Sephiroth

Sephiroth, a man whom would have once destroyed the world has found a new chance at life. After rising from the ashes, he set out into the world to undo the harm he had once mindlessly caused. Now free from Jenova, Sephiroth has gone back to his roots. He is once again the cool-headed silver haired warrior he once was. But memories of his past still haunt him, will he ever truly be freed from his "Mother" or is he just fooling himself?

Early Life
After his birth, Shinra raised Sephiroth to be a super soldier, the very first SOLDIER. They told him nothing of his mother except that her name was "Jenova," and that she died during childbirth. It was implied that he knew his father was the mad scientist Professor Hojo, although this seemed to earn the Professor no respect in Sephiroth's eyes. He has referred to his father as "inexperienced" and "a walking mass of complexes" — however, he respected Professor Gast until he left Shinra under Ifalna's guidance. Sephiroth proved to be incredibly strong, gaining worldwide fame for his exploits such as his role in Shinra's victory against Wutai in 0000.

President Shinra comes to rely on Sephiroth during the events of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, calling Sephiroth in whenever the situation personally threatens the President's life, like during the first AVALANCHEattack on Junon on February 30, 0001. Sephiroth engages the AVALANCHE leader, Elfé, but she blocks his strikes, impressing him. While the two are fighting, Elfé questions why Sephiroth is fighting. She asks whether he ever wants to "fight for a reason", which seems to have a profound effect on him. The results of Sephiroth choosing to fight for a reason would one day threaten the entire Planet's existence. He is later sent in on June 18, 0002, to "rescue" Professor Hojo who had almost defected with the AVALANCHE forces attacking the Shinra Building.



In SOLDIER, Sephiroth had two friends, Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos. Though the three were rival SOLDIERs First Class, they saw each other as close friends. When Genesis and Sephiroth duel in the virtual reality Junon, Sephiroth seems to be the strongest, but the fight ends inconclusively. Angeal stops the fight before either hurt each other too badly. The small wound Genesis takes does not heal. Sephiroth offers his blood as a transfusion, but is told his blood is not compatible. Genesis eventually defects from Shinra, making Sephiroth uneasy about his missions against him. Just before his final mission, Sephiroth hints he may leave Shinra altogether.

In what would become his final mission, Sephiroth was ordered to inspect theMako Reactor outside the town of Nibelheim on September 22, 0002. He enters with a small entourage, consisting of one other member of SOLDIER and a few Shinra MPs. Among this group was SOLDIER 1st Class member Zack Fair and his friend, a 16-year-old Shinra trooper named Cloud Strife. At the reactor, Sephiroth found several pod-like chambers containing monstrous creatures, apparently former humans, possibly mutated by injection with Jenova cells and exposure to Mako. Deeper inside, he found a larger chamber labeled "JENOVA" containing a strange feminine-looking creature. When Zack suggests a connection between SOLDIER and the creatures in the tanks, Sephiroth flies into a rage.

Crisis Core shows an expanded version of events at the Nibelheim Incident, and Genesis plays a large part in Sephiroth's madness. During this time, Genesis tells Sephiroth he was born from the Jenova Project, its goal to produce a "monster". Going in more depth about Jenova and the project Genesis states more facts, but Sephiroth does not understand all of what Genesis tries to tell him.

Deeply disturbed by the fact that the creature had the same name as his "mother" and by the idea that he 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 Shinra researchers and began reading the research notes in the basement library. As a result of what he learned, Sephiroth became enraged and psychotic. Based on the Shinra reports, he came to believe that Jenova was a Cetra, and therefore he as Jenova's "son" was the last Cetra survivor. He also believed that the human race had betrayed the Cetra 2,000 years in the past, leaving them alone to defend the Planet from a calamity it had faced (eventually revealed to have been Jenova itself), and resolved to take vengeance for his "ancestors".

On October 1st, Sephiroth proceeded to destroy Nibelheim, setting the town a-flame, before returning to the reactor to claim Jenova's remains. He is pursued by Tifa's father, Tifa, Zack, and Cloud. At the reactor, Tifa takes up Sephiroth's Masamune from her father's corpse and attacks him, but he disarms her

and cuts her down. Shortly after entering Jenova's chamber, Zack arrives and attacks him. In Final Fantasy VII he is easily defeated, but Crisis Core alters this into a full battle where Zack fights Sephiroth in a fair fight. Either way, Zack is defeated and tossed out of the chamber. Cloud enters the reactor and picks up Zack's Buster Sword, rushing after Sephiroth. Caught off-guard, Sephiroth is impaled through the abdomen.

