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Having trouble understanding the Promised Land

JBoogie

Lv. 1 Adventurer
Hey guys, new user here.

Just wanted some clarification on what the Promised Land actually is. The way I'm understanding it, most of the characters believe in the Promised Land in a literal sense. Like an actual place. Whereas Aerith, the Cetra, and the people of Cosmo Canyon believe in it as a sort of peaceful ending of life's journey (aka joining the Lifestream). And Sephiroth initially interprets it as....both? Which is why he holes up in the Northern Crater and and why he wants to actively absorb the Lifestream.

Is that correct?
 
Don't worry, President Shinra didn't understand it either.

The Promised Land is, I think, "the place where I belong" or something like that: when you find your place in the world, you just know it. It could also mean whatever kind of existence Cetra enjoy, if that's the right word, in the afterlife.

The Northern Crater is not the promised land, though Rufus mistakenly assumes it is due to the abundant mako. It's an area of high mako concentration thanks to the calamity from the skies (Jenova) hitting the ground there 2,000 years earlier. He summons meteor to wound the planet, so that the lifestream will all rush to the spot in order to heal the wound, and he'll bathe in lifestream until he transforms into a god. Too bad his aim was off and Meteor was actually due to make landfall right on Midgar.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
My interpretation:

The Promised Land is the Lifestream. Dying and rejoining the Planet is the peaceful retirement of the Cetra myth. If their culture was all about fostering life and healing the soul of the Planet, the reward is rejoining with the oneness they have toiled over, the fruits of their labour welcoming them back, better off than it was when they were born.

The idea of a physical land abundant in mako is obviously Shinra’s flawed interpretation, whether due to mistranslation or just his inability to think about anything except material things. In a meta contextual sense, the term “Promised Land” evokes the biblical name for Israel, which can lead us as viewers to share this misinterpretation, but by the end of the game we’ve seen the whole planet, and there is no such place physically. So either the Cetra were flat-out wrong, or were using metaphor to describe the spiritual fulfillment of a death that comes at the end of a good life.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
The Promised Land is, I think, "the place where I belong" or something like that: when you find your place in the world, you just know it.

Pretty much. The Ultimania Omega put it as "The aim of the Cetra was to find the land where supreme happiness awaited. Passed down as an oral tradition, what the land of supreme happiness is supposed to be was never concretely identified."

The Northern Crater is not the promised land, though Rufus mistakenly assumes it is due to the abundant mako. It's an area of high mako concentration thanks to the calamity from the skies (Jenova) hitting the ground there 2,000 years earlier. He summons meteor to wound the planet, so that the lifestream will all rush to the spot in order to heal the wound, and he'll bathe in lifestream until he transforms into a god. Too bad his aim was off and Meteor was actually due to make landfall right on Midgar.

Interestingly enough, the Ultimania Omega observes that the crater was the Promised Land to both Shin-Ra and Sephiroth, but for different reasons. For the former, it was their land of abundant mako that flowed to the surface; for the latter, it was the place that provided him with enough energy to cast Meteor.

Presumably Seph aimed Meteor at Midgar on purpose, but who knows. :monster:

My interpretation:

The Promised Land is the Lifestream. Dying and rejoining the Planet is the peaceful retirement of the Cetra myth. If their culture was all about fostering life and healing the soul of the Planet, the reward is rejoining with the oneness they have toiled over, the fruits of their labour welcoming them back, better off than it was when they were born.

The idea of a physical land abundant in mako is obviously Shinra’s flawed interpretation, whether due to mistranslation or just his inability to think about anything except material things. In a meta contextual sense, the term “Promised Land” evokes the biblical name for Israel, which can lead us as viewers to share this misinterpretation, but by the end of the game we’ve seen the whole planet, and there is no such place physically. So either the Cetra were flat-out wrong, or were using metaphor to describe the spiritual fulfillment of a death that comes at the end of a good life.

That was the Cetra's Promised Land, yeah. The same book makes that observation, but adds "but this is not something that one can assert to be true for everyone. Therefore, it is in each person's hands to take their own interpretation."

