Who was she really? Why was she so important to Genesis? Why did he open his arms to her in a loving way? She looks at him and rejects open arms.

This is what it says about Goddess Minerva in Wiki;

Minerva is a character from Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Although her exact nature is not known in details, she is related to the planet's consciousness, and may either be its personification or its goddess. In the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania, she was described as "the existence that transcends all matter", which possibly alone backs up the evidence that she is indeed its Goddess. She is interpreted to be the Goddess mentioned in LOVELESS, but in terms of substance she is similar to a summon, though it seems that the purpose behind her actions is to follow the intentions of the Lifestream. She is physically very similar to Safer Sephiroth, albeit with a female body and blonde hair.

In the main storyline of Crisis Core, Minerva appears when Genesis is defeated by Zack. She shows herself to Genesis in his dream in the Lifestream. She apparently revives him by ending his dream in the Lifestream. The image of Minerva in her actions and expressions is a reflection of the will of the Lifestream.
Minerva also appears as a secret, but optional boss in a large mysterious cave (not the Northern Crater). It should also be noted that the Goddess is the strongest boss within the game. She has 10 Million HP, and uses Ultima which can deal up to 99 999 HP of damage even to a character with 255 Magic Defense and Shell/Magic Barrier effect. During battle Minerva uses Non-Elemental attacks. Once she is defeated, you obtain the accessory Divine Slayer. This accessory will increase your HP, MP and AP by +100%, and increase all your stats +50. The player can repeat the battle even after she is defeated.


Doesn't she seem a little more important to Genesis then just what the above says?
He has a sort of look of "love" in his eyes.
Ive fought her in Crisis Core, both English and Japanese.
Tough critter.

If theres already a topic about this, I apologize. I looked through everything, there was nothing.
If there is, please close this. :fish:

So, what do you all think she is? More than a Goddess to Genesis? Or just what it says above?


She's beautiful.

I haven't played CC up to that part yet *is slow :P * but I've heard rumours that she is Genesis's mother, though I don't know how true that is. If I recall correctly there's a dialogue in some part of Crisis Core when Zack asks Genesis about his parents and ... ugh, I can't remember what he says, but it seemed to me like there was something going on with his mother and all that. If it's true, it would be quite amusing to note the Mother complex with most of the FF7 males. :lol:

I'm not sure I like this whole Goddes Minerva idea. I quite liked the original thought that Lifestream was the stream of consciousness of people who have passed away and return there, kind of like the Farplane, where their wills live on after they have returned to the planet. Putting this Goddess as the 'personification' of the planet and the 'reflection will of the Lifestream' kinda seems a bit 'eh' to me. The original thing in FF7 was that the planet was suffering from all the Mako excavation and having a random 'Goddess' pop up and become the mascot of the planet, if you will, kinda takes that away for me. :ermm:

Sorry for the vague post, it's late and I'm half-asleep. :P

I know what you mean. I always thought Aerith was the strongest in the Lifestream. Really. Because she was always the one who could do everything. Send healing rain, destroy Sephiroth's dark lifestream, etc.

Then some random Goddess shows up and im like.. riiiighhhht.. shes the Goddess of the Lifestream it says somewhere, and I don't like the idea of a Lifestream having what might be interpereted as a.. "Leader" I guess the term could be? I just liked the idea of the Lifestream being a place where the pure souls had a place to finally be at peace, not like some sort of Kingdom.

I don't think she's Genesis's Mother, because the way he looks at her sort of looks like, "I found you finally, my love." and then she just looks away and totally shuns him, and that look on his face breaks my heart to all ends.

Yay!Genesis gossip!!! :fangirl:

I've seen this part on youtube and yeah he stares at her fondly but i can't tell if this is love or worship about that "Goddess" he's been looking for. *shrugs*

But i like the idea of him being in love or something *turns into a Genesis fangirl*
:wub:

P.S. :cloud: "No Cloud you're always first in my heart!" :lol:

I do not think either that it is his Mother. Genesis, from what Ultimania explains, is saying that he was wishing to meet this Goddess. Perhaps some kind of connection he had with her somehow? Who knows. Do not forget that many events took place before 2000 years when Jenova fell from the skies.
I do not think that FFVII will involve reincarnations or something.
But now think it; if someone wishes to meet that bad someone, wouldn't that be a bit far? I mean when a guy wishes to meet a woman.
Obviously, from his face you can see that he was fascinated from her and he wanted to embrace with her.
I have to agree with chaoscontrol, he was like, "I finally found you, my love."

