Old thread is old.
But I has some disjointed thoughts that I'd like to add to it.
This is fairly tangential, but:
I think he is a man with a few mental problems, pre-Nibelheim, but clearly not debilitating ones. Mostly emotional, and no doubt rooted with Hojo.
Don’t forget that his mother was a bucket of crazy also.
And that sort of thing is inheritable. Hell, I got my mental disorders from my mother, who got them from hers, and it’s something that will make you ineligible for donating eggs. (Something they maybe should have considered before deciding Lucrecia was prime biological mother material for their prized experiment, but obviously if they thought Hojo was a-okay for supplying the other half of the DNA I don’t think they screen for crazy very thoroughly.)
Vincent describes Lucrecia as “emotional and stubborn.” I mean, I don’t think we need to look too deeply into DoC’s portrayal of her or even a brief summary to surmise she had some fucked up emotional issues.
But what I do think, that maybe isn’t clearly stated or even thought much about one way or the other, is that Lucrecia’s mental/emotional issues are not solely a case of “Well Shitty Event X happened and resulted in Batshit Behavior Y á lá cause and effect.” That would be rational. No one has ever accused Lucrecia of being rational—not even Vincent. Rather, I think she already had some inherent mental/emotional issues that give her that predisposition to flying off the deep end, and then when added to the pretty hefty stressors that do occur in her life (Grimoire’s death, losing Vincent, losing Sephiroth), it results in the crazy chick we see in DoC.
So what I’m deducing here is that Lucrecia + what happens to Lucrecia - rational behavior = mental/emotional disorders. Ergo, Lucrecia = mental/emotional disorders.
Inheritable mental/emotional disorders. That are very likely to be passed down to her kid. And ShinRa has a track record of overlooking crazy.
I just wanted to note that.
And thank you for pointing out that Sephiroth likely had “a few mental problems, [albeit] not debilitating ones.” Because I think that’s what was going on with his mother, also. In both cases, their mental problems just weren’t debilitating until Epic Shit happened in their lives.
And, yeah, I get what you’re saying in that Hojo fostered mental issues in Sephiroth, too. I think Lucrecia contributes to Sephiroth’s crazy via nature (and Hojo, too, with his own less-than-sanity) and Hojo via nurture.
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(As an aside, I also assume he has a storehouse of human breastmilk, hopefully from Lucretia given the necessary not only nutrients but immunities and genetically linked proteins that ensure the healthiest possible development that are present in the mother's milk.)
This gives me a very sad image of Lucrecia back in Nibelheim with a breast pump. No you still can’t see your kid but he needs milk back in Midgar, pump into this thx.
But, I don’t think ShinRa would have had a problem with giving him formula or a wet nurse. Easier, more cost efficient, less personal.
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Yeah,that brings up another question if anyone else in Shinra knew that Hojo was Sephiroth's father.Gast should have known because he was at Nibelheim and would have known about Hojo and Lucrecia having a child.I wonder if President Shinra knew or he was just as in the dark about who Sephiroth's parents were.
I think it was probably known by whoever needed to know, President ShinRa and the other important scientists (Gast, Hojo and Lucrecia obvs,
maybe Hollander and/or Gillian?) on that list and not much else. If for no other reason than that I am sure Lucrecia's job needed to know she was pregnant, having a baby, injecting company materials into said baby, donating baby to science, etc., and necessary parties would have likely been informed of their marriage also.
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Here’s another random thought I just had:
Considering that Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal were all part of the Jenova project (Project S and Project G, respectively) and presumably exposed to a greater concentration of J-cells than, say, the black cloaked bums in FF7, do you think that part of the reason why the three of them became friends may have been due to the Jenova Reunion theory? I.e., they were “drawn” to each other, they think on the basis of personality, common interests, etc., but it was really the Jenova cells in each of them causing that pull to one another and resulting in that bond of friendship.
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And another thought, which ties into my ongoing custody theory re: the Hojo/Lucrecia marriage:
Maybe the reason why Hojo wanted to be the biological father was so that he had greater, less disputable ownership of Sephiroth and therefore greater control. Hojo works for ShinRa, therefore what he creates on behalf of ShinRa belongs to ShinRa. But when what is created is a kid, it’s a little harder for ShinRa to just say, “Lol your work belongs to us, not you.” Hojo is the parent, and by that right might retain greater rights over deciding what happens with Sephiroth than if he had only been the scientist that injected some random donor’s sperm into some random donor’s egg.
At least, with the way that custody and intellectual property work in our world, this idea could have some merit.
