Red XIII was born in Cosmo Canyon to an unnamed mother and his father Seto. That year, Seto ran off, and Red XIII assumed he had fled in the face of an impending invasion by the Gi tribe. In reality, Seto sacrificed himself to stop an attack from the Gi through the tunnels under Cosmo Canyon. When his mother died, Red XIII was cared for by the elder of Cosmo Canyon, Bugenhagen, whom he came to affectionately call "Grandfather."

Planet ritual and capture [ edit | edit source ]

During the events of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- on October 10, 0006, Red XIII partakes in a ritual to appease the planet held every 50 years, but is reluctant as he does not consider himself a warrior. Another member of his tribe, Deneh, is to be his companion for the ritual, and she accuses him of being a coward. When the Turks arrive to capture one of them as a specimen for Professor Hojo, Red XIII attacks them to save Deneh and prove himself a guardian of the canyon. He is defeated, but the Turks allow him to finish the ritual to appease the planet before taking him to Midgar.

Original continuity [ edit | edit source ]

Joining Cloud [ edit | edit source ]

Red XIII joins Cloud's group sometime in December 0007 during Final Fantasy VII after being rescued from the Shinra Building. In the original game Cloud's party encounters him during an experiment involving Red XIII and Aerith, in which Hojo is trying to interbreed them to "preserve" their species (Aerith being a Cetra), and provide him with new specimens.

At some point during Red XIII's captivity, Hojo placed a tattoo of the Roman numeral XIII on his left front leg. His right eye was also damaged sometime between his capture and initial discovery by Cloud, Barret, and Tifa, leaving him with a prominent scar and monocular vision. Red XIII later speculates the tattoo means Hojo has injected him with Jenova cells to create another Sephiroth-clone. In actuality, the tattoo is from an unrelated experiment, as Red XIII was captured by Hojo more than three years after the other Sephiroth-clones were created; this is also confirmed in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega.

Hojo places Aerith and Red XIII in the same containment tank and Cloud's party rushes the lab. Red XIII feigns aggression against Aerith, prompting Barret, one of Cloud's companions, to shoot at the tank, which malfunctions as a result. Hojo opens it and Red XIII lunges at him while the others rush to save Aerith. Red XIII introduces himself and surprises everyone with his ability to talk despite his feral appearance. Red XIII remarks the name is a designation given to him by Hojo, so they can call him what they wish. He helps the party battle another of Hojo's experiments and after being captured by the Turks, Red XIII is not returned to Hojo's lab, but incarcerated in a prison cell within the building alongside Barret, from which they soon escape.

After escaping Midgar, Red XIII intends to stay with the party until they reach Cosmo Canyon. In Kalm, Red XIII listens to Cloud's account on the Nibelheim Incident with interest, and in Junon the party has to cross the ocean on the cargo ship where Red XIII disguises as a human as not to arouse suspicion. The ship stops at Costa Del Sol where Red XIII complains the heat makes his nose dry. He lies down in the shade, observing kids playing football on the streets before the party moves on.

Return to Cosmo Canyon [ edit | edit source ]

Until returning to Cosmo Canyon, Red XIII does not discuss his past. After arriving there and meeting with Bugenhagen, it is revealed Red XIII's true name is Nanaki, and despite being 48 years old he is still not considered an adult by his species' standards. After Bugenhagen hears Red XIII's remarks towards his father, whom he believes a coward, Bugenhagen invites him and the party to enter a sealed cavern within Cosmo Canyon.

As the party travels through the cavern, Bugenhagen explains it is haunted by the Gi tribe ghosts, a faction of tribal warriors who laid siege to Cosmo Canyon, and that their anger prevents their souls from assimilating into the lifestream. At the cavern's end a back entrance to Cosmo Canyon is made accessible where Bugenhagen explains the Gi tribe outnumbered the Cosmo Canyon forces.

On a ledge overlooking the cave's entrance, Red XIII discovers the petrified body of his father Seto, who alone stood his ground and fought the Gi, but the Gi tribe's poisoned arrows took their toll and turned Seto to stone. Absolved of his shame for his father, Red XIII vows to become a great warrior like him, and howls at the moon while Seto's petrified remains shed tears. Bugenhagen asks Red XIII to protect the planet and senses the best way of doing it is to remain with Cloud and the rest of Avalanche, who are on a quest to stop Sephiroth and Shinra Electric Power Company from finding and exploiting the fabled promised land. As the others are about to leave the village, Red XIII runs after them and claims he wants to protect the planet, too.

Pursuit of Sephiroth [ edit | edit source ]

After finding out Sephiroth is seeking the Black Materia in the Temple of the Ancients, the party visits the Gold Saucer to acquire the Keystone to open the temple's doors and stay for the night. After Cloud explains Sephiroth's objective Red XIII grows concerned over the tattoo he has, wondering if he is also a Sephiroth Clone, but Aerith encourages him to carry on.

After Sephiroth has acquired the Black Materia and set out to North Crater, Aerith absconds to pray for Holy in the Forgotten City, but is killed by Sephiroth just as the party catches up with her. Red XIII howls at her passing as Cloud rests her body to the lake. The party keeps at Sephiroth's trail and defeats the final part of Jenova's body, Jenova∙DEATH, at the Whirlwind Maze, and retrieves the Black Materia. Cloud has the option of giving the materia to Red XIII to hold on to, as he has been taken control of by Sephiroth in the past and does not trust himself. Red XIII promises to keep the Materia safe and not to hand it over to anyone.

