Sometimes stories with less lore... are better

I’ve been learning a lot of Sephiroth lore via the scripts of minor FFVII spin-off games in order to write fanfic, and I’m not sure I appreciate that this lore exists.

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What this additional lore suggests is that the Nibelheim incident happened because Jenova has been directly communicating with Sephiroth... through his 500yo special magical sword. I mean like. I guess??

Re: Sometimes stories with less lore... are better

My understanding of the Nibelheim incident is that Sephiroth was already close to the verge of a mental breakdown, and his chance encounter with certain aspects of Cloud’s character pushed him over the edge.

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In any case, the point of the original story is that the military-industrial complex is bad, because even people who are good at war are victims who can’t escape the cycle of trauma and violence.

In contrast, the idea that the Nibelheim incident happened because a space alien was using ghosts to talk to Sephiroth through his magical sword is fantasyslop that has no point at all. I could happily have lived the rest of my life without knowing this is canon.

Re: Re: Sometimes stories with less lore... are better

On a related note, it amuses me that the lore of so many Japanese fantasy stories boils down to:

1. There is an evil sealed underground.
2. Having discovered this site,
3. you could fuck around and find out,
4. but you really shouldn't.

Something I found out recently (in relation to a real estate scandal surrounding the 2021 Tokyo Olympics) is that there are actually hundreds of calamity-sealing underground shrines in Tokyo.

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