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NOTE: This article is about the Remake version of Sephiroth. The original version can be found here: Sephiroth (Final Fantasy). |
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“ | I'm waiting, Cloud. | „ |
~ Sephiroth repeated taunt to Cloud. |
“ | Our beloved planet is dying. Slowly. Silently. Painfully. Can you bear to see the planet suffer... Cloud? Were the planet to die, so many things would be lost. Your hometown that burns so bright... The sound of her voice pleading for me to spare you. The shiver of her flesh yielding to cold steel. That which binds us together would be no more. And I would be loath to live in such a world. Which is why I must ask you this one favor. Don't worry. It's a simple thing. Run, Cloud... Run away. You have to leave... You have to live. | „ |
~ Sephiroth |
Sephiroth is the main antagonist of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.
He was the greatest SOLDIER ever to serve the Shinra Electric Power Company, until he was driven insane by the revelation that he was a monster created as part of the Jenova Project. He sought to take control of the planet, as he believed it was his right to rule it as the "son" of the alien lifeform Jenova.
In Japanese, he is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, who also voiced Yoshikage Kira in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Kaname Tōsen in Bleach, Lord Boros in One Punch Man, and Fiamma of the Right in A Certain Magical Index. In English, he is voiced by Tyler Hoechlin, who also portrayed Bizarro, alternate Superman, and Zod in Superman & Lois, and John Deegan in the Elseworlds crossover.
Biography[]
Three Friends Divided[]
Departure of Genesis[]
In late summer of the year 2000/0000, Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis snuck into the training room on the SOLDIER floor for their usual fun. Genesis read out the first act of his favorite literary work "LOVELESS," which Sephiroth knew off by heart from hearing it so many times. Angeal and Genesis then charged against Sephiroth together, intent on besting him as a team. After a brief clash between the three, Rhapsodos told Hewley to stay back as he wished to face Sephiroth alone to prove that he could replace him as a "hero." Sephiroth and Genesis leapt into the air as they began to battle one-on-one.
Rhapsodos encased Sephiroth in a barrage of fire magic, but Sephiroth was able to slice himself free. As the pair returned to the ground, Sephiroth began pressing the attack with a flurry of destructive slashes. Angeal intervened though, as the virtual training room was being damaged by their clash. Genesis was accidentally wounded by Angeal when he tried to break through Hewley's guard. After the fight, Sephiroth received a lecture from Angeal due to his recklessness. Despite Genesis's wound being superficial, it worryingly refused to heal. Sephiroth and Angeal took him to Professor Hollander of the R&D Division to receive treatment.
Sephiroth offered to be the donor for a blood transfusion that could help close the wound, but Hollander explained that only Angeal had the compatibility necessary for a transfusion. In October of the same year, Genesis Rhapsodos went AWOL during an operation in Wutai and took a sizable amount of Second and Third Class SOLDIERs, as well as Shinra combat robots, along with him. At roughly the same time, Hollander stole Shinra technology capable of cloning an individual and also went on the run. Genesis's assignment in Wutai, which was to finally end the war by taking the Wutai fortress Fort Tamblin, was left incomplete.
End of the War[]
The month following the desertion of Genesis and Hollander, the operation to take Fort Tamblin was put into motion. Sephiroth was part of a team labelled "B Unit," that was tasked with planting explosives to distract the Fort Tamblin garrison while Angeal Hewley and his protégé, the Second Class SOLDIER Zack Fair, entered the fortress and took it in the name of Shinra. The mission went off without a hitch, with Fair taking the fortress almost single-handedly. After the operation was complete however, the Shinra forces in the forest surrounding Fort Tamblin were beset upon by masked men.
Sephiroth found Zack Fair fighting Ifrit, a powerful summonable beast called forth using a summon materia. Sephiroth intervened and slew Ifrit, and then went to inspect a group of the masked men that Zack had already defeated. Upon unmasking them, Sephiroth discovered that the men all bore the face of Genesis, meaning they were products of copy technology. Sephiroth realized that Genesis and Hollander were now working together against Shinra. Sephiroth also noted that Angeal was nowhere to be found, leading him to believe that Hewley had conspired with them and had deserted as well. He relayed his theory to Zack, who refused to believe that his mentor could've betrayed them.
