Saw something on Twitter that asked what the point of Genesis was; whether people liked his character or tolerated him. They suggested that he was badly used as an interesting character and I just want to throw my two Gil in here.
To me Genesis is perfectly used in Crisis core but you have to understand what his role is in mythology/alagorical sense to truely appreciate him. I am not trying to be pretentious when I say that I’m genuinely meaning it.
Genesis isn’t just the Loveless obsessed mini boss. There is actual depth to his character. However, his characterisation confuses a lot of people because it’s different from others.
Genesis at the core of his characterisation (and goddess knows it would inflate his ego if his character had been made that self aware.) acts as one of the fates. He is prophet, death bringer and actualiser. He recites the prophesy [Loveless] and brings about the events of FFvii.
Loveless cannot be read as anything other than a prophesy. It just can’t. You just need to listen to all of the lines that are vocalised to know that:
“When the war of the beast brings about worlds end, the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar she guides us to bliss her gift everlasting.”
Arguably this stanza references the war in Wuti and the creation of Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth. “Wings of dark and light” references quite literally their own singular mutations that spring forth as a black wing (Genesis) and a white wing (Angeal and Sephiroth). It then goes on to highlight their ascension into their life stream. This is simply the prologue.
The mistake everyone makes is assuming that the poem is simply talking about the three firsts. It’s not. It is dually talking about the trinity and Seph, cloud and Zack.
“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus and take to the sky. Ripples from on the waters surface the wandering soul knows no rest.”
This part of Act one refers to both Sephiroth and Cloud. Sephiroth is the one in CC who is wandering lost without a home nor a family. His friends have deserted him, and he is alone. By FFvii this is Cloud. He quite literally cannot catch a brake.
The “ripples from the waters surface” surface is the reflection of the two stories. It is the distortion of Sephiroths identity as the hero he has been trained to be into the monster he becomes. It is also the distortion of clouds own identity as his mind is broken and takes on someone else’s identity.
“Three friends go to battle, one is captured, one flies away, the one that is left becomes a hero”
Captured =Angeal and Zack
flies away = Genesis and Sephiroth
Becomes a hero = Sephiroth and Cloud
Angeal is captured more or less in modeoheim and dies. While Zack is quite literally is captured by Hojo with Cloud and dies as a result of that captivity. Arguably Zack was never free.
Genesis was the one who flew away from Sinra and from Nibleheim. He fled before he can behold the consequences of his actions. He his arguably the lynch pin for every major development in crisis core. Had he not challenged Sephiroth; had he not gotten hurt and been unable to heal then nothing that transpired would have happened. Had Genesis not revolted; had he not taunted Sephiroth the plot would never have come to the conclusion it did.
Sephiroth is also the one who flies away in therms of the main FFvii plot because he disappears after Nibleheim, he is the antagonist in a very similar way to Gen in CC. He appears every now and then to fuck up Clouds day and had he not been hurt by Cloud non of what happens in FFvii would transpire because it is that moment that puts Cloud at the forefront of Sephs mind. It is that moment that interests Hojo enough to experiment on Cloud and connect him to Sephiroth via the J-cells.
And then there is the hero left behind. Simply put, Genesis and Angeal leave Sephiroth to become the hero. They make villains of themselves and Leave Shinras golden boy behind to clean up their mess. And when sephiroth dies Shinra immortalises him by reporting that he died a hero. We know this because Aeirth literally states it in FFvii when cloud asked her if she knows who he is and she answers that he was a war hero that died five years previous.
Cloud by comparison is the one left by ALL of them to become a hero. Zack is dead, Sephiroth is now the villain, Genesis and Angeal own deaths impact so much of Clouds own story that they doubly place a burden of expectation upon him. Cloud literally carried all of their dreams and Honour around with him as he uses the Buster sword.
But I digress. Without analysing the entire play (at least the parts we have) you can see from what I have looked at above that Loveless isn’t just some poem; It’s a prophesy.
And Genesis being the one to speak this Prophesy is significant because he is quite literally the lynch pin for all of it. Like I said, had he not been hurt then events would have progressed differently.
I’m not saying he is the most important character of the story. He’s absolutely not; that is Cloud. But he’s not unimportant, nor is he just there. He is one of the most interesting plot devices FFvii has in my opinion.
Because he is quite literally the mouth piece of Minerva. He is a fate of the gods. He is past present and future, and he serves as the narrator at the beginning of the Shakespeare play to profess “two houses both alike in dignity.”
Genesis isn’t nothing. He is a walking Oman of death and destiny.
((Please remember this is my opinion and if you disagree I’d love to know but blessed don’t be rude. I like discussing but I really hate being yelled at.))
