Final Fantasy VII series allusions

Throughout the original Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, as well the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII spinoff series, there have been numerous allusions to other Final Fantasy titles, to the other entries in the Final Fantasy VII series (especially to the original in the spinoffs), and the number seven.
==Allusions to other Final Fantasy games==
===Final Fantasy series===
*The ultimate black magic and white magic spells in Final Fantasy VII—Holy and Meteor—refer to the recurring magic spells in previous Final Fantasy titles. Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the series to not let the player cast the Holy spell in battle. Holy being a reference to the ultimate white magic spell from previous games was lost in translation since no US Final Fantasy before Final Fantasy VII called Holy by its real name, it being renamed to "Fade", "White", and "Pearl".
*The Huge Materia in Final Fantasy VII resemble those of elemental crystals, a recurring theme in Final Fantasy since the first game. There are four elemental crystals, as there are four Huge Materia, and their colors correspond to the traditional elemental crystals as well.
*Cid Highwind's use of spears and Jump-inspired Limit Breaks is based on the recurring Dragoon job. He shares his surname of Highwind with previous series Dragoons, Ricard Highwind of Final Fantasy II and Kain Highwind of Final Fantasy IV.
===Final Fantasy===
*Vincent's final Limit Break, Chaos, alludes to and even somewhat resembles the final boss of the same name in the original Final Fantasy.
*In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the pinball machine, Volcano Bombs, located in Seventh Heaven, plays the classic "Final Fantasy theme" when the hidden elevator button is activated.
===Final Fantasy III===
*Aerith, like Desch, is an Ancient.
===Final Fantasy IV===
*Demons Gate refers to Demon Wall in Final Fantasy IV.
*Cid Highwind's surname is part of a long-running tradition of dragoon-class characters named Highwind, which includes Final Fantasy IV's Kain Highwind. Cid uses spears and lances in battle and possesses Dragoon-like abilities, like Kain.
*Whichever girl Cloud dates at the Gold Saucer will play the role of Princess Rosa in the Event Square play. The role may allude to Rosa, the heroine of Final Fantasy IV.
===Final Fantasy V===
*The monsters fought in Sunken Gelnika, named "Unknown", refer to the various enemies found in the Great Sea Trench in Final Fantasy V, also called Unknown. Both locations are underwater.
*The Choco/Mog Materia has a random chance to rarely summon the Fat Chocobo. The Summon command for the Chocobo summon in Final Fantasy V worked the same way.
*The Odin Materia usually casts Zantetsuken, but if all targets are immune to its instant death effect, it will cast Gunge Lance instead. The Odin summon in Final Fantasy V was the same.
*In Final Fantasy V stone-type enemies can be instantly killed by using a Soft on them. There is a bug in Gargoyle's script in Final Fantasy VII that suggests it should have been able to be removed by using a Soft on it, however, this never works.
*The Shildra Inn in Cosmo Canyon is named after Syldra, Faris's pet sea dragon. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, this was correctly translated as being the Syldra inn.
===Final Fantasy VI===
*Cait Sith resembles the Cait Sith summon from Final Fantasy VI, and may have been inspired by it.
*Biggs and Wedge debuted in Final Fantasy VI as soldiers in the Gestahlian Empire. Their names refer to Star Wars characters Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker's Red Squadron wingmen in Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
*Moogles in Final Fantasy VII are referred to as Mogs. Cait Sith's Mog Dance Limit Break in Final Fantasy VII may also refer to Mog, whose special command was Dance in Final Fantasy VI.
*Red XIII's Limit Break Howling Moon was a summon ability for Fenrir in Final Fantasy VI.
*There are billboards in Midgar depicting "Mt. Kolts" in Final Fantasy VII. It also appears in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- as the name of a bar in Midgar's Sector 8 Fountain.
*The summon monster Typhoon alludes to Typhon, Ultros's cohort, from Final Fantasy VI.
*The enemy Cactuar, found in a desert area, originated in Final Fantasy VI.
*Gaining Cloud's Ultima Weapon from Ultimate Weapon may allude to Final Fantasy VI where both the physical weapon and the enemy originated. In the backstory from Final Fantasy VI, both were created during the War of the Magi to be the ultimate weapons of destruction, and thus share a connection. Cloud's Ultima Weapon has similar design elements with the one in Final Fantasy VI, as both weapons have ornate crossguards with two V section on both sides of the sword's bar and the blades glow blue and visibly display their strength in battle when the wielder is weakened.
*Chasing down Ultimate Weapon by airship alludes to pursuing Deathgaze in Final Fantasy VI.
*Hell Rider VR2 enemy is likely based on Hell's Rider enemy from Final Fantasy VI. The two share the same name in the Japanese version, bar the addition of VR2 to the Final Fantasy VII enemy, and resemble each other in appearance.
