Sephiroth (video game character)

Sephiroth (セフィロス) is the chief antagonist of the RPG Final Fantasy VII, produced by Squaresoft. He is considered one of the most popular villains of the series, and has appeared in three other games (Ehrgeiz, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis), the first two of which are, relative to FF7, non-canonical.

Sephiroth appears as a tall, handsome bishounen character with long silver hair, bright blue-green eyes, a long black coat, and metallic shoulder guards. He carries the sword Masamune (a weapon that has appeared in each installment of the Final Fantasy series). He was the most famous member of SOLDIER, the paramilitary branch of Shin-Ra, until he mysteriously disappeared five years before the start of the game. He then returns to enact a sinister plot which threatens the game's world, and which the game's heroes must stop.

His name comes from the Kabbalah, in which the ten sephiroth on the Tree of Life represent different aspects of God.

His appearance was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who also designed the other characters in the game along with other characters in the later installments of the series. Sephiroth also has two pieces of theme music written by series composer Nobuo Uematsu: Those Chosen by The Planet, a piece marked with bells, low drums, and a deep chorus, which plays whenever Sephiroth appears; and One Winged Angel, a symphonic piece with a chorus singing verses from the same medieval poetry featured in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (the first work of music in the series with actual recorded lyrics). This plays during the final confrontation with Sephiroth at the end of the game. An orchestrated version of One Winged Angel was later composed for the Final Fantasy VII Reunion album.

Sephiroth has made three separate appearances outside of FFVII. The first was as a selectable character in the fighting game Ehrgeiz, which also featured appearances of other characters from FFVII. The second was in the North American/Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts, where he appeared as an extremely powerful optional boss in the game's arena setting. (In a demonstration of this character's popularity, his battle in Kingdom Hearts was very strongly tied to his FFVII appearance - a new orchestration of One Winged Angel was the background music, and Sephiroth's attacks included variations on Final Fantasy spells and attacks, such as Omnislash, Heartless Angel or Sin Harvest, Meteor, Flare, and Ultima.) The third was in Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis (The prequel to Final Fantasy VII).

In Japan, Sephiroth's voice was provided by seiyuu Shinichiro Miki (Ehrgeiz) & Toshiyuki Morikawa (Advent Children). In the English version of Kingdom Hearts, his voice was provided by Lance Bass of *NSYNC fame, a decision that was received negatively by some fans.

Images of a slightly redesigned Sephiroth have appeared in previews and teasers of the upcoming video sequel to FFVII: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It was illustrated in the fourth official trailer that he will be in more of the movie than just a flashback.

Biography

Sephiroth was born at least 30 years before the start of the game to Professor Hojo and Lucrecia of Shin-Ra (however, some fans speculate that Vincent Valentine was his actual biological father). Before Sephiroth's birth, Hojo was working on the JENOVA project. The project studied the remains of an extra-terrestrial entity known as JENOVA, which was mistakenly thought to be one of the Cetra, an ancient people of the world that the game takes place in. Curious about the effects of JENOVA's biology on a human subject, Hojo injected cell samples from JENOVA into the unborn Sephiroth, attempting to create a superhuman subject.

After his birth, Shin-Ra raised Sephiroth to be a supersoldier, and told him nothing of his actual parents except that his mother's name was "Jenova." He proved to be an incredibly strong and effective member of SOLDIER, gaining worldwide fame for his exploits such his role in Midgar's victory against Wutai.

Five years before the start of the game, he was ordered to inspect the mako reactor outside the town of Nibelheim with a contingent of SOLDIER members and troops, including a member named Zack and a 16-year-old Shin-Ra trooper named Cloud Strife. Nibelheim was Cloud's childhood home, but he avoided showing his face and revealing himself to his childhood friend Tifa Lockheart out of shame over not becoming a full-fledged member of SOLDIER as he had sworn to do several years earlier.

At the reactor, Sephiroth found several pod-like chambers containing monstrous creatures, apparently former humans mutated either by the mako energy in the reactor or by deliberate experimentation. Deeper inside, he found a larger chamber labeled "JENOVA," which contained a very strange feminine-looking creature. Deeply disturbed by the fact that the creature had the same name as his "mother" and by the idea that he himself might have been created in an experiment similar to the one that created the monsters in the pods, Sephiroth made his way to the mansion that had been occupied by Shin-Ra researchers and began reading the research notes that were located in the basement library.

As a result of what he learned, Sephiroth went mad. Based on the Shin-Ra reports, he came to believe that JENOVA was a Cetra, and therefore that he himself, JENOVA's son, was the last survivor of the Cetra. He also believed that the human race had betrayed and wiped out the Cetra, and resolved to take vengeance for his "ancestors." He burned Nibelheim to the ground, killing those who tried to stop him, & then went to the chamber that held JENOVA and took its head, intending to use its power to destroy humanity. However, before he was able to leave the reactor, Cloud was able to confront Sephiroth and managed to cast him into the exposed mako lifestream at the bottom of the reactor. This was the last time he would be seen for five years.

