FFVII Timeline

The Cetra arrive on The Planet; some Cetra give up their nomadic ways and become the predecessors to the current 'human race'. The lesson is that humans are really nomadic alien gypsies who gave up their wanderlust to settle down and have chitlins in villages. O_o</td></tr>

An alien life-form crash-lands on The Planet and has a viral effect that turns the Cetra into monsters and oh noes. The WEAPON are created by the Planet to forcibly remove the virus, as it was impeding the healing process of the crater left in its wake, but the Cetra seal the creature before the WEAPON are necessary, so the Planet swirled natural mako into the WEAPON and put them to sleep until such time as the Planet was in danger. Eerie faces of the WEAPON could be seen in the huge mako crystals that formed the crater.</td></tr>

~Normal Calendar Time is Created~</td></tr>

Bugenhagen is born.</td></tr>

Vincent Valentine is born. He has no specified canon birth year, but he was a Turk 30 years before FFVII, which means he was a Turk in 1967. His age is listed at 27...so we assume he is actually 57, since his career as a Turk ended abruptly with Sephiroth's birth and the [sudden unexplained] introduction of Chaos into his system.</td></tr>

Nanaki is born in Cosmo Canyon.</td></tr>

Nanaki's father Seto sacrifices his life to save Cosmo Canyon from the Gi Tribe, and makes Bugenhagen swear not to tell Nanaki the truth about what happened.</td></tr>

The ShinRa Company discovers a new sort of energy that can be mined from the planet: Mako Energy.</td></tr>

During an excavation of the Northern Crater, Professor Faremis Gast finds the mummified remains of the alien life form responsible for the destruction of the Ancients and, deciding she is an Ancient, brings her remains to Nibelheim for study in the Shinra mansion. The creature is called "Jenova" and the plans for experiments that come to be known as "The Jenova Project" are put into motion over the next eight years. The general idea appears to be that Professor Gast got a wild hair and decided it would be cool beans to try and recreate an Ancient because that involves lots of awesome science.</td></tr>

Barret Wallace is born in Corel.</td></tr>

Cid Highwind is born.</td></tr>

In this year, a plan to find "The Promised Land" is set in motion by the ShinRa Company's science department. The point of this venture was to recreate an Ancient by injecting a normal human with Jenova cells. Sometime early this year, Professor Hojo conceives a child with his wife Lucrecia Crescent. The child is injected with Jenova cells for experimentation. Next we have a scene that is never really clarified...Vincent is shot by Hojo and then experimented on. But we don't know why exactly, or what was done. Speculation seems to be that Lucrecia is seriously damaged giving birth [and subsequently locks herself/is locked away in a mako cavern on the Eastern Continent] and Vincent is consumed with grief, since he was in love with Lucrecia. He blames Hojo for her fate and confronts him, and Hojo shoots him, mortally wounding him and then experimenting on him. It seems feasible that he injected Vincent with Jenova cells, and this was the cause of his possession by Chaos, however all of this is niether confirmed nor denied by canon sources. All we know is that Vincent thinks he is a miserable failure [for not being able to save the woman he loves from this horrible fate]. He locks himself away in a coffin beneath ShinRa mansion as punishment for his sins, and now he's a freaking vampire. *emo* His aging stops at this point.</td></tr>

Jenova is sealed away in the chamber of the Nibelheim mako reactor.</td></tr>

The first Mako Reactor is built by the ShinRa Company in Nibelheim (despite a discrepancy that indicates it was built 50-some years ago...).</td></tr>

Give or take up to two years, Gast becomes wracked with guilt that he subjected a poor innocent pregnant woman and her unborn child to such hideous and unethical experimentation, he abandons the project to a guilty conscience and flees ShinRa to go to Icicle. There he meets Ifalna, who is a surviving Ancient. He interviews her and ultimately falls in love with her. Also around this time is when ShinRa decides to come up with a cover for the Jenova research by creating the SOLDIER program. Young men are recruited [by the Turks] for ShinRa's military services, and are then injected with Jenova cells and exposed to mako radiation so Hojo can watch them pee study the effects. Sephiroth becomes the first member of this SOLDIER program.</td></tr>

