Beautiful

This is why I love the tragedy that is Sephiroth.

"You are too weak to save anyone."

"Not even yourself."

*Adds to FF7 Lore Breakdown/Speculation list*

The parallels between Masamune & Robio and Sephiroth & Nibelheim cases are so on the nose, it's not even funny.

FS ep. 2 chapter 2 makes a point of using similar expressions when describing Masamune's and Sephiroth's descent into madness and subsequent murder spree.

(Sephiroth): And that was it. He stayed holed up in the basement...reading and reading... like a man POSSESSED. (Masamune): Robio's tools and weapons were the responsibility of a single smith. One day, he took up his hammer as if POSSESSED, and poured all of his energy into crafting a remarkable blade.]

As a result, both men's behaviour is described as obsessive to the point of appearing possessed.

This possessed-like behavior eventually leads to a very specific type of carnage: the settlement is burned down, and the townspeople are slaughtered one by one. The opening sequence for the FS, episode 2, emphasizes the parallel by depicting a young Sephiroth standing amidst burning Robio in the same iconic pose as during the Nibelheim massacre. Furthermore, one of the first FS teasers cleverly superimposed Nibelheim footage over that of FS to create the glitching dejavu effect, almost as if history repeats itself.

In the case of Sephiroth, we can be fairly certain that his proximity to Jenova, combined with prolonged mental and physical degradation due to stress, lack of sleep, food, and so on, caused his mind to "slip" — or be hijacked.

What about Masamune? According to Alissa's account, as far as it can be trusted, the massacre was motivated by villagers coveting the masterwork weapon for themselves, which resulted in hostilities and infighting. Thus, it can be concluded that the problem began with the forging of a weapon, both the process and the end result.

(The villagers started fighting amongst themselves to claim the sword as their own. Some even attempted to sneak into the smith's home and steal it for themselves.)

Incidentally, to the point of being conspicuous, Alissa plants the idea that Sephiroth is deserving of a weapon as special as himself.

Eventually, Sephiroth makes a rather odd statement, that he feels the sword calling out to him. It's not the first time Sephiroth demonstrates some kind of extrasensory perception, despite vehemently denying it out loud.

Shortly before those purple orbs first appear on-screen in Chapter 1, Sephiroth mentions that he feels they're being watched. Later he makes an even creepier remark that he senses the presence of a strong will of some sorts.

The statement is linked to the fact that Masamune the swordsmith is thought to have been alive for the past 500 years, and that some power — allegedly the strong will that Sephiroth senses — is seemingly responsible for keeping him alive. 

Excluding ShinRA's R&D vicious experiments with biological samples and various types of Mako, there's only one known case of keeping one's body in an undying state — and that is the case of Lucrecia, according to whom Jenova cells keep her from dying. Jenova itself is mentioned by the Cetra as not capable of dying during the Temple of Ancients exploration. 

Moreover, why would Sephiroth sense a presence? Unless, of course, he shares a strong link to the source, perhaps on a cellular level.

I've already discussed the possible link between Masamune and Jenova here [read here].

(In ancient times, before the discovery of smelting, people forged weapons and tools from **meteoric iron**. Interestingly, there is a phenomenon known as telluric iron, derived from the Latin word for earth, "tellus," as seen in terms like "Telluric Fury" or "Telluric Scriptures.")

In short, in the distant past, people forged cold arms from using matter from meteors. Oddly enough, the most recent chapter mentions meteors, as Bachman relays a "hogwash" rumour that ShinRA creates their new breed of SOLDIER by scraping something (cells) off a meteor.

A strange introduction to the meteor subject, given that the general lore held that ShinRA unearthed an alien body and used it as a source of tissue. In the previously linked post I theorized that the meteor Jenova had arrived on splintered upon entering the atmosphere, and a piece landed in Wutai vicinity, centuries later to be discovered by Masamune and used in the forging of the sword. This splinter may have contained some of Jenova's organic matter. It fits well with the newly introduced concept of "special cells" being scraped off a meteor. On the other hand, the rumour clearly contradicts known lore; it could have been purposefully planted by ShinRA to obscure the true source of SOLDIER procedure in the hopes that it would be perceived as too absurd to be taken seriously.

