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It's crazy how much even the hardcore theory crafters overlooked so much of this stuff. There are big ff channels that said "The ending has so many issues" because they didn't understand things. The ending didn't have issues, the ppl who thought they were hardcore ff theorists did. Rebirth is a Masterpiece.

This is more of the kind of analysis we need from people, instead of them just blindly dismissing this ending because it's either too different or too confusing. Let the team cook. We still have one more game in the remake trilogy.

A shame how people tend to skip over the Glenn part. It think it's important in that it supports the eeriness of what we saw in the previous scene, as in we see a dead person talking to someone who thinks they're alive. Even the color scheme is the same. Don't think it's a coincidence at all.

I just love how Cid's comment isn't just a good gag. Barrett says that Cloud had better be able to carry the weight, and immediately after Cid says "no more heavy loads, we're at capacity as it is" and it's just a wonderful comment on Cloud's mental state; Cloud is 100% at capacity and cannot take any more "heavy loads". I do truly believe that Aerith is trying to keep Cloud together by making him think she's ok as a desperate attempt to stop him breaking and going full black cloak clone. He's so much further gone in this game than he was in og. I wonder how much Aerith divulged to Tifa. They have quite obviously talked about Cloud's mental state and they both echo that he won't become a degraded clone. I doubt she told Tifa she was going to die, but I'm certain there's a plan that Tifa is going to try to see through on her own, which is why she's hesitant to say or do anything to jeopardise Cloud's dwindling sanity (as well as her own grief obviously).

Wonderful analysis, Phil! I was really waiting for this. A very tiny detail you didn't get that makes me feel more heartbroken for Tifa is right after Cloud says "Yep. Sounds good," sitting by the lake. Literally a second later Tifa lets out a sigh, one of "oh my god, he's completely lost," after he said that in a completely tactless manner. Fantastic detail that is easily missable, but says a lot.

The blood splatter was such a good touch. On a basic level I think a lot of people can see the shrinking away and denial in Cloud's movements when Sephiroth splatters the blood in his face but one of the ways it's so great is it mirrors how traumatic it was for Cloud to see all the blood on Tifa in Nibelhiem. He literally says "I saw all the blood" when he's talking to Tifa on the rooftop and the thing is that is true, that's one of the things that really happened and affected Cloud so strongly that even though he's influenced by Jenova he still possesses that true memory. In the flashback the camera zooms in on Cloud's hand with Tifa's blood on it showing how much of core memory it is. In his eyes he failed Tifa in Nibelheim and now he's protecting himself having now failed Aerith, the blood is too much for him to see.

Nice little detail about the white whispers being agents of Aerith: They cast wards on the ground.

This part of the interview might be interesting to some. Interviewer: That's another thing I was curious about. In the original game, Cloud has that memorable line: "My fingertips are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!" However, it would seem those lines aren't spoken this time... Nojima: For my part, I felt that things like "tingling" and "burning" could be conveyed purely through the visual elements of the production, and that there was no need for them to be expressed through dialogue. I figured that even if the lines were absent, people familiar with the original game would be able to hear Cloud's voice clearly in their head. Toriyama: I can't say much about that sequence of scenes, as I want to encourage a variety of interpretations from those who see them. However, I will say that after consulting with Nomura, we settled on an approach where we inserted a sort of flashback scene where you can see Cloud shouting those lines from the original game. My interpretation for now : The part where we see Cloud speaking the og lines could be Cloud experiencing the OG memories instead of just blocking it out.

Watching your take in the ending scene, I noticed two things, when the fight against Sephiroth ends, Cloud ignores the entire party and goes towards Aerith, but they don't show the group's reaction, they simply disappear and my impression is of that they saw Cloud pick Aerith up and say "Aerith, wake up". Man... that must have been the most disturbing thing for them, because the second thing I was going to say is that Barret and Tifa, before they get into Tiny Bronco, they act like they saw "THIS" during the scene in forgotten capital. They know cloud is completely lost because of that.

Also, when Aerith and Cloud are fighting Sep. she says, “Cloud I saw what you done for me back there. Thank you”. Your thoughts on that?

Hey man, I appreciate your points of view as I am also a filmmaker and is amazing to have this type of conversations. Keep up the good work man!

