The synopsis of the deadly power-mad swordsman Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII.
History
Ascent to War Hero and Fall from Grace
Sephiroth as he appears in FFVII: Crisis Core.
Sephiroth is the child of Professor Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent, two Shinra Inc. scientists. While in the womb, his mother named Lucrecia was injected with cells of a powerful alien being known as Jenova, and in his fetal form, he merged with the cells and was taken from Lucretia at birth. He was kept in the dark about his real mother, only told that she was named Jenova, and the terrible experiments that were been performed on him. Raised by Shinra Inc due to his extraordinary superhuman physical prowess, Sephiroth eventually joined SOLDIER as it's most powerful warrior, his strength going beyond 1st class and became known as the SOLDIER Hero. He was particularly renowned for his accomplishments during the war between Shinra and Wutai, being deeply admired and respected by most boys in the world, causing many to join SOLDIER, making Sephiroth not just Shinra's most powerful warrior but also it's most efficient poster boy. He only has two close friends within SOLDIER, Angeal and Genesis, all three of them being the most powerful results of the Jenova Project, although both Angeal and Genesis's Project G were considered failure and inferior compared to Sephiroth's Project S but none of them were aware of the real truth. Genesis and Angeal would spar with Sephiroth, at which Sephiroth would easily fight them all off, until one day Genesis tried to go all out. Try as Genesis may, Sephiroth overwhelms him but Angeal stops the fight, in the process of which Genesis suffered a shoulder injury that causes his deterioration. By the end of the Wutai War, he saves Zack from a powerful monster named Ifrit, easily dealing the finishing blow, and realizes not just Genesis but also Angeal had betrayed them.
With both of his close friends having left him, Sephiroth begins to become conflicted and pressured, as Shinra is constantly pressuring him to hunt them down as he is the only one in SOLDIER at the time capable of killing them in battle. He refuses to kill his friends, hoping to reach out to them, and starts to bond with Zack Fair especially when he becomes another SOLDIER 1st Class. When Genesis and Angeal attack Shinra, Sephiroth is dispatched to deal with them as though Zack has grown strong enough, Shinra doesn't trust him but Sephiroth refuses to do so and allows them to escape but helps defend Shinra from Genesis Copies. Afterwards, Sephiroth researches on Project G, desiring to find a cure and a way to neutralize his friends, but is unable to find any such means before Zack cuts down Angeal and seemingly Genesis. Then, Shinra sent him to Nibelheim 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 the room he sees Jenova- a hideous abomination, in the form of a female. Why Jenova is in an armored containment suit when later revealed is unclear, although it is likely 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.
This research causes Sephiroth to believe that Jenova was a Cetra and that he himself is the last surviving Cetra, he also comes to think that humanity betrayed the Cetra by leaving them to defend the planet against an evil calamity, the calamity actually being Jenova herself. With this information along with his anger for being used as an experiment for Shinra, Sephiroth slowly slips into insanity. On the seventh day, Sephiroth decided to take revenge on the humans for leaving the Cetra and making him one of Shinra's experiments, but first insanity took him and he burned Nibelheim to the ground (most likely using an extremely powerful Firaga). Zack thus confronts him later on, 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" believing she is his real mother due to the fact that he was told his mothers name was Jenova. After talking to Jenova about reclaiming the planet Zack attacks him and they fight fiercely. Although Zack is able to stand reasonably evenly with Sephiroth, even having the skills to defeat Genesis proved to be insufficient and Sephiroth eventually overwhelms Zack in swordplay, driving him back before he quickly overpowered Zack in a clash of strength, disarming him and sending him flyinh. Sephiroth turned back to his "Mother" and acts as if nothing as happened. Cloud then walks in, and takes Zack's Buster Sword and badly injures Sephiroth but Sephiroth, in his rage, easily stabs Cloud through the stomach, though with all his will, Cloud manages to pull the sword up and throw Sephiroth off the edge of the reactor core, although, as an alternate ending in the anime Last Order Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth intentionally jumps into the reactor asking Jenova to go with him to the "Promised Land".
Final Fantasy VII
Sephiroth in the original FFVII.