Following this, Shinra sealed the records on Sephiroth and rebuilt Nibelheim in order to cover up the incident. Prof. Hojo meanwhile attempted to repeat the experiments that created Sephiroth with other living subjects. Cloud and Zack were two such subjects, although Zack broke out and took the comatose Cloud with him before the experiment could be completed. Hojo even made semi-"clones" of Sephiroth, but each clone rapidly became senile and Hojo scattered them across the globe to forget his failed experiment. Around this time, Sephiroth, who had floated through the Lifestream all the way to the Northern Crater (the original impact site of JENOVA), emerged but was trapped inside crystallized Mako. Feeling he needed the time to recuperate from his time in the Lifestream, he began experimenting with his mental abilities, and found that he could make telepathic contact with his clones. After much experimentation, he found that he could not only change their appearance to match his own, but he could control every movement they made. The Sephiroth seen in the game up until the gang sees him in the Northern Crater is merely a clone of Sephiroth.

Then, Sephiroth made his presence known by taking control of the first Sephiroth clone and stealing JENOVA from its resting place in the Shin-Ra HQ building. It is also speculated that Sephiroth actually took control of JENOVA itself, which would make sense since it would be hard for him to carry its body everywhere with him. Finally, Shin-Ra's president was murdered by Sephiroth at his desk, as discovered by Cloud and the other members of AVALANCHE, an anti-Shinra rebel group labeled as ecoterrorists. Having decided to investigate the matter, the members of AVALANCHE discovered that Sephiroth was attempting to use the Black Materia - an item that would summon down a Meteor to wound the planet. The planet would then send out large amounts of "spirit energy" from the Lifestream in order to heal that wound. Sephiroth planned to intercept this massive concentration of energy, absorbing it and the knowledge and power it carried, which he believed would make him a god.

Before Sephiroth could obtain and use the Black Materia, Aeris Gainsborough, the last of the Cetra, tried to use the White Materia given to her by her mother to summon the force called "Holy," the only power able to stop Sephiroth or Meteor. However, before Aeris could fully activate the Materia, Sephiroth ran her through with his sword. Sephiroth then manipulated Cloud (he apparently had some control over Cloud since Cloud had not gone through the entire JENOVA procedure) into performing the necessary tasks to complete his goals, all while frozen in the Northern Crater. The field of force protecting him was penetrated by Shin-Ra, and Cloud and his allies entered the Crater and defeated a mutated Sephiroth, with help from the (dormant) Holy spell. Cloud subsequently was locked in a mental combat with Sephiroth, who intended to take Cloud's body as his own, but Cloud using his sword, cut Sephirtoh into pieces.

Utter Confusion

Ever since Final Fantasy VII was released, debates of whether Sephiroth's authenticity as the main villain have arisen. Some say that it is really Jenova displayed as an image of Sephiroth, whilst some say it is really Sephiroth who is causing all of the destruction and death, and this debate is all caused by a gamer's interpretation. What is certain is that all of the events, 5-6 years prior to the game was caused by Sephiroth, the human. The destruction of Nibelhiem and the investigating of the Mako Reactor etc. However, the strange images of Sephiroth flying around cause confusion.

We find out in Disc 2, that Sephiroth is encased in Mako in the Northern Crater. He is completely immobile and is assumed dead, yet how is he able to fly around to places such ans the Boat, Temple of Acients etc? Some say that it is Jenova displayed as Sephiroth. This can be backed up by many facts in the game:

• In every scene in the present time line, where we see Sephiroth flying around. When he flies off somewhere, he drops a tentacle of Jenova. A battle with a form of Jenova starts.
• In the City of Ancients, after Aerith's death, Sephiroth utters the infamous lines "Because you are...". As Sephiroth begins flying off, a line is said by Jenova, "because you are... a puppet". It is the only line spoken by Jenova in the game, but where is Jenova to have said it? A battle with a form of Jenova then starts.
• Images of Sephiroth in The Temple of Ancients flicker, as if it was a hologram of sorts.
• In the videos of Prof. Gast and Ifalna located at the Icicle Inn, Ifalna says that "Jenova appeared to us as our dead brothers and mothers" which does imply that either 1. Jenova can play with people's minds. or 2. Jenova is able to take the form of another object.

Whether you believe Jenova is the real villain of Final Fantasy VII or not, you can't deny that Sephiroth is indeed one of the most popular gaming icons ever.

Advent Children

Two years following the defeat of Sephiroth, a plague created by the Planet begins to spread throughout the world. The now reclusive Cloud Strife found himself confronted by a strange trio of men. Their leader, Kadaj, bears a resemblance to the Sephiroth of five years ago. The exact details of these events are to be revealed in the direct to DVD Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the CGI sequel to the game.