✘ information
general info.
name. Cloud Strife.
age. Twenty-three.
origin. Nibelheim.
gender. Male.
height. 5'7" (170cm).
blood type. AB.
weapon. First Tsurugi.
location. Nuadoria » ???.
likes.
dislikes.
personality. Unlike your typical male protagonist, Cloud’s character is somewhat distinguishable by his pessimistic and withdrawn personality. He is very much the type of individual who-albeit unintentionally-clings to the negative things in life, allowing himself to be constantly weighed down by his tragic past and previous mistakes. He is undeniably his own worst enemy in the sense that he is quite prone to judging and doubting himself far more severely than anyone else around him.
Of course, Cloud wasn’t always like this. At the start of the Final Fantasy VII series, he is depicted as a confident (almost to the point of being cocky) and somewhat cool mercenary who will take on any job required of him-provided the price is right, that is. As the story progresses however, it becomes clear that Cloud is, to be perfectly honest, quite severely messed up. His entire personality is at war with itself, caught in a serious conflict between who he truly is, who he believes he is and who he wants to be. His tough-guy exterior is an almost exact reflection of the latter two; a twisted personality pieced together from false memories of his friend, Zack Fair, and his childhood dreams of being a hero.
But Cloud-the real Cloud-is pretty much the exact opposite. He is almost constantly haunted by the tragic events of his past (particularly the deaths of Zack and Aerith), and the feelings of guilt and grief he consequently feels are somewhat central to his inability to forgive himself for his failures. Plagued by feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy, Cloud often appears reluctant when it comes to taking action or making important choices, especially when there is a high possibility that he might fail yet again, despite his efforts to do otherwise. The idea of something happening that can’t be undone terrifies him more than anything, making his position as a leader amongst his allies rather uncomfortable for him.
At the point in Advent Children that I’m taking him from, Cloud is pretty much at his lowest of lows. He well and truly believes he is unable to help anyone-not even himself-and the fact he is sick with Geostigma only adds to his general feelings of uselessness and despair. Of course, rather than facing up to his problems, Cloud instead distances himself from his friends to avoid burdening them or giving them any cause for worry… not that he succeeds of course, but the sentiment is still there.
Despite all his obvious weaknesses, Cloud is a far stronger person than he gives himself credit for. He is never completely overwhelmed by his insecurities, often rising to the occasion and proving his inner strength when those he cares for are in harm’s way… though usually not without a stern lecture from Tifa beforehand. What Cloud lacks in self-confidence he makes up for with sheer determination, as well as the ability to put aside all his personal crap in favour of getting the job done (or saving the day) when it is required of him.
All in all, Cloud is very much the hero-type figure he once dreamed of being and really just needs to cut himself some slack.
background. Born in a small mountain village called Nibelheim, Cloud’s childhood wasn’t exactly a happy one. He was always considered an outsider in the town, ignored by the other children and blamed for every little mishap by the adults-even the ones that were beyond his control. After an incident involving his next door neighbour, Tifa Lockhart, that ended with her in a coma for an entire week and Cloud left with nothing but cuts and bruises (thus earning him even more blame for the accident), he vowed to become a SOLDIER so that one day he would be strong enough to protect Tifa if she ever needed it.
Of course, things never seem to go according to plan where Cloud is concerned and instead of making it into SOLDIER like he dreamed, he instead wound up as a regular army grunt for the Shinra Electric Company. It is on one particular mission to Modeoheim that Cloud meets and befriends a young man who would later have a very significant impact on his life-a 1st Class SOLDIER by the name of Zack Fair. The two bond over being “backwater experts”, as they both come from small, relatively unheard of towns and become fast friends… with a little bit of hero-worship included on Cloud’s part.
Sometime later, and by some stroke of luck-or misfortune as it would soon prove to be-Cloud finds himself assigned on a second mission with Zack and his childhood hero, Sephiroth, to his hometown of Nibelheim. Cloud is a little less than thrilled with the prospect of returning to the village, as so far he hasn’t really amounted to anything spectacular, just like the townspeople had predicted. Still, he goes on the mission and manages to hide his presence from everyone-with the exception of his mother, of course.
However, this particular mission was to be the end of Cloud’s military career, though unfortunately not the end of his time with Shinra. Both Cloud and Zack were left mortally wounded by the madman that Sephiroth became, leaving them with no means to fight back or protest as they were claimed as specimens for experimentation by Professor Hojo, the head of Shinra’s science department.
The next four years or so were filled with nothing but painful physical and mental torture for the pair, which came almost daily in the form of Hojo’s cruel and inhumane experiments. There was little chance of them ever being freed, until Zack managed to find a window of opportunity and break out of the underground laboratory, taking the now catatonic and useless Cloud with him. The pair struggled to make it back to Midgar whilst under constant pursuit from troopers and Turks alike. Ironically, it was with their destination literally in sight that the pair was ambushed on the cliffs just miles outside of the city. Desperate to protect his young and helpless friend, Zack faced off against their pursuers and consequently met his demise, much to Cloud’s disbelief and anguish.
Left with nothing but the promise to live out Zack’s life for him and his friend’s Buster Sword, Cloud struggles to make his way into Midgar alone. By the time he is discovered by Tifa Lockhart and hired as a paid mercenary by a terrorist group called AVALANCHE, Cloud’s mind is so muddled by the mako in his system and his grief that he unintentionally confuses most of his memories with Zack’s own, believing himself to be a 1st Class SOLDIER all along, mainly due to the weapon he carries and the uniform Zack dressed him in before escaping from Nibelheim. It isn’t until much later on, when Cloud and Tifa are both flung into the Lifestream, that she enters his mind and sorts out the mess that it has become, showing Cloud who he truly is and reminding him of all the things he’d forgotten by living as if he was Zack-namely his friend himself and all of his childhood memories of Tifa.
Sadly, Zack is not the only friend that Cloud is destined to lose over the course of his life. Through a very unfortunate series of events, Sephiroth ends up murdering Aerith in the Forgotten City as the group continues to track him down. After laying her to rest, they continue on to the Northern Crater where they confront Sephiroth and win, though the victory is relatively short-lived in the scheme of things.
Two years later, in Advent Children, Cloud appears to be living a relatively normal life in the city of Edge, where he runs a delivery service and lives with Tifa, helping her to take care of Barret’s adopted daughter, Marlene, and an orphaned boy by the name of Denzel. However, Cloud is still feeling guilty over being unable to prevent Aerith’s death two years prior and begins to distance himself from his friends and new family, with the separation becoming more and more obvious once he contracts the disease known as Geostigma. In an attempt to hide his affliction from everyone, he eventually moves out of Tifa’s bar and into the church where Aerith used to grow flowers.
Of course, trouble soon finds Cloud again, this time in the form of three young men by the names of Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz. He is attacked by the trio on the outskirts of Midgar and seeks out some of the remaining Turks-along with Rufus Shinra-in order to gain some information on the group, though they provide him with very little. On his way back to Midgar, Cloud pays a visit to the site where Zack died and is unexpectedly hit with an attack caused by the Geostigma plaguing his body. When he eventually comes to, he finds himself in a very unfamiliar place...
timeline. Early on in Advent Children.
resource link. Cloud Strife at the Final Fantasy Wiki.
absolute threshold. Original application can be found here.
relationships.
aerith.
kadaj.
reno.
sephiroth.
yuffie.
zack.
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coming soon.
credit.
layout. Original coding by refuted, modifications by skytrial.