Sephiroth

October 1, 2006

Sephiroth
(セフィロス, Sefirosu?) Alternate names: The Man in the Black Cape, One-Winged Angel
Portraits
Enemy appearances	Boss Boss (final) Enemy (cinematic)
Other appearances	Dissidia (PSP) Dissidia NT Opera Omnia Theatrhythm Record Keeper Brave Exvius All other appearances
Biographical information
Home	Nibelheim
Age	Approximately 20-23 years old at the start of Crisis Core; approximately 25-30 in Final Fantasy VII
Occupation	SOLDIER First Class
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Height	185 cm (6' 1") or approximately 200 cm (6' 7")
Hair color	Silver
Eye color	Bright cyan with slit, catlike pupils
Laterality	Left-handed
Gameplay details
Type	Guest character
Weapon	Masamune
Type	Boss
Type	Non-player character
Type	Boss
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Tetsuya Nomura
Japanese voice actor	Shinichirō Miki (Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring) Toshiyuki Morikawa
English voice actor	Lance Bass (Kingdom Hearts) George Newbern (Crisis Core, Advent Children, Dissidia, 012, NT, Kingdom Hearts II) Tyler Hoechlin (Remake, Crisis Core Reunion, Rebirth)

There was one SOLDIER named Sephiroth, who was better than the rest, but when he found out about the terrible experiments that made him, he began to hate Shinra. And then, over time, he began to hate everything.

Marlene Wallace, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and one of the major antagonists in its extended universe. In spin-off appearances, Sephiroth is depicted as Cloud Strife's archenemy and is seen as a symbol of Cloud's troubled past that haunts him. He is a former renowned SOLDIER who became twisted.

Before his fall from grace, Sephiroth was one of the most lauded success stories of the Shinra Electric Power Company's SOLDIER program. His accomplishments in the field of battle during the conflicts surrounding Shinra's bid for global domination led to his status as a celebrity war hero and the poster boy for both the Shinra Military and the company's SOLDIER program. Learning of his true origins drove him insane, begetting a compulsion to destroy the world in his mad pursuit of godhood.

Sephiroth is briefly a party member during a flashback in the original Final Fantasy VII, and is both the penultimate and final boss. Sephiroth reappears as a party member in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. He is fought as a boss in numerous titles, including Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and Final Fantasy VII Remake. Sephiroth is an extremely potent magic user, and his weapon of choice is the Masamune.

History

Before Final Fantasy VII

Birth and early life

Sephiroth was born between between 1977 and 1982. Sephiroth was the product of Professor Hojo's Project S, one of the projects under Professor Gast Faremis's Jenova Project, begun under the false assumption that Jenova was a Cetra. Lucrecia Crescent, the assistant to Professor Hojo on the project, conceived Sephiroth, while Hojo injected the cells of Jenova onto Sephiroth while she was still pregnant. Lucrecia was separated from Sephiroth after his birth, having never even had the chance to hold him. The remains of numerous failed experiments were used to create Sephiroth as the perfect monster.

Sephiroth was raised and trained under Hojo's tutelage, where he learned that a good SOLDIER needs to be strong in body, mind, and heart, and that a hardened heart, ruthless and devoid of hesitation, is a sign of strength. In order to achieve this, Hojo subjected Sephiroth to immense physical pain and instructed the boy to endure the pain to unlock his true strength.

Sephiroth's first field assignment was to the archipelago of Rhadore, a land once allied with Shinra. His first battle was against a horde of Rhadoran soldiers, which he quickly and effortlessly eliminated after being dropped into the field via helicopter. He took command of the SOLDIER team consisting of Glenn Lodbrok, Matt Winsord, and Lucia Lin, veterans of Project: 0, an early iteration of SOLDIER. Under Sephiroth's command, the four SOLDIERs infiltrated an underground Rhadore base in the Logues Ruins. During the mission, Sephiroth struggled to fit the heroic image that Shinra prepared for him, wishing only to find his mother and live a normal life.

The realities of war weighed heavily on his mind, but his newfound comrades encouraged him to wield his significant power with compassion and resolved to help him become a hero. Sephiroth's relationship with Glenn and his team, as well as the Rhadoran Rosen, would prove formative in shaping him into the man he would become.

SOLDIER First Class

Genesis duels Sephiroth during training.

Sephiroth became known as a war hero throughout the world, selected to be the poster child for a Shinra recruitment drive intended to find candidates for the SOLDIER program. A number of achievements and accolades were fabricated to portray him as a hero before he ever actually stepped foot on the battlefield.

Sephiroth became close with fellow First Class SOLDIER members Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. The trio would often sneak into the VR training room to spar with each other. On one occasion, Genesis insisted on dueling Sephiroth one-on-one, but ended up with a minor injury that triggered his degradation. Dr. Hollander lied and said Genesis needed a blood transfusion, and when Sephiroth offered his own, Hollander claimed it was incompatible and Angeal donated his instead.

Near the end of the Wutai War, in chapter 1 of Crisis Core, in November 2000, Sephiroth was called in during Angeal and Zack Fair's assault on Fort Tamblin. Sephiroth saved Zack from Ifrit that had been summoned by copies of Genesis, as he concluded Angeal and Genesis had deserted, much to Zack's disbelief.