*In Final Fantasy VII Remake, Tifa's second Unbridled Strength ability, Omnistrike , shares the same Japanese name as Sabin Rene Figaro's Raging Fist Blitz ability.
===Final Fantasy VII===
Installments released after the original Final Fantasy VII sometimes allude to it:
*In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Loz's ringtone is the "Victory Fanfare" from Final Fantasy VII.
*The document pinned on a wall in 7th Heaven in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has a picture of the North American cover art of Final Fantasy VII.
*The opening sequence of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- mirrors the opening of Final Fantasy VII: both start in a train station and both protagonists jump off a train.
*When Aerith and Cloud leave the gondola during the date in Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII, she concludes the date by saying "we should get going." In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- she concludes her date with Zack with "I should get going". This could be intended since the two dates share some similarities.
*Emerald Weapon, a superboss in Final Fantasy VII, can be spotted among crystals in an area off the map in Banora Underground in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.
*The final battle of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- being against a human Genesis after already having defeated his more powerful form, is similar to Final Fantasy VII where Sephiroth's human form is fought in a one-on-one duel after having defeated Safer∙Sephiroth.
*The promo poster for Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- alludes to Vincent's promotional poster from Final Fantasy VII.
*There are posters featuring Cloud's silhouette in Edge in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.
*Limit breaks being learned from books in Final Fantasy VII Remake alludes to the original Final Fantasy VII where each party member's final Limit was learned from a manual, which often required doing a sidequest to find.
*When Red XIII is met in Final Fantasy VII Remake , he briefly assumes the pose from his original artwork .
*In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Sector 7 slums' train station has two NPC boys who discuss decommissioned trains, mentioning models 131, 97 and 102. These numbers appear to allude to the dates the original Final Fantasy VII was released in Japan: January 31, 1997 (97.1.31.), and October 2, 1997 (97.10.2.) for the International Version.
*In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the combination to enter the room containing the Forgotten Specimen: 36, 10, 59, 97, is the same as that which is used to release its counterpart, Lost Number, in the original game.
====Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children====
*The moogle doll outside the Sector 7 Clinic in "Episode INTERmission" is the same kind of doll Moogle Girl has in the film.
* Jenova Dreamweaver dissolving into a black-robed man after its defeat is similar to when a defeated Sephiroth dissolves into a dying Kadaj.
===Final Fantasy VIII===
*The red banner in the Galbadia Garden ice rink reads; "Keep on rockin' in Galbadia!!". This slogan is alluded to in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children with the memorial plate in Edge reading "Keep on rockin' in Midgar!!"
*In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the area Zack is transported to when fighting Ifrit, is almost identical to the Fire Cavern. Ifrit is one of the first boss fights in both games.
*In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Tifa has a flyer on the wall of her Nibelheim room depicting Zell Dincht from Final Fantasy VIII performing his version of Dolphin Blow, one of Tifa's signature abilities.
=== Final Fantasy X ===
* In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, most names of the Alert Head in the sniping minigame are named after blitzball players, such as Bicsn (Bickson), Grobe (Graav), Wedge, Biggs, Datto, Letty, and Jash (Jassu).
* In Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, official blitzballs can be seen in some cutscenes on the beach in Costa del Sol.
=== Final Fantasy XI ===
*Leviathan's enemy abilities in the remake; Spinning Dive, Tail Whip, and Tidal Roar, are borrowed from his Final Fantasy XI counterpart's Blood Pact abilities.
=== Final Fantasy XIV ===
*Some summon enemy and command abilities from Final Fantasy VII Remake are borrowed from their appearances as Primals in Final Fantasy XIV.
**Ifrit has access to the Final Fantasy XIV version's Radiant Plume attack, functioning similarly by summoning several flame mines throughout the battlefield.
**Shiva has access to her Final Fantasy XIV counterparts's Icicle Impact and Whiteout abilities.
**Leviathan's Gyre Spume ability's name in the English localization originates as the name of the additional enemies summoned by the Leviathan of Final Fantasy XIV. Both the ability and enemies take the form of spheres of water that attack the targets.
**Bahamut's usage of the Divebomb enemy ability originates from the Final Fantasy XIV version using the attack during final encounter within the The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 4. Like the original appearance, Bahamut launches a diving strike from the outer edges of the battlefield.
=== Final Fantasy XV ===
* In Final Fantasy VII Remake, Barret may occasionally perform an impromptu acapella version of the Victory Fanfare after combat, similar to Prompto Argentum in Final Fantasy XV. In "Episode INTERmission" and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Yuffie may sometimes do this as well. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Cait Sith may performing a meowing version of it.
