Never Gone + Sephiroth

The 49th Floor

Welcome to Cherri's one page tribute to Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy VII series. I plan on covering all his appeaerances from Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core, Advent Children and his cameo in Dirge of Cerberus. Before Crisis won't really be mentioned as I never played it and Last Order is a retaling of the Nibelheim incident. So I hope you enjoy reading what I have.

Final Fantasy VII is the story of Cloud Strife, an exSOLDIER who joins a terrorist group called AVALANCHE. Their mission is to destory ShinRa to keep the planet going. While trying to do that Cloud meets a young woman named Aerith (Aeris) and his life changes. She gets kidnapped and he goes after her. Turns out one of his old rivals is back and wants revenge. The entire planet is thrusted into war and it's up to Cloud & friends to stop him. Cloud's past caught up with him and now he is face to face with the person he hates most. What to do?

This site (probably) contains spoilers and bias fangirlism.

A Hero's Story

In Final Fantasy VII, our hero Sephiroth is missing in action and maybe dead. At first no one is really sure, not even Cloud who was there during the events that took place years earlier. Cloud explains what happened in Nibelheim while in Kalm. He says they went to Nibelheim but on the way there they fought a dragon and talked about his motion sickness. Sephiroth didn't know what it was like. Once in Nibelheim, the 1st Class SOLDIER stops and asks how it feels to be home. He doesn't know what it's like to be in a hometown as he doesn't have one. While exploring Nibelheim and the mountain reactor they find many things that are wrong, like creatures being made. Sephiroth begins to wonder if this is how he was made and it drives him insane. He locks himself up in the library that's in the basement of ShinRa Mansion. Where he finally comes out a week later - completely insane. He burns the town and kills any that sees him or tries to stop him. Sephiroth meets with JENOVA in the reactor and chops her head off and carries it out with him. Cloud, upset by losing everything, confronts him. Cloud ends up getting stabbed but Sephiroth ends up in the mako pit below. This ends the flashback and Cloud’s account of Nibelheim. Back to the present, Sephiroth comes back and kills many people in the ShinRa building, including the President. He wants his mother, the black materia, and the world. While Cloud and friends try to stop him, they lose a friend in the process. And when finally confronted Sephiroth falls in battle again against Cloud. Not much is seen about how Sephiroth is, only that he seems to have a mommy/god complex and is insane.

Advent Children isn't much different. And he doesn't actually get a lot of screen time. It's mostly Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, who get the time but they are remnants of Sephiroth. Towards the end when Kadaj merges with what's left of JEVONA, Sephiroth appears for battle with Cloud. (Seriously, just stop.) the two fight and Sephiroth taunts him. Asking if he should give him more despair. When the battle ends Sephiroth states that the will never be a memory and that as long as Cloud is alive, he will be too.

He even gets a small cameo in Dirge of Cerberus. Lucrecia has visions of what he will do. So it's mostly the Nibelheim fire. In the anime OVA of Last Order, Sephiroth appears too. This is just another retake of the Nibelheim incident with the Before Crisis turks added in, so there isn't really much else to say. He also appears in Before Crisis but I'm unsure of his role as I never played it. He also appears in Erghiez and Kingdom Hearts but those are unrelated to Final Fantasy VII. So no more on that. Moving on.

Now Crisis Core, more of our hero is shown here. A softer side of him is also shown, he has friends and just about everything else too. His two best friends are Genesis and Angeal who are also first class SOLDIERs. They are also about the same age too. One scene that is particularly good is a training simulation in Junon, Genesis is quoting Loveless and Sephiroth cuts him off by finishing the line. They have heard it so many times. Sephiroth smiles! The three battle against each other but turns to 2 on 1 and Sephiroth is winning. Genesis collapses and the simulation is over, worried about their friend they stop fighting. Genesis and Angeal were part of Hollander's Project G similar to Hojo's JENOVA Project. But that is unknown to Sephiroth and he isn't allowed to help Genesis only Angeal is. This upsets him but doesn't strain the friendship. They fought together in the Wutai War and continue being friends and pushing each other to the limits. At least that's how it stays for a time. Sephiroth goes on missions with Zack but I wouldn't really classify them as friends. Genesis ends up leaving ShinRa and we all know that isn't allowed. Which sets the course of the game. But Sephiroth's part ends in Nibelheim just as before. He can't take the false reality and ends up attacking everyone. Sephiroth is shown softer, lighter and friendlier in Crisis Core. I'm happy more was shown about him. Unfortunately it doesn't last but it's still nice.