Another similarity connects Robio's story to that of a "calamity from the skies". If Alissa's story is to be believed, a great battle took place in that area — a fight between Ancients and a vicious beast, similar to the story told by the Cetra hologram in the Temple of Ancients.

(But then, without warning, a fearsome beast invaded the region. Its attacks on the village claimed the lives of its people and their animals. The fiend existed only to slaughter.)

Specifically, the game depicts Cetra battling Jenova as a tentacled monster, a BEAST, that transforms into a human Goddess-like figure upon defeat.

Powerful fire magic was mentioned as being at work in Robio (fire being exceptionally good at eroding organic matter as well as preventing deadly bacteria/diseases from infecting new hosts), but more importantly, the village area is repeatedly mentioned in conjunction with the concept of "sealing". Angeal, Sephiroth and others initially conclude that the zone is abandoned, "forbidden," and "sealed" to prevent the truth about the heinous massacre from being revealed, but later hypothesize that the village was sealed together with whatever evil emerged there.

One detail that comes to mind is that since the Cetra's "celestial adversary" could not truly die, so it could not be defeated in a true sense, which is why the Ancients sealed/imprisoned it in geological strata (where it fell into slumber, per Temple of Ancients narrator).

So, here's the idea. The Temple of Ancients refers to "celestial adversary" as having been scattered in some way since the Age of Ancients [more on this here].

(“Heed well to our warning of that which is to come…<...> The reunion. When our adversary's scattered malignancy shall converge to plague the Planet once more.”)

Indeed, what if, upon arrival, Jenova was fragmented, either by meteor splintering or by design (Ancients cleaved it into pieces to weaken it, defeat it bit by bit, and eventually prevent the parts from converging into a single organism). Whatever the case, the Robio area may contain some of Jenova's organic remnants, such as a meteor (or its metallic core within Masamune's sword) or a body part sealed in the Petra-inspired temple. Masamune the swordsmith discovered it over 500 years ago and became exposed to its mind-altering properties, which resulted in corruption (perhaps unsealing and a letting the contaminant outside?), subsequent crazed behavior, and an eventual massacre. In its turn, the villagers' sporadic coveting of the blade and hostile behavior evokes some strange parallels with a "celestial adversary" sowing discord among men.

Interestingly, the settlers of Robio—I'd call them proto-Wutaians—are said to be Ancients or their descendants. The interesting part is that the descendants of those who defeated "the beast" appear to die in the same way the beast was slain: they are burned down, as if in vengeance.

And to point out the obvious: it oddly mirrors Sephiroth's deranged decision to burn down the town of Nibelheim, all while sticking to a paranoid delusion that humankind attempted to take something of his [The Planet]. Like the sword, like the world.

----

@pen-and-umbra

I thoroughly enjoyed this analysis.

Ok wild fuckass theory that probably works more as some type of fan fic AU or fix-it (loosely) and probably won’t happen but chekekfj

This is gonna be very rambly but bear with me

To me it seems that TFS and new details in Rebirth are setting up that Jenova is in more control than we previously thought. While I still believe there is some level of fucked up symbiosis, I question how much is actually Sephiroth (insane or not) and how much is Jenova. Would Jenova want revenge on Rufus for killing Glenn? Probably not because that is a very human, Sephiroth thing to want.

Jenova is a calamity that destroys worlds, we’ve known this since the OG and we’ve known that the Nibelheim Incident was because Sephiroth was rightfully angry, betrayed, and upset at what he had learned (false info but hey). In Rebirth we see it flashing between Sephiroth and Jenova, especially in the reactor where their faces are overlayed for a second. It makes me wonder, while Sephiroth was 100% having a mental breakdown, would he have killed and burned the entire village if it wasn’t for Jenova’s influence. In Crisis Core before leaving for Nibelheim, he was talking about deserting/leaving after this last mission. Without Jenova, i could see him wanting to get revenge on the people who wronged him, take down Shinra, and other such things. But since Jenova’s sole purpose is to be a world destroying calamity, she would twist that want of revenge on those people into just getting rid of all of it and become a god.

