Kadaj



Kadaj is one of the main antagonists in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. He is vaguely childish and violent. In Distance: The Making of Advent Children, one of the special features on the DVD, Tetsuya Nomura states that Kadaj personifies the insecurity of a young man. Showtaro Morikubo voiced the Japanese Kadaj and Steve Staley voiced the English Kadaj. He is frequently called the clone of Sephiroth because of its appearance (long black coat, silver accents and hair, cat-like green eyes and the use of a double bladed katana called Souba that is similar to the Masamune, and both are also left handed), although Tetsuya Nomura has not confirmed this. Little has been revealed concerning Kadaj or his two "brothers" Yazoo and Loz. It is hinted that he is between 16 and 19 years old, as Tetsuya Nomura has mentioned in an interview.

Story
Kadaj is the leader of the Remnants of Sephiroth featured in the movie, the other members are Loz and Yazoo. Kadaj represents Sephiroth's cruel and vengeful nature, as well as his volatile streak shown back in the Nibelheim incident. He also shares Sephiroth's knack for eloquent speech-making and conversing, as well as his natural leadership. The three are referred to as remnants of Sephiroth, and are searching for Jenova so they can be whole again. The three are the collective remnants of Sephiroth's spirit attempting to defy fate in the Lifestream before being completely diluted into it. In order to complete his resurrection, Sephiroth needs one of them to absorb Jenova's cells, and therefore use the cells to complete his rebirth.

Suffering from an inferiority complex along with his Oedipus complex with Jenova, Kadaj expresses a jealousy towards Sephiroth, even saying that it is unbearable to think that Jenova prefers Sephiroth to himself. Kadaj is left-handed, as was Sephiroth and the other remnants, and is obviously a very skilled combatant. He uses a katana with two reinforced blades in battle called the Souba and is skilled with magic and summoning when using the appropriate Materia. Kadaj is described by Vincent Valentine as a larval form of Sephiroth, meaning that he has not yet reached his full potential. After being defeated by Cloud, he absorbs Jenova's cells and Sephiroth takes over his body, remolding it in his image with Jenova's shape-shifting powers. When Sephiroth is defeated, the weakened Kadaj falls into the arms of Cloud. Hearing Aerith's comforting voice from the Lifestream, he believes her to be his mother, and heeding her call returns to the Lifestream.

Kadaj also seems to be the second non-playable character in the Final Fantasy VII story to use a Limit Break (the first being a young boy in the Sector 7 slums). While Sephiroth's spirit was divided into three pieces that escaped from the Life Stream before being completely diluted, his will is whole and is linked to Kadaj. A similar occurrence is at the end of Final Fantasy VII when Sephiroth duels Cloud for control of Cloud's mind. When Kadaj is speaking to the children with Geostigma that Loz and Yazoo brought to him, he begins to glow in the same way that Cloud does when using a Limit Break. Kadaj then uses this Limit Break to unleash the will of Sephiroth and take control of the infected children. Most believe that this is the work of the materia orb he absorbed into his arm earlier, but close examination reveals that the orb does not glow at all, as it does when it is used to summon Bahamut SIN, using Energy on Rufus, or Matra Magic on Cloud.