Maybe Genesis fell inlove with the Goddess through his reading, yanoo? Then when he saw her, he was in awe, fascinated that the Goddess he fell for and read about oh so much was there.

Then she turned him away when he opened his arms, and that look in his eyes gave me the impression he was totally heartbroken.
Which then gave me the idea that he might of been in love with her or something of the sort.

I highly doubt that she is Genesis's mother because she is suppose to be the "Goddess of the Lifestream" so why would she only be a mother to one person?

I think that could be possible. If you read and read about a person, you are getting fascinated from it, because it is all full of mystery.
But if you noticed something, when she first faces him, she has a gentle expression, but when he offers her his hand, her expression changes, to a more serious one.
However, even if she rejected him, Genesis keeps his promise that someday will protect the Planet. It seems he realized some things.

Now I wonder something as well; The Cetra was the race that lived upon the Planet and protected it. I wonder Minerva was one of the Cetra that lived and she managed to seal Jenova and she becomes a Goddess, or was from the beginning a Goddess that the Cetra was worship?
I am not sure, I want to set an example--I haven't beat Valkyrie Profile 2 yet, but doesn't Rufus takes Odin's place in the end? So he becomes a God? Not sure again, I was just thinking if it was similiar.

If there IS a Goddess of the Lifestream, then why didn't they mention her in the other Final Fantasy VII's? That's my question. And if they did, then where the hell was I? Or maybe I just don't remember. Hard-core final fantasy expert, and I don't even know if they mentioned a "Goddess of the Lifestream".

Hey, do you think the angel statue in AC might of represented the goddess?

I heard the story of FFVII changed, when Square-Enix started the FFVII complication. Normally, in FFVII there isn't either Genesis, either Angeal, either Cissnei. They created later. Of course, if a remake was made, those characters would reffered.
Making more additions, more FFVII games will released. The read somewhere that the statue in AC is a memorial for the Jenova War, when Cloud and his party saved the Planet.
Somehow, it gotta connects with Minerva, but her statue was the one at the Banora Caves.
Now I wonder something more; Why Minerva had give her blessing at the Banora Caves? Why at that place?
And the weird is, that Genesis was the only one wandering around there when he was a child, while that place had a special meaning for him.

The angel wasn't the memorial, it was the big monument in the middle of the city of the meteor.
So Crisis Core sort of mixed up Last Order and FFVII? Cause alot of things in Crisis Core were added and left our from Last Order. (Such as Cloud saying "Give me back the town, mother, and Tifa when he stabbs Sephiroth) but Genesis was the one who contributed to Sephiroths madness but that wasn't said in Last Order..
Argh, it gets so confusing, ne?

Oh, I thought it was...never mind.
I don't know how that statue appeared there...another plot hole.
Yes, they changed some stuff in Crisis Core.
Hmm, do you think Genesis will meet Minerva again? Since he has a part of the Lifestream, he decided to become the hero and the healer of the Planet, wouldn't that make him a God?

Okay, I'm picking here.

From what I read, Safer Sephiroth was Sephy's "god" form. So if Minerva and Sephiroth look the same... whose saying she's not the goddess?

I think the angel statue represented Aerith, like "the angel watching over them"?

Nomura said that the statue, and the number of birds that fly over Red and his offspring have a special meaning to the creators, etc. But he didn't mention what.

Another easteregg with Aerith is the LOVELESS board that falls ontop of Rude's head. Aerith's face is there . :)

I wouldn't think Genesis is a "God" or considered one. If Sephiroth is considered a God then I highly doubt Genesis was one.

If you have read or seen the CC Ultimania, Minerva has 3 differents outfits. One similiar to 'Safer' Sephiroth, the one we see her in CC and two others, which she hasn't appeared in any other FFVII game.
Perhaps she has morphs?

Hmm, who knows.
You see, Genesis 'G' Substance merged with the Lifestream. So Genesis gotta control a part of it, that's my guess.
The Lifestream is the life and the will of the Planet, so it is something divine.

