Approximately 30 years before

· Gast, head of Shin-Ra’s Scient Department, discovers the mummified Jenova in the Great Northern Cave. Misunderstanding her to be an Ancient, he begins studying her

25-30 years before

· Jenova Project begins

· Sephiroth is born

· Gast quits and goes into hiding

Approximately 23 years before

· Lucrecia disappears. Vincent becomes a biological experiment for Hojo

22 years before

· At Icicle Lodge, Gast and Ifalna’s love leads to Aerith’s birth

· Hojo orders his subordinates to kill Gast. Aerith and Ifalna are confined to the Shin-Ra building as test subjects

15 years before

· Ifalna and Aerith escape from the Shin-Ra building

· Ifalna dies. At the age of 7, Aerith is taken in by Elmyra

6, 7 years before

· Cloud invites Tifa out to the village water tower and tells her that he’s going to become a SOLDIER. The next morning, he leaves Nibelheim for Midgar

[Translator’s note: The text here on the timeline page does indeed say in error “the next morning” (翌朝) rather than “spring” as Cloud said in the game proper: “Come this spring… I’m leaving this town for Midgar” — Japanese text: 「俺、春になったら村を出て、ミッドガルに行くよ」]

· Zack sends a letter saying “I got a girlfriend” to his home in Gongaga

· The war ends. The anti-Shin-Ra group AVALANCHE intensifies its terrorist activities

5 years before

· Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud are dispatched to the Nibel mako reactor

· Sephiroth comes in contact with Jenova and awakens her. He burns Nibelheim and takes Jenova’s head before falling into the Lifestream as result of Cloud’s wrath

· Hojo uses the survivors of Nibelheim, including Cloud and Zack, in the Sephiroth Copy Project

4 years before

· Immediately following the completion of the Corel reactor, Corel village is burned at the hands of Shin-Ra and the Gold Saucer is constructed on the site. Barret, one of the miners of Corel, loses his wife, Myra, and his right hand; he swears revenge on Shin-Ra

Just before the game begins

· Zack and Cloud escape from Shinra Manor. Zack loses his life at the hands of Shin-Ra troops; Cloud arrives at Midgar alone

[Translator’s note: The timeline here seems to place Zack and Cloud’s escape from Shinra Manor shortly before the original game began rather than a year earlier, as it is portrayed in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII]

· Cloud is reunited with Tifa at the Sector 7 slum station