So I finally saw Advent Children...

Cloud in the Church: A Brief Analytical Response Based on First Impressions of Advent Children

By: Robert M. Kirkpatrick, © 2006

Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and Kingdom Hearts, and the respective characters of those works discussed herein are trademarks of Square-Enix Co., Ltd. This document itself is copyright © 2006 of the author, Robert M. Kirkpatrick, and was entirely written and is entirely owned by him. All copyrights and trademarks are hereby acknowledged where not specifically mentioned. This document may not be redistributed unless it remains entirely unaltered and full credit is given to the author.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Do not read unless you have seen Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, or you don’t mind having surprises spoiled for you!

So I finally saw Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. What follows is a brief analysis of the film based on my first thoughts and observations from watching it. Since watching it for the first time, I have read a bit of secondary material about it on the web, but I have nonetheless kept the present analysis true to my initial impressions upon first viewing. I am planning a less formal, critical response to the film in the near future.

We find that the people of the world are doing fairly well for themselves two years after the Meteor cataclysm. A new town called Edge has grown up on the northern outskirts of Midgar¹. Here, Tifa has re-established the 7th Heaven, which Cloud uses as a base of operations for his new business, Strife Delivery Service. Cloud and Tifa have taken in several orphans, among them Marlene² (Barret's adopted daughter) and a boy named Denzel. We find out early on that Denzel is stricken with a mysterious new illness called “geostigma...”

Unfortunately, Cloud does not seem to be adjusting well to the new post-Meteor world. The film begins several days after he has apparently abandoned Tifa and the orphans, who are confused and hurt by this sudden change in behavior. They do not realize that Cloud has also been infected with geostigma, an event which has awoken unresolved psychological concerns that appear to have been brewing at least since the defeat of Sephiroth and the destruction of Meteor. There is no known cure for geostigma, and Cloud, faced with his own mortality, begins to reflect on his life, and to withdraw from the company of others that he might die alone.

Cloud has become a “lone wolf,” and indeed, the film uses lupine imagery to symbolize him. As many as five times, we see a wolf without its pack inserted into the shot for symbolic purposes. Likewise, Cloud now sports a molded decorative wolf's head on his shoulder guard, and those who pay close attention will notice that he wears earrings of identical design.

We first see the wolf standing beside Buster Sword, which Cloud has driven into the ground at the spot where Zack was shot. Cloud no longer wields Buster Sword, the phallic symbol of his identification with his male role model, Zack. By the end of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud had grown strong enough to “stand on his own two feet” and form an identity independent of his identification with Zack. But now, two years later, Cloud has had time to dwell on the past, and he seems ashamed of his past weakness and of his failure for many years to live his own life rather than carry on the charade of living out Zack’s. As he says, standing beside Buster Sword and staring at the ground, “I said I’d live out both our lives. Easy to make that promise.”³ Cloud’s memories of Zack come to his mind unbidden in this sequence. I am pleased that Zack gets some screen time in the film, since, as I have pointed out before, he gets very little in Final Fantasy VII in spite of what an important character he is. Indeed, Zack is the “unsung hero” of Final Fantasy VII. His affability, leadership, courage, sense of justice, and, above all, his selfless regard for his comrade-in-arms (Cloud) make his death that much more tragic and unjust. Cloud owes Zack so much…it just wouldn’t have been fair to omit Zack from Advent Children!

So what else is on Cloud’s mind? His choice of living space is very telling: Cloud has been camping out in the ruins of Aerith’s church. As Cloud faces his own death from geostigma, he evaluates and reflects upon the life he has lived. Although he overcame many demons from his past in Final Fantasy VII, he is now haunted by one of his failures from the events of that game—the unspeakable turn of events at the end of Disc 1. My readers will notice that, except for the “dedication” at its very end, I do not once refer to Aerith⁴ by name in “Cloud on the Couch.” This is because, although Aerith is central to the game’s external plot action, she is not important to Cloud’s psychological disturbances. However, in Advent Children, Aerith factors significantly into Cloud’s internal turmoil. She also takes on new symbolic meaning, which I wish to discuss first.

