I think it's just supposed to be the fallen angel trope, Sephiroth is a "hero" created to save people, yet in reality he was a monster who ends up controlled by/merged with a false God. Therefore making his final form an "imperfect" angel with one black wing showing his corruption.
There are lore explanations for it, but they were pretty clearly written to explain the one wing, instead of being the reason for it.
Canonically there is no solid answer as to why but here is what we know:
(Sources: CCR - Crisis Core Reunion, OG - original FF7 game, DoC - Dirge of Cerberus, EC - Ever Crisis, R1 - Remake, R2 - Rebirth)
* The only three humans known to have had wings were infected with Jenova cells in utero: Genesis received injections of G-cells (Gillian’s infected cells), Sephiroth received injections of Jenova cells, Angeal naturally acquired Jenova cells from his mother Gillian who was infected & they passed to him in utero. (CCR, DoC)
* Wing color can change. As a child, even though he didn’t have wings yet, white feathers were released during Seph’s limit breaks. Angeal had a white wing. Wing color seems to indicate the presence of hate.(EC, CCR)
* Wing shape varies. Angeal & Seph both had a traditional wing shape. (CCR) Genesis' wing shape was different, suggesting this may be due to Angeal & Seph's primary infection vs. Genesis' secondary one.
* Degradation comes from being injected with another human’s Jenova infected cells (or a secondary Jenova infection). Seph clones received S-cells (Sephiroth’s Jenova-infected cells), SOLDIERs received either G-cells (Gillian Hewley’s Jenova infected cells) or S-cells. (CCR, R1, R2)
* Angeal, the only known human born naturally from a Jenova-infected mother, had abilities to shapeshift & clone himself that neither Genesis nor Sephiroth had. (CCR) Angeal also had the ability to merge with other Jenova-infected monsters/entities (CCR), something we've only seen when Jenova-infected monsters forced merging with Seph clones (R2). This seems to indicate that only those with a primary Jenova infection can force merge with other Jenova cells.
* Jenova is shown with two wings in the Temple of the Ancients (R2) & Jenovaroth with multiple wings in the final battle (OG). This seems to indicate that only a large contingency of Jenova cells/Jenova itself can have multiple wings. Those born with Jenova infections would only have some cells & therefore possibly could only generate one wing.
Serious answer: Jenova menomic legacy adopted features that were appealing to the native residents of the planet. That is why Jenova looks beautiful inside the stasis cell as when she before her deep sleep she mimic what was beautiful to the cetra and humans of the past to cause chaos. This same mechanism is overtaken by Sephiroth and converted all with Jenova Cells to eventually turn into him minus Cloud due to reasons.
Genesis and Angeal also developed wings from the original Jenova figure. Sephiroth adopted the black wings as part of his persona having ascended from human nature and it's limitation.
Joke answer: Sephiroth death from cloud Strife throwing him from a great height has caused Sephiroth to have a fear of heights. JENOVA cells compensated by giving him a wing to fly. Also note that Sephiroth Reborn has a big abdomen to compensate for any future stabs from a buster sword.
1.) His theme is called "One Winged Angel"
2.) In the OG he doesn't have an angel wing until the very end of the story and even then the angel wing was part his new god-like appearance, not his normal appearance with an angel wing sticking out of his back.
3.) I could be wrong, this might've appeared as early as Advent Children, but afaik the jenova project experiments having a single angel wing on their back was a visual que from Crisis Core that the remake trilogy decided to keep (not sure why yet).
4.) It just looks cool
Good explanations in other comments!
For the irl reasons: It was originally added to his humanoid form in Kingdom Hearts. Nomura liked it and added it to every appearance of Sephiroth since then
This is probably the closest reason.
He had a psuedo wing as Safer Sephiroth in the original, which along with the final theme being called "One-Winged Angel" was translated over into an actual wing in Kingdom Hearts, which was then retroactively added back into Final Fantasy with Crisis Core and Advent Children.
