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"Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades."

—Tagline, quoting LOVELESS

LOVELESS is a story from the world of Final Fantasy VII and has made several cameo appearances in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Originating as a book of poetry, the story was adapted into a play, growing enough popularity to have a street named after it in Midgar. The story focuses around three men who set out on a quest to find the fabled "Gift of the Goddess". It plays a major role in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Posters and billboards for the play show a female figure with the words "Open 6/25 6:00" and "18:00" underneath her. Many posters also include "My Bloody Valentine" along the side.

AppearancesEdit

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-Edit

In the beginning of Episode One, a billboard for LOVELESS can be seen while the camera pans Sector 8. It is located in multiple locations in the sector as the game unfolds.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-Edit

LOVELESS plays a larger role in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, as Genesis Rhapsodos recites quotes from the book during each encounter Zack has with him. The book has a theme which carries on throughout Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- known as the "Gift of the Goddess", which Genesis often quotes.

The stage play of LOVELESS is apparently largely based on acts II and III, being told from the viewpoint of the girl who helps the male lead. To make it closer to the original context it also contains additional scenes of two friends. Kunsel emails that he has seen the stage production and quotes the last line:

"Of course...I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing you'll be here."

—Last line of LOVELESS

The final chapter of LOVELESS is lost, with only a single line remaining: "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return." During the game many characters note the final chapter has never been found, although there are many theories. The Crisis Core Complete Guide^[1] states the biggest mystery is what happened to the world after receiving the "Gift of the Goddess".

More of LOVELESS is engraved upon stone tablets within the cave in Banora Underground where Zack faces Genesis for the last time. These stone tablets tell a short story about a group of three friends who go in search for the "Gift of the Goddess". The three men take the roles of a "Hero", a "Traveler", and a "Prisoner". The Prisoner escapes and is critically wounded, only to end up in the care of a woman from the enemy faction whom he eventually falls in love with. He lives a peaceful life, but he is tortured by the promise he made to his friends.

The phrase "My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains" is told to Zack early in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- by Genesis when he is saying something regarding the fateful duel between the two friends in the story of LOVELESS, referring to himself and Angeal. Professor Hojo, who is present at the time, also mentions this part of the story. When Genesis is taken away by Deepground, the missing final act is added to the LOVELESS book. However, this is either a line Genesis thought up himself (making it unlikely to be the original missing act) or it is, in fact, the original missing act that Genesis finally found, and wrote into his book.

Final Fantasy VIIEdit

LOVELESS appears briefly in Final Fantasy VII. Posters are seen all around the city of Midgar, first seen in Sector 8. Rumors have also existed that the player would be able to go and see a LOVELESS play, but this is not possible.

Due to the posters seen during the first FMV, it is obvious that the name LOVELESS comes from the 1991 album by My Bloody Valentine, an Irish shoegaze band. Loveless is regarded as their best work, and is generally thought of in high regard, usually doing well in British music press polls. Also, the woman on the posters resembles My Bloody Valentine's singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher. In the PlayStation 3 technical demo and the cutscene at the end of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the scene that features the poster is remade, but the poster has been changed.

Near the end of the game, Cloud can talk to Cid Highwind, who mentions he went to see the play and fell asleep, being awoken in time for the final act, and he quotes the following from the final scene, between a woman and her lover, who is leaving:

"Do you really have to leave?"

"I promised. The people I love, are waiting."

"...I don't understand. Not at all. But...please take care of yourself."

"Of course...I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing you'll be here."

This bears a slight resemblance to the opening lines of Final Fantasy VIII.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children CompleteEdit

LOVELESS is only hinted at; a poster is seen in the opening before the scene cuts to Denzel and Marlene and another poster is seen behind Rude when both he and Reno appear at Edge to challenge Yazoo and Loz. A LOVELESS poster is also seen when Aerith Gainsborough walks into Midgar with a flower basket. And finally, a LOVELESS billboard falls and hits Rude on the head, before Reno falls on him, knocking him down momentarily. If the shot is paused at the right moment, the head of a woman can be seen on the billboard. The woman looks almost exactly like Aerith Gainsborough, due to the woman's resemblance to Aerith's menu portrait in the original game.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-Edit

LOVELESS posters can be sighted in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- in Edge during Chapter 3. These posters are seen outside on the streets, and inside houses.

