[RexNorton]

Part I - Defining the Story
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When we first meet Sephiroth he is a cold, emotionless man who seems almost totally disconnected from the people around him. The only time we ever hear him talk of anybody with any sense of respect at all is when he refers to Professor Gast. In contrast to this, Sephiroth speaks of Hojo, who is revealed to be his father much later in the game, as "an inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes."


When Sephiroth and Cloud (it is actually Zack who witnesses this scene and later tells Cloud the story) enter the Mako reactor at Nibelheim together and discover the monsters contained inside Sephiroth says, "...now I see, Hojo. But, even doing this, will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast." He goes on to explain the origin of the monsters in this exchange..
Sephiroth: "Normal members of SOLDIER are humans who have been showered with Mako. You're different from the others, but still human. But what are they? They've been exposed to a high degree of Mako, far more than you."
Cloud: "...Is this some kind of monster?"
Sephiroth: "Exactly. And it's Hojo of Shinra that produced these monsters (note the foreshadowing right here). Mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are."
Cloud: "Normal members of SOLDIER? You mean you're different? H.. hey, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth: "N... no.... ...was I? ...Was I created this way too? Am I the same as all these monsters.....
Cloud: "...Sephiroth."
Sephiroth: "You saw it! All of them.... were humans...."
Cloud: "Human!? No way!"
Sephiroth: "....I've always felt since I was small... that I was different from the others. Special, in some way. But... not like this.... Am I... human?"

At this point, Sephiroth is clearly freaking out. He starts striking at the various monster stasis chambers with his sword and also covers his head with his hands and begins shaking. This shaking is suspiciously similar to the shaking that Cloud does on his two trips to destroy the Mako Reactors in Midgar and also does later in the game when he is being manipulated by Sephiroth. This is very strange, but what is the connection? When Sephiroth questions how he was created he is on to something, but the knowledge drives him to insanity before he can find out the full extent of the truth.

After this, all Hell breaks loose. Sephiroth disappears for three nights in the Shinra Mansion's basement, reading the files, which reveal the nature of his creation. He goes bonkers, burns down the town, and breaks into the Mako Reactor in the mountains, nearly killing Zack and Tifa in the process. He is stopped by Cloud who, in anger over the murder of his friends and his mother, throws him into the Lifestream, even after having Sephiroth's sword shoved straight through him (the same way Aeris dies). How is it that Cloud, little Cloud, who spends most of the game being manipulated by Sephiroth, is able to lift up and hurl "the great Sephiroth" over the ledge? Well he was keeping his promise to Tifa, for one thing. But more than that, could it be that Cloud is a lot stronger than he seems while Sephiroth isn't nearly as strong as he seems?
Earlier in the game, when Cloud and Sephiroth Nibelheim, Sephiroth asks Cloud how it feels to be in his hometown, going on to reveal that he never had a hometown. When Cloud asks about his family Sephiroth replies that his mother was Jenova, who died giving birth to him. He only laughs when he is asked about his father saying, "What does it matter?"
Later on in the game we find out that Jenova is not Sephiroth's mother at all. Sephiroth's mother is a human woman named Lucretia and his father is revealed to be Hojo of Shinra Inc. What does this mean?