Cloud Strife

is the main protagonist in the Compilation of . He is an expert swordsman and mercenary who claims to be a former member of SOLDIER, as well as the childhood friend of Tifa Lockhart, who joins with AVALANCHE and makes it his mission to save the world from Shinra and his mortal enemy, Sephiroth.
In the Japanese version, he was voiced by in the arcade version of , in the console version of Ehrgeiz, as a youth in , and in most other speaking roles.
In the English version, he was voiced by (as an adult) and (as a youth) in FF VII Remake, and in most other speaking roles.
==Appearance==
He is a handsome young man that stands at 5'8" with a lean and toned build. He has spiky blond hair which, in Final Fantasy VII, features one particularly long spike. Cloud's 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 him having been exposed to Mako. Because "Mako eyes" are an icon of SOLDIER, Cloud is often mistaken as one. His weapon is the Buster Sword, a massive sword several feet long which he wields in most of his appearances. Cloud's other trademark weapon is a set of Fusion Swords, which he uses in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The set consists of six individual interconnecting swords that 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 SOLDIER: indigo pants with a sleeveless shirt, and a belt. Cloud wears brown boots, gauntlets with a pauldron over his left shoulder and a SOLDIER band in his left wrist. This is the uniform he wears for most of his other appearances, with slight variations. He has a silver earring in his left ear.
In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Cloud wears the blue uniform of a Shinra Electric Power Company infantryman with several belts and straps and a green-gray piece of cloth around the collar. He wears his helmet to conceal his identity at times. After he gains the SOLDIER 1st Class uniform his appearance is the same as in Final Fantasy VII, albeit with both shoulder pauldrons in-tact and the SOLDIER logo as it is in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.
In Final Fantasy VII: 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 was changed both to show the passage of time since Final Fantasy VII, and to be more realistic. He wears a high collar sleeveless black shirt, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm; the cloth on his arm hides his Geostigma symptoms. Cloud gains a new pauldron, and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge representing Fenrir, a wolf that has come to be associated with him. Like the rest of the party, he wears a pink ribbon around his left arm in remembrance of Aerith Gainsborough, though it stays hidden for most of the movie.
In Kingdom Hearts, Cloud's costume was designed to resemble that of Vincent Valentine. He wears a tattered red cloak with dark blue pants and a shirt and brown boots. The costume features many crossing belts and gloves, the left of which has golden trimmings, almost like a claw. Cloud's most distinctive trait in this appearance is a demonic black wing protruding from his left shoulder, symbolizing both his connection to Sephiroth, and the dark powers he is using. The costume can be obtained as DLC in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. In Kingdom Hearts II, Cloud is identical to his appearance in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, save that his new sword is loosely bound as the Buster Sword was in Kingdom Hearts.
==Personality==
In Final Fantasy VII, due to the combined effects 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 cocky and selfish attitude he believes a SOLDIER 1st Class would have. After restoring his true personality, Cloud shows genuine concern for the Planet's fate, a sharp contrast to his persona at the start where he claimed he did not care and only agreed to help AVALANCHE for the right price. The true Cloud is open-minded and cares about the bond he forged with his friends.
In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and many related appearances, Cloud is a somber character, tormented by guilt over what he perceives as his past failings to save those he cares about. The final straw was contracting the terminal Geostigma plague, adding to his feelings of helplessness. Distancing from his friends and living alone, Cloud tries to keep his affliction secret. Cloud faces his past both metaphorically and literally, and with the shows of loyalty from the friends he tried to let go, he comes to forgive himself and moves on. It is unclear what this ultimately means in terms of his personality and lifestyle.
In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Cloud is a shy but more upbeat person who idolizes Zack and Sephiroth, but even after being betrayed by his idol, he does not hesitate to avenge him.
