What do you think Sephiroth's childhood was like?

[looneymoon]

Well, Seph is an arrogant sunuvabitch so I don't think it would have been too hard to coerce him into SOLDIER. He probably already was stronger than any kid his age, and probably comparible to rookie members. ShinRa probably surrounded him with soldiers in order to familiarize him with the lifestyle. The fact the he might have been comparable in strength with them probably gave him some sense of entitlement in the field. Not to mention contribute to his ego.

I like to imagine his interaction with other kids as being not too different from Cloud's. A reclusive kid who often gets into fights with others because he feels better than them somehow. The difference being that Sephiroth did not have any loved ones to tie him down, and his ambition was followed by alarming success. Success that confirmed his feelings of superiority which then widened the gap between him and others.

edit: read the posts I missed while typing this. To Lox and Hammer: I like what both of you guys are saying and if I am percieving it correctly I don't think your guys' theories are mutually exclusive.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I find that I'm able to just quote Looney's sentiments often in order to express my own.

To Lox and Hammer: I like what both of you guys are saying and if I am percieving it correctly I don't think your guys' theories are mutually exclusive.

 

[Loxetta]

To Lox and Hammer: I like what both of you guys are saying and if I am percieving it correctly I don't think your guys' theories are mutually exclusive.

Probably not. They could mesh together pretty well, actually. I think the point that I really don't agree with in Hammer's theory is that I find pre-Nibel!Sephiroth and post-Nibel!Sephiroth to be noticeably different. I know that's subjective, though. Pre!Seph doesn't come off as someone that's arrogant or carries a superiority complex. Confident and sure of himself? Yes, I can see that. But that doesn't automatically come shipped with a "better than you, nya" attitude in the box.

 

[TheHammerOf...JUSTICE]

Probably not. They could mesh together pretty well, actually. I think the point that I really don't agree with in Hammer's theory is that I find pre-Nibel!Sephiroth and post-Nibel!Sephiroth to be noticeably different. I know that's subjective, though. Pre!Seph doesn't come off as someone that's arrogant or carries a superiority complex. Confident and sure of himself? Yes, I can see that. But that doesn't automatically come shipped with a "better than you, nya" attitude in the box.

Ok. Here's the trick right. We don't see any other character interaction from pre crazy Seph aside from Nibleheim in ff7. I felt Sephiroth was handled poorly in CC. So I'm just gonna ignore CC in that regard aside from a few points.

So I came up with another solution. You say Sephiroth doesn't enjoy the fame or the power? Then why does he dress the way he does. Why does he keep the long hair to let every person in the area know that there standing in front of possibly the most famous person on earth at that moment in time? All he has to do is.... SNIP SNIP.... and bam. Then no one knows who he is if he puts on the standard issue SOLDIER helmet.

One of the tricks alot of people forget is that Square started switching from telling you everything about a character to strongly implying via the unspoken word and various minor details about a character. Let's see how Sephiroth looks factor into his character then shall we? We're gonna be judging a book based on the cover today for the record.

Before you go this is an anime character.... take a look at angeal. They purposefully have him wearing the standard uniform unlike the bondage gear and a trenchcoat Seph and Genesis wear just to show he is humble. This means clothing is in fact a character statement.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/SOLDIER

Here's a link to a bunch of images and some art of some SOLDIERS.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sephiroth_Nomura_art.jpg

And there's Sephiroth. I know this is crazy seph but it's a good pic of his whole outfit.

Looks at the differences between his outfit and there's. He wears a large black trenchcoat and doesn't cover his chest. A more humble man wouldn't wear such clothes. He'd wear the standard 1st Uniform AND COVER HIS CHEST. The armored pads on his shoulders are meant to demote status more than being actually protective of his body. It's similar to a samurai's armor in some ways or the old outfits famous generals used to wear.

Hell the trenchcoat could be grabbed in the middle of battle from behind and he could be stabbed easily so in no way is it tactically efficient. Also... leather is incredibly uncomfortable in the heat. Finally though and this is possibly the most damning of them all: It shows his lack of respect for those beneath him.

A officer is supposed to be the best dressed in the squad, taking the military rule book to heart. He recognizes that in order to have discipline you must have unity. By forcing everyone to wear the same outfit this reinforces the philosophy that you are part of a squad and you must act accordingly on there behalf. Sephiroth takes a giant stinking shit on this and chooses to stand aside.

