s mind at this time.
2. He believed himself to be a Sephiroth Clone, and as such subject to his "master's" wishes. Rather or not there was any real force compelling him to obey Sephiroth remains to be seen – however, he believed it was his “duty” to obey Sephiroth, and as such complied.
3. Sephiroth was inherently powerful. His injection of JENOVA cells, his advanced subjection to Mako radiation, and God knows what else, allows him superior powers of mental strength. This is proven by his ability to resist infusion into the Lifestream even after being severely wounded and then thrust into the Mako pit in the Nibelheim reactor by Cloud – a free fall of several hundred feet into pure Mako. Mako has been shown to be highly toxic to humans (when Cloud was subjected to intense levels of it he barely escaped with his life; this after the doctors said no normal human could ever survive it). He resists his diffusion through his will, not by the JENOVA cells.
Some may argue that the JENOVA cells were rejected from the Planet, because they were "foreign." This can't be, because throughout the course of the game we are shown the elimination of Sephiroth Clones, and the final death of Sephiroth. This proves that JENOVA cells can re-infuse. If they couldn't, then all those possessing them would be immortal - and believe me, PLENTY of people were injected with JENOVA cells by Shinra and not one of them besides Sephiroth came back from the grave.
But does this discredit the idea that JENOVA cells do lead to a corruption of the mind and of general control by JENOVA? Absolutely not. Although what I said above tends to prove that JENOVA cells don't mean anything more than increased physical and mental strength (due to a chemical reaction caused by the institution of JENOVA cells against a Human cellular backdrop), it is still highly feasible that JENOVA may exert some control over those with her cells in her. How can I say this without effectively contradicting myself? Easy - she does not directly control her "children." Rather, the voices inside her children telling them what to do are the schizophrenic voices of themselves after being subjected to cells. The cells act as a disease, rather than as pathways of communication between JENOVA and her "children." They directly affect the tissue of their host (either through a chemical reaction incited by the meeting of her special “JENOVA cells” and the host’s “Human cells” or through a cancer-like disease instigation), allowing for a twin-command effect. That is to say, it halves the person into two different sides - the human side and the JENOVA side. The human side is subjected to voices from the JENOVA side - metaphorically and realistically. I hope you understand my meaning, because it can get a bit confusing. Basically this is what I'm saying:
"JENOVA cells infiltrate a host body. The body is then basically ruled by two entities: the JENOVA side and the normal Human side. The Human side and the JENOVA side are like two personalities - this produces a schizophrenic sort of effect, which leads to voices in the heads of the hosts, uncontrollable spasms, and, as the case is with those suffering from advanced multiple-personality disorder, fluctuation of physical control of the body between the Human side and the JENOVA side."
This statement goes hand in hand with my one of my previous theories (see thread: “Evil Theory *Spoilers*”) which makes several statements about the idea of “halves” in Final Fantasy 7. When reading “Evil Theory *Spoilers*,” pay particular attention to the parts that deal with Sephiroth and Aeris being halves. Although not directly linked to what I’m saying now, it does go a long way to help clarify my intent.
So does this mean that the voices in Cloud's head aren’t Sephiroth, and that it is solely Cloud’s second, JENOVA-ruled, half who is in control? And does this discredit the idea that Sephiroth controls Cloud? Well, I tend to lean towards the Schizophrenic theory that I’ve been talking about thus far as being what truly is going on. However, there are still other feasible explanations, most of which deal with schizophrenia as well. Namingly:
“The voice in Cloud's head could be a stream of suppressed memories trying to escape from the inner recesses of his subconscious. Wrought with turmoil, the ‘real’ Cloud could be trying to burn through the thick fog of lies with a single voice of truth trying to guide him towards what really happened 5 years prior to the game in Nibelheim.”
“Secondly, we may even go so far as to think it was Zack's voice, because he was so close to the former SOLDIER. People have reported many instances where loved ones have made apparitions and/or brought messages from beyond the grave (whether or not these are true are debatable). Seeing as FF7 already bends the laws of science, why not bring in supernatural ideas as well?”
“Building off of this, it is probably more plausible to say that it is ‘Zack.’ (Zack in quotes is different from Zack without). ‘Zack’ is nothing but an alternate personality conceived by Cloud after Zack was murdered at the hands of Shinra MP's outside of Midgar just prior to the game's beginning (or was he? No substantial proof of his death, but let's not get into that). This ‘guiding voice’ may be Cloud's form of coping with the trauma of not being able to save his best friend from the bloody hands of the Shinra, from not being there to protect Tifa from Sephiroth, and from not being there to protect Tifa from falling off of the bridge (Cloud's early childhood).”
Speaking of Zack, it may be argued that what I said couldn’t possibly be correct, seeing as he was never divided and the Gast memoirs on the floor of the Shinra Mansion state that he had “no reaction” to JENOVA cells. This is easily explained.
As with most mental disorders in the real world, the JENOVA schizophrenia is spurred by a traumatic event. This event creates a window of opportunity, a temporary lowering of the mental shielding, a moment to strike, so to speak. It is during this time that JENOVA cells are able to multiply most rapidly, filling the void left by the mind of the host as it retreats deep within itself to help deal with the tragedy that it just witnessed.
Cloud and Sephiroth are good proof to this argument. Both of them became enslaved by JENOVA just shortly after witnessing traumatic events – Sephiroth discovered that he was “created,” and as a result burned Nibelheim, which caused Cloud great emotional agony (also, Tifa was hurt; her pain seems to be a focal point on which Cloud’s mental condition pivots throughout the game). Already having JENOVA cells within him, Sephiroth’s transformation into a vindictive, JENOVA schizophrenic was immediate following his “discovery.” Cloud was still clean – it wouldn’t be until later that the cells would enter his body. It would be soon enough, however, to allow the cells to infiltrate his mind; he was injected mere days after the incident and his mind was still recovering. Zack, Lucrecia, Vincent, and Hojo do not become JENOVA schizophrenics because they are not subject to the same type of trauma. It wasn’t Zack’s hometown that was burned; Hojo suffered no real trauma throughout the game. Lucrecia and Vincent do suffer great distress, but let it be noted that they deal with it differently – instead of retreating within themselves and then lashing out blaming others, they blame themselves and seal themselves away from society – this different concoction of events may serve to hamper the progression of JENOVA cells. Outside stimuli, hatred, etc. may be necessities to helping JENOVA cells propagate.
As for the Sephiroth clones; their lack of any real existence other than for being shells and carriers for the JENOVA cells don’t make any impact on my theory. They aren’t real people, and they never were. They lacked the human half to begin with, and they lack the mind in the first place. These empty bodies are worthless in the eyes of this theory, and rather or not they go along with this theory does not prove or negate this theory.
- ***
Copyright (c) 2002-2003
Please ask permission before using this theory!
[EDIT: Fixed a grammatical error]