Sephiroth

Sephiroth is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII and other Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles. He is described as the opposite of the main protagonist, Cloud Strife. Sephiroth is a tall man with long silver hair and bright cyan eyes with cat-like pupils. He wears a long black coat decorated with metallic pauldrons and belted black boots. Sephiroth carries the Masamune sword around with him.

Sephiroth's name is derived from the, in which the ten on the  represent the ten attributes through which God reveals himself.

Final Fantasy VII
In Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth was the most famous member of SOLDIER, a paramilitary branch of Shinra, until he mysteriously disappeared five years prior to the beginning of the game. He then returns to enact a plot which threatens the game's world, bringing him into conflict with the game's protagonists, especially, Cloud, who shares a past with Sephiroth.

Notions of Sephiroth's apparent death are put into question when Cloud and his company AVALANCHE are detained in Shinra's headquarters. On the eve before a public execution, their cell doors are opened. A trail of blood leads the group to discover that President Shinra has been impaled by a sword confirmed to belong to Sephiroth. Cloud and his friends decide to pursue him.

In the town of Kalm's inn, much of Sephiroth's past is explained when Cloud tells the other party members about he and Sephiroth's past, shown through a flashback. The two of them were members of SOLDIER, and they were sent on a mission to Nibelheim during an investigation and found Jenova. Sephiroth went into the Shinra Mansion's basement to study the research notes left behind. Through this, Sephiroth learned that he was artificially reproduced through the Jenova Project, a project dedicated to studying the undead remains of a humanoid alien parasite named Jenova. Wishing to study the effects of Jenova's cells on a human subject, Hojo and Lucrecia volunteer their unborn son for experimentation. Sephiroth is henceforth injected with Jenova cells while still unborn. After his birth, Sephiroth was raised by Shinra. Although Shinra taught him that Jenova was his mother, they revealed to him nothing about her. Sephiroth exhibited superhuman qualities at an early age.

After learning about his origin, Sephiroth fell into madness and began to hate humanity. Sephiroth proceeded to burn down Nibelheim and then returned to Mt. Nibel's Mako Reactor. There he stole Jenova's head, and engaged in a battle with Cloud, although he cannot remember the details afterward.

The party first encounters Sephiroth in the Cargo Ship to Costa del Sol. They find that Sephiroth has killed many of the crew members on board. In the Engine Room, they find a red soldier, who collapses, and Sephiroth rises from out of the ground. Sephiroth asks Cloud who he is. Surprised, Cloud questions how Sephiroth does not remember him. Sephiroth then soars into Cloud and flies off-screen, triggering a battle against Jenova∙BIRTH, who disguised itself as Sephiroth.

Later, the party first encounters the actual Sephiroth in the Shinra Basement where he invites Cloud to the Reunion. Sephiroth also claims to be the "chosen one", believing he is a descendant of the Ancients destined to rule the Planet. The party eventually learns that Sephiroth is seeking the Black Materia at the Temple of the Ancients, and follow him there. There, Sephiroth reveals that his plan is to drain the Planet of its energy with the aid of the Black Materia and its cataclysmic power named Meteor. Sephiroth tells them his plans to summon Meteor, which would significantly damage the Planet. If this occurs, the Lifestream would gather, and Sephiroth would merge with it, giving him god-like powers. After the Temple of the Ancients turns into Black Materia, Sephiroth controls Cloud against his will to surrender the Black Materia to him.

Meanwhile, Aeris travels to the Forgotten Capital, trying to find a way to stop Sephiroth. When Cloud and the party arrives, they find Aeris praying on the central altar. Sephiroth puts Cloud under his control once again and tries to make him strike Aeris with his sword, which is unsuccessful. The party helps Cloud break free from Sephiroth's control. Sephiroth descends from the ceiling and runs his sword through Aeris, killing her.

Optionally, if Vincent Valentine is in the party, there are two separate events that occur in which the party learns who Sephiroth's real biological mother and father is; they can visit Crystal Cave to learn that Sephiroth's true mother is Lucrecia Crescent, who had visions of her son's madness and encased herself in mako crystals, and during boss fight with Hojo, they may learn that Hojo is Sephiroth's biological father.

When the party reaches the North Crater, they find Sephiroth in his true form encased in mako. Cloud learns the truth of his memories, and his mind, in its weakened state, allows him to be easily controlled by Sephiroth. He once again unwillingly relinquishes the Black Materia to Sephiroth, who then successfully summons Meteor and establishes an energy barrier.

