Final Fantasy VII timeline
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The following is a timeline of the events occurring in the video game Final Fantasy VII and the titles in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
Note: BP represents the number of years Before Present (the events of Final Fantasy VII), and AP represents the number of years After Present.
[edit] ~ 2000 BP
Jenova arrives on the planet of Gaia, the world of Final Fantasy VII, and becomes known as the "Calamity From The Skies". It lands at the north of the Planet and Cetra who have settled in a place called "Knowlespole" go and investigate. Jenova appears disguised as a Cetra, promising peace, but infects the Knowlespole Cetra with a terrible virus that mutates and destroys them. Jenova then moves across the Planet infecting and destroying the Cetra tribes. Jenova's landing caused a huge wound in the Planet and the Lifestream gathers there at what becomes known as the Great North Cave to repair the Planet. A number of WEAPONS of increasing power are created by the Planet to kill Jenova (WEAPON, Diamond WEAPON, Ultimate WEAPON, Ruby WEAPON, Emerald WEAPON). But, before they can be used, a few surviving Cetra manage to defeat Jenova (now in permanent female form) and seal her in rock. The WEAPONs go into hibernation and the few surviving Cetra disperse amongst the human population.
[edit] 57 BP
Vincent Valentine born. At some point in the next twenty years he joins the Turks.
[edit] ~ 50 BP
The people of the Planet have grown more sophisticated. The center of commerce, government and power is centralized mainly in a large city called Midgar. This city becomes more populated over the years. A commercial weapons-manufacturing company Shinra finds a way to draw power from the Lifestream in the form of pure Mako. Mako is used by everyone as a source for materia and magic, but Shinra create huge reactors that suck Mako from the Planet. This allows Midgar to become a huge, sprawling and prosperous city. However the speed of Midgar's technological change is not matched by its democratic changes, and Shinra finally take over the running of the government and form their own military wing and secret police force to keep a hold on power. To keep a charade of democracy, a mayor is elected to run Midgar, but he/she is merely a puppet in the pay of Shinra. Shinra develop an elite armed force called SOLDIER, where promising soldiers are treated with Mako to enhance their abilities. They also create the Turks, a shadowy collection of assassins, spies, and undercover thugs to carry out less obvious empire-building on the company's behalf. Over the last 50-odd years of Midgar's history, it has become place of two extremes. Wealth, luxury, and power fuelled by the mako reactors are the lot of those who live high above the ground on Midgar's raised Plate structure. Poverty, deprivation and oppression are endemic in the under-city, making life a constant struggle for those who live in the slums under the Plates of the Higher Midgar.
[edit] 35 BP
Barret is born in Corel. Corel at that time is a prosperous town built on the coal mining industry. Coal is still the principal source of fuel for places outside of Midgar at this time.
[edit] 32 BP
Cid Highwind is born.
[edit] 31 BP
Professor Gast, while excavating in Mount Nibel, finds Jenova inert in a 2000-year-old geological stratum. He takes Jenova to Nibelheim, where he begins to research her origins and powers. At this point he believes her to be an Ancient/Cetra. Shinra become very interested in his work and offer him money and assistance to carry on.
[edit] 30 - 25 BP
The Jenova Project is started. Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent begin research in the Shinra Mansion, under the protection of Vincent Valentine. Sometime before this, Lucrecia had been researching the Chaos Omega theory; she had worked with Vincent's father Grimoire Valentine, who introduced her to a mako fountain behind a waterfall. Grimoire later died saving Lucrecia from a lab explosion. Vincent falls in love with Lucrecia but she rejects him after he finds out her relationship with his father. Lucrecia chooses Hojo instead and Sephiroth is conceived, after which Hojo injects his unborn child with Jenova cells with Lucrecia's consent. Vincent argues with Hojo on the ethics of experimenting on Lucrecia and her unborn baby, but Hojo subdues Vincent and shoots him, inflicting mortal injuries upon him. By the time Lucrecia finds out what occurred, Vincent has been subjected to Metamorphose experimentation. Lucrecia attempts to save Vincent by keeping him contained and using G-Substance to save his life. However, she unknowingly made Vincent a vessel of Chaos, the destroyer, and she must use a special materia (known as Protomateria) to give Vincent control.
