In Final Fantasy VII, Vincent’s tale is given far too little attention—a vague flashback and a brief conversation with Cloud in the Shinra Mansion basement are, once upon time, all his beloved fans had to piece together the mystery of the cloaked one’s past.  Despite this and Vincent’s role as an optional character (without whom the game runs perfectly fine, even if the player never knew Vincent existed!), he probably has the largest fanbase of any of Final Fantasy VII’s other “mandatory” characters, and perhaps even of ANY of the Final Fantasy series’ characters.  Certainly Square must have come to the same conclusion when they decided to make their first spin-off video game that revolves around a single character star Vincent Valentine—Mr. Optional, Hidden Character from an eight-year old game. In fact, the only playable FF7 characters with less detailed pasts than Vincent’s are Cait Sith (i.e., Reeve) and Yuffie, who incidentally have more involvement in Dirge of Cerberus than any of the other five. With so much Vincent fanfiction out there, it’s difficult to discern Vincent “fact” from Vincent “fiction.”  Some of the things that have come to be accepted about Vincent may only be common yet misinformed speculation (such as the thought that he is a vampire, or that his flashback in Lucrecia’s cave shows him proposing to her), or invented tidbits from well-meaning fanfiction authors which have been misinterpreted as original character truth by misled fanfiction readers.  Sometimes I think there are really two different characters known as “Vincent Valentine”—the Vincent Valentine created by Tetsuya Nomura for FF7, and the Vincent Valentine created by Vincent’s fans.  The line is further clouded by my suspicion that the Vincent Valentine revealed to us in Dirge of Cerberus may be a blend of the two.  By that, I mean I suspect that the additional life breathed into Vincent Valentine in his recent recreation—the additional depth of his character—may have come from or been inspired by the Vincent visualized and created by his fans in the years since the release of Final Fantasy VII. WARNING: By the way, if you don’t want to read Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus, or Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode spoilers, then you shouldn’t be here. [ w h a t   w e   k n e w ] Even with the obscurity of Vincent’s flashback and overall role in FF7, there were some facts that even then we knew for sure.  Dirge of Cerberus further confirms these things. Vincent was in love with Dr. Lucrecia Crescent, and still is. He was a Turk who was assigned to go to Nibelheim as a bodyguard either to all of the scientsists involved, or specifically to Lucrecia. Lucrecia and Hojo were scientists working under Professor Gast, although for some reason Lucrecia is referred to as “Dr. Crescent” and never “Professor Crescent,” so she may have ranked below Hojo (who is known as “Professor Hojo” later in FF7), or perhaps the title of “professor” was only reserved for the head of the department. Lucrecia had some kind of superficial relationship with Hojo, and she had a child that Hojo at least believed to have fathered (although whether or not he was actually the father is a hot debate among Vincent fans). She was used as a test subject in the Jenova Project to experiment upon the unborn Sephiroth. Vincent was opposed to their experimenting on humans and expressed this (“I’m against it!!  Why experiment on humans?!”), much to Hojo’s ire (“She and I are both scientists.”). The experiments made Lucrecia very ill, and prone to becoming weak and collapsing. Vincent finally became angry enough after one such episode to confront Hojo again about the effects that the project was having upon Lucrecia (“Talk!  Why did you let this happen??”), but Hojo would hear none of it (“Silence...Silence!!”), pulled a gun from his lab coat, and shot Vincent where he stood. Hojo operated on Vincent’s incapacitated body. Vincent awoke sometime later to find his body altered with new alternate, demonic forms. Vincent slumbered in the basement of ShinRa Manor for many years, and believes he has deserved this and his new, altered body as punishment for his failure to intervene and save Lucrecia. These points are all supported by evidence from either Final Fantasy VII or Dirge of Cerberus, with my own conjectures and speculations minimized as much as possible. (Before playing Dirge of Cerberus I had stated here that we also know Lucrecia had at least some shame for what she was agreeing to when agreeing to the Jenova Project, since she lowers her head when the issue is brought up in the FF7 flashback, but when Vincent asks her if this is truly what she wants in DoC’s far more detailed flashbacks ( english | translation ), she passionately insists to Vincent, “If this only concerns me, then yes, this is what I want!”  