I've always been a fan of the theory that the reason Cloud was able to get the jump on Sephiroth was because of the pre-emptive strike materia he had equipped.
@@hadrielheredia1319 because that materia lets you get sneak attacks on enemies, and in the flashback sequences cloud was equipped with it in nibelheim at the time, so it could have helped him catch sephiroth off guard when he stabbed him from behind with Zacks (previously angeals) Buster Sword.
The one thing I really, really respect about the Sephiroth story is that his “become a god” mechanism actually makes sense. Create an injury so severe that you’d need the whole of the lifestream to heal it. And you’re right there in the middle, soaking it all up. It’s literally the only Final Fantasy villain plan that I can explain and actually understand what I’m talking about.
I think Seymour's was pretty straightforward. Become Yuna's Final Aeon, then defeat Sin, and become the new Sin. Unlike Jecht being forced to run around killing people by Yu Yevon, Seymour would've tried to wipe out everyone entirely.
Yeah g8 point. Seph's story was layered, and it conducted itself around and through many of the playing characters and Shrina. You felt he was the most mysterious and interesting character as he wasn't the outright antagonist to the plot straight away. The swerve of his relationship with Cloud was brilliant as it forced you as the player to actually question who Cloud was and played into his 'lone wolf' character. I think FF8 tried this dynamic with multi-tiered groups but it was a lot more complex to understand
What I loved about Advent Children is How they had barely fleshed Zacks story out when he gave Cloud that Final Nudge. If players hadn't gone out of their way to uncover his hidden FF7 cutscenes between him and cloud it plays out like a weird acquaintance showing up to the party early and leaving once they helped clean up afterwards.
Don't forget that both Vincent and Yuffie were secret, missable, characters which means there were probably people who had no clue who the heck they even were when they showed up in Advent Children.
@@RoninXDarknight most excellent point and a personal laugh for me as I didnt get Vincent my first run and I went to a friend's and they showed me their progress and I saw him and exclaimed who the hell is that what in the action replay did you do And restarted my file the second I got home.
@@RoninXDarknightvincent is easily misable but yuffie actually has at one point a 100% chance of apearing to you every time you have a random encounter in a forest and you dont have her on your team so its actually very hard to miss
Zack doesn't show up to give Cloud that "final nudge" until the Complete version of Advent Children. The vanilla movie didn't have that scene and by the time they added it, they had already released Crisis Core, Last Order, and basically the rest of the compilation by that point. They only threw it in after there was enough precedence.
@10:15, Sephiroth and Elfe do NOT come up as equals. She blocks his initial attack, is seemingly severely diminished from the exertion, and basically flees in terror. It's a very impressive feat on her part, because he didn't seem to be consciously holding back, but they're still nowhere near equal.
I really like how in the end Jenova was nothing more than a puppet to her own "son", most stories would see Jenova be the actual villain ordering Sephiroth around and trying to rule the world, but in actuality Sephiroth broke her will and made her into his servant, that was metal AF. Loved the video! I hope the next one is on Cloud. Edit: The homies be debating in the replies. Chime in if you want to add something
Yet fundamentally this is absolutely false. Sephiroth died in the Nibelheim incident and fell into the lifestream where he was purged of all of Jenova's cells and his body rejoined with the Earth. Jenova, who canonically has been shown to be a mimic, took on the visage of the strongest entity that she "knew" at that point (Sephiroth). This is why at the Northern Crater we see only the upper half of Sephiroth's body as Jenova is still gathering her "body" from the last five years as only her head had plunked into the lifestream with Sephiroth and the rest was taken by Shinra back to Midgar. That is the "reunion". It's all her cells coming back. It's just so well written that to this day everyone thinks Sephiroth is the villain, but he's been dead and in the lifestream for the last five years. To say he "broke her will and made her into his servant" is utterly bonkers considering his own willpower was so fragile that he spent a week reading about being experimented on (something he already fucking knew) and he goes insane? Nah fam Jenova's influence broke him down real fucking quick which also explains how Cloud was free of any of Jenova's before he spent like 5 years in a container with Zach with Hojo experimenting on him.
It seems more like Sephiroth is working with Jenova. Sephiroth still speaks fondly of her & is basically carrying out her will since she is unable to be complete without Cloud's death/absorption because he still has some of her & Sephiroth's cells from Hojo's experiment.
@@ruxsack4021 I would argue that is not the case. Remember that when Cloud fell into the lifestream and was able to "regain" himself most, and I do mean most, of the Jenova cells were purged from him. That last final battle was the last remnant of Jenova's cells/influence that was trying to overtake him and he just obliterates her. There is no evidence, honestly, that Sephiroth is alive other than Hojo's one line at the Northern Crater but he is an unreliable narrator through and through about it all because, let's face it, he's a mad fucking scientist lol
@@codynoth4183 I never took that from the lifestream scene. It seemed more like it was just him straightening out his memory with Tifa after the Mako poisoning scrambled his brain pre-FF7. Unless I missed a crucial line I have to disagree with that purging any of her cells. The final Jenova battle seems more like his symbolic & physical overcoming of Jenova's will, but it doesn't say or even imply that her cells were removed. I don't like referencing other games/media, but every appearance of Cloud elsewhere shows him always being "haunted," shall we say, by Sephiroth & Jenova, which more heavily implies that their cells still reside within him. As for Sephiroth I'd say he's still alive even though his body is dead, but I'm willing to accept that it's just Jenova using his form otherwise.
@@ruxsack4021 I will say that if there are people out there who want to ignore any of the compilation stuff then yes, by all means Sephiroth is the "main" villain and the original game was VERY ambiguous about that in the sense of what Jenova's role played. Though to me even in the OG game there was always that air about Jenova as the planet itself seeing Jenova AS the biggest threat given what we find out about the Cetra and Jenova's involvement ages before FF7 takes place. I'd even go as far as to say that Cloud and Tifa would not have been able to survive in the lifestream if Aerith had not died and had power/influence over what the lifestream does (which leads us into a lot of what Remake shinnanigans are doing along with those "whispers" being another form of "weapon" in and of themselves) as there seems to be a protectiveness and guidance into restoring Cloud's sense of self. Though I think it was a line Buggenhagen, in Cosmo Canyon, states about the lifestream rejecting anything that is not part of this planet, and that Jenova is considered an otherworldly disease or parasite (paraphrasing) but I think it's there in the original which is why the planet itself releases the weapons after Jenova obtains that black materia. Cloud and the party having it didn't envoke the weapons, but as soon as Jenova's body in the Northern Crater does that's when the weapons wake.
Sephiroth is incredible. It's not just his strength that's fascinating, it's his story, his character. everything. He is not one who is evil for no reason. Quite the opposite. Sephiroth was loyal and put the well-being of others above his own. In Nibelheim, for example, he says that the others should rest, because he will keep watch, and he was also the one who wanted to donate his blood to Genesis. Sephiroth suffered since he was born. Abused by ShinRa. He only wanted to find his mother and he lost his friends and never had a real, caring family. I wish there would be a way to save him. Sephiroth deserves a better life. in "Ever Crisis" sephiroth said, that he only wants a normal life and that's what I wish for him. a home, friends who don't betray him and a caring family.
He didn't care much about the cop they lost in nibelheim mountain, or the people in wutai ngl. He's a villain created by Shinra, but like, he wasn't exactly a nice, empathetic guy, and then he snapped. His character is a metaphor for so many things at once. He is a victim, but he's also metaphor for colonialism, toxic masculinity and supremacy. I like that crisis core showed how capitalism/colonialism creates monsters who are victims as well, but he's not just only a victim
Actually Sephiroth isa weak minded individual which is why Genesis manipulated him quite easily by revealing Seph's origins. Seph could have avoided Nibelheim massacre by just realizing his birth circunstances does NOT dictate who he is, Sephiroth the hero. Instead he became a massive crybaby, didn't accept the truth and took it upon innocent people. THAT alone makes him a villain without purpose and let me explain why real quick. When he sealed himself in the Nibelheim mansion, he discovered all the truth behind the Jenova project, so he had no reason why to be mad other than "people lied to me", which in reality wasn't going to affect his personal life up to this point. He just wanted to it make it a big deal. This is why Seph as a villain is kinda meh because his actions in FF7 were nore like rabdom rather than with a purpose. He went from "I am mad because people lied to me" in Crisis core to "you know what? I am gonna become a god and destroy this planet" in FF7. The reasoning? There is none.
Remake seems to imply Sephiroth's presence in the Lifestream now supercedes time. In Remake, he appears to have knowledge of the Arbiters of Fate and their Whispers, to the extent that he can attempt to change events, which draws the Whispers out. To what end remains unclear, but it still speaks to the strength of his will that even after his two major defeats at the hands of Cloud, he is still capable of so much.
I second this. This just happens to topical and my fav game, so great place to start. But seeing this for 8/9/10 etc would be great. 16…well Clive basically was a god 😂😂😂
That would be interesting to see how they 'big bads' for each main line game stack up. Kefka eats Espers/Summons for breakfast, commands the power of 3 gods, and actually destroyed the world. Ultimecia has the power to alter the past and compress all of space/time into a singularity. Cloud of Darkness is, well, the Void manifest.
