Sephiroth was born thirty years before the start of Final Fantasy VII to Professor Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent. Before Sephiroth's birth, Hojo and Lucrecia were working as assistants to Professor Gast, Shinra's top scientist, on the Jenova Project. The project studied the remains of an extra-terrestrial entity known as Jenova, which was mistakenly thought to be one of the Cetra, an ancient people of the world that the game takes place in. Hojo injected cell samples from Jenova into the pregnant Lucrecia and her unborn baby. Lucrecia then carried Sephiroth to term, his fetal form merging with the cells of Jenova as it developed.
Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII, and one of the major villains of its extended universe. A prototype SOLDIER and the strongest alive, Sephiroth is initially revered for his strength and hailed as a hero, until he learns and misinterprets his origins. Believing himself as the last of the Ancients, Sephiroth enacts a vendetta against mankind, with the ultimate goal of becoming a god and controlling the planet. Sephiroth's goals later include defeating Cloud Strife, who has consistently foiled his plans. To this end, Sephiroth is frequently depicted as Cloud's archnemesis.
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Table of Contents
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Character's games and general info
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy VII Dissidia
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (Movie)
Personality
Sephiroth's personality is one of cold ruthlessness. Prior to his madness, he was not particularly anti-social, as he has friends in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and willingly tells Zack and Tifa about Mako and Materia on Mt. Nibel. All the same, his cold exterior and professional attitude turn people away. He is very intelligent, and is respectful to those he deems worthy - he considered Professor Gast a great scientist, but looked down on Professor Hojo and described him as "a walking mass of complexes". Sephiroth is confident to the point of arrogance, but as the strongest SOLDIER alive it could easily be argued he has the right to be. Well-spoken and somewhat graceful, Sephiroth is universally calm, collected, and in control. He can be frustrated and caught off his guard, but this rarely happens.
Following his fall into insanity, Sephiroth retains most of the above personality traits, but becomes murderous and vengeful as well. He also develops something of a messiah complex, proclaiming several times that he is "the chosen one", destined to lead the planet and become a god. His intelligence has increased vastly following his time in the Lifestream, and he has absorbed the knowledge of the Ancients there. At one point, Sephiroth even says he is greater than the Ancients. He has become highly cruel and delights in mentally torturing Cloud, and in Advent Children, in one of his iconic lines, asks Cloud what he cherishes so he may simply take it from him. Sephiroth is also fiercely devoted to Jenova and her cause, even though her body serves as little more than his avatar.
Overview of powers
Even after appearing in so many titles, Sephiroth's true strength is still unknown. It's stated in the official book "Reunion Files" the Sephiroth seen in Advent Children has "ascended to a new level of existence" and is much stronger than before. Though he was defeated, Sephiroth never used the full extent of his powers in the final fight against Cloud in Advent Children, and because of that his true potential is still unknown. Advent Children producer Yoshinori Kitase has said "Sephiroth's existence and will is extremely powerful. There is nothing stronger, nothing above him."
Sephiroth is a master swordsman and is very strong and agile. In Crisis Core, Sephiroth is able to defend himself with ease when facing both Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley, two products of Project G, at once. Although Genesis gains a temporary advantage on Sephiroth one-on-one using powerful magic, Sephiroth quickly retaliates and forces Genesis on the defensive, and at this time he single-handedly cuts apart the cannon of the Sister Ray, slicing clean through it with one-handed strokes. Also in Crisis Core, he can unleash bursts of energy from his sword and can teleport, and he retains the ability to unleash energy bursts in Last Order and Dissidia. As he has taken over Jenova, he is able to shapeshift her body parts into his visage and other forms. After absorbing the knowledge of the Lifestream while regenerating his body, Sephiroth gains the ability to use magic without requiring the use of Materia.
Sephiroth also has a measure of psychic abilities, able to read minds, project illusions, and levitate objects and people using his will alone. In Advent Children, Sephiroth retains his great strength and agility and controls the Lifestream that has been corrupted by those who died of Geostigma. Any other powers he has developed or retained since his death are not shown. Sephiroth's strength in the Kingdom Hearts series has caused him to be ranked among the hardest bosses in the series. Sephiroth in both games is able to summon meteors, pillars of fire, and orbs of dark energy.
