WARNING: FINAL FANTASY VII AND CRISIS CORE SPOILERS AHEAD
And with that said, you have been warned and the meta on Sephiroth may begin. For those who were introduced to Final Fantasy VII in the 1997 release for PlayStation 1 (or at least played it first), Crisis Core on the PSP was a 2007 game well worth being glued to an outlet for with a supposedly portable system.
Although it was released after Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core is a prequel in the canon timeline. As such, players entered the game expecting to have their hearts ripped out by the end in true Square Enix style, but perhaps not expecting to empathize so deeply with Sephiroth’s backstory. Considering he was the iconic villain whose theme song still induces anxiety in people who haven’t even played the game, a touching origin story was something of a surprise.
Before he was the man that gamers first knew as a guy you’d never invite to a fireside chat, Sephiroth was actually quite loyal to his two whole friends: Angeal and Genesis (sort of). This circle would grow to include Zack over the course of Crisis Core, but for the purposes of this meta, let’s start at the beginning.
A Look at Sephiroth’s Childhood
There is very little in canon on the details of how Sephiroth grew up, other than being raised by Shinra. The remake itself hasn’t touched on this as of yet, so as it stands, the original narrative holds true. Following that, it’s safe to assume that he was brought up and trained as an intellectually and physically exceptional child with no immediate family to speak of.
Some of his behavior in Crisis Core also reflects what his mentality likely was in his early life.
Given that he grew up with the funding and support of Shinra, as a wealthy company with a monopoly on energy, Sephiroth had all of the special instruction and resources he needed to foster his natural gifts. By the time we see him in Crisis Core, he was entirely confident in the abilities he’d been building on his entire life.
Yet when Genesis expressed jealousy over Sephiroth’s fame, he told Genesis he could have it. This response is a sure sign that his confidence was self-contained rather than something he got from or held over other people. In short, fame or the lack of would not affect Sephiroth at all.
This observation connects to another issue that exceptional people often face in their upbringing. According to a guide by the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), “specific provisions for [gifted and talented students] stir heated controversy regarding whether or not they need special attention”.
Zack himself displayed this skepticism just before his mission with the Turks, which Sephiroth had been originally assigned to. Upon hearing that he refused to go, Zack asked if they were being too soft with him or babying him (depending on language/translation).
The video below will start at the beginning of the subbed Japanese scene where Zack reacts:
In-Universe Perception of Sephiroth
For Sephiroth, this kind of controversy led to his abilities defining him to others in one of two ways. His status as the best 1st Class SOLDIER led people to believe he was either a hero beyond their standing or he was entitled to more than he deserved.
Next, consider that knowledge in conjunction with the value he placed on his friendship with Angeal and Genesis.
To have two friends who treated him as someone on their level, whether positively or negatively, meant a great deal to Sephiroth. There were very few people in Midgar who wouldn’t regard him based on his reputation since he had no family.
The bottom line is that Angeal and Genesis (and later, Zack) gave him something his reputation could not: a sense of belonging.
The Role of Family and Belonging
That feeling of togetherness overpowered everything else Sephiroth held as important. He refused the mission that Zack went on because it was an act directly against both of his friends. When he was on his way to Modeoheim, he put his current mission off to go out of his way and talk to Zack-even though Zack was upset with him at the time.
Sadly, this value that Sephiroth placed belonging would be his undoing in the end.
To be human and exceptional separated him from nearly everyone, even others who were 1st Class. But at least he had that in common with people-their humanity.
His discovery of the truth took that last bastion of hope away along with two of his closest friends. The below video shows Sephiroth’s struggle as he tried to hold onto his humanity in his mind and the particularly painful way he found out he wasn’t human after all.
Failing that, Sephiroth had utterly nothing in common with anyone as far as he knew. The feeling of having a place in life as a human being had meant the most to him in his life, and now it was inaccessible to him forever (or so he felt).
All that remained to fill that void was his greatness. In his mind, that had defined him to everyone else throughout his life, and he only thought he’d been defined by something more to those he cared for.
With his feeling of belonging gone, Sephiroth had to face that he would never truly belong among humans.
Replacing Humanity
That loss combined with his inevitable and very understandable rage at the deception and horror at the truth of his origin, and Sephiroth turned to godhood to embrace what he had originally tried to reject.
He was exceptional still, and he did not belong among the people he tried so hard to be part of. And he knew after the revelation that he never would. Grieving it in solitude could drive him mad like it nearly did in the basement labs of Nibelheim, or Sephiroth could choose not to grieve. He could instead empower himself by believing he never really needed to belong to start with. That feeling was simply another deception by the unexceptional beings of humanity.
With a crossroads like that, he rationalized godhood as his destiny. In that sense, he was still pursuing that place for him to belong. He simply traded out his faith in humanity for a fixation on his “mother”, Jenova, as another means of creating that family dynamic he always wanted. And I’m still sad about it after all these years.
If you enjoyed this read on your favorite disaster and mine, I welcome comments!
Originally published at https://vocal.media.
