The Jenova Project~A Timeline Definitive Edition By Maou Final Fantasy VII is nearly legendary for the speculation and mystery surrounding its complex plot. With one of the most massive backstories of all time, Final Fantasy VII requires a bit of thinking to understand completely. The purpose of this timeline is to present the events relating to the characters who have key connections with Jenova, and to therefore allow for more cognizant arguments with regard to Final Fantasy VII's story. These characters include Sephiroth, Cloud, Aerith, Zax, Tifa, Vincent, Houjou, Lucretia, Gast, and Ifalna. Note that the designers' original names are used throughout this work. Rather than with speculation, this timeline backs up the events listed in each year with specific events and dialogue in the game (the additional scenes present in Final Fantasy VII International are included). The years are labeled with respect to the main Final Fantasy VII story, equivalent to the year 0, the present. Obviously, there are countless spoilers in this document, so please don't read it without having played through the game already! Feel free to send any comments or corrections to me, Maou, at maoujacky@hotmail.com. *Before -2022 -At some point, the human race is formed by those Ancients who settled and did not wish to continue on the long journey to the Promised Land. [Source: Kalm memory sequence] *-2022 -Jenova, the "Calamity from the Skies," crashes to earth and creates what becomes known as the Great North Cave. Many Ancients gather there to help the Planet heal its wound by letting it focus all its energy on healing. -This done, the Planet warns the Ancients to flee the area, but not in time. A spectral figure, Jenova in disguise, approaches the Ancients in the area, and infects them with a virus that transforms them into monsters. Jenova continues its plan and infects Ancients worldwide. -Jenova is stopped by a few surviving Ancients, who seal it away until it is discovered by Shin-Ra aeons later. The Planet also creates the Weapons to destroy Jenova, but they are not needed because of the surviving Ancients' vigilance. [Source: Kalm memory sequence, Icicle Lodge records] *-57 -Vincent Valentine is born. [Source: Official age plus approximately 30 years of stasis sleep] *-57~-50 -Lucretia is born. *-31 -Dr. Gast of Shin-Ra discovers Jenova, incorrectly identifying it as an Ancient. -Jenova is taken to Nibelheim. [Source: Kalm memory sequence] *-30 -Shin-Ra starts the Jenova Project, with the goal of producing humans with the powers of the Ancients. Dr. Gast and his assistants, Houjou and Lucretia, are assigned to the project. Vincent, now a member of the Turks, is assigned to protect the scientists. He has also fallen in love with Lucretia, although it is not known whether he knew her beforehand. [Source: Lucretia's waterfall-side memory sequence] -Vincent proposes to Lucretia, but she tearfully declines. She leaves Vincent for Houjou, feeling the need to protect and stand by the inferior scientist. [Source: Lucretia's waterfall-side memory sequence, Vincent while aboard Highwind during Houjou's Sister Ray takeover sequence.] -Houjou and Lucretia have a child. Vincent protests as they infuse Lucretia's embryo Jenova's cells. (He later refers to this as "his crime.") -When Lucretia's child, Sephiroth, is born, her body is irreversibly damaged by the Jenova cells, and she collapses. Upon finding her, Vincent furiously pursues Houjou, finally encountering him in Shin-Ra Mansion's library. Houjou, shoots Vincent, no longer willing to tolerate his interference. Houjou then alters Vincent's body to make him into something of a vampire, and seals him in the mausoleum in Shin-Ra Mansion's basement. [Sources: Houjou's note in Shin-Ra Mansion, Lucretia's waterfall-side memory sequence] *-30~-29 -Sephiroth is taken away from his mother by Shin-Ra, and never realizes that Lucretia and Houjou are his parents. [Source: Kalm memory sequence, Lucretia's waterfall-side memory sequence] *-28~-25 -Gast travels to Cosmo Canyon and gives many scientific apparatuses to Bugenhagen. [Source: Vincent while aboard Highwind during the Key to the Ancients sequence] *-24 -Gast, apparently disgusted with Shin-Ra, moves to Icicle Lodge. He has met Ifalna, an Ancient, and learns the truth about Jenova and the Calamity from the Skies. [Source: Icicle Lodge records] *-22 -Aerith is born