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Interesting Essay; Posted on ACF by Fafara
Topic Started: Aug 26 2005, 12:07 PM (1,541 Views)
Anastar
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To touch the light I see in your eyes...
Sefie
Aug 27 2005, 12:24 AM
What's Strife Manifesto?

It's a well known article that many people buy into and proclaim as "The Truth" about Cloud when it's a bunch of garbage. You can find it here: The Strife Manifesto.

It says that Cloud never tried to join SOLDIER because he chickened out. (Cloud says he tried to join. Cloud became a Shinra grunt because he failed the entrance requirements for SOLDIER. There's absolutely no proof that he didn't try.)

It also says that Cloud falling into the Lifestream completed Hojo's experimentation on Cloud with another dose of Mako, and that it was specified in the notes found in the Nibelheim lab that Cloud never received that last dose of Mako. (The Nibelheim notes say no such thing. See the notes here: Notes in Nibelheim Lab and Library.)

It says this is proven because Sephiroth was unable to manipulate Cloud after the Lifestream Event. (But Sephiroth was able to manipulate Cloud after the Lifestream Event. Sephiroth pulled Cloud's spirit out of his body after the battle with Safer Sephiroth.)

There are many other ridiculous statements in it, but those are some of the major mistakes. ;)
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Rikkulicious
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Tacofoolio
Aug 26 2005, 06:52 PM
Every male martial artist I know wears a mini-skirt and a sports bra! :lmao:

Me too!!! :woot:

Yeah, I've read that before, hurt my eyes, but I've read it, a lot of it can be disproven, if I had the time and patience, I would. :yawn: And the Strife Manifesto...wow...got a lot of facts wrong there...
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Anastar
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To touch the light I see in your eyes...
Rikkulicious
Aug 27 2005, 02:58 AM
And the Strife Manifesto...wow...got a lot of facts wrong there...

You wouldn't believe how many people completely buy it. It gets published all the time on forums with people saying that it "explains everything about Cloud" and so forth when it's just a bunch of rot. <_<
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Alan Bates
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That one guy
I especially like how that essay says that Cloud left his home and everybody he knew behind him, got a job with Shinra, made good freinds with a high ranking SOLDIER, but never actually bothered trying to get into SOLDIER himself.

Or how it says that Sephiroth was killed directly in the Nibelham mission when you see him still alive later in the game.
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Eternity-Knight
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Eternity's Guardian
Intresting... That was very intresting. Although there are a few parts I don't buy I find the rest very intresting.
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Lynn
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Lynn has no Lloud smut ;-;
:blush:

I was one of those who was very impressed by both the Strife Manifesto and that other essay... although no longer quite as, considering how many errors have already been pointed out!

Ah, what can I say? After several years of being away from the FFVII fandom and forgetting many small points, both essays seemed correct enough. *shakes head* This is why I need a FFVII remake. So I can replay the game and actually get the facts right! *hinthintNUDGENUDGE* :mad:

I didn't take the whole math partion of the essay too seriously, but I did like the relationship part. The whole triangle with Cloud/Aerith/Sephiroth, Cloud/Aerith/Zack, etc. I found that pretty cool. ^^

Wish the counter-points were around somewhere; I would love to read those!
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Buhon
modern-day primitive
I read this essay once before... a long time ago. It's interesting, especially the whole Kaballah/numbers thingy he pulls together, though I agree that it's overly contrived. But it's interesting nontheless... :P
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Shrouded
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Bogeyman Of The Pink Forum
Yea, I remember that essay. Some people called it the "FF7 bible". It created an army of "believers" thinking that Jon Brittenham was god.

One of the main reason why that Essay captivated a lot of readers is because it tells you the so called, "hidden truth" behind the game. Jenova being the real mastermind and fooling everyone including the gamers themselves made the game's plot much more interesting. Another reason behind the essay's effect is the fact that it provided an explanation of Jenova's role in the game. Most gamers weren't satisfied on the fact that there were so many things left unanswered about her. This made the essay much more acceptable for the sole reason that it gave them a "possible" answer.

However, if you look closely. You'll find that the essay relies heavily on symbolisms and tries to tie it to Jenova. Seeing another small body attached to the head of Bizarroo Sephiroth was enough to conclude that Jenova is the true mastermind(puppeteer). Even the color of Safer Sephiroth's wing gives it the allussion that Jenova is responsible for everything which I find silly IMHO.

The point is that the essay just gave you a "possible answer". Not the "hidden truth".Nothing more, nothing less. It does have some interesting points though I admit, but that's another topic.
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Raist
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The Bringer of the Black Funeral
Jesus Christ, where did you find the essay...

I hoped never to see that thing again.
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Lady Lifestream
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Der Ruf des Kolibris
*Merged into this thread from another one ~Ultimavara*

The Brittenham Essay "Final Fantasy Mythologies", written 1997, was - back in the old days - one of the first essays to be written about FFVII. John Brittenham had researched much to write this essay, and many people followed him - until the Compilation of FFVII came out.

