Apocalypse Soon Download Torrent
Martial Salleh
Before we get going, though: spoiler warning for both Final Fantasy VII Remake and the original Final Fantasy VII. Additionally, the ideas I discuss in this article are deeply tied to multiple religious traditions. These ideas are part of a cultural heritage that is being adapted into the fictional world of the game. The conflict I set up does not mirror any real-world conflict, nor does it condemn any real-world religions.
The final book of the Christian Bible is the Revelation, or Apocalypse, of St. John, telling of the day of Judgment and the second coming of Christ. This is framed as a vision granted to the apostle John by the angel Gabriel: a glimpse of the end of the world. In it, monsters and dragons appear, the world is consumed in several catastrophes, and then the divine crushes Satan forever and the promised heaven is revealed. The Book of Revelation is the quintessential example of apocalyptic literature, though it is hardly the only example of the genre: The Old Testament Book of Daniel contains apocalyptic visions in Chapters 7-12. This mode of storytelling was hugely popular in the early Christian world, but many of those stories (e.g., Enoch 3) were eventually dismissed as non-canon.
The summon list in Final Fantasy VII Remake is dramatically reduced from the original game, from 17 summons in Final Fantasy VII to a mere 6 in the remake. I argue that each of these in some way relates to the theme of destruction that the genre demands, and therefore can be read as support for the apocalyptic genre.
Ifrit: the term ifrit refers to a type of Arabic spirit, related to the category of jinn. Ideas of the ifrit vary dramatically based on region, but in rural Egypt, according to folklorist el-Sayad el-Aswad, an ifrit is the ghost of a person who was killed, and is tied to violent, destructive emotions. The ifrit and the rest of the soul will be reunited on the Day of Judgment.[2]
Shiva: Shiva is one of the three primary Hindu deities in the present day, alongside Brahma and Vishnu. While there is a lot of variation, many of the puranas describe Brahma as the creator of the world, Vishnu as its guardian, and Shiva as its destroyer.[3] (Side note: Shiva is male, not a magic ice lady, though he can merge with his wife into an androgynous deity).
Leviathan: This entity appears in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible as a destructive force that takes the form of a sea monster. Leviathan appears a few times in the Old Testament: the Book of Job describes how powerful he is, with flaming breath and impenetrable scales, while the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 27, claims that he will be slain on the Day of Judgment, linking him to the beings described in the Book of Revelation.[4]
Bahamut: Bahamut appears in the 13th-century Arabic cosmographies as a part of a very abstract conception of the world. In this conception, compiled by Edward Lane from al-Qazwini and Yakut al-Hamawi (and others), Bahamut/Balmut is a giant whale that supports a bull that supports an angel that supports the world, which is about as Discworld as you could ask for. Bahamut drinks the water that falls off the world,[5] and when he is full, he will become agitated and start the Day of Judgment.[6]
Each of these four, then, is related directly to the end of the world, though some play a more active role than others. This is suggestive, but even more so is the absence of a staple series summon, the lightning spirit Ramuh. Ramuh, or Rma, is one of the stereotypical princes-saving heroes in Indian mythology and an incarnation of Vishnu, the preserver of the world. Therefore, his presence would act counter to the destructive nature of the rest of the summons.
Sephiroth is, of course, an angelic figure by design. His single wing, though black instead of white, is the same shape as typical Renaissance angels, and his form in the original game looks much like a Seraph, one of the higher orders of angels.
It is fairly straightforward to interpret Sephiroth in this way, particularly in Final Fantasy VII Remake. It is not nearly as easy in the original Final Fantasy VII, where he is the source of fewer visions and his link to Cloud is left hidden until near the end of the game, long after Midgar is left behind.
This offers a test, a small revealed cataclysm. Since this really is the end of the world for the inhabitants of the destroyed slums, it also serves as a testament to the truth of the visions. Even if Sephiroth comes and goes like smoke, the visions themselves are things that will yet happen. This is the emotionally lowest point of the game; the game made Cloud and the player care about Sector 7, even though it showed what was coming. That is a crushing blow, and one that the game dwells in; the emotional suffering of this apocalypse is no whisper. At this point, there is no alternative, and the game will twist that knife one more time.
