Chaos (Final Fantasy VII)



Chaos appears in Final Fantasy VII and its sequel Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-. Chaos has a minor role in Final Fantasy VII as it is just a Limit Break for Vincent Valentine, however, it has a larger role in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, having a backstory, and being the cause of the major conflicts in the game.

Vincent as Chaos is the only incarnation of Chaos in the entire Final Fantasy series that is portrayed as clearly on the heroes' side, though not necessarily benevolent, but only because Vincent himself is.

Appearance
Chaos' appearance in Final Fantasy VII has always varied, but still maintains a theme of a devil and infernal being.

In Final Fantasy VII, Chaos appears as a dark grey skinned devil, its appearance muscular and bald with typical features of western demons such as horns, hooved feet and bat like wings.

In Dirge of Cerberus, Chaos appears as if its powers has violently spliced with Vincent's own being, resulting in a ragged, worn, and wicked demonic looking Vincent. Many features of his clothes have merged with Chaos' demonic features; his cape has become its wings, his headband warped into a crest of horn like protrusions, and the resultant clothes appear to have melded with his skin, forming what appears to be an exoskeleton, with muscular definitions and various protrusions of organic yet corrupted looking features.

Story
Stated in the Omega Reports, Chaos was first described in an ancient Cetra tablet. Later, a team of scientists that included Grimoire Valentine and Lucrecia Crescent, found a small pool of tainted Lifestream within the Crystal Cave. The two hypothesized Chaos would arrive at the cave at the destined time, and later excavated the Protomateria from its depths.

With samples of the Mako and the newly discovered Protomateria brought back for experimentation, Grimoire died in an experiment associated with the discovery. Shinra Electric Power Company used the tainted Mako to create stronger SOLDIERs within Deepground, which resulted in the birth of Nero the Sable. The scientific investigation of Chaos and Omega later comes to a complete stop when other scientists dismiss and criticize Lucrecia's report.

Chaos's nature is revealed later in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, such as what exactly he is, how he was discovered and how he links to Vincent. Most of the information about him is revealed by Shalua Rui, Shelke, and Lucrecia.

Chaos is first seen when Vincent Valentine meets Rosso the Crimson. The two fight with Vincent losing, as he is unaware of the strength of his opponent. When Vincent emerges a few seconds after being defeated he is Chaos and uses his power to knock Rosso away. Vincent still seems to have control over himself while in this form, as the Protomateria is still within his body.

Vincent awakens to find himself in a regenerative chamber in the World Regenesis Organization (WRO) headquarters. Shalua, who found Vincent and brought him to the WRO to recover, releases him and tells him about Lucrecia's research on Chaos. While they are talking Deepground attacks, forcing him to leave his questions until later and fight.

When Vincent is in the Shinra Manor in Nibelheim he finds a piece of Materia that contains a recording from Lucrecia. Lucrecia explains what Chaos and Omega mean to the world and tells Vincent Omega will be the end of the world, though she does not mention what part Chaos plays in this.

Vincent comes across Rosso once more and after a talk, Rosso flees and Vincent chases after her to the mansion entrance where he fights a Black Widow robot. After the fight, Rosso catches Vincent off-guard and removes a piece of Materia from his chest. Vincent transforms into Chaos, but instantly transforms back. Rosso comments it appears Vincent cannot control Chaos without the Materia she just extracted, but before she can kill him Yuffie arrives and rescues him.

Chaos becomes more and more unstable within Vincent. Aboard the Shera Vincent briefly becomes Chaos, tearing deep gouges into the wall, but is brought out because he sees an image of Lucrecia walking toward him, snapping Vincent's mind back into place.

He gets another bout of Chaos outside the Shinra Headquarters in the ruins of Midgar where Shelke explains to him that, after the Protomateria was taken from him, his mental defense against Chaos was weakened, and he is slowly losing control. She explains that Chaos, while a part of Vincent, acts independently and explains that Chaos shall be born before the Planet dies and shall gather together all life for Omega.

Chaos appears after Azul knocks Vincent unconscious after their fight. Chaos goes wild, impales Azul with his gun and knocks him off the elevator they were on. Vincent has a flashback of his time after he was shot by Hojo and Lucrecia was trying to revive him. Hojo comments on Chaos and Omega, but no information is given on them.

Chaos is mentioned in another flashback where Lucrecia and Grimoire Valentine, Vincent's father and a fellow scientist interested in Chaos and Omega, are in the Crystal Cave which, according to Grimoire, is where Chaos is supposed to awaken.