to Ifalna and Gast. -20 days later, Houjou tracks down Gast after two years of searching, desiring Ifalna and Aerith for his experiments. Gast resists, and is shot, while Ifalna and Aerith are taken to Midgard. [Source: Icicle Lodge records] *-21 -Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim. *-20 -Tifa Lockheart is born in Nibelheim. *-15 -Ifalna and Aerith escape from the Shin-Ra aboard the train. Drained, likely from Houjou's experiments, Ifalna dies. Elmina Gainsborough finds them and adopts Aerith. [Source: Elmina Gainsborough's memory sequence] *-15~-7 -Sometime during this period, Sephiroth becomes a top-ranking Soldier general and helps Shin-Ra crush Wutai in the war. [Source: Kalm memory sequence, Yuffie to Godoh in Wutai] *-12 -Tifa's mother dies. In an emotional state, Tifa decides to explore Mt. Nibel. Cloud follows her. The two slip off of a rickety bridge, and Tifa falls into a coma for seven days. Tifa's father blames Cloud, and Cloud is filled with self-loathing and belligerence. [Source: Lifestream memory sequence] *-12~-7 -Cloud learns of Sephiroth and dreams of being like him. He decides to try to join Soldier in order to become stronger and gain respect. [Source: Lifestream memory sequence] *-9 -Zax leaves his home in Gongaga for Midgard and joins Soldier. [Source: Zax's parents in Gongaga] *-7 -Cloud meets Tifa at the water tower, and tells her of his plan to leave Nibelheim and become a member of Soldier. Tifa asks him to promise to come to her aid if she is ever in trouble. Soon after, Cloud departs from Nibelheim. [Source: Tifa's memory sequence in 7th Heaven with Cloud] *-7~-6 -Zax, now a Soldier First-Class, meets and dates Aerith. [Source: Playground conversation with Aerith, Gold Saucer date with Aerith] -Zax writes his parents, and mentions his girlfriend, Aerith. [Source: Zax's parents in Gongaga] *-7~-5 -Cloud meets Zax, though he fails to become a Solider First-Class. [Source: Lifestream memory sequence] *-5 -Shin-Ra deploys Soldier to deal with a number of monsters that have cropped up around the Nibelheim Makou Reactor. Leading the expedition is Sephiroth, accompanied by First-Class Soldier Zax and two standard soldiers, one of whom is Cloud. -Tifa waits for Cloud, but never sees him. Martial arts master Zangan, Tifa's teacher, is in town and expresses suspicion towards Shin-Ra. -Tifa is assigned to be Sephiroth's guide to the Makou Reactor. Along the way up Mt. Nibel, the bridge collapses, and one soldier (not Cloud) is lost. The group continues until they reach the reactor. Cloud, his identity still masked from Tifa, watches her as Sephiroth and Zax repair the valves inside. -Sephiroth uncovers records in Shin-Ra Mansion's library of the discovery of Jenova, and locks himself in the basement, reading. He finds records of his creation at the hands of Gast, but the report he reads only informs him that Jenova is an Ancient, and gives no information on Jenova's true nature. -Zax checks on Sephiroth, and finds the enraged Soldier in the library. Sephiroth, convinced he is an Ancient, plans to take back the Planet with his "mother," Jenova. He dashes past Zax, sets fire to Nibelheim, and kills its residents. Cloud is left wounded outside, trying to protect his mother. Zangan and Zax attempt to rescue survivors from the flames. Tifa's father pursues Sephiroth, who has continued on to the Makou Reactor. Zax follows after them. -Cloud rises from the flames of Nibelheim and follows the others. -Sephiroth kills Mr. Lockheart at the threshold of Jenova's chamber. Tifa follows after him, and attempts to kill Sephiroth with his discarded Masamune katana. Sephiroth overpowers Tifa and gashes her with Masamune before continuing into Jenova's room. Zax pursues Sephiroth, and is also defeated. Both are left helpless as Sephiroth unlocks Jenova's cage. -Cloud, having seen everything, rushes into the reactor. Cloud eases Tifa's pain, then takes Zax's Buster Sword into Jenova's room and runs it through Sephiroth. He exits, and tends to Tifa. -Sephiroth, unable to take all of Jenova with him, severs its head, and walks, wounded, past Cloud and the others. Cloud pursues him over the bridge of the reactor, and Sephiroth gouges him with Masamune. Cloud pulls the sword out, and flings Sephiroth (along with Jenova's head) off the bridge into the Makou stream below. Cloud collapses. [Sources: Shin-Ra Tower