I might be stating the blindingly obvious here but:
If this entry was in September, then Mari must have died in October, probably a little later than that. You know whose birthday would have come directly after?
Kel, who was born on 11th November.
Kel, whose older brother was so severely depressed that he probably didn’t have the energy to wish him a happy birthday, forget attending a birthday party
Kel, whose two best friends were so overwhelmed by guilt that they locked themselves away
Kel, whose other friend cut herself off from the group because she already thought they weren’t mourning Mari hard enough
Which means that Kel probably spent his 12th birthday all by himself.
Which gives an entirely more tragic meaning to this picture, where Kel had to pretend that everything was great and he was completely happy when he was spending his birthday entirely alone, the first of his friends to have to do so, since he’s the eldest (I think?) of the kids not including Hero.
I might just start crying.
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I am still reading through Ultimania translations like a certain someone in the data room…
Here are some curious notes on our Jenova Project scientists, Vincent, and Sephiroth that I know you will all appreciate.
That note about Hojo envying Gast and his genius—please keep this in mind. It will come into play for these next translations.
The research on Omega and the Kalm experiments were also in the Shinra manor. It makes you wonder if Sephiroth read any of that and further saw how cruel Shinra was.
The Jenova cell flashes in Sephiroth’s mind that we saw in the Rebirth demo can be seen in this image from the Crisis Core guide.
This is where everything becomes more interesting. Something not fully explained in DOC is Lucrecia’s own deterioration. It would appear that Vincent confronted Hojo over this after Sephiroth was born and taken away (or did he?). Lucrecia was falling to pieces it seems. (We will come back to this).
(Small note, but it looks like Vincent actually did propose to Lucrecia).
The next pile of notes are from the older Ultimania Omega from 2005, and some debate the validity of the text and whether it still holds true to current canon. However, if we are willing to consider Crisis Core from 2007 as canon, then I see no issue with this Ultimania unless something is directly changed.
For our Jenova project scientists, there is just more detail not spoken in the game. Some of it is fascinating and helpful.
I take this information as extra insight that the original game did not give us and mostly canon as well. Reading it felt like a stab to the chest even if I knew most of it.
We know from DOC that Lucrecia did love Vincent in the end, but during their time together she pushed him away because of the guilt with his father and gave into her love for Hojo instead.
It is….strange but that line from the CC guide about Hojo’s envy of Gast was apparently a concept here too. It supposedly was so strong that it brought out a maternal love in Lucrecia. Very likely this was before Hojo was completely mad and murderous.
I also wonder if Lucrecia’s affection was only that overall. A feeling that didn’t last when she realized Hojo’s complex was destructive and not “cute.”
These are the details some debate and I believe it has been for shipping reasons in the past…but as a non-shipper, I can see this happening with such a complex group of people.
The next bit about Lucrecia’s deterioration is also odd because it almost sounds as though Lucrecia disappeared only because of her body’s collapse. DOC once again changed the order of these events to where Lucrecia left after failing to save Vincent and losing her son.
It also looks like Vincent confronted Hojo much earlier. We are now left to interpretation maybe since DOC’s own timeline is hard to follow. There are plenty of people who have these events better thought through than me.
But if we combine all of these details together and ignore the timeline, we have more reasons for Lucrecia’s breakdown in general. Vincent’s bodily corruption, the loss of Sephiroth, and Lucrecia’s own degradation. We may not know the very order of every event until Rebirth or the third game, which is okay. These are still good details.
This hurts so much and I do not even need to explain why, ahaha. Hojo is so, so cruel to his own family.
I have recently pulled a translation from this section which some of you may recognize. All of the small details make me emotional 🥲
And this is the last one I wanted to share. I cannot stop thinking about Hojo’s inferiority complex with Gast because we know Sephiroth looked up to and admired Gast from a young age. How bitter Hojo must have been that his own son adored a man he hated. The implications of how complicated this could have made their relationship are endless. No wonder Hojo murdered Gast without hesitation. A walking mass of complexes indeed.
I think this is so emotional for me because of The First Soldier and Rebirth now. These details matter for enrichment.
Edit: I should once again clarify what I think about the 2005 Ultimania because there are fans that dismiss it thanks to its questionable text in spots. I believe that if a note from this book does not directly contradict currently established canon, then it may be safe to take in as context enrichment.
For example, all of the information about Sephiroth here is still accurate to the most recent depictions of his character, but there are small details added about why he believed he was different.
I do not see any reason to fully dismiss this because it does no harm to canon and does not go against what we have seen even in recent media like Ever Crisis.
On the other hand, the information about Lucrecia and when she left and why is much more fragile because Dirge of Cerberus added a new take on her motives. For this reason, I will only cherry-pick. I would say the detail about deterioration is accurate because that was hinted at in DOC but it’s no longer the only reason she left.
But everyone should make up their own minds on how to approach this Ultimania.
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