Hojo, or rather, a digital version of him inside Weiss, explains to Vincent near exactly how Chaos exists within him. Due to Hojo's experiments of Vincent many years ago, Vincent's body became more durable and thus Chaos could exist inside him. He says Chaos is born of a tainted Lifestream.

Vincent tries to use Chaos to fight against Weiss but fails. Vincent hallucinates Lucrecia is standing in front of him; she tells him to try and control Chaos, not let Chaos control him. Vincent does so successfully by utilizing the Protomateria within Weiss and uses Chaos's power while retaining his human form and defeats Weiss.

Chaos finally takes full control over Vincent's body when Omega is summoned to, according to Shelke, counterbalance Omega's appearance. Shelke then uses a Synaptic Net Dive to retrieve the Protomateria and return it to Vincent so he can control Chaos once more.

It is revealed that after Vincent was shot by Hojo and experimented on, he was still dying. Lucrecia tried to save him by infusing a tainted Lifestream into him as she believed that her thesis on Chaos could save him. While this stopped Vincent's body from decaying, it meant he was permanently Chaos. Lucrecia discovered the Protomateria and used it so Vincent could control Chaos, but it appears Vincent resumed decaying, as when Lucrecia tries to use it, her computer screen flashes red. It is unknown what happens to Vincent after this or how he stops decaying, but due to the events of Final Fantasy VII and its flashbacks it can be assumed Vincent woke up and realized what he had become, and went into a deep slumber.

Vincent as Chaos combats Omega and Weiss. After the battle with Weiss, Omega ascends so Vincent uses Chaos to destroy Omega. Back in the Crystal Cave where Lucrecia lies crystallized, Vincent tells her Chaos and Omega have returned to the Planet.

Final Fantasy VII
Chaos is Vincent's ultimate Limit Break and can be obtained by visiting Lucrecia's Cave with Vincent in the party, watching the events there, returning after fighting ten battles, and examining the altar to receive the manual, along with the Death Penalty weapon which is Vincent's ultimate weapon. To use the manual, Vincent must have already obtained his other Limit Breaks.

Besides being a Limit Break, Chaos has no other purpose and if Vincent is not obtained as a party member, as he is an optional character, the player can bypass seeing Chaos at all.

Like all of Vincent's Limit Breaks, the player has no control over Chaos once Vincent transforms into him, his stats change and he uses unique attacks. Vincent's Defense and Magic Defense will be doubled while he is Chaos, and he uses the attacks Chaos Saber and Satan Slam. Chaos Saber hits all foes with an attack power 2.5 times stronger than Vincent's normal attack and Satan Slam hits all foes, but with an attack power 5.625 times stronger than Vincent's normal attack power, and also has a chance to cause Instant Death.

In the PC version re-release of Final Fantasy VII, obtaining Chaos unlocks the Chaos achievement.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
The nature of Chaos is expanded upon in Dirge of Cerberus, where it is revealed to be a semi-Weapon that acts according to the will of another Weapon, Omega. The legend of Chaos and Omega's existence as Weapons the Planet calls forth in a time of threat were only recently discovered by Dr. Lucrecia Crescent and Dr. Grimoire Valentine.

Chaos is a being born of negative memories and the sins within a naturally occurring stagnated and tainted form of Lifestream, and during times should excessive stagnant Lifestream increase in unusually high amounts. Its ultimate purpose is to function as an executioner of all life and harbinger of death triggered by the Planet's reaction to this imbalance upon periods of great catastrophe, decline, and mass planetary-scale destruction, to allow the rest of the Planet's Lifestream to be gathered to a new planet to continue the cycle of life.

Although Vincent retains the ability to turn into Chaos and maintains control of himself at the start of Dirge of Cerberus, the player is unable make him turn into Chaos during gameplay like they can with his Galian Beast form. Chaos becomes playable in Dirge of Cerberus during the game's final level. The form allows him to hover briefly, perform a combo attack consisting of various claw swipes and kicks ending with a sphere of energy, perform a large jump equal to a double jump, and wield a more threatening variation of the Death Penalty gun (his final weapon from Final Fantasy VII), which gains power as it collects the souls of the wicked.

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
Chaos can appear as an image when Vincent's gun is charged, and each charged shots that is fired can create an image of his Limit Break alter egos upon each successful hit.