A hero all the way through wish he’d find out who his real mother is I believe jenova is using him like a puppet it’s said she can control those with her cells since sephiroth has more cells than the others she has a stronger hold and he doesn’t realize it since she can’t do shit without help
@@sabrinagidney-oc3xv At this point in the story of FF7, Jenova is a virus, one that is used for the purpose of enhancing strong-minded SOLDIERS to become physically stronger. However, if used on a specimen with a weak mind, it can run rampant through that person. The Jenova cells Sephiroth carried were completely dormant before that event in the Shinra Mansion. And he, not being able to not accept his origins, made himself susceptible to those Jenova cells within him as soon as there was a door to mental weakness. He then, as he starts to question his existence, starts experiencing mental lapses and mental breaks, grabbing his head in pain, not at all different from the mental breaks Cloud experiences. I’m sure you’ve heard of “Ore Sephiroth vs. Watashi Sephiroth”, but I can quickly summarize. Simply put, it’s a difference in Japanese pronouns used at different times that separates the Sephiroth who is fully in control of his faculties (Ore- before he learned his origins) between the Sephiroth who, after becoming mentally vulnerable when having a difficult time accepting his origins, finally became susceptible to the Jenova cells he was carrying (Watashi Sephiroth). They then began to infect him as he cracked, again, no different to Cloud and his breaks. It is still Sephiroth regardless, just lost, no different to the way Cloud is still Cloud in FF7. He’s also just lost, but the journey of FF7 allows us to find him within himself. Sephiroth is not quite so lucky. The Jenova cells within Cloud shattered him instantly due to his own personal trauma of witnessing his hometown burn, personal lack of self esteem, and personal failure. He was not mentally equipped enough to handle the SOLDIER treatment and was vulnerable from the start. The Jenova cells within him made him mirror a false personality, Zack’s personality, which Cloud seemingly used as a guide to cope and find some level of false foundation and protection in, but which also left him open to be deceived. With Sephiroth, the Jenova cells within him made him continue to mirror his false (more like misunderstood) existence after he learned of his origins because he had no other guide to follow but Jenova’s, his supposed mother according to Shinra, and who Gast mistakingly believed to be a Cetra. She is clearly not. And Sephiroth respected Gast’s words way more than he did Hojo’s, so he continued to believe that he was an Ancient and that his family was wronged. In both cases, they “mirror” these falsities because that is how the nature of Jenova, a shapeshifter/doppelganger, acts when literally within humans in this world. It creates deception (or opportunities for deception) through false realities and half truths (something Sephiroth himself embraces when deceiving Cloud, and the player, in the original). As I’ve evidenced already, Nojima has stated that Jenova is no longer living like she once was. And, even when she was in her unadulterated form 2000 years ago, was never able to “pull any strings”. What Jenova used to do was shapeshift to the likes of the Cetra’s past loved ones, deceive them to close proximity, and infect them into monsters. She was never able to “puppet” them. It’s only Sephiroth who can hijack human bodies in black cloaks for control, as he is something Jenova isn’t, a human heir who was born of her and who inherited her abilities. What Jenova can control are her other body parts across the world while her head regenerates and resurrects into a new form at the Norther Crater the same way Sephiroth’s body does he same. I had to give you all that information about Sephiroth and Jenova to articulate the nuance of their nature, because it’s not simply “she’s controlling him like a puppet and he has no control over his actions”. She also helped “control” Cloud to give Sephiroth the Black Materia on multiple occasions, but the correct word is not “control”, it’s really “influence”, as only Sephiroth has the potential to actually take over and control Cloud. Either way, Cloud was still Cloud, and Sephiroth is still Sephiroth. What this really has to do with that people are unclear about is how Jenova cells affect those within this world. However, Sephiroth is more intimately tied to Jenova than anyone else, being born of her from the ground up, so much so to the point that he inherited her nature and acts his own will in her name upon false pretenses/deceptive influence. They’re partners at best. You fight both of them at the end after all, where he is the final boss EVEN AFTER she’s defeated.
OMG, finally someone addresses the shitty friendship Sephiroth had with Genesis and Angeal lol. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have the entire fandom regard the trio's relationship as this awesome and warm friendship dynamic when, in reality, the 'friendship' was toxic and directly contributed to Sephiroth's downfall (with Genesis being the most responsible). The number one fear that drives Sephiroth to do what he does is ABANDONMENT. His real mother abandoned him when she selfishly fucked off to isolate herself in a cave (instead of, you know, being a mother and getting back her very-vulnerable baby from Shinra's clutches). Valentine similarly abandoned Sephiroth when he selfishly fucked off to isolate himself in a coffin (instead of, you know, using his newfound monstrous abilities to retrieve Lucrecia's very-innocent child). Then Sephiroth was abandoned by Dr. Gast as a child when he selfishly fucked off to isolate himself in a cabin with Ifalna (instead of, you know, taking Sephiroth with him). And finally, Genesis and Angeal abandoned Sephiroth when they selfishly fucked off to isolate themselves from Shinra (instead of, you know, taking Sephiroth with them to properly explain what they learned about their origins). Funny enough, there are only TWO individuals in Sephiroth's life that never abandoned him: Jenova and Dr. Hojo. Both grant him power and display a level of 'love' for him by actively trying to keep him alive. Instead of asking, 'How did Sephiroth become evil?' I think the better question would be 'Why does Sephiroth want to become a God?' The answer would reveal just how emotionally fragile and broken Sephiroth is. The answer is simple: in the eyes of a child, a God is loved by everyone. Therefore, a God can never be abandoned.
Is it weird that I kinda feel for Sephiroth? I mean, the dude was basically third wheeling a friendship which I myself I have been in growing up. Angeal was nice to him but didn't really see him a part of his circle and Genesis saw him as a guy he needed to one upped. Curious how different things would be if Vincent snatched up Sephiroth and raised him as his own son.
So sad.. I really hope something happens differently so he can feel differently about his existence. At this point he only cares about Cloud. In an abusive manipulative way yeah though I wonder if it will still be like that when this trilogy is finished.
@@Skyset_angel I suspect Sephiroth's attachment with Cloud comes from a combination of envy and subconsciously seeing Cloud as a reflection of his true self. Envy, because Cloud had the family and home Sephiroth had always wanted. Reflection, because he shares the same emotional vulnerabilities and insecurities as Cloud (both feel like they were never 'good enough' for the people they admired/loved).
@@JayAndersenGreatestProfile A lot would've changed had Vincent been there to help, especially after acquiring Chaos. He rightfully called Lucrecia out when he demanded to know if 'this is what she wanted' when she willingly injected her own baby with foreign cells. Then, after all the shit down and Lucrecia bailed on everyone, instead of saving Sephiroth from Hojo and Shinra (which would've redeemed Vincent and saved an innocent child from a life he never asked for), he chose to sleep in his coffin instead. :P Dr. Gast is no better either. He was the only paternal figure in Sephiroth's life when he was a child. But not only did this jackass ditch Sephiroth (leaving a kid to essentially fend for himself), but he was also the HEAD MAN of the Jenova Project. Under HIS watch, Dr. Gast allowed his colleagues/subordinates (Hojo, Hollander, Lucrecia, and Gillain) to conduct experiments on unborn babies with UNVERIFIED Cetra DNA. It was all for the sake of revitalizing the Cetra race, according to Dr. Gast. But stupid-ass Dr. Gast couldn't even be bothered with verifying Jenova's true origins first lol. It was only AFTER the experiments took place that he bothered to investigate further. :P He created these 'monsters', then fucked off with Ifalna to do his own thing, thereby allowing Hojo to take over. Lotta people rightfully give Hojo shit for leading Sephiroth down this path. But the majority of horrific decisions and actions (which led Sephiroth down this path) were made mostly by the 'good' characters of the game, from Dr. Gast to Vincent Valentine. They all were too self-absorbed in their own drama and personal goals that they didn't bother to take any responsibility for the mess they created or left behind.
That's how it is in life. You die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a meteor heralding psychopath. Great video again, enjoyed the character analysis and sad feels!
@@Violent_Wolfen right. Sad indeed. I always wondered what went through his mind when Zack asks him what about his parents the time they arrived in nibelheim. He mentions jenova being his mother and laughs off whatever he thought about his dad.
@@DarkMirria1 quite possibly. He thought of Hojo as a father in some way or another considering the OG conversation before the mako fountain with tifa and Zack. He mentioned that Hojo was like a father in respect to teaching him things about mako energy, life stream and materia. So perhaps he had some inkling if anything beyond ignorance.
Wasn't sephiroth already dead by the time the game starts? We're all those interactions illusions of Jenoba? It looked like he burned down the town to cover the theft of him stealing Jenoba and just run away.
I figured Sephiroth was mentally weakened after leaning the truth and this caused Jenova to take over. Having mental fortitude was a big part of being able to be part of SOILDER. Cloud has the physical abilities to be a SOILDER, but was denied because he suffered from low self estimate. This mental fortitude was also one of the reasons Hojo was optimistic that Cloud would be the perfect candidate for becoming a Sephiroth clone however Cloud's mind was to weak after the Nebilhiem incident that he was so drained he suffered MAKO poisoning. When Zack died Jenova absorbed his cells and imprinted Zack's memories and personality on to Cloud to make Cloud into a stronger puppet. I believe that Jenova was grooming Cloud to be the next Sephiroth as Sephiroth was to powerful for her to control.
i do agree with ur take on the mental fortitude part! which prolly explains why zack was able to withstand the mako infusions and hojo's further experimentation on him with more mako and jenova cells.
It is more like he was always evil, but because he was raised to be Shinra's Golden Boy, he developed this nurture of an identity to be somewhat human. It was always fragile and didn't took much to destroy it and revert the Son of Hojo to the similar extent of madness he inherited from his father. He may had been somewhat formed that way by Jenova, but I believe just being Hojo's son did enough of that madness in itself.
What happened to Sepiroth is just, sad man. In Crisis Core he comes off as pretty aloof, but affable and well meaning. It reminds me of Garland in FF's expanded lore, where he becomes nihilistic after finding out he's just a pawn to fate itself. He just resigns himself to a life of never ending battle, where once he was one of the most loyal and beloved nights in Cornelia. Garland at least does get a good ending after the timeloop is broken.
I feel so bad for Sephiroth. Born as a part of an experiment. his father saw him as an test subject and they told him, that his mother died when he was born. Do you think he had a good childhood? Toys, when he was little? someone who cares for his feelings? He had only 2 friends who left him. Everyone seems to betray him. While sephiroth cared for his friends, Genesis was like "you're a monster, you're mother is a monster and now help me" when he came back. Sephiroth had a good heart, even he was already a killer. he cared for his friends, was willing to "fail" a missing (as a hero) and he even cares for Zack. he didn't care about that Angeal was poor or Zack wasn't a 1st Class soldier when they met first time and he listened to "loveless" again and again without stopping Genesis. he said "take a care of the young lady" (Tifa), he wanted to donate his blood and i really love his dry humor. ;) Yes, you don't want sephiroth as enemy but if you have a loyal, helping and charming friend like him, you're lucky.
Dude you're hitting on ALL the right points, and not enough people discusses his trauma. One of the important things about his narrative, is how good-natured he was without any outside positive influences in his life. Before Jenova, Sephiroth had a tender heart, and Crisis Core showed so much of how much he cared but most importantly he yearns for love and familial acceptance. This is the basis of what was broken, and how this breaking, even breaking up the heart, allowed Jenova to twist him into this evil corruption of him, the opposite of his real nature. I can only hope that Final Fantasy 7 remake is going to do the job of showing his true nature overcoming these adversities and restoring his heart to what it once was.
Maybe there was a sadictic side inside him since the beginning because in BC he made a mess on Avalanche soldiers, regular human soldiers mind you. So I agreed with we saw a human side of Sephiroth on CC but maybe on Ever Crisis we could see more of his personality because I still think that when he discovered being an experiment it was a quick change on his personality. Like if that calm and cool demeanor wasn't completly true
@@SilverLionhart I like to imagine that sadistic side was developed during his childhood in the labs. Imagine a 6 year old going through the monster challenges and lab tests like Zack did for Hojo as side quests in Crisis Core. That'll twist someone up inside without necessarily making them sadistic towards everyone. Vicious survival instinct and ruthlessness bottled up until it's unleashed on acceptable targets. Sephiroth's definition of "acceptable targets" just expanded to everyone and everything after he lost everyone and everything.