To be fair we dont really need an ardyn video, millions like this on him have already been made,plus the srdyn dlc straight up layed everything out on a silver platter
I remember someone saying that Sephiroth was relatively weak, and his power mainly came from his extremely high intelligence and ability to manipulate people. I've always disagreed with that idea, and this video helps solidify that. Thanks FFU!
I think in the Remake, and Rebirth soon, Sephiroth is operating at his peak. I subscribe to the idea that the Sephiroth in the new games has used the life stream in some way to do some timeline skipping so as to mess things up more to achieve what he's after. He was able to transport himself and Cloud to the edge of creation and back again. He's a cosmic entity now I would say.
(Spoiler for Remake) That Sephiroth at the end was the long dead Sephiroth from the Lifestream. I'm going with Sephiroth is going to have a redemption arc in these three games.
@@codynoth4183 Honestly, could see it. In Crisis Core, Sephiroth is cold and distant (given his father and childhood, is that surprising?), but not EVIL, per se. He doesn't seem to have malice in his actions, he just kind of does things because he's being told to and has no strong reason not to. The only real exceptions to that are he and Genesis seem to enjoy sparing each other without needing to be goaded, and once he reads the reports in Nibelheim, when everything changes. Before that, he even wanted to help Genesis from his injuries, including offering to donate blood. And even then, it was borne out of some confusion, since the reports (about him being a Cetra) were wrong, and his animosity (against "the Humans" for being responsible for the Cetra's deaths) was unfounded since it was his own "mother" that did that and he wasn't even a Cetra; something he found out once he got into the Lifestream. So the question is, what happened to his soul and psyche after that for the rest of the narrative, and into Remake if FF7:R really IS his soul having traveled back in time from after the end of Advent Children.
If you think about it, Sephiroth is going on what he believes is the truth. He’s wildly misinformed. The two examples I can think of off the top of my head are In CC- he says “Project G, Project Genesis.” But it doesn’t mean that at all. It means Project Gillian. Jenova isn’t his mother. He only has her cells. Lucrecia is his mother. In ever crisis I believe he was given a picture of Lucrecia and told her name was Jenova and that was his mother. He’s just been lied to, or thinks he’s figured out the truth, and is basing his actions all this misinformation and his assumptions.
I think the neat thing about Kekfa is he could have completely wiped out all life on the planet if he wanted to, but didn't because he liked to torture and revel in the misery of others.
@@wullahblack6452 Indeed. He enjoyed destroying the world so much, he left enough survivors that they would try to rebuild just so he could destroy the world again.
@@wullahblack6452 That's not unique to Kefka if we're being honest. Literally 90% of FF villains could basically end life if they wanted to from Kuja at the end of FF9 (who literally did just destroy an entire world), to Sin in FF10 even up to Ultima in FF16. Most of them usually just have ulterior motives that keep them from doing so. Hell, technically Arden from FF15 basically DOES wipe out most of the world and ends the Lucis bloodline in the process. Let's be real, Kefka, while a fun villain literally only has power because he stole it. He himself isn't very strong unlike villains like Sephiroth or Sin (though I guess you could argue Yu Yevon technically took power too by summoning the souls of the dead).
@@jeremycampbell4021if you know anything about 10 you'd likely remember that Yu Yevon was given their souls by them. They sacrificed themselves to perform the final summoning/creation of sin and dream zanarkand. It was technically up to them. Yo Yevon didn't take anything. Kefka was created technically. He was one of emperor Gestahls best generals. He earned most of his power technically. He was also the most insane villian.
@@jeremycampbell4021 I mean if you want to take that road, Sephiroth only has power because of alien cells put into him in the womb. Kuja only has power because Garland made him that way. etc etc
Sephiroth is a rare instance of an antagonist who becomes as much the face of his franchise as any protagonist, maybe even more so. Even with the mistranslations of the original PS1, any person who got to know Sephiroth would be aware that if even the planet took action against him, it meant that he was as close to a God in terms of power as a mortal could possibly be. I still remember getting goosebumps the first time I was subject to his Super Nova attack. With the remake released and part 2 well on the way, I think we've yet a few surprises ahead as to what Sephiroth is truly capable of, if he's able to directly interfere in past(?) events to influence the creation of a brand-new timeline. Cheers!
exactly, he is so powerful that most of the time he never goes full on, and it has been confirmed by Devs including Nojima that Sephiroth's level of power is totally out there. some say Genesis could beat him but that is wrong, Genesis could barely even put a dent in sephiroth even in their fight on junon cannon aka Sister Ray, if Sephiroth really wanted to he could have easily killed Genesis with one strike. glenn challenging him in opening of The First Soldier in EC Is a literal death sentence, and no Devs said there is no new timeline nor multiple nor changes to timeline they said it multiple times in interviews over the past three years to four years, it is not a Reboot it is not a time travel sequel it is a Remake meaning same events, Same Characters, same everything
@@danielcook7975 About the no new timeline thing. There clearly is regardless if the devs are upfront about it right now. Have you played Remake? There's a bunch of things happening that didn't happen in the original games.
Great video, Sephiroth is such an iconic villain. Would love to see a breakdown for Beatrix, Seifer, Garland, or Gabranth, too. Or for the heroes of the series, specifically would like to see Squall or Zidane
I would find it interesting if we would be able to compare other other villains, see how each one ranks amongst each other in terms of strength, but that can get dangerously close to battle boarding, so that's a road probably best left on tread.
Regarding the fight of Sephiroth and Cloud in the movie. Yes Sephiroth was not full power there and it was stated so by one of the staff/script writers. That Sephiroth held back or was otherwise inhibited, unable to access and show his full power. And this makes sense since for the full return of Sephiroth, it required all three vessels if not more than that(I recall something about "reunion" and gathering people infected with geostigma, mainly kids). Additionally the Jenova cells. If you recall Kadaj held a container with an amount of Jenova cells required for Sephiroths return. But the container got damaged and a lot(if not most of the Jenova cells) were spilled and lost. So considering that from the three vessels(if not more), in the end it was only one. And from the Jenova cells, there was only a minuscule amount left in the container for Kadaj to absorb. Then we can see how Sephiroth would be at most/max 10-20% of his true self. And even like that he was able to one sided curbstomp Cloud for a long while, playing around too much and sparing Cloud's life again and again(because there are multiple times he could have ended Cloud's life, due to how much Sephiroth was overwhelming Cloud even while Sephiroth was just toying around with him). In Cloud's defense, he was also sick, infected with geostigma himself. So in theory he might also not been at his 100% and I don't recall when it was that his geostigma shown on his arm started to recover. Was it before or after the final fight ended due to Aeris healing rain? But I think it's a fair estimation to say that Cloud while being affected by geostigma, he was able to give around 60-70% of his capabilities. Regardless, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Cloud did something/beat Sephiroth by himself, even in this state. See while Sephiroth after his birth, he is quite the "self made" person. Like he had little to no help across his life. The same can not be said for Cloud. Cloud was a plain weak human to begin with, proven through multiple instances. He received help from Zack and was eventually injected with Jenova cells and some mako infusion, as I recall he was inside a mako containing capsule in Hojo's underground lab within the mansion. Which is why it was said and shown that after Zack released him from there, Cloud suffered from mako poisoning for a while. Besides that Cloud always had his friends help throughout his original FF7 journey, whether it be to fight Shinra or Sephiroth. Also in the FF7 remake(more like sequel), besides some of the aforementioned things, when Cloud tried to do omnislash on Sephiroth, this time Sephiroth neg diff neutralized it and knocked the sword off Cloud's hand. And yet again, Sephiroth spared Cloud's life for a thousandth time. This time also offering Cloud to join him. Which makes me believe that Sephiroth doesn't actually dislike Cloud. It looks more like older brother "tough love" to his younger brother. While at first Sephiroth went mad, later on, after some point he seemed less mad and less hostile. I don't see any intention from him to want to kill Cloud. Unless that's because Cloud is unwillingly a pawn in Sephiroth's master plans(which occasionally we've seen him be)+might just enjoy and get more entertainment by being sadistic towards Cloud.
Very well made. I haven't got the chance to play all the spin off games so this puts so much into perspective that I never knew of before and rounds off the character development so well.
For me it’s so sad that Sephiroth gone crazy, he was so cool SOLDIER, so cool character, but his own story broke him… I would like to see a comic book, sort of “what if” series, where Sephiroth is not going crazy and living his supersoldier life.
Didn't someone say that sephiroth isn't at his full power in Advent children or at least never used his full power? Advent Children producer Yoshinori Kitase has said "Sephiroth's existence and will is extremely powerful. There is nothing stronger, nothing above him." This makes me believe it was just sephiroth not taking cloud seriously that led to his defeat.
Yes it was stated that Sephirothwasnt at full power in advent children. In fact he wasn’t even at half power. Also he wants cloud to join him so he never really tries to kill him
@@genjithesheikah1501 Now you're just coming up with fan-fiction with the whole "he wasn't even at half power" stuff. Sounds like a shonen anime debate. It was never stated explicitly how much effort he put into fighting Cloud during AC, only that Sephiroth is still overall the strongest. While it's true that during FF7 Remake, Sephiroth clearly wants Cloud alive, it's honestly a bit of a stretch to say he still wanted Cloud alive enough to not kill him during AC. He attempted multiple attacks/tactics that could've easily led to Cloud's death from trying to crush him with a building, repeatedly using slashes strong enough to slice through solid steel and concrete with ease while fighting and literally stabbing him straight through the chest. It's possible he wanted Cloud alive but he also doesn't seem to just be toying with Cloud either. It feels like Sephiroth legitimately just wanted to torture Cloud especially near the end before he killed him rather than just not trying to kill him at all.