Zack is born in Gongaga.</td></tr>

Aerith is born to Professor Gast and Ifalna in Icicle.</td></tr>

Gast is killed by Hojo. [Sephiroth age 8] Hojo takes Aerith and Ifalna to ShinRa for study, and steals all of Gast's research for his own.</td></tr>

The planet's largest Mako reactor is erected in Midgar, and the ShinRa HQ Tower is raised.</td></tr>

Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim.</td></tr>

Tifa Lockart is born in Nibelheim.</td></tr>

Yuffie Kisaragi is born in Wutai.</td></tr>

Sometime around this year, the war between Wutai and ShinRa begins.</td></tr>

Aerith escapes from the ShinRa headquarters with her mother and they flee to the train station in the slums of Sector Seven. Ifalna is mortally wounded trying to protect Aerith, and entrusts her with the White Materia. After encountering Elmyra Gainsborough at the train station, she enters her care and begins living in the slums of Sector Five.</td></tr>

Tifa's mother dies. ; ; Then Tifa falls off a mountain and is in a coma for a week. ; ; And everything is horrible.</td></tr>

Zack goes to Midgar to join SOLDIER.</td></tr>

~1991~</td></tr>

Cloud says he's going to join SOLDIER and when he comes back he will no longer be lame. He and Tifa make their promise at the well in Nibelheim.</td></tr>

It says 30Feb, but that day doesn't exist...so it's actually like...02Mar. wtf. AVALANCHE makes their first attack against ShinRa in Junon, and Sephiroth steps in to stop Elfe from killing some of the Turks. Then President Shinra decides to recruit more people for SOLDIER because they don't have enough manpower to fight AVALANCHE.</td></tr>

The Turks go off and are recruiting people for SOLDIER, and it's pretty hardcore. The recruits apparently know what this means and they're all like "NOOO we don't want to work for SOLDIER and become Mako experiments and be molested by Hojo laaaame! DX" Arrival in Costa del Sol and everyone has to go get back all the recruits that AVALANCHE set free. The Turks fight Shears on the beach, and Cloud is working for ShinRa at this point, and is there in Costa del Sol when the boat leaves.</td></tr>

Classified information regarding the SOLDIER program is entrusted to a Dr. Rayleigh despite everyone insisting it's a bad idea. The Turks are put in charge of protecting her, but the train she is on is attacked by AVALANCHE and the Ravens and they get their hands on the information.</td></tr>

~1992~</td></tr>

The war between Wutai and ShinRa is ended and Sephiroth is hailed as a hero for his involvement in the ceasefire. Also, Denzel is born sometime this year on the Upper Plate.</td></tr>

The nature of the Ravens is revealed. Two days later Zack arrives in Icicle to help with the situation. President Shinra decides Veld is a miserable failure because obviously someone is leaking top-secret information to AVALANCHE, since they always seem to know when and where ShinRa is planning to go/make a move, and he revokes Veld's position as head of the Turks, putting Tseng in charge for the time being.</td></tr>

Heidegger is briefly put in charge of the Turks, much to everyone's chagrin. >/ He's really bad at it, and Junon falls to AVALANCHE because he's lame and wont't let the Turks coordinate and work together. AVALANCHE HQ is infiltrated by the Turks, and then Veld can't stand this BS anymore and basically threatens to go public with all of ShinRa's top-secret info unless President Shinra gives him back his Turks.</td></tr>

Monster outbreak in ShinRa HQ oh noes! AVALANCHE sets free all of Hojo's experiments and it's horrible. >:[ The Turks are the only ones who can deal with this--not even SOLDIER can know about the top secret experimentation Hojo has been up to. Hojo's all excited that he can now collect research on his experiments since AVALANCHE released them, and he doesn't even TRY to fight back when they attempt to kidnap him. Hojo is a naughy bat. He decides to go with AVALANCHE cuz they have cooler science than ShinRa. Knowing that Hojo will readily leak info to AVALANCHE if they offer him tasty science, President Shinra cries that they have to get Sephiroth to take care of this. Sephiroth shows up and kills a dragon cuz he's hardcore.</td></tr>

Tseng finds Aerith in Midgar, but does not take her against her will because he luffs her. 8D</td></tr>