==Allusions to the number seven==
Being the seventh installment of the series, the entire compilation of Final Fantasy VII makes some references to the number itself and is, in fact, the first game in the series to purposely make major allusions to its own number. Although many of these are not necessarily deliberate allusions to the number 7 (whether they are or not is speculative), they are nonetheless present.
===Final Fantasy VII===
*According to the timeline, the start of the game with the invasion on Mako Reactor 5 happens in the year 0007.
*Cloud levels up to level 7 in the first battle.
*AVALANCHE resides in Sector 7 of Midgar.
*Tifa's bar is called 7th Heaven.
**At the start of the game, seven people are either living or staying at the 7th Heaven: Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Marlene, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie.
*Aeris's birthday is February 7.
*Shinra Building has 70 floors.
*There are seven Shinra executives: President Shinra, Rufus Shinra (Vice-President), Scarlet (Weapons Development Department), Hojo (Science Department), Reeve (Urban Development Department), Heidegger (Public Safety Maintenance Department) and Palmer (Head of Space Program).
*When entering Midgar from the world map, the door has a number "7" painted on it, even though it is the door to Sector 5.
*Cloud leaves Nibelheim to join SOLDIER seven years before the events of the game.
*Zangan taught 128 kids in martial arts around the world. 128 is 27, which means that 7 bits of memory can store any one of 128 different values.
*The books in the Shinra Mansion library shelves form the letters "VII".
*The red plane in Costa del Sol harbor has "VII" painted on the side.
*Gold Saucer has seven areas of attractions.
*The "lucky" handicap reel on the Battle Square is called Lucky 7.
*There are nine main playable characters, but only seven are mandatory.
*Most characters have seven different Limit Breaks. The exceptions are Cait Sith, who has two, but with various different outcomes, and Vincent, who has four, but each form has two special attacks. This makes for seven characters who have seven Limit Breaks.
*The Turtle's Paradise awards seven items for completing the flyer-hunt sidequest, which involves finding seven flyers.
*Aeris's ultimate weapon, the Princess Guard, has seven Materia slots.
*Aeris and Ifalna were held captive by Hojo for seven years.
*Tifa spends seven days unconscious after the Weapons awake.
*Ancient Forest has seven treasures.
*Tifa spends seven days in a coma after Cloud and she fall from Mt. Nibel when they were kids.
*Red XIII tells the party that Meteor will reach the Planet in seven days.
*If a party member's HP hits 7,777 during battle they enter All Lucky 7s status.
*Safer∙Sephiroth has seven wings; six white wings and one black wing that replaces his arm.
*Ptolemy's diagram of the celestial spheres, also known as the classical planets, or the "Seven Heavens", is used in the Super Nova animation.
*The "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII" is built around a phrase containing a major 7th interval.
===Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis===
*The game launched on September 7, 2023; and its PC port launched December 7 of the same year.
*Cloud does 77,777 "damage" to the Iron Giant he faces whenever a 5-star weapon is pulled (excluding those in guaranteed stamp card squares).
*Developers hold a "Day of VII" on the 7th of each month. This is assumed to be keyed to JST rather than UTC or PST as it most often takes place on the 6th in the Global version.
*The game celebrates any milestone involving the number 7 with gifts for all players.
*On February 21, 2024, the developers recorded 7.77 million unique installs. Coincidentally, the date (21) is also a multiple of 7.
*The Half-Anniversary campaign was launched March 7, 2024, and ran for a total of seven weeks, ending April 21 (in the seventh month of service).
*During the Golden Bomb Rush events, the once-a-day quest awarded exactly 777,777 EXP to participating units.
===Final Fantasy VII Remake===
*The announcement trailer shown at E3 2015 shows a sign for "seventh gate" on a Midgar highway.
*Characters can have up to seven materia slots on their weapons, including the dedicated summon materia slot.
*The camera ad in the Mako Reactor 1 train station has the number 7. 
*The secret elevator to the Avalanche hideout in Seventh Heaven, the pinball machine, is activated by a hidden button that sets the score to 777,777.
*To beat Wedge's darts record in Seventh Heaven, the player needs to win in 7 throws or fewer.
*In Chapter 6, Cloud, Tifa and Barret must cross through Sector G to reach the Sector 5 Reactor. "G" is the seventh letter in the alphabet.
*The singer Akira at the Wall Market club has been singing for seven years.
*In Chapter 18, after Cloud confronts Sephiroth at the edge of creation, Sephiroth tells Cloud he has "Seven seconds till the end."
*It is revealed that there are 49 "Sephiroth-clones" (7*7=49).
*Shiva has 7 loops on her earrings.
*In "Episode INTERmission", there are a set of breakable boxes in the Abandoned Talagger Factory that drop 777 gil. This can only happen once in Chapter.
