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The yelow orb at the end of the game; What was exactly?
Topic Started: Dec 31 2011, 03:08 PM (732 Views)
Daga15
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Hi!
source: the final fantasy 7 citadel

This is not mine, i have just copied it because i think it's very interesting and i would love to know your opinion because, honestly, i don't know what to believe:

One of the more baffling oddities in Final Fantasy VII is a mysterious yellow orb displayed towards the end. When Cloud defeats god-like Safer Sephiroth, he believes the war has finally been won. Alas, Sephiroth still lives... in the Lifestream. As Cloud and Tifa prepare to leave the Northern Crater, Cloud's spirit is summoned into the Lifestream, where he must face Sephiroth one final time.

Cloud leaves his body and proceeds to hurtle through a number of 'tunnels'. Halfway towards Sephiroth, Cloud mysteriously stops and emerges in the Lifestream. During this scene, a yellow orb appears and is focused on for a few seconds, suggesting its importance. Cloud then abruptly continues his journey where he defeats Sephiroth for good.

Now, what is this yellow orb? Take a peek below.

Posted Image


The orb is Holy
There is a strong possibility this orb may be Holy. Before the battle with Bizarro-Sephiroth, Cloud and the party are floating in a black room, paralysed by Sephiroth. Towards the centre of the room is a red, earthy structure. A glowing sphere is shining in the centre. During this situation, Cloud utters the following sentences:

"Light... A light... Is this... Is this light... Holy?"

"...Holy... Holy... is there... The Holy is shining... Aeris's prayer is shining......!"

From this, we can gather Holy is located in the Northern Crater. Perhaps this yellow orb is Holy, floating in the Lifestream. However, there are two faults to this argument:

-Holy is green, as we have seen during Aeris' death.
-Holy was originally located at Aeris' place of death, the Ancient City.

How can Holy change colour, AND relocate itself? The only logical theory is that Holy is now yellow as it has been activated. And how did it get to the Northern Crater by itself? Simple, when Holy fell into the water of the Ancient City, it somehow found a way into the Lifestream and floated to the Northern Crater with the Planet's (and Aeris'?) help.

However, there is an error in this theory. It is impossible for Holy to be activated at this stage. For Holy to be activated, Aeris must enter the Lifestream. The only thing standing in her way is Sephiroth, who still exists at this stage. Hence, this theory is fundamentally flawed, but it is the best one in explaining the orb as Holy.

The orb is a vision of the Promised Land
There has been speculation the orb may be a vision of the Promised Land. When observed closely, the orb actually looks cloudy. Materia, however, are clear . The orb thus bears an uncanny resemblance to a planet. Perhaps this vision is showing the Promised Land as a planet. There is a peculiar hint in the game suggesting that Ancients actually travelled in space before settling Earth. During Cloud's flashback of Nibelheim, Sephiroth discovers his 'heritage' and hisses towards Cloud,

"This Planet originally belonged to the Cetra. Cetra was an itinerant race. They would migrate in, settle the Planet, then move on...

"At the end of their harsh, hard journey, they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness."

Pay particular attention to the phrase "They would migrate in, settle the Planet, then move on..." This sentence is rather ambiguous in meaning. Sephiroth was either suggesting the Ancients would migrate and settle across different areas of the Earth's surface, or they would migrate and settle entire planets. If Sephiroth was suggesting the Ancients migrated and settled across Earth's surface, he should have said, "They would migrate and settle parts of the Planet, then move on to other areas..."

However, Sephiroth is suggesting the Ancients would migrate and settle the entire Planet itself. Once achieving this, they would move on to another planet until they find the Promised Land, a planet itself. This lends support to the theory the orb is a vision of the Promised Land.

Upholding this claim is the sentence Cloud utters during the ending, "...the Promised Land... I think I can meet her... there." Somehow, somewhere, Cloud saw the Promised Land. If the Promised Land is anywhere to be seen in the ending, it must be the orb.