Loveless PoemEdit

Prologue (Poem)
When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
The goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting

Act I (Poem)
Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest.

Act II (Poem)
There is no hate, only joy
For you are beloved by the goddess
Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds

Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
Pride is lost
Wings stripped away, the end is nigh

Act III (Poem)
My friend, do you fly away now?
To a world that abhors you and I?
All that awaits you is a somber morrow
No matter where the winds may blow

My friend, your desire
Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess

Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return

Act IV (Poem)
My friend, the fates are cruel
There are no dreams, no honor remains
The arrow has left, the bow of the goddess

My soul, corrupted by vengeance
Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
In my own salvation
And your eternal slumber

Legend shall speak
Of sacrifice at world's end
The wind sails over the water's surface
Quietly, but surely

Act V (Poem)
Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return
To become the dew that quenches the land
To spare the sands, the seas, the skies
I offer thee this silent sacrifice
________________________
LOVELESS Rōmaji
Prologue (Poem)
Kemonotachi no tatakai ga yoni owari wo motarasu toki
Kuraki sora yori megami ga maioriru.
Hikari to yami no tsubasa wo hiroge
Shifuku he to michibiku okurimono to tomoni.
Act I (Poem)
Shinen no nazo sore wa megami no okurimono.
Warera ha motome tobitanda.
Samayoutsuzukeru kokoro no minamo ni
Kasukana sazanami wo tattete.
Act II (Poem)
Oshiminai shukufuku to tomo ni
Kimi ha megami ni aisareta.
Sekai wo iyasu eiyuu toshitemo
Asu wo nozomi te chiru tamashii.
Hokori mo tsui e
Tobita tou ni mo tsubasa ha horeta
Act III (Poem)
Kimi yo tobitatsu no ka?
Warera ha mikumu sekai he to
Machiukeru ha tada kakoku na asu.
Sakamaku kaze nomida toshitemo
Kimi yo koi negai e
Inochi hagukumu megami no okurimono.
Yakusoku no nai asu dearouto
Kimi no tatsu basho ni kanarazu mai modorou.
Act IV (Poem)
Kimi yo inga nari.
Yume mo hokori mo sude ni ushinai.
Megami hiku yumi yori sude ni ya ha hanatarete
Fukushuu ni toritsukukareta waga tamashii
Kunou no sue ni
Tadoritsukitaru ganbou ha waga kyuusai to
Kimi no yasura kanaru nemuri
Iza katari tsugan kimi no gisei sekai no owari.
Hito shirezu minami owaru kaze no gotoku
Yuruyaka ni tashika ni
Act V (Poem) Yakusoku no nai asu dearouto
Kimi no tatsu basho ni kanarazu mai modorou.
Hoshi no kibou no shizuku to narite.
Chi no hate sora no kanata haruka naru minamo
Hisokanaru nie to narou.
________________________
{ Prologue } (Interpreted)
When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
The goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting

Act I (Interpreted)
The infinite mystery
The gift of the goddess is what the three men seek
We are disquieted by our actions
But their fates are scattered by war

One becomes a hero, one wanders the land
And the last is taken prisoner

But the three are still bound by a solemn oath
To seek the answer together, once again

Act II (Interpreted)
Though the prisoner escapes, he is gravely wounded
His life is saved, however
By a woman of the opposing nation

He begins a life of seclusion with her
Which seems to hold the promise of eternal bliss

But as happiness grows, so does guilt
Of not fulfilling the oath to his friends

Act III (Interpreted)
As the war sends the world hurtling towards destruction
The prisoner departs from his newfound love
And embarks on a new journey

He is guided by hope that the gift will bring bliss
And the oath he swore to his friends

Though no oath is shared between the lovers
In their hearts they know they will meet again

Act IV (Interpreted)
The prisoner meets the friend who wandered. The wanderer is dying and the world is ending. He is furious that the prisoner gave up on their quest to pursue love while he remains loveless. The wanderer knows that in order to end it one of them must die. And so he initiates a fight to the death. The prisoner is unable to kill his old friend, and allows himself to be killed.

This is fan-made, to fit the style of the other interpretations:
There is a reunion
The wanderer is dying, the world ending

Vengence is sought,
For the prisoner had left them to pursue love
To end this tragedy, one must die
The wanderer gives a challenge

But the prisoner fights not
For the wanderer was a friend,
And he allows himself to be killed
A legendary sacrifice

Act V (Interpreted)
The prisoner's sacrifice was the gift of the goddess, and its realization saved the world. The prisoner never returned to his lover, rendering her LOVELESS, the namesake of the poem. She was not alone however for her lover died and saved the world, and she would have him as long as she lived in the world. And so the prisoner's sacrifice saved the world and his love.

This is fan-made, to fit the style of the other interpretations:
Though no oath was given
The wanderer returned, now one with the world
It is saved,
With this willing sacrifice

Theory of LOVELESSEdit

LOVELESS is shown as a thick book of poetry in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Plenty of quotes that never appear in the poem are heard quoted from the stage version. One theory is that the book LOVELESS is a poetry collection named after the book's most popular poem. The play is most likely an expanded story written around the plot featured in the poem and the quotes are lines from the play rather than from the poem. Another theory is that the book is divided into acts as the poem is, and the poem acts corresponding to the acts either at the beginning or end of the act of the story, and the book's acts are where the story from the play is derived from.

The namesake of LOVELESS is often thought to be the prisoner's lover who is left loveless when he never returns. Another theory is that the lover was not left loveless as the prisoner was made one with the world through his sacrifice, and that the actual namesake is the wanderer who never found love because he stuck to the quest. Alternately the namesake could be the hero friend, who, it is implied, also stuck to the quest and never found love, but there is little evidence of that being relevant.

Interpretation within Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-Edit

It is possible to ascribe the basics of the story to different characters within Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Sephiroth is the hero; he is frequently hailed as a hero during the game and Genesis assumes that he takes this role. The wanderer is closer to Angeal, whereas the prisoner can be interpreted as Zack, who falls in love with Aerith, a girl who is opposed to Shinra Electric Power Company. Later in the game, Zack leaves Aerith to go to Nibelheim and the two never see each other again.

Cissnei could take the role of the girl that helps the prisoner (Zack). Where Cissnei, as a Turk, was ordered to capture fugitives and instead helps them escape.

When Genesis recreates a scene from LOVELESS in which the prisoner and the wanderer fight to the death, the wanderer lets his life be taken. Genesis takes the role of the wanderer in this scene.

Official interpretationEdit

The following is an excerpt from Crisis Core Complete Guide, a game developer's insight on how to interpret LOVELESS from Genesis's point of view, translated by TheLifestream.net.

Genesis likened himself to 'the hero' from LOVELESS, and by fighting Zack attempted to 're-enact LOVELESS'. In doing so, he hoped to receive the 'Gift of the Goddess'.

By fighting Zack, Genesis regained his pride as a SOLDIER, and is freed from the fear of death or degradation. This is because, as he has the wish to fulfill his duty as a SOLDIER, he reached a state where he no longer worried about degradation or death. In other words, through his fight with Zack, Genesis realized that his role wasn't that of 'the hero' from LOVELESS, but by accepting the role of 'the prisoner' he received the 'Gift of the Goddess'.

Therefore, it would be his 'pride as a SOLDIER', the impetus for his shift of values, which was the 'Gift of the Goddess' to Genesis. 'Pride as SOLDIER' is a concept which symbolizes Angeal's will, so [I] concluded that Zack, who had inherited Angeal's will, was the 'Gift of the Goddess' for Genesis.

To digress a bit, but a line from LOVELESS ('one took flight', 'one became a prisoner', 'one became a hero'), based on the interpretation of Angeal being the one who took flight and Genesis as the prisoner, it links to the line Zack murmurs at the end: 'Hey... Would you say I became a hero?'

MerchandiseEdit

A silver pendant of the book of LOVELESS Genesis is seen reading from in Crisis Core --Final Fantasy VII- was released as official merchandise in December 2007. In 2012 a LOVELESS print shopping bag was released, based on the design of the billboard seen in Final Fantasy VII.

Silver pendant.

Shopping bag.

TriviaEdit

In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, if one looks closely at the action cutscene that occurs when Genesis's Digital Mind Wave is activated, one will notice for a split-second that there is writing on the ground, around the enemy. This writing is actually the Fifth and Final Act of LOVELESS (except for "I offer thee this silent sacrifice", which should be written where the single enemy is standing).
The Irish Shoegaze act My Bloody Valentine's 1991 album Loveless was popular with the staff at the time of development of Final Fantasy VII.