On February 30 0001, depicted in "Swords Clashing in the Evening Shadows" in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, Sephiroth thwarted an assassination attempt by Avalanche leader Elfe. Later in April that year, depicted in Crisis Core, Sephiroth had to defend the Shinra Building from two attacks by Genesis's army. In chapter 3, Sephiroth and the newly-promoted Zack defended the building. When pursuing Angeal to Mako Reactor 5, Sephiroth suggested he and Zack deliberately fail to eliminate him, something Zack enthusiastically obliged; at the reactor, Sephiroth opened to Zack about his history with them. In chapter 4, Sephiroth and Zack defended another attack that this time targeted Hojo, sarcastically acting as if nothing had changed when a confused Angeal came to help.

Nibelheim Incident

Sephiroth's party arrives in Nibelheim.

In chapter 7 of Crisis Core, Sephiroth and Zack were ordered to the Nibel Reactor, to investigate the legions of monsters therein and workers and SOLDIER operators going missing. When passing the order onto Zack, Sephiroth noted the lack of any mention of "old friends" in the report, and told him he was considering abandoning Shinra. The investigation team comprised himself, Zack Fair, and two infantrymen, one of whom was Cloud Strife. On September 22 of 0002 (depicted in "The Tragedy of Five Years Ago" in Final Fantasy VII, chapter 8 of Crisis Core, and other media), the team arrived in Nibelheim, Sephiroth asking Cloud how it felt to return to his hometown. Zack asked if Sephiroth had any family, to which Sephiroth answered that his mother's name was Jenova and otherwise dodged the question. A local named Tifa Lockhart guided them up Mt. Nibel to the Nibel Reactor, and a villager snapped a picture of Sephiroth, Zack, and Tifa on the way there.

At the mako reactor, Zack and Sephiroth found Professor Hojo's experiments leftover: pods filled with makonoids, along with the pod of Jenova. Sephiroth, having known since a child he was different from others, suspected he had been created the same way, causing him to have a breakdown. Genesis appeared and told him that Sephiroth was created from the Jenova Project, before asking Sephiroth for help with his degradation; Sephiroth dismissed him and condemned him to rotting, before leaving for the Shinra Manor basement. There, Sephiroth obsessively read through Hojo's files of the project over seven sleepless days.

Sephiroth during the burning of Nibelheim.

On October 1 (the Nibelheim Incident), Sephiroth believed himself to be the last Cetra, and hating humanity for supposedly abandoning his forebears during an unspecified disaster. He burned down Nibelheim in rage killing many townspeople, including Claudia Strife, Zander, and Brian Lockhart. Tifa took up Sephiroth's Masamune from beside her father's corpse and attacked him, only for him to disarm her and cut her down. Zack also fought Sephiroth but was defeated, and dropped his Buster Sword. Cloud took Zack's sword and stabbed Sephiroth while he was caught off-guard. After a brief struggle where the former hero impaled the Shin-Ra infantryman, Cloud threw him into the lifestream. Sephiroth was announced killed in action to cover up the events of the incident, while Professor Hojo used the unconscious Zack and Cloud for an experiment to test his Reunion Theory.

Over the next several years, Sephiroth traveled the lifestream. The fragments of his body congregated at the Northern Cave inside the North Crater, joining to recreate Sephiroth's physical form in a cocoon of mako. From within, Sephiroth controlled Jenova's cells as an extension of his body, and as such, those who had been injected with Jenova cells became Sephiroth-clones that he could manipulate from afar.

Original continuity

Reunion and Sephiroth-Jenova form

On December 0007, approximately five years after his supposed death, Sephiroth began his plan to manipulate the Sephiroth-clones for his reunion, helping him merge with the lifestream and seize control of it to become a god. During "Storming the Shinra Building", Jenova's headless remains in the Shinra Building took Sephiroth's form, killing President Shinra, freed Cloud's party, and left a trail of carnage behind in the building.

Sephiroth's actual body hibernating in the Northern Cave.

The Sephiroth-Jenova traveled north, felling a Midgar Zolom on the way, and was followed by Cloud's party. In "Dangerous Voyage", Sephiroth-Jenova encountered the party aboard a cargo ship heading for Costa del Sol, having no idea who Cloud was. He flew off and left behind an arm of Jenova, which mutated into Jenova∙BIRTH. Cloud's party encountered Sephiroth-Jenova in the Shinra Manor basement in "Unnatural Hometown", where Jenova urged Cloud to follow him. In "Within the Temple of the Ancients", Sephiroth-Jenova aimed for the Black Materia from the Temple of the Ancients, striking down Tseng, and then manipulating Cloud into giving over the Black Materia. Through Sephiroth-Jenova, Sephiroth revealed his plan to use it to summon Meteor and force the planet to heal itself with the lifestream, and when it did so, he would merge with it, become one with the planet, and ascend to divinity.

Sephiroth killing Aerith.

With the Black Materia, Sephiroth-Jenova continued to the North Crater. Having identified Aerith Gainsborough as a threat, in "Parting with Aeris", Sephiroth-Jenova killed Aerith while she was summoning Holy, leaving behind Jenova∙LIFE. Although Aerith had succeeded in summoning Holy, Sephiroth was holding it back from within the planet.

Meteorfall

The manipulated Cloud giving Sephiroth the Black Materia.

In "That Which Waits in the Northernmost Reaches", Sephiroth-Jenova brought the Black Materia to the Whirlwind Maze. When Cloud's party caught up, Sephiroth declared it was the end of the Sephiroth-Jenova body's usefulness, fought them as Jenova∙DEATH, and dropped the Black Materia. Sephiroth, through illusions, manipulated Cloud into thinking he was a simulacrum with false memories created by Hojo, as the Jenova cells made Cloud his puppet. Sephiroth used illusions of Tifa to take the Black Materia from the party back to Cloud. Cloud, now under Sephiroth's influence, gave the Black Materia to Sephiroth's cocoon form. Sephiroth summoned Meteor, which in turn awoke the planet's Weapons, and his mako cocoon fell deeper into the crater. Sephiroth erected an energy barrier over his domain to keep the Weapons (and Shin-Ra forces) from attacking him.

