✘// T I M E L I N E
We aren't strictly enforcing the canon timeline here, but here it is up until the events of FFVII to serve as a guideline and a quick-reference for events and character's ages.
[ Approximately 2000 years before FFVII ]
· Jenova crashes into the planet riding a meteor. This location becomes known as
the Great Northern Crater. The Cetra gather at this location to heal
the planet and are confronted by Jenova. Jenova nearly wipes out the entire
Cetra race before it is defeated and sealed in a geological stratum.
[ Approximately 50 years before FFVII ]
· Vincent Valentine is born.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1949
· Red XIII is born in Cosmo Canyon.
· Cosmo Canyon is attacked by the Gi Tribe. Red XIII is given the impression that his father Seto betrayed the village people after learning that Seto had left the frontline during the midst of battle.
9/23
· ShinRa Manufacturing Works (later the ShinRa Company) discovers mako energy.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1960
· Dr. Gast becomes head of the ShinRa Science Department.
[ Approx. 30 years before FFVII ]
· Dr. Gast discovers Jenova. It is misidentified as an Ancient and the Jenova Project begins.
[ Approx. 25~30 years before FFVII ]
· Vincent worked as a member of the ShinRa Works (Later the ShinRa Company) Turks at this time. He was sent to the ShinRa Manor to act as a guard for the researchers and there he met Lucrecia. After growing close to Lucrecia, Vincent Valentine proposed to her, but she rejected him. Hojo attacks him and experiments on his body, eventually leaving him on the brink of death, and Lucrecia revived him by embedding Chaos inside of him. Thinking that the transformation of his flesh was his punishment, he went to sleep inside a coffin in the ShinRa Mansion basement.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1962
· Reeve Tuesti is born.
12/15
· Barret Wallace is born in Corel Village.
[ Starting approx. 20 years before CC ]
· Genesis is born via Jenova Project G.
· Angeal is born via Jenova Project G.
· Sephiroth is born via Jenova Project S.
· Following the birth of Genesis, unique experiments begin in the secret department beneath the ShinRa building, Deep Ground.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1965
2/22
· Cid Highwind is born in Rocket Town.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1966
6/24
· The city of Midgar is constructed. The ShinRa Company headquarters is relocated to Midgar.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1967
· Azul the Cerulean is born.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1970
· Dr. Gast vanishes. Hojo defeats Hollander in the power struggle for the Department of Scientific Research.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1975
· Zack Fair is born in Gongaga.
· Rosso the Crimson is born in Deep Ground.
2/7
· Aerith Gainsborough is born in Icicle Lodge. 20 days after her birth, Professor Gast is shot to death by troops led by Hojo, and she is taken into custody at the ShinRa Building with
her mother, Ifalna.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1976
· Shalua Rui is born.
8/11
· Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1977
· Nero the Sable is born in Deep Ground.
5/3
· Tifa Lockhart is born in Nibelheim.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1981
· Shelke Rui is born.
11/20
· Yuffie Kisaragi is born in Wutai.
[ Starting approx. 8 years before CC ]
· The Wutai War begins. Active as a SOLDIER 1st Class, Sephiroth becomes famous as a decorated hero.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1982
· Aerith escapes from the ShinRa building with her mother, but Ifalna dies at the Sector Seven train station. Elmyra takes her in and raises Aerith as her adopted daughter.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1985
· Grieving over her mother's death, Tifa climbs Mt. Nibel. In the process, she fell from a suspension bridge along with Cloud, who had been running after her. Suffering severe
injuries, she was in a coma for 7 days. Cloud miraculously suffers only minor injuries.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1987
· Determined to be a SOLDIER, Zack leaves Gongaga and heads off towards Midgar.
· Tseng, a young member of the Turks, makes a name for himself by uncovering a group of smugglers selling ShinRa weapons on the black market while working on the case of a kidnapped trooper.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1989
11/10
· The Legendary Turk is put under house arrest in Costa del Sol for abandoning his mission to rescue a kidnapped weapons trader.
