omsauce Blog
Masamune-sephiroth
by omsauce on Comments
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!
his name - sephiroth
by omsauce on Comments
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
i wil try to make a new blog every sunday
by omsauce on Comments
septhiroth The lost hero
by omsauce on Comments
Sephiroth was a top ranking SOLDIER officer, the most powerful and skilled fighter there ever was, many people admired him. Sephiroth's final mission for Shinra was to investigate a Mako reactor in the Nibelheim mountains. When in Nibelheim, Sephiroth reveals that he never had a proper family, his mother, whose name was Jenova, died after giving birth to him, Sephiroth doesn't ever mention anything about a father, but he does say he has no home town. They get to the reactor and inside Sephiroth discovers capsules containing monsters, he says that they were once human, but have been exposed to a large amount of Mako energy, so they mutated. He also says that Shinra SOLDIERs are given small doses of Mako energy to give them more power. Aswell as the capsules there was a chamber at the top with 'Jenova' written above it, Sephiroth realises that it is the same name as his mother's, he starts to think. He wasn't a standard SOLDIER, he was the most powerful and the strongest SOLDIER in the Shinra army, this made him wonder if he was 'created' in the same way as the monsters in the capsules (since Jenova was kept in a chamber next to them), was he an experiment? Sephiroth's files were secret, kept locked away somewhere. Somehow Sephiroth knows of the hidden library in the Shinra mansion (back in Nibelheim) and decides to go there and find out his true origins
Sephiroth disappears for days in the Shinra Mansion library, reading everything he can find that might be connected with who he really is. He finds out two major things, about the Ancients and the Jenova Project. He learns that he was created through the Jenova Project, and that Jenova was his mother. Here's a bit more on that project...
It began when scientists found an organism, 2000 years old which they identified as being one of the Ancients (Cetra). It was named, Jenova. The Cetra were an Ancient race of people who lived on the planet before humans did. They had special powers and could communicate with the planet. When they died they would go to the promised land, a place which Shinra decided would be full of Mako energy, so of course they wanted to find it. They appointed three scientists to work on the Jenova project, where they would recreate the Cetra using the cells of Jenova. Shinra wanted the recreated Cetra to lead them to the promised land. And it was through this project that Sephiroth was created.
Sephiroth also read about the Ancients, he learned that the planet once belonged to the Cetra. A Crisis struck the planet, it put the lives of everyone and ultimately the entire planet in danger. Some of the Cetra fled from the danger, leaving the rest to die whilst saving the planet. The cowardly Cetra were the ancestors of humanity. Since Sephiroth was the son of Jenova, who was a Cetra, he believed that he was the rightful heir to the planet, and as the humans were traitors (since their ancestors were the Cetra who ran away from the crisis) they should be punished for what they did and he must return the planet to it's rightful owners, him and his mother, Jenova.
Upon discovering what he believed to be his true identity, Sephiroth, in a fit of rage, anger, and hatred towards humanity, burned down Nibelheim and slaughtered everyone there (except Cloud, Tifa and Zack) he then proceeded to the Mako reactor to be reunited with his mother. Inside the reactor both Tifa and Zack tried to stop him and failed, then Cloud stabs him in the back, naturally Sephiroth skewers Cloud with his masamune, but unfortunately that wasn't the end, as Cloud somehow manages to chuck Sephiroth into the Mako pit at the bottom of the reactor. After this event, it was reported that Sephiroth had died. Shinra decided to move Jenova to their headquarters to carry on their experiments.
Then five years later, someone attacked the Shinra headquarters and stole Jenova from her chamber, this person killed everyone there including president Shinra, who was found with a long sword sticking out of his back... Cloud identifies this person to be Sephiroth due to the masamune sword, as Sephiroth is the only one in the world who can handle it. But, Sephiroth was meant to be dead?!
But actually Sephiroth wasn't exactly dead (heh). Mako energy is really the lifestream of the planet, the force which keeps it alive (although Shinra don't know this, or maybe they do and don't particularly care) and after Sephiroth was thrown into the Mako pit, he was carried by the lifestream and ended up cocooned in a capsule of Mako in the northern crater. Here he continued his plans, with the power of his mind (and jenova cells most likely) he controlled various Sephiroth clones (or some kinds of manifestations of himself) to search for the promised land, the place where the Cetra went to become one with the planet. And he also searched for a way to punish humanity for being 'traitors'.
Sephiroth travels around the world, and goes to the Temple of the Ancients, here he absorbs the knowledge of the Ancients and creates his master plan. He would use something called the black materia, with this, he would summon Meteor, the most powerful force known. When Meteor hits the earth, it will injure the planet so badly that an immense amount of lifestream (mako energy) would be sent to the wound by the planet to try and heal itself. Sephiroth would wait in the wound and merge with the lifestream and become one with the planet. This would make him and Jenova rulers of the planet and also destroy everything, thus punishing the humans.
The only thing that can stop Meteor is Holy, contained in the white materia this equally powerful force would save the planet from destruction. Aeris is the only one who knows this (since she is a true Cetra) and goes to pray for Holy. Sephiroth kills Aeris while she is in the middle of praying and continues with his plans. Unfortunately Aeris had managed to do enough. After Sephiroth was killed by Cloud and his friends, the planet was saved by Aeris' prayer and good triumphed again. The cooooolest mother fbeeeeep ever.
So this is the story . What du u think about him ...
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