Additionally, look at the white bubbles surrounding the orb. Mako is meant to be green, but these bubbles are white. The bubbles and black background make an uncanny resemblance to space. Recall the introducing FMV of the game. We are shown the night sky with mysterious wailing in the background. The wailing sounds as if it is calling out for us. Our eyes wonder the stars as we try to find the source of the wailing

Posted Image

Posted Image

Notice the similarity between the two screenshots. The introduction was foreshadowing the existence of something mysterious up there in space, calling out to us. Towards the ending, with the vision Cloud sees, we finally discover what that something is - the Promised Land.

The orb is a backdrop
And of course, the orb may be nothing more than a tantalising backdrop. However, because it is focused on for a few seconds as a centrepiece, this is quite unlikely.

In conclusion...
By looking at all the evidence, the orb is probably just Holy. There are fundamental faults to this theory, but it is the strongest one. The argument the orb is a vision of the Promised Land can't be dismissed, though.

So, what do you think?? maybe it's the promised land, holy or even aeris??
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Jon Snow
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Wow, I've never really thought about it. It'd be cool if it was the promised land, though. But a hole in this theory that it could possibly be the promised land is that Aerith says the promise land is something each individual has and is different for everyone, didn't she? So it really can't be the promised land. I wish it was though. It'd mean the people who die get to have some sort of afterlife besides sleeping in the lifestream... which would be completely awesome.
Edited by Jon Snow, Dec 31 2011, 06:57 PM.
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Myko
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Hopeless Romantic
Those are interesting theories. I'm going to go ahead and deny that the orb is Holy. Holy was never an orb. The materia to summon it is an orb but Holy itself is flat, like a disk, and it's pale green.

It's an interesting thought that it's the Promised Land. It could very well be. Or... it could be the very heart of the Planet. I know Cid describes the Planet as a sick kid at one point. But, personally, I like thinking Aerith is the heart of the Planet herself.

You know, another way of looking at it. The orb could be the Ancient's original Planet. Like... where they came from, the place they existed on before Planet hopping, if that's seriously the case.
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Jon Snow
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Myko
Dec 31 2011, 09:17 PM
Those are interesting theories. I'm going to go ahead and deny that the orb is Holy. Holy was never an orb. The materia to summon it is an orb but Holy itself is flat, like a disk, and it's pale green.

It's an interesting thought that it's the Promised Land. It could very well be. Or... it could be the very heart of the Planet. I know Cid describes the Planet as a sick kid at one point. But, personally, I like thinking Aerith is the heart of the Planet herself.

You know, another way of looking at it. The orb could be the Ancient's original Planet. Like... where they came from, the place they existed on before Planet hopping, if that's seriously the case.
Holy isn't a flat disc shape? It's round and orb-like. That's how Aerith carries it in her hair.

But that other idea is more likely. I think it could be very possible that it was the ancients original planet. And that would be cool to. :lol:
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Prince Roxas
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The Cetra were not planet travellers, that was Jenova. The Cetra were the original inhabitants of the Planet who took care of the Planet, healing it and speaking with it. Jenova was the calamity from the skies who came down to take the Planet for her own, suck its life and then use it as a vessel in order to find another world for her to feast upon.

Humans are essientally depowered Cetra. There were Cetra who gave up their pilgrimages in order to live a more peaceful and easy life and as generations went on their powers left them and they the Cetra heritage was eventually extinguished from their bloodlines. That's what humans are.

That's not Holy as well, its not the same colour as the Holy Materia and it appears to be rocky. I'm going out to say its the very core of the Planet because the area where everyone was at the end was inside the Planet and Cloud was being summoned by Sephiroth deeper into the Planet for the final duel between. Cloud and Sephiroth are practically at the very heart of the Planet at the end so I think its the core.
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Jon Snow
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Prince Roxas
Dec 31 2011, 10:50 PM
The Cetra were not planet travellers, that was Jenova. The Cetra were the original inhabitants of the Planet who took care of the Planet, healing it and speaking with it. Jenova was the calamity from the skies who came down to take the Planet for her own, suck its life and then use it as a vessel in order to find another world for her to feast upon.

