Ok so I've read in most places how "cool" of a villain Sephiroth is. Well... Not really. (Spoiler alert)

According to the story, Sephiroth is not even that strong at all... (hence the final showdown with Cloud) Ok so people will say, "Omnislash is really powerful" bah... I used counter attack materia to take him out with one hit... What we all seem to forget is the REAL villain of FF7 is Jenova, NOT Sephiroth. Sephiroth, Cloud, and even all those infused with her cells are being manipulated by her. I read a fascinating in-depth article about Jenova's contribution to the game's story and it went to explain how Shinra was nothing but a puppet of Jenova's will. I have a hard time understanding that because no one except Sephiroth was injected with Jenova cells until Cloud was by Hojo. One good piece of supporting evidense is how Cloud gets confused when he's bombing the reactor at the beginning. This would be against Jenova's will to have mako reactors slowly weakening the planet for her ascention.
Sephiroth did not act on his own will. He was controlled by Jenova the entire time. Not to mention it was just a Sephiroth clone that may have been produced by Hojo but more likely by Jenova. Professor Gast's report talked about how Jenova could change her shape and form to bend the realities of the ancients before she destroyed them. She was doing the very same with Sephiroth's form. You never fight Sephiroth's clone because he transforms (appears to disappear) before Jenova's fight. Yes, Jenova isn't that strong but she can recover her form without dying.

Sephiroth is also weak because his real body is taken over by Jenova at the end in Bizzaro form (Jenova at the TOP with him below). And in the final fight Seph's colors are that of Jenova's past forms... Hmm... interesting. All these forms are tougher which means she's weaker without being "complete" hence the whole Jenova reunion. And it makes one wonder... Can she be killed? She survived thousands of years after being sealed by the Cetra, I doubt 3 rag-tag (although powerful) humans could do away with her by a simple battle. Sure Sephiroth is dead (And again in Advent Children) but that's just because he's
nothing without Jenova's help. It was Jenova that let him live long enough to survive suspended animation for the black materia.

All in all I don't want to debunk Sephiroth's "coolness" but I think he's overrated as a villain and it's completely unwarrented. Jenova is the true villain that caused all the events to unfold. Sephiroth was just a man who didn't know who his parents were and Cloud was a boy who was never quite good enough. Both were given dilusions by Jenova to play out the "end of the world" all in her name... The game's all about false pretenses and I wish more fans would see that it applies in more than just Cloud's false memories.
Give credit where credit is due... People call Sephiroth the badguy in FF7 but he's NOT... I mean he just isn't. He's playing boot-lick to the big bad. Seph's bad, but Jenova's the real evil. Even if she gets NO recognition for it.

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Bunker/4028/Mall/ffmyths.html

This message was edited by Xander_Harris on Oct 06 2006.

That final battle was in Cloud's mind - it wasn't a physical thing.

He was breaking Seph's control over his actions completely.

Technically, Safer Seph' was the big baddy.


Yet what I found puzzlin' was how Jenova was this big bad creature that fugged the world up, right? Cost a lotta Cetra to off the biotch. Yet when she's restored in the game, she's easier to xnay than Weapon. :\

I guess you can attribute the fact that by this time, Jenova's been weakened after a brutal arse whoopin, and having herself torn asunder, then tampered with by fool-cat Hojo, then reassembled from bits o' drunken bumbs. ("Ooh Aagh", and the rest of the missing no.s) - and not all returned.

That's where we have to agree to disagree because I don't believe Sephiroth ever had control over his actions, Jenova did.

I don't think Jenova was ever supposed to be a physical strength. Her power lies in her ability to shape-shift and confuse people into doing her bidding. She killed the Cetra by pretending to be one of them then spreading a virus around that killed them. She's more subtle, arguably cowardly, but totally 100% evil.