Sephiroth, Zack, Cloud, one or more of the Turks, and a few other ShinRa goons are sent to Nibelheim to investigate some disappearances around the reactor in the mountains. Sometime over the next few days, Sephiroth stumbles across Gast's research in the basement of shinRa mansion, and goes insane with the knowledge that he was created by a horrible experiment.</td></tr>

The Nibelheim Burnination. After destroying the town, Sephiroth goes to the reactor in the mountains and cuts off Jenova's head, planning to take her with him to "The Promised Land" where they can be all-powerful and rid the planet of the useless humans. Obligatory scenes we all know...Sephiroth beats up Zack and spears Cloud and goes off on his megalomaniacal soliloquy about the Planet and Mother and blah blah blah...and then he jumps into the Mako pit. Whut. In the original game canon, Cloud throws Sephiroth into the Lifestream...however in Before Crisis and Last Order, Sephiroth dives in of his own accord. A Turk is in the reactor and sees Cloud collapse after 'defeating' Sephiroth.</td></tr>

Zangan escapes the cleanup with Tifa, but Zack and Cloud are taken to ShinRa mansion for experimentation with the rest of the survivors. Afterwards, the headless remains of Jenova's body are moved to ShinRa HQ on Hojo's orders. He planned to use Jenova's remaining cells for "The Sephiroth Clones Project", which was essentially exactly the same as what had been going on with the SOLDIER program--the difference being that SOLDIER candidates were hardcore, and the people used in the Sepiroth Clone project were the survivors of Nibelheim, most of whose more fragile psyches were broken by the exposure to Jenova and Mako and left them as "pieces" of Jenova. The point of these experiments was to prove Hojo's hypothesis about Jenova's cells being able to reassemble. Meanwhile, Sephiroth flows through the Lifestream back to the Northern Crater, where he begins "The Reunion"; the reconglomeration of all of Jenova's scattered cells, and consequently the gathering of all the people within whom they dwell, as well as the dismembered pieces of Jenova's mummified remains. All of Jenova's cells begin migrating toward the Northern Crater and it's creepy as hell. Because the Lifestream contains all the knowledge of all who have ever lived, Sephiroth learns of the Black Materia that can summon Meteor while in the Lifestream, and plans to summon Meteor. Meteor would cause a great wound in the Planet and, knowing that the Lifestream gathered where The Planet was injured, like blood, Sephiroth would gain control of The Planet while the Lifestream was in abundance at the site of the injury.</td></tr>

~1993~</td></tr>

Marlene is born to Dyne and Elenor and a mako reactor is built in Corel.</td></tr>

Yuffie's obsession with materia begins!!!</td></tr>

The failed launch of ShinRa Rocket 26.</td></tr>

Marlene is born to Dyne and Elenor and a mako reactor is built in Corel.</td></tr>

The Corel reactor incident; Barret's wife Myrna and his best friend Dyne are killed when the town is attacked and destroyed by ShinRa troops. Dyne and Barret both lose an arm to Scarlet, and then Dyne also supposedly dies. Also, it is finally revealed that Rufus was the inside job who was informing AVALANCHE of ShinRa's plans. He is grounded for a week put on house arrest until further notice. One of the Turks is trapped within the damaged reactor and falls into a coma from exposure to the mako radiation. Barret finds Marlene has survived and adopts her. Around this time, Barret joins AVALANCHE and sets up a local chapter in Midgar [in the basement of Tifa's bar in Sector Seven]. This is also the day that Tseng is put in charge of the Turks on account of Chief Veld's disappearance; he is given orders to kill Veld should he return.</td></tr>

~1994~</td></tr>

A reactor explodes in Gongaga, destroying most of the town.</td></tr>

~1996~</td></tr>

The Turk who fell comatose in Corel reawakens in the hospital and is very confused. Being asleep for three years will do that to you. O_o Nanaki is captured by ShinRa and the experiment specimen "Red XIII" is created.</td></tr>