That still wouldn't make Genesis a God.
I mean, Sephy could create a dark lifestream o.O;
I don't think Genesis could do that much.

Lol, I wonder if he ever could create one.
Anyways, I think off-topic.
Back to Minerva.
I think she wrote LOVELESS and perhaps she was happy for Genesis to read it?
I cannot understand why Genesis was feeling much connection to Minerva.
Examples; the LOVELESS book, the Banora Caves and so.

Then why did she basically turn away and go boom when he tried to I guess.. embrace her?
She just rejected his open arms, and he looked completly heartbroken.
That look in his eyes, I could of sworn he was ready to cry.
:cry:

[I]Genesis used the Lifestream, where the Goddess Materia was, to transform himself into a monster. It was greedy what he did, perhaps she had a better opinion for him before.
Oh, such a melodrama. The love of his life rejected him, it's normal, XD.

Does anyone know the name of the theme that plays for the scene of Genesis and Minerva?

I read Minerva cured Genesis of his evil, and woke him from his dream of the Lifestream and her.
Her face was soft at first, but when he opened his arms, when you saw her and him at the same time, her expression changed like "...Nuhuh."
:whistle:

Unfortunately, the track didn't released on the Crisis Core OST...

I read that she cured his deterioration. And Genesis decides to protect the Planet because of that and who knows for what other reasons.
Yes, I noticed that...Aww. They should hug.

I look at Minerva the way I look at the summons. They are powerful demi gods, but they aren't undefetable or all powerful. Like, Leviathan, for example: it's called the God, protector of Wutai, but that doesn't make it all powerful. Minerva seems to fall into the same category. A powerful being that has transcended the norms, but not undefetable.

I don't really believe that she's the Goddess of the Planet. If she was, you'd think there would be more hints in the game, some references to her in the earlier games or something, but there isn't. She seems to be really obscure, and if she is the Goddess, she's not done the best job of looking after the planet!

This is an interesting topic though! I've been stewing over the whole Genesis and Minerva thing for ages and I can only assume that they've left things open because they intend to address them in the next game.

I was thinking that as well. The example with Leviathan in Wutai. Perhaps she is been summoned from the Goddess Materia?

As I said in a previous post, the story of FFVII changed after the add of the Advent Children. Neither Cissnei, neither Angeal, neither Genesis or Project G mentioned into FFVII. So you can't say for sure that she is only a summon.
Perhaps she is an entity like Jenova, because Jenova is not just a summon. Maybe Jenova is the Goddess of an other Planet, who knows.
Bleh, I would like to see a romance scene between Genesis and Minerva.

A romance between them would be so cute (: It really would.
You;re right Alantie, she didn't seem all that important.
Like I said before, how come we didn't hear about her in earlier
games though?

THis is the first time I ever heard of "A Goddess of the Planet".
Really >.>

And she didn't talk, she didn't do very much. And you're right,
she didn't do a very good job in protecting the planet :lmao:
Don't you think if there was an actualy goddess of the planet,
she would of been the one to stop meteor?

I think that she probably was summoned by the Goddess Materia, yes. That makes pretty good sense, considering that she appears not long after you collect them all. Which only supports the idea that she's a demi-god like the other summons.

What I meant about Minerva not being mentioned elsewhere, in CC the only time she's talked about is when Genesis spouts Loveless. Other than that, info about her is practically nonexistant, even in CC where she makes her first appearance. DoC is also the game that starts introducing Genesis, but there's no mention of her either.

My point being, if Minerva is supposed to be the Goddess of the Planet, you'd think there would be some sort of worship of her, even if it's a dying religion, or something. But there just isn't. As it is, Aerith seems to fit the role of Goddess of the Planet far more than Minerva does, going on what we know of both. Now, once the next game is out that might change, but as it stands now, I don't really believe Minerva is meant to be the Goddess of the entire planet.

When I saw Minerva, I thought of her as just a dream in Genesis's unconcious mind.
I mean, he was unconcious after all, so maybe it was just a dream?
I don't believe there is a "goddess of the planet" because to me the Cetra seem to take that role a little better than Minerva, who's only made an appearance for what? 1 minute and 30 seconds.
:whistle:

It would be cute to see a romance with Genesis and Minerva though, he did look happy!

