But to be honest, I don’t like the argument that weapons of the planet are helping/protecting Tifa…which makes it sound like she is the “chosen one”…
One thing I really like in Og is that Cloud and Tifa really just feel like nobodies…
I don't think it's the case of the weapons doing this because Tifa is some "chosen one" of the planet per se.
I think what the sequence is demonstrating is the planet, and therefore the weapons and the whispers of fate -- or maybe even Aerith in the Lifestream -- understand the utmost critical role Tifa is going to play in the upcoming struggle for not only the fate of the planet and the party but the fate of Cloud himself.
If we believe that Sephiroth and even Aerith have knowledge of future events, and basing what we know is likely going to happen in Part 3 from the OG game, there are going to be a big moments where the party need guidance, care, they need a leader and Tifa will be the one to step up, there are going to be moments where Tifa will face her own struggles but overcome them, and most critically there will be a time where Cloud will hollow out completely but then later find himself completely whole again -- both of these events are triggered and ultimately rest on the shoulders of the relationship between Cloud and Tifa.
Sephiroth knows that Tifa is the lynchpin to piecing together the real Cloud together again -- the real Cloud who goes on to defeat Sephiroth not once but once again in Advent Children -- nobody else is capable of helping Cloud this way because of their unique shared history and their unique unshared feelings between one another. Which, yes, even if some don't want to admit so, these are feelings of love, the romantic kind. Remake effectively demonstrated the complex and complicated dynamic between Cloud and Tifa exceptionally well -- but as of Rebirth, they've taken it a step further in a pretty lengthy stride in one direction, complex and complicated still, but also with a huge sense of longing and love mixed within. This is not only demonstrated through Cloud and Tifa themselves throughout their romantic arc in the game, which is full of the most classic and nuanced tropes you can possibly find in romantic fiction and cinema, but they also bring Sephiroth into the mix to really show the players (especially if they've never played the OG) just how important it is that these two remain as closely linked and as bonded as possible because the fate of themselves but also the planet depend on it.
So what you see in the Lifestream section rather then Tifa being hand selected as some "chosen one" is the planet/Aerith battling it out with Sephiroth to control the fate and the memories of Tifa going forward because if Tifa falters here, Cloud falters, they falter together, and fate is forever changed in Sephiroth's favour, this is why he's spent the better part of the game convincing Cloud she isn't real, sowing mistrust and discord. This is also why Tifa was made to relive her memory of realCloud coming to save her on the bridge and not abandoning her, because Cloud just attacked her, and whilst it's not in her character to hold against him actions he cannot control, she see's a reminder that realCloud is in no way shape or form that person and he would never do anything to hurt her under his own free will.
Sephiroth played a piece on the chess board in Gongaga in trying to push Cloud and Tifa further apart, only this time the planet/Aerith placed a piece back and used the situation to their advantage to ultimately push them closer together in the moment. Though we know that Sephiroth isn't finished because by the end of Rebirth he gets the last laugh and Cloud is pretty far gone and Tifa looks pretty distraught and upset and what she is seeing. But before this at the TOTA you see Sephiroth using a load of Black Whispers in an attempt to keep Tifa away from Cloud when he's manipulating him to attack Aerith, Tifa's influence is currently waning, Sephiroth said so himself in Gongaga with his "Your words can't reach him now" line, but that doesn't mean it's completely gone. Not only this but it's partially why I subscribe to the 'Aerith' is Sephiroth/Jenova theory at the Lake in the ending, this may turn out to be untrue but I almost get the sense Aerith smirking cruelly at Tifa as she looks upset is a sign from Sephiroth at how he has now been able to create such a big gap between Cloud and Tifa by the end of the game.
To round off my point though before I ramble on any further, Aerith and Zack are the "chosen ones" of Final Fantasy VII, they are the atypical fantasy heroes of such stories, what Final Fantasy VII does is flip that on it's head by having them support and ultimately sacrifice themselves in support of two country bumpkins turned hero's who's story and characters are so inextricably linked together that to have them apart means the damnation of the planet and the fruition of Sephiroth's plan.
I'm extremely excited to see what happens in the Lifestream sequence in the future and what this all means for it, but i'm envisioning an expanded sequence with their feelings explored even further than it was in the OG, because Rebirth has set it up this way. More extreme emotional turmoil before we get an satisfying emotional payoff in the Lifestream is what I envision.
Apologies for the lengthy post I realise you probably didn't need to read all this! It's just late and when I started typing I just couldn't stop haha.
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It was why it worked in the OG... New things and twists will definitely be added though, I have thought for a long time that it would be one chapter, seeing its length in the OG.
