Look at him. Look at how proud he is of his little bro.
“Very special”. Look at him trying to hype Seph up. Look at him being so supportive. I love how Glenn started out not liking baby Seph at all and yet now every time Sephiroth just stands there existing in the background Glenn is immediately just like
nobody:
absolutely nobody:
glenn:
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I’M DYING ASEDRFGHJHGFD
YOU OFFERED IF ANYONE ASKS.
SO I'M ASKING.
GENESIS RABBITSODOS (specifically human Gen petting buns, maybe a grumpy blond, a giant friendly black one or two, or a fancy silver hare) 🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇
FFVII Rebirth introduces something never extensively explored in the original game or in the compilation of Final Fantasy VII: Sephiroth’s anger towards Professor Gast’s experiment and the contempt he came to harbor towards ShinRA as an organization.
(Herein lurk spoilers.)
While the latter is something the fans have glimpsed on and off throughout previous installments, the second part of the Remake amplifies it ever so more. What began as admitting that the company had fabricated his legend and expressing a desire to live a normal life in Ever Crisis gradually transforms into a lack of clarity regarding his reasons for fighting in Before Crisis (as prompted by Elfe), followed by an open disgust towards Hojo’s and Hollander’s experiments when confronted with Mako pod entities during the hunt for Genesis. Sephiroth and Zack’s ordeal during Crisis Core events appears to undercut his willingness to stay, as he famously considers leaving the corporation right before embarking on the ill-fated Nibelheim expedition.
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FFVIIRb picks off where we left off, painting a more complete picture of Sephiroth’s dissatisfaction with ShinRA overall. Interestingly, one of the discarded sequences from the original game featured Sephiroth hinting at his lack of affection for his employer as early as the truck ride.
Narratively, the sequence spans the gap between OG and Crisis Core’s departure cutscene, implying that Sephiroth used the time on the road to reflect on his current and future connection with ShinRA. His companion, however, does not appear to understand why he is bringing the topic up. What distinguishes Rebirth is the suggestion that Sephiroth came to view the entire ShinRA system as a problem, rather than just a few rotten apples. He no longer singles out Hojo, but rather the entire ShinRA branch, indicating that something’s wrong with the system. When “Cloud” casually inquires about the problem with the Nibelheim reactor, Sephiroth responds that it is “people who run it,” adding that this particular site is controlled by the Research and Development department. In addition, in response to “Cloud’s” fair comment regrading the lack of transparency in company’s operation, he rather sarcastically suggests to bring the issue with the President, thus implicitly conveying the futility of the endeavor.
When the party encounters Mako pod residents, one can detect genuine rage in his voice. While Sephiroth had previously shown bitterness for the test subjects during CC, it was tinged with disgust/pity rather than wrath. And once again, I’m grateful to Tyler Hoechlin for broadening his range in this particular segment.
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“Cloud’s” reaction to the contents of the pods, however, came off a little weird. The confusion appears out of place, because Zack had seen it all before — he had been there to watch the aftermath of Hollander’s work; is it really odd that ShinRA’s chief R&D scientist spearheaded the entire thing? Perhaps, unlike Sephiroth, Zack treated it as a rotten-apple issue, rather than a systemic issue. Or maybe this is an example of Cloud being an unreliable narrator, having conflated his own experience with that of Zack, which also explains Zack being sort of too green for the First Class throughout the Nibelheim portion of the game.
The shift in Sephiroth’s perspective, from singling out Hojo’s misdeeds to viewing ShinRA’s itself as a systemic problem, is further highlighted during the mansion segment. This is no longer a strictly Hollander or Hojo issue. Human experimentation formed the fundamental core of what ShinRA is now, and those were approved from the very top. As Sephiroth puts it with barely concealed disgust, as soon as the company realized what had fallen into their hands, they became ambitious.
The wording also strikes a contrast to how he used to refer to the company in the past; as such, when Angeal deserts, Sephiroth states that Angeal has betrayed “US”, which points at both his personal connection to the person and the fact that Sephiroth likely saw himself as part of ShinRA circle. In the library, however, he distances himself by referring to the company as THEM, thus no longer perceiving himself as a part of it.
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More important still is the rage he expresses when quoting excerpts from Gast’s notes. The anger is new, never before seen touch. Sephiroth has been portrayed in the moment differently throughout earlier installments — dejected, perhaps overwhelmed, but never angry enough to snarl and nearly flip the table.
And it’s wonderful. It’s authentic, and it makes sense. It makes you question how much of that rage has been bottled up, compartmentalized, and never fully processed throughout the years. That rage should have existed, but was suppressed by ShinRA, before becoming internalized and sealed.
