I finally found out what happened to Sephiroth's Near Pure Evil page! He was relocated to the Inconsistently Heinous wiki. And honestly, while I still think Post-Nibelhem Seph (especially AC) qualifies for Near Pure Evil, Inconsistently Heinous is fair enough considering how much FS muddies the waters.
To give a short definition of what IC means, here's info straight from the wiki:
"TheĀ Inconsistently HeinousĀ villain is a type of villain who is as heinous as a Pure Evil villain, but the villain has strong preventions that bar them from being Pure Evil. These villains are as heinous as Pure Evil villains, but they have qualities that are too strong for them to be Pure Evil such as having strong redeeming qualities and/or redeeming themselves, frequently played for laughs or being a grey zoned villain."
FS really highlights the full extent of Sephiroth's abusive childhood. He's just a young kid, and he's already being horribly abused and manipulated by people who should have been protecting him. Then there's Jenova, who I suspect is heavily involved (especially with those dream sequences where she's wearing Lucrecia's face) with said manipulation and grooming of Sephiroth. That level of tragedy definitely warrants some prevention from higher evil standards.
And despite all of this, Sephiroth still retained some heroic traits and showcased many instances of humanity in his adulthood until the Nibelheim arc in CC.
And, well... At the height of the Nibelheim Incident, we still really don't know for sure if he was being mind-controlled; his behavior and robotic movements imply it, but instances later in FF7 imply otherwise when we see the man himself holding the puppet strings. And all the evidence together implies... both??? What the hell?
We only know for certain that at one point in FF7 (this time point is not specified, I believe; please correct me if i'm wrong), Sephiroth gained complete control of himself AND Jenova. This shows his culpability in the cruel acts done in his name, which would allow him to meet the criteria for a higher evil level. This is all my personal opinion, just a disclaimer.
I have no doubt Sephiroth would commit even more morally vile acts, just like his father, if it furthered his goals. But whether 7R3 will justify or worsen his current moral standing remains to be seen.
To conclude, Itās worth noting that on these moral classification wikis, different incarnations or developmental arcs of a character are acceptable to be assessed on the morality scale. Griffith from Berserk is a great example! He's classified as both Inconsistently Admirable in his earlier arcs and Pure Evil in later arcs. (I mean as Femto, the man known as Griffith is practically gone) arc. Sephiroth could easily follow a similar path, once as 7R3 (and maybe FS?) further solidifies his characterization in the franchise!
P.S Cloud got moved from Inconsistently Admirable to Near Pure Good. Maybe I'll make a post about that later.
Here's one to hoping that Analyzing Evil on YT will eventually make a Sephiroth video! š