Hunt for Genesis[]
In December, Fair and Tseng, the leader of a special Shinra unit known as the Turks, were dispatched to investigate Banora Village, the hometown of Genesis and Angeal. Sephiroth was initially assigned to the mission, but ultimately refused to go. Zack and Tseng discovered that the town's occupants had been massacred, including Genesis's parents, and that Genesis and Angeal were operating out of an abandoned factory where the former was using a pod-like chamber to make more copies of himself. Shinra subsequently launched an airstrike on the village, though Genesis and Angeal were able to escape and remain at large.
By April 1, 0001, Shinra formally decided to launch a kill mission on Genesis Rhapsodos and his cohorts, including Angeal Hewley. Sephiroth called Zack Fair and told him to come to the office of Lazard Deusericus, the Director of SOLDIER. Upon arrival, Fair was promoted to SOLDIER First Class and was filled in on Shinra's decision regarding the renegade SOLDIERs. Sephiroth told Zack that he intended to accompany the Shinra army on the mission, as he secretly intended to interfere on the side of his old friends. Before he could reveal his intentions to Zack though, the Shinra Building was shaken by an explosion.
Learning about Project G[]
Deusericus quickly ordered Sephiroth and Fair into action, with Sephiroth being sent to guard the President of the company and Zack being sent to the entrance of the building to intercept any intruders. The source of the explosion had been Genesis's army, that had assembled en masse and launched a surprise attack on the Shinra Building. After making sure the President was secure, Sephiroth headed to the entrance of the Shinra Building where Zack had successfully fended off the intruders. Sephiroth and Zack then headed to the streets of Midgar's Sector 8, where more Genesis forces had been spotted.
After deciding to split up with Zack to cover more ground, Sephiroth received a report that Angeal had been spotted in the Mako Reactor that powered Midgar's Sector 5. Mako Reactor 5 also happened to be the site of an old laboratory formerly ran by none other than Professor Hollander. Sephiroth went to investigate the reactor personally, and contacted Zack to join him once Genesis's forces had been driven off. Inside the facility, Sephiroth was attacked by monsters bearing Angeal's face which he correctly assumed were the results of copy technology being used on Angeal.
When Zack arrived, Sephiroth filled him in on the incident in the training room nearly a year prior that had preceded the desertion of his friends and theorized that it had been during the blood transfusion that they had planned their betrayal with Hollander. Inside Hollander's lab, they discovered the copy technology being used to create monstrous copies of Angeal, as well as documents that hinted at the truth. The documents detailed "Project G," an experiment conducted by Hollander where he injected the cells of a being referred to simply as an "ancient" into a human foetus in order to imbue said human with the powers of the ancient.
The ancients was the colloquial name given to the Cetra, the race of seemingly extinct precursors that inhabited the planet before the rise of humanity. The ancient referenced in the documents was not an actual Cetra though, instead being Jenova. At the time of Jenova's discovery, Shinra had incorrectly believed the alien to be a member of the Cetra. Project G was a part of the Jenova Project, just like Project S that created Sephiroth himself. Unlike with Project S, however, subjects created as a result of Project G eventually suffered from degradation, meaning that after a certain point their bodies slowly began degrading on a cellular level.
Sephiroth came to the realization that Genesis was a product of Project G, and that the reason the wound hadn't healed after the duelling incident was because he was beginning to suffer from degradation. Angeal, also a result of Project G, had been selected for blood transfusion due to their shared connection to the project. Sephiroth also surmised that Hollander, who had a personal vendetta against Shinra, had told Genesis and Angeal everything about their origins as experiments in Project G during the blood transfusion and had offered to find a way to cure their degradation if they helped him betray Shinra.
Fall of the Angel[]
Return to His Origins[]
“ | Our orders are to investigate the reactor. They mention nothing of...old friends. Depending on what happens, I may abandon Shinra. Until then, I'll remain loyal to SOLDIER. | „ |
~ Sephiroth revealing his intentions to Zack Fair. |
On September 21, 0002, Shinra received a report that an unusually high concentration of monsters had spawned in the vicinity of a mako reactor in Nibelheim, Sephiroth's village of birth. Interestingly, SOLDIER operatives who had been tracking Director Lazard went missing in the area after reporting that they had found a pod that matched the description of the one that was stolen in Modeoheim. Sephiroth was convinced that Genesis, Hollander, and Lazard were using the mako reactor as their new base of operations, and so decided to personally set out for Nibelheim with a small force in tow.