All in all Sephiroth is a great guy. Had he not be lied to I think a lot of things could have been avoided. But with that a good portion of the plot would have been gone. So because he was lied to we have this awesome series but he has an unfortunate life. No one really wins in this. And I'm not sure if he actually throws himself into the mako pit or is thrown in by Cloud. There have been too many retakes on this scene. Though I do like to think he had a good life before the Nibelheim Incident.

JENOVA Project

Jenova is a calamity from the skies, she is an alien life force that travels from planet to planet destroying them. Jenova was mistaken for a Cetra because of her vast powers when she was excavated by ShinRa. The scientist Hojo and Gast ran experiments and studies upon her. The documents on Jenova can actually be found in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. Jenova's cells along with mako are injected into SOLDIER members. This is probably due to the fact that she was mistaken as a Cetra and ShinRa wanted their fighting force to have the upper hand.

The JENOVA project was Hojo's experiment to create a super SOLDIER for ShinRa. Lucrecia Crescent was his assistant and Vincent Valentine was the bodyguard. JEVOVA is an alien entity that was discovered and thought to be an ancient (or Cetra). She is actually a destroyer of worlds. Hojo decided he would use her in experiments. With a pregnant Lucrecia, Hojo injected the fetus with JEVONA cells and mako. This would created the being that Hojo wanted. This man has a serious god complex and that doesn't mix well with science. Well the baby was delivered with minimal complications (that didn't involve the labor). And that baby grew up to be known as Sephiroth.

Another part of the project involved lying to a child after he was born. Telling him the his mother was a woman named Jenova and that she died it childbirth. This was probably to hide and cover up Lucrecia, so she could never claim her child.

This is the project in which Lucrecia Crescent consented to injecting her unborn baby with Jenova cells and mako. While she was pregnant with Sephiroth, she had visions of what the child was going to do and they were horrible. However, the Jenova cells in her body would not let her die. She gave birth to her son and not once did she ever get to hold him. Sephiroth grew up without ever knowing of his real mother Lucrecia Crescent. Lucrecia filled with such guilt disappeared and incased herself in a mako tomb unable to die.

Now, I believe Hojo and Lucrecia to be his parents. I think had Vincent been the father things would have happened differently. I believe that if it had been Vincent's son he would have fought harder or took Lucrecia and fled Nibelheim. Hojo is rather proud of his experiments and Sephiroth is no different. Though they never had the normal father/son relationship. Sephiroth does share some of the same qualities as Hojo, mostly the god complex but that could be do to JENOVA. And luckily Sephiroth looks more like his mother and not his father. There have been people who compare images with Lucrecia merged with Vincent or Hojo then next to Sephiroth but there really isn't any difference with Lucrecia and Vincent faces and that's a little creepy. So I'm sticking with Hojo and Lucrecia being his parents. Nothing says we have to agree. Now Sephiroth states he never knew his mother and his father well he just starts laughing and says it doesn't matter. This leads me to believe that it is Hojo as Sephiroth never had any respect for him. And I think Vincent would have stated that Sephiroth was his son. Though it is possible for Vincent to be the father and not know it as I believe that Lucrecia used Vincent. But I just don't see Vincent being the father.

Admiration

Sephiroth became my favorite really quickly. He was strong, awesome, handsome and used a sword. Sure in Final Fantasy VII he was the antagonist but that also made me like him. Then seeing him in Crisis Core and Advent Children was like seeing more sides to him which made me love him more. I even joined his fan club, Silver Elite. I never really saw him as the crazy bastard that a lot of people see him as. For me he has always been his Crisis Core self, if that makes sense. He has always been a hero to me never the villain. I get upset when I have to fight him. And I love his smile.

Never Gone comes from a Backstreet Boy song by the same name. The lyrics just seemed to fit Sephiroth and how I think of him. It's a good song, that I think everyone should give a listen too. And I finally made this site due to my sister Mikari finally making her Reno site. It was the push I needed. Much thanks to my sisters.