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1%% Zero Context Examples have been commented out and need context to be uncommented.
2%% Character images selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1586846841009665700
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4!![[center:'''Navigation''' [[Characters/FinalFantasyVII Main]] | Playable Characters | [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIShinraInc Shinra Inc]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIISOLDIER SOLDIER]] ([[Characters/FinalFantasyVIISephiroth Sephiroth]]) | [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIDeepground Deepground]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIOtherAntagonists Other Antagonists]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIBosses Bosses]] ]]
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6[[foldercontrol]]
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8[[folder:Cloud Strife]]
9[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cloudstrife_1.png]]
10[[caption-width-right:350: "But I can't remain trapped in an illusion any more... I'm going to live my life without pretending."]]
11!!! '''Voiced By''': Creator/TakahiroSakurai (Japanese), Steve Burton (English), Creator/CodyChristian (English, ''Crisis Core Reunion'')
12!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' | ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis''
13!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' | ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' | ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyExplorers'' | ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia'' | ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''
14->''"I pity you. You just don't get it at all... there's not a thing I ''don't'' cherish!"''
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16[[SuperSoldier First Class SOLDIER]]. [[OneHandedZweihander Wielder of the Buster Sword]]. [[AnimeHair Video Gaming's Most Famous Haircut]].
17
18'''The Face of [[EasternRPG JRPGs]].'''
19
20A former top-ranking member of Shinra's elite paramilitary unit, SOLDIER. Now working as a mercenary-for-hire, Cloud takes a job with the anti-Shinra organization AVALANCHE to bring down his old employers. However, as events unfold, Cloud's past and mental stability are soon brought into question...
21
22----
23* TheAce: Take a look at his stats. He'll always be stronger and faster than everyone else in the party. He couldn't hold a candle to Sephiroth once upon a time, but now he's up to the task.
24* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: No matter the circumstance, Cloud drops everything to save Tifa and/or Aerith if they're in danger.
25* {{Angst}}: Boatloads of it. Most of it's {{justified|Trope}} -- if you came to the realization that the life you thought you had lived was a lie and you had spent the last four-five years comatose due to lab experiments after your hero burned your hometown and left you for dead and your best friend died to save your sorry hide, you'd probably have some issues to work through too.
26* AnimalMotifs: Wolves, specifically Fenrir, the name of the wolf that follows him in ''Advent Children'' and of his CoolBike, which debuted in the same movie. However, this only applies to that movie.
27* AnimeHair: Cloud's infamous hair in ''Final Fantasy VII'' consists of several sharp spikes jutting into the air. ''Advent Children'' and related ''Compilation'' materials toned down the spikes to something more realistic.
28* AntiHero: His false persona is a PragmaticHero variant. His real persona however, is a ClassicalAntiHero plagued by insecurity and self-doubt.
29* AscendedFanboy: He idolised Sephiroth while growing up and got to fight at his side during the Nibelheim mission. Subverted in that he was only a Shinra mook at the time. Also, Sephiroth’s actions made him a case of BrokenPedestal for Cloud.
30* BadassBiker: One remarkable segment in the original game is Cloud driving a bike with one hand while slaying Shinra mooks with the other. In ''Advent Children'' he spends much of the film riding Fenrir looking cool, and in several fight scenes fights ''while'' riding it.
31* BadassNormal: Even before Hojo's experiments. As an inexperienced 16-year old, he managed to defeat Sephiroth when they clashed.
32* BatterUp: One of his weapons is the Nail Bat, who can be found in the Temple of the Ancients or bought for 2800 gil at Junon after obtaining the Highwind.
33* BeneathTheMask: Cloud spends most of the original game posing as a cold, aloof and confident mercenary. After Tifa restores his true personality during their time in his consciousness in the Lifestream, he admits that the combination of the Jenova cells, Sephiroth's will, and his fragile ego are behind the construction of his fake persona.
34* BerserkerTears: It's not obvious from the sprite but WordOfGod and says Cloud is in ManlyTears during Aerith's death scene. Cloud himself even says "His eyes are burning" when lashing out at Sephiroth/Jenova LIFE. His rage ''is'' obvious from the sprite, however.
35* {{BFS}}: His Buster Sword is emblematic of this trope, though his other swords are no slouch either, such as the Ultima Weapon.
36* BifurcatedWeapon: His Fusion Sword in ''Advent Children'' is ''six'' {{BFS}}s in one.
37* BlackKnight: Downplayed, while he isn't a knight in the traditional sense, he shares a lot in common with the Dark Knights of previous Final Fantasy games and can be considered to be adjacent to them. While Cloud doesn't particularly use dark magic, he tends towards dark aesthetics and weaponry, formerly worked for an evil (corporate) empire, is brooding and introspective, and struggles with his sense of self - all traits of Final Fantasy Dark Knights.
38* BlackSwordsAreBetter: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. While his eponymous ultimate weapon is bright-blade, a number of Cloud's most powerful and unique swords are black-bladed, the most obvious being the Ragnarok (his penultimate weapon) and the Apocalypse (triples AP for materia growth). His first available black sword, the Force Stealer, is also Cloud's first weapon with double AP growth capability.
39* BladeSpam: Omnislash, one of his {{Limit Break}}s, in a series of fifteen sword attacks.
40* BlowYouAway: Finishing Touch, one of his {{Limit Break}}s, launches a tornado at opponents.
41* BlueIsHeroic: Played with when he was a {{mook}} at Shinra; he was still a good person but wore the blue uniform of an evil company. He goes on to wear black outfits after the original game.
42* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Due to Hojo's experiments which involved injecting him with Jenova cells, Sephiroth (who has Jenova as ''his'' puppet) can directly take control of his body if he wants, notably when he controls him to beat up Aerith.
43* BreakTheHaughty: As a child, Cloud avoided the other village children because he thought of himself as superior to them and like most boys his age, tried to become a hero like his idol Sephiroth by joining SOLDIER and was promptly rejected. However, it seems his claims of superiority were more a case of him trying to justify his own loneliness.
44* BrokenAce: Being exposed to all of the brain-breaking stuff he's been exposed to has left him with serious issues. Part of the game's story is helping him out of a HeroicBSOD.
45* BrokenHero: Cloud has self-esteem issues, stemming from being an outcast as a child and the desire to prove himself. The reason he wanted to join SOLDIER in the first place was to impress Tifa, and things went FromBadToWorse once he enlisted...
46* CantDropTheHero: You typically can't remove him from the party. However, there are a few segments where you can play as a party without him, most notably when Cloud becomes comatose and has to stay in Mideel.
47* CharacterCatchphrase: "Not interested", repeated several times in the original game, usually as a choice in dialogue trees. In the expanded universe it's used much less often, but still pops up enough to count. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Bartz]] lampshades it in ''Dissidia'' when he mimics Cloud's voice in a match with him.
48* 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 his JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, he faces himself and finally accepts who he is, becoming a capable and confident leader]]. This is reflected right before heading for the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:after ignoring everyone's interests or plights unless it was for his own self-interest or JerkWithAHeartOfGold moments for much of the game's first act, Cloud has 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]].
49* ChekhovsGunman: The Shinra soldier that is seen throughout Cloud's flashbacks of the Nibelheim incident? It turns out to be Cloud himself, as Zack was really the one that was in SOLDIER and was Sephiroth's partner.
50* ChickMagnet: [[GirlNextDoor Tifa]], [[MysticalWaif Aerith]], and [[MauveShirt Jessie]] have feelings for him. If you choose [[ShipTease Yuffie]] as the Golden Saucer date, she kisses Cloud on the cheek on the gondola ride.
51* ChildhoodFriendRomance: His relationship with Tifa, who also grew up in Nibelheim with him. Because both of them CannotSpitItOut though, it's ambiguous how far the romantic angle goes.
52* ClassicalAntiHero: Crippling self-doubt and insecurity, tons of angst and guilt, and as a kid he was a loner. A [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] as his crippling lack of self-worth ends up making him mentally fragile, causing him to fail to achieve his dream of becoming a SOLDIER, and being [[spoiler:controlled by Sephiroth at critical moments in the game]]. [[ReconstructedTrope Reconstructed]] that by the end of the game he learns to accept who he is, growing to be a capable leader and can resist Sephiroth's influence as shown in the [[ZeroEffortBoss Zero Effort]] PostFinalBoss.
53* ColonyDrop: Meteorain, one of his {{Limit Break}}s, shoots small meteors at opponents.
54* TheComicallySerious: Cloud tries to keep his laid back and stoic demeanor even when faced with the weirdest and most humorous situations, such as the cross-dressing sidequest.
55* CompositeCharacter: An in-universe example. [[spoiler:The version of him from his recollection of Nibelheim is actually an amalgamation of his own history pre-Shinra and his best friend Zack Fair's personality, military history, and some actions during the Nibelheim incident.]]
56* {{Courier}}: His career after the events of the main game; he became a deliveryman that traveled the planet.
57* CrashIntoHello: Granted it was a [[CrashInThroughTheCeiling roof]], not a person, but it's how Cloud and Aerith got formally acquainted; he crashed through the roof of her church and woke up on the flowerbed with her standing over him.
58* TheCutie: The younger, friendlier, more insecure Cloud seen in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' qualifies, as the young rookie who looks up to Zack.
59* 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}}, and thinks of himself as weak and boring, though he remained quite friendly and sweet 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 SOLDIER 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 tries to copy Zack's mannerisms and body language.
60* DarkIsNotEvil: After the original game, he starts wearing black outfits, but is still as heroic as ever.
61* DeadpanSnarker: Cloud has a very dry wit and tends to make small quips completely straightfaced. Under his false persona in ''VII'' wasn't as deadpan as later, but more snarky.
62-->'''Rufus''': Cloud, you're an ex-SOLDIER, aren't you? \
63'''Cloud''': In my head.
64* DeadPersonConversation: Cloud is seen having conversations with both Aerith and Zack during ''Advent Children''.
65* DeadPersonImpersonation: Cloud's essentially been copying an ''actual'' SOLDIER named Zack through most of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.
66* DeclarationOfProtection:
67** He [[ThePromise promises]] such to Tifa, and later becomes Aerith's bodyguard.
68** In ''Advent Children'', he feels this way towards his entire family.
69* DecoyBackstory: A flashback narrated by Cloud near the beginning [[spoiler:actually turns out to have involved his friend Zack. Cloud ended up confusing himself with Zack thanks to a combination of trauma and [[MadScientist Hojo's]] experiments. This is why Cloud's narration tends to trail off and get murky throughout the flashback like he has trouble remembering much beyond a few incidental scenes. That is because he really didn't have much to recall besides all of the scenes he shared with Zack as a grunt, the few bits of info that Zack shared with him, and others that he made up in his own head]].
70* DependingOnTheWriter: Cloud ranges from self-doubting and insecure AntiHero to a cocky and confident badass, sometimes in the same appearance. Justified due to the two or three personas he's adopted and come to terms with, an entirely consistent personality is probably not going to result from this.
71* {{Determinator}}: Cloud ''never'' gives up, even when all the odds are against him. Take the Nibelheim Incident; even with no powers or procedures yet performed to make him stronger, Cloud charges Sephiroth, widely considered the most powerful man on the planet, head-on. And even when impaled on his sword and hoisted into the air, he finds the strength to overpower him and turn the tables.
72* DisappearedDad: Was raised by his mother instead. It seems his father died when Cloud was young.
73* DisguisedInDrag: The infamous crossdressing quest in Wall Market, which he undertook to save Tifa.
74* DoomedHometown: In the backstory, Nibelheim was destroyed several years ago by Sephiroth.
75* DressingAsTheEnemy: In Junon, Cloud disguises himself as a Shinra mook participating in Rufus’ welcoming ceremony, where he also has to learn the marching protocols.
76* DualWielding: As Cloud is wielding a BifurcatedWeapon consisting of ''six'' {{BFS}} during ''Advent Children'', he sometimes detach some blades from it to wield using his free hand.
77* EmptyShell: After all the trauma he had been through, he was reduced to this when Tifa found him at the train station. His mind then constructed the Zack-like persona, in an attempt to protect him from the trauma. This happens to him again after the mako poisoning, and he remains like this until Tifa helps him rebuild his own mind and regain his memories.
78* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Subverted. Cloud’s first appearance has him stylishly jumping from a train and acting like a cold and uncaring jerk. Yet, this entire personality displayed turns out to be a fabrication, brought about by a combination of Jenova's cells, trauma, and Hojo's experiments.
79* FakeMemories: Though it's something of a journey to figure out how and why he has them.