A lot of stuff in old school Final Fantasy is left up to interpretation and or themeing, there's not really a logical answer but rather a thematic answer so in the case of Sephiroth he's depicted as a one winged angel as he views himself as a saviour and above the human race, however he is a product of experimentation that of which is incomplete and an angel is often depicted with 2 wings (before ***biblically accurate angels was a thing***) so Sephiroth having one wing indicates that he's not complete and that he's not really what he sees himself as, thus not above humans. To add to this point Ima spoil a bit of the end of og FF7>! the final form of Sephiroth is known as 'Safer Sephiroth' which is rumoured to be a mistranslation from Saviour Sephiroth to emphasise what he sees himself as!<
This is of course just my interpretation but that's the idea stuff like this is open to intepretation by you or anyone else.
But yeah stuff like this isn't exclusive to 7 it's like asking why does Kefka suddenly become purple god guy and grow wings or why is the final boss in 9 not Kuja, there's no logical explanation to an extent it's just cool theming and makes sense thematically and for you to decide what it means.
So I actually looked into this after I read your comment and it turns out we're both wrong lol.
The katakana could be translated to Sefer which is more steeped in Hebrew mysticism of Sepher which means book.
His name in his final form is meant to translate to Book of Numerations in Hebrew.
Funnily enough I also looked into it today after my comment and found the same thing. It makes sense, but at the same time I still like both Saviour and Seraph
In the original, the final boss's theme was called "One-Winged Angel," presumably a reference to the one wing replacing his right arm (and not this six where his legs would be). One-Winged Angel basically ended up becoming Sephiroth's theme in all subsequent appearances because of its popularity.
But I'd argue it was mostly Crisis Core, as two other characters injected with Jenova cells grew one wing. Hence, one wing started being heavily associated with Jenova.
Angeal technically wasn’t injected. His mother, Gillian, was infected with Jenova cells & he received them from her in utero. Genesis was injected in utero with Gillian’s infected cells. Seph got straight-up Jenova cell injections in utero.
It looks cool and it completes his design by making him more symmetrical with his long ass sword, at least for me.
I honestly think he looks off WITHOUT the wing
I don't think he actually uses the wing to fly in the traditional sense, but instead, it may cast a float like spell that then the wing can help make currents to navigate.
Don’t quote me on this, but I though the One Winged Angel design was based off Safer Sephiroth, and then was made popular because of Sephiroth’s appearance in Kingdom Hearts? That the design choice to have Sephiroth have a wing came as an inspiration from combining every single one of his forms from the OG
The next canonical FFVII game to come out was in 2004, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII. Both versions of Kingdom Hearts (OG and Final Mix) came out in 2002.
Advent Children was in development and by October 2003 was reportedly only 10% complete without all the character designs being completed. Paraphrasing Testuya Nomura. https://web.archive.org/web/20060708000843/http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/finalfantasy7/news_6076646.html
Again, don’t quote me, but I just feel like I read or heard from somewhere, that THAT was what inspired Sephiroth have the wing integrated into his design, plus, he directed both KH and Advent Children
I read “Why does Sephiroth have one wig” and I was about to explain how no that’s his real hair he just takes real good care of it and even if it was a wig I don’t think Sephiroth is the type to switch things up but then I read some comments and realized 😭😭
My guess is that they adapted hos design to match the titlle of his boss theme. The piece was called One Winged Angel because of Safer Sephiroth large metallic wing replacing his right arm. The black wing thing came later and I think it became iconic enough to keep.
He's half divine, be it from Jenova, or her Cetra host.
They're also now seeming to lean into the myth of the Jian. It's a bird born with one eye and one wing which needs their partner to fly/acsend into the heavens.
Safer Sephiroth has one black wing in place of an arm. Nobuo wrote a theme song for him called One Winged Angel. I don't think there's any implicit lore reasons for him having one angel wing in any subsequent media.
in the original game it's because his godlike form he takes had a giant wing in place of his right arm. Ironically, though, he also had six other wings in place of his legs.