===Final Fantasy VII Rebirth===
*"Cacter the Seventh" is a character in Cactuar King, a popular serial NPCs commonly talk about near book stores.
*During the Junon Welcoming Parade sequence, the group whose captain Cloud masquerades as is Midgar's Seventh Infantry.
*The tickets that let the party purchase beachwear in Costa del Sol are ticket #7 for Cloud and #77 for Aerith and Tifa.
*Johnny states that his Seaside Hotel will one day become a seven star hotel, which is apparently the highest rating.
*Biff at North Corel challenges Cloud to Queen's Blood, saying that should Cloud lose he must pay 7 gil.
*The moon mentioned in the backstory to the Speed Square attraction at the Gold Saucer is "Moon VII".
*According to the Moogle Merchant, Mog and Mag who started the Mog House enterprise had seven children who set up outposts all around the world.
*In Cosmo Region, Bugenhagen tasks Cloud and Red XIII and their party of analyzing dried up lifesprings. When Cloud measures one such spring that shows an unusually high mako reading, Bugenhagen says the reading is "over 7000".
===Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-===
*The game spans seven years.
*There are seven item pods in the Shinra Building SOLDIER floor.
*There is a sidequest in Nibelheim called "Seven Wonders of Nibelheim".
*There are seven documents found in Shinra Manor.
*The door to the final area of the game is opened by placing seven Goddess Materia on a console.
*Each one of Angeal Penance's attacks is named after one of the seven deadly sins (pride, greed, gluttony, lust, envy, sloth, and wrath).
*When the Digital Mind Wave spins to 7-7-7 during modulating phase, Zack levels up. When it spins to 7-7-7 outside of modulating phase it grants temporary invincibility. If the Digital Mind Wave spins a 7 in any of the slots outside of modulating phase, some positive effect will trigger.
*Zack has seven different special attacks he can perform from the Digital Mind Wave. He also has seven different outcomes from the Chocobo Mode.
*In the Hard difficulty of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, Minerva's HP is increased from the original 20,000,000 HP to a new total of 77,777,777 HP, giving it the highest HP value of any Final Fantasy boss (followed by Aeronite in Lightning Returns).
===Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children===
*When Kadaj confronts Rufus, and holds up Tseng and Elena's bloody ID cards, her ID number is shown to be 077.
===Final Fantasy VII series===
*The word nana from Red XIII's real name "Nanaki" means "seven" in Japanese.
*There is a total of seven Weapon monsters: five introduced in Final Fantasy VII (Sapphire Weapon, Ultimate Weapon, Diamond Weapon, Emerald Weapon, Ruby Weapon), one in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- (Jade Weapon) and one in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- (Omega).
*From info derived from On the Way to a Smile -Episode: Denzel- Final Fantasy VII, Denzel was born late November/early December [ μ ] – εγλ 2000. This would make him seven years old during Final Fantasy VII.
==Other Square Enix projects==
*During the closing moments of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, when the Moogle Girl is cured of Geostigma, a paper bearing a three-by-three grid is visible on the wall behind her; within the nine spaces are the box art to many of Square Enix's PlayStation games, including the art for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics.
*When Cloud suffers from Mako poisoning in Mideel and the player talks to him, he mutters on about "Xenogears". Xenogears is another Square title that was in production the same time as Final Fantasy VII. The game's name was spelled wrong in the PlayStation version, but was fixed in the PC-version of Final Fantasy VII.
*In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- there is a sign in Junon that has the url for the official Square Enix website.
*The city of Edge shares its name with the setting of a former work of Square's and Tetsuya Nomura's, The Bouncer. In addition, both Advent Children and The Bouncer stories center on the inhabitants and lives of those who work and manage a bar establishment in their respective Edges: 7th Heaven and FATE.
*The Final Fantasy VII Remake announcement trailer has a billboard reminiscent of the LOVELESS boards from the other Compilation entries that shows a woman with the word "Valentina" written vertically next to her. The woman is, in fact, of Aya Brea from the Parasite Eve series.
*The Shark series of daggers found from Before Crisis originate as low level daggers from the third game in the Mana series, Trials of Mana.
*As tribute to the 20th Anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, a promotional screenshot for Kingdom Hearts III has Sora standing in front of the Mysterious Tower mimicking a promotional image of Cloud standing before Midgar.
==Non-Square Enix-related==
===Mythology, folklore and religion===
*Midgar's name derives from Midgard, one of the nine planes, or worlds, in old Norse mythology. Likewise, Nibelheim derives from Nifilheim, which is another of the Nine Worlds in Nordic mythology.
*Sephiroth is named for the סְפִירוֹת Səphīrōth (medieval Hebrew form of Sephirot). Sephiroth is a plural noun in Hebrew; the singular is Sephirah (also spelled Sefira). The Sephiroth are described in the Kabbalah as the manifestations of God that allow Him to manifest in the physical and metaphysical universes, referring to Sephiroth's simultaneous existence in the Lifestream and the Planet, and his manifestations through Jenova. 
