i thought i knew you

Warning! This page will be full of spoilers for all parts of the Compilation — this includes Crisis Core! Don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled. Even though the big parts of Zack's and Sephiroth's relationship are things you may have seen before, CC adds a lot of depth, so consider yourself warned.

Also be warned that this is more rambling than anything else — it's my thoughts on their relationship, and nothing more. It is not meant to be great.

 

I don't intend to retell their story here; chances are, if you're already here, you know it already. What I'd like to talk about here is the evolution of their relationship. Although the story was told several times (albeit from Cloud's point of view) in Final Fantasy VII, Zack had precious little on-screen time, and despite his importance on the plot, there wasn't much to go by. Sephiroth appeared throughout FFVII, but the story focused far more on his word destruction plot than what happened to him before then.

The Nibelheim incident was explored in much more depth through Last Order -FFVII-, the anime version of the events. Although it gave fans a new look at the events and the people involved, it is not the best source for my purposes here, because the major plot differences given in Last Order (namely, Sephiroth leaping into the mako pit as opposed to being tossed in and other things) were retconned by Crisis Core.

By itself, Crisis Core is a fine game. It has action, drama, and is fun to play. But the true purpose of it is to be part of the Compilation — to give fans another look at the world of Gaia and our favorite people in it. And though it has a plot clearly thought up by people on crack with significant issues (the WTF factor being the biggest part — it's not entirely believable, even when you fully expect it to be rather surreal), it expands Zack's and Sephiroth's relationship beautifully. The battle in the reactor means so much more in CC than it ever did in FFVII as a result.

So let me back up. Zack first meets Sephiroth in Wutai, while looking for his mentor, Angeal. In this first scene, Zack focuses far more on the horrifying thought of his friend and mentor being a traitor than on the fact he's talking to the great Sephiroth. The two don't meet again until Zack is promoted to First Class. Their interactions in this part of the story are strained, mostly because of the subject matter — they are told to assist the army in taking down Angeal and Genesis, Sephiroth's two old friends. They seem to become more comfortable with each other through this ordeal, though. After that, Zack doesn't see Sephiroth again for quite a long time (if you're thinking "insert plot here" you're right), but when they do there is tons of slashy subtext they are on far friendlier terms, despite the stressful situation once more.

And then they go to Nibelheim together, along with Cloud. This scene plays out virtually the same (with the addition of Genesis to help Sephiroth's mental deteriation along), and as it did in FFVII, not as in Last Order.

... And that's it. That is the entirety of the canon relationship of Zack and Sephiroth, as given in the Compilation. (I will mention that I am excluding Before Crisis, so it isn't the actual entirety, because I'm pretty sure they have some interaction there, but I need to reread the scripts so I don't consider anything I can say on that accurate right now.) Frankly, it isn't much. There's a weak friendship there (weak on Sephiroth's part, I think Zack honestly tries but is deterred by how Sephiroth has closed himself off to the world). I really, really wish they had had more interaction in CC, but I'm happy they did get something more than a purely fanon relationship.

 

Obviously, I will improve these thoughts at a later date and would like to organize my ideas better, but I think this is a good start.