History Characters / FinalFantasyVIIPlayableCharacters

* CharacterDevelopment: He goes from [[spoiler:an ostracized kid who picked fights with other kids due to InferioritySuperiorityComplex, to someone who still has insecurities and self-loathing but acts nice, dorky, and awkward to others, and after processing the game's events while being reduced as a spectator in his own body, he faces himself and finally accepts who he is after his JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, becoming a capable and confident leader.]]
** This is especially reflected right before heading for the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:after an entire game of blowing off and ignoring everyone's interests or plights unless it was to his own self-interest or JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments, Cloud had managed to [[TookALevelInKindness develop so much]] that he understands everyone has their own reasons for what they do and is ready to dismiss them if they want to leave at the final hour -- but ultimately they all come back both because [[IveComeTooFar of the journey]] and because they respect Cloud enough to take the charge compared to his begrudging leader position by happenstance before.]]

* LastStand: At the end of ''Crisis Core'' he finds himself standing alone against dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Shinra infantry. He recites Angeal's ArcWords and charges in swinging, bringing down all but three before he's too weak to keep standing. (Canonically, Shinra sent a full battalion of men which means anywhere from 500-1500 Shinra troopers were deployed to take down this one SOLDIER...and only 3 lived)

* LastStand: At the end of ''Crisis Core'' he finds himself standing alone against dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Shinra infantry. He recites Angeal's ArcWords and charges in swinging, bringing down all but three before he's too weak to keep standing.

* {{Tritagonist}}: In Final Fantasy 7. While Cloud is the protagonist due to being the character with the most focus and development while Aerith is the deuteragonist due to her connection to the Lifestream and being pivotal to saving the Planet, Tifa’s connection to Cloud ever since childhood and her relationship with him is key to the story as she is the only living person who knows the truth about what Cloud did in Nibelheim and ends up saving him from his breakdown by entering his mind and making him realize the truth.

* MaleGaze: She in her OG [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII FF7]] [[TankTopTomboy outfit]] is subjected to this ''briefly'' in the ''opening sequence'' of ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''.

* TheUnchosenOne: Cloud was a random Shinra grunt who had no connection with Sephiroth or anybody else involved with Shinra outside of an unlikely friendship with first class SOLDIER Zack. By all rights, he should've ended up just another of the endless mobs of enemies the party mow down. Through happenstance, Sephiroth's petty fixation on making him suffer for besting him, and his own personal courage, Cloud perseveres and proves himself to be [[ATrueHero the greatest hero of them all.]]

* WeaponTwirling: As part of his victory animation, his spins his sword in the air before shouldering it over his back. He can do it with a rifle when disguised as a Shinra soldier during Rufus’ welcoming ceremony in Junon.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Seems to be a Tomboy yet plays the Girly Girl to Aerith's Tomboy. [[SubvertedTrope Rare spin of traditional character design.]] [[Flanderization The two have since swapped roles]] for the expanded universe and spin-offs -- Tifa isn't a traditional tomboy, but is still depicted as much more of one than Aerith is now, who in turn is more girly. [[CharacterRerailment The Remake continuity gives their original characterization back.]]

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: As a child, he thought himself better than other kids, though he later admits he did so out of self-loathing. As a grown man, following the Nibelheim tragedy, Cloud developed an arrogant mercenary persona [[spoiler:which, unknown even to himself at the time, is just a modified continuation of his boyhood self's naïve aspirations, brought about by the Jenova cells implanted in him messing with his mind and taking advantage of his fractured memories]].

* ParentalSubstitute: To Denzel. In ''Advent Children'', he even becomes a DisappearedDad.

* PromotionToParent: Raises Marlene and Denzel with Tifa after the events of original game.

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: As a child, he thought himself better than the other kids, though it’s heavily implied he does it out of self-loathing. His arrogant mercenary persona [[spoiler:put by Jenova cells]] throughout the game also fits.

* TookALevelInKindness:
** Cloud always had poor self-esteem even as a young child, thanks in large part to the ostracization he and his mother received from the rest of the townsfolk. This led to him developing a JerkassFacade and got into fights with other boys. But after an accident in Mt. Nibel that resulted in him getting blamed for Tifa's injury, he became more withdrawn, but also kinder, braver, and more supportive as shown in ''Crisis Core''. Following the traumatic events of the Nibelheim massacre and the injection of Jenova cells into his body, Cloud's fractured mental state gives birth to a false persona where he thinks he's supposed to be an arrogant, reckless, obsessive, and deliberately antagonistic person, but his inner goodness still shines through when it really counts, and he becomes a full NiceGuy after the lifestream reminds him who he really is and he finally accepts himself as a person.

