Legendary protagonists often define video game history. Simple heroes like Mario, Link, and Sonic the Hedgehog are recognizable and iconic. However, those heroes who are more tied to a deep story can transcend gaming and become important to fiction itself. Cloud Strife has stood the test of time for over twenty years and is still memorable today.
As the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, he captured the imaginations of kids in the 1990s and still has a grip on them today. With the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy as one of the biggest franchises of the 2020s, let us talk about everything that makes Cloud who he is. Spoilers ahead for every single piece of FFVII media.
A Relatable Backstory
What makes Cloud so appealing to people at first is that he comes from a relatable starting point. He was born in Nibelheim, a small but prosperous town on the edge of a mountain. As a child, Cloud was neither big nor outgoing, and not particularly popular. Living with only his mother and no known father in sight, he developed into a sensitive youth with deep self-esteem problems. He had a crush on his neighbor, Tifa Lockhart, but couldn’t work his way into entering her friend group. As the daughter of the mayor, she was popular and rich while Cloud felt like a nobody. He convinced himself he avoided Tifa’s friend group because they were annoying, but he was just jealous.
Cloud was there when Tifa lost her mother. Being told that she could meet her mother again at the summit of the mountain, her friends egged her on to climb it, and Cloud followed along uninvited. As the climb got more perilous, all of Tifa’s friends abandoned her, while Cloud kept following. Unfortunately, Tifa fell and got badly hurt. As Cloud was the only one there, he was blamed, pushing him deeper into isolation. Tifa lost most memory of the incident, and her friends convinced her it was Cloud who had egged her on. She would believe this for years to come, but a part of her still cared for her neighbor.
When he reached adolescence, Cloud decided he wanted to make something more of himself. He would leave Nibelheim and head to Midgar, home of the Shinra Electric Power Company. He would enlist in their military and become a SOLDIER, one of the highly revered warriors who were infused with Mako energy to fight to protect Shinra’s territory. The night before he left, he spoke to Tifa atop the town’s water tower and told her that he would be leaving. She got him to promise, however, that he would return to save her if she ever needed help. Cloud left and spent several years training to be an elite First-class SOLDIER.
Tragedy Strikes
Cloud never made it into SOLDIER, however. He wasn’t deemed fit for the experimentation and was made a simple infantryman. He was ashamed and stopped writing back home. Despite this, he would work closely with a few members of SOLDIER, most notably Zack Fair. The two would become friends and came to rely on each other during their time working for Shinra. Eventually, Cloud would be assigned to a detail with Sephiroth and Zack to investigate the Mako Reactor in Nibelheim. Despite returning to his hometown, Cloud never took his uniform off. He hid his identity behind his helmet, and no one there even knew he had returned.
Awkwardly, the mission kept him in close contact with Tifa. As he, Sephiroth, and Zack scaled the mountain with her, Cloud kept to himself and avoided his old crush. Things took a turn when they discovered what was being kept at the Nibelheim Mako Reactor, though. Sephiroth realized that Shinra was keeping old experiments there, including one labeled Jenova, the supposed name of his mother. Back in the town, he dug into Professor Hojo’s research, and came to a discovery: He was an experiment too. Infused with the cells of Jenova, Sephiroth was convinced that his mother was a Cetra and that he was the rightful ruler of the planet.
Sephiroth lit fire to Nibelheim, killing Cloud’s mother and many of his neighbors. Cloud followed behind Zack and Tifa as they chased after the now-mad SOLDIER. Cloud found a near-dead Tifa and made sure she stayed alive from her injuries before confronting Sephiroth. With Zack out of the way, Sephiroth came for Cloud next. Cloud managed to survive, however, launching Sephiroth into the abyss below while impaled on his sword. Bleeding out, Cloud would’ve died up there. However, Shinra had other ideas when they arrived to collect him and Zack.