41:15 Alex Moukala did sent a video to maxdood weeks ago. Basically he puts the melody with the jenova theme chords in the background. AND IT FITS PERFECTLY. LIKE WHAT?

47:13 I think Zack is in the main party’s world too. Especially since the flowers are alive at the church. They were gray, but one, in the dream world Zack was originally in.

What's interesting about this ending is that Cloud has a reason to explain why Aerith isn't coming with them on the plane. To him, she's just hanging out at the Forgotten Capital. You can imagine this will create subtle tensions between Cloud and everyone else in the third game, all the way until his breakdown.

I LOVE how you broke these shots down and what you said at 7:36 I so agree with you know that i think Aerith was the one that moved the Masamune. I think she knows that the White Materia is still important and that in order for her to be the last contingency plan if the White Materia fails to counter act Meteor like in the OG game when it was too late to stop it. She has to die to ensure that. Sephiroth I think is just trying to mess with the timeline in anyway possible now to make it change in any way. Much like when people go back in time in the cartoons and sneeze and kill off all the butterflies in the future. He’s trying to make ANY changes. But I think he wanted Cloud to save Aerith cause would he give Cloud that clue at the end of Remake? Seph laughing is kinda funny. I think he might be laughing due to the irony of the death. I wonder if the reason he tells Aerith before that final battle “I underestimated you” was because he didn’t think she would go through dying again. Yeah. This could be a video in and of itself. Sorry I’m rabbling about this but I LOVE this shot analysis and what it could mean. Added: I had a feeling that Bizzaro Seph was going to be in this game but yes I was SHOCKED as well. In the Japanese, Bizzaro Seph’s name is Reborn or Rebirth Sephiroth so yeah was t entirely surprised by it. That’s why I think the last games is going to break from then R naming and be named Seraphim or Seraph to reference Seph’s Safer Seph form (Safer was the bad localization translation and it should be Seraph or Seraphim. So that’s why I think it’s going to go that route. Just waiting til they announce the game now.

We need to look more closely at the function of psychic links between worlds and what they tell us: The lifestream rejects Aliens because they aren’t bound by its rules. Omni Sephiroth is born of the planet and slipped into the lifestream, with his mother’s alien abilities intact. The lifestream encompasses all time. Omni Sephiroth can telepathically communicate through the lifestream to other worlds and times and communicate with other versions of himself. His mother’s alien abilities allow him to do this. He is evidence of why the planet rejects all alien life. Omni Aerith proves that those born of the planet can’t do this at will. She requires the planets blessing to communicate with past/ dream world versions of herself via the White Materia. Using it like a time phone. Cloud and Zack both have S cells which allowed Cloud to see from Zack’s POV from time to time. It also allowed them to Synchronise between worlds in “together as one”. One other commonality is that all of them seem to require a “living” host to broadcast and act through whether in the real world or dream world. None of them can just manifest without a connected vector. Also, if Cloud falls into the lifestream, he could potentially broadcast his consciousness through time as well. Not sure if it will be relevant to the plot though.

Sephiroth executed a very specific plan to gain leverage over Cloud in this end scene. He set Cloud up to parry his blade, smiling and observing with twitching eyes, anticipating, hoping that Cloud can pull it off. He enhanced Clouds strength, making him strong enough to kill the MidgarSormer, in preparation for this moment. He needed Cloud to be strong enough to fracture off a new dream world. A dream of a living Aerith. (A Aerith who wasn’t supposed to have the white materia) This will be leverage next time he asks for Clouds help. “Help me merge the worlds, it will bring back your friend” Cloud will say yes. Nothing new happened here by accident..

I absolutely loved this video! Starting to watch some of your other ones now. Amazing insight! Thank you so much for sharing 😊

This was excellent. I never saw him placing her in the water. That was a great spot. Something i wish a lot of people talked about is when he places the Black Materia in the Buster Sword. The evil in Cloud is apparent when walking and talking to Barret. He is In a constant shadow.

Thanks for uploading this. I had a lot of questions with the ending and was very conflicted with it at first, but thanks to your video I feel a lot better about the ending and the direction they took!

if they had put a little piano rift of Hollow when Cloud was standing there all alone after lifestream Aerith dissipated... wouldve been peak

Great video! I can't wait for part 3. It's gonna be an emotional roller coaster for sure.

