In the fourth battle, Cloud fights Sephiroth face to face,
without the power of Jenova to contend with...and utterly slaughters
Sephiroth. Yet, Sephiroth seemed so strong during the game. How can he
be this weak? The answer is simple. Sephiroth seems weak because
Sephiroth is weak. He is merely a puppet of Jenova, hence the
revelation of the true villain of Final Fantasy VII.
So now that we know that Sephiroth's not the real villain,
what exactly is Jenova, anyway? Let's journey to Icicle Inn, watch a
certain video tape which just happens to be titled "The Original Crisis,"
and find out. When we go into Professor Gast’s old house, we see a video
of him and Ifalna. Ifalna explains that the Cetra were wiped out by
something called 'the Crisis from the Sky.'
This creature was an alien life form that came from outer
space and insinuated itself into the Cetra's various cultures throughout
the world, gained their trust, and then spread a plague into their
society gradually killing almost all of them off. It also crashed
something enormous into the Planet (possibly Meteor), causing a wound,
at the northern crater, which was never able to heal. Ifalna describes
the creatures appearance in this line, "When the Cetra were preparing to
depart from the land they loved...That's when it appeared. It looked like
...our...our dead mothers...and our dead brothers. Showing us spectres
of their past." Whatever this creature was, it had the ability to reach
into people minds and show them illusions, thus altering their memories.
It is interesting that Sephiroth calls the crater the Promised
Land when he kills Aeris, when it is, in fact, an injury that threatens
the planet (another one of the games illusions). After the plague, a
few of the Ancients managed to survive, track the creature down, and
seal it away. However they weren't able to destroy it because of its
remarkable ability to replicate itself. In the second video, we find
out the name of this 'Crisis from the Sky' and the name is, surprise,
Jenova. And poor old brilliant, but doomed Professor Gast, what can he
do with this information but turn away from Ifalna, as if deeply
disturbed by something? Hey, didn't he head up some scientific
experiment for the Shinra called 'The Jenova Project?' or something?
So now we know that Jenova killed off the Cetra, whereas as
Sephiroth puts the blame on "those who appeared that disliked their
journey" for their demise and believes he and Jenova to be the sole
survivors of the Cetra as revealed in his revelation to Cloud/Zack in
the Shinra mansion basement. Jenova was sealed away and forgotten. Two
thousand years later and thirty years before the beginning of the game,
Jenova is rediscovered. In the years that immediately follow a huge
world war breaks out and the first Mako Reactors are created. Is this a
coincidence? When Sephiroth is in the Shinra basement, going insane,
he reads aloud this document "Jenova Project approved. The use of Mako
Reactor number one approved for use." Wow, the first Mako reactor was
set up exactly at the time when the Jenova Project, and the creation
of Sephiroth, was set into motion.
Jenova was not simply manipulating Sephiroth. She was
manipulating everything. She was the founder of the Shinra (translated
as 'God') Corporation. Remember when Cloud freaks out just before he
sets the bombs up that are to destroy the Mako Reactors in Midgar?
This is because he is going against the will of Jenova. She
subliminally guided the scientists under her wing to create Sephiroth,
her 'son.' She set up the Mako Reactors to weaken the planet and
prepare it for its easy destruction. Look at the seal around Holy
before the final battle and you'll see that it consists of a red
colored rock structure, just like Meteor. Jenova used the power of the
Black Materia in order to contain Holy. Remember how the Shinra
originally were weapons manufacturers who grew in wealth from the war
that occurred? She probably started that war as part of her plan to
attain the wealth to build the Mako reactors which would be her tool for
her enslavement of the human race. She even implanted her cells into
the most elite of her army, SOLDIER, in order to have a powerful
fighting force of slaves to serve her. She accomplishes her ends in the
present, just as she did in the past, by insinuating herself into the
ruling society, taking control of it, and manipulating it, all the
while keeping her true self and her efforts unseen.