Humans are essientally depowered Cetra. There were Cetra who gave up their pilgrimages in order to live a more peaceful and easy life and as generations went on their powers left them and they the Cetra heritage was eventually extinguished from their bloodlines. That's what humans are.

That's not Holy as well, its not the same colour as the Holy Materia and it appears to be rocky. I'm going out to say its the very core of the Planet because the area where everyone was at the end was inside the Planet and Cloud was being summoned by Sephiroth deeper into the Planet for the final duel between. Cloud and Sephiroth are practically at the very heart of the Planet at the end so I think its the core.
Oh, pfft. *facepalm*

I'm so lame. I completely got them mixed up there. >.< But it can't be the core, if it was they'd be, like, dead. I mean, if their planet is anything like ours that is. So now that it's impossible for it to be the core of their planet and definitely not Aerith's holy... maybe it's Jenova's original planet. Makes sense if it was cuz it's seen during Sephiroth's last battle. Very symbolic if you ask me. :lol:
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Prince Roxas
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Well I don't think that their bodies were at the exact core of the planet. When Cloud comes to he is at the same location that the party left. When Sephiroth calls him an astral vision of his body leaves and finds Sephiroth so its quite possbiliy their minds meeting for the final battle. That would make more sense with them diving deeper into the Planet. Plus I think at that point Sephiroth's body had been destroyed when he became Safer Sephiroth.

But when has VII ever made any sense? :fish:
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Anastar
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To touch the light I see in your eyes...
I always thought it was Holy myself. Like the article said, when Avalanche finds Sephiroth, they're floating around a red structure, and Cloud says:

"Light... A light... Is this... Is this light... Holy?"

"...Holy... Holy... is there... The Holy is shining... Aeris's prayer is shining......!"


and a white light is seen glowing from within the structure.

Posted Image

Remember that Sephiroth had blocked Holy as well as Aerith's will, so both were "trapped" by Sephiroth's powers. That's why it hadn't moved against Meteor after Aerith summoned it.

That's why Avalanche had to defeat Sephiroth. He was blocking Holy and Aerith's will. The only way they could free Holy and Aerith's will was to defeat Sephiroth. Once Cloud defeated Sephiroth, you saw Aerith breaking free during the hand reach scene as she reached out for Cloud. Then Holy moved against Meteor - this is what it looked like:

Posted Image

It's shining white. The script also describes it as glowing white:

(Holy comes. At first merely a white pinpoint in the distance, then growing, accelerating toward Meteor, a mighty wave of white magic. It rushes in between Meteor and Midgar, clipping the tip of what used to be Shinra headquarters. The scene shifts briefly back to Kalm village. Marlene, still watching from the window, squints and holds up a hand to the blinding white light. The scene moves to show Bugenhagen's observatory, Meteor and Holy so huge as to be visible even from here, the other side of the world.)

(The scene moves back to above Midgar. Meteor continues its slow, slow descent toward land. As it reaches Holy, dots of ember and tongues of flame lick upwards along its red-hot surface and Holy glows pink around its edges rather than white. The camera shifts to the ground outside Midgar, looking up at Holy, the remnants of homes and buildings below. A red spot forms on Holy's underside as Meteor brushes it. Then, all of Holy begins to burn red and a huge, perfectly round hole opens above Midgar....

Source: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ff7/text/info/ff7disc2.txt

So Holy doesn't really have any particular "shape". Once it gets freed from Sephiroth's control, it pans out over Midgar to confront Meteor. Holy takes whatever shape it needs to take in order to do what it needs to do.

While "trapped" by Sephiroth, Holy would be "held" in a smaller form, unable to release its magic. So to me, it makes sense that the white orb is supposed to be Holy.