*The spelling of Sephiroth's name and his backstory may be inspired by Aleister Crowley's work. In Moonchild, a woman agrees to let a magician impregnate her with the soul of a magical being, similar to how Sephiroth was the product of Lucrecia letting Hojo experiment on him in the womb.
*Sephirot are the ten attributes through which God appears, and Aerith may be tied to one such attribute, chesed, meaning kindness or love. It is a virtue which contributes to a concept translated as the healing of the world and the concept suggests man's responsibility to repair and transform the world. The Talmud says "the Torah begins with chesed and ends with chesed", and Aerith is the first and last character seen in the main events of Final Fantasy VII (excepting the epilogue). Those who embody chesed go "above and beyond that which is normally required", and chesed is the first of the sephirot of the attribute of action; in other words the initiation of action. This is similar to how Aerith ventures off alone to summon Holy. The gematria (a numerological system for assigning numbers to words) of chesed is 72; Aerith's birthday is the 7th of February.
**Barret may be tied to the attribute, gevurah, associated with judgment and strength. From the Bahir, "This is the left hand of God." The right hand of God being chesed: kindness/love. Cloud, Barret and Aerith were the first player characters designed for the game, with Aerith and Barret possibly representing chesed and gevurah. The metaphor may be embodied in Barret, who has lost his right hand, but retains his left.
**Tifa may be named after Tifaret, which represents Beauty, Spirituality, Compassion, and Balance(which is shown when Tifa helps Cloud piece together his memories). 
**The other party members share similarities to different Sephira, with Cloud as Keter(Crown, representing Leader), Red XIII as Chokmah(Wisdom), Yuffie as Hod(Splendor), Cait Sith as Binah(Understanding), Vincent as Netzach(Eternity), and Cid as Yesod(Foundation). The Planet itself could represent Malkuth(Kingdom).
*The names of Jenova∙BIRTH, Jenova∙LIFE, and Jenova∙DEATH allude to Saṃsāra, the repeating cycle of birth, life, and death in Buddhism.
*Final Fantasy VII draws heavily from the Lurian Kabalā, a medieval variant of Jewish Mysticism, which is similar to Gnosticism. Both Kabbalah and Gnosticism proclaim that humans have inside their bodies a spark of divine light from the Absolute, which returns there upon death. This Absolute is an infinite wellspring of spiritual energy, knowledge, and goodness, mirroring the function of the Lifestream. The Kabbalah states the Absolute is the Abrahamic God, whereas early Gnostics believed him to be an incompetent or malicious false god known as the demiurge ("artisan" in Ancient Greek) who merely believed himself the uncreated deity because he was shielded from the Absolute by his "mother", an emanation from the Absolute (known as an Aeon) who fell from the skies. This demiurge, trapped in the material world, cannot create anything good, and instead corrupts the sparks of light, just like Jenova's corruption of the Lifestream and of human beings.
*Japan's native religion, Shinto, purports that all things have souls. The Lifestream is also an iteration of the ancient Hellenic philosophical concept of the Absolute or the World-Soul, an infinite wellspring of spiritual energy. All human beings possess a fragment of it which returns upon death. The description of the Lifestream's afterlife is also consistent with Neo-Platonic belief. This concept of the Absolute would, over a millennium later, become part of Jewish Kabbalist belief, which factors heavily into the game.
*In traditional Japanese folklore beliefs souls that died in a sudden or violent manner, or ones that did not get a the proper burial rituals performed upon them, may linger in the physical plane as yūrei, analogous to Western legends of ghost. Yūrei are frequently depicted as being accompanied by a pair of floating flames or will o' the wisps that are separate parts of the ghost rather than independent spirits. Gi Nattak is likely inspired by such folklore.
*The Final Fantasy VII rendition of the Scimitar appears not as a sword, but as one of Cid's lance-type weapons more akin to a Guan Dao. This is because in the original Japanese version, the weapon was not named "Scimitar" but Seiryuu Engetsutou (青龍偃月刀), or Green Dragon Crescent Blade, the famous Guan Dao wielded by Guan Yu.
*The Snow creature in Final Fantasy VII may be based on the from Japanese mythology. The Yuki-onna is an apparition of a woman, which appears on snowy mountains. The creature's doings vary from tale to tale; in some renditions it helps lost travelers, but in others, it lures them away and freezes them.
*The Conformer (Yuffie's ultimate weapon) derives its original name from a yojijukugo proverb adopted from the Chinese Book of Rites. It is taken from verse 2 of Chapter 5 of the first book: "With the enemy who has slain his father, one should not live under the same heaven. With the enemy who has slain his brother, one should never have his sword to seek (to deal vengeance). With the enemy who has slain his intimate friend, one should not live in the same state (without seeking to slay him)."