80* FashionableAsymmetry: Cloud wears only one shoulder pad, on his left shoulder. It’s best seen in his official artwork, but is a feature of most of his outfits in the Compilation.
81* {{Flanderization}}: If you haven't played the original game, you'll be surprised at how ''non'' angsty Cloud was. He ''did'' angst and express hesitation and insecurities, but only at key points and for good reasons, and at the end of the game seemed perfectly fine. In his appearances since, he has been an angsty brooding loner. Creator/SquareEnix states outright in ''The Reunion Files'' (basically the ''Ultimania'' for ''Advent Children'') that they regressed his personality back to a mindset they thought fans would be more familiar with.
82* GirlishPigtails: His disguise while infiltrating Don Corneo's mansion sees Cloud style his hair this way.
83* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: His disguise while infiltrating Don Corneo's mansion sees Cloud don a violet dress. Cloud's projected composed demeanor during that point in the game also adds to the demure.
84* GuestFighter: In ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'', an obscure fighting game made by Square in late 1990s.
85* GuiltComplex: Has a severe case of this. He often feels guilty for things out of his control, like his reaction when he failed to save a scientist under his care in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' or cursing himself for failing his promise to Tifa when he falls in battle, or also acting as if the Jenova taking over his body for Reunion and creating his false persona as his doing and his fault, or his depression in ''Advent Children''.
86* HairContrastDuo: Cloud falls into this with three characters.
87** Cloud (shortish spiky hair, golden blond, pragmatic but unstable) and his rival Sephiroth (really long flowing hair, silver, otherworldly and collected).
88** Cloud (short blond spiky hair, pessimistic and more innocent) and his idol Zack (long black spiky hair, optimistic and more experienced). Note also that Zack's hairstyle was actually based on an early design for Cloud's that was changed because it wasn't striking enough - Cloud is the main character, while Zack is a backstory character whose entire existence is obscured from the player, with the ironic concept that he's a more 'main character'-type person than Cloud.
89** Cloud, (male, short blond hair, cool and collected when he's not being mind raped) and Tifa (female, long brown/black hair, enthusiastic (but keeps a lot of secrets to herself, and suffers for it).
90* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Cloud's real personality is a noble and heroic man who just happened to be plagued by self-doubt and insecurity, as displayed in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. After a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, this aspect of him returns with a vengeance, albeit hardened by his recent experiences, and a lot more determined.
91* HairstyleInertia: The flashback sequences in Nibelheim and later installments in the Compilation show that Cloud had that same spiky hair as a child and as a teenager.
92* HeroesPreferSwords: {{BFS}}'s are preferred, although he does have a few katanas. As an infantryman, however, he favored an assault rifle and police baton.
93* HeroicResolve: In his actual showdown with Sephiroth in the past, he managed to toss him into the Lifestream chasm below them, while being stabbed in the gut by his sword and lifted in the air. Keep in mind Cloud isn’t a part of SOLDIER and was just a lowly mook at the time.
94* HeroicSelfDeprecation: He really hated his own real personality so much that his ideal version of himself [[spoiler:as presented by the Jenova cells]] is basically a mishmash of [[TheHerosIdol Sephiroth]] and [[BigBrotherMentor Zack]], who are both [[spoiler:actual]] [=SOLDIERs=]. Fortunately, he grows out of it and learns to accept himself for who he is.
95* HeroicWannabe: Part of Cloud's arc in the original game is dissecting how silly and immature his idea of what a cool and badass hero is like in an attempt to be the person he thinks Tifa will be impressed by, being a standoffish and aloof dick. His misguided aims of being a hero allow Sephiroth to exert control over him and allow him to summon Meteor. Once Tifa pieces his memories back together, Cloud goes back to his true {{Adorkable}} DorkKnight personality and proves himself ATrueHero in the end instead by accepting his flaws and thus, himself.
96* HeroicWillpower: Cloud fails at this throughout the game, with his issues of self-identity and self-loathing making him an easy puppet to Sephiroth’s mind controlling. However, he fully achieves this at his very final battle with Sephiroth, who is trying to break Cloud again, without success.
97* ILetGwenStacyDie: He stood helpless and watched as Sephiroth killed Aerith. More in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' than in the game.
98* IconicOutfit: Cloud's original purple outfit from the original game and the all-black ''Advent Children'' outfit are equally well-known among the fandom.
99* IconicStarterEquipment: Cloud's Buster Sword is what most people picture him wielding and it's the weapon he wields in all spinoffs, cameo appearances, etc. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' it's even given MagikarpPower properties so that it stays viable even after the acquisition of other swords, whereas in the original game you'll ditch it and never look back as soon as you get another sword.
100* 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:unaware that he's just acting out his idealized self-image, brought about by the Jenova cells implanted in him messing with his mind and taking advantage of his fractured memories]].
101* InstantExpert: Cloud is shown driving multiple vehicles throughout the game. He drove a motorbike, a dune buggy given to his party by Dio, pilots a submarine and the Highwind.
102* InterspeciesRomance: Cloud is a human who has a growing attraction to Aerith, the last of the Cetra race.
103* JackOfAllStats: Cloud has all around good stats and can fight with magic or weapons as needed.
104* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Subverted. Cloud isn't actually a jerk, his unsavory behavior for most of the game was done by his false persona created by [[spoiler:the Jenova cells]] after the events leading up to Zack's death.
105* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: After the WEAPON attack in Mideel, Cloud and Tifa fall into the Lifestream, where she then enters his mind and help him regain his sense of self.
106* KatanasAreJustBetter: Two of his swords are the Murasame and the Yoshiyuki, though Cloud generally favors western styled broadswords.
107* KilledOffscreen: His Finishing Touch LimitBreak has Cloud doing a OneHitKill by flinging enemies upwards. The standard dying sound effect would then be heard to confirm the deaths.
108* TheLeader: To the party. He's got elements of a Levelheaded leader and Headstrong leader as he displays a focused if aloof personality and sense of determination that keeps the party going in their hunt for Sephiroth.
109* LightningBruiser: Cloud moves fast and has enough HP and stamina to take a good hit, and when he hits back it hurts a lot. Spin-offs like ''Dissidia'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' instead depict him as a MightyGlacier, moving and attacking slowly but doing a lot of damage.
110* LikesOlderWomen: When it comes to his attraction to Aerith, who is one year older than him. In fact, his mother once suggested that he find an older girlfriend. Subverted if he gets together with Tifa, who is one year younger than Cloud, if his RelationshipValues with her is high enough.
111* LonersAreFreaks: As a child he was anti-social and constantly got into fights because of his AllOfTheOtherReindeer status and InferioritySuperiorityComplex.
112* MadeOfIron: He survived a huge fall from the Shinra Headquarters to the Midgar Church and also managed to overpower Sephiroth while being impaled on the chest by him.
113* MagicKnight: Cloud fulfills this in terms of gameplay, dealing lots of damage through his swordsmanship and spells.
114* MeaningfulName: Cloud Strife, reflecting his inner turmoil and troubled life.
115* 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 while struggling against an evil parasitic entity's attempts to manipulate him further through his misguided false persona. In spite of this, he soldiers on, and manages to overcome or mitigate many of these issues.
116* MeteorSummoningAttack: His appropriately named Meteorrain LimitBreak allows Cloud to produce several meteors from his {{BFS}} to strike multiple enemies.
117* MommasBoy: Cloud describes his mother as “vibrant” and once invited Zack to come to his house and try her cooking. Her death at the hands of Sephiroth is one of his (many) grudges against him.
118* {{Mook}}: In his backstory, it is shown this was his true rank within Shinra. He was just another one of the guards the party guns down the entire game.
119* MrExposition: He does this for the tutorial near the start of the game, explaining Materia and Limit Breaks in detail to the player under the guise of teaching his fellow party members in-universe.
120* MrFanservice: Well-built, handsome, heroic, and very badass.
121* MusclesAreMeaningless: Cloud is portrayed as a rather odd-looking and emaciated young man yet he wields the Buster Sword like if it was nothing. It is justified because of his Mako enhancements. Downplayed in that he's still got a decent amount of muscle on him to stop him from being unhealthily thin.
122* NewMeat: He’s the most recent addition to AVALANCHE when the story begins. In fact, the very first line of the game has Barret calling him “newcomer”.
123* NotHimself: His character journey is all about this. Due to the combination of his low self-esteem, traumatic experiences, being in coma, being experimented on, having his mind literally shattered, and the influence of Jenova cells injected in his body, he spent a good amount in this game behaving like his best friend [[spoiler:Zack]], presenting himself as a SOLDIER [[spoiler:which in reality he failed to enter, unlike Zack]], and acting as a cold-hearted mercenary. This ends after a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind to put his mind back together and Cloud accepting himself for who he is, growing stronger shown by resisting Sephiroth's influence on him.
124* OccultBlueEyes: They also glow because of his Mako infusion; this is a mark of all members of SOLDIER.
125* OneHandedZweihander: In the original game alone, Cloud slashed Shinra mooks with one hand on the Buster Sword and the other riding a bike. Also, his famous victory animation has him twirling his blade with one arm.
126* OneHitKill: His Finishing Touch LimitBreak has a chance to kill multiple enemies with one swing.
127* OnlyICanKillHim: Spin-offs seem to give him this role regarding Sephiroth, who shrugs off beatings from the [[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Warrior of Light]] or [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]].
128* TheParalyzer: Cross-Slash, one of his Limit Breaks, can randomly cast Stop on an opponent.
129* PeopleJars: Cloud was subject to this for years alongside Zack at Shinra’s hands. Both were thoroughly experimented on before Zack broke out and rescued Cloud along the way.
130* PinkGirlBlueBoy: At least in the original game, Cloud wore a blue outfit while Aerith had a pink dress. Later games have him wearing black.
131* PuppeteerParasite: Hojo's experiments involve injecting his subjects, including Cloud, with Jenova cells. After Cloud becomes an EmptyShell due to Mako poisoning, [[spoiler:the Jenova cells take over his body to be used as a puppet for Reunion, creating a false persona based on Cloud's desires with FakeMemories to match, but the persona the player sees through most of the game. Sephiroth, who himself controls Jenova, by extension also can take control of Cloud if he wants. This ends after a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind where Cloud accepts himself and becomes stronger, resisting Sephiroth's influence in a ZeroEffortBoss.]]
132* PurpleIsPowerful: Cloud's original game outfit is the purple SOLDIER 1st class uniform.
133* TheQuietOne: On his own Cloud is a fairly shy and silent figure.
134* ReplacementGoldfish: Initially, what draws Aerith to Cloud is his resemblance to Zack.
135* RightHandedMirror: To Sephiroth. Both are the result of experimentation with Mako and Jenova cells, but while right-handed Cloud regains his sanity and becomes a hero, Sephiroth descends into an OmnicidalManiac.
136* TheScapeGoat: As a child, Cloud got blamed for an accident that involved Tifa falling down a bridge while trying to head up Mt. Nibel, but the truth is he was only trying to save her, and it was actually Tifa's own fault for running there on her own volition. Cloud never bothered to try and defend himself, since by that point he was already well aware that anything he'd say in his defense would've just fallen on deaf ears, being the ostracized kid that he was.
137* SleevesAreForWimps: All of Cloud's outfits are sleeveless (except maybe for shoulder guards) and he fights using [[{{BFS}} very large swords]].
138* SpamAttack: His final LimitBreak, Omnislash, allows him to critically attack enemies fifteen times.
139* StillWearingTheOldColors: Cloud still wears the same SOLDIER outfit even after he’s working against them. Subverted in that he never was actually part of SOLDIER and his current costume is just one Zack found and gave to him.
140* StrongAndSkilled: A combination of infantry training and super soldier experiments has given him super strength, agility and endurance. These attributes are coupled with his skills as a swordsman which develop as he gains more and more [[LimitBreak Limit Breaks]].
141* SuperSoldier: SOLDIER was comprised of humans who were exposed to large amounts of raw Mako (giving them their distinctive GlowingEyes) and, in some cases, injected with Jenova cells, granting them superhuman strength, speed, and agility. While Cloud was never in SOLDIER, Hojo's experiments were similar, if not identical, to the process of creating a SOLDIER.
142* SwordBeam: Blade Beam, one of his {{Limit Break}}s, fires a blast of energy from his sword. When targeting multiple opponents, additional beams sprout from the original to attack the other targets.
143* TakeUpMySword: When Zack dies, Cloud literally takes up his sword and keeps his dreams of honor and heroism alive in his own way.
