Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth theories from the Summer Game Fest 2023 trailer

Theoretical explanations of Final Fantasy RemakeThe sequel to the book, FF7 RebirthSince players saw the shattered final minutes of The Final Fantasy 7 Remake. When words came up on screen that read, “The unknown journey will continue,” the brains of FF7 fans everywhere filled up with wild speculation about what that journey might entail. Then, thanks to the The Rebirth of FF7Fans of FF7 have some solid theories based on the debut trailer and longer trailer that was shown at Summer Game Fest in 2023. Let’s get into it.

[Ed. note: This article contains full spoilers for the original Final Fantasy 7 as well as Final Fantasy 7 Remake.]

ShinraCorp faked footage for news broadcast

Let’s start off with the first and most obvious “theory” — a reveal so obvious that we feel confident saying it’s going to be an early plot point of FF7 Rebirth. At the beginning, FF7 Rebirth trailer from SGF 2023, there’s an in-fiction news broadcast featuring many of the game’s main characters — members of the ecoterrorist group Avalanche — unconscious, loaded onto medical gurneys. Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII don’t just look unconscious in this broadcast; they look like they could be dead. But we know. FF7 Rebirth isn’t going to kill off its entire cast (except for Cloud, who’s mysteriously absent). What’s going on here?

Answer: The news itself. Take note of the logos on the screen: “Shinra Broadcasting Service” in the top left, and “SNNet News” in the bottom right. That’s right, Shinra News Network is a thing, and it’s the propaganda arm of ShinraCorp. It’s pretty logical to assume that this footage of dead-looking Avalanche members has been faked to mislead the public. It’s remotely possible that this footage depicts an alternate timeline where somehow all the main characters got hurt or even died, but more likely — given who’s broadcasting it — this footage is fake news.

Square Enix

Sephiroth murdered Tifa. The Tifa that we are familiar with is not Tifa

The end of the SGF ’23 trailer is a bit confusing — but slightly less so in the Japanese version, translated here by Audrey Lamsam, Twitch streamer and CEO of Aitai Japan. Check out the last few seconds of the trailer, and listen to Sephiroth’s words as he appears to mortally wound Tifa Lockhart.

For those who haven’t played the original FF7, or just can’t quite remember what happens, this final scene in the trailer is a re-creation of a scene that happened in that first game. This scene takes place 5 years before the plot. FF7, Sephiroth slaughters the townsfolk of Tifa and Cloud’s hometown of Nibelheim, then burns the village to the ground. Tifa finds out and confronts Sephiroth. She screams that he murdered her father, and attempts to strike him as a retaliation. Sephiroth is able to easily defeat Tifa, and inflicts injuries on her. FF7Tifa is saved by Zangan, who takes Tifa in to teach her the martial arts. (So that she could become the Wombo-combo Queen we all know and love today).

What is depicted on the screen? FF7 Rebirth trailer could be just the same as they were in the original game — Sephiroth attacks Tifa, as shown here, but she survives (not yet shown). But it’s Sephiroth’s dialogue that has fans spinning wild theories. In the translation of the Japanese trailer by Audrey Lamsam, Sephiroth says in voice-over: “I was the one who killed Tifa. If so, who is she?”

Fans have taken “who is she” to imply that the Tifa we’ve seen during the main story quest of The Final Fantasy 7 RemakeThis is not Tifa, who was born in Nibelheim and grew up with Cloud. Tifa’s murder by Sephiroth took place five years prior. This other woman who looks like Tifa is, instead, a product of something related to Sephiroth’s alien “mother” figure Jenova, who has the ability to mimic human forms. This is further emphasized by Sephiroth’s monologue leading up to the final scene with Tifa, in which he says (according to Lamsam’s translation): “There once lived a monster who could look into your soul and shapeshift. It could transform and take shape of those you fear, those you love, and be able to control them.”

Tifa’s alternative would have been to be injected with Jenova-like cells, as part of Professor Hojo’s Jenova Project. This is exactly what Cloud and Zack experienced (under the care of this mad scientist). The original FF7In this alternate timeline, Zack is strong enough to resist the cells’ influence, while Cloud, who has a weaker constitution, may be more vulnerable to their effects. What if the new timeline was from The Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Tifa wasn’t rescued by Zangan and instead got shoved into the Jenova Project alongside Cloud and Zack? Is that why Sephiroth is intimating that she’s not the same girl — because she’s been altered by Hojo’s experiments?

Sephiroth plays mind tricks

There’s no one quite like Sephiroth when it comes to living the motto of “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.” He simply loves to fuck with people, especially Cloud. Sephiroth seems to think that sowing discord among Cloud’s group of friends is a plausible plan. The implication that some mysterious “monster” has been controlling Tifa all along would definitely shake Cloud’s grip on reality — especially since that’s already a shaky thing — and it doesn’t even have to be true.

Since the dawn of history, there have been many timelines

The Final Fantasy 7 RemakeAlready suggested that Zack Fair, survived somehow. This would be a major change in the events as compared with the original FF7. Since then, fans have assumed that RemakeThe following are some examples of how to get started: RebirthTake place in another timeline, where Zack has survived. If there were more than two time lines, what would happen? Like, The Right Way to Buy more?

It was a good theory before. The Final Fantasy 7 RemakeThe original film was released. The original depiction, for example, of the Nibelheim Incident. FF7It is a little different from the way it appears elsewhere. The way it is depicted elsewhere may be different. Crisis Core, for example, the incident is relayed from Zack Fair’s perspective, so you’d expect it to be different in an emotional sense — but there’s no reason why some of the actual events would be slightly changed. You can also find the Compilation of FF7 which contains several other FF7 games. FF7 spinoffs, has even more slight differences and contradictions to the original game’s story.

Square Enix

What actually happened in Nibelheim five years ago? Is it the characters’ memories that are fallible here, or is it the story itself that keeps changing — perhaps because it’s never been set in stone? Personally, I don’t need to explain these inconsistencies by claiming there’s a multiverse, although that certainly works as a theory. The FF7 games are about how truth can be slippery. This is especially true when it comes to human trauma and memories. This is a series of events that just doesn’t have an easy explanation, but it sure can make for a cool story.

All of our theories on Final Fantasy Rebirth. We don’t know what is going to happen or whether our efforts at explaining it will be successful. We can all just hope that we get a good story out of the experience, and so far, it sure seems like that’s likely.