#GENESIS. arc i

[rivkae-winters]

Zack Fair, Violence, and Tragedy

Over the last month or two I’ve seen several posts about the nature of Zack Fair’s tragedy and his seeming heel-toe-turn and thought I’d chime in. 

Also like last time: this is only my interpretation of canon, there is no one true analysis to take as gospel. If you disagree/differ in opinion/even just want to talk please reblog or dm! I enjoy talking to other people about this sort of thing, fandom is all about discussion after all!

While I agree with the sentiment I’ve seen going around that Zack’s relationship to violence plays a role there are other nuances and factors at play here. I’d argue that it’s more accurate to say that Zack is becoming more aware of personal and professional culture outside of SOLDIER and outside of both ShinRa’s constraining grip and Angeal’s attempts at protection. Even then it takes great personal tragedy caused by the inherent contradictions of ShinRa’s reality for him to realize that he has functionally been on the wrong side.  

Sure he’s not callous like Cloud is in the beginning of original and Remake, but he certainly isn’t horrified at his actions just because there is violence. I’d argue the violence of his actions isn’t the main horror to him in isolation. I’d argue that even the death that results from violence isn’t what the core of the issue is either. 

Zack’s hinging point is more his loyalty and his pride. What he does for other people and what he believes in and of himself. Specifically these things in conjunction with his desire to be a good person. 

The language of Pride, the non-localized direct translation of the word hokori or 誇り(JP CC Script), is what’s going to be used here rather than Honor. 

誇り | Hokori - To take pride in; To boast of

Definition Sources: 1, 2, 3

Just keep in mind that I’ve written this from as neutral a point of view as possible on the matter of pride since the Western perception definitively does not apply. To be proud is not a crime and it is not foolish it simply is. 

Zack initially places his pride in SOLDIER- in what being a SOLDIER means to him. In how being a SOLDIER is his and that they are his people and thus he lets ShinRa policies define how he frames his morality. Thus ShinRa defines good in Zack Fair’s life. 

Zack wants to be a hero. He wants to help people. He is trusting and kind and respectful to people consistently outside of the conflict of the mass desertion. Zack genuinely wants to be a good person and help other people, good or otherwise. He is led to believe by ShinRa propaganda that the best way to help people or to be anything meaningful in this world is through them. This is a baited trap that he falls into, Zack is prime prey this trap was intended to catch. 

He is angry at Genesis and horrified by Angeal, especially at the beginning, not for cruelty or violence or even really death… He is angry at them for their betrayal. Sure he is violent and angry in the instance he thinks Angeal has murdered his own mother, as with Genesis and his parents, but that does not define his antagonism, his hatred, his regret, his sense of justice with them at all. 

 Zack does not raise his sword at Genesis for the people of Banora, he raises his sword for SOLDIER. 

Zack understandably feels, and has been, betrayed. 

He is hurt and angry and alone in a way he’s never been since he got into the SOLDIER program. He falls deeper into the illusions of ShinRa for that reason, angry and hurting and grieving the life he had with people in it who will never return. There is a deep sense of nostalgia throughout Crisis Core in the sense of the word’s initial meaning: the pain of missing home. Specifically the homes we find in people.

Even as he believes in ShinRa's twisted reality Zack wants to help. He wants to protect those he cares for. Zack wants to be good. Unfortunately in Zack Fair’s life the undisputed definition of good is now written by the ShinRa Electric Power Corporation alone.

Then he meets Aerith. 

Suddenly ShinRa’s version of right and wrong have opposition but the control that ShinRa has over his life, total and complete as it is, prevents that from sinking in. Zack is perceptive though, around Aerith he is her version of good and then he has to go back to what equates to his phase of reality. A sanctuary is not safe, not truly, when watchers are peering in through the back door ready to drag you out by your feet if you misstep. 