Aerith takes on a dimension in Advent Children that was not central to her character in Final Fantasy VII—in Advent Children, she is portrayed as a foil to Jenova. The juxtaposition of the two invokes the archetypal distinction of “Good Mother” and “Bad Mother.” These refer to two archetypes of primal femininity. “Good Mother” is lifegiver and nurturer. “Bad Mother” is destroyer and corruptor (e.g., sorceress, infanticide, whore, the Vedic goddess Kali, etc.). Jenova, of course, is the “Bad Mother,” and it is indeed a mother-figure to Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, just as it was to Sephiroth before them. Aerith, of course, is the “Good Mother,” though interestingly enough, in Advent Children, Aerith may have been meant to be something of a mother-figure in a more literal sense. Nothing suggests this more strongly than the fact that both Kadaj and Cloud each mistake her for their own “mothers” when they see her in delirious visions near the end of the film.⁵

This concept of Aerith-as-foil-to-Jenova, when extended “retroactively” to Final Fantasy VII, actually makes a good bit of sense. One specific dichotomy represented by Aerith and Jenova in Final Fantasy VII is that of terrestrial versus celestrial/extraterrestrial. The name “Aerith” is a Nipponization of the English word “earth” (it is the result of “earth” being transliterated to the kana, then Romanized). It is interesting to note that the archetype of “Good Mother” is closely related to that of “Earth Mother,” which is often manifested in mythology as a female earth-goddess that is mother of other deities. Aerith, who loves green growing things and is able to grow flowers in the midst of the polluted slums, is something of an “earth-goddess” herself. Though no name is given for the world of Final Fantasy VII other than “the planet,” to an English-speaking audience, “earth” is synonymous with a planet on which humans live. Therefore, “earth” is a good moniker for a girl who, as a Cetra (“Ancient”), is very closely attuned to the planet and its voice. Jenova, on the other hand, is not of the planet. It is an alien life force. Jenova is not of “earth,” but of the sky—it came as a “calamity from the skies” over a millennium ago. Jenova does not nurture; it sickens, dominates, and destroys. Jenova came from the heavens, but it is the great deceiver, a false god; indeed, the name “Jenova” was probably intentionally made to sound like “Jehovah.”⁶ However, Jenova is fiendish, not holy. Only Aerith, who is of the earth rather than of heaven, was able to invoke Holy, the ultimate White Magic, which originates deep within the planet. Jenova, in contrast, is closely associated with Meteor, the ultimate Black Magic, which falls from the sky.

In Advent Children, Aerith and Jenova are both present in the Lifestream. Jenova’s “memetic legacy” in the Lifestream is given as the indirect cause of geostigma. The precise nature of this “legacy” and the mechanism whereby it causes disease is, unfortunately, poorly explained. Suffice it to say that Jenova’s residual psychic presence in the Lifestream causes geostigma. Aerith’s psyche, as that of a Cetra, does not completely “dissolve” in the Lifestream. More importantly, as Cloud discovers later, he, and Aerith’s presence in the Lifestream, are apparently able to make psychic contact with each other.

The contrasting feminine personages of Aerith and Jenova act by means of water, one of the “feminine” alchemical elements. Water can corrupt, as it does when Denzel and the other children, by command of Kadaj, drink tainted water at the Forgotten City, which causes them to undergo a subtle transformation and gain “Sephiroth” eyes. It is not clear whether or not Jenova is somehow “present” in the water, but in any event, the water is an instrument through which Jenova’s dirty work is furthered. Aerith, on the other hand, clearly uses water as an agent through which to carry out her will. This is appropriate considering her background as a Cetra; one will recall that the Cetra had something of an affinity for water, judging by the marine scheme they used for decorating their Forgotten City (seashells, coral, etc.).⁷ As Cloud discovers late in the film, water infused with Lifestream can, by the grace of Aerith, cure geostigma. In this way, Aerith carries on her nurturant, “Good Mother” role as a healer, which she originally assumed through her several restorative Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII.

Not only is Aerith loaded with symbolic meaning in Advent Children, she factors significantly into Cloud’s internal turmoil, as I have mentioned. Cloud is haunted by the memory of what happened on the water altar two years ago. These memories are a major reason why he is hesitant to act early in the film, even when Marlene, Denzel, and the other children are in the clutches of Kadaj. Cloud is afraid of having to watch helplessly as tragedy ensues, just as he did at the water altar two years ago, and the fact that he must go again to the Forgotten City (which is now Kadaj’s base) does not help matters. Tifa senses this, and hits the nail on the head when she says, “I know! Even if you find the kids, you might not be able to help them. Maybe something will happen that can never unhappen. That scares you, doesn’t it?”