Later, Rufus uses the Sister Ray to destroy the Diamond Weapon and destroy a barrier blocking a path into North Crater. Upon re-entering North Crater, Cloud and the party engage Sephiroth, who manifests himself as Bizzaro Sephiroth and attacks. Upon being weakened, he transforms again into Safer Sephiroth, an angelic figure. After being defeated again, Sephiroth's spirit makes a final mental assault upon Cloud within the Lifestream. However, Cloud has already rediscovered himself and Sephiroth is unable to attack. Using Omnislash, Cloud easily dispatches Sephiroth and leaves the Lifestream. The Lifestream then successfully destroys Meteor and saves the Planet.

Ehrgeiz
Sephiroth is a playable character in Ehrgeiz, along with other Final Fantasy VII characters. In the game, Sephiroth is playable both in his normal appearance and in the shirtless version that Cloud confronts alone at the end of Final Fantasy VII.

Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, like every other Final Fantasy character, Sephiroth is developed as an entirely different character. He appears as an optional boss in the game's arena setting using his various techniques from Final Fantasy VII. Among these techniques are the infamous "Heartless Angel" (also known as "Fallen One") spell, as well as techniques exclusive to Kingdom Hearts. A new orchestration of "One-Winged Angel" serves as the background music for this battle.

In Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Sephiroth has a verbal conversation with Cloud in speech bubbles in which Sephiroth taunts Cloud about the darkness within him. Another notable deviance from Final Fantasy VII is that Sephiroth's eyes are blue and he wields the Masamune with his right hand instead of his left.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, Sephiroth is featured in another optional boss battle. In this title, his role is expanded beyond its sub-quest status in the original game as he makes an appearance during the main story of the game. He is also involved in a sub-plot involving Cloud Strife, whom Sora met in the first game. Sephiroth's history is not revealed, though he is said to be the manifestation of the darkness in Cloud's heart. Sephiroth states that he has fallen many times to Cloud, but always came back to fight again, suggesting that he has been defeated various times before the main story of Kingdom Hearts. During the game, Sora can choose to fight him alone as an optional boss battle in which Sephiroth displays the ability to control the powers of darkness. When he is defeated, he calls Sora very skilled, and instructs him to tell Cloud to come before him to settle things. He then engages Cloud in battle, continually telling him that he will never let go of the darkness. Tifa eventually appears and gives Cloud her light to help him fight. He and Sephiroth then fight again and disappear in a flash of white light. Then Tifa gives Sora the "Fenrir Blade" and continues to look for Cloud once more.

In the game, Sephiroth wields the Masamune with his left hand, and his eye color is greener than in the original game.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
In the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, it has been two years following the defeat of Sephiroth, and a disease known as "geostigma" has spread throughout the world, afflicting many with its ill symptoms of extreme fatigue and open sores on the skin. The now reclusive Cloud finds himself confronted by a strange trio of silver-haired brothers who are the Remnants of Sephiroth, physical manifestations of Sephiroth's will and spiritual energy.

Their leader, Kadaj, later transforms into Sephiroth after absorbing Jenova's head. After his resurrection, Sephiroth reveals that he has been using geostigma in a plan to corrupt the Lifestream and grant him control of the entire Planet. He and Cloud then engage in a duel, in which Sephiroth displays enormous power. Despite being outmatched, Cloud defeats him with his new Limit Break, causing Sephiroth to fade away.

Last Order: Final Fantasy VII
In Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, set five years before Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth and Zack receive orders to investigate a Shinra research mansion and a mako reactor near Nibelheim after they complete their mission to stop Genesis Rhapsodos. Upon investigating the mansion, Sephiroth discovers his disturbing origins as an integral experiment in the Jenova Project. Utterly confused and still believing Jenova to be his mother, he soon comes to believe that he is the last of the Cetra. This drives him to emotionally driven madness, leading him to destroy Nibelheim and embark to retrieve his "mother."

