Cloud Strife/Relationships

### Ken Ichijouji

Ken is the only person Cloud dosent seem to be irritated or cold-hearted to. though the reason is possibly because Ken is the main leader of the group, or because of Ken being very polite to him. But on in the inside, Cloud really looks up to Ken for being very loyal to everyone, including him, and is infatuated with his kindness.

Sometimes, Cloud is shown to be overprotective of Ken as seen when Ken gets insulted (or hurt) once in a while and cares deeply for his well-being. Ken even understands and feels pity for Cloud when he told Ken about him and Sephiroth (and murdering his mother).

## Enemies

### 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 didn't 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 couldn't 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 didn't knew 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.

However, it is implied that Cloud cares for sephiroth. it is shown when he defends him and Lucrecia from Hojo.

## Family

### Claudia Strife

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.