However, this is in the presence of Hojo and in response to the Turk’s uninvited opinion of Lucrecia’s role in the Jenova Project [which she walked in upon], so she may have been exaggerating the certainty of her decision for the sake of the two men present.  Merely lowering her head in response to something said by Hojo to Vincent while she stands on the sidelines and away from the focus of attention, by comparison, is a much less theatric statement, and more likely to perhaps give insight to her “true” feelings than her own words do in DoC.  Words can lie, and as they say, actions speak louder. DoC's take on the famous flashback sequence. Also, she stresses “if this only concerns me,” when referring to Vincent’s problem with the Jenova project.  This, too, leads me to believe that she may only be reassuring Vincent that she is happy with her decision for the sake of quelling his worries, or perhaps to silence the voice that is speaking aloud what her conscience nags to her silently—that this is a bad idea. On the other hand, she does sound awfully passionate about her statement.  Also, the DoC scene in question may be intended to be a clearer depiction of the FF7 scene in question, in which case the silent lowering of her head has been completely removed in favor of the impassioned assertation, in order to give her character more flavor with the second game.) [ w h a t   d i r g e   o f   c e r b e r u s   t o l d   u s ] For almost a decade after the release of Final Fantasy VII, we Vincent fans were still plagued with MANY unsolved mysteries regarding the tale of Vincent Valentine.  Much to MY glee, at the very least, many of these issues are myseries no longer. WARNING: Really, if you haven’t played Dirge of Cerberus yet or read up on the Lost Episode and you don’t want it spoiled, don’t continue.  You’d rather discover the following by playing the game than by having me tell you. Did Vincent know Lucrecia prior to the events which unfolded in Nibelheim? No, he did not.  Evidently, the Shinra HQ Building in Midgar is quite a large one, because their first meeting took place in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim, where Vincent dutifully reports in and introduces himself to Lucrecia as her bodyguard.  The flustered Lucrecia further mentions that this is the first time she has ever met anyone from the Turks, although this may be a white lie made to excuse her odd reaction to his introduction. Did Lucrecia have feelings for Hojo? Likely not.  The memorable scene by the Nibelheim gates from FF7—where Lucrecia struggles to release her hands from Vincent’s grasp, finally frees herself, and runs away from him only to later be seen in Hojo’s arms—is again portrayed in Dirge of Cerberus, with dialogue and greater detail ( english | japanese | translation ).  When Lucrecia goes to Hojo and affirms that she has chosen him, her voice is strained, her eyes unseen, and it is overall devoid of true emotion.  This decision of hers also follows quite an emotional confrontation with Vincent, and seems to be done more to sabotage her relationship with Vincent than it is out of actual feelings for Hojo.  Vincent recalls that “After that day, the light left her heart,” in referrence to their argument, implying that after Lucrecia’s emotional flight from Vincent’s grasp, she was no longer herself.  FF7’s limited graphics don’t depict this very well, and made it seem as though Lucrecia was lovingly snuggled in Hojo’s arms and blissfully unaware of Vincent’s presence when he happens upon their embrace. Lucrecia doesn’t even seem to get along with Hojo in other parts of Dirge of Cerberus, including when she snaps at him to “Get out of my lab!”  On the contrary, she was an opposing force against all of Hojo's efforts from the point when he shot Vincent.  Hojo killed Vincent; Lucrecia brought him back to life, even after Hojo failed, and kept her work hidden from Hojo.  Hojo wanted Sephiroth to be a specimen; Lucrecia wanted him to be a son.  Hojo attempted to take the protomateria from Vincent through the Tsviets; Lucrecia was the one who gave it to him and tried to help Vincent keep and harness it, and eventually brought it back to him after Hojo took it.  And of course, when Hojo reveals himself to Vincent at the end of DoC and Lucrecia appears, it is Vincent she attempts to help—not Hojo. Did Lucrecia have feelings for Vincent? Yes, she very much did.  If none of her other actions in Dirge of Cerberus revealed this, then there would still be the fact that among the rush of disjointed thoughts racing through her mind at the end of the game are “I loved...” (although she doesn’t finish the thought) and “I never wanted to lose you.”  