Where Our Story Begins
Cloud was experimented on, given Sephiroth’s cells and Mako energy to see what would happen to him. This experimentation brought both him and Zack back to life, but each had different experiences. Zack’s body largely rejected Jenova’s cells from his years of exposure to Mako energy, and Cloud’s weaker form was quite nearly killed from toxic exposure. After years of experiments, Zack eventually managed to break out and took Cloud with him, escaping the mad scientist’s clutches. The two made their way back to Midgar, hoping to restart their lives. Cloud was in and out of consciousness, during which time Zack told him all about his life.
When they arrived at Midgar, however, Shinra was waiting for them. Zack kept Cloud hidden and confronted Shinra’s armies alone, doing his best to survive. However, it was impossible. Outmatched, Zack was run through with bullets and left for dead. Once the area was clear, a still-sick Cloud emerged and came to Zack’s body. Zack, in his dying breath, gave Cloud the iconic Buster Sword and declared him his “living legacy.” At this moment, Cloud’s mind broke. His past self, his true self, was compartmentalized in an effect very similar to Disassociative Identity Disorder. To manage his trauma, Cloud would forget much of his true story.
Making his way into Midgar, a new Cloud emerged: One that took on Zack’s backstory as his own. He was a first-class SOLDIER, and Zack’s deeds were his own. Sephiroth betrayed him, not Zack, and he never came near death or was experimented upon with Sephiroth’s cells. In this way, Cloud could act as what he believed to be the best version of himself without any of the failures. He could focus on his hatred of Shinra and Sephiroth and seek vengeance against them while feeling like he was never weak or a failure. Unbeknownst to him, Sephiroth was still alive, and their cellular connection gave Sephiroth influence over the mentally broken Cloud.
The Adventure of a Lifetime
The entire story of Final Fantasy VII is a lot to go over, but we can focus on Cloud’s journey. He reunited with Tifa at Midgar and began taking on mercenary work to earn a living. His first big job was to work with Avalanche, the eco-terrorist group Tifa had joined up with. Working against Shinra was appealing to him, so he put up with the mistreatment from the group’s leader Barret. This turned out to be a mess of entanglements, and it led him to the slums where he’d meet Aerith Gainsborough. The last surviving Cetra, Aerith had been Zack’s girlfriend before he died. Cloud was drawn to her, and Aerith was drawn to the similarities to Zack she saw in him.
Cloud would end up leaving Midgar as things with Avalanche went sideways, and Aerith went along with him and the group. They learned that Sephiroth was alive somehow, and Cloud told his version of the story to them all. Despite differences in her memories, Tifa kept quiet, although she was concerned about a story that didn’t match what she remembered. The group gathered allies and chased after Sephiroth, fighting Shinra and others along the way. They learned of Sephiroth’s plans with the Black Materia, and Aerith sought to stop him by calling to the Planet. When Sephiroth killed her, it nearly broke Cloud once more. He swore that Sephiroth would die, once and for all.
When they reached him, however, Cloud was easy for Sephiroth to manipulate. His shattered mind didn’t know what was true, and Sephiroth exposed the truth of Zack and drew out Tifa’s mistrust of Cloud’s story. Sephiroth convinced Cloud he was just a worthless clone and that he had no control over himself. Sephiroth seemingly proved this when he made Cloud hand over the Black Materia, bringing Meteor down from the heavens towards the planet. In the ensuing chaos, the group lost Cloud and thought things were done for. Sephiroth had won, and the planet was truly doomed.
The Redemption of a Lifetime
Cloud wasn’t dead, however. He was exposed to the Lifestream, though, and the intense Mako radiation poisoned him into a catatonic state. There was even more going on within his mind, as Cloud tried to find the truth. It took Tifa entering the Lifestream with him to find the real answers and unveil all the truths he had locked away. When they emerged, Cloud admitted everything to Tifa and the group but realized it didn’t matter. He would help them stop Sephiroth and save the world. With all the group’s might, they returned to Sephiroth’s dwelling place and had the battle of a lifetime. They destroyed Sephiroth’s body and believed they had won.