Sep’s dynamic with Cloud can be viewed as him trying to justify his fall from humanity. What Sephiroth constantly does to Cloud is to strip him of tangible anchors to his humanity: Cloud’s loved ones. He probably is doing an experiment to see if Cloud will suffer a fall like he did, being someone who is proven to equally strong, if not more. If you notice, Cloud’s mental breakdown in disc two has the same projectory as Sephiroth’s own fall from grace. They started losing loved ones, and the confronted with an identity crisis. If Cloud succumbs to despair, then Seph will know that he was right to abandon his humanity. So basically Sephiroth’s former self is probably still exists in the twisted way he interacts with Cloud.
The way I see it, the reason why Sephiroth is so obsessed with Cloud, is because he is the last connection he had to Angeal, and this was the only reason why Sephiroth had any interest in Zack, since Angeal was very close to Zack and even gave him his sword which represented his dreams and ideals, which then were later passed down to Cloud, as Zack had mentored him and was close to him, and even gave him the purpose of being his living legacy, since Cloud was a weak minded person that just looked up to others. I believe that Sephiroth thinks, if he is able to fully break Cloud, then his last connection to humanity which was with Angeal and his legacy, will allow him to finally move on and gain true power, but through the power of friendship as in every shonen story, Cloud has always beaten Sephiroth in the end. I think its really sad what happened to Sephiroth, because with Zack when he was feeling down, he always had people around him like Cissnei, Tseng, Aerith or even that 2nd class SOLDIER buddy, who made him feel like he was much more than a weapon, since in Crisis Core there were a lot of moments, where even Zack himself whos been shown to be a really strong person, had his doubts about possibly being a monster himself, but unlike Sephiroth who didn't open to anyone, Zack was able to let other people into his life, and died fighting for what he truly believed in which did make him a hero in the end, since he gave his life to protect Cloud, and even gave him a better life by giving him the purpose of being his living legacy. And for those people that think that Zack was not smart for doing what he did, you have to consider that if Zack really had taken Cloud elsewhere, and tried to live a life somewhere far away from Midgar, they would have lived a life being on the run, since Shinra had spies everywhere and their army was huge, when Zack decided to take the fight straight to them, he massively reduced their army and made things better for Cloud in the long run, though I'm really interested in what the remake will turn out, since Zack's story did not end in it.
small correction, regular soldiers dont degrade (they just kind of get health problems iirc) because they are injected with S cells (sephiroth cells), while angeal and genesis were injected with J cells (Jenova cells). Theres a chance that sephiroth could’ve saved them if he had been the donor, but hollander didnt want to do the transfusion because of his ego and history with hojo
They weren't injected directly with Jenova cells, that was Sephiroth while he was still in the womb. Instead, they injected the cells into Angeal's mother, then her cells into Genesis. Ironically, the attempt to make them more compatible with humans just ended up making the mix more unstable.
Correction to your correction: Genesis lived and is in great health, as per the ending of Dirge. He looks better than ever and seems to have the ability to control life and death.
Regular soldiers don't get any S or J cells. That only happened to Zack and Cloud after the Nibel incident, when Hojo experimented on them. Regular soldiers only get bathed in Mako to give them enhanced/superhuman abilities.
Genesis and Angeal were born from a woman that was injected with Jenova cells, these are G(illian) cells. Where as Hojo and Lucresia, I for get her name, injected Jenova in to her egg that was seeded with Hojo's sperm. G cells soldiers with the way the process works they allow for Jenova to absorb those cells were as S cell do not. Though he can control them and eventually Sephiroth becoms powerful enough that he can inhabit the body of anyone that merges with Jenova cells.
Dude that was whole main cast in Crisis Core. No one deserved what they got in that game. Even Aerith wasn't exempt from it. Playing it again being older, yeah the game is really dark.
@@scribble71891 think the question here is who started it - hojo or shinra, because I would say hojo but considering he was at odds with Hollander using the same jenova cells to create a super soldier I feel that's it's less plausible but I can't say shinra either because hojo might have gone his own way with research although he was working with shinra the whole time
You are missing information. The ultimania guide says everything Sephiroth did from nibelhiem on was because jenova was controlling him. The Sephiroth that appears at the end of remake is resurrected time traveling good Sephiroth. It's his actions that force the jenova controlled arbiter of fate to appear. They are not on the same side. Once the party defeats it, Sephiroth takes control of the whispers, saving Zack from dying and stopping the future meteor from the fate of hitting the planet. This is why aerith knows that this Sephiroth is "wrong". He's the newly resurrected future Sephiroth, who travels the lifestream back to remake. This is also why he didn't kill cloud during the boss fight, when he had cloud pinned to the ground, and eventually asked cloud to join him. Cloud doesn't know all of this, and only sees an enemy. Which is why he refused. Sephiroth is a bit arrogant about facing the guy who killed him. And who he knows will get on his level of strength in the future. Watch the entire thing on TH-cam. From when they meet that Sephiroth at the end of the highway on. You'll see that entire sequence of events in a new light. That boss fight was Future good Sephiroth fucking with Cloud and the gang. He never had intentions of killing Cloud. This is why he's smiling like he knows something you don't throughout the entire fight. He's manipulating time, resurrecting himself, getting stronger, saving Zack and destroying the future meteor, getting his free will back from jenova, taking control of the whispers (as seen during the boss fight) all at the same time. And as a bonus, he gets to have some sport with the only guy who he probably considers is worthy of his time fighting, his whole life. This is also why he tells cloud "I won't have you end" at the edge of creation. This shit is deep!
I subscribe to this theory because the big bad is jenova not Jesus. He died for our sin needlessly. Redemption arc is what I'm hoping for, but we will see...I want to see what sephiroth sees at edge of creation
This makes sense before the events of FF7, but what happened to him to make him turn also is important as well. With all this already weighing on Seph, he finds out that he was an experiment which makes him question his humanity and Genesis coming in at the point where he is questioning it doesn’t help either. If anything, it makes him question if he ever had friends (…..thanks, Genesis you ass) and now the only thing left for Seph is his origins and the research. The research is all Seph has to hold onto and he wants to know despite we the players knowing later that some of it is wrong and misguided information. Sephiroth obsesses over the research and goes down the rabbit hole HARD to the point that he doesn’t sleep for 3 DAYS! If you look up what sleep deprivation does to someone who hasn’t slept for that long, cognitive thinking, executive function, remembering things, multitasking and pay attention are all affected by this. And it also says that emotions are affected as well. The rock bottom is here. The snap and he is in a blind rage and honestly through all he has been through and what Shinra has done to him I don’t blame him at all but it’s what he does after this with killing people and his dilutions that make him the villain we all love. Yeah I feel bad for him but what he did IS evil lol. Ok my long winded explanation done lol.
I applaud this video very much so, you did a great job chronicling and itemizing very important details about Sephiroth, his life, and how his breakdown came about. This even offered additional micro-answers I needed myself concerning certain character dynamics within Crisis Core. However, the one mistake made here, you did not offer what the actual transition was for Sephiroth into villainy. You just kinda explored his sad background and the hidden futility of his friendship with Genesis and Angeal, but you didn't explain exactly HOW this leads into him becoming a villain, and you mistakenly leave the question open... "Why is he evil?" So to answer that question, Sephiroth was hit with too much trauma all at once. And the kind of trauma these events caused led to his mental breakdown, which in turn, allowed Jenova to set his psyche in a blender, thus becoming Jenova's ultimate weapon. To dive deeper, Sephiroth not only lost his best friends, his _brothers_, he was being ordered to KILL them. This alone took a massive toll. Then it wasn't enough that Genesis was on a spree of murder and terrorism, like it was a Black Friday sale, Genesis coldly revealed his insidious jealousy and basically hate for Sephiroth, and this was the person Sephiroth wanted to donate his blood to, and carried this sorrow for not being able to. This to me was really the beginning of his mental undoing. Then in Nibelheim, Sephiroth deliberately brought on mission SOLDIERS from this village, knowing it would be an opportunity for them to visit family. However, prior events of losing Angeal and Genesis opened that void of not having family or even a place to call home. This brought up his past, and having that to surface in the midst of all this stress concerning Genesis was further tearing Sephiroth up. THEN, in that reactor, it would be Genesis to deal the final blow telling him about the Jenova Project, and calling him a monster. This was the final straw for Sephiroth's psyche, AND... *this is exactly what Jenova wanted.* Sephiroth being at his most vulnerable, Jenova took no time to twist Sephiroth's mind and exploited more than just his mental breakdown, but also... his deep yearning for family, and to belong. And from there, he believe Jenova to be his mother, the Cetra, and himself a Cetra messiah entitled to the Planet. Through Jenova's lenses, Sephiroth sees humanity as evil and needing to be purged. The version of Sephiroth existing at the Edge of Creation, I and several others believe him to be Sephiroth's original nature or some form of it trying to fight and overcome Jenova, and salvage not just his own soul but the Planet as well. Something I've always said, Sephiroth isn't inherently nor innately *evil* like Genesis was. Genesis was really evil from the get go, and it took his degrading to bring out the worst in him. But Sephiroth is the epitome of a tragic villain, and is in all honesty the primary victim of the narrative who's been twisted by trauma, betrayal, and psychic manipulation. That's my piece there 😊😊
A thing I love about Sephiroth (aside from his charisma, design, powers, etc) is how everything turned out for the world. Sephiroth is originally nothing more than a victim of Shinra and Hojo, both seeing him as nothing but a product. He was lied to, manipulated, used as a living weapon and that's it. He always felt he was different, even compared to other SOLDIER, including his only two friends Genesis and Angeal, and he ended up losing both of them. He tried his best to protect them and then planned to give up on Shinra, only to discover he was nothing more than an experiment. In short, he was another victim of Shinra. But then, he snapped so hard he became a murderous maniac who caused untold amounts of suffering for way too many people. From Cloud to Aerith or Tifa, none of them have done anything to him, yet he did everything to make them suffer in various ways, especially Cloud. What's more spectacular is that he doesn't even try to go after Shinra for personal reasons. They're the one who destroyed him, yet he only sees them as obstacles on his way. By using him like trash like they've done with so many others, Shinra ended up creating something far worse than they could have imagined. A classic, brilliant case of "the victim becomes the agressor", except this time the former victim is a god-like being who doesn't even go after his former tormentors but after an entire world. Sephiroth's story is tragic because in the end, he became worse, as in far more destructive, violent and murderous than Shinra.
I feel like sephiroth it was a combination of his trauma over his heritage,the shock of what happens to people who become soldiers in Shinra, topped off finally by the corruption caused by the jenova cells in his body. Yes I know sephiroth in the end was controlling jenova but I feel like jenova definitely corrupted him and played a part in his falling because remember angeal said his mind was mired in a fog so it's clear that jenova definitely has the ability to mentally corrupt and to a minor extent control its victims but I feel like sephiroth in the end after being corrupted ended up in control but also still somewhat under the influence of jenova cells poisoning his mind.
I thought Jenova cells were causing Angela and Genesis to degrade not mako. The only reason Sephiroth didn't was because the way the experiment was conducted. Angela and Genesis - Jenova cell was put in their mother. Sephiroth - the Jenova cell was put in him when he was a baby in side his mother.
tbh as someone who only into ff7 these past few weeks it's still surprised me that people mentioned hojo is sephiroth's father while i saw others said he's actually not. i meant.. how tf that creepy man's genes produced someone as gorgeous as sephiroth??? LOL
Hero turned villian, was the base of my own argument to why, he was my childhood hero, and still Optimus to my aspirations of the kind of person I want to be. I should dust off my old hs essay and do a bit, to say why i defend him as a hero, and character
*Hot take* I've always though the reasoning for Sephiroths fall makes a lot more sense from only playing FF7. A man raised in a lab by a corporation and used all his life suddenly finding out hes not even human and is the 'son' of a god-like being. That would make sense for him being "kill all these insects". The goody goody Sephiroth for 90% of Crisis Core and Genesis' teen angst is just not good reasoning for it. I remember playing way back and at the end being "what the hell was that?" It is a fun game and I did enjoy it but the reasoning for his fall just didn't work for me, i guess.