The turning point comes on the way to the Forgotten City, when Cloud has a vision of standing in a flower field, filled with white light, in which he can hear Aerith’s voice. “You came,” she says, “even though you’re about to break…why did you come?” He replies, “I think I want to be forgiven. More than anything.” She replies, “By who [sic]?...Cloud, why can’t you forgive yourself? I never blamed you. Not once. You came for me. That’s all that matters.” This exchange plants the seeds for an epiphany he has after battling Kadaj and company. “Are sins ever forgiven?” he asks Vincent Valentine, who responds, “I’ve never tried” (an understatement for a man who spent twenty years sleeping in a coffin to “atone” for failing his true love!). Cloud realizes in a flash that he must “try.” That is, Aerith’s judgment is not holding him back—he is holding himself back, and the barriers he is meeting are only self-imposed. Cloud’s forgiveness of himself takes a tremendous weight off his shoulders. As he says to Tifa soon afterward, “It’s easier now. I was ready to drag myself along until there was nothing left.”

Cloud is then ready to act decisively and fight at his full ability. With the help of his friends—Aerith and the Turks included!—he is able to take down Bahamut-SIN and stymie Loz and Yazoo. Then, in the ruins of Midgar, he confronts Kadaj alone.

When the outclassed Kadaj comes in contact with Jenova’s head, he transforms into a manifestation of Jenova’s alter-ego and mightiest servant, Sephiroth. Cloud and the reborn Sephiroth, mano y mano, are about evenly matched. But the turning point comes when Sephiroth impales Cloud through the shoulder with Masamune, just as he did seven years before. “What do you treasure most?” he asks, “I want the joy of taking it from you.” In an instant, we see images flashed onto the screen—Aerith, Zack, Tifa, Marlene, Denzel, the photo on Cloud’s desk of Tifa and the kids—and Cloud, in a rush of adrenaline, withdraws Masamune with his gloved hand. “How sad,” he says to Sephiroth. “You don’t understand at all. There’s nothing I don’t treasure!” And indeed, Sephiroth doesn’t “get it”—he doesn’t understand someone like Cloud who draws strength from fighting for the people about whom he cares. With strength like that, there could be no doubt that Cloud would prevail.

The vanquished Sephiroth disperses and leaves behind a broken and dying Kadaj. As Kadaj surrenders himself to the Lifestream and the gathering clouds (which are laced with Lifestream) release their rain, Marlene, Tifa, Cloud, and even Kadaj can sense Aerith’s presence in the drops of water. This rain washes away the geostigma of many people. Unfortunately, Cloud suffers serious injuries when he is ambushed by Loz and Yazoo. While hovering near death, he hears the voices of Aerith and Zack, telling him that his place is not with them. Cloud returns to consciousness in the pool of water that formed in the ruined church by the will of Aerith, held afloat by the hands of children. The message is clear: Cloud’s place is not with Zack and Aerith, it is with the children.

Some children remain infected by geostigma, Denzel among them. Denzel is particularly close to Cloud and Tifa, and subtle things—such as the group photo on Cloud’s desk, and Tifa’s line about “real families”—suggest that Cloud, Tifa, Denzel, and Marlene consider themselves something of a family unit. Moreover, Denzel’s respect and affection for Cloud have been established through the film. For example, when lying sick with an attack of geostigma, Denzel wonders aloud through his pain where Cloud might be. Again, when Cloud arrives to fight Bahamut-SIN in the town square of Edge, Denzel, before withdrawing to safety, must be reassured that Cloud will return home when the battle is over. These things point to what is perhaps Cloud’s most significant psychological development in Advent Children: the once-fatherless Cloud has come full circle and become father-figure to an orphaned boy.

We see Cloud lift Denzel into the pool. The images that follow parallel the scene in which Denzel drinks the tainted water at the Forgotten City. More notably, they are saturated with religious overtones: Cloud and Denzel stand in a pool of water inside a church, and when Cloud scoops a handful of water and pours it over Denzel’s head, the boy’s geostigma is washed away. Denzel has been given a new chance at life, just as the penitent sinner is given new life through baptism. This is made possible by the grace of Aerith, who, like Christ, was a messianic figure, a healer in life, and a redeemer in death.

