LOVELESS



LOVELESS is an epic from the world of Final Fantasy VII that has made several cameo appearances in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and plays a major role in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Originating as a book of poetry, the story has been adapted into a play and had a street named after it in Midgar. The story focuses around three men who set out on a quest to find the fabled "Gift of the Goddess". Posters and billboards for the play show a female figure with the words "Open 6/25 6:00" and "18:00" and many posters also include the text "My Bloody Valentine".

Loveless Poem

 * Prologue (Poem)
 * When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
 * The goddess descends from the sky
 * Wings of light and dark spread afar
 * She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting


 * Act I (Poem)
 * Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
 * We seek it thus, and take to the sky
 * Ripples form on the water's surface
 * The wandering soul knows no rest.


 * Act II (Poem)
 * There is no hate, only joy
 * For you are beloved by the goddess
 * Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds


 * Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
 * Pride is lost
 * Wings stripped away, the end is nigh


 * Act III (Poem)
 * My friend, do you fly away now?
 * To a world that abhors you and I?
 * All that awaits you is a somber morrow
 * No matter where the winds may blow


 * My friend, your desire
 * Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess


 * Even if the morrow is barren of promises
 * Nothing shall forestall my return


 * Act IV (Poem)
 * My friend, the fates are cruel
 * There are no dreams, no honor remains
 * The arrow has left, the bow of the goddess


 * My soul, corrupted by vengeance
 * Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
 * In my own salvation
 * And your eternal slumber


 * Legend shall speak
 * Of sacrifice at world's end
 * The wind sails over the water's surface
 * Quietly, but surely


 * Act V (Poem)
 * Even if the morrow is barren of promises
 * Nothing shall forestall my return
 * To become the dew that quenches the land
 * To spare the sands, the seas, the skies
 * I offer thee this silent sacrifice

________________________


 * LOVELESS Rōmaji
 * Prologue (Poem)
 * Kemonotachi no tatakai ga yoni owari wo motarasu toki
 * Kuraki sora yori megami ga maioriru.
 * Hikari to yami no tsubasa wo hiroge
 * Shifuku he to michibiku okurimono to tomoni.


 * Act I (Poem)
 * Shinen no nazo sore wa megami no okurimono.
 * Warera ha motome tobitanda.
 * Samayoutsuzukeru kokoro no minamo ni
 * Kasukana sazanami wo tattete.


 * Act II (Poem)
 * Oshiminai shukufuku to tomo ni
 * Kimi ha megami ni aisareta.
 * Sekai wo iyasu eiyuu toshitemo
 * Asu wo nozomi te chiru tamashii.
 * Hokori mo tsui e
 * Tobita tou ni mo tsubasa ha horeta


 * Act III (Poem)
 * Kimi yo tobitatsu no ka?
 * Warera ha mikumu sekai he to
 * Machiukeru ha tada kakoku na asu.
 * Sakamaku kaze nomida toshitemo
 * Kimi yo koi negai e
 * Inochi hagukumu megami no okurimono.
 * Yakusoku no nai asu dearouto
 * Kimi no tatsu basho ni kanarazu mai modorou.


 * Act IV (Poem)
 * Kimi yo inga nari.
 * Yume mo hokori mo sude ni ushinai.
 * Megami hiku yumi yori sude ni ya ha hanatarete
 * Fukushuu ni toritsukukareta waga tamashii
 * Kunou no sue ni
 * Tadoritsukitaru ganbou ha waga kyuusai to
 * Kimi no yasura kanaru nemuri
 * Iza katari tsugan kimi no gisei sekai no owari.
 * Hito shirezu minami owaru kaze no gotoku
 * Yuruyaka ni tashika ni


 * Act V (Poem)
 * Yakusoku no nai asu dearouto
 * Kimi no tatsu basho ni kanarazu mai modorou.
 * Hoshi no kibou no shizuku to narite.
 * Chi no hate sora no kanata haruka naru minamo
 * Hisokanaru nie to narou

Final Fantasy VII
Posters of LOVELESS are scattered around Midgar, first seen in Sector 8, and their appearance makes apparent that the name derives from the 1991 album by My Bloody Valentine, an Irish shoegaze band. Loveless is regarded their best work, and is generally thought of in high regard, usually doing well in British music press polls. The woman on the LOVELESS posters resembles My Bloody Valentine's singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher. In the PlayStation 3 technical demo, and the cutscene at the end of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the scene that features the poster is remade, and the poster has been changed.

Near the end of the game, Cloud can talk to Cid Highwind, who mentions he went to see the play and fell asleep, being awoken in time for the final act, and he quotes the following from the final scene, between a woman and her lover, who is leaving:


 * "Do you really have to leave?"
 * "I promised. The people I love, are waiting."
 * "...I don't understand. Not at all. But... please take care of yourself."
 * "Of course... I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing you'll be here."

