Loveless

Loveless, also stylized as LOVELESS, is an epic from the world of Final Fantasy VII that has made several cameo appearances in the Final Fantasy VII series and plays a major role in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Originating as a book of poetry, the story has been adapted into a musical stage play and has 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 woman with the words "Open 6/25 6:00" and "18:00", and many posters also include the text "My Bloody Valentine".
==Poem==
===English===
;Prologue
: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
: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
:Three friends go into battle.
:One is captured
:One flies away
:The one that is left becomes a hero.
;Act II
:Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
:Pride is lost
:Wings stripped away, the end is nigh
:There is no hate, only joy
:For you are beloved by the goddess
:Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds
;Act III
: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 soul, corrupted by vengeance
:Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
:In my own salvation
:And your eternal slumber
;Act IV
:My friend, the fates are cruel
:There are no dreams, no honor remains
:The arrow has left the bow of the goddess
:My friend, your desire
:Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess
:Legend shall speak
:Of sacrifice at world's end
:The wind sails over the water's surface
:Quietly, but surely
;Act V
: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
===Japanese===
;Prologue
:獣たちの戦いが世に終わりをもたらす時
:冥き空より、女神が舞い降りる
:光と闇の翼を広げ
:至福へと導く『贈り物』と共に
;Act I
:深淵のなぞ　それは女神の贈り物
:われらは求め 飛びたった
:彷徨いつづける心の水面に
:かすかなさざなみを立てて
:三人の友は戦場へ
:ひとりは捕虜となり
:ひとりは飛び去り
:残ったひとりは英雄となった
;Act II
:明日をのぞみて散る魂
:誇りも潰え
:飛びたとうにも　翼は折れた
:惜しみない祝福とともに
:君は女神に愛された
:世界を癒す　英雄として
;Act III
:君よ、飛びたつのか？
:われらを憎む世界へと
:待ちうけるは　ただ過酷な明日
:逆巻く風のみだとしても
:復讐にとりつくかれたわが魂
:苦悩の末にだとりつきたる願望は
:わが救済と
:君の安らかなる眠り
;Act IV
:君よ　因果なり
:夢も誇りも すでに失い
:女神ひく弓より　すでに矢は放たれて
:君よ　希え
:命はぐくむ 女神の贈り物を
:いざ語り継がん
:君の犠牲　世界の終わり
:人知れず水面をわたる風のごとく
:ゆるやかに 確かに
;Act V
:約束のない明日であろうと
:君の立つ場所に必ず舞い戻ろう
:星の希望の雫となりて
:地の果て　空のかなた　はるかなる水面
:ひそかなる牲となろう
===Rōmaji===
;Prologue
:Kemonotachi no tatakai ga yoni owari o motarasu toki,
:Kuraki sora yori megami ga maioriru.
:Hikari to yami no tsubasa o hiroge,
:Shifuku e to michibiku "okurimono" to tomoni.
;Act I
:Shinen no nazo sore wa megami no okurimono.
:Warera wa motome tobitatta.
:Samayoitsuzukeru kokoro no minamo ni,
:Kasukana sazanami o tatete.
:Sannin no tomo wa senjō e,
:Hitori wa horyo to nari,
:Hitori wa tobisari,
:Nokotta hitori wa eiyū to natta.
;Act II
:Asu o nozomi te chiru tamashii.
:Hokori mo tsuie,
:Tobita touni mo tsubasa wa oreta.
:Oshiminai shukufuku to tomo ni,
:Kimi wa megami ni aisareta.
:Sekai o iyasu eiyū toshite.
;Act III
:Kimi yo tobitatsu no ka?
:Warera o nikumu sekai e to.
:Machiukeru wa tada kakoku na asu.
:Sakamaku kaze nomi datoshitemo.
:Fukushuu ni toritsukukareta	waga damashii
:Kunou no sueni datoritsukitaru gambou wa
:Waga kyuusai	to
:Kimi no yasurakanaru nemuri
;Act IV
:Kimi yo inga nari.
:Yume mo hokori mo sudeni ushinai.
:Megami hiku yumi yori sude ni ya wa hanatarete.
:Kimiyo koinegae.
:Inochi hagukumu megami no okurimono o.
:Iza katari tsugan.
:Kimi no gisei sekai no owari.
:Hito shirezu minamo o wataru kaze no gotoku.
:Yuruyaka ni tashika ni.
;Act V
:Yakusoku no nai asu dearōto.
:Kimi no tatsu basho ni kanarazu mai modorou.
:Hoshi no kibō no shizuku to narite.
:Chi no hate sora no kanata haruka naru minamo.
:Hisokanaru nie to narou.
==Appearances==
===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 as their best work, and is generally highly regarded, 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.
When leaving the Sector 7 Slums, Cloud can converse with a guard who mentions they have tickets to see 'Loveless'. Near the end of the game, Cloud can talk to Cid, 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 Remake===
A remake of the Sector 8 billboard is seen as posters around the slums. It is to open on June 25th and features a woman in a black dress against a green background. The play itself is mentioned on the loading screen to Sector 8 .
===Final Fantasy VII Rebirth===
Loveless is being shown at the Gold Saucer event theater. When the party visits in chapter 8, "All That Glitters", Cloud learns that Jessie Rasberry used to play a pivotal role and her picture is still up on the cast list. In chapter 12, "A Golden Key", the party returns to Gold Saucer to look for the keystone and Cloud goes on a date with a party member depending on affection levels. Cloud's date takes him to the theater to see Loveless where everyone else is already seated. The Loveless at Gold Saucer is a virtual reality production where patrons can view the experience with themselves playing the leading roles.
