Sephiroth, Pure evil or Misguided?

Sephiroth - classic protagonist of a classic tragedy, even though he is not the protagonist per se. He is an honourable character, bought down by a single uncontrolled characteristic (his tragic flaw). Sephiroth's tragic flaw (excessive pride, hubris even) is one shared by many tragic heroes over the course of time. I just thought I'd share some food for thought in this thread, without discussing it too in-depth.

From Aristotle, on classic Greek tragedy (bolded for emphasis):

It concerns the fall of a person whose character is good, believable, and consistent.
The fall is caused in part by some error or frailty in the protagonist and not by a vice or depravity (Chapter 13). The Greek term for error or frailty is hamartia, which is sometimes translated as "tragic flaw." The idea of hamartia is that any human being might make mistakes, regardless of social station. We, as an audience of normally imperfect human beings, can thus identify with the hero or heroine, and sympathize with his or her predicament. If the disaster were brought about by evil or viciousness, instead of feeling pity we would be happy to see a villain destroyed....The tragic hero is a character the audience easily identifies with: neither evil nor saintly but somewhere in between, possessing virtues and faults, a character who makes crucial mistakes that begin the process of the tragic fall.
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source: http://www.calvertonschool.org/waldspurger/pages/whatis.htm

Short answer without getting too long: No, Sephiroth is not "pure evil" but he isn't entirely misguided either. Throughout the game we see that the evils he commits are of his own doing. However, this does not make him pure evil. There is a side of humanity to him. He was noble and good, but he was brought down because he could not control his pride. This contrasts directly to Cloud who, similarly had great pride - difference being, he could overcome it, Sephiroth could not. This makes Sephiroth pitiable and human, but not evil.
 
Sephiroth's not evil in the sense that someone like Exdeath or Zeromus is evil. These are beings of pure malice, wanting only to destroy for the sake of destruction. Kefka is "evil" because he lost his mind and became a psychotic nihilist, wanting to destroy life because life was meaningless in his eyes.

Sephiroth, however, is "evil" because he sees himself as the heir to the universe, and that he should rule over the cosmos as a god because of his superiority. He hates Cloud, but only because he was an inferior being yet still managed to best him thrice.

Sephiroth commits evil deeds, but not for the sake of wanton destruction or a desire to cause harm, he just has an extremely overdeveloped ego and feels godhood is owed to him.
 
Misguided. Sure he did some bad things.... some very bad things... but that doesn't make him evil all around. As has been said, he was fine in CC and so on, but he sort of snapped when he found out he was nothing more than a lab rat. Sometimes people just tend to let their emotions get the best of them, and that is all that happened to sephiroth..
 
Sephiroth isn’t evil, but he is completely out of his mind! During the events of Crisis Core he seemed like a relatively normal and level-headed person, but when he discovered that he was essentially born in a test-tube he went absolutely bonkers and started destroying villages in his uncontrollable rage. He wasn’t evil, but he was deranged and slightly psychotic. Kefka from Final Fantasy VI on the other hand is the ultimate personification of pure evil. Kefka takes pleasure in poisoning entire armies and then laughing about it. Back to Sephiroth though, I don’t really blame him for being pissed off – he had lived his entire life under the false fabrication that he was just like everyone else, and then one day he discovers he’s nothing more than a genetic experiment. If anything, I pitty him. Also, his intentions might be extremely bad, but he does it with such composure and elegance I just can’t help but admire him. But no, he isn’t evil. Definitely not.
 
I figured Sephiroth was always a little strange before he locked himself away in the Shinra mansion, he thought Jenova was his mother (who tells him that anyway?) I mean hello? he was being mislead from the beginning.
And seeing Jenova in the reactor and misinterpreting the things he read in the mansion drove him over the edge.
So he isn't evil, just easily lead I'd say.
 
CHIP said:
Sephiroth isn’t evil, but he is completely out of his mind! During the events of Crisis Core he seemed like a relatively normal and level-headed person, but when he discovered that he was essentially born in a test-tube he went absolutely bonkers and started destroying villages in his uncontrollable rage. He wasn’t evil, but he was deranged and slightly psychotic. Kefka from Final Fantasy VI on the other hand is the ultimate personification of pure evil. Kefka takes pleasure in poisoning entire armies and then laughing about it. Back to Sephiroth though, I don’t really blame him for being pissed off – he had lived his entire life under the false fabrication that he was just like everyone else, and then one day he discovers he’s nothing more than a genetic experiment. If anything, I pitty him. Also, his intentions might be extremely bad, but he does it with such composure and elegance I just can’t help but admire him. But no, he isn’t evil. Definitely not.
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I really agree with you! In crisis core he was normal just like anyone on this planet. It is just like us in a sense. Lets say you live such a good life, but you didn't know you had parents and you finally find out that they are extreme druggies or something. I bet you would be reletively sad.... but unlike Sephiroth we don't have as much "power and authority" as he does and he uses it to his advantage. But I agree with you all the way.
 
I kinda pity him really. Its very sad once you get to to see the real motives behind his actions. I do believe he was simply misguided and later blinded by it. He was lied to his entire life. Hojo never bothered to tell him from where he came from or who his real Mother was. I can understand anyone developing hatred over somehting like that. It only surprises me that he would fall into it. Such a strong minded man and he just broke like that. Kinda hard to believe but still understandstandable the way I see it.
He was lied to his entire life and when no one seemed to give him answers then he set out to seek them for him self. I think then is when he became misguided by the many notes that Dr Gast left behind. Seems he didnt really understand them, Maybe that misguidance turned to evil as the story went by. That's a very strong posibiloty in my view point.