It was made after the OG game so it makes sense they would add a bunch of stuff the OG game never even hinted at. I also dislike CC for that reason. They make Zack more important than he actually was and now he's been forced into the remake as some pivotal character AFTER his death....
I was really hoping Crisis Core Reunion would've further elaborated more on Sephiroth's 'friendship' with Genesis and Angeal to explain his downfall better. After all, Sephiroth attaching himself to a toxic friend like Genesis would indicate he wasn't in a good healthy place in his life (much like attaching yourself to a toxic girlfriend would indicate you had poor self-esteem issues). But Reunion didn't do anything with this. Nomura has such a hard-on for his Genesis/Gackt Gary Stu creation, he never wants us to perceive Genesis as a shitty guy (which would then help us see a pattern of unhealthy relationships/attachments Sephiroth forms with others - from Jenova to Cloud). Instead, Nomura keeps wanting us to see Genesis as this misunderstood mofo. :P
This is why I don't like alot of these "Lore explained" videos. Many of these guys use CC as the base point of explanation... whereas original fans know that you should always explain the characters using the OG as a base point. CC should be explained, but with the preface that it wasn't cannon AT FIRST.
The biggest problem is they SE has not been consistent with how everything has happened and the remake makes things more confusing. With each new media they have explained some things, bit for every explanation they open up 2 more things that are not explained. This is wayni was hoping the remake would have been a definitive addition to explain how everything actly happened, but it made it worse.
I mean. its quite simple. Sephiroth was lead to believe that he was basically the fucking chosen one. a descendant of a race of beings who were wiped out by the very people who created him. He wanted revenge. it's really amazing because IF sephiroth actually knew his true origin he never would have done what he did
I don't think he ever found out about his birth mother, the Shinra scientist, Lucrecia. Even with the knowledge of the Jenova cells, there's no way Sephiroth wouldn't seek her out, if he came across her name in the Shinra Mansion research materials. He's too focused on parentage to just, "not care". I don't think he ever learned about Lucrecia, and if he had, he may have sought her out, and tempered his descent into madness and villainy.
I thought it was because angeal and genesis were infused with jenova cells for why they're degrading fast. I don't think every soldier has that happening to them.
What I belived happened, and yes this is pure theory as the writer never makes it fully clear, is that the proximity to Jenova was what enabled her to control Sephiroth. I mean, it was made clear even the 90s game that Jenova has full control of her cells. That'd explain why she has such a strong hold on Sephiroth since he is the only one fully made out of her DNA, while Cloud is only infused and even then, she has partial sway over him to the point where she can warp Cloud's perception of reality and manipulate him into doing her bidding because other than that, there were no indicators of Sephiroth being volatile, even in the old game he is depicted as dry but willing to crack jokes and was someone that actually cared for the men under him. It isn't until he goes into Nibelheim that he makes a complete 180 from a cool dude hero to the guy that cuts down innocent bystanders for shits and giggles. It isn't until you make it to the crater that we can experience how severe and devious her mind control capabilities really are.
I also think not knowing who his parents are and thinking an alien that crashed into the planet in order to destroy it is his mother kind of messed up his world view
I mean, initially, yes Jenova's influence convinced Sephiroth to turn evil but after falling into the Lifestream, Sephiroth became so mentally powerful to the point where he could reverse Jenova's control over him so Jenova really only influenced his actions during the Nibelheim incident and nowhere else.
@@larrymunn5279 I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that Sephiroth grew strong enough to the point where he controls Jenova... I mean just look at the way he acts during the Nibelheim incident compared to after he fell into the Lifestream; in Nibelheim, he is completely under Jenova's control and shares her goal of taking over the planet but once he falls into the Lifestream, Jenova becomes his puppet and his plan changes, he's not trying to get Jenova to absorb all life, he's trying to use Meteor so that he himself can absorb the Lifestream and become a god... like, if this was Jenova in control, wouldn't she force Sephiroth to fight the team to defend her instead of throwing herself into harms way to try and stop the team from reaching Sephiroth?
Sephiroth was never under Jenova’s control. Jenova refers to Sephiroth as her master in the whirlwind maze. Hojo also confirms Sephiroth was always the one in control.
Your theory is entirely incorrect. Here's the actual story. Sephiroth had biological parents, Hojo and Lucretia. Sephiroth was conceived like any other normal child but was injected with Jenova cells while he was still in the womb. Same thing happened to Genesis except it was Hollander's experiment and it failed, which is why he degrades and Sephiroth doesn't. Sephiroth was never manipulated by Jenova, it's the other way around. During the events of FF7 original, the Sephiroth the party sees throughout the first half of the game is not actually Sephiroth, it's Jenova who is being controlled by Sephiroth (his real body is in the northern crater after he fell into the lifestream in Crisis Core). Jenova is a shape shifter and takes on the appearance of Sephiroth per his control. Cloud is also being manipulated by Sephiroth during the first half of the game. Everyone who was injected with Jenova cells was being drawn to the northern crater where Sephiroth is. Sephiroth's breakdown comes from him finding out he was a lab experiment, a "monster" so to speak during his mission to Nibelheim. Shinra mistakenly identifies Jenova as being an Ancient, when in reality she's an alien that crash landed in the northern crater thousands of years ago, and nearly wiped out all the Ancients. Sephiroth thinks he's an Ancient because Shinra thinks Jenova is an Ancient, which is not the case. The only actual living Ancient is Aerith (technically half ancient since her dad was Professor Gast, a normal human)
The guy's gone nuts after spending too much time in the library and having contact with a monster Jenova. He'd never become evil if it wasn't for poisonous cells of Jenova. He fell in a trap of an evil creature. His real mother was Lucrecia who had no chanve to have a normal life with or without a child. That's it and there's nothing else about it.
“I feel sorry for Sephiroth” I think it’s unrealistic he would just up and change like that just because he realised he was an experiment. You also wouldn’t go around killing anyone if that wasn’t already in your nature. He had empathy at the start, that doesn’t just go away.
You are not factoring that he was infused with alien DNA that has a mind (or directive) of it's own. This could be why "he" went crazy. He was corrupted by the Jenova cells... This could be why he disdains human life and feels he is above it.
Sephiroth has narcissistic personality disorder. Narcs tend to be very nice and charismatic. In the right hands they can be wonderful. In the wrong hands (Jenova) they can be pure evil. Narcs are also easily manipulated.
@@TheIsraelProphetess Are you a psychologist? Other than your personal opinion, that doesn’t really tell us the creators had any intention of giving Sephiroth a disposition towards narcissism. Also I doubt that’s a good reason considering he most shows empathy, little need for admiration and believing himself to be inferior to others and certainly doesn’t put his own needs before everyone else’s. Personally I don’t think that narrative holds.
Sephiroth NEEDS a redemption arc. Not just by virtue of his circumstance, but just looking at how Sephiroth has grown as a pop cultural icon, he's transcended the franchise in more ways than one. speaking to the story, Jenova is the true villain and always have been. I think Sephiroth becoming an ANTI-hero is the best route. he's free of Jenova's will, and now onto acting on his own. His intent is just in his eyes, but still winds up at odds with Cloud. Its just now, instead of a hero vs. villain, Sephiroth's motives and intent become nuanced, and even agreeable, but his execution is what makes him an anti-hero that Cloud faces off.
@@elizabethchint2391 No one is asking for that I feel. Like I said above, Sephiroth needs to overcome Jenova, BUT to then evolve into an ANTI-hero. If anything, Sephiroth will probably view everything that transpired as JENOVA'S doing, and now he's free to rediscover his own will. Sephiroth as an antihero will allow him to become so much more than "the villain" and opens the door for much greater nuances and exploration. But AS an antihero, this allows him to maintain that epic beef with Cloud, but now on a whole new level.
I understand what you are saying and losing his best friends are probably part of it. But that's not actually how he became evil nor why he snapped. Sephiroth had no knowledge who his real mother was, he was only given a name, which wasn't even his real mother's name. Jenova was a alien that crashed on the planet thousands of years ago and tried to destroy the planet. The cetra were able to imprisoned Jenova but at a great cost. When Shinra discovered Jenova, they mistakened it for a "cetra" and used her cells to create soldiers and when Sephiroth found out what happened to the cetra and found out who his mother was (not his real mother), that's when he snapped. Believing the human race betrayed the Cetra and destroyed them, believing humanity hurt his family (Jenova) and went to Jenova to reclaim their world. After his 1st death, Sephiroth does discover the truth of jenova and inherits its will to destroy the planet and to become a Godlike being. On many levels Jenova can be considered the true main villain of FF7. Both Jenova and Hojo are the ones that ultimately caused his downfall.
now It’s clear why the developers canceled the idea of a love story with Aerith. If he had only one person who didn’t give a shit about him, he wouldn’t have fallen like that. And she can provide support and love ,which he needed more than anything in the world
I think we can see Sephiroth a little in ourselves. We all want something close as the friends he once had. We all had nothing or feel a low point. We’ve all wanted to do good
To say sepheroth wanted to destroy the world because of his god complex I feel is a stretch. I feel he’s closer related to the story of Frankenstein’s monster, after coming to the realization that he was a creation of man made for monetary gain and the discovery his memory’s are not his own drive him into despair, hatred, and loneliness. In Frankenstein after the doc dies the monster feels truly alone and plunged himself to the bottom of the artic ocean much like after the loss of genisis and angial is when sepheroth truly embraced the “will of jenova”. The story of sepheroth isn’t one of a monster but one of a lost, broken, and hurt man looking for closure.
You really misrepresented the topics here. Like you read the wiki page and didn’t go further. Even if you went off of what was only in the original 7 and just discussed that it would have been better. His parents aren’t important? Yeah they are. Especially the fact that Jenova isn’t really his mother, that it was Hojo and Lucrecia, and Hojo being the nut bag he is experimented on his own kid when he was in the womb and that’s how we got Sephiroth. His closest friends were experiments too, all we really know is Cloud joined because of Sephiroth, not every soldier. Your regards at the end about him opening up too late doesn’t really make sense as there isn’t much to open up to. Hojo purposefully manufactured fake memories so that Sephiroth would never know the truth and because Hojo wanted to see what would happen. The real tragedy is this nut case doomed his kid from the start, and Sephiroth, even trying to be decent, would inevitably crack from his own life being a complete lie and the Jenova cells injected in him pushing him to break. All of this I’m referencing is in the original game, this doesn’t even touch extended material or remake. I don’t understand why things like this weren’t more deeply discussed.
We can all agree Sephiroth was a hero. Kind and compassionate and the strongest. But he needed a friend, a real one at some point in his life. Angeal was close but still looked at him like an obstacle, Sephiroth sensed that. Genesis envied him and was open about it, Sephiroth knew he'd screw him the first chance he got. So the man lived his whole life alone, rich and worshipped. So when he reads his origins and Hojo's experiments he snapped. Decided he'd be the savior that would wipe out the human virus. But a friend could have stopped him. A friend could have reminded him he still a good person. A friend wouldn't have abandoned him in that library. It's not all Sephiroth's fault. It's partly shared between his fake friends. A small amount. Zack for being another Angeal fanboy clone And absolutely 90% blame goes to hojo. Cuz f*CK HoJo! I don't even care if the pie chart data isn't equal it's that little creeps fault. He wanted to breed a woman and a talking dog without even giving them privacy. He diddled with Lucretia, idc if she said it was mutual that is not true no on would ever sleep with that man willingly and he knows it. Vincent was a simp I'm sorry he should have blasted Hojo 🤷 so part of it is his fault too fuggit right!? It all comes back to that little shit. I'd probably snap and go on a God complex fueled killing spree too if I found out my mom was a head and HOJO WAS MY FATHER!!......while we're at it blame Tifa too with goofy ass hat she had on knowing how he felt about small town shenanigans. Cloud?....you should have gone for the head. Sephiroth could have been saved. If he had one decent, competent friend.
