Vincent Valentine

Vincent Valentine
'Final Fantasy and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII' character
File:Vincent Valentine art.jpg Vincent Valentine artwork by Tetsuya Nomura
First game	Final Fantasy VII

Vincent Valentine (ヴィンセント・ヴァレンタイン, Vinsento Varentain) is a fictional character in the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII and the protagonist in the third-person shooters Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII. He makes several appearances in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, while also being present in the fighting game Ehrgeiz. Vincent possesses many abilities, including immortality, shapeshifting, increased strength, and accelerated healing.

The English voice actor of Vincent is Steven Blum, while the Japanese voice actor was Kazuhiro Nakata in Ehrgeiz and Shōgo Suzuki in all other appearances.

Creation and influence

In the video game, Vincent appears as a tall, lean, brooding man with long, unkempt black hair wearing a ragged red cloak and mantle over black clothes. The timeline of Final Fantasy VII and related canon places his biological age at 27.His left arm below the elbow is a metallic, golden gauntlet. Although previously suggested to be a prosthetic, the refined character design used in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus shows that it is merely a gauntlet with long claws covering an ordinary hand.

Vincent's cloak covers the lower half of his face and is held closed by a series of buckles. His eyes are red. This is natural, not caused by experimentation on him, as his father Grimoire Valentine has identical eyes (Lucrecia notes this in a Dirge of Cerberus flashback). As of Advent Children, his weapon of choice changed to a triple-barrel revolver called "Cerberus". The name derives from the dog's heads that adorn each of the 3 barrels as well as the silver charm that hangs from the hilt.

Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has explained that Vincent Valentine's character shifted from that of Horror researcher, to detective, to chemist, finally arriving at the figure of a former member of the Shinra Company's Turks with a tragic past, only part of which involves being used as a human test subject. It has been further explained that his crimson mantle was added to symbolize the idea of Vincent carrying a heavy weight—related to death—on his shoulders.

Vincent is a playable character in the PlayStation version of Ehrgeiz along with Tifa, Cloud, Sephiroth, Yuffie and Zack, though—like the other Final Fantasy VII characters featured in the game—he has no storyline in the game. His alternate costume is his Turk uniform seen in flashbacks in the original game. In this state he also had considerably shorter and different styled hair.

Tetsuya Nomura commented in an interview that he wanted Vincent to appear in the Kingdom Hearts series. Instead, he opted to model Cloud's look in the series after Vincent due to Cloud sharing many of the dark traits that Vincent shows in Final Fantasy VII. Cloud bears a red cape that covers the lower half of his face, and has golden claws on the fingers of his left hand.

Appearances

Final Fantasy VII

After sleeping for years in a coffin, Vincent is found in the basement of Shinra mansion by Cloud and the gang, who had managed to retrieve the key to his room from a safe. Vincent was surprised by Cloud's knowledge of Sephiroth, recognizing Sephiroth as Lucrecia's son, and demanded an explanation. Cloud explains the past events and the atrocities Sephiroth has committed, but this only served to make Vincent feel even more guilty for his failure and he shuts himself back in the coffin. After some further coaxing from Cloud, he emerges from the coffin again and tells who he was and about Lucrecia, before sealing himself again. But when Cloud leaves the room and begins to head back upstairs, Vincent catches up to him and joins Cloud after learning that his group may eventually meet up with Hojo with whom he had a vendetta.

For the remainder of Final Fantasy VII, Vincent plays a very minor role and very little story is centered around him. The only other time that there is any focus on Vincent is when they use the submarine to travel through an underwater cave and surface in a small lake surrounded by mountains. They find a cave in one of the surrounding mountains, and inside the cave Vincent finds Lucrecia, who in her pain and regret had sealed herself away in mako crystals. Reviving briefly, Lucrecia asks Vincent if Sephiroth is still alive, and tells her that he's dead. Vincent later encounters Hojo, and states that he should be the one atoning for sins.

Related Final Fantasy VII appearances

In Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Vincent is seen in his normal attire having a conversation with Verdot, leader of the Turks at that time, in the Shinra basement.

File:VinceFFVII.jpg

Vincent as he appears in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

In Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Vincent first appears rescuing Cloud from Kadaj and his gang, transforming into an intangible monster evocative of his cloak. He reveals to Cloud the cause of Geostigma, of Kadaj's intentions to merge with the remaining Jenova cells to bring about Sephiroth's rebirth, and that he rescued two of the Turks, Tseng and Elena, from them. He later showed up to help his friends defeat the Bahamut SIN summoned by Kadaj. It was Vincent who told his friends not to help Cloud and let him face his own personal battle against Sephiroth, confident in Cloud's ability to win. He was seen in the end with the rest of the characters and appears in a picture all of them took together.

In Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Vincent acts as the central character, working with Reeve and the World Regenesis Organization to eliminate an organization called Deepground. Deepground targets Vincent for he unknowingly carries the Protomateria inside his body. In a flashback, the absence of himself and Yuffie from the ending sequence of Final Fantasy VII is explained, as it is shown in a flashback sequence that they were helping with the evacuation of Midgar as Meteor was about to fall. It eventually is forcefully ripped from his body by the Deepground Tsviet Rosso the Crimson. Though he survives, he becomes plagued with flashbacks and feels the stress of Chaos's desire to kill. Eventually he confronts the Deepground leader, Weiss, who he discovers has been possessed by the digitalized mind of Hojo. Hojo reveals information on Vincent and his plans to awaken Omega, whose original purpose was to absorb the Lifestream and leave the planet when it was destroyed. With gathered information, Hojo created the plan to awaken Omega early. However, the renegade Deepground member, Shelke, urges Vincent to take control of Chaos power, and Vincent battles Weiss, succeeding due to Weiss's pure Lifestream force being contaminated by his brother, Nero. When Weiss enters the Lifestream, Hojo's mind dispersed, but Omega was awakened. The full power of Chaos was also drawn out, but with the effort of Shelke, Vincent reacquires the Protomateria and takes control of Chaos's true form, succeeding in destroying Omega's mortal shell, freeing the Lifestream. He survives this attack, with Chaos joining Omega in returning to the planet until they are truly needed. Vincent thanks Lucrecia in her cave, now understanding she was the reason he survived and leaves her resting place, able to begin his life anew.

The mobile game Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII also uses Vincent as the main player, and takes place during Dirge of Cerberus. It recounts what happened when Vincent was traveling by helicopter to Shinra Mansion and was attacked by Deepground. He fights his way to Shinra Mansion, destroying many Deepground soldiers and a battle bot.

Lastly, he is briefly encountered in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII when he is found sleeping inside a coffin by the protagonist of the game, Zack Fair. Due to the camera angle and darkness, he is not physically seen.

Other appearances

Vincent appears in the fighting game Ehrgeiz as an unlockable fighting character. His Turk uniform serves as his alternative costume.

Reception

Vincent has been listed by ign.com as on of Final Fantasy VII's ten most important characters.

Merchandise

Vincent's popularity has lead to merchandise being created related to Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII, games where he was the central character, as well as action figures being released.

External links

• Vincent Valentine character profile at the official Square Enix Final Fantasy VII site
• Vincent Valentine at the Final Fantasy Wiki