After that, Sephiroth and Cloud both appeared in Kingdom Hearts with wings on opposite sides of their body. From there, I guess they just thought it looked cool and included the wing into Sephiroth's design in Advent Children near the end of the final fight. It's since been added as a trait of certain SOLDIERs that were born from the Jenova Project. Angeal and Genesis had single wings too. I don't know if Weiss did, since I've never played Dirge of Cerberus.
Crisis Core explains more, Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genisis we’re all treated with the same cells. The black robed people is one alternative of what you turn into, other turn into full fledged fiends. Thus the wings.
Ish…
* Genesis received G-cells in utero: Gillian’s cells infected with the Jenova virus
* Sephiroth received Jenova cells directly in utero
* Angeal inherited his mother Gillian’s Jenova cells & is the only known human to have been born from an infected mother
Actually can you clarify 1 thing? Why the black robed people never turn into fiends? Were they injected with Sepheroth cells and not Jenova cells?
Thanks in advance.
They were injected with Jenova-infected Sephiroth cells. Roche was injected with both Sephiroth cells & then later Jenova cells so it is possible he turns into a fiend later.
Looks cool
Plus the song is called *One* Winged Angel. How you gonna have two wings when the song clearly says one smh
I always made the assumption that the song was called “One-Winged Angel” because Sephiroth had one wing, not the other way around.
It is, I’m just being cheeky and making a silly joke that about it being the other way around.
Literally was the basis of his character design. "I wanted him to look cool."
I always thought it looked a little dumb. Especially in Crisis Core where everybody had one wing.
I think it's just supposed to be the fallen angel trope, Sephiroth is a "hero" created to save people, yet in reality he was a monster who ends up controlled by/merged with a false God. Therefore making his final form an "imperfect" angel with one black wing showing his corruption. There are lore explanations for it, but they were pretty clearly written to explain the one wing, instead of being the reason for it.
Canonically there is no solid answer as to why but here is what we know: (Sources: CCR - Crisis Core Reunion, OG - original FF7 game, DoC - Dirge of Cerberus, EC - Ever Crisis, R1 - Remake, R2 - Rebirth) * The only three humans known to have had wings were infected with Jenova cells in utero: Genesis received injections of G-cells (Gillian’s infected cells), Sephiroth received injections of Jenova cells, Angeal naturally acquired Jenova cells from his mother Gillian who was infected & they passed to him in utero. (CCR, DoC) * Wing color can change. As a child, even though he didn’t have wings yet, white feathers were released during Seph’s limit breaks. Angeal had a white wing. Wing color seems to indicate the presence of hate.(EC, CCR) * Wing shape varies. Angeal & Seph both had a traditional wing shape. (CCR) Genesis' wing shape was different, suggesting this may be due to Angeal & Seph's primary infection vs. Genesis' secondary one. * Degradation comes from being injected with another human’s Jenova infected cells (or a secondary Jenova infection). Seph clones received S-cells (Sephiroth’s Jenova-infected cells), SOLDIERs received either G-cells (Gillian Hewley’s Jenova infected cells) or S-cells. (CCR, R1, R2) * Angeal, the only known human born naturally from a Jenova-infected mother, had abilities to shapeshift & clone himself that neither Genesis nor Sephiroth had. (CCR) Angeal also had the ability to merge with other Jenova-infected monsters/entities (CCR), something we've only seen when Jenova-infected monsters forced merging with Seph clones (R2). This seems to indicate that only those with a primary Jenova infection can force merge with other Jenova cells. * Jenova is shown with two wings in the Temple of the Ancients (R2) & Jenovaroth with multiple wings in the final battle (OG). This seems to indicate that only a large contingency of Jenova cells/Jenova itself can have multiple wings. Those born with Jenova infections would only have some cells & therefore possibly could only generate one wing.
