Official Sephiroth character analysis thread

[jammi567]

Now, this is an idea i've got, and i wanted to try it out to see if it works. If it does, i might be making more of these kind of threads. If it doesn't? Well, it was fun anyway!

Now, the idea of this thread is to discuss the character of Sephiroth in a sensible manner (so no fanboy comments that don't contribute something to the discussion).

So, some questions to start the discussion off:

1) From the game only, was Sephiroth controlling Jenova, or was it the opposite?
2) Did Sephiroth have signs of going bad before the Nib. incident?
3) What did you think of his personality?
4) I can't remember whether it was said in the game or not, but why did the clones go directly to Sephiroth, instead of Jenova?

If there are any more questions you can come up with, i will put them in this first post.

[Hambone]

1) Neither.
2) Not really. He seemed normal, quiet, but normal.
3) His personality before or after the accident? Assuming you're talking about before the accident. I thought he was a pretty cool dude.
4) Can't remember

[jammi567]

3) I was think of both. That way, we can do comparisons

[NeoCracker]

1) According the the online translation of the Ultimania Guide, it was definately Sephiroth. Regardless of the fact it makes more sense that it was Jenova.

2) Did Sephiroth have signs of going bad before the Nib. incident? None that I noticed.

3) What did you think of his personality? Before the Incident, a quite normal guy who seemed pretty cool. After words a power obsessed man who likes to mess with clouds head from time to time. Nothing special.

4) I can't remember whether it was said in the game or not, but why did the clones go directly to Sephiroth, instead of Jenova? Because he controled Jenova, and thus was able to control the Clones.


Really there isn't that much to Sephiroth to analyze.

[Goldenboko]

Really there isn't that much to Sephiroth to analyze.

[Bolivar]

1) Sephiroth was acting on his own will (confirmed in square ultimania guides), however, in the end he was carrying out the will of Jenova, even if it was to make himself a god.

2) I don't think so, although Tifa called him 'cold' and he decided to not search for the missing Shinra soldier that fell during the bridge collapse

3) He seemed real reserved and stoic, yet arrogant after his emergence of consciousness from the lifestream. You didn't get to see alot of his personality throughout the entire game, kinda like older FF Villains such as Garland, Palamecia, Xande, Zemus.

4) I guess i can explain it - it's The Jenova Reunion Theory. Hojo explains it on the Highwind ride with Shinra's high-ups to the northern crater, and explains the rest of it while there. He hints at it if you talk to him at Costa del Sol when you first get there on disc1:

If you separate Jenova into pieces, eventually the pieces will join back together. That's why the event was called The Reunion. Hojo does say he thought the clones would head to Midgar, where Jenova was located, but instead they went to Sephiroth. Although, this is what happens:

Zack and Cloud were travelling to Midgar just before the start of the game. The man in the tube in sector 5 (aeris' town) also showed up on the outside of Midgar. And of course, "1", the sephiroth clone you follow throughout the game also went there, to retrive Jenova. So I think they go to meet Jenova, as opposed to Sephiroth, until "1" took the body to the northern crater, where all of them except Cloud died.

[The Crystal]

Zack and Cloud were travelling to Midgar just before the start of the game. The man in the tube in sector 5 (aeris' town) also showed up on the outside of Midgar. And of course, "1", the sephiroth clone you follow throughout the game also went there, to retrive Jenova. So I think they go to meet Jenova, as opposed to Sephiroth, until "1" took the body to the northern crater, where all of them except Cloud died.

What you follow throghout the game is Jenova's body using Sephiroth's appearance. The clones are nothing more than normal people from Nibelheim who cannot shapeshift.

[Bolivar]

Zack and Cloud were travelling to Midgar just before the start of the game. The man in the tube in sector 5 (aeris' town) also showed up on the outside of Midgar. And of course, "1", the sephiroth clone you follow throughout the game also went there, to retrive Jenova. So I think they go to meet Jenova, as opposed to Sephiroth, until "1" took the body to the northern crater, where all of them except Cloud died.

What you follow throghout the game is Jenova's body using Sephiroth's appearance. The clones are nothing more than normal people from Nibelheim who cannot shapeshift.

ohhh that's it. is it jenova's headless body which broke out of shinra hq though? also, several people who witness the "man in the black cape with a huge sword" recall seenig a "1" on him, such as in mt. corel

[jammi567]

1) From the game only, was Sephiroth controlling Jenova, or was it the opposite?
I wish that people would actually take notice of what the question says. I said it that way, precisly so that we wouldn't have clone answers of 'it's in the Ultimania Omega guides'.

The point of the questions is to help spark some discussion.

[Mr Cactuar]

1) From the game only, was Sephiroth controlling Jenova, or was it the opposite?
I wish that people would actually take notice of what the question says. I said it that way, precisly so that we wouldn't have clone answers of 'it's in the Ultimania Omega guides'.

The point of the questions is to help spark some discussion.

But those guides are practically part of the game.

[Bolivar]

1) From the game only, was Sephiroth controlling Jenova, or was it the opposite?
I wish that people would actually take notice of what the question says. I said it that way, precisly so that we wouldn't have clone answers of 'it's in the Ultimania Omega guides'.

The point of the questions is to help spark some discussion.

But those guides are practically part of the game.

I would say from the game only it is clear that sephiroth was acting on his own will, however, like i previously stated, in the end he was finishing the job that Jenova started.