In Final Fantasy VII while seeking to find the Black Materia and destroy the world, Sephiroth desires to reach the "Promised Land" by doing so. He is briefly playable in a flashback to the events that occurred in Nibelheim seven years prior. Most of the game is spent searching for him, but Sephiroth is always one step ahead of the heroes. His desire is to find the so-called 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, causing the planet to try and heal itself using the Lifestream's mako energy, Sepiroth would then absorb this energy, thus becoming a god and rule the planet.
As the game progresses, it seems Sephiroth's powers become greater and greater, to the point where he can control Cloud, and even the remaining cells of Jenova herself. His control over Cloud however, allows him to obtained the black materia from him. Using Cloud, Sephiroth tries to make him kill Aerith while she is praying in the Forgotten Village trying to summon the spell Holy to help counter act the meteor summoned by Sephiroth, Tifa however yells and breaks Sephiroth's manipulation, and so using his control over Jenova, he forces her cells to take his own form and uses her to impale Aerith through the stomach.
Cloud and company pursue Sephiroth to the planet's wound, a crater that was left behind when Jenova arrived on the planet. They go into it and Sephiroth shows Cloud several flashbacks of what really happened at Nibelheim, and reveals that Cloud has his cells in him, and that Sephiroth could control him because of this. The illusion ends and Cloud, who does not 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 and achieve his plan of becoming a god to rule the planet.
Eventually, Sephiroth achieved his plan and became "Bizarro Sephiroth" (in Japanese: リバース・セフィロス Ribāsu Sefirosu) and "Safer Sephiroth" (in Japanese: セーファ・セフィロス Sēfa Sefirosu), which is his ultimate god or god-like form. One last battle commences between Cloud, his friends, and Safer-Sephiroth, who is eventually defeated. Despite this, his conscience remains intact and he drags Cloud into the Lifestream to have one last confrontation with him, this time in a metaphysical realm. However, just like before, Sephiroth is defeated. The Meteor continues its course and crashes into Gaia, but due to Aerith's ability to talk with the planet and summon the spell Holy, the Lifestream is able to push back the meteor before it causes ultimate destruction to the planet.
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Sephiroth returns in the remake of Final Fantasy VII as the main antagonist again and is much more prominent and with seemingly different goals.
He appears before Cloud many times to haunt and torment him: He first traps Cloud in an illusion of the Nibelheim when he burned it and after mockingly walking away, mocks Cloud over his personal slaying of Cloud's mother and razing of Nibelheim but does not deny Cloud's claims of killing him and tells Cloud that he must leave AVALANCHE and live to fight for the planet, telepathically telling Cloud to hold on to his hatred after Cloud snaps and attacks Sephiroth, and despite releasing the illusion, soon returns to yet again mock Cloud when he first meets Aerith, saying that he is too weak to protect anyone, even himself. Sephiroth's illusions do not end there and he appears before Cloud twice more: When Cloud falls to the slums, Sephiroth says he is Cloud's everything, and after Cloud fails to save Jessie and Wedge, Sephiroth shoves to Cloud's face his failure to protect those he cared for again but encourages Cloud to gain strength from the failure.
Sephiroth also shapeshifts his Sephiroth Clones rather than Jenova's body into himself, using Marco to attack Cloud, but as Marco is too weak, Cloud easily neutralizes him and would have killed him had he not been stopped by Tifa. Later on, he once again uses Marco to project himself in Shinra's headquarters to thwart AVALANCHE's attempt to assassinate Shinra, wanting to do it himself and sends AVALANCHE tumbling into the lower levels after mocking Cloud. He seemingly attacks Shinra but lets him briefly escape so AVALANCHE found him before appearing and killing Shinra and stabbing Barret. Sephiroth shapeshifts Marco into Jenova Alpha to battle AVALANCHE but is defeated. However, Sephiroth sends in another Sephiroth Clone, tattooed with number 2, to retrieve Marco and jump down to escape.
