Post by Cloud Strife on Jul 30, 2012 11:12:13 GMT -5
Cloud Strife
"I pity you. You just don't get it at all... there's not a thing I don't cherish!"
Custom Title: .:SOLDIER Boy:.[/i]
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Family:
Race: Human
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Home World: Gaia
Alignment: Good
Job: Delivery Boy
Items: Cell phone
Accessories: A pink ribbon on his left upper arm to represent Aerith’s death.
Appearance Cloud stands at 5'7" with a lean build. His blond hair is spiked, and in Final Fantasy VII featured one particularly large spike emerging into the air. For this reason, Cloud's spiked hair has become one of the trademarks of his appearance, although in later appearances the spikes have been toned down. Cloud has blue eyes, which glow due to the Mako flowing through his body. Because "Mako eyes" are an icon of SOLDIER, Cloud is often mistaken as one. Cloud's weapon of choice is the iconic Buster Sword, a massive sword several feet long which Cloud wields in most of his appearances. Cloud's other trademark weapon is the set of Fusion Swords which he uses in Advent Children, which consists of six individual swords that connect together to form a larger sword similar in shape and size to the Buster Sword.
Cloud's outfit in Final Fantasy VII, is the standard uniform for 1st Class SOLDIERs. The clothing consists of simple pants with a sleeveless shirt, which are indigo in color, and a belt. Cloud also wears brown boots and gauntlets with a single pauldron over his left shoulder. This is the uniform he wears for most of his other appearances, with slight variations. In Crisis Core, Cloud wears the uniform of a Shinra infantryman of blue clothing with several belts and straps and a green-grey piece of cloth around the collar. He also wears his helmet to hide his identity at times.
In Advent Children, Cloud's clothing design was made with fighting in mind, and the concept began with a black robe and was restructured into the final version seen in the film. Cloud's hair in particular was changed both to show the passage of time since the game, and to be more realistic. His clothing consists of a high collar black shirt with no sleeves, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm; the cloth on his arm seems to mainly be to hide his Geostigma symptoms. Cloud also gains an entirely new pauldron, and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge representing Fenrir, the animal that has come to be associated with Cloud. Like the rest of the party, he also wears a pink ribbon around his left arm in remembrance of Aerith Gainsborough, though it is hidden for most of the movie due to his black cloth.
Personality: In Final Fantasy VII, due to the combined effect of Mako poisoning and the influence of Jenova's cells in his body, Cloud unknowingly holds a fake persona created by the Jenova cells mixing his memories of Zack's personality with the somewhat cocky and selfish attitude he believes a SOLDIER 1st Class would have. However, during the game events he eventually restores his original personality, and shows genuine concern for The Planet's fate, a sharp contrast to his persona at the start of the game where he claimed he did not care about the Planet and only agreed to help AVALANCHE for the right price.
In Advent Children and many related appearances, Cloud is a much more somber and dark character, tormented by guilt over what he perceives as his past failings; being unable to prevent the deaths of Aerith Gainsborough and Zack Fair. The final straw was when he contracted the terminal Geostigma plague, which added to his feelings of helplessness. Deciding to distance himself from his friends and live alone, he tries to keep his affliction secret so as not to cause further grief.
However, during the film Cloud faces his past both metaphorically and literally, with Sephiroth's rebirth, his visions of Aerith and shows of loyalty from the friends he tried so hard to let go. These events allow him to forgive himself for the deaths of Zack and Aerith and move on, although it is unclear what this ultimately means in terms of his personality and lifestyle. However, the mere fact that he is present to aid his old allies shows that he has indeed moved on in his life.
In Crisis Core, Cloud is depicted as a rather shy, but more upbeat person who idolizes both Zack and Sephiroth. However, when Sephiroth burned down Nibelheim and badly wounded his friends Zack and Tifa Lockhart, Cloud does not hesitate to avenge them by hurling the madman to his apparent death whilst himself being impaled with the Masamune.
