"Sephiroth is a Tree of Life from Kabbalah. Sephiroth of FFVII named in honor of this ancient esoteric symbol."

Usually analysis of Sephiroth's name ends on this and leaves readers in perplexity, how the Tree of Life can be connected with a game character.

In this article we examine in details what is "Sephiroth" as philosophical conception and as archetype. It will give us a possibility to go deeply into Sephiroth's character and understand why authors of the Game called him with exactly this name.

The first thing we would like to mention. The notion "God" is used in this articles is not a religious symbol. We examine philosophical conceptions where ancient scientists tried to describe the system of the universe using images they knew. "God" - is some creative power called in different doctrines as Limitless Light, Logos etc. Perception of its mechanic is an object of such sciences as philosophy, theology, alchemy, astronomy, psychology etc. In FFVII the role of a God as a space vivifying basis plays Lifestream .

The "Sephiroth Tree" is a name of the conception of the universe based on projection of 10 attributes of a God on the material world. "Sephiroth" is translated fro Hebrew as "Enumerations", the Tree consists of 10 Sephirot - 10 "stages" that the "Divine Light" (vivifying energy) must go through to become embodied in matter. In point of fact, the Sephiroth Tree is a scheme the energy moves according to from up to down, from its origin to its incarnation. This scheme is used for work in all sciences mentioned above.

Philosophical idea of this scheme is in the fact that Sephiroth - ten Sephirot-stages - is a connecting bridge between God and common man. It is a metaphor of evolution. There is some divine beginning - light, energy, power, and there are people who try to understand it. Their weaknesses and vices prevents it, but in the scheme there are stages that can be used by a man to evolve and rise towards the divine, like energy descend from the highest Sephirot down to the matter . That is Sephiroth is some universal image showing people the way following which they can comprehend God and reach the space harmony . This archetype is Sephiroth, or Adam Kadmon , an "Absolute cosmic man". Representation of the universe as a reasonable beginning (a "God") is anthropomorphous that is through human organism exists in Judaism, in Gnosticism, in Rosicrucian's doctrine, in Veda, in Byzantine apocrypha, in Old Slavonic texts, and in Hegelian philosophy. Exactly from this archetype come the notions of microcosmos and anthropos: representation of a man as a "small universe" and representation of the Universe through a human body.

Adam Kadmon/Sephiroth is a primordial, cosmic man, a prototype of all people as they should me according to the God's plan. To become similar to him means to understand this plan and become a part of space reasonable beginning. It correlates with the events and the conception of the Game. Firstly, Sephiroth was called like this when is was unknown that Jenova is not Cetra. The following meaning was put in his name: he is Cetra, and he will revive this ancient and highly developed race, that had vary direct relationship with the cosmic reasonable beginning - the Lifestream. Secondly, Sephiroth, despite his non-Cetra origin was the best in SOLDIER, an ideal for the rest of army members and, a hero for the common people . Thirdly, the leitmotif of the Game - return of the race of traitors to their ancestors, ultimate likening with the "cosmic people" (Cetra). By his sacrifice Sephiroth showed the way to the others which they must follow to save the Planet and find the real Promised Land (that is, return to Lifestream). That is why other characters follow exactly his example heading toward "return the Planet in Cetra hands" . We see, that Sephiroth is completely corresponds to his name as a symbol of a superman showing the way to the spiritual evolution.

The story in a context of which the "Sephiroth" archetype is been examined has the following content.

Adam Kadmon is permanently in a battle with the substance named "Satan"; This substance is mentioned in the ancient prophesy that President Shinra reads in Honeybee . Satan is not a biblical Devil; there is no any religious implication here. The same as in a case of angels , this image became ambivalent; however, it did not loose its original meaning. It is an ancient philosophical symbol designating faceless and unconscious evil. Satan is not a rival of God, it is a rival of Adam Kadmon, in spite of they have one origin (in the Game Sephiroth has the same essence as Jenova). Satan was immersed in a sleep but at some moment it awakes and begins to act (Jenova was conserved by Cetra, but then she was awaked by archeologists and scientists). Its part is to charm, to tempt, to lead people astray from the way of becoming similar to Adam Kadmon. It can be compared with methods of Jenova using weaknesses of people to subdue them and take them under control . Satan has no personal purposes that are understandable or explainable. In other words, it embodies all actual and qualitative barriers on the way of evolution of a man; it acts according to its personal motivation and logic, enigmatic and destructive for the ordered Universe. The battle ends with self-sacrifice of Adam Kadmon and victory of his followers. After victory the gates to "the land where eternal happiness reigns" opens, and all worthy, those who become like Adam Kadmon, go away there. It correlates with the quotation from the comment #2 about the fact that "…will lead us to the promised land". In that way we see, that the worded conception of confrontation between two cosmogonic powers, philosophical conception of self-perfection of a personality finds its reflection in FFVII in almost its original form.

Let's summarize. Sephiroth named in honor of the symbol of "an absolute man", Adam Kadmon/Sephiroth that is and ideal for other people. This symbol exists in many philosophical traditions. Adam Kadmon sacrifices himself in the battle against Satan opening with his victim the way to the Promised Land. The same thing we see in FFVII. Sephiroth is a result of the experiment that wanted to produce people with the powers of Cetra, he is as a "protohuman". He confronts Jenova despite the fact that he is the same as her in his essence. He is a guiding line for the others on the way of Redemption, and his sacrifice becomes an incentive for other people's evolution and for their understanding of the path they must follow . In the light of these information, the idea of Sephiroth as a negative character is completely incorrect and means insufficient understanding of conceptual basis of the Game, that is based on real philosophical ideas and uses world legends and studies as mythologems .