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Final Fantasy games rarely stop at one entry in any given world.
They get remakes, sequels, spin-offs, reinterpretations, and so on.
The lifestream is a mysterious force at work in Final Fantasy VII.
Here’s everything we know about it.
In Rebirth, he is brought back despite already technically being dead.
But does Zack know that?
It’s all a bit vague, but let’s do our best to figure it out.
Who Is Zack, And Why Is He So Important?
Cloud Strife, beloved protagonist of FF7, did the same.
For Zack, this went much more successfully, becoming a SOLDIER in short order.
From that point on, they kept in touch, constantly sending letters back and forth.
Over time, the pair became inseparable, even if this was mostly metaphorical at the time.
They occupied each other’s every thought.
From this point,Aerith and Zack become inextricably connectedin ways that quite literally after fate itself.
This comes to a head at Nibelheim, when Sephiroth himself became painfully aware of his own origins.
This drives Sephiroth mad,eventually culminating in the destruction of Nibelheim.
This, however, ended fatally.
His life was ended, and then it became Cloud’s mantle to take up, albeit unwittingly.
Yet, did he really die?
Even amongst all the extra entries, it was all additive.
Crisis Core expanded on characters, Dirge of Cerberus continued the story, Advent Children was blatant fanservice.
Butit all took place in one continuitythat didn’t inherently break anything pre-established.
In the ending sequence, we see Zack in a hail of bullets being chased down by Shinra.
These are his final moments, and we are forced to watch them again.
Simply put, fate was broken.
He wanted to win, and fate no longer demanded he die.
He stood tall and marched his way to Midgar, his unconscious friend in hand.
But this is not the world we know.
Stamp is still a dog, but a different breed of dog.
How Many Zacks Are There?
For the majority of Rebirth, this doesn’t mean much.
Right up until the ending, where more and more forks appear.
This continues on with each choice Zack makes, making a new universe with every choice he makes.
And with them, Zack dies.
Is Zack Alive Or Dead?
We see this in the grand finale against Sephiroth.
YetSephiroth exists in all of them at once, having melded with fate itself.
What’s exactly happening here?
The party works together across all universes despite never even meeting.
As the game finishes, we see Aerith die.
Yet, we also see her live.
For some reason,Cloud is the only one aware of this.
Except what we see of Aerith is very much true of Zack, as well.
We see him die.
We know that’s true.
But with fate broken, that means he doesn’t have to die, not always.
Not in every universe, even if he is dead in this one.
So, is Zack dead?Many of them, yes.
Zack has died in the original continuity and that hasn’t changed.
The Zack that Cloud knew is gone.
But the Zack we play as throughout Rebirth?
Well, some of them are dead, too.
But for as many worlds that ended, there are just as many that lived, too.
Sephiroth hasn’t won yet, so we can guarantee that timelines beyond his control still exist.
So both are true.
Many different Zacks are dead.Yet just as many Zacks are alive.
Does Zack Know About The Multiverse?
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is being made with the awareness of players in mind.
We have seen the multiverse and the ways it all connects.
But to the characters, their own universe is the only one they know.
Yet no one else seems to notice.
Cloud, perhaps, after the ending might see this.
Does he even know he has died countless times?
Well, we can’t really say for certain.
Most likely,Zack knows nothing beyond the extents of what each version of him has experienced.
None that still live, anyway.
Zack, to his credit, gets to live in blissful ignorance.
Sephiroth’s origins in Final Fantasy 7 are unbelievably shocking.