Despite the feelings he may have, Cloud remains steadfastly loyal and true to those he cares about and is always driven to protect them, even going as far as to hide his pain and emotions so he could not worry them. Ultimately, it is his selfless and kind nature that gives him the ability to overcome Sephiroth time and again. His compassion is explored further when he brings Denzel back to 7th Heaven and shares with Tifa an obligation to take care of the boy because of the guilt they felt for Sector 7's destruction. Because Cloud saved him, Denzel looks up to Cloud as an idol and both share a strong bond.
Cloud also has a lighter side, willingly crossdressing as a woman in order to save Tifa Lockhart from Don Corneo's mansion. He also has a dry, ironic wit in Dirge of Cerberus, when he cracks a joke with some of his allies. Overall, while he has a rather moody demeanor, his personality is not as brooding as that of Vincent Valentine. Like Yuffie Kisaragi, Cloud also suffers from motion sickness, and has even given her advice on how to handle it while aboard the Highwind. It is seemingly cured during the period when Cloud upholds his fake SOLDIER persona, but returns when his true self is restored, although his ability to ride the Fenrir on delivery business suggests his motion sickness has somewhat improved.
In The Reunion Files for Advent Children, Tetsuya Nomura explained that while Cloud was initially depicted as a more upbeat character at the end of Final Fantasy VII, he chose to have Cloud be a character that fans would find more familiar, and the script was written to explain why Cloud had returned to such a frame of mind. Nomura also said that a great deal of care was taken to animate Cloud's face and expressions, and over thirty different models of his face were made. His face was modeled to keep "a stiff upper lip", with his emotions and thoughts being expressed through his eyes.
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. His father died when he was young and he was raised by his mother. Cloud grew up isolated from the rest of the village children, feeling himself somehow better than them, though it is implied he longed for the others' friendship. 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 Tifa's 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 she could meet her mother again by crossing Mt. Nibel. Cloud followed, and when Tifa was injured, the townsfolk believed the expedition up the mountain to be Cloud's idea, and Tifa's Father forbade Cloud from approaching her. Cloud blamed himself for what happened to Tifa, thinking it was because of his own weakness that he failed to save her. As a result, Cloud developed a bit of an anger problem, always getting into fights, not even caring who it was with. Yet in spite of this new show of aggression, Cloud was still just a quiet kid who rarely had much of anything to do with the other kids in the village.
At the age of thirteen, 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, hoping to impress her. Upon her request, he promised to 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.
Despite his bravado, Cloud is unable to make it into SOLDIER and becomes an ordinary Shinra infantryman. While working for Shinra he meets a first-class SOLDIER named Zack Fair in Modeoheim, and the two become friends after learning they are both "backwater experts." When he and Zack infiltrate a Mako Excavation Facility on the way to Modeoheim, they encounter Genesis Rhapsodos and Dr. Hollander. When Hollander attempts to escape, Cloud is briefly successful in capturing him. However, Hollander manages to break free of Cloud's grip in the struggle.
Cloud gives pursuit, but both he and Tseng, leader of the Turks, are taken down by Angeal Hewley off screen. On June 28th, 0001, Cloud is among those ordered to protect Professor Rayleigh in Midgar from the insurgency organization AVALANCHE. Though he is unsuccessful, both of their lives are saved by the Player Turk. During this incident, Cloud shows off some impressive sword skills for a regular infantryman.
On September 22nd, 0002, Cloud later returns to Nibelheim, along with Zack and Sephiroth, to investigate a damaged reactor on Mt. Nibel and Tifa is to act as their guide. Ashamed of his failure to join SOLDIER, Cloud hides his identity from the townspeople, and especially Tifa, though he does reveal himself to his mother. When the expedition reaches the reactor, Sephiroth discovers Professor Hojo's failed experiments with Mako soldiers as well as where Shinra had interred Jenova, who Sephiroth mistakenly believed was his mother.
Falling into madness, Sephiroth immerses himself in Professor Faremis Gast's writings and discovers his own dark past. He comes out from the Shinra Manor basement on October 1st and sets about destroying the village. Cloud witnesses his mother's death in the ensuing fire and rushes to the reactor to confront Sephiroth where he finds both a wounded Tifa and a barely conscious Zack. A grief-stricken Cloud picks up Zack's Buster Sword, catching Sephiroth off guard in the reactor core and impaling him, then returns to attend to Tifa. Sephiroth, badly wounded, emerges from the reactor core, and when Cloud attacks again, Sephiroth stabs him with the Masamune. Cloud summons previously unknown strength and uses the katana as a lever to hurl Sephiroth into the Mako pit below. The observing Turk, who does not see this, assumes Sephiroth jumped in of his own volition and reports back to Shinra to this effect. Cloud collapses immediately thereafter.
