Final Fantasy 7 is undoubtedly Cloud's story. However, many other characters also get the spotlight now and then; from Cid's dream of going to space, to Red XIII coming to terms with what happened to his father. But I have reasons to believe that Barret's story arc is one that deserves an observation, considering how relatively muted it is. And though his story arc has a few key moments that demonstrate his depth as a character, there is one moment that truly encompasses Barret's character. The seventh entry on this list, and one that may be surprising to you readers, is "Barret versus Dyne."
At the start of the game, the player knows Barret as this blow hard, no nonsense leader of AVALANCHE, a terrorist group (they might be fighting for the planet, but they ARE still terrorists) whose actions cause considerable collateral damage. Barret is never shown to actually CARE about the people who get killed by his bombs, just that his bombs are helping to "save the Planet." However, the player sees a softer side to Barret the moment he starts interacting with his daughter, Marlene. Indeed, it is his worry for her safety that helps paint Barret in a more positive light. When Sector 7 is destroyed, Barret is crushed when he thinks Marlene died in the incident. His relief at finding her alive in Aeris' house is truly measurable; his guilt at having to choose between being by her side or fighting for the Planet (and by extension, her future) is clearly tearing him apart.
Barret starts careening through what a stream of humiliations as soon as Sector 7 is destroyed. When he assaults the Shinra HQ, he finds that his one chance to kill President Shinra, the man responsible for the Mako reactors, had been taken away by Sephiroth. As soon as the party leaves Midgar, he is replaced as leader of AVALANCHE by Cloud, due to popular vote. He is forced to wear a sailor suit during the team's trip across the sea.
But Barret's ultimate humiliation comes when the team arrives in the town of North Corel, Barret's hometown. There, the people treat Barret like dirt; in fact, no sooner do you arrive in town, Barret is punched by a citizen of Corel. Barret explains what happened: Corel had voted to allow Shinra to build a Mako reactor close to their home because they thought it'd bring prosperity to their city. But when the reactor blew up, Shinra blamed Corel for what happened, and thus destroyed the town and killed many of its citizens. Since Barret was one of the many citizens who voted in favor of the reactor, but wasn't in town when it blew up, he got blamed for what happened. Among those who died was Myrna, Barret's wife. Since that day, Barret had dedicated his life to destroying Shinra's reactors.
That whole "save the Planet" schtick was just a convenient justifier, It was ALWAYS about revenge for Barret.
However, there was one other man in Corel who wasn't there that day. The only man to vote against the reactor: Dyne. Dyne and Barret were best friends who got separated on the day the explosion at Corel happened. The two men got separated in a Shinra assault, Dyne fell off a cliff, and was presumed dead.
Eventually, it's revealed that Dyne was still alive, and had become a murderous psychopath. Knowing that his past had caught up to him, Barret visits his old friend, to try and get him to see reason. There, Dyne reveals the real catalyst of his insanity: he believes Marlene, his biological daughter, had died that day. Barret explains that no, she's still alive, and he raised her himself. Dyne then states that the two men must fight, as Dyne's so far off the deep end that he believes he now has to KILL Marlene. His paternal instincts kicking in, Barret fights Dyne one on one.
After he bests his former best friend, Barret makes one final plea to his friend. He invites him to Midgar, to visit his long estranged daughter. Dyne rejects the offer, stating:
"These hands are too dirty to carry Marlene anymore."-Dyne. (Paraphrased)
Knowing his life has come to an end, Dyne chooses to end his own suffering. His last words to Barret, before he falls to his death, are to never make Marlene cry. Barret cries out to the sunrise, angry at himself for failing to save his best friends.
"...my hands ain't any cleaner."-Barret.
Back in 1997, FF7 was seen as a game whose level of story telling could rival ANYTHING in cinema. While this perspective has changed in the last 19 (as of this writing) years, there some scenes here or there that show off a cinematic influence. Barret's final showdown with Dyne is evocative of the Western genre of films.
This moment is the turning point for Barret, character wise. Barret's character is not only explained more, but he undergoes a subtle transformation.
Before, Barret was an angry, self righteous man. What he did, he did out of a desire for revenge, while telling himself it was for "the Planet." Blowing up those reactors? That was revenge.
There is a bitter irony in that Barret was doing the ONE thing that got his townsfolk killed. These explosions killed people, too. Innocent people, who had done nothing but try to live their lives to the best of their abilities. They weren't bad people, just people who got caught in an explosion. And Barret didn't care about any of them before.
Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration to call Barret a murderer, but he IS responsible for the deaths of many, many people. It doesn't matter if he intended to kill these people or not, what matters is that his actions had such a consequence.
Barret's quest for vengeance also brought his friends and family to danger. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie died indirectly because of him. Yes, Shinra did destroy Sector 7 to destroy AVALANCHE, but that's the key term there: to destroy AVALANCHE. Why? Because AVALANCHE were the ones blowing up Mako reactors. And AVALANCHE was blowing Mako reactors under Barret's orders.
Barret's confrontation with Dyne is important in the fact that it's the first time all game that he acknowledges his mistakes. That one line, "my hands ain't any cleaner", is the first step in Barret's evolution as a character. At the end of the game, this evolution will shine through as Barret expresses concern for other people; specifically, the people of Midgar.
Yet what makes this moment so great? After all, Final Fantasy 7 has no shortage of character development! Red XIII's reunion with his father, Cid's realization that Shera was right and the oxygen tank was faulty, Tifa helping Cloud recover his true memories, the list goes on. So, why did THIS moment make it to the list?
Simply put, this was a moment that was a long time coming; from the very start of the game, in fact. Barret is the first character to join the party, and the second to join permanently (as in, doesn't leave the party again. Tifa's the first). By the time the party reaches North Corel, the player has become well acquainted with Barret; he/she knows his personality, his relationship with the rest of the party, everything but his past.
It's that knowledge, of what Barret went through, that helps paint a new perspective on who Barret truly is. Deep down, he's a man who felt he needed to avenge his dead wife and best friend. But confronting his old best friend, who had lost his mind and had become a murderous maniac, forced him to confront who he had become. And Barret, in a moment of pain, but clarity, finally owed up to the fact that he had become, in a strange twist, the man who deserved the blame he received for destroying the Corel reactor. He had become a terrorist.
And he hated himself for it.
Dyne was Barret's mirror: both men were driven by revenge. Both men were responsible for the deaths of many innocent people. The main difference is that Barret had someone to take care of: Marlene. Marlene, Dyne's daughter, became Barret's morality chain. Marlene kept Barret from becoming a total monster, like Dyne did. It was his love for his adoptive daughter that kept Barret going, that gave him a moral compass. And confronting Dyne is what allowed Barret to see what he could have become, had Marlene never been there with him.
That's why this confrontation deserves the seventh spot on this list.
At the start of the game, the player knows Barret as this blow hard, no nonsense leader of AVALANCHE, a terrorist group (they might be fighting for the planet, but they ARE still terrorists) whose actions cause considerable collateral damage. Barret is never shown to actually CARE about the people who get killed by his bombs, just that his bombs are helping to "save the Planet." However, the player sees a softer side to Barret the moment he starts interacting with his daughter, Marlene. Indeed, it is his worry for her safety that helps paint Barret in a more positive light. When Sector 7 is destroyed, Barret is crushed when he thinks Marlene died in the incident. His relief at finding her alive in Aeris' house is truly measurable; his guilt at having to choose between being by her side or fighting for the Planet (and by extension, her future) is clearly tearing him apart.
Barret starts careening through what a stream of humiliations as soon as Sector 7 is destroyed. When he assaults the Shinra HQ, he finds that his one chance to kill President Shinra, the man responsible for the Mako reactors, had been taken away by Sephiroth. As soon as the party leaves Midgar, he is replaced as leader of AVALANCHE by Cloud, due to popular vote. He is forced to wear a sailor suit during the team's trip across the sea.
But Barret's ultimate humiliation comes when the team arrives in the town of North Corel, Barret's hometown. There, the people treat Barret like dirt; in fact, no sooner do you arrive in town, Barret is punched by a citizen of Corel. Barret explains what happened: Corel had voted to allow Shinra to build a Mako reactor close to their home because they thought it'd bring prosperity to their city. But when the reactor blew up, Shinra blamed Corel for what happened, and thus destroyed the town and killed many of its citizens. Since Barret was one of the many citizens who voted in favor of the reactor, but wasn't in town when it blew up, he got blamed for what happened. Among those who died was Myrna, Barret's wife. Since that day, Barret had dedicated his life to destroying Shinra's reactors.
That whole "save the Planet" schtick was just a convenient justifier, It was ALWAYS about revenge for Barret.
