Voltage of Imagination

thinking about how tifa was the only survivor of the nibelheim incident for five years -- how she passed out in the reactor and woke up in midgar. how one day everything was normal and the next she'd lost everything, with nobody there to tell her if it was real. zangan survived, sure, but he left -- leaving tifa alone with her grief, the unlucky survivor of a tragedy that the world insisted never happened.

cloud appearing wasn't just her finding a childhood friend; it was the reassurance that she wasn't crazy, that it did happen, that she wasn't the only one who lost everything -- it was the first confirmation in five long years that not only did nibelheim exist, she didn't have to carry the weight of it alone.

and then he tells a completely different story, and now tifa, who has spent the past five years alone, has her story put in question yet again. not only that, her story is challenged by cloud, who is at this point extremely confident -- versus tifa, who's unsure of herself, who didn't even see most of the things he did (ex: the jenova chamber).

she may always be surrounded by people, but whether it's the crowds of midgar or the camaraderie of avalanche, she is always alone.

I screenshotted a picture of Sephiroth with his right earring on the Ever Crisis Steam version. It took many tries to snap a clear pic of where his earring was attached and also the full details of said earring. 💚💎

Excited to see them on my screen again!

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my shop

They just give me the same vibe 🤷 ...

I started playing the stupid mobile game

The character we are analyzing and expressing sympathy for, the one that was truly a subject of detestable circumstances and Shinra’s cruelty and control, the character with tragedy written into his very conception, and that deserved a much better life…does not exist within the Sephiroth that left the library and burned Nibelheim.

He died during those seven days and while the writers may have included nods to the tragedy of that loss…

“FFVII Rebirth Director Hamaguchi says that, in FFVII Rebirth, when Sephiroth burns Nibelheim to the ground, there is a slightly lonely look on his face as he breaks into a grin. So, he's looking forward to how people will react to these more human aspects of Sephiroth.”

…while they may hint at his deeper grief, it is still truth that what drowns any of his sadness out is violent anger and hatred. The dark feelings that drive him to be cruel, sadistic, and merciless towards the innocent. Who Sephiroth once was is gone…and we can say how tragic that is and we do, but this never means we are standing behind him or supporting who he is now.

This reborn Sephiroth is a walking dead shell with nothing but his old soul’s rage and madness left. He is just the villain with evil motives now. Very few think he is in the right without being ironic.

I say all of this to make it clear that people ought not to be attacked for studying and sympathizing with his old self.

Hello @saanphoenix @genjishimemeda @anusharao96 and everyone who has left amazing tags, thank you all so much for these wonderful additions!

You all said the very things I was unsure of how to say or was not bold enough to write. I appreciate it a lot. You all reminded me that what I felt about Sephiroth is that we lost his good self in the library but his human anger and reaction was surely what we were seeing in Nibelheim. I am not one to say that Jenova took over Sephiroth’s mind even if I think she encouraged his delusions but this is because I think Sephiroth’s emotional response to his discovery of the truth was realistic and likely to happen. I would not want Jenova to be controlling him because it would strip away the weight of his tragedy.

It makes sense for Sephiroth to want to turn on humanity after what they did and there is a dark beauty in the writing here. I am not sure how to express what I mean but I am trying to say that it feels like the type of high and clever writing we would find in a tragic play by Shakespeare. The type of story that breaks down human psychology very well.

I can empathize with it very much. I don’t understand why saying something so simple as this starts wars in the fandom at times or marks us as an apologists because nowhere do we say both “I understand why he reacted the way he did” and “He was right in doing what he did,” at the same time. We only say the first one.

Of course we know he wasn’t right to lash out but understanding why is a sign of emotional intelligence in my eyes. We have no right to be attacked for thinking deeply about this character. I know there are many fans who are just drawn to his appearance and ironically say he did nothing wrong but that is just a type of fan. There is no harm in that. It can be funny.

Also good points about Sephiroth attacking others out of rage and not sadism in Nibelheim. That is actually very perceptive and I would like to amend my previous take. He becomes sadistic when he returns from the dead but that is probably because he erased all his memories which functioned as his last bits of humanity. All he is left with is Jenova and his emotions that were dark before he died.

(Even then, I just remembered that Sephiroth was disgusted by Kefka’s senseless cruelty in Dissidia which I find funny. Sephiroth has always been driven by hatred and revenge as a villain and not just enjoyment of suffering. Very interesting).