After this silent revelation, she attempts to regain her composure and tells the unconscious Vincent, “Did you know...that your eyes are exactly like your father’s?”  She repeatedly apologizes to Vincent in visions he has of her throughout the game (“I’m so sorry!”), and at the end finally follows this repeated line with, “...but I’m so happy...you survived,” despite her own “death.” “Vincent, do you remember our place?  Under that tree?  The warm breeze on our skin...  I know that it no longer exists.  Things fade with time, as do many things in our world, but there are some things we cannot let fade.  I finally...I finally realized my true feelings, even if you may never understand them.  Not that I mind, though.  But...this isn’t how it was supposed to be.  I’ve made too many mistakes, and I’ve hurt you..so, so much.  Why did I do what I did?!  I’m so sorry!  ..But I’m so happy...you survived.”  She never actually says, “I love you, Vincent,” but then, the closest Vincent ever comes to saying this is describing Lucrecia as “the one I loved and respected most” to Cloud and his companions after they awaken him.  One of the most touching things about the relationship between Vincent and Lucrecia may in fact be how tangible their feelings for one another are despite that neither ever bluntly states it.  She expresses her feelings even more bluntly, however, in the Japanese version, saying, “Even though there are many things that were lost, there are still a lot of things that are meant to be kept.  I...I wanted you to live after I realized my feelings,” and then tearfully asking the non-responsive Vincent, “It was a great deal of pain, right?” (instead of saying that she’s hurt him “so, so much”). Furthermore, with the release of Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode, we have been made aware of a new flashback in which Lucrecia asks Vincent to dance with her in her laboratory.  When he at first refuses because he can't dance, Lucrecia flirtatiously acts hurt as though this means he must not like her.  Of course, we all know Vincent can't really ever say no to Lucrecia, so they end up dancing.  While dancing, she says to him, "Sometimes... I get so involved with my research that I lose myself.  Whenever that happens though, ... you always come to my rescue... thank you Vincent."  Vincent asks, "What?" and she replies, "Nothing... I just wanted to thank you." Did Hojo have feelings for Lucrecia? Although it’s never really proven either way, all signs point to no.  The only comment he ever makes toward their relationship is smugly remarking to Lucrecia when she leaves Vincent, “So, you’ve come to your senses and chosen me,” (to which she replies, “..Yes, doctor.”)  If he did believe he had actual feelings for her, then he was far too selfish and self-centered a person to ever actually feel for anyone what would be considered love by most people’s standards.  He tormented and mocked her in her anguish over Vincent’s “death,” which he himself caused despite the great pain that it obviously brought to Lucrecia.  He further mocked her thesis and showed no concern about subjecting her to both physical and emotional tragedy during the Jenova Project—in stark contrast to Vincent, who not only was concerned for her but who also valued her happiness above his own.  Hojo likely had his eye on her out of either lust or mere dislike for Vincent, who had already expressed his reservations about the project, or probably both.  I don’t see why Lucrecia would have chosen Hojo to use to hurt Vincent unless Hojo had already suggested the idea in some way.  Furthermore, Hojo’s comment implies that there was a choice on the table placed there at some point in time, so it is unlikely that Lucrecia’s course of action was concocted out of the blue.  Hojo never really displays any of the jealousy or bitterness toward Vincent which one would expect him to feel toward the one whom Lucrecia really loved if he felt any superficial romantic feelings toward her.  Although he did shoot and mutilate Vincent, he never implies that he received additional pleasure from this because Vincent had won Lucrecia’s heart and he had not, so I am more inclined to believe that he desired Lucrecia because he disliked Vincent, and not that he disliked Vincent because he desired Lucrecia.  In the end, he doesn’t really seem to care either way who got her (or didn’t). What about Vincent’s family? Dirge of Cerberus introduces us to Vincent’s father, Grimoire Valentine.  He was a Shinra scientist (a paleontologist, as cited in the in-game Omega reports) and Lucrecia’s mentor, but died while involved with one of Lucrecia’s experiments.  