Cloud and Zack escape ShinRa and head for Midgar being pursued by ShinRa troops and the Turks. Cloud is basically a vegetable as a result of mako poisoning. A few days later, they near the outskirts of Midgar and Zack is killed protecting vegetable!Cloud from the troops. Awakening somewhat from his mindless state, Cloud takes Zack's sword and continues to Midgar, running into Tifa in the train station in Sector Seven. Upon seeing her alive and well, he snaps fully out of his broken-psyche stupor, however with many gaps in his recollections and a myriad of false memories.</td></tr>

~1997~</td></tr>

The summoning of Zirconiade; Tseng shoots Veld on orders to kill him, and also shoots his daughter Felicia--AVALANCHE's current leader, Elfe. The Turks destroy Zirconiade, however all but Rude, Reno, and Tseng are caught in the destruction and presumed dead.</td></tr>

The epilogue of Before Crisis and the first day of FFVII-proper, providing a seamless transition from one game to the next. Rufus returns to the board of directors for ShinRa Co., and the first Mako Reactor is destroyed by Cloud's gang.</td></tr>

The Don Corneo incident; Cloud dresses in drag and goes with Aerith to save Tifa. They find out from the Don that ShinRa plans to drop the plate on Sector Seven and go to try and stop it. Aerith rescues Marlene, and then is captured by Tseng and taken to ShinRa, and Reno drops the plate anyway [; ;]. Sector Seven is annihilated, and the destruction is blamed on AVALANCHE. Marlene is now at Elmyra's house, and the gang finds out that Aerith is an Ancient and they make plans to rescue her from ShinRa.</td></tr>

The gang saves Aerith, but they are thrown in ShinRa jail. They escape, only to find that one of the pieces of Jenova's body takes the form of Sephiroth and kills President ShinRa with the Masamune sword. Rufus is now in charge of the entire company. Lord help us.</td></tr>

Elena is made a Turk thanks to Cloud's gang beating up Reno, and the gang goes to Junon when she accidentally tells them that is where Sephiroth was headed. >.></td></tr>

The team goes to Costa del Sol and runs into a now-resigned Hojo, who postulates in passing about the "Jenova Reunion" hypothesis.</td></tr>

Barret is accused of being responsible for several murders that have happened in the Gold Saucer Area and he and the gang are thrown into the Corel Desert Prison. Here, Barret finds that Dyne did not die and instead went insane. Rather than succumb to the desire to kill his old friend [and Marlene, who he had thought was dead], Dyne kills himself. They are released from the prison when Cloud wins a chocobo race, and then head to Gongaga</td></tr>

In Cosmo Canyon, the gang learns from Bugenhagen about the harm that the Mako Reactors are doing to the planet: If Mako is forcefully extracted from the Lifestream, then it cannot be reabsorbed. The Mako Reactors will eventually suck the planet dry if they continue.</td></tr>

The gang arrives in Nibelheim, and Cloud and Tifa are surprised to see that it's even still there. They don't recognize anyone in the town, however...because none of the people there are the original residents of the town. The survivors were all experimented on, and the town itself was repopulated with Sephiroth Clones and ShinRa personnel. Everyone denies that anything even happened five years ago... Spooky. In the basement of the mansion, Cloud encounters Sephiroth, who tells Cloud he is neaded north, and asks him if he is going to participate in the Reunion. While in Nibelheim, the group discovers Vincent's coffin and release him; he joins the party in the hopes of getting revenge on Hojo.</td></tr>

Cid joins the party in Rocket Town after they help save the Tiny Bronco from being stolen by AVALANCHE. The group goes to Wutai and are robbed of their materia by Yuffie, who then gets kidnapped by AVALANCHE along with Elena. Cloud-gumi and the Turks [who are on vacation LAWL] team up to save their girls from AVALANCHE, and then Reno and Rude kill Don Corneo. Yuffie then joins the Cloud party. Learning from Cid that Rufus was going to go to the Temple of the Ancients, they talk to a weapons seller east of Gongaga and learn that to enter the temple you need to have a 'keystone'--which the man had already sold to a man--Dio--in Gold Saucer. Cloud enters a tournament for Dio's amusement in the hopes that they will be permitted to borrow this keystone.</td></tr>