'The Rainbow Light' So I think of the game like this: Time and destiny are moving in a straight line, like a tree. OG FF7 is the trunk of the tree. Everytime someone now messes with time and the planet's destiny a branch is born, and this is visualized by this rainbow light. We see that when Zack has to make a choice in the subway tunnel: Help Cloud or Help Biggs?When ever a new branch is born, a new worlds are created, also evidenced by the Zack scene since he ends up going to Shinra HQ and by Biggs. Two branches. Every branch and every twig are a little different. And so that rainbow light is clearly Aerith's doing. Proof of this would be when she shoves Cloud into a portal in the flowerbed and ends up where what Sephiroth calls "the true nature of reality," there is a Rainbow around the flowerbed portal. That Aerith is clearly the Aerith from the OG game, hiding in a world that has execpted its fate, but I digress. Basically the Rainbow Light to me seems to be Aerith creating new worlds that are sure to end but then be recycled, and Sephiroth is all out there cutting down trees and gathering them up so he can rule over them, as a God, for eternity. I believe he wants never ending suffering and that's his end game. Gosh, once you try to one small things with this story you end up with a tangled mess in your lap.

I loved this breakdown! As a long time FFVII lore man myself this was awesome to watch! One thing not mentioned, was how in the JENOVA LIFE fight, reflective of everyone's emotions, every party member enters with an automatically full limit break. Except Cloud, whose limit bar is empty.

Underrated channel. You should have way more subscribers and views. This is just as educational in terms of videography and cinematography as it is an FF7 analysis. Awesome content.

What people miss, when barret mentions, it's a heavy load, and he best be ready to carry it. He's saying to Cloud, when you're a leader, you'll lose people as he lost Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. So when cloud responds quickly with essentially "Yeah im fine with that" hes essentially saying hes okay losing them. Its so dark.

I agree with Sleepezi regarding TIfa with the thought that Cloud killed Aerith. Sephiroth throws the blood onto Cloud, The party runs in and sees Cloud with Blood … But sephiroth turned away with “no” blood .. In the next game, cloud under the impression that aerith is alive while fighting with Tifa that you did it. And later on Sephiroth telling cloud the same story that he killed aerith; which would help break him down along with showing him the truth of nibelheim

Aerith’s clothing doesn’t react to the puff of smoke from the Bronco but does react to the wind as it takes off. This makes me wonder whether the Aerith Cloud is talking to at the end is another hallucination, especially since her dialogue is mostly things she’s said before. However, in the scenes where she isn’t talking to Cloud I think we can still infer that she does have an actual spiritual presence.

Hear me out guys, when we arrive at the forgotten capital we are blocked by a wall of whispers, same as remake before the fight with fate. Cloud says “aerith” and three whispers from behind him open a portal, which im sure we can agree are the whispers sephiroth controls. When cloud goes through the portal i believe he ends up in a different world and he actually does save a different world aerith, but our main timeline aerith ends up dying, After she is stabbed we see the rest of the party rushing in because the whisper wall vanished, not through a portal like cloud did. I think thats something important. So i believe there is still a chance she is out there in a world waiting for cloud to find her. I can be totally wrong after all this is just my theory. 😁

Love listening to your takes and analysis of these games. Unfortunate they don't pick up more steam. Liked and shared, can't wait for part 3!

aww man....Nanaki saying aerith name in questioning always get tears to my eyes :(

Spot on! Thank you for sharing this analysis with us.

@Philip A real blink and you miss it moment at the end when Rufus is flying back over Midgar...the sector 6 plate is back- Dream Pheonix has a good cook on this and I was wondering what other content creators think about it. Great video as always.

This was the best breakdown I’ve seen on the internet. Well done

Fantastic analysis and exposition. Thank you!

Very insightful dude, kept my attention for the duration. And appreciate the optimism rather than "they're screwing it up" lol. Helps me be a bit more satisfied with what's happened. All I can add is those shots toward the end with aerith watching the bronco fly away are reminiscent of the old ps1 disc change / key art, where shes gazing up at the Highwind. Also equipping black materia maybe = meteorain skill for cloud in part 3? Kinda the one cool thing we've yet to see from OG.

YEEEEEEES! Made my day already and I just started watching.

48:02. The white materia turns black when we change angles 👀👀👀

I was wondering where this was when you mentioned it in your Sleepezi video!