No one is forcing Sephiroth to wear this outfit. He could easily be wearing the standard uniform. He is purposefully choosing to stand out from the rest of his squad as a war hero.

I don't think I need to point out that Sephiroth was the only guy with long silver hair in ff7 originally. It's an iconic trait of his sure. But it also shows how arrogant he is. First let's talk about how it could negatively effect him in combat.

1. A strong gust of wind could temporarily blind him. This could allow him to be surprised in battle.

2. Somebody from behind could grab his hair and pull! Sure he's a uber soldier but he ain't invincible as Cloud shows us. This could get annoying and painful really quickly. They could even stab him or shoot him whiles he's trying to turn around or stab them with his giant phallic symbol THAT IS NOT DESIGNED FOR CLOSE RANGE COMBAT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM!

3. He stands out. I'd have every sniper in Wutai trained to aim for silver and mako-green if I were Lord Godo. It's only a matter of time until somebody takes his sorry ass down.

Now Sephiroth is basically superman so none of these are really that bad for him so let's look at the social ramifications caused by his hair.

1. He stands out. COMPLETELY STANDS OUT! No way is he going out in public without everyone staring at him. This must mean he doesn't mind his fame.

2. He's a SOLDIER. Look at the rest of the members of SOLDIER who aren't pretty boys. They were helmets. And they don't have hair sticking out from underneath the helmet. This must mean regulatory short hair. Sephiroth and several of the other stronger SOLDIERS show a disdain for rules and regulations with there long hair. You could even say Sephiroth inspired all the rest to have long hair.

Sephiroth is an officer and this means that as such he is supposed to be the embodiment of rules and regulations on top of the best man in his unit. This shows his utter disdain for the rules or the benefits from having shorter hair. It also shows his lack of respect for those working beneath him like I said above.

Last notice the giant sword he is holding. It's famous because no one else could wield it due to the size, weight, and shape of the sword. I always wondered how it came to be in his possession. Either way ... it's famous and adds to the legend that is Sephiroth. Even after he is crazy it is easily his most treasured belonging. Sure there's no bond like the one between a man and his weapon. But you have to wonder if Sephiroth didn't purposefully pick this for a weapon just to show how much better he is than the rest. Was he drawn to it because of it's fame for no one else being capable of wielding it... like some sort of sword in the stone?

Anyway, that about covers it up. I think taking his uniform into account we can easily say Sephiroth was a pretty arrogant individual prior to nibleheim.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

This is an interesting debate.

 

[TheHammerOf...JUSTICE]

This is an interesting debate.

I agree. I've always found the debate over Sephiroth's childhood to be one of the most interesting ones in the fanbase.

 

[Loxetta]

Ok. Here's the trick right. We don't see any other character interaction from pre crazy Seph aside from Nibleheim in ff7. I felt Sephiroth was handled poorly in CC. So I'm just gonna ignore CC in that regard aside from a few points.

So you want to cherry-pick, in other words?

Invalid. To debate concerning the Original Game solely, that would be one thing, but to pick and choose moments in the Compilation and disregard the rest because they don't suit your argument or your liking, I do not agree with. I will continue my post drawing from the Compilation, and will reply later drawing from only the OG, if you like.

So I came up with another solution. You say Sephiroth doesn't enjoy the fame or the power? Then why does he dress the way he does. Why does he keep the long hair to let every person in the area know that there standing in front of possibly the most famous person on earth at that moment in time? All he has to do is.... SNIP SNIP.... and bam. Then no one knows who he is if he puts on the standard issue SOLDIER helmet.

And then Shinra wouldn't have a recognizable hero to market to the masses. Sephiroth is an iconic figure in FF7's world, party by his own merit, partly by the media, which no doubt had Shinra's hand all up in it's pie.

One of the tricks alot of people forget is that Square started switching from telling you everything about a character to strongly implying via the unspoken word and various minor details about a character. Let's see how Sephiroth looks factor into his character then shall we? We're gonna be judging a book based on the cover today for the record.

