Sephiroth is perhaps the greatest character ever created, and if you disagree then you shouldn't have come to the Reunion. Hardcore Sephy fans only please. Anyway, If you're a hardcore fan and you still don't know the real deal, then sit down- you'll be here awhile.
When we are first introduced to Sephiroth, he is meerly a name. Barret and co. are to busy destroying the mako reactors to worry about anything else. But that all changes once they make it to the ShinRan building, and come face-to face with a headless Jenova. Cloud just about has a heart attack at the sight. Then a terrible thing happens (ok, it's not really terrible) President Shinra is killed. Blood is covering the floors, and everyone is dead. Jenova's body is missing, and Sephiroth's sword is found sticking out of the President's body. You learn from the other characters that only he can use that sword, that he has never been seen crying or bleeding (what a man! *swoon*) and that Red XII has only heard his name before.
After you leave Midgar, and make it to Kalm (after that annoying fight with Motorball ><) Cloud begins to tell you what he considers, the truth....what happened 5 years ago.
Cloud's Story
Sephiroth, Cloud, and a few ShinRa soldiers make their way to the mako reactor at Nibelhiem. Why? Strange creatures have been coming from the reactor. As Sephiroth tells Cloud what's going on, the truck is attacked. Sephiroth simply states "That would be our monster" Then they battle, whille Cloud is basically helpless, Sephiroth destroys the beast with one blow-piece of cake. They continue their way to Nibelhiem. Here you learn that Sephiroth believes that his mother is Jenova, he doesn't know his father, and he has no hometown (a sad but untrue story) Cloud explores the town, visting his mom, and Tifa's house. The next day they make their way to the reactor, with Tifa as their guide. The bridge breaks, and they lose a soldier. Quote from Sephiroth - "It may sound cold, but we've got no time to stop and look for him" See? He wasn't always a bad guy. Anyway, they make it to the reactor, and Sephiroth demands that Tifa stay outside with the remaining soldier. Cloud and Sephiroth go inside. One of the pods has a broken valve, Cloud fixes it, and then inspects the creature inside. Sephiroth tells him that all members of Soldier have been exposed to a form of mako, explaining the whole' mako eyes' thing. But these creatures inside the pods have been exposed to a large amount of mako. Much more than the average Soldier member. Sephiroth notices that amongst the pods, there is a room with the title Jenova. Sephiroth mentions again that his mother's name is Jenova, could this be a considence? One of the pods bursts open, and a horrible thing comes out of it, a thing that was once human. Then Cloud asks a stupid question "What about you?" Sephiroth thinks about this for awhile, and realizes that Cloud's got a point. He is different from the others, he says that he's always felt different from the others, ever since he was small. He then starts destroying the pods, questioning himself "Was I created this way too?" He leaves Cloud, and locks himself in the ShinRa mansion. Cloud goes to check up on him, only to find Sephiroth engrossed in the books. Later on, when Cloud returns to the basement, Sephiroth is not the same. He laughs at Cloud and calls him a traitor. In the books that he had read, he learned that Jenova was an ancient, and that he is an ancient. Meteor attacked the planet, killing off most of the ancients. Sephiroth blames the humans. He storms out of the mansion, and murders everyone in town. (This is the famous flame scene) Cloud chases after Sephiroth back to the Mako Reactor..to find Tifa's father dead, and Tifa crying over him. She picks up Sephiroth's sword and trys to attack him, only to be flung to the floor in disgust by Sephiroth. Sephiroth makes his way up the stairs to his mother, Jenova. There, he pulls her out of her prision, beats up Cloud, and leaves.
The Truth
First off, Cloud never made it into Soldier, he was simply an average ShinRa soldier, and Zack, he was present in Cloud's place. At the Nibelhiem reactor, it's Zack who goes inside the reactor, and Cloud who waits outside with Tifa. Another difference is, when Sephiroth beats Zack and throws him to the side, Cloud pulls off his mask and picks up Zack's sword. He runs up to Sephiroth and stabs him, causing Sephiroth to fall into the lifestream under him. There, he is encased in mako...sleeping if you will. Cloud blacks out, and can't remember any more.
So why is it that Cloud has 'mako eyes' if he never made it into Soldier? Well, Zack and Cloud are found by ShinRa, and put in tanks for testing...thet are both then exposed to large amounts of mako. They become guinea pigs. One day, at 'feeding time' Zack breaks free, kills the guards, and breaks Cloud free too. Zack also gives Cloud an extra one of his uniforms, that explains why they look alike. They flee for Midgar, Cloud barely consious, but are attacked by ShinRa, and Zack is shot. The ShinRa don't find Cloud as a threat, and leave him. Cloud regains consiousness, picks up Zack's sword, and carries on to Midgar.
Now about Sephiroth....he isn't really an ancient. Jenova isn't really an ancient. Jenova was on meteor, she was the reason all the ancients were wiped out. Basically, she's a planet hoping virus. She infected the planet, and all the Ancients died trying to heal the planet. Sephiroth's real mother is Luceria, and his father? Professor Hojo. Hojo thought to try and re-create Jenova, by injecting her cells into Luceria whille she was pregnant with Sephiroth. When you meet Luceria, you learn that the Jenova inside her 'won't let her die' either. Jenova was, in a sense, using Sephiroth to take over the planet. Just like how Sephiroth was using Cloud.
So basically, it's a big misunderstnading...and Hojo is to blame. The reports that Sephiroth read did not contain the proper information, and Sephiroth was never told the truth.
But one mystery still remains unsolved...What happened to the real Sephiroth? He remained encased in mako..until Cloud gave him the black materia.
Sephiroth's Finest Hour
Sephiroth kills Aeris. Sephiroth's plan was to 'become one with the planet' or 'become a god' and to do this, he needed to weaken the planet. That's where the black materia came into play. Using that he summons meteor. But one thing blocked his path to total victory-Aeris. The true remaining ancient. She prays to Holy to save and protect the planet...so Sephiroth kills her (XD) Although he was too late in his deed, it still was his finest hour.