His theories were:

* In the game, there exists an obvious, but false truth, and a hidden truth. The hidden truth was purposely scattered into various quotes and is only known if one knows about the mythologies FFVII is based of.
* Sephiroth is in truth the puppet of the super-bad-fiend JENOVA, because without JENOVA, Sephiroth is always depicted as being weak and not to be able to do anything alone.
* JENOVA is in truth the arch-enemy of the game and has all strings in her hands
* JENOVA is the original crisis and let the Mako-Reactors built so the planet was weakened
* The obvious-but-wrong story tells that the planet is destroyed by insane men like Sephiroth and ShinRa
* The hidden truth tells us that JENOVA is the one who pulls the strings
* Aerith and JENOVA are opposites: Aerith heals, JENOVA destroys, she is the truth, JENOVA the lie
* Cloud and Sephiroth mirror themselves because they both had a tragic fate and were puppets of JENOVA in the end
* There are three Triangles between the characters: Cloud-Aerith-Sephiroth, Cloud-Aerith-Zacks and Cloud-Aerith-Tifa.
~ He chooses between Zacks (past) and Aerith (present) when he does not lie to himself anymore
~ He chooses between Aerith and Tifa (what is "obvious" to Brittenham), but the player can choose for him in the end though
~ He chooses between Aerith and Sephiroth when he resists to kill Aerith
=> Therefore exists a triangle with Aerith inside Cloud
* There triangles indicate that Cloud can save Aerith in the end
* The drama in Gold Saucer reveals how he can do this
~ If the player likes Tifa more than Aerith, the triangle breaks and Aerith returns to the planet
~ If Cloud ties his heart to Aerith, she will live on

And now the truth...

Some aspects of his essay are just wrong, like Sephiroth being controlled by JENOVA or the Cetra being spacetravellers. His saying that Tifa wore mans clothing is partly wrong because combat boots, boxing gloves, beltstraps and sport-shirts are not considered to be feminine - at least not by SE ;P
Other aspects just have to be edited, then they fit in correctly. Those aspects are:

* The player has his own viewpoint and can decide what is truth for him and what not, so there is no obvious-but-wrong and hidden truth.
* Sephiroth is and will always be the one who triumphed over JENOVA and manipulated Cloud. No JENOVA is holding the strings, and there is also no complot about a hidden truth.
* Therefore, no longer are Aerith and JENOVA opposites, but Aerith and Sephiroth.
~ This was already made official.
* Cloud and Sephiroth are antagonists.
* The character triangles are right (which is actually a pro-Clerith point xD)
* It was proven right that Aerith still lives on in Clouds heart
* It was right that the humans are still living in AC
* It was right that Cloud would choose Aerith if he wasnīt influenced (since she still lives in his heart)

Conclusion:

Many things have to be edited or deleted. The part about numerology said nothing about the games plot; actually, it just showed that the creators did a good job with numbers, even if. The main aspect - the JENOVA-puppet-theory - was just utterly wrong, as some side-details. But the short talk about the LT and the analysis of later events was exceptionally and surprisingly right, as well as the fact that Aerith still lives on in Clouds heart. Still, his essay is mostly wrong, but this is a thing for him to be easily forgiven just because SE doesnīt always know what they will do and because Brittenham couldnīt knew how the story would finally evolve. He had no access to the Ultimanias, to the novellas, to later games, and today, he may think otherwise.

I wrote this post to say that his essay was not utterly wrong at all. He has done a gread research, and some things were predicted very well.
His essay does not deserve to be bashed that hard >.<

(If there was already a topic about Brittenham like this, I didnīt see it and Iīm sorry!)
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Ultimavara
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Come away, oh human child, to the waters and the wild.
Thanks for sharing all of that information, Lady Lifestream. I had never even heard of the essay before.

You're right in that some of the stuff is close to accurate, but that some of it is also wrong, like Jenova being the one who is really in control, and that both Seph and Cloud were puppets of her. Seph was using her as a tool to achieve his own ends, rather than the other way around, and it was shown in the Lifestream event that Cloud wasn't a puppet. I also think it's worth mentioning that Seph wasn't depicted as weak without Jenova. He was shown as a strong and more than capable fighter before he even discovered Jenova (during the flashbacks where you fight alongside him in Nibelheim).

On another note - I looked around for other threads about the essay and found one here, so I'll go ahead and merge this one with that one so we can see what others have thought of the essay as well. ^_^
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Lady Lifestream
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Der Ruf des Kolibris
Ayyy, thank you!

Yes, thatīs right! Sephiroth was always strong. Well... actually, Sephiroth had JENOVA-cells inside his body from his very birth, so... ;P
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Ultimavara
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Come away, oh human child, to the waters and the wild.
Oh, that is true. I guess it's impossible to say what he really would have been without Jenova. Would he still have been strong or would he have been weak? I like to think he probably would have still been strong, just not as strong as he was with her. But who can tell?
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aerithbunny
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Legendary Member
The theory of Jenova being the ultimate puppeteer makes sense, there's a reason:

Kadaj

Kadaj's only purpose as a remnant was to find mother, if she had not been pulling the strings then Sephiroth may not have lost his mind in the first place. Therefore Kadaj would have never existed because Sephiroth would have never been dead. But the entire AC/ACC movie the remnants are looking for mother because they are Sephiroth who was driven mad by Jenova who is still pulling their strings by making them search for her.
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Prince Roxas
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Just a Nobody
No the silver haried men are remnants of Sephiroth's will who is truly to return to physical form in Advent Children and since his original body has been destroyed he needs a piece of the original Jenova in order to be restored again.

Sephiroth did react quite badly to realising what Shrina and Hojo had done to him but in the end Sephiroth himself was able to gain control of Jenova's will and form so in the end Jenova bcame Sephiroth's puppet.
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