As opposed to the character's, you know, actual personality? ...Why? A character design is not the be-all-end-all of the character. Example: Reno. He dresses like he got thrown out of a bar before showing up to work, and to judge him by his design solely would depict him as a lazy, imcompotent person who probably wouldn't care to know which end of a gun the bullet comes out of, and would flip off his boss for pointing it out. While he has shades of that in his whole character, they're just that -- shades, facets, lonely traits. Reno is also intelligent enough to be highly skilled as a pilot, a formidable fighter, has a strong sense of comradarie and regard for his colleages, and is second in command of his department. You don't guess that kind of shit by just looking at a picture of him. You miss out on vital peices of his character.

You'll get the same effect looking at any other character this way, including Sephiroth.

Before you go this is an anime character.... take a look at angeal. They purposefully have him wearing the standard uniform unlike the bondage gear and a trenchcoat Seph and Genesis wear just to show he is humble. This means clothing is in fact a character statement.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/SOLDIER

Here's a link to a bunch of images and some art of some SOLDIERS.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/... and I'm running on fumes. Be back tomorrow.)

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

Something I wanted to point out from the original game, its stated that the purpose of The Jenova Project from which Sephiroth was born was to "create humans with the power of the Ancients." Nowhere in that statement does it say "create a super soldier" or "human weapon" at all. That's how Sephiroth ended up, which is really not surprising considering Jenova was not an Ancient at all but instead some freaky alien world-destroyer, but that may well not have been the original purpose. Sephiroth's birth may well have been an attempt to create someone who could find the Promised Land for Shinra or something else not even related to combat.

Aside from the assumption that he was created as a soldier/weapon, I like the theories I am seeing here. I always thought Sephy spent his early life in Nibelheim, and was at least born there, based on his comments that it felt familiar during the Kalm Flashback. I'd say his childhood was a mixture of the lab and normal-kid theories, that he probably lived in Shinra provided housing, went to a Shinra-sponsored private school (monitored the whole time of course), and took regular trips to the lab itself to be tested and measured. In other words, his life had the general shape of a relatively normal life, but Shinra made the entire world a lab to experiment on him in.

 

[CrabOfDoom]

I don't think it would be that big of a leap to go from simply "the power of the Ancients" to realizing from the tests that "hey, this kid and more like him could really make a kick-ass army to protect our interests". So, I agree that being bred to be a SOLDIER probably wasn't initially in the plan, but once the test results started coming back, the ideas to train him to be a weapon didn't take long to start coming up.

Of course, "the power of the Ancients" could have been meant to be physiological as well as the ability to discover the Promised Land. If the Ancients fought the calamity while the early humans hid and sucked their thumbs, it's logical to assume that the Ancients would have been a stronger race; hardier, at the least, maybe better wielders of magic, and there's always someone around to think of those possibilities in a military capacity.

As to Sephiroth's actual childhood, I don't agree with the foster family theory. He would have cared about them, blood relation or not, whether they were affectionate to him or not, because they would have essentially given him somewhere to belong and something that was actually his. He wouldn't give that up nor forget it easily. Certainly, not as completely as to have never mentioned them once in the entire compilation.

I think he is a man with a few mental problems, pre-Nibelheim, but clearly not debilitating ones. Mostly emotional, and no doubt rooted with Hojo. Hojo would not have been gushingly supportive and on the contrary, probably kept insisting that Sephiroth could do better, no matter how well he'd done already, and Hojo's not a person speak gently nor mince words. So, there could be the conflict of Sephiroth knowing he's a better fighter than anyone else, and yet, it's never good enough. While it's true he hated Hojo, I think you still have to take into account that Hojo was really Sephiroth's only constant. In his view, his mother obviously left him (regardless of why,) Gast left him, no family, no real friends until later in his life... the only person always there was Hojo. Sephiroth could still be trying to earn a single word of praise from the man, whether he hates him or not. And while Hojo may be proud of Sephiroth, that doesn't automatically entail any gentleness or affection to show it.

I agree that Sephiroth was probably led over time to believe that he had no other purpose or skills except as a SOLDIER. Angeal had botany, Genesis had poetry, Zack had getting into people's pants, but I haven't seen nor heard any mention of Sephiroth indulging in anything that wasn't related to his job. In Dissidia, he may say he enjoys fighting, but still, before he cracks, that has to be a droning and desperate existence: the only pleasure to be had is to keep striving to be better. Even reading, I don't think would be purely for entertainment.