Like Vincent, he was a tall man with straight black hair and reddish brown eyes, and seemed to have a liking for black and red clothing.  However, he was slightly more built, mature, and masculine looking, with broader shoulders, a squarer face, thicker eyebrows, and facial hair.  His choice of clothing is a bit odd for a scientist, but likely was given to him to show his resemblance to Vincent. He began the research on Chaos when the discovery of an Ancient tablet mentioning Chaos was made, and requested an assistant from the Science department administration to help him with his research.  This assistant, of course, was Lucrecia Crescent.  Sometime after that, he somehow discovered the location where Chaos would be born—a finding which he had previously said in the Omega reports would have “enormous scientific repercussions”—and showed this site to his eager assistant, confirming to her that, “Deep within this grotto is where Chaos is destined to awake.”  The grotto in which they are standing is the one known as “Lucrecia’s Cave” in FF7, which is of course where Vincent discovers his final limit break after speaking with Lucrecia there. Ironically, Grimoire is unknowingly foretelling an event that his own death plays a part of.  He dies saving Lucrecia’s life when one of her lab experiments on Chaos/G-Substance goes wrong, due to her exercising less caution than she should have in her excitement.  It’s never said how long ago this was, but it was likely within a few years of Vincent and Lucrecia’s meeting.  His last words were, “Tell my son that I’m sorry.  My time has come to return to the Lifestream.”  He refers to her as “Doctor,” and his reports mention that she has already graduated from her university (top of her class) when Shinra assigned her to him, so she couldn’t have been too young.  (He is also addressed by Lucrecia as “Dr. Valentine” instead of “Professor Valentine,” further strengthening the notion that only the department head earns the title of Professor.)  The Omega reports also reveal that he was alive when Jenova was discovered, that “a new large-scale research project was scheduled to begin,” and that Lucrecia had been offered a place on this team (the Jenova Project). What happened to Vincent between being shot by Hojo and waking up in the basement when he meets Cloud? There were actually three questions which always plagued me concerning this:  (1) What type of injury did Vincent sustain from Hojo’s attack?  (2) If Vincent awoke on the operating table dressed as a Turk, how did he come to have his black and red clothing and sleep in the coffin?  (3) Is his golden glaw a mechanical replacement arm (i.e., permanent) or a gauntlet (i.e., removeable)? Firstly, the true nature of Vincent’s injury was never known until Dirge of Cerberus.  He was shot, with a gun, and killed.  Yes, killed.  Before he passed out, Lucrecia happened to walk in upon the scene, and the last word to leave his mouth was her name when he saw her.  Obviously we know in DoC that she attempted to bring him back to life, but not just yet.  Near the game’s ending, Hojo mentions that he first augmented Vincent’s dead body, and that it was these augmentations by Hojo that made his body strong enough to house Chaos in the first place, before Lucrecia began tampering with him also.  Although Hellmasker and Death Gigas make no appearance in DoC, Galian Beast does as a separate entity from Chaos, so Chaos is not meant to symbolize all of his limit break abilities that we were introduced to in FF7.  It is likely that Hojo gave Vincent the beastial transformations that he learns on his own (Galian Beast, Death Gigas, Hellmasker), while Chaos was given to him by Lucrecia. So how did he get in the coffin, and where did he get the change of clothing?  Dirge of Cerberus shows us a flashback in which Lucrecia attempts to place Chaos into Vincent’s dead body to revive him, but he is overtaken by Chaos.  While in the tube in this scene, Chaos is wearing the black and red attire that we see Chaos wearing elsewhere in DoC.  When Lucrecia subdues the Chaos in Vincent’s body with the ProtoMateria, Chaos ceases to overtake Vincent while still residing in his body.  The conclusion I draw from this and from the similarity between Chaos’ clothing and Vincent’s new clothing, and the lack of other explanation as to where Vincent’s new clothing came from, is that these clothes came from Chaos and replaced his Turk uniform when he reached the state of harboring Chaos while still retaining his humanity.  