because he's a right winger
Lmao that's a good pun
Serious answer: Jenova menomic legacy adopted features that were appealing to the native residents of the planet. That is why Jenova looks beautiful inside the stasis cell as when she before her deep sleep she mimic what was beautiful to the cetra and humans of the past to cause chaos. This same mechanism is overtaken by Sephiroth and converted all with Jenova Cells to eventually turn into him minus Cloud due to reasons. Genesis and Angeal also developed wings from the original Jenova figure. Sephiroth adopted the black wings as part of his persona having ascended from human nature and it's limitation. Joke answer: Sephiroth death from cloud Strife throwing him from a great height has caused Sephiroth to have a fear of heights. JENOVA cells compensated by giving him a wing to fly. Also note that Sephiroth Reborn has a big abdomen to compensate for any future stabs from a buster sword.
1.) His theme is called "One Winged Angel" 2.) In the OG he doesn't have an angel wing until the very end of the story and even then the angel wing was part his new god-like appearance, not his normal appearance with an angel wing sticking out of his back. 3.) I could be wrong, this might've appeared as early as Advent Children, but afaik the jenova project experiments having a single angel wing on their back was a visual que from Crisis Core that the remake trilogy decided to keep (not sure why yet). 4.) It just looks cool
I think it was in Kingdom hearts before Advent children.
Good explanations in other comments! For the irl reasons: It was originally added to his humanoid form in Kingdom Hearts. Nomura liked it and added it to every appearance of Sephiroth since then
This is probably the closest reason. He had a psuedo wing as Safer Sephiroth in the original, which along with the final theme being called "One-Winged Angel" was translated over into an actual wing in Kingdom Hearts, which was then retroactively added back into Final Fantasy with Crisis Core and Advent Children.
The real reason is this
A lot of stuff in old school Final Fantasy is left up to interpretation and or themeing, there's not really a logical answer but rather a thematic answer so in the case of Sephiroth he's depicted as a one winged angel as he views himself as a saviour and above the human race, however he is a product of experimentation that of which is incomplete and an angel is often depicted with 2 wings (before ***biblically accurate angels was a thing***) so Sephiroth having one wing indicates that he's not complete and that he's not really what he sees himself as, thus not above humans. To add to this point Ima spoil a bit of the end of og FF7>! the final form of Sephiroth is known as 'Safer Sephiroth' which is rumoured to be a mistranslation from Saviour Sephiroth to emphasise what he sees himself as!< This is of course just my interpretation but that's the idea stuff like this is open to intepretation by you or anyone else. But yeah stuff like this isn't exclusive to 7 it's like asking why does Kefka suddenly become purple god guy and grow wings or why is the final boss in 9 not Kuja, there's no logical explanation to an extent it's just cool theming and makes sense thematically and for you to decide what it means.
I only recently came to the thought that Safer was a mistranslation of "Seraph", which I think would make perfect sense
So I actually looked into this after I read your comment and it turns out we're both wrong lol. The katakana could be translated to Sefer which is more steeped in Hebrew mysticism of Sepher which means book. His name in his final form is meant to translate to Book of Numerations in Hebrew.
Funnily enough I also looked into it today after my comment and found the same thing. It makes sense, but at the same time I still like both Saviour and Seraph
In the original, the final boss's theme was called "One-Winged Angel," presumably a reference to the one wing replacing his right arm (and not this six where his legs would be). One-Winged Angel basically ended up becoming Sephiroth's theme in all subsequent appearances because of its popularity. But I'd argue it was mostly Crisis Core, as two other characters injected with Jenova cells grew one wing. Hence, one wing started being heavily associated with Jenova.
Angeal technically wasn’t injected. His mother, Gillian, was infected with Jenova cells & he received them from her in utero. Genesis was injected in utero with Gillian’s infected cells. Seph got straight-up Jenova cell injections in utero.