In late January 0008, the barrier around the crater was destroyed by the Sister Ray. On January 21, in "The Planet's Judgment", Cloud's party traversed the Northern Cave to battle Sephiroth. They found him at the core, blocking Holy, as Sephiroth emerged first with his Bizarro∙Sephiroth form, and then his angelic Safer∙Sephiroth form. Though Cloud's party destroyed him, Sephiroth's mind persisted, pulling Cloud into a final metaphysical battle to control him, though Cloud resisted him, causing Sephiroth to dissolve into the lifestream. With Sephiroth gone, Holy was released from the planet's core, and Aerith's spirit helped the lifestream keep Meteor at bay for Holy to destroy it.

Geostigma crisis

Depicted in Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile "Lifestream: Black", Sephiroth avoided dissolution in the lifestream by focusing on his hatred of Cloud, enabling him to maintain a core sense of being and separate himself from other beings. When the lifestream emerged to fight Meteor, Sephiroth took the opportunity to infect the planet with Geostigma by dispersing his memories among the lifestream. With his peripheral memories, he used the memories others in the lifestream had of him to craft the Remnants of Sephiroth, whom he sent to find Jenova's remains and create a new body for himself.

"I will... Never be a memory".

By 0009, depicted in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Geostigma had spread throughout the world. The Remnants of Sephiroth, Loz, Kadaj, and Yazoo, sought Jenova's cells, believing it would reunite them with their mother, though it was actually for Sephiroth to resurrect himself. When Kadaj absorbed Jenova's cells, his body shapeshifted into Sephiroth's visage, restoring him to life.

Sephiroth fought Cloud once again in the ruins of Midgar. He expressed disappointed Cloud had been cured of Geostigma, and revealed his plan: gather the souls of the Geostigma's deceased victims to corrupt the lifestream and control the planet, use it as a vessel to travel space, and find a new planet to rule. Sephiroth severely injured Cloud by impaling him, but Cloud defeated Sephiroth with Omnislash Version 5. Sephiroth vowed to never be a memory before fading away, leaving a weakened Kadaj to die and fade into the lifestream as Aerith's spirit called healing rain to cure the planet of Geostigma.

Remake continuity

Sephiroth tells Cloud to get stronger after the Sector 7 Plate fall.

Sephiroth appeared to Cloud through several illusions. The first instance was in "Fateful Encounters", when Sephiroth taunted Cloud in the streets of Sector 8, warping Cloud's surroundings to resemble a burning Nibelheim. He did not deny Cloud's claims of killing him, instead taunting him and urging him to leave Avalanche and fight for the planet. An illusion of Sephiroth appeared again to taunt Cloud's inability to save anyone when Cloud met Aerith on the streets. Sephiroth appeared briefly in Cloud's vision when Cloud awoke in the Sector 5 slums in "Budding Bodyguard", and would later mock Cloud in "A Broken World" for having "failed again" after the Sector 7 plate fell.

Sephiroth also projected himself onto Sephiroth-clones, whom he took control of as they briefly shapeshifted into Sephiroth's form. Marco, a Sephiroth-clone with number 49 who lived in the Sector 7 slums, attacked Cloud in "Home Sweet Slum", talking about reunion, but Tifa stopped him. Cloud saw Sephiroth again in a Sephiroth-clone with the number 2 when he was with Aerith in "Budding Bodyguard", though no words were exchanged.

Sephiroth kills the president.

During "The Belly of the Beast", a more significant Sephiroth illusion appeared to Cloud, Tifa, and Barret when taking over the Shinra VR theater, showing a meteorite falling onto Midgar and killing Barret and Tifa. Around the same time, Sephiroth shapeshifted Marco into his visage to attack President Shinra, walking past a horrified Palmer and then in "Deliverance from Chaos", encountering Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII at the Jenova container in the Drum, where he sent them plummeting down before taking Jenova's remains. Sephiroth then killed President Shinra and stabbed Barret, before an illusion of Jenova Dreamweaver attacked Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII. The group defeated Jenova Dreamweaver, and the Whispers healed Barret, though the Sephiroth-clone with number 2 appeared and carried away Jenova's wrapped up body. Cloud pursued this Sephiroth-clone, but it jumped off the Shinra Building as the Whispers distracted Cloud.

Sephiroth faces Cloud in the "edge of creation".

In "Destiny's Crossroads", Cloud's encountered Sephiroth at the end of the Midgar Expressway, where Sephiroth opened a portal to the Singularity and urged them to join him to destroy the Whispers so as to protect the planet. Aerith rebuked Sephiroth and described him as the greatest threat to the planet, but ultimately urged them to follow. Inside the Singularity, the group defeated the Whispers and fought Sephiroth, before Sephiroth took himself and Cloud to a metaphysical dimension that he described as "the edge of creation". He warned Cloud that the world would become a part of it and urged him to join him and defy destiny together. Cloud refused, before Sephiroth ominously told Cloud he had "seven seconds till the end" and disappeared.

