Jenova's True Form

trash panda

---m(O.O)gle---
AKA
Howl
First of all, I am having issues with all of the images that I have collected for this post, so retrieve them yourself from FF Wiki. :awesome:

I placed this topic in the Pre-Crisis forum since it pertains to events preceding any of the FF7 compilation whatnots.

I’ve done some forum-crawling, Googling, and I’ve explored some fan art relating to this topic and I have yet to find a satisfactory answer to my question:
What does Jenova look like?

The Jenova that we see in the FFVII universe takes on several forms. The most notable being the bluish woman contained in the Mako tank. Popular theory seems to be that this is how Jenova looked when it was using its mimic capabilities to take on the form of a Cetra before it was defeated and/or restrained by the Cetra. It is known that Jenova appeared to the Cetra in the form of fallen loved ones in order to become closer to them. If you look at the blue woman in the Mako tank, there is no way that a Cetra would be fooled into thinking that this grotesque looking eyeball-nippled thing with its organs on the outside of its body was one of their loved ones. Ergo, I believe that Jenova was trying to mimic one of its adversaries immediately before it was defeated which is why it looks like a human female in FFVII, but there is another explanation for the external organs…

Similar to what I mentioned about the Cetra being fooled by Jenova’s mimic abilities…there is no way that professor Ghast unearthed this thing and assumed that it was one of the Cetra. If I unearthed this thing in my back yard, I would probably light a fire to it because it looks disgusting and only moderately human, but not nearly enough so for me to want to keep it around and find out.

In other words, I think that Jenova’s organs are on the outside of her body because the Mako that she is encased in has had some sort of effect on her over time. It seems to me that when she was defeated by the Cetra and when she was unearthed by Ghast, she looked like a regular old Cetra with no odd qualities like eyeballs on her nipples.

Her first three battle forms (Birth, Life, & Death) are all similar in appearance. If I recall correctly, these three forms were manifested with physical pieces of Jenova’s body. I remember on the Cargo Ship, Jenova Birth left behind “Jenova’s Arm”. The only difference I can see between these three forms is a swap in color palette. I think that this is where we first start to get an idea what Jenova actually looks like. Her battle forms seem to be the severed parts of her body trying to revert to their original form, no?

At last, the final form of Jenova that we encounter is Jenova Synthesis in the Northern Crater. There are two popular theories regarding her final appearance.
Theory # 1 is that this is the form taken on by the last remaining part of her body which was last possessed by Sephiroth during the Nibelheim incident; her severed head.
Theory #2 is that this is the form taken on by all of the reunited Jenova cells after The Reunion.

Supposedly, again according to theory, Jenova Synthesis is as close as we get to seeing Jenova’s actual form, but I don’t think that this is how it looks by a long shot. If theory #1 is true, then this is only a fragment of Jenova and there is no way for it to revert to its original form with so much of its body missing, right? If theory #2 is true, there are still many pieces of Jenova’s body missing (the pieces used to create Birth, Life, and Death). There are also many ‘clones’ who did not survive their journey to the Northern Crater, aren’t there?

There is one final theory that does provide a plausible answer, which is that Jenova is in fact the alien from John Carpenter’s The Thing.
...But I refuse to agree with this…

If I have provided any information that is wrong, please correct me.
What are your opinions on Jenova's true appearance? Do you think that Jenova can revert to its original form with so much of its body missing?
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
All we know for sure (thanks to VII's Ultimania Omega) is that SYNTHESIS is identified as the form closest to completion, consisting of the head and other parts that had been in Shin-Ra's possession (presumably the main body and the cells from the copies who made it to the crater). If Jenova even has a "true form" is unclear.
 

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
Anther reason her organs could be all over the place is because somebody (Hojo probably) did an autopsy on her and then just stuck all the parts into a mako tube. Then Reunion does it's work and connects the parts together but since Jenova is a shape-shifter, the placement doesn't really mater.
 

Novus

Pro Adventurer
I don't like the idea of Synthesis being a more accurate rendition of Jenova because it has a female torso whereas the birth, life and death lack this.
In my sci-fi addled brain, I think it should be further away from any type of anthropomorphism we are aware of.

As for Jenova in the tank, she had been in stasis in the ice. So that body was preserved, overtime it started to become its natural self again, if it had been kept long enough it may have reverted to its original form.

There was an interesting discussion a while back actually whether the Jenova flesh itself can be assumed to be spirit energy from another planet, similar to Sin and its Sin-Spawn (except sin isn't from another planet, its founder Yu Yevon is terrestrial). So there isn't even a form, just parasitic energy.
 

trash panda

---m(O.O)gle---
AKA
Howl
An even more interesting question is:
Who's form was she trying to mimic when she died? Just a random Cetra?

I agree with Novus. Synthesis isn't my favorite possibility of Jenova's truest form. It seems like it is still trying to appear human in this form because of the torso. I actually think the Birth/Life/Death forms are more interesting than Synthesis.

Nothing is as bad as FFX Spoiler:
Yu Yevon's ultimate form, being a tick and whatnot.
 