This has been an absolute joy to watch. Thank you, Phil.

What a great analysis! Im definitely gonna subscribe to your channel. Your theories definitely hit my same points of my theories. It makes me more excited for Part 3 and im still thinking about this game. And I've only finished this game 2 weeks ago at the time commenting.

I think when Aerith says "its like a second home" she's referring to the forgoten capital. She goes there to pray for stoping meteor but Sephiroth interrupt her. So Cloud craft this in his head to explain himself why aerith is no longer in the party.

Positively brilliant. Thank you for making this!

This is the BEST! Breakdown Ive seen, not too complicated compare to others who stray too much from what the cutscenes are telling us.

So just to point out as when Aerith mentions its like a second home, if you read : The maiden that travels the planet is a story about Aerith the moment she passes away, her experiences her feelings her connection to the planet, actually the Lifestream or how her connection towards it, she even references that being the promised land, a place full of energy/life pretty much everything Shinra wants, I wonder if technically in order to use Holy, would a Ancient need to sacrifice themselves in order to use this? because in the actual read she needed to be in the lifestream in order to be able to achieve the grand success of stopping Meteor. - Have a read I for 1 had put a massive connection with Rebirth and its just perfect but I must admit, amazing theory and broken down info on your videos, I love how you view things as its so similar to mine :) keep it up! looking forward to the next video! hopefully u bring up the read! haha

Great breakdown, Phil!

Sweet!!! Awesome vid ma-guy!

Amazing breakdown man!

48:27 Aerith turning towards Cid is the same shot used in Advent Children when she and Zack are walking off into the light at the end. I think that Aerith really does talk to Cloud when he's cradling her the first time. I think this is "Omni-Aerith" trying to keep Cloud from breaking in that moment. Sephiroth needs him to break and give in to despair so Sephiroth can control him. During this time, you see the lifestream energy emanating from her. After the battle, though, you don't see that. So she's definitely dead when he tells her to open her eyes. Deep down, I think Cloud knows Aerith is dead. He never speaks to her when anyone else is around. Subconsciously, he doesn't want anyone challenging his version of reality. I have a problem with the idea that Aerith had to die to defeat Sephiroth. In the original game they wanted to avoid the "heroic sacrifice" cliché. The whole idea was that death is something that can come out of nowhere and is very rarely dramatic. This point was reinforced by the party pointing out that Aerith didn't seem to plan on dying when she left the party. It would be odd to backtrack on that point if they're keeping this project in line with the OG. There's also no Jenova Aerith. Yes, Jenova can assume those forms but she needs a host for that. We see this clearly with Glen and Sephiroth. Anytime there's an interaction, there's someone infected with Jenova nearby. There are times when only Cloud can see Sephiroth without a black cloak but there are black Whispers involved. I don't have a problem with Aerith being dead. It's the way the story happened but it really makes me question the reason for the way Remake ends. I'm hoping Part 3 answers that but as things currently stand, it strikes me as a cynical and manipulative decision. There's other things I'd love to discuss (mostly positive or questions) but I think this comment is long enough.

Really looking forward to this. Get in my eyes!

This video was fantastic man I hope one day maxmillion dood watches this video bc I thought I knew most of the ending but u opened it up even more for me!

Very awesome analysis! However, at 8:59, you talk about Cloud thinking he’s Zack when that just isn’t true. He took on Zack’s heroic stories to form his SOLDIER/hero persona, yes, but Cloud himself doesn’t think he’s Zack. If he did, he would’ve called Gongaga his home, he would’ve immediately recognized Aerith, he’d call himself Zack. This is an important detail that is sadly misconstrued by the fan base.

Amazing breakdown, Phillip. FYI I don't think the final cinematic takes place in Rocket Town, but on the Northern Continent: it's to the west of the Temple if you look at the map. (The Northern Continent doesn't turn snowy until the very edge of the map we get in Rebirth.)

Absolutely loved the ending. Was trying to wrap my head around what was happening on my first time, but over a short amount of time this became was of my favorite endings to a game with a TON of things to decrypt and think about. This scene was way more impactful to me than the original scene (i played the OG in 2005 after seeing Advent Children, so it had a different impact). But this has become my favourite game of all time. Rebirth gives me a feeling i havent felt since Kingdom Hearts 2 & FFX ❤️ Thanks for you videos! 😁

Great vid. Thank you.