Cloud's infamous date. After a night on the town, he and his date run into Cait Sith, who has stolen the keystone and hands it off to Tseng before Cloud and his date of choice can catch him. Cait Sith then explains that his master has kidnapped Elmyra and Marlene, and then when the rest of the group awakens, Cait Sith tells them all how to find the Temple of the Ancients.</td></tr>

The group arrives at the temple only to find Tseng has been mortally wounded by Sephiroth. They discover Sephiroth's plan to retrieve the Black Materia from within the temple and summon Meteor. They learn that the temple itself is the Black Materia, and the only way to obtain the materia is to solve all of the riddles inside and the temple will shrink down, becoming the materia, but killing whoever is inside it trying to obtain it. Cait Sith offers to be the sacrifice, since he is really only a robot, and once the team has the materia, Sephiroth takes over Cloud's mind and makes him hand over the Black Materia cuz he's a meanie head. He basically goes berserk, and gets punched out by one of the party members. O_o;;</td></tr>

Two days later, Cloud awakens in Gongaga after having a dream in which Aerith goes after Sephiroth herself. When he wakes up, he finds out that Aerith has...GONE AFTER SEPHIROTH BY HERSELF. When he discovers that he apparently willingly handed the materia to Sephiroth, Cloud has an emo attack and barely manages to pull himself together as the group heads north to Bone Village, and find that they need the Lunar Harp in order to enter the forests to reach the City of the Ancients.</td></tr>

The team arrives in the City of the Ancients and finds Aerith tranced out in prayer. Sephiroth takes over his mind again and almost makes him kill Aerith and it's horrible. The group manages to stop him from killing her, but Sephiroth kills her anyway and everything is horrible. Aerith is laid to rest in the water in front of the Forgotten Capital. ....Merry Christmas?  ; ;</td></tr>

Cloud and the gang arrive at the Northern Crater to confront Sephiroth again. They fight a Sephiroth Clone and it drops the Black Materia. The materia is handed off to one of the other party members as Cloud and Tifa head deeper into the Crater with the advance party. They meet up with Sephiroth and he screws with Cloud's head, telling him the truth about how his memories are not his own. The ShinRa airship arrives in the center of the crater as well, and Hojo is disappointed that only Cloud the failure has made it to the "reuinion". The person who had the Black Materia is attacked, the materia is stolen, the WEAPON awaken, and everything explodes. O_O;;; </td></tr>

~1998~</td></tr>

One week later, Tifa awakens in a hospital in Junon with Barret, and is told by Rufus that AVALANCHE is going to take the heat for all of the crap that is now happening all over the world; Meteor has been summoned, the WEAPON are running amuck, and everything is horrible. HAPPY NEW YEAR. Tifa and Barret are to be executed on live TV to appease the masses. >:[ Tifa is locked in a gas chamber, and is prepared to die, but then Sapphire WEAPON attacks and starts blowing stuff up and blows a hole in the gas chamber. Tifa escapes and gets into a slapping match with Scarlet. She is rescued by Cid and the Highwind airship, which is now under AVALANCHE control.</td></tr>

The gang finds Cloud in a cheeselike state in Mideel from exposure to mako since he fell into the Lifestream in Northern Crater, and Tifa stays with him until he comes back to his senses. Cait Sith tells the group that ShinRa is collecting Huge Materia for the fight with Sephiroth, and so they decide to get some too. They stop a train from crashing into Corel, and acquire one of the materia and the town thinks they are awesome.</td></tr>

Next stop is Fort Condor for another Huge Materia. The Condor tribe leader gives them the materia after they assist in the resistance against ShinRa, and then the group heads back to Mideel to check on Tifa and Cloud. However there is an earthquake, and the Ultima WEAPON attacks and everything is horrible. Tifa tries to escape with Cloud, but they fall into the Lifestream. Again. She somehow manages to like get inside Cloud's brain and can see all his memories and stuff and she kinda explains that he's nuts and it was Zack who came to Nibelheim and not him. When Cloud's memories are set straight, his fractured brain is realigned and he's normal again and it's awesome. The Lifestream barfs them out again back in Mideel and they are found by the others there.</td></tr>

