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I've heard theories saying that Jenova is the true evil of FF VII, and ones saying Sephiroth are. Here is my opinion and I would like to hear yours too.

First I would like to point out that without Jenova, Sephiroth would never have existed and never have been cloned - the Jenova Project could never have taken place had Professors Gast and Hojo not found Jenova's body. OK, so Sephiroth has vast amounts of power (especially in battle) and can puppet people and make them do his bidding (e.g. when he makes Cloud hand over the Black Materia after the party acquire it from the Temple of the Ancients) - but I think that this power is being made available to him through Jenova.

Jenova is controlling (puppeting) the true Sephiroth, who in turn is controlling the cloned Sephiroth and the other clones - so when you trace back along the chain, it all comes down to Jenova's influence that allows her (and Sephiroth) to puppet people. The most important point is that without Jenova, there'd be no Sephiroth. Which one is controlling the other is a matter for discussion, but for now I still think it's Jenova who has overall control.

Jenova definately played the part of Sephy's power source, but I think Sephiroth utilizes that power better and has more ambition. While being able to use mind control to do his bidding, he aspires to recreate the world to his liking, playing the part of God all the while. Jenova just seems like his lapdog that he sics on people when he needs to stall (debatable; *yawn*).

Throughout the first disc, the 'Sephiroth' you find is really Jenova who's used her talents to take on his form. This all leads up to the Northern Crater where Cloud's mind experiences a terrible disturbance through Sephiroth's presence when all Jenova could muster up was to mind control Cloud to hand over the Black Materia...the key item to revive Sephiroth.

Sephiroth seems to have the upper-hand in all situations. =/

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

I think the true evil in FF7 is the human condition, the want, of some people, to manipulate nature and people, and greed.

Sephiroth, Jenova, Cloud, Midgar, the Planet, all of these people and places are such because of the greed/ignorance of humans. Hojo changed, manipulated, and otherwise permanently damaged Sephiroth, Cloud and Jenova (I'm not sure how much he did to Jenova, but you can bet her attacks are partially due to her anger at the way she was kept in the lab, and in the reactor, etc).

Midgar's slums are the sad places they are because of the greed of President Shinra. Mako is being drained from the world, killing the planet, because of the greed of Shinra as well.

So while you may see very powerful, "Evil" beings like Sephiroth, they wouldn't be who and what they are if not for the existence and tampering of piddly humans like Hojo. Sephiroth was stable enough until that fateful night in the library where he suddenly realized what he was, and completely lost it.

My opinion, anyway. I didn't say any of this was written in stone.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Quote (Elena99 @ 26th June 2004 08:42)

I think the true evil in FF7 is the human condition, the want, of some people, to manipulate nature and people, and greed.

Sephiroth, Jenova, Cloud, Midgar, the Planet, all of these people and places are such because of the greed/ignorance of humans. Hojo changed, manipulated, and otherwise permanently damaged Sephiroth, Cloud and Jenova...

Very well put, it's too bad that in this case art imitates life.

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Don't worry, I'm not going to garrote you.

Yes, it could be argued that Hojo and Gast are the true evils of FF VII. Because had they not accidentally uncovered Jenova and mistaken her for one of the Cetra, Jenova would still be trapped in the geological stratosphere. Which in turn means Sephiroth would have never been created.

Jenova is the true evil. First- she wasn't an ancient at all as i recall. She was somesort of plauge. this Makes sephiroths' cause Unjust- as he isn't really an ancient of any kind. So the planet does not By Heritage belong to him. Its Ironic that while they thought they wertr creating super humans, they were pumping them full of Jenova's evil Juice. I give Jenova the Fifty Fifty with actual sephiroth. It took two to tango in this case.

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Jenova pretty much wiped out the Ancients to begin with, IIRC. It's hard to imagine Hojo's experiments making her much more malevolent. If anything, she'd probably be grateful for being dug out of isolation.

I certainly wouldn't blame Gast for any of it, at least not in the sense of being "evil" -- he made an honest mistake. Hojo's actions, particularly regarding Lucrecia, made him much more culpable. He made Sephiroth, effectively.

I'll always believe that the real villain was Jenova, pulling Sephiroth's strings. Perhaps he did have greater ambition, and certainly great enough strength, but I'd say it's almost certain that Jenova messed with his mind while he was near her in Nibelheim in order to manipulate that, much as Cloud's proximity to the Jenova Reunion (and the powerful but now somewhat confused/insane Sephiroth) allowed him to be manipulated as he was.

