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[img
http://img46.exs.cx/img46/9754/lolz6om.jpg[/img]]-The Roles of JENOVA and Sephiroth: The Puppet Master Theorem-
The long debated matter of Final Fantasy VII: The Puppet Master Theorem; was
JENOVA or Sephiroth in control? Who was the grand manipulator, the mastermind
behind it all? I will here present the truth of the matter.
Before examining this matter, it may be best to first explain what JENOVA is
and functions as: A virus. Whatever its origins, JENOVA's behaviour 2,000
years before the main events of the game was indicative of that of a virus,
the goals of a virus being to spread and to replicate. This is exactly what
JENOVA does upon its arrival on the world of Gaia. It approaches the Cetra,
tricking them with its appearance by appearing as their dead relatives, and
then it released upon them what Ifalna referred to as "the virus." She said
that this virus drove the Cetra insane and turned them into monsters.
At face value, this may sound like an attack. But think a bit further: Ifalna
is not saying that these Cetra were being killed; rather, she is saying that
they were being TRANSFORMED. JENOVA's Cells are known to cause mutations. As
Sephiroth says at the Northern Crater, "The power to change one's looks,
voice, and words is the power of Jenova." What, then, was JENOVA releasing
upon the Cetra? Its very own Cells. It was transforming them into more of
itself. JENOVA was seeking to replicate.
We find further suggestion of this concept in the official Final Fantasy VII
novel, "On the Way to a Smile," written by Kazushige Nojima, which serves to
bridge the two-year gap between the events of Final Fantasy VII and those of
Advent Children. In this story, Denzel tells Reeve that those people INFECTED
(note the terminology) with JENOVA's Cells that were spread by the Lifestream
flowing across Midgar were discharging a black pus through the pores of their
bodies. With this in mind, recall that the malady known as "Geostigma" is
revealed in the film to be the result of the body overworking itself in an
effort to rid itself of JENOVA's Cells. When JENOVA's Cells entered people, at
first they would discharge this black pus, as this is the body's natural
reaction to an intrusion by viruses: One's natural immune system involuntarily
rushes white blood cells to the location of an infectious substance within
one's body in an attempt to contain it and then discharge it from the body.
That's exactly what was happening with those infected by JENOVA's Cells.
However, the virus was too strong to be removed as simply as random bacteria
would be.
With that touched upon, I will now move on to the events of the game itself.
I would argue that the acts of murdering President Shinra, much of the Shin-Ra
personnel in the Shin-Ra headquarters, and Aerith were Sephiroth's, being
committed while he carried out the new JENOVA's will: His own will. Sephiroth
was essentially the ebmodiment of JENOVA in a native of the Planet of Gaia,
while still retaining his own individuality. JENOVA's will was never so much
that of consciously perceiving thought processes, but, rather, that of an
instinctual beast, a virus seeking to perform one function: To make more of
itself.
What became Sephiroth's intent was JENOVA's will all along, though in a
completely different context. JENOVA Cells had been injected into the womb of
Lucrecia, Sephiroth's mother, when Sephiroth was still a developing fetus, and
there the Cells melded with his body as it developed, becoming one with every
aspect of his body as it developed into its normal infant form. In some
respects, one could argue that Sephiroth was essentially an extension of
JENOVA, or, perhaps, an evolved form of the creature, existing as a hyrbid of
it and Gaia's Homo Sapiens.
It has been argued by many that Sephiroth was controlling JENOVA, and it has
also been argued that JENOVA was outright controlling Sephiroth, yet I have
come to conclude that what we witness throughout the game was simply
Sephiroth's natural growth into that which he always was: The new JENOVA. One
might even say he was a mutation of the virus that JENOVA was.
Once Sephiroth fell into the Lifestream with JENOVA's head, his life changed.
The knowledge of the Lifestream would have become privy to him. Sephiroth
would have come to learn just what JENOVA was, and just who he was. Sephiroth
then simply desired to assume the role of that which he now was: A virus. He
wanted to become everything. He wanted the world to be his. He wanted
everything to be part of himself, just as he and JENOVA were part of one
another. He wanted to shape the future in his own image, living now as the
JENOVA virus with the mind and emotions he had as a consciously perceiving
human being:
(Inside the Temple of the Ancients, and Out)
Sephiroth
"I am becoming one with the Planet."