Cloud tells everyone that he was out of his mind and thought he was Zack and he was never really in SOLDIER cuz he was lame and only a Sephiroth Clone and that's why he has Mako eyes. The team then goes to Junon in search of another Huge Materia in the Underwater Reactor there. The sub gets away, and they sink it, but before they can claim the materia, they hear that ShinRa is planning to ram Meteor with a materia bomb being constructed in Rocket Town. They get to the airport too late to stop the plane carrying the materia, however, and the Gelnika takes off to carry the materia to Rocket Town. They get there and the launch can't be stopped, so they go to outer space and Cid is like "8D! woohoo outer space!" and then they realize that they really have to dismantle this bomb cuz it's a bad idea and they're gonna take the materia anyway. They escape, and the rocket crashes into Meteor, and doesn't really faze it.</td></tr>

The team goes to talk to Bugenhagen in the hopes that they can learn something about what Aerith was trying to do when she was killed. They head to the Forgotten Capital and find runes that tell them they have to find a 'key' where the 'sunlight won't reach'. They head for the caves beneath the ocean. In a cave they find a large object that appears very old. Taking it to Bugenhagen, who has found that the White Materia will summon Holy, which can defeat Meteor. The large object they found--the 'key'--unlocks a projection device that shows the White Materia fell out of Aerith's headband when she died. The group fires the Junon cannon--which was taken to Midgar--toward Northern Crater in an effort to break the barrier that Sephiroth has put up around it. The barrier was what was keeping Sephiroth safe from the WEAPON and outside attack. Meanwhile, the Diamond WEAPON is attacking Midgar, drawn to the threat of the Mako Reactors there when they charged the cannon, and the WEAPON fires at ShinRa tower, destroying it and presumably killing Rufus inside. Hojo is now in control of the cannon, and the gang runs into the Turks as they go to try and stop Hojo. The Turks let them pass, claiming that ShinRa is finished anyhow, so their orders are as good as nullified. Heidegger and Scarlet try and intervene when they move to stop further shots from being fired, but die when their robot weapon overheats and explodes. Hojo plans to fire the cannon again, admitting that he really just wants to help Sephiroth out--he's Sephiroth's father, after all. Sephiroth is counting on the power from the blast. Hojo takes on some creepy forms thanks to his Jenova powers, but is defeated in the end, and the canon is shut down.</td></tr>

Bugenhagen informs the group that Meteor should hit in about a week, and Cloud orders everyone to go home and figure out the reason why they are fighting...and only come back if they wish. He and Tifa share a moment together when they realize that all they really have left now is eachother. >.>;; >/</td></tr>

Cloud and Tifa go back to the ship to find Cid and Barret are already there. The rest of the crew trickles back, and they all take off for the final showdown!</td></tr>

Cloud and the gang show up at Northern Crater and fight their way toward Sephiroth, taking out Jenova and then attacking Sephiroth, who takes on a creepy Bizarro form in an effort to protect the barrier holding Holy at bay.

Meanwhile the Turks are in Midgar helping evacuate the civilians, and Veld returns with the rest of the Turks who were thought to have been killed in the fight with Zirconaide. They all assist in the evacuation.

Sephiroth falls to the power of Cloud's party, but comes back pissed off. Because he's Sephiroth. >:[ They defeat this form as well, and like the rest of the solar system is destroyed. O_o Oops. Cloud then fights Sephiroth in his MIND...defeats him...and Tifa reaches to help Cloud back out of the crater. With the defeat of Sephiroth, Holy is released, and as the Highwind comes to Cloud and the gang's rescue, the power of Holy erupts from the crater and destroys it. Cid ejects the cockpit and they fly to safety. Meanwhile, Meteor now has no one to guide it, and is careening toward Midgar. All Holy seems able to do is destroy the outer pieces of Meteor, and so the planet sends forth the Lifestream to destroy it in a burst of light...</td></tr>

The actual date of Meteor Strike. See here for datestamp; Era 0008 (1998) 01 (January) 2[?](if the number was anything other than a one it would show beside the 2. 1 is the narrowest number, and so logically any other number would have been visible in some form beside the 2. This gives us January 21st, 1998 as the day Meteor hit Midgar.</td></tr>

~1999~</td></tr>

Advent Children occurs over the course of 3 days [43 hours total].</td></tr>