I think the fundemental theme that defines how Sephiroth and Aerith are actually trying to do is seeing how they do it. You could say Multiverse, paradox, Meteor's power levels and so on but what Sephiroth leaked in his monologue is that pain, hatred, despair and loss make it easy to control people. Aerith on the other hand is WAY too forgiving, trusting, hopeful and optomistic despite being given every reason to do the opposite. In short the Holy Materia is literally liquid forgiveness that blanks out the self destructive thoughts of the planet. That said... Now to his plan. If the planets subconcious is within this version of the lifestream then and it's power literally effects reality then the black Materia is literally a suicidal thought yet to be taken like inception. A thought worth dying for. Aerith's example and sacrafice is to polar opposite showing memories worth living for. Sephiroth's defeat in advent children only comes after Cloud stops hating him and begins to pity him. In that way Sephiroth is like the GI in that he is like a ghost that has unfinished business and attacks out of hate. His hate is scientifically backed by bringing Jenova to the Northern Crater and having Shinra kill the only things stopping him. The Weapons. The Black Whispers are hiding one truth that makes sense if you think about it. In at least one Universe.... Sephiroth won. And it could be in the main timeline. The one thing that has always bothered me is why bring Jenova's body to the Northern Crater? The people infected by the S cells by Hojo came to midgar and not to Sephiroth. In Advent Children they say it's just a fact that the reunion summons the most powerful version of itself. My theory is that Sephiroth is also a puppet, tasked with bringing his "mother" (another deception) back to the Northern Crater to continue due her bidding. 🤔 Up to this point Sephiroth's hatred and Machevelian planning where of his own accord making his goals resolute. In his speech in Advent children he speaks like Jenova is on his side and he wants him to follow in her footsteps. What would be cool to see Sephiroth's face if Jenova chose another and abandoned him by choosing Cloud the winner of the last two fights. It's never gonna happen but I just point that out to say Sephiroth is still acting under the instincts of this intergalactic hate virus but instead of fighting it he is embracing it like Joker dancing down the stairs. Lastly I want to nention the Edge of Creation stage we keep seeing. I used to think this was a inner mind place, or where the planet was born in a galaxy but after seeing Aerith basically cover the place in light I realized what it was. This isn't Cloud's mind/heart. It's Sephiroth, cold, distant, empty and as lifeless as an asteroid drifting through space. Dissconected from the planet. A place where he makes the rules. Aerith entering uninvited almost trying to change his mind takes guts which is why I think Sephiroth almost respected her for a second. Everything has been as planned for someone who has planned every angered counter but this I don't believe he saw coming. Just my thoughts. Been holding alot of these theories in so thank you for putting this video out there. Sorry if these aren't better organized. Just plopped the down immediately after watching the video.

Small little music note, at 24:10 you get that synth sound that overrides the piano doing the jenova notes. The moment it switches from Sephiroth to Jenova being in control. Cool little moment.

Thank you for this great analysis.

Fun thing: Aerith's first quest names for you the flowers you see in the final shot: red gerbera (unconscious love or to be fully immersed and surrounded by love) and white daisies (Purity/innocense), in addition to her yellow lilies ('Reunited lovers'). I think you forgot something pretty major that isn't shown in the video - Cloud (and the entire party) were barred from the City by both sets of Whispers, and only when the party desperately called out her name (Calling it a 'password', definitely a reference to all the ways people were trying to figure out how to get Aerith to live when playing the OG) and held the rift open for Cloud to be able to get through. As Barret explicitly points out before they figure out the 'password', it's like the ending of Remake. So that rift Cloud goes through is another change in the concept of Fate...only he goes through it alone, instead of with the party. This is remarkably important because it's a fulfillment of the first of Cait Sith's fortunes. When the White Whispers show up around Masamune and what happened switches, the party doesn't go in through the rift Cloud goes through. They go in the normal way, because the wall of Whispers goes away at the same time - they weren't there to witness the changed fate. (Speculation) The unvoiced speech we see as well as his calm reaction both happened - they happened in the fate Aerith chose wouldn't lead to a 'broken world', and in the fate Cloud created with the help of the party that *is* a 'broken world', respectively. The party/Tifa could only see the horrifying reality because they didn't go into the rift. He's alone with her in the shots where she's comforting him because they weren't there in the time she was alive. The glitchyness signifies a 'glitch in the matrix' of both realities existing in the same place and time. And *having* this split would be the reason Cloud really supports Sephiroth's new Reunion, not just through Jenova cell instinct, explaining why Seph is smirking at both being foiled and her death. Cloud wants the world where Aerith lives. Sephiroth is promising it to him.

