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For better or worse,Final Fantasy 7is often referred to as one of the greatest games ever made, and one of the most influential RPGs. It spins an epic tale involving Avalanche, a group of eco-activists fighting against the evil Shinra Corporation hellbent on reaching the Promised Land.
According to legend, the Promised Land is ripe with unlimited amounts of Mako energy, but it’s mainly the planet’s lifestream. Shinra hopes to harness Cetra knowledge to find the Promised Land, and use the Mako energy there to create a new city called Neo Midgar. But who exactly are the Cetra, and why does Shinra trust this myth about the Promised Land?
Updated on July 18, 2025 by Hilton Webster:With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth out in the world, the intricacies of that world have only gotten more complicated. A multiverse now firmly established, the role of the Cetra in the planet’s preservation has been made even more important, even as it stretches across dimensions.
An Ancient Civilization
Otherwise known as theAncients, the Cetra were arace of people that inhabited the planet of Gaia before the current humansthat reside in Final Fantasy 7. These individuals were identical in appearance to regular people, but differed intheir inherent connection with the planet and its Lifestream.
The Cetra were believed to have been able toguide the flow of the planet’s spiritual energy.They would migrate from one area to another and use their magic tocontrol the planet’s lifestreamin order to cultivate the land. Being able to connect with the planet allowed the Cetra to communicate with it and feel when it was in danger. They also believed in a land full of supreme happiness—the Promised Land— and that it was essentially their reward for caring for the planet.
The Conflict Between The Cetra And The Gi
The Gi are not native to the world of Final Fantasy 7, Gaia. As told in Rebirth,their own world was destroyedand they travelled the cosmos until they landed on Gaia, hoping this world could be their new home. However, it was already populated by the Cetra.
The Gi were fearful of the Cetra, scared for their lives immediately upon this new planet they hoped to call home. Added on top of this,the Lifestream would not accept themupon their deaths as they were not native to Gaia. As such, they roamed the land as spirits after death, locked out of the cycle of life and never being able to pass on.
The Cetra did nothing to rectify this, instead accepting that the Gi deserved to suffer since the Lifestream rejected them. This caused the Gi to languish for untold periods of time until their anger was too much to bear. Despite the Lifestream refusing to accept them, they could still influence it.The pure strength of their suffering and anger gave birth to the Black Materia, capable of summoning Meteor to destroy the planet.
It is implied that the Black Materia created by the Gi was in fact the White Materia, Holy, that they transformed with their anger.
The Cetra, though arguably a cause for the Gi’s fury, were understandably fearful of this new development. Regardless of the Gi’s suffering, they could not let the destruction of the entire planet come to pass.They imprisoned the Gi beneath Cosmo Canyonand stole away the Black Materia to their own temple to keep it out of destructive hands.
Jenova’s Arrival
The Cetra served asthe planet’s caretakersuntil a catastrophic event occurred roughly 2,000 years before the events of Final Fantasy 7.Jenova,a monstrous extraterrestrial, crash-landed in the northern continent and ruptured the planet. The impact site became known as theNorth Crater,and would take thousands of years to heal.
Unbeknownst to the Cetra, Jenova infiltrated their people andbegan infecting them with a virus,bringing the Cetra to the point of extinction. A group of them rallied and mounted a final attack on the being known as “the calamity from the skies.”
Jenova, seeming more a parasite than a sentient being, also had the ability to take on the appearance of anyone to allow them to get closer to those they wished to annihilate.
The Cetra managed to defeat Jenova andsealed it within the North Crater, but not before the alien killed many of their race. In a flashback scene, Sephiroth explains that the Cetragave up their planetary duties to ensure their survivaland formed permanent settlements. Their abilities to communicate with the planet and use magic faded away.
The Last Of The Cetra
Public knowledge of the Cetrachanged between the original game and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Not much was revealed in the 1997 title beyond Shinra’s interest, Sephiroth’s rambling about his origins, and fragments seen in Icicle Inn. Barret and the members of Avalanche also had some basic understanding of the Cetra, drawing on the mythology to inspiretheirmission to save the planet from Shinra.
However, the Cetra aremorewidely detailed in Remake,with their history discussed in planetology books and Shinra having a holographic presentation that reflected their civilization.But the main focus Shinra has on the Cetra is the Promised Land.
Sephiroth’s own pursuit of the Promised Land is due to the mistaken belief that he is a Cetra through his mother, Jenova. As such, he believes the Promised Land to be something tangible rather than metaphorical.
According to Cetra legend, the Promised Land is said to be aplace that’s overflowing with Mako energy, the tangible form of the planet’s Lifestream. Shinra had already developedseveral reactors that harnessed Mako energyin Midgar.