Throughout Cloud's journey, Sephiroth projected himself onto various robed men, whose numbers were becoming ever more numerous, spurring Cloud to continue his pursuit. In Kalm during "Fall of a Hero", Cloud told the others his version of what happened in Nibelheim five years ago: he had arrived with Sephiroth and two security officers, inspected the local mako reactor up on the mountains until Sephiroth had become unsettled by the human experiments conducted by Professor Hojo they had found there. Returned to the town, Sephiroth had shut himself in the Shinra Manor basement and read about the Jenova Project until it drove him mad and he torched Nibelheim and murdered the townspeople while Cloud—despite his efforts—had been unable to stop him. Tifa knew Cloud's story had inconsistencies but Sephiroth stopped her from confiding this to Cloud by appearing to him as a vision by projecting himself through the innkeeper Broden and goading Cloud into doubting Tifa's unlikely survival during those events.

Cloud sees Sephiroth defeat the Midgardsormr in the swampland.

In "A New Journey Begins", Sephiroth rescued Cloud from the grip of the Midgardsormr when the massive snake pulled him underwater, but no one else appeared to witness the event. On the Shinra-8 ferry across the sea, the robed men who had been stowing away on board began to mutate into monsters when fused with Hojo's experiments that emerged from the sea, and when dealing with the crisis Cloud saw Sephiroth after engaging Jenova Emergent, Sephiroth telling him to not let Tifa's guise fool him. In "Those Left Behind", Sephiroth appeared to Cloud in Doctor Sheiran's clinic, a doctor studying the phenomenon of the robed men, telling Cloud to "trust in me". In "All That Glitters", Sephiroth encouraged Cloud to have fun at the Gold Saucer "while you still have time".

Meanwhile, Sephiroth appeared in the guise of Glenn Lodbrok to convince Rufus Shinra to declare war on Wutai over the magnus materia, explaining that the aftermath of war is unity, "a people rejuvenated, and a planet once more made whole". In his further meetings with Rufus, he hinted at his true identity and preyed on Rufus's feelings of loneliness. He, with the assistance of the mysterious and unseen Viceroy Sarruf, orchestrated a renewed war between Wutai and Shinra before finally revealing his true identity and plans to Rufus, knowing it was too late for Rufus to reverse course; when the illusion faded, "Glenn Lodbrok" was but another robed man whom Sephiroth had used as a pawn.

Sephiroth tries to stab through the materia casing on a Weapon that is protecting Tifa from being in direct contact with the lifestream.

In "The Planet Stirs", Sephiroth took full control of Cloud's mind, convincing him that Tifa was an imposter who could not have survived the incident five years ago, and had no scar (despite her showing him the scar on her chest), to the point where Cloud attacked Tifa and caused her to fall into the lifestream and be swallowed by a Weapon who kept her safe. In the lifestream, Sephiroth controlled black Whispers to fight against the planet's white Whispers controlled by the Weapons, and wounded one of the Whispers with his blade.

Sephiroth's presence in the lifestream had a negative effect on the environment, as shown in the side quest "From Whence Life Flows". Withered lifesprings flickered "with a dim light, as if frightened" in the Cosmo Region, while black Whispers surrounded thriving lifesprings. Sephiroth summoned Threadspinner Chimeras in an attempt to prevent Cloud from investigating the shifts in the lifestream.

In "Watcher of the Vale", Sephiroth appeared as an illusion to Cloud, and was seemingly using the robed men as pawns to make Cloud go to Cosmo Canyon, presumably to learn about the black materia from Gi Nattak. He repeatedly appeared as a projection onto Roche in "The Long Shadow of Shinra", ordering Cloud to bring him the black materia. Sephiroth used the robed men brought to the rebuilt Nibelheim that now operated as a sanatorium for those suffering from mako poisoning to try and obtain a protorelic in the area. After fusing the pieces, Sephiroth accidentally summoned Gilgamesh and left Cloud to fight the summoned warrior. After Cloud defeated Gilgamesh, Sephiroth once again reminded Cloud to bring him the black materia.

Sephiroth unfazed at being impaled in Cloud's "trial"; when the vision ends, it is revealed Cloud had killed a robed man.

In "Where Angels Fear to Tread", Sephiroth impaled Tseng, explaining that "It's not death. It's a homecoming." before Tseng shot the robed man Sephiroth was projecting himself onto in the back. At the Temple of the Ancients, Sephiroth revealed his plan to claim his birthright, including "worlds unbound by fate and histories unwritten": he not only planned to reunite the fragmented pieces of Jenova, but the "errant worlds" as well, creating eternity. Aerith posited that eternity could not exist and that Sephiroth's world view was warped.

While the other party members endured trials created by the Cetra, Sephiroth created a "trial" of his own for Cloud, highlighting Cloud's cold demeanor and convincing Cloud that his emotions were not real, that Cloud was merely Sephiroth's puppet. Cloud became eerily obsessed with the black materia, even after being told that the orb on an altar at the temple was a fake. An argument with Barret over the materia led to it landing at Sephiroth's feet. Declaring it the "key which grants access to the true counterpart hidden between worlds", Sephiroth used it to summon hordes of Whispers from multiple worlds, including the current one.

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Characteristics

Appearance

Original art by Tetsuya Nomura (top) and render of attire for Advent Children (bottom).

Sephiroth is a tall man with a muscular build. His long silver hair has bangs parted to either side of his face. Sephiroth has bright cyan irises and slit cat-like pupils .

Sephiroth's signature wardrobe is a long black coat with silver pauldrons, black boots, and black trousers. The top of his coat is open to reveal his chest, with his leather SOLDIER suspenders crossed over it. The wardrobe changes slightly between the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake; in the former, his coat has several buckles instead of one, while in the latter, he has a different belt buckle with a wing motif in the center and small black feathers hanging from it, yellow and green lights reflect from the slots, which may be materia . Sephiroth wields the Masamune, a seven-foot-long ōdachi he is rarely seen without.

