It's hard to talk about the Final Fantasy series without bringing up one of the most popular video game villains of all time: Sephiroth. He's the most well known villain throughout the multiple Final Fantasy games and arguably one of the most popular villains in video games in general. While Final Fantasy VII is a great game in its own right 🧸and is the title that made the JRPG genre popular in North America, it's kind of hard to imagine the game becoming as popular as it did without such an iconic villain such as Sephiroth. He's the kind of villain that you absolutely love to hate, and after a key scene after the game's first disc, he became a villain I absolutel𝔉y had to defeat rather than a means to an end.
While Final Fantasy VII has an amazing storyline, the plot became quite convoluted after some time. This could be blamed on a somewhat shoddy translation of the original title or due to the multiple spinoffs Square-Enix released under the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII complete with its own film, third person shooter, mobile game, and quite possibly its own breakfast cereal with Sephiroth shaped marshmallows. While this expanded on the Final Fantasy VII universe, it may have raised more questions about the infamous man in black rather than questions answered leaving man﷽y gam🉐ers in the dark about certain facts pertaining to his existence.
Sephiroth is by no means a villain to take lightly and is one of the most powerful beings in the entire franchise, not only harnessing the power to take over the world but to destroy other worlds as well. With that kind of power, the man has rightfully earned his place as one of the most terrifying video game antagonists. Despi🔴te his strength and power, it's important to know your enemy, and with that said, these are some facts about Sephiroth that you may not know.
20 ♍ He's No Stranܫger To The Darkness
It should come as no surprise that one of the most famous villains in the Final Fantasy franchise has a heart that's shrouded in darkness. While we know that Sephiroth is already an admirable foe within the Final Fantasy VII universe, he's just as vicious in his guest appearances within the Kingdom Hearts universe.
Sephiroth already has a myriad of devastating attacks in Final Fantasy VII, and while we're thankful we didn't have to sit through his minute-long "Supernova" attack in Kingdom Hearts, he's surprisingly even a more difficult battle in the Disney title than in his first game. The Kingdom Hearts version of Sephiroth has the ability to harness the powers of the darkness within his own heart. He can use powerful attacks like "Sin Harvest" or the ability to teleport, which is commonly known as an ability of the darkness as we typically see Malificent or Organization XIII using it. While Sephiroth may not have the same lofty goals that he had in Final Fantasy VII, he's only grown i♏n♎ strength since the game's final battle.
19 𒉰 He's Pretty Much A Blank Slate
Strangely enough, Final Fantasy VII and the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII seem to completely ignore all aspects of Sephiroth's childhood, despite the fact that it was most likely well documented in the game's world and has little reason to be much of a mystery. In that respect, Sephir💟oth is painted as a more interesting villain due to him being shrouded in mystery.
It's likel🅰y that Shinra kept tabs on Sephiroth throughout his life as he was experimented on in their labs since childbirth and ultimately became part of the elite military organization SOLDIER. But other than that, Sephiroth is pretty much a blank slate who likely didn't have much of a childhood. He never knew who his mother was and Professor Hojo was more than likely a terrible father figure as Sephiroth held him with little regard. T๊he only line we see alluding toward his childhood is Sephiroth stating that ever since he was a kid he always felt different from others. Regardless, Sephiroth is not someone I would want other kids to play with on the playground.
18 ཧ He's Barely A Human 🧔
After the events of Final Fantasy VII, gamers probably suspected for a long time that Sephiroth had met his end to Cloud's Omnislash in the final battle, despite the somewhat open ended finale in the games ending sequence. Having been crushed into a bloody pulp, it seemed that Sephiroth's terror was at an end, but unfortunately for the Planet, such was not the ca🔴se.
Returning in the film Advent Children, Sephiroth was pretty much resurrected from the dead. Sephiroth's character designer Tetsuya Nomura wanted to depict Sephiroth somewhat differently in the film sequel in order to convey Sephiroth having ascended to a different level of existence. He stripped Sephiroth away of basic human characteristics such as blinking, grunting, or breathing. While most versions of Sephiroth don't follow this direction, Advent Children's Sephiroth is always seen as cool and collected during the battle🍰 between him and Cloud.
17 ♐ Playing Devil's Advocat♏e
The Final Fantasy series has never been a stranger to religious allegory and Sephiroth is certainly no exception. Sephiroth's penultimate form which serves as the game's actual final boss fight depicts Sephiroth as an angel, though it's hard to be fooled by his appearance after all the sins he's committed. While Sephiroth may view himself as a God, he more likely represents a🌼 fallen angel.
Ironically, Safer Saphiroth's theme song "One-Winged Angel" plays in the background during this boss fight, yet the name is a little misleading as he actually has seven wings. While the wing on his right arm looks to be more for show and obviously is the wing the song references, the six wings beneath Sephiroth's body are what actually keep him afloat, likely representing the six wings Lucifer, another fallen angel, has in Dante's Inferno. The parallels between Sephiroth and Lucifer appear throughout the game as Sephiroth was once idolized by a younger Cloud Strife. In his struggle to become a God and gain more power, Sephiroth betrays the world around him. While Sephiroth's right wing in the original Final Fantasy VII was depicted as beingꦡ quite colorful, later versions changed the wing's color to black, in order to convey Sephiroth's darkness.