[edit] 28 - 24 BP
Professor Gast travels the planet, possibly looking for more information on the Ancients/Cetra. He visits Bugenhagen at Cosmo Canyon during his travels and gives him scientific equipment. At some point along the way he meets Ifalna, one of the last Ancients on the Planet. They fall in love and retire to Icicle Lodge on the Northern Continent. Gast does not officially leave Shinra, but he does not tell them of his whereabouts.
[edit] 23 BP
Zack is born in the town of Gongaga.
[edit] 22 BP
Aerith is born to Professor Gast and Ifalna. Soon after her birth Hojo finally tracks Gast down. He tries to take Aerith and Ifalna away for his experiments. Gast and Ifalna resist. Gast is killed and Ifalna and Aerith are captured.
[edit] 21 BP
Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim. He grows up a lonely and isolated child, constantly frustrated by his inability to allow himself to be the person he wants to really be.
[edit] 20 BP
Tifa Lockhart is born in Nibelheim. She is outgoing and lively and has a lot of friends. Although she and Cloud Strife are close in age and grow up in the same place they don't spend much time together as children. Meanwhile, Holzoff and Yamski leave Icicle Inn and attempt to climb Gaia's cliff. Yamski chooses suicide over freezing to death, and Holzoff builds a cabin at the base of the glacier, warning travelers about the dangers for the rest of his days.
[edit] ~ 16 BP
Shinra goes to war abroad with the town of Wutai. During the war, Sephiroth is proving to be an adept soldier, displaying abilities and powers that far outstrip his peers. His conduct during this time of war, as well as his quick advancement through the ranks of SOLDIER, earns him a hero's reputation even though he is still in his teens. Sephiroth and SOLDIER become legendary.
Somehow during this time, Ifalna escapes from Shinra Headquarters Laboratory with Aerith and gets as far as Sector 7 station in Midgar. Here, exhausted and wounded, she entrusts the life of her daughter to Elmyra Gainsborough and almost immediately passes away. Soon afterwards, Elmyra's husband is killed during the war. Sensing this, Aerith informs Elmyra of her husband's passing with a cryptic message saying "Someone [she] loved has returned to the planet." Confused, Elmyra continues on with life as normal until she receives official word of her husband's death. Elmyra then decides to adopt Aerith and raise her as one of her own. Aerith grows up, developing strange intuitive powers and an affinity with nature. Also, she keeps about her person a small white pearl; a keepsake her mother gave to her before dying at the station. Aerith describes the pearl as a materia that "does nothing," though she has knowledge of its holy summoning powers. Throughout her childhood, Tseng, the leader of the Turks, attempts, and fails, to persuade Aerith into returning to Shinra HQ. The Turks would eventually turn to abduction tactics, but to no avail.
[edit] 16 BP
Yuffie Kisaragi is born in Wutai.
[edit] 12 BP
Tifa Lockhart's Mother dies. An upset and confused Tifa believes her mother has gone to Mount Nibel and sets off to find her. Cloud Strife follows to make sure she stays safe but Tifa is injured in a fall. Tifa's father arrives and blames Cloud for leading her astray. Cloud, distressed at being wrongly blamed and angry at his inability to save Tifa, decides that one day he will become as strong and capable as the Legendary Sephiroth and resolves to join SOLDIER when he is old enough. After Tifa recovers, she and Cloud become a little closer. She hears of his plans to join SOLDIER, and at the same time she starts training under martial arts master, Zangan, perfecting her hand-to-hand combat skills.
[edit] 9 BP
Zack leaves his home in Gongaga and joins SOLDIER; he easily makes the grade and gets to serve under the command of Sephiroth.
[edit] 7 - 0 BP
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII takes place around this time.
[edit] 7 BP
While stationed in Midgar, Zack meets and dates Aerith. He writes to his parents about her during this time.
Cloud leaves Nibelheim, but fails to get into SOLDIER. He becomes an ordinary Shinra soldier and cuts off all contact with his hometown and old friends, ashamed that he has failed again.
[edit] 7 - 6 BP
To take the public's mind off of the war with Wutai, Shinra's space program - headed by Palmer - goes through with project YA-79, sending a manned mission into orbit. An experienced pilot and engineer, Cid Highwind is the chosen captain of Shinra No. 26, the 26th rocket model. All is going according to plan until an engineer named Shera attempts to sacrifice her life in the engine room to make sure all oxygen tanks are working properly. In an act of never-before-seen heroism, Cid aborts the mission to save her life. The rocket launch is a failure and the entire program is abandoned, landing Palmer, Cid, and Shera out of a job. Rocket Town is founded under Shinra No. 26. which collapses a little more every day. Cid and Shinra cut off ties with each other, and Shinra claims ownership of the plans for the Highwind, an airship named after Cid.
