Cloud Strife

Cloud Strife (クラウド・ストライフ, Cloud Strife) is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VII and its related media, the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII from the Final Fantasy series by Square Enix.

Background
Cloud was born in the mountain village of Nibelheim. He considered himself to be superior to all the other members of the village, and thus, did not enjoy their company; as a result, aside from his lifelong neighbor Tifa Lockhart, he never had any close friends growing up. At the age of 13, he left for Midgar to join SOLDIER, the paramilitary arm of the Shinra Electric Power Company who ruled the world.

Much to his dismay, he was unable to join SOLDIER, and became a mere infantryman. However, he was one of the few people selected to protect Professor Rayleigh from the insurgency group known as AVALANCHE, and despite his status as an infantryman, he showed a great amount of skill with a sword. Cloud would eventually befriend a first-class SOLDIER named Zack Fair.

His life was changed forever when he, Zack, and another SOLDIER named Sephiroth were sent to Nibelheim to investigate a faulty reactor. During the mission, Sephiroth discovered a lifeform named Jenova and came to believe that she was his mother. He went insane, destroyed Nibelheim, and wounded Zack and Tifa, but Cloud ambushed and managed to defeat him. Afterwards, he and Zack were captured by Shinra's corrupt head scientist, Professor Hojo, and experimented upon for four years. Zack eventually escaped with a comatose Cloud in his arms and attempted to flee to Midgar, but was ambushed by a massive army of Shinra troops, overrun, and killed.

The trauma of these events combined with Hojo's experimentation drove Cloud insane; his memories warped, causing him to believe that he was an ex-SOLDIER and to forget that Zack ever existed. At Tifa's behest, he joined the second generation of AVALANCHE led by Barret Wallace, and aided them in their battles against Shinra and a revived Sephiroth alongside allies including Aerith Gainsborough, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Vincent Valentine. Eventually, he discovered that his memories were fake and, with Tifa's aid, came to terms with his past and was able to move on. Despite Sephiroth killing Aerith, Cloud and his friends eventually managed to defeat Sephiroth, saving the world.

In the years that follow, in the Great Grand Civil War, Cloud, Tifa, and the party go their separate ways. Cloud and Tifa settle down in the city of Edge and set up a delivery business called the Strife Delivery Service. He also takes in three children; Denzel, an orphan suffering from Geostigma, a new disease that has started to appear after the defeat of Sephiroth, and Barret's adopted daughter Marlene and Christopher Thorndyke whose parents were killed by Sephiroth. Cloud eventually sets out to find a cure for Geostigma, having been infected himself thanks to Hojo's experimentation. He discovers that Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz, three manifestations of Sephiroth's consciousness, are responsible for the disease and have been kidnapping Geostigma-infected children with the intention of using the Jenova cells within them to revive her. Cloud confronts the trio but is outmatched; he is rescued by Vincent, who reveals that Geostigma is a plague caused by Jenova cells.

Kadaj eventually leads an attack on Edge to find the remains of Jenova. The former members of AVALANCHE reunite to face him, and Cloud manages to cure his Geostigma using Lifestream-infused water flowing in Aerith's old church. Cloud encounters Kadaj and defeats him in the ruins of Midgar, but Kadaj merges with Jenova's remains to resurrect Sephiroth. The two duel once again, and Cloud emerges victorious, resulting in Sephiroth fading away while his manifestations die immediately afterward. Cloud then returns to the church with the infected children and uses the water to cleanse the Geostigma out of them. He then says a final farewell to the spirits of Zack and Aerith.

Appearance
Cloud is a man with light skin and is slightly below average height, with a lean and toned build. He has spiky blond hair that 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 being exposed to Mako. Because "Mako eyes" are iconic to members of SOLDIER, Cloud is often assumed to be 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 was designed with fighting in mind, and the concept began with a black robe and was restructured into the final version. 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 indigo shirt, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm. 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, though it stays hidden for most of the movie. This ensemble has become known as the Cloudy Wolf attire.