I'd like to note something prior to this and mainly noticed it when I saw another playthrough. But the wall of whispers that prevents the party from going to where Aeris is also broken open by other black whispers to give the opportunity for Cloud to enter. Effectively, the black whispers wanted only Cloud to enter. And a further previous sequence where the lifestream coming from a crack in the sky and turning into black whispers further cements the idea that they are the will of a planet that have chosen to side with or are being manipulated/corrupted by Sephiroth.

The sword wasn't moved at all. They are 2 different visions: 1 like the original game when it stabs through Aerith's back and planted to the ground. The blood running below it is from Aerith body - still in kneeling position, held by the sword. 1 as the whisper-created vision / reality where Cloud successfully deflected the sword, sending it flying away. The whisper-created vision might be how Aerith fight against Sephiroth's manipulation over Cloud's mentality. She created such vision to safe-guard Cloud's mentality. It's important for the final 7 seconds. And yeah, true Aerith is possibly not killed either in the Church nor the altar. She's always with Cloud. It might be the trick she plays out using the white / transparent materia.

I think the depth that comes from the fact that yes he's not completely himself and is in denial, is so profound because he's also really being interacted with by aerith in the lifestream. Like the party's perspective is that he's in denial, and they are not wrong, but what he's actually interacting with when he's talking to aerith is not made up either. Just something that unfortunately makes it harder for him to face the truth. It's crazy the levels of this and can set up for some very cool potential party/friend dynamics in the story going forward. Really good takes on a lot of this breakdown. I'm glad I felt the same about a lot of this stuff and I'm not alone haha

Noice. I will riff of this info soon when my brain kicks into gear. Good work 🔥💯

The whole game is a masterpiece! thanks for the play by play man❤

You sell your thoughts very well. It's certainly interesting to consider.

25:46 also lowkey the way he looks crazy and weird swaying his head like that- I cannot lie he looks insane from tifa’s view 😭 and knowing tifa is scared of cloud falling apart it must’ve been terrifying

Just love to hear the way you break down the artistic signs of the game.

Incredible work! 🙌🏾 Just to add, in the OG, it is Jenova who says "You're just a puppet" rather than Sephiroth. I wonder whether that means it is Jenova's will over Sephiroth in Rebirth 👀

Great video

Beautifully done. Best explanation I've seen. I wanted Areith to live..

Excellent analysis! Notice that at 37:30 where Cloud “wakes” Aerith up, the music playing is a part of CLOUD’s theme, not Aerith’s. I think that’s significant.

Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation. If I remember correctly, someone already confirmed that this is some kind of multiverse but I think it is not the same kind of multiverse than the Mavel multiverse. I like the comparison to dreams and I hope that is more along those lines. Since the rest of the game is a lot like the original, I think the third part will be like the original as well and only add new perspectives and a new lore that explains what happens rather than to alternate the events that happen. I would add some things. 1. If Arith decides to change the event that sword was deflected, than Sephiroth would most likely not be that convinced that he won, which is shown by his smile. So he did this himself or the planet changed this and Arith is not in control over the white whispers (at least not until she actually died) but they decide to "help" her. The explanation of Sephiroth stabbing Arith in the church feels of timewise and would rather result in just her bleeding or being dead rather than changing the position of the sword. 2. Why does Arith in the end does say that she will stop meteor? Sephiroth did not cast it yet and even can't since he has not the black materia. Cloud says he will stop him so even if she is only his imagination, than he would not imagine her thinking that he will give the black Materia to Sephiroth. Or he does think that he will give it to him because he is controlled by Jenova but than is the question why he would imagine that Arith will stop meteor. This feels off and must feel even more so for people not knowing what happens in the original. Either way I appreciate the hard work that you put into that and the amount of details you point out while we se the scenes. I was looking for that but only find people talking how shit this is (even after they played 100h of a game that hit nearly every note and improved so much) or people that talked about how good this is and what crazy thinks happened but not showing prove of it. Shure the scenes are no prove of it either, but your explanation is very understandable. THANK YOU!

