Sephiroth

"On your knees. I want you to beg for forgiveness."

=Info=

Sephiroth has long, silver hair with green, cat like eyes. He wears a long, black leather trench coat with shoulder plates and sometimes appears with a single black wing, more often he simply appears with black feathers falling around him. A common misconception is that this is the cause for his theme, and common alias, "One-Winged Angel." The true cause for this is in his final form having absorbed vast amounts of mako, transforming his (non-dominant) right arm into a grotesque black scale and feather wing. All future appearances with the black wing are in reference to this, presumably to imply he has retained the same level of power in a human form. However, upon the advent of FFVII Crisis Core, it is revealed any survivor of the JENOVA Project possesses the ability to sprout this wing, to date it remains unclear why this is. Sephiroth having literally joined with JENOVA possesses powers far beyond that of other test subjects, and it cannot be assumed his abilities and theirs are truly relateable. Among all Final Fantasy villains in Dissidia Final Fantasy, Sephiroth seems to be treated with the most fear by both villains and heroes. Unlike other Final Fantasy villains Sephiroth truly believes he is right, and from this draws substantial willpower, fervent religious willpower; this with his psycopathy, substantial martial ability, and massive power reserves do make him among the most powerful FF villains, if not the most powerful. He also carries a sword named Masamune, in the FF universe this seems treated more as a style of sword, as one is left in the President of Shinra after his attack, which appears most often as a ten-foot long katana, though other lengths appear occasionally. In his most recent appearances it appears as though he now exists at some level as an energy being comprised of mako, given his ability to die, and reappear unchanged at will. Ironically his attempts to destroy the planet seem to have made his more part of it.

=Pre FFVII=

Sephiroth is the child of Professor Hojo and Lucrecia Cresent, two scientists of Shinra Inc. When he was in the womb, he was injected with cells of a powerful alien being known as Jenova, and then taken away from Lucretia at birth. He was kept in the dark about his real mother, and the experiments that had been performed on him. Later in his life he became a member of SOLDIER, Shinra Inc.'s super warriors. Sephiroth became more powerful than any other SOLDIER, he went beyond 1st class and became known as the SOLDIER Hero. Sephiroth was close friends with two other experiments, Angeal and Genesis, who were also unaware of what had been done to them. Genesis and Angeal would spar with Sephiroth, until one day Genesis tried to go all out, Sephiroth was able to keep up, and Angeal broke up the fight. Genesis would leave Shinra shortly afterwards with Professor Hollander. Sephiroth still hoped to bring him back however. Then, Shinra sent him to Nibelhiem to inspect a broken Mako reactor, along with another SOLDIER 1st Class (Zack Fair), and several infantry men, one of which was Cloud Strife. Once in the city, Zack asks Sephiroth about his parents, and he mentions that his mother's name was Jenova, but said nothing about his father. Sephiroth climbs Mt. Nibel with the rest of his men to inspect the reactor., and in it he finds a room labeled JENOVA, in it he sees a hideous beast-like abomination, why JENOVA is in a armored containment suit when later revealed is unclear, likely just a small error by the game creators. This and the witnessing of other mutant creatures ("failed" SOLDIERs injected with JENOVA cells) brings about what essentially is a psychotic break, leading to him question who, or what, he is. For six days he locked himself in the basement of Shinra mansion reading books about the experiments Shinra had been doing. On the seventh day he set fire to Nibelhiem, and Zack confronted him, with Cloud not far behind. When they reach the reactor, Zack breaks into the room labeled Jenova, and demands that Sephiroth tell him why he burned the town down. Sephiroth stood in front of a discolored and disfigured woman in a test tube, Jenova, and addresses her as "Mother". After talking to Jenova about reclaiming the planet Zack attacks him and they have a fight, though Zack seemingly provides ample challenge, in the end a clearly bored Sephiroth easily dispatches the "traitor." Sephiroth turned back to his "Mother" and acts as if nothing as happened. Cloud then walks in, and takes Zack's Buster Sword and swipes at Jenova. An Infuriated Sephiroth stabs Cloud through the stomach, though somehow Cloud manages to pull the sword up and throw Sehpiroth off the edge of the reactor core, although, as an alternate ending in the anime, Sephiroth intentionally jumps into the reactor.



