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akechi's worst crime

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PHYSICAL CHALLENGE!! FIGHT YOUR EX HUSBAND!!!!

gif version under the cut idk

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Deltarune Chapter 3 out of context

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woah he's bisexual and polyamorous i didn't know that

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here's how weatherkaard can still win

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My life in your hands

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iiit's

slee! py!

tiiiime ⭐️

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Hi:)

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sometimes I see people wonder why Sephiroth doesn't want to die. I think there are a lot of possible answers but for me it always comes back to because he never got to live. not on his own terms.

his entire life was dictated by Shinra, which left him incredibly bereft and isolated. then when he finally finds out the "truth", finds the "person" he has longed for all his life, and finally regains a sense of agency, all that is immediately ripped from him through death. in Lifestream Black, he describes the planet's spiritual energy flow as an "abyss" that tries to dissolve his spirit - what others see as a peaceful and lifegiving force he only perceives as a destructive and subjugating one. he's only just formed his "true" identity, so anything that tries to dissolve that is a threat to him. he's already endured physical death, so a spiritual one would be utter defeat, complete horror.

the remake makes this even clearer - Sephiroth wants forever. a forever where everything - his mother, the worlds - will be one, and he will reside over this unity to make sure it will never fade. a forever where he will never end, and neither will Cloud, his spiritual core and only confidant. this is what Sephiroth seems to offer Cloud after all: a world unbound by the fate of inevitable death.

I think it's made all the more heartbreaking by how relatable it is - who would not want forever with their loved ones? who would not want to have control over the uncontrollable?

Aerith asks Sephiroth how he can want an eternity of loneliness, and I think from Sephiroth’s perspective this is exactly what he is trying to prevent, not realizing that this "forever" he longs for is not sustainable for a reason. the game hints at this too when the party learns about the Gi being unable to die and move on, and Caith Sith accurately describes it as a "fate worse than death."

I know other people have also speculated this but I wonder if in part 3, as Cloud will choose to learn to accept himself and accept Aerith's death, so too Sephiroth will choose to let go and choose peace in the end. I'm personally of two minds on this - objectively speaking, I think it could be very narratively powerful. for me personally, I know it would absolutely break me, and I would cry for days (tbf, I will cry regardless). there is just something severely devastating about tragic, deeply traumatized characters only finding resolution for that trauma in death.

that said, I do think being offered and actively choosing the peace of merging with the lifestream would be vastly preferable over any kind of eternal punishment. and the potential for restorative over punitive justice is already there in the canon of the FFVII compilation itself - I don't think it was a coincidence that it was Kadaj, the embodiment of Sephiroth's cruelty and anger and despair, that is shown to be given the choice to let go and integrate with the lifestream in a moment of profound gentleness and healing as he is held by Cloud and spoken to tenderly by Aerith.

speaking of AC, the reason I started thinking about this topic in the first place is that I recently rewatched the German dub version of it (for nostalgia reasons, because that's how I first saw it, which was my first brush with anything FFVII). and for some reason the translation/localization team changed one of the most pivotal moments from

"Stay where you belong - in my memories."

"I will never be a memory."

to

"Find your peace in my memories."

"Memories could never do me justice."

Objectively speaking, it's just the usual thing where things get translated differently for various reasons, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. "Find your peace in my memories." Cloud at this point seems to pity Sephiroth more than hate him, and it's a very compassionate thing to say. It's an offer that is as earnestly made as Sephiroth’s offer to defy the natural order together.

I think no "redemption" of Sephiroth would be necessary to "save" him - all it would take for the cycle of hate to be broken would be exactly this: a little compassion.

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chapter 7 (probably)

How I would imagine Susie reacting when she finds out Kris is working with the Knight

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Krusie moment

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animated a krusie moment... can't believe this is a real scene that happens

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sharing gay germs

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Saw this on Twitter. Can't believe I never caught this when I played the OG.

Shinra was likely planning ahead to destroy Sephiroth for years. This probably dates back to Pre-Nibelheim as well, especially since Sephiroth was believed to be dead for five years. No sense making weapons to fight a ghost. Not unless those weapons ALREADY EXISTED. So there were likely always plans in place to execute/euthanize Sephiroth should he ever turn on the organization. With how quickly Shinra tossed his name and image aside after his supposed death in Nibelheim, I could totally see them being this cruel as well.

They made him. Raised him. Conditioned, molded, and exploited him. And they plotted to kill him if he ever rebelled. They made weapons SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to take him apart, to eviscerate him, to toss him aside like garbage. And when the opportunity presented itself seemingly at random, they happily discarded his presence, his memory. He'd been their pet, puppet, and pawn for years. Their weapon. Their icon. Their war machine.

And in the end, he was nothing to them. Just a potential threat to be eliminated. A broken toy. A rabid dog.

Don't fucking tell me that Sephiroth had it easy because he got to be Shinra's favored "hero". Don't tell me that he was there because he enjoyed killing, enjoyed serving them. He never enlisted. He never reveled in the "privileges" they gave him. He never sought glory, or fame. He wasn't arrogant. Or cruel. Or bloodthirsty.

He had nowhere else to go.

He wasn't there because he wanted to be.

He was there because he had no other choice.

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study of alexandre cabanel's fallen angel but make it sephiroth