I also think that Sephiroth didn't want/care about the fame of being a hero, but on the other hand, why can't he enjoy or be proud of himself for what he's earned? As for his appearance, he had to realize that his hair (if not his eyes) came from his 'mother'. Why would he want to cover up such a visible and tangible tie to her? It's not like he had photographs to look at. Maybe he saw cutting his hair as disrespectful to her memory, or just wanted it that way as something like an heirloom he could touch. If he'd worn it long from a early age, he could've easily learned to deal with fighting around it.

 

[Lord Noctis]

I don't think it would be that big of a leap to go from simply "the power of the Ancients" to realizing from the tests that "hey, this kid and more like him could really make a kick-ass army to protect our interests". So, I agree that being bred to be a SOLDIER probably wasn't initially in the plan, but once the test results started coming back, the ideas to train him to be a weapon didn't take long to start coming up.

Of course, "the power of the Ancients" could have been meant to be physiological as well as the ability to discover the Promised Land. If the Ancients fought the calamity while the early humans hid and sucked their thumbs, it's logical to assume that the Ancients would have been a stronger race; hardier, at the least, maybe better wielders of magic, and there's always someone around to think of those possibilities in a military capacity.

As to Sephiroth's actual childhood, I don't agree with the foster family theory. He would have cared about them, blood relation or not, whether they were affectionate to him or not, because they would have essentially given him somewhere to belong and something that was actually his. He wouldn't give that up nor forget it easily. Certainly, not as completely as to have never mentioned them once in the entire compilation.

I think he is a man with a few mental problems, pre-Nibelheim, but clearly not debilitating ones. Mostly emotional, and no doubt rooted with Hojo. Hojo would not have been gushingly supportive and on the contrary, probably kept insisting that Sephiroth could do better, no matter how well he'd done already, and Hojo's not a person speak gently nor mince words. So, there could be the conflict of Sephiroth knowing he's a better fighter than anyone else, and yet, it's never good enough. While it's true he hated Hojo, I think you still have to take into account that Hojo was really Sephiroth's only constant. In his view, his mother obviously left him (regardless of why,) Gast left him, no family, no real friends until later in his life... the only person always there was Hojo. Sephiroth could still be trying to earn a single word of praise from the man, whether he hates him or not. And while Hojo may be proud of Sephiroth, that doesn't automatically entail any gentleness or affection to show it.

I agree that Sephiroth was probably led over time to believe that he had no other purpose or skills except as a SOLDIER. Angeal had botany, Genesis had poetry, Zack had getting into people's pants, but I haven't seen nor heard any mention of Sephiroth indulging in anything that wasn't related to his job. In Dissidia, he may say he enjoys fighting, but still, before he cracks, that has to be a droning and desperate existence: the only pleasure to be had is to keep striving to be better. Even reading, I don't think would be purely for entertainment.

I also think that Sephiroth didn't want/care about the fame of being a hero, but on the other hand, why can't he enjoy or be proud of himself for what he's earned? As for his appearance, he had to realize that his hair (if not his eyes) came from his 'mother'. Why would he want to cover up such a visible and tangible tie to her? It's not like he had photographs to look at. Maybe he saw cutting his hair as disrespectful to her memory, or just wanted it that way as something like an heirloom he could touch. If he'd worn it long from a early age, he could've easily learned to deal with fighting around it.

Epicly well thought out post is epic.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Indeed.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

I don't think it would be that big of a leap to go from simply "the power of the Ancients" to realizing from the tests that "hey, this kid and more like him could really make a kick-ass army to protect our interests". So, I agree that being bred to be a SOLDIER probably wasn't initially in the plan, but once the test results started coming back, the ideas to train him to be a weapon didn't take long to start coming up.

Of course, "the power of the Ancients" could have been meant to be physiological as well as the ability to discover the Promised Land. If the Ancients fought the calamity while the early humans hid and sucked their thumbs, it's logical to assume that the Ancients would have been a stronger race; hardier, at the least, maybe better wielders of magic, and there's always someone around to think of those possibilities in a military capacity.

As to Sephiroth's actual childhood, I don't agree with the foster family theory. He would have cared about them, blood relation or not, whether they were affectionate to him or not, because they would have essentially given him somewhere to belong and something that was actually his. He wouldn't give that up nor forget it easily. Certainly, not as completely as to have never mentioned them once in the entire compilation.

