Sephiroth (Final Fantasy)
| Sephiroth | |
|---|---|
| 'Final Fantasy series and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII' character | |
| Sephiroth artwork by Tetsuya Nomura Sephiroth artwork by Tetsuya Nomura | |
| First game | Final Fantasy VII |
Sephiroth (セフィロス, Sefirosu) is the central antagonist in the Square Enix role playing game Final Fantasy VII. He has had — relative to Final Fantasy VII's continuity — four non-canonical appearances in other games: Ehrgeiz, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and Itadaki Street Special. Within the continuity of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth has also made appearances in the mobile game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, the CGI film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the midquel OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. He was also only mentioned by Weiss in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. His appearance was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.
Sephiroth appears as a tall man with long silver hair, bright emerald-green cat-like eyes, a long black coat, white metallic pauldrons and belted black boots. He carries the sword Masamune, which is designed more as an extra long katana than the nodachi it is most commonly referred to as, a weapon that has appeared in each installment of the Final Fantasy series. In Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth was the most famous member of SOLDIER, a paramilitary branch of the Shin-Ra corporation, until he mysteriously disappeared five years prior to the beginning of the game. He then returns to enact a plot which threatens the game's world, bringing him into conflict with the game's protagonists, and particularly with its main character, Cloud Strife, who shares a past with Sephiroth. He is also responsible for the death of a major protagonist within the game, the topic becoming the subject of one of the most popular video game spoilers in history.
In Japan, Sephiroth's voice was provided by seiyū Shinichiro Miki in Ehrgeiz and Toshiyuki Morikawa in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts II. In the English version of Kingdom Hearts, his voice was provided by Lance Bass of 'N Sync. In all other appearances to date, such as those in the English versions of Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts II, however, he is voiced by George Newbern.
Biography
Template:Spoiler Sephiroth was born 25 to 30 years before the start of the game[1] (exact year left unknown) to Professor Hojo and Lucrecia of Shin-Ra. (Though some fans previously believed that Sephiroth was the son of Vincent Valentine—who was in love with Lucrecia—the FFVII Ultimania Ω Guide confirms that he is the son of Hojo[2], as does Hojo himself during the game.[3] ). Raised by Shinra with knowledge of Jenova as his mother, but without knowing what Jenova was, Sephiroth became a top-member in SOLDIER, with the highlight of his career in the Midgar/Wutai war.
A year after the war, during a mission to check on a Mako reactor at Nibelheim, Sephiroth discovered his horrifying origins as an experiment and integral role in the Jenova Project after which he lays waste to the town and proceeds to the reactor to release his "mother." He is momentarily delayed by Tifa Lockhart, whom Sephiroth easily disarms and wounds near-fatally. Zack, a fellow 1st class SOLDIER, arrives to stop Sephiroth, but he too is dispatched and sent reeling from Jenova's chamber. While finally liberating Jenova, Sephiroth is caught off-guard and stabbed by Cloud, armed with Zack's Buster Sword. Sephiroth limps from the chamber carrying the severed head of Jenova, when Cloud attempts to finish him off. Sephiroth impales Cloud with the Masamune, but Cloud manages to throw him off the edge of the reactor into the Lifestream.
Presumably thought dead, Sephiroth traveled the Lifestream, learning the truth of Jenova's true nature, before ending up in the Northern Cave sealed in Mako while absorbing Jenova's head. But though physically unable, Sephiroth hatched a plot to absorb the planet's energy, turning himself into a "god."
Notions of Sephiroth's apparent death are put to question when Cloud and company are detained in Shin-Ra's headquarters. On the eve before a public execution, they escape, aided by a mysterious third party who has devastated the facility. Cloud finds the Shin-Ra president assassinated, and impaled by a sword for which he confirms its belonging to Sephiroth. However, "Sephiroth" was actually Jenova's body taken over by Sephiroth's will and remolded in his image as his puppet in order to get the "Sephiroth Copies", members of SOLDIER injected with Jenova's cells to make them as powerful as him, to have the Reunion in the Northern Cave.
