Some characters need no introduction. Cloud is, and forever will be, the poster boy of Final Fantasy VII. Whilst most are happy to welcome the brave supersoldier into their hearts with his impressive ability to swing around his iconic Buster Sword, which is almost as big as he is, back in the day, few took the time to acknowledge the trauma which made him the man he grew up to be. Cloud’s mental illness extends far beyond conventional PTSD, so let’s remind ourselves what makes him tick.
Conception
Cloud was one of the first three main characters designed for Final Fantasy VII. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, with influence from director and scenario writer Yoshinori Kitase, as well as Hironobu Sakaguchi. A prototype of Cloud’s character named “Detective Joe” appeared in Sakaguchi’s first plot draft for Final Fantasy VII, as a character belonging to an organisation attempting to destroy New York City’s “mako reactors”. Yoshitaka Amano created the conceptual and promotional artwork. The image of Cloud and nemesis Sephiroth was based on Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki KojirÅ, famous Japanese samurai warriors whose duel became legendary, and the swordsmen have appeared in many forms in Japanese pop culture.
Cloud’s design underwent several changes. His original character design featured slicked-back hair with a spiky front, as a contrast to the long, flowing silver hair of Sephiroth, and also because Nomura thought it would be better not to use too many polygons. However, to make Cloud stand out more and emphasise his role in the game as the lead protagonist, Nomura altered Cloud’s design to give him spiky blond hair instead. Aspects of Cloud’s original design were used in the designs of Zack Fair, and Angeal Hewley in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
Pre-release materials reveal what is possibly an early character model for Cloud. In the 1996 demo version, Cloud’s regular menu portrait is that of the younger Cloud seen during the Kalm flashback to the Nibelheim Incident featured in the final game, and his character model is different and shorter than his final model. This “Demo Cloud” makes appearances in other pre-release shots published in magazines before the game was out. Cloud’s battle model also had an earlier build, wielding a different version of the Buster Sword not seen in the final game.
Kitase, and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima, developed Cloud’s backstory and his relationship with Sephiroth. Their vague image of Cloud was as a mysterious character, with the unfolding of events left in Nojima’s hands. Event planner Motomu Toriyama had created the “Cloud showing off” pose, made to be used in the scene where Cloud first appears. The animation impressed Nojima and gave him the idea of Cloud having developed a false persona. This led Nojima to create Zack Fair, a SOLDIER whom Cloud had aspired to be like, to expand on the mystery of Cloud’s backstory, which Kitase was unaware of the significance of until playtesting. Kitase was impressed by the idea, feeling that Cloud offered a fresh take on a protagonist due to being neither single-minded nor entirely righteous.
Story: A One-Time Gig
(SPOILER WARNING)
Cloud was born in the mountain village of Nibelheim to Claudia Strife. His father died when Cloud was very young. Cloud lived next door to a pretty and popular girl a year younger than him, Tifa Lockhart, whom he admired, but he was excluded from her friendship group largely due to his odd personality which others saw as him being quiet and contemplative at times, and something of a show-off at others. Bitter as a result, Cloud developed a superiority complex, believing Tifa’s friends were stupid, and that he was more mature and different from them. He did not harbor any dislike for Tifa, but suspected she disliked him, which was untrue; Tifa actually liked Cloud and could relate to his quirky personality, though her popularity and work-ethic even at a young age meant they had little time to connect.
Tifa’s mother died when Cloud was nine. Not wanting to accept it, Tifa insisted she could meet her by crossing Mt. Nibel, taking her friends along. Unbeknownst to them, Cloud followed her, and when she took a misstep, he tried to catch her but they both fell. Though he was unharmed, Tifa was severely injured and in a coma for a week. Her father, Brian Lockhart, blamed Cloud and forbade him from seeing her again. Cloud too blamed himself for failing to save her, harboring guilt in the form of increasing anger at himself, leading him to start fights for little to no reason.
Cloud resolved to better himself, and upon learning of Sephiroth and his heroic adventures, set out to join SOLDIER and become a hero, hoping Tifa would finally notice him. When he was old enough to enlist in the military, Cloud called Tifa out to the water tower to tell her about his departure, hoping to impress her. Tifa encouraged Cloud, commenting that he could make the newspapers and asked him to promise to save her should she ever find herself in trouble. The following spring, Cloud left for Midgar to join the Shinra Electric Power Company.