Or, you know, it's Jenova and Jenova's power level is finite which is why, as a parasite, it needs the forms of others to become more powerful and Kadaj just wasn't as powerful. The end game for Jenova is to corrupt/drag Cloud down enough so its influence can take over Cloud and become the strongest on the planet, which is why it was trying to overtake Sephiroth but as of right now can only be a "shadow" of Sephiroth since Seph is in the lifestream at this point.
I'll only watch it when I've completely caught up on MSQ, but id LOVE to see an Emet-Selch video. Just like every other XIV player, I love Emet and want to know as much as possible about him.
Yes please more content like this. Delving into individual character lore is one of my favorite type of videos! Not to mention your sultry voice is calming.
Don’t forget. In ACC there’s three remnants. All three were supposed to have their reunion to truly revive Sephiroth. Sephiroth toyed with Cloud at 1/3 of his strength. Dude is BEYOND OP.
Just because the supernova only showed the solar system that doesn't mean it only destroyed the solar system..... The ultimania guidebook for ffvii og literally stated that sephiroth create a dimensional universe and destroy it by despair when supernova is casted
I always knew that Sephiroth created his own dimension and destroyed it according to what Dissidia and the original game said. But is there another dialogue in the ultimania guide? Can you send it?
@Wind-yb7qm I only have the dissidia and og scans for sephiroth's supernova.... In remake when sephiroth cast the divine proclamation he smiled at the player for breaking the 4th wall and he also did this in rebirth after you fail to stop the end is nigh or tempus finis + octoslash and octoslash prime mocking the player for failing to stop it....
@SeferAngeloEspiritus Thanks, although I saw the og scans of Sephiroth Super Nova and it only says that it destroys the solar system... while the one from dissidia says that it destroys dimensional space, can you send where It says in og ff7 guide that Super Nova creates and destroys a universe?
@Wind-yb7qm you only have to link the kotr context with sephiroth's supernova.... You see when you summon kotr it is the same how sephiroth casted supernova in og.... And also sephiroth > kotr
Depends on whether you favor the "summons are illusions, and so is Supernova" interpretation or the "summons bring you to a separate dimension, and so does Supernova" interpretation.
@15:10 Sephiroth stops Cloud's attack without the sword being there. Then proceeds to alter the weather and sliced buildings into pieces. I'ma have to disagree with whoever and say he's definitely at maximum strength.
I would love to hear this kind of discussion surrounding Lightning and how she went from soldier to nearly Goddess of Death. These discussions are a lot of fun to hear
Kefka would be cool to look at! I would argue that Kefka becomes one of the strongest villains in all the series due to actually becoming a God, absorbing the powers of ALL 3 goddesses of the Warring Triad.
I really like this topic, because we can label what Sephiroth has: -Superhuman strength -Speed -Stamina -Infinite magic pool -More durable, but not extremely due to his physical body -Has transformations as needed -Sword skills and powers -Master of the masamune -Can fend off hand to hand combatants -Other powers, such as making clones or blowing up a star -Mind control (especially those with Jenova cells and Geostigma) -Soul manipulation -Indomitable will -(Remake) Telekinesis -(Remake) Reality warping All this power, and he never took Cloud seriously enough… 🤔
Really liked this - I think you could easily make a nigh endless series of lore dives on specific characters. Of course I'd be over here voting for FF14 lore a lot, ha - but with the way y'all put your videos together, I'd be fascinated by any character you decide to cover. Your prior videos discussing other folks - like Vincent from FF7 and Kuja from FF9 - were really intriguing.
What an incredible summary of not only Sephiroth, but the story of FF7 as a whole. Obviously still Sephiroth centric, but this is so good I'm gonna use this as a quick explanation of the story for my gf who I constantly annoy by talking about this game/compilation endlessly lol amazing video!
something not many people think about or touch on, but some foreshadowing when tifa guides sephiroth and zack/(cloud) through nibelheim and they encounter the piece of natural materia. sephiroth describes how its formed. Sephiroth later forms himself into natural materia. Instead of being absorbed fully by the lifestream. Sephiroth becomes the black materia.
I still think it's actually Jenova in control, and he just doesn't realize it and I really hope the remake trilogy bears that out. Also looking forward to more of these, there are no shortage of interesting characters to deep dive. Just off of the cuff - The Emperor, ExDeath, Kefka, Ultimecia and Eald'narche are all great characters to look into. Maybe Emet Selch, but I think Endwalker already did a very good job of that on its own.
I'd say that is the reality or at least some sort of 50/50 deal. Once he learns the truth about Jenova he aligns his goals with hers & acts as her arm, if not fully controlled by her, after his initial death at the Nibelheim reactor.
@@ruxsack4021 My theory has been that was the moment Jenova took hold over him. She was known for mind controlling people, even the Cetra, and Crisis Core clearly shows Sephiroth's personality doing a complete 180. He didn't just get angry at learning the truth, Zack's innocent question along with Genesis' prodding likely left just enough of an opening for Jenova to take over - like a malignant tumor just waiting for the immune system to finally cave
Are we just going to skip over the fact that literally the ultimana of ff7 og talks about sephiroth recreating the universe and then using supernova which brings there enemies to a “WHOLE NEW DIMENSION” and then he shader it… even the summons themselves even do this in some cases like knights of the round. Seph in remake has the power to manipulate fate and “destiny” and go into all other timelines making him multiverse+ this is hind sight would make cloud the same by the beginning of remake due to him legitimately killing the harbinger of fate. In edit conclusion there is debatable conversation with other enemies that are gods used by them that could make them higher since they can defeat them. Like for mention crisis core seph before falling into the life stream he one shot ifrit which in statement says one look will burn the whole world to ashes which means SEKAI meaning it’s own individual interpretation of universe….
13:30-13:45 You mention Sephiroth's attention is split 3 ways which cost him the fight. The encounter with your group. summoning meteor, and preventing holy all at the same time. But weren't all three events isolated from each other? Sephiroth's attempt at preventing holy boiled down to dealing with Aerith. Meteor was already summoned. So it seems like he's completely focused on the group when you fight him.
Great video! I would love to see more FF villains explored like this and I find it interesting how the nature of the main villain changes from game to game as many are essentially humans who achieve a god-like levels of power, but others are more of a force of nature, or an actual god. And since this video is focusing on the strength/power of the villain, I would really like to see Sin from FFX in particular - not Yu Yevon and not Seymour (main antagonists of FFX) - but the actual power level of Sin itself.
So Sephiroth would only regain his full power in advent children if the 3 remnants merged with Jenova? I never knew that but it makes perfect sense. In the original game when you finally made to Sephiroth, he went through several transformations. 1st his human born during a conversation between cloud and his companions. 2nd form is when the fight began, Sephiroth appeared like a metamorphosis between a angel and demon. 3rd and final form Sephiroth takes on a more seraphim godlike appearance, where Sephiroth mainly used powerful magic and his move set were deadly, especially in the original Japanese version of this fight. I can see a full power Seraphim Sephiroth butchering cloud in advent children if his plan had succeeded.
The thing about sephiroth. Is that every time he's fought he has never been at full power. His body was still mangled when the team interrupted his healing. If advent he is limited by Kadaj's weaker body. Maybe over time he could have powered up in AC. All the times sephiroth was faced was when he was weak. The life stream shower, like cloud's, made his Jenova cells awaken fully. Unlike cloud however he was not bound by hafling bodies. Zack was able to impale him because he hadn't awoken most of his Jenova cells nor any remnant cetra DNA. If sephiroth were ever at full power he couldn't be stopped no matter how emo cloud got.
As somebody who used to debate whether it was Sephiroth or Jenova's will driving the story 20 years ago on video game forums, I'm very interested in the source for that Nojima quote that Jenova brought Sephiroth back in Advent Children lol.
No matter how strong he is, he’s always beatable as long as he remains the villain because you game over otherwise. 😂 to me his astounding introduction in the original game and his menacing personality are the reason I fall in love with him. A very charismatic character!
I've been playing too much ffxiv. I see Cloud omnislash Sephiroth in Advent Children and I just picture Sephiroth standing there shocked like, "Dynamis?".
I got a theory for you. In rebirth, Sephiroth completes the reunion. Thus becoming powerful enough to bend time and space and start yhis seperate time line. Only with Zack's help crossing over between realities can our protagonist succeed
The fact that she has proved to be Sephiroth's equal is amazing in itself and should make her a very enigmatic character. I'm sure she has probably continued to improve her skills as time has went on.
According to Nintendo, Sephiroth is more powerful than Galeem, a being that was threatening the Nintendo multiverse. He literally killed it with one slash of Masamune, then was ready to take on all of Smash's heroes, which includes Cloud Strife.