I agree with both Alantie and Dagger in certain ways. When I played Crisis Core, I didn't give much thought into what Minerva could really be. All I knew was that Genesis talked about a Goddess when reciting LOVELESS, and there are many interpretations to LOVELESS. Maybe Minerva was something Genesis conjured up in his mind for the Goddess to be. Maybe she is the all-powerful summon that Genesis mistakens as the Goddess? He did seem to like summoning things a lot.
I don't know. Nobody knows for sure yet except SE, and they'll probably answer all our questions with the new compilation edition.

But I highly doubt she's the Goddess of the Planet. D: There would have to have been some mention of the Goddess' existence in the rest of the compilation somewhere! I think she was just created to give more depth to Genesis's story for later. As to what that role may be, well, only time will tell.

IMO I would think that a summon is just that: An aid in battle. A well-used summon would rarely turn on the summoner unless under special circumstances.

My question for you all is: Who's cells were injected into Genesis? We're not just talking about his birth mother here. People who have played the game understand that Project G involved both Angeal and Genesis, and they were apparent "failures", not the result that Hojo wanted, so they created Sephiroth who was made by injecting Jenova cells and being born through a human mother, being Lucrecia (Project J).

We don't KNOW for sure who's cells inhabit Genesis. What if it was Minerva?

Another question, since she is apparently a Goddess, could she be, perhaps, mother of the Cetra? The beginning of the Cetra? That would explain why she existed in the Life Stream. That would also explain the insane amount of power she holds.

Just something to think about.

I think she could of just been a dream form. Or just what Genesis saw as the Goddess, yah know?
Example;
Say you had an imaginary friend, or a ideal love, or something of the sort. And you dream of that person or friend, and in that dream you see them the way you created them.
So I think maybe Genesis created her persona, her looks, everything in his mind.
If anybody else read LOVELESS, maybe they saw the Goddess designed in their own way.
I think Genesis just might of been a little too obessed.
:lmao:

That reminds me- in FFVIII, Griever was Squall's ultimate idea of a summon, and Ultimecia summoned him. Is it possible something similar is going on with Genesis and Minerva?

This is something that confuses me too. I thought that there was something different about the way the Jenova cells were injected into Genesis and Angeal than there were with Sephiroth, like wasn't Genesis injected directly with the cells before he was born, while with Sephiroth Lucrecia was injected with the cells and passed them onto Sephy (can't remember exactly, so correct me if I'm wrong).

There's mentions of G cells, which I suppose could be short for Goddess cells? So perhaps it is a possibility that Minerva's cells were injected into Angeal and Genesis- but then why does Genesis degrade while Angeal doesn't? :blink: But if different cells were injected into them, why do all three of them have the one angel wings? *rubs head in confusion*

It's a possibility. . . Minerva could be sort of the exact opposite of Jenova, giving birth to the Cetra who protected the planet while Jenova creates people to destroy it. I rather like that idea. ^_^ But would Jenova be considered a goddess in the same way that people are reffering to Minerva as a goddess? Minerva a goddess of life where Jenova is a goddess of destruction?

*shrugs* Some more stuff to chew over. XD

I like that thought, too!
JENOVA being Minerva's dark counter part? That would make a lot of good sense.

I can't explain the one wings either...perhaps SE couldn't think of anything more original LOL, seems to be what they do now...if all else fails, retcon.

Genesis might degrade because he creates clones of himself with Hollanders help. I'm sure that they would have to use his cells to create them, so maybe by taking more of those cells it causes him to degenerate.

Also, to be fair, I believe that Angeal didn't really get the chance to degenerate either, if you know what I'm getting at....*dodges spoilers*

I also like the idea of two opposite Goddesses, it gives just a bit more to each of their backgrounds. Sadly, without any kind of history from SE, we're left up to guessing. Unless maybe there is something in one of the Ultimania's about it...perhaps we could maybe ask Chibica about it. It'd be really fun to find out. ^_^

(I love being able to discuss Genesis with people who actually wonder a bit about him instead of disliking him. We need more Genesis love around here.)

LOL. Perhaps not. I thought though that it was sort of a mark of Jenova, being the three soldiers that were experimented on. But maybe it isn't. . . darn SE. *shakes fist*

Evil spoilerz!