Zack pursues Sephiroth and arrives at the reactor to stop him, only to be soundly defeated. While finally liberating Jenova, Sephiroth is caught off-guard and stabbed from behind by Cloud, who is armed with Zack's Buster Sword. Sephiroth exits the chamber with Jenova's severed head while Cloud follows. However, Cloud is impaled by Sephiroth, who is annoyed with his persistence to apprehend him. Unlike both Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth willingly leaps with Jenova's head into the reactor core, where he travels the Lifestream to the Northern Cave. There, he plots to absorb the planet's energy in an attempt to achieve godhood, while the world believes him to be dead, until the events of Final Fantasy VII.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, many of the events in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII are explained in greater depth. It is revealed that Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis Rhaspodos were experimented on at the fetal stages with Alien cells that gave great power (Sephiroth was given Jenova cells, Angeal's mother Gillian was given injected with Jenova cells while she was pregnant with Angeal, while Genesis was given G-Cells or Gillian cells some time after the project Angeal became successful and Angeal was born). Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal all became good friends in their youth. Eventually, they all became first class Soldiers with Sephiroth being the strongest and most influential of all. Eventually, Genesis challenged Sephiroth to a duel, ignoring Angeal's pleads to stop, on top of a hologram of the Junon Cannon. Sephiroth easily shrugs off Genesis' attacks and slices the cannon to pieces in the process. Angeal succeeded in stopping their fight, however Genesis impulsively tries one final attack with magic resulting in a shoulder injury with Angeal´s sword. After Genesis left SOLDIER, Sephiroth ended up working with Zack several times and began to develop a friendship with him, which continued after Angeal left SOLDIER as well. Sephiroth goes insane soon after Zack conquers Genesis while on a mission in Nibelheim with Zack and his grunt friend, Cloud Strife. Sephiroth severs Jenova's head and defeats Zack but is stopped by Cloud, who stabs him with the Buster Sword. Sephiroth impales Cloud with the Masamune, but is thrown into the Lifestream by Cloud, as in the original game.

Itadaki Street series
In Itadaki Street Special and Itadaki Street Portable, Sephiroth appears as an unlockable playable character.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sephiroth was released as the third fighter of Fighters Pass Vol. 2, following Min Min and Steve. During held on December 10, 2020, Sephiroth was announced as the fighter for Challenger Pack 8. A follow-up broadcast hosted by Masahiro Sakurai on December 17, 2020, further showcased his moves and his home stage, the Northern Cave. The pack released officially on December 22, 2020, though from December 17 until its release, if the player purchased the individual pack or Fighters Pass Vol. 2 and updated the game to version 10.0.0, they could partake in the Sephiroth Challenge event, in which their fighter fights Sephiroth in a Stamina battle on the Northern Cave stage on Easy, Normal, or Very Hard difficulty. If the player defeated Sephiroth on any difficulty, they would unlock him, the stage, and its music early.

The reveal trailer for Sephiroth takes place during the events of the World of Light, emerging during a fight between various characters and Galeem and several Master Hands. Unlike all of the other characters in-game, he is the only playable character that seems to not join forces with the cast; however, he cuts Galeem in half right before his appearance, seemingly being against both separate parties. Cloud then recognizes Sephiroth upon his appearance. After brief gameplay footage, Sephiroth is seen attempting to stab through Mario (a reference to his actions towards Cloud during the Nibelheim Incident flashback in the original game as well as a similar action in their duel in ), which is then interrupted by Cloud, and the two begin swordfighting.

Sephiroth is considerably lighter than previous DLC fighters; he is lighter than Meta Knight and Zero Suit Samus but heavier than Sheik, while having the same weight as Kirby, Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Olimar.

Sephiroth's Classic Mode route is titled, "The Chosen Ones". All of Sephiroth's opponents are bosses, making his Classic Mode route similar to Boss Battles mode from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * Classic Mode route

Trivia

 * Part of Sephiroth's name is actually mentioned in Final Fantasy Tactics. As a secret character, Cloud Strife is brought into the game's setting (Ivalice) by a device called "the Celestrial Globe". His first line after arriving is "What's this? My fingers are tingling... My eyes...they're burning... Stop...stop it.... phiros...." Though the part of his name that is mentioned reads as "-phiros" rather than "-phiroth," this is a translation error due to the interchangeability between "th" and "su" when transliterating to and from Japanese.
 * In Final Fantasy VII, excluding cut scenes and character art, and in Kingdom Hearts, Sephiroth is depicted holding his sword, the Masamune, in his right hand. However, in Ehrgeiz, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and Kingdom Hearts II, he is shown with the sword in his left hand. In Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, his eyes have also been changed from green to blue and he has one wing in Kingdom Hearts and two in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * In the Final Fantasy VII: Ultimania Omega guidebook, Sephiroth's infamous "Supernova" attack is listed in the article on Limit Breaks, implying that it is not a spell or a summon, but rather Sephiroth's own unique Limit Break. It is unavailable, however, when Sephiroth briefly joins the player's party during the Nibelheim flashback, and is not used by Sephiroth when he appears as an enemy except when he is in his Safer∙Sephiroth incarnation.