Yo! Great work! Crazy how Aerith died was the very first thing u said in the video and the spoiler warning after the highlights intro lol 😅

I gotta hand it to you Phillip, you nailed a lot of lores that I wasn't quite familiar with but couldn't put my finger on, Excellent astute observations. Some I caught but others I did not and that was because there was so much going prior to the final battle and afterwards. I cannot wait to see which of your theories comes to fruition in the final installment of this trilogy. Either way, we are gong to have some great character building. Even though the storyline is in the perspective of cloud, I agree that he has become an unreliable narrator and thus we get a more clearer storyline through Tifa which I think works great in a literary standpoint for the storyline. The ending definitely broke me when we see the party fly off and we see Aeris seeing them off and uttering goodbye. Developers did it again for me just as they did for OG and more.

This is the greatest deep dive of the ending I’ve seen. Absolutely incredible eye for seeing what most of us were couldn’t. We were seeing through such clouded eyes… until now.

The part in the ending when Aerith said, it's okay "it's like a second home". In Japanese she said "it's okay this is a Cetra's place". Therefore the double meaning "the lifestream OR the City of Ancients" is unlikely (unless if we extend the argument to also say that the lifestream too is a Cetra's place??) Interestingly, there is one line not in the ending that Aerith said that may feel like a double meaning in Japanese, but not in English. The line when in Temple of Ancients before handing the Black Materia (fake) to Cloud, Aerith said "no matter what happens, I'm here for you" in English, but in Japanese she said "何があっても 一緒だよ” the part 一緒 (issho) usually means together, as in we're in this together/i'm with you; but the same phrase could also be read/meant as "it is the same". So, it can be either means: whatever happens, we're together OR whatever happens, it's the same.... now what's the same? no matter what we do here, the outcome will always be the same?? That is the real question :D

What made me surprised is when the whispers were forcing cloud to ready his buster sword, the tapping icon is trying to tell the player to resist the whispers, but a lot of players mistook it as an indication to strike down Aerith. 37:44 suddenly plays the FF7 main theme for some reason. “It’s like a second home” in JP was “this is where the Cetras used to live”.

I’ve watched so many videos explaining the ending and this is by far the best and most thorough.

IDK what's gonna happen and it's exciting, but the hints really point to Aerith is definitely dead. That ending is not her, way too ominous. Even the clue of them omitting the scenes during the credits where they're hinting something along the lines of thing might not be true - saying all the scenes in the credits are true but parts of the ending scenes/last cut scene from Cloud's "perspective" are purposefully not shown...implying they are may or may not be fake. They will definitely show the full Aerith death scene and laying her to rest in in the lake in part 3, actually hearing Cloud's speech and seeing him lay her in the water.

Awesome breakdown. Just like remake I love the ending the more I think about it.

Right after Cloud said promise, the song plays. Awesome transitions and hints.

In all the frames where Aerith is definitely dead, there is no rainbow effect and blood is visible on Cloud’s hand. There is no blood in all the rainbow shots. I think that Cloud, having repelled Sephiroth's blow, was able to create a reality in which Aerith is alive. And Cloud is in a kind of superposition, being able to observe several realities at the same time. The rest of the group sees only one reality (except for Tifa, something is definitely wrong with her after the Lifestream) in which Aerith is definitely dead. I also have an idea that since Cloud's psyche is divided into several persons, then in this scene we see several different mental states of Cloud. It is possible that in part 3 of the game we will see all these reunions.

Love the analysis. My ‘97, middle school self desperately wants Aerith and Cloud to end up with a happy ending together. But my mind knows that a major part of what made OG FF7 so impactful was the real sense of loss at Aerith’s death. What can I say, I love her character so much. I’m extremely thankful for Briana and Cody’s performances, brilliant stuff. Love your theories. I agree that things are far simpler than many YT theorists supposing. I subbed and I will catch you for sure when Part 3 drops.

Thanks for this.

