Knights of the Round Materia Is Coming In FF7 Rebirth, Right? (2024)

The Knights of the Round summon is one of the most famous summon monsters in the Final Fantasy series, thanks to its absurdly long cutscene and its overwhelming power, which can bring the mighty Jenova and Sephiroth to their knees. Square Enix has announced that the next entry in the FF7 Remake series is FF7 Rebirth, which is due to launch in winter 2023. FF7 Rebirth has the chance to include the Knights of the Round summon in the FF7 Remake series, but will the developers introduce it now, or save it for the third game in the trilogy?

In order to acquire the Knights of the Round Materia in FF7, the player had to breed a gold chocobo, which would have been infuriating to those who didn't own a strategy guide, as the method for doing so wasn't explained to the player. Luckily for the Final Fantasy fans of the era, the Internet had them covered, and guides for the game were available online. This meant that acquiring the Knights of the Round Materia was more of a chore than a challenge, but it was worth it, as it was the most powerful summon in the game, and it made the secret Emerald Weapon and Ruby Weapon bosses a lot more manageable.

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The ending of FF7 Remake confirmed that the story will be going in a new direction, while the game itself already shuffled the order that the player acquires the summons. This means that the Knights of the Round Materia could appear in FF7 Rebirth, while their role in the story could be expanded, thanks to a popular fan theory about their role in the history of the setting. There's also reason to believe that they will be saved for the unnamed third game in the trilogy.

FF7 Remake Changed The Order Of The Summon Materia

In FF7, the player didn't acquire their first summon Materia until they reached the Chocobo Farm. FF7 Remake only covered the events of the Midgar section of the game and the story ended before they reached the farm. In order to give fans a chance to experience one of the most iconic aspects of FF7 from the beginning, the developers of FF7 Remake introduced the summons a lot earlier, with the player having access to Ifrit, Shiva, Fat Chocobo, Leviathan, and Bahamut throughout the story, while the INTERmission DLC gave Yuffie the Ramuh summon. The people who pre-ordered FF7 also had access to several DLC summons.

The Knights of the Round Materia was likely the last one the player found in FF7, as it required the player to go through the arduous process of breeding a gold chocobo. FF7 Remake has already established that the placement of the summons can be brought forward, so there's no reason why the Knights of the Round can't appear in FF7 Rebirth. It's possible that Chadley shows up near the end of the game and offers Cloud and his friends their most difficult challenge yet in the combat simulator, where they face all of the knights in battle.

How The Knights Could Work In The FF7 Remake Series

The reason why the Knights of the Round summon was so famous in FF7 was due to its length, as the animation for the attack lasts for over a minute. FF7 Remake doesn't use the cutscenes for summons anymore. Instead, the summon monster appears on the battlefield and acts on its own, with the party able to expend their ATB bars to allow it to perform special attacks, and the summon only performs its signature attack (like Shiva's Diamond Dust) when the timer runs out and it leaves the battlefield.

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In FF7 Rebirth, the ability to summon thirteen knights might be too much, as they would crowd the battlefield and make things too chaotic. Instead, the player could just summon King Arthur and command him in battle, with the rest of the knights only appearing as part of their closing attack.

The Knights Could Have A Role In The Story Of FF7 Rebirth

One incentive for including the knights in FF7 Rebirth is that they can have a role in the story, or at least appear in a flashback. There was a popular fan theory about the knights being the group of Cetra who managed to defeat Jenova in the past. This theory was officially debunked by Yoshinori Kitase in an interview with Kotaku, who was the director and scenario writer of FF7. Kitase said that the summons didn't have any backgrounds fleshed out during development. The theory was debunked in FF7, but it could become true in FF7 Rebirth.

It's likely that FF7 Rebirth will involve the Temple of the Ancients dungeon, where Aerith learns the history of her people. This would be the perfect location to canonize the Knights of the Round vs. Jenova theory, with the party receiving a vision of their battle in the past, in order to set up their return later in the series or even have the Materia residing in the temple itself. This history could also be revealed in the City of the Ancients, which should also appear in FF7 Rebirth.

The Knights Will Likely Be Saved For FF7 Rebirth's Sequel

As awesome as it would be to see the Knights of the Round summon in action in FF7 Rebirth, it likely won't happen just yet. Knights of the Round is one of the most powerful summon spells in the series and it's likely that its reputation will be upheld in the FF7 Remake series. If the Knights of the Round Materia does appear, then it will likely be part of a difficult optional quest, which could either be chocobo breeding, or a boss battle. The Knights of the Round Materia would be a fitting reward for defeating the new versions of Emerald Weapon or Ruby Weapon as the power of the knights trivialized the last few bosses in FF7, so their strength should only be given to players who have proven their worth in battle in the third and final game in the remake series following Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

Next: FF7 Rebirth Is Set Up To Skip FF7's Most Iconic Moment