cetra

If none of you know yet, Aerith was the last survivor of the Cetra race, also known as Ancients. They existed 2000 years prior to the time of Aerith's day. They were pretty much the first race on the planet and possessed mega magic powers and had special abilities to speak with the planet and those who have died and returned to the planet (ie, Aerith knowing of Elmyra's husband's death because his spirit returned to the planet). They were very in touch with nature and could hear and feel the pain of the planet, as if connected by some cord.

After the arrival of Jenova, the "Crisis of the Sky" they accepted her but were eventually deceived. Jenova had a bigger plan and gave all of the Cetra a virus that resulted in their extinction, save the few who lived; Aerith's mother, Ifalna was one of these people. Ifalna was a full blooded Cetra that married ex-Shinra scientist, Professor Gast. Together they had Aerith which began her epic story ... that actually didn't last very long.

So, you ask, what was it that was so special about the Cetra? Several things actually, which I said earlier. They have the ability to sense the planet's pain, speak to nature, and most importantly, they are the chosen people meant to lead everyone to the Promised Land which is believed to be a Utopia or in other words, paradise. Obviously Shinra wanted this badly; Mako is growing scarce, the planet is pretty much rotting away, and they seek a place where worry doesn't exist, hell I'd want that too.


symbolism and meaning

I never really took the time to notice some certain things while playing this game however, if I may, I would like to respectively point out some interesting facts and similarities between the Cetra and Judaism (the Hebrew's and the story of Moses). Now don't roll your eyes, I'm in no means trying to bring religion into this but I couldn't help noticing how alike these two races are. To start, I would like to discuss the deliverance of the Hebrews. As most of you can already see, The Promised Land that the Shinra were seeking is just like the Promised Land Moses was leading the Hebrews to, who, by the way, were ALSO the chosen people. This was to be a land of happiness, joy, and love; God's land, filled with plentiful things and let's just say it was also a Utopia. Moses, like Aerith was mistaken for someone he was not; they were both desired by people and were often wanted dead because of their potential threat. I wouldn't necessarily say that this is a similarity but the Hebrew's were obviously disliked and people didn't give a damn about them, they were all put to shame by being made slaves for the Pharaoh and the other Egyptians, the Cetra were probably feared by those lesser then them and were killed away by Jenova, so either way, both races were wanted dead in a nutshell.

Another thing I could relate this to is the Holocaust, I may be going a bit too far but I really wanted to use this one, and it has a lot of meaning and moral tied to it. In the Holocaust, 6 million Jews were mercilessly murdered by the Nazi's because they were feared and Hitler led people into believing that is was the Jews fault that their financial situations were so poor. Jenova, just like Hitler, took the initiative to get rid of the whole Cetra race. Hojo can also be brought into this, he was scientist who experimented on human beings and other things. During WWII, many Jewish babies and twins were experimented on in unnatural ways that would result in them being deformed or would kill them. It's sickening stuff; it's virtually a perversion of nature. Obviously the moral behind this is discrimination, it's not so black and white in this game but it's still there. There are so many different races and people within Final Fantasy 7 that how could we not notice it? At least everyone in FF7 is discriminated against, whether they have big boobs, red tails, stuffed animals under their control, spiky hair & ass, a gun arm, or if they smoke cigarettes. At least FF7 has some moral behind it, which is what makes it real in more ways then one.

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