Who owns these wings ?

[S.L.Kerrigan]

I was watching a video of Dirge of Cerberus and this scene makes me wonder about Omega's winged design.

Among the fan community it seems to me that wings have often been considered as the genetic mark of Jenova (a physical modification caused by the presence of extra-terrestrial cells). Yet in Crisis Core Angeal and Genesis have wings as well, but they're said to be the children of Gillian, a woman who appears to be quite ordinary. Nothing seems to make us understand that Gillian would also be an alien.

This observation would allow me to question the fact that the Omega wings would be the result of the contamination of its "organism" by Jenova. In my opinion, it could very well be part of its original definition.

The scene I linked above and that happens at the conclusion of DoC shows us apparently a vision of Omega whose wings are about to decompose. A kind of allegory of defeat or rather victory of humanity on this entity (heroic musical theme). But what does this entity really represent, is it more Jenovesque or Lifestreamesque. Who has really been defeated? (Well Jenova has already been defeated, but some say that her legacy is still present in some form)

In Crisis Core Genesis tells Zack that the Loveless play could be related to the Lifestream, also I do not think I knew of any part that would explicitly refer to Jenova. Yet there is this paragraph in the piece that refers to wings:

"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
Pride is lost
Wings stripped away, the end is nigh "

This stanza could possibly echo this vision of Omega in the sky.

What do you think? What do these wings represent for you? Who / What would be the origin?

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I'll tell you what the canon is.

Back in the days when Faremis Gast was head of Shinra's science department, both Hojo and Hollander were running projects to reproduce the (supposedly) extinct race of Ancients. Hollander's project was called Project G after Gillian (his lab assistant? A Shinra scientist?), who, IIRC, donated the egg for Genesis, and was Angeal's actual mother. Both these boys were either injected with or spliced with or exposed to Jenova cells. Hojo's project was called Project S and resulted in Sephiroth. Hojo's project was deemed the most successful; he inherited the science department when Gast left, and Hollander eventually allied with Lazard and betrayed the company out of resentment at having been passed over for promotion.

Of course the joke is on them because real Ancients were and are just ordinary human beings who have cultivated the ability to converse with the Planet.

Gillian is no more an alien than Lucrecia is, but all three of the boys have Jenova cells in them. Hollander's second-rate methods are confirmed when his products - Angeal and Genesis - start breaking down. Sephiroth does not seem to have the copy ability that Genesis and Angeal have. I don't know what the explanation is for this. Possession of one wing seems to be an indicator that the individual's genetic make-up has been contaminated with Jenova DNA, but Cloud never grows a wing for some reason.

Your theory doesn't make much less sense than canon does.

 

[Roger]

Gillian was injected with Jenova cells, Genesis had Gillian's gene spliced with his at the fetal stage, Angeal was born to Gillian. Angeal and Genesis got Gillian's mutated Jenova genes, Hollander and Lazard got them third-hand. Gillian got Jenova cells as an adult, like Zack or any other SOLDIER, Sephiroth got Jenova cells as a fetus. Grew up with them as much larger part of his makeup. Cloud's lack of outward change from the S-cells is disappointing yeah, but in the OG game he just had Jenova cells. Crisis Core tried to make it all do too much.

 

[youffie]

Wait, genuine question, if Gillian got injected with Jenova cells and had Angeal at a later time, does that mean that if Cloud had children they’d be like Angeal? I'm a bit fuzzy on Crisis Core.

 

[Roger]

Wait, genuine question, if Gillian got injected with Jenova cells and had Angeal at a later time, does that mean that if Cloud had children they’d be like Angeal? I'm a bit fuzzy on Crisis Core.

"But you Angeal, you were actually bred inside Gillian's body."

I suppose the children of any female SOLDIERS would logically end up like Angeal. But Angeal and Genesis themselves seemed perfectly normal until they join SOLDIER and undergone further treatment.

 

[S.L.Kerrigan]

Thank you very much for your answers.

That's right, Hollander tells that Angeal and Genesis have been hybridized with Jenova Cells, I forgot that part.
This makes a good point against my theory.
Now I found another clue maybe to try to reinforce it. These lines from finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Minerva:

Minerva is a character from Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. She is implied to be related to Gaia's consciousness, and is interpreted by Genesis Rhapsodos as the goddess of LOVELESS.

I can observe that Minerva has similar wings too in a lot of representations (Crisis Core's).
So maybe it's a draw.

I'm trying, like many, to discover the true nature of the "Gift of the Goddess". I reviewed: life, death, war, nuclear power/weapons, peace, nature, knowledge, love, sin...
In the end I think it's life.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I think it's just as simple as "gods" (i.e. Lifestreams, their devourers, and their respective agents) in this cosmology have angel wing motifs.

 

[Clement Rage]

I don't think those thing are linked. Omega just has wings because it flies away when it has absorbed the lifestream. Genesis and Angeal's wings only manifest as evidence something has gone wrong with them. Angeal regards his as evidence of inhumanity. Maybe it's something like the mutations Mako invokes in general, something about their genetic makeup leads to that specific mutation, as opposed to, say, tentacles, or going ageless like Shelke.

 

[S.L.Kerrigan]

We see this allegory of Omega's defeat (the ultimate weapon of the Lifestream) whose wings are being stripped away.
This is a rather sad vision I find at least in its semantics. Yet we see it just after being shown a panorama on a nature in full health.
Could this contrast mean that the Lifestream really wanted to leave the planet (maybe manipulating Hojo in order to trigger it this time) but that it was prevented from doing so and that it continues to develop/bloom on this planet against its will?