Section II: Jenova

What is Jenova?

Advent Children Complete: Sephiroth detailing his plot.
“The last thoughts of the Geostigma’s dead. Those remnants will join the Lifestream and devour the planet. Choking it… corroding it. What I want, Cloud, is to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel, just as my mother did long ago. Then one day we’ll find a new planet. And on its soil, we’ll create a shining future.”

While ‘Planets’ are a unique type of creature, it seems that Jenova is a different species. This means that it is ‘alien’ both in the sense that it is a being coming from another world, and it is a life form unlike anything else generated by the Planet. It possesses extreme intelligence, and the ability to mimic any other life form, as well as exhibiting characteristics of a parasite and a predator. The ‘Planets’ travel to populate worlds with life, and Jenova is a parasite that feeds off of these ‘Planets’. When the Planet finally dies, or migrates with its Omega Weapon, Jenova takes the dead husk of the world, and propels it through space, and when it arrives at a new target, it uses this to damage and seed itself into a new Planet. This is what brings about the events of the original crisis.

Original Crisis

Final Fantasy VII: Ifalna describing the Cetra speaking with the Planet
“The Planet said something fell from the sky making a large wound. Thousands of Cetra pulled together, trying to heal the Planet… But, due to the severity of the wound, it was only able to heal itself, over many years. …The life force of all living things on this Planet becomes the energy. The Cetra tried desperately to cultivate the land so as not to diminish the needed energy… The energy that was needed to heal the Planet rapidly withered away the land (making the land near North Crater cold). …then the Planet… The Planet tried to persuade the Cetra to leave the Knowlespole, but…”

Approximately 2000 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, Jenova traveled to Gaia on a meteor that impacted, and injured the Planet. The Cetra worked to heal the land, and attempted to restore the Planet. Typically this is the sort of cosmic injury that the Planet would deal with naturally. In this case, it was not just any injury. It’s likely that Jenova needed some time to heal after the initial impact, since it had to survive the travel through space on a lifeless rock, in addition to surviving the force of the impact. This would account for the period of time that seems to take place here where the Cetra and the Planet are working together. When Jenova arises, the Planet attempted to warn the Cetra, and get them to flee the area, but it was too late.

Final Fantasy VII: Ifalna describing the Cetra’s encounter with Jenova*
“When the Cetra… were preparing to part with the land they loved… That’s when it appeared! It looked like… our… our dead mothers… and our dead brothers. Showing us spectres of their past. Who is the being that appeared at the North Crater? I haven’t any idea. It is the one who injured the planet… the Calamity from the Sky! That is what we call it. It first approached as a friend, deceived them, and finally…… gave them the virus. The Cetra were attacked by the virus and went mad… transforming into monsters. Then, just as it had at the North Crater. It approached other Cetra clans…… infecting them with… the virus… A small number of the surviving Cetra defeated Jenova, and confined it.”
*Note: There are some translation errors in the original text, mostly involving pronoun confusion. I worked with one of the site translators, and have modified the text slightly to reflect a more accurate representation of the original Japanese.

This demonstrates Jenova’s abilities for the first time. Not only is it able to transform, and take the appearance of the Cetra’s dead relatives, the fact that it can appear as one of the Cetra’s deceased shows the vast capability of it’s Mimic ability. It’s ability to learn from Gaia’s lifeforms so easily suggests that it’s capable of learning from the Lifestream. This could be the reason for causing such a large initial impact, because it will draw a vast amounts of the Planet’s Lifestream to that location, and allow Jenova to learn a large amount about the inhabitants of the world all at once, which will help in mimicking, deceiving, and finally infecting them. This huge influx of Lifestream would also allow it to use Black Materia to summon Meteor for a final blow, since a large amount of energy is required to activate it.

It’s likely that the virus was a precursor to Geostigma, though it would be more advanced, since Jenova represents the peak of power. This virus is able to transform the Cetra into Monsters likely by binding with their genetic material and transforming them, whereas the Humans’ bodies reject Geostigma, although it does result in the creation of Negative Lifestream, which is another means to the same end: destroying life on Gaia.

Jenova’s Immortality & The Planet’s Survival

Final Fantasy VII: Ifalna speaking about the Planet to Prof. Gast
“You see, as long as Jenova exists, the Planet will never be able to fully heal itself.”

Since Jenova’s arrival 2000 years ago and her subsequent “imprisonment” by the Cetra, her and the Planet have been in a stalemate- Jenova unable to attack, and the Planet unable to fully heal. Jenova, by nature is still dangerous even in stasis, because she wasn’t ever truly defeated, merely contained. Despite the vast amount of time, the Planet’s never fully recovered even though it continued endlessly working to repair itself at North Crater, even after the Cetra were almost completely wiped out. Initially it still had Omega and the Defensive Weapons to combat Jenova, and through all that time, the Planet watched Jenova, and the Weapon slept, knowing that if Jenova came out of stasis, the Planet would have to combat it.

Final Fantasy VII: Hojo describing Reunion
“You see, even if Jenova’s body is dismembered, it will eventually become one again. That’s what is meant by Jenova’s Reunion.”

Jenova is essentially immortal. It is capable of surviving travel through space on a lifeless rock, and survives re-entry and impact. This is due to its uncanny ability to regenerate, and even when broken down, its cells are able to travel and eventually re-combine, bringing her back to life. Jenova can be broken down to a cellular level, but – unlike the other life forms on Gaia, her will remains intact, and never returns to a Lifestream-like current. This would explain why Jenova regenerates via Reunion, and not through a process like the Planets, and what makes it fundamentally different from Gaia’s life forms. The Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania states that, even though most of its physical body was lost during the Jenova War, its malevolent will remains, lurking in the Lifestream. One thing is clear- Jenova is still very much alive, and slowly regenerating, with or without Sephiroth, which leaves the Planet with very few options.

Sephiroth’s Reunion

Kadaj helps greatly in understand more about Jenova’s Biology and her cell’s effects on the life forms on Gaia, as well as what would be required for Jenova’s complete resurrection. In one of the newer scenes in ACC, Kadaj, Yazoo, & Loz are seemingly generated from the Negative Lifestream, and manage to (mostly) maintain a physical form for the duration of the movie. Despite the fact that the Lifestream is a Spiritual Energy, it also exists physically. It is used as a physical energy source when refined into Mako, and when used as a weapon it’s been shown to be able to destroy meteor. Their method of creation is likely partially due to Sephiroth’s will controlling their creation, and his knowledge of the way the Lifestream functions. They appear to at least have a rudimentary biology in that they can use Materia, cry, and Kadaj appears to drink. Being created directly from the (Negative) Lifestream would likely explain how they manage to summon Shadow Creepers without the use of Materia. However, despite their abilities, actual Jenova Cells are needed to cause Reunion. Kadaj is the catalyst, and the only one to go through this process, and thus the best example of the three.

Kadaj directly absorbs Jenova’s cellular bio matter when he merges with her head to allow for Sephiroth’s Reunion. After Cloud defeats Sephiroth, he wraps himself in his wing, and vanishes. It’s possible that at this point, Kadaj’s body also sheds the cellular material, because he breaks up into pure Lifestream when he reaches up and grasps (Aerith’s) hand. The fact that Jenova’s cells continually regenerate, and don’t break down into a current is why Sephiroth was unable to directly re-create himself soley from the (Negative) Lifestream, in the same way he formed the Remnants. This means that for Jenova would need to find a way to gather its cells from all over the world into one place in order to resurrect itself. Interestingly enough, this coincides with what the Planet needs to accomplish in order to rid itself of Jenova permanently. Genesis appears to be the key to accomplishing this.