As Cloud goes on ahead Red XIII and some others of their party stay behind to guard the materia. The place gets windy and Red XIII cannot see his whereabouts. He calls out to the others but no one responds. As the scene settles he finds himself alone. Tifa, Cloud's friend who has been traveling with them since the start, runs up to him and urges him to go help Cloud who's in trouble. Red XIII is confused, but follows Tifa's orders, without realizing Tifa is an illusion conjured by Sephiroth to trick Red XIII to delivering the Black Materia to Cloud.

Red XIII rushes to Cloud who, among with the Shinra executives, has found Sephiroth's true body inside a materia crystal. Cloud asks Red XIII to hand over the Black Materia and Red XIII complies, but Sephiroth's lies have made Cloud doubt he is real and his psyche has been broken. Cloud hands the materia to Sephiroth who uses it to summon the Meteor awakening the Weapons sleeping in the crater, and everyone but Cloud escapes the scene. Red XIII later joins the party on the stolen Shinra airship, the Highwind, as they set out to look for the missing Cloud.

After Cloud has been saved and has rejoined the party, Bugenhagen joins them to visit the Forgotten City and unveils the nature of Holy, which Aerith had summoned to combat Sephiroth's Meteor, but in the planet's core Sephiroth is blocking it. Returning to Cosmo Canyon after the Diamond Weapon has been defeated, Bugenhagen falls ill. Red XIII runs to him, and the others stay back to leave them alone. Bugenhagen tells Nanaki there is so much more to life than what is within Cosmo Canyon, and he should survey the world and all its unique facets to gain the true knowledge he mentioned in their last meeting. Bugenhagen passes away and Nanaki takes up a resolve to protect the Planet.

Red XIII takes part in the attack on the Northern Cave with the rest of the party, defeating Sephiroth in later January 0008. He watches alongside the others as Meteor destroys Midgar and is stopped by the power of the Holy and the lifestream.

In On the Way to a Smile, Red XIII was mentioned in "Episode: Barret" when Cid said he often got visits from him.

Red XIII is the center character in "Episode: Nanaki". Upon returning home, Red XIII (now called by his real name Nanaki by everyone) vows to follow Bugenhagen's wishes by traveling the planet to observe all life he can and teach others what he learns. After he leaves, however, a void begins to grow in his heart—he dubs this void "Gilligan" for the sake of helping to remember it. During his travels, Nanaki struggles with being a beast and acting like a human, as well as his longevity, which means he will experience a great deal of loss.

Vincent tells him "Gilligan" is his fear of loss and the loneliness that will come with living a long life. Vincent encourages Nanaki, saying that one day he may have children of his own to keep him from being lonely. Vincent reveals he is immortal himself, meaning he will be living longer than even Nanaki. The two agree to reconvene in Midgar every year for the remainder of Nanaki's life where he will tell Vincent the stories of his travels.

Nanaki appears in the latter part of "Episode: Yuffie", assisting Yuffie in rescuing Yuri from a cave after it overflows with lifestream tainted with Geostigma. He mentions during this time he acquired a cellphone while visiting Midgar to keep in touch with the other party members, though he struggles using it. Nanaki later leaves Wutai, but returns on the Shera to help Yuffie continue to search for a cure for Geostigma.

Geostigma crisis and Deepground conflict [ edit | edit source ]

During the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, when Edge is under attack by Bahamut SIN in 0009, Nanaki hastens there with Cait Sith on his back, and uses his claws and teeth to battle the dragon. He appears later aboard the Shera and once more in Aerith's church. He is only given two lines in the entire film; first is when he asks if Kadaj becomes Sephiroth, and second is when he comments on how some children still have Geostigma, and is revealed to have a slight accent.



In Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, although there is a scene where the whole cast is gathered in Midgar, Nanaki is not present. He is, however, present during the ending, lying next to Shelke as he rests outside of 7th Heaven.



500 years later [ edit | edit source ]

500 years after Meteorfall, Nanaki arrives to a precipice overlooking the overgrown Midgar ruins with two young cubs, implying he has mated with Deneh or another female of his species. The three dash through a canyon and climb up to the crest of a cliff and look down at the remains of Midgar, now covered in moss and trees while a flock of birds flies by. After the scene fades, the sound of distant children's laughter is heard.



Remake continuity [ edit | edit source ]

If it's to be a hunt, you could use a nose like mine. Red XIII in the game's ending sequence

Cloud, Tifa and Barret come to the Shinra Building to free their friend Aerith. This time, Hojo plans to breed Aerith with a SOLDIER candidate, and it is not outright said that he would be considering Red XIII. When Barret breaks Aerith's containment tank, Red XIII's tank also opens, and he rushes to hunt after Hojo and comes across Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Aerith in Hojo's lab. Barret takes him for a monster, but Aerith says that Red XIII is a friend and places her hand over his head. A healing light emanates and Red XIII loses any aggression he had previously felt.

Cloud passes out after having a reaction to Jenova, and they retreat to Aerith's old room in the lab to recuperate. They get message that the eco-terrorist group Avalanche is going to rescue them, and head to the roof of the Shinra Building, but end up falling deep into Hojo's lab instead and must find their way out. Red XIII helps the others by leaping across the walls to cross over gaps to pull levels to open the path back up. When they finally catch up with Hojo again, Red XIII lunges at him but is frozen in place by a robot while Hojo runs off.

Red XIII explains to the others that the Whispers are beings sent by the planet itself to constrict the flow of destiny, but even if they end up defying destiny itself, Red XIII helps the party in their fight against them and the re-surfaced Sephiroth and wants to join the others in following him afterward. During their battle against the Whispers, they witness a vision of an older Red XIII by the ruins of Midgar.