Sephiroth's youngest appearance is shown in The First Soldier portion of Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis. His hair is drastically shorter and styled differently. His outfit resembles the signature outfit of his adulthood, but his coat is more jacket-like with a black shirt underneath, and he wears vambraces and pointed boots. He also wields a different katana called Nameless, a military saber with a black, eight-pointed handguard resembling the Shinra logo and three materia placed at the base of the blade. Unlike the Masamune, this blade has a sheath, placed on his back.

Portrait in Final Fantasy VII.

Portrait in Before Crisis.

Render for Crisis Core.

Young Sephiroth art in Ever Crisis.

Personality

Ha, ha, ha... my sadness? What do I have to be sad about? I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to be the leader of this Planet. I have orders to take this planet back from you stupid people for the Cetra. What am I supposed to be sad about?

Sephiroth, Final Fantasy VII § "The Tragedy of Five Years Ago"

As a SOLDIER before his madness, Sephiroth was cool, calm, well-spoken, and graceful, maintaining a professional demeanor. He is knowledgeable, especially on the subject of materia. In his youth, Sephiroth struggled with the expectations placed on him, not wanting to be a hero, though the help of comrades Glenn, Matt, and Lucia taught him not to constantly push himself to his breaking point and to ease up. Sephiroth's warmer side is also seen with his close friendship with Angeal, Genesis, and later Zack, caring for them to the point of offering to donate blood for Genesis, and protecting them by opting to, with Zack, fail to defeat them on purpose. This extended beyond his SOLDIER comrades, but had its limits.

After learning of the experiments that led to his birth, Sephiroth descended into madness and developed a messiah complex. He proclaimed himself to be "the chosen one" destined to lead the planet, and was driven by a desire for godhood. Ultimately, Sephiroth became completely aloof, not even recognizing Cloud when he met him. Sephiroth maintained his cold and calm demeanor, but became detached, murderous, and cruel, holding a deep seated disdain for humanity. Sephiroth also employed sadistic gaslighting of Cloud when using him as a Sephiroth-clone.

Following Sephiroth's defeat in Final Fantasy VII, his goal of godhood remained unchanged, but he became vengeful, and fueled by hatred of Cloud. This allowed him to keep himself alive in the lifestream, and remain a threat to the planet. Sephiroth's mocking of Cloud became more personal, gloating his failures, although in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Sephiroth also expressed a desire to work with him to defy destiny.

Abilities

Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you might have heard about him.

Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy VII § "The Tragedy of Five Years Ago"

Sephiroth is regarded as the greatest SOLDIER 1st Class of all time, whose legendary accomplishments in the field of battle inspired many to join SOLDIER. Being the greatest byproduct of the Jenova Project, he has incredible inhuman physical prowess, extremely powerful magic skills, and is an extraordinarily skilled swordsman. Sephiroth's strength and swordsmanship are such that he can wield his Masamune, an ōdachi that is longer than he is tall, effortlessly with one hand, and ambidextrously shift from his left to right hand with no loss of efficiency. His physical strength was also seen with his ability to rip bolted down metal structures with his own hands with little effort when he reached Jenova. Sephiroth is also capable of flying, with and without a wing.

Sephiroth versus Cloud in Advent Children.

Sephiroth has a number of signature magic and swordsman skills. Sephiroth can empower his Masamune to cast blades and energy waves and even release omnidirectional bursts by slamming the ground with his sword. His signature spells are Heartless Angel to summon angels to sap enemies of their strength, Shadow Flare to create gravitational exploding orbs of darkness, and the powerful Supernova spell. His most powerful spell is Meteor, a world-ending spell cast with the Black Materia.

Sephiroth controlling a dark-robed man in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Sephiroth's will persisted in the lifestream even after his body was destroyed, and from within the lifestream, he gained new powerful abilities. After overpowering Jenova's will, Sephiroth gained the ability to exert his influences through her cells, construct avatars in his likeness, as well as other eldritch entities. Through this, he was able to project himself onto Sephiroth's remains in his Sephiroth-Jenova form in Final Fantasy VII. He was also able to control Jenova cells inside other living organisms (namely Sephiroth-clones), affecting their thoughts and actions, giving him an ability to manipulate Cloud. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, this extended to Sephiroth being able to shapeshift Sephiroth-clones and take control of them. His ability to project his will through these avatars is limited but is compounded by the subject's willpower (or lack thereof), and intensifies over shorter distances, being strongest at the North Crater (the site of his physical body).

Gameplay

Final Fantasy VII

Main articles: Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII party member), Bizarro∙Sephiroth, Safer∙Sephiroth, or Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII boss)

Sephiroth first appears as an AI-controlled guest character during "The Tragedy of Five Years Ago". His Materia are mastered, and neither his Materia nor equipment can be removed. While he cannot level up, he has set stats with stat growth. Sephiroth is invincible and his attacks always critical.

Sephiroth primarily appears as a boss. He is fought three times as parts of the final boss. He is first encountered in a "pupa" form as Bizarro∙Sephiroth, where the player can command as many as three parties to bring all of his parts down. He is then fought in his "god" form as Safer∙Sephiroth. The battle is known for its battle music and cinematic attack. A final cinematic confrontation is fought against Sephiroth in the lifestream where he duels a one-on-one with Cloud, but it is impossible to lose the battle.

Field model.

Sephiroth wielding the Masamune.

Sephiroth holding a book.

Sephiroth taking Jenova's head from the Reactor.

Bizarro∙Sephiroth.

Safer∙Sephiroth.