The one thing that misses the mark in the English Dub of FF7 that I found really telling is that the name "Bizarro Sephiroth" in the JP version translates roughly to "Rebirth Sephiroth", which gives more credence to the title of the song played during his boss battle "Birth of a God".
I think FF7 remake kind of pulled the trigger with Sephiroth too soon. In the original, we didn't see Sephiroth until Kalm, instead only mentioned as a force to be reckoned with. And that first fight against the dragon showed just how powerful he was. It was a great first impression. But in the remake, we not only saw him earlier but also fought him as well. I think the final fight shouldn't have been Sephiroth. Instead, they should've taken a page from the first Kingdom Hearts game and have Sephiroth be the last match of the Shinra Combat Simulator. The note given before the fight stating that Sephiroth's power was so great, even the simulator couldn't accurately recreate it. That this combat simulator was the best it could do. Sephiroth has fought the simulation and beaten it easily in less than a minute. But at least the simulation gives regular Soldier members something to strive to. No Soldier has managed to last more than a 60 seconds against it, except for 2 members. Soldier A is the only person besides Sephiroth who managed to best the simulation and only after a long and grueling battle, where A collapsed from exhaustion and needed several days to recuperate.
As well in the remake trilogy, he can make the Sephiroth clones to look like him to communicate to Cloud and lead him to the destination that Sephiroth needs him to do to achieve his goals
interesting to hear his full story - you went straight to the most interesting character of ff7 dunno if i can agree to everything that has been said, but it was interesting for sure
I don't believe it was mentioned directly, but before the final battle you could see holy trying to get out of the crater and Cloud mentioned that Sephiroth was blocking it. As far as the meteor goes, that one's kinda iffy since the spell was already activated and sitting up there ready to drop (but then the black materia isn't ordinary maybe it has a lot of charge time or something).
It's a pretty big deal that Sephiroth couldn't be defeated by any one person or thing, that it took the power of friendship and the united will of the planet to stop the apocalypse, kinda like the apocalypse we're experiencing now.
Dissidia Opera Omnia makes him come off as on par with Shantoto and Enna Kros. Perhaps more as he is the only one who rather than collapse when at 0HP, poses as though saying "may be meet again" before fading behind a wing, leaving only his weapon.
I you can find it, there is a interview where the creator says Sephiroth has never gone full out in combat, there is nobody stronger than him, he loses because he plays with his food too.
I have been wondering recently if sephiroths end goals had changed from OG to AC. In OG he wanted to use the life stream to become a god as he assumed it was his right as the last Cetra. In AC he wants to use the planet as a vessel to find another planet, the issue I have it that why not build on the current planet? To my knowledge there is nothing stoping him. This leads me to think that somewhere between OG and AC he learned that Jenova was not a Cetra and Inca t was a parasite. With that in mind his AC goals make total sense, he wants to find new planets to “build a shining new future” to him that’s one devoid of life and filled with Jenova influence. I could be wrong, I just don’t think his end goals in AC are very clear or logical
@@miki49 i was 12 years old and had very big problems. Now with 30 years i can beat him. He is a nightmare of my childhood. And my favorite FF Character of all time with Cloud.
With what happened in Remake, Sephiroth has since grown to be something like an eldrich abomination. Absorbing the whispers, he can now move in and out of reality as well as have knowledge of all of time.
I think is safe to assume Sephiroth only had a fragment of Jenova's power, can you imagine how utterly terrifying was Jenova at full power? Makes me wonder how many planets it destroyed before being stopped by the Cetra
I'm pretty sure the FF7 lore has actually made it quite apparent that Sephiroth becomes more powerful than Jenova itself ever was considering he literally conquers Jenova and takes control over it and uses it for his own ends. Honestly, it seems Jenova's most dangerous aspect was it's "Thing" ability. It's ability to transform it's physical body into other forms to trick or manipulate others which is extremely dangerous. It's basically how Jenova was able to get the jump on the Cetra but considering even with their numbers extremely low they still were able to defeat and seal away Jenova, I'd say it couldn't have really been that much stronger than we see it during the games.
@@jeremycampbell4021 if they could only seal her away, then they were clearly not strong enough to defeat her. If anything it seems like she is using Sephiroth as an avatar to act out her will since she is still incomplete. Once Cloud is absorbed or dies, then we will be able to see her at full power & whether or not she needs Sephiroth anymore.
@@jeremycampbell4021 well, I think we also have to consider all that remains of Jenova are a few fragments and even that is enough to make huge monsters (the ones Cloud and friends fight throughout their journey), even a few cells were enough to bring back Sephiroth in Advent Children, so Jenova in its original state should've been much stronger than what we get to see
The only parts of Jenova that were away were the Cells used for Shinras Experiments (Sephiroth, SOLDIER, ect) and the parts that Jenova/Sephiroth left behind to form the Jenova Bosses. Seeing how these parts grew into huge monsters its safe to assume that Jenova can regenerate. Whats more important, even when seperated it still controlls these parts. So I don't see how Jenovas power was diminished in any way.
Omnislash made sure that Sephiroth was able to divide his attention, and hell, all of his body into different directions 😏 I think Cloud was at his strongest in Advent Children, and using 5 or 6 different swords he was able to create a new version of omnislash!
I want to see a video on the strongest FF character Rain, who? He's the main character of FF Brave Exvius, his ability Visions, is the gacha system itself; He can summon any FF character as well as collab characters, making him by far the strongest summoner in all of FF. On top of that, his limit break destroys an entire galaxy, so he is extremely power on his own.
Would you do a comparison of the energies for all final fantasies and how much their power affected them? Kind of like a ranking system? My personal opinion, originally I felt mitochondria eve was strongest due to constant evolution. Then 12 came and showed how mist basically has an infinite supply that will keep boosting whoever is strong enough to absorb it. The worst energy in my opinion goes to 16s aether. Only because the aether was born to be retrieved back to ultima and allow the land to die, but the buffs are atronomical.
![The Evolution of Superbosses [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nx68u7QqOSg/mqdefault.jpg)
I've always been a fan of the theory that the reason Cloud was able to get the jump on Sephiroth was because of the pre-emptive strike materia he had equipped.
that a nice headcanon lol
Why tho??? Can you explain
@@hadrielheredia1319 because that materia lets you get sneak attacks on enemies, and in the flashback sequences cloud was equipped with it in nibelheim at the time, so it could have helped him catch sephiroth off guard when he stabbed him from behind with Zacks (previously angeals) Buster Sword.
It's also the only reason for him to even have it. It makes no practical difference in the playable battles during the flashback.
@@saphcalhe didnt have it though Zack has it Cloud wasnt actually the character we played as in the flashback
He’s stronger than at least 4 wolves
And a dragon
87 wolves and 22 dragons strong
You are now manually breathing.
Wuddu bout 1 billion lions?
Stuffnjunk askin some real questions
The one thing I really, really respect about the Sephiroth story is that his “become a god” mechanism actually makes sense. Create an injury so severe that you’d need the whole of the lifestream to heal it. And you’re right there in the middle, soaking it all up. It’s literally the only Final Fantasy villain plan that I can explain and actually understand what I’m talking about.
I think Seymour's was pretty straightforward. Become Yuna's Final Aeon, then defeat Sin, and become the new Sin. Unlike Jecht being forced to run around killing people by Yu Yevon, Seymour would've tried to wipe out everyone entirely.
@@Stostri Good point, but I was specifically thinking of Jecht in that scenario. But you’re 100% correct.
Kujas from 9 is perfect as well, it’s just pure revenge drenched in selfishness and insecurity.
Yeah g8 point. Seph's story was layered, and it conducted itself around and through many of the playing characters and Shrina. You felt he was the most mysterious and interesting character as he wasn't the outright antagonist to the plot straight away. The swerve of his relationship with Cloud was brilliant as it forced you as the player to actually question who Cloud was and played into his 'lone wolf' character.
I think FF8 tried this dynamic with multi-tiered groups but it was a lot more complex to understand
Kefka, I want to be the god of Magic, I became the god of magic, I am bored lets destroy everything. It was pretty straight forward.
What I loved about Advent Children is How they had barely fleshed Zacks story out when he gave Cloud that Final Nudge. If players hadn't gone out of their way to uncover his hidden FF7 cutscenes between him and cloud it plays out like a weird acquaintance showing up to the party early and leaving once they helped clean up afterwards.
Don't forget that both Vincent and Yuffie were secret, missable, characters which means there were probably people who had no clue who the heck they even were when they showed up in Advent Children.
@@RoninXDarknight most excellent point and a personal laugh for me as I didnt get Vincent my first run and I went to a friend's and they showed me their progress and I saw him and exclaimed who the hell is that what in the action replay did you do And restarted my file the second I got home.
@@RoninXDarknightvincent is easily misable but yuffie actually has at one point a 100% chance of apearing to you every time you have a random encounter in a forest and you dont have her on your team so its actually very hard to miss
Zack doesn't show up to give Cloud that "final nudge" until the Complete version of Advent Children. The vanilla movie didn't have that scene and by the time they added it, they had already released Crisis Core, Last Order, and basically the rest of the compilation by that point. They only threw it in after there was enough precedence.
@10:15, Sephiroth and Elfe do NOT come up as equals. She blocks his initial attack, is seemingly severely diminished from the exertion, and basically flees in terror. It's a very impressive feat on her part, because he didn't seem to be consciously holding back, but they're still nowhere near equal.
