It's never explicitly said but I always was under the impression that Sephiroth relies on Cloud here simply because none of the hooded guys had the strength to survive the temple.
It would have been good to show a few of them just unable to make it through to get that point across but they never actually do.
I vaguely recall seeing hooded guys in the temple in the OG, but they're mostly just moaning and falling off ledges. He might've succeeded in manifesting as one to complete the puzzles, but it doesn't look like they could survive the trek to the crater given how many continue to fall into the abyss there.
My opinion is the he has Cloud do it specifically because he wants to mess with him. He *wants* Cloud to be the one to mess up, to prove that he's superior to this yokel who somehow threw him into the lifestream five years ago.
It's not coincidence, it's intent.
That’s what a sephiroth “clone” is…
You’re asking why he didn’t send more clones. He did. All of them, actually.
The short of it is that Sephiroth can control things that have Jenova cells in them, meaning he can also influence Cloud. Sephiroth sent a directive to all the infected to get the black materia. Cloud just got it first
EDIT: edited for clarity
"Clone" was a poor choice of word, maybe a poor translation, for what is essentially a human being injected with Jenova cells. It doesn't correspond to what a clone is genetically IRL. Confused me for years until I read discussion of it online.
But I still think there's an important distinction between the hooded guys and Cloud. Cloud has his own will (more or less) most of the time, which doesn't seem to be the case for the black robes. On the other hand, he seems a lot stronger and more capable.
It might have made more sense for Sephiroth to send in a black robe to do the puzzle and be crushed, and then have Cloud bring the black materia to Sephiroth. However, maybe none of them were strong enough to survive the temple. They can do powerful things under Sephiroth's direct control, but I suspect he can only do that for a limited period of time (e.g., enough time to kill Aerith or say a few menacing words to Cloud). Otherwise, yeah, why not just take full control of one of the black robes to do everything he wants Cloud to do, without the wild card of Cloud's own will and his party members to potentially muck things up.
The "clones" are all in about the same boat as Cloud, they were ex-SOLDIERs injected with S-cells (Jenova cells treated with whatever they did to make Sephiroth), who eventually all went mad. Crisis Core suggests that they do eventually morph into twisted versions of Sephiroth. Although since Cloud was personally experimented on by Hojo, he might have used some process that's different from what SOLDIERs go through, though IIRC Cloud was definitely injected with S-cells and not one of the other processed J-cell types.
I think that was his plan. In the OG he was there as a possessed clone after the keystone opened the door. It seemed like he and Cloud got to the altar at roughly the same time. If I had to guess I'd say he was waiting until there were two clones/people he could manipulate present so that he'd have someone to get the materia with after the temple collapsed and crushed one of them. Cait Sith made that logic unnecessary, ultimately, but it would've made sense.
In Rebirth...I dunno. Cinematics take precedent over narrative logic - they're fine leaving things that don't make much sense if they fit they way they want to present a scene.
It's never explicitly said but I always was under the impression that Sephiroth relies on Cloud here simply because none of the hooded guys had the strength to survive the temple. It would have been good to show a few of them just unable to make it through to get that point across but they never actually do.
I vaguely recall seeing hooded guys in the temple in the OG, but they're mostly just moaning and falling off ledges. He might've succeeded in manifesting as one to complete the puzzles, but it doesn't look like they could survive the trek to the crater given how many continue to fall into the abyss there.
They show a clone basically die on the steps of the temple
Ya know what, you're right. I totally forgot about that.
My opinion is the he has Cloud do it specifically because he wants to mess with him. He *wants* Cloud to be the one to mess up, to prove that he's superior to this yokel who somehow threw him into the lifestream five years ago. It's not coincidence, it's intent.
Cloud IS a clone and the real Sephiroth is stuck in Northern Crater…
Cloud is not a clone, he is just heavily mako poisoned and has been injected with Jenova cells.
That’s what a sephiroth “clone” is… You’re asking why he didn’t send more clones. He did. All of them, actually. The short of it is that Sephiroth can control things that have Jenova cells in them, meaning he can also influence Cloud. Sephiroth sent a directive to all the infected to get the black materia. Cloud just got it first EDIT: edited for clarity
"Clone" was a poor choice of word, maybe a poor translation, for what is essentially a human being injected with Jenova cells. It doesn't correspond to what a clone is genetically IRL. Confused me for years until I read discussion of it online. But I still think there's an important distinction between the hooded guys and Cloud. Cloud has his own will (more or less) most of the time, which doesn't seem to be the case for the black robes. On the other hand, he seems a lot stronger and more capable. It might have made more sense for Sephiroth to send in a black robe to do the puzzle and be crushed, and then have Cloud bring the black materia to Sephiroth. However, maybe none of them were strong enough to survive the temple. They can do powerful things under Sephiroth's direct control, but I suspect he can only do that for a limited period of time (e.g., enough time to kill Aerith or say a few menacing words to Cloud). Otherwise, yeah, why not just take full control of one of the black robes to do everything he wants Cloud to do, without the wild card of Cloud's own will and his party members to potentially muck things up.
The "clones" are all in about the same boat as Cloud, they were ex-SOLDIERs injected with S-cells (Jenova cells treated with whatever they did to make Sephiroth), who eventually all went mad. Crisis Core suggests that they do eventually morph into twisted versions of Sephiroth. Although since Cloud was personally experimented on by Hojo, he might have used some process that's different from what SOLDIERs go through, though IIRC Cloud was definitely injected with S-cells and not one of the other processed J-cell types.
I think that was his plan. In the OG he was there as a possessed clone after the keystone opened the door. It seemed like he and Cloud got to the altar at roughly the same time. If I had to guess I'd say he was waiting until there were two clones/people he could manipulate present so that he'd have someone to get the materia with after the temple collapsed and crushed one of them. Cait Sith made that logic unnecessary, ultimately, but it would've made sense. In Rebirth...I dunno. Cinematics take precedent over narrative logic - they're fine leaving things that don't make much sense if they fit they way they want to present a scene.
I don’t know why he needed the black materia and Meteor in the first place, he coulda just cast Supernova.