Cloud remains steadfastly loyal and true to those he cares about and is driven to protect them, going as far as to hide his pain and emotions so he would not worry them. His selfless and kind nature lets him overcome Sephiroth time and time again. Cloud has a lighter side, willingly crossdressing as a woman to save Tifa from Don Corneo's mansion. When the party arrives at Costa del Sol, Tifa asks Cloud what he thought about Barret dressed as a sailor; one option is to reply, "He looked like a bear wearing a marshmallow," much to Barret's annoyance. He has a dry, ironic wit in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- and overall, while Cloud has a moody demeanor, his personality is not as brooding as that of Vincent Valentine.
Cloud suffers from motion sickness that is seemingly cured during the period he upholds a fake SOLDIER persona, but returns when his true self is restored, although him riding the Fenrir on delivery business suggests his motion sickness has since improved.
==Relationships==
*Cloud and Claudia: Cloud loved his mother dearly as she raised him as a single parent due to his father dying when he was young. The death of his mother enraged and saddened Cloud to where he did not hesitate to charge at Sephiroth, who obviously far exceeded him, to get revenge and he was able to muster enough strength from his wish to avenge his mother's death to defeat Sephiroth the first time. Even when taking on the persona of a cocky SOLDIER 1st Class, the memories of his mother was very painful for Cloud, and he felt genuinely distraught when hallucinating himself as Zack seeing his home burn and his mother dead. In Remake, remembering his helplessness to save his mother as Sephiroth killed him soon unleashed Cloud's rage.
*Cloud and Zack: Cloud deeply admired Zack, who was virtually everything Cloud had aspired to be: A powerful SOLDIER 1st Class and famous hero. They quickly developed a strong friendship, but alas it was tragically ended when Zack sacrificed his life for Cloud. The trauma of Zack's death was so profound that Cloud could not live with himself over the fact he had failed to protect Zack and instead impressed all of Zack's memories and abilities into himself. After he finally fully remembered, Cloud felt deep guilt over not remembering Zack and would often visit his grave, which he had personally made with the Buster Sword, while expressing sorrow over his failure. In Opera Omnia, Cloud is shown to be genuinely happy when he and Zack reunited, showing concern for him as he regains his memories and comforting him when he shows some doubts.
*Cloud and Barret: Cloud and Barret did not get along at all when they first meet, Barret disliking Cloud for not being a staunch supporter of AVALANCHE and Cloud disliking Barret's attitude. However, they eventually developed respect for one another after Cloud protected Tifa when bombing the Sector 5 and became friends to where they could even open up emotionally to one another.
*Cloud and Tifa: 
*Cloud and Aerith: 
*Cloud and Yuffie: 
*Cloud and Red XIII: 
*Cloud and Vincent: 
*Cloud and Cid: 
*Cloud and Cait Sith: 
*Cloud and Jessie: Cloud and Jessie seem to have a complicated relationship. Jessie shows romantic feelings towards Cloud to where she frequently gushed over him and even asked for a date. Cloud seems to be irritated by Jessie's advances and reacts to them awkwardly and flustered. It is unclear if Cloud was ever attracted to Jessie, but he did let down some of his hardened demeanor around Jessie, smiling at times. Regardless, Cloud clearly cared a lot for her and tried to have her hold on and was visibly saddened by her death, looking on the verge of tears.
*Cloud and Biggs: Cloud was at first not close to Biggs, but they eventually became closer when Cloud shows a genuine interest in Jessie's past and understanding. Eventually, Biggs considered Cloud a younger brother figure and Cloud was visibly touched by this and saddened by his death.
*Cloud and Johnny: Cloud at first did not care for Johnny and was willing to kill him for endangering AVALANCHE. However, Johnny instead admires Cloud and calls him bro as if they have a close relationship which Cloud does not like at all. In time, Cloud developed a begrudging respect for Johnny after seeing his bravery and willingness to save Tifa and even retrieves his stolen wallet for him, though they never seemed to be close.