headless Jenvoa scene, Kalm/Lifestream Memory sequences] -Shin-Ra arrives, and Sephiroth is presumed dead. Houjou starts the Sephiroth Copy Program, and gathers the bodies of Nibelheim for his experiment. The remains of Jenova are transported to Midgard. -Tifa is saved from the fate of the other villagers by Zangan, who takes her away from Nibelheim. After unsuccessfully trying to heal Tifa on his own, Zangan continues on to a doctor in Midgard. [Sources: Houjou during the Reunion sequence, Zangan's secret note in Tifa's piano] *-5~Present -Shin-Ra recreates Nibelheim to look as it did, and covers up details of the Sephiroth incident. [Source: Nibelheim Copy Report on Tifa's desk] -Like the Jenova cell-carrying Lucretia, Sephiroth does not die easily. Sephiroth washes through Lifestream and ends up in the Great North Cave. In Lifestream, he learns the truth about himself and Jenova. Having gained the knowledge of the Ancients, he learns how to diffuse his will through Lifestream. He soon discovers that he can psychically manipulate the Sephiroth Copies by controlling their Jenova cells. [Source: Sephiroth Copy #1 in the Temple of the Ancients, Houjou during the Great North Cave sequence, Lucretia's waterfall-side memory sequence, Final Fantasy: Kaitai Shinsho~The Complete guidebook] -Cloud and Zax's bodies are taken to Shin-Ra Mansion's basement to be part of the Sephiroth Copy Program. After a long time in captivity, they escape. Zax is mostly unaffected, having already been showered with Makou as a Soldier First-Class, but Cloud is nearly comatose. Zax helps Cloud flee, and they head towards Midgard, where Zax plans on their being mercenaries. Zax gives Cloud a First-Class uniform to wear. Shin- Ra soldiers ambush them outside of Midgard, and Zax is shot as he defends himself and Cloud. The soldiers assume Cloud is harmless in his catatonic state, and leave him to die. -Cloud takes Zax's Buster Sword, and struggles until he reaches Midgard Sector 7 and collapses, after which Tifa finds him. Cloud regains consciousness upon hearing her voice, but mixes his memories and Zax's, due in part to the First-Class uniform. -Tifa, hoping to keep an eye on Cloud, gets him a job with Avalanche, a rebel group opposed to Shin-Ra. [Source: Tifa's post-Reunion memory sequence, Shin-Ra Mansion secret memory sequence, Shin-Ra Mansion's library's reports] *0, The Present -While on an Avalanche mission, Cloud meets Aerith, who now has the White Materia once belonging to her mother. -While Cloud and Avalanche raid the Shin-Ra Tower, "Sephiroth" appears (actually Sephiroth's psychic shade, Sephiroth Copy #1). He liberates Jenova and reattaches its head, then kills President Shin-Ra. He continues onward in search of the Black Materia and the Promised Land. [Source: Jenova is no longer headless when Cloud and the others battle it] -The party pursues Sephiroth. They encounter him aboard a Junon ship headed for Costa Del Sol. There, Sephiroth alludes to the Reunion, and sends Jenova to battle the party before escaping. -The party finds Houjou at Costa Del Sol, where he inquires whether Cloud has felt a "calling" (to the Reunion). -The Sephiroth Copies start making their way to the Great North Cave, as predicted by Houjou. [Source: Houjou at Costa del Sol, Nibelheim Copy Report on Tifa's desk] -Cloud and the party pass through "Nibelheim" while pursuing Sephiroth. Numerous Sephiroth Copies wander about, sensing the time of the Reunion. The party awakens Vincent in Shin-Ra Mansion's mausoleum. Vincent joins, in hopes of confronting Houjou and atoning for his sins of the past. -Sephiroth invades the Temple of the Ancients in search of the Black Materia, used to summon Meteor. With this ultimate destructive power he intends to create a huge wound in the Planet, and then to capture its healing energy for himself, becoming a god. -With the help of Aerith and Cait Sith, Cloud obtains the Black Materia, but Sephiroth controls him as a Sephiroth Copy and forces him relinquish it. Aerith pursues Sephiroth past the Sleeping Forest. -Cloud and the party catch up to Aerith in the Forgotten City of the Ancients. Aerith prays to the Planet to summon the Holy magic to stop Meteor, but Sephiroth mortally wounds her with Masamune. The White Materia falls into the surrounding water and is lost. The party battles Jenova again as Sephiroth continues onward. -Cloud and the party