I didn’t realize how bad seph’s mental was until watching ever crisis’ intro of him calling Genesis, not getting an answer and seemingly in a genuine worry/panic
I feel sephirtoth my family was split and I basically was raised like a pet being handed over here and there between my parents who wouldn't want to cooperate with eachother
So Sephiroth love his buddies but they didn't love him, you repeated through out the video, but you kinda skipped the whole "how did Sephiroth become evil" part
Next, Magus Zeal. Why, Janus Zeal became so bad toward humanity?! Sound con-fused? Ford Fusion! Seed of Perdition - Lavos, World Révolution & Last Battle.
Sephiroth is essentially Homelander before Homelander was a thing. Someone experiemented on since birth and so elevated above everyone else it was hard to relate and every time he found something or someone to hold onto, they hurt him and set him down a path.
Don't forget Sephiroth is part Jenova. Not like he has jenova cells in him, he is genetically partially jenova. He was injected with her cells in the womb so he developed with those cells from fetus to baby. Which is why he doesn't degrade. So the similarities with Shinra and Vought are really kinda crazy.
Sephiroth is a tragic character. After everything that happens to sephiroth genesis has to tell him he's just a messed up science experiment from an evil alien Cthulhu monster...I'd go crazy too
A great analysis. I myself have always had the theory that Sephiroth was always going to fall someday. The reason being because unlike other soldiers his genes where spliced with Jenova in the development stage. So well his Will eventually overpowered Jenova’s he gained its instinct to destroy.
He didn't become evil, he became the sephirot - gatekeeper to those that seek ultimate power/fortune - O Fortuna (his theme is from this song). Tree of Life. Aerith (in the original mainly) is a guide for Cloud (his name is key/how he also manifested into something superior) and why Aerith, *spoiler alert* departs is because her job is done/loss - the team must go on to face him alone (we always fall in love with our spirit guides, but it's mis-guided). Sephirot made the character cool and interesting, the Joker from The Dark Knight or Anton from No Country from Old Men are similar takes in American cinema, but I prefer FF VII take. The key is Cloud's battle theme: Those Who Fight and Those Who Fight Further - tempt/defy fate (the fates)/attempt to rewrite the stars. th-cam.com/video/GXFSK0ogeg4/w-d-xo.html
I can kinda understand his motives as a villain its not us cut and dry as he snapped. When you lose everyone you cared about the world becomes meaningless. I lost my best friend to a stroke and my ex wife died from liver failure. There is a few times i would just want the world to end. Some point i imagine Sephiroth felt the same way. This is also why he asked Cloud what do you care for let me take it away. He wants to show Cloud they are really a lot alike.
The mainline story of ff7 is identity. Clouds struggle and Sephiroths struggle. Their reactions/actions in terms of their identity crisis is what sets them apart and what the story is conveying as good and bad. Arguably, Sephiroths situation is so much worse starting out, that his reaction was inevitable. But that's also the story conveying for example - a loving family is infinitely a better foundation than one driven by ambitions and manipulation of genetics to ACHIEVE something.
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE SEPHIROTH HAVE A REDEMPTION ARC. SEPHIROTH WAS PRETTY COO BEFORE THE EVIL TRYING TO DESTROY THE WORLD REVIVING A MONSTER AND KILLING EVERYONE THING
Relying too much on others to love him, taking Hojo and Geist words as outpoured golden, not even questioning his origins missing Lucrecia totally (his real mother) and belittled when he wanted to be a donor (a thing he hated the most and he projected on the failed experiments in Nibelheim too, down to...destroying people in Nibelheim). He desired to love, but Shinra ment him to be a heartless obedient war machine...a choice which went against Sephiroth and them...anticipating their befall. He was belittled by everyone and he had truths conceiled...neither Shinra's Mansion books could enlighten him (as they were put in place to deceive him). But he had signs or wishpers about experiments on people...where he did not dig up enough... It is these things that, if digged up by him, it could made a change preventing him to fall from his Heroic integrity instead of becoming a Jenovah's puppet.
Nobody is evil in this story, they are only victims of the Shinra company, Genesis Angeal and Sephiroth were Shinra's experiments, Genesis found out the truth when his body began to degrade, Angeal and Sephiroth also discovered the lies and on Shinra's part and they acted based on their anger, pain and frustrations. This is a very sad story of love and betrayal.
my thoughts exactly. it would've been more believable if they had gone with one of the scrapped ideas in which lucrecia was drugged by hojo and forced to go along with his plans... i honestly don't get how lucrecia would choose hojo over vincent.
@@DarnelHasLeft Hello! I'm a show director and I often have to narrate, I noticed at 3:07 to like 3:11 that you got a little excited and did indeed stumble a few words. But it comes from passion. I'd say you're all good.
@@RavanaMuse Hey thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed!!! Haha yeah I didn’t realize how obvious it was how nervous/excited I was while recording! In hindsight it’s so noticeable 😭
Also remember he is partially Jenova. He isn't a human with Jenova cells. He is part jenova. He was injected with J cells in the womb. So he developed with that genetics, which is why he has control over Jenova infused creatures and humans.
Well considering all things I can't call Sephiroth evil of how he was raised,treated,used, manipulated at the events of Clouds hometown he was delirious and snapped. He learned some truth of Shinra and made the decision to turn on him. His actions were horrific sure but they were from years of mental repression and being used as a tool to do their bidding. One can do great acts chaos and nor be evil characters. If only he had learned the truth at a young age he could have been the hero he was ment to be and wouldn't be so mentally and emotionally destroyed.
This is very simple happens to veterans a lot but we use other methods of coping however he found out his existence was a lie and he embraced what he believed to be the truth even if it means destroying your comrades who were apart of the lie then on top of that you have a natural god complex and you basically found out you have omnipotent potential from your alien heritage that’s all
You can somewhat say yes sephiroth did become stronger a hell of a lot stronger after turning evil and merging with the stream, but he also became weaker at the same time, cause as a hero sephiroth would fight to all his ability, but when he became a villian that arrogance, and the need to inflict pain and despair, is why sephiroth can never use his full potential, its kinda sad but makes his character more unique as when you see villians from other games there final fights usally have em fighting at full power, sephiroth has not once in his entire time as a villain used 100% of his power. Idk if it's possible, but now that it's possible that we are dealing with sephiroth going back in time or another universe, imagine if sephiroth corrects his mistake and uses 100%. That's a huge possibility considering the whole dynamic of ff7 remake.
What? Do you understand that he was literally the most powerful being in Gaia? He was always holding back, this has been confirmed by the developers. This is why he never actually dies.
Last I checked I thought he had a huge identity crisis and him having jenovas cells in him which is I guess space maniac caused him to retain his mind and memories to a degree with a new mission at hand. I just assumed he had lost his purpose and through jenova he found it. For a character with insane motives he still seemed very clever and well put together. I just can’t remember what his endgame was from the original ff7 I keep thinking it’s union and or fusion with jenova and essentially taking the planet via the life stream or destroying it ? I wasn’t to sure
I mean I get the whole concept, but you kind of glossed over the breakdown itself; which is mostly focused on the Jenova experiment stuff. I can see his friends being taken away playing into it, but it was mostly just that which put him over the edge. Feel free to correct me if you disagree though, just felt like you spent a little too much time on the Genesis and Angeal thing.
"He was the strongest guy, certainly... but he was human." He wasn't, really. That's kind of the point of his downward spiral. Part of Sephiroth's genetic makeup is alien (whatever the heck Jenova is), and that's why he is different.
When I say Sephiroth is human I mean metaphorically, in the same way that superman is human! Superman is 100% alien but still has his “humanity”! Hope that makes sense!
He’s mostly human, both his real biological parents (Lucrecia and Hojo) were human, he’s just got some alien dna thrown into the mix it doesn’t make him not human at all. That is until he comes back from the dead anyways because he’s no longer using his original body.
Your synopsis of his backstory is pretty bad ngl. Not mentioning Hojo as his father or the fact that his "mother" Jenova is a parasitic alien that almost destroyed the world thousands of years prior is rather significant to his downfall. Also, not all SOLDIERS suffer from degradation, just the G type ones, which Genesis and Angeal are. His breakdown is a direct result of him finding out how he was created and mistaking himself to be an Ancient, his god complex didn't just come out of thin air.
If Hojo had been my father, I would have gone crazy at some point too.
Hojo was a nut job. It was so satisfying to end him in that epic parachute mission in FFVII.
I wonder how he would have turned out if Hojo had been kept out of it. As in letting Lucrecia keep him?
A hero all the way through wish he’d find out who his real mother is I believe jenova is using him like a puppet it’s said she can control those with her cells since sephiroth has more cells than the others she has a stronger hold and he doesn’t realize it since she can’t do shit without help
Vincent was his biological father which makes Hojo as his stepdad even worse
@@sabrinagidney-oc3xv At this point in the story of FF7, Jenova is a virus, one that is used for the purpose of enhancing strong-minded SOLDIERS to become physically stronger. However, if used on a specimen with a weak mind, it can run rampant through that person. The Jenova cells Sephiroth carried were completely dormant before that event in the Shinra Mansion. And he, not being able to not accept his origins, made himself susceptible to those Jenova cells within him as soon as there was a door to mental weakness. He then, as he starts to question his existence, starts experiencing mental lapses and mental breaks, grabbing his head in pain, not at all different from the mental breaks Cloud experiences.
I’m sure you’ve heard of “Ore Sephiroth vs. Watashi Sephiroth”, but I can quickly summarize. Simply put, it’s a difference in Japanese pronouns used at different times that separates the Sephiroth who is fully in control of his faculties (Ore- before he learned his origins) between the Sephiroth who, after becoming mentally vulnerable when having a difficult time accepting his origins, finally became susceptible to the Jenova cells he was carrying (Watashi Sephiroth). They then began to infect him as he cracked, again, no different to Cloud and his breaks. It is still Sephiroth regardless, just lost, no different to the way Cloud is still Cloud in FF7. He’s also just lost, but the journey of FF7 allows us to find him within himself. Sephiroth is not quite so lucky.
The Jenova cells within Cloud shattered him instantly due to his own personal trauma of witnessing his hometown burn, personal lack of self esteem, and personal failure. He was not mentally equipped enough to handle the SOLDIER treatment and was vulnerable from the start. The Jenova cells within him made him mirror a false personality, Zack’s personality, which Cloud seemingly used as a guide to cope and find some level of false foundation and protection in, but which also left him open to be deceived.
With Sephiroth, the Jenova cells within him made him continue to mirror his false (more like misunderstood) existence after he learned of his origins because he had no other guide to follow but Jenova’s, his supposed mother according to Shinra, and who Gast mistakingly believed to be a Cetra. She is clearly not. And Sephiroth respected Gast’s words way more than he did Hojo’s, so he continued to believe that he was an Ancient and that his family was wronged.
In both cases, they “mirror” these falsities because that is how the nature of Jenova, a shapeshifter/doppelganger, acts when literally within humans in this world. It creates deception (or opportunities for deception) through false realities and half truths (something Sephiroth himself embraces when deceiving Cloud, and the player, in the original). As I’ve evidenced already, Nojima has stated that Jenova is no longer living like she once was. And, even when she was in her unadulterated form 2000 years ago, was never able to “pull any strings”.
What Jenova used to do was shapeshift to the likes of the Cetra’s past loved ones, deceive them to close proximity, and infect them into monsters. She was never able to “puppet” them. It’s only Sephiroth who can hijack human bodies in black cloaks for control, as he is something Jenova isn’t, a human heir who was born of her and who inherited her abilities. What Jenova can control are her other body parts across the world while her head regenerates and resurrects into a new form at the Norther Crater the same way Sephiroth’s body does he same.