The scene is extremely on point on another level as well. As the flash of rage passes, and Sephiroth looks away, hiding eyes behind bangs — a gesture previously briefly appearing in Crisis Core.
One could interpret the body language as being ashamed and unwilling to show his composure cracking. Even in this state he KNOWS he wasn’t supposed to let anyone see hurt or anger, wasn’t supposed to lose cool. The “wonder child” and the “poster boy” is not to be seen as something other than “efficacious” and “collected”. The habit of suppressing displays of emotion or physical/psychological ailment had apparently become a part of himself. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to deduce why the habit persists. The internalized compulsion to live up to the expectations placed on him by ShinRA and the myth it imposed on his character, as well as the internalized imperative not to reveal to someone like Hojo — anyone— the extent to which their acts or words affect him. There’s also another layer to this shame — one of being an artificial creation, but that’s for another write up.
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The anger towards Gast differs greatly from the way Sephiroth went “Why didn’t you tell me?” in previous iterations of the Nibelheim incident. In retrospect, Gast’s supervision of the project, involvement in Sephiroth’s life, and unexpected departure seem like a betrayal. Gast had not only abandoned Sephiroth, who had likely come to see him as a salient figure in his youth, but had also been lying to him all along, until finally discarding him, as Sephiroth might believe. Gast therefore falls from grace, becoming yet another person who misled, attempted to exploit, and eventually abandoned him to deal with the consequences on his own.
I kid lmao!! I actually live in the suburbs, so I don’t really have all too much experience with either 😂 Tho I think I’ma have to go for the banjos and yeehaws and the beautiful swathes of land that come with the open country!
Saw this making rounds on Twitter…
I mean uh…Cloud? Buddy? Maybe you should rephrase that statement because uh 👀👀
*puts cucumber behind sephiroth*
Anonymous
-In a meeting-
Sephiroth: “For today’s status report briefing, I’d like to turn your attention to our recent casualty numbers. If you go to Page 6 of the document, you’ll see a detailed graph compiled to distinguish a notable shift in our previous field findings. It’s roughly a ten percent increase from last month’s numbers, though I am confident that the number will significantly improve thanks to Director Lazard’s newly implemented safety catalog. We’re currently still in the process of distribution on those. Here’s a small sample of copy we’ve recently approved for our newer recruits. If you have a look here on the screen, I’ve put together a brief surv–”
Zack: Gets pissy the second people so much as SUGGEST that he should have no problem with this dare since, you know, puppy. Come on, guys. This joke is getting REALLY old. Mondo uncool. He storms off in a huff almost right away and lets the others look like complete idiots in his place.
Angeal: Keeps trying to do as little as press the tip of his tongue to the sludge and keeps giggling nervously while pulling away. Nah, fam. Consider him a complete chicken. He will accept his L with pride.
Genesis: Keeps goading everyone but when it’s HIS turn he keeps making petty excuses or pretends to eat but is not, in fact, actually eating. And REALLY now, darling, someone of his beauty and status shouldn’t be soiling their delicate poet’s tongue by chowing down on mongrel slop just to fulfill a stupid dare.
Sephiroth: Pulls out a fork and immediately eats it without hesitation, much to the disgust and shock of everyone else. Sephiroth shrugs, untroubled. Better than Shinra food, honestly. Or the nasty stuff from the labs he was forced to stomach. In wartimes like these, you can’t be picky.
would Sephiroth have been better off with his grandparents (on either side)
Anonymous
Sephiroth would not have liked his maternal grandparents (or in this case, his maternal grandma) at all. Lucrecia never had a good relationship with her mother and Sephiroth would have easily picked up on the ugly, resentful feelings permeating around the room just in being around the older woman. He would have been very bitter towards her, and probably would have blamed her for Lucrecia’s flaws as a person (despite Lucrecia’s flaws being her own).
As for Hojo’s parents, Sephiroth would have liked them. Hojo cut them out so there was really no way for them to have ever met. But Sephiroth would have taken to them very well, especially since they would be preferable to living with Hojo.
BONUS: Sephiroth would have ADORED Grimoire and would have hung around him constantly. And maybe would have even followed in Grimoire’s footsteps to study properties of Chaos and Omega.
Hi there! Name's Alto. She/Her and most likely having an anxiety attack rn. I laughably fancy myself a storyteller. Currently obsessed with Final Fantasy 7 and all things Sephiroth/Crisis Core. Author of A Monster's Threads on AO3.
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Anonymous
