first thing in the morning

she tells me she loves me as she boards the car, and hands

me a snack that satisfies. wait a moment she tells me so, and

gives a peck that warms my soul.

hybridity is a monstrosity? what about lovers that aren't the same?

or was that viewed through a tinted eye? it puts a sap in my daily eye.

alighting from where I'd began, my feet start to warm, reaching

over to take a napkin that I'd pack all along. wait a moment, now

I tell myself, while I wonder in awe in our time machine. "Soul or Body,

Body and Soul, aren't they synchronized at the beginning of time?"

“It is an artist’s job to say that which cannot be said in words. A novelist is an artist whose medium is words. That is, it is a novelist’s job to say in words, that which cannot be said in words! In order to do this, we use a technique called ‘the lie’.”

- Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (pronounced /ˈɝsələ ˈkroʊbɚ ləˈgwɪn/)

你常常说 我很完美
没人能取代 我给的一切
我就以为 我努力更完美
我们 就会永远
完美并不美 我们多虚伪
你让我的好 变成一种罪
完美并不美 当你爱了谁
我的完美也只是 不完美
后来你说 我太完美
值得更好的 陪在我身边
你不是我 你怎么能体会
你有 多么珍贵
我的完美成了罪

Extracted from http://www.tao.cx/tos/origins.html

His name
The name Sephiroth was a name cleverly picked by Squaresoft, because if you look up information on the word "Sephiroth" you will see that it comes from the teachings of the Kabbalah, which is a very interesting subject. In the Kabbalah's teachings there are 10 Sephiroth (plural: Sephirah) symbolised in the Tree of Life. Each Sephiroth represents a path of ideas, attributes and concepts that one must realise and understand within oneself. Once that is done a person will have reached divine perfection, realised their Inner Christ and so forth. I find this extremely interesting in relation to Sephiroth-sama, as throughout the game he is striving to become like a god, to reach that perfection, and to go to the Promised Land. I hope I have given you an [accurate] insight into the meaning behind Sephiroth's name. I am no expert on the Kabbalistic teachings, what I have written is only a [very] brief summary of what I have understood from reading through various webpages. If this has interested you I strongly suggest looking up this subject further, so you can understand for yourself the significance of Sephiroth's name.

Masamune
The Masamune is the name of Sephiroth's sword (and it also crops up in other FF games in various guises), it's an extremely long, curved (having the sword slightly curved gives it more strength to witdthstand battles) sword. It could be a No-Dachi, a six-foot war sword. And probably originated from Japan's Old Sword Period (called Koto) which was their Golden Age of swordmaking. This was when they forged blades with a curve to make them stronger and they also made long swords which were over four feet in length (which Sephiroth's masamune certainly is >D). From reading in my martial arts encyclopedia (which is a very interesting book, btw +B) I have learned that "Mune" is the japanese name for the back of a sword, and there are all different kinds of classifications like "kakumune", "mitsu-mune", "mune-hikushi" etc. Which all mean different things about the backs of the sword, eg, mitsu-mune is a double back on a sword. 'Masamune' translates to 'straight back'/'straight backridge'. Anyway that's just a little bit about the Masamune and it's name literally. But most likely the name of Masamune comes from the Japanese swordsmith of the same name. One of the most (THE most?) reknowned Japanese swordsmiths of all time. Masamune lived during the Kamakura Era in Japan (late 1200s - early 1300s) and had an immense talent for sword-making. His swords were believed to have spiritual attributes to them, and some stories say only those with a pure soul could wield them. The famous legend behind Masamune's swords is this; if you placed the blade of a Masamune into a stream, if a leaf floated towards the blade, it would change course (as if being repelled by the sword's true nature) and not get sliced in two. The Murasame blade (interestingly enough, one of Cloud's swords in the game) in the same leaf test is said to attract any leaves that pass by and cut them all. This is because whoever forged the Murasame could not have understood properly the true purpose of a sword, to save lives not just to take. Hence the destructive nature of the sword. The Murasame appears to really be a legendary sword, probably based on the name "Muramasa" a swordsmith whose swords were cursed by his misunderstanding of his art (also interesting is that Muramasa was one of Masamune's pupils @_@;;). The Murasame was probably made up to contrast with Masamune's swords. Thankyou to everyone who has emailed be about the Masamune, and helped me clear through all the variations of information/stories/etc to [hopefully] get the facts right!

Wings
In the final battle with Sephiroth, his final form is that of an Angel. He has 6 white angel wings which support him from beneath his body (or just torso +D) And then he has the dominant dark, strange looking wing coming from his right arm/shoulder (I presume this is the wing that gives him the title of "One-Winged Angel") making a total of 7 wings. I think that the number of wings is significant somehow, because the number 7 is an important religious number. I have received many emails on this subject, thankyou all so much! With the information I have received I am now conducting my own research into the subject, so hopefully I'll have something up here soon ^_^V