The next bit's really pure conjecture, but... both fell into the Lifestream after their manipulation. Tifa was able to save Cloud, but at that time we saw how confusing the Lifestream could be. Combined with his earlier manipulation, this may have strengthened Sephiroth's resolve and dedication to winning the planet back for his "mother", even though he might have realised at this point the falsehood of some of his discoveries in Nibelheim.

Also, take a look at the design of Bizarro Sephiroth: it looks toume as if the Jenova on his backdis meant to show that she'stthe force behind his actions. And hey, his accusations of Cloud being a puppet become nicely ironic in that scenario.

Jenova prosably is, but i think that Jojo(i dunno his name) That egil crazy, mako-injected scientist is. he was the one who started the jenova thing in the first place i think.... not really sure, but i do remember bout that flashbackain the first town. ee scary. and he

Poss8ble spoilers: highlight to view

injected poison into Lucrecia, the *Spoiler in a Spoiler* mother of sephiroth when she was pregnent..

qand so on. so i think Jojo is. ff7 is so full of mysteries.....

Quote (Phunbaba @ 25t< June 2004 22:57)

First I would like to point out that wit|out Jenova, Sephiroth would never have existed and never have been cloned - the Jenova Project could ne7er have taken place hadtProfessors Gast and Hojo not found Jenova's body.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

he was a real child who's biological mother and father were Hojo and Lucrecia, and which Hojotinjected him with Jenova cells while he was in Lucrecia's womb... and on the first disc thetSephiroth you saw was not a clone, it was a creation by5Sephs mind, that's why he was able to control you for a few given periods of time during the first disc, like when you almost kill Aeris right before Sephiroth does... and I noticed earlier that someone said that Hojo AND Ghastdwere the true evil whic| is not1true because if you go }nto a certain building in the town (I f{rget what it's called) that1you snowboard out of to get to 1he Glacier then you can activatq some video tapes showig that Aeris' mother and Ghast have a child together and Ho?o comesuwith Shinra guards, kills Ghast and then leaves with Aeris' mother ( I can't remember whether Aeris was born or1not... if she was then they took Aeris and her mom if not then they just took her pregnant mother), at any rate Ghast was not evil and had nothing to do with any of it... it was pretty much Hojo and then of course you get to see Vincent's flashback and it shows Lucrecia and Hojo getting together in Nibelheim.

So that is my opinion on who is the major evil in FF VII.

This post has been edited by Sephiroth on 27th June 2004 16:57

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

Quote (Elena99 @ 26th June 2004 09:42)

I think the true evil in FF7 is the human condition, the want, of some people, to manipulate nature and people, and greed.

Sephiroth, Jenova, Cloud, Midgar, the Planet,  all of these people and places are such because of the greed/ignorance of humans. Hojo changed, manipulated, and otherwise permanently damaged Sephiroth, Cloud and Jenova (I'm not sure how much he did to Jenova, but you can bet her attacks are partially due to her anger at the way she was kept in the lab, and in the reactor, etc).

What's interesting is that this human condition is what set in motion everything that helped defeat all of what everyone else has listed as evil.
Shinra's desire for a super-powerful army gave Cloud the overdose(?) of Mako exposure, making him the powerful warrior that he was.
Shinra's mining and traitorous history caused Barret to begin Avalanche, and lead up to the events that directly set in motion everything in the game.
Sephiroth was a functioning member of SOLDIER until he investigated his and Shinra's intertwined past. This made him psychotic, causing both Cloud and Tifa to ally themselves away from Shinra.
Shinra's quest after Aeris caused her to join up with Cloud by having him play bodyguard.
Hojo's and all of Shinra's wanting to perform experiments on Red XIII introduced him to Cloud.
Reeve was a high-ranking employee of Shinra. Shinra's eye on Cloud sent him in as a spy.
The results of the war between Shinra and Wutai gave Yuffie the desire to team up with Cloud in order to find a way to get back at Shinra.
Vincent's employment in the Turks caused him to cross paths with Hojo, and put him in the coffin he met Cloud in.
Cid was denied time and time again by Shinra while trying to achieve the one thing he wanted in life.
Human greed mined the materia and forged the weapons necessary to get through the game.
Shinra's constant harassing of Cloud & Co throughout the game helped them to become strong enough to face Sephiroth and Jenova in the end.