Sephiroth's goal, as revealed later by Bugenhagen, is to sap the planet of its Lifestream with the aid of the Black Materia and its cataclysmic power referred to as Meteor. Aerith attempted to stop him with the White Materia and its defensive power, Holy. Though she suceeded, Aerith was murdered by Sephiroth, leaving the White Materia active but unused. Cloud procures the Black Materia but is emotionally manipulated against his will into relieving ownership. Sephiroth called forth Meteor and awaited its arrival within a sealed Northern Crater.[4]
In the story's climax, the barrier is penetrated by Shin-Ra, thus allowing Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE to descend into the Northern Crater and fight Bizzaro Sephiroth, before he molted out of his cocoon as Safer Sephiroth. With the destruction of his physical body, Sephiroth's spirit made a final mental assault upon Cloud within the Lifestream, attempting to overcome his will yet again and claim Cloud's body as his own. However, Cloud overcomes Sephiroth in the mental duel and banishes his spirit back to the Planet's collective of life energy.[5]
Advent Children
It has been two years following the defeat of Sephiroth, and a disease called Geostigma has spread throughout the world, afflicting many with its ill symptoms of extreme fatigue and open sores on the skin. The now reclusive Cloud finds himself confronted by a strange trio of silver-haired brothers who are the Remnants of Sephiroth, the physical manifestations of Sephiroth's will and spiritual energy. His powerful will allowed him to endure the Lifestream and emerge from it before being fully diluted.[6]
Their leader, the youngest brother Kadaj, would later transform into Sephiroth after absorbing the contents of a case containing Jenova's remains. After his resurrection, Sephiroth reveals that he has been using Geostigma in a plan to corrupt the Planet's Lifestream and grant him control of it. From there, Sephiroth would repeat Jenova's goal to travel to another world. He and Cloud then engage in their final duel, in which Sephiroth displays various powers surpassing those of other characters featured in the film such as literally flying, slicing a huge section of a tower, and even calling the "tainted lifestream" with a mere wave of his hand to cover the sky. Despite this, he is defeated by Cloud's Omnislash Version 5 Limit Break and fades away, leaving a mortally wounded Kadaj in his place. His final words to Cloud as he does so, "I will..never be a memory.", could be taken to mean that, despite his Remants returning to the lifestream and his spirit diluted, Sephiroth will never truly be gone and will continue to exist in one form or another.
A revised One-Winged Angel theme—Advent: One-Winged Angel (Sairin: Katayoku no Tenshi) —is played throughout the battle between Cloud and Sephiroth, this time with the progressive metal stylings of Nobuo Uematsu's band "The Black Mages" as well as orchestral elements and new lyrics.
Dirge of Cerberus
Sephiroth appears in a flashback scenario when Lucrecia slumps over and starts to see what her future son would do later on.
Manifestation
All manifestations of Sephiroth seen throughout the game — excluding flashback sequences and his real body at the Northern Crater — are Jenova cells manipulated through Sephiroth's will to take his shape.
In the finale of the original game, it is speculated that Cloud's final confrontation with Sephiroth is purely mental/spiritual and takes place in the Lifestream as a final duel of their wills. However, this is merely conjecture. Sephiroth is defeated, and his soul dissolves back into the Lifestream, though he manages to avoid dilution and returns in Advent Children for a true final confrontation of a physical nature through Kadaj.
One-Winged Angel
Safer Sephiroth is the final form of Sephiroth seen in the original game. Though one more battle follows Safer Sephiroth's defeat, it is a scripted battle purely for plot purposes and cannot be lost, so the fight with Safer Sephiroth is essentially the final battle of the game as far as gameplay itself is concerned. It follows the battles with Jenova-SYNTHESIS and Bizarro Sephiroth, and after Safer Sephiroth is defeated, a staged battle, a lengthy final cutscene, and the credits follow.
The Safer Sephiroth battle is unexplained and leaves many questions unanswered, adding to Sephiroth's mystique and prompting much speculation about the battle's significance to the plot of Final Fantasy VII and its symbolic meaning.
