What loveless is about

[Pascal Lindner]

Hahahaha i just figured it out. i dont want to discuss this at all with you guys, but...

Loveless is about death

The gift of the goddess is death


Im so surprised with how good of a story they can tell

 

[Dionysos]

I know you said you didn't want to discuss it, but the topic is too interesting to ignore, personally.


There are some things we need to consider here. We know nothing about the original in-universe composer of Loveless. We don't even really know how long ago it was composed for certain. It is also incomplete as the final act is missing.

So the 'meaning' is a complex thing. The poem can have multiple meanings because it can be interpreted differently by different people, and even individuals might alter their perceptions of the poem over time.

Genesis certainly has his own interpretations (of the gift of the goddess, but also the three central characters, whom Genesis believes to foretell himself, Sephiroth and Angeal), and many would argue (with evidence) for canonically given meanings for the poem. But our own view of the poem is mostly filtered through Genesis' interpretation, and also Genesis' fan club, the Study Group (dedicated to understanding Loveless). According to the Study Group, the gift of the goddess can be interpreted as representing life itself, or immortality, but also its opposite, destruction and death. All are connected, as we know, through the Lifestream (and also Omega, as seen in Dirge of Cerberus).

It is also theorised that the gift might represent the Banora White apples.

We do not have complete access to other detailed theories, so we have no real chances to contemplate them.

One of the recurring motifs of the FFVII franchise is how dangerous it can be to overread into something (a warning for people locked in a room with books trying to write something, to remind them to go out and get fresh air from time to time, perhaps?). Sephiroth goes insane (or becomes morally blind) because he learns of his origins, but this madness at least partially hinges on him misunderstanding the texts that he reads in Nibelheim's mansion's library (for the scholarship is outdated and gives him the wrong impression, plus he has been fed untruths prior to this). Likewise, Genesis has a narrow (rather than a broad) and quite egotistical grasp of Loveless and seems determined to twist its words to fit his own life story to justify his actions. He found salvation and comfort for his ailing body in his long-lasting love for the poem, but I can't help but think that he could have been a better man if he had gone about acting it out in the real world in a different way...

In any case, it is argued that Genesis did receive the gift of the goddess after all, being judged by Minerva to be worth a redemption arc and resurrected to save the world at some unspecified (and thus far unseen) post-Dirge of Cerberus date... So while the 'meaning' of the poem might be unknowable to us, Genesis might feel some validation for his earlier theories that led him to that moment, whilst at the same time eating humble pie.