I had to give you all that information about Sephiroth and Jenova to articulate the nuance of their nature, because it’s not simply “she’s controlling him like a puppet and he has no control over his actions”. She also helped “control” Cloud to give Sephiroth the Black Materia on multiple occasions, but the correct word is not “control”, it’s really “influence”, as only Sephiroth has the potential to actually take over and control Cloud. Either way, Cloud was still Cloud, and Sephiroth is still Sephiroth. What this really has to do with that people are unclear about is how Jenova cells affect those within this world. However, Sephiroth is more intimately tied to Jenova than anyone else, being born of her from the ground up, so much so to the point that he inherited her nature and acts his own will in her name upon false pretenses/deceptive influence. They’re partners at best. You fight both of them at the end after all, where he is the final boss EVEN AFTER she’s defeated.
OMG, finally someone addresses the shitty friendship Sephiroth had with Genesis and Angeal lol. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have the entire fandom regard the trio's relationship as this awesome and warm friendship dynamic when, in reality, the 'friendship' was toxic and directly contributed to Sephiroth's downfall (with Genesis being the most responsible). The number one fear that drives Sephiroth to do what he does is ABANDONMENT. His real mother abandoned him when she selfishly fucked off to isolate herself in a cave (instead of, you know, being a mother and getting back her very-vulnerable baby from Shinra's clutches). Valentine similarly abandoned Sephiroth when he selfishly fucked off to isolate himself in a coffin (instead of, you know, using his newfound monstrous abilities to retrieve Lucrecia's very-innocent child). Then Sephiroth was abandoned by Dr. Gast as a child when he selfishly fucked off to isolate himself in a cabin with Ifalna (instead of, you know, taking Sephiroth with him). And finally, Genesis and Angeal abandoned Sephiroth when they selfishly fucked off to isolate themselves from Shinra (instead of, you know, taking Sephiroth with them to properly explain what they learned about their origins).
Funny enough, there are only TWO individuals in Sephiroth's life that never abandoned him: Jenova and Dr. Hojo. Both grant him power and display a level of 'love' for him by actively trying to keep him alive.
Instead of asking, 'How did Sephiroth become evil?' I think the better question would be 'Why does Sephiroth want to become a God?' The answer would reveal just how emotionally fragile and broken Sephiroth is. The answer is simple: in the eyes of a child, a God is loved by everyone. Therefore, a God can never be abandoned.
Is it weird that I kinda feel for Sephiroth? I mean, the dude was basically third wheeling a friendship which I myself I have been in growing up. Angeal was nice to him but didn't really see him a part of his circle and Genesis saw him as a guy he needed to one upped. Curious how different things would be if Vincent snatched up Sephiroth and raised him as his own son.
So sad.. I really hope something happens differently so he can feel differently about his existence. At this point he only cares about Cloud. In an abusive manipulative way yeah though I wonder if it will still be like that when this trilogy is finished.
@@Skyset_angel I suspect Sephiroth's attachment with Cloud comes from a combination of envy and subconsciously seeing Cloud as a reflection of his true self. Envy, because Cloud had the family and home Sephiroth had always wanted. Reflection, because he shares the same emotional vulnerabilities and insecurities as Cloud (both feel like they were never 'good enough' for the people they admired/loved).
@@JayAndersenGreatestProfile A lot would've changed had Vincent been there to help, especially after acquiring Chaos. He rightfully called Lucrecia out when he demanded to know if 'this is what she wanted' when she willingly injected her own baby with foreign cells. Then, after all the shit down and Lucrecia bailed on everyone, instead of saving Sephiroth from Hojo and Shinra (which would've redeemed Vincent and saved an innocent child from a life he never asked for), he chose to sleep in his coffin instead. :P
Dr. Gast is no better either. He was the only paternal figure in Sephiroth's life when he was a child. But not only did this jackass ditch Sephiroth (leaving a kid to essentially fend for himself), but he was also the HEAD MAN of the Jenova Project. Under HIS watch, Dr. Gast allowed his colleagues/subordinates (Hojo, Hollander, Lucrecia, and Gillain) to conduct experiments on unborn babies with UNVERIFIED Cetra DNA. It was all for the sake of revitalizing the Cetra race, according to Dr. Gast. But stupid-ass Dr. Gast couldn't even be bothered with verifying Jenova's true origins first lol. It was only AFTER the experiments took place that he bothered to investigate further. :P He created these 'monsters', then fucked off with Ifalna to do his own thing, thereby allowing Hojo to take over.
Lotta people rightfully give Hojo shit for leading Sephiroth down this path. But the majority of horrific decisions and actions (which led Sephiroth down this path) were made mostly by the 'good' characters of the game, from Dr. Gast to Vincent Valentine. They all were too self-absorbed in their own drama and personal goals that they didn't bother to take any responsibility for the mess they created or left behind.
@@dantespimp Unreleated question, how salty would Genesis be if found Sephiroth got in Smash?
That's how it is in life. You die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a meteor heralding psychopath. Great video again, enjoyed the character analysis and sad feels!
Sephiroth was literally jokerpilled 😔
Sephiroths parents actually matter A LOT! They had a MAJOR hand (specifically Hojo) in his encroaching madness.
Sad part is that he doesn't even know that Lucrecia was his mom and Hojo was his dad.
@@Violent_Wolfen right. Sad indeed. I always wondered what went through his mind when Zack asks him what about his parents the time they arrived in nibelheim. He mentions jenova being his mother and laughs off whatever he thought about his dad.
@@Violent_Wolfen I think he suspected though, but didn’t say anything about it. Well…he almost did but didn’t finish that thought.
@@DarkMirria1 quite possibly. He thought of Hojo as a father in some way or another considering the OG conversation before the mako fountain with tifa and Zack. He mentioned that Hojo was like a father in respect to teaching him things about mako energy, life stream and materia. So perhaps he had some inkling if anything beyond ignorance.
Wasn't sephiroth already dead by the time the game starts? We're all those interactions illusions of Jenoba?
It looked like he burned down the town to cover the theft of him stealing Jenoba and just run away.
I figured Sephiroth was mentally weakened after leaning the truth and this caused Jenova to take over. Having mental fortitude was a big part of being able to be part of SOILDER. Cloud has the physical abilities to be a SOILDER, but was denied because he suffered from low self estimate. This mental fortitude was also one of the reasons Hojo was optimistic that Cloud would be the perfect candidate for becoming a Sephiroth clone however Cloud's mind was to weak after the Nebilhiem incident that he was so drained he suffered MAKO poisoning. When Zack died Jenova absorbed his cells and imprinted Zack's memories and personality on to Cloud to make Cloud into a stronger puppet. I believe that Jenova was grooming Cloud to be the next Sephiroth as Sephiroth was to powerful for her to control.
i do agree with ur take on the mental fortitude part! which prolly explains why zack was able to withstand the mako infusions and hojo's further experimentation on him with more mako and jenova cells.
It is more like he was always evil, but because he was raised to be Shinra's Golden Boy, he developed this nurture of an identity to be somewhat human. It was always fragile and didn't took much to destroy it and revert the Son of Hojo to the similar extent of madness he inherited from his father. He may had been somewhat formed that way by Jenova, but I believe just being Hojo's son did enough of that madness in itself.
What happened to Sepiroth is just, sad man. In Crisis Core he comes off as pretty aloof, but affable and well meaning. It reminds me of Garland in FF's expanded lore, where he becomes nihilistic after finding out he's just a pawn to fate itself. He just resigns himself to a life of never ending battle, where once he was one of the most loyal and beloved nights in Cornelia. Garland at least does get a good ending after the timeloop is broken.
I feel so bad for Sephiroth. Born as a part of an experiment. his father saw him as an test subject and they told him, that his mother died when he was born. Do you think he had a good childhood? Toys, when he was little? someone who cares for his feelings? He had only 2 friends who left him. Everyone seems to betray him. While sephiroth cared for his friends, Genesis was like "you're a monster, you're mother is a monster and now help me" when he came back. Sephiroth had a good heart, even he was already a killer. he cared for his friends, was willing to "fail" a missing (as a hero) and he even cares for Zack. he didn't care about that Angeal was poor or Zack wasn't a 1st Class soldier when they met first time and he listened to "loveless" again and again without stopping Genesis. he said "take a care of the young lady" (Tifa), he wanted to donate his blood and i really love his dry humor. ;)
Yes, you don't want sephiroth as enemy but if you have a loyal, helping and charming friend like him, you're lucky.
Bro…. Take it easy.
Dude you're hitting on ALL the right points, and not enough people discusses his trauma. One of the important things about his narrative, is how good-natured he was without any outside positive influences in his life. Before Jenova, Sephiroth had a tender heart, and Crisis Core showed so much of how much he cared but most importantly he yearns for love and familial acceptance. This is the basis of what was broken, and how this breaking, even breaking up the heart, allowed Jenova to twist him into this evil corruption of him, the opposite of his real nature. I can only hope that Final Fantasy 7 remake is going to do the job of showing his true nature overcoming these adversities and restoring his heart to what it once was.
Maybe there was a sadictic side inside him since the beginning because in BC he made a mess on Avalanche soldiers, regular human soldiers mind you. So I agreed with we saw a human side of Sephiroth on CC but maybe on Ever Crisis we could see more of his personality because I still think that when he discovered being an experiment it was a quick change on his personality. Like if that calm and cool demeanor wasn't completly true
All hail lord Sephiroth 🖤
@@SilverLionhart I like to imagine that sadistic side was developed during his childhood in the labs.
Imagine a 6 year old going through the monster challenges and lab tests like Zack did for Hojo as side quests in Crisis Core.
That'll twist someone up inside without necessarily making them sadistic towards everyone. Vicious survival instinct and ruthlessness bottled up until it's unleashed on acceptable targets.
Sephiroth's definition of "acceptable targets" just expanded to everyone and everything after he lost everyone and everything.
Sep’s dynamic with Cloud can be viewed as him trying to justify his fall from humanity. What Sephiroth constantly does to Cloud is to strip him of tangible anchors to his humanity: Cloud’s loved ones. He probably is doing an experiment to see if Cloud will suffer a fall like he did, being someone who is proven to equally strong, if not more. If you notice, Cloud’s mental breakdown in disc two has the same projectory as Sephiroth’s own fall from grace. They started losing loved ones, and the confronted with an identity crisis. If Cloud succumbs to despair, then Seph will know that he was right to abandon his humanity. So basically Sephiroth’s former self is probably still exists in the twisted way he interacts with Cloud.
The way I see it, the reason why Sephiroth is so obsessed with Cloud, is because he is the last connection he had to Angeal, and this was the only reason why Sephiroth had any interest in Zack, since Angeal was very close to Zack and even gave him his sword which represented his dreams and ideals, which then were later passed down to Cloud, as Zack had mentored him and was close to him, and even gave him the purpose of being his living legacy, since Cloud was a weak minded person that just looked up to others. I believe that Sephiroth thinks, if he is able to fully break Cloud, then his last connection to humanity which was with Angeal and his legacy, will allow him to finally move on and gain true power, but through the power of friendship as in every shonen story, Cloud has always beaten Sephiroth in the end. I think its really sad what happened to Sephiroth, because with Zack when he was feeling down, he always had people around him like Cissnei, Tseng, Aerith or even that 2nd class SOLDIER buddy, who made him feel like he was much more than a weapon, since in Crisis Core there were a lot of moments, where even Zack himself whos been shown to be a really strong person, had his doubts about possibly being a monster himself, but unlike Sephiroth who didn't open to anyone, Zack was able to let other people into his life, and died fighting for what he truly believed in which did make him a hero in the end, since he gave his life to protect Cloud, and even gave him a better life by giving him the purpose of being his living legacy. And for those people that think that Zack was not smart for doing what he did, you have to consider that if Zack really had taken Cloud elsewhere, and tried to live a life somewhere far away from Midgar, they would have lived a life being on the run, since Shinra had spies everywhere and their army was huge, when Zack decided to take the fight straight to them, he massively reduced their army and made things better for Cloud in the long run, though I'm really interested in what the remake will turn out, since Zack's story did not end in it.
small correction, regular soldiers dont degrade (they just kind of get health problems iirc) because they are injected with S cells (sephiroth cells), while angeal and genesis were injected with J cells (Jenova cells). Theres a chance that sephiroth could’ve saved them if he had been the donor, but hollander didnt want to do the transfusion because of his ego and history with hojo
They weren't injected directly with Jenova cells, that was Sephiroth while he was still in the womb. Instead, they injected the cells into Angeal's mother, then her cells into Genesis. Ironically, the attempt to make them more compatible with humans just ended up making the mix more unstable.
