History: Cloud's childhood thus far has only been covered in
Final Fantasy VII, in flashbacks. Cloud was born in the sleepy mountain village of
Nibelheim, and was neighbors with
Tifa Lockhart. He grew up isolated from the rest of the village children, feeling himself somehow better than them, though it is implied that he longed for the friendship of the others. He developed a crush on Tifa, but hated her friends. Although the two consider each other (and are considered by others) to be childhood friends, by her own account they were not that close growing up, despite the fact he was her neighbor.
When Cloud was nine, Tifa's mother died, and Tifa insisted that she could meet her mother again by crossing
Mt. Nibel. Cloud followed, and when Tifa was injured, the townsfolk believed the whole expedition up the mountain to be Cloud's fault, and Tifa's father forbid Cloud to come near Tifa. Some time later, Cloud learned of
Sephiroth and his exploits. Resolving to become a hero like him, Cloud decided to set out and join
SOLDIER. He called Tifa out to the water tower to tell her about his departure, silently hoping to impress her. Upon her request, he agreed to come save her if she ever found herself in trouble. The following spring, he left for Midgar in pursuit of his goal, as did
Johnny, another Nibelheim youth trying out for SOLDIER.
Final Fantasy VII"
It's not my problem. The only thing I care about is finishin' this job before security and the Roboguards come."
—Cloud about AVALANCHE's mission to blow up the Sector 1 Reactor.
In Midgar, Cloud is found by Tifa, who is now a member of the anti-ShinRa terrorist group
AVALANCHE, along with
Barret Wallace. Tifa, perplexed by oddities she notices in Cloud, requests that he help AVALANCHE in their struggle. Cloud joins AVALANCHE to attack the
Sector 1 Reactor, and the mission goes successfully. After blowing up the
Sector 5 Reactor, Cloud becomes separated from the others by falling into the slum church where
Aeris Gainsborough grows flowers. While Cloud is gone, Tifa allows herself to be captured by a Shinra informant,
Don Corneo in an attempt to get information out of him. Cloud and Aeris, after disguising Cloud as a woman, attempt to rescue her, after which the Don admits that Shinra has found out AVALANCHE's base of operations is in Sector 7.
To crush AVALANCHE, Shinra drops the plate over Sector 7 of Midgar, crushing the entire area;
Biggs, and Wedge and
Jessie are killed trying to stop them, and Aeris is captured taking Barret's daughter
Marlene to safety. Cloud then leads an attack on
Shinra Headquarters to rescue Aeris. There he meets with
Red XIII, and sees the headless remains of Jenova. However, the group is captured and imprisoned. During the night, Cloud awakens to find the doors of the prison open and the guards slaughtered. He, Barret, Tifa, Red XIII and Aeris follow a trail of blood to the top floor, only to find
President Shinra impaled on Sephiroth's sword. Cloud fights briefly with the new head of Shinra,
Rufus Shinra, and then escapes from Midgar on a motorcycle.
The journey to find Sephiroth leads them through
North Corel and the
Gold Saucer, where the manager Dio gives Cloud and his friends a buggy to assist them in their travels and the robot
Cait Sith joins their cause. The buggy eventually breaks down, forcing the group to stay at Red XIII's home
Cosmo Canyon, where the Elder
Bugenhagen reveals critical information about the planet and the
Lifestream and the negative effects Shinra's drilling for Mako is having on them. When the group reaches Nibelheim, they find no trace of what happened.
Although Cloud and Tifa are confused, they explore the rebuilt town and find that no one remembers the town ever being burnt down. In the ruins of the Shinra Mansion, they find
Vincent Valentine, who agrees to accompany them when they mention Sephiroth. In the mansion library, Sephiroth appears and alludes to a "reunion" that he feels Cloud should attend. Cloud and the group traverse Mt. Nibel and go to
Rocket Town, where they attempt to steal
Cid Highwind's plane and have it shot down by Shinra. Adding Cid to their roster of allies, the group returns to the Gold Saucer and claims the Keystone from Dio. Believing the Keystone to be pivotal to finding out what Sephiroth is planning, Cloud and the group are forced to stay the night when the trolley to the park breaks down. At this time, Cait Sith is revealed to be a Shinra spy, and steals the Keystone and turns it over to
Tseng of the Turks.
Traveling to the
Temple of the Ancients, Tseng is found wounded by Sephiroth, and he returns the Keystone. In the heart of the temple, Cloud finds Sephiroth, who reveals his plan to call the ultimate black magic,
Meteor, which will cause a critical wound on the planet. The Lifestream will emerge to heal this wound, and Sephiroth will absorb its energy, becoming a God. Sephiroth leaves as Cloud discovers the temple itself is the
Black Materia Sephiroth needs to call Meteor. Cait Sith sacrifices himself to get it, but Sephiroth returns, and because Cloud had been injected with Sephiroth cells, Sephiroth has control over Cloud, and he hands him the Black Materia. He faints, and Aeris appears to him in a dream claiming only she can stop Sephiroth. When Cloud regains consciousness, Barret and Tifa tell him Aeris has left.
