Fandoms have a knack for turning a series' silliest, most-hated character into the secret, evil mastermind of the whole show - just look at Darth Jar Jar Binks memes - but Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director enjoys the whacky fan theories revolving around the game's most-bullied dweeb.
History repeated itself when Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth came out earlier in the year and fans relentlessly bullied an absolute nerd called Chadley, who pops up throughout both games to help Cloud and Co, and sometimes whacks an odd virtual reality headset on the party so they can fight and then recruit summons like Shiva or Leviathan.
Rebirth players once again dissed the well-meaning kid across social media for various reasons. Some people thought he was annoying. Some pointed out that he literally programmed himself a girlfriend who is trapped inside of his computer. And some people just think it's funny to bully an imaginary child, which is understandable.
Speaking to Anime News Network about the wildest fan theories, director Naoki Hamaguchi said that he always gets a laugh out of people who hate Chadley so much, they think he's secretly the remake trilogy's main antagonist.
"After the panel yesterday, we were chatting with the voice actors over dinner, and this exact topic came up, funnily enough," Hamaguchi said. "We were talking about Chadley, which is that character who supports Cloud in Rebirth. And we were talking about how, like, some people think that he's actually evil and will turn out to be the last boss in the final title. We were cracking up about that."
