William R. Aguilar@WilliamRAguilar
My Ultimate Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy Theory [Part 1 of 7]
Spoiler Warning
It's not a time travel sequel; that's a fan theory that will be proven to be false. The ability to see possible futures is not the same as time travel to the past. The Lifestream operates more like the Force in Star Wars and less like the DeLorean in Back to the Future Part 2.
The Lifestream operates semi-nonlinearly. Aerith's spirit being able to communicate with past versions of herself through the yellow flowers or appearing to Cloud that night on the hill is not because FF7 Remake is a sequel but because the Lifestream has always, even in the OG, operated nonlinearly. For example: Final Fantasy 1 is a time loop. If they remade FF1 with modern graphics and added more scenes, in the remake, portraying the time loop that existed in FF1, it would not be a sequel to FF1; it would just be a remake and further exploration of the time loop mechanics that always existed in FF1.
In other words, nothing we are seeing in FF7 Remake regarding the things that have to do with lifestream is a sequel to FF7 OG it is just a retelling of the same story with a few changes and with added context and we, the viewer, are getting to look behind the curtain not see how the world/lifestream always operated in the OG.
It's not a multiverse; Zack & Aerith are both dead, but just like in the OG, her spirit persists within the lifestream. There is the ONE real world and the dream worlds within the lifestream. Sephiroth's entire goal is to absorb the lifestream so that he can make his stagnant dream world into the real world.
If Zack ever appears in the real world (assuming the Beagle world is the Real World) in Remake Part 3 Revelation, it will only be for a limited time because that is what a Summon is. Summons are powerful, long-dead beings that can manifest physically in the real world, for a limited time, before dispersing back into the lifestream because Materia is literally just condensed pieces of Lifestream and Lifestream is the accumulation of Spirit, Memory, Hopes, Dreams, & Knowledge. In addition to this, the planet/lifestream also has a will of its own and it can perceive possible futures & dangers. The Whispers, Harbingers, & Weapons are all weapons/defense mechanisms the planet uses to try to prevent undesired possible futures.
The version of Zack that we see in the remake trilogy is his spirit residing in the lifestream, after his death, but kept in stasis by Cloud's fractured & misremembering mind, which is why Zack does not remember the moment when he passed on the Buster Sword and made Cloud his living legacy. When Cloud remembers what actually happened to Zack, Zack will remember it too. This is because Cloud's fractured mind is affecting the lifestream dream worlds. Sephiroth is using Cloud's negative effect on the planet to his advantage.
When the party destroyed the Arbiter of Fate in Remake Part 1, it caused the Planet/Lifestream to lose the ability to know which of the "worlds" is the One True Real World, in contrast to the rest being dream worlds.
The Mental/Memory/True Reality conflict of Cloud's fractured mind, which will be repaired with the help of Tifa, during the lifestream sequence in Remake Part 3 Revelation, will be broadened to apply to the lifestream's own perception of reality as well. So the party will not just need to fix Cloud's memory of what the True Reality is, they will also need to help the Planet/Lifestream realize which "world" is the real world, in contrast to the dream worlds.
Sephiroth hates death and the mechanics of the lifestream. His goal is to absorb the lifestream & transcend both the influence of Jehnova and the lifestream itself, in order to become a God, so that he can make his dream world into the real world. Sephiroth will offer Cloud the ability to bring Aerith back to life if he helps him achieve this power. This can be achieved by the mechanics of the lifestream, regarding summons.
[Part 2⤵️]