Sephiroth's Legs: Gone.

[Squall of SeeD]

Actually, in this picture, it looks as though his lower body has become a kind of fibrous, hair-like form.

But D, in this picture it's obvious that the only hair-like material in that crystal is the hair running down from the back of his head and across his back.

At the very least, I'm glad that you're acknoweldging that his legs aren't there (a transition from your last Post).

What others are describing as "torn flesh" looks more to me like Sephiroth's thick locks of hair. However, it's the same colour as his skin, and it blends right into the flesh of his stomach.

Look again. His hair is white. His flesh is... flesh-colored. The material hanging there below his torso is the same color as his chest and arms, not the same color as his hair at all.

For that matter, that material hanging there is far more wide than the locks of his hair. Compare it to the hair that is only an inch away on the picture. Furthermore, the material hanging there isn't the same length as the hair seen only a moment later in the game in this picture.

Speaking of that picture, note also that the color of the flesh on his abdomen is not the same color as the hair. There's an obvious line of demarcation.

By the way -- and I should think that this would be as prominent a point as any I've made -- if what we see there isn't the same hair we saw a moment before here, then where'd all that hair go?

For that matter, when the camera angle changes back to the same angle as seen here as the Black Materia begins interacting with Sephy's body about four seconds later, why is it that his hair is in the same position as it was previously, and there's not all that long hair extending from the bottom of his abdomen as your claim would require there be?: Linkage.

Considering the length of it, the small object that is the Black Materia certainly wouldn't be obscuring it if it were there.

In this case, the answer is simple: Jenova transformation. He's begun to shed his human form for something greater. We know that he began to transform before he got the Black Materia; in the Temple of the Ancients, Sephiroth's projection says, "...I am becoming one with the Planet." Present tense - the process is already occuring.

He meant "I'm going to become one with the Planet," D. If you'll recall, Aerith asks him this: "How do you intend to become one with the Planet?" He goes on to explain his/JENOVA's plan to do this, something which had not yet been even so much as set in motion:

Sephiroth
"It's simple."
"Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the
injury."

(He slashes again, chuckling.)

Sephiroth
"The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the
injury."

(He thrusts his sword into the ground.)

Sephiroth
"...What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the
very life of the Planet?"
"Think how much energy would be gathered!"

(He pulls his sword from the ground. His whole body begins to flash,
electrically, as he laughs.)

Sephiroth
"Ha ha ha. And at the center of that injury, will be me."
"All that boundless energy will be mine."

(He slashes his sword.)

Sephiroth
"By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a
new life forn, a new existence."
"Melding with the Planet... I will cease to exist as I am now."
"Only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul."

Futher evidence: look at his pectoral muscles. There are thick, parallel ridges at his sides. They look a little like ribs, except that no human being has ribs running in that direction. They don't match any known muscle configuration, either. If anything, they look a little like gills... but then, no human has those either. The only reasonable conclusion is that they are some kind of unnatural transformation. This was discussed extensively in an article on some other website somewhere.

And Homo Sapiens don't have hair that defies gravity like Cloud's, or walk like a toy like Barret does (go to Blue Laguna.net and download the FMV entitled "Motorcycle Chase" to see what I mean). The graphics rendering of those FMVs was not exactly on par with being realistic.

Notice that Jenova's head isn't visible in any of those FMVs? Sephiroth took it with him into the Lifestream, yet not it cannot be seen. One can only conclude that he has already bonded with it. This would help to explain why Sephiroth is at the heart of the Jenova Reunion, and it'd also explain why he's apparently beginning to change form.

(Advent Children Spoilers; highlight to read.)
(SPOILER)JENOVA's head is still present in Advent Children, however. This fact and the fact that no one ever makes note of the head in the game suggests Sephiroth's body didn't merge with JENOVA's head.


To summarize, the principle of Occam's Razor (all things being equal, the most simple explanation is the best) applies here:

1) What we are shown is the very obvious fact that his legs were gone and no long hair was growing out of Sephiroth's lower abdomen, whereas his very long hair was drifting behind him and to the left.

2) We're then shown a camera angle of his body from in front of his body and to its right, meaning his torso is now in front of the hair drifiting to the left from our perspective.

3) The camera angle then returns to the previously shown angle of his body, with his hair still drifting off to his left while behind him, with, again, no long hair growing out of his lower abdomen.

4) All opposing views have either required ignoring the open space beneath Sephiroth's body, ignoring the specifics of the plan to become one with the Planet, or assuming something that's not suggested by the game and is ridiculously more complicated an explanation than "He fell through a Reactor, lost his legs as a result, and his torso was then carried to the Northern Crater by the Lifestream and there became encased in Mako, with the hair seen being the same hair shown previously and shown after being off to the left of him behind his torso before we were shown the torso from a front-right angle."

In this case, Occam's Razor would rule in favor of "He fell through a Reactor, lost his legs, and his torso was then carried to the Northern Crater by the Lifestream and there became encased in Mako, with the hair seen being the same hair shown previously and seen after being off to the left of him behind his torso before we were shown the torso from a front-right angle." And, again, an explanation of "The hair was growing out of the bottom of his torso" would require explaining where his actual hair went, because there's not any other hair in that crystal.