This bears a slight resemblance to the opening lines of Final Fantasy VIII.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete
LOVELESS is only hinted at; a poster is present in the opening before the scene cuts to Denzel and Marlene, and another poster is seen behind Rude when he and Reno appear at Edge to challenge Yazoo and Loz. A LOVELESS poster is seen when Aerith Gainsborough walks into Midgar with a flower basket. And finally, a LOVELESS billboard falls and hits Rude on the head, before Reno falls on him, knocking him down momentarily. If the shot is paused at the right moment, the head of a woman can be seen on the billboard. The woman resembles Aeris's menu portrait in Final Fantasy VII.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
In the beginning of Episode One, a billboard for LOVELESS can be seen while the camera pans Sector 8. It is located in multiple locations in the sector as the game unfolds.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
LOVELESS posters can be sighted in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- in Edge during Chapter 3. The posters are placed outside on the streets, and inside houses.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Genesis Rhapsodos is obsessed with the story of LOVELESS and recites quotes from it during each encounter Zack has with him. Genesis envisions himself and his two SOLDIER First Class comrades, Sephiroth and Angeal, as the three men foretold in the epic, and thus hopes to find the fabled "Gift of the Goddess".

The stage play of LOVELESS is apparently largely based on acts II and III, being told from the viewpoint of the girl who helps the male lead. To make it closer to the original context it contains additional scenes of two friends. Kunsel emails that he has seen the stage production and quotes the last line:

The final chapter of LOVELESS is lost, with only a single line remaining: "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return", although there are many theories on the story's conclusion. The Crisis Core Complete Guide states the biggest mystery is what happened to the world after receiving the "Gift of the Goddess".

More of LOVELESS is engraved upon stone tablets within the cave in Banora Underground where Zack faces Genesis for the last time. The stone tablets tell a short story of a group of three friends who go in search for the "Gift of the Goddess" taking on the roles of a "Hero", a "Traveler", and a "Prisoner". The Prisoner escapes and is critically wounded, only to end up in the care of a woman from the enemy faction whom he falls in love with. He lives a peaceful life, but is tortured by the promise he made to his friends.

The phrase "My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains" is told to Zack early in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- by Genesis referring to the fateful duel between the two friends in the story of LOVELESS, making a parallel to himself and Angeal. When Genesis is taken away by Deepground the missing final act is added to the LOVELESS book. This is either a line Genesis thought up himself (making it unlikely to be the original missing act) or it is, in fact, the original missing act Genesis finally found, and wrote into his book.

Official Interpretation
In the Crisis Core Complete Guide, the developers of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- discuss the various interpretations of LOVELESS, acknowledging that both in-game and among real world fans it has many possible meanings.

Genesis attempted to reenact LOVELESS with him as the Hero, Zack as the Prisoner, the goddess statue as the Goddess, and the statue's Goddess Materia as the Gift of the Goddess. Genesis tells Zack that through his S-Cells and the Buster Sword, he carries the legacies of Sephiroth and Angeal with him to the duel, thus reuniting the three friends. Genesis thought that by fighting Zack he would obtain the Gift of the Goddess, and be cured of his degradation. Zack wonders if re-creating LOVELESS in this manner was always his plan, but the developers clarify that Genesis only began working to this goal after Hollander's promises of a cure failed him.

After the battle Genesis regained his pride as a SOLDIER, and was cured from degradation by the power of the Lifestream. Genesis realized he was not the Hero, but the Prisoner, and by accepting this received the Gift of the Goddess — his pride as a SOLDIER — that was lost to him through his rebellion against Shinra. Because he received the gift by battling Zack, who had inherited the will of Angeal who championed honor and pride, Zack himself is the Gift of the Goddess for Genesis for giving Genesis this chance.

The guide offers the interpretation that as Genesis is the Prisoner, Angeal is the Wanderer who took flight from Shinra, and Zack is the Hero who saved Genesis. This is reflected in Zack's words at the end of the game, "Hey... Would you say I became a hero?"

Merchandise
A silver pendant of the book of LOVELESS Genesis reads from in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- was released as official merchandise in December 2007. In 2012 a LOVELESS print shopping bag was released, based on the design of the billboard seen in Final Fantasy VII.

Trivia

 * The Irish Shoegaze act My Bloody Valentine's 1991 album Loveless was popular with the staff at the time of development of Final Fantasy VII.
 * In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, during the action cutscene during Genesis's Digital Mind Wave, for a split-second, there is writing on the ground, around the enemy. This is actually the fifth and final act of LOVELESS (except for "I offer thee this silent sacrifice", which should be written where the enemy is standing).