In Crisis Core Sephiroth's Limit Break is stated to be "Super Nova", which is Safer∙Sephiroth's ultimate attack, involving Sephiroth summoning a meteor to destroy the sun and engulf the party in a wave of fire. Super Nova returns as Sephiroth's ultimate attack in Kingdom Hearts, and is his EX Burst in Dissidia, where it is again referred to as his Limit Break as he executes it.
In Crisis Core, Sephiroth's DMW is "Octaslash", a swift sequence of eight sword attacks. He uses the attack in Crisis Core and Dissidia. In Advent Children Complete, Sephiroth also uses a barrage of eight sword stabs to attack Cloud, which may be based on Octaslash. In the Kingdom Hearts series, Sephiroth is able to perform his own variation of Cloud's "Omnislash" technique, which has been erroneously reported as Octaslash by some. Sephiroth is also associated with the Shadow Flare technique, though it is not an attack unique to him. Shadow Flare, also known as Dark Flare, is a spell that is usually associated with Blue Magic. It is essentially an "evil" version of Flare, often of the dark element.
Assembled to simplify some of the powers available to Sephiroth, is the following list:
- Jenova Virus
- Will
- Super Nova
- Octaslash
- Flight
- Regeneration
- Mind Reading
- Mind Control
- Illusions
- Shapeshifting
Equipment
Masamune - Can be translated as "Invinsible breasts." He carried this in Crisis Core and he created several more in FF7. (One to kill the president of ShinRa and one to kill Aerith.)
He created another in FF7:AC.
Equipment info, quotes, feats
Sephiroth's Masamune has proven to be a highly durable weapon, having withstood attacks of significant power. Its sharpness is without question beyond likely compare. It can be seen with Sephiroth in every game and movie that he appears in, even appearing spontaneously when Sephiroth is reborn in Advent Children, suggesting that Sephiroth's Masamune is more of an extension of his power than a weapon he takes power from. This Masamune is easily recognizable due to its massive length, but thin width, resembling an Odachi, though with a hilt much smaller. Due to the extreme legth of te blade, ScreamPaste believes Sephiroth has a chode. Which is better than Cloud, who has nothing at all.
Character feats
Numerous feats preformed by Sephiroth are open for interpretation, in short: Your Mileage May Vary. To get a few listed feats, read the following lines:
Stopping Holy
A feat brought to action through sheer will by Sephiroth, this occurred in the original Final Fantasy 7. Some have said this feat is essentially nothing because Holy never done anything however it is clear in the final cut scene of the game that Holy is indeed fairly powerful. So much so that lifting an 1800 tonne airship from close to the center of the planet to high into the air was just a byproduct of it moving.
Will Feat
Utilising his will again he lifted and took control off eight seperate bodies, presumed of significant weight, numbers circling 240Kgs (529 Pounds) assuming each of them weigh 30Kgs (66 Pounds), this is a very low estimate. This occurs in the game before the final boss fight in the original game.
Durability Feats
Having survived attacks that crater metal imply a significant level of durability. Along with fire and explosions not having any effect on him at all. Some may argue that Jenova meteor landing stands as a feat of Sephiroths which has been calculated (erring on the low side) to be equivalent to a 30,000 megaton bomb however this is still in debate.
Reaction Speed
Sephiroth shows impressive reaction speeds, such as in Crisis Core where he defends attacks coming from completely different directions (Front and behind) that are barely a second apart. Even when suprised Sephiroth is able to react to attacks fairly easily.
Fast flight speed
High speed during flight, again in Crisis Core during the fight with Genesis and Angeal and in ACC against Cloud. Presumably at 0.5 km\s.
Regeneration
Regenerated from a piece of being (Flesh is the exact translation). However it took him a fair bit of time (~4-5 days) because he was assembling existing flesh\cells that were in what are called Sephiroth Clones (Other people).
Notable debates
- Link v.s. Sephiroth Warning: Contains wild mass guessing, and over nine thousand posts.