Dashell

SMILE!
AKA
Sonique, Quexinos, Pinkie Pie, Derpy Hooves
Jenova∙DEATH, referred to as Jenova-DEATH in the BradyGames guide
Well thank god the wiki cleared that up :monster:

but I always thought her true form or the one she used most (because I don't think she really has a TRUE form) was the one was saw in the tank. I'm not against Jenova Synthesis being her true form... but just to be honest, I don't think she has one.

also:
Summoning Knights of the Round during this battle will give the main body of Bizarro∙Sephiroth an extra 60,000 HP and Safer∙Sephiroth‎ an extra 80,000 HP.
I did not know that... good thing I never did that XD
 

Roger

He/him
AKA
Minato
I don't think it's right to reject the idea that people would believe Jenova is a Cetra in the form she's in while in the tank. Sephiroth believed it. AVALANCHE believed it. Aerith fights Jenova several times, she never brings up that she doesn't seem all that Cetra like to her.
 

Dashell

SMILE!
AKA
Sonique, Quexinos, Pinkie Pie, Derpy Hooves
So that's what the Cetra really looked like? I figured they were just humans with special powers... I mean isn't Aerith one? O_o

Or do I not understand your point?
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I always kinda liked that Ifalna refers to the Calamity of the Skies as a "he" at one point. I know that's just a localization screw-up, but it hammered home the shape-shifting thing :monster:

And I always imagined the Cetra looked just like other humans. Maybe they would have some Cetran features like a race, but none of the characters has really seen one. Not Sephiroth or Avalanche, and Aerith knows only knows her mother. But WE'VE seen Ifalna and she looked normal.

But then..there's whatever that is in the Temple of the Ancients :wacky:
 

Roger

He/him
AKA
Minato
So that's what the Cetra really looked like? I figured they were just humans with special powers... I mean isn't Aerith one? O_o

Or do I not understand your point?

I don't think that's what they looked like but since we only ever met two Cetras and they are mother and daughter it's entirely possible that they come in all shapes and sizes. And Jenova was discovered before Ilfana, they really didn't know what was what yet back then.

I mean, Red XIII and Bugenhagen are entirely different and probably aren't related but it's no coincidence that they follow up the reveal that Red XIII ages much slower then humans with Bugenhagen himself being well over a hundred years old. Who knows what the deal is with their species.
 

Cat Rage Room

Great Old One
AKA
Mog
So that's what the Cetra really looked like? I figured they were just humans with special powers... I mean isn't Aerith one? O_o

Or do I not understand your point?

He's saying that since nobody mentioned above has ever seen a Cetra at the time, it's easy to believe that Jenova may have been one since they would have had nothing else to compare her against.
 

Yuri Lowell

Pro Adventurer
Novus and OP raise interesting questions. I like to think the tubes were meant as a restraining mechanism though I could well be wrong. I wonder if mako infusion could keep the Jenova cells at bay in a Soldier member by the same logic?

If Jenova has some degree of shapeshifting ability then we should consider that there are motivations involved in the forms it takes. Why did it suddenly have the power to change it's shape to Synthesis but didn't before? I might have missed a vital detail.
 

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
I'm surprised no one considered the idea that Jenova might be similar to a L'Cie.

Basically, nigh immortal, bound to something, able to change shapes to suit its needs (similar to how L'Cie can sometimes become Eidolons in and of themselves like Ragnarok or Chaos Bahamut), able to become like crystal (aka hibernate, as she was in a rock stratum).

It all fits to some degree if you ask me.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Eh, I don't know. Jenova was found "mummified," whatever that means, not crystallized, and being able to change to a single specific form is one thing, but to any form is quite another.

I maintain that the most similar creature to Jenova within the FF series is Sin. John Carpenter's Thing, of course, is the most similar anywhere.
 

Lord Kesharq

Late night user(coffee!)
AKA
Lostlord, Lewisito
Wait dont all the FF games take place in the same universe? if so it is possible in a way that Jenova was a creature from one of the other FF games/world when u think about it. After all ts not like there have been a few things in games that link them together with others (like what thingy in ffx said about drawing enegry from the planet which is a nod towards ff7).

Sorry random thinking.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Some definitely take place in the same universe (e.g. FFVII and FFX), some probably do (FFIII and FFVIII) and others definitely don't (FFXIII, FFXV and FFType-0 all take place in distinctly different realities that are mutually exclusive). The name of the Interdimensional Rift that Gilgamesh makes use of to travel between different FF titles also points to there being different dimensions/universes across the series.
 

Lord Kesharq

Late night user(coffee!)
AKA
Lostlord, Lewisito
Hmmm thanks for that info Squall, so it does techincally mean Jenova is a creature from another game in that Universe (or maybe another if interdimensional rift travle was possible for more than just Gilgamesh).
 

jazzflower92

Pro Adventurer
AKA
The Girl With A Strong Opinion
It would be fun if they made Jenova as a guest character on Dissidia. Maybe Chaos restores her to a blue skinned humanoid white haired form. Its just so the Chaos side could have more females.
 

Alice

The Persistent Flourish
Huh, I never actually thought about this. Interesting. I guess I'm going with the theory that there is no true form, as well. The image of blue and female Jenova is probably going to continue to stick in my head, though.

With or without its head.
 

Lifebond

Lv. 25 Adventurer
AKA
The Green Hat
I see a similarity with Jenova's form in the Mako tank.

The skin on it is like a caprice, or like a bug's shell or something.

It's IMO if the Mako tank Jenova had the rest of it's body. It would look strikingly similar to Choas

I mean drop Chaos into a tank of Mako for a REALLY long time.

Would it's skin / shell absorb the Mako, and look similar to a Mako-Logged Jenova?
 
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Lifebond

Lv. 25 Adventurer
AKA
The Green Hat
Wait a second, Chaos was dunked into a tank wasn't he? when vincent was dead in the tank?

You are right about Starling, my bad. Got the Lifestream confused with Forgotten Lake.
 
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