Before departure, he summoned Zack Fair to the Director of SOLDIER's office and filled him in on the situation. He intended for Fair to accompany him to the village. He also told Zack that depending on what happened in Nibelheim, he may choose to leave Shinra behind to side with his old friends. Later on, Sephiroth headed down to the SOLDIER floor to meet with Zack and the three Shinra Public Security Officers that were accompanying them to Nibelheim. One of the three Security Officers, Cloud Strife, was from the village. Sephiroth and his team arrived in Nibelheim the following day.
Sephiroth asked Cloud what it was like being home, as he had never had a hometown growing up. Fair queried Sephiroth on whether or not he had family, causing him to laugh at the prospect of having a father. Sephiroth then headed over to the local inn and ordered the others to get some rest before they headed to the reactor the next morning. Inside the inn, he couldn't help feeling as though the landscape outside the window was familiar, oblivious to the fact that he had been born in Nibelheim. At dawn, Sephiroth's team headed to the Shinra Manor where they met with their guide, a young woman named Tifa Lockhart.
Truth Unveiled[]
“ | Whether your words...are lies created to deceive me...or the truth that I have sought all my life...it makes no difference. You will rot. | „ |
~ Sephiroth to Genesis after learning the truth. |
After posing for a photograph with Zack and Tifa in front of the manor, Sephiroth and his group headed up the mountain to the mako reactor. Upon reaching the facility, Lockhart wanted to go in as well, though Sephiroth denied her and left Cloud to look after her. Inside the reactor, Sephiroth and Zack discovered countless pods like the one that Professor Hollander had been making use of, each containing mako-infused monsters created by Professor Hojo. Sephiroth, who had already felt his whole life he was somehow different from other humans, came to the shocking realization that he could've been made in the same way.
At that point Genesis arrived on the scene and revealed the truth. He told Sephiroth about Jenova and the Jenova Project, and that it was "Project Sephiroth" that had spawned him. Genesis then asked Sephiroth if he could give him some of his cells, as he believed that Sephiroth's cells would cure his degradation because Sephiroth didn't suffer from degradation despite possessing Jenova's cells. After thinking deeply for a few moments, Sephiroth refused to help Genesis and left the reactor. He headed to the Shinra Manor, where he uncovered numerous records surrounding the Jenova Project and his creation.
The Nibelheim Incident[]
“ | You should have ruled this planet. You were stronger, smarter. But then they came...those inferior dullards...They came and took this planet away from you. But don't be sad, mother. I am with you now... | „ |
~ Sephiroth upon meeting Jenova. |
It was in the record room that he began to understand the full picture. Despite Zack trying to reach him, Sephiroth remained in Shinra Manor for an entire week as he obsessively reviewed documents. By the end of his time in the basement, Sephiroth emerged a changed man. He now believed that the alien Jenova was his true mother and the rightful owner of the planet, and that it was his destiny to rule it as her son. In the dead of night on October 1, 0007, Sephiroth headed down to the village of Nibelheim and set it ablaze, killing most of the inhabitants, including Cloud Strife's mother and at least one of his Shinra Public Security Officers.
When Zack Fair exited the inn to see the cause of the commotion, Sephiroth turned away from the village and headed to the reactor. Inside the facility, Sephiroth was confronted by Tifa Lockhart's father Brian Lockhart, whom he slew with Masamune. Tifa herself then arrived and attempted to kill Sephiroth using Masamune, though the former SOLDIER subdued her too. Heading deeper into the facility, he found where Jenova's remains were being held in stasis and began talking to his "mother" about his plans. He was soon interrupted by Zack Fair, and a duel broke out between the two First Classes in the depths of the reactor.
After a well fought battle, Sephiroth was able to defeat Zack and return to Jenova. While Sephiroth was talking to his mother's remains, Cloud Strife ran up behind him with Zack's sword and impaled Sephiroth through the gut. Though grievously wounded, Sephiroth managed to retrieve Jenova's head and furiously pursue Cloud. A short fight broke out between Sephiroth and his greatly inferior opponent, which resulted in Cloud being impaled as well. However, using all of his strength, Cloud Strife was able to fling Sephiroth into a nearby console, setting him alight. Sephiroth fell into the depths of the facility below, and was believed dead.
