Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Shinra’s history explained

Let’s be honest, nowadays it’s not much of a surprise to see an electric utilities company destroying the planet, and it wasn’t too different back in the 1990s either. Shinra Electric Power Company, known simply as Shinra, is definitely the epitome of an ‘evil corporation.’

The overlord enemy to battle in Final Fantasy VII and the remake project, Shinra is a power company that mines the mako from the planet converting it into electricity. As the company grew, it began to divert its power into space exploration, but more importantly, creating super soldiers and creating an army of its own.

Before his death, President Shinra urged the company into more genetic experimentation and pushing out into the world, installing more mako power plants. It reflects the real world in its pillaging of the planet’s resources and creating pollution and misery across much of society, and our heroes have each been negatively affected by Shinra.

This impact of Shinra’s actions was felt most in the nation of Wutai, home to Yuffie; the nation said no to Shinra’s building of mako reactors and the corporation declared war on Wutai. A nine-year war then ensued while Shinra built Midgar and began to oppress the public through the Shinra News company’s propaganda. This, of course, led to the creation of Avalanche, the eco-terrorist group we find in Final Fantasy VII, led by Barret.

This is where we meet Shinra as an evil corporation and begin to witness its downfall through the hands of Cloud and the group of plucky heroes. President Shinra dies, leaving the company to his son Rufus who attempts to follow his father’s plans and discover the ‘promised land’ as dictated by the race of Ancients, otherwise known as the Cetra. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the Shinra company follows much the same path as their fate isn’t changed in the remake project, so you can look at the rise and fall of Shinra in the original game to gauge where we’ll end up in this trilogy.