The ending to Final Fantasy VII is a highly debated topic. Unlike other Final Fantasies, VII does not provide a clear-cut ending that answers questions within the plot of the game. Instead, further questions arise from the vague finale. The following is a theory that I have devised in part from a post in which I read in a forum refering to events in Final Fantasy Tactics relating to Final Fantasy VII (I apoligize to the author because I can't remember who they are) and comments made my Cyrus Dogstar of The Final Fantasy VII Citadel in a post I created at The Final Fantasy VII Citadel Message Boards RPG Discussion forum. Much of my theory revolves around assumed events within Final Fantasy Tactics that I am not sure are true because I never played the game. Even with this my theory makes considerable sense. This is in all honesty the most logical theory refering to the ending that I have ever heard. Here are the original posts by myself and Cyrus:

Posted on 08-13-01 05:26

I started a thread about this a while back on the ezboard and we never agreed on what happened. But, I heard a new theory that acually makes a lot of sense. Made me change my mind about humanity being destroyed by the planet (and I'm stuburn as hell when it comes to opinions like this.) On some board, it might have been The Final Fantasy board, I read about how Final Fantasy Tactics takes place 1000's of years after Final Fantasy 7 (I never played FFT so I have no clue if this is true or not.) So, you are also able to summon Cloud and he tells you all this crap about how the knowledge of technology was destroyed and humanity was spared. This could be a stupid rumor for all I know, but it makes a lot of sense. Here's how:

1. Midgar is in ruins due to Meteor and stays that way because humanity forgot how to repair it. That could be why Midgar is covered in vegetation during the ending FMV (however many years after Meteor it was.)

2. Last time, someone brought up the point that if humanity was destroyed by the planet then there would not be anyone to land the Highwind. If this was true, Red XIII would have been killed. The Highwind was in the air at the end and he could never have flown it. Therefore, it would have crashed and he would be dead. But Red XIII is alive during the end FMV, as seen by his tattooes, although his age to human age ratio is all screwed up. I also don't know how the hell he had kids either. But I don't want to get into that right now.

3. The smoke stack that is faintly seen behind Midgar is truely a smoke stack. It is just primitive human knowledge being rediscovered. In other words, they had to learn to make fire again and the smoke stack is someone doing that.

4. The children laughing is the sound of children laughing. Perhaps it means that even with technological advancement removed from our culture, happiness can still be achieved. Thus, children laughing is a symbol of this.

5. Lastly, the theme of Tactics is justified. With all technological knowledge lost, humanity had to start over again. So the 'thousands of years' between FF7 and FFT represent the rediscovery of technology and the reason why Tactics is in the Medieval theme.

Shit, now that I think of it this could make a good fanfic. Maybe this could be the basis for my first Fanfic. If I'm off tomorrow (I'm a roofer for the summer and I can't work if it rains, which it might) I'll start it. Otherwise I might forget...

Anyway, this all makes a lot of sense too me. But, I'm sure there are things that I'm missing and that's why you're here. Is this the 'real' ending or am I babbling about nothing. Let the debating begin! (I love debating about this stuff)

Here is the follow-up post by Cyrus Dogstar:

Posted on 08-13-01 11:36 PM

Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage, against the dying of the Light

W2I, if you noticed I had an explanation for the loss of technology--that being, that a large amount of the human population was wiped out during the Meteor incident--all the mostly impure people were killed by Holy. Therefore the world population would have been much less; and while they would have had access to the technology, the economy, social infrastructure, etc wouldn't have been able to sustain such a level of technology. You know what I mean? You'd need enough people to sustain all the industries required for technology (mining, metalworking, electricity production, etc, etc, etc, etc).

This is a theory, tho...I can just as easily see ALL humanity being left intact and people just abandoning Midgar. After all, we never see anything ELSE in that scene...for all we know they have a nice, advanced, living-in-harmony-with-the-Planet society everywhere else

Here is my follow-up and final piece to the puzzle:

Posted on 08-14-01 02:35 PM

Cyrus makes a very good point. Perhaps only those harmful to the planet WERE removed from existance. Instead of the planet removing technology as I stated earlier, the loss of the technologically advanced majority of the planet's population (aka Shinra) would set back technology. You know, a lot of people use cars but how many can build a car from scratch, let alone build every part on there own? Midgar is gone so there is no more electricity. Everyone could have learned a lesson from all the turn of events at the end of the game too. People attempting to live in harmony with nature seems like a solid theory.

This seems to be the most likely ending to Final Fantasy. Holy does not completely save the human race or completely destroy the human race. Instead only those who are harmful the planet are removed. This sets back the technology of human kind and thus explains many questions faced at the end of Final Fantasy VII. Perhaps now it is finally solved.......