Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
The characters in Final Fantasy 7 Remake are possibly its strongest asset, as almost every member of the main cast has an endearing personality or backstory. Besides his love for the planet, Barret's love for his daughter, Marlene, is what makes him so likable, but Final Fantasy 7 Remake never explains how the two became a family.
Just as in the original Final Fantasy 7, Barret is the leader of Avalanche, an eco-terrorist group seeking to save the planet from exploitation by evil corporation Shinra. Because of Final Fantasy 7 Remake's story changes, however, Barret is now the head of only the small, Sector 7-based Avalanche cell, consisting of Barret, Tifa, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge. Barret's group was once part of a larger Avalanche organization new to the remake, but it splintered off after it was accused of being too radical.
Between Avalanche's bombing missions, Barret and crew spend time at Tifa's Seventh Heaven bar. The bar is also home to Barret's daughter, Marlene, who players first see sitting on the bar's steps with Tifa. Because she bears a passing resemblance to Tifa and because Cloud hasn't seen Tifa in years, players might feel some initial confusion about whether Tifa is Marlene's mom. Here's the truth about Marlene's parentage.
Who Are Marlene's Real Parents In FF7 Remake?
Marlene shares Barret's surname, Wallace, and is still his "real" daughter, but she is not his biological child. Barret adopted Marlene after Shinra destroyed their hometown and presumably her parents, Dyne and Eleanor. Later into the original Final Fantasy 7's story, Barret ends up meeting Dyne, who survived their town's destruction and now runs Corel Prison.
The party must get Dyne's permission to leave the prison, but Dyne is in such a state of grief about his family and the world that he refuses to listen and says (via Fandom's Final Fantasy Wiki) he wants to destroy everything. While Barret attempts to help Dyne by letting him know Marlene survived, it only makes things worse, as Dyne implies he wants to kill Marlene in order to reunite her with Eleanor. This prompts a fight between him and Barret, which Barret wins, and Dyne decides - because of many horrible things he's done over the years - he has no right to hold Marlene ever again. He then allows the group to leave the prison and takes his own life by falling off a cliff.
Because this all happened in the past, it's unlikely Final Fantasy 7 Remake's new ending allows for any of this to change. But just like it made Avalanche a larger organization, there's still room for Square Enix to retcon Marlene's origins and change things from the original. Maybe Tifa could even be her true mother in Remake - it will be a mystery until at least Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake released for PS4 on April 10, 2020.