Jenova was Jenova before it was discovered and touched by human hands. Had the human condition that injected Sephiroth with the Jenova cells not existed, it would have used another venue to destroy humans, probably whatever it was that it used to destroy the Cetra.
It was the want of the human condition to control nature that recruited Barret and Tifa.
It was the want of the human condition to control people that recruited Cloud, Tifa, Cait Sith, Yuffie, Red XIII, Cid, Aeris, and Vincent.
It was the greed of the human condition that recruited Cloud, Yuffie, and Cid, and equipped our heroes.
It was the human condition that saved the planet.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Sephiroth wasnt really evil, he originally wanted to keep SHinra from the promised land, he didnt become evil until later in the game, jenova was definitely more evil

Aye, 'twas Jenova that was purest evil.

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Zeromus, Jenova, Lavos...they all represent giant evil entities commonly found in square games.

Hojo, Sephiroth, Kefka, Zemus...their all crazy men whose actions are unspeakably evil.

Which ones are worse? It's really just philosophy....

This post has been edited by The Ancient on 29th June 2004 16:32

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

My momma told me once, she said "Hamedo, who is more of an idiot... the idiot, or the idiot that follows him?"

So based on that logic, I'm saying Sephiroth is neither the worse evil nor is Jenova. What I'm saying is that they should both totally make out.

Seriously? I vote Jenova. Sephiroth was only a tool.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

I think Elena and DP pretty much said it. Whether or not you want to call Jenova evil or not, however, she still remains the perpetrator of FF7's problems... well in a way, because it's the Jenova within Sephiroth that inspires him to go on a kill crazy rampage.

The way I always say it, Jenova/Sephiroth is a lifeform competing with humanity (and all other life) for the planet, so it's not solely the human condition, but the condition of life altogether that's truly behind the conflict. That's why I really love the story of FF7.

Edit: grammar

This post has been edited by Ejoty on 9th August 2004 22:03

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Get me off this Disciplinary Committee so I can play any FF except for FF8!!!

I'm not going to bother marking any of this with spoilers, being that it was stated in the forum post itself, and it should be expected. If you do not wish to see any spoilers/in-depth discussion about FF7 story, do not read below this line.
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I believe this question goes back to what Final Fantasy VII really was; not an epic, but an epic mystery/psychological thriller. The case in this game wasn't like other games or stories, where you have good vs evil, but in some cases good vs good, good vs evil, and evil vs evil. The true 'villian' in this game was not one person or entity but a collection of them. Jenova, Hojo, Sephiroth, the Shinra Corperation, and the entire human race itself were all draining the planet's internal life force, and therefore were all villified. I will explain my opinions on the story, and the evil in it from greatest to least.

-JENOVA: Intergalactic Plague-
Sephiroth was controlled by Jenova, who was nothing but a virus itself which wanted to destroy all living things. Being a virus, Jenova could never carry out its plans on its own; it needed hosts to do this. There is evidence that points to the possibliltiy Hojo himself was controlled by Jenova in some, if not all situations in the game. After Hojo's discovery of Jenova, he began his radical experiments (creating Sephiroth, etc.). He began to become less and less in touch with reality, and eventually transformed into a monster himself during the course of the game. Sephiroth was the most obvious of all of Jenova's hosts. I believe Jenova itself was responsible for creating Sephiroth, through Hojo, for the sole purpose of carrying out its wishes. In turn, Sephiroth was Jenova's ultimate host - a being superior to all others whom it could control and eventually use to carry out the destruction of all living things. Jenova simply needed to make Sephiroth believe that divinity was his destiny - exploit his feelings of rage, lonliness, and arrogance, and when the time was right, reveal itself to him as a mother figure; something he never truly had, a figure of ultimate authority, and the only thing he would ever bend his knee to. Jenova psychologically manipulated every being it came into contact with, either directly or indirectly. It was a virus, and it infected the planet as a whole.

-Hojo: Jenova's First Victim-
We don't know that much about Hojo's past, so I will not speculate into that. My theory is that Hojo slowly sunk deeper and deeper into madness as Jenova's poison sept into his veins. As I stated above, I believe it was Jenova's mind control that turned Hojo into the mad scientist we all know and hate, and that Jenova had a major hand in the creation of Sephiroth. Hojo was unlike Sephiroth, however, in that he had no desire or care for the planet or anyone else. Be it due to Jenova's poison or not, he enjoyed toying with his experiments and making things suffer. He was an evil man, and did not care if what he was doing was wrong or not, while Sephiroth truely believed what he was doing was for the good of all.