Zack wants to be a man Aerith or anyone won’t be scared of. He wants to do that not because he is suddenly horrified at his own violence but rather in consideration of others. Zack is highly empathetic after all once he can see someone else’s perspective. He wants to be what Aerith wants, even if he doesn’t really and truly understand it yet, because he cares about her and cares about her opinion. He cares about her comfort. Zack still puts most of his pride within SOLDIER though. That means that Aerith’s morals cannot sink through his skin to his center, not like Angeal’s had. She makes him think but she is not shaping his mind, he is left to do that himself.

 Zack spends a lot of time questioning Angeal and being upset at and about him off screen even more than on screen. We don’t get a front row seat for all of it. The big takeaway is that Zack doesn’t shed Angeal’s morals that he’s taken on himself. He can’t after all, not with ShinRa only just seeming tarnished. ShinRa would need to rust and crumble fully before he actually can let them go. Before he can be free in his own mind.

ShinRa chips and rusts in an instant under Sephiroth’s hand. The last holdout crumbled in the fight of two victims of ShinRa and someone who will become one soon. ShinRa is no longer the defined of good, not after what Zack sees is the response to the Nibelheim Incident.

ShinRa not being good, worse even ShinRa being bad breaks the entire morality system. The illusions crack and Zack is forced to examine himself, his actions, and his biases in ways Aerith made him want to but that he couldn’t afford to truly indulge in. Even more that he was scared of self introspection in a sense, of the paradigm of his reality shifting even further. 

He eventually truly reframes his actions and has to reckon with them (and himself) at the end of the game, chapter 9 and onwards. It is only then that he actually LOOKS and is fully horrified by what he sees of himself. That horror only progresses as he fights for both his and Cloud’s lives. That horror only builds as he realizes he’s exactly the person who his girlfriend SHOULD be terrified of despite his best attempts- that he’s everything she was talking about. He’s everything she was talking about even after trying to change the way he acts around her. 

To abuse the innate metaphors: Zack Fair goes to Nibelheim, a well trained attack dog, still seeing relatively little wrong with fulfilling ShinRa’s orders. Zack is only then on the cusp of figuring out that he does not want to be there, that he is the antagonist of the planet’s (and Aerith’s) story unwittingly. 

Zack Fair leaves Nibelheim beaten. He tries to go back to the safety of what was once his home prior to ShinRa only to be waylaid. 

Zack Fair leaves Banora free and irrevocably changed. 

He is free in the sense that the illusions he held himself too are crumbling even more with knowledge that his demons are men too. He is free through the knowledge that he is one of those demons. , that he has been shaped to be one, and that good intentions pave a terribly walkable path to hell. 

Zack leaves with the knowledge that he was the monster in the closet. The knowledge that his sword was not just the executioner’s blade but the enforcer’s. The sword kept clean in favor of bloody hands and higher risks is now drowning in pools of it. Zack leaves with the knowledge that he never would have been truly free. 

Yet he is in the sense that he can choose- actually choose- what he wants, what he values. He chooses Aerith and he chooses Cloud as he has each time before. He chooses violence. It is something he knows and among what he is good at. It is not all he is but it is a tool he can use. 

He chooses to pay the price of freedom. 

Crisis Core is a tragedy and Zack and Genesis both are tragic figures at its center. Zack’s arc is angled to the viewer for maximum effect but Genesis’s does mirror it in a way just on an offset path already initiated. Sephiroth is also a tragic character, undeniably so. However structure wise his role is more murky given the way he has the ability to be the god waiting in the machine, a guaranteed victory or unavoidable altered trajectory should he choose to act, for most of the story. 

And that’s a large part of why I love Zack as a character, aside from things I’ve said before about what makes him such a good narrator. Zack is the unlucky prodigy at the center of a story about wars, abusers, connections, and perspectives. He wants to be good, he wants to be a person that helps. 

He can’t, not really, not in the way he wants. 

Crisis Core is a cautionary tale about exactly that going wrong and how anyone can be taken advantage of. 

[shizumachi]

shoutout to my 36 loyal followers ily shizumachers take some evangelion screenshot redraws :3

[lithium-poet]

tag yourself im raskolnikov 𐙚‧₊˚🪓⊹♡

𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒, 𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒶

[rat-n-atty]

Prepare for trouble!