I really doubt it's the Promised Land because the Promised Land is said to be different for every person. For example, SE said that Cloud's Promised Land is Aerith's church. For the Cetra (as I understand it), their Promised Land is usually when their spirits become one with the Planet. Aerith said this when they got to the Temple of Ancients:

Aerith "This is... the Temple of the Ancients..."
"I... I know... I feel it... the knowledge of the Ancients.. floating..."
"You could become one with the Planet, but you're stopping it with the strength of will."
"For the future? For us?"


She's talking to the spirits of the Ancients guarding the Temple when she says that. She says they could become one with the Planet, so that's apparently the "goal" of Cetra spirits. She says they're not becoming one with the Planet because they're stopping it with the strength of will so that they can guard the Temple.

That's why I don't think Aerith will join the Planet until she wants to. She can easily stop it with the strength of her will and be where she wants to be. Right now, her spirit resides in Cloud because that's where Aerith wants to be right now. Just like the spirits at the Temple of Ancients chose to remain at the Temple in order to guard it, Aerith's spirit has chosen to remain with Cloud.

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Lady Lifestream
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Der Ruf des Kolibris
Honestly, when I first saw it, I thought it was the moon!

And weren't there two Promised Lands?
The first, if I remember correctly, was the actual Lifestream, Aerith mentioned this in Maiden Who Travels the Planet. The second one was mentioned by her in the original game when she said that everyone has to find his or her own Promised Land. We also know that this is true for Cloud was mentioned to have his own Promised Land in Aerith's church.
So there are two types of the Promised Land, the personal one and the Lifestream itself. When Cloud encounters Sephiroth, he is already in the Lifestream, meaning it can't be the first Promised Land, and the second one is said to be a place of supreme happiness that is different for every person.
So the yellow orb is definitively not the Promised Land.

While I think it could be Holy, I'm not sure if Holy could actually change its colour... I have no problem with the location change for the Holy we see in Anastar's post is the manifestation of its energy; the Holy materia itself lies still in the Ancient City (or so I believe for whe haven't been told otherwise). So if Holy's energetic manifestation can change location, it should be possible that it is seen in dream world where Cloud fights Sephiroth.
But there's still the problem with the colour...

I too believe it's the planet's core. But... then there is something else irritating.
Wasn't the area where Cloud and Sephiroth fight in Dissidia called "Planet's Core"? And there is no such orb seen... there is just the Lifestream floating around floating pieces of rock. Dissidia was said to be applicable to the Final Fantasy stories it contains, so can we trust it? Because then it wouldn't be the planet's core either...

It's truly a mystery :D
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Prince Roxas
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There isn't two Promised Lands. The Lifestream was the Cetra's view of the Promised Land for when they had finally completely their pilgrimages of taking care of the Planet they died and received true happiness. That was the Cetra's view of the Promised. In truth the Promised Land is different for each individual person, its what truly makes them happy is their Promised which is why the Church is Cloud's Promised Land because that's where he feels most happy and connected at with Aerith.
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Lady Lifestream
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Quote:
 
There isn't two Promised Lands. The Lifestream was the Cetra's view of the Promised Land for when they had finally completely their pilgrimages of taking care of the Planet they died and received true happiness. That was the Cetra's view of the Promised. In truth the Promised Land is different for each individual person, its what truly makes them happy is their Promised which is why the Church is Cloud's Promised Land because that's where he feels most happy and connected at with Aerith.

Crap!!
I think you're right! I kind of got it mixed up...
I read somewhere that there were two different Promised Lands, but now... oouuuuh! I confused those two things! Noooo...
Now everything makes sense!
Edited by Lady Lifestream, Jan 2 2012, 08:08 PM.
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AugoraTheMateria
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I'm gonna need a nap
I always thought that it was just the moon. I guess I never took it into deep thought and thought that it was something much more.
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