But the way I remember it, Genesis was degrading for several years. . . because after that fight between Genesis and Sephiroth in the past, they mention it, and Angeal is the only one who can offer blood to Genesis. There is a difference between Angeal and Genesis verses Sephiroth, but I don't think they've made it clear enough what it was. :/ I remember that Hollander said that Angeal was a success but that Genesis was a failure, so something was slightly enough different in Angeal that he wasn't degrading- at least not yet anyway.

So that's weird. . . Genesis was born a normal child according to Hollander's papers, but that was perhaps a mistake on Hollander's part? Unless he experimented on Genesis after he was born and that resulted in him having the wing or something.

According to Hojo here, it seems as if Jenova cells were used in Genesis, which would make sense that it would be the same with Angeal.

So Genesis believes Jenova cells will stop his deteriotation, but what I can't figure out is why he believes that. Maybe he didn't have enough Jenova cells injected to him before he was born, and that made him unstable?

So according to this, what makes Genesis and Angeal different is that the Jenova cells were injected into Gillian, and then Gillian's cells were injected into Genesis, but with Angeal he recieved them directly. Confusing, no? So when they say G cells, I guess they are referring to Gillian's cells that where injected with Jenova cells. How bizarre.

We should ask Chibica about it, and see if there's any info given in the CC Ultimania or something!!! It is a really neat idea to imagine Minerva and Jenova as these two opposing goddesses! It would be pretty cool if it were true!

I'm glad to have someone to talk with about this too. It's been driving me mental since I played the game, and I'm just trying to make sense of it all!

Wait, so wouldn't this all make Genesis a so called "monster" too?
Just like he tried to sike Sephy into believing he was a monster?
A failed project?
Genesis gets confusin', that scamp. ;P

If Genesis recieved Gillian's cells, wouldn't Gillian be Genesis' mother, too?
Or no? Or am I ready that part wrong?

Well, I suppose you could technically look as Genesis as a 'monster' since he was created from the same Jenova cells that Sephiroth and Angeal are. I don't remember if Genesis ever calls himself a monster though. *shrugs*

I think that Gillian is Genesis' mother too. Which would make Genesis and Angeal brothers. O.O

Well, that would make sense. Considering they were best friends and real close and all.
Maybe that's anothe reason Gillian killed herself. Guilt over not telling Genesis she was his mother, IF she was indeed his mom. (Maybe not blood, but since she did share her cells, could be like.. half mom?)

Wasn't it Hollander who conducted that experiment about Project G, not Hojo? Because if I recall, Hojo was promoted or something because Project G was a failure and thats why Hollander wanted revenge or w/e you want to call it.

Anyway, I believe that Minerva was a summon, because if you look at most of the summons in Final Fantasy 7, they're all based on gods in religions and such. For example, Odin and Shiva. So I think she was a summon.

I believe Hollander was the one who worked on Project G. I don't think Hojo was invovled with it at all. But yes, once Hollander's work was deemed a failure, Hojo was promoted or whatever.

Minerva is most likely a summon- considering you need the Goddess Materia to summon her. Summons are considered sort of demi-gods anyway- like Levithian is called the God of Wutai or whatever. However, since SE hasn't exactly come out and said one way or the other, it's best to explore all possibilities. :)

I'm not really sure- I thought at first that Angeal had killed her and I was freaking out about it. But from what he says to Hollander later in the game Gillian took her own life because of her guilt in taking part of the project. I'm still uncertain if Gillian actually gave birth to Genesis or if her cells were simply injected into him. O_o

I think it's that they injected the Jenova cells into Gillian, and then they took some of her cells and injected them into Genesis, that's why he was a failure. If they would have injected the Jenova cells into him directly, he would have been more of a success.

Think about it. Angeal was not a failure, he was born from Gillian, who had the Jenova cells within her body at his time of birth, therefore he would have been born with the Jenova cells inside of him naturally instead of them being injected artificially, maybe the cells ended up being deluded because it was a combination of a normal human and Jenova cells instead of just the Jenova cells directly. It's the same thing with Lucrecia, yes? She had the Jenova cells injected into her when she became pregnant with Sephiroth, pure Jenova cells.

We never hear much about Genesis' parents except that his father was the Mayor of Banora. Unless there's something more in the script about him.

GAH! Darn you SE!