*Cloud and Sephiroth: Sephiroth and Cloud are archenemies for murdering Cloud's mother, Claudia Strife. At first, Cloud deeply admired Sephiroth and wanted to become a hero on the same level as Sephiroth, so he left Nibelheim to join Shinra. Although Cloud only made it into Shinra as an infantryman, Sephiroth seemed to have personal interaction with him before, as he seemed to be on friendly terms with Cloud, even asking him how it felt to be back on his hometown as he did not have one. However, Sephiroth's razing of Nibelheim completely deteriorated any kind of friendship between them, as Cloud did not hesitate to mortally injure Sephiroth and neither did Sephiroth hesitate to severely injure and stab Cloud and he flaunted his far greater might but Cloud's rage towards Sephiroth was strong enough to give him the strength to overpower Sephiroth and he sent Sephiroth into the Lifestream. Indeed, Cloud's hatred towards Sephiroth was such that even while upholding the persona of a cocky SOLDIER 1st Class, Cloud's resentment towards him for destroying Nibelheim remained strong and more than enough to encourage him to hunt down Sephiroth. At the same time, Cloud understood fully well how powerful and skilled Sephiroth is and feared him, recognizing correctly even with his muddled memories that he could not have possibly taken Sephiroth on in a fair fight. Cloud's fear and trauma of Sephiroth was such that Sephiroth easily broke him with cruel twisted stories of how the Nibelheim Incident really went. However, after fully regaining himself, Cloud was able to finally overcome his fear of Sephiroth and lead the party for the first time successfully against him, eventually defeating him. Despite this, Cloud remained traumatized by Sephiroth even after triumphing over the man, seeing how little his victory was as it only allowed him to remember what Sephiroth had taken from him. He would constantly be haunted by Sephiroth due to his Geostigma and unknowingly his defeat of Sephiroth had resulted in Sephiroth gaining enough strength to fully resist being taken by the Lifestream as Sephiroth's hatred of him reached levels where he can continue to exist even in the Lifestream. It was indicated that a part of Cloud may have wished for Sephiroth to return and battle him as he did not know any way to overcome his suffering except for fighting him, which Sephiroth even indicated was Cloud's only way to avoid his self-loathing and bitterness. However, Cloud eventually overcame Sephiroth again, where it was shown that Cloud has finally become a better person than Sephiroth, not through martial prowess and power but through his strength of a character as even though Cloud could not match Sephiroth in combat, his capability to care for others and determination to protect the world allows him to overcome Sephiroth with a combination of his grown skill and willpower. In Dissidia, Cloud is still on bad terms with Sephiroth, opting to avoid him even when they were on the same side, but at the same time he seems to have become rather cordial towards him, refusing to fight him under his terms and stating he has overcome Sephiroth. Sephiroth and Cloud's scuffles also started to be based on their different philosophies: While Sephiroth enjoys combat and looks down on Cloud's hope, but at the same time he seems to acknowledge Cloud as a worthy opponent, Cloud has become optimistic and willing to strive for peace despite his inner demons still wishing for himself to continue fighting as and firmly suppresses such feelings in favor for a better life, which Sephiroth scorns.
