My theories on Advent Children (spoilers within)

[Alyada]

Hey guys. I’m sure some of you have seen Advent Children by now, and I’ve been mulling over the plotline and how to explain some things and answer a few questions I have. Please, feel free to add to the theories and explanations here! (And remember, these are just theories or what I feel an answer to the question is.) I cannot stress enough that these will contain major spoilers from the movie! Watch then read!

1.) Who or what is Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj?

We are given only two explanations as to what these three are. The first scene is with Kadaj and Rufus in Healin. Kadaj tells Rufus about the Reunion and talks about ‘Mother.’ Now where have we heard that before? Of course Sephiroth called JENOVA his Mother, even until the very end of the game. After that, Kadaj bends down on one knee in front of Rufus. Looking up, Kadaj amplifies Rufus’s geostigma (apparent by his hand twitching, presumably in pain) to where Rufus sees what Kadaj really is: Sephiroth. Secondly, Vincent gives a brief explanation to the other characters that Kadaj is a “Shinentai” of Sephiroth. What’s interesting about this word is that it means two different things. Yuffie takes the word literally, and claims that Kadaj is a type of larva for Sephiroth. However, Shinentai can also mean ‘embodiment of will.’ If we look back at Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, we only see his true body once throughout the game. His true body lies incased in a large crystal. The rest of the Sephiroth we meet throughout the game (aside from flashback sequences) is an embodiment of his will, an astral projection of sorts. Therefore, we can assume that Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj are projections of Sephiroth. Beings composed purely of Sephiroth’s energy, though devoid of any original Sephiroth parts. So why are there three Shinentai of Sephiroth walking around? We aren’t given much indication as of why, but we can infer as to what they represent. Loz represents Sephiroth as a child, apparent by his immaturity levels when he speaks with Tifa, “Want to play?” and his crying with the first ten minutes of the movie. Yazoo represents Sephiroth as a SOLDIER. This version of Sephiroth, the quiet and stoic type we met within Cloud’s flashbacks at Kalm. Lastly, we have Kadaj who represents the manicly obsessed Sephiroth. This is the Sephiroth that destroyed everything in his path to get what he wanted. It is possible that Sephiroth split himself into these manifestations in order to increase his chances at coming into contact with a large amount of JENOVA cells and finally bring himself back into the world.

2.) What are Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo after?

We realize that they are after JENOVA’s cells quite early on in the movie. It’s stated into the game that JENOVA will pull herself back together. At the end of Final Fantasy 7, Mother and son were reunited within the Northern Crater. JENOVA and Sephiroth joined as one, creating Bizaroo Sephiroth, and finally Safer Sephiroth. In essence, their bodies become one, but their spirits remain separate. At the end of game, it is Sephiroth’s spirit that challenges Cloud for one last battle, and loses. Effectively, Cloud dispels Sephiroth’s spirit back into the Lifestream to be reused as energy. Or, at least, that’s what we’re led to believe. Cloud inherently splits Sephiroth into pieces, where he re-creates himself as the triplets. However, Sephiroth’s body has been completely destroyed and assimilated into JENOVA. Therefore, in order to bring himself back into being, Sephiroth must retrieve his original body from JENOVA and bring himself back into physical being.

3.) What is Geostigma, where did it come from, and why is it hurting people?

Geostigma is explained by Vincent in the movie. He states that it is the body over exerting itself trying to remove a foreign substance. This foreign substance is either the JENOVA cells, or the Sephiroth element (which are basically one and the same thanks to the end of FF7). Where did this come from? Well, JENOVA and Sephiroth have been amalgamated into the Lifestream, which shot out from underneath the planet to help Holy stop Meteor. More than likely JENOVA cells leaked from the Lifestream and into the human populace at this time. Children’s basic immune systems, it seems, cannot fight off JENOVA cells and she latches on to their bodies. Later, they develop Geostigma because their bodies are working extra hard to extract the JENOVA cells from them. I assume that Cloud gets Geostigma because of two possible reasons. One being that he was already infused with JENOVA cells and it is more than his body can take. Two, being that he has basically given up on life his immune system is affected by his depression, and therefore does not fight the new JENOVA cells within his body.

4.) What the hell is Aeris doing in the movie?

Well obviously Aeris is dead. She’s been assimilated into the
Lifestream and most likely lives there with Zack and the remaining Cetra. Some theories that I’ve heard is that Aeris is actually a Jesus like figure, the most powerful Cetra and is able to mold the Lifestream to her will. My interpretation is that she acts like a representative for the Lifestream to Cloud. She knows him best, and the Lifestream uses her form and spirit in order to assure Cloud that he is on the right path. Her appearances in the movie also coincide some of the biggest battles that Cloud faces. She also cures Cloud of his Geostigma, as well as the rest of the children. This could be her ‘Great Gospel,’ her final limit break in FF7, acting to the betterment of mankind. She also gives Cloud the strength to fight Sephiroth once again. At one point during the climatic duel between Cloud and Sephiroth he asks: “Oho, who made you stronger?” And before that Aeris tells Cloud: “Let’s go, Cloud.” This gives us reason to believe that Aeris is there the entire time, helping Cloud through his journey and even battling along side him as they face down Sephiroth.