As for whether he put himself to sleep in the coffin willingly or if Hojo locked him in there as his note says in FF7, I suppose this will always be a mystery since it may just be an inconsistency, much like the layout of the Shinra Mansion basement and whether the Jenova Project team stayed in the mansion or in the inn.  Or, perhaps both are true—he retreated to the coffin of his own will, and Hojo locked him in. The other thing that I always wondered prior to DoC was the nature of the golden claw on Vincent’s left hand.  Was his left hand removed by Hojo, or is it merely a gauntlet covering a perfectly functional hand?  And if Hojo cut off Vincent’s hand, then why does he still have it when he wakes up in the FF7 flashback and screams?  Vincent never removes the golden claw, so it still can’t be said for sure whether or not his left hand really is underneath, but it should be noted that Vincent is seen floating in his tube while Lucrecia is working on him with a perfectly intact left hand.  It has not been removed, and if Lucrecia did indeed only work on his corpse when Hojo was done with it (which would have been necessary in order for her to have success with storing Chaos in Vincent’s body), then it would make sense for Vincent’s left arm to be missing if Hojo removed it.  It should also be noted that Vincent’s shirt is very clearly tucked into the top part of the claw when viewed at certain angles, so the very top, at least, is not attached to his skin. Did Vincent offer Lucrecia a ring and ask her to marry him at the Nibelheim gates before she ran from him? No.  Vincent had just discovered that Lucrecia had previously worked with his father and wanted to know about this and why he had never been told previously.  Lucrecia was too emotionally disraught and did not want to discuss it, thus she ran away.  I doubt that Vincent ever proposed to her, or even expressed his feelings to her bluntly, as he seems to have been somewhat timid and bashful in his younger days. What the heck does Lucrecia wear under her lab coat?! A ruffed light blue blouse and pretty navy blue skirt with a sheer overlay and asymetrical hemline. =D  She also dons tasteful silver jewelry on her ears, neck, and left ankle.  Along with...red Minnie Mouse pumps. ><  (I suppose it’s better than the giant red earrings her FF7 sprite had, if they’re meant to replace them...) What else do we now know about Lucrecia? She is 5'4" and has brown eyes, according to Dirge of Cerberus images and her game profile.  Her last name is indeed Crescent.  I've heard some snickering over this, but really it isn’t all that odd in a world of Strife, Lockheart, and Highwind surnames.  In fact, while her first name already made a reference to light (it means “bringer of light/hope,” from the Latin lux, lucis, meaning “light”—clearly a symbol of her being Vincent’s one light and hope), her newly revealed surname quite fittingly bears a connotation to one of the phases of the moon—the dark night sky’s one source of light.  She is referred to as a “general Class A scientist specializing in bio-technology,” (as read by Shalua in what is presumably ShinRa’s most updated records before Meteorfall) and, according to the English Omega reports, graduated at the top of her university.  I imagine she became Grimoire’s assistant not too long after graduating, because this is the one credential he mentions about her—nothing about any previous work she has done, which one would think she would have if she had been working in the field for a while.  It is interesting that they assigned a bio-technology specialist to a paleontologist (as Grimoire describes himself in the English Omega reports).  Her research thesis about Chaos and Omega was titled “The Planet’s Pulse,” and was not taken seriously by ShinRa due to its overly abstract and complex theories. [ w h a t   w e   d o n ’ t   k n o w ] Alas, even after the release of Dirge of Cerberus, there are still many unanswered questions about Vincent’s past and the nature of his relationship with Lucrecia. Did Vincent and Lucrecia ever, um—how shall I put this delicately...GET IT ON?? As much as I would like to think so both for the possibility of his paternity and for the romantic aspect, I find it unlikely after playing Dirge of Cerberus.  Vincent seemed too bashful as a Turk to come onto Lucrecia too strongly, and I don’t think Lucrecia would have allowed their relationship to progress to the sexual point with the guilt she harbored over his father’s death.  Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is definitely my belief that their relationship never got sexual.  Nothing is to say it couldn’t have happened before Lucrecia let all of her emotions get tangled up, and it seems apparent from her surprise picnic and request that Vincent dance with her that she entertained the idea of a courtship with Vincent to at least some degree before pushing him away.  