==Abilities==
Cloud's greatest combative strength lies in his swordsmanship. Though Cloud fell short of the standards of candidates admitted into SOLDIER, his swordsmanship nonetheless impressed one of the Turks. As a result of mako experimentation by Hojo, Cloud was greatly enhanced as a supersoldier, with superhuman strength, speed, and agility. This, coupled with him incorporating Zack Fair's fighting abilities into his own, made him capable of easily handling other SOLDIER members and Turks and was recognized as being the strongest of his group. In time, Cloud developed great skills on his own, independently from Zack, capable of expertly using a composite BFS composed of six component swords, either individually or in Dual Wielding combos. He is the only one in the party who has actually become stronger instead of weaker as he continued to fight, only widening the gap between him and his friends over the years, to the point where while weakened by Geostigma, he could go up against the Remnants of Sephiroth, whereas Loz alone defeated Tifa, and defeat Kadaj once he was cured. However, though Cloud has become an extremely skilled and powerful warrior and he is acknowledged for having great talent, he lacks the seasoned training and veteran experience of SOLDIER 1st Class and though he has defeated the next generation of SOLDIER 1st Class, his lack of formal training and inferior experience leaves him noticeably inferior to the top SOLDIER 1st Class: Even Zack casually states Cloud never really reached the level of a true SOLDIER 1st Class and while Cloud has replicated Zack's feats against many powerful monsters, on all occasions he needed the aid of his friends, best shown when he is only able to overpower Bahamut SIN because he had aid from his friends whereas Zack single-handedly bested Bahamut Fury. Although he has been able to go up against and even defeat Sephiroth, he only truly defeats Sephiroth once in a fight in the Lifestream because he was weakened from his defeat as Safer-Sephiroth and back when he defeated Sephiroth the first time, he only mortally wounded him because Sephiroth was caught off-guard and it was likely he was also weakened and injured from his battle with Zack that left him susceptible to being surprise-attacked and was disarmed in an instant. When they fight fairly, most of the time Cloud visibly struggles to stay in combat with him and only ever truly wins in Advent Children and Dissidia because on the former Sephiroth was holding back to toy with him, having lost the fight technically, and in the latter Sephiroth doesn't really intend to kill him and had even been allowing himself to be defeated to return to their world.
Apparently attributed to his assimilation of Zack's memories and along with it his fighting skills, Cloud was able to obtain many powerful swordsmanship and magical techniques, seen most prominently in his limit breaks, though while he displays techniques only he had showed, the ones he showed that were similar to Zack's own was noticeably less potent, likely as unlike Zack, who had far greater experience and more extensive training and had mastered them to the fullest, Cloud's much less fit and conditioned body and energy and being at first simply imitating Zack's fighting style is not nearly enough to produce the full strength of those techniques, but still enough to be formidable nonetheless. The most potent and noteworthy of these is Omnislash (and Omnislash Version 5 with his Fusion Swords), which Zack particularly confirms was his original technique and praised Cloud for the level he took it to, in which Cloud performs a quick succession of powerful strikes from his sword. Cloud's abilities also allow him to use magic from his sword, seen in the form of firing a blast from his sword with Blade Beam, summoning meteors with Meteorain, or a tornado with Finishing Touch. Beyond this, Cloud is potent with using spells, being well-versed in how to use materia; in both Final Fantasy VII and Remake, his in-game stats put him ahead of most party members in spellcasting.
Cloud can ride a motorcycle, and demonstrates particular feats of skill with it, able to use his sword while riding and battle nearby drivers. He can also ride a chocobo or a snowboard, and Zack notes he is adept at scaling a snowy mountain. Cloud has also shown himself adaptable in a variety of situations, reviving a drowned girl with CPR in Junon, or dancing at the Honeybee Inn.
Cloud's interpersonal skills are initially very poor. When he matures and becomes fully formed, he becomes a confident party leader, motivating the party with speeches before their big battle with Sephiroth.
Cloud's truest and greatest strength, however, is his extraordinary determination and great ability to love and care for others: Despite all the turmoil and tragic events he has suffered through his life, Cloud has never once truly given up and always rose up to fight for the sake of his loved ones. Overall, as Zack noted, even though Cloud's combat skills could not match SOLDIER 1st Class veterans of his and Sephiroth's caliber, he is nevertheless truly worthy of being considered one anyway as he has the heart and mind of one and his willpower combined with his strong ability to draw power from his emotions has allowed him to be the only one to triumph over Sephiroth despite being truly outclassed by Sephiroth's combat might: Cloud bravely attacked his former idol to avenge his mother and Nibelheim and even managed to summon through sheer willpower the strength to overpower the weakened Sephiroth and throw him to the Lifestream, and after fully regaining his sense of self, he was able to overcome the weakened Sephiroth's will in a mental duel to deal the finishing blow. Even when Sephiroth had proven himself decisively superior and had him beaten, Cloud was able to muster the strength to perform his Omnislash Version 5 upon remembering his dear friends and kill the man once again. Not only that, in Remake, despite being afraid of Sephiroth, Cloud was able to overcome his fear to bravely fight the man who had destroyed his home and even refused the temptation of gaining control over his fate to fight Sephiroth again, impressing Sephiroth.
