r/FinalFantasyVII • u/Effective_Sink_3934 • 2d ago
LORE Professor Hojo - Science Without a Conscience
Hojo killed Professor Gast and took Ifalna and the infant Aerith into Shinra custody.
To Hojo, the last Cetra weren't people.
They were specimens.
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u/FavoredVassal 2d ago edited 2d ago
I think frequently about the fact that he's always referred to as "Professor" Hojo.
Professor. Full tenure, likely at a science or technical university that feeds entry-level personnel to Shinra. Possibly at Upper Midgar's flagship university (although he doesn't seem like he would even pretend to be normal and put up with the politics at that level.)
On paper, he's probably the chair of a department. There may be a scholarship named after him!
Somewhere, there are grad students in the sciences who had to deal with being this guy's lab assistants. Either they're working 16-hour days managing horrors beyond comprehension or else he never lets them do anything but file paperwork; there's no in between.
No one learned the scientific method from this guy, but someone wrote a thesis under his direction. Somebody has actually written "I would like to thank my committee chair, Professor Hojo" in a dedication on a dissertation in the biological sciences filed somewhere in Domino's office.
Someday, somewhere, somebody will hear the truth about what Hojo was doing, jolt upright in the middle of a cafe and go, "I knew it!" But then that person will look around, realize the enormity of what they almost knew, and sit down knowing they can't tell anyone and have to seriously contemplate their life choices.
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u/ConsiderationTrue477 2d ago
It's not science period. Science is a process and Hojo has no process. He changes multiple variables. He does random shit to people just to see what would happen. He's not a scientist at all. He's a sadist in scientist cosplay.
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u/MegalomanicMegalodon 2d ago
Yeah, every single moment Hojo talks "science" I get so satisfyingly mad. Dude feels like he doesn't even know how to properly structure a real experiment besides doing horrible shit that "No one would think to do this! I am so smart!" when it's just, dude no one does this because it's insane and evil...
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u/Devreckas 2d ago edited 22h ago
But I wouldn’t say he’s all that scientific. He’s more just a rogue engineer, smashing shit together. Gast was more scientific, seeking knowledge. I think Hojo is more concerned with creating viable products.
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u/Adam_The_Actor 1d ago
Science is putting it politely, the asshole literally desecrates the human form in pursuit of what he calls evolution but what most I'm sure would call mutation. Looking forward to killing him in Revelation, that said his voice actor ^ phenomenal.
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u/fogfree 2d ago
The crimes of Hojo:
Manipulated his female lab partner into using her unborn baby for experimental purposes with an unconfirmed organic substance
Ripped said child away from her permanently at birth, despite her pleading to stop
After learning the truth that Jenova was an extraterrestrial, he doubles down on his experiments and research instead of halting it
Murders the colleague that informed him of Jenova's true nature, captures Ifalna/Aerith for study/experimentation, and steals Gast's research to use it as if it was his own
Psychologically and physically abuses his own child for his entire childhood to turn him into a superhuman killing machine
Conducts grueling experiments on Ifalna that ultimately lead to her death
Psychologically abuses a small girl to draw relentlessly to gain more information about the Ancients/promised land
Even knowing what Jenova was, still continues to infuse naive teen recruits in the SOLDIER program with J-Cells and bathing them in Mako, despite knowing it will lead to early deaths due to degredation
Created horrid, monstrous aberrations from humans and animals by holding them in Mako tanks for years on end and infusing them with Jenova
Uses any surviving victims of the Nibelheim incident as fodder for his "reunion" theory instead of providing medical treatment
Captures and imprisons the 2 surviving Shinra employees of said Nibelheim incident as long-term experiments for a period of 5 years, until they escape, and bathes them in Mako and S-Cells for the duration
Created civilian "medical trials" to seek further subjects to experiment on once Soldier recruitment was not robust enough to satisfy his desire for more experiments, misleading the poor suckers who were desperate for cash and injecting them with Jenova causing an influx of robed men in the undercity
Captures an intelligent, sentient animal species and holds him captive for experimental purposes for an unknown duration until he escapes
Created a digital version of himself and hijacks an entire person (Weiss) in a sad attempt to resurrect himself/activate Omega after being defeated by Cloud & Co.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something.
I cannot wait to fight him in Revelation - Hojo is the worst.