Afterward Cloud and Zack become Professor Hojo's test subjects. Injecting them with Jenova's cells and exposing them to Mako, Hojo attempts to test his Jenova Reunion Theory and turns them into Sephiroth Clones. Four years later (December 19th, 0006), Zack breaks out of his confinement and helps a comatose Cloud escape, giving him a SOLDIER uniform to wear because his old clothes are soaked with Mako. Due to the experiments, Cloud is in a weak and delirious state. As they escape, Zack speaks continuously to the unresponsive Cloud about his life and his plans for both of them to become mercenaries in Midgar after finding out that four years have passed since Hojo took them. Zack carries the comatose Cloud around, and though Cloud takes no part in the events, is present when Zack defeats Genesis.
After almost a year of running, the pair finally arrive outside Midgar in September 0007. However, the Shinra forces finally catch up. Zack fights back to defend both Cloud and himself against overwhelming numbers. In the end, after single-handedly overcoming the majority of the Shinra soldiers, Zack is gunned down by the last few, and Cloud is left for dead after the soldiers see him in his vegetative state. However, having witnessed the chaos, Cloud manages to crawl over to where Zack is mortally wounded. In his last few seconds, a blood-soaked Zack entrusts the Buster Sword to Cloud, and tells him that his legacy will live on inside Cloud, before dying. After some time Cloud, deeply distressed, scrambles to his feet, Buster Sword in hand, and begins trudging off towards Midgar.
Shortly thereafter, in the Sector 7 Train Station, Cloud and his mind undergoes a radical transformation due to the Nibelheim incident, the Mako Poisoning and Jenova cells he received from Hojo's experiments, and finally the death of Zack. Cloud impresses Zack's memories and fighting abilities into his own, along with Tifa's memories of him and his own ideal image of himself as a SOLDIER, creating a new set of memories with an accompanying persona. What emerges in Cloud's mind is a reality in which he successfully joined SOLDIER and was Sephiroth's partner -- Zack did not exist -- and in most of Cloud's twisted and warped memories he takes Zack's place. Taking up Zack's plans for them, Cloud presents himself in Midgar as a former First Class SOLDIER, now a mercenary for hire.
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 him, requests that Cloud help AVALANCHE in their struggle. Cloud joins AVALANCHE to attack the Sector 1 Reactor on December 9th, and the mission is a success. After blowing up the Sector 5 Reactor, Cloud gets separated from the others by falling into the slum church where Aeris Gainsborough grows flowers. He then agrees to become her bodyguard in exchange for one date. While Cloud is absent, Tifa chooses to enter a kind of "dating service" with the prize being a night with 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 Shinra has found out AVALANCHE's base of operations.
To crush AVALANCHE, Shinra drops the plate over Sector 7 of Midgar, crushing the entire area; Jessie, Biggs and Wedge are killed trying to stop them, and Aeris is captured taking Barret's daughter Marlene to safety. Cloud leads an attack on Shinra Headquarters to rescue her. There he meets with Red XIII, and sees Jenova's headless remains. However, the group is captured and imprisoned. During the night, Cloud awakens to find the prison doors open and the guards slaughtered. He, Aeris, Barret, Tifa, and Red XIII follow a blood trail 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 other members riding alongside in a pickup.
The group stays at an inn outside Midgar in Kalm where Cloud tells his version of the events of what happened on the day Nibelheim was burnt, with himself in Zack's place and Zack no longer present. Although Tifa knows the story is not true, she remains silent, confused and bewildered. Cloud's grudge with Sephiroth explained, the next day the group sets out to track Sephiroth down, going through the Mythril Mine where the Turks reveal Sephiroth is headed to Junon. Cloud and the group sneak into Junon and a cargo ship bound for Costa del Sol, meeting Yuffie Kisaragi on the way.
