Cloud Strife - FF7

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"
—Cloud to Sephiroth from Advent Children

Cloud Strife is the main protagonist in both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. He also appears in the spin-off games Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. In addition, he makes an appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics as a playable character earned through completing a series of side quests.

Cloud is most identifiable by his large, spiky blond hair and medium stature. He has blue eyes that are particularly vibrant, which is the mark of SOLDIER, or rather, a mark of being submerged in mako. He wears a navy blue outfit with a metal pauldron on his left shoulder and wields a gigantic Buster Sword.

Throughout most of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud seems rather cocky and arrogant, though it was due to having the memories of Zack Fair. Deep inside, however, lies in his genuine compassion for those he holds dear and never hesitates to defend what he stands for, though it does take a while for him to determine what exactly it is.

Story
Cloud was born in the sleepy mountain village of Nibelheim, along 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. However, when Cloud was 9, Tifa and the others attempted to climb Mt. Nibel, Cloud followed them, Tifa fell from a bridge and her father blamed Cloud. He resolved to join Shin-Ra's elite SOLDIER force, feeling that he was "not good enough" for Tifa, whom he had admired from afar, and to prove to others (and most of all to himself) that he could be as strong as the legendary Sephiroth. At this point he made a promise to Tifa, vowing that he'd protect her when she's in need.

However, he was unable to make it into SOLDIER and became an ordinary Shin-Ra guard. In this role he meets a first-class SOLDIER named Zack Fair in Modeoheim, and the two become friends after learning they are both 'backwater experts'. He later returns to Nibelheim, along with Zack and a famed SOLDIER Sephiroth to investigate a damaged reactor in Mt. Nibel and Tifa was to act as their guide. Ashamed of his failure, he kept his identity from the townspeople. When they reached the reactor, Sephiroth discovered Professor Hojo's failed experiments with mako soldiers and what he mistakenly assumed to be his mother, Jenova.

Falling into madness, Sephiroth immersed himself in the writings of Professor Gast and discovered his own dark past. He then came out from the basement of the Shin-Ra Mansion and set about destroying the village. Cloud witnessed his mother's death in the ensuing fire and rushed to the reactor to confront Sephiroth. There he found both Tifa and Zack unconscious - both had tried to fight Sephiroth, but to no avail. A grief-stricken Cloud picked up Zack's Buster Sword, catching Sephiroth off guard, and impaled him. Sephiroth managed to impale Cloud with his own sword, but the fight ended with Cloud throwing Sephiroth off him using the sword lodged in his stomach as a lever and sending Sephiroth plunging, along with Jenova's head, into the Lifestream below. Shin-Ra, in an effort to cover-up the incident, rebuilt Nibelheim and replaced the townspeople with Shin-Ra employees and imprisoned both Zack and Cloud in the Shin-Ra Mansion (Tifa had been rescued and brought to Midgar by her trainer). There, Hojo experimented on Zack and Cloud, infusing them with mako and injecting them with Jenova cells.

Four years later, Zack broke out of his confinement and helped a comatose Cloud escape, giving him a SOLDIER uniform that was in Shin-Ra manor to wear. Due to the experiment Cloud was in a weak and delirious state as he had reacted more strongly to the experiments than Zack did. However Zack talks continuously to the unresponsive Cloud about his life and his plans for both of them to become mercenaries in Midgar. When they finally arrive outside of Midgar, the Shin-Ra army forces that have been searching for them finally caught up. Zack fights back to defend both Cloud and himself against overwhelming numbers. In the end, after single-handedly and heroically massacring the majority of the hundreds of Shin-Ra soldiers present, Zack is killed by the last few remaining soldiers and Cloud is left for dead after being seen in his vegetative state. However, having witnessed the whole chaos, Cloud manages to crawl over to where Zack layed. 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 finally passing away. After some time Cloud, deeply distressed, scrambles to his feet, Buster Sword in hand, and begins trudging off towards Midgar. His final words to Zack were, "Good-night, Zack".

Equipment and Stats
Cloud wields various broadswords and katana in battle, including the joke weapon Nail Bat and the iconic Buster Sword. His stats are well-balanced both physically and magically but is best put in the front row to ensure solid attack power.

In Final Fantasy Tactics, Cloud has similar stats to what he has in Final Fantasy VII, but in order for him to use his Limit command, he must be limited to his Materia Blade. He can still equip all other swords, but now knight swords.

Trivia

• In Final Fantasy IX, there's a reference to Cloud. In a weapon shop, Zidane talks about a man with a spiky hair who carried a rare sword.
• Another reference to Cloud in Final Fantasy IX is discovered at the end when Zidane utters "No cloud nor squall shall hinder us" while he performs on stage in disguise before revealing his identity to Garnet. This is also a reference to the protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII.
• In Final Fantasy VIII there is a item shop called Cloud's item shop. If you spend enough money there, your purchase will come wrapped in a ribbon. This can be seen as a reference to Cloud's relationship with Aeris Gainsborough.
• In Final Fantasy XII the enemy mark Gilgamesh uses Cloud's Buster Sword within his arsenal of weapons, however the sword contains Japanese Kanji characters which translate as "fake"/"replica".
• Just as Vincent's gun is named after Cerberus, Cloud's bike Fenrir is named after a mythological wolf from Norse mythology. He was the wolf son of Loki, in keeping with Cloud's wolf "theme" shown in his more recent appearances.