I was surprised that you pointed to the OG at 52:16. There was a scene earlier with Zack and Elmyra where they looked up and saw the tear in the sky. I’m not convinced these other worlds are “dream worlds”. I believe these are remanifestations of the Lifestream and the people in it, and that Sephiroth is building things up to give Cloud an ultimatum that if he kills him, he kills all the Lifestream manifestations.

I am ashamed to call myself a true FFVII fan. How in the world did I miss all this extra juicy stuff!! I’m am so so ashamed, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to go back and 100% the OG FFVII again and deal with all that damn chocobo breeding…..I’ll make it up by replaying the game on hard mode to 100%

To your question about which of the two story points Cloud will face the truth about Aerith, I suspect, after hearing your great pitch, that it will parallel the Nibelheim reveals. Basically, Sephiroth has the “not the whole story” reveal where he gives Cloud the version of Nibelheim where he’s not there at all, which Tifa unwittingly corroborates because she never (fully consciously) saw Cloud. Likewise, I think Sephiroth gives Cloud just the horrible, traumatic parts of Aerith’s death. The blood, the “talking to a dead body out loud” stuff, Tifa watching a stone-eyed Cloud saying “wake up” to her body, etc. And in the Lifestream we’ll get, along with the “true” Nibelheim, the “true” Aerith mourning, where Cloud will get to see himself being very much not a puppet, but a fully mourning, loving friend, including the monologue. I would also say it would be cool (and further motivating for Tifa’a confusion) if Cloud was actually lucidly mourning Aerith when he buried her. He blocks it out but it was a human moment observed by the others.

I like the how they did the flowers at 58:23. You see a bunch of flowers, but the flower Aerith gave to Cloud became the "center of attention".

Awesome breakdown! Would you be willing to do a breakdown of the Ever Crisis Season 2 trailer? It had this one striking scene of Sephiroth that I think you would be interested in taking a look at.

48:28 I haven't seen anyone else comment on this. Aerith's turn towards Cid really reminds me of her in AC. I felt like she did the exact same motion there.

I love your explanation about Aerith dying as True Aerith in her dreamworld in the lifestream. THIS IS IT. Sephiroth thinks he has won the long fight against her. But she gave the white materia with her memories to Cloud and it returns to the lifestream so she is reborn in it, to fight with Cloud. Cloud is not delusional at first, it's her spirit who comes to comfort him, he seems surprised. But it's like in the song, he takes her hand and doesn't let her go. He is able to fight Sephiroth thanks to this denial, and that's Bizarro Sephiroth, not just a Jenova form like in OG, way more powerful, fueled with hatred and anger from Aerith's friends and collapsing dreamworlds. Cloud can't be in despair right now. After the fight his denial goes on because he's not ready to face the truth (and it's "easy" since he managed to repel Masamune this time, and Aerith has appeared to him). But it means that Omni-Aerith is still there fighting Sephiroth. She will hide again in the dreamworlds and maybe find a way to drive the story to a better end where humanity is not destroyed. It's not totally impossible that she herself will be able to come back physically. We've seen that "dreams" can become real (kind of) with the summon materias.

I'm not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but the mosaic design on the altar is very tentacle-like which is a motif usually associated with Jenova. And in every shot of Aerith, she's directly in the center, making it look like tentacles are spreading from her. I keep thinking about this, unsure if it means anything but a really neat detail regardless! As always, love your breakdowns ❤

Also did anybody notice that cloud was holding the holy materia and when then pan off in the ending scene he is holding the black materia?

At 22:08 there is pink lifestream flowing behind Sephiroth. At the end of OG after the Omnislash Sephiroth dissolves into pink lifestream. Some of which flows into Cloud and doesn't exit. The moment in Lifestream Black where Sephiroth made Cloud his core.

This has really made me like Rebirrh a lot more. I loved everything up to the ending the same way I did remake and like remake as time passed I loved the ending there as well. I still have my apprehensions but I am loving what they’re setting up now it’s just a matter of what the landing will be and if they’ll nail it. Everything is riding on that and I cannot wait for it as sad as I am to see this journey with these characters end

I wasn't sure how I felt about the Rufus cut scene at first but I love it the more I see it.

I wonder if there is any significance to the visuals of the floor under Aerith. The pattern on the floor makes it look like tentacles are coming out from that spot under Aerith. Probably a few ways that could be interpreted.

Oh hell yeah let's go

If you notice in the church when she activated the rainbow the chairs disappear