*In Final Fantasy VII, the Proud Clod drops the Ragnarok sword upon defeat. In the Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Pride and Joy Prototype (which resembles the Proud Clod) will drop an accessory named Gotterdammerung upon defeat. Gotterdammerung (literally translated as "Twilight of the Gods") is old German for the Norse word Ragnarok. Additionally, Gotterdammerung was the name of the final act of Der Ring des Nibelungen (the Ring of the Nibelung), a modern (at the time) retelling of the tale of Ragnarok (also an allusion to the Final Fantasy VII Remake being a retelling of the original Final Fantasy VII).
*In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the enemies G Antenora, G Caina, G Judecca, and G Ptolomea, are named from the Ninth Circle from . They refer to Genesis's betrayals.
*Genesis is a Greek term meaning "birth" or "origin". Book of Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament.
**The Fruit of Knowledge that caused Adam and Eve to fall from Eden is often depicted as an apple, and Genesis often carries one with him. It is used as a symbol of temptation, as he offers it to people he wishes would join him. Genesis was the first to learn about the "sin" of the Jenova Project, but unlike Sephiroth, achieves salvation, as well as spiritual and physical healing, from the gift of the goddess. 
**Genesis's use of Apocalypse alludes to the Bible: Genesis marked the creation of the world, and the Apocalypse marks its end. The methods of executing Apocalypse by Zack and Genesis are of foiling yet relevant theming, as Zack's symbolizes banishment to Hell, while Genesis's execution resembles divine punishment from the heavens.
*One of the Sephiroth Fan Club postings indicates that Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis once trained by throwing their swords at an apple on top of another's head, referring to an exploit famously conducted by the archer William Tell, where a jealous king forced him to shoot an arrow at an apple placed directly on top of his son's head.
*The Japanese names of the normal battle theme and the boss theme are "Those Who Fight" and "Those Who Fight Further". These may originate from the three orders of medieval society as opined by philosophers: Those Who Pray, Those Who Fight, and Those Who Labor.
*The Digital Mind Wave granting the Critical status if the reels match 6-6-6 alludes to the Number of the Beast or the Mark of the Devil within Christian demonology; it is believed that unusually malevolent and violent phenomena occur when demonic presence or power is involved. Alternately, it may stem from the more benign use of demon or devil as a compliment or moniker (i.e. speed demon, sly devil).
===Music===
*During the scene when Sector 7 is destroyed, President Shinra observes the events from his office and the music he is listening to is Joseph﻿ Haydn's "The Creation".
*The play LOVELESS that has posters all over Midgar is the name of an album by My Bloody Valentine. The text "My Bloody Valentine" is found on the posters in Final Fantasy VII.
*The Sister Ray cannon may have been named after a song by the Velvet Underground, featured on their White Light/White Heat album.
*The katakana for the enemy Gighee (a play on 'Gee-gee', a "bad horse") can also be read as "Ziggy", the persona of David Bowie, "Ziggy Stardust". The enemy model is based on this pun, looking like Ziggy Stardust, and with a guitar for a tail. Both Gighee and the enemy it is fought alongside with, Christopher, use song attacks, and Christopher uses an attack called Stardust March only if Gighee is alive.
*Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story contains many references to the English rock band The Who and is titled after the seventh track of their debut album My Generation.
*Originally called the Grand Glove, one of Tifa's knuckles in Final Fantasy VII Remake has been dubbed "Purple Pain", likely intended as an homage to the late American musician Prince Nelson (d. 2016) and his signature power ballad "Purple Rain".
*The armor Iron Maiden is likely dubbed in elaboration with its original name, Heavy Metal, as homage to the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
===Movies and TV===
*Jenova's abilities of assimilation, mimicry, and independent body parts, along with Angeal Hewley's power to infect and assimilate others with his DNA, are akin to the Thing of the 1982 film by John Carpenter.
*Three members of the Ravens in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-—Kanos, Kyneugh, and Tierce—bear the same names as minor characters in the Star Wars series.
*Valron is similar to Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. They have sharp claws and teeth, prolonged heads and long tails with a sharp tip.
*Although perhaps coincidental, the summon Hades and its attack Black Cauldron may be based on the Horned King and the Black Cauldron from the 1985 Disney film also called the Black Cauldron. The lighting on Hades's robe reflects the color of the Horned King's robe in the film, and the burst of energy from the cauldron resembles the blast of the cauldron's black magic from the film.
*Dio's Trophy Room in Battle Square contains an allusion to the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. The robot suit has a sign for "Magma Diver - D-type﻿ armor" -, a reference to the episode where Asuka Langley Soryuu fights an angel in magma and her armor is type D.