I really like how in the end Jenova was nothing more than a puppet to her own "son", most stories would see Jenova be the actual villain ordering Sephiroth around and trying to rule the world, but in actuality Sephiroth broke her will and made her into his servant, that was metal AF. Loved the video! I hope the next one is on Cloud.
Edit: The homies be debating in the replies. Chime in if you want to add something
Yet fundamentally this is absolutely false. Sephiroth died in the Nibelheim incident and fell into the lifestream where he was purged of all of Jenova's cells and his body rejoined with the Earth. Jenova, who canonically has been shown to be a mimic, took on the visage of the strongest entity that she "knew" at that point (Sephiroth). This is why at the Northern Crater we see only the upper half of Sephiroth's body as Jenova is still gathering her "body" from the last five years as only her head had plunked into the lifestream with Sephiroth and the rest was taken by Shinra back to Midgar.
That is the "reunion". It's all her cells coming back. It's just so well written that to this day everyone thinks Sephiroth is the villain, but he's been dead and in the lifestream for the last five years. To say he "broke her will and made her into his servant" is utterly bonkers considering his own willpower was so fragile that he spent a week reading about being experimented on (something he already fucking knew) and he goes insane? Nah fam Jenova's influence broke him down real fucking quick which also explains how Cloud was free of any of Jenova's before he spent like 5 years in a container with Zach with Hojo experimenting on him.
It seems more like Sephiroth is working with Jenova. Sephiroth still speaks fondly of her & is basically carrying out her will since she is unable to be complete without Cloud's death/absorption because he still has some of her & Sephiroth's cells from Hojo's experiment.
@@ruxsack4021 I would argue that is not the case. Remember that when Cloud fell into the lifestream and was able to "regain" himself most, and I do mean most, of the Jenova cells were purged from him. That last final battle was the last remnant of Jenova's cells/influence that was trying to overtake him and he just obliterates her.
There is no evidence, honestly, that Sephiroth is alive other than Hojo's one line at the Northern Crater but he is an unreliable narrator through and through about it all because, let's face it, he's a mad fucking scientist lol
@@codynoth4183 I never took that from the lifestream scene. It seemed more like it was just him straightening out his memory with Tifa after the Mako poisoning scrambled his brain pre-FF7. Unless I missed a crucial line I have to disagree with that purging any of her cells.
The final Jenova battle seems more like his symbolic & physical overcoming of Jenova's will, but it doesn't say or even imply that her cells were removed. I don't like referencing other games/media, but every appearance of Cloud elsewhere shows him always being "haunted," shall we say, by Sephiroth & Jenova, which more heavily implies that their cells still reside within him.
As for Sephiroth I'd say he's still alive even though his body is dead, but I'm willing to accept that it's just Jenova using his form otherwise.
@@ruxsack4021 I will say that if there are people out there who want to ignore any of the compilation stuff then yes, by all means Sephiroth is the "main" villain and the original game was VERY ambiguous about that in the sense of what Jenova's role played. Though to me even in the OG game there was always that air about Jenova as the planet itself seeing Jenova AS the biggest threat given what we find out about the Cetra and Jenova's involvement ages before FF7 takes place.
I'd even go as far as to say that Cloud and Tifa would not have been able to survive in the lifestream if Aerith had not died and had power/influence over what the lifestream does (which leads us into a lot of what Remake shinnanigans are doing along with those "whispers" being another form of "weapon" in and of themselves) as there seems to be a protectiveness and guidance into restoring Cloud's sense of self.
Though I think it was a line Buggenhagen, in Cosmo Canyon, states about the lifestream rejecting anything that is not part of this planet, and that Jenova is considered an otherworldly disease or parasite (paraphrasing) but I think it's there in the original which is why the planet itself releases the weapons after Jenova obtains that black materia. Cloud and the party having it didn't envoke the weapons, but as soon as Jenova's body in the Northern Crater does that's when the weapons wake.
Sephiroth is incredible. It's not just his strength that's fascinating, it's his story, his character. everything. He is not one who is evil for no reason. Quite the opposite. Sephiroth was loyal and put the well-being of others above his own. In Nibelheim, for example, he says that the others should rest, because he will keep watch, and he was also the one who wanted to donate his blood to Genesis.
Sephiroth suffered since he was born. Abused by ShinRa. He only wanted to find his mother and he lost his friends and never had a real, caring family. I wish there would be a way to save him. Sephiroth deserves a better life. in "Ever Crisis" sephiroth said, that he only wants a normal life and that's what I wish for him. a home, friends who don't betray him and a caring family.
He didn't care much about the cop they lost in nibelheim mountain, or the people in wutai ngl. He's a villain created by Shinra, but like, he wasn't exactly a nice, empathetic guy, and then he snapped. His character is a metaphor for so many things at once. He is a victim, but he's also metaphor for colonialism, toxic masculinity and supremacy.
I like that crisis core showed how capitalism/colonialism creates monsters who are victims as well, but he's not just only a victim
That's a lot more in depth than 7's original "I read books and found out i was made with alien genes, now im CRAAAAZY!"
now why i want to search for sephiroth fanfic....
Actually Sephiroth isa weak minded individual which is why Genesis manipulated him quite easily by revealing Seph's origins. Seph could have avoided Nibelheim massacre by just realizing his birth circunstances does NOT dictate who he is, Sephiroth the hero. Instead he became a massive crybaby, didn't accept the truth and took it upon innocent people. THAT alone makes him a villain without purpose and let me explain why real quick. When he sealed himself in the Nibelheim mansion, he discovered all the truth behind the Jenova project, so he had no reason why to be mad other than "people lied to me", which in reality wasn't going to affect his personal life up to this point. He just wanted to it make it a big deal.
This is why Seph as a villain is kinda meh because his actions in FF7 were nore like rabdom rather than with a purpose. He went from "I am mad because people lied to me" in Crisis core to "you know what? I am gonna become a god and destroy this planet" in FF7. The reasoning? There is none.
@@Yokai_Yuri I fully agree. As i more or less simplifed in my original comment, he basically went nuts on a dime for lackluster reasons.
Remake seems to imply Sephiroth's presence in the Lifestream now supercedes time. In Remake, he appears to have knowledge of the Arbiters of Fate and their Whispers, to the extent that he can attempt to change events, which draws the Whispers out. To what end remains unclear, but it still speaks to the strength of his will that even after his two major defeats at the hands of Cloud, he is still capable of so much.
I wouldn't mind seeing this for every ff, to me it would be a cool series
I second this. This just happens to topical and my fav game, so great place to start. But seeing this for 8/9/10 etc would be great. 16…well Clive basically was a god 😂😂😂
It wouldn't matter because Donald Duck clears the verse with his Zettaflare spell. Only Shantotto would be able to stand up to him.
And FFXVI Bahamut
That would be interesting to see how they 'big bads' for each main line game stack up. Kefka eats Espers/Summons for breakfast, commands the power of 3 gods, and actually destroyed the world. Ultimecia has the power to alter the past and compress all of space/time into a singularity. Cloud of Darkness is, well, the Void manifest.
@nathanh6439 don't forget about X-Death!
He a damn TREE!
Loved this video concept! I would love seeing this done for other villains like Ardyn, Kefka, Emet Selch and more.
Kefka next
To be fair we dont really need an ardyn video, millions like this on him have already been made,plus the srdyn dlc straight up layed everything out on a silver platter
Hell Yeah
I remember someone saying that Sephiroth was relatively weak, and his power mainly came from his extremely high intelligence and ability to manipulate people. I've always disagreed with that idea, and this video helps solidify that. Thanks FFU!
How can anyone build a theory that he was weak? Lol.
The man's feats are done effortlessly.
I think in the Remake, and Rebirth soon, Sephiroth is operating at his peak. I subscribe to the idea that the Sephiroth in the new games has used the life stream in some way to do some timeline skipping so as to mess things up more to achieve what he's after. He was able to transport himself and Cloud to the edge of creation and back again. He's a cosmic entity now I would say.
(Spoiler for Remake)
That Sephiroth at the end was the long dead Sephiroth from the Lifestream. I'm going with Sephiroth is going to have a redemption arc in these three games.
@@codynoth4183 Honestly, could see it.
In Crisis Core, Sephiroth is cold and distant (given his father and childhood, is that surprising?), but not EVIL, per se. He doesn't seem to have malice in his actions, he just kind of does things because he's being told to and has no strong reason not to. The only real exceptions to that are he and Genesis seem to enjoy sparing each other without needing to be goaded, and once he reads the reports in Nibelheim, when everything changes. Before that, he even wanted to help Genesis from his injuries, including offering to donate blood.
And even then, it was borne out of some confusion, since the reports (about him being a Cetra) were wrong, and his animosity (against "the Humans" for being responsible for the Cetra's deaths) was unfounded since it was his own "mother" that did that and he wasn't even a Cetra; something he found out once he got into the Lifestream.
So the question is, what happened to his soul and psyche after that for the rest of the narrative, and into Remake if FF7:R really IS his soul having traveled back in time from after the end of Advent Children.
@@codynoth4183 this is a possibility
This is an even bigger possibility after finishing Rebirth.
