Summary
One of the most aloof and beloved characters from theFinal Fantasy 7universe is the enigmatic, vampire-esque, and stoic loner Vincent Valentine. With the release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, players get a closer look at Vincent, though you still can’t control him in the game.
Thanks to the somewhat confusing timeline of the expanded lore of the massive franchise, exactly how Vincent becomes locked in the basement of the Shinra Manor in Nibelheim can be a little difficult to follow. We took a dive into the horribly tragic life of Vincent Valentine’s backstory and how he came to be the gunslinger he is in the game.
What Is Vincent Valentine’s Backstory?
The Man Before The Monster
Born on July 13, 2025, in the Final Fantasy 7 timeline to the scientist Dr. Grimoire Valentine and his unnamed wife. Not much is known about Vincent’s early life, including where he was born and when he became a member of the Turks. What we do know, is that Vincent Valentine was an active member of the Turks somewhere between twenty-five to thirty years before the events of the original Final Fantasy 7 game, back when the agency was known as the Department of Administrative Research.
Shortly after he was assigned to the Jenova project in Nibelheim, Vincent fell in love with a scientist working on the project, Lucrecia Crescent. Lucrecia had previously worked with Vincent’s father on discovering and researching the entities known as Chaos and Omega. When an experiment went wrong and exploded, Dr. Grimoire saved Lucrecia’s life by shielding her from the blast with his body.
Lucretia carried an immense amount of guilt from this act, which caused her to become distant from Vincent when she learned he was the doctor’s son. From what little information we have on Dr. Grimoire, he had a similar demeanor as his son, dark and brooding, but with a caring heart. After leaving Vincent, Lucrecia would develop a relationship with her associate, Professor Hojo. They became pregnant together, but Hojo connived to use the child as atest subject for the Jenova Project. This decision becomes one of the most important moments in the games, which will become clearer soon.
What Happened To Vincent Valentine?
When Vincent learned that Hojo was experimenting with humans, and that Lucrecia was planning on subjecting herself to the study as well, he objected. But with a drive to advance scientific developments, Lucrecia went ahead with the procedure, experiencing plenty of side effects as a result. Furious with the experiments, Vincent confronted Hojo in his underground laboratory at the Shinra Manor in Nibelheim, but Hojo was ready for him.
After a heated argument, Hojo shot Vincent in the chest, taking his body as a test subject for experiments to enhance the human body and to allow it to take on various forms. The experiments ended in a failure, leaving Vincent in a catatonic state, though still alive.
In a desperate attempt to save his life, Lucrecia took mako infused with energies from the same Chaos that Vincent’s father was experimenting with and injected it into his body. The gambit paid off, with Vincent’s body able to contain Chaos thanks to the horrible experiments Hojo subjected him to.
Chaos held immense power, but could be kept in check thanks to the Protomateria, a mysterious materia that was theorized by Lucrecia to be created by the planet to stop Chaos. With no other way to control Chaos, Lucrecia also placed the Protomateria in Vincent’s chest, giving him a way to subdue the entity that now was contained inside him.
Vincent’s Downfall
When Vincent awoke on the operating table, he awoke confused and enraged, though there was nothing he could do about what had happened to his life. He held himself responsible for Lucrecia’s sickness, here’s where her pregnancy comes in again, that was a result of Hojo’s experiments to create thechild that would grow up to be Sephiroth.
Vincent sought to atone for his self-perceived sins, locking him up in a coffin in the Shinra Mansion’s basement, where he would sleep for more than twenty years. His sleep was plagued by nightmares of his failures, and the ramifications of his actions, and his inability to stop anything that occurred.
During the events of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, Zack Fair encountered Vincent during his self-imposed imprisonment in the coffin while exploring the Shinra Mansion. He opened it only to discover the sleeping Vincent, though he decided to leave him alone and undisturbed, closing the coffin and ensuring it was locked once again.
Vincent would once again have his slumber disturbed in the Before Criss: Final Fantasy 7 game, when the Turks raided the Shinra Mansion for the Support Materia. The Turk Verdot woke Vincent up, having recognized him despite the passage of time and the many physiological changes that Vincent has been through.
Together, they would fight against the terrorist group Avalanche and helping them find the materia they needed. Once done, Vincent declined to join the Turks once again, returning to his sleep until the next time he would be woken up by Cloud and the group.
