The Final Fantasy series, developed in Japan, is known for telling great stories within fantasy driven RPG. Each game takes players on a journey of heroics, love, laughter, and more importantly, adventure.

The series began 22 years ago in 1987 and gained millions of fans over the years. Just like anything with a huge fan following, each and every entry is scrutinized and analyzed to its very core. Each game is filled with huge amounts of lore for players to discover.

However, there are times the lore doesn’t quite go far enough or the finer details get lost in translation. This often leads fans into coming up with their own ideas and theories to explain what can be holes in the plot or unresolved elements of the story.

Nearly every Final Fantasy fan worth his or her salt has found themselves in a debate about Sephiroth’s motivations or the true identity of Rinoa. Thankfully, most of the biggest debates have been put to rest by the Final Fantasy Ultimania guides, interviews with the developers, and other official sources.

Here we take a look at some of the most famous and infamous fan theories ever constructed and find which ones are confirmed as fact or completely debunked.

25 Confirmed: Terra Was Supposed To Disappear With The Espers

Even though Final Fantasy VI is considered an ensemble piece with no official lead character Terra is commonly associated as being such. This is especially true when considered that she is the game’s representative in the Dissidia: Final Fantasy fighting series.

It was long assumed that Terra was meant to disappear with the Espers for added emotional impact to the game’s ending. This was officially confirmed in the Final Fantasy VI Ultimania and in an unearthed developer interview for Hippon Super magazine.

24 Rejected: Sephiroth Was Jenova’s Puppet

A debate that still rages on with fans of Final Fantasy VII nearly 22 years later is that Sephiroth was never the true villain of the story. Rather, it was the Jenova cells in his body that somehow had a psychological influence, meaning Sephiroth was nothing more than a puppet.

However, it was confirmed by the developers in the Final Fantasy VII: Ultimania guide that Sephiroth was indeed the one that was in control and he only inherited Jenova’s power and need for destruction.

Sephiroth’s will, in fact, overpowered Jenova’s and had the ability to influence and control those infected with the Jenova Cells.

23 Confirmed: Final Fantasy X Connection To Final Fantasy VII

In Final Fantasy VII, the Shin-Ra was an antagonistic corporation that gained government control through its technology controlling the world’s source of energy – Mako -- and its development of military grade weapons.

Those who played Final Fantasy X-2 will remember encountering a young boy-genius called Shinra who talks about extracting the world’s life force to be used as energy. Many fans initially shrugged this off as nothing more than a bit of fan-service.

However, Final Fantasy scenario-writer Kazushige Nojima confirmed that Shinra and his descendants traveled to other planets utilizing Mako extraction and establishing the Shin-Ra company one thousand years later on Gaia.

22 Rejected: Vincent Was Sephiroth’s Real Father

Another fan theory that has raged on through the years is that Vincent is Sephiroth’s real biological father. Some fans believed that Sephiroth’s birth mother Lucretia was injected with Jenova Cells by Hojo whilst pregnant with Vincent’s child.

This would have gone some way in explaining the resemblance between Vincent and Sephiroth.

Unfortunately, as interesting as the theory is the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania confirmed that Hojo was, in fact, Sephiroth’s biological father. In addition, despite being in love with Lucretia, Vincent backed off because he respected her will to be married to Hojo – a decision that would have major implications for everyone.

21 Confirmed: Gilgamesh Is An Interdimensional Traveller

Gilgamesh is a recurring character and as a mini-boss in the Final Fantasy universe. He has often been portrayed as an antagonist and sometimes anti-heroic figure in the series. Gilgamesh’s importance to the series is often shrugged off as fan-service and his appearance in the games is in line with the series’ tradition of recurring themes.

However, it was confirmed in Final Fantasy: Dissidia – a game which Square-Enix consider to be canon – that Gilgamesh is an interdimensional warrior that travels the void between worlds, space and time.

20 Rejected: It Was Possible To Resurrect Aerith

One of the key moments in Final Fantasy VII’s story was Aerith perishing by Sephiroth’s hands. Fans couldn’t believe that a character that they loved and invested time into over a large part of the game’s story was gone.