Baptism is associated with forgiveness, one of the themes of Advent Children. But Cloud never lacked the forgiveness of Aerith. Rather, Cloud had to forgive himself, and end his fixation on his memories of failing her. This fixation had held him back early in the film when he should have been taking action. Tifa had sensed this, and admonished him: “Why do we have to lose out to a memory?” But now, Cloud sees Aerith in the church, behind the crowd, and Final Fantasy VII fans get their last glimpse of her as she and Zack walk through the door into the white light beyond. “Everything’s fine now,” she says to Cloud. “Yeah. I’m not alone,” he thinks to himself. By watching in peace as Aerith and Zack walk through the door, Cloud has symbolically “let them go.” He is no longer fixated on his memories of the departed, and understands that he is meant to be with those still living who care about him: Tifa and the children.

The most touching image from Advent Children is that of Cloud standing in the pool, smiling gently as he looks upon the children surrounding him. Nobuo Uematsu, the music composer of the Final Fantasy series, stated in Distance: The Making of Advent Children that his composition for Advent Children was particularly inspired by a simple phrase for this scene from the film’s script, “Cloud smiles.” He went on to say, “I don’t think anyone who played ‘Final Fantasy VII’ can really imagine Cloud smiling. I couldn’t.” Seeing Cloud in the pool, surrounded by the adoring, joyous children whom he treasures and for whose protection he fought, called to mind a quote from one of my sources for “Cloud on the Couch,” with which I will conclude:

“I make one other observation...which...may surprise (and perhaps outrage) some of the more radical feminists, but I think the data show it to be true. When I started researching this book, I was prepared to re-discover the old saw that conventional femininity is nurturing and passive and that masculinity is self-serving, egotistical, and uncaring. But I did not find this...Again and again we find that 'real' men are those who give more than they take...Manhood is therefore also a nurturing concept...'real' men nurture, too...by shedding their blood, their sweat, and their semen, by bringing home food for both child and mother, by producing children, and by dying if necessary in faraway places to provide a safe haven for their people.”

--David G. Gilmore, Manhood in the Making

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Endnotes

1. Edge is surprisingly well built-up for having only been founded two years ago. I suppose the ruins of Midgar would have provided ample building materials that could have been salvaged, but nonetheless, I felt that I had to suspend my disbelief on this matter.
2. Marlene was fond of Tifa back in Final Fantasy VII, but since then seems to have become closer to Cloud than to Barret. I don’t know why Barret is apparently never around. I guess Square wanted to make him even more of an Afro-American stereotype by making him an absentee father as well? A voicemail that Cloud gets from Barret indicates that Barret is out of town searching for oil fields. This is a delicious piece of irony—Barret, who led the fight against mako energy, is now exploiting another nonrenewable energy source. What’s more, one need only look at our own world to see that dependence on oil can cause just as much pollution, greed, and violence as dependence on mako did in the Final Fantasy VII world…
3. All direct quotes from the film use the text of the English subtitles.
4. In “Cloud on the Couch,” I refer to the character as “Aeris.” But since I wrote that article, I have played Kingdom Hearts, which finally got me used to calling her “Aerith,” which is the “correct” localization for her name anyway.
5. It is tempting to conclude that Aerith was meant to be a mother-figure to Cloud in a psychological sense (i.e., that he relates to her as he did or would have done to his own mother in a sort of “transference”), rather than just a symbolic sense. This is suggested most strongly by Aerith’s pairing with Zack, Cloud’s male role model, in the last scene of the film. However, I do not see any other evidence for this interpretation either in Advent Children or in the original game.
6. I believe Glenn “Squall of SeeD” Morrow deserves credit for this insight.
7. It is also therefore appropriate that Aerith’s remains were surrendered to a pool of water in the Forgotten City.

Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and Kingdom Hearts, and the respective characters of those works discussed herein are trademarks of Square-Enix Co., Ltd. This document itself is copyright © 2006 of the author, Robert M. Kirkpatrick, and was entirely written and is entirely owned by him. All copyrights and trademarks are hereby acknowledged where not specifically mentioned. This document may not be redistributed unless it remains entirely unaltered and full credit is given to the author.