Correction to your correction: Genesis lived and is in great health, as per the ending of Dirge. He looks better than ever and seems to have the ability to control life and death.
@@NeoNaito I think he is right tho, Genesis is fine only thanks to the lifestream the cured him at the end of Crisis Core, IF i remember correctly
Regular soldiers don't get any S or J cells. That only happened to Zack and Cloud after the Nibel incident, when Hojo experimented on them. Regular soldiers only get bathed in Mako to give them enhanced/superhuman abilities.
Genesis and Angeal were born from a woman that was injected with Jenova cells, these are G(illian) cells. Where as Hojo and Lucresia, I for get her name, injected Jenova in to her egg that was seeded with Hojo's sperm. G cells soldiers with the way the process works they allow for Jenova to absorb those cells were as S cell do not. Though he can control them and eventually Sephiroth becoms powerful enough that he can inhabit the body of anyone that merges with Jenova cells.
This gorgeous man deserves so much better than what was given to him.
Is it weird that I just want to give Sephiroth a hug? He never deserved any of this
Ikr he was lied to jenova isn’t his mother and he’ll never know the truth most likely stupid hojo
If he didn't want to kill everyone yeah I'd agree 😅
Dude that was whole main cast in Crisis Core. No one deserved what they got in that game. Even Aerith wasn't exempt from it. Playing it again being older, yeah the game is really dark.
@@scribble71891 think the question here is who started it - hojo or shinra, because I would say hojo but considering he was at odds with Hollander using the same jenova cells to create a super soldier I feel that's it's less plausible but I can't say shinra either because hojo might have gone his own way with research although he was working with shinra the whole time
@@neezduts69420 honestly i think it was just in hojo's nature to be immoral and unethical.
Tbh it's like everybody kinda treated him like a prop more than a person
💯
100% yes.
Sephi was originally intended to be revealed as aeris' brother during development, hence the hair similarities
I can see that happening but probably changed it up due to sword slicing event later in game.
@@inavitago7689 I think he was always intended to kill her, it was all stated in an interview along with the brother thing
their hair look nothing alike huh
@@vincenthammons6705 Yeah it does. Look at the bangs.
Not Brother, boyfriend
0:11 The crazy thing is that note is literally all you need to recognize his theme.
You are missing information. The ultimania guide says everything Sephiroth did from nibelhiem on was because jenova was controlling him.
The Sephiroth that appears at the end of remake is resurrected time traveling good Sephiroth. It's his actions that force the jenova controlled arbiter of fate to appear. They are not on the same side. Once the party defeats it, Sephiroth takes control of the whispers, saving Zack from dying and stopping the future meteor from the fate of hitting the planet. This is why aerith knows that this Sephiroth is "wrong". He's the newly resurrected future Sephiroth, who travels the lifestream back to remake. This is also why he didn't kill cloud during the boss fight, when he had cloud pinned to the ground, and eventually asked cloud to join him.
Cloud doesn't know all of this, and only sees an enemy. Which is why he refused. Sephiroth is a bit arrogant about facing the guy who killed him. And who he knows will get on his level of strength in the future. Watch the entire thing on TH-cam. From when they meet that Sephiroth at the end of the highway on. You'll see that entire sequence of events in a new light.
That boss fight was Future good Sephiroth fucking with Cloud and the gang. He never had intentions of killing Cloud. This is why he's smiling like he knows something you don't throughout the entire fight. He's manipulating time, resurrecting himself, getting stronger, saving Zack and destroying the future meteor, getting his free will back from jenova, taking control of the whispers (as seen during the boss fight) all at the same time. And as a bonus, he gets to have some sport with the only guy who he probably considers is worthy of his time fighting, his whole life.
This is also why he tells cloud "I won't have you end" at the edge of creation. This shit is deep!
This theory is actually true?
canon or theory?
I subscribe to this theory because the big bad is jenova not Jesus. He died for our sin needlessly. Redemption arc is what I'm hoping for, but we will see...I want to see what sephiroth sees at edge of creation
@@horunovaraki6060 no lol
@Burger_King as of now nobody knows what sephiroth in the remake is doing or what he is in general.
This makes sense before the events of FF7, but what happened to him to make him turn also is important as well. With all this already weighing on Seph, he finds out that he was an experiment which makes him question his humanity and Genesis coming in at the point where he is questioning it doesn’t help either. If anything, it makes him question if he ever had friends (…..thanks, Genesis you ass) and now the only thing left for Seph is his origins and the research. The research is all Seph has to hold onto and he wants to know despite we the players knowing later that some of it is wrong and misguided information.
Sephiroth obsesses over the research and goes down the rabbit hole HARD to the point that he doesn’t sleep for 3 DAYS! If you look up what sleep deprivation does to someone who hasn’t slept for that long, cognitive thinking, executive function, remembering things, multitasking and pay attention are all affected by this. And it also says that emotions are affected as well. The rock bottom is here. The snap and he is in a blind rage and honestly through all he has been through and what Shinra has done to him I don’t blame him at all but it’s what he does after this with killing people and his dilutions that make him the villain we all love. Yeah I feel bad for him but what he did IS evil lol. Ok my long winded explanation done lol.
I applaud this video very much so, you did a great job chronicling and itemizing very important details about Sephiroth, his life, and how his breakdown came about. This even offered additional micro-answers I needed myself concerning certain character dynamics within Crisis Core.
However, the one mistake made here, you did not offer what the actual transition was for Sephiroth into villainy. You just kinda explored his sad background and the hidden futility of his friendship with Genesis and Angeal, but you didn't explain exactly HOW this leads into him becoming a villain, and you mistakenly leave the question open... "Why is he evil?"
So to answer that question, Sephiroth was hit with too much trauma all at once. And the kind of trauma these events caused led to his mental breakdown, which in turn, allowed Jenova to set his psyche in a blender, thus becoming Jenova's ultimate weapon.
To dive deeper, Sephiroth not only lost his best friends, his _brothers_, he was being ordered to KILL them. This alone took a massive toll. Then it wasn't enough that Genesis was on a spree of murder and terrorism, like it was a Black Friday sale, Genesis coldly revealed his insidious jealousy and basically hate for Sephiroth, and this was the person Sephiroth wanted to donate his blood to, and carried this sorrow for not being able to. This to me was really the beginning of his mental undoing.
Then in Nibelheim, Sephiroth deliberately brought on mission SOLDIERS from this village, knowing it would be an opportunity for them to visit family. However, prior events of losing Angeal and Genesis opened that void of not having family or even a place to call home. This brought up his past, and having that to surface in the midst of all this stress concerning Genesis was further tearing Sephiroth up. THEN, in that reactor, it would be Genesis to deal the final blow telling him about the Jenova Project, and calling him a monster.
This was the final straw for Sephiroth's psyche, AND... *this is exactly what Jenova wanted.* Sephiroth being at his most vulnerable, Jenova took no time to twist Sephiroth's mind and exploited more than just his mental breakdown, but also... his deep yearning for family, and to belong. And from there, he believe Jenova to be his mother, the Cetra, and himself a Cetra messiah entitled to the Planet. Through Jenova's lenses, Sephiroth sees humanity as evil and needing to be purged.
The version of Sephiroth existing at the Edge of Creation, I and several others believe him to be Sephiroth's original nature or some form of it trying to fight and overcome Jenova, and salvage not just his own soul but the Planet as well.
Something I've always said, Sephiroth isn't inherently nor innately *evil* like Genesis was. Genesis was really evil from the get go, and it took his degrading to bring out the worst in him. But Sephiroth is the epitome of a tragic villain, and is in all honesty the primary victim of the narrative who's been twisted by trauma, betrayal, and psychic manipulation.
That's my piece there 😊😊
A thing I love about Sephiroth (aside from his charisma, design, powers, etc) is how everything turned out for the world.
Sephiroth is originally nothing more than a victim of Shinra and Hojo, both seeing him as nothing but a product. He was lied to, manipulated, used as a living weapon and that's it. He always felt he was different, even compared to other SOLDIER, including his only two friends Genesis and Angeal, and he ended up losing both of them. He tried his best to protect them and then planned to give up on Shinra, only to discover he was nothing more than an experiment. In short, he was another victim of Shinra.
But then, he snapped so hard he became a murderous maniac who caused untold amounts of suffering for way too many people. From Cloud to Aerith or Tifa, none of them have done anything to him, yet he did everything to make them suffer in various ways, especially Cloud. What's more spectacular is that he doesn't even try to go after Shinra for personal reasons. They're the one who destroyed him, yet he only sees them as obstacles on his way. By using him like trash like they've done with so many others, Shinra ended up creating something far worse than they could have imagined. A classic, brilliant case of "the victim becomes the agressor", except this time the former victim is a god-like being who doesn't even go after his former tormentors but after an entire world.
Sephiroth's story is tragic because in the end, he became worse, as in far more destructive, violent and murderous than Shinra.
I feel like sephiroth it was a combination of his trauma over his heritage,the shock of what happens to people who become soldiers in Shinra, topped off finally by the corruption caused by the jenova cells in his body. Yes I know sephiroth in the end was controlling jenova but I feel like jenova definitely corrupted him and played a part in his falling because remember angeal said his mind was mired in a fog so it's clear that jenova definitely has the ability to mentally corrupt and to a minor extent control its victims but I feel like sephiroth in the end after being corrupted ended up in control but also still somewhat under the influence of jenova cells poisoning his mind.
"Sephiroth's parents don't matter that much"?
Dude... his parents are Hojo and Lucrecia... it matters a *lot* that Hojo is his father.
I still like to believe if he ran into his actual mother, some interesting things will happened. Hojo on the other hand, not so much lol
yes.
Sephiroth Decent into insanity has to be one of most depressing and yet confusing ever
I thought Jenova cells were causing Angela and Genesis to degrade not mako.
The only reason Sephiroth didn't was because the way the experiment was conducted.
Angela and Genesis - Jenova cell was put in their mother.
Sephiroth - the Jenova cell was put in him when he was a baby in side his mother.
The guy speaking in this video is wrong about alot of details.
tbh as someone who only into ff7 these past few weeks it's still surprised me that people mentioned hojo is sephiroth's father while i saw others said he's actually not. i meant.. how tf that creepy man's genes produced someone as gorgeous as sephiroth??? LOL
Hero turned villian, was the base of my own argument to why, he was my childhood hero, and still Optimus to my aspirations of the kind of person I want to be. I should dust off my old hs essay and do a bit, to say why i defend him as a hero, and character
Sephiroth will always be my fav character. ^^
İ Like Him too :)
İ Am Already A Huge Fan Of Villain characters İ Like Them So Much :)
Weak pvssy!
Met, Janus Pater Zeal!
Battle with Magus - The Musical.
Now You ☠
Lavos theme 🎶
*Hot take* I've always though the reasoning for Sephiroths fall makes a lot more sense from only playing FF7. A man raised in a lab by a corporation and used all his life suddenly finding out hes not even human and is the 'son' of a god-like being. That would make sense for him being "kill all these insects".
The goody goody Sephiroth for 90% of Crisis Core and Genesis' teen angst is just not good reasoning for it. I remember playing way back and at the end being "what the hell was that?"
It is a fun game and I did enjoy it but the reasoning for his fall just didn't work for me, i guess.
It was made after the OG game so it makes sense they would add a bunch of stuff the OG game never even hinted at. I also dislike CC for that reason. They make Zack more important than he actually was and now he's been forced into the remake as some pivotal character AFTER his death....
100% this. Even Aeris admits she didnt really take the relationship with Zack too seriously, and now hes supposed to be super important lol.
