Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Is Advent Children still canon?

With Final Fantasy Rebirth and the wider Remake series making changes to the FF7 story, is the original game’s sequel, Advent Children, still considered canon? Spoilers for all Final Fantasy 7 games are below.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and the earlier Remake are set in a parallel universe from the original FF7, one where the timeline has already deviated from the story told in the PS1 game. At the end of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, there are characters alive in the story who are dead during the events of Advent Children, an animated movie sequel to the original game that released in 2005.

Advent Children and other stories set after the events of FF7, such as Dirge of Cerberus, run the risk of being retconned by the new universe. Of course, they still exist as canon in the original Final Fantasy timeline, but the remake series, including Rebirth and whatever comes next, is doing its own thing. Here’s what we know about Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children still being canon in the FF7 Remake and Rebirth timeline.

Will Advent Children be canon to FF7 Rebirth?

The answer to this is a complicated maybe, as it all depends on what happens in Final Fantasy Rebirth and the upcoming third and final chapter of the FF7 Remake series, especially regarding the fates of the characters.

In Advent Children, characters like Aerith and Zack (as well as Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie) are all dead. Not only that, the movie shows that Aerith and Zack were reunited in the afterlife. A conversation between the two at the end implies they are still watching over Cloud and the gang, and are seemingly helping them from beyond the veil.

As these characters are presently alive in the new timeline, this would suggest that Advent Children won’t be canon with the Remake series. However, there are two full games to go and a lot could happen between now and then. There’s every possibility that Aerith and Zack will die by the end of the Remake series, making Advent Children canon with both timelines.

Ultimately, we’ll need to wait and see. Let’s not forget, that the Whispers or “Arbiters of Fate” are working to ensure that the Remake timeline sticks to the events of the original, but none of us are convinced they’re going to achieve this fully are we? However, when it comes to characters like Aerith and Zack, their survival may not be guaranteed in any universe.

Is Dirge of Cerberus still canon?

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7 was a spin-off sequel staring Vincent Valentine that was released on the PS2 in 2006, a year after Advent Children. Like that movie, this game was also set in the original timeline where Zack, Aerith and others are dead.

Therefore, the same thing applies here. In order for Dirge of Cerberus to be canon, certain characters will need to die in FF7 Rebirth and the third chapter. As it stands, Dirge of Cerberus is not canon with the Remake series, but once again this could all change by the time the story ends.

Stories like Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus could also end up being updated and remade themselves. They could even be included in the third and final Final Fantasy 7 Remake game in some form, with the events being similar but factoring characters like Aerith and Zack – should they still be alive. Once again, we’ll need to wait and see what happens in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and beyond.

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