Final boss.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Main article: Sephiroth (VII Remake boss)

Sephiroth is fought as the final boss in "Destiny's Crossroads". He has over 65,157 HP and a plethora of powerful melee attacks, many of which resemble his Dissidia techniques. He uses Aeroga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Firaga, Boundless Void, Shadow Flare, and Heartless Angel, and can infuse himself with the elements of fire, lightning, air and ice for powerful elemental attacks.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Sephiroth first appears as a playable character at the beginning of the game in "Fall of a Hero". He retains his moveset from his previous final boss encounter through his Aura Charge mechanic, which fills up from landing attacks, along with new attacks such as Pierce and Skyshatter. He also has a Retaliation Stance to parry incoming attacks, can instantly warp to enemy targets and launch a magic projectile to fling enemies in the air. He has only one Synergy Ability with Cloud, called Double Helix. His Limit Break is Octaslash. After successfully landing the attack, it can be immediately followed up by Octaslash Prime.

He reprises his role as the final boss, now separated into five phases. He first fights a tag team of Cloud and Zack, using his moveset from his playable appearance, including his Limit Break. The second phase removes Zack from the fight as he transforms into Sephiroth Reborn and fights Cloud alone using a combination of magic attacks and abilities using manifestations of his Masamune. He then confronts Cloud's party and then Zack for the third and fourth phases. His final battle has him return to normal, confronted by Cloud and Aerith. He resumes the use of his moveset, now boosted by the Whispers and gains new attacks such as Whisper Cannon and Tempus Finis.

Sephiroth is also playable in the final Combat Simulator missions "To Be A Hero", once more paired up with Cloud.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-

Main article: Sephiroth (Crisis Core boss)

Sephiroth is fought as a boss twice in the Nibel Reactor, and can be challenged again in missions. Experiment No. 124 is a facsimile of Sephiroth that serves as the final opponent in the M5: Hojo's Laboratory series of missions.

Sephiroth is also part of Zack's Digital Mind Wave since start of the game, allowing Zack to use Sephiroth's Limit Break, Octaslash, if his picture comes up in the slot reels mechanism during modulating phase. Octaslash deals eight physical attacks against one enemy.

Field model.

Sephiroth's DMW icon.

Other appearances

Guest appearances

Appearance in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.

Main article: Sephiroth other appearances

Sephiroth is a frequent guest character who has appeared in the following games throughout the Final Fantasy series:

• Final Fantasy V as a loading screen cameo.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy as a playable character.
• Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy as a playable character.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy NT as a playable character.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character and boss.
• Theatrhythm Final Fantasy series as a playable character.
• Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
• Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as a summonable Legend.
• Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
• Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character and boss.
• Final Fantasy Brave Exvius as a summonable vision.
• Mobius Final Fantasy on cards, as a boss, and as an Ultimate Hero.
• World of Final Fantasy as a summonable Champion.
• Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
• Triple Triad as a series of cards.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Sephiroth's design in his base outfit is similar to his Final Fantasy VII design. His pauldrons are changed to resemble Yoshitaka Amano's artwork of him. His coat is closed by a belt as in Tetsuya Nomura's design. Beneath his coat are two white sashes with lavender on the edges, referencing both Amano's artwork of Sephiroth and his wings as Safer∙Sephiroth.

Sephiroth in Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Sephiroth in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.

Sephiroth in World of Final Fantasy.

Sephiroth in War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances

Appearance in Kingdom Hearts.

Main article: Sephiroth non-Final Fantasy appearances

Sephiroth has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:

• Kingdom Hearts as a boss.
• Itadaki Street as a playable character.
• Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring as a playable character.
• Puzzle & Dragons as a playable character.
• Monster Strike as a playable character.
• Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble as a playable character.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable character.

In the Kingdom Hearts series, Sephiroth retains his core design of silver hair and a black leather coat, but now the coat has a large collar that reaches his ears even when folded back. however, His clothing was given red linings and is of different shape. His sleeves have small red fins, and he bears a solo dark blue and black wing over his right shoulder. He would later bear two additional wings underneath his coat in Kingdom Hearts II, alluding to his final boss form from Final Fantasy VII. Unlike his other appearances, Sephiroth has blue eyes with irises and slit cat-like pupils. Goofy however comments he looks like Cloud, as the Kingdom Hearts incarnation is implied to be an embodiment of Cloud's inner darkness.

Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Sephiroth in Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring.

Mentions and cameos

Cloud uttering Sephiroth's name in Final Fantasy Tactics.

While Sephiroth himself does not appear in Final Fantasy Tactics, when Cloud is transported to Ivalice by a device called the Celestial Globe, the first thing he says is, The heat! Inside my skull... No, stop... Sephiroth---no! A black-caped swordsman is also mentioned in one of the Errands. One of the enemies, Marquis Messam Elmdore, bears a resemblance to Sephiroth and wields a Masamune in battle.

In Final Fantasy XIV an NPC may say the following to the player: Why, if it isn't Sephiroth! Or was it Sephiross? Setirophx? xXxSephirothxXx? referring to Sephiroth and common variations used to name characters on MMOs (and by proxy, Final Fantasy XIV itself). The main antagonist of the 1.0 version of Final Fantasy XIV, Nael van Darnus, refers to Sephiroth. In "United We Stand", after wounding the player, Nael takes his leave similar to Sephiroth's in the Nibelheim burning scene. Nael seeks to destroy Eorzea and purify it by using forbidden magicks to summon the moon Dalamud, similar to how Sephiroth attempts to destroy Gaia.

In Final Fantasy Dimensions Chapter 4, the Mask mentions a spell called Meteo and when the group questions him Alba says: "You don't mean to summon a meteor so the lifestream comes together so you can be reborn a god, do you!?"