The first part of the Remake ends with Sephiroth, apparently in his true body, confronting and battling AVALANCHE: He flies down to their location after their escape and says that if the planet were to die, everything would end, and dismisses them all as seeing nothing but shadows before summoning the Whispers and having them form a portal to the other side of the bridge, cutting open the entrance and telling Cloud he is waiting. After all the monsters have been defeated, Sephiroth appears before AVALANCHE personally and unleashes Supernova upon Midgar, severely damaging it, and then tracks Cloud down for a duel. He overpowers Cloud even when he is aided by another AVALANCHE member and though with additional aid, they were able to push him back and cancel another Supernova, when the party was complete and cornered him, Sephiroth has the Whispers engage AVALANCHE and lures Cloud into a metaphysical realm he describes as the edge of creation and offers Cloud to join him so they can "save" the planet. Cloud refuses and the two fight with their swords but it quickly becomes evident despite whatever wounds he suffered from his latest battle with AVALANCHE, Sephiroth is still the stronger one and after a while of merely countering Cloud's attacks and performing restrained blows, he pushes back Cloud in a clash of blades and disarms Cloud with one attack. Rather than killing him, Sephiroth spares his life, even telling him he has "7 seconds left until the end", before leaving as Cloud is also returned to Midgar and regroups with the rest of AVALANCHE, sour at being defeated by Sephiroth and his desire for revenge as strong as ever.
Due to Sephiroth's actions, the course of destiny has been changed, allowing Zack and Briggs to survive. Although it is unknown if he is aware of Zack's revival and had actually intended it, it is clear that he succeeded in defying fate and is free to pursue his currently unknown goals in the new future. Although AVALANCHE did defeat Sephiroth in battle, technically Sephiroth had still won the conflict in Midgar as he succeeded in part of his goals and would presumably now seek Cloud and maybe Zack's assistance in his goals. With Sephiroth far from being defeated and Shinra as damaged as it is, Cloud and AVALANCHE abandon their grudge towards Shinra and made Sephiroth their next target, leaving Midgar to find and defeat Sephiroth, believing he intends to destroy the planet.
Final Fantasy: Advent Children
In Final Fantasy: Advent Children, though Sephiroth was defeated 2 years earlier, but 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. 3 remnants of Sephiroth that did not 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, he becomes Sephiroth's avatar, adopting his physical appearance. Cloud and Sephiroth fight once more and this time it is purely physical battle. With his superior combat abilities, Sephiroth is steadily able to wear down and overwhelm Cloud until Cloud is finally decisively beaten and badly injured. However, Cloud, by reminiscing of all that he cherishes when Sephiroth mistakenly mocks him by threatening to kill them all and being invigorated by Zack's spirit, perfects Omnislash 5 and uses it to finally defeat Sephiroth, taking advantage of the advantage of many blades, the enchanted speed, and Sephiroth's surprise to soundly deal lethal blows. However, when Cloud demands Sephiroth to stay in his memory, Sephiroth calmly says "I will...never be a memory.", proving he is not truly defeated and while his physical body may have been destroyed, he is still present.
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Sephiroth, though not visibly seen, is mentioned as a well-known hero. His reputation inspires Zack Fair to train to become Sephiroth's equal in power and legend.
After Master Xehanort's defeat, Zack witnesses Hercules train under Phil, noticing one of Sephiroth's feathers floating towards him. Zack then disappears, with the feather landing where he once stood.
Kingdom Hearts
Sephiroth as seen in the Kingdom Hearts series.
Sephiroth appears as an optional boss in the first Kingdom Hearts game for both the North American version, and later the Final Mix version. He is found in Olympus Coliseum. No story is really provided, though it does refer to him as "The SOLDIER Commander" and a man once known as the "greatest of swordsmen".
Prior to Sora's arrival to Olympus Coliseum, Cloud strikes a deal with Hades: if Cloud defeats Hercules in battle, Hades will lead Cloud to Sephiroth. However, the deal is not paid off.
Later, Sora enters the Platinum Match and encounters Sephiroth himself, besting the One-Winged Angel in a duel. In the Final Mix version only, following Sora's departure, Cloud encounters Sephiroth and engage in a battle before dissipating in light.
Kingdom Hearts II
| “ | Absurd. Defeating me is meaningless. You know that more than anyone, Cloud. No matter how many times I fall, your darkness keeps calling me back! | „ |
| ~ Sephiroth to Cloud |
In the second Kingdom Hearts game, while still an optional boss, Sephiroth is given a backstory. 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. One year after Sora's battle with Xehanort's Heartless, Cloud has been looking for Sephiroth in the newly-restored techno-magic kingdom of Hollow Bastion (now known by its true name "Radiant Garden"), wanting to end their conflict once and for all.