I think he is a man with a few mental problems, pre-Nibelheim, but clearly not debilitating ones. Mostly emotional, and no doubt rooted with Hojo. Hojo would not have been gushingly supportive and on the contrary, probably kept insisting that Sephiroth could do better, no matter how well he'd done already, and Hojo's not a person speak gently nor mince words. So, there could be the conflict of Sephiroth knowing he's a better fighter than anyone else, and yet, it's never good enough. While it's true he hated Hojo, I think you still have to take into account that Hojo was really Sephiroth's only constant. In his view, his mother obviously left him (regardless of why,) Gast left him, no family, no real friends until later in his life... the only person always there was Hojo. Sephiroth could still be trying to earn a single word of praise from the man, whether he hates him or not. And while Hojo may be proud of Sephiroth, that doesn't automatically entail any gentleness or affection to show it.

I agree that Sephiroth was probably led over time to believe that he had no other purpose or skills except as a SOLDIER. Angeal had botany, Genesis had poetry, Zack had getting into people's pants, but I haven't seen nor heard any mention of Sephiroth indulging in anything that wasn't related to his job. In Dissidia, he may say he enjoys fighting, but still, before he cracks, that has to be a droning and desperate existence: the only pleasure to be had is to keep striving to be better. Even reading, I don't think would be purely for entertainment.

I also think that Sephiroth didn't want/care about the fame of being a hero, but on the other hand, why can't he enjoy or be proud of himself for what he's earned? As for his appearance, he had to realize that his hair (if not his eyes) came from his 'mother'. Why would he want to cover up such a visible and tangible tie to her? It's not like he had photographs to look at. Maybe he saw cutting his hair as disrespectful to her memory, or just wanted it that way as something like an heirloom he could touch. If he'd worn it long from a early age, he could've easily learned to deal with fighting around it.

gatdam dude

can you stay? forever?

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

I'd put in the theory that Sephiroth himself might have chosen to study and train in the ways of battle. Considering that a large part of his genetic makeup comes from Jenova, he's likely hardwired to enjoy violence, destruction, and combat. If Jenova had actually been a Cetra, perhaps he'd have been more mentally programmed to heal people, and have abilities like Aerith's, but Jenova was not, she was essentially a giant virus dead set on killing or controlling everything around her.

Now, Sephiroth wouldn't have known any of that, but whats in your genetics is in your genetics. Cats that never get a lesson from their mother in how to kill still hunt, they just take a little longer to get good at it. I imagine Sephiroth in a history class at his Shinra sponsored school, bored out of his mind, and then one day the teacher began a lecture on the subject of warfare and combat (couldn't have taken too long for that to come up, that's what most of my history lessons were about in school) and his eyes lit up. And before you know it, he's convinced the folks in the lab to let him take up swordsmanship. Absolutely no evidence of any of that, of course... but y'know, considering how smug Sephiroth seems while training with Angeal and Genesis, and his lines about enjoying a good fight, I don't think its outside the realm of possibility that Sephiroth himself chose to get involved in combat.

Of course, my favorite answer to a question with two choices is and always has been "both". So, perhaps we combine these possibilities, a young Sephiroth expresses an interest in swordsmanship to his handlers within Shinra. They indulge him, and notice right away how strong/fast/agile/naturally talented he is, and incorporate new tests into his established routine. And then the focus shifts from "produce humans with the power of the Cetra" to "build an army of super-soldiers using this kid as a template".

 

[CrabOfDoom]

That sounds entirely plausible to me, that lessons of warfare and battle would just "click" for him. It would explain how he rose through the ranks as quickly as he did, if he was offering up more efficient strategies of historical battles in the Shin-Ra equivalent of grade school. (and please excuse my novel of comment before. I've been writing a pre-CC fanfic for a while and tend to think about these things more than I should.)

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

We all think too much about this stuff, that's why we're here isn't it? I agree with you once again, it'd make sense to have the teacher going on about why a certain force was successful in such and such engagement, and little Sephiroth interrupt "If they had done this instead, the enemy could have been defeated faster and with fewer losses" or some such. That sort of thing happening in the classroom, plus my theory on his desire to study combat in a personal sense combined would lead to his future as the first SOLDIER, whether that was the intended consequence or not.

