Few villains in gaming are as iconic– and misunderstood– as Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth. Although Final Fantasy VII Remake opens the floodgates as early as possible for Sephiroth’s inclusion, the original Final Fantasy VII very delicately builds up to Sephiroth’s reveal. Sephiroth lingers in the background, only becoming more menacing with time.

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By the time Sephiroth does appear, he quickly thrusts the story into chaos as his actions shape the world of Final Fantasy VII around him. Deceptively complex with deeper history than most villains in the franchise, there’s a reason Sephiroth is widely regarded as one of the greatest video game characters of all time. 

10 Sephiroth, The Super SOLDIER

Although Crisis Core would add in characters like Angeal and Genesis to try to even the Final Fantasy VII playing field, the original FFVII made it very clear that Sephiroth was the end all, be all of a SOLDIER's abilities. No one in this universe even came close to matching him, and Sephiroth was the benchmark every member of SOLDIER aimed for.

Initially unbeknownst to Sephiroth, he was genetically altered to become a super SOLDIER by Hojo when he was still in the womb. Discovering more about his past ends up unraveling Sephiroth's psyche, unable to process he isn't who he thinks he is– something Cloud is personally able to overcome.

9 In-Universe Stories Undersell Sephiroth

FF7 remake Nibelheim

In the original Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth does not appear in Midgar– nor does he appear outside of flashbacks for hours. The first time the player sees Sephiroth in action is in Nibelheim, but but until then, the audience needs to be content with the stories told of Sephiroth– the ones that build him up as a legendary war hero for Shinra.

The crazy thing about Sephiroth is that the stories undersell him. They help give us the idea that Sephiroth is quite powerful, but nothing more than a hypercompetent SOLDIER. Upon seeing him alongside Cloud in Nibelheim, however, it becomes clear just how offbase the stories were and how overwhelmingly powerful Sephiroth really is.

8 Sephiroth’s Madness Is Due To Misunderstanding

In the exact same way Cloud's psyche breaks when he's forced to confront the fact his psyche has simply adopted Zack's personality, Sephiroth's psyche breaks when he realizes he was an experiment and the literal child of Jenova... or so he thinks. In truth, Sephiroth didn't fully understand the research notes he found, making a critical misinterpretation. 

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Sephiroth's takeaway should not have been the Jenova was his literal mother– it should have been that Hojo was his literal father and infected fetal Sephiroth with Jenova's DNA after the fact. Believing he is a being destined for far more, Sephiroth allows himself to snap.

7 Sephiroth Was Vile Before Jenova’s Influence

"Allows" is an important distinction to make, because it's not Jenova who's corrupting Sephiroth in Nibelheim. Sephiroth is misinterpreting information and, without any outside parties influencing him, decides he needs to kill everyone in Nibelheim for... no real reason, really– to indulge his now shattered psyche.

Spending so much time in the basement of Shinra Mansion ends up warping Sephiroth, while also revealing the monster underneath. Before Jenova ever got his hands on him, Sephiroth was comfortable burning Cloud's hometown to the ground and killing everyone in his path. There's a certain tragedy to Sephiroth losing himself so intensely over misinformation, but it also speaks volumes about the underlying man.

6 The Real Sephiroth Died In Nibelheim

A detail most fans end up missing– in large part due to the original Final Fantasy VII's less than stellar English localization– is the fact that the Sephiroth the player is following over the course of the story is actually being controlled by Jenova. Sephiroth, like Cloud for most of the story, has no real agency– instead a puppet controlled by Jenova.

As far as the original Final Fantasy VII is concerned, the only Sephiroth who's actually alive is the one in Cloud's flashbacks. This isn't to say the Sephiroth who appears in the story proper isn't a fleshed out villain in his own right, but it's important to mark the distinct beats in Sephiroth's journey.

5 Bizarro Sephiroth’s Hidden Mechanics

In typical JRPG fashion, Sephiroth has multiple forms during his final boss fight. Sephiroth's first two forms notably has hidden in-game mechanics which influence how the fight plays out– potentially making things harder on more competent players. In fact, the party's overall level, how many secret characters are recruited, and how long it took to defeat Jenova SYNTHESIS all end up affecting how Bizarro Sephiroth plays out as a fight.

The more criteria a player hits, the more parties he can bring to the final battle. That's right, parties, not party. Players never need to swap between party members, but Bizarro Sephiroth is privy to enough buffing where the on the fly party swapping might come in handy.

4 Safer Sephiroth’s Hidden Mechanics

Although multiple parties can't be brought to the battle with Safer Sephiroth– Sephiroth's second form following the fight with Bizzaro Sephiroth– he is a considerably harder boss and arguably one of the toughest fights in the entire game. As far as final bosses go, Safer Sephiroth is a nice capstone. More importantly, he gains some ridiculous buffs if the player is overprepared.

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Safer Sephiroth gains 30,000 HP for every Level 99 character the player has (in general,) plus 80,000 HP is the player had the audacity to use Knights of the Round during the fight with Jenova SYNTHESIS. This is to say nothing of the other stat buffs Safer Sephiroth gains from Level 99 characters as well.

3 Sephiroth Won’t Let The Player Edit His Equipment

Sephiroth quite memorably joins the party for one instance: Cloud's flashback to the Nibelheim Incident. Upon arriving in Kalm, the party take a break for Cloud to fill them in on his history with Sephiroth. The sequence takes a bit of time to get through, but it's incredibly important and lets players take a look at Sephiroth's stats firsthand.

Not only does this Level 50 Sephiroth utterly tower over Level 1 Cloud, he'll actually stop the player from touching his equipment. So much as think about looking at the Masamune and Sephiroth will reply with a stern "..." Not only is he above Cloud, he's above the player control's.

2 The Significance Of The Dragon Boss

Final Fantasy 7 Sephiroth

Sephiroth briefly joining the party isn't just for players to ogle at his stats, it ties into a major boss fight. Cloud and Sephiroth run into a dragon during their travels, and it's here where Final Fantasy VII makes Sephiroth's superiority over Cloud clear. Through gameplay, Cloud can do next to no damage to the Dragon, but he'll always attack first thanks to his Materia.

At best, Cloud will do no damage with the Dragon knocking him out in the process. Instead of controlling Sephiroth, the player watches as he kills the Dragon with a critical hit. In the face of danger Cloud is helpless in, Sephiroth dominates the situation, making it clear how much stronger he is.

1 The Significance Of The Final Boss

It's almost emasculating playing as Cloud during the Dragon boss fight. There's nothing the player can do but watch as Sephiroth shows them why he's a SOLDIER and Cloud isn't. Cloud's arc sees him agonizing in Sephiroth's shadow, chasing after a ghost he already killed while battling his own demons. By the end of the game, though, Cloud has conquered himself and is ready to conquer Sephiroth.

After defeating Safer Sephiroth, Cloud falls into the Lifestream and he & Sephiroth fight one last time. The same song plays from the Dragon fight, but now Sephiroth is helpless in the face of Cloud. Even if Sephiroth attacks the player, he will never be able to kill Cloud. Comparatively, Cloud has access to an immediate Omnislash, ending Final Fantasy VII on a high.

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