Within Cloud’s mind, however, there would be one more battle. Sephiroth’s cells lived on and tried to take control of Cloud’s body one last time. This time, with his ego restored, Cloud destroyed Sephiroth within his mind and claimed his free will. He returned to the outside world to save Tifa and watched as Aerith used the power of the Planet to destroy Meteor. Together, Avalanche had done the impossible and saved the world. Cloud was the hero he always wanted to be, and he didn’t need Sephiroth’s power to do it. He was his own man, and everyone knew it.
Cloud still struggled, of course. Losing Aerith was a tremendous damage to his sense of self. He wandered for a time, serving as a courier and ignoring his friends. When Sephiroth returned, however, Cloud reunited with his group and fought to save the world once more. After one more massive fight against the white-haired adversary, Cloud was victorious yet again. While Sephiroth promised to never be just a memory, Cloud was confident he had won for good. He finally felt peace as he watched Aerith and Zack move on, and was prepared to live a life with his friends.
Revisiting in Remake and Beyond
For years, Cloud’s story was inspiring and influential. His moodiness, tragic backstory, and unreliable narration became a standard for RPG protagonists going forward. More and more Cloud-like characters would appear in Japanese media as his popularity led to imitators across the board. Even the franchise’s immediate follow-up in Final Fantasy VIII had yet another moody protagonist, while Final Fantasy X had another blonde-haired main character with a suspicious backstory and connection to the main villain. While these similarities may seem superficial, Cloud had become the blueprint.
Cloud’s popularity in spinoffs and crossovers cannot be understated. Despite his extensive character growth in the original game, most media would focus on Cloud as he was at the start of his journey: Quiet, standoffish, and a lone wolf. Even the film sequel Advent Children required him to backtrack in his character development. Cloud gained a reputation that permeated throughout all of the media. Many grew tired of Cloud and characters like him, though people who had played the original game knew better. Cloud was well-written and interesting, and fans hoped more people would grow to see it.
The release of Final Fantasy VII Remake answered fan’s prayers. Not only was Cloud back to his original complex self, but the story was evolving in a way to make his story engaging even for legacy fans. Through Sephiroth’s apparent time travel antics, Cloud was even more mentally broken and even easier to manipulate. The crux of his story, that of a victim ignoring his pain, was developed more and more. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, he has gone so far down this path to even deny Aerith’s death when it happens. When we get the final installment of the trilogy, fans will hopefully once again see the incredible character development of Cloud as he re-attains his sense of self.
Final Thoughts
It can be easy to call a popular character overrated. Many would prefer to lionize lesser-known characters who they feel haven’t gotten their due. Despite this, it is worth going over Cloud’s legacy and importance to gaming. Many are unaware of how strong his growth is, only knowing his stereotype of a moody youth who rejects friendship because it’s “uncool.” The reality is that Cloud is hurt by his imitators and their simplicity. Cloud’s character is complex, evolving, and relatable. Many struggle with their self-identity, and while Cloud takes it to the extreme, it is still something people find kinship in. We can only hope that the better parts of Cloud’s writing inspire more great stories in the years to come.
For More Great Content
Are you desiring top-tier content that covers everything? From thrilling sports and intoxicating entertainment news to gaming tips and professional betting advice, Total Apex covers it all. Delve into our no-fluff articles to stay ahead of the game with the latest sports action, uncover the hottest trends in entertainment, and get the latest scoops in the gaming industry that will take your experiences to the next level.
Finally, our betting advice will give you a decisive edge over the competition and increase your odds of beating the books. Whether you’re looking to stay updated or gain a competitive edge, Total Apex is your one-stop shop for all things compelling and relevant. Don’t forget we cover Fantasy Sports, too!
Check out all our sites: Total Apex Sports, Total Apex Fantasy Sports, Total Apex Entertainment, Total Apex Sports Bets, and Total Apex Gaming. Out of the ashes of obscurity will rise a beast. Always remember to Respect The Hustle! Follow us on Twitter/X @TotalApexSports to stay informed.