[edit] 6 BP
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII takes place. The fierce pride of the Wutaiese leader Godo has kept Shinra's influence out of the town, but they are quickly crushed by Sephiroth and Shinra. Admitting defeat, Wutai has to become a tourist town to carry on and survive. Yuffie, ashamed of her father's cowardice, runs off to gather materia. With the war over, Shinra has forced the world into dependency on Mako energy while becoming economically, militarily, and politically dominant in the world. Meanwhile, fierce opponents vowing to destroy Shinra form; particularly the eco-terrorist insurgency known as AVALANCHE. The battle results in the awakening of the first WEAPON, Jade WEAPON, which is quickly destroyed by the Turks. AVALANCHE itself disbands after the incident.
[edit] 5 BP
Reports of monsters disrupting life for the workers at the Mount Nibel Mako reactor results in Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud being sent to Nibelheim to investigate. On reaching Nibelheim, Cloud keeps his identity hidden from Tifa and the other townspeople. He cannot bear to be seen as just an "ordinary" soldier. Tifa takes the party to the Mako reactor. Tifa and Cloud stay outside. Inside, Sephiroth discovers Jenova's body and sees all the mutated "failed" experiments of Hojo's. He begins to realize his origins may be similar and becomes upset. Zack is disbelieving at first, but when one of the mutated humans falls out of a pod he also begins to be concerned. The party returns to Shinra Mansion, where Sephiroth finds all the notes on the Jenova Project in the basement. He is aware of Professor Gasts initialization of the project but has not been told how Gast died or Hojo's full involvement in his creation. Later in the night Zack goes to speak to Sephiroth and finds Sephiroth a changed man. Sephiroth has discovered the notes Gast made at Icicle Lodge about the Ancients; he now believes he is descended from the Ancients and regards normal humans as traitors who abandoned the Cetra to a terrible disaster. However, he does not seem to accept Jenova as the cause of that disaster. He rants and raves at Zack before leaving quickly to see Jenova whom he refers to as "Mother." Zack follows him outside and sees the whole village in flames. Many people are dead or dying, and a Shinra soldier (Cloud) tends to his dying mother. Sephiroth heads for the reactor with several townsfolk in hot pursuit. Tifa and Zack chase after him, Cloud following behind. At the reactor Tifa discovers her father's body. Sephiroth has killed him. As Sephiroth moves towards the pod with Jenova in it, Zack tries to attack him but is batted away. Tifa picks up Sephiroth's discarded sword and attacks him, but he takes the sword back and cuts her down. Cloud arrives to witness this and he tenderly moves Tifa into a more comfortable position before confronting Sephiroth. Sephiroth opens the pod and tries to free Jenova. As Cloud approaches, Sephiroth tells Jenova he has come to reclaim the planet for her. Cloud stabs Sephiroth, then returns to tend to Tifa. Injured, Sephiroth can only take Jenova's head with him; he leaves the pod room, walking past Cloud. Cloud and Sephiroth continue to fight until it ends with Sephiroth descending into the Lifestream below. Cloud then passes out. In the immediate aftermath, Zangan (Tifa's mentor) arrives at the reactor and takes the wounded Tifa to Midgar. Here she sets up a bar called "Seventh Heaven" in the Sector 7 slums when she has recovered. Cloud, Zack and the surviving residents of Nibelheim are gathered up and used by Hojo to create clones of Sephiroth now that they believe the original is dead. Far from dead, Sephiroth drifts through the Lifestream until he ends up at the Great North Cave. Having assimilated the knowledge of the Ancients and bit of Jenova's head while in there, he begins to formulate a plan to turn himself into a god. This involves summoning Meteor to wound the planet sufficiently to make the Lifestream rush to one place to heal it, where he can absorb its power. Over the next five years, while his physical body remains in the Great North Cave, he learns that he can project his will into whatever holds Jenova's cells. Shinra covers up the incident at Nibelheim and repopulates the town with Shinra staff. Experiments carry on at the Mansion, but Jenova is moved to Shinra Headquarters (now sans head), for safekeeping. After the cloning project proves to be a failure, Hojo moves back to Midgar permanently and carries on research there. At some point he captures Nanaki for a series of unknown tests and names him Red XIII.