5.) What is the wolf?

The wolf is representative of Cloud’s guilt, and his ‘lone-wolf-syndrome.’ It represents everything that Cloud is in the movie: guilt, loneliness, solitude.

6.) So what’s with the ending?

The ending, at least for the villains, serves as a final testament. All the missing JENOVA cells are assimilated into the Lifestream because of Aeris’s Great Gospel. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo are also brought back into the Lifestream, thus ending JENOVA’s terrible reign over the planet and Sephiroth’s great plans to use the world as a transport. However, it is interesting to note that Sephiroth’s last lines are: “I will not remain(become) a memory.” Is there something else he has planned up his sleeve? Aeris does not mention anything, nor does the movie mention about what exactly happened to JENOVA and Sephiroth. I assume we are led to believe that they are both defeated and converted into non-tainted energy within the Lifestream… but that’s what we were led to believe in the game. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings! I’m super bored at work. D:

 

[Wicked Shadow]

Whoa...that's way deeper than I ever looked into it. I must've been blinded by the special effects and battles.:shok:

But for the most part your explanations sound reasonable. Your explanations for Yazoo, Kadaj, and Loz make a lot of sense. I wonder if their weapons are a part of that though, considering they all have unique ones. I just kinda took it for granted that "ok, new bad guys, gotta beat em."
As far as what their after, the geostigma, Aeris, and the ending I came to about the same conclusions. I had actually forgotten that the lifestream gushes out over Midgar which would help explain the spread of Jenova cells.
For some reason I thought the wolf represented Zack. Probably because he's seen by the buster sword near the beginning. Just kind of watching what Cloud's doing...

 

[Skaw]

The reason this movie fails, is because of what little backstory there is when it comes to Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. Yes, we know they're working for the will of Sephiroth. But when Shin-Ra took Jenova's head, was it just coinicidental that they were looking for it too, or were they guarding it?

As well, the characters outside of Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Aeris, and Zack... what do they provide? Absolutely nothing. They fight an uphill battle with Sin Bahamut, ultimately doing zip. Some actual activity from the remaining characters would've been nice.

When the B-rate villians from The Turks have a better role than the secondary heroes, theres a problem.

 

[Elemmire]

hehe.. ya.. this movie was cool action-wise but failed when it came to the plot and character development and whatnot. The Spirits Within had more of that (and I still like FF: TSW >.> I think it was pretty good just not as much FF7 as they prolly wanted it to be). I liked the movie, fun action, had atleast some more added to the story, but they really should have added more to the plot + character development. The movie woulda been fine however long it woulda been just as long as it was good. Oh well

 

[Andreus]

I really wished that the movies was a lot longer and provided the games with a deeper story line into the whole plot. No offense or anything but Ifelt that the plot was rushed out because of the large anticipation of the scene. Also playing off of what Skaw had mentioned, I too would have liked to see what would have happened with the remaining member of the cast of characters. I guess I sort of expected the movie to follow the focus off of all the characters of the series, not just one...

 

[Reya]

that was really fun to read, I can't wait to watch the movie again and take all this in with a better understanding next time I see it, nice job, Alyada.

Side question though, was JENOVA's species wiped out and she was the last of that alien race? If she was, I think it makes an interesting comparasion to Aeris being the last of the centra and each of these two's effects outside the physical world where FF7 takes place. @_@ soooo much underlying story stuff. Makes me wanna play again :O

 

[Oracant]

Something i don't see here that was mentioned in like every other person i talked to in FF7 is that they said cloud had a certain look in his eye the look that he had been around mako energy, This has made me think a lil bit and i thought Is jenova Infecting people through the mako energy? sorry if this seems stupid but i'm tired and it's 7th here in high school now it's nap time

 

[Alyada]

Oracant, most of the Soldiers are doused with Mako energy, which is basically the life-stream. They only get tiny bits, otherwise they would go nuts. This was before JENOVA entered the Lifestream, however Cloud and Zack were both infused with high amounts of JENOVA cells after they were captured. This is why Cloud went half-catatonic and replaced his own memories with Zack's.

 

[Oracant]

ahhh makes sense i suppose

 

[Mishaela]

Oracant, most of the Soldiers are doused with Mako energy, which is basically the life-stream. They only get tiny bits, otherwise they would go nuts. This was before JENOVA entered the Lifestream, however Cloud and Zack were both infused with high amounts of JENOVA cells after they were captured. This is why Cloud went half-catatonic and replaced his own memories with Zack's.

I thought it was because Cloud had a crush on Zack and wanted to be like him SOOOOO bad? mg:

 

[Elemmire]

*strangles Ishaela for two reasons now* >.>