• 12Jul 06

  The reunion

  You will hear Sephiroth mention 'the reunion' a few times in the game. So, what is the reunion? Well, mad scientist Hojo who was working on the Jenova project thought up this reunion theory, it was that if Jenova's cells were scattered they would find each other again and become one, the place where they would meet would be the promised land. It was called the reunion for the obvious reason that the cells would reunite with each other. Hojo injected test subjects with Jenova cells to see if his theory would work. These test subjects are the black-cloaked figures you see at certain places (temple of the ancients, Nibelheim, and the northern crater). They could be related to the Sephiroth copies which he controls because some of them manage to mention Sephiroth it's as if they are 'his followers'. Something which I thought of whilst playing the game was that the citizens of Nibelheim who were killed when Sephiroth burned it down were taken away and injected with Jenova cells and turned into the black-cloacked figures that you see when you go there, I also read an agreeing theory at 'Sephiroth no Oukoku' a long time ago, so it might be right
  • Posted Jul 12, 2006 9:20 am PT
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• 5Jul 06

  Masamune-sephiroth

  The Masamune is the name of Sephiroth's sword (and it also crops up in other FF games in various guises), it's an extremely long, curved (having the sword slightly curved gives it more strength to witdthstand battles) sword. It could be a No-Dachi, a six-foot war sword. And probably originated from Japan's Old Sword Period (called Koto) which was their Golden Age of swordmaking. This was when they forged blades with a curve to make them stronger and they also made long swords which were over four feet in length (which Sephiroth's masamune certainly is >D). From reading in my martial arts encyclopedia (which is a very interesting book, btw +B) I have learned that "Mune" is the japanese name for the back of a sword, and there are all different kinds of classifications like "kakumune", "mitsu-mune", "mune-hikushi" etc. Which all mean different things about the backs of the sword, eg, mitsu-mune is a double back on a sword. 'Masamune' translates to 'straight back'/'straight backridge'. Anyway that's just a little bit about the Masamune and it's name literally. But most likely the name of Masamune comes from the Japanese swordsmith of the same name. One of the most (THE most?) reknowned Japanese swordsmiths of all time. Masamune lived during the Kamakura Era in Japan (late 1200s - early 1300s) and had an immense talent for sword-making. His swords were believed to have spiritual attributes to them, and some stories say only those with a pure soul could wield them. The famous legend behind Masamune's swords is this; if you placed the blade of a Masamune into a stream, if a leaf floated towards the blade, it would change course (as if being repelled by the sword's true nature) and not get sliced in two. The Murasame blade (interestingly enough, one of Cloud's swords in the game) in the same leaf test is said to attract any leaves that pass by and cut them all. This is because whoever forged the Murasame could not have understood properly the true purpose of a sword, to save lives not just to take. Hence the destructive nature of the sword. The Murasame appears to really be a legendary sword, probably based on the name "Muramasa" a swordsmith whose swords were cursed by his misunderstanding of his art (also interesting is that Muramasa was one of Masamune's pupils @_@;. The Murasame was probably made up to contrast with Masamune's swords. Thankyou to everyone who has emailed be about the Masamune, and helped me clear through all the variations of information/stories/etc to [hopefully] get the facts right!

  

  

  • Posted Jul 5, 2006 10:09 am PT
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• 2Jul 06

  his name - sephiroth

   The name Sephiroth was a name cleverly picked by Squaresoft, because if you look up information on the word "Sephiroth" you will see that it comes from the teachings of the Kabbalah, which is a very interesting subject. In the Kabbalah's teachings there are 10 Sephiroth (plural: Sephirah) symbolised in the Tree of Life. Each Sephiroth represents a path of ideas, attributes and concepts that one must realise and understand within oneself. Once that is done a person will have reached divine perfection, realised their Inner Christ and so forth. I find this extremely interesting in relation to Sephiroth-sama, as throughout the game he is striving to become like a god, to reach that perfection, and to go to the Promised Land. I hope I have given you an [accurate] insight into the meaning behind Sephiroth's name. I am no expert on the Kabbalistic teachings, what I have written is only a [very] brief summary of what I have understood from reading through various webpages. If this has interested you I strongly suggest looking up this subject further, so you can understand for yourself the significance of Sephiroth's name

  • Posted Jul 2, 2006 8:45 pm PT
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