16 What's In A Name? �🌸�
Sephiroth's religious symbolism probably doesn't come off as much of a surprise due to the frequently used imagery of him as an angel, yet it doesn't necessarily stop at his physical design alone. The name Sephiroth derives from the word sefirot, which literally means "counting." Sefirot comes from the Kabbalah, which is a school of thought originating from the Judaic religion. There are ten sefirot on the "Tree of Life." Each sefirot depicts an "illumination of God's infinite light" that shows up in God's creation. Through these ten sefirot, God reveals his will. The term sefirot ties into Sephiroth's character as he wishes to become a God himself, creating a wound in the Planet in order to feed off the Lifestream while it is healing the worlᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd. Absorbing the Lifestream's power, Sephiroth would ultimately ascend into a God-like status.
15 💞 ♏ Earlier Drafts Depicted Sephiroth As A Female
If something is absent from the Final Fantasy series, it is the appearance of more female villains (and quite frankly, we could see more lead heroines as well). While Final Fantasy VIII did deliver a fantasti🐠c female antagonist through Ultimecia, we haven't seen a female villain that fierce and wicked for quite some time.
Surprisingly enough, Sephiroth was originally planned to be a female according to Tetsuya Nomura's earlier drafts of the game's popular villain. Whether or not this was going to be something that was obvious from the beginning of the game or not, Sephiroth was initially going to be first encountered in the Northern Crater when Sephiroth's physical body was first revealed. This idea was most likely scrapped 💙in order to better convey the rivalry between Cloud and Sephiroth.
14 𝄹 Cloud And Sephiroth's Rivalry
While rivalries have found their ways in and out of the Final Fantasy franchise, no rivalry is better known that that between Cloud and Sephiroth (though Squall and Seifer's rivalry from Final Fantasy VIII is arguably better). Character designer Tetsuya Nomura wanted to base their rivalry on a𒊎ctual Japanese historic figures, being legendary swordsmen Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Tetsuya wished to replicate the animosity between the two famous swordsmen, which was most noticeable in Cloud's hatred toward the hero he once idolized as a child. Since both Cloud and Sephiroth carry two of the most popular swords in the history of video games, the Buster Sword and the Masamune respectively, it makes sense that the two would be based off of Japanese swordsmen who also carried oversized weaponry.
13 🔥 He Will Even Kill His Most Beloved
While the following factoid might not be canon to Final Fantasy VII's lore, it's definitely interesting to look at as Sephiroth's original backstory was drastically different than what we are familiar with today. Tetsuya Nomura originally wanted to depict Sephiroth as being Aeris's sibling, which is why both characters have similar hairstyles and facial features. This idea was axed and Sephiroth was later written as Aeris's lover, until Zack Fair was written into thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe script.
The shift in direction toward Sephiroth's backstory was most likely a good choice as it made Se🔯phiroth more mysterious and left us with more questions than answers. While other elements of the story may have changed as well, if things stayed as originally drafted, we would have seen a merciless Sephiroth murdering either his own blood or his lover. While this scenario didn't make its way into the game we know today, it's an interesting spin on Sephiroth's character that really shows how heartless he is or could have potentially been.
12 He Can Manipulate Jenov🍷a Cells
The only thing that could be more terrifying than having to fight against one of the most powerful beings in existence is the idea that that being could control you at almost any moment. While Cloud might be seen as a failed experiment in the mind of Professor Hojo, he is unfortunately still a useful tool in Sephiroth's scheme to ascend to a God-like existence. Due to Cloud being injected with Jenova cells after the events in Nibelheim five years prior to the events of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud becomes somewhat of a puppet to S𒁃ephiroth as he is able to manipulate the Jenova Cells in Cloud's body. Because of this, Cloud repeatedly𒀰 becomes a bit of a burden on his fellow teammates to say the least, whether it's almost attacking Aeris while under Sephiroth's control or ultimately causing the summoning of Meteor due to him handing over the Black Materia to a comatose Sephiroth.
11 💙 He's No Stranger To A Long Distance Relationship
Even while Sephiroth is sleeping on the other side of the Planet, he is still a force to be reckoned with. Surprisingly, most of Sephiroth's actions in Final Fantasy VII are done while he is sleeping in the Northern Crater. Even though he's pra♉ctic⛦ally been hibernating for five years before enacting his plan to summon meteor, he is surprisingly very aware of the world around him having infused himself with the Lifestream.
Because Sephiroth has the ability to manipulate Jenova cells, it should be no surprise that Sephiroth is able to manipulate the physical body of Jenova herself. Because Sephiroth's body was engulfed in the Lifestream for quite some time, he has basically become one with the Earth and he could basica🐎lly contr♍ol Jenova's body from across the globe. That's definitely some impressive power for someone who is technically unconscious for more than half the game.