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 hometown 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 the town completely rebuilt, and inhabited by villagers who have no recollection of either Cloud or Tifa or the town ever having been burnt down.
In the Shinra Mansion basement 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, only to have it shot down by Shinra soldiers. 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 deal a critical wound to 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. Cait Sith sacrifices himself to get it, but Sephiroth returns, and because Cloud had been injected with Jenova cells, Sephiroth has control over Cloud, and he hands over the Black Materia. He goes berserk and attacks Aeris, but his friends knock him out. While unconscious 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, and Cloud resolves to follow her to find the truth behind her words.
Cloud and company pursue Aeris through the Sleeping Forest to the Forgotten Capital. He finds her praying on an altar in the center of the city's underground complex, but suddenly takes up the Buster Sword and attempts to attack her, his mind under Sephiroth's control. Stopping himself in the nick of time when his allies shout at him to stop, Cloud watches as Sephiroth descends from above the altar and impales Aeris, killing her. Her death enrages Cloud, but he is unable to chase after Sephiroth as he throws another piece of Jenova at them and a fight commences. Afterward, the entire party mourns Aeris's passing as Cloud puts her body to rest in the lake. Cloud later reveals to the party that he has been under Sephiroth's control, and may become controlled again, asking his allies to stay with him despite this.
Finally arriving at the North Crater, Cloud momentarily regains the Black Materia and gives it to a party member of the player's choosing, not trusting himself. They then find Northern Cave where Sephiroth appears and shows Cloud a partial vision of what really happened at Nibelheim, revealing Zack's presence in his stead but not Cloud's true part in the events. Shinra arrives afterwards, and Professor Hojo reveals his Jenova Reunion Theory that Cloud is a part of.
Cloud comes to believe he was entirely created by Hojo and that even his name and memories of being Tifa's childhood friend belong to someone else. The shock of his fabricated past, combined with Hojo's revelations and accusations, shatter Cloud's mind. Using an illusion to trick the party member with the Black Materia into coming to Cloud's aid, Sephiroth has Cloud take it back from them and he hands it to Sephiroth, who activates it, summoning Meteor. After Cloud apologizes to Tifa for being a fake persona, the crater begins to shake violently. AVALANCHE escapes, save for Barret and Tifa, and Cloud is left behind to fall into the Lifestream.
Surfacing at Mideel approximately a week later, Cloud has been subjected to intense Mako poisoning within the Lifestream, leaving him paralyzed and incoherent. Tifa stays to care for him while the rest of the party fights Shinra, who is risking a dangerous attempt to stop the Meteor that is now coming to the Planet. Ultimate Weapon attacks Mideel, and Tifa and Cloud fall into the Lifestream and into Cloud's Subconscious.
There, Tifa helps Cloud piece back together his true memories of his childhood by comparing their memories to find out which are true, while Tifa encourages Cloud to believe in his own existence. Restored to his true self, Cloud resumes command of the party again. With Bugenhagen's guidance, they discover Aerith had managed to summon Holy just before Sephiroth killed her; the ultimate white magic, it could stop Meteor, but Sephiroth is holding it back.
After taking their revenge upon the Shinra for all the wrongs the company has wrought to each member of the party, the group lands in the North Crater and descends through Northern Cave to the depths of the planet to confront Sephiroth. After the party defeats Sephiroth's new god-like form, his mind is sent back into the Lifestream. Cloud, sensing Sephiroth is not dead follows him mentally into the Lifestream and defeats Sephiroth in one final duel of will. Returned to his body by Tifa just in time, Cloud and the party escape the crater on the Highwind moments before Holy emerges to destroy Meteor. The proximity of Meteor, however, causes Holy to hold back its full power, until Aeris commands the Lifestream to emerge and push Meteor back so that Holy may unleash its full power to destroy Meteor and save the planet.
Abilities:
Summons: N/A
Magic:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Weapon Broadswords
Crushes: >> << >> <<
How did you find us? Oh Look! A Unicorn! XD
Role Play Sample: Audition
Password: Glorious Walruses
Credit to Final Fantasy Wiki for the Personality, Appearance and History
