#Jenova

[pink-nube]

I painted Sephiroth for a class 🧚‍♀️

[rosy-crow]

I’m siiiick. Every dream Sephiroth has about his mother is her protecting him and caring for him and shielding from a cruel reality. Standing between him and his abusers, taking him away from them and their world while he falls for the delusion over and over.

And years later, after Sephiroth has hit rock bottom the second time, he runs straight back to her and that delusion again because this time the world was too cruel. The abuse ran too deep. He found out that it had begun with his BIRTH.

He cloaks himself in Jenova’s power and moves to become one with her, transcending the world until he’s a god above everything and standing by “mother” as she protects him once again from his painful, despair-filled reality and the humans that hurt him.

But this time, he enacts vengeance on humanity too. That’s where he became the villain in his mother’s name instead of a kid pretending he was safe in her arms. THAT’S WHERE IT ALL GOES HORRIBLY WRONG-

[drhives]

[altocat]

MVP, KING, CHAMPION, ABSOLUTE LEGEND ANGEAL HEWLEY ⚔️⚔️⚔️

[crylin]

ZackWeek2024 | day 6: sci-fi au 👽☄️ ⭐️Zack & Marlene vs Alien!Jenova⭐️

[1000deaddraculas]

Legendary Swordsman

[holly-fixation]

What if fighting Hojo is only the first trial to getting Masamune in First Soldier Episode 2?

What if Sephiroth has to fight Jenova/Lucrecia next? It would explain all the build up with the dream sequences.

Those you hate. Those you fear. Those you love.

[caprart1]

I think he should have one motherly snuggle just as a little treat

[rottenpumpkin13]

Toxic yuri between Jenova and Lucrecia would go pretty hard ngl

No but literally imagine Lucrecia constantly being plagued by these intimate visions of Jenova just... longingly caressing her face, her growing bump, whispering these possessive things about "our child." Lucrecia keeps waking up in cold sweats absolutely losing it because this thing is INSIDE her, and she's starting to have feelings she's not entirely sure are her own.

Jenova's getting increasingly attached to both Lucrecia AND Sephiroth. And she can only hold their baby through Lucrecia, but when he's born, Hojo won't let her near him so Jenova's getting more murderous by the day

She snaps and kills Hojo through Lucrecia so they can take off together and raise Sephiroth in some remote location where he only ends up KIND of traumatized instead of full genocide route. Like yeah maybe having an eldritch horror mom who's possessive, and an unstable scientist mom who's totally gone gay panic for said eldritch horror isn't exactly normal, but it's still better than canon? He still grows up with two parents that love him? Two disaster women raising their slightly concerning but loved child and being codependent, the enemies to lovers to murder to coparenting pipeline we deserved tbh

[pen-and-umbra]

The second episode of the Remake, FF7 Rebirth, has proven to be a terrific experience thus far. SE obviously made a few big decisions here and there.

It is seemingly implied now that Jenova wasn't "brain-dead", and it is hinted that Sephiroth was addled during his breakdown.

It all begins with a strategically placed cut, when Sephiroth touches the door bearing the name Jenova and instructs "Cloud" to close the valve. The scene is merely functional for new fans, yet leaves a vacant space that Crisis Core players will quickly fill in with the inferred arrival of Genesis. Smart move that, leaving the interpretation to the player. Whether Genesis exists inside the Remake's continuity or not, the moment reads differently to each fan. Quite frankly, I was half-expecting “Cloud” to come across a banora apple, rolling on the floor, but I suppose that would be telling.

What's remarkable is that they give Sephiroth almost identical symptoms to those that Cloud has in the remake. Glitches and odd headaches superimpose themselves nicely over the original Crisis Core scene. And, as much as I loathe Tyler Hoechlin's acting in the game, he lends a tangible sense of rage to Sephiroth's disparaging remarks about Hojo and his experiments. You can hear the hatred, a touch of pity, and disgust directed at Hojo's work and the creatures he tortured. In Crisis Core, he refers to the test subjects as “abominations” with the same touch of bitterness.

