Confronting Trauma in Final Fantasy VII Remake
A spoiler-filled examination of the recent JRPG juggernaut
Video game characters are traumatized constantly. They’re attacked, forced to hurt others, and make terrible sacrifices. Yet, they so rarely experience that trauma in meaningful ways. Final Fantasy VII Remake is different.
Full disclosure though, I have never played the original. *Swats away pitchforks and torches.* I know, I know, I’m a disgrace. However, I know most of the broad strokes through pop-culture osmosis. Think of me as someone trying to make a really good point with only half the facts: I will do my best but I’m probably going to get some things wrong. That’s not gonna stop me though!
Cloud: Cloudy With a Chance of Angst
I always thought Cloud was the moody-broody sort, the type that’s too cool for school to be cool at all. And he is, but from there it gets so much deeper.
I’m not really sure what happened to the ex-soldier yet, though I imagine war crimes were involved. What I do know is this: Cloud is protecting himself. Mysterious, horrible things in his past have made him feel weak, and so he has created a facade to feel strong again. He is standoffish because opening up to people leaves him exposed. He is flippant because caring about things will get him hurt. He’s an edge-lord because looking strong to others makes him feel strong. It’s all an act though, and his character arc is all about softening those edges up.
Also, I should probably address the one-winged angel in the room: Sephiroth. Whenever Cloud has a painful flashback or violent episode, old Sephi is there to kick him while he’s down, because Sephiroth is the literal embodiment of Cloud’s trauma. Heavy-handed, yes. But poignant? Also yes. It completely reshapes the narrative into a confrontation of one’s own trauma, and we see this in the rest of the party as well.
Barret: Dadliest Catch
Barret has a lot going on. He’s a mentor, a veteran, a rebel, and a father. He also has a gun strapped to his elbow. Beneath all that though, he simply wants to make the world better. He needs to in fact.
He has clearly lost so much (his arm, Marlene’s mother perhaps?) and Shinra seems to be at the root of it all. Facing his trauma means facing this Goliath, and so he frames himself in a classic conflict of good vs. evil. If Cloud’s coping mechanism is to be the bad guy, Barret is the opposite. He needs to be the hero.
Where his comrades leave the first reactor bombing conflicted, Barret insists that their actions were just. When the party is fearful and worried, Barret is a joyous goof. On one gun-hand, I feel like this is his “dadliness” shining through. On the other hand, this also suggests that Barret is so resolute in Avalanche’s goal that consequences have become negligible. He’s not sad because his sense of justice has won out. When one sees themself as the hero, sacrifices are more acceptable, and the morally grey becomes morally fine. It doesn’t really matter what goes wrong as long as he still believes he is building a better world for Marlene. And Marlene? She deserves everything and more.
Tifa: Sad, but Sweet
Tifa is the hardest for me. Her backstory remains the vaguest in the remake, so I can only theorize with the assumption that something tragic has happened to her. Seems like a safe bet. Given that, what strikes me most about Tifa is her kindness.
Tifa is just so dang nice. Where Cloud is busy being a lone wolf, and Barret can be too focused on the greater good, Tifa is the moral center of the crew. She is beloved by the town, considerate of civilian casualties, and always stopping her comrades from going too far. Yet, even this kindness feels like a coping mechanism.
Perhaps it is just me, but I sense a real sadness behind Tifa. To me, all of her lines carry this edge of sorrow, long before the plate falls. This then suggests that Tifa isn’t kind but sad, but rather kind because she is sad. She seems to greet pain with kindness in equal measure. When Barret and Avalanche head off to risk their lives, Tifa is there to protect Marlene. In the aftermath of the first bombing, it is Tifa that tries to prevent the next mission and further deaths. Heck, she even puts up with Cloud! That takes a lot out of you. In fact, this kind of selflessness can take a toll on you in general. She’s killing herself in order to kill ’em with kindness, and I am anxious to see where it leads.
Aerith: The Paradox Pal
Here is where things get complicated because Aerith is where the story itself gets complicated. Bear with me here, because my analysis is based entirely on my theories about her after finishing the game.
She’s from an alternate reality! WUUUT? The final chapter of the game seems to imply that both Sephiroth and Aerith have inexplicable knowledge of the original game’s events. My theory is that they know so much because they were actually there for those events, transplanted from the end of OG FFVII to the parallel universe that Remake occupies. Sorry everyone, but this is made by the same person who gave us Kingdom Hearts. Things are gonna get wild. This would mean that not only is Aerith dealing with the trauma of growing up in a lab and losing her biological mother, but her fate in the original as well.
20 year-old game spoiler here: Aerith dies in the original. If my theory serves correct, that means Aerith is aware of her impending death, which colors everything else about her. While she first reads as overwhelmingly bubbly when we meet her again in the church, reexamining through the timey-wimey lens implies she is excited to see her friend again. She’s reveling in the time she has left with him. She’s also ready to jump into any danger. Rescuing Cloud, Corneo’s, the plate drop: she’s taking huge risks because she knows what happens and what needs to be done. She has accepted her fate and faces her trauma by trying to make the most of what she can.
This is all undercut by their departure from Midgar. She misses the steel skies. She misses the predictability and knowing what will happen. Her confident, peppy exterior fades away briefly because she is suddenly faced with the unknown once more. Chills, right?
I could be wrong on every single point here, but that’s okay. What really matters is that this game is addressing trauma in a powerful way, and I hope the remainder of the series takes it even further.
How about all of you? What are your thoughts on trauma in the game? Who did I miss? Let me know in the comments!