follow Sephiroth to the Great North Cave, where he reveals that he has merely been controlling the Copy they pursued. Sephiroth Copy #1 vanishes, and the party battles Jenova once more. Sephiroth creates a mirage around Cloud and Tifa, and attempts to undermine Cloud's sense of self by showing pieces of the true past. Cloud loses confidence and control, and gives the Black Materia to the real Sephiroth, encased in crystal in the center of the Great North Cave. A massive earthquake takes place as the Weapons are freed, and Sephiroth summons Meteor while creating a barrier around the Great North Cave. -Tifa finds Cloud washed up in Mideel with severe Makou poisoning. She stays at his side while the others prevent Shin-Ra's attempts to use Huge Materia to destroy Meteor. -Ultima Weapon attacks Mideel, and Tifa and Cloud fall into Lifestream. There, they both piece together the truth about what happened five years ago. -The White Materia is found, and with Bugenhagen's help, the party determines that Aerith has already prayed for Holy. Deep inside the Great North Cave, however, Sephiroth is preventing the prayer from reaching the Planet. They learn that when Holy arrives, all that is bad for the Planet will be erased. -Vincent encounters Lucretia beneath a secluded waterfall. He recounts events of his past, and finds Lucretia crippled and hopeless because of the Jenova cells within her. She has dreams of Sephiroth, and Vincent tells her that her son has perished. Lucretia vanishes. -Shin-Ra uses Sister Ray to destroy the barrier around the Great North Cave, but Diamond Weapon attacks the Shin-Ra Tower and kills President Rufus, marking the collapse of Shin-Ra. Houjou attempts to channel massive energy to his son to see the colossal results. Cloud and Vincent kill him, and the party prepares to attack the Great North Cave. -The party raids the Great North Cave, slaying Jenova once and for all, after which they plummet deep into the Planet. Sephiroth has already begun his assent to divine status, and becomes Sephiroth Reverse. The party defeats him, and the cries of the Planet are heard as Sephiroth reaches his ultimate form as the One-Winged Angel and battles the party in an illusory sky. Cloud and his friends destroy Sephiroth at last. -Before leaving the Great North Cave, Cloud confronts the "Sephiroth" in his mind, eliminating the Jenova in him and freeing his psyche. He and Tifa escape together and rejoin the others. -Holy proves unsuccessful in stopping the mighty Meteor, amplifying its effects instead. Meteor seems to aim for Midgard in particular, destroying Shin-Ra's upper structures. At the last moment, Lifestream appears to save the Planet, eliminating Meteor. The others have a mental realization of Aerith's role as part of Lifestream in protecting the Planet. *500 Years Later -Midgard ceases to exist as an urban structure, and all threat from Jenova and Meteor are gone. Red XIII, having found a mate and with cubs, overlooks the spectacle of the Planet's triumph over the harmful Midgard, now overgrown with plants. Note: -The events prior to the year -24 and after -2022 are based on Vincent's remaining in stasis sleep for 30 years. As no exact date is given for his time of sleep, only a range of 20 to 30 or so years, the length of 30 years has been chosen. The time intervals between events prior to -24 and after -2022 remain constant regardless of the actual duration of Vincent's slumber. Bibliography -Final Fantasy VII International Memorial Album. Tokyo: Digicube, 1997. -Final Fantasy VII Kaitai Shinsho~The Complete. Tokyo: Aspect, 1997. Author's Comments -Many thanks go to Cathy Okada for her wonderful translation of Final Fantasy VII's key events, which made revising this guide infinitely easier. Thanks also to Fuujin for assistance on Vincent-related items, and to Little Chiba for taking the time to type up Final Fantasy VII's full script. Finally, a very special thanks to spaced jazz (spaced.jazz@libero.it) for his suggestions and assistance. He makes an Italian version of the timeline available to all who request it. Jenova, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII International, and all related characters and names are the property of Square Co. Ltd. This work and its contents copyright 2001- 2004 by Maou. This work may only be redistributed if it remains entirely unaltered with full credit given to the author.