I have one final piece of evidence for classifying Final Fantasy VII Remake as apocalyptic literature. The very logo of the game shows Meteor, the incoming disaster. Meteor is a reference to medieval apocalypticism as well! The appearance of individual meteors or comets (i.e. those not in meteor showers like the Perseids) was perceived as a bad omen, presaging disasters.[8] Modernity has only strengthened this association, with the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs being the premier image of destruction. Therefore, even the central conflict of the Final Fantasy VII franchise is directly tied to apocalyptic imagery within the apocalyptic tradition.
Hope is in very short supply after Sector 7 falls. Sephiroth neglects to ever reveal what the world might look like after his apocalypse. All that exists ends with Meteor, it seems, and it is impossible to conceive of anything beyond the immediate goal of rescuing Aerith from Hojo. Even after that, destruction awaits.
Samsara and dharma are two extremely difficult terms to translate out of Sanskrit, but they are core ideas of Buddhist philosophy.[9] Samsara is the easier of the two: it is the cycle of death and rebirth, the endless reincarnation from which enlightenment allows us to escape. In the Buddhist tradition, life is, by definition, suffering, and all living beings are forced to endure this emotion-filled, sorrowful existence.
Dharma, however, is extremely difficult to translate. It refers to several things, but most importantly, it is the rules by which you can live a good life. There are eight broad strictures, from good acts to good mindfulness. Explaining them all here would be irrelevant, but it is crucial to understanding the path to enlightenment. The ultimate goal of dharma is the cessation of desire, at which point the true reality can be perceived and Nirvana attained.
So, what does this have to do with Final Fantasy VII Remake? Well, take a look at the design of Midgar. It consists of a circle, divided into eight, with a central tower. This design (segmented circle with central piece) is associated with the visual iconography of both samsara and dharma, though dharma offers the closer parallel.
This is a clear visual parallel to dharma, but the wheel of samsara only contains six sections! This, however, is no obstacle; Midgar is composed of two circles stacked. Sectors 6 and 7 are destroyed by the end of the game on the upper layer, but the game goes to great lengths to show Sector 7 being rebuilt. Therefore, the top circle contains 6 inhabited circles and the bottom contains 8, suggesting samsara weighing on dharma. This visual similarity offers grounds for further consideration of whether Midgar can be viewed as a metaphor for each of these concepts, and, if so, how to interpret the game in light of them.
The very center of this metaphorical wheel of samsara, then, is Shinra tower. This is entirely appropriate: people are trapped in samsara because of their desires, and nobody in the game desires more than the Shinra executives. They desire power with which to escape and found a new, better version of Midgar. However, ironically, their desire to achieve enlightenment, to reach the Promised Land, is the very thing keeping them trapped in the cycle.
Dharma can be seen in the way characters act. Throughout the game, NPCs can be heard complaining about the inconveniences that the plot (and life in general) inflicts upon them. One character never complains, though: Aerith. She is unerringly positive about the world around her, and that outlook shows. Everyone in Sector 5 likes Aerith, and she seems to even get along decently with the Turks!
By serving as this positive role model to everyone she meets, Aerith is filling the role of a bodhisattva, an enlightened human who endures samsara to guide others to salvation. This takes passive forms, by letting Cloud do some of the side quests in Chapter 8, but also more active forms, as immediately before the Whisper Harbinger fight. The Whispers cry out, and Aerith says:
Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I have argued, references two real-world religious traditions in its generic and visual design. On the one hand is Christian apocalyptic literature, representing the point of view of Sephiroth, and on the other is the Buddhist tradition of reincarnation and eventual escape. These two are not entirely exclusive, to be clear: the dread of the apocalypse is part of samsara, as it causes suffering and attachment. However, the ultimate visions are opposed: one perceives a singular calamitous ending, while the other foresees a continuation, a never-ending cycle.
And so, the battle against the Whisper Harbinger, while the Whispers swirl and howl like souls at Judgment, offers a resolution against the dread of the game. When Aerith asks them to, at the very edge of Midgar, the party makes a choice to step forward from under the shadow of the city and reject their fate, and so may be defiant against all reason. And indeed, it is a full rejection, as Aaron Suduiko has argued on the site. My reading of the Whispers and his exist in tandem; regardless of what the Whispers are, they promise Meteor. And so, defeating them and a version of Sephiroth, the party steps out into the open sunlight for the very first time, escaping the cycle of suffering Midgar stands for.
7fc3f7cf58