144* ThisLoserIsYou: He was a {{Deconstruction}} of RPG protagonists at the time. Turns out that when he was younger, he picked fights with the other kids to hide his insecurities and decided he would join SOLDIER in order to impress the girl he'd had a crush on for years but never had the courage to ask out. When this attempt failed due to his stated insecurities and mental fragility, followed by his hometown being burned down by the man he idolized, followed by his best friend in the world — an actual member of SOLDIER — being gunned down before his eyes, he lost his sense of self and got his body taken over by [[spoiler:Jenova cells]], of which it's shown that his ideal version of himself is pretending to be that best friend, of which only got realized due to Hojo's experiment being identical to the process of creating a SOLDIER, giving him the same powers and capabilities as them, as well as [[spoiler:the Jenova cells]] altering his memories to be said best friend's ones. The real personality of Cloud is stuck on his head, but has to learn to accept his own weakness and shortcomings later on.
145* TomatoInTheMirror: See DeadPersonImpersonation. When he finds out the truth he does not take it well at all.
146* TookALevelInBadass: From a story standpoint, he went from a shy, ostracized kid to a powerful warrior who defeated the all-powerful Sephiroth. Gameplay-wise, this is represented with his lackluster stats in the flashback (as a lv. 1 party member) sequence when compared to how he began the game.
147* TookALevelInKindness: As a child, Cloud and his mother were ostracized by most of Nibelheim's population, causing him to wallow in self-loathing, which in turn led to him developing an InferioritySuperiorityComplex and got into fights with other boys. After an accident in Mt. Nibel that resulted in him getting blamed for Tifa's injury, he became more withdrawn. 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.
148* TooManyBelts: In ''Advent Children''. The retconned SOLDIER 1st Class costumes from ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' that he wears has two.
149* TragicKeepsake: The Buster Sword is not just for combat: It’s also Cloud’s way of carrying on Zack’s legacy and dreams. He learns to do it by being his own person however, and not pretending to be Zack.
150* TraumaCongaLine: Goes through all of this before the game even starts:
151** Hoped to join SOLDIER but didn't end up strong enough. So he joined the regular military, befriending Zack and Sephiroth. Then he watched his idol fall into mass-murdering insanity and god-delusion and seemingly defeated him along with Zack.
152** Then, the two get captured by Shinra and are subjected to horrific experiments with Mako. Zack managed to break out and rescue Cloud from their fate, but is gunned down by mooks, and Cloud could do nothing but watch.
153* TraumaInducedAmnesia: After the massive amount of tragedy he experienced before the game even started, the Jenova cells altered his memories with his fallen friend Zack's own, and has to block said traumatizing true memories to keep his mind from collapsing, causing his headaches.
154* {{Troll}}: Through dialogue options, it's very possible to make Cloud give some pretty dickish responses purely for the lulz of it all. He even appears to be this canonically, as shown from his frequent teasing of Barret during the Midgar section of the game. It gets dropped for the most part after he undergoes his HeroicBSOD, which indicates that it may well have been another element he picked up from Zack.
155* TroubledButCute: He wears all black and copes with a lot of mental issues, but is very good-looking and has a good heart.
156* TheUnchosenOne: Contrasts with Sephiroth's self-proclaimed status as TheChosenOne. 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.]]
157* UnknownRival: Hojo doesn't remember who he is when they have their last battle.
158-->'''Cloud:''' At least remember my name!
159* 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. It's implied - and later confirmed in ''Crisis Core'' - that this was a move he picked up from Zack.
160* WhatTheHellHero: He beats up Aerith in the Temple of the Ancients, causing her to leave the party. Granted, he was being controlled, but still…
161* WhiteMaleLead: Cloud is the protagonist in a noticeably diverse cast for its time and even today, with a black man (Barret), an Asian woman (Yuffie) and two furries (Red XIII and Cait Sith). Averted within AVALANCHE, where Barret is the leader.
162* WholesomeCrossdresser: A certain, ahem, [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Miss_Cloud_Artwork.png "noble incident"]]. So wholesome that Don Corneo can choose him!
163* YourDaysAreNumbered: In ''Advent Children'', where he has contracted the fatal Geostigma. He gets cured by the end, and lives on to appear in ''Dirge of Cerberus''.
164[[/folder]]
165
166[[folder:Barret Wallace]]
167!! Barret Wallace
168[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_barret_wallace.png]]
169!!! '''Voiced By''': Masahiro Kobayashi (Japanese), Creator/BeauBillingslea (English)
170!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''
171!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
172->''"You gotta understand somethin'... I don't got an answer. I wanna be with Marlene... but I gotta fight. 'Cause if I don't... the planet's gonna die. So I'm gonna keep fightin'!"''
173
174The boisterous leader of AVALANCHE, a group of eco-terrorists trying to prevent Shinra from draining the planet's life energy in the name of profit. His cause is actually a cover for a personal vendetta against Shinra. He later comes to terms with his grudge and accepts responsibility for the damage AVALANCHE caused, vowing to save the planet the right way. He lost his right hand in a Shinra attack and had it replaced with a variable prosthetic.
175
176----
177* AngryBlackManStereotype: Especially early in the game, he has a very short temper. It's {{justified|Trope}} later on in the game when Barret explains just ''why'' he's so angry to begin with.
178* AntiHero: He's frequently angry and fighting for personal reasons, but deep down he's a good person.
179* ArmCannon: Although some of his weapons turn it into a PowerFist instead.
180* ArtificialLimbs: His gun arm is able to transform into a robotic hand in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]''.
181* TheBigGuy: Standing at 6'6" and over 300 lbs with his good arm being almost as big as some of the party members, Barret is, far and away, the largest member of the team, serving as the team's muscle and tank.
182* BigGood: From ''his'' perspective in the beginning of the game, given that he's leading AVALANCHE and giving orders to Cloud & co. He gradually comes to realize that maybe he wasn't quite as noble as he thought.
183* BoisterousBruiser: CharacterDevelopment turns Barret into one of these later on. He's still emotional and outgoing, but no longer quite as trigger-happy.
184* CaptainErsatz:
185** He looks and acts ''very'' similar to Creator/MrT. When he got a voice actor for later appearances he even talks like him.
186** The audiobooks for ''On the Way to a Smile'' has him sound more like Creator/ChiMcBride.
187* ChainsawGood: One of his gun-arms is a chainsaw attachment.
188* CharacterDevelopment: Barret goes through profound character development throughout Final Fantasy VII. Initially entrenched in his beliefs about Shinra and resorting to violence and terrorism, he experiences a transformative journey during the events of the game, especially during his confrontation with Dyne. He eventually recognize the faults in his actions strives to be a more virtuous individual.
189* ClusterFBomb: Not exactly an F-bomb, but Barret is very prone to cursing up a storm when he flies into a rage.
190* CutenessProximity: ''Very'' easy to miss, but if he's in your party when you visit the hidden cockatrice nest on Mt. Corel, Barret flips out over how adorable the chicks are.
191-->'''Barret:''' Haeey!! Baaeby!!
192* DeathFromAbove: His final LimitBreak, Catastrophe, sees Barret jumping InASingleBound and then unleashing a WaveMotionGun while suspended on the air.
193* DiscardAndDraw: Barrett can switch from his standard LongRangeFighter class to a melee combatant by equipping him with certain weapons (specifically [[PowerPincers Atomic Scissors]], [[SpikeBallsOfDoom Cannon Ball]], ThisIsADrill, and RocketPunch), though he's primarily the former.
194* DubPersonalityChange: Partially. The localization features him speaking predominantly in Ebonics, a linguistic style absent in the Japanese version. Averted in Advent Children and future titles.
195* EnergyBall: Big Shot and Mindblow fire orbs of energy. Big Shot is orange, Mindblow is blue.
196* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Sports a pulled back cornrow by the time of ''Advent Children''.
197* GatlingGood: His default weapon is a Gatling gun mounted to his right arm. Because it's used frequently in cutscenes, it's one of two weapons in the game that cannot be sold, the other being Cloud's Buster Sword.
198* GrenadeLauncher: His Grenade Bomb LimitBreak has his gun arm be ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
199* HandicappedBadass: He's missing his right arm, but he makes it work by replacing it with an ArmCannon and kicking ass with it.
200* HarpoonGun: His Pile Banger is a weird subversion. It is classified and functions as a long-ranged weapon but Barret's attack animation while equipped with it is the same as his melee weapons.
201* HotBlooded: Barret is very open and eager in his desire to topple Shinra.
202* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's angry and foul-mouthed, but is a good man deep down.
203* KillSat: Satellite Beam brings down a laser strike from above.
204* LargeAndInCharge: Barret is one of the tallest characters in the game, has a very imposing demeanor, and leads the extremist group AVALANCHE.
205* ManaBurn: His Mindblow LimitBreak depletes a single enemy's MP completely.
206* MeaningfulName: 'Barret' means "mighty bear", fitting his imposing stature and aggressive personality. What makes the meaning of his name stick even more is when the team first visits Costa del Sol after stowing away on the Shinra Cargo Ship, where Cloud jokes that Barret looked like a bear in a marshmallow while disguised as a sailor.
207* MightyGlacier: He's slow and not very good with magic, but he can take a tremendous amount of punishment and is very good at blowing things up with his gun weapons.
208* MoralityPet: His daughter, Marlene, is the only thing keeping him from going off the deep end. Barret is aware of this trope and notes if he didn't have Marlene motivating him to be a good dad for her, he may have become something worse a long time ago.
209* MoralMyopia: Initially, he doesn't care about the lives of many people besides his loved ones (e.g. his daughter Marlene, his Avalanche colleagues who died early on except Tifa, and his Corel community). He fights Shinra primarily out of revenge, and his self-righteous SavingTheWorld claims are just his self-justification. Later on, Cait Sith [[WhatTheHellHero calls him out for it]], and Barret eventually acknowledges that he was wrong.
210* MoreDakka: Angermax fires 18 attacks from his gun-arm at random enemies. Numerous strategies rely on maximizing his power for 18 hits of 9,999 damage, making it the most powerful attack in the game against single foes.
211* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Barret is clearly inspired by Creator/MrT, in looks and mannerisms.
212* OneHitKill: Hammer Blow has a chance to instantly kill the target.
213* PapaWolf: You do not hurt Marlene, unless you want the full fury of his rage brought down on you.
214* ParentalSubstitute: He's not really Marlene's dad, but acts as such.
215* PermaStubble: Has a very short beard to compliment his action-oriented occupation.
216* PowerPincers: Atomic Scissors, which is Barret's first potential close-range arm attachment if the player steals from the Custom Sweeper monster on the world map upon leaving Midgar. If the player missed on stealing it, they could buy it from either Junon or Gongaga weapon shops.
217* ProgressivelyPrettier: ''Advent Children'' prettied him up somewhat. And gave him ''a fishnet vest.''
218* QuicklyDemotedLeader: The original game begins with Barret as TheLeader of AVALANCHE. Cloud essentially takes over following the fall of Sector 7 (plus the deaths of Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge effectively ended the group anyways), and officially once the party leaves Midgar. Then when Cloud is temporarily off the board during Disc 2, Tifa briefly leads the group until they get Cloud to safety, but after that, she steps out and Barret becomes the obvious choice for team leader. Except that Barret admits that he's a terrible leader and instead picks Cid on the grounds that the latter is an experienced commander and the best-suited for the role.
219* RebelLeader: Leads AVALANCHE, an extremist group hell-bent on destroying the Mako reactors hurting the planet.
220* RocketPunch: His JokeWeapon replaces his gun-arm with a giant red fist.
221* ScaryBlackMan: He's large and intimidating in addition to having a gun attached to his arm.
222* ShootTheTelevision: An NPC mentions that he once did this using his gun arm with a Sector 7 television monitor that was displaying a broadcast by President Shinra. He didn't win any fans that day, as the only other television in Sector 7 was in AVALANCHE headquarters.
223* SirSwearsALot: Alongside Cid, most of the cursing in the game comes from him.
224* SleevesAreForWimps: All of Barret's outfits are sleeveless, is the largest and most imposing of the main characters, and he fights with a literal ArmCannon.
225* SpikeBallsOfDoom: He could be attached to one called Cannon Ball. It could be bought from Kalm and Junon weapon shops.
226* SwissArmyWeapon: His gun-arm has numerous different attachments besides guns.
227* ThisIsADrill: He has a weapon called Drill Arm. It doubles his materia's AP gains when equipped. It could be found on Cid's house or bought at Junon after obtaining Highwind.
228* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Grenade Bomb fires a grenade at opponents.
229* TriggerHappy: Early in the game, he tends to open fire when he gets angry. If the player doesn't advance the dialogue in some situations, this can go on for a ''[[BottomlessMagazines long]]'' time.
230* UnskilledButStrong: Gun-arm aside, Barret is physically the strongest, but lacks the skill to hone in his strength in combat compared to the likes of Tifa or Cloud. When he lands blows, however, they're shown to be absolutely devastating.
231* WalkingTheEarth: Novellas set after the game say that he grew restless living in Edge and set out into the world to find a way to atone for his actions in AVALANCHE. He seems to have settled on "help fix the mess he created" as of ''Advent Children''.
232* WaveMotionGun: His final Limit Break Catastrophe has him leap into the air and fire a ''massive'' laser at opponents.
233* WellIntentionedExtremist: At first. He later acknowledges that his actions might not have been best.
234* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: His solution to most problems seems to involve MoreDakka.
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder:Tifa Lockhart]]
238!! Tifa Lockhart
239[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_tifa_lockhart.png]]
240!!! '''Voiced By''': Ayumi Ito (Japanese), Creator/RachaelLeighCook (English), Creator/BrittBaron (English, ''Crisis Core Reunion'')
241!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''
242!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Final Fantasy Dissidia Duodecim]]'' | ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' | ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyExplorers'' | ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
243->''"Uniforms, soldiers, war. I hate 'em all. They take away the things and people you love... I wish they'd all disappear."''
244
245A member of AVALANCHE and Cloud's childhood friend. She also owns a bar called "7th Heaven" in Sector 7 of Midgar. Though she realizes something is wrong with Cloud's memories she doesn't speak up until it's too late. After helping reform Cloud's true self she tries to support him and encourage him to find his own path that he wants.
246
247----
248* ActionGirl: Tifa's far better with her fists than with magic.
249* ActionMom: Due to her ParentalSubstitute relationship with Denzel.
250* AdaptationalModesty: Her [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII in-game]] outfit bares a lot of midriff. Her ''Advent Children'' one only shows a sliver.
251* AnimalMotif: Tifa has a dolphin theme in her dolphin shaped hair and one of her Limit Breaks is a Dolphin blow. It also comes up that probably her most important scene is helping Cloud find himself when he is lost in the watery-looking livestream.
252* BadassAdorable: Whenever she goes deredere to Cloud, which is... damn near the whole time.
253* BadassDamsel: Despite being able to kick her fair share of ass, Tifa still needs to be saved by Cloud now and then.
254* BadassNormal: Tifa doesn't have an ancient heritage, or Mako in her veins, but she can still keep up with the best of them.
255* BareFistedMonk: Her combat style is based on this character class.
256* TheBartender: Tifa tends bar at 7th Heaven.
257* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: She attempted to attack Sephiroth with his own Masamune katana during the Nibelheim Incident, only to be casually disarmed and slashed near-fatally with the blade. Despite the fact that he killed everyone else in no time flat with a single slash each, Tifa holds no scarring over the incident whatsoever. A side book for the ''Remake'' continuity, ''[[Literature/FinalFantasyVIIRemakeTraceOfTwoPasts Trace of Two Pasts]]'', actually answered this with expensive skin transplants done to cover up what should've been otherwise permanent.
258* BuxomBeautyStandard: She's a major DudeMagnet towards most of the boys her age, Cloud included, due to her large bust.
259* CannotSpitItOut: [[spoiler:She knows something is very wrong with Cloud from the beginning, particularly after hearing his version of how the Nibelheim tragedy went down, but can't bring herself to mention it. Specifically, as far as she was aware, Cloud was never ''there'', as he is recounting the story from Zack's perspective when in reality Cloud was a random Shinra grunt. She seems to keep it to herself because she's worried about Cloud's mental state, but eventually, it all catches up to him and he falls into a Mako induced AngstComa.]]
260* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Does as much damage with her fists as others with actual weapons. Then there's her LimitBreak which [[SerialEscalation continually gets bigger and bigger until her fist causes an explosion]].
261* ChildhoodFriendRomance: She and Cloud grew up together in Nibelheim and end up living together as a family after the game's events.
262* CombatParkour: Seen in her fight against Loz in ''Advent Children'' in which she did Tic Tacs and wall clings.
263* ConverseWithTheUnconscious: In ''Case of Tifa'', she asks Cloud if he loves her while he's sleeping. Her voice wakes him up, and she quickly changes the question.
264* CriticalHitClass: A certain weapon/Materia combination can make her this. Equip her God Hand (2nd best weapon) with has a hit rate of 255 percent (way overkill because all it takes is a 100 percent rate to never miss), and the Deathblow Command, which is a guaranteed critical in exchange for halving the hit rate, will always hit as half of 255 is still over 100 percent. Additionally, several of her weapons throughout the game boost the chances of her landing a critical hit.
265* CuteBruiser: Possibly the cutest member of the team, and rivals Cloud and Barret as the physically strongest.
266* DamselInDistress: On occasion, interestingly it is her romantic fantasy to be the damsel in distress that a dashing hero will save.
267* DesperationAttack: Two of her weapons have damage formulas that boost her attacking power when she's at low HP, has status ailments inflicted, and/or allies are KO'd.
268* {{Deuteragonist}}: In ''Advent Children'', Tifa is clearly the story's focus after Cloud and she is the one usually filling him in on what's happening. In all versions, her voice actress is credit second after Cloud's.
269* EveryoneHasStandards: Notably, next to Aerith she's the moralistic member of the party. When the Sector 7 Plate drops, Tifa is the one questioning if [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it's AVALANCHE's fault]] for merely existing in the vicinity to cause so much death and destruction with Shin-Ra's retaliation, and when Rufus has her and Barret set up for execution, she's the one that thinks they deserve it even if she ultimately does break out on her own will.
270* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: She ditches the dolphin-like ponytail in ''Advent Children''.
271* GirlNextDoor: A sweet and compassionate girl with maternal streak who lived next door to Cloud pre-series.
272* GirlyBruiser: She is feminine, yes, but she is the strongest of the female party members.
273* GlassCannon: Tifa can deal out a lot of punishment in a fight, but she has a harder time taking it.
274* GreaterNeedThanMine: In Don Corneo's mansion, if Aerith is selected as the Don's date, Tifa and Cloud meet in the hallway. She's thinking only of Aerith's safety, and not her own. If Cloud asks her if she's okay instead of saying "We've gotta help Aerith!", she'll be unhappy with him and he'll lose RelationshipValues.
275* GuestFighter: Cameos as a playable character in ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}''.
276* HairColorDissonance: In some depictions her hair is light brown, while other times it's such a dark brown it looks black.
277* IGotBigger: Comparing her models from Crisis Core Reunion and Final Fantasy VII Remake and her model with Aerith, who doesn’t have any height growth, it can be seen that Tifa grows nearly half a head taller between games.
278* IconicOutfit: Tifa's original outfit from the original game, a white midriff sleeveless shirt and black leather MiniDressOfPower, is very popular among the fandom ([[MsFanservice for obvious reasons]]) and is easily her most recognized getup. Her all-black ''Advent Children'' outfit is also popular.
279* LegFocus: Tifa's miniskirt shows off a lot of leg.
280* LongHairIsFeminine: Her hair reaches down to her hips and is a very beautiful woman.
281* MamaBear: To Marlene and Denzel. Threatening either of them will result in a brutal pounding into the floorboards.
282* MeaningfulName: Tifa ''Lockhart'' has a habit of keeping something locked away inside her heart like her feelings. ''Tifa'' alludes to Tifaret, the sixth sephiroth in the Kabbalah Tree of Life, which represents beauty, balance, and compassion and connects to all the other sephiroth except Malkuth. Aside from the obvious beauty, she's responsible for keeping Cloud in balance during his HeroicBSOD.
283* MeteorMove: Her Meteor Strike Limit Break has her lift a foe into the air and hurl them to the ground.
284* MiniDressOfPower: Tifa's wearing a black leather mini-skirt and is the resident brawler. She ditches them for a regular-sized shorts in ''Advent Children''.
285* MissingMom: Her mother died when Tifa was eight years old.
286* MsFanservice: Short skirt, big boobs, long legs, Tifa ticks all the boxes and easily cements herself as one of the most popular sex symbols in all video games.
287* MusclesAreMeaningless: Her arms are thin but her punches are powerful!
288* NiceGirl: In spite of her profession and appearance, Tifa is a kind, gentle young woman who acts like a mother to Team AVALANCHE and is utterly devoted to Cloud.
289* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Tifa's initial appearance really resembles Creator/JenniferConnelly, particularly her appearance on ''Film/CareerOpportunities'' (compare [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_tifa_lockhart.png Tifa]] to [[https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c5/66/01/c5660176c8e9e3bfdc97664047d5344f.jpg Connelly in that film]]). However, Tifa's appearance since ''Advent Children'' has been modeled after Ayumi Ito, [[InkSuitActor who is her Japanese voice actress since the film]].
290* PowerFist: Some of her gloves add claws or other attachments to make her blows stronger.
291* PromotionToParent: To Marlene and Denzel, although she could be viewed as more of a ParentalSubstitute to the former.
292* RapidFireFisticuffs: Beat Rush is a quick punch combo.
293* RavenHairIvorySkin: Dark haired and very pale skin, likely to show her status as a YamatoNadeshiko.
294* {{Shorttank}}: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. She may look like one given her outfit and nature as a brawler, but she's actually a sweet Girly Girl.
295* {{Shoryuken}}: Dolphin Blow is an uppercut with a blast of water.
296* ShrinkingViolet: Can be very shy in regards to her feelings.
297* SilkHidingSteel: More like 'Steel Hiding Silk' as she looks like a BadassBiker, runs a bar, and fights with her bare hands, but inside she's more feminine than Aerith with her DamselInDistress fantasy with Cloud, her domestic skills, and role as TeamMom in the main group and AVALANCHE.
298* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Tifa loves Cloud for the shy awkward NiceGuy that he is, rather than the faux badass persona he displays through the early parts of the game (in fact it even scared her).
299* SleepCute: If her affection levels are high enough, Tifa and Cloud are seen cuddling next to each other under the Highwind upon morning.
300* SleevesAreForWimps: All of Tifa's outfits are sleeveless and she's the resident [[BareFistedMonk slobber knocker]].
301* TheSmurfettePrinciple: If you don't get Yuffie, after Aerith dies Tifa is your only girl.
302* SupremeChef: Although it is an InformedAttribute since you never see her cook, characters comment that she's good at it and she's a bartender who owns the 7th Heaven bar.
303* SympathyForTheDevil: Not as much shown as her Remake self, but in this game she also broke Barret's ensuing fight with the Shinra Manager and bows apologetically to him afterwards. She also sympathizes with Cait Sith's reasons to stay in Shinra, assuming that he stayed there to keep the people of Midgar safe.
304* TamerAndChaster: Her attire in ''Advent Children'' covers more of her stomach and legs, but still leaves parts of them visible. The remake version of her initial outfit was also tweaked to have ModestyShorts, a sports bra, and stockings.
305* TeamMom: To AVALANCHE. The home base chef who worries about them.
306* ThirdPersonSeductress: Very curvy and shapely, wears skimpy clothing, and beats up enemies with her bare hands.
307* 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.]]
308* {{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.
309* TrueBlueFemininity: As a member of Don Corneo's brothel, Tifa is seen wearing a dark blue cocktail dress.
310* TryingNotToCry: After gently caressing Aerith's lifeless body, Tifa eventually breaks down and runs away crying.
311* UnwantedHarem: {{Gender inverted|Trope}} version. Tifa was very popular with the guys, Cloud included, in Nibelheim, but she wasn't romantically interested in any of them (except for Cloud).
312* WaterIsWomanly: Tifa is associated with water. She has a dolphin-themed hairstyle, uses water-themed attacks with Waterkick and Dolphin Blow as her Limit Breaks, and is a bartender who pours drinks. In spite of her tomboyish appearance, she's a kind, giving woman who acts as the TeamMom and is devoted to Cloud.
313* WolverineClaws: Several of her weapons have three claws attached to the back.
314* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Her Meteordive LimitBreak is a vertical suplex to brainbuster combo.
315* YamatoNadeshiko: Let's see here, devotion to the man she loves, check. Classically feminine like being gentle, demure, TeamMom, and having good domestic skill, check. Iron heart that is strong enough to temporarily become TheLeader and accompany TheHero out of his HeroicBSOD, check please. She has everything except a connection to [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Wutai/Japan]] and the attached cultural trappings.