Equipment[]
- Materia: Like all SOLDIERs, Sephiroth wielded materia in battle. Materia were orbs of crystallized mako that allowed those who wielded them to manipulate the lifestream of the planet to create specific phenomena referred to as "magic." Sephiroth made use of thunder, ice, fire, and wind materia, which each allowed him to conjure and manipulate magic comprised of their respective elements. Having mastered wielding his materia, Sephiroth could make use of high-level spells such as "thundaga," "blizzaga, "firaga," and "aeroga." Rather uniquely, he could also infuse himself with one of his four elemental materia, granting himself increased affinity for his chosen element and increasing his resistance to damage of that element inflicted on him. During and prior to his defection, Sephiroth could summon large gem-like materia created by Shinra that were capable of levitating and operating autonomously like drones. His gem-like materia were a fire, thunder, ice, and support materia, the latter of which could heal injuries Sephiroth sustained.
- Masumune: Sephiroth's iconic weapon of choice. He can deliver dangerous blows to his enemies and is extremely skilled with it. He can also create portals with such weaponry as well.
- Darkness Manipulation: Sephiroth is able to use dark energy that he wield in battle. And even wrap himself in a dark aura.
Themes[]
Those Chosen by the Planet by Nobuo Uematsu[]
Those Chosen by the Planet - Destiny Comes by Nobuo Uematsu[]
One-Winged Angel - Rebirth by Masashi Hamauzu & Yasunori Nishiki & Nobuo Uematsu[]
Quotes[]
“ | Those who look with clouded eyes see nothing but shadows. All born are bound to her. Should this world be unmade, so too shall her children. | „ |
~ Sephiroth |
“ | Sephiroth: Careful now. That which lies ahead...does not yet exist. Our world will become a part of it...one day. But I...will not end. Nor will I have you end. Cloud: This is...? Sephiroth: The edge of creation. Cloud, lend me your strength. Let us defy destiny...together. |
„ |
~ Sephiroth |
“ | Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it? Let's see. | „ |
~ Sephiroth |
“ | Mother, together we will reclaim our world. And I know exactly how we can do that. The promised land. [...] Mother, they have come again. The ones who robbed you of the planet... your planet. But there's no need to be sad, Mother. Because I'm here for you - now and forever. | „ |
~ Sephiroth to Jenova in a flashback to the Nibelheim incident. |
“ | They say she's a monster. That she can peer inside you - into the very depths of your soul. That she can become those you hate. Those you fear. Those you love. And they call her... Jenova. | „ |
~ Sephiroth before summoning Jenova Emergent upon Avalanche onboard the Shinra-8. |
“ | Oh, what fun you had. Tell me though... Was it worth it? All those lives cut short... at your hand. [...] Is what you're feeling even real? It's time you stopped pretending, Cloud. | „ |
~ Sephiroth to Cloud in a series of visions at the Temple of the Ancients. |
“ | Sephiroth: Your friend died in your arms. And you didn't shed a tear. Why is that? Cloud: Sephiroth. Sephiroth: Sorrow. Anger. Regret. Guilt. Nothing but empty words to you. For you are but a puppet - my puppet. Cloud: I'll kill you! Sephiroth: Good, Cloud. Very good. Fill your hollow heart - with rage. Let it engulf you - consume you... that you may burn your world to the ground - as I did. |
„ |
~ Sephiroth and Cloud. |
“ | Don't weep. Your tears are empty. Just like you. [...] And so it begins. A confluence of worlds and emotions. Loss chief among them. It engulfs fleeting moments of joy, transforming them into rage, sadness, and hatred. Never have I felt them so keenly. However... you will never see the truth with such clouded eyes. After all... you're just a puppet. | „ |
~ Sephiroth to Cloud after murdering Aerith. |
“ | Zack Fair: What the hell happened to you? You were a SOLDIER! How could you turn your back on everything we stand for?! Sephiroth: Easily. Zack: Right. Long as you get what you want, who cares who gets hurt! Is that it?! You really got it comin'! |
„ |
~ Zack Fair and Sephiroth. |
“ | Just as worlds unite, so too do they part. | „ |
~ Sephiroth just before cutting off Zack’s world, thus separating Cloud and Zack. |
“ | I must admit, I underestimated you. | „ |
~ Sephiroth to Aerith. |
Trivia[]
- Sephiroth was the first villain in the franchise to win without being defeated by the party by the end of Remake.
- Sephiroth says lines that are either references or copies of lines previous versions of his character has said, which adds to the implication that there are multiple timelines that he became aware of.
[]
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