If you finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and found yourself confused about all the talk of different worlds, timelines, and realities – you’re not alone. The game introduces a complex multiverse concept that can be hard to wrap your head around, especially when terms like “Beagle world,” “Terrier world,” and “world merging” get thrown around without much explanation.
Let’s break it down simply.
The Basic Concept
After the party defeats the Whisper Harbinger at the end of Remake, something fundamental changed about reality. Sephiroth describes it best:
“When the boundaries of Fate are breached, new worlds are born. The planet encompasses a multitude of worlds, ever unfolding.”
The planet no longer exists as a single, fixed reality. It’s now a constantly shifting system of multiple worlds being created and destroyed, all powered by the Lifestream’s spiritual energy.
How Worlds Are Created
Worlds come into existence in two main ways:
1. Divergence from Fate
When someone makes a choice that defies the planet’s intended path, a new world can potentially be born. The Whispers used to prevent this – they were Fate’s enforcers, keeping everyone on the predetermined course. But once they were defeated, those barriers fell.
The clearest example is Zack. In the original timeline (and in the main world of Remake/Rebirth), he dies during his last stand. But in another world, he survives. That divergence created a separate reality.
2. Dreams and Desires
The Lifestream contains every memory, emotion, and dream ever experienced. Once Fate’s boundaries were broken, the planet could manifest worlds from hopes and desires, not just from actual divergent choices.
Aerith’s “dream date” appears to be an example of this – a world created from her longing for connection and peace, materialized through the Lifestream.
A Key Insight: They’re All “What Could’ve Been”
Here’s something important that often gets overlooked: the distinction between “divergent worlds” and “dream worlds” may not actually matter.
Whether a world was born from:
- An actual different outcome (Zack surviving)
- A desire never realized (Aerith’s dream date)
- A hope buried in someone’s heart
- An alternate decision that was considered
…doesn’t change what these worlds ARE at their core. They’re all manifestations of the Lifestream’s energy. They’re all expressions of possibility. They’re all equally “what could’ve been.”
The Terrier world where Zack survived isn’t more “real” than Aerith’s dream date world. They’re both worlds the planet materialized from its spiritual consciousness.
The Different Worlds We See
The Main World (Beagle Timeline)
This is where Cloud’s journey takes place – the world we follow throughout most of Remake and Rebirth. Fans call it the “Beagle” timeline because Stamp (the mascot dog) appears as a beagle. In this world, Zack died as originally destined, and the story progresses toward the events we remember from the original game.
Other Worlds
We see multiple other realities, each with different versions of Stamp (Terrier, Shiba Inu, etc.) serving as visual shorthand to help us identify which world we’re viewing. The most prominent is the world where Zack survived – marked by a terrier version of Stamp.
These worlds exist because of divergences and desires made manifest through the Lifestream’s creative power.
Dying Worlds
We also see evidence of worlds in the process of collapsing. There are rifts or fractures visible in the skies of some worlds, and people speak of the end coming. Sephiroth describes this natural cycle:
“Some quickly perish, while others endure. Yet even the most resilient worlds are doomed to fade… it is not death but a homecoming that awaits them. In the planet’s embrace, all life is as one.”
These dying worlds aren’t simply destroyed – they return to the Lifestream, absorbed back into the planet’s spiritual energy.
How Worlds Connect
All these worlds aren’t isolated bubbles – they’re connected through the Lifestream, which flows through every reality like a shared root system connecting different branches of a tree.
This connection explains phenomena we see in the game:
- Cloud perceiving glimpses of other worlds
- Aerith sensing presences across realities (because she’s a Cetra with deep Lifestream connection)
- Sephiroth existing across multiple worlds simultaneously
- The ability for people like Zack and Cloud to briefly fight together despite being in different realities
The Lifestream acts as both the source of these worlds and the pathway between them.
Are Worlds Merging?
Yes, and we have concrete evidence:
- Cloud witnesses it directly – Through a portal into the Lifestream, he sees two worlds colliding with screams and violence
- Sephiroth Reborn attempts it – During that battle, he actively tries to merge fragmented space-time
- Zack and Cloud fight together – Aerith brings them together through the Lifestream, then Sephiroth separates them
The merging process isn’t peaceful – it’s violent, traumatic, and causes suffering to the planet itself.
What Does Sephiroth Want?
When Sephiroth talks about “worlds unbound by fate and histories unwritten,” he’s describing his endgame: merge ALL these currently-free worlds into ONE unified reality where he controls Fate.
Not multiple free worlds. One world. His world. With no alternatives, no other possibilities where he fails, and no resistance from parallel realities.
By concentrating all spiritual energy into a single Lifestream he can absorb, he aims to become a god with absolute control over reality itself.
The Big Unanswered Questions
Part 3 will need to address:
- What actually happens to people when worlds merge? Do they get erased? Transformed?
- What becomes of multiple versions of the same person (like the different Zacks)?
- Can the merging be stopped or reversed?
- What happens when a divergent world merges specifically with the main world?
Want to Dive Deeper?
This is just a quick overview of the basic concepts. For a comprehensive breakdown including:
- The mechanics of world merging
- Aerith and Sephiroth’s powers over the Lifestream
- Detailed evidence analysis
- Theories about what happens during merging
- The role of negative lifestream
Check out the full article: Understanding Different Worlds in Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth: A Comprehensive Guide
TL;DR: After defeating the Whispers, the planet now exists as multiple worlds created from divergences and desires. They’re all connected through the Lifestream. They’re all “what could’ve been.” And Sephiroth wants to merge them all into one reality where he controls everything.
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