March 17, 2020
A core underlying theme of Final Fantasy VII [Square.1997], aside from identity, is that of nature. We open the game as a mercenary working for Avalanche as they fight against the Shinra Electric Power Company. A company that gained it’s notoriety by using MAKO energy to power various elements of everyday life. Building reactors all over the world, and creating the mega industrial city, Midgard. That MAKO energy is essentially distilled essence from the Lifestream. The very life blood of the planet. It’s used to power machinery, in human experimentation, and as summoned up in Advent Children [Nomura & Nozue.2005], to allow people to live comfortable lives.
This very idea also extends to the abilities our heroes demonstrate. Outside of Cloud, who did experience MAKO poisoning as a test subject alongside Zack Fair, each member of your party also has access to Materia. A small marble like crystal made from solidified MAKO energy. This Materia allowed the characters to use a variety of magic on their quest. But it means that they were having to use the planet’s energy in order to save the planet itself.
By the games end, the party defeats Sephiroth, but it’s the planet that eventually saves itself. The final Lifestream uses itself as a weapon in order to destroy the new calamity taking the form of the meteor. The final things we see post credits is the planet 500 years in the future. Midgard now an overgrown jungle.
During the film Advent Children however, we see what happens when the Lifestream is polluted. When it begins to manifest itself as a virus among the population. It’s fitting that during the introduction, Marlene states “it looks like the Planet is a lot madder than we thought” [Nomura & Nozue.2005]. From an objective standpoint, the planet’s energy has been used by both heroes and villains alike. While the virus largely comes down to Sephiroth’s doing. The fact that it is indiscriminate in who it effects makes complete sense. As far as it is concerned, it’s mankind as a whole that has poisoned the Lifestream.
Given that both the game and the film include the 500 years moment of Midgard overgrown, it’s possible that a plague such as Geostigma could cause the human population to die out. Despite Cloud supposedly curing people of the Stigma, we only saw a small portion of the world’s population. Just those contacted within the city of Edge. Is it possible that the virus still lives on?
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (2005) Film. Directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue. [BLURAY] Square Enix Company: JP.
Square (1997) Final Fantasy VII [DISC] PlayStation. Square: JP