Summary
If there’s one thingFinal Fantasy 7isn’t short on, it’s all sorts of characters who have expansive backstories and play major, influential roles in the story despite not appearing in the main game at all.
One of these characters, Genesis Rhapsodos, comes from Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, and more recently, the remake Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core - Reunion. This prequel game follows Zack Fair, a SOLDIER in Shinra’s army, and his involvement in the unfortunate series of events that lead to Sephiroth’s downfall and the events of the main Final Fantasy 7 game.
Who Is Genesis?
We are… Monsters…
Before we can talk about what happened to Genesis, we have to take a look into who he actually was. Born in the year 1982 in the Final Fantasy 7 timeline, about 25 or 26 years before Cloud and the Avalanche crew bombed their first mako reactor in the original game, Genesis was into a world of science and corporate control, being part of a Shinra science experiment since before he was born.
Who his parents are or how they were involved in the project is known, but what is known, is that as soon as he was born, he was injected with cells from Gillian Hewley, the biological mother of another Crisis Core character, Angeal, after she in turn had beeninfused with cells from Jenovawhile she worked on Project G. This program, lead by Hollander, chief scientist in the Project G experiment at Shinra and a major influence on much of Shinra’s genetic experiments.
Despite all this work, Project G produced no results with Genesis, leading him to be designated as a failure and his eventual adoption by a wealthy family in Banora. As he grew up, he would coincidentally become friends with Angeal after his mother voluntarily left the program and moved to Banora some years before. The two would join SOLIDER when they came of age, inspired by the legendary Sephiroth and climb the ranks to the highest level, 1st Class, joining Sephiroth as the strongest warriors in Shinra’s army. Growing up, Genesis became obsessed with a book of poems called LOVELESS, constantly quoting it and using it as a sort of guidepost to his life.
Where It All Goes Wrong
Three Friends Go Into Battle
While training with Sephiroth and Angeal, Genesis becomes injured, which becomes the first step of SOLDIER’s downfall. His injury triggers a genetic cascade in his body, causing his body to ‘leak’ his genetic code and causing him to lose control of his body and mind. Hollander seemingly came to the rescue, putting a stop to the degradation, but in actuality, it was a temporary fix and a way for Hollander to continue experimenting on Genesis.
Hollander would use Genesis’ unstable genetic code to create an army of clones, each one a deserter from Shinra’s army, complete with all the skills and experience of the original.
How Does He Fit Into The Final Fantasy 7 Story?
A Cataclysmic Event, Started Years Ago
Over the course of the game, Genesis would go on to lead an army of genetic clones to attack Shinra all over the planet, becoming a constant villain of Zack, Sephiroth, and Cloud. His actions would have major ramifications for the characters, as it is Genesis who informs Sephiroth of his birth, of the experiments conducted on him with cells from Jenova, and of the various projects Shinra did on him.
Genesis also details the specifics of theMako infusions Zack received, and how neither he nor Sephiroth will degrade like he does thanks to improvements made by Shinra’s top scientist, Hojo. All these details lead to Sephiroth’s eventual defection from Shinra and inspire him to take his one-man war against the world.
What Happened To Him?
The Legacy of Genesis
Genesis’ epic ends when Zack eventually defeats him for good, putting a stop to his war against Shinra giving him peace after years of fighting. Genesis would find solace in his last moments, envisioning himself as the final act in LOVELESS. Death would not come for Genesis however, as his body is recovered by Weiss and Nero of Deepground, who are the primary antagonists of Dirge of Cerberus, a unique entry to the Final Fantasy 7 series. The two call Genesis their brother, but he refuses to join their organization or to fight for their cause.
Instead, Genesis imposes upon himself a life of isolation and guardianship, vowing to protect the world in place of Sephiroth and Angeal, sealing himself in a watery cavern deep beneath the surface of the world.
After the events of Dirge of Cerberus, the secret ending of the game would reveal what happened to him after years of isolation. Genesis would wake from his slumber as Weiss’s body came to rest in the same cavern. The two bodies would resonate, triggering Genesis’s return to the world. He would pick up Weiss’s body, telling him “it is not yet time for slumber,” and that the two of them still have work to do before calling him his brother and flying out of the cave with a single black wing.
Dirge of Cerberus is, chronologically speaking,the last game in the series, with Genesis’s reawakening the last major event that has occurred in the games, other than the 500 year timeskip at the end of Final Fantasy 7. Despite making a number of games that take place before the events of the main game, developer Square Enix has yet to make good on this ominous cutscene at the end of Dirge of Cerberus, even though this secret cutscene was released all the way back in 2006.
Fans of the game have been waiting years to see what type of plans Genesis has in store for the world, though withFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthreleasing in 2024, there’s a chance they won’t have to wait for long to see more of Genesis.
