Sephiroth

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For fighter info, see Sephiroth (SSBU).

Sephiroth
File:Sephiroth FFVII Remake render.png Official artwork of Sephiroth from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Universe	Final Fantasy
Debut	Final Fantasy VII (1997)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020)
Console/platform of origin	PlayStation
Species	Human (augmented with Jenova cells)
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Nibelheim
Created by	Yoshinori Kitase Kazushige Nojima Tetsuya Nomura Hironobu Sakaguchi
Designed by	Tetsuya Nomura
Voice actor	Toshiyuki Morikawa
Article on Wikipedia	Sephiroth (Final Fantasy)

Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII, its high-definition remake, and its related media, the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series.

Sephiroth will make his Super Smash Bros. debut in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable character via downloadable content in December 2020.

Origin

Sephiroth was created as part of a series of experiments led by Shin-Ra known as the Jenova Project. The project made use of the cells of the extraterestrial being known as Jenova, mistaking her for a member of the humanoid race known as the Cetra. Jenova's cell samples were injected into the fetuses of partipating women working alongside the scientists, Gillian Hewley and Lucrecia Crescent. The project birthed three powerful swordsmen, with Gillian's contribution being that of Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos, while Lucrecia was forced to participate thanks to Professor Hojo, giving birth to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth became an exceptional member of Shin-Ra's military branch SOLDIER, taking part in a war with the nation of Wutai and being hailed as a hero. Sephiroth also took up missions alongside Angeal's pupil, Zack Fair, most notably in a campaign to hunt down a now renegade Genesis and his "father" Professor Hollander. During the campaign, Angeal was killed by Zack out of mercy for his friend and mentor.

A year later, Sephiroth and Zack were sent to check up on one of the Mako Reactors in Nibelheim, with a young Cloud working alongside them. However, the mission to Nibelheim forever changed Sephiroth from a heroic warrior into a living nightmare upon the people of the Planet. Zack attempted to get answers as to what Sephiroth was doing, to which the man in the black coat responded: "I'm going to see my mother..." In his wake to the reactor, Sephiroth set the entire town on fire, with Zack catching him standing in the flames with his back turned. Upon entry into the reactor's innermost chambers, Sephiroth finally made contact with Jenova. However, he was stabbed in the back by Cloud with Zack's Buster Sword, impaling him from behind through the abdomen. The severely wounded Sephiroth decapitated Jenova and stumbled across the room, and is again attacked by Cloud. Sephiroth stabbed him with his Masamune, but Cloud used it as a lever to hurl Sephiroth into a pool of mako below the reactor. Sephiroth vanished with Jenova's head still in his grasp, apparently falling to his death. This Nibelheim Incident would later be covered up by Shin-Ra, rebuilding the town and planting actors to behave as if nothing had happened.

Five years later, Sephiroth's consciousness resurfaced after he had merged with the Planet's Lifestream, allowing him to control beings made of Jenova cells, including one sent in his form to murder the President of Shin-Ra while Cloud and his party made an attempt to rescue their friend Aerith. During their adventure, Cloud's group learns of Sephiroth having sealed himself in a crystaline coccoon in the Northern Crater, initiating a reunion of all of Jenova's cells. The last component he needed was that of the Black Materia, which had been transformed into the Temple of the Ancients in order to keep it safe. While Cloud and his group went after Aerith who went to the Forgotten City to activate the White Materia, Sephiroth appeared and descended upon her while she prayed, killing her by impalement. But her prayers were enough to activate the White Materia, a catalyst to the ultimate White Magic Holy, a counter to the Black Materia's Meteor. The Black Materia ends up in Sephiroth's hands when he broke Cloud's mind by saying that he was a clone of the real Cloud.

Thanks to Tifa, Cloud was able to overcome his shattered mind and proceed to fight Sephiroth in a final battle. After two transformations, Sephiroth's consciousness attacked Cloud's mind where he was defeated once and for all, remaining only as a bad memory.

One year later, Sephiroth's remnants appeared upon the Planet's surface as three aspects of his personality; Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz.

Being both the penultimate and final boss of Final Fantasy VII, he is often seen in spin-offs as Cloud's arch-enemy, a symbol of Cloud's past.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Sephiroth is mentioned in the description of the Omnislash trophy. Cloud's All-Star Mode congratulations message references Sephiroth's actions in the Nibelheim Incident, where Cloud watches as Palutena walks through flames in a similar manner to Sephiroth's iconic scene. In Cloud's reveal trailer, Cloud's defeat of Sephiroth with Omnislash is recreated with Ike standing in for Sephiroth (Ike is also wearing his black alternate costume to further resemble Sephiroth).

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a playable character

Sephiroth is part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 as Challenger Pack 8. He was revealed on December 10, 2020, during the Game Awards.

Trivia

• Sephiroth is both the second representative from the Final Fantasy franchise and from Final Fantasy VII specifically, the first of both being Cloud.
• Sephiroth is the first fully playable third party antagonist in a Smash title.
  • Sephiroth is also the first DLC fighter to be a villain (not counting Mewtwo who is shown as a villain in some Pokémon media).
• Sephiroth's inclusion makes Final Fantasy the first third party franchise to have multiple playable characters with no echo fighters.

External links

• Article on the Final Fantasy Wiki