He's one of the most iconic video game characters of all time. This is one character who is practically synonymous with video game villains. He's incredibly famous, with legions of fan boys and fan girls that will defend his name, write ten thousand fan fics about him, and draw thousands of pieces of fan art depicting him in all his bad ass glory. He's Sephiroth, the main villain from the earth shattering, gut bustingly popular video game, Final Fantasy 7. And he's over rated.
Pictured: A bad ass.
For the four of five of you that have never heard of Final Fantasy 7, please know that I just committed anathema. For the rest of you, please give me the opportunity to explain. But to properly explain Sephiroth, we need to analyze his actions in the story. For those of you who expect me to include Sephiroth's actions in the Complication Compilation of Final Fantasy 7, I regret to inform you that the Complication Compilation will not be factored in here, for a number of reasons. Number 1, because everything we needed to know about Sephiroth was included in the original game. And Number 2, the Compilation really doesn't add anything that was needed to the storyline.
Sephiroth used to be the top member of the Shinra Company's elite fighting squad, SOLDIER. Yes, in all caps. No, we don't know what it means either. Anyway, Sephiroth was a god among men, an invincible warrior who could wield the impossibly large Masamune, a sword whose blade measures seven feet in length. Sephiroth was also insanely proficient in the use of Magic, able to destroy entire legions of monsters with a single spell.
One day, Sephiroth was assigned to the town of Nibelheim to investigate an outbreak of monster attacks. Along with his fellow member of SOLDIER, Zack, and some Shinra police (among them being the main character of FF7, Cloud Strife). This mission was supposed to be routine: go up to the reactor, see what's up, and fix whatever's wrong. Unfortunately, Sephiroth makes a chilling discovery: the Reactors double as a laboratory for creating monsters. This then causes him to question his own existence. He goes to the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim, where he discovers a hidden library of scientific journals, all about the Jenova Project. Jenova was the name given to a being that Shinra had found in the North Pole, and had wrongly declared it to be a Cetra, a race of beings that were connected to the Planet and could find the Promised Land. All his life, Sephiroth was lead to believe that Jenova was his mother, and that she died giving him birth.
Pictured: An emo
Sephiroth then goes coocoo for Cocoa Puffs, and kills everyone in Nibelheim.
Sephiroth eventually goes back to the Reactor, leaving behind the burning village of Nibelheim. He enters the reactor, which until that point had been housing the body of Jenova.
OK, I am now disturbed.
Eventually though, Cloud finds Sephiroth, impales him with Zack's sword, and sends the guy with a serious Oedipus Complex spiraling right into the Lifestream, where his body is never found again. Sephiroth is declared dead by Shinra, the entire incident buried by the mega corporation. The town of Nibelheim is rebuilt and filled with actors, pretending to be villagers. The truth is buried, and the incident remains forgotten by all but four people: Zack, Cloud, Tifa Lockheart and her martial arts teacher, Zangan.
But Sephiroth was not dead. Instead, he had been frozen in condensed Mako, biding his time to get his revenge on the world. Six years had passed. Sephiroth made some clones of himself, manifesting his will in them. Eventually, he made his move.
Sephiroth began by killing President Shinra, the de facto ruler of the world. He then traveled towards Nibelheim, waiting for Cloud, who had been following him on a quest for revenge. Goading Cloud to follow him, Sephiroth makes a mention of a Reunion. Unimpressed, Cloud follows Sephiroth towards the Temple of the Ancients, where Sephiroth unveils his master plan: Summon Meteor, have it impact the Planet, then absorb all the Life Energy that the Planet will use to heal itself, thus becoming a god.
Yeah.
A little after that, one of your party members, Aeris (Yes I know it's spelled Aerith now, but I spell it Aeris because that's how I've been spelling it since 1997) heads to the Forgotten Capital with her special materia, attempting to summon Holy, a powerful spell that can stop Meteor. Sephiroth then kills her.
