High school can be rough.

A couple weeks ago, I arrived early to my SAT class, and took the extra time to sit in a nearby park and look over my student’s score reports. As the final bell rung, students streamed out the doors and into the park to hang out with their friends before it was time to go home.

I would have paid them no mind, but a silver-grey streak caught my eye, and I found myself watching a boy in black trench-coat, heavy boots, and long silver wig, brandish a stick in his best Sephiroth impersonation…

“Look at that freak,” one of the kids behind me intoned, well out of the would-be-fantasy-character’s earshot. I had to agree that the costume was a little odd, but at the same time had to admit that  A) I recognized the character he was emulating (chart up two geek points for me) and  B) respected the kid’s courage in the face of the ridicule he must receive for wearing the costume. It made me curious.

I’ve been told that when I was little, I wore my Batman cape whenever I was having trouble. I don’t remember it all, but looking back, it seems he was a protector and hero that I could embody, one who would empower me to deal with any difficulty, no matter the cause. Bullies at school? Wear the Batman cape. Troubles with my sister? Wear the Batman cape. Being forced to finish my mashed potatoes before I could have dessert? Well, some troubles were more insurmountable than others.

I think I stopped wearing it before grade-school, certainly before middle and high school, but I imagine that for the kid dressed as Sephiroth, his costume must have held a similar significance. Was he fighting a family breakup at home? Pressure at school? Something worse? I don’t know. Maybe he was just an enthusiast who had found his niche. But for some reason, it seemed that dressing as Sephiroth gave him power to be who he needed to be.

But why choose Sephiroth? FFVII isn’t a new game by any means, Square came out with it 1997/98. This kid had to have been born in the 90s, and couldn’t have been much more than 5 or 6 when the game was released. Game graphics have improved so much since that time that the game can be viewed as archaic, yet something about the game had captured him. It was, in a word, story.

If there is one thing FFVII has in bundles, it’s storytelling. In middle school, when I played FFVII for the first time, I immersed myself not only in the game’s main story, but it’s backstory and universe. I dreamed about it. It inspired my imagination. A few years later I played it again, and again, and it never lost it’s charm.

It seems that over ten years later it still does the same.

As for the character of Sephiroth, he’s a powerful, misunderstood, charismatic being. Even as the villain, it’s not hard to see why he would be emulated.

Powerful storytelling can change worlds and alter our perception of reality. It is important. It can inspire. It can save.