#ff7 denzel

Let’s talk about Marlene first, shall we? 

In Advent Children, Marlene is about six-years-old. She’s really mature for her age and is very used to handling situations on her own. Not only that, but she grew up to be loving, thoughtful, and caring. Traits that both Aerith and Tifa share. (And I refuse to take slander on either character because they are both strong, wonderful women to be proud of.)

It’s important to remember that she has gone through a lot in her life, and yet, she still grows up to be such an amazing and profound child. Her biological parents died when Corel was destroyed by Shinra troops, and her family has almost always consisted of people that she never had any blood relation to. 

In ACC, even though she’s fairly young, she’s shown as a reliable, forthright, and dependable child. 

She deserves more credit than to be written off as a prop for ship wars. 

Let’s not forget that she played a hand in putting Cloud Strife in his place as well.

Her conversation with Cloud in Advent Children can be compared to that of Tifa’s conversation as well. This is not in any way to connect to any ships. I know it seems biased, but let’s not forget that in Advent Children, she and Tifa had a conversation about how they would go home after giving a lecture to Cloud. 

Starting off the conversation to discuss him having Geostigma:

Tifa to Cloud: “You have Geostigma, don’t you?”

Marlene to Cloud after touching his arm: “Does it hurt? 

Telling Cloud that he shouldn’t just keep thinking about himself: 

Tifa: “Stop running! I know. Even if you find the kids, you might not be able to help them. Maybe something will happen that can never un-happen. That scares you, doesn’t it? But you need to think about now. Really take it in. Look at you! You think you’ve got it so damn hard. Well, you hate being alone, so let people in! Sure, you might not answer the phone, but I don’t see you throwing it away either.” [Also I love this scene because you can see Rude and Reno trying to figure out what to do while Tifa is yelling at him lol]

Marlene imitating Barret: “How you supposed to look after your own family if you can’t even look after yourself?"

Trying to tell Cloud not to give up:

Tifa: “Don’t run. Let’s fight it together. We can help each other, I know we can. [No response] I guess that only works for real families.”

Marlene: “How you supposed to look after your own family if you can’t even look after yourself? At least, that’s what Daddy says. Cloud, don’t give up.”

I just like pointing out that even though Marlene looks up to Aerith as a role model, it does not discredit how much she looks up to Tifa as well. Many are forgetting that she literally lives with Tifa every single day and is taken care of her, so it’s not unnatural for her to adopt Tifa’s mannerisms. 

Unrelated to Tifa, can we talk about how Marlene is incredibly observant too? 

Marlene: “Does it hurt?” Cloud: “A bit. But not as bad as Denzel’s.” Marlene: “Is there a cure?” Cloud: “I don’t know.” Marlene: “After all you did, you’ve been trying so hard to find a cure for Denzel.” Cloud: “You knew about that? Marlene: “Cloud! You should clean off your desk once in a while.” Cloud: “Maybe I should.” Marlene: “So is that why? Is that the reason why you had to leave, Cloud? Because you couldn’t fix Denzel? Or because you have the sickness too?” Cloud: “I just thought I couldn’t care for myself. Let alone anyone else.”

I really loved this scene, especially since the way that they talk to each other is so natural, while the way that they look at each other is just so soft. Even though Barrett is her father, Cloud is obviously still a parental figure to her.

Marlene is really just an important character in Cloud’s development. Throughout Advent Children, he’s stuck in a struggle between guilt and himself. You see that in the beginning, he’s very quick to shut people out and disregard them. However, Marlene is the first person that he’s showing a change in character to. Yes, I said in my previous post that Tifa was the first to get him to open up and realize that he has to confront his struggles and live in the present, but he doesn’t actually start actively changing until he has a conversation with both Marlene and Vincent.

Cloud: “Marlene!” Marlene: “Cloud! Denzel, and Tifa!” Cloud: “Tifa is alright.” Marlene: “I wanna talk to her!” [Cloud and Marlene realize his phone is gone; Marlene turns to Vincent] “May I?” [Vincent shows that he doesn’t have a phone.] “You don’t have a phone?” Cloud: “Vincent, will you bring Marlene to Tifa? I’m gonna go see Shinra and get a few answers.” Vincent: “I can’t do that.” Cloud: “But I -” Marlene: “Forget it, Cloud! Why don’t you ever pay attention to us?” Cloud: “Marlene, please give me some time. There’s a battle to be fought, but it’s not as simple as just fighting it. Understand?” Marlene: “No, I don’t!” Vincent: “Cloud, are you sure this is about fighting?”

I really think that this was a true turning point for him. It’s not only a flashback of Tifa or a conversation with Aerith that changes his perspective, it’s also Marlene confronting him and showing him that his actions continue to have consequences on the people that he cares about. Hence, the conversation they have later where he actually starts to change from his stubborn indifference. 

Last but not least, let’s remember that even though it’s not ideal, she fills in for everyone else when they fall short. Besides being the narrator in the beginning, the first scene she’s shown in is of her taking care of Denzel. 

Narration: “But it looks like the planet is a lot madder than we thought. They call it geostigma.” Denzel: “Well, Marlene, how does it look?” [Marlene does not reply; She goes to place a gauze over the geostigma mark] Marlene, as a voiceover: “Please. Please don’t take Denzel away.”

This scene, despite how small it is, is so powerful. She’s a young girl living in a world where the people around her are directly affected by Geostigma and the aftermath of the planet. She knows there’s nothing she can do other than hope. That’s why Marlene shouldn’t just be used as a pawn to advocate for a ship. She’s her own character with her own convictions, thoughts, and actions. What is she not? A character only used to vouch for a ship. Let’s give Marlene the respect and love she deserves please!

