Last week we talked about what happened with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. If you missed that, you should start with that read first, by going here. This time, we’re going to talk about those spirits, spectres what we later know them as “Whispers” that you come across during your time with the game.
But what exactly are they and what purpose do they serve? That’s what we’re here to explain and of course, this also means there will be spoilers just like last time. So abandon ship now or risk being spoiled, ok?
What the heck are those things?
As you play Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you’ll encounter and sometimes fight these spirits (Enigmatic Spirit and Mysterious Spectre) that appear out of now where. Initially, they just seem like something that Shinra is sending against you. Or so you think until you progress further into the game and realize that’s not the case. They’re also new to this Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and they weren’t around in the original game.
Another interesting fact is they only seem to appear when events that occur in the game are either different in the remake or have a different outcome. In other words, when Final Fantasy 7 Remake starts to deviate is when these spirits start showing their faces. What’s even more interesting as they’re also referred to as “Whispers” or “Whispers of Time”.
At various times, we’re told that the characters’ fate or destiny is already written and there’s no changing that. However, when one does attempt to change their fate, these spirits arrive to make sure everything goes as expected. If anything, they signify that things are going to be quite different when Final Fantasy 7 Remake, or at least the first episode, is going to be quite different from the original game.
How so?
Several major events in the remake occur that would have changed things for the worst, along with multiple minor parts. So let’s look at several key moments.
Sephiroth stabbing Barrett into the back during the Shinra HQ arc.
This never happened in the original game, and Barrett is one of the main characters of Final Fantasy 7. Killing him off so early would have changed the original Final Fantasy 7 timeline and changed the fate or destiny going forward. When he does get impaled by Sephiroth, a “Whisper” jumps into Barrett’s body and saves him, leaving everyone confused as to what just happened.
Thankfully, I didn’t want the best character to die.
Saving the gang during the Shinra HQ escape
While Cloud, Tift, Barrett, Red 13 and Aerith are fleeing the Shinra HQ, they are attacked on the highway. During the boss event and after defeating it, things take turn for the worse and everything except for Cloud are nearly killed by the body of the defeated boss. If it wasn’t for the interaction of these spirits, they would have died and again, they can’t have that.
Potentially killing off Wedge
Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge die during the Sector 7 plate drop in the original game, as did most of Sector 7 slums population. While it looks as if Jessie and Biggs still flow the original timeline, Wedge survived and complicated things. If it wasn’t for the intervention of Wedge, most of those people would be dead, now they’re alive though in bad shape. I’d take bad shape over dead, any day. You can imagine the “Whispers” weren’t too thrilled about that.
So when Wedge joins the team during the Shinra HQ arc, the “Whispers” get their chance to fix the timeline by attempting to toss Wedge out of the Shinra HQ building and seemingly to his death. I say, seemingly, as the camera fades to black and all we hear is glass breaking. While Wedge mentions he wanted to make a difference. We don’t see him die like we did Jessie and Biggs. So there’s a chance he lives.
Of course, they also tried to hinder the team during several points during the game. There are several occurrences of this, but we don’t want to spoil too much of the game. But you get the point, they don’t like change, so they’re trying to stop you from changing stuff.
A shocking revelation
Now, it’s speculation time. For those who beat the game, you’ll find out several shocking revelations. The first being those massive spirits you fight in the end are “Whispers” that are not only from another timeline, but they resemble Cloud, Tifa and, Barrett. Not in form, but how they fight and their weapons. It’s as if fighting yourself from another timeline, perhaps the original Final Fantasy 7. Should you use the Access material on them it means they’re tormented spirits from a different time. Again, the “Whispers” are attempting to fix what you and Sepiroth have been changing ever since you sat down to play Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
While you fight those things and defeat one, visions of the past such as the original Final Fantasy 7 game and other events such as Final Fantasy: Advent Children, are broadcasted into the minds of the characters. As if you’re witnessing the timeline that was before you started changing things. Such as Cloud seeing the vision of Reunion, Aerith’s death, the meteor shrinking the planet and more.
When you beat them, you are changing the timeline from the original game and the game wastes no time showing you what you did. Fans of Final Fantasy 7 know the story of Zack; Aerith’s boyfriend that she mentioned once in the game, and Cloud’s fellow Solider. In the original game, he dies while carrying a wounded Cloud to Midgar while being ambushed by dozens of Shinra baddies. Once you kill off those massive “Whispers”, you’ll see during the ending that Zack is live (in his timeline) and that we’re seeing the timelines collapse onto each other. As Cloud and Aerith are standing around at the end, we see a vision of Zack and Cloud pass between them. Somehow I got the feeling that Aerith and Zack felt each other. Then again, maybe that was just me.
So many changes to the original game.
Which means, going forward, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is more of a reimagining of the original game, not remake. What happens now can be completely different than the story many of us played in the past. Which also sets up several key events that may or may not transpire. Such as Aerith’s death, as she could survive now. This could also explain how Biggs is now alive, as his future has also changed. When we last saw him, he looked as he was on death’s door. Could Jessie and Wedge also be alive?
As stated during the final credits roll, “The unknown journey will continue.” Which is unknown, as history has been rewritten. This could also mean why the game isn’t called Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 1. Is the game even considered Final Fantasy 7 now that we’ve busted the timeline?
We’ll just have to wait, hopefully not too long, for the next part of the series to be released. For now, we have no window or date as to when we can expect the game to be released, but chances are it will still be a few years away.
Thanks for reading and we’ll have plenty of other Final Fantasy 7 Remake pieces to make your mind boggle.