I was really hoping Crisis Core Reunion would've further elaborated more on Sephiroth's 'friendship' with Genesis and Angeal to explain his downfall better. After all, Sephiroth attaching himself to a toxic friend like Genesis would indicate he wasn't in a good healthy place in his life (much like attaching yourself to a toxic girlfriend would indicate you had poor self-esteem issues). But Reunion didn't do anything with this. Nomura has such a hard-on for his Genesis/Gackt Gary Stu creation, he never wants us to perceive Genesis as a shitty guy (which would then help us see a pattern of unhealthy relationships/attachments Sephiroth forms with others - from Jenova to Cloud). Instead, Nomura keeps wanting us to see Genesis as this misunderstood mofo. :P
This is why I don't like alot of these "Lore explained" videos. Many of these guys use CC as the base point of explanation... whereas original fans know that you should always explain the characters using the OG as a base point. CC should be explained, but with the preface that it wasn't cannon AT FIRST.
The biggest problem is they SE has not been consistent with how everything has happened and the remake makes things more confusing.
With each new media they have explained some things, bit for every explanation they open up 2 more things that are not explained.
This is wayni was hoping the remake would have been a definitive addition to explain how everything actly happened, but it made it worse.
He goes crazy learning his origin. The end.
His mistake wasn't to do good his mistake was not leaving Shin Ra earlier.
Could you imagine? If he had joined AVALANCHE (the first incarnation), Shinra would've been screwed.
I mean. its quite simple.
Sephiroth was lead to believe that he was basically the fucking chosen one. a descendant of a race of beings who were wiped out by the very people who created him. He wanted revenge.
it's really amazing because IF sephiroth actually knew his true origin he never would have done what he did
This is what I’ve been waiting for THE GOAT
You mean me and not Sephiroth right 😎
@@DarnelHasLeft Mr famous has spoken
Its because he was genetically coded to sell Donbei Udon. He was built to give others Udon when he wanted it all for himself.
I don't think he ever found out about his birth mother, the Shinra scientist, Lucrecia. Even with the knowledge of the Jenova cells, there's no way Sephiroth wouldn't seek her out, if he came across her name in the Shinra Mansion research materials. He's too focused on parentage to just, "not care".
I don't think he ever learned about Lucrecia, and if he had, he may have sought her out, and tempered his descent into madness and villainy.
I thought it was because angeal and genesis were infused with jenova cells for why they're degrading fast. I don't think every soldier has that happening to them.
What I belived happened, and yes this is pure theory as the writer never makes it fully clear, is that the proximity to Jenova was what enabled her to control Sephiroth.
I mean, it was made clear even the 90s game that Jenova has full control of her cells. That'd explain why she has such a strong hold on Sephiroth since he is the only one fully made out of her DNA, while Cloud is only infused and even then, she has partial sway over him to the point where she can warp Cloud's perception of reality and manipulate him into doing her bidding because other than that, there were no indicators of Sephiroth being volatile, even in the old game he is depicted as dry but willing to crack jokes and was someone that actually cared for the men under him.
It isn't until he goes into Nibelheim that he makes a complete 180 from a cool dude hero to the guy that cuts down innocent bystanders for shits and giggles.
It isn't until you make it to the crater that we can experience how severe and devious her mind control capabilities really are.
I also think not knowing who his parents are and thinking an alien that crashed into the planet in order to destroy it is his mother kind of messed up his world view
I mean, initially, yes Jenova's influence convinced Sephiroth to turn evil but after falling into the Lifestream, Sephiroth became so mentally powerful to the point where he could reverse Jenova's control over him so Jenova really only influenced his actions during the Nibelheim incident and nowhere else.
@@larrymunn5279 I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that Sephiroth grew strong enough to the point where he controls Jenova... I mean just look at the way he acts during the Nibelheim incident compared to after he fell into the Lifestream; in Nibelheim, he is completely under Jenova's control and shares her goal of taking over the planet but once he falls into the Lifestream, Jenova becomes his puppet and his plan changes, he's not trying to get Jenova to absorb all life, he's trying to use Meteor so that he himself can absorb the Lifestream and become a god... like, if this was Jenova in control, wouldn't she force Sephiroth to fight the team to defend her instead of throwing herself into harms way to try and stop the team from reaching Sephiroth?
Sephiroth was never under Jenova’s control. Jenova refers to Sephiroth as her master in the whirlwind maze. Hojo also confirms Sephiroth was always the one in control.
Your theory is entirely incorrect. Here's the actual story. Sephiroth had biological parents, Hojo and Lucretia. Sephiroth was conceived like any other normal child but was injected with Jenova cells while he was still in the womb. Same thing happened to Genesis except it was Hollander's experiment and it failed, which is why he degrades and Sephiroth doesn't. Sephiroth was never manipulated by Jenova, it's the other way around. During the events of FF7 original, the Sephiroth the party sees throughout the first half of the game is not actually Sephiroth, it's Jenova who is being controlled by Sephiroth (his real body is in the northern crater after he fell into the lifestream in Crisis Core). Jenova is a shape shifter and takes on the appearance of Sephiroth per his control. Cloud is also being manipulated by Sephiroth during the first half of the game. Everyone who was injected with Jenova cells was being drawn to the northern crater where Sephiroth is. Sephiroth's breakdown comes from him finding out he was a lab experiment, a "monster" so to speak during his mission to Nibelheim. Shinra mistakenly identifies Jenova as being an Ancient, when in reality she's an alien that crash landed in the northern crater thousands of years ago, and nearly wiped out all the Ancients. Sephiroth thinks he's an Ancient because Shinra thinks Jenova is an Ancient, which is not the case. The only actual living Ancient is Aerith (technically half ancient since her dad was Professor Gast, a normal human)
All hail lord Sephiroth 🖤
Cause he went nucking futs.
It is from my opinion that sephiroth is only the ugly result of what human nature does best
The guy's gone nuts after spending too much time in the library and having contact with a monster Jenova. He'd never become evil if it wasn't for poisonous cells of Jenova. He fell in a trap of an evil creature. His real mother was Lucrecia who had no chanve to have a normal life with or without a child. That's it and there's nothing else about it.
“I feel sorry for Sephiroth”
I think it’s unrealistic he would just up and change like that just because he realised he was an experiment. You also wouldn’t go around killing anyone if that wasn’t already in your nature.
He had empathy at the start, that doesn’t just go away.
You are not factoring that he was infused with alien DNA that has a mind (or directive) of it's own. This could be why "he" went crazy. He was corrupted by the Jenova cells... This could be why he disdains human life and feels he is above it.
he still has empathy, but i feel like he uses it to hurt ppl now, play with their emotions...
Sephiroth has narcissistic personality disorder. Narcs tend to be very nice and charismatic. In the right hands they can be wonderful. In the wrong hands (Jenova) they can be pure evil. Narcs are also easily manipulated.
@@TheIsraelProphetess Are you a psychologist?
Other than your personal opinion, that doesn’t really tell us the creators had any intention of giving Sephiroth a disposition towards narcissism.
Also I doubt that’s a good reason considering he most shows empathy, little need for admiration and believing himself to be inferior to others and certainly doesn’t put his own needs before everyone else’s.
Personally I don’t think that narrative holds.
Maybe Remake will be about saving Sephiroths soul
Sephiroth NEEDS a redemption arc. Not just by virtue of his circumstance, but just looking at how Sephiroth has grown as a pop cultural icon, he's transcended the franchise in more ways than one. speaking to the story, Jenova is the true villain and always have been. I think Sephiroth becoming an ANTI-hero is the best route. he's free of Jenova's will, and now onto acting on his own. His intent is just in his eyes, but still winds up at odds with Cloud. Its just now, instead of a hero vs. villain, Sephiroth's motives and intent become nuanced, and even agreeable, but his execution is what makes him an anti-hero that Cloud faces off.
No thank you. Aerith, Sephiroth and Cloud are the ones with the most storytelling.
I want it to be on his own terms though. I don't want the generic "oh no what have I done"!
@@elizabethchint2391 No one is asking for that I feel. Like I said above, Sephiroth needs to overcome Jenova, BUT to then evolve into an ANTI-hero. If anything, Sephiroth will probably view everything that transpired as JENOVA'S doing, and now he's free to rediscover his own will.
Sephiroth as an antihero will allow him to become so much more than "the villain" and opens the door for much greater nuances and exploration. But AS an antihero, this allows him to maintain that epic beef with Cloud, but now on a whole new level.
@@TeamGXOne Sorry for the misunderstanding. Yeah this would be the way to do it.
I understand what you are saying and losing his best friends are probably part of it.
But that's not actually how he became evil nor why he snapped.
Sephiroth had no knowledge who his real mother was, he was only given a name, which wasn't even his real mother's name.
Jenova was a alien that crashed on the planet thousands of years ago and tried to destroy the planet. The cetra were able to imprisoned Jenova but at a great cost.
When Shinra discovered Jenova, they mistakened it for a "cetra" and used her cells to create soldiers and when Sephiroth found out what happened to the cetra and found out who his mother was (not his real mother), that's when he snapped.
Believing the human race betrayed the Cetra and destroyed them, believing humanity hurt his family (Jenova) and went to Jenova to reclaim their world.
After his 1st death, Sephiroth does discover the truth of jenova and inherits its will to destroy the planet and to become a Godlike being.
On many levels Jenova can be considered the true main villain of FF7. Both Jenova and Hojo are the ones that ultimately caused his downfall.
now It’s clear why the developers canceled the idea of a love story with Aerith. If he had only one person who didn’t give a shit about him, he wouldn’t have fallen like that. And she can provide support and love ,which he needed more than anything in the world
I think we can see Sephiroth a little in ourselves. We all want something close as the friends he once had. We all had nothing or feel a low point. We’ve all wanted to do good
This channel deserves 100k subs just for the quality and insightfulness of this one video! 🤡🍿
Thank you so much that’s so sweet of you to say!!! 🥰🫶
To say sepheroth wanted to destroy the world because of his god complex I feel is a stretch. I feel he’s closer related to the story of Frankenstein’s monster, after coming to the realization that he was a creation of man made for monetary gain and the discovery his memory’s are not his own drive him into despair, hatred, and loneliness. In Frankenstein after the doc dies the monster feels truly alone and plunged himself to the bottom of the artic ocean much like after the loss of genisis and angial is when sepheroth truly embraced the “will of jenova”. The story of sepheroth isn’t one of a monster but one of a lost, broken, and hurt man looking for closure.
You really misrepresented the topics here. Like you read the wiki page and didn’t go further. Even if you went off of what was only in the original 7 and just discussed that it would have been better. His parents aren’t important? Yeah they are. Especially the fact that Jenova isn’t really his mother, that it was Hojo and Lucrecia, and Hojo being the nut bag he is experimented on his own kid when he was in the womb and that’s how we got Sephiroth. His closest friends were experiments too, all we really know is Cloud joined because of Sephiroth, not every soldier. Your regards at the end about him opening up too late doesn’t really make sense as there isn’t much to open up to. Hojo purposefully manufactured fake memories so that Sephiroth would never know the truth and because Hojo wanted to see what would happen. The real tragedy is this nut case doomed his kid from the start, and Sephiroth, even trying to be decent, would inevitably crack from his own life being a complete lie and the Jenova cells injected in him pushing him to break. All of this I’m referencing is in the original game, this doesn’t even touch extended material or remake. I don’t understand why things like this weren’t more deeply discussed.
He aint no normal guy with that 13foot long sword coming outta nowhere
We can all agree Sephiroth was a hero. Kind and compassionate and the strongest. But he needed a friend, a real one at some point in his life. Angeal was close but still looked at him like an obstacle, Sephiroth sensed that. Genesis envied him and was open about it, Sephiroth knew he'd screw him the first chance he got. So the man lived his whole life alone, rich and worshipped. So when he reads his origins and Hojo's experiments he snapped. Decided he'd be the savior that would wipe out the human virus. But a friend could have stopped him.
A friend could have reminded him he still a good person.
A friend wouldn't have abandoned him in that library.
It's not all Sephiroth's fault. It's partly shared between his fake friends. A small amount.