[edit] 4 BP
Shinra persuade the people of Corel to accept the building of a Mako reactor. Barret, seeing that coal has no future, pleads Shinra's case. His best friend, Dyne, opposes it, but Barret convinces him otherwise. One day Barret and Dyne come back from a trip out of town and find Shinra burning down Corel. They discover that Shinra have blamed several explosions at new reactors on sabotage by Corel townsfolk. Barret and Dyne are both severely injured in the fighting. Dyne falls over a cliff and Barret believes him dead. Barret goes back to Corel to be with his now dead wife, Myrna. He sees Dyne's wife, Eleanor, is also dead but Dyne's daughter, Marlene, isn't. He decides to take Marlene and flee. Barret has his useless arm replaced with a gun. When he hears of a similarly injured man who has a gun arm, he surmises Dyne is still alive, but he is unable to find him. Barret goes to Cosmo Canyon where he forms a new AVALANCHE with Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. A Mako reactor explodes in Gongaga shortly after -- possibly AVALANCHE's work.
[edit] 3 BP
An enormous entertainment complex named the Gold Saucer is built over the ruins of Corel, which has turned into a desert wasteland. The few survivors have moved up north and built North Corel, a collection of tents atop unused rail tracks. Dyne is the only one remaining in the ruins, his mind disintegrating. Dio, the proprietor of the Gold Saucer, agrees to let Dyne control the wastelands as long as Dio can use it as a prison colony. Mr. Coates is sent as Dio's permanent ambassador. After the completion of the Gold Saucer, a ropeway station is built in North Corel, making the town a throughway for visitors without the luxury of air travel. The settlers of North Corel eke out a miserable living selling junk to tourists.
[edit] 3 - 0 BP
Barret, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie arrive in Midgar and meet Tifa, who agrees to house them in her basement as she, too, has a grudge with Shinra for the cover-up of the Nibelheim massacre. The basement is turned into a center of operations for AVALANCHE.
[edit] 1 - 0 BP
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII takes place.
Zack and Cloud escape the Shinra Mansion. Cloud is nearly catatonic from Mako and Jenova treatments. Zack dresses him in a spare SOLDIER uniform and they flee to Midgar. In Junon, they hitch a ride in a yellow truck Midgar-bound and Zack decides their fate as mercenaries. The truck is ambushed and Zack is shot dead less than a mile from Midgar. Cloud, still gurgling and incoherent, is considered no threat and is left for dead. Cloud grabs the Buster sword in Zack's possession and stumbles into Midgar, collapsing in the Train Graveyard in Sector 7, where he meets Tifa again. Using Tifa's, Cloud's, and Zack's memories, the Jenova cells in his body create a new identity for Cloud, with enough holes to keep control over him. Tifa, recognizing these holes, takes Cloud back to 7th Heaven and restores his health as much as she can. Upon his decision to leave and become a mercenary, Tifa hires him to work for AVALANCHE so that she can keep a close eye on him. Cloud briefly meets the team but does not tell them his name. AVALANCHE and Cloud, their mercenary, board a train headed for Sector 1 and hijack it before it arrives.
[edit] Present
Final Fantasy VII takes place.
[edit] 0 - 1 AP
Maiden who Travels the Planet takes place after Aerith is killed in Final Fantasy VII.
[edit] 0 - 4 AP
On the Way to a Smile takes place in novel format. The novel's narration and 'present' setting is set 4 years after Final Fantasy VII, 2 years after Advent Children, and about 1 year after Dirge of Cerberus.