316[[/folder]]
317
318[[folder:Aerith Gainsborough]]
319!! Aerith Gainsborough
320
321[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_aerith_gainsborough_7.png]]
322!!! '''Voiced By''': Creator/MaayaSakamoto (Japanese), Music/MandyMoore (English, ''Kingdom Hearts''), Creator/MenaSuvari (English, ''Advent Children'', ''Kingdom Hearts II''), Creator/AndreaBowen (English, ''Crisis Core'', ''Dissidia'', ''Final Fantasy Explorers'', ''Kingdom Hearts III''), Briana White (English, ''Crisis Core Reunion'')
323!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' | ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis''
324!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' | ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012]]'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyExplorers'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
325->''"Just hang in there. Someday we'll look back at these hard times and laugh."''
326
327A young woman who sells flowers for a living in the slums of Midgar. Her years on the streets have given her a outgoing, street-smart but caring attitude. She is the last living Cetra, a precursor race who were driven to extinction by JENOVA.
328
329----
330* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: After Zack has been missing for four years, Aerith has mostly moved on from him; however there are some hints that she was never as over her FirstLove as she would like.
331* ActionGirl: She's pretty hands on for a WhiteMagicianGirl.
332* AncientArtifact: The White Materia her mother gave her, which makes her the only person able to cast [[HolyHandGrenade Holy]].
333* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In a way. When she died, her spirit returned to the Lifestream, but she was powerful enough to remain sentient within it. This allows her to command it when necessary, and help lost souls find atonement and peace.
334* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: The shoulder pads of her red jacket reeks of [[TheEighties 80s]] culture on a popular late 90s game but it didn't stop it from being an IconicOutfit. The shoulder pads are retconned out in later releases, however.
335* BackupFromOtherworld: Stops Meteor as part of the Lifestream during the closing moments of the original game. In ''Advent Children'', her spirit also helps Cloud in the battle against Bahamut SIN by joining in the FastballSpecial. She later uses her Great Gospel LimitBreak from beyond the grave in order to cleanse Midgard and Edge of Geostigma.
336%%* BigDamnHeroes: And after her own death. Repeatedly.
337* BigGood: She arguably evolves into this role posthumously near the end of the original game, and ''definitely'' plays this in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]].'' Being so powerful she can command the Lifestream to help protect the planet, the other heroes view her as watching over them and helping them from afar.
338* BraidsOfAction: Bouts of being the DamselInDistress aside, Aerith lives by the BigDamnHeroes trope and is no stranger to combat.
339* TheCameo: An alternate version of her appears in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''.
340* ColourCodedEyes: Her green eyes symbolize her spiritual nature and powerful bond with the planet.
341* CrutchCharacter: Her {{Limit Break}}s are PurposelyOverpowered for when you get them to compensate for her only being around for part of the game, starting strong with a multi-target heal, status removal, priming the other party member's Limit Breaks, invincibility (which [[ProtagonistPowerUpPrivileges can't be replicated]] by any other party member even with materia), a full HP/MP restore, and lastly invincibility ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs and]]'' a full HP/MP restore. Her Ultimate Weapon is also the only one that has "Normal" materia growth instead of [[NecessaryDrawback the no growth everyone else gets,]] and naturally you get it [[DiscOneNuke a lot earlier]] than anyone else's Ultimate. Of course, this just makes losing her by the end of disc 1 that much more painful if you've come to rely on her too much by then.
342* DamselInDistress: A bit pluckier than the norm, although there's still a whole level dedicated to rescuing her. Not to mention at the beginning of the game, when you have to save her from Shinra soldiers by crushing them with barrels (although you do have the option of making her fight them herself).
343* DeathFromAbove: How she (in)famously dies, via a surprise stabbing by a descending Sephiroth.
344* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: The game's somewhat infamous love triangle comes to a crashing close when one of the two ladies involved gets a sword through the gut.
345* DecoyProtagonist: She's the very first main character introduced and while Cloud (along with Barrett) was immediately introduced and established as TheHero, the plot still hinges on Aerith being the last of the Ancients who could stop Sephiroth's EvilPlan, seemingly making her the co-protagonist of sorts. She was fatally stabbed by Sephiroth at the end of Disc 1.
346* {{Deuteragonist}}: The plot revolves around Aerith being the last of the Ancients as much as it revolves around Cloud as she is the only person capable of summoning Holy and with her death she ends up becoming one with the Lifestream, which ends up saving the Planet from Meteor.
347* DoomedByCanon: Contrary to all rumors of ways to save her or revive her, when the credits roll at the original game's end, Aerith will not be there to see it.
348* DoomedMoralVictor: She succeeded in calling Holy and giving the planet the chance to save itself from Meteor, but it attracted Sephiroth's notice and cost her her life.
349* DroppedABridgeOnHim: A major reason why her death is so remembered is due to how abrupt it happened.
350* EarlyBirdCameo: She appears in two separate scenes (the game's opening scene in which she's actually the very first character seen, then after the bombing mission where Cloud could buy flowers from her) before her formal introduction.
351* FireWaterJuxtaposition: As part of her EvilCounterpart dichotomy with Sephiroth, Aerith is associated with water via Great Gospel and the Lifestream, contrasting Sephiroth's fire associations via the Nibelheim Incident and his Supernova attack.
352* {{Flanderization}}: In her original game, Aerith was pure hearted, spiritual and caring, but was also stubborn, flirty, independent and witty. However, SE has ramped up the IncorruptiblePurePureness, emphasizing her connection to the planet and de-emphasizing her more headstrong character traits in favor of generic sweetness and innocence. Her ''Dissidia 012'' Ultimania profile describes her as having "[[TheIngenue the innocence of a little girl]]". This is the same woman that threatened to ''[[FreudianThreat rip off]]'' a mafia don's balls.
353* FourIsDeath: Aerith is the fourth playable main character and is the game's major CharacterDeath.
354* HairstyleInertia: Aerith is seen sporting the exact same hairstyle as a child.
355* HalfHumanHybrid: Her father was a normal human while her mother was a Cetra, but this has little bearing on her status as an Ancient.
356* HappilyAdopted: By Elmyra, who actually finds little!Aerith by the side of her dying mother Ifalna in the local train station, and takes her in to fulfill Ifalna's dying wish.
357* HartmanHips: Her bust is nowhere near as large as Tifa's, however, Aerith still has [[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110227161509/finalfantasy/images/9/93/Aeris-FFVIIArt.png her]] [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110224134016/finalfantasy/images/3/37/Aerith-DissidiaAlt1.png womanly]] [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110224033548/finalfantasy/images/9/9f/Itadaki-Aerith2.png attributes]].
358* HealingHands: Her Healing Wind, Pulse of Life and Great Gospel Limit Breaks all restore HP to the party.
359* HerHeartWillGoOn: Following Zack's disappearance she remained loyal to his memory for a time, but eventually moved on with her life.
360* IconicItem: In every appearance, even in concept art, Aerith has her hair ribbon. ''Crisis Core'' takes time to specifically show where she got it and why she continues to wear one years later. The White Materia also serves as one to a lesser degree.
361* IconicOutfit: Aerith's pink dress, red jacket, golden bracelets, and red ribbon getup is easily recognizable among the fandom.
362* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: She meets her end when Sephiroth stabs the Masamune through her stomach.
363* InconsistentSpelling: The original English translation had her name as "Aeris."
364* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Compared to most other party members, Aerith doesn't have many character flaws, being good-hearted and noble from start to finish. All that change is she comes to terms with her heritage and embraces the legacy she's been left.
365* InnocentFlowerGirl: But not ''too'' innocent. In the Wall Market section, she selects what is implied to be an incredibly provocative red dress for herself, and it's her idea in the first place to have Cloud dress in drag to get into Don Corneo's mansion. She seems to actually ''want'' Don Corneo to pick her as his girl, complimenting him on his taste if he does. In contrast to Tifa and Cloud who are just doing it for the mission, Aerith has no qualms at all and evidently finds the whole thing fun, irrespective of the threat.
366* InTheBack: Sephiroth {{impale|dWithExtremePrejudice}}s her this way, jumping from above then stabbing her upon landing.
367* IWillWaitForYou: Subverted, she told this to Zack in their last phone conversation, but not knowing what happened to him after four years with no word, she said she was moving on in her last letter.
368* KillTheCutie: The sweetest and most loving party member is the one among them who dies.
369* LadyInRed: While infiltrating Don Corneo's brothel to rescue Tifa, Aerith goes for a red PimpedOutDress.
370* TheLancer: Early on, her selfless and spiritual nature contrasts Cloud's JerkWithAHeartOfGold ex-SOLDIER. Later on her growing acceptance of her Cetra heritage make her a foil to Cloud's rising doubts over his identity.
371* LastOfHisKind: Aerith is the last known Ancient in the entire world.
372* LittleDeadRidingHood: She's the only party member aside from Cait Sith to wear red, marking her for death.
373* LovingAShadow: Initially interested in Cloud because of his resemblance to Zack, her first boyfriend. And that they both [[MeetCute fell through the church roof]] while she was tending the flowers and wearing the same uniform. However, getting her on the date scene will have her admit that she would like for Cloud to open up to her so she can know the [[{{Foreshadowing}} real him]].
374* MagicalNativeAmerican: Her Cetra heritage gives her an innate connection to the planet and makes her more inclined to use magic than normal humans. In addition, her people used to be wandering nomads seeking "the Promised Land".
375* MagicStaff: She fights with various rods and staves.
376* ManicPixieDreamGirl: The spin-offs almost turn her into a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, what with her comments that she's afraid of the open sky and she can hear the wind calling her name. Let's not forget that ''she'' was the one who suggested Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser cross-dress]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext to save Tifa...]]
377* MartialArtsStaff: Half of Aerith's weapons aren't actually MagicStaff but she uses them as such nonetheless. Specifically, Guard Stick (her starting weapon), Mythril Rod, Full Metal Staff, Striking Staff, and Aurora Rod are all clearly designed for combat or/and self-defense ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as some of the names clearly indicate]]).
378* MeaningfulName: Aerith's name was created to resemble and sound like the English word Earth referencing her connection to the planet as well as adding contrast to the sky based name Cloud.
379* MessianicArchetype: The last of her kind, born of a union between a human and another race, spiritually enlightened, becomes a willing martyr and dies to save the planet.
380* MyGirlBackHome: She's the only reason Zack decided to return to Midgar.
381* MysticalWaif: This young girl is the guardian of Holy, the ultimate protective magic that can save the planet.
382* NiceGirl: Aerith might not be innocent by any means, but she has a heart of pure gold and actively looks out for other people’s best interests.
383* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Aerith's [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/e/e4/Aeris_Portrait.jpg appearance]] resembles (and is said to be modeled after) a [[https://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/626/brookyoung.jpg young]] Creator/BrookeShields. Coincidentally or not, Aerith was laid to rest in a [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 blue lagoon]].
384* TheParalyzer: Seal Evil silences and paralyzes enemies
385* ParasolOfPain: Stat wise it is her strongest weapon, which could be obtained if a player scores at least 5000 points at Gold Saucer's Speed Square. However as it does not have materia attachments and Aerith is a mage class character, it's more or less a joke weapon.
386* PietaPlagiarism: Her lifeless body was cradled by Cloud this way. She was laid to rest by him laying her corpse in the Forbidden City lake.
387* PinkMeansFeminine: Her pink dress, and many of her outfits in spin-offs, are pink.
388* PlotlineDeath: The infamous FMV sequence of Sephiroth stabbing her. In turn has led to jokes asking why Cloud didn't try a Phoenix Down.
389* PluckyGirl: She's spirited and playful and never backs down from anyone.
390* ThePollyanna: Despite how awful and traumatic her life has been, Aerith remains happy and well-adjusted.
391* PosthumousCharacter: In ''Advent Children'', she's more or less just a SpiritAdvisor for Cloud.
392* PresentAbsence: Aerith's death weighs heavily on the characters. Her murder at Sephiroth's hands becomes their resolve to continue stopping his EvilPlan as he made it (even more) personal. In ''Advent Children'', Cloud is still visibly mourning her death along with Zack's. The game also enforces this to the player, as her usual slot in the party menu screen remains empty for the duration of the game.
393* RaisedInALab: Aerith, along with her mother, was one of [[MadScientist Professor Hojo's]] test subjects in the Shinra labs as a child. Little is told of her time there, just that her mother was killed when they escaped when she was seven, and her father died trying to prevent Shinra from taking them when she wasn't even a month old. What we see of Hojo and her experience when she's briefly recaptured gives just enough hints to let players [[NothingIsScarier fill in the gaps themselves]].
