Character Of Sephiroth

[jazzflower92]

To act as a counterpart to the "Character of Cloud" thread I started one for everyone's favorite FF villain. Yes, he has been called overrated, a momma's boy, homicidal maniac with a God complex, fan girl bait, and Cloud's stalker. However, for some reason we still find this One Wing Angel fascinating and intriguing.

What could it be. Is it how he can look so pretty and still be so manly? How he can handle carrying that seven foot katana?Or how his murder of Aerith became one of the most shocking and sad incidents in gaming history? Or how he and Cloud have become favorite targets of yaoi fan girls? Or how he has become the biggest poster boy for the Draco in leather pants trope?

 

[Ite]

I find Sephiroth almost wholly uninteresting. The complexities of the villains in Shinra Inc. are much more compelling, and the cosmic horror of Jenova is more frightening. Sephiroth serves as a decent bridge between the two antagonists in the second act of the story, but other than that he doesn't do much for me.

In fact, I only enjoy Sephiroth's appearances for how they affect Cloud.

And I won't resort to name-calling. After fifteen years we've heard every "witty remark" recycled by clowns on Geocities websites a hundred times. Overrated? Yes. Misunderstood? Probably by the people who claim he is "misunderstood." But "Mama's boy" isn't just unfunny, it's inaccurate.

 

[jazzflower92]

You know if I want to be honest I found him more interesting a character before he became the villain in the OG. I liked his pre-Evil Crisis Core personality because it made him more human and relatable.

 

[Knuxson]

I find Sephiroth almost wholly uninteresting. The complexities of the villains in Shinra Inc. are much more compelling, and the cosmic horror of Jenova is more frightening. Sephiroth serves as a decent bridge between the two antagonists in the second act of the story, but other than that he doesn't do much for me.

In fact, I only enjoy Sephiroth's appearances for how they affect Cloud.

And I won't resort to name-calling. After fifteen years we've heard every "witty remark" recycled by clowns on Geocities websites a hundred times. Overrated? Yes. Misunderstood? Probably by the people who claim he is "misunderstood." But "Mama's boy" isn't just unfunny, it's inaccurate.

He definitely becomes a bit too one note, "mwahaha! I will destroy the world!" after he resurfaces following Nibelheim. But the way Shinra manufactured him, used him for years as their weapon, and his decent into madness in Nibelheim is all still interesting to me. The whole Nibelheim incident still has a lot of emotional power to this day, especially in the OG (no Genesis). I am also still unsure of how much of a part Jenova played as the antagonist, but it seems like the general consensus is that it was all Seph in control.

 

[Roger]

I think he's great though the people that write his dialogue seem to have hard time striking a balance between the Cloud-obsessed Sephiroth, the world-destroying megalomaniac and the stoic, purpose-seeking soldier.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

What makes Sephiroth interesting is that from what we see pre-Nibelehim, he wasn't a bad person, certainly not an evil one. And he found out mis-information that caused him to want to avenge a wrong against him and who he thought his mother was. The problem is that his sense of proportion is way, way off. And after that, he manages to find all the correct information about what happened from the LF. So he doesn't have wrong information to blame for why he wants to overcome the world. He was an okay guy who apparently wants to stay evil, if just so that he can say he wasn't mistaken.

The ironic part is that if he just decided to get revenge on Shin-Ra for what they did to him, we probably wouldn't have a problem with it. In fact, we'd think Shin-Ra got what was coming to them.

 

[jazzflower92]

I still kind of find it interesting that Square has still to this day not focused on his childhood and his time in the war. I mean those two events would explain a lot into how he got to be personality wise in Crisis Core.

In Crisis Core I actually like his interactions with Zack because it kind of reminds of Yuffie and Vincent's dynamic.

 

[Clement Rage]

The thing that struck me about him was his style as a villain. No government or church support... and relatively little showboating. He manipulates until he gets the materia... and after that, says nothing. The standard final boss dialogue is:

Villain: You cannot possibly defeat me now that I have gained ultimate power! Mwahahahahaha!

Hero: You think so, but we'll win with the power of heart/Maybe not, but we'll all do our best!

Sephiroth: ...

Barret: Damn. He's way out of our league.

 

[jazzflower92]

Well, actions speak louder than words. And man he really knows how to back up how powerful he really is.