Either way he's still a dickhead.

[raisedbymoogles]

So apparently a new Ultimania for FF7R is out, and it reveals that Rufus Shinra... is 30?

I'm sorry what?

I'm really not sure if I can explain why I'm so thrown by this, but I'm thrown. I had him pegged as 25 but even that felt like it was too old. Guy's basically kicked out of the house but still apparently under his father's control via a meaningless title, he's up to so little that nobody on the ground knows anything about him, and he doesn't even show up until the Prez dies like his dad had that much control over him - like, a rich kid at 22 being under his dad's thumb to that extent is one thing, but by 30? Come on, man, buy a startup at least. Establish yourself as an independent human with interests other than living off the family fortune.*

Also he's a giant edgelord who's far too impressed with himself, that sits much easier on a young 20something than a 30-year-old man.

This really makes me less impressed with Tseng as well, not gonna lie. Apparently they're the same age, which, wild, I honestly thought the man was pushing 40 and had a kind of uncle-y relationship to Rufus, and also I've gathered from fanon osmosis that the Turks basically raised Rufus to be their candidate for President, with the Turks enjoying the perks (hah) of being the power behind the throne? I mean I guess it's more likely that Baby Rufus was Veld's project and Tseng is just continuing that, but I mean Tseng is supposed to be the scary competent guy to Avalanche's not knowing what's going on most of the time, and it's just disappointing that Tseng's master plan involves this absolute manchild ruling the world.

Don't mind me, I just gotta rearrange some mental architecture, omg. XP Why am I flailing over this so much? I don't even write Rufus all that much!

*(I'm trying very hard to not sound like I'm slagging off cultures where young adults aren't in such a hurry to move out, here. I'm not sure I'm succeeding. >_> If it helps I basically lived off my parents' fortune until I moved to a different country at 29, but I don't have delusions of running an energy monopoly.)

Comments

[ilyena_sylph]

...that's nuts, nope, i reject that canon entirely.

[megpie71]

Actually, I can see how it would work. It puts Rufus as having been born around the same time the Jenova experiments started out (which gives a good reason for Old Man Shinra to have been distracted away from his kid, even if wealthy-bastard brand sociopathy wasn't one already), and also gives him a good reason to resent the SOLDIER experiments as well. The other factor that needs to be mixed into the whole thing is Old Man Shinra's rather strong case of Dictator Decay - he has a son who can take over the business, which means he has not only a successor, but also a threat in the family. So I suspect a lot of Rufus' lack of maturity is because he's not been allowed to grow up (in much the same way the various SOLDIER experiment Generals weren't allowed to grow up either - or at least, not to attain full psychological maturity) because part of reaching full psychological maturity is recognising yourself as truly separate from the people who raised you. And therefore, not bound to their goals.

Rufus would have been getting a lot of that pressure from his father, but also a subtle form of it from the Turks. Plus, of course, he has more money than God (being a Shinra) and therefore has no need to really grow up either - the Peter Pan effect of lots of money is noticeable in the current crop of US financier-billionaires like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, where the things they're "investing" in are basically 1:1 scale kids toys.

Also Tseng being much the same age does strike me as believable - he's an active service agent, which means he's very much at the peak of his physical and mental prowess, which automatically means he can't be much older than about thirty-three, maybe thirty-five at most. Tseng putting Rufus in charge of everything is very much a function of "people in crisis situations tend to revert to the patterns of thinking they associate with stability", and if you've grown up in a country with a hereditary monarchy (like Wutai) then you're going to be looking at the next in line to the throne and trying to groom them into what you want, because that's really your only option. I would suspect Tseng is hoping the muting effect of the Shinra corporate bureaucracy will work its magic on turning "giant edgelord who's far too impressed with himself" into something bland and acceptable to the public by the time the orders filter themselves out from head office into the wider world. (I mean, it turns Old Man Shinra from "standard issue corporate-bastard sociopath" into "father of his country" in the publicity, so it could presumably work similar magic on Rufus).

Finally, let's not forget that the world of Final Fantasy 7 is definitely a dystopian one. So having the absolute ruler of a large chunk of the world being an absolute manchild who hasn't grown up fits in perfectly there.

[krait]

Nope. Nope nope nope.

Rufus is obviously 23 and lying about his age to make himself seem more authoritative and permanent in his company position.