This is my Sephiroth villain theory. People say that Sephiroth is just naturally evil and others say that he's possessed by JENOVA (I have even heard absurd ideas that Vincent manipulates Sephiroth into becoming evil). What do I think? I would have to say that I lean more towards the possession theory. Why? It seems to make more sense in the end. Although you can find evidence to support just about any hypothesis you can come up with, people will or will not listen to you depending on the stability of your evidence/argument.
I will use the theory that Vincent is behind everything as an example of this (I will say before I begin that this person admitted himself that his idea was ridiculous). He stated that when Sephiroth was alone in the basement reading the archives, that Vincent was the only one down there to have manipulated him. However, later in the game you find out that Vincent was not and could not have been awake at this time. Hojo put Vincent into something very similar to a cryogenic freeze, making it impossible for him to wake up on his own. Sephiroth would have had to have the key to enter the crypt (he no doubt could have busted the door down but then who knows if it would ever get fixed and when you get to the basement years later the door is intact and Vincent is still asleep). It would have been impossible for Sephiroth to get the key due to the guard, and even if he had gotten to the safe and had unlocked it, he would have had to have fought Lost Number before you. You also find out that Sephiroth did not need someone directly manipulating him because all of the books in the library that were planted by Hojo to drive Sephiroth into the suicidal rage that causes him to try and become a god.
You see? There's more that I could say but now I'm going to get to the main point of this article. Sephiroth could have easily been influenced by the JENOVA cells directly in his body (he is, effectively, pure JENOVA in a mans body) then you might ask why JENOVA didn't take over sooner? This can be explained by the fact that JENOVA was trapped in stasis until Sephiroth cut off and escaped with its head. The consciousness within Sephiroth remained dormant but not unnoticed by Sephiroth until the traumatic knowledge he gains in the library. After this he frees the main JENOVA consciousness and unleashes a force more powerful than we ever see in the game. If you've ever played Final Fantasy 7 then you probably know about the JENOVA bosses that you have to fight. They're pretty easy for the most part; even Jenova-Sythesis was a piece of cake if you were over level 60 (or had Knights of the Round). JENOVA is not strong physically, but mentally. When Sephiroth freed the head and was nearly killed by Cloud in the process JENOVA was able to completely take over Sephiroth's shell. He still has the same personality, he may not have even been aware of the change but he was still totally under JENOVA's control.
Another loose end that I need to tie up is why Hojo falsified Sephiroth's entire life. There's no one true answer to this question. Some would say that it was part of one of Hojo's experiments. As far as I can tell this is one of the more widely accepted ideas. I however, have a different theory. I think that when Shinra first discovered JENOVA they needed to test its properties on someone. Knowing how Hojo delighted in using human test subjects it would not surprise me if Hojo actually infected himself with JENOVA cells. He was then manipulated into doing what he did throughout the rest of the game. When you fight Hojo near the end he tells you that he has injected JENOVA cells into himself but he never tells you when he did it. This would explain a lot, like how he understands so many things in the game that no one else does and how he can guess what JENOVA will do.
This also explains the almost overnight change in Sephiroth's personality from a cold, somewhat depressed, extremely powerful army general to angry, suicidal, and egotistical killer maniac. This also explains how Sephiroth survived the fall into the lifestream. No normal human, not even one with JENOVA cells could have survived that. Even Cloud, the strongest Sephiroth clone ever created was nearly killed by only a short sojourn through the lifestream. Another thing that this helps to explain is how Sephiroth knew so much. Like Hojo he seemed to know just about everything, and most of this stuff was not written in any book. The only difference between Hojo and Sephiroth is the number of JENOVA cells in each; in fact I would say that because JENOVA is in possession of Sephiroth's it is drawing directly from its knowledge of the past.
Then we must ask ourselves how Sephiroth/JENOVA is controlling the Sephiroth clones and why they aren't controlling the SOLDIER agents who also have JENOVA cells in their body. First of all I don't think that Sephiroth is really doing the controlling, I think that JENOVA is in charge. I think that there are two reasons that SOLDIER didn't leave its post in the middle of the game to go and follow voices. The first is that the Sephiroth clones have a MUCH higher concentration of JENOVA cells, making them more useful. They're almost exact duplicates of the original Sephiroth that means that the cells in them are only slightly diluted. The other reason is that it would probably look a little strange to see the entire Navy SEALS special forces just get up one day and start walking toward what looks like Iraq mumbling something about helping out over there. I think that JENOVA didn't want any unwanted publicity so it instead used and then discarded the clones.
