Fandom for years:

“And then General Sephiroth commanded the legions of Shinra to—”

Some rando Shinra troops in canon:

“Erm you can’t tell us to evacuate to safety because of an attack, bro. Not official orders 🤓”

And then he had to run over to help them BY HIMSELF and they only fought beside him because they could see how hard he was fighting, NOT because he gave them an order.

Guy had no power in Shinra. He had STATUS. But status is NOT the same as power. He was a glorified attack dog who won people over through his reputation. But not because he actually had the authority or rank to command them.

Military and SOLDIER are different departments. Sure Lazard steals Heidegger's best men, but Sephiroth can only be a stubborn little shit who gets what he wants when it comes to SOLDIER. Not infantry

Sure, he’s got those “unofficial 1st class privileges” as they’re so fondly labeled (thank Lazard’s leniency) like refusing missions, but he has to commit treason by subterfuge to get what he wants for a reason. SOLDIERS were dogs with fancier collars.

I see SOLDIERs as a SWAT team. They can’t command the army and they still have to obey their orders.

Privileges in ShinRa were only limited to Directors. And Lazard used his privileges to make his men less miserable. But other than that, ShinRa had everyone in the iron fist of totalitarian regime.

Even Tseng, the favourite person of Rufus ShinRa, seemed to be pretty oppressed and abused.

Lucrecia being the one who actually gave Sephiroth his name.

His name means "Tree of Life".

After the tree where she first had her picnic with Vincent.

The tree she'd stood under, alone, in the long, dark days that had followed.

Where she'd felt Sephiroth kick inside her for the very first time...

I think it’s a name Hojo would give to his son as the name means 10 qualities of god.

Sephiroth is the plural of Sephira (spellings vary), and here they are:

Definitely suits a mad scientist trying to create a godlike offspring.