~Tifa~
 
i think hes just rather insane from finding out what he really is and went on a rampage because of his insanity.
 
Miguided Definately

I believe Sephiroth is just misguided.
I remember reading something about him being an apparent but false antagonist and Jenova being a hidden but true antagonist and cloud and Seph both being just puppets of Jenova...

but i can't remember where i got it.
I have it printed out and am prepared to type it out and send to anybody via request if they want...:seph:
 
Hi, sorry for entering by the backdoor without first introducing myself properly on the other floor. I have a slow connection today.

Well, I'm a Sephiroth apologist, you get my drift ;).

Just throwing in a word as I love him to pieces...

I'd like to think of him more in terms of symbologies...
He's a symbol. A reminder.
For Shin-Ra, for 'corporate armies' from patriarchal, industrial societies, genetic engineering their 'ultimate soldiers' and having to cope with the forces of chaos unleashed.
A symbol, a reminder for mankind..... from wo-mankind ( Aerith/Gaya/Jenova - THE GODDESS): Sephiroth is THE CONSEQUENCE. ;))
 
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After he goes bonkers then he is truly evil, misguided and revengeful. he knowingly commits what most would consider wrong. like killing innocent people:P so evil is what I say o_O
 
misguided, i mean if you worked real hard to become the man u r, then find out ur not even human. anyone would turn insane
 
Insane for the most part, but deeply hurt and unsure of everything.

Based on VII alone, Sephiroth was an insane evil. But CC showed a cogent and balanced Sephiroh that was not only a hero, but very much a good person at heart. Through the game you see the downfall of the character and understand why the events at Nibelheim just destroyed his sanity (he had already lost most of the things that had mattered to him).

Add the intense emotional trauma and add the destructive influence of Jenova and you have the powerful insane monster that Sephiroth became.
 
Misguided! I think he was more misguided into Pure Evilness after finding out about himself then burning down Nibelheim when his sanity got the worst of him, lols.
 
Sephiroth is just victim of Shinra's experiments - like all of them.He fughted with this by his own way.And if you remember,after said him to kill Genesis and Angeal he said he will left Shinra.He was not evil before understand - unbderstand him.
And he still don't know his real story.He think he is a son of som f**king alien.
 
OverFjell said:
I saw AG's thread in the FFX forum as to whether Seymour is pure evil or just misguided.

So I thought I'd see what people thought about Seffy.
I personally think he's just misguided, before the incident in the Reactor he was perfectly fine.


Opinions?
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Misguided and uninformed

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His plight is very similar with Oedipus (and not talking about Sigmund Freud's theory here)

An oracle flat out said Oedipus' end that "He will murder his father and marry his mother" (which we all know)

A Certa, Ifalna, said that Jenova (who is mistaken as a 'Certa') said she is also "Calamity from the Sky". Which Sephiroth was injected with Jenova cells as an embryo thinking that will make him in to the dying Certa bloodline. (we know that too)

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Oedipus was sent away to be killed but the man who was supposed to do it couldn't so he simply passed the baby on to another family. - Oedipus grew up as a respectable, and revered man through his brave deeds. - He was idolized and famous.

Ignoring what Ifalna said in those interviews, Sephiroth grew up in Shin-ra's care and had no idea of his experimental origins. - Sephiroth grew up to be a decorated and honored hero - He was idolized and famous.

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Oedipus then learned that his "Father" was not really his father, so he went to an Oracle for answers. He didn't like what he found. What he did was leave home and live in another city to keep it from happening. He ended up killing a man in a bad confrontation on his way there.

Sephiroth stumbled on Jenova in a mission (makes you wonder if he was set up) and it really disturbed him. So he locked himself in a library to learn the truth. He didn't like what he found. This made him angry from the very organization who was responsible.

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After learning the truth, the wife he married, Jocasta, killed herself. He took some broaches of a crown (he became king at his second home but he used his wife's crown for this) and gouged out his eyes with to make him blind. He left his second home to wonder the country side blindly and eventually died. This caused the children he left behind to suffer through feuds, the crown, back stabbing, and being forced executing one of them for breaking their traditions and laws.

After learning the truth, Sephiroth's mind snapped and became over come with anger, hate, and rage. He had been betrayed by the people who had been with all his life, kept telling him lies, and the people who kept telling him the same thing that Shin-ra said. So he burned down the town of Nibelheim, and eventually summoned "Calamity from the Sky," Meteor. Then the rest... well we know.

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So both were misguided and if they had known everything from the start. Do you really think they would do something else?

TL : DR = They both were respected and revered until they learned the truth of their origins and and lashed out - no longer becoming the honored, respected men they used to be. They lost everything, and many people suffered for it.
 
It's Cetra not Certa. -__- I really think he's pure evil, yes he wasn't evil before but after reading who is he, and thinking about even if he misunderstood who is his mother, he really turned Pure evil I mean changing that fast. O_O coming after 5 years to destroy everything, this is just really evil, it's unforutnate it didn't work with him just like it worked with Kefka. -__-
 
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