Final Fantasy Sephiroth Sword Views

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Sephiroth (セフィロス, Sefirosu?) is a fictional character in the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII developed by Square Co. Introduced there as the main antagonist, character designer Tetsuya Nomura wanted his role in the story to be different from the other Final Fantasy villains while his design is intended to contrast directly with that of the main character, Cloud Strife. His Japanese voice actor is Toshiyuki Morikawa;[1] in English, he was first voiced by Lance Bass in Kingdom Hearts and by George Newbern in all his subsequent appearances.[2][3]

In Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth is the result of an experiment by the mega-corporation Shinra, in which they used cells from the extraterrestrial lifeform Jenova. Feeling he is better than humanity, Sephiroth decides to become a god to take control of the planet; Cloud and the game's other protagonists choose to stop him. Sephiroth's role in the story as well as his background are expanded in the titles from Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Additionally, he appears as a boss character in the Kingdom Hearts series, and other video games developed by the same company.

Sephiroth has been well-received within the video game community, and is regularly featured in top positions on many villain lists, as well as lists of Final Fantasy characters. While his role in the story has been praised, many websites commented on how difficult it is to defeat Sephiroth in the games he appears in. Various types of merchandise based on his appearance have been developed, such as figurines.

Illustrator Yoshitaka Amano and Nomura drew the artwork of Sephiroth. He has long platinum hair and bright cyan eyes with cat-like pupils, and is portrayed in a black coat decorated with metallic pauldrons. Since appearing as Safer Sephiroth, Sephiroth has had a black angel wing on his back which references the theme music One Winged Angel .[10] When Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was released, the staff stated that the reason for the wing's color being black was based on the notions of evil.[11] Nomura has stated that Sephiroth was made to be a complete contrast to the game's main protagonist, Cloud's original designs of slicked-back, black hair with no spikes.[12] His weapon, the Masamune, which has been featured in numerous Final Fantasy titles, is an impossibly long katana that he learned to use during his days in SOLDIER.[13] The Masamune is named after the famous Japanese swordsmith Goro Nyudo Masamune, whose blades are considered national treasures in Japan today.[14]