Final Fantasy 7 Remake's ending has had a big impact on how the story might continue now that fate has been defied, and events to follow will no longer adhere strictly to the events of the original. One of the things that has inspired the most speculation by fans is a moment near the final scene of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Seemingly seeing into an alternate timeline created by the impact of destroying the Whispers, players see a different version of a pivotal event where Zack Fair defeats a group of Shinra soldiers and is seen carrying a battered Cloud towards the city of Midgar.
Tetsuya Nomura has all but confirmed that a new version of events has been created, but with Zack potentially still alive in the same timeline, the two interacting needs to be handled with care. A lot has already changed about where Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 could go with its narrative, but it's made clear that Cloud's memories are still conflated with Zack's. In the original game, it's discovered that Cloud's trauma stems from experimentation by Shinra and seeing Zack gunned down. Cloud takes up the Buster Sword and assumes the identity of a SOLDIER First Class. With so much having changed already, it may be possible for the two to coexist in the new timeline.
Zack Lives in an Alternate Timeline in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2?
There's a lot of speculation about how (and when) this moment occurs. In the final scenes of FF7 Remake, Cloud continues walking unaffected by a vision of Zack carrying a battered alternate version of himself, but Aerith recognizes Zack's presence. While this could allude to certain information about their relationship revealed in Crisis Core, Aerith was also shown to have the most sensitivity to both the Whispers, and the possibility of alternate timelines in FF7 Remake. Square Enix is seemingly not afraid to shake up almost everything going into Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, but this change might have the biggest impact on the game's narrative overall.
Handling any interaction between the two would be difficult to say the least when looking at the basic root of their relationship to the game's narrative. It's possible that the Zack and Cloud shown walking towards Midgar now exist in a wholly separate timeline. This might make it easier, if not more convoluted, for the two to exist in the game together.
So much of the events of FF7 hinge on the fact that Cloud took up both Zack's sword and memories. A Cloud that knows he isn't a full-fledged SOLDIER, and knows that he was a specifically important Shinra experiment, might never have joined AVALANCE or reunited with Tifa at all. This might set up an alternate course of events that includes Zack as a playable character in FF7 Remake Part 2, serving as the main protagonist in a different version of the narrative.
If the scene shown at the end of FF7 Remake is showing a new version of the past, then Cloud believing himself to be a SOLDIER doesn't square with that new past. While time travel and alternate universes are certainly going to lead to a more convoluted plot, that isn't new territory for Nomura and Square Enix. The farther the FF7 Remake series goes, the more obvious the impact of Versus 13 on the Final Fantasy franchise and its spin-offs becomes.
The themes of defying fate, shifting memories, and alternate universes impacting each other are rife across this new version of FF7 in much the same way Kingdom Hearts has shown. But whether they exist together or in alternate versions of the world, handling a world of FF7 where both Cloud and Zack still live will be a balancing act.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade releases June 10, 2021, for the PlayStation 5.