However, there was one other man in Corel who wasn't there that day. The only man to vote against the reactor: Dyne. Dyne and Barret were best friends who got separated on the day the explosion at Corel happened. The two men got separated in a Shinra assault, Dyne fell off a cliff, and was presumed dead.
Eventually, it's revealed that Dyne was still alive, and had become a murderous psychopath. Knowing that his past had caught up to him, Barret visits his old friend, to try and get him to see reason. There, Dyne reveals the real catalyst of his insanity: he believes Marlene, his biological daughter, had died that day. Barret explains that no, she's still alive, and he raised her himself. Dyne then states that the two men must fight, as Dyne's so far off the deep end that he believes he now has to KILL Marlene. His paternal instincts kicking in, Barret fights Dyne one on one.
After he bests his former best friend, Barret makes one final plea to his friend. He invites him to Midgar, to visit his long estranged daughter. Dyne rejects the offer, stating:
"These hands are too dirty to carry Marlene anymore."-Dyne. (Paraphrased)
Knowing his life has come to an end, Dyne chooses to end his own suffering. His last words to Barret, before he falls to his death, are to never make Marlene cry. Barret cries out to the sunrise, angry at himself for failing to save his best friends.
"...my hands ain't any cleaner."-Barret.
Back in 1997, FF7 was seen as a game whose level of story telling could rival ANYTHING in cinema. While this perspective has changed in the last 19 (as of this writing) years, there some scenes here or there that show off a cinematic influence. Barret's final showdown with Dyne is evocative of the Western genre of films.
This moment is the turning point for Barret, character wise. Barret's character is not only explained more, but he undergoes a subtle transformation.
Before, Barret was an angry, self righteous man. What he did, he did out of a desire for revenge, while telling himself it was for "the Planet." Blowing up those reactors? That was revenge.
There is a bitter irony in that Barret was doing the ONE thing that got his townsfolk killed. These explosions killed people, too. Innocent people, who had done nothing but try to live their lives to the best of their abilities. They weren't bad people, just people who got caught in an explosion. And Barret didn't care about any of them before.
Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration to call Barret a murderer, but he IS responsible for the deaths of many, many people. It doesn't matter if he intended to kill these people or not, what matters is that his actions had such a consequence.
Barret's quest for vengeance also brought his friends and family to danger. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie died indirectly because of him. Yes, Shinra did destroy Sector 7 to destroy AVALANCHE, but that's the key term there: to destroy AVALANCHE. Why? Because AVALANCHE were the ones blowing up Mako reactors. And AVALANCHE was blowing Mako reactors under Barret's orders.
Barret's confrontation with Dyne is important in the fact that it's the first time all game that he acknowledges his mistakes. That one line, "my hands ain't any cleaner", is the first step in Barret's evolution as a character. At the end of the game, this evolution will shine through as Barret expresses concern for other people; specifically, the people of Midgar.
Yet what makes this moment so great? After all, Final Fantasy 7 has no shortage of character development! Red XIII's reunion with his father, Cid's realization that Shera was right and the oxygen tank was faulty, Tifa helping Cloud recover his true memories, the list goes on. So, why did THIS moment make it to the list?
Simply put, this was a moment that was a long time coming; from the very start of the game, in fact. Barret is the first character to join the party, and the second to join permanently (as in, doesn't leave the party again. Tifa's the first). By the time the party reaches North Corel, the player has become well acquainted with Barret; he/she knows his personality, his relationship with the rest of the party, everything but his past.
It's that knowledge, of what Barret went through, that helps paint a new perspective on who Barret truly is. Deep down, he's a man who felt he needed to avenge his dead wife and best friend. But confronting his old best friend, who had lost his mind and had become a murderous maniac, forced him to confront who he had become. And Barret, in a moment of pain, but clarity, finally owed up to the fact that he had become, in a strange twist, the man who deserved the blame he received for destroying the Corel reactor. He had become a terrorist.
And he hated himself for it.
Dyne was Barret's mirror: both men were driven by revenge. Both men were responsible for the deaths of many innocent people. The main difference is that Barret had someone to take care of: Marlene. Marlene, Dyne's daughter, became Barret's morality chain. Marlene kept Barret from becoming a total monster, like Dyne did. It was his love for his adoptive daughter that kept Barret going, that gave him a moral compass. And confronting Dyne is what allowed Barret to see what he could have become, had Marlene never been there with him.
That's why this confrontation deserves the seventh spot on this list.
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