Hey guys! I’m here to talk about another theory, and this time it’s time to travel to the world of Final Fantasy 7. More specifically, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. As I’m sure you’ve noticed if you played the remake, it seems that things are going to be a little (or maybe a lot) different than the original game. I’m really not sure how to feel about some of those changes, but there’s one subtle, possible difference that has potential to be pretty cool. I don’t know about y’all, but Sephiroth and Aerith just act strange in the remake. Like, stranger than they did in the original. Obviously Aerith is an Ancient, so she can sort of feel the future, in a way, but she seems to know more than she lets on. The farther you get into the game, Sephiroth seems to know what’s up with his future, too. In this discussion, I’m going to break down the theory that Aerith and Sephiroth time traveled, and are now trying to change their fates. Check it out! Major SPOILER Warnings!
So What’s The Theory?
As I said above, many fans are starting to think Sephiroth and Aerith, who died in the original game, time traveled to the past. Sephiroth would obviously time travel to change his fate and perhaps survive, while Aerith must want to make sure Sephiroth doesn’t win this time around. They wouldn’t necessarily time travel in the way fiction usually shows, but they would most likely be using the Lifestream, since that is where their souls went when they died. There’s so much stuff mixed in with this theory, with a lot of supporting evidence. Honestly, I think it might be the truth, though I’m not sure how I would feel about if it was confirmed. I would like for the remake to remain as true to the original as possible. Still…it would be an interesting plot twist!
The Evidence
First of all, a while back they released the giant FF7 Remake Ultimania, and at one point it mentions that Aerith has memories of things that haven’t happened yet. I find it strange that they call it memories, rather than visions. Memories imply that she has been through the events herself. Now, it also says that when Cloud keeps seeing Aerith’s untimely death, it’s because of the White Materia. I don’t believe it specifies whether Aerith has these memories because of the White Materia or not (but please correct me if I’m wrong). Leaving that unspecified is actually crucial to this theory, because it also says that the Whispers, the ghost-like creatures who are trying to keep the timeline on track, are actively against Aerith because they are 1) trying to stop her from altering the timeline, and 2) trying to take her memories away. With this knowledge, I think it’s safe to assume the memories are not coming from the White Materia, because if the Whispers are trying to keep the timeline safe, taking away the White Materia would be detrimental to the original timeline.
Which leads to another interesting point. Are the Whispers neutral, or are they working for someone? Without the specification of where Aerith’s memories are coming from, we can’t be certain that they aren’t coming from the White Materia. If the Whispers ARE trying to take the White Materia, this could mean they are working for Sephiroth. They certainly have the looks! If they took the materia, the timeline would continue as normal because Aerith initially didn’t know how it worked (and couldn’t use Holy), so when group would realize they needed the White Materia to stop Meteor, it would be too late. Sephiroth would already have it in his possession if the Whispers are working for him. So, the timeline would be safe until it reached the turning point, in which case Sephiroth would win, and therefore would accomplish his goal of returning to the past and winning.
As I said, this would all determine on whether or not the White Materia is what gave Aerith the memories. If it didn’t, Aerith would obviously have these memories on her own account. When Aerith died, her soul returned to the Lifestream, so she might be able to learn how to travel through it like Sephiroth can. Actually, in a book that is supposedly non-canon, The Maiden Who Travels The Planet by Benny MATSUYAMA, we get to see Aerith traveling the Lifestream and meeting old friends and foes who died. While it may or may not be non-canon, this could imply that she can travel through time as well.
Last thing about Aerith, is what she remembers. It’s hard to say whether she’s remembering certain things, or if she just knows when things are going to happen, because she’s an Ancient and the Lifestream tells her things. Throughout the game, she lets slip of how much she actually knows. She knew Cloud was a mercenary before he said anything, and she even gave him a vision warning him not to fall in love with her, implying that she knows she’s going to die. As for why she would want to time travel, I suppose it would be because Sephiroth did it first, and she wants to make sure he doesn’t win the second time around.
Things get a little trickier for Sephiroth. We know he can travel through the Lifestream, which is why he can’t die. He can appear again and again…possible in the past and future if he wishes to do so. However, I’m not exactly sure why he would want to do this. He reappears again in Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children to battle Cloud once more, only to lose again. Perhaps he things he needs to go back to the original game to make things go his way?
Sephiroth doesn’t appear a lot in the first part of the remake, and when he does it’s important to know that for the majority of the time, it is not really him (in some cases I believe he really appears as his true self, though it’s hard to say). These are mostly visions of him, or projections of him. In Advent Children, Sephiroth was able to manifest into the characters of Loz, Kadaj, and Yazoo. The same thing could possibly be happening in the remake, only with projections of himself. However, even when it’s not technically the real him, he seems to know more than he should. He even tries to negotiate with Cloud, which I thought was strange. He goes as far as telling Cloud he wants him to run away and survive. At one point, he warns him that there are “seven seconds until the end,” and questions whether it is enough time for him. We don’t know what he’s talking about yet, but we have ideas. It’s believed that Sephiroth is referring to Aerith’s death. When the remake first came out, people began timing how long it took for Sephiroth to kill Aerith, and it was seven seconds from the start of the original cutscene until the moment she died. There isn’t much other proof that this is what Sephiroth meant, but if you dig into the remake’s theme, “Hollow,”, things get a little interesting. The song seems to be from Cloud’s point of view, and it also appears as though he’s talking to Aerith. Take a look at these lines:
Foolish, and blind
To everything
Had I realized
Had I thought, it through
Would you be here in my, embrace?
So, this could be Cloud acknowledging that he was warned by Sephiroth about Aerith’s death, but he still couldn’t figure it out on time to stop it. Actually, there’s another line that could easily be a hint that Aerith knows the future, too:
With your every, smile
Hiding something more
Dark mysteries
Lurking beneath
But I was, consumed
With this emptiness
This selfishness
This void to fill
Again, he’s acknowledging that he realized Aerith was hiding things, but he just didn’t realize it on time. There’s SO MUCH to go off of with this song, but I think I’ll break it down completely in my next theory post!
To finish off, it also seems like Sephiroth’s upping his game this time. He’s haunting Cloud a lot more. Something that leaked a while back was the fact that Aerith and Sephiroth’s voice actors were called in to do a scene together, but the details weren’t given. Could Sephiroth and Aerith have a scene together aside from when Sephiroth kills her? If so, maybe Sephiroth is trying to negotiate with her as he did with Cloud? There’s just so many possibilities!
That’s all for now! I could literally talk about these theories for hours, but I’m a busy girl! I’ve got to keep things short for my sake, and for the sake of y’all’s sanity, haha! Anyway, as I mentioned, my next theory post will most likely be about “Hollow” so keep an eye out for that! Let me know your thoughts on this theory in the comment below, I’d love to chat with you!
As always, God bless y’all and have a wonderful evening!
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