 

[CrabOfDoom]

Yes, indeedy. And I'm sure the other students would've just adored making friends with the pale, weird-eyed kid who thinks about how to kill whole armies.

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

And thus, observing how the other kids were too sissy to think about successful strategy (kill them all!) and avoided him, Sephiroth began to feel that he was different, special, and so forth. It puts a new spin on his breakdown in Nibelheim seen that way, or at least it could. He could've been more upset that he was created with those traits that made him special instead of just being a natural prodigy, more than the science itself, that got to him.

Considering what we know of Sephy pre-Nibelheim, I can see him as a kid trying to put his natural inclinations towards violence and his above-average physical ability to use for what he considered good purposes though. Bullies probably crapped themselves when they saw him coming as they were trying to stuff other kids into their lockers.

 

[skibalovesya]

Okay, I didn't see anything about necro-posting in the rules, so I'm hoping this thread isn't too dead for a newbie to add to.

I've been thinking about Sephiroth's childhood for the longest time since I've had the desire to write a characterization essay about him to try to explain why my (and my best friend's) Sephiroth is not the memetic sex god that everyone in fandom seems to like to write him as. I've had some experience with child psychology (was gonna be one in school), so a lot of what I'm about to say is gleaned from my notes and research.

As far as I've thought about his infancy:

Assuming that Hojo actually knows stuff (and I am of the opinion that he is incredibly intelligent, just raving mad), he'd know that all human beings need love and affection at some point in order to function properly. I assume then that there were assistants -- possibly scientists, I'm thinking trained psychologists at best -- who were hired to pretty much raise Sephiroth in that sense. You know, be there to ensure he's held and handled enough to actually develop psychologically, but there are enough of them and they're detached just enough that he doesn't grow to see them as parental figures. I'm assuming the first one they had probably only held the position for a few months and was chosen to be the one allowed to show more affection, since around the time from birth to about six months is such an intensely critical period. Then they switched out to someone else, and gradually worked further away from anything resembling a mother or father.

I'm sure Hojo wanted the level of affection shown to be the bare minimum, since any more than that and he would be too affected to serve as a "perfect weapon." This is all depending on where the "training as a perfect weapon" idea came into play, though. I honestly think it's fairly early on, since the presence of Jenova's cells manifests itself in the traits that Angeal and Genesis show. Both of them were born before Sephiroth, and if Hojo is tricky enough he'd probably be able to get his hands on the research regarding them. It'd be enough to say hey guys, this isn't the Ancient you're looking for, tough cookies. (As an aside, I also assume he has a storehouse of human breastmilk, hopefully from Lucretia given the necessary not only nutrients but immunities and genetically linked proteins that ensure the healthiest possible development that are present in the mother's milk.)

He'd also have to be monitored constantly until he's at least bathroom-trained... I can't really figure out where a good cut-off would be but he should have had someone with him near-constantly for at least his first three years. Once he's able to walk, talk, and feed and relieve himself, he would be considered basically all set. He might not even go through a stranger anxiety phase if there are so many people surrounding him that constantly. I would think then he'd be used to the presence of a lot of adults, which is beneficial for his being able to survive in an administrative position.

As for the other children, well, reading this gave me a minor idea. I do believe he was raised pretty much in the lab, if only because I believe there would be problems with having him out with other children. If the public knew what Shinra was up to at such an early stage... you have this child with silver hair and cyan cat eyes. It's extremely suspicious. At least wait until Shinra has a bigger foothold in society. At any rate, he'd have a room to call his own, and probably be schooled by all the best tutors... and given a sword the moment he's able to. They'd probably tell him, this is what you do. Do not ask questions. So he was just led to follow this life. I'm sure at some point he'd become aware of what made him so different from the others in the outside world, and I bet he longed for it... but learned not to express those desires outright.

The other children in his life? More than likely experiment fodder from Shinra orphanages. Those who didn't meet the requirements to be recruited into the army or the Turks were just handed to Hojo and co. to complete experiments on. I'm not saying they're just nobodies, however. Some might have been, and some might have been incredibly gifted in such a way the Science Department said, "Ooh, do want." And at the same time these children could serve as a good way to get Sephiroth socialized.