Names
The name "Safer Sephiroth" may have been a mis-romanization of the boss' name when translating from Japanese, as was the case with Helletic Hojo, which should have been translated as "Heretic Hojo," and "Bizzaro Sephiroth," which should have been "Rebirth Sephiroth"[7]. A common rumor is that "Safer" is a mistranslation of "Seraph" due to Safer Sephiroth's angelic appearance. This may be indeed the case, though the original Japanese was "Seefa" (セーファ), rather than "Serafu" (セラフ), which would indicate the fault lies with whoever romanized the word in the Japanese version. Another possibility is that the original name is actually "Sepher Sephiroth", referring to the writing of the same name within 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, by Aleister Crowley; it should also be noted that the name "Sephiroth" itself refers to a central concept in Qabbalah, which is based on the Ten Sephiroth (plural, the singular form being "Sephirah"). Sephiroth does bear many similarities to a seraph, as seraphim are described in the Tanakh, being humanoid angels with six wings: "With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying."[8] Safer Sephiroth can easily be interpreted as bearing the appearance of a seraph with an additional wing added in place of his right arm.
Safer Sephiroth is also known as the "One-Winged Angel," which is also the title of the well-known song which accompanies the battle with Safer Sephiroth. The title is also significant to Sephiroth's character due to its fallen angel connotation, a symbolic form of reference for those who have fallen from grace. To some, the name "One-Winged Angel" seems strange, as Safer Sephiroth has a total of seven wings. However, the original Japanese name is "片翼の天使 (Katayoku no Tenshi)," which means "an angel with wings on one side," rather than an angel with only one wing, though even this does not describe his appearance accurately, and would only seem to apply to his unusual right wing. Yet, in Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (right after he is defeated by Cloud and his presence fades away from Kadaj) Sephiroth appears in his classic black outfit, albeit with one large wing protruding through his right shoulder blade.
Appearance
Safer Sephiroth appears as a deformed, tanned, angelic being. He is unclothed, and all of his body below his torso has been replaced by a cloud-like formation with six white wings (two normal ones between two larger ones with decorative frills) emerging upside-down from where Sephiroth's legs would normally be. There are also two large, interlocked rings on his back, forming a symbol of the Empyrean Halo (a.k.a. "the Celestial Rose"), the final Heaven and the abode of God in The Divine Comedy.
His left arm (which is the arm that he would usually be holding his Masamune with) is normal, but his right arm has been replaced with a large purple, green and red wing, the colors of the Jenova-BIRTH, LIFE, and DEATH bosses.
The image is completed by the background for this battle, which — despite the battle taking place in the bowels of the Planet — is a kaleidoscopic ring of clouds in a blue sky, offering the illusion that the battle takes place in a heavenly plane of existence. This may be a result of the battle taking place within the Holy magic that resided in the background of the former battle, and may serve as yet another allusion to the Celestial Rose: the layout of clouds is reminiscent of past conceptualizations[1], in which it appeared as a throng of angels encircling a sun-like God, a formation that symbolizes God's perfection and radiance. This imagery is reinforced during the Super Nova attack, as the sun and its shockwave emerge from behind Safer Sephiroth.
![[1]](/media/wikipedia/en/3/30/Dore-empyrean.jpg){kind=link}
Sephiroth's cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts bears very little resemblance to Safer Sephiroth, though he does have a single, large, feathered black wing behind his right arm dramatically alluding to the "One-Winged Angel" title. He also briefly takes this form in Advent Children. In Kingdom Hearts II however, he has two additional wings sprouting from his hip areas (more than likely a reference to seraphim, which have six wings, and his Safer Sephiroth form).
Musical themes
Sephiroth is also the focus of three pieces of theme music written by series composer Nobuo Uematsu. His primary theme song is "Those Chosen by The Planet", a piece utilizing bells, low drums, and a deep chorus, which accompanies Sephiroth's appearances throughout the game, and is one of the most popular themes often associated with Sephiroth. "Birth of a God" accompanies the battle against Bizarro Sephiroth, the first of Sephiroth's final two forms. The most noteworthy piece — and a lingering fan favorite — is one that plays during the final confrontation with Sephiroth, "One-Winged Angel". The lyrics of the original version of "One-Winged Angel" (excerpts from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana) differ from those of its Advent Children rendition, "Advent: One-Winged Angel".
