I found this story on AO3 a few days ago and just recently toddled over to FFN to see if there were any stories here that weren't crossposted to AO3.

Well, suffice it to say, I'm kinda (not) shocked that this story seems to have been almost completely ignored on FFN. It's a shame, because it's truly one of the best Sephiroth character studies I've read and, what's more, it doesn't just rehash old ground with him, it delves into his character from a slightly unusual angle, but one that provides a tremendous amount of insight into how he ticks. I come away from this story with the sense that I understand him far better than I did going in; it's opened me up to a whole new vista on how to read him.

It also touches upon the loss of personal identity and history that you find not only in FF7's character but in FF7's world. By the time we get the chance to poke around the setting in FF7, almost every speck of individuality and personality present on the Planet has been wiped out by ShinRa, and people everywhere seem to be defined more by their apathy than anything else. Places don't have a sense of being; they are tourist resorts, small villages built around mako reactors, or run-down shanty towns, and the people there are simply concerned with living and little else. There's no sense of national pride, identity, or dignity, except in a few places (Fort Condor, Cosmo Canyon, etc.), and the loss of history is perhaps best illustrated in how the names of the sectors even in Midgar itself have been forgotten in such a short time period.

And, of course, there's Wutai, who perhaps had the greatest sense of identity before CC, to have been reduced to a mere tourist town. And by Sephiroth, no less, who himself seems to lack much of a self, who is defined only by what he is to ShinRa.

He would certainly recognize it - this sense of identity in Wutai - and it makes sense for him to see it first in their combat. And out of all the characters (besides the Wutaians), he would perhaps feel it the most poignantly because of that sharp contrast between what he's fighting for and what they're fighting for, what he is and what they are. But in the end, it is what it is, and it doesn't get to him, because this is his purpose, to stomp out Wutai.

In any case, enough of my blabbering. Just ... thanks so much for writing and sharing this piece with us. The absolute least I can do is leave a review.