[ μ ] - εуλ 1990
· Shelke Rui is kidnapped by the Turks and taken to Deep Ground and made a DG SOLDIER. Shalua Rui dedicates her entire life to finding her and joins AVALANCHE to get
information on the missing SOLDIER candidates.
Late Summer
· Genesis is injured in the training room. While being treated by Hollander, he learns about his birth and the secrets of his body, and seeking to remedy his deterioration, allies
himself with Hollander.
· Lazard is contacted by Hollander, and agrees to plan to rebel against ShinRa. Funding begins.
October
· Genesis, who had been dispatched to Wutai, escapes with a multitude of 2nd and 3rd Class
SOLDIERs (Mass SOLDIER Desertion Incident).
· Hollander steals classified documents from the Department of Scientific Research and
disappears.
November
· Zack spent all his time on training and various missions as a SOLDIER 2nd Class at this
time.
· SOLDIER: 2nd Class Zack and Angeal are sent to Wutai in place of Genesis. Zack Fair encounters
Yuffie Kisaragi for the first time here. While taking part in operations in
Wutai to bring an end to the war, Sephiroth joins up with Zack as well. Angeal goes missing.
December
· Rufus ShinRa assumes the position of Vice President. He leaves on a long-term business trip at
this time.
· Zack and Tseng go to Banora village. Genesis had converted Banora village into a stronghold for his army, and the evidence is destroyed by an airstrike at the hands of
ShinRa.
· Tifa meets with Cloud at the Water Tower he had called her out to. She received the promise
that he would "save her when she was in a pinch" from Cloud, who had said that he wanted to become a SOLDIER.
[ ν ] - εуλ 1991
1/10
· Verdot contacts the Legendary Turk regarding a new threat that may arise in the aftermath of the war.
February
· The Wutai War ends.
2/20
· The Wutai-based anti-ShinRa organization, AVALANCHE, intensifies its terrorist activities. Receiving a request to mobilize from President ShinRa, Sephiroth eliminates the members of
AVALANCHE who had seized the Mako Cannon in Junon. He crosses swords with Elfe, the enemy leader.
March
· Angeal and Genesis are officially announced as being killed in action.
3/16
· Azul is recruited by the Turks for SOLDIER. He is taken to Deep Ground and made a DG SOLDIER.
April
· Zack is promoted to SOLDIER 1st Class. On the same day, Genesis invades Midgar with his copy army.
· Cissnei of the Turks undertakes a top secret assignment to keep Zack under surveillance.
· Zack and Aerith meet by chance in a church in the Slums. They become intimate with each other.
6/28
· Cloud Strife is assigned to protect Professor Rayleigh and works together with the Turks. In a raid by AVALANCHE, secret data on SOLDIER was stolen.
Autumn
· Zack goes on an investigative mission to the abandoned Mako Mining Facility in Modeoheim, where he meets Cloud. The two become friends.
· After fighting Genesis and Angeal, Zack inherits the Buster Sword.
· Hollander is detained in ShinRa's Junon branch office.
[ ν ] - εуλ 1992
1/16
· A SOLDIER force including Zack is dispatched to destroy an AVALANCHE base in Icicle Lodge. Zack attends to his fellow SOLDIER comrades, Sebastian and Yishay, as their death
approached. With the exception of Zack and the Turks, every member of the unit is annihilated.
2/1
· Verdot and the Legendary Turk halt another of AVALANCHE's attempt to attack Junon.
Early Summer
· Lazard disappears, believing that it's only a matter of time before his secret communications with Hollander are exposed.
· Zack is ordered on a vacation to Costa del Sol.
· Junon and several other places are repeatedly troubled by an outbreak of synchronized attacks
from the Genesis Copy Army. Zack fights in the battle to protect the city, and is reunited with Cloud, who had been tasked to rescue the citizens.