394* RedHerring: Aerith is presented as a possible love interest on the first disk to make her death hit that much harder.
395* RedIsHeroic: Wears a red jacket and red ribbon and is undoubtedly one of the good guys.
396* ReusedCharacterDesign: She bears a very strong resemblance to the Lemure, an enemy from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' that was also designed by Nomura.
397* SacrificialLion: Her death sends shockwaves through the party and the fanbase alike, and is a warning Sephiroth is done playing around with you.
398* SecondLove: Cloud, as her first love was Zack.
399* SilkHidingSteel: A sweet and lovely lady who recruits Cloud to be her bodyguard. As the last Cetra, she's also the only one who can call out the Holy spell, which can stop the BigBad's ColonyDrop.
400* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She was in love with Zach Fair in ''Crisis Core'' for his bravery and selflessness. The two were in a relationship for a while until his death. She also starts to genuinely fall for Cloud because of his innate goodness, and tells him in their date that she wants to meet the real him, knowing that the cold persona he shows does not reflect the kind-hearted soul he really is deep inside.
401* SneakyDeparture: She leaves the party to head to the Forgotten City while Cloud is unconscious. Early in the game she defies it; when Cloud tries to pull this trope on her while staying at her home, she slips out herself and intercepts him, demanding to come along.
402* SpiritAdvisor: To Cloud in ''Advent Children''.
403* SquishyWizard: The most powerful magically but can't take a hit well.
404* StatusBuff: Her Limit Break Fury Brand [[CursedWithAwesome inflicts Fury status]] on her allies and and fills their Limit Bars.
405* StreetSmart: "I was raised in the slums. I'm used to danger."
406* SummoningArtifact: It's emphasized that with how humanity has turned out, Holy might save the planet but kill off mankind too.
407* SympathyForTheDevil: In the Forgotten Capital, she cries for Tseng before resuming her journey, as he's one of the few people who knew her since little.
408* TheTease: She's rather flirtatious and open with her interest in Cloud.
409* TogetherInDeath: She and Zack are reunited in the Lifestream after ''Advent Children'', though it's implied that it won't last for long as most people's consciousness will dissolve into the Lifestream after death, with Aerith being an exception because of her innate powers as a Cetra.
410* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Has the definitive attitude of a tomboy, [[SubvertedTrope sharply contrasting her appearance, personality, hobbies, weapon, and limits]].
411* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Cheerful and loving, all the party adores her, and one of those that doesn't have any shade of AntiHero in a CrapsackWorld. Yeah, she was doomed from the start.
412* WaterIsWomanly: Aerith is a compassionate healer who wears a pink dress and is associated with rain and water in ''Advent Children'', even creating a healing pool for those inflicted with geostigma. She is also heavily associated with the lifestream, which flows like water. Aerith was also laid to rest in a lake in front of the Forgotten City. Nojima even in stated in the ''Advent Children -Reunion Files-'' that "Aerith has sort of a 'watery' image about her, so [the staff] used water to convey her presence".
413* WhiteMagicianGirl: Her personal skills involve healing. Although with the Materia system, she easily becomes a RedMage.
414* YamatoNadeshiko: She has some traits but is more rebellious and flirty than the standard. Nor does she have the cultural baggage assiociated with [[FantasyCounterPartCulture Wutai/Japan]]. OTOH, she plays the trope straighter in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]''.
415[[/folder]]
416
417[[folder:Red XIII]]
418!! Red XIII (real name: Nanaki)
419[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_red_xiii.png]]
420!!! '''Voiced By''': Masachika Ichimura (Japanese), Creator/LiamOBrien (English)
421!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''
422!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' | ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' | ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper''
423->''"What a fascinating story..."''
424
425A strange creature who joins Cloud's group after being rescued from the Shinra HQ. Red XIII was the name he received as a specimen designation while held captive and experimented upon by Professor Hojo. Even though he is 48 in human years, his age is comparable to around 15 to 16 years old by his own species' standards and is very wise. He fights alongside Cloud and his allies to fulfill his duty to the Planet to defend it as a warrior.
426
427----
428* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Until he befriends [[TrueCompanions Cloud and the others]], his life is one of misery. The branding of "XIII" marked his capture by Shinra when things got even worse.
429* TheArtifact: He is still addressed as "Red XIII" by the party long after they learn of his real name being Nanaki.
430* CartoonCreature: The series never assigns a name to Red's species, which combines various feline and canine traits. Characters occasionally refer to him as lion-like, but his association with the moon and howling to express himself is more like a wolf.
431* CombatHaircomb: His weapons are various hair clips, combs, and headdresses.
432* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Although he obviously wasn't meant to ''look'' like him, Tetsuya Nomura imagined that Red XIII would be voiced by Creator/SeanConnery. When he had a spoken line in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'', it was done as an imitation of Sean Connery.
433* DemotedToExtra: He appears considerably less in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' than the other characters, and is only seen at the very last cutscene in ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''. According to the makers, this is because his fur is a pain to animate well.
434* HandicappedBadass: Red is missing his right eye but still fights for the world alongside the rest of the party.
435* HappilyAdopted: He views Bugenhagen as his grandfather, since he raised him after Red's real parents were gone.
436* HowlOfSorrow: Gave one after finding out [[HeroicSacrifice what]] [[TakenForGranite really]] [[AndIMustScream happened]] to his father Seto, whom Red wrongly believed a DirtyCoward. If you bring him on Forbidden City at the end of Disc 1, he'll also give one to Aerith.
437* IncendiaryExponent: His tail is constantly alight with a flame on the tip.
438* IntellectualAnimal: He is very wise and intelligent, more than most of the human characters in the game actually.
439* InterspeciesAdoption: The very animal-like Nanaki was raised by the very human Bugenhagen.
440* JackOfAllStats: He's fast and good with both physical and magical attacks, and has decent HP.
441* LifeDrain: Blood Fang absorbs HP and MP from enemies.
442* LightEmUp: Stardust Ray bombards enemies with stars of light.
443* MagicalNativeAmerican: His people are fire-tailed, talking red mountain lion who lives for centuries as the ending cinematic shows. Their [[PlanetOfHats role]] is safeguarding Cosmo Canyon, the holy ground of the Study of Planet Life. The Cosmo Canyon has an [[TheThemeParkVersion overtly]] Native American theme. His weapons of choice are 'combs', feathers that adorn the headdress of a Native chief.
444* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'', he was meant to sound like Creator/SeanConnery.
445* ParentalAbandonment: His mother [[MissingMom died protecting Cosmo Canyon]], and he believed his father [[DisappearedDad left her alone to die]] [[YoureNotMyFather because he was afraid of fighting]]. Turns out he didn't run away but went fighting the monsters that were attacking from behind; he won but was [[TakenForGranite petrified]]. And he is still [[AndIMustScream alive and conscious]].
446* PunnyName: M is the thirteenth letter in the English alphabet and Nanaki is the designated [[TheRedMage Red Mage]]. The "Nana" in his name also means [[ArcNumber seven]] in Japanese.
447* RedHerring: When the group notes the Sephiroth Clones have numbers tattooed on them, Red begins to worry if his number "XIII" means he's one as well and if he'll also begin to lose his mind. But he doesn't, and WordOfGod says he wasn't a member of the Sephiroth Clone project, the number was assigned to him for a different reason.
448* RedIsHeroic: Has red fur, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin is actually named Red]] and is one of the good guys.
449* TheRedMage: Red has decent attack and magic stats but not on the same level as the characters specifically designed for them.
450* StatusBuff: Lunatic High and Howling Moon grant status buffs on him and/or his allies.
451* TalkingAnimal: His ability to talk stands out to the party and freaks them out when he reveals it.
452* TeenGenius: Despite being a teenager by his species' standards, he's the wisest and most intelligent member of the party.
453* TokenNonHuman: He and Cait Sith share the role as the obvious non-humanoid party members. Nanaki is a canine/feline hybrid creature while Cait Sith is the RobotBuddy.
454* WaveMotionGun: His ultimate Limit Break, Cosmos Memory, blasts enemies with a giant beam of orange energy.
455* XMarksTheHero: Nanaki is one of the main characters and he has an x-shaped scar in place of his missing right eye.
456* YouAreInCommandNow: He becomes the leader of Cosmo Canyon after his grandfather's death.
457* YouAreNumberSix: Hojo tattooed "XIII" on his leg to mark him as one of his experiments. Red tells the party when he joins them that "Red XIII" is a name that holds no meaning to him, and they can call him that or anything else as they wish.
458[[/folder]]
459
460[[folder:Yuffie Kisaragi]]
461!! Yuffie Kisaragi
462[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_yuffie_kisaragi.png]]
463!!! '''Voiced By''': Creator/YumiKakazu (Japanese), Kino Sakai (Japanese, ''Crisis Core Reunion''), Creator/ChristyCarlsonRomano (English, ''Kingdom Hearts'', ''Advent Children''), Creator/MaeWhitman (English, ''Kingdom Hearts II'', ''Crisis Core'', ''Dirge of Cerberus''), Brandilyn Cheah (English, ''Crisis Core Reunion'')
464!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' | ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis''
465!!! '''Spin-Off appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' | ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
466->''"I am the champion of the earth and the sky. I am the conqueror of evil. The single white rose of Wutai... Yuffie Kisaragi!"''
467
468
469An outlandishly-dressed ninja girl from the Japanese-lookalike town of {{Wutai}}. As a rebellious and cocky tomboy, Yuffie desires to restore her homeland Wutai to the glorious nation it was before being conquered by Shinra. Despite her sometimes obnoxious personality, she is friendly, helpful, and willingly helps the party in their battles.
470
471----
472* ActionGirl: Not quite as much as Tifa, but she can still kick some serious ass.
473* AntiHero: She's cheerful and helps the party save the world, but initially joins them for selfish reasons and is overall can be quite a brat at times.
474* ArtAttacker: Two of her weapons are a pinwheel ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Pinwheel]]) and an origami ([[PaperMaster the Oritsuru]]).
475* TheBabyOfTheBunch: The youngest member of the group (16 in the original game), and her immaturity frequently shows.
476* BadassAdorable: She's a skilled ninja and can fight monsters many times her sizes, and looks so cute while doing it.
477* BattleBoomerang: Yuffie's first weapon upgrade is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It could be stolen from a Formula monster or buying it from either Junon or Gongaga weapon shops.
478* BoyishShortHair: Contrasting [[LongHairIsFeminine Tifa and Aerith]], Yuffie has a rather short hairstyle. This justified, though, considering she's a {{Ninja}}.
479* BrattyHalfPint: In the original game, she can be very loud-mouthed and rude.
480* CombatHandFan: Wind Slash, which doubles her materia's AP gains. It could be found on a chest on the cargo ship bound to Costa del Sol after defeating Jenova BIRTH or bought from Junon's weapon shop.
481* CryIntoChest: Yuffie, [[TryingNotToCry unable to keep it all together]] after Aerith gets murdered by Sephiroth, breaks down sobbing in Cloud's arms.
482* DefeatMeansPlayable: Yuffie is the only playable character required to be defeated first in order to be recruited.
483* DiagonalCut: Greased Lightning slashes the enemy diagonally and it takes a few seconds before they notice and take damage. They don't actually slide apart though, since it may not always be a fatal attack.
484* DishingOutDirt: Landscaper manifests as her sending a shockwave through the dirt to make the ground underneath the enemy party erupt.
485* FragileSpeedster: Yuffie's very fast, but when she gets hit, it hurts.
486* FuumaShuriken: Her weapon is a giant shuriken.
487* GenkiGirl: Is almost eternally energetic, cheerful, and upbeat.
488* GlassCannon: Whether throwing her boomerangs or using materia, Yuffie's very good at damaging the enemies. It's when they hit her back that she has problems.
489* GuestFighter: In ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}''.
490* HealingHands: Clear Tranquil heals the party's HP.
491* HeirToTheDojo: She's the daughter of the leader of Wutai and his heir to the legacy of ninja the nation prides itself on.
492* HiddenDepths:
493** She is one of the characters who Cloud can date on the RomanceSidequest, and while not as tender as Tifa or Aerith is rather sweet, and is the only one of the three to kiss him. She also lays into Cait Sith a lot more than the other women when she finds out he's holding Marlene hostage.
