Cloud's True Past

As you play through the game, you will definitely take notice that there is just something not right with Cloud. It starts all the wya back when he is giving his accounts of what happened at Nibelheim 5 years ago. But even that can be left to just the way it is. Where it gets to a noticable thing is in Gongaga. If you go there with Tifa and Aeris, you can meet the parents of Zach...Aeris's old boyfriend. This of course is not wierd, since she talked about him in Midgar. It is how Tifa reacts to the name, that makes things seem very off. She acts as though she knows him, but when asked, she denies ever having done so. Below is the dialogue in Zach's parents house, as well as with the two ladies.

The second time is when you truly find out something is very wrong with Cloud. At the Temple of the Ancients, Sephiroth shows up, and seemingly takes complete control of Cloud. You can distinctly see two alternate persona's in the pit...One trying to stop Cloud, while he runs over to Sephiroth. All for naught, as the Black Materia is delivered, and he proceeds to hit Aeris.

In the Forgotten Capital, Cloud finds Aeris praying at an alter. Once more he is seemingly taken over, and attempts to end her life. However everyone's shouts snap him out of it. Him being controlled has become frightening. With himself temporarily regained, he and Aeris get to see each other for a brief second, before Sephiroth finishes what he could not make Cloud do.

in the next instance of Cloud going haywire, is the Northern Crater. Here, even Sephiroth tries to convince him he had never gone to Nibelheim. Cloud finally cracks under the pressure of the illusions, confusion, and trying to find out who he really is. He gets convinced that he is nothing more than a failed experiment, who was created 5 years ago. He hands Sephiroth the Black Materia, and all hell breaks loose. WEAPON are awakened, and Meteor is summoned into the heavens.

When everything goes to hell, Tifa is thinking about her first coming upon Cloud in Midgar. She recognizes immediately that things are not right. Here is the first glimpse you get of the possibility that Cloud may not be the REAL Cloud. She relates to the fact that she did not see him in Nibelheim when Sephiroth came 5 years prior. But at the same time, Cloud spoke of things that he could not have known about without being there. So she chose to keep him close...to watch him.

When Cloud is discovered in Mideel, Tifa opts to remain at his side. It would seem the Mako poisoning this time around was too much for Cloud to handle...but was it really? He has been comatose before, and pulled out of it. The experimentation on him along with the injection of Jenova Cells certainly has the ability to keep him alive. And on your return visit, things prove as much. After Ultimate WEAPON appears, the Lifestream overflows. Tifa and Cloud fall into the stream, where Tifa is taken inside Clouds mind. Here, she helps him to find out what really happened 5 years ago, and piece together his past. One single place at a time. From finally admitting it was Zack who came to Nibelheim, to secret moments in time only the two of them could have known about.

Nibelheim Revisited	Night at the Well
Intermission form the Well	A Secret Wish
Cloud Returns

Now that Cloud regains himself, and everything is seemingly back to "Normal"...only two questions remain.
How is Nibelheim standing, after it was clearly burnt to the ground?
How did Cloud get out of Nibelheim, get a hold of Zack's sword, and wind up in Midgar?
Well, take the time to return to Nibelheim. Visit Tifa's room, and find two notes on the desk pertaining to the town and the fires that took place. Play the piano properly, and along with Tifa's ultimate limit break, you will get a letter from her mentor, cementing the fact that the town was rebuilt 5 years ago.

Now head for the Shinra Mansion basement. Upon entering the door, you will collapse. Cloud then recalls how he made it to Midgar, as well as how he knnows Zack and has his sword.

If you examine the pods in the Shinra basement, you will find that Cloud and Zack wrote back and forth about a plan to escape.

In the study of the Basement, you can find four reports on the floor and bookcase. These reports pertain to Zack and Cloud, after they escaped the mansion. For a more complete run down of what did happen in that point in time, you can see either Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, or play through Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The last quarter of Crisis Core is through the time of Zack and Cloud's escape.

Cloud, and what he is going through is the main key as to why this game has such an impact on people. Especially the younger teens and children who were getting introduced to the Final Fantasy series with VII. Cloud is every single one of us at some point in time. We have all had a friend, role model, someone we admire so much that our own lives get intertwined in theirs. in some cases, people have been known to take stories they have heard from or about said idol, and shaped it into their own. Something done to gain the hopeful recognition that came to their idol for the same feat he/she accomplished.
Some friends end up becoming so close, that their mannerisms rub off on each other. How many times I have heard people say you two are just alike. It has happened to a lot of people. People see him, and can relate from their own experiences of what has happened to him. This alered reality he has placed himself into, though on the extreme side for the game, is a very real thing that does happen.
I have seen this kind of thread in people, and it has happened to me on both the idolizer and idolized ends of the spectrum. This type of connection to Cloud is quite possibly the best character connection in video game history.