@@acejumper1681Really? Rebirth seems to make it less of one, in my opinion.
I’m glad to see this. I’ve always thought he was just a face to the antagonist, Jenova was the one to watch out for!!
Hojo more like it.
Jenova was a slave to his will.
If you think about it, Sephiroth is going on what he believes is the truth. He’s wildly misinformed. The two examples I can think of off the top of my head are
In CC- he says “Project G, Project Genesis.” But it doesn’t mean that at all. It means Project Gillian.
Jenova isn’t his mother. He only has her cells. Lucrecia is his mother. In ever crisis I believe he was given a picture of Lucrecia and told her name was Jenova and that was his mother.
He’s just been lied to, or thinks he’s figured out the truth, and is basing his actions all this misinformation and his assumptions.
I would like to see a breakdown of Kefka’s strength next.
I think the neat thing about Kekfa is he could have completely wiped out all life on the planet if he wanted to, but didn't because he liked to torture and revel in the misery of others.
@@wullahblack6452 Indeed. He enjoyed destroying the world so much, he left enough survivors that they would try to rebuild just so he could destroy the world again.
@@wullahblack6452 That's not unique to Kefka if we're being honest. Literally 90% of FF villains could basically end life if they wanted to from Kuja at the end of FF9 (who literally did just destroy an entire world), to Sin in FF10 even up to Ultima in FF16. Most of them usually just have ulterior motives that keep them from doing so. Hell, technically Arden from FF15 basically DOES wipe out most of the world and ends the Lucis bloodline in the process. Let's be real, Kefka, while a fun villain literally only has power because he stole it. He himself isn't very strong unlike villains like Sephiroth or Sin (though I guess you could argue Yu Yevon technically took power too by summoning the souls of the dead).
@@jeremycampbell4021if you know anything about 10 you'd likely remember that Yu Yevon was given their souls by them. They sacrificed themselves to perform the final summoning/creation of sin and dream zanarkand. It was technically up to them. Yo Yevon didn't take anything. Kefka was created technically. He was one of emperor Gestahls best generals. He earned most of his power technically. He was also the most insane villian.
@@jeremycampbell4021 I mean if you want to take that road, Sephiroth only has power because of alien cells put into him in the womb. Kuja only has power because Garland made him that way. etc etc
Sephiroth is a rare instance of an antagonist who becomes as much the face of his franchise as any protagonist, maybe even more so.
Even with the mistranslations of the original PS1, any person who got to know Sephiroth would be aware that if even the planet took action against him, it meant that he was as close to a God in terms of power as a mortal could possibly be. I still remember getting goosebumps the first time I was subject to his Super Nova attack.
With the remake released and part 2 well on the way, I think we've yet a few surprises ahead as to what Sephiroth is truly capable of, if he's able to directly interfere in past(?) events to influence the creation of a brand-new timeline.
Cheers!
The planet or holy not God level.
exactly, he is so powerful that most of the time he never goes full on, and it has been confirmed by Devs including Nojima that Sephiroth's level of power is totally out there.
some say Genesis could beat him but that is wrong, Genesis could barely even put a dent in sephiroth even in their fight on junon cannon aka Sister Ray, if Sephiroth really wanted to he could have easily killed Genesis with one strike.
glenn challenging him in opening of The First Soldier in EC Is a literal death sentence, and no Devs said there is no new timeline nor multiple nor changes to timeline they said it multiple times in interviews over the past three years to four years, it is not a Reboot it is not a time travel sequel it is a Remake meaning same events, Same Characters, same everything
@@danielcook7975 About the no new timeline thing. There clearly is regardless if the devs are upfront about it right now. Have you played Remake? There's a bunch of things happening that didn't happen in the original games.
Amazing video! I love how you cobbled together the story footage from 5+ games to give the fullest picture possible of Sephiroth’s life, well done 🙌
Great video, Sephiroth is such an iconic villain. Would love to see a breakdown for Beatrix, Seifer, Garland, or Gabranth, too. Or for the heroes of the series, specifically would like to see Squall or Zidane
I would find it interesting if we would be able to compare other other villains, see how each one ranks amongst each other in terms of strength, but that can get dangerously close to battle boarding, so that's a road probably best left on tread.
I think Sephiroth was distracted by clouds swords disassembling which gave Cloud the win 🤣
Regarding the fight of Sephiroth and Cloud in the movie. Yes Sephiroth was not full power there and it was stated so by one of the staff/script writers. That Sephiroth held back or was otherwise inhibited, unable to access and show his full power. And this makes sense since for the full return of Sephiroth, it required all three vessels if not more than that(I recall something about "reunion" and gathering people infected with geostigma, mainly kids). Additionally the Jenova cells. If you recall Kadaj held a container with an amount of Jenova cells required for Sephiroths return. But the container got damaged and a lot(if not most of the Jenova cells) were spilled and lost.
So considering that from the three vessels(if not more), in the end it was only one. And from the Jenova cells, there was only a minuscule amount left in the container for Kadaj to absorb. Then we can see how Sephiroth would be at most/max 10-20% of his true self.
And even like that he was able to one sided curbstomp Cloud for a long while, playing around too much and sparing Cloud's life again and again(because there are multiple times he could have ended Cloud's life, due to how much Sephiroth was overwhelming Cloud even while Sephiroth was just toying around with him).
In Cloud's defense, he was also sick, infected with geostigma himself. So in theory he might also not been at his 100% and I don't recall when it was that his geostigma shown on his arm started to recover. Was it before or after the final fight ended due to Aeris healing rain? But I think it's a fair estimation to say that Cloud while being affected by geostigma, he was able to give around 60-70% of his capabilities.
Regardless, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Cloud did something/beat Sephiroth by himself, even in this state.
See while Sephiroth after his birth, he is quite the "self made" person. Like he had little to no help across his life. The same can not be said for Cloud. Cloud was a plain weak human to begin with, proven through multiple instances. He received help from Zack and was eventually injected with Jenova cells and some mako infusion, as I recall he was inside a mako containing capsule in Hojo's underground lab within the mansion. Which is why it was said and shown that after Zack released him from there, Cloud suffered from mako poisoning for a while.
Besides that Cloud always had his friends help throughout his original FF7 journey, whether it be to fight Shinra or Sephiroth.
Also in the FF7 remake(more like sequel), besides some of the aforementioned things, when Cloud tried to do omnislash on Sephiroth, this time Sephiroth neg diff neutralized it and knocked the sword off Cloud's hand. And yet again, Sephiroth spared Cloud's life for a thousandth time. This time also offering Cloud to join him.
Which makes me believe that Sephiroth doesn't actually dislike Cloud. It looks more like older brother "tough love" to his younger brother. While at first Sephiroth went mad, later on, after some point he seemed less mad and less hostile. I don't see any intention from him to want to kill Cloud. Unless that's because Cloud is unwillingly a pawn in Sephiroth's master plans(which occasionally we've seen him be)+might just enjoy and get more entertainment by being sadistic towards Cloud.
Very well made. I haven't got the chance to play all the spin off games so this puts so much into perspective that I never knew of before and rounds off the character development so well.
For me it’s so sad that Sephiroth gone crazy, he was so cool SOLDIER, so cool character, but his own story broke him…
I would like to see a comic book, sort of “what if” series, where Sephiroth is not going crazy and living his supersoldier life.
Didn't someone say that sephiroth isn't at his full power in Advent children or at least never used his full power? Advent Children producer Yoshinori Kitase has said "Sephiroth's existence and will is extremely powerful. There is nothing stronger, nothing above him." This makes me believe it was just sephiroth not taking cloud seriously that led to his defeat.
Or maybe he wasn’t as strong due to being resurrected through Kadaj.
Yes it was stated that Sephirothwasnt at full power in advent children. In fact he wasn’t even at half power. Also he wants cloud to join him so he never really tries to kill him
@@genjithesheikah1501 Now you're just coming up with fan-fiction with the whole "he wasn't even at half power" stuff. Sounds like a shonen anime debate. It was never stated explicitly how much effort he put into fighting Cloud during AC, only that Sephiroth is still overall the strongest. While it's true that during FF7 Remake, Sephiroth clearly wants Cloud alive, it's honestly a bit of a stretch to say he still wanted Cloud alive enough to not kill him during AC. He attempted multiple attacks/tactics that could've easily led to Cloud's death from trying to crush him with a building, repeatedly using slashes strong enough to slice through solid steel and concrete with ease while fighting and literally stabbing him straight through the chest. It's possible he wanted Cloud alive but he also doesn't seem to just be toying with Cloud either. It feels like Sephiroth legitimately just wanted to torture Cloud especially near the end before he killed him rather than just not trying to kill him at all.
@@jeremycampbell4021 I wasn’t trying to make anything up. I just have horrible memory
Or, you know, it's Jenova and Jenova's power level is finite which is why, as a parasite, it needs the forms of others to become more powerful and Kadaj just wasn't as powerful. The end game for Jenova is to corrupt/drag Cloud down enough so its influence can take over Cloud and become the strongest on the planet, which is why it was trying to overtake Sephiroth but as of right now can only be a "shadow" of Sephiroth since Seph is in the lifestream at this point.
It's funny how all this pain and misery was caused by Shinra misunderstanding what the "Promised Land" was.