It seemed that fans struggled so hard to accept her loss that it was once a common belief that if you follow a specific set of actions in the game that you could resurrect Aerith. It was debunked and no one knows how this theory gained any traction but it has since become one of gaming’s most infamous myths.

19 Confirmed: It Really Was Ifrit’s Body Buried At The Volcano

It could be argued that at launch, Final Fantasy XV was very light in content and there were significant gaps in the plot that needed to be filled. Fans debated that was a deliberate expression of the story and it was left to the fans to piece together the game’s puzzling story on their own.

One of the things fans noticed was that the unusually shaped mountain at the Rock of Ravatogh looked suspiciously like the body of Ifrit. This was eventually confirmed in the game’s first drop of downloadable content packs and free updates.

18 Rejected: Squall Perished At The End Of Disc 1

A popular, if somewhat ridiculous fan theory for Final Fantasy VIII was that the game’s angsty lead protagonist Squall was eliminated at the end of disc 1 and everything that occurred afterward was just a dream.

Despite only being stabbed in the shoulder, some fans latched on to this idea like it was canon for years.

Thankfully, this idea was shot down in flames when Square-Enix's Yoshiro Kitase confirmed it wasn’t true in an interview with Kotaku, when asked about his previous work.

17 Confirmed: Shiva And Ifrit Were In Love

Another fan theory that gained traction in the early days of Final Fantasy XV’s launch was that Ifrit, one of the game’s main bosses, and Shiva were in love. Even though the two Astrals represent the opposite ends of the magic spectrum representing fire and ice, fans noticed there could have been more to their relationship than was on the surface.

The relationship between the two Astrals was eventually confirmed in an update patch. It revealed that Shiva tried to save Ifrit and release him from Ardyn’s control but was destroyed before doing so. This confirmation also gave more meaning to the final kiss Shiva gave Ifrit after she cast Diamond Dust on him.

16 Rejected: Knights Of The Round Were The Spirits Of The Cetra

Those who played Final Fantasy VII back in 1997 would remember that the summon spells in the game were an epic sight to behold. There was a lot of effort and time in collecting all of the optional Summons too. The most powerful and the most difficult to collect was the Knights of the Round Summon.

It was assumed by many fans that the Knights of the Round, rather than simply being a nod to Arthurian legend, were the original Cetra that defeated Jenova. Unfortunately, producer Yoshiro Kitase confirmed that the fans were “thinking too deeply and reading between the lines too much.”

15 Confirmed: The Connected Universe Of Ivalice

Vagrant Story was another game that was released during Square’s golden era of RPG releases on the PlayStation. The game was developed by Yasumi Matsuno who was responsible for the Tactics Ogre series and was set in the world of Ivalice.

Ivalice is the same setting that featured in Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy: Tactics, and eventually Final Fantasy XII. This led to quite a lot of debate as to whether the games share the same universe. The connection was confirmed by Matsuno himself in several interviews.

14 Rejected: Rinoa Is Really Ultimecia

Another fan theory for Final Fantasy VIII that gained some popularity over the years was that Rinoa – Squall’s love interest – was actually the witch Ultimecia all along. This was mainly because the characters share some likeness due to the game’s art style and magic background.

However, this was another theory that was immediately shut down by the Final Fantasy producer Yoshiro Kitase.

When posed with the question of Rinoa's identity he stated that they are not the same person and that the only thing they share in common is their witch background.

13 Confirmed: The Sapphire Weapon

The seven Weapons or WEAPON are giant creatures from the Final Fantasy VII universe. They resemble the Kaiju from the Godzilla films and were released by the planet because it was under extreme threat from the Meteor.

Even though the giant creature was never given a name due to being destroyed by the Junon cannon the fans came to the conclusion that its name was Sapphire Weapon. This was later confirmed in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania guide.

12 Rejected: The Naga From Fociaugh Hollow Is Prompto’s Mother

Prompto is one of the main characters in Final Fantasy XV. We eventually learn that he that was created in a lab with the intention of becoming a mindless Magitek soldier.