Something that confuses many people is how Sephiroth can be trapped within a pure mako crystal in North Cave and still be walking around. It is not technically Sephiroth walking around, it is actually one of his clones being controlled by JENOVA to do its bidding. It can choose the most powerful out of the clones and use it until it no longer has any power left, and then discard it. Near the end the last, I will refer to it as Prime Sephiroth actually turns on the weaker drones that have had all of their energy used up. This is I think JENOVA either trying to hide its location or trying to keep out the weaker cells imbedded in the clones.
Another thing that makes possession seem likely is what Hojo did for JENOVA. When JENOVA first came to that planet it was very powerful, it nearly wiped out the entire Centra race. However it still had one weakness, the fact that its entity was held within one body, that is why it could be trapped. Hojo fixed this by spreading the cells throughout SOLDIER and by making Sephiroth clones; this is JENOVA ensuring that it will not be trapped again.
When you fight Sephiroth at the end you see him change just as Hojo did into a creature that looks much like JENOVA-Birth/Life/Death. After you kill Bizarro-Sephiroth he dies again and the JENOVA cells within him become more concentrated, more pure as more of the human in him dies. This brings to life Safer-Sephiroth. Easily the most powerful boss that you are required to fight (he has nothing on Emerald or Ruby-WEAPON unless you're at level 99). This is just like Hojo's transformation only Sephiroth is more powerful. And then, if you defeat him again your mind will be pulled directly inside of itself. I think that JENOVA simply doesn't want to die. Cloud is the only one powerful enough to keep the JENOVA entity alive within him so it tries to take over his mind and uses the form of Sephiroth to do this. Within his own mind he sees a large golden orb (there is A LOT of speculation on this subject so I won't go into it)...anyway, he finds Sephiroth waiting for him. This Sephiroth is the work of every JENOVA cell in Cloud's body. When you destroy this Sephiroth with Omnislash JENOVA and what was left of the original Sephiroth die. The cells within the SOLDIER's die as well (quote from the Matrix, "how can the body live without the mind"). These are the reasons that I would support the possession theory. Please leave any comments in the review area.
I will use the theory that Vincent is behind everything as an example of this (I will say before I begin that this person admitted himself that his idea was ridiculous). He stated that when Sephiroth was alone in the basement reading the archives, that Vincent was the only one down there to have manipulated him. However, later in the game you find out that Vincent was not and could not have been awake at this time. Hojo put Vincent into something very similar to a cryogenic freeze, making it impossible for him to wake up on his own. Sephiroth would have had to have the key to enter the crypt (he no doubt could have busted the door down but then who knows if it would ever get fixed and when you get to the basement years later the door is intact and Vincent is still asleep). It would have been impossible for Sephiroth to get the key due to the guard, and even if he had gotten to the safe and had unlocked it, he would have had to have fought Lost Number before you. You also find out that Sephiroth did not need someone directly manipulating him because all of the books in the library that were planted by Hojo to drive Sephiroth into the suicidal rage that causes him to try and become a god.
You see? There's more that I could say but now I'm going to get to the main point of this article. Sephiroth could have easily been influenced by the JENOVA cells directly in his body (he is, effectively, pure JENOVA in a mans body) then you might ask why JENOVA didn't take over sooner? This can be explained by the fact that JENOVA was trapped in stasis until Sephiroth cut off and escaped with its head. The consciousness within Sephiroth remained dormant but not unnoticed by Sephiroth until the traumatic knowledge he gains in the library. After this he frees the main JENOVA consciousness and unleashes a force more powerful than we ever see in the game. If you've ever played Final Fantasy 7 then you probably know about the JENOVA bosses that you have to fight. They're pretty easy for the most part; even Jenova-Sythesis was a piece of cake if you were over level 60 (or had Knights of the Round). JENOVA is not strong physically, but mentally. When Sephiroth freed the head and was nearly killed by Cloud in the process JENOVA was able to completely take over Sephiroth's shell. He still has the same personality, he may not have even been aware of the change but he was still totally under JENOVA's control.