Due to Sephiroth's enhanced anatomy, however, he survives Cloud's assault, though wounded greatly. As Cloud leaves him to tend to Tifa, Sephiroth slices off Jenova's head and stumbles from the room. Cloud attacks him again, but Sephiroth stabs him with the Masamune. Cloud summons unknown strength and uses the sword as a lever, hurling Sephiroth into a pool of Mako below the reactor. In Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-, it was retconned that Cloud only managed to fling Sephiroth into the wall, and that Sephiroth jumped into the Mako pool as a means of escape, stunned by Cloud's strength. No other version of the Nibelheim Incident shows events going this way, although Episode 12 of Before Crisis did depict a similar scenario.

Final Fantasy 7
Following the Nibelheim Incident Shinra sealed the records on Sephiroth and rebuilt Nibelheim in order to cover the incident up, populating it with Shinra employees paid to act as the town's citizens. However, Sephiroth survived the plunge, and spent the next few years traveling the Lifestream, learning the secrets of the Ancients. In particular, Sephiroth learned of the Black Materia, which could call the ultimate black magic, Meteor. Sephiroth eventually came to rest in the Northern Crater, the site of Jenova's landing 2,000 years previously. Crystallized in Mako to increase his powers, Sephiroth would remain in hibernation for some time, using his new-found influence over Jenova to act through her.



Hojo meanwhile decided to make use of the surviving Nibelheim residents, and so commissioned them against their wills to take part in an experiment that would hopefully prove his Jenova Reunion Theory, a theory that states that when Jenova's cells are separated, they will seek to rejoin each other. Hojo injected the survivors with Mako and Jenova cells, dubbing them "Sephiroth Clones". Cloud and Zack were two of Hojo's subjects for the experiment, and they would spend the next four years as prisoners in the Shinra Mansion. Shortly before the main events of Final Fantasy VII, Zack broke free and took the semi-comatose Cloud with him. At some time in 0007, the call of the Reunion began, and the Sephiroth Clones began making their way toward the Northern Crater to join with Sephiroth.

Approximately five years after his supposed death, in December 0007, Sephiroth enacted his plan to find the Black Materia. Jenova's remains, which had been moved to Shinra Headquarters in Midgar, took on Sephiroth's form and broke out of containment. Jenova/Sephiroth released Cloud and the members of AVALANCHE, who were being held prisoner, and killed President Shinra after declaring to the President that his company should never acquire the Promised Land. Sephiroth subsequently began searching for clues to the location of the Black Materia. Cloud, seeing Sephiroth's Masamune left at the scene of President Shinra's death, suspects he may be alive and sets out with AVALANCHE to find him and settle the score for what happened to Nibelheim.

The party first sees Sephiroth on the Cargo Ship, where he alludes to the Jenova Reunion. He also appears some time later in Nibelheim, where he again mentions the Reunion. When Cloud and his allies discover that Sephiroth is tracking down the Black Materia, they go to the Temple of the Ancients to acquire it first. They again find Sephiroth, who explains the full extent of his plans - the Planet relies on the Lifestream to heal itself when wounded. Using the Black Materia, Sephiroth plans to use it to call Meteor to injure the Planet and place himself at the center of this wound, merging with the Lifestream and taking control of it, becoming a god ruling over the Planet.

Cloud succeeds in acquiring the Black Materia, but Sephiroth exerts his influence over Jenova's cells and takes control of Cloud, who hands the Materia over to Jenova. At this time, Aeris Gainsborough, the true last survivor of the Cetra, tries to use the White Materia to summon Holy, the only power able to counter Meteor. During her attempt to call forth the Ultimate White Magic, Sephiroth (or rather, Jenova transformed into his image) impales her with his sword, killing her. Though Aeris had successfully called Holy, Sephiroth held it back within the Planet with his will as augmented by Jenova's power. Cloud and his allies continued tracking Sephiroth to the Northern Crater.

At the crater, Cloud kills Jenova in Sephiroth's form and reclaims the Black Materia, this time giving it to a party member to keep it safe. Cloud and Tifa continue deeper into the crater and find an illusion of Nibelheim's destruction, showing a man with black hair in Cloud's place. Sephiroth tells Cloud he was never at Nibelheim and is not even real, being nothing more than a cluster of Jenova cells who had taken on the memories of a boy named "Cloud." Sephiroth's manipulations and lies take their toll, and shatter Cloud's fragile mind. Meanwhile, Sephiroth projects an illusion to the party members left behind of Tifa asking them to come to Cloud's and her aid, and the member entrusted with the Black Materia follows them. Cloud takes back the Black Materia and Sephiroth reveals his true body encased in crystallized Mako. Cloud delivers the Black Materia to Sephiroth, who uses it to summon the Meteor. The crater collapses, and Cloud's allies are forced to flee with Rufus Shinra. The Planet unleashes the Weapons from their sleep and Sephiroth erects an energy barrier over the crater to keep them from detecting him.

