Kenosis to Gnosis

Final Fantasy VII

 

Final Fantasy VII is one of the biggest selling games of all time and it made video games mainstream. It is a game that has continued to remain very popular even though it was made such a long time ago. But this game is in some ways a reflection of this world and it's not entirely a fantasy world. The city of Midgar, which is the biggest city in this game, is a cold, dark, industrial, artificial circular city. The circular city represents the hierarchical and socially and economically stratified nature of society. The center of this city is the corporate headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, which runs this world. In the real world, society is being run by corporations more and more and there is a slow merger of corporation and state. The upper level of Midgar has all the people who help to maintain the power of this corporate empire and the upper class. The rulers of this corporate empire, the special forces called SOLDIER and company employees are in the center of Midgar in the company headquarters. The lower classes and the bottom of society live underneath the upper levels of Midgar in large slums and there are plenty of slums in our world too. Midgar is in permanent darkness and there is only daytime when you get out of it. The only plant life you will see is in the church and in Aeries house. This represents that this city has no life except in a spiritual place, the spirit is represented as a flower in many religions. This city represents an Underworld that exists in permanent darkness without life.

 

There is a correlation between Final Fantasy VII and the Umbrella corporation in Resident Evil. Midgar is an octagon and the corporate logo of the Umbrella corporation is an octagon as well. In Resident Evil, the movie takes place in an underground facility that's populated with zombies. This underground facility represents the Underworld and other movies such as THX 1138 and The Island are about escaping from an underground place upto the surface.

 

The land surrounding the city of Midgar is barren because this city has sucked all the life force out of the surrounding area and it is killing the planet.

 

The name of the being that the bad guy, Sephiroth, is injected with is Jenova and that appears to be a play on the Hebrew name for God, Jehovah. The fact that Jenova is linked with Sephiroth, which is a Hebrew word from the Jewish Kabbala, is good evidence that Jenova does represent Jehovah. Are the writers of this game suggesting that the vengeful god of the Old Testament is a threat to this world? The Gnostics were against the god of the Old Testament and they believed that the god of the New Testament was better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Fantasy XIII

 

This game has a definite Gnostic theme to it, much like Final Fantasy VII. The people in this game live in a floating sphere called Cocoon and this Cocoon protects them from the world beneath, called Pulse. Pulse is a land of survival and it is a threat to everyone in Cocoon. Cocoon represents society that is isolated away from the rest of the world and the people in Cocoon live in constant fear of Pulse. The linearity of the chapters on Cocoon may represent that this society is very linear, with all its rules and standards, compared to the openess of Gran Pulse. When the player gets to Gran Pulse for the first time, it is a major change from the ten chapters of linear paths that existed on Cocoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Both Cocoon and Pulse are ruled over by these demi god creatures called Fal'cie. The Fal'cie brand people with a mark that will either turn them into a crystal, if they complete their mission given to them by the Fal'cie, or turn them into a monster if they fail. The mark has an eye on it that gradually opens more and more and when it is opened, they turn into the monster.

 

Cocoon is ruled by a city called Eden, which gives this game a strong Biblical reference, like Final Fantasy VII. Later in the game it is learned that both humans and the Fal'cie were created by a god, called Maker, but this god went away after creating the world. This is Deism, which is the belief that God created the world, but left it in the control of humanity and doesn't interfere in it at all. It turns out that the Fal'cie want to bring back the Maker and to do that, they will sacrifice the humanity that is inside Cocoon by killing the being that controls Eden, called Orphan. The Fal'cie's version of salvation is about destroying the world, which is different to what humans have. This is an obvious reference to the doomsday Christians and their obsession with the world ending violently. This obsession with the world ending is a sign of a very twisted state of mind that is about nothing but negativity and doom. The Fal'cie will do this by creating an apocalypse called Ragnarok using one of the characters who originated on Gran Pulse.  

 

This apocalypse fails because the characters don't allow the Fal'cie to remove their hope and they overcome the plans of the Fal'cie to destroy Cocoon. At the end of the game Cocoon attaches itself by crystal to Gran Pulse and the citizens of Cocoon emerge from that society that has been isolated from Gran Pulse. What happens in a cocoon? Transformation. That is why this society is called Cocoon, the characters and the citizens are being transformed and emerge out of that cocoon into a new world. The very logo of this game shows Cocoon at the end being merged to Gran Pulse. The game logo emphasizes the rebirth of the world and of humanity.

 

The characters from Cocoon are turned into crystal because they fulfilled their focus, but then are told to wake up and they suddenly emerge from their sleep and find themselves in the new world. This is a very Gnostic theme at the end of the game. The characters spend all their lives in Cocoon, which is about transformation or Alchemy, they resist the will of the Fal'cie and then wake up in the new world, the very idea of Gnostic salvation. The name of the main character is Lightning, as in something that comes from above and lights up the darkness in the world beneath. That is what happens here.       

 

The Fal'cie are the Archons and humanity is the other group as mentioned in the Nag Hammadi Library.

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The third instalment of the Final Fantasy 13 series is called Lightning Returns and it has very heavy religious themes of the world ending and a Saviour rescuing as many souls as possible. At the end of this game one of the characters says, "The living don't need a god, but the dead do. A god to protect them. A god of salvation." As explained on the page called Death and Resurrection, life is in the spirit and death is in the flesh. The ending of Lightning Returns may appear to be promoting Atheism, but it is really promoting zero theism, meaning getting away from worshipping and fearing an external god in the sky and just being oneself.

 

On The Ark, which is the main base of operations in Lightning Returns is an image of an eye with a clock in it and it is suggesting that the god of this game is a god of time.      

 

The Spirits Within.

 

There are two songs from the 2001 movie of Final Fantasy, called The Spirits Within, which shows alien spirits invading the Earth and turning it into a desolate wasteland. These two songs have very strong Gnostic themes within them. They show that the Final Fantasy series has some deep spirituality in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free the dream within
The stars are crying
A tear, a sigh
Escapes from heaven
And worlds end
Breathe the dream within
The mystifying

We tremble and spin
Suspended within

Look beyond
Where hearts can see
Dream in peace
Trust love, believe

We tremble and spin
Suspended within

Free the dream within
The voice is calling
A song, a prayer
From deep inside you
To guide you
Be the dream within
The light is shining

A flame on the wind
Salvation begins

Look beyond
Where hearts can see
Dream in peace
Trust love, believe

We tremble and spin
Suspended within

Free the dream within
The stars are crying
A tear, a sigh
Escapes from heaven
And worlds end

 

Mirror's Edge.

 

Mirror's Edge has a war on terror, Surveillance state theme to it, which matches what's going on in this world right now. But like with the movie called Brazil, there are some occultic themes in this game as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At two places in this game there is this strange picture that looks like it was drawn by a child. The building has the shape of a ziggurat and it is much bigger than any other building, it looks like the Tower of Babel. The fact that the main character is called Faith and there's a chapter called New Eden suggests that this game has Biblical themes in it, like how many other games use Biblical words and themes. The Sun and the Moon have an eyeball in them. The Sun and the Moon represent Yin and Yang and the eyeball in them represent the Third Eye. The symbol of the Runners, which is what the main character is, is an eyeball. Whenever a movie, album or game use an eyeball as a symbol it is referring to the Third Eye. This picture represents balancing Yin and Yang, developing the Third Eye and the Tower of Babel represents reaching into Heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The runner bags, that have letters in them, are hidden away in various areas of the game and their location is marked by an eyeball. This represents that knowledge is hidden away and the Third Eye will find it.