Another loose end that I need to tie up is why Hojo falsified Sephiroth's entire life. There's no one true answer to this question. Some would say that it was part of one of Hojo's experiments. As far as I can tell this is one of the more widely accepted ideas. I however, have a different theory. I think that when Shinra first discovered JENOVA they needed to test its properties on someone. Knowing how Hojo delighted in using human test subjects it would not surprise me if Hojo actually infected himself with JENOVA cells. He was then manipulated into doing what he did throughout the rest of the game. When you fight Hojo near the end he tells you that he has injected JENOVA cells into himself but he never tells you when he did it. This would explain a lot, like how he understands so many things in the game that no one else does and how he can guess what JENOVA will do.
This also explains the almost overnight change in Sephiroth's personality from a cold, somewhat depressed, extremely powerful army general to angry, suicidal, and egotistical killer maniac. This also explains how Sephiroth survived the fall into the lifestream. No normal human, not even one with JENOVA cells could have survived that. Even Cloud, the strongest Sephiroth clone ever created was nearly killed by only a short sojourn through the lifestream. Another thing that this helps to explain is how Sephiroth knew so much. Like Hojo he seemed to know just about everything, and most of this stuff was not written in any book. The only difference between Hojo and Sephiroth is the number of JENOVA cells in each; in fact I would say that because JENOVA is in possession of Sephiroth's it is drawing directly from its knowledge of the past.
Then we must ask ourselves how Sephiroth/JENOVA is controlling the Sephiroth clones and why they aren't controlling the SOLDIER agents who also have JENOVA cells in their body. First of all I don't think that Sephiroth is really doing the controlling, I think that JENOVA is in charge. I think that there are two reasons that SOLDIER didn't leave its post in the middle of the game to go and follow voices. The first is that the Sephiroth clones have a MUCH higher concentration of JENOVA cells, making them more useful. They're almost exact duplicates of the original Sephiroth that means that the cells in them are only slightly diluted. The other reason is that it would probably look a little strange to see the entire Navy SEALS special forces just get up one day and start walking toward what looks like Iraq mumbling something about helping out over there. I think that JENOVA didn't want any unwanted publicity so it instead used and then discarded the clones.
Something that confuses many people is how Sephiroth can be trapped within a pure mako crystal in North Cave and still be walking around. It is not technically Sephiroth walking around, it is actually one of his clones being controlled by JENOVA to do its bidding. It can choose the most powerful out of the clones and use it until it no longer has any power left, and then discard it. Near the end the last, I will refer to it as Prime Sephiroth actually turns on the weaker drones that have had all of their energy used up. This is I think JENOVA either trying to hide its location or trying to keep out the weaker cells imbedded in the clones.
Another thing that makes possession seem likely is what Hojo did for JENOVA. When JENOVA first came to that planet it was very powerful, it nearly wiped out the entire Centra race. However it still had one weakness, the fact that its entity was held within one body, that is why it could be trapped. Hojo fixed this by spreading the cells throughout SOLDIER and by making Sephiroth clones; this is JENOVA ensuring that it will not be trapped again.
When you fight Sephiroth at the end you see him change just as Hojo did into a creature that looks much like JENOVA-Birth/Life/Death. After you kill Bizarro-Sephiroth he dies again and the JENOVA cells within him become more concentrated, more pure as more of the human in him dies. This brings to life Safer-Sephiroth. Easily the most powerful boss that you are required to fight (he has nothing on Emerald or Ruby-WEAPON unless you're at level 99). This is just like Hojo's transformation only Sephiroth is more powerful. And then, if you defeat him again your mind will be pulled directly inside of itself. I think that JENOVA simply doesn't want to die. Cloud is the only one powerful enough to keep the JENOVA entity alive within him so it tries to take over his mind and uses the form of Sephiroth to do this. Within his own mind he sees a large golden orb (there is A LOT of speculation on this subject so I won't go into it)...anyway, he finds Sephiroth waiting for him. This Sephiroth is the work of every JENOVA cell in Cloud's body. When you destroy this Sephiroth with Omnislash JENOVA and what was left of the original Sephiroth die. The cells within the SOLDIER's die as well (quote from the Matrix, "how can the body live without the mind"). These are the reasons that I would support the possession theory. Please leave any comments in the review area.