I would love to see videos like these for either Golbez or Garland.
I'll only watch it when I've completely caught up on MSQ, but id LOVE to see an Emet-Selch video. Just like every other XIV player, I love Emet and want to know as much as possible about him.
I'd like to see Ultimecia's power according to lore.
She can destroy time itself, so probably one of the strongest FF baddies. Even if her plan doesn't make much sense.
Yes please more content like this. Delving into individual character lore is one of my favorite type of videos!
Not to mention your sultry voice is calming.
This kind of makes me think that Sephiroth is to Ganondorf what Jenova is to Demise.
Don’t forget. In ACC there’s three remnants. All three were supposed to have their reunion to truly revive Sephiroth. Sephiroth toyed with Cloud at 1/3 of his strength. Dude is BEYOND OP.
An enjoyable exploration. Covering Exdeath, Kefka, Ultimecia, and Ardyn in similar fashion would be interesting.
I mean, he got beaten by an old man, a cat plushy, and a bar tender…
Don't forget local florist and lab rat dog 😁
"old man"? Cid was 32 and Barret was 35. I guess Vincent was likely older but I don't think we know his actual age and he doesnt look "old".
An old man, a cat plushy, a bartender, a local florist, and a lab rat.
"What a crew."
-Rufus
"local flourist" destroyed his meteor, which was insane.
35 ain't old lol
Just because the supernova only showed the solar system that doesn't mean it only destroyed the solar system..... The ultimania guidebook for ffvii og literally stated that sephiroth create a dimensional universe and destroy it by despair when supernova is casted
I always knew that Sephiroth created his own dimension and destroyed it according to what Dissidia and the original game said. But is there another dialogue in the ultimania guide? Can you send it?
@Wind-yb7qm I only have the dissidia and og scans for sephiroth's supernova.... In remake when sephiroth cast the divine proclamation he smiled at the player for breaking the 4th wall and he also did this in rebirth after you fail to stop the end is nigh or tempus finis + octoslash and octoslash prime mocking the player for failing to stop it....
@SeferAngeloEspiritus Thanks, although I saw the og scans of Sephiroth Super Nova and it only says that it destroys the solar system... while the one from dissidia says that it destroys dimensional space, can you send where It says in og ff7 guide that Super Nova creates and destroys a universe?
@Wind-yb7qm you only have to link the kotr context with sephiroth's supernova.... You see when you summon kotr it is the same how sephiroth casted supernova in og.... And also sephiroth > kotr
@SeferAngeloEspiritus Thanks, that makes sense.
Cool video, would love to see you tackle how strong Sin is from FF10 in the same way!
Sephy is amazing
Depends on whether you favor the "summons are illusions, and so is Supernova" interpretation or the "summons bring you to a separate dimension, and so does Supernova" interpretation.
I love Final Fantasy, just started playing the Final Fantasy VI pixel remaster and I'm loving it.
I was tired when I read the thumbnail as girth of a bod.😂
@15:10 Sephiroth stops Cloud's attack without the sword being there. Then proceeds to alter the weather and sliced buildings into pieces.
I'ma have to disagree with whoever and say he's definitely at maximum strength.
I would love to hear this kind of discussion surrounding Lightning and how she went from soldier to nearly Goddess of Death. These discussions are a lot of fun to hear
Kefka would be cool to look at! I would argue that Kefka becomes one of the strongest villains in all the series due to actually becoming a God, absorbing the powers of ALL 3 goddesses of the Warring Triad.
I really like this topic, because we can label what Sephiroth has:
-Superhuman strength
-Speed
-Stamina
-Infinite magic pool
-More durable, but not extremely due to his physical body
-Has transformations as needed
-Sword skills and powers
-Master of the masamune
-Can fend off hand to hand combatants
-Other powers, such as making clones or blowing up a star
-Mind control (especially those with Jenova cells and Geostigma)
-Soul manipulation
-Indomitable will
-(Remake) Telekinesis
-(Remake) Reality warping
All this power, and he never took Cloud seriously enough… 🤔
Doesn't Sephiroth also have Immortality because he keeps coming back
Yeah this is a very good example of terrible writing.
@@elizabethchint2391 or they want to make Sephiroth OP
@SamuelJohnsonYT I meant the fact that he is OP, but Cloud ends up beating him anyway despite being so because he's the main character. 😂
@@elizabethchint6485 I think he only defeated him because of plot armor
I saw Jiggly Puff defeat Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros., so idk
Really liked this - I think you could easily make a nigh endless series of lore dives on specific characters. Of course I'd be over here voting for FF14 lore a lot, ha - but with the way y'all put your videos together, I'd be fascinated by any character you decide to cover. Your prior videos discussing other folks - like Vincent from FF7 and Kuja from FF9 - were really intriguing.
Damn how do you make videos like this . The editing is just outstanding
so, I'd say its pretty impressive he has the power to influence fate in the multiverse
What an incredible summary of not only Sephiroth, but the story of FF7 as a whole. Obviously still Sephiroth centric, but this is so good I'm gonna use this as a quick explanation of the story for my gf who I constantly annoy by talking about this game/compilation endlessly lol amazing video!
Cloud is everything that Sephiroth actually wants to save.
something not many people think about or touch on, but some foreshadowing when tifa guides sephiroth and zack/(cloud) through nibelheim and they encounter the piece of natural materia. sephiroth describes how its formed. Sephiroth later forms himself into natural materia. Instead of being absorbed fully by the lifestream. Sephiroth becomes the black materia.
I'd love to see Kuja.... he's got such a huge lore background.
Trance Kuja was like a super saiyan on Terra.
FF9 nor Kuja don't get that much love.
I still think it's actually Jenova in control, and he just doesn't realize it and I really hope the remake trilogy bears that out.
Also looking forward to more of these, there are no shortage of interesting characters to deep dive.
Just off of the cuff - The Emperor, ExDeath, Kefka, Ultimecia and Eald'narche are all great characters to look into.
Maybe Emet Selch, but I think Endwalker already did a very good job of that on its own.
I'd say that is the reality or at least some sort of 50/50 deal. Once he learns the truth about Jenova he aligns his goals with hers & acts as her arm, if not fully controlled by her, after his initial death at the Nibelheim reactor.
@@ruxsack4021 My theory has been that was the moment Jenova took hold over him. She was known for mind controlling people, even the Cetra, and Crisis Core clearly shows Sephiroth's personality doing a complete 180.
He didn't just get angry at learning the truth, Zack's innocent question along with Genesis' prodding likely left just enough of an opening for Jenova to take over - like a malignant tumor just waiting for the immune system to finally cave
Are we just going to skip over the fact that literally the ultimana of ff7 og talks about sephiroth recreating the universe and then using supernova which brings there enemies to a “WHOLE NEW DIMENSION” and then he shader it… even the summons themselves even do this in some cases like knights of the round. Seph in remake has the power to manipulate fate and “destiny” and go into all other timelines making him multiverse+ this is hind sight would make cloud the same by the beginning of remake due to him legitimately killing the harbinger of fate. In edit conclusion there is debatable conversation with other enemies that are gods used by them that could make them higher since they can defeat them. Like for mention crisis core seph before falling into the life stream he one shot ifrit which in statement says one look will burn the whole world to ashes which means SEKAI meaning it’s own individual interpretation of universe….
13:30-13:45 You mention Sephiroth's attention is split 3 ways which cost him the fight. The encounter with your group. summoning meteor, and preventing holy all at the same time. But weren't all three events isolated from each other? Sephiroth's attempt at preventing holy boiled down to dealing with Aerith. Meteor was already summoned. So it seems like he's completely focused on the group when you fight him.
Loved it, thank you. VINCENT Next??!
Great video! I would love to see more FF villains explored like this and I find it interesting how the nature of the main villain changes from game to game as many are essentially humans who achieve a god-like levels of power, but others are more of a force of nature, or an actual god. And since this video is focusing on the strength/power of the villain, I would really like to see Sin from FFX in particular - not Yu Yevon and not Seymour (main antagonists of FFX) - but the actual power level of Sin itself.
Sephiroth is Highlander.
But also, because of Rebirth, he may also apparently have the ability to time travel.
Fantastic stuff, I loved the content and idea choice
Another heavily informative video! 👏 😊
Perfect. i was just thinking about making a sephiroth build in Baldurs gate 3.
So Sephiroth would only regain his full power in advent children if the 3 remnants merged with Jenova? I never knew that but it makes perfect sense.
In the original game when you finally made to Sephiroth, he went through several transformations.
1st his human born during a conversation between cloud and his companions.
2nd form is when the fight began, Sephiroth appeared like a metamorphosis between a angel and demon.
3rd and final form Sephiroth takes on a more seraphim godlike appearance, where Sephiroth mainly used powerful magic and his move set were deadly, especially in the original Japanese version of this fight.
I can see a full power Seraphim Sephiroth butchering cloud in advent children if his plan had succeeded.
The thing about sephiroth. Is that every time he's fought he has never been at full power. His body was still mangled when the team interrupted his healing. If advent he is limited by Kadaj's weaker body. Maybe over time he could have powered up in AC. All the times sephiroth was faced was when he was weak. The life stream shower, like cloud's, made his Jenova cells awaken fully. Unlike cloud however he was not bound by hafling bodies. Zack was able to impale him because he hadn't awoken most of his Jenova cells nor any remnant cetra DNA. If sephiroth were ever at full power he couldn't be stopped no matter how emo cloud got.