(spoiler alert)
Hmm after further investigation (yes I know it's just a game. The story itself puzzles me and that's more of an artform as any book is). Sephiroth IS Jenova... or at least an extension of "it" (her?) The Seph you see on the boat is in fact the Jenova that broke free in Midgar and doesn't recognize Cloud on the boat. (Jenova can change forms). However, why turn into Sephiroth? Because Sephiroth is another part of it. Later, their will becomes one even though it's still technically not Sephiroth's real body. I wouldn't say Sephiroth's will takes over the Jenova copy until he is revealed in the Northern Crater. That's when the "real" Sephiroth confuses Cloud.

However, like I said. I think Sephiroth is still Jenova in human form with a seperate consciousness like Kadaj, Loz, and that third guy was Sephiroth in Advent Children. Which stems back to Sephiroth being Jenova. So technically the argument is moot because Sephiroth and Jenova are one in the same or a mutation of the same viral nature that was the original Jenova.
http://faqs.ign.com/articles/657/657331p1.html

Ooooh, nice. Never thought o' it that way.

Why would you say that sephiroth isn't the big baddy..... it all comes down to one thing, who looks more evil.....

Simple... a big blob, or some dude who walks through flames...... done

That's the art of story-telling... Looks aren't always what they seem. That blob WAS Sephiroth up until Disk 3. But I'm not going to argue.

very intresting info. never put it that way

you guys think too much.
i dont do this much thinking in school and i have a 91 %average!('cept in math)
ok cloud never did anything with seph' cuz he ripped of those stories from zack right?
when i was watching the reminisence of final fantasy(its on the two-disc set for ff7 advent childern)it showed one part where cloud was in a shinra uniform and he like, killed seph cuz y'know he was kinda lying there, not moving. and zack was on one of them machines and he appeared to be dead i dont think he was though and cloud told tifa that he stole zacks stories but he was acctually there ...
yeah never mind, i dont know what i'm talking about

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ffy advent children is the best *bleep*ing movie ever!!ive seen it 19 times since x-mas(i know i need therapy)

hmm...thats intresting but on the advent children website it actually states this "***Sephiroth's will and Jenova's will*** (Page 53)
The Sephiroth clones seen in various locations continue gathering for the
Reunion. Seemingly, the will of Jenova as a human is the result of it
consuming Sephiroth's spirit; in actuality, Sephiroth is controlling Jenova.

(Accompanying screenshot caption)
Sephiroth's voice is heard through his "mother," Jenova, as applied through
its cells in the Sephiroth Clones.

------------------------
[Analysis: This section confirms that Sephiroth was in control of Jenova.]"
http://faqs.ign.com/articles/698/698416p1.html <-- this is my refrence.
so in actually he is the real villain, and in fact was in control...don't feel too bad i used to think Jenova was the one in control too but, thats the from the game makers...so i'd have to trust their opinion hence once and for all proving Sephiroth was the main villain.

Sephiroth is awesome!! And so is his sword!!

I just hated the end...i would have preferred to fight him in his black outfit...the whole wings/mutated thing was a bit much.

Sephiroth in my humble opinion is the villian sure hes being controlled by jenova but still hes the one you have to kill just sayin

If you really listen to Hojo and the rest of it throughout the game, you learn that the only time you really see Sephiroth in his black outfit is during the flashbacks. The rest are all Clones of Sephy that are being controlled by him from his prison in the lifestream. The first time you see the "real" sephy is when he's incased in that Makocicle and cloud gives him the Black Materia.

If anyone bothered reading the Official FFVII Ultimania/Omega guide... Squeenix have confirmed that Sephiroth is the true villain. He was the one in control of everything, and not Jenova.

quote Gothic Girl

If anyone bothered reading the Official FFVII Ultimania/Omega guide... Squeenix have confirmed that Sephiroth is the true villain. He was the one in control of everything, and not Jenova.

That, any for those of us that don't read Japanese and are too lazy to find translations can use common sense to figure out that Jenova didn't cast Meteor to become a god.