There are many great locations scattered throughout the world of Final Fantasy VII, but the Temple of the Ancients is perhaps the most intriguing. As well as holding the secret of the black materia, this primeval structure also houses many other interesting oddities; from the spirits of the Ancients who still reside there to the cryptic artwork that decorates its interior walls.
Given the excellent job that Tetsuya Nomura and his team did fleshing out the city of Midgar in the first part of Final Fantasy VII Remake, many fans are excited to see how the temple will look when it eventually shows up in a future part. With so much of its content cut in the original release, the temple has the potential to become a veritable treasure trove of lore-related revelations
10 It Incorporates Elements From Several Different Ancient Civilizations
Given the origins and age of the temple, it’s perhaps a little unsurprising to learn that it’s inspired by ancient civilizations. What is a little strange, however, is that it seems to draw its inspiration from several of them. What’s more, it also offers a little insight into the history of Gaia itself.
The temple’s exterior bears a striking resemblance to the Mayan pyramid of Kukulkan while some of the characters that decorate its walls are very reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some of this artwork also depicts the summoning of Meteor, which, together with the dinosaur murals, seems to suggest that the black materia was responsible for the mass extinction.
9 The Labyrinth Was Inspired By A Dutch Graphic Artist
Despite its ancient origins, the temple’s design also draws some of its inspiration from modern sources. This is particularly noticeable in the Labyrinth area, which is incredibly similar to a famous lithograph print by a Dutch artist named Maurits Escher.
Relativity depicts a world containing three distinct sources of gravity with intertwining stairways distorting the viewer’s perception of reality. It’s by far Escher’s most famous work and has been referenced in pop-culture on numerous occasions, with God of War 3 and Lemmings just two of the many games to have drawn inspiration from its distinctive imagery.
8 It Appears In Several Other Games
Although the temple is transfigured into the black materia during the events of Final Fantasy VII, that hasn’t stopped Square Enix from using the location in subsequent games. It shows up in a number of the developer’s mobile titles, although none of these appearances do much to expand the temple’s lore.
The most notable of these games is perhaps Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, in which the temple featured as part of a limited time event dungeon. It’s also worked into the story of Final Fantasy Record Keeper and served as a location in the short-lived social RPG, Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade.
7 Most Of The Game’s ‘Joke Weapons’ Are Housed There
Joke equipment has been a staple of the series since its fifth entry, with games often including weapons and armor that are either useless or flat out ridiculous. Final Fantasy VII is of course no exception and many of these weapons can be found in the Temple of the Ancients.
The Nail Bat, Rocket Punch, Work Glove, Trumpet Shell and Silver Rifle are all scattered throughout the temple and there may well have been another one at some point during development. In the final release, Cid’s Mop can be dug up in Bone Village, but unused text in the game’s code suggests that the developers may have originally planned for it to appear in the temple instead.
6 Aerith’s Equipment Will Be Lost Forever After Leaving The Temple
There are several points throughout Final Fantasy VII where characters temporarily leave the party, but only one where their departure turns out to be permanent. This comes shortly after obtaining the black materia when Aerith decides to part ways with Cloud and co in order to track down Holy.
When a party member leaves, all of their materia will be unequipped and made available for use by others. Equipment, however, will typically remain with the character until they return. This wouldn’t usually be an issue, but due to Aerith’s untimely death, failing to unequip her weapon and armor before she leaves will result in them being lost forever.
5 The Clock Puzzle Was A Lot Harder In The Japanese Release Of The Game
Clock puzzles have appeared in several Final Fantasy games, but none have been quite as memorable as the one found in Final Fantasy VII. It requires players to move the hands of a clock in order to gain access to the 12 doors that surround its face and is a fairly simple one to solve. Not in the Japanese release though.
Rather than being able to move time by exact intervals, players are instead expected to memorize the effects of several different dialogue options. If they make a mistake, they’ll fall into a pit down below and must complete a tricky encounter with two Ancient Dragons before they can retry. After falling three times, a flag is triggered which simplified the processes significantly. In western releases, however, this flag is triggered by default.
4 It’s Possible To Complete The Door Puzzle In A Matter Of Seconds
After exiting the sixth door of the clock room, players will be faced with yet another puzzle involving doorways. This time, however, they’ll need to win a game of hide and seek with one of the temple’s inhabitants by predicting which doorway it will emerge from next. The intended strategy is to memorize the pathways between the doors, but there’s actually no need for this at all.
The route that the Ancient takes is predetermined, meaning that it will always come out of the third door on the middle level first. Even if players forget this, it’s possible to leave and reenter the area to reset the puzzle, allowing them to confirm the door, leave and then head back to the correct door upon their return.
3 The Spirits Of The Ancients Were Originally Going To Be Able To Talk
Final Fantasy VII contains a surprising amount of dummy content across its three discs and while most of this is fairly standard stuff, there are one or two interesting tidbits here and there. One such tidbit relates to the spirits of the Ancients that show up in several places throughout the temple.
In the game, it’s explained that these spirits have forgotten how to talk, but unused dialogue suggests that this wasn’t always the case. The game’s code reveals that the spirit in the Ancient’s General Store area was at some point planned to say “Welcome” and “Please come again!”, although both lines were cut from the final release.
2 It Provides Hints About The Origins Of Summons
Unlike some of the other games in the series, Final Fantasy VII doesn’t do a particularly good job of explaining the origins of Gaia’s many summons. If the game’s unused text is anything to go by though, developers may have been planning to broach this very subject during the Temple of the Ancients section of the game.
After obtaining the Bahamut materia by defeating the Red Dragon, an additional discussion between Sephiroth and the party was at some point planned to take place. In this conversation, Sephiroth would have explained that there once existed “pure creatures of natural shape [that] sealed their life energy within materia, altering their lives forever.”
1 The Bahamut Materia Is Actually Missable
Despite appearing directly in front of players, picking up the Bahamut materia is entirely optional. Failure to do so though will lead to the materia being lost forever. This makes it one of only four missable summons in the game; the others being Ifrit, Ramuh and Neo Bahamut. This isn’t the only missable materia in the temple either.
The Temple of the Ancients is the only place that players can acquire the Morph materia, which is required to get the Underwater materia prior to the fight with Emerald Weapon and is something of a necessity for those hoping to farm Sources. Unlike some of the game’s other missable items, neither Morph nor Bahamut can be dug up in Bone Village.
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