A Sephiroth costume was announced to be available as downloadable content for the character Sackboy in the PlayStation 3 game LittleBigPlanet, but was never released. On July 4, 2011, the Sephiroth costume, along with costumes of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Vincent, was instead released on July 13, 2011 for the sequel, LittleBigPlanet 2.

As part of a collaboration between Capcom and Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura was asked to design various new armor types for the playable characters, and their feline companions, in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. The weapon that comes with this collaboration set, the Wing of Judgment, is based on Sephiroth. His face can be seen on the weapon's shaft, where the handle stops and where the blade begins. The blade is a single bloodied wing, fitting his title of the one-winged angel.

Sackboy's unreleased Sephiroth costume for LittleBigPlanet.

The Sephiroth costume as it appears in a LittleBigPlanet 2 advertisement.

Costume in Gunslinger Stratos 2.

Sephiroth in Rampage Land Rankers

Costume in Mobius Final Fantasy.

Merchandise

The Sephiroth Statue.

See also: Final Fantasy VII series merchandise or Final Fantasy VII Remake merchandise

Sephiroth has appeared in numerous merchandise for Play Arts and others, based on his numerous appearances throughout Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts. Along with several action figures, Sephiroth-related items include pendants and rings with the theme of his single-wing and/or the Black Materia, cold cast statues and even a fragrance. A life-sized statue of Sephiroth hibernating in the Northern Cave was housed on the floor of the Square Enix Character Goods Show Case in Tokyo, Japan.

Cold Cast statue by Kotobukiya.

Masterpiece Arts by Kotobukiya.

Perfume.

Wing necklace.

Coca-Cola bottle cap figure.

Static Arts

Advent Children Play Arts (Dec 2016).

Static Arts Bust (Oct 2017)

Theatrhythm Static Arts Mini

Final Fantasy VII Remake Trading Arts

Final Fantasy VII Remake Play Arts -Kai-

Final Fantasy VII Remake Play Arts -Kai-

Polygon figure based on Final Fantasy VII model.

Behind the scenes

Concept and design

Yoshitaka Amano artwork of Sephiroth drawn especially for the September 2012 issue of the Japanese art magazine, Illustration.

Sephiroth was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who wanted a story where the player would chase him. Following a moving enemy had not been done before in the Final Fantasy series, and Nomura thought that chasing something would help pull the story along. Director Yoshinori Kitase, who later named Sephiroth as his favorite Final Fantasy villain, had created him to be "kind of like a mystery novel" to create the impression of an evil force.

Aspects of Cloud and Sephiroth's rivalry, particularly their showdown and their weapons, were inspired by the legendary swordsmen Sasaki Kojirō and Miyamoto Musashi, with Sephiroth being inspired by the former, including the long katana Masamune that resembles Kojirō's weapon, Monohoshizao. Sephiroth's long hair was tricky to make with polygons at the time, and Nomura wanted to show a contrast between Cloud and Sephiroth in their designs.

Early in development of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth and Aerith were conceived of as siblings, and were given very similar designs. This which held even through multiple vastly different design elements, including an iteration where Aerith looked like (and was named) Tifa and Sephiroth looked like Vincent. This later changed to Sephiroth being Aerith's former lover. Aerith's first love was changed to Zack late during development.

Sephiroth went through multiple design iterations, including one that looked like Vincent Valentine before settling on the current design.

Advent Children concept art.

Character development

An early design of Sephiroth looked like Vincent and was a possible sibling candidate to Tifa.

Early story drafts of Final Fantasy VII had Sephiroth planned as a man whose "Jenova" element was artificially awoken using the power of mako energy. His base personality was to be brutal and cruel, with a strong interest in destruction and slaughter. He was to possess a powerful will and ego, calm judgment, and a sharp mind. In the original story drafts, Sephiroth would succumb to mako addiction and suffer withdrawal symptoms. While an average person would have been crippled, Sephiroth was an exception: only his madness would be amplified while he would retain his composure.

Early scripts of Final Fantasy VII gave Sephiroth more control over Cloud, and would have fooled Cloud into thinking Sephiroth created him. Cloud would still eventually discover the truth that Shinra's experiments and his own insecurities had made him susceptible to Sephiroth's manipulation.

For Advent Children, Sephiroth was included as scenario writer Kazushige Nojima felt the film's plot would be less entertaining without him. Though his revival was introduced in early stages of development, the official decision on how he would return did not appear until later; among other ideas, one idea was that Sephiroth would reappear but only Cloud would be able to see him. Nomura initially wished him to appear at the start of the movie, but because it took staf two years to develop his design, this was scrapped and he was decided to only appear on-screen briefly. The movie would highly Sephiroth's other-worldliness, and as such, never show him blinking or breathing.

For Final Fantasy VII Remake, developers decided to add Sephiroth earlier in the story than in the original Final Fantasy VII. This was because the developers felt fans would already be familiar with him as the main villain, and it would allow them to highlight his presence as a foil to Cloud. At first, the developers intended only to hint at Sephiroth, but gradually added more scenes midway through development. Co-director Naoki Hamaguchi asked scenario writer Nojima if they could have a fight against Sephiroth in Midgar. Nojima initially thought players would not approve as Sephiroth's first true appearance in the original was in a different location, but when Hamaguchi had prepared things to convince Nojima, he agreed on the spot.