-Sephiroth: Jenova's Second Victim-
Again, as I stated above, I believe Sephiroth was created for the sole purpose of carrying out Jenova's plans. Sephiroth was the prodgial being, the anti-christ of the devil who was seduced with lies and visions of glory. Sephiroth pretty much went insane the day he discovered that his entire life was a lie, as Jenova knew he someday would, and it was right there to step in and seize control. It provided him with the will to survive and carry his body into the lifestream. It provided him with the ability to manipulate others with his own Jenova DNA. It provided him with the ability to create such real illusions as to give himself physical forms that could impact the physical world, as well as to portray himself as a warped angelic god destroying the solar system (which of course we know never really happened) to drive his opponants mad and give them the real sensation of being swallowed by the sun. Sephiroth, however, was not truly evil, but an insane, depressed megalomaniac who was being manipulated by the true evil. In this sense, I compare him to Golbeze from Final Fantasy IV, only he was unfortunately never lucky enough to run into a moon man and be awakened.

-Shinra Corperation: The Imperial Aspect-
Shinra was the Evil Empire - the group of humans which wanted to rule the world and control the most powerful force on the planet. Mako energy was this force. I just see this as a more modern face of Emperor Ghastra's/Gestahl's army in FFVI; instead of magic it's mako. Same desire, same greedy humans. Just a rehash, but still an evil rehash. Jenova had quite a hand in this too, I believe, corrupting humans to use the very energy of the planet as a resource for their own power.

-The Human Race: Speaks For Itself-
Greedy, arrogant, ambitious, and always ready to exploit anything for personal gain. The human race itself is inherently evil, and one knows not if it even continues to exist after the ending. Considering how Holy perceived the human race as more of a threat to the planet than Meteo itself... one can only guess.

This post has been edited by Wiggymaster on 9th August 2004 04:46

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The problem with the world is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

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We don't know that much about Hojo's past, so I will not speculate into that.

"Hojo of Shinra, Inc. ... An inexperienced man assigned to take over
the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes."
-Sephiroth

I think Hojo was just a sicko who took over Gast's job. He didn't know what he was doing and he just experimented on anything to achieve some type of results. He was probably messed up before anything to do with Jenova.

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I believe Jenova itself was responsible for creating Sephiroth, through Hojo, for the sole purpose of carrying out its wishes.

Hojo didn't have a hand in creating Sephiroth...It was Gast who undertook that activity.

This post has been edited by The Ancient on 9th August 2004 17:03

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

(in keeping with not needing spoilers for an already obviously spoilerish topic)

As Sephiroth's father, I'd say Hojo had a fair hand in creating him. The flashbacks of Vincent's past also strongly suggest to me that Hojo was quite involved in the experimenting on him, too.

Yes, Hojo is most definitely the father of Sephiroth.

That makes me think, just how old is Sephiroth supposed to be? I mean the gray hair and all? Did he still not grow out of the mama's boy phase into his 60's so he was easily susceptible to Jenova? If he was that old, you'd think he would've gotten used to it by then. Not to mention Hojo would be invariably old. Or maybe he's just naturally gray haired?

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

I've perhaps forgotten a few plot details...(as I tend to do).

Good thing I'm replaying it then :-)

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

I think Sephiroth is supposed to be naturally grey haired a la anime + games. There's no evidence of Jenova controlling Hojo. She only controls people who have her cells.

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Get me off this Disciplinary Committee so I can play any FF except for FF8!!!

I actually think that Shinra is the true evil of FFVII.

-They were the ones who tried to control the planet and suck it dry of Mako (didn't Bugenhagen say it was the same thing as the Lifestream?), thus allowing Barret and Tifa to join up to stop Shinra from sucking the Planet dry.

-They found Jenova in the first place and mistook her for an Ancient. And due to their greed, they injected Sephiroth with Jenova's cells. Likely so that they could not only make super-warriors, but also so that they could find the Promised Land easier, thus getting to the bountiful Mako faster.