6/18
· Hojo is kidnapped from the ShinRa Building by AVALANCHE. In a single stroke Sephiroth cuts down the helicopter stolen by the old AVALANCHE from the ShinRa Building, and brought back Hojo who was almost taken away by them.
July
· Lazard and Hollander are officially announced as being killed in action.
· Genesis and his army begin raiding mako reactors in various locations in search of the Jenova cells.
9/22
· Zack, Sephiroth, and Cloud visit the Nibel mako reactor as part of an investigation team, due to a monster outbreak causing a malfunction. Tifa Lockhart undertakes the role of
"guide" for the investigation group. Seeing the monsters that were created inside the mako reactor caused Sephiroth to doubt his own birth and humanity.
· Sephiroth locks himself up in the ShinRa Manor and reads over the documents left by Professor
Gast, where he discovers that he was created by the Jenova Project.
10/1
· The Nibelheim Incident begins. Zack Fair tries to stop Sephiroth, who has run amok and reduced the village of Nibelheim to ashes, but was instead defeated by him at the Nibelheim Mako Reactor. Sephiroth takes the head of his "mother" Jenova but was fatally wounded by Cloud and falls into the mako reactor, and for a time was dead.
· Zack and Cloud are taken as experiment samples for the Sephiroth Copy Project.
October
· Sephiroth, Zack, and the other Nibelheim investigation team members are officially announced as being killed in action.
· Sephiroth's body drifts to the Northern Crater. It absorbs knowledge from the Lifestream, and with the power of the head of Jenova and his own will, Sephiroth begins to create a
new body.
[ ν ] - εуλ 1993
4/12
· Cid had been planned to go into space aboard the ShinRa 26 rocket in Rocket Town, but to save Sierra's life he preformed an emergency shutdown and aborted the launch.
5/18
· Barret Wallace guides the Turks in North Corel, who had come to expel the anti-ShinRa organization (Old AVALANCHE), while the Mako Reactor was in the midst of construction. Corel is then razed by ShinRa, who had blamed the villagers for the explosion that occurred at the Mako Reactor. Barret manages to rescue Marlene, the daughter of his good friend Dyne, from the ruins of the fire.
[ ν ] - εуλ 1996
10/30
· Red XIII is captured by the Turks as an endangered species, and was handled as a sample at the ShinRa building after the ritual to appease the planet had been finished. Red XIII had guided the Turks, who had arrived to expel the anti-ShinRa organisation (old AVALANCHE), while the Mako Reactor was in the midst of construction.
12/19
· Zack takes the mako poisoned Cloud and escapes from the ShinRa Manor.
· Vincent Valentine is reunited with his former colleague Verdot in the ShinRa Manor. A Support Materia for the Zirconaide summon was hidden inside the ShinRa Manor and he
knew of its existence. He gives it to Verdot.
[ ν ] - εуλ 1997
Early Autumn
· Zack settles things with Genesis in the Banora village underground.
· Genesis is taken to Deep Ground by Nero and Weiss. He begins his "sleep" beneath Midgar.
End of September
· Zack is killed in the wastelands on the outskirts of Midgar. Cloud inherits the Buster Sword and heads toward Midgar.
10/5
· The Turks defeat Fuhito and Zirconaide. The leader of AVALANCHE is "assassinated".
· Due to the destruction of Zirconaide, an imbalance in the planet's ecology is created and the Jade WEAPON awakens. It pursues the renegade Turks, judging them as threats to the planet.
12/9
· The renegade Turks destroy the Jade WEAPON.
· Tifa is reunited with Cloud again at the Sector 7 Slum Station. However, feeling that his speech and conduct were strange, she invited him into AVALANCHE so that she could
keep an eye on his condition for a while.
· FFVII Begins
Cloud and the reformed AVALANCHE bomb Mako Reactor 1. On his return to Sector
7, Cloud meets Aerith for the first time in Sector 8.
Timeline thanks to Compilation Networks - dates corrected by the Foreshock mods.