=FFVII=

In Final Fantasy VII Sephiroth is the main villain, seeking to find the Black Materia to destroy the world, so he can reach the "Promised Land". He is briefly playable in a flashback to the events that occurred in Nibelhiem seven years prior. Most of the game is spent searching for him, but Sephiroth is always one step ahead of the heroes. Sephiroth believes himself to be an Ancient, a powerful human like being that once occupied the planet. His desire is to find the promised land, so he can use the large amount of mako energy to activate the black materia, summoning Meteor, a powerful spell which Sephiroth tricks Cloud and the others into finding. Once activated, the black materia would send a meteor into the planet, and to heal itself the planet would send a massive amount of mako to where it hit. Sepiroth planned to absorb this energy himself, so he could become a god. As the game progresses, it seems Sephiroth's powers become greater and greater, to the point where he can control Cloud, which is how he got the black materia from them. He even tries to make Cloud kill Aeris while she is praying in the Forgotten Village, Tifa however yells and breaks Sephiroth's control, and so he jumps down from above and impales Aeris through the stomach. Cloud and company pursue Sephiroth to the planet's wound, a crater that was left behind when Jenova landed. They go into it and Sephiroth shows Cloud several flashbacks of what really happened at Niblehiem, and reveals that Cloud has his cells in him, and that Sephiroth could control him because of this. The illusion ends and Cloud, who doesn't believe himself to be Cloud, hands over the Black Materia to the real Sephiroth that had been frozen in the planet's core. Sephiroth had controlled remnants that shared Jenova cells from inside the planet in order to bring himself back to life to continue Jenova's Universal killing spree.



=Advent Children=

In Advent Children, though Sephiroth was defeated two years earlier, he has left a great dent in the planet. He infected the lifestream, and so created a disease called Geostigma. Geostigma weakens the immune system, causes exhaustion, and black sores on the skin of the infected. Children are more prone to getting this disease than adults, however, this does not mean adults can't get it, in fact, Cloud has it. Three remnants of Sephiroth that didn't dissipate into the lifestream, named Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, are seeking to reunite with their "mother" Jenova, and attack Cloud calling him their "brother". As the movie progresses, two of the remnants are defeated, leaving only Kadaj, who merges with what is left of Jenova. By doing so, this restores Sephiroth into his body, while still keeping Sephiroth's form. Cloud and Sephiroth fight once more, and while it seems Cloud is out matched, he is still able to defeat Sephiroth, who just before fading back into Kadaj, says;

''"I will... never be a memory." ''

Thus implying that he will keep coming back, the thought Sephiroth ever loses without deciding to is debateable. He never seems to lose without accepting the opponent to have won, if this is simply due to an arbitrary level of talent Sephiroth observes or if he truly believes he cannot win is unclear. It is imperative at this point to note also Sephiroth is not at all like the typical FF villain, though very delusional, within this illusion and his psycopathy Sephiroth is very calm and seemingly sane, also his ambition is not universal destruction, but universal cleansing, draining all planets of life, as his "mother" JENOVA did, before crashing on the planet.

=Kingdom Hearts Series=

Kingdom Hearts I
Sephiroth appears as an optional boss in the first Kingdom Hearts. He is found in olympus colosseum, and no story is really provided, though it does refer to him as "The SOLDIER Commander".

In KH: Final Mix a brief meeting between Cloud and Sephiroth can be seen, followed by a 30 second or so battle, it ends with a flash of light, so the winner is unknown.



Kingdom Hearts II
In the second Kingdom Hearts game, while still optional, Sephiroth is given a story. Sephiroth claims he is the darkness in Cloud's heart and as long as that darkness remains Sephiroth cannot die. Thus, Cloud and Sephiroth have been fighting for a long time, across many different worlds. Cloud currently searching in Hollow Bastion hunting for Sephiroth, wanting to end their conflict once and for all. In the Dark Depths of Hallow Bastion (Radiant Garden), Sephiroth appears standing at the cliff where Sora was saved by Maleficent, and asks where Cloud is. Sora and company refuse to answer, then Sephiroth looks at the keyblade, and takes interest in it, wondering if it wont change its mind once he deafets Sora, thus initiating the battle. While you only need to be around Lv 50 to defeat the final boss Xemnas, it is recommended that you not fight Sephiroth at any level lower than Lv 80. If you defeat him, he just turns around, unscarred and in perfect condition. He then asks Sora to ask Cloud to come to him so they can finish what has begun. Cloud shows up almost immediately afterward and a short cutscene showing their battle is shown, ending with the two going through a portal.

=Dissidia: Final Fantasy=

Sephiroth makes his most recent appearance in the Final Fantasy based fighting game, Dissidia. Despite a few more colors in his wardrobe, he pretty much stays the same. In the story he mocks Cloud's inability to find a reason to fight. Once Cloud defeats him and obtains his crystal, Sephiroth tells him to remember that he is the only reason that Cloud was able to get it.

In some cutscenes, it is revealed that Sephiroth had no memory of his past life when he awoke as a servant of Chaos, however, he says that he is slowly gaining it back, and his personality comes back at it's full near the game's end.