And make it double...

I had a silly thought lol

[idkaguyorsomething]

learn your fucking history

(IMAGE ID: A man sitting in a pew in a church labeled “Modern Who is too political”. Behind him is a person with a gun labeled “Vengeance on Varos’ election subplot”. Behind them is another person with a gun labeled “Genesis of the Daleks’ fascism allegory”. From a hidden corner is a sniper pointing a gun at that person, labeled “Barbara saying trans rights in The Aztecs”.)

[controversial-eva-memes]

Boy oh boy! I can't wait to see Clone!Rei choose her own name, allowing her to create her own identity that isn't centered around an Ikari! It sure would be weird to rob her of that after she just rediscovered her humanity! But I'm sure that wouldn't happen!

[fluffalpenguin]

merry zarc-mas! (if you liked it, do consider reading the afterword i wrote for this comic as well)

[peak-smg4-dumbass]

Just realized I never posted my tumblr banner, anyways, smg34 in IGBP summarized:

[metiredlr]

(in one of them team strategy meetings)

Kidou: there is only one thing worse than Gran *pulls paper under Gran's name that's scribbled on the board*

Endou: *gasp*

Kazemaru: what the heck

Gouenji: "kissing Endou"?

Kidou: *blushing* NO, Gran kissing Endou!

*everybody nods*

[newtstesco]

i guess i should post some of my smg4 art on here huh

Lyrics: I Want You by Mitski

[pastelfable]

manon doodle !!!!

[corvidpaws]

glass

Genesis is alone.

This is a fact of life.

They hadn’t always been alone, they think. They’d lived out there, once. With their friends. In Wonderland; where everything was upside down and the right way up at the same time.

Then they made a mistake.

It wasn’t big, it wasn’t life-threatening. The Queen of Hearts said that they had to sign a contract to repent, and they hadn’t read it.

That was their biggest mistake.

They were trapped. In the underbelly of the circus they had once visited, where they had laughed at the acts, eaten cotton candy and sweets until they were almost hyper. In a maze of glass.

In order to leave, they had to imprison people in the mirrors. And they were so close.

Genesis felt a wave of frustration ripple through them as they watched Fylass and Dolly duck through the door, skidding to a stop as the exit became a painting. They clutched the handle of one of their glass daggers, cursing themselves for dropping it, for leaving the note out in the open for Dolly to find.

They sighed, turning away with a frown as the painting vanished, hidden by rows of glass. Genesis grabbed a sheaf of paper from their bag and an old pencil they had found that was dangling from their ear. Both items had fallen through one of the reflectionless mirrors.

They slammed the paper down onto the ground, and began to write, pouring out their feelings onto the paper.

There was no room for emotions in the contract.

I let them escape. I was so close to freedom, to finally being free.

But they were crying.

Genesis paused, thinking of Fylass’s yells, of Dolly’s warnings, as they ran, as they chased them through the maze.

I was weak. I let the Club escape. Something in me made my hand loosen just enough to let the dagger drop. The note was a coincidence, though.

The Queen of Hearts won’t be happy.

She stuck me here, though. I don’t care about what she thinks.

They looked up in the general direction Fylass and Dolly had left.

Run, Club. Save Wonderland. And set me free.

@george228732 @ilikesillythingswooo

[xunverzedx]

Regarding Ever Crisis and the things that stand out to me

The phrases 'We still don't know Sephiroth' and 'Another possibility for a Remake'

Reintroducing not just Zack, but both Angeal and Genesis.

Further fleshing out Sephiroth as a character rather than just a villain.

It's all very sussy and I couldn't be more excited for it.