Until he noticed they were all disappearing. He'd be told they had to go away because they just weren't up to snuff, and he should consider himself very special for never having gone this route. Paradoxically, he'd probably develop an anxiety about friendships... thus his intense dedication to Angeal and Genesis. He'd have learned by some point to keep his questions and anxieties locked away, how to focus all his power and energy into appearing cool and controlled at all times so that his "caretakers" wouldn't snipe at him to stop being so curious.

Then, once he's old enough and socially prepared enough, he starts real training, probably when he's an adolescent. He is recognized as a hero in the Wutai War when he's 15 (going by timeline data that says he's born in 1977), and the rest is canon history.

(As for his hair? Personal headcanon is that he does it as the only rebellious thing he could have done once he's no longer being constantly harped on.)

(Another aside regarding Gast: Definitely a source of affection for him for his first three years, but Gast leaves Shinra sometime in the early 80's. Sephiroth probably grew up reading his work, too, and thought it superior to Hojo's own work. That and I bet Hojo was constantly in his business demanding this or that test, and not like anyone was going to stop Hojo from doing what he wanted once he's head of the department. Sephiroth literally belongs to the man. Not to say he likes what's done to him, he just probably represses everything he feels about it.)

I... I hope that covers all my bases, as I am quite tired. It just came to me to do this. I might pop back to add more, but I think I said all I needed to say.

 

[jazzflower92]

I wanted to add to this thread saying that I think that Sephiroth's childhood could have been a lot like X23's childhood.She is a child who is created from day one to be extroidinary and was made to be a super soldier.I can imagine Sephiroth didn't even have the privelage that X23 had of having someone who actually cared enough about him.It was only after he got into SOLDIER when he found friends in Angeal and Genesis who probably for the first time showed him any guenine care for him.

 

[Abortedj]

Short answer: abusive.

 

[jazzflower92]

I actually see Hojo raising Sephiroth in a very objectively abusive way.From day one Hojo thought of Sephiroth as a lifelong science project instead of his son.I sometimes see Hojo as an even more insane abusive version of Mother Gothel from Tangled.The difference is that Mother Gothel masks her abuse behind a cloak of faux kindness while Hojo would probably not care if his behavior was absuive or not.Hojo like Mother Gothel only cared about their child because they benefited themselves.Although for Hojo is just the benefit of an insane obsession with science.

 

[PhantomSephiroth]

It's a bit of a strech to say Sephiroth had an abusive childhood. All children are fragile of mind and the smallest thing can result in severe social or mental instability in adults. If you want to make your mutant child into an intelligent and collected millitary operative, best make sure to not fuck it up to much.

 

[Unlucky]

I don't think Hojo has ever treated Sephiroth as a parent would. Nor do I think he gave effort to treat him cruelly because he never gave a fuck about their relationship outside of project and researcher.

I could imagine him being careful with him, and maybe showing a bit of concern (esp as I think he was subjected to various sorts of tests in the lab, like the simulated practice fights in CC)-- but only as a precious specimen. In my headcanon Hojo sees the fact that he's his father as but a tiny, maybe interesting detail about Sephiroth, and that's about it.

 

[jazzflower92]

It's a bit of a strech to say Sephiroth had an abusive childhood. All children are fragile of mind and the smallest thing can result in severe social or mental instability in adults. If you want to make your mutant child into an intelligent and collected millitary operative, best make sure to not fuck it up to much.

Abuse can happen in many forms and different ways.Sometimes it doesn't have to be physical at all.Also remember this is Hojo we are talking about he already screwed with his son in the womb by injecting him with Jenova's cells so I wouldn't put it pass him to give Sephiroth a messed up upbringing.Another thing since Hojo is a sociopath and has a tendency to have a lack of empahty for others he probably wouldn't care about how Sephiroth's uprbringing could affect him socially or mentally.

A lot of abusers wouldn't see their way of doing things as abuse or cruel.In fact most of the time they would justify it with many inane reasons.Treating Sephiroth's life like a test subject was all just for science in Hojo's mind.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I think the bigger question is does Sephrioth think his childhood was abusive. 'Cause everyone has a different perception of abuse and what's abusive for one person is not necessarily abusive for another. And people's ideas about abuse can change.