Meanwhile, the 10th Anniversary Ultimania notes that Aerith's church becomes Cloud's Promised Land in the final scene of Advent Children because he's been freed of his guilt, he sees Denzel healed of geostigma, he knows Zack and Aerith are alright in the Lifestream, and he's surrounded by his friends and family.

The Promised Land really is just whatever means supreme happiness to whomever.
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
To that end, though it may be the victim of a flawed translation, I always found it intriguing the way Aeris says Ifalna said she would find "my promised land" in their Shinra Tower prison cells. It did add a layer of personal-ness that the other references seems to lack. And then Cloud and Tifa seem to reference it at the end as a personal place/state of mind where they can meet her.
 

Eerie

Fire and Blood
I feel that in the OG, it was clearly the after life. For the Cetras, becoming one with the Planet was their supreme goal, after a life of hardship. They would find peace and happiness in the Lifestream. Cloud and Tifa understood this at the end of the game, where they think they can meet their beloved ones who passed away - and think they will do so soon. So it is not a "place".

However in AC/C, Cloud's Promised Land is, I think, not the church in itself; it is indeed him finding and accepting that his place is with his family and friends, letting go of Aerith and Zack's memories as they go back to the Lifestream. It's a state of mind more than a "place" because once his friends and family will have left the church, his Promise Land won't be the church anymore. I think the distinction is very important because the Promise Land is not "a place", it is more a "'state of mind". Cetras find this state of mind when they pass and rejoin the Lifestream. Humans don't have that goal, so they can find it during their lives. For Cloud, whose psychological problems were so important in AC/C, finding this peace of mind meant to him that he found his Promise Land.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Well, yes, but wherever you physically are in that moment would be the place to designate as such, in as much as it matters. For Sephiroth and Shin-Ra, the Northern Crater wouldn't have been their Promised Land if not for what could be found there.
 

Eerie

Fire and Blood
But I think also that it was an error they both made and that's pointed out; they think they found the Promise Land, but it's not. They found a surge in the Lifestream, which serves their purpose, but does that make them truly happy? Well, we can guess that for Sephiroth, it does, but the point is that both Sephiroth and Shinra misconstruct what the Promise Land is, that they're wrong about it. And that is because the Promise Land is not a "place" but a "state of mind".

IMHO the OG really is about "it's the afterlife for the Cetras", it's not a place that makes them happy, it's the fact that they've found their ultime happiness that makes it the Promise Land. Both Sephiroth and Shinra conflate it to the Lifestream, however the Cetra did not commit suicide by jumping into the Lifestream to find happiness ^^' I'm not sure if I'm being very clear there, sorry for the rambling. But we're supposed to guess that Sephiroth and Shinra "get it wrong" because their approach is wrong. It's about finding peace and happiness. Tying it to a place is the wrong way of seeing it, as the OG pointed it with the "bad guys" who all made that same mistake.
 

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
@ForceStealer It's definetly personalized to Aerith. The information *surrounding* it is very interesting though, in terms of translation differences.

This line
Someday I'll get out of Midgar... Speak with the Planet and find my Promised Land.
Is actually a quote from Ifalna. It's in the context of Midgar not being a good place to hear the Planet anymore (except from the Church). It's not in the first person, but something Ifalna told Aerith to do. Aerith also remarks she thought she wouldn't be able to here it (the Planet probably) when she grew up.

Regardless, the implication is that the "Promised Land of Aerith" is both personalized to Aerith and something she is to continually do. It's not something she will find once she dies.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
IMHO the OG really is about "it's the afterlife for the Cetras", it's not a place that makes them happy, it's the fact that they've found their ultime happiness that makes it the Promise Land. Both Sephiroth and Shinra conflate it to the Lifestream, however the Cetra did not commit suicide by jumping into the Lifestream to find happiness ^^'
By that same token, they weren't in any particular hurry to die by some means to get to the afterlife. XD

This line
Someday I'll get out of Midgar... Speak with the Planet and find my Promised Land.
Is actually a quote from Ifalna.
It's probably a paraphrasing, but definitely not a quote. For quotations, the game uses double brackets, e.g. in Aerith's lines shortly before that when she says "The Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet"; and "The Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness."
 
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