** Cloud always had poor self-esteem even as a young child, thanks in large part to the ostracization he and his mother received from the rest of the townsfolk. This led to him developing a JerkassFacade and got into fights with other boys. But after an accident in Mt. Nibel that resulted in him getting blamed for Tifa's injury, he became more withdrawn, but is also kinder, braver, and more supportive as shown in ''Crisis Core''. Following the traumatic events of the Nibelheim massacre and the injection of Jenova cells into his body, Cloud's fractured mental state gives birth to a false persona where he thinks he's supposed to be an arrogant, reckless, obsessive, and deliberately antagonistic person, but his inner goodness still shines through when it really counts, and he becomes a full NiceGuy after the lifestream reminds him who he really is and he finally accepts himself as a person.

** Cloud always had poor self-esteem even as a young child, thanks in large part due to the ostracization he and his mother received from the rest of the townsfolk. This led to him developing a JerkassFacade and got into fights with other boys. But after an accident in Mt. Nibel that resulted in him getting blamed for Tifa's injury, he became more withdrawn, but is also kinder, braver, and more supportive as shown in ''Crisis Core''. Following the traumatic events of the Nibelheim massacre and the injection of Jenova cells into his body, Cloud's fractured mental state gives birth to a false persona where he thinks he's supposed to be an arrogant, reckless, obsessive, and deliberately antagonistic person, but his inner goodness still shines through when it really counts, and he becomes a full NiceGuy after the lifestream reminds him who he really is and he finally accepts himself as a person.

** For Cloud's [[spoiler:real persona]], he's always had a really bad self-esteem, but he went from someone who picks fights with any people in his hometown after an accident in Mt. Nibel that leads to him taking the blame for Tifa's injury in his childhood, to someone shy, but is also kinder, brave, and supportive shown in Crisis Core. He also gets over his self-esteem issues at the end of the game.
** His [[spoiler:false persona]] also undergoes this, he's cocky, reckless, obsessive, and deliberately antagonises his friends Barret and Wedge and does things like taking salary from a slum-dwelling little girl's school money, and gets a lot nicer after a few hours of play, but he remains vengeance-obsessed and arrogant until his [[spoiler:false persona implodes halfway through the next disk.]]

* TheMentallyDisturbed: Cloud's an emotionally fragile young man who suffers from bouts of depression, has a history of shutting down when life becomes too much to handle, and has serious problems with acknowledging his own self-worth. In spite of this, he soldiers on, trying to reach out Cloud's false persona from his head earlier on, and manages to overcome or mitigate many of these issues.

* ADarkerMe: His SOLDIER persona came about as a result of the Jenova cells messing with Cloud's mind, based on Cloud's desires and what he sees as an ideal version of himself. He idolizes [[SugarAndIcePersonality Sephiroth]] (pre-madness), thinks Tifa [[WomenPreferStrongMen only wants SOLDIER]], as well as views Zack as a BigBrotherMentor, but he considers himself to be a failure who ended up only as a Shinra {{Mook}} (even though ironically, Tifa never wanted a SOLDIER in the first place) and thinks of himself as weak and boring, though he remained quite friendly and sweet (if awkward and self-flagellating) as seen in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. Convinced that he really did live up to that ideal image, Cloud acts like a rude, aloof, cooler-than-cool, violent jerk under the SOLDER persona, which are the traits his boyhood self viewed as "cool", "manly", and how an IdealHero acts due to his admiration of Sephiroth (while he copies Zack's mannerisms and body language).

* ADarkerMe: His SOLDIER persona came about as a result of the Jenova cells messing with Cloud's mind, based on Cloud's desires and what he sees as ideal version of himself. He idolizes [[SugarAndIcePersonality Sephiroth]] (pre-madness), thinks Tifa [[WomenPreferStrongMen only wants SOLDIER]], as well as views Zack as a BigBrotherMentor, but he considers himself to be a failure who ended up only as a Shinra {{Mook}} (even though ironically, Tifa never wanted a SOLDIER in the first place) and thinks of himself as weak and boring, though he remained quite friendly and sweet (if awkward and self-flagellating) as seen in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. Convinced that he really did live up to that ideal image, Cloud acts like a rude, aloof, cooler-than-cool, violent jerk under the SOLDER persona, which are the traits his boyhood self viewed as "cool", "manly", and how an IdealHero acts due to his admiration of Sephiroth (while he copies Zack's mannerisms and body language).

* ADarkerMe: His false persona is a separate entity created by the Jenova cells, but it's also based on Cloud's desires and what he sees as ideal version of himself. He idolizes [[SugarAndIcePersonality Sephiroth]] (pre-madness), thinks Tifa [[WomenPreferStrongMen only wants SOLDIER]], as well as views Zack as a BigBrotherMentor, but he considers himself to be a failure who ended up only as a Shinra {{Mook}} (even though ironically, Tifa never wanted a SOLDIER in the first place) and thinks of himself as weak and boring, though he remained quite friendly and sweet (if awkward and self-flagellating) as seen in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. By contrast, his false persona had him acting like a rude, aloof, cooler-than-cool, violent asshole, which are the traits Cloud views as "cool", "manly", and how an IdealHero acts due to his admiration of Sephiroth (while he copies Zack's mannerisms and body language). So basically his false persona is also based on a less-repressed version of [[ShrinkingViolet Cloud]] who actually acts on his desires.