Voice

George Newbern as Sephiroth

In Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring, Sephiroth is voiced by Shin'ichirō Miki who would later supply the voice of Edgar Roni Figaro in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as well as Cid in Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon. In all subsequent Japanese voiced appearances, he has been voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa. In his Super Smash Bros. series appearances, similar to Takahiro Sakurai voicing Cloud in the same series, Morikawa acts as the sole voice for Sephiroth in all regions.

Young Sephiroth in Ever Crisis is voiced by Yuuichiro Umehara, who also voiced Sleipnir Harbard in Final Fantasy XVI and Sterne Leonis in War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, as well as Ira in the Kingdom Hearts series.

In the original Kingdom Hearts, Sephiroth is voiced by Lance Bass, a former member of the 1990s boy band NSYNC. As he was not added until the Western release, he has no Japanese voice actor for the first game: the Final Mix release uses the English voices (barring the release of HD 1.5 ReMix, where he has a re-recorded Japanese voice). In Kingdom Hearts II he is voiced by George Newbern in English, who voiced Sephiroth in all subsequent appearances until Final Fantasy VII Remake, where Sephiroth's role was taken over by Tyler Hoechlin.

Gallery

Main article: Sephiroth gallery

Etymology and symbolism

Sephiroth's single wing.

[view · edit · purge]Səphīrōth (סְפִירוֹת, medieval Hebrew form of Sephirot; also spelled Sefirot), is a plural noun in Hebrew; the singular is Sephirah (also spelled Sefira). The Sephiroth are described in the Kabbalah as the manifestations of God that allow Him to manifest in the physical and metaphysical universes. Sephiroth also means "counting" (of numbers).

These traits refer to Sephiroth's simultaneous existence in the lifestream and the planet and his manifestations through Jenova. The counting aspects may allude to the Sephiroth-clones.

Sephiroth's penultimate form, Bizarro∙Sephiroth, is a mistranslation, and "Rebirth Sephiroth" would be more apt. [view · edit · purge]Bizzarro means bizarre in Italian and Portuguese.

It is often believed the name Safer∙Sephiroth is a mistranslation, similar to how Helletic Hojo should have been translated as "Heretic Hojo". A common belief is that "Safer" is a misspelling of "Seraph" (שרף) due to Safer∙Sephiroth's angelic appearance. A Seraph (plural "Seraphim", שְׂרָפִים) is described in the Hebrew Bible as being a humanoid angel with six wings.

Safer∙Sephiroth could easily be seen as a Seraph, with the seventh wing in place of his arm. However, the origin of the name Safer∙Sephiroth is Hebrew; the boss's name as written in Japanese is "セーファ・セフィロス", or Sēfa Sefirosu; "safer" can also be transliterated as "sefer", "sapher", and "sepher". [view · edit · purge]Sepher (סֶפֶר) is Hebrew for "book". Thus, Safer Sephiroth (Sefer Sfirot) translates to "Book of Numerations", possibly linked to the mathematical formulae that appear during his Supernova attack. However, it more likely refers to the Sefirot, the ten aspects of creation according to Jewish Mysticism.

Sephiroth having one black wing as Safer∙Sephiroth specifically refers to a fallen angel. In the non-canonical pseudepigraphical work, the Testament of Solomon, a one-winged demon named Abezethibou is summoned by King Solomon. Abezethibou has a single red wing, this mutilation symbolizing his fall from heaven, following his betrayal of God to serve the Prince of Hell, Beelzebub.

Sephiroth's plan in Final Fantasy VII to ram a meteorite into the planet and use the overflow of lifestream to become a god refers to a concept in Zohar regarding the Tree of Life, where it is said that if someone tries to fill all of humanity into a vessel, the vessel will break, alongside the universe, causing life to flow erratically yet in a familiar pattern.

Sephiroth considering Jenova to be his mother, yet also being implied to have become one with her, may allude to the Christian belief of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, yet also being one with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit via the blessed trinity.

Sephiroth striking a dumbapple on a person's head with his Masamune during training (as well as similar actions via Genesis and Angeal), was a famous exploit by the famed archer William Tell, where a jealous king forced Tell to shoot an arrow at an apple on top of his son's head, with him succeeding.

References

Video games

• Square Co., Ltd. (1997). Final Fantasy VII [Game]. Square Co., Ltd.. PlayStation.
• Square Enix (2004). Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i Series.
• Square Enix (2008). Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation Portable.
• Square Enix, Monolith Soft (2006). Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 2.
• Square Enix (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 4.

Movies and television

• Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue (Director) (2005). Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children [Film]. Square Enix.

Bibliography

• Studio BentStuff (2005). Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-8936-6678-9.
• taicho/Revages/Suneo Gouda (2006). Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children -Reunion Files- [Book]. SoftBank Creative Corp.. ISBN 978-4-7973-3498-2.
• Studio BentStuff (2007). Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Ultimania [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2126-1.
• Studio BentStuff (2009). Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-2560-3.
• Kazushige Nojima, Melissa Tanaka (translator) (2018). Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile [Book]. Yen Press. ISBN 978-1-9753-8235-3.
• (2012). Tetusya Nomura interview. . (Nomura interview translation, Kitase interview translation) Famitsu.
• Studio BentStuff (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-6586-9.

Websites

• Sheila Knight (n.d.) . Tetsuya Nomura's 20s. FLAREgamer. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020.
• Wallace, Kimberley (2016, April 2). "Final Fantasy Masterminds Reminisce About Their Favorite Moments". From Game Informer. Archived from the original on January 29, 2024.
• Juba, Joe (2020, May 21). "Final Fantasy VII Remake Creators Answer Our Questions About Summons, Combat, And Dance Scenes". From Game Informer. Archived from the original on January 29, 2024.

External links

• Sephiroth's Wikipedia page