Despite his bravado, Cloud failed to make it into SOLDIER, largely due to his youth, inexperience and lack of military-level training. However, he did enlist as a Shinra infantryman instead. Out of embarrassment and shame, he severed contact with everyone from Nibelheim. In autumn of that year, Cloud met Zack Fair, a First Class SOLDIER, on their way to Modeoheim. The two bonded upon learning they were both “country boys”. When he and Zack infiltrated the Mako Excavation Facility, they encountered Genesis Rhapsodos and Dr. Hollander, former Shinra employees who since turned against the company.
A sixteen-year-old Cloud met Zack again while protecting the city of Junon from Genesis’ attack and the two rekindled their friendship. Later that same year, Cloud returned to Nibelheim supporting Zack and Sephiroth to investigate a damaged mako reactor on Mt. Nibel, and with Tifa as their guide through the mountains. Cloud hid his identity from the townspeople, ashamed of his failure to join SOLDIER, though he did visit his mother Claudia who asked about his new life with Shinra. Sensing Cloud’s dissatisfaction, Claudia encouraged Cloud to settle down with a nice girlfriend.
When the expedition reached the reactor, Sephiroth discovered Professor Hojo’s experiments with humans mutated into monsters dubbed ‘makonoids’, and Jenova, whom Sephiroth mistakenly believed to be his mother. Sephiroth locked himself in the Shinra Manor’s basement for several sleepless days, immersing in Professor Gast Faremis’ writings, and discovered his dark past, as well as secrets regarding the Cetra and the ‘promised land’. Sephiroth destroyed the village in a rampage fueled by his newly triggered insanity and newfound hatred for humanity.
Cloud witnessed his mother’s death in the ensuing fire, and rushed back to the reactor to confront Sephiroth, finding both a gravely wounded Tifa and a barely conscious Zack. Cloud picked up Zack’s Buster Sword, caught Sephiroth off-guard in the reactor core, and impaled him, also giving a speech demanding Sephiroth return Tifa, his mother, and Nibelheim while lamenting that he used to respect him, before attending to Tifa. When a wounded Sephiroth emerged from the reactor core still alive, Cloud attacked him, intent on avenging the deaths of his mother and all the townspeople Sephiroth had killed. Sephiroth would impale Cloud on his sword, yet Cloud summoned the strength to overpower him and hurled him into the mako pit below before collapsing.
While Tifa would be rescued by her travelling martial arts master, Zangan, Cloud and Zack became Professor Hojo’s test subjects; Injecting them with Jenova’s cells and exposing them to mako, Hojo attempted to test his Jenova Reunion Theory on them, turning them into Sephiroth-clones, people whose wills can be over-ridden by Sephiroth’s. Since Zack had gone through a similar process in SOLDIER, his body resisted the experiments, while Cloud succumbed and developed a severe case of mako poisoning. Hojo labelled the two as failures, placed them in a cryogenic sleeping state, and left them in their pods in the Shinra Manor basement.
Four years later, Zack broke out of his confinement and helped a vegetative Cloud escape, giving him a SOLDIER uniform to wear. Due to the experiments, Cloud was mentally broken, weak and delirious, but during their journey following the escape from Nibelheim, Zack told the unresponsive Cloud about his life and his plans for both of them to become mercenaries in Midgar. After almost a year of running, the pair arrived outside Midgar, however the Shinra militia tracked them down and Zack fought to defend both Cloud and himself against overwhelming numbers. Zack was gunned down, but the Shinra forces ignored the catatonic Cloud. Cloud regained some awareness and crawled over to Zack, who entrusted the Buster Sword to him, telling him his legacy will live on inside Cloud, before dying. Buster Sword in hand, Cloud continued on to Midgar to continue their plan.
As a result of the trauma caused by the Nibelheim Incident, his mako poisoning and subsequent infusion of Jenova cells, and Zack’s death, Cloud muddled memories of Zack’s accomplishments and abilities into his own. This, along with Tifa’s memory of him and his own ideal image of himself as a SOLDIER, created a new set of memories with an accompanying persona. As such, Cloud soon came to believe that he had joined SOLDIER and was once Sephiroth’s friend. In his distorted memories, he took Zack’s place since Zack no longer needed to exist in his revised narrative.