Side Tangent. I find the length of Sephiroth’s bangs to be important on telling what Sephiroth we are looking at (sane, short. insane, long) and Square seems to have just kinda forgotten about CC Seph having shorter bangs ig for optimization but it makes moments like in Chapter 8 of TFS confusing where we see very much sane Sephiroth from right before the CC era with long bangs and it cuts to Sephiroth with the same model, as far as i can tell, at the Edge of Creation. That leaves two options I can think of; 1: the Edge of Creation is a Jenova created sub space or mind space that she has been taking Sephiroth to and he has no idea wtf it is yet (unlikely). 2: That little scene was Sephiroth during the Remake Trilogy slowly gathering old memories and maybe even realizing that Jenova is in more control and influenced him more than he originally thought and is slowly regaining his identity. This feels more likely so thats what im gonna continue this rambling with. But please Square, you can sacrifice a few more megabytes to add another hair model to swap in.

Anyways, going with that Sephiroth is slowly remembering who he was, and how episode 1 of TFS seemed to be drawing some pretty harsh parallels between Sephiroth and Rosen plus everything they seem to be setting up with Jenova, i think Square is setting up a type of redemption for Sephiroth. It won’t be a true redemption but it would be something. The line from Rosen, “There is no place for me in your world,” feels very intentional and VERY Sephiroth. The parallels between Sephiroth and Rosen’s isolation and being trained from a young age to do one thing only for Sephiroth to kill him because Rosen feels that he can’t be a part of society feels like a set up for how Sephiroth’s story will ultimately end. If Cloud and crew somehow manage to separately Sephiroth from Jenova or something, there is no place for Sephiroth in the world anymore for very different reasons than Rosen. He’s killed, tortured, tried to end the world; no one would accept him after everything he did. Clearly, sane Sephiroth felt a lot of guilt over who he had killed and was trying his best to be the hero he never truly wanted to be to maybe right his wrongs. But if he gets his mind back, there is no righting the wrongs he had committed. There is no place for him anymore. He had been a dead man for 5 years anyways. The only thing he deserves is death and to finally join the Lifestream. The only catch is if Cloud can show the same empathy young Sephiroth did for Rosen. Any in the end, I think Cloud will be able to. In Advent Children, he showed some level of empathy and compassion for Kadaj in the end.

In the small snippet of Sephiroth we got in chapter 8 of TFS, he was thinking about how hate breeds more hate but compassion can end that cycle. And I think that is going to be the key to finally ending the cycle of FFVII.

thinking about how zack was such a fighty angry kid at first in crisis core, and how he learned to bottle it all up because nobody took his feelings seriously.

i bet zack died on that cliff resentful and enraged and covering it up with a thin layer of heroic cheer, just like he always has.

he was so close. he was so tired. he tried to be a hero and it turned him into a monster instead, slaughtering hundreds and hundreds of infantrymen, all to protect just one. and it didn't even matter because they still won. shinra still fucking won.

zack lost his entire sense of self and identity to SOLDIER and shinra, and now they're taking his life too, right when he was this close. not just to physical freedom, but mental freedom too. and he copes with the indignation the same way he always has: he's so Nice about it.

and so he dies as a friendly nobody, instead of what he really was deep down: a scared, angry, exhausted kid.

Thought this would be fun to share:

So I recently was researching angelology for a project of mine, and I just realized Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis each represent one of the three highest Angels. Not just design-wise but symbolically.

Sephiroth is a Seraphim. A Seraphim's main purpose is worship, making them the closest to God and the highest level of Angel. Considering Sephiroth's strong devotion to Jenova after Nibelheim, even after he learns that truth about Jenova in the lifesteam. Seraphim are also called The Burnings Ones, and considering fire is a reoccurring theme for Sephiroth it speaks for itself.

Angeal is a Cherubim. A Cherubim main purpose is the protection of sacred places like the Garden of Eden and the Arc of the Covenant. Angeal's whole arc is about him losing his Soldier Pride/Honor, something that he considered sacred to himself, is what lead him to his own demise. Cherubim are the only high level Angel among the three that wield a sword.