*Skeeskee may also serve as a homage to Neon Genesis Evangelion character Pen Pen. Both have similar naming schemes and are warm-water penguins.
*Geisel Bugenhagen may be named for a character in The Omen. In the film, Bugenhagen is an archaeologist who relates the lore of the Antichrist to the protagonists so they may stop him.
*One of Barret's weapons is the Atomic Scissors, a possible reference to Gundam Ashtaron's atomic scissor claws in After War Gundam X.
*In Final Fantasy VII Remake, during Chapter 9, the player will acquire a set of odd jobs from either Madam M or Chocobo Sam depending on their actions. One of them, from Madam M, is called Shears' Counterattack, is not only a reference to the character Shears, the Avalanche's second in command from Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, but a possible allusion to the 1988 animated movie Mobile Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. The enemy fought in the odd job, the Jury-Rigged Cutter, bears a similar color scheme to the mobile suit MSN-04 MSN-04 Sazabi, which is featured in the movie and piloted by the main antagonist Char Aznable.
**Additionally, the enemy Armored Shock Trooper, fought in the Shinra Building, bears strikingly physical similarity to the MSN-04 Sazabi.
* During the battle with Hell House in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Kotch may sometimes state "Be afraid. Be very afraid." This is both the tagline of and a quotation from the film The Fly.
*The opening notes for "One-Winged Angel" feature a string chord similar to the one used in the infamous shower murder scene in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. Coincidentally, Sephiroth post-madness has a similar characterization to Norman Bates from the film, namely his devotion to his "mother". 
*After Palmer is defeated in his boss battle, he nearly avoids getting chopped to bits by the Tiny Bronco, similar to how a German mechanic, while battling Indiana Jones, got chopped to bits by the propeller of a Luftwaffe flying wing in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
* Genesis's role as a First Class SOLDIER gone AWOL in Crisis Core is reminiscent of Colonel William E. Kurtz from the 1979 Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now; his signature limit break is called Apocalypse, and his command of G Troopers gained from SOLDIERs following him into deserting of the Shinra Army.
* Sweepers and their variants are reminiscent of the defective ED-209 automated defense units from the dystopian speculative science fiction series RoboCop; Final Fantasy VII Remake emphasizes this with the Sweeper Prototype, which states that defective prototypes inhabit the Midgar Slums.
*The title of Chapter 15 of Final Fantasy VII Remake, "The Day Midgar Stood Still" references the 1951 science-fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still.
* In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, one of the Main Scenarios of Chapter 10: Watcher of the Vale in which Geisel Bugenhagen's observatory is visited is titled "Gadgets and Gizmos Aplenty." In the song "Part of Your World" in Disney's The Little Mermaid film, Ariel sings "I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty."
* In Chapter 12: A Golden Key from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Scotch and Kotch perform the song whose title in the English-language release is "Straight Outta Corneoland," a reference to the film Straight Outta Compton.
*Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- provides a few references to horror and psychological thriller movies:
** Its opening prologue features a team of explorers and reporters venturing into the ruins of Midgar to document Shinra's wrongdoings never to return. This is reminiscent of lost found footage horror films, such as the notoriously controversial 1980 Ruggero Deodato film Cannibal Holocaust.
** Synaptic Net Dives are reminiscent of the hardcore virtual reality interfacing technology in the 1999 David Cronenberg film eXistnZ, meant to combine human consciousness into a virtual electronic setting.
** The song "Death and Rebirth", playing in the scene immediately before the Omega Weiss battle, has a similar rhythm to the leitmotif for the blockbuster film Jaws.
===Theater===
*The bosses in the Wutai Pagoda have a link to theater.
**Gorkii is a reference to Maxim Gorky, a 19th century Russian author, playwright and political activist.
**Shake is a shortened version of Shakespeare, the most famous English playwright.
**Chekhov alludes to Anton Chekhov, a famous XIXth century Russian author and playwright.
**Staniv possibly alludes to Konstantin Stanislavsky, a 20th century Russian actor and theater director.
**Godo could be based on Godot, the title character from Samuel Beckett's famous play Waiting for Godot.
===Internet===
*In Cosomo Region in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Bugenhagen tasks Cloud and Red XIII and their party of analyzing dried up lifesprings. When Cloud measures one such spring that shows an unusually high mako reading, Bugenhagen says the reading is "over 7000". While this is likely one of the many references to the number 7 in the series, it may also refer to the Internet meme "It's Over 9000!" which originated from the English localization of an episode of Dragon Ball Z.
===Non-Square Enix games===
thumb|Secret Cow Level.