[dreamcastingdust]

The New World's Prophet

[faereun]

GENESIS KHALDOTTIR. daughter of the forest queen, mielikki, and an unnamed elven ranger, whereabouts unknown. circle of the land druid.

genesis began communing with her mother at a young age, not long before her father walked out on her. scrappy by nature, she quickly learned how to live off the land, praying oft to her mother and living by her teachings like law. through her mothers guidance she eventually stumbled upon a druid grove that took her in and raised her as their own, delighted to have found such an innately talented soul who was also devoted to the forest queen's teachings.

her mother never visited her outside of dreams and prayers, of course, and genesis never questioned it. her mother was a goddess, of course, she had much more important things than to worry about her many children. still, it stung...mielikki oft spoke to genesis about her last chosen, who had died valiantly protecting their grove. she whispered honeyed - promises to genesis; 'if you prove yourself worthy, i might make you my new chosen,' 'if you serve me well, my dearest earthly child, i will bestow you with powers beyond your imagination,' 'continue to live by my teachings and you will be rewarded greatly,' and she drank in every honeysuckle - sweet word like a feral cat lapping up warm milk.

her father hadn't wanted her, had left her to her own designs the moment she was old enough to lace up her own boots and nock an arrow in her bow. even the grove that had taken her in so eagerly grew weary of her presence eventually, made uneasy by her quick temper and penchant for violence. the only constant was her mother, with her soothing hymns and cloyingly saccharine white lies.

that all changed when mielikki selected her new chosen — and, of course, it wasn't gen. it was the leader of her grove, a young archfey who was still wet behind the ears, if you asked her. in that moment she had been consumed by a godlike rage, something she hadn't known herself capable of. it was as if she'd been possessed by the fury of mother nature herself — her mother's powers. that which she'd hidden from genesis all this time, grooming her to be the perfect disciple, afraid of what she might do otherwise. when she comes to, her leathers are splattered in blood and her fist is raised, the handsome blond elf pinned beneath her. devil child, the grove whispered, did you see how her eyes were glowing? she didn't give them a chance to exile her.

she takes the few things she owns, leaving behind her scripture and her studies and her journals, bringing only what she needs. she barely sleeps, and is thankful for her elven origins in those moments, mielikki unable to traipse into her dreams. she travels aimlessly for a year or so, living off the land just as she had before. after a near brush with death, the crushing weight of loneliness begins to suffocate her, and she aches for civilization. had she died out there, no one would have known. no one would have cared — no one would have missed her. she journeys to baldur's gate, seeking refuge and perhaps and apprenticeship as a healer, using her knowledge of herbs and medicine to ensure her survival.

she's in the city for all of three months before she's taken, infected with an illithid parasite. she wakes up on a mindflayer ship, and in a confusing whirlwind she makes a tentative alliance with a githyanki warrior, and saves the life of a sharran cleric. then, when all seems lost, she wakes up on a beach. she's bloody, battered, and bruised, but against all odds — she's alive. she prays to her mother for the first time in that year between her leaving the grove and winding up in baldur's gate. her prayers go unanswered. and every prayer after that, every dream, is just the same. crushing, devastating silence. she has been forsaken.

[autisticcassandracain]

Nothing funnier to me than Scott Free just straight up fucking refusing to play along with New Genesis' sense of duty. Tom King was so evil for breaking the streak they should lock him up in jail for it. Literally every other comic Scott's ever been forced into service for New Genesis in has ended with him bailing on it.

People will be like 'Scott you need to accept your godhood and join New Genesis' and either within that same run or in like literally the next he'll be explicitly rejecting godhood and moving back to Earth. He gets completely overpowered power-ups and he's like 'no thanks, I'm giving them back'. And on that note, no he will NOT be king no he doesn't CARE his dad was king someone ELSE can do it. Scott Free will be king for one (1) day and literally jump out of a window to get away. He does not want the job he will not do the job. He does not want godhood he will not get godhood. 'It is your destiny' yeah, his destiny to fucking bail lmao.

And I could do a serious examination on how Scott's refusal to engage with either Apokolips OR New Genesis sets him apart from the other New Gods (except maybe Metron) and ties into his core of freedom and blah blah blah but really? The point of this post is that it will never not be funny to me that every single New Genesis arc with Scott ends with [scott free voice] "And for my final trick, I will be escaping my responsibilities!" *sound of window breaking, boom tube revving, cat screaming*