The Case of Tifa After the events of Final Fantasy VII, Tifa, Cloud, and Barret are separated from the others and leave for Corel Town, Nibelheim, and Kalm for nostalgic reasons. In Kalm, they reunite with Marlene and with Aerith's foster mother, Elmyra, apologizing for being unable to save Aerith. Arriving back at Midgar to begin a new life and one of atonement for each of their perceived sins, the companions try to readjust in a city that has begun to rebuild itself. Tifa and company begin to gather information about Midgar and where to acquire materials while helping fellow citizens in need. One day, Barret introduces the group to a wine made in the town of Corel. While enjoying themselves, Barret suggests an entrepreneurial venture to run a wine business. And so, "Seventh Heaven" is opened in the new city of Edge, just north of Midgar. Responsibility is divided among the party, with Barret as planner and helper, Tifa as the bartender, Cloud as the scouter for fruits and vegetables, and Marlene as the server. Barret shortly thereafter leaves on a 'journey to settle his past'. In his new job, Cloud tends to leave early in the morning for supplies, mainly located in Kalm, and returns into the evening. He eventually acquires a motorcycle that is constantly modified, but is a more reliable source of transportation (he previously traveled by renting vehicles or even chocobos). After telling Tifa that some of his employers would ask him to act as a courier, she encourages Cloud to start a delivery service - one that would become the "Strife Delivery Service." At one time, Cloud is asked to deliver a bouquet from Elmyra Gainsborough to the Forgotten City. As time passes, Tifa and Marlene begin to sense a growing isolation from Cloud. Perhaps these daily travels are reminding Cloud of his past and its painful memories. Not long after, Cloud starts to stay at the church where he first encountered Aerith. Denzel will show up there and will be brought by Cloud later to Seventh Heaven, adding another member to their little family. Throughout this entire time, Tifa reevaluates her new life and social relationships, wonders if the past can be overcome, and if she, Cloud, Marlene and Denzel can really be called a 'family'.
The Case of Denzel Denzel is 10 years old, going on 11 (his birthday is almost certainly in mid- to late December). He has requested a meeting with Reeve, because he wants to join the World Regenesis Organization (W.R.O.). Reeve tells him that the W.R.O. no longer allows just anyone to join, because it's no longer a peaceful organization like it once was, and is now acting as a militia of sorts, protecting the planet from those who would harm it.
[edit] 2 AP
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children takes place over the course of 3 days, beginning at noon on Day 1 and ending at 7:00 AM on Day 3. In other words, the film occurs over the course of 43 hours.
[edit] 3 AP
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII takes place. A mysterious group called the "Deepground Soldiers" suddenly appears as they attack Kalm, plunging the town into chaos. The Deepground Soldiers are a section of SOLDIER, created by the Shinra Company underneath Midgar under President Shinra's. When Meteor struck Midgar at the end of Final Fantasy VII they became trapped but they have now escaped their underground lair. Vincent Valentine is somehow connected to the Deepground Soldiers as they seem to have been searching for him for some time. Reeve Tuesti, former Head of Urban Development at Shinra, is now the leader of the World Regeneration/Restoration/Recovery Organization (W.R.O.), which is a large privately funded volunteer organization established after Meteor, essentially to carry out more than AVALANCHE could ever have hoped. Their job is to help and rebuild any destroyed towns, restore the world, and prevent anyone from damaging it further. Later, the W.R.O. acts as a fighting force of a volunteer army engaging new enemies that have begun to appear. They are also helpers of Vincent and stand in opposition to the Deepground Soldiers. Aside from the main storyline, Vincent's painful past is uncovered, including his tragic love for Lucrecia.
Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII takes place. Three years after Meteor, the world is threatened by the Deepground Soldiers, a mysterious army of bloodthirsty warriors. Vincent Valentine learns that the soldiers are searching for him to get their hands on the Protomateria. He decides to investigate Shinra Manor in an effort to uncover his own personal truth and the mystery behind the Protomateria. Vincent leaves for Nibelheim in a W.R.O. chopper and heads for the horizon with Deepground Soldiers in swift pursuit.
[edit] 500 AP
Featured as the epilogue in the original Final Fantasy VII game and the prologue of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Nanaki (Red XIII) is shown running through a sandy red valley while two cubs try to keep pace with him. He is much older now and his mane has grey hairs, but his tattoo is still visible. He stops on a plateau and howls. In the distance we see Midgar, now nothing more than a ruin, overrun with greenery (this possibly happened after Vincent as Chaos destroyed Omega Weapon and succeeded in returning both to the Planet).
[edit] References
- Final Fantasy VII Story
- Final Fantasy VII Ultimania
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Advent Children • Before Crisis • Crisis Core • Dirge of Cerberus • Last Order • Lost Episode Cloud • Aerith • Tifa • Barret • Red XIII • Cid • Yuffie • Cait Sith • Vincent • Sephiroth • Jenova • Rufus • Turks |
