Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Vincent Valentine's history explained

Vincent Valentine is a mysterious character who is found in Final Fantasy VII in a deep sleep inside a coffin. Despite his outward appearance of brooding face, dark hair, and scarlet-coloured clothing, Vincent is not a vampire, he can however morph into various monstrous animals when fighting.

Vincent has a complicated history with Shinra and the Jenova project. While he does appear in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, it’s rather brief and we don’t find out much about his history in the Remake project. For now, we can look back at his original appearance and how he joined Cloud’s party.

Originally a member of the Turks, Vincent was close to Hojo’s lab assistant Lucrecia who ended up falling pregnant with Hojo’s baby. It was this baby that was due to receive Jenova cells, harming both Lucrecia and the baby.

Vincent became a lab subject of Hojo after the scientist shot him following a disagreement about the use of humans, particularly Lucrecia and her baby, in the Jenova trials. Hojo began using Vincent’s half-dead body for experiments but eventually discarded Vincent as a failed experiment. Once Vincent could escape he decided to enter a long sleep in the basement of Shinra mansion in order to atone for his past sins. He lay there undisturbed for over twenty years before being found by Cloud and his party in the events of Final Fantasy VII.

Vincent fights using a handgun and uses his limit break to trigger his animal morphing, where he becomes uncontrollable until the end of the battle or on his death. Our brooding hero is voiced by none other than Matt Mercer in Rebirth, so Critical Role fans will be happy. As with Cid, Vincent isn’t controllable in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, hopefully, we get to utilise his skills in the third part of the trilogy.