Sephiroth

One-Winged Angel Intensifies

> "I will... never be a memory" ~ Sephiroth.
> "Sephiroth, what do you want?"~ Cloud Strife, greeting Sephiroth.
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**Sephiroth** (Japanese: セフィロス, Hepburn: *Sefirosu*) is a fictional character and the main antagonist of *Final Fantasy VII* developed by Square (now Square Enix). Character designer Tetsuya Nomura conceived and designed Sephiroth as an antagonist to—and direct physical opposite of—the game's main character, Cloud Strife.

The character was voiced by voice actor Toshiyuki Morikawa in Japanese. In English, Sephiroth has been voiced by Lance Bass in *Kingdom Hearts* and by George Newbern in all subsequent appearances, with the exception of *Final Fantasy VII Remake*, where he is voiced by Tyler Hoechlin.

## Origins

Sephiroth was designed by *Final Fantasy VII*'s character designer Tetsuya Nomura. His name came from the Kabbalah, in which the ten sephirot on the Tree of life represent the ten attributes through which God reveals himself. His character existed from the earliest stages of development, as originally, Nomura thought that the game's plot would deal exclusively with Cloud Strife pursuing Sephiroth, who was always the game's main antagonist. Nomura wanted Sephiroth to appear early in the game, and then have the plot dealing with the protagonists following him, so that gamers would not meet the final boss until extremely late in the game.

Sephiroth was initially going to be Aerith Gainsborough's sibling, as indicated by their similar hairstyles. Later, however, he was changed to Aerith's past love, whom she would remember upon meeting Cloud. This character was then changed to Zack Fair, however, and Sephiroth's prior relationship with Aerith was dropped. In early drafts of the game, Sephiroth's personality was already brutal and cruel, with a strong willed and calm ego. He was to suffer from Mako addiction, resulting in a semi-conscious state as a result of high level exposure to Mako energy. Sephiroth was also intended to manipulate Cloud into believing that he was a creation of Sephiroth's will, but this aspect of the story was later abandoned. In another excised scene, when Sephiroth's physical body is first seen in the Northern Crater, it was to be female.

Yoshitaka Amano, who had handled character illustrations for previous *Final Fantasy* titles, noted a contrast between Cloud, a "young, passionate boy", and Sephiroth, a "more mature and cool" individual, as "intriguing", though not unusual as a pairing. Jason Greenberg, the only artist working on the original PC port, recalled a crash bug that happened during Sephiroth's Super Nova (スーパーノヴァ, *Sūpānova*) technique. Near the end of the development cycle, many team members were done with their work and simply helped test the game as much as possible. Greenberg spent nearly 24 hours playing that one battle during development.

His weapon, the "Masamune", which has been featured in numerous *Final Fantasy* titles, is an elongated nodachi that he learned to use during his days in SOLDIER. The Masamune is named after the famous Japanese swordsmith Goro Nyudo Masamune, whose blades are considered national treasures in Japan today. When designing Cloud and Sephiroth, Nomura was influenced by his view of their rivalry mirroring the legendary animosity between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō, with Cloud and Sephiroth being Musashi and Kojirō respectively. Sephiroth's look was defined as "*kakkoii*", a Japanese term combining good looks with coolness.

Director Yoshinori Kitase believes Sephiroth's role in *Final Fantasy VII* to be one of the main reasons why the game became so popular. Nomura has called Sephiroth "the ultimate antagonist in the *Final Fantasy VII* saga. There can't be anyone else," and regards him as an enemy from a previous generation, in contrast to his "Remnants" who appear in *Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children*.

## Appearance

Sephiroth has long platinum hair and bright cyan eyes with cat-like pupils, and is depicted in a black coat decorated with metallic pauldrons. Since appearing as Safer Sephiroth in the final battle of the game, Sephiroth has had a single black wing on his back, referencing his theme music "One Winged Angel". When *Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII* was released, the staff stated that the reason the wing was black was to suggest evil. Nomura has stated that Sephiroth was made to be a complete contrast to the game's main protagonist, Cloud, who was originally designed to have slicked-back, black hair with no spikes.

## Story with the Boys

On December 10th, 2020, it was announced he would join Super Smash Bros Ultimate as Challenger Pack 9 for Fighter Pass Vol. 2. When they played it, Chris repeatedly chose him, even creating his very own ruleset named *sephi,* where he could roleplay as Cloud defeating him. Chris's old online name was OneySephiroth.