-They were the ones that left the records of the Jenova project in the Shinra Mansion, where Sephiroth went crazy when he found out about it. Also, since they thought that Jenova was an Ancient, Sephiroth thought that he was one, too, and therefore the Planet belonged to him. That's why he killed...*sob*

- Because of them, all of the team members joined up in the first place.

But these are just my opinions...You all can think what you want.

And about Sephiroth's white/grey hair - that might have something to do with the fact that his mother was injected with Jenova's cells before he was born. And also, when you think about it, it's also due to the fact that it's a game. I mean, they give Seymour blue hair, Setzer and Sephiroth white/grey hair, and Kuja silver hair. What have we learned? The bad guys must always have odd colored hair. Again, just my opinion...

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You know why FFVIII sucks? It's pretty much this: 'Hey, look here's a really tough boss that levels up as we level up. We can't use any items without having to equip GFs, so let's equip 'em. Oh, and while we're at it, let's Junction 50,000 HP and kill the thing.' If you ask me, that was one of the worst FF games ever, alongside X-2.

Well, no one is actually the true villian. In FFVII, Hojo needed Jenova for his experiments, and Jenova needed Hojo to...become complete, which was never accomplished, however.

Then there's Sephiroth...without Hojo, he wouldn't be born. Without Jenova, he would be a different person, and possibly never born, since Hojo wouldn't use Lucrecia for his experiments if there was no Jenova.

Then, there are even more things. The villians in FFVII actually sort of needed each other to accomplish their goals.

Shinra needed Hojo, since Gast was dead. Hojo needed Shinra as well.

So there wasn't really a true evil.

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Let's see you figure out the truth of this quote...dun dun dun.

"The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is a lie."

Yeah, that was lame. <_<

Quote (Ejoty @ 9th August 2004 17:08)

There's no evidence of Jenova controlling Hojo. She only controls people who have her cells.

Hojo injects himself with Jenova's cells... I know he does it at the end of Disc 2 anyway during the Midgar raid. I don't know how long before that he actually injected himself so there is no telling. I don't remember him saying how long he has had her cells in him though, he could haveinjected them right before you get up the stairs and then he meay have had them for along time.
Anyone remember him mentioning when he injected himself?

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

IIRC he used the perfect ("I've injected"), which implies to me that it's a fairly recent development. Whether the translators had the same idea is anybody's guess, given the general quality of work.

I was going to start a new topic on "Who's the true ultimate evil in FFVII?", but then I saw this, and I decided to post here instead.

There are three main choices. There's Jenova, of course, who gave the means for Shinra and Sephiroth to nearly screw everything over. There's Sephiroth, who himself nearly screwed everything over as well. And then there's Hojo, who planted the seeds that allowed Sephiroth and Jenova to cause a great deal of the plot of FFVII.

Personally, I think it's Hojo. Indirectly, I am also blaming Shinra, including Shinra's hunger for power. Hojo was the crooked scientist who, by essentially messing with Sephiroth's mind, gave Sephy the 'misjustification' for doing what he did. Jenova would probably then end up being defeated in a different way, but it would (if not for Shinra) instead be a concerted effort of the entire planet, a la the older, simpler RPGs where the protagonists aimed to defeat one central evil power. Hojo also had certain people killed (you know who if you know the plot), which didn't help the morality of Shinra.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

In fact, sometimes I think that the final boss of the game should have been Hojo.

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I would have to put my vote on Sephiroth.

Here's how I see it: Although its true that Jenova is the source of Sephiroth's power, and Hojo for indirectly turning Sephiroth into a psychotic, Sephiroth was a fully-functioning member of Soldier and society. He was considered a hero, but he fell. He became obsessed with Jenova and taking the planet back. Even though Hojo created him (in the sense of making him 'more' than a human by injecting him with Jenova cells) and Jenova is the cource of his power, and whether or not Jenova manipulates him, Sephiroth is the one that allows himself to be manipulated. I think he is the greater evil because he fell from being a mighty, noble, honorable man. He didn't have to give in, and become a psychotic.

I think Elena had it right with the Human Condition.