Zack for being another Angeal fanboy clone
And absolutely 90% blame goes to hojo. Cuz f*CK HoJo!
I don't even care if the pie chart data isn't equal it's that little creeps fault. He wanted to breed a woman and a talking dog without even giving them privacy. He diddled with Lucretia, idc if she said it was mutual that is not true no on would ever sleep with that man willingly and he knows it. Vincent was a simp I'm sorry he should have blasted Hojo 🤷 so part of it is his fault too fuggit right!?
It all comes back to that little shit. I'd probably snap and go on a God complex fueled killing spree too if I found out my mom was a head and HOJO WAS MY FATHER!!......while we're at it blame Tifa too with goofy ass hat she had on knowing how he felt about small town shenanigans. Cloud?....you should have gone for the head.
Sephiroth could have been saved. If he had one decent, competent friend.
I didn’t realize how bad seph’s mental was until watching ever crisis’ intro of him calling Genesis, not getting an answer and seemingly in a genuine worry/panic
I feel sephirtoth my family was split and I basically was raised like a pet being handed over here and there between my parents who wouldn't want to cooperate with eachother
Ayeee im glad you finally popped off, been here since your Detective Conan vid
Night Sky!!! It’s been a while haha! I remember you! Thanks for all the support man it really means a lot ❤️🥰😭 and haha you ain’t seen nothing yet 😈😈😈
@@DarnelHasLeft plotting something devious over there 👀
So Sephiroth love his buddies but they didn't love him, you repeated through out the video, but you kinda skipped the whole "how did Sephiroth become evil" part
Next, Magus Zeal.
Why, Janus Zeal became so bad toward humanity?!
Sound con-fused?
Ford Fusion!
Seed of Perdition - Lavos, World Révolution & Last Battle.
Sephiroth is essentially Homelander before Homelander was a thing. Someone experiemented on since birth and so elevated above everyone else it was hard to relate and every time he found something or someone to hold onto, they hurt him and set him down a path.
Was the comic for The zblys not writen in the early 90s?
Honestly kinda accurate
Don't forget Sephiroth is part Jenova. Not like he has jenova cells in him, he is genetically partially jenova. He was injected with her cells in the womb so he developed with those cells from fetus to baby. Which is why he doesn't degrade. So the similarities with Shinra and Vought are really kinda crazy.
I really loathe this comparison. They really don't have much in common other than being raised in a laboratory.
You missed something huge:
Jenova.
Mako doesn't cause degradation. Jenova does.
I got chills when I heard dearly beloved
When I was a kid me and my friends would play fight all the time. We’d get in trouble so many times at school for throwing each other around.
Sephiroth is a tragic character. After everything that happens to sephiroth genesis has to tell him he's just a messed up science experiment from an evil alien Cthulhu monster...I'd go crazy too
A great analysis. I myself have always had the theory that Sephiroth was always going to fall someday. The reason being because unlike other soldiers his genes where spliced with Jenova in the development stage. So well his Will eventually overpowered Jenova’s he gained its instinct to destroy.
He didn't become evil, he became the sephirot - gatekeeper to those that seek ultimate power/fortune - O Fortuna (his theme is from this song). Tree of Life. Aerith (in the original mainly) is a guide for Cloud (his name is key/how he also manifested into something superior) and why Aerith, *spoiler alert* departs is because her job is done/loss - the team must go on to face him alone (we always fall in love with our spirit guides, but it's mis-guided). Sephirot made the character cool and interesting, the Joker from The Dark Knight or Anton from No Country from Old Men are similar takes in American cinema, but I prefer FF VII take. The key is Cloud's battle theme: Those Who Fight and Those Who Fight Further - tempt/defy fate (the fates)/attempt to rewrite the stars. th-cam.com/video/GXFSK0ogeg4/w-d-xo.html
You did a better job telling the story of Crisis Core than Crisis Core did lol. Kudos for that one man.
So finding his true origins was more the straw that broke the camel's back.
If Sephiroth bad why sephiroth hot?
🗣️🗣️🗣️
If Janus(Magus/Magil) Zeal so bad why he help "You", Serge?
Thieves of Fate - Days of Summer
I can kinda understand his motives as a villain its not us cut and dry as he snapped. When you lose everyone you cared about the world becomes meaningless. I lost my best friend to a stroke and my ex wife died from liver failure. There is a few times i would just want the world to end. Some point i imagine Sephiroth felt the same way. This is also why he asked Cloud what do you care for let me take it away. He wants to show Cloud they are really a lot alike.
I thought I had my TH-cam speed set at 150%
First of all: underrated vid/underrated editing. Secondly: what is this song because I must know 4:24
1:20 “Sephiroth’s parents don’t really matter.”
What?! Yes, they do!
The mainline story of ff7 is identity. Clouds struggle and Sephiroths struggle. Their reactions/actions in terms of their identity crisis is what sets them apart and what the story is conveying as good and bad.
Arguably, Sephiroths situation is so much worse starting out, that his reaction was inevitable. But that's also the story conveying for example - a loving family is infinitely a better foundation than one driven by ambitions and manipulation of genetics to ACHIEVE something.
Sephiroth is the darth vader of video games.
sephiroths parents dont matter much... HIS DAD WAS HOJO QUITE LITERALLY THE CAUSE OF EVERYTHING BAD IN FF7!!!
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE SEPHIROTH HAVE A REDEMPTION ARC. SEPHIROTH WAS PRETTY COO BEFORE THE EVIL TRYING TO DESTROY THE WORLD REVIVING A MONSTER AND KILLING EVERYONE THING
Relying too much on others to love him, taking Hojo and Geist words as outpoured golden, not even questioning his origins missing Lucrecia totally (his real mother) and belittled when he wanted to be a donor (a thing he hated the most and he projected on the failed experiments in Nibelheim too, down to...destroying people in Nibelheim). He desired to love, but Shinra ment him to be a heartless obedient war machine...a choice which went against Sephiroth and them...anticipating their befall. He was belittled by everyone and he had truths conceiled...neither Shinra's Mansion books could enlighten him (as they were put in place to deceive him). But he had signs or wishpers about experiments on people...where he did not dig up enough...
It is these things that, if digged up by him, it could made a change preventing him to fall from his Heroic integrity instead of becoming a Jenovah's puppet.
and all that's left was shear misery, loss, more felt alien than before, and just at the right moment, turns into Discord, just to see what happens.
12:07 One realizes at this point that Sephiroth is much like Homelander from 'The Boys' TV show.
Nobody is evil in this story, they are only victims of the Shinra company, Genesis Angeal and Sephiroth were Shinra's experiments, Genesis found out the truth when his body began to degrade, Angeal and Sephiroth also discovered the lies and on Shinra's part and they acted based on their anger, pain and frustrations. This is a very sad story of love and betrayal.
Angeal and Genesis were just terrible characters. Ike voice: "You'll get no sympathy from me."
How does someone get pregnant for Hojo??? Seriously?
my thoughts exactly. it would've been more believable if they had gone with one of the scrapped ideas in which lucrecia was drugged by hojo and forced to go along with his plans... i honestly don't get how lucrecia would choose hojo over vincent.
... kind of important who his parents are.
Loved your video !
Someone is an Anastasia from Sakura Wars fan with that music in the first 20ish seconds. Heh heh.
📖 tha that's No Way to talk to a Hero
Thank you, but please narrate a bit slower. Sometimes I cannot hear what is being said as words seem to overlap on each other :D
😅😅😅 definitely noted! Thanks!!!
@@DarnelHasLeft Hello! I'm a show director and I often have to narrate, I noticed at 3:07 to like 3:11 that you got a little excited and did indeed stumble a few words. But it comes from passion. I'd say you're all good.
@@DarnelHasLeft Also thank you for the awesome video!
@@RavanaMuse Hey thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed!!! Haha yeah I didn’t realize how obvious it was how nervous/excited I was while recording! In hindsight it’s so noticeable 😭
As an xqc viewer, this guy talks extremely slow
Great video bro.
Also remember he is partially Jenova. He isn't a human with Jenova cells. He is part jenova. He was injected with J cells in the womb. So he developed with that genetics, which is why he has control over Jenova infused creatures and humans.
Sephiroth turned evil because he discovered he was a lab experiment.
Well considering all things I can't call Sephiroth evil of how he was raised,treated,used, manipulated at the events of Clouds hometown he was delirious and snapped. He learned some truth of Shinra and made the decision to turn on him. His actions were horrific sure but they were from years of mental repression and being used as a tool to do their bidding. One can do great acts chaos and nor be evil characters. If only he had learned the truth at a young age he could have been the hero he was ment to be and wouldn't be so mentally and emotionally destroyed.
This is very simple happens to veterans a lot but we use other methods of coping however he found out his existence was a lie and he embraced what he believed to be the truth even if it means destroying your comrades who were apart of the lie then on top of that you have a natural god complex and you basically found out you have omnipotent potential from your alien heritage that’s all
Great video!
But Seph's parents matter SOOO MUCH!
Sephiroth needs a Joker kind of backstory in the style of Final Fantsay. Then it would all make sense.
Well damn mans has suffered
You can somewhat say yes sephiroth did become stronger a hell of a lot stronger after turning evil and merging with the stream, but he also became weaker at the same time, cause as a hero sephiroth would fight to all his ability, but when he became a villian that arrogance, and the need to inflict pain and despair, is why sephiroth can never use his full potential, its kinda sad but makes his character more unique as when you see villians from other games there final fights usally have em fighting at full power, sephiroth has not once in his entire time as a villain used 100% of his power.
Idk if it's possible, but now that it's possible that we are dealing with sephiroth going back in time or another universe, imagine if sephiroth corrects his mistake and uses 100%. That's a huge possibility considering the whole dynamic of ff7 remake.
What? Do you understand that he was literally the most powerful being in Gaia? He was always holding back, this has been confirmed by the developers. This is why he never actually dies.
Last I checked I thought he had a huge identity crisis and him having jenovas cells in him which is I guess space maniac caused him to retain his mind and memories to a degree with a new mission at hand. I just assumed he had lost his purpose and through jenova he found it. For a character with insane motives he still seemed very clever and well put together. I just can’t remember what his endgame was from the original ff7 I keep thinking it’s union and or fusion with jenova and essentially taking the planet via the life stream or destroying it ? I wasn’t to sure
the video explanation of the game is good i just recommend slowing down the speed of the video to understand it better
I mean I get the whole concept, but you kind of glossed over the breakdown itself; which is mostly focused on the Jenova experiment stuff. I can see his friends being taken away playing into it, but it was mostly just that which put him over the edge. Feel free to correct me if you disagree though, just felt like you spent a little too much time on the Genesis and Angeal thing.
Easy answer is Hojo is a lunatic
Its 15 years old came out in 07
Cloud: Why are you evil?
Sephiroth: Who said I'm evil?
Cloud: ....
Cloud: You! You are evil!
"He was the strongest guy, certainly... but he was human."
He wasn't, really. That's kind of the point of his downward spiral. Part of Sephiroth's genetic makeup is alien (whatever the heck Jenova is), and that's why he is different.
When I say Sephiroth is human I mean metaphorically, in the same way that superman is human! Superman is 100% alien but still has his “humanity”! Hope that makes sense!
He’s mostly human, both his real biological parents (Lucrecia and Hojo) were human, he’s just got some alien dna thrown into the mix it doesn’t make him not human at all.
That is until he comes back from the dead anyways because he’s no longer using his original body.
bro u barely mention ff7... just remake. ff7 has so much lore u missed out like the moment he realized he was all a project. in the shinra mansion
Your synopsis of his backstory is pretty bad ngl. Not mentioning Hojo as his father or the fact that his "mother" Jenova is a parasitic alien that almost destroyed the world thousands of years prior is rather significant to his downfall. Also, not all SOLDIERS suffer from degradation, just the G type ones, which Genesis and Angeal are. His breakdown is a direct result of him finding out how he was created and mistaking himself to be an Ancient, his god complex didn't just come out of thin air.
I think sephiroth is the representation of the solitude result but cloud is reverse of him