Like many PlayStation users, I’ve been pouring hours into Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. So far I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played, and had a blast exploring the open world, fulfilling job requests and taking part in SO many minigames.
I’ve also loved the retold story of Final Fantasy VII, complete with plenty of twists and turns to keep long-time fans on their toes. That being said, something was bothering me during my time with the game, particularly during the first and second chapters. Without going too far into story spoilers, the game begins with a flashback to Cloud Strife’s days as a soldier. He’s tasked with accompanying the legendary hero Sephiroth on a mission in his hometown of Nibelheim.
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After some flashy fights, lots of climbing and several long cutscenes, we see the moment Sephiroth finally loses his cool to become the antagonist of the game, after he makes a harrowing discovery about his past.
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It was an enjoyable segment of the game, and I was fully-invested in the story the game was setting up, but again something was nagging me. It was whenever Sephiroth was on screen, whenever he opened his mouth to talk, how he moved and approached a battle. It all culminated in his cutscene of self-discovery, as well as his confrontation with Cloud shortly after, where he hopelessly outmatched our antagonist in every way before zooming off to fulfil his master plan. I had the most bizarre feeling that I’d seen this story before, and not just in the PlayStation 1 version of the game.
Then the realisation hit me like a ton of bricks, Sephiroth has a remarkably similar backstory and character motivation to Shadow The Hedgehog from Sonic Adventure 2. Of course the game’s themselves aren’t similar in the slightest, but when you put Shadow and Sephiroth side by side, examining their tragic backstories and their motivations for being evil, it’s not hard to draw similarities.
Firstly there’s their respective origin stories. Sephiroth’s mother and father were Lucrecia and Hojo. Whilst Lucrecia was pregnant with Sephiroth, Hojo injected her with the cells of the dead alien Jenova in the hopes of creating a superhuman. This granted Sephiroth his awesome power before, with he himself only discovering the truth of his origin years later on a mission with Cloud Strife. After learning the horrifying truth his demeanour and attitude changed, with him now believing his destiny is to wipe the slate clean, eliminating the humans who wronged him and his true mother Jenova and giving the planet back to her.
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Shadow The Hedgehog was created by Dr Gerald Robotnik, using genetic-engineering that involved splicing Shadow’s DNA with Black Doom, who’s also an alien. This was done in an attempt to find a cure for his granddaughter Maria, who was terminally ill with Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Shadow’s relatively happy upbringing was disrupted when the military shut down the experiments, imprisoning Gerald, killing Maria and locking Shadow away. Dr Eggman later awoke Shadow from his slumber, where he vowed to have revenge by wiping the slate clean, and eliminating the humans who’d wronged him, sound familiar?
The comparisons continue when you look at their powers and abilities. Of course Sephiroth is known for using a sword (though Shadow did too in Sonic & The Black Knight just saying) but when both characters are disarmed they have a similar arsenal at their disposal. Both can unleash power energy attacks, with Sephiroth using mako and Shadow using chaos energy, both are blisteringly fast, possess superhuman strength, can teleport and have different “forms” for when the battle gets really tough.
Both characters are also immortal, as while they can both die as we’ve seen in different media, when left to their own devices they could outlive just about everything due to their modified cells. In theory they both have armies they can call upon too, as Sephiroth can control just about anyone with Jenova cells, and if Shadow joined Black Doom in his spin-off game he’d have eventually been given hivemind control of the Black Arms, also due to sharing the same genes with them.
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Finally, there’s their overall attitude. Both despise humans and are driven by vengeance, believing they have a higher calling in life which is the reason they were given their overwhelming power, though at their core, they’re not inherently evil. This is pretty obvious in Shadow’s case since in the games that followed Sonic Adventure 2 he’s regularly helped out those in need, and while he rarely admits it he does care deeply for Sonic, his friends and the planet, even if they drive him around the bend sometimes. The same could be said for Sephiroth, as before learning the truth his was the greatest hero humanity had ever known, and inspiration to people like Cloud to become soldiers.
There was no master plan behind any of his good actions, and while he openly admitted to knowing there was more to him than he was led to realise, it was the shocking revelation about his past that made him snap. Like many great antagonists, Sephiroth is a cold, calculated, insane villain, but with a backstory that makes you sympathise with him and wonder what could have been if he had people to steer him back on the right path. In a way that’s a good comparison for the pair in itself, Shadow is a Sephiroth who was saved from the dark path he was walking down, whereas Sephiroth was simply too far gone to pull back to the light.
They’re both wonderfully written characters, and some of the most iconic antagonists in all of gaming. They’re also both starring in new games this year, with Sephiroth obviously continuing his vendetta against Shinra and the planet in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, whereas Shadow will be revisiting his past Sonic X Shadow Generations.
Featured Image Credit: Square Enix/SEGATopics: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy 7, Sonic, Square Enix, Sega, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Nintendo