Confused about Geostigma...

[Memoria]

All right, so I've seen Advent Children. And I understand everything about it except the concept of Geostigma. And how it applies to Jenova.

So I'm GUESSING that it's an emotional disease that was brought about by the lifestream killing off the bad emotions. Wha...? How does Kadaj control the kids that have Geostigma through his perverted Aerith's gravewater?

[Masamune·1600]

Geostigma has nothing to do with emotions. It's the internal conflict between JENOVA cells and a Gaian's Spirit Energy. After the body of Sephiroth was blown apart during the final chain of events in FFVII, it "infected" the Lifestream. Those who encountered the corrupted Lifestream eventually developed Geostigma. The condition manifests itself in paroxysms of pain, fatigue, and discoloration of the skin; it eventually leads to death.

The Black Water was basically water corrupted by Kadaj's JENOVA-influenced will. The idea, apparently, was that drinking the water would temporarily force the Geostigma-afflicted children to follow the instinct for Reunion, which might help the SHM locate the "head of JENOVA."

[Memoria]

Hmm.

Thanks. That does explain a lot, but... hmm.

So did Cloud recieve it because of his battle with Sephiroth, or because he'd been in the lifestream on disk 2, or what? I kept thinking that he punished himself for Aerith's death, and that he got it because of his negative feelings toward himself. Perhaps the subtitles in my version of the movie didn't explain enough. Or they were poor translators.

[Randgris]

So did Cloud recieve it because of his battle with Sephiroth, or because he'd been in the lifestream on disk 2, or what? I kept thinking that he punished himself for Aerith's death, and that he got it because of his negative feelings toward himself.

Take his explanation...

The reality of Geostigma is that it was contracted by coming into contact with the tainted Lifestream, which was corrupted when Sephiroth's body was destroyed at the end of FFVII. When the Lifestream reinforced Holy at Midgar, the Spirit Energy carried this contamination, and those who came into contact with the Lifestream were afflicted with the disorder. Rufus, although he survived, was presumably still in Midgar during the Meteor/Holy/Lifestream incident, and thus came into contact with the Lifestream, setting the stage for the eventual emergence of his Geostigma. The same holds true for Denzel; On the Way to a Smile explicitly reveals his contact with the Lifestream.

"Mrs. Levy!" Denzel pulled at the handle and tried to open the door.

"Denzel, stop it!"

"But—!" Denzel pulled the handle again.

Levy stood with her back to the door, legs and arms spread against the frame to keep him from coming out. "Close the door, Denzel!"

He could see several streams of light go through Levy's body, dancing and ricocheting off the walls, glowing snakes running riot in the room. This wasn't in the monster book. Have to run away and tell an adult. No…I'm the one who has to fight.

"Mrs. Levy!" As soon as he shouted, the light struck her. She groaned and the light shifted into a slender rope-like form that forced its way into the bedroom through the gap between Levy and the wall. He got a glimpse of her collapsing to the ground an instant before he was thrown back by the light and passed out.

While Geostigma can vary in how long it takes to appear (Mrs. Levy exhibits the symptoms immediately) and how long it takes to cause death (Mrs. Levy dies almost immediately, while Gaskin survives at least a month after the first evidence of Geostigma), it's clear that Rufus, Denzel, and the children contracted it by coming into contact with those glowing green tendrils of Spirit Energy.

Perhaps the subtitles in my version of the movie didn't explain enough. Or they were poor translators.

Probably...

P.S. You'll hear my name in the movie.

[Memoria]

Now I get it! Hmm. Thanks, I appriciate it!