Final Fantasy 7 Lore ► JENOVA's Origins Explained

Fun fact: after Jenova depopulates a planet and kills its life stream, the planet “Dies” literally, then she uses that planet as a meteor to crash into the next planet, wounding it and starting the process over. At least, that’s what she does in OG FF7.

The images of Jenova just got more terrifying in the remake. Very unsettled so job well done on the developers

Jenova is literally "The Thing", but in jrpg form.

I would love to see a game set in the original battle of the Cetra against Jenova. With a The Thing vibe.

Shinra's dark secret. Hojo's treasure.

Fun Fact again: Jenova Synthesis is Jenovas true form that attacked the Cetra all those years ago. That’s why she looks different than all the other forms.

When i played this game when i was like 13 i had no idea of the underlying story, that the cells were the things motivating cloud, that sephiroth was actually dead or in the crater reassembling himself, until i read the lore a few years ago. Wish i had this video 2 decades ago, story would have made a lot more sense.

I could tell that Jenova has some heavy influences from “The Thing” given it’s ability to shape-shift, turn people into monsters and deceive people with imitations.

If there's ANYTHING I want more, is to have Cloud and Vincent in my party to fuck up Hojo in the remake. A more painful and permanent death. None of that Weiss stuff.

This is the best, most informative, comprehensive and well narrated video i've ever seen about this topic. Having played both FFVII and Crisis Core a few times, Jenova's relevance to the plot was still somewhat fuzzy to me until now Excellent work, congrats to everyone involved with this channel

I never suspected that Jenova killed Aerith, or that it could even take Sephiroth's form.

If you look at the mural in the temple of the ancients, it seems like the ancients were the ones to summon meteor. You can see people burning in the image, so maybe they used it to attack another group. I always thought it would have been interesting if that was the case and Jenova rode in on that very meteor.

Really makes you wonder if there's more of her kind out there and where. Not only that, but WHY did Jenova crash on Gaia and for what purpose? Have other worlds been attacked by this and possibly other creatures of her same ilk as well...?

All of Jenova's cells couldn't be gathered together, because some still live inside the frozen Lucrecia, which is why she was frozen in the first place so that she wouldn't become a monster.

Great video. Just one theory though. We don't know who actually won the battle of wills between Jenova and Sephiroth. Since so much of Jenova was put in Sephiroth as a fetus, he is pretty much her child too. And for all we know, Jenova won the battle of wills and is using Sephiroth's body now as it is much stronger than her own body. Notice how quickly during the Nibelheim incident that Sephiroth changes (when he gets close to Jenova) and all of a sudden all of his goals now become Jenova's goals. He wants everything Jenova wants. And for the rest of the game, even after his body is found in the crater, everything he does is in service to what Jenova really wants. Jenova is a master of disguise and manipulation. Just before Cloud and Tifa get to the crater, Jenova (in Sephiroth's form) convinces Cloud that he's just a clone, and not even real (a lie but he believes it). Also casts major doubt on Tifa to question her own reality and memories. Jenova killed Aerith. Jenova (again using Sephiroth's form) is in the temple of the ancients manipulating Cloud to give her the black materia. Think about this, every major event that happens in the game (except for the flashback, just before nibelheim incident), it is actually Jenova doing it. All the iconic things Sephiroth does, was actually Jenova doing it in Sephiroth's form. If Jenova is powerful enough to trick the Cetra and make herself look like them, manipulate them and wipe out most of them; I think she's more than capable of beating Sephiroth in a battle of wills. Especially when her own cells are inside of him. Look how easily she manipulated and controlled Cloud, and he has less of her DNA in him. I think it's fully plausible that Jenova is fully controlling Sephiroth. And also possible in the final battle that the "Jenova" you fight is just a piece of her or a shadow of herself, and extension just like the other pieces of her that are falling off through the game, that you fight. I think her body is deteriorating, and it is possible she now put her own consciousness into Sephiroth's body so she has a physical host. The other theory is that both Sephiroth and Jenova's goals are exactly the same and they are both willing participants and that their wills join forces and combine, creating a whole new entity filled with both of them.

I always wondered why we never got a scene or scenario where the weapons try to attack sephiroth or the northern crater. Sephiroth was always a bigger threat than shinra

I've always liked to believe that JENOVA is an offshoot of the Lavos species from Crono Trigger. Thus putting both games in the same universe.

Square should make a movie about the origins of all this stuff leading up to the start of FF7.

I loved Final Fantasy 7 and Crisis Core, but the relationship between her and Sephiroth was always very confusing to me. I didn't even realize I was missing so many details. This video cleared it up a lot for me.

Perfect timing. My playthrough of FF7RI reignited my curiosity about Jenova. Have also really been enjoying your guys podcast at work. Thanks for the great content.