Other appearances
Sephiroth has thus far made four separate notable appearances outside of his Final Fantasy VII role. The first is as a selectable character in the fighting game Ehrgeiz, which also features appearances by other characters from Final Fantasy VII. In this game, Sephiroth is controllable both in his normal appearance and the shirtless version that Cloud confronts alone at the end of Final Fantasy VII. The second is in the English and Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts, where he appears as an optional boss in the game's arena setting using his various techniques from Final Fantasy VII. For example when fighting Safer Sephiroth in FF7 he uses an attack called "Heartless Angel" which reduces a character's HP to 1 and MP to 0. A similar attack is used, with the same name, in Kingdom Hearts. While casting it, Sephiroth says, "Descend, heartless angel!", which has been widely mistaken for "Sin Harvest". A new orchestration of One-Winged Angel serves as the background music for this battle. In Final Mix Sephiroth has a verbal conversation with Cloud in speech bubbles in which Sephiroth is telling Cloud about the darkness within Cloud, and then they fight. The third appearance is as yet another boss fight in Kingdom Hearts II. In this title, his role is expanded beyond its status in the original Kingdom Hearts, as he makes an appearance during the main story of the game and is involved in a subplot involving Radiant Garden resident Cloud Strife, whom Sora met in the first game. Sephiroth's background is not revealed though he is said to be the manifestation of the darkness in Cloud's heart. Sephiroth stated that he has fallen many times to Cloud but always came back to fight him, suggesting that he was defeated various times before the main story of Kingdom Hearts.
Sephiroth's fourth outside appearance comes in the game Itadaki Street Special, where Sephiroth appears as a playable character along with Cloud, Aerith and Tifa from Final Fantasy VII.
Within his Final Fantasy VII role, Sephiroth has appeared in Before Crisis and the OVA Last Order, both of which detail events before the beginning of Final Fantasy VII. He also appeared in the cinematic sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children and Dirge Of Cerberus. He has also been confirmed to be a central character in the upcoming Final Fantasy VII game for the PlayStation Portable, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
Popularity
Sephiroth became one of the most recognized and famous villains in video games. Examples of his popularity include being the #1 at a Top 10 Video Game Bosses list on Electronic Gaming Monthly[9], winning a GameFAQs character battle of villains[10] and being named by G4's Filter as "Best Final Fantasy Villain" and "Best Bad Guy".
References
- ^ Studio BentStuff, ed. (2005). Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω (in Japanese). Square-Enix. p. 9. ISBN 4-7575-1520-0.
- ^ Studio BentStuff, ed. (2005). Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω (in Japanese). Square-Enix. pp. 211, 219. ISBN 4-7575-1520-0.
- ^ Hojo: "What will Sephiroth think when he finds out that I'm his father?" ... / Cloud: "Sephiroth might've just been a part of them." (Final Fantasy VII)
- ^ Sephiroth erects a barrier of energy around the Crater. The barrier was created not only to prevent unwanted intrusion as he began his evolution by asborbing Jenova and the Lifestream, but to also make himself undetectable to the WEAPONS, which would have otherwise targeted and attacked him.
- ^ Studio BentStuff, ed. (2005). Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω (in Japanese). Square-Enix. pp. 590–591. ISBN 4-7575-1520-0.
- ^ Morrow, Glenn (a.k.a. "Squall of SeeD") (2005). "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Plot Analysis; section entitled The Origin of the Silver-Haired Men (Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz)". IGN. Retrieved 24 February.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); External link in|work=|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Studio BentStuff, ed. (2005). Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω (in Japanese). Square-Enix. p. 539. ISBN 4-7575-1520-0.
- ^ International Bible Society, ed. (1978). Holy Bible, New International Version. Zondervan. pp. Isaiah 6:2. ISBN 0-3109-1997-5.
- ^ Editors of EGM magazine, ed. (2005). Electronic Gaming Monthly October, 2005. Ziff Davis Media. pp. 72–73.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help) - ^ GameFAQs Site Staff (2005). "GameFAQS: Spring 2005: "Got Villains?"". GameFAQs. Retrieved 16 March.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); External link in|work=|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)
External links
- [2] - Sephiroth on Final Fantasy Wiki at Wikicities
- Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω Translations FAQ - Translations from the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω
- Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII: Last Order - Screenshots of Sephiroth in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, an animated prequel to Final Fantasy VII
- Sephiroth Masamune Sword - Full size replicas of the sword Sephiroth uses in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children