Who’s next? Our lovely Denzel, of course. I’ve seen a lot of people say that he looks like Cloud and Aerith’s love child and then justify it by saying Aerith brought him to Cloud at her church.

First of all, Denzel is an orphaned child, who is just as affected as everyone else by the plate falling and the Meteorfall. He is not just a token child for a ship, so please do not simplify him as that, especially if you disregard everything about him in favor of your ship. Perhaps Aerith did lead Denzel toward Cloud, but remember that while Cloud’s away, Tifa is the one who is taking care of him. If we see it as love children, Denzel might as well be Tifa’s and Aerith’s.

Anyway, I digress. Denzel’s story is so much more impactful than to be written off as a love child or like in Marlene’s case, a pawn to justify a ship. He’s put in Advent Children as an example of a character that suffered from the worst of the Meteorfall and is an “outside” example to be more specific. He had no ties to Avalanche, Sephiroth, Shinra, etc. He was just a boy who lost his family from the plate falling, and not only that, he is suffering from geostigma as well. 

Please don’t just write him off as another piece of “evidence” for a ship. He has feelings too, and he started off being raised by a different set of people unlike Marlene, who had been raised by the same people her whole life. 

Let’s not forget that Denzel and Marlene were just as affected by Cloud leaving. While he’s laying in bed, he asks, “Cloud, where are you?” 

So please, for the love of all things holy, don’t classify Tifa as a hopeless, lonely bar owner. Denzel and Marlene needed him too. 

Throughout most of Advent Children, Denzel has his own story arc. There’s flashbacks of him and how he became a part of the Seventh Heaven family, along with his continued arc following the Moogle girl. 

I find it unfair that Denzel is only used as justification for ships because he has a really heartbreaking storyline. In Advent Children, he appears in bed suffering with geostigma. While he’s laying in bed, he’s wondering where Cloud is. Then, as he’s looking at a picture of him, Cloud, and Marlene, along with a picture of him with his parents, he says:

“Guess I was the last straw.”

Could you imagine being ten years old (I’m not entirely sure if this is 100% confirmed but he is a young age) and saying this? Within his years of living, his parents, Ruby, and Gaskin died. Now Cloud, someone he really looks up to, left him as well. 

A significant amount of his life was spent alone, hopping from home to home to the streets until he was able to find a place where he was loved.

From “On the Way to a Smile: Case of Denzel”: 

Alone again, like he had been so many times before, Denzel took a stick he had sharpened at one end looking for rats. He planned on catching and eating one. Dad, he thought. The people in the Slums don’t eat rats after all. But I will. Because I’ve got no money or a job, and this place is lower than the Slums. I’m a Sector Seven kid from the upper world. I can’t grow up in a place like this.

The isolation sapped Denzel’s will to live. It was the same situation as when Sector 7 was destroyed, but this time, his parents, Arkham, Levy [Ruby], Gaskin, the Search Team, hell, all the people he’d ever met who had supported him were gone now. Forever.

He felt that he couldn’t smile anymore. What did his mother say? “There’s no point in living if you don’t smile.” That’s right, mom, he thought. A filthy rat covered in horrible germs should save me. 

I think this passage alone speaks more volumes than I can. I should put a disclaimer that this was his thought process right before he ended up at the church. A little bonus of him telling Reeve and Johnny, “Hey, I USED to think like that back then, but I was wrong. That’s why I’m here now. Because I met the best person you ever could.” 

That’s just an insight into Denzel’s backstory, and even though he’s in a better living situation right now, it always breaks my heart thinking of what he had gone through to get where he is now. I don’t know if I should spoil too much of Case of Denzel, but I just want to say that he has such an amazing growth that’s show not only in Advent Children but in Case of Denzel as well. 

“I’m alive thanks to a lot of people. My parents, Mrs. Levy, Mr. Gaskin, everyone from the Search Team. People who are still around today, people who aren’t. Tifa, Cloud, Marlene, and...”

Reeve nodded.

“I want to be a person like that for someone. Next time, it’s my turn to protect people.”

Flash forward to Denzel talking with Johnny:

“It’s not that I want to be admired or anything,” Denzel answered. There were so many people who had supported him. Men and women, adults and children. All of them inspirations in their own way. “I guess I want to...repay my debt to all of them.”

I know, I know, most of my evidence for Denzel is taken from On the Way to a Smile, but I think that most of Advent Children’s story arc for him is more prominent and out in the open, so long as you decide to or have already watched it. That’s why I’m bringing more attention to Case of Denzel because it has a lot more insight into Denzel’s character and why he looks up to Cloud, along with his own motivations, not brought upon by anyone other than his experiences. 

There’s so much more that I could use for Denzel because he’s such a complex and amazing character. It’s why I find it aggravating that he’s only brought up for the sake of a ship war rather than to commend him as a person. So, as I said for Marlene, he deserves more recognition than to be a poster child for a ship. He didn’t lose so many people and decide to become a protector just because he was a “love child.” Please give him the love and appreciation he deserves as well. The creators of FF7 did not write him in to be the trophy of a winning ship. 

Anyway, if you read this far, thank you so much! I could go on and on about how Marlene and Denzel deserve to be praised to the heavens for how amazing they are. I hate seeing them only be used as justification for ships and then tossed to the side when they’re not being referenced anymore.

I know they’re just characters in a video game franchise, but they’re children. They’re people just as much as Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barrett, and everyone else. Put some respect to their names please! 

Feel free to come into my ask box or replies and talk to me. 

This is by no means meant to bash any ship. I know it may seem that way at some points of my rambling, but I promise that I’m trying to keep the peace and keep it as ambiguous as possible.