*In the 2012 re-release of the PC version of Final Fantasy VII there is an area in Northern Cave that has an easter egg. Using the save crystal in this area will change the name of the location in the inventory to "Secret Cow Level". This is a reference to the easter egg in Diablo II.
*The second segment of chapter five in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- is named "Solid Cait". This refers to Solid Snake, the main character of stealth game series Metal Gear.
** The Tsviets bare some similarities to the antagonists of Metal Gear Solid, notably Rosso having an accent like Sniper Wolf and Azul using a large firearm like Vulcan Raven.
*The Wrestler and Sumo Wrestler from the Arm Wrestling game at the Wonder Square appear to be based on the Street Fighter characters Zangief and E.Honda.
**In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Dio's limit break in 3D Brawler is based on Zangief's signature spinning piledriver.
*Tifa's Limits resemble maneuvers from other media; Somersault (Guile's move from Street Fighter), Meteor Drive (vertical suplex in professional wrestling), Dolphin Blow (Shoryuken from Street Fighter), and Final Heaven (Falcon Punch from F-Zero).
===Real world===
*Costa del Sol is a real location in Spain.
*The sign above in Tifa's bar, and a neon sign inside the bar, say "Texas".
*The diner on Wall Market serves Korean BBQ.
*In Final Fantasy VII Remake’s DLC, Episode INTERmission, when Yuffie uses her Art of War ability, she will occasionally say the lines, “Run like a Chocobo” and “Stab like a Tonberry”, a clear reference to the famous words of boxer Muhammad Ali, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.
*There is a map of Japan hung on the wall in one of the residences in North Corel.
*There is a Shanghai Inn somewhere in Rocket Town, which is a metropolis in China.
*The Wutai people, much like the culture and settlement, are based primarily on Japan and China. They have the characteristics, appearance and somewhat stereotypical personality traits of real-world East Asia.
**Mount Wutai is a holy mountain in China. Its name means "Five Plateaus", referring to the five peaks that make up the mountain. This is similar to the five-terraced pagoda in Wutai in Final Fantasy VII where the party fights Godo and his four warriors as well as the "five sacred gods" mentioned by Godo.
**The Da-chao Statue is named after Da Zhao Temple, a Buddhist monastery in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia in north-west China.
*The mayor of Midgar is called Domino, and his deputy Hart's original name in the Japanese version is Hut. Domino and Hut refer to pizza chains Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut. This is because the upper plate of Midgar is at times referred to as a pizza.
*The tire on the pick-up truck Zack and Cloud ride on in an optional flashback sequence says "Good Stone". This is a mix of real world tire brands Goodyear and Bridgestone.
*A possible real-world Christian inspiration for the Sector 5 slums church is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, built after Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in December 1531 and led him to the top of Tepeyac Hill where he found Castilian roses blooming in spite of them not being native to Mexico and out of season.
*Bugenhagen has a historical and philosophical namesake. Johannes Bugenhagen was a deeply influential figure in the Protestant Reformation, and was called "The Apostle to the North" for his work in bringing the Lutheranism to the Northern German city-states and the Scandinavian kingdoms. However, he is perhaps most famous for being Martin Luther's pastor in Wittenberg. While not as famous as many his contemporaries, he was deeply respected in his time and his theological and social influence lives on throughout Northern Europe.
*Some aspects of the Wutai storyline allude to the Western military complex and its history, specifically that of the US. Shinra can be seen as a metaphor for the United States (and in particular, its military-industrial complex). The reduction of relevance, demilitarization, and occupation points to the unconditional surrender, occupation, and subsequent restructuring of Japan under General MacArthur and the American military; however, the Wutai War's significance into reinforcing Shinra's power through globe and how the war lasted for several years may refer to the Vietnam War. 
**On a related note, President Shinra, the head of the Shinra company, bears a slight resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt. Ironically, in stark contrast to Shinra's lack of care for the planet, Roosevelt was a known conservationalist.
*The Genji and Heike accessories of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- refer to the two family lines of Japanese aristocracy who descended from the imperial family, but became subjects of the court and nobility to help ease the burden of financial and sumptuary consumption to support such large families of such standing. The Heike Soul's appearance in Crisis Core is unusually significant in that it is the first appearance of the Heike theme of accessories; in history, the Heike saw their demise in the battle of Dan no Ura against the Genji clan among a nationwide war of dispute over succession to rule the land.
*The imagery and design concepts for Cloud Strife and Sephiroth were founded on the famous samurai martial artist rivals of the late Sengoku period, Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō.Weekly Famitsu Issue 1224 Tetsuya Nomura Interview translated by TheLifestream.net A limited edition cold cast statue of Cloud and Sephiroth's final show-down was made modeled after a statue in Ganryūjima depicting the duel between the legendary swordsmen Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō.
==Citations==
Category:Allusions
Category:Final Fantasy VII series