This led fans to wonder if the Naga that took Prompto in the Fociaugh Hollow was actually his birth mother that was corrupted ad became a daemon.

This theory, however, doesn’t stand up because Prompto’s mad scientist father left research logs which implicitly state that there’s no actual breeding involved and that Prompto is a clone made from the scientists own genes to mass produce the Magitek Soldiers.

11 Confirmed: Maria And Firion Actually Fell In Love

Maria was one of the four lead heroes in Final Fantasy II. Along with Princess Hilda, Maria was one of the first playable female secondary characters to have any real character development. As a result of the two female characters, many fans debated who the main protagonist Firion may have fallen in love with.

One of the reasons this was debated amongst fans was because Firion had a weakness for members of the opposite gender and it wasn’t implicitly stated. Those who sided with the Maria and Firion theory had this idea confirmed in the game’s novelization Final Fantasy II Muma no Meikyu.

10 Rejected: Kain Is Ceodore’s Father

Ceodore is the lead character that featured in the Final Fantasy IV sequel Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. He is the son of Cecil and Rosa from the original game. However, fans with a penchant for soap opera-style storytelling latched on to the idea that Cecil’s best friend Kain is the real father due to his suppressed feelings for Rosa.

This theory falls apart for many reasons, the most obvious being that Kain skipped Cecil and Rosa’s wedding to atone for his sins at Mt. Ordeals. More importantly, Ceodore was born three years after the wedding and Kain wasn’t seen again until he rescued Ceodore in The After Years 18 years later.

9 Confirmed: There Is More Than One Timeline in Final Fantasy XV

The alternate timelines theory for Final Fantasy XV was something that fans considered after watching several trailers that don’t represent what’s happening in the game. This could have been down to the fact that the series fifteenth installment was originally Final Fantasy Vs. XIII and the story changed during development.

However, the alternate realities concept was confirmed in a leaked image from GDC 2017 and the Episode Ignis DLC. It was a clever way to add more layers to the game’s story and more content was planned and would have explained the mysteries surrounding the Omen Trailer amongst other things.

Sadly, Square-Enix pulled the plug on any more DLC after the announced Episode Ardyn before (the game’s director) Hajime Tabata’s vision was fully realized and he quit as a result.

8 Confirmed: Ultimecia Bewitched The People

When Final Fantasy VIII was first released fans often wondered why the people of Galbadia were so compliant when Edea gave her acceptance speech at the parade. Most thought that it was out fear or as history has shown that people simply follow the crowd in large groups.

However, the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania guide states that Edea – who was possessed by the evil witch Ultimecia – cast a "fascination spell to drive the assembled populace into a frenzy." Therefore explaining why everyone, including the military forces, were so compliant.

7 Rejected: Aranea Was Really Ardyn in Disguise

A theory amongst some fans of Final Fantasy XV is related to the Episode Prompto DLC. Some suggest that it wasn’t the Dragoon warrior Aranea that accompanied Prompto during the mission but Ardyn in disguise.

Ardyn does have the ability to take on the form of whomever he pleases but that wasn’t the case here for two reasons. The first being that Ardyn is visibly shown watching Prompto and Aranea in conversation from a cliff. Secondly, when Prompto teams up with Aranea again in the game’s main story her Tech command is unlocked because they already teamed up.

6 Confirmed: Diamond Weapon Appeared In Kingsglaive

Now that the final piece of DLC for Final Fantasy XV is just around the corner fans have come to realize that a lot of what is a part of the game’s world are just references and Easter eggs.

Many hoped that the allusions to previous entries connected it to games of the past like the Ivalice Alliance series.

Instead, with Final Fantasy XV, what we got was like a compilation of the series greatest hits. This was confirmed again with the appearance of what many believed was the same Diamond Weapon from Final Fantasy VII. On the plus side, the creature was called the Diamond Weapon but created by the scientist Verstael Besithia and not the creature from Final Fantasy VII.