Confusion was likely the last thing on the minds of longtime Final Fantasy fans when Red 13 showed up in the latest Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer, but the talking dog-like creature may have left newer fans perplexed. Although his appearance may seem outlandish to those unfamiliar with the original game, Red 13 is one of Final Fantasy 7's most intriguing party members. For those wondering, here's a spoiler-free explanation of this tattooed Scooby Doo.
Red 13's Remake debut came in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake theme song trailer. Although all of the remake's characters have received majorly upgraded visuals, Red 13's is perhaps the least dramatic. Red 13's original PlayStation model - especially in the full-motion video cutscenes - was able to convey more detail than the human characters, with a larger face and uniformly textured body that translated well to simplistic polygons. These features clearly mark him as non-human, but what Red 13 is, on the other hand, is less clear.
Red 13 (stylized in-game as "Red XIII") was the Final Fantasy series' first four-legged party member. Rather than creating a character out of a familiar, real-life animal, Square Enix went with a more vague creature, meaning Red 13 is not a dog at all. He may resemble a cross between a wolf and a lion, but Red 13's species is one unique to Final Fantasy 7's world, Gaia. This species is never officially named, but Final Fantasy 7 details reveal a few major distinctions of its biology: Individuals of Red 13's species possess human-like intelligence, live much longer than humans, have a Charmander-like flame at the end of their tails, and wear jewelry and body paint seemingly inspired by that worn by some indigenous American cultures.
The "XIII" on Red 13's shoulder is not body paint, however, instead a mark forced on him during an experiment conducted by Professor Hojo, one of Final Fantasy 7's villains. The nature of this experiment is a mystery to Red 13 and the rest of the party, though Red 13 speculates it has something to do with Final Fantasy 7 antagonist Sephiroth. While he initially doesn't reveal much about himself [minor spoilers ahead], players eventually learn that Red 13's real name is Nanaki. He is 48 years old, which makes him only a teenager by his species' standards [end of spoilers].
In the original Final Fantasy 7, Red 13 was among the party members with the least character development. Cut Final Fantasy 7 content included a sub-plot where Hojo created several clones of Red 13, which may have given him a bit more story focus. Everything known about Final Fantasy 7 Remake - namely, the fact that it will be a full-length game despite taking place only in the original game's first area - suggests Square Enix will be fleshing out the original story with more dialogue and new content. Perhaps that means Red 13 will get a larger share of the spotlight.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is set to release for PS4 on April 10, 2020.