NovellasIn
On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa, Cloud and Tifa build a new life together in the new city on Midgar's outskirts, called
Edge, after the fall of Meteor; Cloud quits his mercenary job and takes up a job as a delivery boy via his new business, the "
Strife Delivery Service". Although their new life as a family with Marlene and eventually
Denzel is happy, Cloud eventually becomes insular. He eventually admits to Tifa that his problems are due to the fact that "you can't reclaim lost lives", referring to his perceived guilt in the deaths of Zack and Aerith. After contracting Geostigma, Cloud moves out of their home and into the
Sector 5 Church as the novella ends, just prior to the events of the film.
Cloud has a few mentions in
Hoshi wo Meguru Otome, focusing on Aerith. Here Aerith philosophizes around the Lifestream, and also contemplates her decision to leave Cloud, whom she admits she loves more than she did Zack. She later recalls Cloud's personality traits which were created by Cloud impressing Zack's memories into his own, and this conjures Zack's spirit to her. Aerith protects Tifa's mind from Mako poisoning when she and Cloud fall into the Lifestream, and when Cloud defeats Sephiroth, she helps him return to his body.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children"
I'm not fit to help anyone. Not my family. Not my friends. Nobody."
—Cloud in Advent Children
When
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children opens, two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud receives a call from Tifa that
Reno has a job for him, and he is attacked by a mysterious trio of young men,
three manifestations of Sephiroth's consciousness. Having reached
Healin Lodge, Cloud is surprised to find Rufus still alive but suffering from
Geostigma. The president offers Cloud to join them to fight off the trio, led by
Kadaj. Cloud thinks about this, but rejects after Reno brings up the idea of rebuilding Shinra.
The three remnants begin luring and kidnapping children that possessed Geostigma, intending to have the children lead them to Jenova's lost head. Although reluctant to fight for fear of failure, Cloud goes to the Forgotten Capital at Tifa's behest after a long conversation with her concerning his current state. Upon seeing
Denzel and the other children under Kadaj's control, he confronts the trio for a second time but finds himself outmatched and is rescued by Vincent Valentine, who tells him about the true nature of Geostigma - a plague caused by Jenova's cells. Suddenly, Marlene runs into Cloud's arms worried about what had happened to Denzel and Tifa but refusing to go home when Cloud asks Vincent to take her. Giving much thought about the conversations he previously had with Tifa and Aerith, he finally resolves to take Marlene home and confront Kadaj.
Back in Edge, Kadaj threatens Rufus and summons
Bahamut SIN to attack the city. After a quick conversation with Tifa and Denzel, Cloud, with help from other members of AVALANCHE, finds the strength to take up arms again and defeat the summon. He eventually takes on Loz and Yazoo one more time while chasing Kadaj through the highway, and manages to slice their weapons (and Loz's bike) in half. Loz and Yazoo are seemingly killed in the explosion set by Reno and Rude during the chase. Confronting Kadaj once more, the battle eventually takes him back to Aerith's church, where the Lifestream-influenced water cures him of his Geostigma.
Cloud battles Kadaj once more and prevails, but the remnant then absorbs Jenova's cells and Sephiroth is reborn. The ensuing battle at the ruins of the Shinra Building proves to be fierce and nearly ends Cloud's life. He almost seems to be on the verge of defeat when Sephiroth stabs him through the shoulder. Sephiroth makes the mistake of asking what is most important to Cloud and how he can take that away from him. Inspired by thoughts of his friends, living and dead, Cloud regains his strength and overwhelms Sephiroth with "Omnislash Version 5". Defeated again, Sephiroth dissipates, leaving a dying Kadaj in his place. Hearing Aerith's voice, which he thinks is the voice of the "mother" he has been longing for, Kadaj reaches for her hand as he is diffused into
pyrefly like lifestream particles.
At this point, Loz and Yazoo appear and set off a kamikaze explosion that apparently kills all three of them. However, Cloud's is not dead, merely in critical condition, and he is healed by the intervention of Aerith, reawakening in the pool that now occupies the church. After helping Denzel into the Lifestream-infused water in the old church to cure his Geostigma and sharing a smile with Tifa, Cloud sees Zack and Aerith near the doorway. Before they leave, Aerith's final words try to make sure that Cloud will be all right, to which he replies that he will, because he knows he's not alone anymore. At the end of the movie, Cloud is seen driving down a long highway. He passes a series of flower fields of varying sizes and flowers. The song playing is called "Calling", and speaks of continually pressing on to overcome your troubles. Eventually, Aerith is shown standing in a large field of flowers. She turns around, watching Cloud drive by. The camera follows Cloud until he drives off into the distance. The credits end with a shot of Cloud's desk, showing a picture of AVALANCHE taken after Cloud's awakening has joined the picture of his family, with two flowers, likely intended to represent Zack and Aerith, in front of it.
Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:08 pm
