Bugenhagen says earlier with holy the planet will decide if mankind will survive, but holy doesn't go that way. I think Aerith has the final say there. I think it's often seen as an ambiguous ending but I think the answer that humanity survived is right there for you to figure out.
Humanity is the reason the planet got that way in the first place. It's not a black and white situation. From our human point of view, aka the characters, they spend quite some time wondering if humanity will be one of the things that Holy decides is harming the planet.
Who said she tried to prevent Holy from killing everyone? She doesn't control Holy. She controls the lifestream so that Holy can do it's thing regardless of her wants and desires. And the ambiguity of the situation is the point, the lack of a definitive answer.
To be fair even though Hojo helped her have a son, Jenova is the not human, the one who triggered the events of why meteor comes. That current crisis isn't exactly one caused by humans.
It's fair to say Aerith is in control by the end, holy wasn't working. It wouldn't be as personal and empowering otherwise when we see her face repeated from the intro.
tbh that was a joke I accidentally hit post before finishing.
I would find the ending feels misguided if the planet decided to fuck over humanity for different mistakes because of something Jenova began. The cetra in the promised land, or the lifesteam, once turned on each other too because of Jenova's virus, it would be hypocritical of them to punish humanity for the current events. If that's simply what happened, it would take away from their enigmaticness and make the lifestream look petty and vindictive.
I know, I thought the cetra may had a larger voice, because of how they record through pools in the temple of the ancients and how Aerith is depicted as influencing it because she's a cetra.
would y gen petty and vindictive towards the people literally sucking the life out of you? It's not just about Shinra. The average person was apathetic. Every light, machine, phone call, etc. was at the expense planet.
VII is overall a more hopeful game than that, and if they're going to destroy humanity, they don't need to use Jenova, Sephiroth and meteor as a petty excuse when they're not even human. (Sephiroth was, but Cloud killed that one when he took a hit from the masamune)
I honestly think applying human morality to the lifestream and the spell itself is muddying the waters. Meteor for example, doesn't have a will, it's a spell that has no purpose other than to destroy. Holy is the opposite. It has no purpose other than to protect from any threats. Now what happens when that protection finds out about the people apathetically sucking the life out of the planet? It doesn't decide, "humanity is bad." It only serves one function "protect the planet from any and all threats." That's the question FFVII raises. Would a spell like Holy deem humanity to be a threat even if we as people know that not all people are bad? And the idea of humanity dying isn't in an of itself a dreadful dark ending, because we know for a fact everyone would be in the lifestream. FFVII canonically has an afterlife. Everyone would go there if holy destroyed humanity. That is in and of itself hopeful and comforting in a game that is all about coping with the idea of processing death.
Why would it let Red live if Holy determined Humanity is a threat, and he was working to save them?
I never played Dirge, but in Advent Children people are getting sick from geostigma. It could be the start of the culling of humanity. I don't remember the details well so maybe not.
Thanks for the explanation. So was Geostigma destroyed when Cloud defeated Sephiroth at the end, or is it still making people sick?
Red is no more an animal than humanity is, and he was directly working against the planet's interests at the end of the game by trying to save them. Holy being something that isn't selective, but also making an exception for Red doesn't play together.
Well to be fair I think he'd have a hard time building a Mako reactor without opposable thumbs.
