Lore covers the story of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, setting, and world that the game is in. This page features the backstory and elements that add depth and richness to the game.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Lore
The Cetra
Thousands of years ago, there was a race called the "Cetra" that inhabited the planet. The Cetra were a magical race that had the ability to hear the cries of the planet as well as to communicate with it. At some point, while they walked on the planet, their race took part in a challenging journey that caused their race to be divided into two parties - a party that wanted to settle down was called humans and the other which wanted to continue their expedition which was known as the ancients.
Jenova
2,000 years before the game starts off with Cloud and AVALACHE's infiltration mission, a mystical alien crashed and lands upon the planet, and created a gash on the surface called, the northern crater. This being that was known as the "calamity from the skies", carried a virus that infected the Cetra which caused them to turn into monsters, is Jenova. Almost all of the ancients were wiped out during their expedition, while the humans who settled in an area were safe from Jenova's wrath.
As Jenova unleashed its wrath upon the planet, five huge defenders (weapons) were created by the planet to defend itself and resist Jenova, however, despite the countless loss of the ancients, a small group of surviving Ancients was able to resist Jenova and succeeded in locking her within the northern crater and ended the catastrophe, thus the guardians created by the planet weren't used but instead, it slowly healed itself from the damages done by Jenova by using its life energy - the process of the planet using its life energy to heal itself takes thousands of years, and by the time Cloud's story begins, the planet, unfortunately, has not yet fully healed.
Shinra Corporation
Before the beginning of the game, human civilization started to evolve, adapt, learn and at some point, flourished, and technological advancements were created. A corporation called the Shinra Electric Company surfaced and stood as the planet's sole energy provider for decades. And in order for Shinra to create energy, the company utilizes and draws out the planet's lifestream called, Mako or Mako Power, Mako is the energy and mystical force shared by the planet and all living things. During this period of time where Shinra harvested Mako, they were also able to branch out and develop a crystallized form of highly condensed Mako known as Materia, an extremely valuable property that granted the user magical properties.
Since Shinra became successful as being the planet's sole energy provider, the company used its earnings and resources to create more branches such as military, urban development, astronomical, and communications. This lead to even more success of the company and officially transitioned from Shinra Electric Company to the Shinra Corporation.
With even more resources, Shinra began a project of reconstructing Midgar, the central government of the world, alongside its eight sectors. Although the corporation focused in the center part of Midgar, eight reactors were built around the eight sector's perimeters which provided power to Midgar itself. During this period of time, Shinra also formed a special operations force called the Turks that carried out challenging missions and acted as the company's unit of investigation, public safety, and general affairs.
With all of the corporation's success of branching out various units and becoming the world's sole energy provider, Shinra was able to maintain power over the world and further seeks to dominate the world by finding the "Promised Land", a mystical realm that is believed to hold unlimited Mako and at some point, to build a new Midgar on the Promise Land. And according to legends, only the ancient ones are capable of finding the location of the Promise Land - in line with this, Shinra uses all of its resources and technology to find any living Ancient Cetra or those who are of descent.
The Birth of a False and True Cetra
About 30 years prior to the start of the game, a scientist named Gast Faremis, the head of Shinra's Science and Development unit and his team which included fellow scientists and assistants Professor Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent, discovered and excavated Jenova's body. Upon recovering the alien's body, Gast set up a research laboratory in the Shinra Mansion on the outskirts of Nibelheim and during his research, he believed and came to the conclusion that Jenova is a Cetra descent. At some point Lucrecia Crescent and Professor Hojo fell for one another and later on, Hojo impregnated Lucrecia. Upon Gast learning of Lucrecia's pregnancy, the couple was asked to be part of an experiment where the cells of Jenova will be injected into the womb to create a child of what they would believe to be half-human and "half-cetra" descent, without hesitation, the two agree to the procedure, and later, their supernatural child, Sephiroth was born, and Lucretia shortly after. For some reason, her body was preserved by the Jenova cells inside a crystal located in a cave near Nibelheim - Hojo, then injected lies to Sephiroth and told him that his mother's name is Jenova and nothing more.
With the immoral ethics of Professor Hojo, Gast Faremis decided to leave and continue his research somewhere else. During his expedition, he meets the last remaining female ancient named Ifalna and takes her to an Icicle Inn for further study. There, Iflana entrusted Gast with all the information she could tell him, and eventually, the two fell in love and conceived a baby girl, Aerith. The couple remained hidden from the Shinra Corporation during the time Ifalna was pregnant and gave birth, but eventually, Professor Hojo was able to track them down just a few days after Aerith was born. Hojo demanded the mother and daughter to be given to them, but when Gast resisted, he was gunned down and the two were captured and taken to a Shinra Lab where countless tests were done to both Ifalna and Aerith.
Both Ifalna and Aerith were held captive and experimented on for several years, during those years, Ifalna provided Aerith with the White Materia and thought her how to use Holy. At some point, Ifalna was able to escape the Shinra Lab with Aerith and made it towards the train station of Midgar Sector 7 where Ifalna collapses due to her fatal wounds. There, she meets a woman named Elmyra Gainsborough who was also by the station waiting for her husband to return from the Wutai War and discovers them, before her last breath, she entrusts Aerith to Elmyra and tells her to take her somewhere safe - Elmyra then promises to protect her and raises her as her very own and takes Aerith with her.
Nibelheim
For about 21 years prior to the beginning of the game, Cloud Strife was born in Nibelheim as well as Tifa Lockhart, the two technically grew up together but were never close due to their different attitude. Cloud was an introvert who preferred to being alone, while Tifa was an extrovert and was more outgoing and friendly amongst the other children in the village. When they were about teenagers, Tifa's mother died and denied the fact that her mother has passed away, she then decided to go on an expedition to the Nibelheim mountains where she believes that she would see her mother if she is able to cross and climb up the mountains, she then asks Cloud to join him and to protect her if she needs help.
The two ventured out to Nibelheim mountains, and upon crossing a bridge, the two fell off and almost died. Cloud was able to survive the fall, but Tifa was badly wounded and needed help. He was able to get help from the villagers, but Tifa's father and the other villagers accused him of bringing Tifa to the mountains as well as getting her killed, from that point, Cloud promised himself that he wanted to become stronger so that he could protect Tifa. Later, Cloud discovers and learns about Sephiroth's accomplishments and boldness which led him to join SOLDIER - when it was time, Cloud left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER while Tifa countlessly checked the newspaper for news about Cloud as well as asking some Shinra personnel that visited the village if they heard about a rookie named Cloud, unfortunately, Tifa never heard about Cloud and unaware that he never made it to SOLDIER and instead became a Shinra Infantryman.
