Did Sephiroth... Do This?

About

Did Sephiroth… Do This? is a series of exploitable memes based on a moment from the video game Final Fantasy VII in which three characters from the game, often Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII, stand in front of the Midgar Zolom, a giant snake, impaled by a tree as a text box displays the dialogue, "Did Sephiroth… do this?" The scene first became the subject of memes on Reddit in 2011 and became increasingly popular throughout the 2010s and 2020s, where the characters and text box are placed over images that resemble the scene.

Origin

At one point in the video game Final Fantasy VII, the player comes across the Midgar Zolom, a giant snake, impaled by a tree. The protagonist, Cloud, asks, "Did Sephiroth… do this?" (Shown below).

The earliest known meme referencing the scene was posted to /r/gaming^[1] by u/Cuba_Libre_Jr on May 9th, 2011, in which the text box is placed beside a slug on a branch, garnering over 540 upvotes in 12 years (shown below).

Spread

On October 4th, 2019, u/AliceTrippDaGain posted a version of the meme to /r/gaming^[2] adding the goose from Untitled Goose Game to the original scene, garnering over 3,000 upvotes in five years. On May 19th, 2020, Instagram^[3] user evanmemelion posted a version of the meme referencing Evangelion, garnering over 3,700 likes in four years (shown below).

On January 15th, 2021, X^[4] user @mywheelhouseftw posted a version of the meme in which the characters look up at a broken basketball net, garnering over 27,000 likes in three years (shown below, left). On February 6th, u/cwait54 posted a version of the meme to /r/FinalFantasy^[5] that gained over 4,000 upvotes in three years (shown below, right).

On September 15th, 2023, X^[6] user @CYNAM1NT posted a version of the meme referencing the Baton Roue meme, garnering over 11,000 likes in five months (shown below).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References