Sephiroth is given an interesting treatment inCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion. Players get to see the iconic villain back when he was seen as a hero by the general population, including Cloud and Zack. Whilethe originalFinal Fantasy 7went into his backstory through ceratin side quests with characters like Vincent, the newestFinal Fantasyremaster allows fans to experience it first-hand through the eyes of Zack.
However, there’s an uncertainty that lingers over Sephiroth inCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, where fans know that something happens to turn him into the villain he’s known to be. The cold, yet ultimately kind Sephiroth who can be seen worrying himself sick over Genesis and Angeal’s transformations is only temporary, and it makes his villainous future rather sad.
RELATED:Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion - The Duality of Cloud and Zack’s Last Names Explained
How Sephiroth Became the Iconic Villain
Sephiroth marked thestart of the SOLDIER program, and while he always felt like his existence was a special one, he never understood why. That question lingered in the back of his mind as he was raised by Shinra and the researchers who he would eventually learn helped create him. The only information he had about his past was that his mother died when she was younger, and her name was Jenova.
Once his friends Genesis and Angeal abandon Shinra after finding out they’re monstrous experiments, Sephiroth begins to question if he’s the same. Genesis reveals that he is at the end of the game, and he’s the best of them all as a result ofJenova Project S. This leads him to abandon his friends and look into the answers for himself, at which point he burns Nibelheim down and aims to rule the planet by Jenova’s side.
Sephiroth is a Monster Made by Shinra
When Sephiroth first hears the newsfrom Genesis, fans watch his bravado shatter as he’s shocked by the truth - taking some time to accept his fate. He even looks to suffer from similar headaches to the ones that Cloud gets, ultimately caused by his Jenova cells. This is on top of the stress of being worried about Angeal and Genesis, to which Angeal once says he “looks thin;” implying he was so distraught that he wasn’t eating.
It’s clear from his actions and words that Sephiroth never wanted this. It makes him into yetanother victim of Shinra, misunderstanding what Jenova was - trying to recreate the Ancients' abilities. Instead, he was born a “monster,” and he has to accept the fact that everything he knew from childhood to adulthood was a lie.
With the headache Sephiroth suffers, there’s a chance that part of his revelation is due to his S Cells that can change a carrier’s mind; as seen withCloud in almost every mainFF7project. In the end, Jenova may have taken Sephiroth over, in a sense. However, unlike Cloud who suffers and inwardly struggles against what his cells turn him into, Sephiroth embraces it in the wake of learning that everything else he knew was either a sham or taken from him by the same research.
It’s hard for fans to not feel sorry for Sephiroth, and the kinder Sephiroth has never come back from his change of heart. It has been15 years sinceCrisis Corefirst released, and even though there’s a sad truth to Sephiroth’s role as a villain, there haven’t been any steps toward bringing that version back. If anything, he’s only grown more ruthless asFinal Fantasy 7 Remakemight deal with him destroying the timeline in order to fulfill his destiny. As tragic as it is, the old Sephiroth is gone, and only the monster remains.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunionis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Why Nibelheim is So Important in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion and Beyond