Genesis is a Ophanim/Throne. Ophanim or Thrones main purpose is to guard the Throne of God. This shows itself more in Genesis resolution at the end of Crisis Core, with him finding a new purpose after seeing Minerva.

- Crisis Core Ultimania:

- So as result, Minerva/the lifestream stops his degradation and allows him to live on in order to complete his duty. He then later vows to aid the planet when it needs him in the future. So I guess one could say that Genesis's connection to Minerva/the lifestream/planet is to serve as it's sentinel or guardian.

I never thought of it that way before! There's a lot of symbolic layers to these characters for sure! I always learn something new about them every day!

LADS is really making me post/reblog more often huh, but i love this event so why not.

Reva (meaning rain) & Rainyblobbu 🌧

🌸lemme see y’all’s mc and blobbus!!! here’s mine

daisy and daisyblobbu 🌸🌼🪷

This is going to cause some serious brain rot for me.

Final Fantasy

VII

Rebirth

@rosy-crow Don't apologize! I live for analysis like this, big or small.

I just realized that two of the most impactful people that Sephiroth has ever killed both have bows in the back of their hair.

Normally, I don't post often, but I'm really proud of this cake design!

This is the reason I love this fandom.

The second episode of the Remake, FF7 Rebirth, has proven to be a terrific experience thus far. SE obviously made a few big decisions here and there.

It is seemingly implied now that Jenova wasn't "brain-dead", and it is hinted that Sephiroth was addled during his breakdown.

It all begins with a strategically placed cut, when Sephiroth touches the door bearing the name Jenova and instructs "Cloud" to close the valve. The scene is merely functional for new fans, yet leaves a vacant space that Crisis Core players will quickly fill in with the inferred arrival of Genesis. Smart move that, leaving the interpretation to the player. Whether Genesis exists inside the Remake's continuity or not, the moment reads differently to each fan. Quite frankly, I was half-expecting “Cloud” to come across a banora apple, rolling on the floor, but I suppose that would be telling.

What's remarkable is that they give Sephiroth almost identical symptoms to those that Cloud has in the remake. Glitches and odd headaches superimpose themselves nicely over the original Crisis Core scene. And, as much as I loathe Tyler Hoechlin's acting in the game, he lends a tangible sense of rage to Sephiroth's disparaging remarks about Hojo and his experiments. You can hear the hatred, a touch of pity, and disgust directed at Hojo's work and the creatures he tortured. In Crisis Core, he refers to the test subjects as “abominations” with the same touch of bitterness.

Back to the point: glitches, pupil dilations, and headaches are visual cues for Jenovaroth's influence or proximity, as shown in the first part of the Remake. However, at this point, Sephiroth is still sane — cracking, but still himself — so the only agent who can exert influence on him is, well, Jenova.

Now, a widely established fan hypothesis maintained that Jenova was brain-dead or comatose. Bodily functions sustained, but brain activity plateaued. Rebirth, however, strangely suggests otherwise.

When "Cloud" returns to Sephiroth in the manor's basement for the second time, Sephiroth recites an excerpt from a journal purportedly written by Professor Gast: 

“The specimen, found in a strata dating back two thousand years, smiled with what could only be described as 'ethereal grace'… Though the truth eluded me at first, I later determined that she was an Ancient - or a 'steward of the planet', as they are referred to in legend”. 

Remembering the battles with Jenova Dreamweaver and Jenova Emergent, the creature is far from "graceful" or "ethereal". There is nothing graceful about her figure in the tube either, and she is not smiling. The game goes out of its way to lampshade the glaring contradiction by showing the flashes of Jenova’s fanged skull and grotesque body as Sephiroth quotes the passage. So how could Gast perceive her as such?.. The answer is most likely found in Jenova Dreamweaver's description given in Ultimania: the entity has the ability to induce hallucinations in individuals who come into proximity with it, which is further corroborated by Jenova Emergent description.