A VR production of Jessie in the role plays out before the audience-participation section. Cloud plays the role of Alphreid who is broken out of imprisonment by his lover, Rosa (played by Aerith, Tifa, or Yuffie), to confront the evil dragon king Varvados (always Barret) and his hound Garm (Red XIII). The sequence has playable "battle" sequences where the player needs to match button prompts that appear on screen reminiscent of the inauguration parade sequence earlier in the game, and the dance-off sequence in Remake.
The play is reminiscent of "Secret Date" from the original Final Fantasy VII, with the elements of the dragon king and the characters' names, and the player having some choice on what to do, though the play unfolds the same way no matter whom the player chooses as Cloud's "true love" (Varvados, Garm, or Rosa). In the original Final Fantasy VII, the play at the Gold Saucer event square was not Loveless, but a generic production. Cid Highwind is also in the audience in Rebirth, and falls asleep for most of the play in reference to what he told about remembering Loveless in the original Final Fantasy VII. The only lines Cid recalls being in the play are recited as the climax, where Alphreid promises to return to Rosa, and even if Rosa does not promise to wait for him, he knows he will find her.
Afterward, Aerith takes the stage no matter if she played Rosa or not, and performs "No Promises to Keep" as the closing number, a song she has apparently written herself which illustrates her true feelings. When she sings, the stage is covered in flowers. Red XIII's "outfit" as Garm becomes his alternate outfit after completing the game, but the other characters' outfits are reserved for the play only.
===Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children===
In Advent Children Complete, LOVELESS is hinted at in posters and billboards through Edge. During a fight between Reno and Rude, and Loz and Yazoo, a LOVELESS billboard falls and hits Rude on the head before Reno falls on him, knocking him down momentarily.
===Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-===
In the beginning of Episode One, a billboard for LOVELESS can be seen while the camera pans over 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 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 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". Genesis tells Zack that the phrase "My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains." refers to the fateful duel between the two friends in the story of LOVELESS, making a parallel to himself and Angeal. Sephiroth does not care for the poem, but puts up with Genesis's fascination with it.
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:
More of LOVELESS is engraved upon stone tablets within the cave in Banora Underground where Zack faces Genesis for the last time. The 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.
left|thumb|Artwork.
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 in-world theories on the story's denouement.
When Genesis is extracted by Deepground, the missing final act is added to the LOVELESS book, by the means of the Lifestream marking it down on paper and a black feather finishing the text. The context of this scene is enigmatic, meaning either several things; 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. Further compounding this, is its significance to its appearance in Genesis's Digital Mind Wave Limit Break Apocalypse, revealed long before its recital by the end of the game and its addition to the official collection. The Crisis Core Complete Guide states the biggest mystery is what happened to the world after receiving the "gift of the goddess".
==Behind the scenes==
===Official interpretation===
In the Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- The 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's interpretation of LOVELESS is carved on stelae in the caverns under Banora, positing that three friends had made a promise to find the gift of the goddess together. One was taken prisoner, one wandered the land, and one became the hero. The one who was taken prisoner escaped, was wounded in the effort, met a woman who helped him, and began a new life with her. Eaten by guilt, he eventually left for a journey to find his friends to fulfill their promise with belief that the woman would wait for him.
Genesis attempts 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 thinks 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 regains his pride as a SOLDIER, and is cured from degradation by the power of the lifestream. Genesis realizes he is not the Hero, but the Prisoner, and by accepting this receives the gift of the goddess—his pride as a SOLDIER—that was lost to him through his rebellion against Shinra. Because he receives 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 this chance. The guide also offers the interpretation that as Genesis is the Prisoner, Angeal is the Wanderer who took flight from Shinra, and Zack is the Hero who saves Genesis. This is reflected in Zack's words at the end of the game, "Hey... Would you say I became a hero?"
On the fifth verse that is revealed at the end of the game, the guide explains this is not the true lost verse, but a verse composed by Genesis himself that reflects his new mindset. With Angeal and Sephiroth gone, the verse symbolizes that Genesis will take up their legacy to protect the planet himself. The verse's mention of "the sea" refers to the flooded chamber Genesis appears in at the end of Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.
===Genesis' Apocalypse===
During the action cutscene for Genesis's Digital Mind Wave, Apocalypse, for a split-second, there is writing within the sigil, around the enemy. This is the fifth and final act of LOVELESS (except for "I offer thee this silent sacrifice", which should be written where the enemy is standing).
In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, the words from the last verse (spare, sea, sand, sky) have been rotated 90° counter-clockwise from what is shown in the original Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII. The corresponding sigils (ςϽ, ΕΕ, ΓΓ, ΛΛ) remain in the same position.
==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.
FFVIICC LOVELESS.jpg|Silver pendant.
Loveless shopping bag.jpg|Shopping bag.
LOVELESS Book - Crisis Core.png|A copy of LOVELESS in Crisis Core.
==Gallery==
LOVELESS poster from FFVII Remake.png|Poster from Final Fantasy VII Remake.
LOVELESS Poster - Crisis Core.png|Billboard poster of LOVELESS from Crisis Core.
Cloud alphreid.png|Alphreid costume artwork for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
==Citations==
de:LOVELESS
es:LOVELESS
ru:LOVELESS
Category:Final Fantasy VII
Category:Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Category:Written works