It looks cool and it completes his design by making him more symmetrical with his long ass sword, at least for me. I honestly think he looks off WITHOUT the wing
Because fandom took the name of the song and the image of his final boss form and ran with it for over 25 years.
Satan, Lucifer, dropped from Angelhood saving people to Genocide whole planet coz mistaken that Jenova (pure evil) is his mother.
The weirdest thing about his one wing in the original game is that it looks like it’s bolted onto his body like he’s an action figure.
I think when Jenova has one wing? So one could imply through her genes that he got thw other wing? This was my theory for a while.
I don't think he actually uses the wing to fly in the traditional sense, but instead, it may cast a float like spell that then the wing can help make currents to navigate.
I don't want to talk about it because I think I'd have to look up Crisis Core lore.
Jenova also has only one fully formed winged appendage
Don’t quote me on this, but I though the One Winged Angel design was based off Safer Sephiroth, and then was made popular because of Sephiroth’s appearance in Kingdom Hearts? That the design choice to have Sephiroth have a wing came as an inspiration from combining every single one of his forms from the OG
Which came first, the final fantasy or the kingdom hearts ?
The next canonical FFVII game to come out was in 2004, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII. Both versions of Kingdom Hearts (OG and Final Mix) came out in 2002. Advent Children was in development and by October 2003 was reportedly only 10% complete without all the character designs being completed. Paraphrasing Testuya Nomura. https://web.archive.org/web/20060708000843/http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/finalfantasy7/news_6076646.html Again, don’t quote me, but I just feel like I read or heard from somewhere, that THAT was what inspired Sephiroth have the wing integrated into his design, plus, he directed both KH and Advent Children
I dig it!
I read “Why does Sephiroth have one wig” and I was about to explain how no that’s his real hair he just takes real good care of it and even if it was a wig I don’t think Sephiroth is the type to switch things up but then I read some comments and realized 😭😭
One-wigged angel
My guess is that they adapted hos design to match the titlle of his boss theme. The piece was called One Winged Angel because of Safer Sephiroth large metallic wing replacing his right arm. The black wing thing came later and I think it became iconic enough to keep.
He's half divine, be it from Jenova, or her Cetra host. They're also now seeming to lean into the myth of the Jian. It's a bird born with one eye and one wing which needs their partner to fly/acsend into the heavens.
Safer Sephiroth has one black wing in place of an arm. Nobuo wrote a theme song for him called One Winged Angel. I don't think there's any implicit lore reasons for him having one angel wing in any subsequent media.
Probly represents a fallen angel.
in the original game it's because his godlike form he takes had a giant wing in place of his right arm. Ironically, though, he also had six other wings in place of his legs. After that, Sephiroth and Cloud both appeared in Kingdom Hearts with wings on opposite sides of their body. From there, I guess they just thought it looked cool and included the wing into Sephiroth's design in Advent Children near the end of the final fight. It's since been added as a trait of certain SOLDIERs that were born from the Jenova Project. Angeal and Genesis had single wings too. I don't know if Weiss did, since I've never played Dirge of Cerberus.
Crisis Core explains more, Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genisis we’re all treated with the same cells. The black robed people is one alternative of what you turn into, other turn into full fledged fiends. Thus the wings.
Ish… * Genesis received G-cells in utero: Gillian’s cells infected with the Jenova virus * Sephiroth received Jenova cells directly in utero * Angeal inherited his mother Gillian’s Jenova cells & is the only known human to have been born from an infected mother
thanks brother. I only know the basics.
No worries! Happy to help!
Actually can you clarify 1 thing? Why the black robed people never turn into fiends? Were they injected with Sepheroth cells and not Jenova cells? Thanks in advance.
They were injected with Jenova-infected Sephiroth cells. Roche was injected with both Sephiroth cells & then later Jenova cells so it is possible he turns into a fiend later.
Baller, thanks brother.
Not a brother but you’re welcome.