Tifa found Cloud mumbling deliriously at the Sector 7 slums train station. Though he became lucid upon recognising her, his inconsistent memories and mental breakdowns concerned her. Tifa recruited him as a mercenary to her group, an Avalanche cell led by Barret Wallace, while concealing information about his past due to doubting her own memories, wishing to find the truth herself. Cloud helped Avalanche, comprised of Barret, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, in their attack on Midgar’s Mako Reactor 1. Throughout the mission, Cloud claimed to be working only for money, and their partnership was a “one-time gig”, angering Barret and leading him to question his loyalties. Despite having a brief mental breakdown at the reactor core, Cloud planted the bomb and the mission was successful.
After the mission, Cloud returned to Tifa’s bar, Seventh Heaven, in the Sector 7 slums, which was being used as Barret’s headquarters. Following a dispute with Barret, who suspected Cloud remained loyal to Shinra, Cloud attempted to walk out. Tifa reminded him of the promise he made to her after deciding to join SOLDIER, and convinced Barret to hire him for another mission. Barret led another mission to destroy Mako Reactor 5, this time with Tifa joining them. The party reached the core and planted the bomb, however President Shinra confronted the group and revealed they were caught in a trap. The group would manage to escape, though an explosion separated Cloud from the others, sending him falling into the slums below.
Cloud fell through the ceiling of a church in the Sector 5 slums. There, he formally met Aeris (Aerith in the North American translation and Remake) Gainsborough, a flower merchant whom he had briefly ran into in Sector 8 after the first bombing. Cloud agreed to become her bodyguard in exchange for a date after Reno of the Turks attempted to capture her. Cloud stayed at the house of Aeris’ adoptive mother, Elmyra Gainsborough, who believed he was dangerous and asked him to go back to Sector 7 without telling Aeris. Cloud left, however Aeris followed him. On the way, the two spotted Tifa being taken to Wall Market on her mission to extract information out of Don Corneo, a notorious gangster and Shinra sympathiser.
On Aeris’ advice, Cloud disguised himself as a woman so the two could enter the Don’s mansion, and the three interrogated him. Corneo revealed Shinra had tracked Avalanche’s base to Sector 7 and planned to destroy it by dropping the Sector 7 plate above, before ejecting the three into the sewers below through a trap door. The three traversed the sewers and the train graveyard to reach Sector 7. Tifa requested Aeris find Barret’s daughter, Marlene Wallace, and keep her safe, while she and Cloud ran up the pillar. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were defeated and seemingly killed by Shinra forces led by the Turks, but Cloud and Tifa met up with Barret atop the plate. Even after battling the Turks they were unsuccessful in saving the pillar, as the Turks destroyed Sector 7 and captured Aeris.
Cloud, Barret, and Tifa returned to Elmyra’s house where Marlene was staying and Elmyra told them of Aeris’ past as a Cetra. Cloud led the three in an attack on the Shinra Building to rescue Aeris from Professor Hojo, where he met Red XIII and saw Jenova’s headless remains in the lab. The group was captured and imprisoned, but later awoke to find the prison doors open and the guards dead. Cloud, Aeris, Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII followed a trail of blood to find President Shinra murdered. Rufus Shinra, the new head of the company, arrived shortly after, and Cloud battled him to buy the others time to escape. Cloud escaped Midgar on a motorcycle, supporting the others who fled by stealing a pick-up truck.
The group met in an inn in Kalm, where Cloud told his version of what happened on the day of the Nibelheim massacre, with himself in Zack’s place. Tifa remained mostly silent, questioning her own memories of the event due to her own trauma and near-death experience. The next day, the group set out to track down Sephiroth and uncover the truth and what really happened in Nibelheim all those years ago.
Relationships
Due both to Cloud’s awkwardness and his cold exterior, he struggles in forming interpersonal relationships. This is particularly evident with Barret; though Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie take more kindly to Cloud, Barret initially dislikes his attitude and questions his loyalties, leading the two to be rude to one another. After Barret sees through Cloud and gains respect for him, he begins to be able to open up with him and connect with him emotionally.
Jessie actually had a crush on Cloud when they first met which didn’t fade over time. It is difficult to say if their relationship grew during the time they spent together, in part due to this period being only a few days together in Midgar, but also due to Jessie being a trained actress who frequently maintained a charming, flirtatious facade of a persona which she cultivated over time.
Cloud was not particularly close with Tifa when the two grew up, although he felt an obligation to protect her and admired her from afar. The two became closer and more reliant on one another after losing their home and reconnecting following the Nibelheim Incident. Cloud tried to atone for his perceived failure to protect her at Nibelheim, and Tifa in turn protected him as the last reminder she has of her home, looking out for him when she felt he is out of his depth. The pair would continue to struggle to open up to each other due to their traumatic pasts and distorted recollections of those events.