Back to the point: glitches, pupil dilations, and headaches are visual cues for Jenovaroth's influence or proximity, as shown in the first part of the Remake. However, at this point, Sephiroth is still sane — cracking, but still himself ��� so the only agent who can exert influence on him is, well, Jenova.

Now, a widely established fan hypothesis maintained that Jenova was brain-dead or comatose. Bodily functions sustained, but brain activity plateaued. Rebirth, however, strangely suggests otherwise.

When "Cloud" returns to Sephiroth in the manor's basement for the second time, Sephiroth recites an excerpt from a journal purportedly written by Professor Gast: 

“The specimen, found in a strata dating back two thousand years, smiled with what could only be described as 'ethereal grace'… Though the truth eluded me at first, I later determined that she was an Ancient - or a 'steward of the planet', as they are referred to in legend”. 

Remembering the battles with Jenova Dreamweaver and Jenova Emergent, the creature is far from "graceful" or "ethereal". There is nothing graceful about her figure in the tube either, and she is not smiling. The game goes out of its way to lampshade the glaring contradiction by showing the flashes of Jenova’s fanged skull and grotesque body as Sephiroth quotes the passage. So how could Gast perceive her as such?.. The answer is most likely found in Jenova Dreamweaver's description given in Ultimania: the entity has the ability to induce hallucinations in individuals who come into proximity with it, which is further corroborated by Jenova Emergent description.

An ancient lifeform that Shinra Company has kept under strict confidentiality. Those who come into contact can have their conscience interfered as well as see illusions. Professor Hojo has dedicated half of his life to researching Jenova, and within the Shinra Company building's top floors lies a secret research center called the "Dome," where Jenova's cells are injected into lifeforms or machinery to conduct experiments. (Ultimania)

Gast even writes that “the truth eluded him at first”, but LATER he determines the specimen belonged to the race of Ancients, as if that answer was suggested. The implication is chilling: Jenova may have purposefully misled Gast in order to present itself as an Ancient. As Sephiroth later explains in the FF7Rb, Jenova is capable of seeing deep into one's soul and impersonating individuals you fear, love, or hate.

If ShinRA and Gast were determined to unravel the mysteries of Ancients and their Promised Land, it would make sense for Jenova to "scan" Gast and determine the best course of action: disguise itself as an Ancient in order to escape captivity in geological strata jail.

The scene in which Sephiroth reads Gast's notes is possibly the final time he is more or less himself, before Jenova's image intermingles with his for a brief moment. Again, I appreciate Tyler's voice acting in this particular section and the real rage he brought to it. Admittedly, I was concerned that with next-gen visuals, they would take a more gruesome approach, displaying Sephiroth conducting the Nibelheim carnage with sadistic pleasure, but they took a different route. Slow, zombie-like movements, and a glassy expression.

He speared the militiamen as casually as if he were spearing bugs, which is far more frightening from a narrative point. What jumped out was how they emphasized the possessed-like behavior: from snarling and flailing the book like a suffering person to an empty countenance and automaton-like strides, as if he was being beckoned. Which is what "Mother is waiting" implies.

The final segment of the Nibelheim flashback is likely the most essential as well. According to previous developer claims, Sephiroth's will took precedence over Jenova's, and he was in control — whether Jenova was brain-dead or simply of lesser willpower.  However, the Rebirth appears to suggest something different right off the bat. First, "Cloud" shouts, "I believed in you… No… Not you — whoever the hell you are!", highlighting the significant personality change and the resulting lack of recognition. But then "Cloud" sees Jenova's image superimposed over that of Sephiroth in a rapid, glitch-like succession.

In other words, he sees Jenova inhabiting Sephiroth's body as a vehicle to once again escape the confinements. Whatever that means, whether it suggests that Jenova is in control from the start, or whether Sephiroth is literally the greatest functional agglomeration of her cells, and therefore literally “becomes” Jenova. 

If Jenova's original body was severely damaged — either as a result of eons of incarceration or Hojo's tinkering — it stands to reason that, if she wished to carry out her plan, she would need a new body, one capable of moving at the very least. Perhaps Sephiroth, an able-bodied skilled Mako-infused fighter of considerable might, served as a better "vessel" than her original damaged one. 

But the crux of the matter lies elsewhere. The possibility of Jenova being conscious and influencing Gast is very terrifying. With the potential to affect others in close vicinity, she may have influenced the minds of the whole science team behind the Jenova Project, particularly those who had long-term contact with her tissue — Gast and Hojo. It could turn out that the whole idea to revive an “Ancient” was planted by Jenova in order to grow itself a powerful host. In fact, if it could "peer into one's soul," i.e. read minds and memories, it might have easily identified a pressure point to indoctrinate people who could forward her objective. It's one thing to inject tissue samples into an adult body; it's quite another to devise a plan to inject cells into a developing human fetus. Who knows. Perhaps Hojo is such an obsessed Jenova nutcase in large part because he fell under its spell; feelings of inadequacy and being overshadowed by his colleague may have offered a crack in his defenses.

One that Jenova easily took advantage of. After all, as Dirge of Cerberus implies, Hojo ended up implanting himself with alien organic material.

Again, Jenova's power to extract information from an individual when in proximity supports a bleak reading of the events leading up to Nibelheim's ransacking. A person who kept on carrying a photograph of his supposedly late mother and badgered others about his background, as suggested by Ever Crisis episodes, was literally wearing his weakness on a sleeve.

Perhaps the 30-something years of the Jenova Project were supposed to bring Sephiroth there.

Perhaps the chain of events had been nudged in that direction, starting from the very discovery of a derelict non-human lifeform. Nudged by an intelligence both cunning and incomprehensible. And that makes Jenova a much, much scarier presence in the remake than it was ever suggested in OG.

[vaatil]

Im cooking something 👽

[blaaaaask]

Oh MY God Guys

They promoted him to two boxes!!!!

Chapter 2 vs Chapter 3 sequence:

I am dying. Did they do that on purpose? Did they hear us crying about his one-box room??

[rosy-crow]

YOU GUYS GOTTA SEE THIS VIDEO OMG

YouTube Link

[prismaticpichu]

[Jenova, dwelling in her tank some many years after EC]

Jenova: Muwhahaha… the time has almost come! My dearest Sephiroth is finally old enough to use that masterful blade I crafted for its true purpose: agony, bloodshed, and unbearable TORTU—

Jenova: What the fuck?!

[Meanwhile, Sephiroth is using Masamune to smack around a Hojo-shaped piñata on his birthday]

Jenova: I hate this planet

[altocat]

I loved this little exchange because I've been "Seph needs/wants to feel safe" truthing for YEARS now and this validated a lot of my feelings. At the crux of Sephiroth's inner conflict are his feelings of insecurity and vulnerability, likely stemming from the second he was stolen from his mother. Lots of his behavior against Shinra/the planet represents his desire for control. When you're the GOD of everything, you don't NEED to worry about self-preservation. You don't need to worry about Shinra tugging at your leash, shoving you into tanks and onto operating tables. Mother is with him and he has complete control over the world. He's achieved what he's always wanted, a sense of complete control and security where he gets to be mommy's special boy forever at the cost of humanity's survival.

But back to this exchange.

What I especially love here is that he's so completely taken aback by this statement. He's genuinely tongue-tied. He's never experienced this before. And it only further associates Jenova with that comfort and security he's been looking for all his life.

SHE understands him. SHE protects him. And he can do the same for her. Even if it means destroying the whole world in the process. His descent into madness and villainy isn't just about vengeance or ego-rebirth, it's also based very much on Sephiroth's twisted perspective on survival. He emotionally regresses to the point where he views his actions as the preservation of his bond with his mother, a divine conquest that they have EARNED through suffering under Shinra.

You cannot remove Sephiroth's mommy issues from his motives or characterization. There's so many intricate layers in his relationship with Jenova/Lucrecia that shape what ultimately makes him into a compelling villain.

[sapphirothcrescent]

Ngl first soldier makes me have a little theory big brain time. What if Jenova purposefully aided in Genesis' and Angeal's degradation because they had been keeping Sephiroth from his fate for too long? He needed isolation again so he could remember his mother and how important she is and how he can't rely on anyone else. Break what little strength he had to fight her off.