Hi i'm new to this forums..
Hmm yes i read through your entire thesis and i agree with most of the ideas. However, I think there are a few points which i do not agree with.
I've watched the movie 16 times already, and i think i quite understand most of the movie.
First and foremost, I don't think that in the game, the sephiroths you have to fight at the end are indeed just "psyches" or spirit manifestations of sephiroth. They are mutated forms of his ACTUAL body, which was released when Cloud handed the Black Materia to him. The sephiroth you see from the beginning of the movie to about near the end (the same one that killed the Shin-ra president) is actually one of his clones. Remember in the game, it was mentioned that Hojo created 99 clones of sephiroth, all injected with jenova cells. In fact, the sephiroth flying around is actually Clone No. 1. All the clones of sephiroth are gathering for the Reunion at the Northern Crater, due to the mind control of the real sephiroth and/or Jenova's regenerative ability as an alien. Yes, that means that Cloud can also be considered a clone of Sephiroth. However, he was considered to be a "failed" experiment by Hojo because his body seemed to be unable to take the mako infusion into his body. I believe that even though it seemed that Cloud's body was unable to take mako, what actually happened was that Cloud's body could absorb so much mako energy that he was practically drunk with mako. (Hence his inability to become SOLDIER and later unable to remain conscious when Zack saved him).
Before misconception occurs, I'd like to define that these "clones" are actually once normal humans, but experimented on by Hojo who inserted Jenova cells and Sephiroth's element in them. At the end, the sephiroth that Cloud killed was the sephiroth element within him. It also might be that Zack could have been a clone of sephiroth before he died, but that cannot be proven and i doubt it is true anyway.
This leads me to believe that the 3 silver-haired men are actually clones of Sephiroth (their numbers unknown). Remember, Kadaju tells Cloud that (translated) "I was only a clone after all.. just like you!". It is apparent that he had a mental conversation with Jenova when he looked into the box at the church. Which brings me to my second point. When Kadaju looked into the box and cried, it wasn't because jenova was lost or destroyed or something. He was talking with Jenova, and he found out from her that Jenova actually chose sephiroth over him to champion over the world. If you don't believe me, recall back to the place just before he fought cloud sword to sword. He told Cloud "I was finally able to meet and talk with Mother." Obviously, Jenova was safe and intact. Also, recall back to when he was talking to Rufus. He told him "Sephiroth of me, who will Mother choose? It's frustrating!" Thus, when he found out the truth, he was bitterly disappointed. That is also what drove him to try to beat Cloud one on one. Cloud beat him instead, so he had no choice but to listen to Mother, i mean, Jenova, and call on the Reunion. Jenova had chosen Sephiroth to be her agent of controlling the Planet.
Also, you might want to know that the aims of sephiroth in the game and in the movie are very alike. Both want to use the power of the Lifestream to attain enough power to transverse the universe. In the game, Sephiroth wanted to use Meteor to crash into the Planet, so that when the planet comes to repair the damage inflicted by Meteor, he will instead be in the middle to absorb all that power. This, however, failed. Next , Geostigma was used. Right after Cloud meets Sephiroth (with sephiroth greeting him with my favourite line "Isashi buri danah, Kuraudo {It's been a while, Cloud}
) , he mentions that " the deceased of those carrying Geostigma, along with the Lifestream, guides the flow of the Planet. Eventually it will infringe upon the Planet." What this means is that sephiroth will use the spirits of those who died with geostigma to corrupt the Planet's Lifestream flow and thus be used according to his will. It is the same reason why the black stream was summoned when he fought Cloud. He corrupted the Lifestream.
However, a part of the Lifestream remained uncorrupted. Aeris helped Cloud with his fight against Sephiroth by controlling the corrupted stream not to hinder his battle. This can be seen when the corrupted stream seemed to have moved everywhere but approach Cloud when he fights sephiroth. Aeris remains part of the entity which guides Cloud in his struggles.
By the way, Aeris does not die totally after being killed by sephiroth. Her spirit still lives on in the Lifestream. Remember at the beginning, she always mentions how she can still here her mother talking to her? Through the same way, she talks to Cloud in his mind. She was also the one who guided the Lifestream to intercept Meteor before it hit the Planet after Holy failed to stop it. This can be proven by the fact that the Lifestream would normally have come to heal the "wound" left by Meteor only AFTER meteor had hit; instead the lifestream came and destroyed Meteor first. This was probably the reason why Aeris knew she had to die. Holy wasn't enough to stop Meteor, the Lifestream itself was needed.
With regards to the question about the wolf, i'm sad to say that i havent absolutely figured out either. however, i do not think it represents Cloud's guilt or whatever. After all, it DID appear at the end when Cloud has saved everyone already. There was nothing to be guilty about as he had done his part in saving everyone. My guess is that it is Bugenhagen, Nanaki's grandfather. Before his death, he did mention that he would be there to guide nanaki and cloud in their future endeavours. IT wouldn't be surprising if he showed up in the movie. Then again, this is speculation on my part.
Lol sorry for my damn long post.