Cloud opened up more easily around Aeris, who was more flirtatious and playful with him from the start, though he would often respond stiffly and awkwardly to her advances. He still showed his softer side around her, more willing than perhaps expected to entertain her quirkier antics. Cloud is very protective of her and wishes to keep her out of trouble, though this grates on her as she has grown into an independent young woman of her own accord.
By contrast, Cloud trusts Tifa more to handle herself, confident in her combat abilities, though he is still concerned for her well-being. It is implied that Cloud may have romantic affection for both Tifa and Aeris, but the extent of his feelings for either is left up to player interpretation. Both Tifa and Aeris certainly seem to reciprocate and at times even instigate these feelings, yet the events of Final Fantasy VII and sequel movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children would confirm that neither Aeris nor Tifa would be able to maintain a romantic relationship with Cloud.
Cloud is greatly haunted by Sephiroth, a man he once idolised who became his bitter enemy. After the Nibelheim Incident, Cloud envisioned Sephiroth mocking him and urging him to make the wrong decisions. This led up to Cloud giving in and believing he was little more than a puppet for Sephiroth, though after Tifa repaired his mind, Cloud resolved to rid himself and the world of Sephiroth once and for all.
Following Sephiroth’s defeat, Cloud, as depicted in Advent Children, became a protective father-figure to Denzel and Marlene, but had since become detached. His guilt at his own perceived failures to save Aeris and Zack, and trauma following his plight against Sephiroth, led him to feel helpless, becoming somber and brooding as he isolated himself from his new family, in contrast to his younger self before where it had fueled him to strive to do better. However, with encouragement from the friends and family he had tried to let go, he came to forgive himself and move on.
Legacy
Cloud is one of the most popular and iconic characters in gaming, frequently ranking as among the most popular Final Fantasy characters. Among Japanese fans, Cloud was voted the second-best character in gaming among men and the third-best among women in an Oricon poll, and voted first place in the All Final Fantasy Big Vote in 2020 for Final Fantasy characters. Cloud has enjoyed similar popularity among Western fans, voted as the fifth-best video game character of all time by readers of the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition in 2011, and as the best Final Fantasy character in a poll conducted by IGN in 2014.
A major source of praise for Cloud was his complexity as a character, particularly when Final Fantasy VII first released. Ron Dulin, writing for GameSpot in 1998, called Cloud “easily the most interesting and complex character ever presented in a game”. This opinion endured, with Rachael Hutchinson in her 2019 book ‘Japanese Culture Through Videogames’ also describing Cloud as a complex fictional character due to his identity issues, comparing him with Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI, as well as characters from other series including Solid Snake from the Metal Gear games.
Cloud’s identity issues have been a notable point of discussion. In 2012, writing in the book ‘Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens: The Digital Role-Playing Game’, Katie Whitlock identifies Cloud as having involuntary memory as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and in her 2017 book ‘Mental Illness in Popular Culture’, Sharon Packer identifies Cloud as having dissociative identity disorder (DID). Writing for PCGamesN in 2020, Jack Ridsdale praised the unique character arc of Cloud, and his portrayal as someone able to demonstrate vulnerability, sensitivity, and compassion, in addition to being well-formed and multifaceted.
Cloud has also been noted for having an iconic design that has become identifiable as an icon for Japanese games and the Final Fantasy series. In 2008, writing for IGN, Dave Smith stated that Cloud’s spiky blond hair and Buster Sword had become instantly identifiable among gamers worldwide. In 2010, Empire described Cloud as “the epitome of JRPG design” and an “enduring axiom” of character design, making him “the definitive Final Fantasy poster child”.
Cloud has the most player-controlled appearances of any character in the Final Fantasy series, and the second-most appearances altogether, behind Gilgamesh. He has appeared in the following games:
Final Fantasy VII: Snowboarding
Final Fantasy VII G-Bike
Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy Tactics
Dissidia Final Fantasy
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival
Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Final Fantasy Artniks
Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Final Fantasy Explorers
Final Fantasy World Wide Words
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
World of Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII technical demo
Chocobo Racing
Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Cloud has also made guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:
Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
Kingdom Hearts series
Bravely Default: Praying Brage
Itadaki Street
Puzzle & Dragons
Monster Strike
Super Smash Bros.
World of Warcraft ver. 7.0
Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble
