So About Sephiran...

[Lost Impact]

I noticed that there were a number of these character discussion threads going around, so I thought I'd make one too. What are your thoughts on the mastermind behind the story of the Tellius games who surprisingly isn't discussed that much, Sephiran?

 

[Jotari]

Love him to bits. He's just so atypical as a villian. His defining trait isn't his nihilism or anger (though, obviously, he has that in spades deep down), it's his compassion and love, generally very positive character traits reserved for the good guys. The game makes him smypathetic, but never for a moment tries to actually justify him or condone his view point. Villians of this type of archtype very frequently just end up being really cynical or mopy balls of angst, but Sephiran still carries this heir of almost divine politeness. He's really respectful towards the heroes and doesn't have one gram of hate for them. The suffering, cynisism and angst is still quite clearly there, but it's played with a lot of subdued nuance. I don't think I've encountered a legitmate villian even remotely like him.

[Interdimensional Observer]

I've in some measure made myself the dedicated Sephiran fan here.

I'm a scholarly intellectual like Sephiran, who understands how he feels for the world and lament its suffering. He deeply loves Laguz and Beorc in the abstract, as well as personally (his love for Sanaki like a daughter, which is shown fairly well), and can't stand being powerless to do much about it.

Although clearly wrong, his plan to annihilate everyone is rooted in a logic solid by those of illogical despair standards- Laguz and Beorc are so bad Ashera is going to nuke them whenever she does wake up- might as well end the suffering now out of mercy. He doesn't love what he wants to do, he seems to be saddened by the choice he had to make, even if it is what he chooses to do in the end.

His backstory is quite strong, if entirely contained in the Tower and with two important scenes relegated to a 2nd playthrough. He is tragic, because he is a great person, a legendary hero and a kind man, whose hope, something he had struggled to maintain for centuries, complete with attempted suicide, finally collapsed between the losses of his newest hope his (greatx~40) granddaughter Misaha and the eradication of his people the Herons. 

If you consider Sephiran to belong to the evil manipulating sorcerer archetype FE uses aplenty, well Sephiran turns this archetype upside down. He isn't ugly, rather handsome actually- unlike Jedah or Gharnef or Validar. He has tragedy to him and you can feel it, unlike Validar, or Nergal or Gharnef. He manipulates and talks to people without being blatantly evil, and he uses Light Magic over more commonly evil Dark. Only Lyon can claim similar, although him as an evil manipulator is a bit suspect even if he as an evil sorcerer isn't.

Sephiran also strikes a decent balance between too much success and too much failure as a villain. His Ashnard gamble failed, and Micaiah, Rafiel and Kurthnaga were beyond his control, but all three ended up greatly advancing his plans. Sephiran nonetheless was able to capitalize on the Senate's corruption, did help Ashnard in the first place, and arranged for Sanaki's escape in Part 3. Luck greatly affected the final outcome, but had Sephiran not intervened, would the Medallion's seal have come undone? I have my doubts about it.

 

He isn't completely original, Final Fantasy X's Seymour is just like him, and within FE, Zephiel came before Sephiran as a misanthrope, but compared to both of these figures, Sephiran is executed better. And what villain in FE is truly 100% original?

I can understand not liking Sephiran, and he isn't perfect, but overall I think he is one of the stronger ones FE has.

[Aircalipoor]

I dislike him, because his motive is hypocritical and depends on bad writing, which failed to execute his moral ambiguety in a convincing way.

On one hand, he wants to destroy the whole word and betrays everyone,. On the other hand, he is supposed to love the people around him and cares about them. This hypocrisy extends on the solution of his character arc. Because he actually cares about everyone, all characters and the player are supposed to forgive him. The game tries to mark him as a tragic character, when he is just a maniac who is wrathful over a bunch  of corrupt senator and gullible humans who thought those always-peaceful pure-hearted Herons killed their always peaceful pure hearted empress. He can hate all the world and despair or he can be above them and forgive them, but he shouldn't pull of both things at once.

He is also poorly integrated in the plot, because FE10 focuses for the most part on the uncharismatic senators, who end up being pawns. Instead the true antagonists are stuffed in the last four chapters. The game fails to execute a reasonable conflict with proper villains like Ashnard and the Black Knight (the FE9 one). It also felt flat on the handling the Laguz, portraying them as morally superior super humans, whose main flaws is that they aren't as cowardly as the humans. But even the antagonistic ones like Naesala and Dheginsea end up being sympathic and were just antagonistic because the were compromised. The game stated that Laguz were evil towards the marked ones, but ingame no Laguz threated the marked, so that angle doesn't impress me. Instead Nailah and Stefan told us about they respective paradises of harmony and equality. That poor writing applies to Sephiran as well, him being one of the few Laguz that are supposed to be antagonistic, but not really pulling it off.

Oh, and he is in FE9, but unlike the Black Knight, he doesn't do anything impressive or evil onscreen.

[Rose482]

Sephrian <3 He has to be one of my favorites villains when it come to FE.

[Shoblongoo]

Great villain. Great character.

I think he's at his most compelling when viewed as a character foil to Dighensia--two ancient, wise and powerful beings with two diametrically opposed worldviews always makes for interesting writing.

I also like that he's humanized as a villain by his relationship with Sanaki. You can see even at the very end when his grand design is about to come to fruition. Thoroughly convinced as he is that the world he lives in is irredeemable--better to end it all and go back to the beginning and let Creation unfold anew--the knowledge that he has betrayed Sanaki and that she will die with the world he is ending pains him.

And if that doesn't outright convince him that he's on the wrong path and deserves to die for what he has done, it at the very least weakens his resolve. 

Edited March 2, 2018 by Shoblongoo