Tseng
"One with the Planet?"
Sephiroth
"You stupid fools. You have never even thought about it."
"All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom...
knowledge..."
"I will meld with it all. I will become one with it... It will
become one with me."
...
Aerith
"How do you intend to become one with the Planet?"
Sephiroth
"It's simple."
"Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the
injury."
Sephiroth
"The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury."
Sephiroth
"...What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the
very life of the Planet?"
"Think how much energy would be gathered!"
Sephiroth
"Ha ha ha. And at the center of that injury, will be me."
"All that boundless energy will be mine."
Sephiroth
"By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a
new life forn, a new existence."
"Melding with the Planet... I will cease to exist as I am now."
"Only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul."
...
Sephiroth
"I'm far superior to the Ancients."
"I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and
wisdom of the Ancients."
"I also gained the knowledge and wisdom of those after the extinction
of the Ancients."
"And soon, I will create the future."
As can be seen here, Sephiroth desired to become one with everything else. He
desired to make everything be a part of him. He desired to replicate.
Sephiroth's growth was essentially that of introducing conscious perception to
a viral entity that "thought" based on instinct.
Sephiroth's goal is further supported by the game's CGI film sequel, Final
Fantasy VII: Advent Children. During the film, after Sephiroth has been reborn
due to JENOVA's Cells that were in Rufus Shinra's possession merging with
Kadaj, he tells Cloud that his goal is to use Gaia itself as a vessel to sail
the cosmos until he can find another Planet, one which has not yet been
"corrupted" by the presence of Homo Sapiens. He then intends to make this
world be his new "paradise."
In summary, I would describe the matter of JENOVA and Sephiroth as an
evolution in which JENOVA's instincts became part of the will within a
human being that could be regarded as JENOVA's evolved offspring: Sephiroth.
On the whole, the plot that unveiled was formed of a symbiotic existance,
perhaps even a fusion, between JENOVA and its Gaian
embodiment/mutation/evolution, Sephiroth.
Does this mean that Sephiroth really is the Puppet Master of Final Fantasy
VII? Yes. JENOVA's instincts play out through Sephiroth, however, it was not
consciously manipulating or controlling him into doing anything, nor was he
technically controlling it. He WAS JENOVA, or, rather, it's evolved form.
There was not any puppeteering going on except that which was exerted over
Cloud and the black-cloaked Clones from Nibelheim. There was just growth.
Sephiroth could control all of JENOVA's Cells that were disembodied and could
manipulate those in whom they were injected, but he was not controlling JENOVA
because the JENOVA that the Cetra had known no longer existed and all that
remained was him. He simply grew as a mutation of JENOVA.
An argument that JENOVA controlled Sephiroth rather simply falls apart, as
it's made obvious in both Final Fantasy VII (the original game) and Advent
Children that Sephiroth's own will was being exerted. In Final Fantasy VII,
Sephiroth's utmost enmity toward Cloud and consistent mental torture of the
protagonist displays that Sephiroth himself was certainly very much aware and
active, as JENOVA would have no cause to render such agony unto Cloud, whereas
Sephiroth, one who was filled with pride -- pride that had been hurt when
Cloud overpowered him five years earlier -- would. Further still, he speaks of
JENOVA in the third-person. This continues into Advent Children, when he
speaks of sailing the cosmos "As Mother did before me."
...
In conclusion, my determination is that there was no issue of control in the
first place, as Sephiroth WAS JENOVA, but an evolved -- or, rather, mutated --
form of an instinctual, viral creature that didn't operate on the higher level
of consciousness that Homo Sapiens -- consciously perceiving beings -- do. In
fact, Square-Enix's Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega Guide, published in
September of 2005, confirms this, stating that Sephiroth, with his higher
level of consciousness, assumed rulership over JENOVA's Cells.
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