Great job I always enjoy the content on the channel
As somebody who used to debate whether it was Sephiroth or Jenova's will driving the story 20 years ago on video game forums, I'm very interested in the source for that Nojima quote that Jenova brought Sephiroth back in Advent Children lol.
No matter how strong he is, he’s always beatable as long as he remains the villain because you game over otherwise. 😂 to me his astounding introduction in the original game and his menacing personality are the reason I fall in love with him. A very charismatic character!
I've been playing too much ffxiv. I see Cloud omnislash Sephiroth in Advent Children and I just picture Sephiroth standing there shocked like, "Dynamis?".
I got a theory for you. In rebirth, Sephiroth completes the reunion. Thus becoming powerful enough to bend time and space and start yhis seperate time line. Only with Zack's help crossing over between realities can our protagonist succeed
Great video even I hoped it would be longer and more detailed. Please more of this concept!
I really hope we see Elfe again in some form in the Remake trilogy, even as a flashback or VR boss. She sounds like an interesting character.
The fact that she has proved to be Sephiroth's equal is amazing in itself and should make her a very enigmatic character. I'm sure she has probably continued to improve her skills as time has went on.
@@TravaillesDuChansonSephiroth’s equal? No one in FF7 is Sephiroth’s equal.
It also helps that Cloud had a pre-emptive strike materia on hand before killing Sephiroth
According to Nintendo, Sephiroth is more powerful than Galeem, a being that was threatening the Nintendo multiverse. He literally killed it with one slash of Masamune, then was ready to take on all of Smash's heroes, which includes Cloud Strife.
Sephiroth is a badass he invaded smash bros just to torment Cloud
I knew most of all of this. But learned some new things. Great video.
Great video, would like to see more of this with other antagonists!
The one thing that misses the mark in the English Dub of FF7 that I found really telling is that the name "Bizarro Sephiroth" in the JP version translates roughly to "Rebirth Sephiroth", which gives more credence to the title of the song played during his boss battle "Birth of a God".
I think FF7 remake kind of pulled the trigger with Sephiroth too soon. In the original, we didn't see Sephiroth until Kalm, instead only mentioned as a force to be reckoned with. And that first fight against the dragon showed just how powerful he was. It was a great first impression.
But in the remake, we not only saw him earlier but also fought him as well. I think the final fight shouldn't have been Sephiroth. Instead, they should've taken a page from the first Kingdom Hearts game and have Sephiroth be the last match of the Shinra Combat Simulator. The note given before the fight stating that Sephiroth's power was so great, even the simulator couldn't accurately recreate it. That this combat simulator was the best it could do. Sephiroth has fought the simulation and beaten it easily in less than a minute.
But at least the simulation gives regular Soldier members something to strive to. No Soldier has managed to last more than a 60 seconds against it, except for 2 members. Soldier A is the only person besides Sephiroth who managed to best the simulation and only after a long and grueling battle, where A collapsed from exhaustion and needed several days to recuperate.
Would love to see this again with Kefka
As well in the remake trilogy, he can make the Sephiroth clones to look like him to communicate to Cloud and lead him to the destination that Sephiroth needs him to do to achieve his goals
interesting to hear his full story - you went straight to the most interesting character of ff7
dunno if i can agree to everything that has been said, but it was interesting for sure
I've never heard the lore around Sephiroth being distracted (life stream/meteor) therefor defeated. Where is that mentioned?
I don't believe it was mentioned directly, but before the final battle you could see holy trying to get out of the crater and Cloud mentioned that Sephiroth was blocking it. As far as the meteor goes, that one's kinda iffy since the spell was already activated and sitting up there ready to drop (but then the black materia isn't ordinary maybe it has a lot of charge time or something).
It's a pretty big deal that Sephiroth couldn't be defeated by any one person or thing, that it took the power of friendship and the united will of the planet to stop the apocalypse, kinda like the apocalypse we're experiencing now.
Dissidia Opera Omnia makes him come off as on par with Shantoto and Enna Kros. Perhaps more as he is the only one who rather than collapse when at 0HP, poses as though saying "may be meet again" before fading behind a wing, leaving only his weapon.
I you can find it, there is a interview where the creator says Sephiroth has never gone full out in combat, there is nobody stronger than him, he loses because he plays with his food too.
Similar to Gilgamesh too arrogant for his own good.
I have been wondering recently if sephiroths end goals had changed from OG to AC. In OG he wanted to use the life stream to become a god as he assumed it was his right as the last Cetra. In AC he wants to use the planet as a vessel to find another planet, the issue I have it that why not build on the current planet? To my knowledge there is nothing stoping him. This leads me to think that somewhere between OG and AC he learned that Jenova was not a Cetra and Inca t was a parasite. With that in mind his AC goals make total sense, he wants to find new planets to “build a shining new future” to him that’s one devoid of life and filled with Jenova influence. I could be wrong, I just don’t think his end goals in AC are very clear or logical
He's so powerful that I didn't finish rebirth because he kept kicking my butt
What if Aerith is really Jenova in disguise?
If i have to think how my strongest character would look. I always get Sephiroths image. Kingdom hearts 1 and 2 PTSD my guess 😂.
Omg the Sephiroth kh2 fight literally hurts to think about 😂
KH2 Sephy wasn’t too hard to crackdown. KH1 Sephy, however, was truly legendary
@@miki49 i was 12 years old and had very big problems. Now with 30 years i can beat him. He is a nightmare of my childhood. And my favorite FF Character of all time with Cloud.
@@miki49 agreed, I can no hit beat Sephiroth in KH2, but to this day I can't even imagine that with the KH1 version. lol
With what happened in Remake, Sephiroth has since grown to be something like an eldrich abomination. Absorbing the whispers, he can now move in and out of reality as well as have knowledge of all of time.
Great video! Thank you!
'What do tou cherish most, allow me the pleasure of taking it away'.
'You dont get it, there's not a rhing I dont cherish'.
Wonderfully explained ❤
I think is safe to assume Sephiroth only had a fragment of Jenova's power, can you imagine how utterly terrifying was Jenova at full power? Makes me wonder how many planets it destroyed before being stopped by the Cetra
I'm pretty sure the FF7 lore has actually made it quite apparent that Sephiroth becomes more powerful than Jenova itself ever was considering he literally conquers Jenova and takes control over it and uses it for his own ends. Honestly, it seems Jenova's most dangerous aspect was it's "Thing" ability. It's ability to transform it's physical body into other forms to trick or manipulate others which is extremely dangerous. It's basically how Jenova was able to get the jump on the Cetra but considering even with their numbers extremely low they still were able to defeat and seal away Jenova, I'd say it couldn't have really been that much stronger than we see it during the games.
@@jeremycampbell4021 if they could only seal her away, then they were clearly not strong enough to defeat her. If anything it seems like she is using Sephiroth as an avatar to act out her will since she is still incomplete. Once Cloud is absorbed or dies, then we will be able to see her at full power & whether or not she needs Sephiroth anymore.
@@jeremycampbell4021 well, I think we also have to consider all that remains of Jenova are a few fragments and even that is enough to make huge monsters (the ones Cloud and friends fight throughout their journey), even a few cells were enough to bring back Sephiroth in Advent Children, so Jenova in its original state should've been much stronger than what we get to see
The only parts of Jenova that were away were the Cells used for Shinras Experiments (Sephiroth, SOLDIER, ect) and the parts that Jenova/Sephiroth left behind to form the Jenova Bosses. Seeing how these parts grew into huge monsters its safe to assume that Jenova can regenerate.
Whats more important, even when seperated it still controlls these parts.
So I don't see how Jenovas power was diminished in any way.
@@jeremycampbell4021 Again: He doen´t. Jenova controls him during OG FFVII.
Love the ever crisis footage
Sephiroth reminds me of ganondorf, they both just keep coming back to haunt the main character
Omnislash made sure that Sephiroth was able to divide his attention, and hell, all of his body into different directions 😏 I think Cloud was at his strongest in Advent Children, and using 5 or 6 different swords he was able to create a new version of omnislash!
Ooooh, this video was very informative 👏. Learned a lot.
I want to see a video on the strongest FF character Rain, who? He's the main character of FF Brave Exvius, his ability Visions, is the gacha system itself; He can summon any FF character as well as collab characters, making him by far the strongest summoner in all of FF. On top of that, his limit break destroys an entire galaxy, so he is extremely power on his own.
He's stronger than a polygonal Red Dragon.
What all games did you use here? I don't recognize some of them? What are the games in chronological order? Are they all still playable?
Would you do a comparison of the energies for all final fantasies and how much their power affected them? Kind of like a ranking system? My personal opinion, originally I felt mitochondria eve was strongest due to constant evolution. Then 12 came and showed how mist basically has an infinite supply that will keep boosting whoever is strong enough to absorb it. The worst energy in my opinion goes to 16s aether. Only because the aether was born to be retrieved back to ultima and allow the land to die, but the buffs are atronomical.
I've always wondered about the strength of Wiess, Chaos, and Omega relative to Sephiroth, and other SOLDIER.