An ancient lifeform that Shinra Company has kept under strict confidentiality. Those who come into contact can have their conscience interfered as well as see illusions. Professor Hojo has dedicated half of his life to researching Jenova, and within the Shinra Company building's top floors lies a secret research center called the "Dome," where Jenova's cells are injected into lifeforms or machinery to conduct experiments. (Ultimania)

Gast even writes that “the truth eluded him at first”, but LATER he determined the specimen belonged to the race of Ancients, as that answer was suggested. The implication is chilling: Jenova may have purposefully misled Gast in order to present itself as an Ancient. As Sephiroth later explains in the FF7Rb, Jenova is capable of seeing deep into one's soul and impersonating individuals you fear, love, or hate.

If ShinRA and Gast were determined to unravel the mysteries of Ancients and their Promised Land, it would make sense for Jenova to "scan" Gast and determine the best course of action: disguise itself as an Ancient in order to escape captivity in geological strata jail.

The scene in which Sephiroth reads Gast's notes is possibly the final time he is more or less himself, before Jenova's image intermingles with his for a brief moment. Again, I appreciate Tyler's voice acting in this particular section and the real rage he brought to it. Admittedly, I was concerned that with next-gen visuals, they would take a more gruesome approach, displaying Sephiroth conducting the Nibelheim carnage with sadistic pleasure, but they took a different route. Slow, zombie-like movements, and a glassy expression.

He speared the militiamen as casually as if he were spearing bugs, which is far more frightening from a narrative point. What jumped out was how they emphasized the possessed-like behavior: from snarling and flailing the book like a suffering person to an empty countenance and automaton-like strides, as if he was being beckoned. Which is what "Mother is waiting" implies.

The final segment of the Nibelheim flashback is likely the most essential as well. According to previous developer claims, Sephiroth's will took precedence over Jenova's, and he was in control — whether Jenova was brain-dead or simply of lesser willpower.  However, the Rebirth appears to suggest something different right off the bat. First, "Cloud" shouts, "I believed in you… No… Not you — whoever the hell you are!", highlighting the significant personality change and the resulting lack of recognition. But then "Cloud" sees Jenova's image superimposed over that of Sephiroth in a rapid, glitch-like succession.

In other words, he sees Jenova inhabiting Sephiroth's body as a vehicle to once again escape the confinements. Whatever that means, whether it suggests that Jenova is in control from the start, or whether Sephiroth is literally the greatest functional agglomeration of her cells, and therefore literally “becomes” Jenova. 

If Jenova's original body was severely damaged — either as a result of eons of incarceration or Hojo's tinkering — it stands to reason that, if she wished to carry out her plan, she would need a new body, one capable of moving at the very least. Perhaps Sephiroth, an able-bodied skilled Mako-infused fighter of considerable might, served as a better "vessel" than her original damaged one. 

But the crux of the matter lies elsewhere. The possibility of Jenova being conscious and influencing Gast is very terrifying. With the potential to affect others in close vicinity, she may have influenced the minds of the whole science team behind the Jenova Project, particularly those who had long-term contact with her tissue — Gast and Hojo. It could turn out that the whole idea to revive an “Ancient” was planted by Jenova in order to grow itself a powerful host. In fact, if it could "peer into one's soul," i.e. read minds and memories, it might have easily identified a pressure point to indoctrinate people who could forward her objective. It's one thing to inject tissue samples into an adult body; it's quite another to devise a plan to inject cells into a developing human fetus. Who knows. Perhaps Hojo is such an obsessed Jenova nutcase in large part because he fell under its spell; feelings of inadequacy and being overshadowed by his colleague may have offered a crack in his defenses.

One that Jenova easily took advantage of. After all, as Dirge of Cerberus implies, Hojo ended up implanting himself with alien organic material.

Again, Jenova's power to extract information from an individual when in proximity supports a bleak reading of the events leading up to Nibelheim's ransacking. A person who kept on carrying a photograph of his supposedly late mother and badgered others about his background, as suggested by Ever Crisis episodes, was literally wearing his weakness on a sleeve.

Perhaps the 30-something years of the Jenova Project were supposed to bring Sephiroth there.

Perhaps the chain of events had been nudged in that direction, starting from the very discovery of a derelict non-human lifeform. Nudged by an intelligence both cunning and incomprehensible. And that makes Jenova a much, much scarier presence in the remake than it was ever suggested in OG.