Also, when Vincent discovers that Lucrecia used to work with his father and is shocked that she never mentioned it to him, insisting that it is his business, I got the feeling that they were at least close friends or casually romantic.  They had done enough talking, at least, that it would be a shock for her not to mention this piece of information.  That he refers to her as Lucrecia and not Dr. Crescent is also an indication that they regarded each other as more than acquaintances.  It could also partially account for her wacky emotional behavior (on top of all the other things the poor girl had going wrong) if she had slept with Vincent and then thought better of it.  (So would—dare I say?—pregnancy. xD ) Were Hojo and Lucrecia ever married? There is allegedly a line in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega which refers to Lucrecia as Hojo’s wife, and the relationship diagram chart included in the book clearly labels Hojo and Lucrecia as “husband” and “wife” (“otto” and “tsuna”) on the line that connects them to Sephiroth as their son; however, not only is there no hint toward a marriage or engagement anywhere in the compilation, nor any presence of a ring, but there are also various other points which speak against this notion related to the questions below. If Hojo is indeed Sephiroth’s true father, was he conceived naturally or via artificial insemination? Obviously, if they were married, he probably would have been conceived naturally.  However, Vincent’s surprised response to Hojo’s claim to Sephiroth’s paternity atop the Sister Ray in FF7 allows the possibility that perhaps Vincent believed Lucrecia to have been artificially inseminated by some anonymous donor, in which case it wouldn’t be guaranteed that Lucrecia ever had sex with Hojo at all.  It would also point to the idea that Hojo and Lucrecia were never married. Has Sephiroth ever had a surname? If Hojo and Lucrecia were married at the time of Sephiroth’s birth and she assumed his last name, then Sephiroth would logically have the same surname as Hojo (or at least a hyphenated version of Hojo’s last name and Lucrecia’s maiden name), and therefore it would have been well known that Hojo was his father—but Sephiroth never makes any mention of this, despite his dislike for the scientist.  No one else mentions it, either, until Hojo does near the end of FF7. If Lucrecia and Hojo were not married, Sephiroth’s surname would logically be Crescent—the unmarried name of his birth mother.  There is also the possibility that Sephiroth believed his last name to be Jenova, or that Sephiroth never had a last name. Is Vincent originally from Midgar or is his hometown elsewhere? It can be assumed that he lived in Midgar for at least some portion of his adult life, when he worked as a Turk for ShinRa.  The fact that his father also worked for ShinRa makes it likely that he also spent some time living there when he was younger also.  Yet, his hometown continues to be listed as “Unknown.”  Some people believe that he may have been born in Wutai, largely for two reasons: 1) He appears to be somewhat oriental, like Yuffie (but it is Japanese-drawn anime...the only ones who don’t look Asian at some point or another are Aeris, Reeve, Barret, and Cid), and 2) when your FF7 team first encounters Yuffie with Vincent in your party, he allegedly comments that “her weapon looks familiar,” (but he was a trained Turk so I would imagine that many weapons look familiar to Vincent). How long was he a member of the Turks before the Jenova Project? Prior to Dirge of Cerberus, I used to think that he was likely a veteran member of the Turks, already recognized even among his peers for his incredible prowess and gun skill.  Since then, however, I could *SWEAR* I read somewhere that guard duty was something assigned to new Turks, but cannot for the life of me find that reference in order to assess its reliability. -_-;  So basically your guess is as good as mine. Some other remaining questions: What other family members did Vincent have? Did Lucrecia know that the Jenova Project would be harmful to Sephiroth when she agreed to it? How was Sephiroth raised? Who chose Sephiroth’s name, and was it chosen for a reason? What did Lucrecia do for 30 years between failing to kill herself and encasing herself in mako? Why in the name of god does Lucrecia wear red shoes with a blue outfit? >< Whether ot not the rest of the compilation will shed any light at all (on Sephiroth’s origins, at least,) remains to be seen.  For now, we can only continue to speculate—something we Vincent/FF7 fans haven’t been to adverse to doing so far!