With the Weapons wreaking havoc and keeping his enemies from rallying against him, Sephiroth began shapeshifting his body into a form befitting a god, awaiting Meteor's arrival. Cloud eventually recovered and the party received unlikely assistance from Shinra. In later January 0008, they fired the Mako cannon known as theSister Ray at the Northern Crater, piercing Sephiroth's barrier and allowing Cloud and his allies to enter the crater and find Sephiroth.

Descending into the crater, they eventually find Sephiroth at the Planet's core, blocking Holy. After they dispatch Sephiroth's larva-like Bizarro∙Sephiroth form, Sephiroth emerges from it, almost entirely transformed into hisultimate form, an angelic being with seven wings. Cloud and his allies destroy Sephiroth, but his mind endures. Pulling Cloud into the Lifestream for a final mental battle, Sephiroth attempts to take control of his mind again, but Cloud's mental defenses have grown, and he defeats Sephiroth. Battered and bloody, Sephiroth dissolves into the Lifestream, seemingly destroyed.

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children

 * "Good to see you, Cloud."
 * —Sephiroth

During the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, in 0009, Sephiroth again plays the role of the destroyer. It has been two years following Sephiroth's defeat, and a fatal plague called Geostigma has spread throughout the world, afflicting many with extreme fatigue and open skin sores. The plague is revealed to be caused by Jenova's remaining consciousness in the Lifestream, and primarily affects children due to their weaker immune systems. The disease has also affected Cloud, who experiences visions of Sephiroth numerous times during the film. The now-reclusive Cloud finds himself confronted by a strange trio of silver-haired men who are the physical manifestations of Sephiroth's will and spiritual energy, his powerful will having allowed him to pull out of the Lifestream before being fully diluted. However, without a great abundance of Jenova's cells, Sephiroth cannot be fully reborn. The three, Kadaj, Loz, andYazoo all believe themselves to guided by their "mother", Jenova, but rather, it is Sephiroth himself who forces their actions. The leader, Kadaj, becomes Sephiroth's vessel after absorbing Jenova's remains, transforming into Sephiroth. Sephiroth reveals his new plan is to use Jenova's influence over those infected with Geostigma to control the Planet - once they die, their tainted spirits will join the Lifestream and further infect it with Jenova, until Sephiroth can control it. Then, he will use the Planet to travel the universe, and find another planet to rule over. Sephiroth and Cloud fight in the ruins of Midgar. Though Cloud is exhausted by the effort, Sephiroth does not break a sweat. He is merely toying with his old foe, hoping to crush his spirit before killing Cloud. Sephiroth is defeated by Cloud's Omnislash Version 5/6, utilizing his new set of swords, the Fusion Swords. Sephiroth remains floating in the air as his single black, feathered wing appears. His final words are "I will...never be a memory," and the single wing wraps around him. The wing fades away, revealing what is left of Kadaj's body as he falls to the ground. The weakened Kadaj is then accepted into the Lifestream as his body and soul "evaporate" into the falling rain, Aerith's Great Gospel.

In The Reunion Files, Nojima has stated that Sephiroth's only true goal in the film is taking revenge on Cloud, who he saw as a Shinra Army rookie. His revival had been decided to occur early on in the project, but not the exact reasons or means of how he would be revived, and these details were decided at later dates. Sephiroth's dialogue was also made to sound profound, as "he thinks on a level higher than humans", and his hair and eyes were exceptionally difficult to animate. Various minor details were made to emphasize Sephiroth's other-worldly character; he was never made to blink, almost never grunted or breathed, and even in the heat of battle kept his voice calm and controlled. Nomura says that when creating Sephiroth, his appearance was set but he had trouble deciding what kind of voice he should have; once Toshiyuki Morikawa auditioned, Nomura knew he was exactly what he wanted. Morikawa also noted that, with Sephiroth's on-screen presence, he knew his final lines had to be done properly, and with input from the director, gave Sephiroth's iconic final words a sense that "he's not done yet".

Neo Midgar
''"I will never be under that monster's control again." '' Sephiroth was reborn from the lifestream into the Church, at the time Zane and Aisha were there as well. He intended to go back to Jenova, but Zane stopped him from doing so, not violently, just telling him how Jenova was lying to him. He agreed to listen to what the boy intended to tell him, and Zane showed him his real mother, Lucrecia Crescent. In a state of shock and anger, Sephiroth went to the Northern Crater, confronting Jenova and renouncing any loyalty to her. He later joined Avalanche, teaching a boy named Sixx Liler much of what he knew, though, Sixx was like a son to him, he still kept an eye on the boy, since Sixx began to date Sephiroth's daughter, Sephirea, much to the One-Winged Angel's anger and disapproval, though Sephirea didn't really care.