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Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Jenova is the true enemy of the planet. The WEAPONs, hard as it is to beleive, were suppossed to be the saviours. Jenova, 'The Calamity from the Skies' could've destroyed the planet long before the game even took place, as she infected the Cetra tribes of the planet and destroyed them, the WEAPONs were born to defeat Jenova, but, the last remaining Cetra managed to overcome Jenova and seal her in rock. So now the WEAPONs go into hibernation. That is one of the problems in the history of FFVII, I think the Planet, creating these unused defenders, was weakened severly. If Jenova created a terrible wound on the planet, imagine what Shin-Ra was doing with their new Energy company, their reactors and plants and machinery and technology. The planet didn't react untill very last moment, when we see the WEAPONs come out of hibernation, and head for Midgar, this new 'wound'.
We know Gast recovered Jenova beleiving it to be a Cetra, and Shin-Ra funded his work with her, but it was they and Hojo, not Gast that planned to exploit Jenova's power. Hojo is the true enemy of mankind, he experimented on his own child and on others including a then Turk, Vincent. He created Sephiroth and if he was aware even of the slightest ill-conciquence, he didn't heed it.
Sephiroth, well, he's his own worst enemy. No doubt an enemy of nature, the planet, and people, too. But a true enemy? I'm not so sure. In the way the Cetra were infected by Jenova, Sephiroth has been infected. He still shows emotion through his twisted mind, resentment mostly, but thats still a human emotion. To me, I think Jenova ACTS as if he is to be bent by Sephiroth's will, and this makes Sephiroth feel good, to have this powerful 'ally'. Really, I think we know this isn't true, Jenova fell to the Earth, created this big wound, took out most of the Ancients and STILL wasn't defeated, just sealed in rock. I think he was waiting for the perfect time to counter-attack, the creation of Sephiroth was his perfect oppurtunity, this guy could've taken out or weakened her main worry, the WEAPONs, he call Meteor, then thats it, she could have supreme rule over the planet or just destroy it, whichever you feel was her aim. And it did happen, mission successfull, the WEAPONs were unnaffective, and Meteor was coming.

'Cept she wasn't counting on one thing. The Ancient. Aeris, knowing the situation, left the physical world, being intentionly cut down by Sephiroth, this way she could return to the Lifestream and let it know what needed to be done. The planet's very last defensive mechanism. Whatever your take on the final movie, I think this is what is happening, the Lifestream rises up with Holy and makes it's last stand, it contains the damage of Meteor, it wipes out the Lifestream sucking Reactors and cities, and plants the seeds for new live, including Nanaki's race (otherwise theres a plot hole there).

Sorry if this is what has been said before, just in different wording, I just wanted to get it off my chest after completing the game 2 days ago, while it's fresh. :)

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Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.

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I agree mostly with Elena99, but also some with Wiggymaster. The true evil is not one, but several different things and people, all born out of greed ('cept Jenova). What Jenova REALLY is, is a parasite. Being a parasite, she cannot control people unless she is inside of their bodies, controlling her new host. Dr. Hojo was NOT being controlled by Jenova for most of the game, because he had not yet injected her cells into his bloodstream. So, the entire conflict of FFVII is born of the greed of three major people/groups. The first is Shinra. Shinra was destroying the planet by sucking out the Lifestream to make people's lives easier, but was greedy for power, so they hired Dr. Hojo and Ghast to help the achieve that goal. The second is Dr. Hojo, the slightly insane man who took over Ghast's job (and I don't think Ghast was evil, he respected the sanctity of life at least), and his GREED for wealth and power caused him to starte "The Jenova Project" and creat the SOLDIERS for Shinra, including Sephiroth. The final greed-born evil is society itself, and its greed for security, causing the citezens of the world to continue to buy Shinra's products, therefore through supply and demand causing Shinra to build more Mako reactors to kill the planet.

None of these three things were CREATED by Jenova, but she siezed the opportunity and manipulated them for her own bidding. Sephiroth was "created" by both Hojo and Jenova, BECAUSE of Shinra's need for power. So, generally the "greatest evil" is the one that's "highest up" on the ladder, but in this case it's not a ladder, it's a WEB. A web with many factors manipulating each other, with no one mastermind "behind it all". So, there really IS no "true evil" in FFVII, which is the main reason that makes it so great.

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The island bathes in the sun's bright rays
Distant hills wear a shroud of grey
A lonely breeze whispers in the trees
Sole witness to history

ICO-You were there-

So what was Jenova's motive for summoning the Meteor? I'm assuming that Sephiroth wanted to do so so that he could wipe out life and play God in recreating it. But did Jenova want the Meteor to strike so that it would be the deathblow to the Planet? Why does Jenova want to kill the Planet/Planet's Spirit?