494** The reason she's obsessed with Materia? She wants the power it holds because she's disgusted with how Wutai went from a respected ninja civilization to a tourist attraction after Shinra conquered it, and wants Materia in the hopes of changing things and maybe restoring some dignity to the town.
495* IconicStarterEquipment: Her Juji Shuriken (or 4-Point Shuriken) is her default in the original game, ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberusFinalFantasyVII'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake''. It also appears in the official artwork for her and is what she uses in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and her weapon in her Play Arts model figures.
496* InelegantBlubbering: If you bring her to the Forbidden City, Yuffie will at first [[TryingNotToCry try to act calm]] after Aerith was killed and even gives her a prayer. Immediately she begins to shiver and then completely breaks down afterwards.
497* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: As bratty as Yuffie acts, she has a good sense of morals deep down and wants to do the right thing.
498* LightEmUp: Gauntlet blasts enemies with a column of light from below.
499* LoveableRogue: She's out to steal the party's Materia, but has sympathetic reasons for it and manages to be likable in the meantime.
500* MaleGaze: She in her OG [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII FF7]] [[TankTopTomboy outfit]] is subjected to this in the ''opening sequence'' of ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''.
501* MartialArtsHeadband: She's wearing a white one in the original game, being from a {{Ninja}} clan and all.
502* {{Ninja}}: Raised in a society of them and is one herself. She wields traditional ninja tools.
503* NinjaBrat: She's only 16 during the original game.
504* NotMeThisTime: There's a variation on this during the Wutai sequence. As the party approaches Wutai, they are confronted by a group of Shinra soldiers. Yuffie comments, "I have nothing to do with this one!" As they had already been suspicious (but didn't yet know that she had done anything), this clues them in when, during the battle with the soldiers, she's gone and so is all their materia.
505%%* OddFriendship: With Vincent.
506* OptionalPartyMember: You can skip recruiting her, but she still has a lot to do in the storyline. This is because the character designers liked her and salvaged a lot of the planned content for her when she and Vincent were moved from mandatory to optional due to time constraints.
507* PaperMaster: Her second most powerful weapon, the Oritsuru, is a paper crane. It could be obtained once the player puts out the flame at the Da-chao statue using Leviathan Scale.
508* PluckyGirl: Energetic and spirited and always ready to fight for Wutai.
509* ThePrankster: She's constantly scheming ways to trick the party out of their Materia, and then to evade them when they chase her to Wutai.
510* RebelliousPrincess: Her dad's the lord of Wutai, and he's not at all happy that she ran away from home.
511* RingsOfDeath: She had a few of these in addition to her typical arsenal of [[FuumaShuriken shurikens]] and [[BattleBoomerang boomerangs]]. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Razor Ring]] is a straight up example. Rising Sun combines it with ChainsawGood. Yuffie's ultimate weapon, the Conformer, combines it with her usual FuumaShuriken.
512* RummageSaleReject: Most of her clothes would look less out of place in a junkyard. Perhaps not surprising, considering she's a free-spirited LovableRogue who probably doesn't have the money or desire to dress fashionably.
513* RunningGag: Her motion sickness is brought up whenever you're on a vehicle.
514* TheScapegoat: In her episode of ''On The Way To A Smile'', she gets blamed for the Geostigma epidemic in Wutai because she was at Midgar during her journey. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that it was her childhood friend who brought the illness because he went to Midgar on his own in attempt to help his mother.]]
515* ShipTease:
516** Out of all the characters you can choose to take on a date to the Gold Saucer, she is the only character who kisses Cloud.
517** With Vincent in ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', especially when Vincent seemingly dies taking out Omega. Whether it's because she likes him or is simply concerned because he's a comrade is still open to debate.
518* SmallNameBigEgo: She's prone to giving herself grandiose titles and treating herself like a legendary ninja hero. She may be skilled but she's not as great or famed as she pretends.
519* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: "Wutai Theft" is the former TropeNamer, though she doesn't fit the actual trope definition. At one point Yuffie swipes all the party's Materia and takes off with it, and you have to track her down and get it back.
520* SpamAttack: Bloodfest and Doom of the Living consist of her rapidly hitting enemies with her weapon over and over.
521* StickyFingers: She is absolutely obsessed with getting her hands on Materia, no matter the cost.
522* TankTopTomboy: She dresses in this due to her as a ninja. Because of that she gets a ''brief'' moment of [[MaleGaze sexualization]] in the ''opening cutscene'' of ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' (although its due to the camera's [[MaleGaze close up view of her]]).
523* {{Tomboy}}: She dresses boyishly, has short hair, prone to boasting of her skill as a great ninja, yes, she fits. She is also described as such in the [=FF7=] Ultimania.
524* TryingNotToCry: Attempts to do this but ultimately fails after Aerith's death. After paying her respects, she turns to look at Cloud, her character model slowly becoming more and more agitated, her emotions becoming too much for her to handle, and she suddenly jumps in Cloud's arms, overwhelmed by grief. She tries to calm down afterwards, but ends up running away, crying.
525* WaveMotionGun: Her ultimate LimitBreak All Creation is a giant purple ray of energy.
526* WeaponizedBall: Her joke weapon is a yellow one called Superball. It could be obtained by winning the seventh Fort Condor battle or buying it from the Junon weapon shop.
527* WelcomeBackTraitor: After the team talks her down and finds out why she stole their Materia, they let her back in the group.
528* YamatoNadeshiko: Averted. She's the only one who has a connection to Wutai, yet she is neither polite, domestic, interested in its culture, nor family oriented.
529[[/folder]]
530
531[[folder:Cait Sith]]
532!! Cait Sith
533[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_cait_sith.png]]
534!!! '''Voiced By''': Creator/HideoIshikawa (Japanese), Creator/GregEllis (English)
535!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' (as a summon) | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''
536!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
537->''"There's plenty of stuffed toys like my body around, but there's only one me!"''
538
539A cat riding a giant stuffed toy Moogle, working as a fortune-teller in the Gold Saucer. He is useful to the party, as he knows all about the Shinra's plans. His questionable connection to Shinra puts his trustworthiness into question.
540
541----
542* AmbiguousRobots: The series flip-flops between Cait Sith being a stuffed toy, a robot with fur, or a combination of both. It's likewise not clear how much autonomy he has, if any.
543** In Dirge of Cerberus, we see Cait Sith and Reeve in the same room together moving independently. Between the two, Vincent chooses to face and talk to Cait Sith, but refers to him as Reeve. In another cutscene, Cid refers to Cait but immediately corrects himself with Reeve, creating an interesting scenario where we even though see that Cait Sith seems to have autonomy, he's not treated as his own person.
544* CatGirl: The "Lucky Girl" limit break is a picture of a cat girl in a FurBikini.
545* CatsAreMean: Double subverted. He has a very cheery personality but is an extreme JerkAss in the beginning. Later, it's completely subverted.
546* CreepyJazzMusic: He has a catchy jazz organ tune as his {{leitmotif}}, which fits both his status as TheGambler and his being a bit of a {{Jerkass}}.
547* DeathFromAbove: His Toy Box Limit Break drops a random object on enemies to crush them, including [[ColonyDrop meteors]].
548* DeathOrGloryAttack: Attempting to get Game Over in Slots can result in a TotalPartyKill on either side depending on whether it's done correctly or you mess up on the third slot, casting Death Joker instead.
549* TheDividual: Officially the Cait Sith character is the robotic cat, but his giant nameless Moogle is always with him serving as his means of moving that it's essentially the character too. There's also the Reeve factor.
550* EarlyBirdCameo: A toy version of him could be spotted if the player enters Honey Bee Inn and peeks at one of the rooms in the right during Cloud's DisguisedInDrag sidequest to infiltrate Don Corneo's mansion. The actual character doesn't appear until the first visit to Gold Saucer.
551* ExpendableClone: Reeve is implied to have several Cait Sith robots on standby for usage if one is lost or damaged. We see two in ''VII'', and in ''Dirge of Cerberus'' one introduces itself as "Number 6".
552* TheGambler: His Limit Breaks are themed after dice and slot machines, and you recruit him in the Gold Saucer, a hot tourist spot.
553* HeadPet: He rides on the head of his Moogle toy.
554* HealingHands: [[MagicDance Mog Dance]].
555* HeelFaceTurn: Goes from being a mouthy Shinra-supporting JerkAss to a good guy who pulls his weight to save the planet.
556* HeroicSacrifice: When the party arrive at the Temple of the Ancients they discover that the Black Materia is built within its walls and the only way to get it is for someone to active a switch that will compress the temple around them, killing the person inside. Cait volunteers to do so in order to make up for his treachery and for holding Marlene hostage. Since he's an ExpendableClone it obviously isn't the end for him but doing so finally proved to the party that Cait Sith can be trusted, and he becomes a genuine member of the team from then on.
557* InstrumentOfMurder: Few of Cait Sith's arsenals are trumpets (e.g Trumpet Shell and Battle Trumpet).
558* {{Jerkass}}: He eventually gets his [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold heart of gold]]. And then loses the {{Jerkass}} part almost entirely.
559* LuckBasedMission: His Slots and Dice both do random things.
560* MakeMyMonsterGrow: Transform turns his Moogle toy giant.
561* TheMole: Cait Sith is actually controlled by Reeve of Shinra, but still [[TheMole decides to remain with you]] once discovered. The trope is later inverted when he essentially becomes a spy for AVALANCHE within Shinra, despite starting the other way around.
562* OneHitKO: Game Over kills all enemies, bypassing death protection.
563* OohMeAccentsSlipping: This was how Reeve is exposed in the Japanese version of the game. Reeve speaks with a Kanto dialect and Cait Sith with a Kansai dialect. When stressed due to Hojo taking over the Mako Cannon, Reeve inadvertently speaks to Scarlet and Heidegger in Kansai, then Cait Sith speaks to Cloud and the others in Kanto. Thus they realize that he's Reeve.
564* RandomizedDamageAttack: Cait Sith's Dice LimitBreak, which rolls several dice and then inflicts damage equal to the result multiplied by 20 to one enemy.
565* RedeemingReplacement: Thanks to his ExpendableClone nature. The first Cait Sith who joins the party is a spy for Shinra. The second one is a genuine ally through and through.
566* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat-s%C3%ACth "Cat-sith"]] is a creature from Myth/CelticMythology.
567* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: He's an anthropomorphic cat that rides on a Moogle. It's hard to get cuter than that.
568* RobotBuddy: Both the anthropomorphic cat and the Moogle are mechanical.
569* SquishyWizard: He has high magic stats, but his defenses and HP are poor.
570* StatusBuff: Lucky Girl makes all the party's attacks critical hits.
571* TeamPet: Probably the only one who has their ''own'' TeamPet (his giant moogle).
572* TokenGoodTeammate: Prior to his HeelFaceTurn was the only executive who actually gave a rat's ass about the common people.
573* TokenNonHuman: He and Red XIII share the role as the obvious non-humanoid party members. Cait Sith is the RobotBuddy while Nanaki is a canine/feline hybrid creature.
574* TotalPartyKill: Death Joker, often the result of a failed attempt at Game Over. Bypasses death protection too.
575* WelcomeBackTraitor: When they find out what he really is, the party initially only keeps him around because Reeve is holding Marlene hostage. Shortly after he performs a HeroicSacrifice at the Temple of the Ancients to get them the Black Materia, he earns the party's trust for real.
576* WhatTheHellHero: Calls out Barret for his bombing missions from earlier in the game. It comes off as somewhat hypocritical, however, since he's... y'know, with Shinra, but Reeve was never crazy about the killing of innocents to begin with.
577[[/folder]]
578
579[[folder:Vincent Valentine]]
580!! Vincent Valentine
581[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_vincent_valentine.png]]
582!!! '''Voiced By''': Shougo Suzuki (Japanese), Creator/SteveBlum (English)
583!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''
584!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
585->''"Cold, huh? I guess that's just the way I am... sorry."''
586
587Main character of ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''. He is a former member of the Turks with a mysterious past that ties him to Cloud and his group.
588
589----
590* EleventhHourSuperpower: Though Chaos is Vincent's ultimate Limit Break and must be obtained through a sidequest, it becomes this in ''Dirge of Cerberus''. [[spoiler: After struggling with involuntary transformations into the being and realizing its true purpose, he manages to control it at the climax of the game and fights the final battle in his Chaos state. It boasts the highest possible attack damage and HP stats in the gameplay.]]