Sora and company first encounter Sephiroth as they leave Hollow Bastion's castle to assist in the Battle of the 1000 Heartless. The One-Winged Angel inquires of Cloud's whereabouts, but realizes that Cloud is getting enlightened and takes his leave. He soon after rescues his arch-nemesis from a swarm of Heartless and taunts him about the darkness.
After defeating the MCP and discovering Hollow Bastion's true name of Radiant Garden, Sora and company arrive at the Dark Depths, once more encountering Sephiroth, who asks where Cloud is and on Sora's identity. Sora and company refuse to answer. Sephiroth then notices Sora's Keyblade and engages Sora in battle, intending on testing the weapon's loyalty and Sora's strength.
After an arduous battle, Sora triumphs over the One-Winged Angel. Sephiroth, though, informs Sora that only Cloud can truly defeat him, and orders the Keyblade wielder to bring Cloud to him. Sora then finds Cloud in the Marketplace and tells him of Sephiroth's location, prompting Cloud to travel there to engage Sephiroth in battle.
As Sora returns to the Dark Depths, Cloud arrives and duels with Sephiroth. As the two lock blades, Sephiroth taunts Cloud once more, but Tifa arrives, encouraging Cloud to let go of his inner past. Though Sephiroth is irritated at Tifa's appearance, Cloud suddenly glows in a bright aura and warps both himself and Sephiroth to an unknown world to continue their duel.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Sephiroth makes an appearance in the Final Fantasy-based fighting game Dissidia and it's prequel Dissidia 012. 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.
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, and fervent religious willpower; this with his psychopathy, substantial martial ability, and massive power reserves make him among the most powerful of Chaos' warriors, if not the most powerful.
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. His personality does fully comes back near the end of the game.
Mobius Final Fantasy
Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Mobius X Final Fantasy VII Fatal Calling. Having been sent to Palamecia along with Cloud, Sephiroth's plot to return to his original world puts him in conflict with Cloud and Mobius's protagonist Wol as he intends to manipulate Cloud.
Sephiroth is first seen talking to the unconscious Cloud, dismissing his attempts to lock away the past and telling him to rise to his destiny, and soon starts a fierce fight with Cloud. Sephiroth easily overpowers Cloud and holds him in sword-point and scoffs at Cloud's declaration of being a former SOLDIER, stating that he doesn't have the strength or skill needed to be remembered as a SOLDIER before leaving.
Arriving in Midgar's Mako Reactor, Sephiroth comments he still doesn't have enough power to return to his world and only has a pale imitation of the power he needs and tells Cloud he is clever but lacks despair before summoning a creature and soon confronting Cloud, hinting of his plans with Cloud and telling him to remember the Reunion. Sephiroth once again defeats Cloud even with help from Wol, stabbing Cloud as he tells him he is a puppet and that he will only kill him after he knows despair. He dismisses Wol's claims that Palamecia is a suiting place for him, as it is not the world promised to him and he must go home and those with despair will help him start the Reunion before telling Wol to tell Cloud he is waiting for him in Nibelheim.
Sephiroth appears before Cloud and Wol repeatedly, first summoning a creature again, then sending an illusion to fight Wol, before finally confronting the healed Cloud. Sephiroth tells Cloud to battle him in the Northern Crater and whoever wins get to go home. It is when Cloud confronts him in the Northern Crater that Sephiroth reveals he played Cloud all along: The Materia Cloud had was created by Sephiroth and the energy that he drank from the Mako Reactor that healed him was his. Easily cutting down Wol in an instant, Sephiroth brainwashes Cloud and takes him to return to their world.
When Wol confronts him, Sephiroth reveals that he will return home by destroying Palamecia and easily fending off Wol, sicks Cloud on him. Wol realizes Sephiroth is an illusion and Cloud returns to his senses and defeats Sephiroth but Sephiroth is unconcerned as he still gained Cloud's strength and was able to return home, though Cloud also gets to return as well.
Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy
The fallen hero also appears in this rhythm game as a boss in Final Fantasy VII scenarios. Commonly during the song "One-Winged Angel". He is also an unlockable playable character by gathering eight black shards.