President Shinra

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President Shinra
(プレジデント神羅, Purejidento Shinra?)
Biographical information
Home	Shinra Headquarters
Affiliation	Shinra Electric Power Company
Occupation	President
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Blood type	Blond
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character
Type	Non-player character
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Tetsuya Nomura

These days, all it takes for your dreams to come true is money and power.

President Shinra

President Shinra leads the Shinra Electric Power Company in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and Final Fantasy VII. He plays a minor and unseen role in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, only mentioned in emails and some dialogue.

President Shinra has three known children: two illegitimate sons and Rufus Shinra, the heir to Shinra's fortune. It is implied President Shinra has a wife, but she has never been depicted.

Profile

Appearance

President Shinra is a short stout man with thinning blond hair and mustache. He wears a burgundy suit, white shirt and purple tie and carries a cigar. In the Remake, his suit and tie are lined with black stripes and white dots respectively, and he is thinner than his original depiction. His age is never disclosed, but is thought to be somewhere in the sixties.

Personality

President Shinra is an overly ambitious, greedy man, stopping at nothing to gain more money and power. Both callous and ruthless, President Shinra is unfazed at disposing anyone who might oppose him and his company. As the de facto ruler of the world he exercises his power with impunity. His lifelong dream is to build Neo Midgar in the Promised Land, a place he believes is fertile with Mako energy. His only soft spot appears to be his son, Rufus, whose traitorous behavior he forgives. Even his passkey at the Shinra Building is his son's birthday.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

During the Hoshi o Meguru Otome novel, he is unable to return to the Lifestream because he is too attached to his political and economical grandeur.

Story

Early life

President Shinra has three sons: Lazard Deusericus, Evan Townshend, and Rufus Shinra, but he only acknowledges the latter. Lazard and Rufus were given top positions in his organization, the Shinra Electric Power Company that has a monopoly on power generation in the world. Shinra started as a weapons manufacturer, and continues in the business with a private army it uses to conquer areas that reject Shinra's hegemony. Whether President Shinra started the company himself, or if he perhaps inherited it, is unknown.

The traitor within Shinra

In Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- President Shinra gives a speech at Junon. The eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE attacks and he escapes, but is shot by the AVALANCHE scientist, Fuhito. Surviving, President Shinra calls in the premier SOLDIER member Sephiroth to attack the AVALANCHE commander, Elfé.

President Shinra begins to suspect there is a traitor within his company. This train of thought is fueled by his son, Rufus, who is suggesting the same. The President wrongfully accuses the leader of the Turks, Shinra's intelligence division, Veld, and replaces him with an incompetent military head, Heidegger, for a mission based in Junon to eradicate AVALANCHE. Heidegger's position proves to be only temporary as the President brings Veld back after Heidegger's strategy at Junon almost destroys the city and Veld blackmails President Shinra with classified information, possibly about the Deepground project.

President Shinra later discovers the real traitor is Rufus, who had been funding AVALANCHE to have his father killed to take over the company. The Turks capture and use Rufus as leverage with President Shinra to save their commander Veld, and his daughter, Elfé, who leads AVALANCHE. Rufus is neither killed nor stripped of his title however, as President Shinra merely orders him to be placed under house-arrest in Junon. Rufus's absence is explained by claiming he is on an "extended assignment overseas".

Oppressor of AVALANCHE

President Shinra observing the destruction of Sector 7.

When the second generation of AVALANCHE attacks the Sector 5 Reactor in Final Fantasy VII, President Shinra prepares an ambush. He addresses Cloud before setting Air Buster on him and his friends and leaves by helicopter.

During the Shinra Headquarters infiltration, AVALANCHE overhears a conversation between President Shinra and some of his top executives, including Heidegger and Professor Hojo. He plans to not rebuild Sector 7, which the Turks destroyed as a counter-attack to finish off AVALANCHE.

The death of President Shinra.

The party meets the President again in person when they are brought before him after being captured while trying to escape with Aeris. After a brief conversation, the President sends the party away to be locked up. When the party arrives at his office during the night, they find him impaled by a large sword. Palmer, a Shinra executive who was hiding during the assault, claims Sephiroth killed the President. Rufus arrives and assumes the role as the head of the company.

Found in the Lifestream

In the novel Hoshi o Meguru Otome, Aerith's spirit in the afterlife finds a blank place in the Lifestream where it does not flow properly, and discovers President Shinra. The President's spirit is joyous to have met her and tells Aerith he would have given her a life of luxury if she had cooperated with Shinra instead of living in the slums. He tells her how he took Shinra to where it was and became a king over Midgar with his control over Mako and the people's dependency on it, and asks Aerith if she does not consider her life miserable in comparison to his as they have both ended up to the same place. Aerith realizes the President is clinging to the ambitions and wealth he had in life and this is why the Lifestream cannot take him. Sensing her pity, the president tells her to leave. The moment she turns her back Sephiroth starts absorbing more essence of the planet to increase his power. The president is sucked in screaming as he is absorbed by Sephiroth.

Musical themes

The appearances of President Shinra are accompanied by the "Shinra Inc." theme.

During the scene when Sector 7 is destroyed, President Shinra is shown observing the events from his office and the music he is listening to is Joseph Haydn's "The Creation".

Spoilers end here.

Gallery

Original artwork by Tetsuya Nomura.

President Shinra in his office at the Shinra Headquarters.

President Shinra in his office in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

The president appearing as a hologram to the party.

Holding a cigar during a meeting.

Etymology

Following Rufus's ascension his title is shachō (社長?, lit. company president), while the English term (プレジデント, Purejidento?) is only ever used for his father. The game appears to avoid using shachō in reference to President Shinra, however this is given as his position within the Shinra Company in charts and character profiles. It is possible that "President" (プレジデント, Purejidento?) is actually his first name, however this seems unlikely as his subordinates refer to him solely by this name (while Rufus is never referred to without title). This means that he is the only character in the game referred to only by their surname. He is the only character whose speaker line contains their surname. In one instance of dialogue (corrected for the PC versions) his dialogue box reads only his surname.

The English term "president" (プレジデント, purejidento?) is likely used for his title as it can refer to both a company president and a head of state.

[view · edit · purge]In a March 4, 2020 interview, Yoshinori Kitase explained that the word "SHINRA" derives from the word "myth" in Japanese (神話, shinwa?) because SHINRA was about becoming god and controlling everything.