#that are well-animated and that's all that matters!) getting insanely aggressive abt her whenever one of the other girls or routes are even

[c0rpsedemon]

"i don't have a favorite fate heroine" says local man whose mfc profile being plastered in saber images is definitely 100% a coincidence, has 3 different saber figures (as opposed to 1 of sakura and none of rin), favorite f/sn adaptation is deen/stay night, skipped over rin and sakura's emiya gohan routes to focus on saber and lancer's, and is famously weak to knight girls.

[altocat]

Ok I will bite. What do u think abt jenova? Do you think she's actively malicious the way we people are? Or malicious in the way an eldritch monster may seem to come off? I dunno she's such a creepy wretched being. Im obsessed w her shes so fascinating.

Jenova is DEFINITELY malicious in my head, but I think it's a subjective maliciousness.

It's kind of like a shark. A shark will kill anything that gets too close if it's hungry. It won't care about the pain it inflicts, so long as it gets what it wants for survival. Now add to that a man-eating shark that intrinsically targets humans because it views them as the best source of food. It's still all about survival.

Jenova wants her fill of planets. But it's out of instinct first and foremost. It's part of her makeup to conquer and kill. She doesn't empathize with humanity (or the Cetra) because in her mind, they're all livestock. Expendable and unworthy. And it doesn't matter what she does to them--their customs and morals are not applicable to her. If you don't think about your food, neither does she.

She has more personality than an animal though. In that she can hate or feel some extent of emotion. But they're just a very predatory, low-empathy variation. I think at one point, her thoughts and desires were not as aggressive. But eons of conditioning or some sort of cataclysmic planetary reckoning drive her out and pushed her into her murderous mission. In the end, she only values her own instincts and survival.

I don't think Jenova is even female. I give her female pronouns because the games do, but I think that she's genuinely sexless. I also HC that she's the very last of her kind, hence her planetary travel in order to spread her influence.

As for her relationship with Sephiroth, I believe she manipulated/semi controlled him at Nibelheim and then allowed the altered, insane version of himself that currently exists to fuse with her and take control. To her, he's a useful enforcer of her desires. A pliant worshipper. Not quite livestock due to his cells, and enough for her to aknowledge that they are, in a strange way, similar creatures. He's a very helpful tool. And if he views her as his "mother" that's fine with her. She'll encourage it, expand those feelings, make sure he's in absolute euphoria just to be one with her. She doesn't "love" him because she's incapable of those sorts of human associations. But she does value their relation, as well as his skill. But if Sephiroth were to ever surrender himself back to his human feelings or memories, she will have no more use for him.

Luckily, Sephiroth is a good "son". Completely, mindlessly devoted. Touchingly loyal. He uses Jenova out of his own will and desires, but Jenova is satisfied because it's ultimately HER desires filtered into his own. He is in control. But she IS him. And he is her. And he will never betray her in her conquest. And, in turn, she soothes and caresses and strokes that very unstable, needy section of his psyche that is easily swayed by her influence. It's an extremely parasitical symbiotic relationship.

The only time she feels their link truly being tested is whenever Sephiroth fixates on Cloud or Aerith. It's the only time he truly seems to experience human emotions again (hate and fear and obsession and lust). Cloud in particular seems to draw out such strong emotions from Sephiroth and Jenova is constantly persuading him to drop the vendetta and get their goals accomplished.

Jenova changes her main physical shape every hundred years or so, though she can willingly shift into many different violent manifestations if threatened. Her physical representation is basically dead and dormant. Her active consciousness lies either as an invisible entity that hovers around Sephiroth, or manifests anywhere she wants to be. Shinra never really "owned" her. They had her body, yes, but Jenova hasn't used that old thing in years! She instead followed Sephiroth throughout his life, observing and haunting him. She was never interested in Genesis and Angeal as they were not directly implanted with her cells and thus, not related to her beyond a superficial means.

Jenova can take many forms and use many voices. She is unable to "speak" to humans though. She projects her desires through them and they can use that as a kind of language. She can also shape their dreams or induce hallucinations. She is capable of triggering madness in individuals by producing a terrible, growing vibration and that basically functions as severe tinnitus. She additionally is capable of secreting soothing pheromones from the liquid that coats her skin, rendering the victim drowsy and suggestible. Horrifyingly, Jenova has mechanically debated several times whether or not to mate with her "son", if only to preserve their species and expand her influence. She holds no qualms about the disgusting taboo of the act, but is not sure she could manipulate that out of Sephiroth. Even in his altered state, there's still too much human in him for her tastes. He'd possibly tear her apart for it.

Jenova is ultimately a disgusting, wretched, vile abomination. She isn't evil in her own primitive moral scale. But she would gladly kill all the humans and would even discard Sephiroth if he cannot serve her properly.

Sephiroth has, in the end, essentially unknowingly traded one prison for another.