However,the use of Mako wasslowly killing the planet, which is why the company was focused on finding the Promised Land and its unlimited amount of Mako energy. Despite havingno concrete evidence of the Promised Land existing, Shinra poured countless funds into this, and the fruits of their labor turned into the discovery of Jenova.
Professor Gast Faremis discovered Jenova’s remainsin the North Crater, but mistakenly identified the alien as a Cetra. The corporation began experimenting with Jenova, eventually launching theJenova Project.
Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent, a pair of Shinra scientists, began extracting the Jenova’s blood and cells in an attempt toartificially create humans with powers that mirrored those of the Cetra. Based on Gast’s early research on Jenova and their belief she was a Cetra, Hojoinjected Jenova cellsinto Lucrecia. The aim was to create a new race of Cetra from his and Lucrecia’s unborn child, Sephiroth.
Finding The Promised Land
After learning that Jenova was not part of the Cetra race,Gast abandoned his duties. He fled to the Northern Continent to look for more information on the Cetra and metIfalna, the presumedlast remaining Cetra on the planet. Gast took Ifalna to the town ofIcicle Inn on the Northern Continent to learn more about the Cetra.
Ifalna told Gast everything she could about the Cetra and Jenova. During their time together,the pair fell in love, and Aerith was conceived. Gast tried to hide Ifalna from Shinra during her pregnancy, but Hojo found them shortly after she gave birth. After Gast refused to surrender both Ifalna and Aerith to Shinra,Hojo killed Gast.
Shinra held the pair in captivity forseven years. During this time, Ifalna secretly taught Aerith how tosummon Holyand gave her theWhite Materia. The pair managed to escape Shinra, but Ifalna’s body was dying from Hojo’s experiments. Before she died,Ifalna asked Elmyra Gainsborough to care for Aerith. Shinra would try to recapture Aerith numerous times while she was growing up in Midgar, so they could experiment and continue their search for the Promised Land.
In Rebirth, the role of Holy is expanded, and it is implied it is powered by Aerith across many worlds, having lost its lustre in any one of them due to the influence of both Sephiroth and the Gi.
Tracking Aerith
As Aerith grew up in Midgar, she wouldhear voices from the planet, as well as her mother’s, but she was hesitant in accepting her Cetra heritage. She was routinelyfollowed by the Turks, a group of skilled operatives who worked within Shinra’s Department of Public Safety.
The Turks tried to persuade Aerith to help Shinra, but sherepeatedly turned them down and tried to avoid themas much as possible. At one point, Aerith was approached byElfe, the leader of Avalanche, and they tried to persuade her in helping them fight Shinra. However, the Turks fought against Avalanche and forced them to retreat.
Eventually,Aerith agreed to help Shinra, but only after the Turks planted a bomb to destroy Sector 7, andinexchange for the freedom of Marlene, Barret’s adopted daughter.
Professor Hojo estimated it would takeat least 120 years to complete his research, so he tried to breed her. Luckily,Red XIII, the designated partner, wasn’t a monster, andheprotected Aertih from Hojo instead.The pair were later recaptured, along with Cloud, Tifa, and Barret.
Protector Of The Planet
While they were imprisoned, Aerith told the group thatshe didn’t believe she could find the Promised Land. She told them she thought the Promised Land was essentially the lifestream of the planet, and that the Cetra returned there after their time on the planet was over. Aerith later learned more about her heritage fromBugenhagen at Cosmo Canyon.
At this point, the story diverges somewhat between the original Final Fantasy 7 and the Remake universe. While in the original the Black Materia was to be kept from Sephiroth at all costs, a new moral quandary was introduced -the Gi begged for their freedom, hoping that Aerith could rectify the mistakes of her ancestorsin allowing Meteor to be used. Nonetheless, they attempted (and failed) to keep the Black Materia from Sephiroth.
In the Temple of the Ancients, old visions of the Cetra try to document their own downfall, showing humanity hunting down the remaining Cetra only shortly after their nigh-extinction at the hands of Jenova.
At the Forgotten Capital, we see that moment of Aerith’s death once again, but in a new light, one split across many realities. As a Cetra,Aerith has an innate connection with the Lifestream, but the Lifestream still appears as one whole even across multiple universes. In this sense,though she dies in one world, it does not truly mean she is dead in them all. Cloud’s own exposure to the multiverse shows that the one reality the others see is not the full truth of the matter.
So while Aerith still struggles to summon Holy, she’s given another chance. She exists across many universes,her presence in the Lifestream a counter to Sephiroth’s corrupting one. Yet while her death may be vague, it does confirm one thing -Aerith truly is the last of the Cetra, and she is no longer physically in Cloud’s world.