==Biography==
===Final Fantasy VII===
 Cloud is an ex-SOLDIER for the monolithic corporation known as Shinra Power and Electric. The game starts off with Cloud plying his talents as a mercenary working for the eco-terrorists known as AVALANCHE. In his travels Cloud meets a childhood friend of his named Tifa Lockhart, who is currently friends with the leader of AVALANCHE Barret Wallace. Tifa's presence helps Cloud become more emotionally invested in helping AVALANCHE and over time Cloud goes from seeing the group as just a client group to genuine comrades. With the introduction of another character, Aerith Gainsborough, who is being hunted by Shinra and the reintroduction of an old enemy of Cloud's named Sephiroth, Cloud becomes as invested in saving the planet as Barret, although for personal reasons instead of ecological ones.
===Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children===
The movie picks up with the game's ending when Cloud has defeated Shinra and Sephiroth. The world is in a state of ruin from Shinra and Sephiroth's efforts and a genetic disorder is popping up and oddly enough seems to be spreading. Cloud starts to suspect Rufus, the former head of Shinra who has come out of hiding is behind the phenomena but soon finds remnants of Sephiroth's legacy are to blame, remnants conspiring to resurrect Sephiroth. Cloud and his friends are soon tasked with saving the diseased civilians and preventing Sephiroth's revival.
===Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII===
 is a prequel to the events of Final Fantasy VII. The game focuses on Cloud's passing experiences with Sephiroth in his youth and his connection to Zack Fair.
==Other Media==
Outside of the series continuity, Cloud has been a recurring playable character in the , the Super Smash Bros. series and the Dissidia Final Fantasy series, and has been playable in the titles , , , and . Cloud has also had several minor roles in the Kingdom Hearts series.
===Super Smash Bros.===
Cloud makes his Smash Bros debut in for and as a downloadable character along with Mewtwo, Lucas, Roy, Ryu, Corrin and Bayonetta, he appears in his normal outfit as well as his Advent Children outfit.
Cloud returns as a veteran in .
In Classic Mode, the name of his route is called A Ride? Not Interested. (乗り物...? 興味ないね A vehicle...? Not interested?), referencing his motion sickness and his catchphrase, "Not interested.". He fights opponents on traveling vehicle stages, he clashes against multiple smash bros fighters such as Link, Ike, Mario, Samus, Pac-Man and Charizard. 
===Kingdom Hearts===
Cloud appears in the series as a withdrawn and quiet swordsman seeking his arch-rival Sephiroth across several worlds, wishing to end a grudge between them.
In the , he makes a deal with Hades that the god will help him find Sephiroth if Cloud kills Hercules. This leads to a battle between Cloud and Sora, whom Hades orders Cloud to kill. Cloud either fails or he beats Sora but refrains from killing him, and Hades is prompted to release Cerberus. After Sora dispatches Cerberus, Cloud departs, but returns after Sora defeats Sephiroth to fight him.
In , Cloud appears in the stage Olympus Colosseum. He was summoned by Hades to kill Hercules and in return Cloud would receive all of his "true" memories.
In , Cloud appears looking for Sephiroth to "end it once and for all". Sora finds Sephiroth and Sephiroth tests his strength in a battle. After you help Cloud find Sephiroth they engage in a fight scene where both Cloud and Sephiroth disappear.
===Dissidia Final Fantasy===
Cloud appears in the crossover game . He is a normal growing character that learns a lot of attacks as he levels up. He learns several bravery to health attacks.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Cloud Strife, alongside Guts from the Berserk series, were the inspirations for the Rabbid named Edge who appeared in the Mario + Rabbids series.
==External Links==
*Cloud Strife on the Final Fantasy Wiki
*Cloud Strife on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki
*Cloud Strife on the Smash Wiki
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