Again, thank you all for the extra statements! I love Sephiroth when he was sane the most but I do enjoy his downfall and empathizing with his villainy while not standing behind it like others accuse. I forgot that these accusers are called the “fandom police” but that is a perfect way to describe them 😂

I am still reading through Ultimania translations like a certain someone in the data room…

Here are some curious notes on our Jenova Project scientists, Vincent, and Sephiroth that I know you will all appreciate.

That note about Hojo envying Gast and his genius—please keep this in mind. It will come into play for these next translations.

The research on Omega and the Kalm experiments were also in the Shinra manor. It makes you wonder if Sephiroth read any of that and further saw how cruel Shinra was.

The Jenova cell flashes in Sephiroth’s mind that we saw in the Rebirth demo can be seen in this image from the Crisis Core guide.

This is where everything becomes more interesting. Something not fully explained in DOC is Lucrecia’s own deterioration. It would appear that Vincent confronted Hojo over this after Sephiroth was born and taken away (or did he?). Lucrecia was falling to pieces it seems. (We will come back to this).

(Small note, but it looks like Vincent actually did propose to Lucrecia).

The next pile of notes are from the older Ultimania Omega from 2005, and some debate the validity of the text and whether it still holds true to current canon. However, if we are willing to consider Crisis Core from 2007 as canon, then I see no issue with this Ultimania unless something is directly changed.

For our Jenova project scientists, there is just more detail not spoken in the game. Some of it is fascinating and helpful.

I take this information as extra insight that the original game did not give us and mostly canon as well. Reading it felt like a stab to the chest even if I knew most of it.

We know from DOC that Lucrecia did love Vincent in the end, but during their time together she pushed him away because of the guilt with his father and gave into her love for Hojo instead.

It is….strange but that line from the CC guide about Hojo’s envy of Gast was apparently a concept here too. It supposedly was so strong that it brought out a maternal love in Lucrecia. Very likely this was before Hojo was completely mad and murderous.

I also wonder if Lucrecia’s affection was only that overall. A feeling that didn’t last when she realized Hojo’s complex was destructive and not “cute.”

These are the details some debate and I believe it has been for shipping reasons in the past…but as a non-shipper, I can see this happening with such a complex group of people.

The next bit about Lucrecia’s deterioration is also odd because it almost sounds as though Lucrecia disappeared only because of her body’s collapse. DOC once again changed the order of these events to where Lucrecia left after failing to save Vincent and losing her son.

It also looks like Vincent confronted Hojo much earlier. We are now left to interpretation maybe since DOC’s own timeline is hard to follow. There are plenty of people who have these events better thought through than me.

But if we combine all of these details together and ignore the timeline, we have more reasons for Lucrecia’s breakdown in general. Vincent’s bodily corruption, the loss of Sephiroth, and Lucrecia’s own degradation. We may not know the very order of every event until Rebirth or the third game, which is okay. These are still good details.

This hurts so much and I do not even need to explain why, ahaha. Hojo is so, so cruel to his own family.

I have recently pulled a translation from this section which some of you may recognize. All of the small details make me emotional 🥲

And this is the last one I wanted to share. I cannot stop thinking about Hojo’s inferiority complex with Gast because we know Sephiroth looked up to and admired Gast from a young age. How bitter Hojo must have been that his own son adored a man he hated. The implications of how complicated this could have made their relationship are endless. No wonder Hojo murdered Gast without hesitation. A walking mass of complexes indeed.

I think this is so emotional for me because of The First Soldier and Rebirth now. These details matter for enrichment.

Edit: I should once again clarify what I think about the 2005 Ultimania because there are fans that dismiss it thanks to its questionable text in spots. I believe that if a note from this book does not directly contradict currently established canon, then it may be safe to take in as context enrichment.

For example, all of the information about Sephiroth here is still accurate to the most recent depictions of his character, but there are small details added about why he believed he was different.

I do not see any reason to fully dismiss this because it does no harm to canon and does not go against what we have seen even in recent media like Ever Crisis.

On the other hand, the information about Lucrecia and when she left and why is much more fragile because Dirge of Cerberus added a new take on her motives. For this reason, I will only cherry-pick. I would say the detail about deterioration is accurate because that was hinted at in DOC but it’s no longer the only reason she left.

But everyone should make up their own minds on how to approach this Ultimania.

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring Playstation 1998

They are two of my favorite characters. I wish I had the chance to discuss between these two.

Maybe this illustration is the reason I became a better painter? I have such memories.

i saw someone post this image with character jpegs and decided to draw it out 💋💕🤭💖💖

GOOD MAN SEPHIROTH 💜