Final Fantasy VII, one of RPG-dom’s most beloved classics, was ported to Switch last year and will see an epic remake in 2020. This has been exciting news for many JRPG fans.
In 2019, I picked up the Switch port to relive the nostalgia and my favorite Final Fantasy battle/weapons system. I was reminded, though, that why I loved the game first of all was not because of its system but its collection of memorable characters and their stories, both comedy and tragedy.
A tale of two tough guys
The most poignant scene for me was not the infamous slaying of a certain major character but, rather, the death of a minor one.
The scene involves Barret, one of the main protagonists, and Dyne, his childhood friend. You might not expect a tearjerking side-story from two tough guys from a mining town. But it’s one of the game’s best tragedies.
It tells you where Barret came from and why FF7 begins with an act of eco-terrorism against Shinra Inc. It’s yet another tale that builds the overwhelming case against Shinra–why the evil corporation deserves to be the game’s (initial) villain, why the good guys are fighting against this powerhouse. Most of all, it strikes an emotional chord because it’s a tale of resounding loss and despair.
If you plan to pick up FF7 and don’t want a single spoiler, you might want to stop reading further. I’ll just say that the confrontation between Barret and Dyne answers these questions:
- Why is Barret’s right hand a gun?
- Why does Barret hate Shinra Inc. so much?
- If Marlene is Barret’s daughter, where’s his wife?
Barret: The backstory
Read on if you want the full tale.
**Spoilers below**
Barret meets his childhood friend again under unexpected circumstances. In a dusty, forlorn desert prison, Dyne has become the local honcho there and a very bitter man.
In their past life as miners in the town of Corel, Barret had convinced Dyne to cooperate with Shinra, a giant energy corporation. Dyne didn’t think it was a good idea but was eventually persuaded by Barret.
When Shinra’s reactor was destroyed by terrorists, the corporation blamed it on Corel and razed the town, killing almost everyone. Barret and Dyne, who happened to be out of town, returned just in time to be attacked by Shinra soldiers.
When Dyne almost fell off a cliff, Barret caught him by the arm, but gunshots from Shinra soldiers hit them both in the arm, causing Barret to let go. Dyne fell to his supposed death.
Barret lost everything. Except a survivor he found in Corel, Dyne’s daughter Marlene. So he raised her as his own.
The cliff revisited
Flash back to the present:
When Barret encounters Dyne again, it’s by a ruined building in the desert. The landscape is bleak and the scene is somber; two crosses are staked by a cliff-edge that overlooks an abyss.
Instead of a happy reunion he finds that Dyne, who has also chosen a gun as his arm prosthetic, is even angrier than he is. While Barret’s only beef is with Shinra, Dyne is so bitter he wants to destroy everything.
Barret protests, telling him that Marlene is still alive.
Shockingly, Dyne says they must then fight, so he can take Marlene back. He wants to kill himself and her, to reunite with his dead wife.
This spirals into one-on-one gunfight between the two old friends.
After being bested in battle, Dyne’s anger dissipates. He seems merely sad and defeated.
“I didn’t just lose an arm back then. I lost something irreplaceable. I don’t know where it went wrong.”
“Dyne, I don’t know either, man,” Barret says, “Is this the only way we can resolve this?”
“I told you. I wanna destroy everything. Everything… This crazy world… Even me. How old was Marlene back then? Even if I did go see her, she wouldn’t remember me. My hands are too stained to carry her anymore.”
In the end, he tosses a pendant to Barret, asking that it be given to Marlene.
“So Marlene’s already four,” he muses as he limps away, toward the cliff.
“Barret, don’t you ever make her cry,” he adds and, without warning, lets himself fall over the edge.
The distraught Barrett collapses to his knees with a primal roar. His last words:
“You an’ me were the same. My hands ain’t any cleaner. I shouldn’t carry Marlene either.”
***
Barret’s story is heart-wrenching each time I play through it. Rest in peace, Dyne.