In the year 1997, these graphics were top notch. This is the scene that made millions of gamers cry. Yes, I know there's no blood.
After that, Sephiroth summons Meteor. And after that...
Well, there's still plenty of game left, but Sephiroth himself doesn't do ANYTHING until the final confrontation with him, where the main characters beat him, and Cloud finishes him off for good. He's brought back to life in the sequel film Advent Children. The Compilation is irrelevant.
As a villain, I need to say this: Sephiroth is sub par. What is his main goal? Hit the world with a giant meteor, get in the center of the crater, and absorb the magic energy the planet will use to heal itself, in order for him to become a god. I'm sorry, but that makes too little sense. How does Sephiroth know about Meteor? When did he find out? How long has he been planning this? How did Sephiroth find out Holy could stop him? And more importantly: WHY!? Why does he want to become a god!?
Sephiroth's back story is explored in the game. We know from the information in game that Sephiroth was born of two scientists, Lucrecia and Hojo. We know they injected him with Jenova cells when he was still in the womb. We know he was a war hero. We know he always felt isolated from the other kids. We know he was cold and professional. And we know he snapped, and why. But after that? We don't know a damn thing about him. The player never gets a feel of who Sephiroth is now, only who he used to be.
I dare say that the Sephiroth the main characters of FF7 face off is not so much a character, but a force. Sephiroth has more in common with Lavos from Chrono Trigger than Voldemort from Harry Potter. Voldemort is a character whose motivations are clear, with a back story and goals. Lavos also has a back story and goals, but no motivation. And Sephiroth? Same thing. We have a back story, we have goals, but what's the motivation? And where did this motivation, if it's there, come from?
A villain needs these three elements to be a three dimensional villain. A goal to reach, a back story to explain the goals and fuel the motivation, and motivation to reach the goal. Voldemort has the back story (a child born from a loveless relationship, abandoned and raised in an orphanage, his anger and sociopathic tendencies never tended to or addressed properly), the goal (a world where wizards rule over non magic users, and a wizard society based on blood purity) and the motivation (hatred towards non magic users, a hint of self loathing, shame, anger at the world, and the mindset of a sociopath). Voldemort is a three dimensional villain. Sephiroth? Not so much.
So why all the fans? Sephiroth may not be a deep villain, but he's an effective one. For a villain to be effective, there must always be a sense of urgency to defeat him/her. The best way to do this is by showing what the villain is capable of, and in this way, Sephiroth delivers. He's a cold blooded killer, evidenced by how he killed President Shinra. He can not be stopped easily, evidenced by how many bodies he leaves behind while he's on the warpath. He's also not at all afraid to kill the innocent, best evidenced when he slaughtered Nibelheim. And of course, there's the "It's Personal" touch when Sephiroth kills Aeris, a character that the player had spent hours getting to know, and until that point had been a staple member of the team.
However, when you get down to it, Sephiroth is more flash than substance. Yeah he's effective, but not deep. His ultimate plan makes little sense, his motivations are unclear. His back story is deep, sympathetic, and utterly well devised. But that's it.
Ironic, because the heroes of Final Fantasy 7 are all well developed, three dimensional characters. Even the ones with the least development, Red XIII and Yuffie, have solid back stories and well defined motivations.
Final Fantasy 7 is, when you get down to it, a story that's moved by the villains, but held by the heroes. It is a complete story, a modern day epic that showed the world that video games are the new medium for epic story telling. This was the Illiad of my generation, its influence is still felt to this day. It is ironic that the weakest element of the game just happens to be the villain, who in turn is also one of the most famous villains of all time.
But what made Final Fantasy 7 so good, anyway? Well, that's a topic for a future blog. For now, I leave you with this, one of the most famous pieces of video game music ever. Sephiroth's theme, One Winged Angel:
Update November 21, 2015: It had been pointed out to me that I had left out a LOT of information in this blog entry. A new entry, reanalyzing Sephiroth, is here:
http://vidgameanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/11/revisiting-sephiroth.html
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