Freudian Sephiroth
by Dragoon Butz

This is a simple psychoanalysis of Sephiroth and others from Final Fantasy VII.

Development

Oral Stage: Little Sephiroth quickly overcame the tendency to stick everything in his mouth.
He went through the oral stage of development rather quickly.

Anal Stage: Sephiroth wasn't a stable little boy. He was always either constipated or had a
bad case of explosive diarrhea. This lent to his manic depressive personality.

Phallic Stage: Sephiroth hasn't ever gotten past this stage. He had no father to identify
with, so his Oedipus complex has remained with him through the years. As he believes Jenova to
be his mother, Sephiroth has become obsessed with her. His psychosexual fixation on Jenova
caused him to do many bad things in Final Fantasy VII. Sephiroth became a mere toy of Jenova.

Plot

The party first meets Sephiroth inside the Shinra Boat. Here he is very anal retentive and
says nothing. He just sends a portion of his dear mother against the party.

The next time the party encounters Sephiroth is inside the Temple of the Ancients. Here
Sephiroth possesses his brand new sword. His blade is a rather obvious phallic symbol, and so
he identifies the sword with his... Also, Cloud's Buster Sword is a representation of his...
It just so happens that Sephiroth's is long and thin, and Cloud's is big and fat. That's all.

Anyway, Sephiroth seemed to enjoy showing of his "Masamune" to Aeris in the room with the
murals. Aeris does nothing but look. She's probably quite impressed at his "swordsmanship."

After Sephiroth disappears, Cloud's Thanatos (the death instinct and an enemy from Mystic
Quest) begins to surface. Not knowing who he truly is, Cloud begins to identify with
Sephiroth, developing the same psychosexual obsession with Jenova. This will draw him, like
Sephiroth, toward the northern crater. He starts attacking Aeris, a sign of reaction
formation, for he does not want to hurt her, he wants to do something different to her. Cloud
represses the event and conveniently forgets that his Thanatos ever surfaced.

After the Temple of the Ancients, Aeris leaves the party. She denies Cloud's hidden dark side,
and goes chasing after Sephiroth on her own. Though she claims to go to defeat Sephiroth,
Aeris is looking for something else... Aeris is repressing her hidden desires toward
Sephiroth, though she lets her feelings for Cloud known to all. It is possible, not certain,
that Aeris is displacing her feelings for Sephiroth toward Cloud.

Cloud and the others follow Aeris to the City of the Ancients. Upon reaching the infamous
Water Altar, Cloud pulls out his "Buster Sword" in a twisted attempt to fulfill his dreams. He
is about to insert his "Buster Sword" into Aeris, but is stopped by the others. Meanwhile,
Aeris yearns patiently for the inevitable. Sephiroth, unlike Cloud, is not restricted by the
party. He easily penetrates his "Masamune" through Aeris's body. Sephiroth thus completes his
sublimation, killing Aeris. After all, murder more tolerated than rape in our society...

Sephiroth is driven by his Oedipus complex into the northern crater. Here, Sephiroth finally
returns to the womb of his mother Jenova. This is evidently where he has wanted to go for a
long time as he regresses to the state of an unborn child. Due to his obsession with Jenova,
Sephiroth is willing to do anything for her. This includes summoning a happy little Meteor do
destroy the Planet.

Cloud identifies with Sephiroth here, joining Jenova inside the crater. In Mideel, Tifa
finally reveals all the memories she has repressed about their mutual past. Cloud too has
repressed many thoughts. They had both repressed their many feelings toward one another.
Cloud may or may not have displaced his lust for Tifa toward Aeris. Tifa though had simply
repressed everything.

Once Cloud and Tifa are both psychologically happy, the quest continues, and the team defeats
Jenova, Sephiroth and Meteor. Of course, all their trouble could have been avoided if they
just knew a good psychiatrist. Obviously, Red XIII knew what was going on the whole time; he
just didn't want to oppose the others' natural tendencies. Red XIII remained silent,
understanding all, for he is eternal and omniscient.

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