591* NinetiesAntiHero: To an arguably bigger extent than Cloud. Vincent is clad in black leather; is brooding, angsty and mysterious; wields all sorts of cool and oversized guns; can turn into horror genre monsters- most notably a demon- and is even depicted in official artwork perched atop a rooftop at night like if he was TheCowl. ''Dirge of Cerberus'' solidified these aspects already present in the original game.
592* NinetiesHair: Back in his days as a Turk Vincent is sporting the side curtains.
593* AlliterativeName: '''V'''incent '''V'''alentine.
594* AloofAlly: Though he canonically joined the heroes in the original game, Vincent started acting on his own by the time of ''Advent Children'' and tends to appear only in key moments to help his allies and then going back to working alone. It continues in ''Dirge of Cerberus'' as the other heroes work together off-screen as Vincent fights Deepground by himself.
595* AntiAntiChrist: Vincent's Chaos form exists for the specific purpose of killing all living beings to send all Livestream to Omega Weapon so that it heads off into space to find another planet to colonize. Instead it becomes one of mankind's greatest defenders thanks to Vincent, and, ultimately and ironically, the one who stops Omega Weapon from leaving the Planet, saving the world from being destroyed.
596* AntiHero: He's shouldering a lot of guilt and is cold and stoic, but he's a good person beneath it and fights for what's right.
597* TheAtoner: He fights to redeem himself for his failure to stop Hojo's experiments.
598* BadassCape: His iconic red mantle that he wears over his shoulders.
599* BadassInANiceSuit: Back in his days as a Turk Vincent wore a snazzy professional suit and was already a proficient gunslinger.
600* BadPowersGoodPeople: Vincent's ability to transform into monstrous creatures isn't one usually associated with heroes. Even more so when he morphs into Chaos, who is supposed to be a harbinger of death to the planet. Still, Vincent is one of the heroes.
601* TheBerserker: When he enters his transformations as his Limit Breaks, he becomes uncontrollable for the rest of the battle and attacks until all enemies are dead.
602* {{BFG}}: His main weapon and most notably his "Cerberus", a massive Tri-barrelled revolver.
603* BreakoutCharacter: Despite having some of the lowest stats in the game, he has become one of the most popular characters in the series. He was even popular enough to star in his own spinoff title.
604* ByronicHero: Attractive? Check. Intelligent and passionate? Check. [[ItsAllMyFault Self-flagellating]] and self-absorbed over a tragic DarkAndTroubledPast in which he fell from grace and failed [[TheLostLenore the woman he loved from afar]] whom he can never forget or move on from or forgive himself over, but which motivates him to an iconoclastic and sometimes self-destructive vendetta against the institutions that wronged him, regardless of the personal costs and risks it entails? Check, check, ''check''.
605* CommonalityConnection: He becomes close with Red XIII in ''On a Way to a Smile'' because of their shared long lifespans and fear of outliving their loved ones. They even agree to meet annually in Midgar.
606* CrossAttack: In ''Dirge of Cerberus'', Vincent can adorn his handguns with cross-shaped pendants such as the Power Cross item. [[spoiler: When transforming into Chaos at the climax, Vincent wields two long revolvers with cross-shaped ''barrels.''.]]
607* CutscenePowerToTheMax: In ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', Vincent pulls off amazing feats of GunFu, SupernaturalMartialArts, and gravity-defying superhuman agility that would make [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] jealous. But only in cutscenes; when you're controlling him, he can't do any of these things, and in fact, he can barely jump.
608* DarkAndTroubledPast: To put it mildly. Vincent's past directly connects him to the creation of Sephiroth, something he blames himself for letting happen at Hojo's hands.
609* DarkIsNotEvil: He is dark-haired, clad in black leather, associated with the occult and the supernatural... but firmly well-meaning and righteous. This extends towards Chaos, his demonic and SuperpoweredEvilSide who is actually [[spoiler: a creation of the planet meant to be an accessory to the GodzillaThreshold that is Omega]].
610* DualWielding: [[spoiler: When he transforms into Chaos at the climax of ''Dirge of Cerberus'' he dual-wields a transformed version of the Death Penalty. It's only instance in the entire ''Compilation'' in which Vincent wields two guns.]]
611* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Vincent is very quiet and mysterious, and looks plain unsettling.
612* FiringOneHanded: All of his weapons work this way, even the rifles!
613* FrankensteinsMonster: His Death Gigas Limit Break, which attacks with [[ShockAndAwe Livewire]] and Gigadunk.
614* FullNameBasis: And odd recipient of the trope in ''Dirge of Cerberus''. Even among his closest allies there are those who only refer to him by his full name.
615* GlowingEyesOfDoom: ''Dirge of Cerberus'' shows that his natural crimson eyes glow bright red whenever he is about to transform into Chaos.
616* GuestFighter: Cameos as a fighter in ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}''.
617* GunFu: The spin-offs have established him utilizing this with his handguns.
618* GunsAreWorthless: Subverted in the original game. His guns aren't very useful when he uses them to shoot enemies thanks to his low attack, but when he uses them to focus his magic they're very handy indeed, since his magic stat is much better.
619* TheGunslinger: In ''Dirge Of Cerberus'', he fights with a variety of firearms and is a crack shot with all of them.
620* HeroicRROD: In ''Dirge Of Cerberus'', Chaos is now not just one of Vincent's Limit Breaks but the most powerful of them, being a WEAPON in its own right. As such, while he can use the Galian Limit Break with no cost to the player he either collapses or is momentarily weakened after using Chaos during cutscenes, up until [[spoiler: the end of the game when he gains more control over Chaos and the player controls Vincent in Chaos form]].
621* HeroOfAnotherStory: Vincent is the main protagonist of the SpinOff sequel ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''.
622* HockeyMaskAndChainsaw: His Limit Break Hellmasker, with the attacks [[ChainsawGood Splattercombo]] and [[StatusInflictionAttack Nightmare]].
623* IconicOutfit: His red cowl is easily recognizable among the fandom and he is never seen without it.
624* IneffectualLoner: As cool as Vincent is, he keeps to himself thanks to his troubled past and naturally quiet nature.
625* ItsAllMyFault: He blames himself for Hojo's experiments with his and Lucrecia's own child. Vincent being shot and also submitted to the scientist's experiments is also something that he blames himself for. [[spoiler: He forgives himself at the end of ''Dirge of Cerberus''.]]
626* LegendaryInTheSequel: In the original game, he was a SecretCharacter largely unknown to the world, having spent decades sleeping in a coffin. By ''Dirge of Cerberus'', however, he is recognized and spoken to in awe and respect by WRO soldiers.
627* LimitedWardrobe: Outside of flashbacks during his Turks days, Vincent is always wearing his aforementioned IconicOutfit. WordOfGod confirmed they did this intentionally in ''Advent Children'', as they felt that him changing outfits as the others had would conflict with his personality.
628* LonersAreFreaks: He's naturally antisocial and keeps to himself.
629* LongHairedPrettyBoy: His hair reaches his back and is the resident TallDarkAndSnarky. He's very popular with female fans, too.
630* LoveHurts: He fell in love with Lucrecia, who happened to be in a relationship with [[MadScientist Hojo]]. When Vincent protested Hojo using their child in his experiments, it got him a bullet in the gut for his trouble, and he became an experiment himself.
631* MageMarksman: In ''Dirge of Cerberus'' he can fire magic bullets by equipping different materia to his gun. In the original game, Vincent displays good affinity with magic overall.
632* MasterOfNone: He had fairly lackluster stats in the original game.
633* MeaningfulName: His name hints to his tragic past and unrequited romance.
634* MyGreatestFailure: He blames himself for all that happened to him and Lucrecia following her and Hojo's experiments with her child. Vincent regrets not doing more to convince Lucrecia of refusing to follow through with them.
635* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: He looks and acts like a ninja vampire, and can shapeshift into CaptainErsatz forms of famous movie monsters, namely Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, and Jason Vorheez.
636* OddFriendship: With Yuffie. Despite polar-opposite personalities, they get along well.
637* OlderThanTheyLook: Physically, he looks about 27, but he's chronologically in his early to mid 50s after sealing himself in a coffin.
638* OneWingedAngel: In ''Dirge of Cerberus'', he gains control over his transformations and becomes Chaos for the final battle.
639* OptionalPartyMember: You can skip recruiting him in ''VII'', but official canon establishes he did join the party.
640* OurDemonsAreDifferent: His Chaos form is a giant black and red winged demon. In ''VII'' it's his ultimate Limit Break and attacks with [[RazorWings Chaos Saber]] and Satan Slam. ''Dirge of Cerberus'' expanded it into Vincent's SuperpoweredEvilSide that Lucrecia had forced upon him to save his life.
641* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Invoked by his bestial Galian Beast form, which attacks with [[RapidfireFisticuffs Berserk Dance]] and [[PlayingWithFire Beast Flare]].
642* PowerFloats: As Chaos, he never stands on the ground, preferring to hover above it. In ''Dirge of Cerberus'', it can only fly and float above surfaces.
643* PowerIncontinence: [[spoiler: When the Protomateria is removed from him in ''Dirge of Cerberus'', he suffers from bouts of uncontrollable morphing into Chaos. Only at the climax Vincent manages to control his ultimate form.]]
644* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: ''Dirge of Cerberus'' reveals he keeps his transformations under control due to the Protomateria inserted inside him by Lucrecia. When Rosso steals it from Vincent, he struggles with involuntary instances of morphing into Chaos.]]
645* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: PlayedWith in regards to Chaos, who is his SuperpoweredEvilSide and a dark demon with red in his wings to boot. However, Vincent uses his Chaos form to stand against the villains. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with his standard form, being a well-meaning anti-hero clad in black leather and wearing a red cape.
646* RedEyesTakeWarning: Has crimson eyes. His human model for ''Dirge of Cerberus'' reveals it's their natural color.
647* RedIsHeroic: Wears a red BadassCape and is one of the good guys, [[AntiHero despite his cold demeanor]].
648* RevolversAreJustBetter: Some of his weapons, most notably the Peacemaker.
649* SawedOffShotgun: 1/3 of Vincent's weapons are shotguns, one even [[ExactlywhatItSaysOnTheTin being named "Shotgun"]].
650* SealedGoodInACan: After Hojo was done experimenting on him, Vincent was horrified by what he had become and went to sleep in a coffin in Shinra Manor for years.
651* SecretCharacter: Finding him requires a short sidequest to reveal him.
652* ShadowArchetype: A heroic version but nonetheless he fits. A brooding loner haunted by the loss of a woman he loved at the hands of his arch-enemy? Vincent is what Cloud might become if he doesn't learn to cope with his issues. WordOfGod shares this viewpoint.
653* ShapeShifter: Can change into a wolf, a FrankensteinsMonster, a HockeyMaskAndChainsaw style [[SlasherMovie slasher]], or the bat-winged and positively demonic [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Chaos]] during his {{Limit Break}}s.
654* SniperRifle: The aptly named Sniper CR, found in Mt. Nibel and could be bought in the Junon weapon shop.
655* SquishyWizard: He's the most magic-inclined character after Aerith, but his other stats are poor.
656* TheStoic: Very calm and not prone to a lot of emotion.
657* StrongFamilyResemblance: He shares his long mane of jet-black hair and crimson eyes with his father, Grimoire Valentine. Even their outfits looks similar. Lucrecia mentions the resemblance in-universe.
658* SuperMode: How his Limit Breaks work. Everytime he morphs into a creature, he gains an increase in Max HP attack damage and resistance.
659* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Chaos, a demonic entity sealed inside of him.
660* TallDarkAndHandsome: Mostly back in his days as a Turk, where he was more conventionally attractive. However, Vincent still qualifies in the present, being a LongHairedPrettyBoy.
661* TallDarkAndSnarky: Despite being cold and antisocial, Vincent has a wit about him.
662* TookALevelInBadass:
663** Vincent becomes a full-blown action hero in ''Dirge of Cerberus'', displaying some degree of hand-to-hand combat skills along with a possible double jump skill and lots of GunFu and CutscenePowerToTheMax.
664** [[spoiler: At the climax he takes another one when he finally gets his Chaos form under control. This time he gets equipped with a new version of his Death Penalty weapon: a pair of revolvers with cross-shaped barrels that fire beams of dark energy that deal some of the highest damage in the entire game.]]
665* TranquilFury: Even when burning with hatred for Hojo for all that he's done, he never raises his voice beyond his usual stoic and understated tone. Though one can feel the rage in his dialogue, whether it's written or spoken. This seems to range to his expressions also - in ''Dirge of Cerberus'' he gives Hojo an icy DeathGlare in the opening FMV and his anger towards him in the last game's boss fight is similarly restrained.
666* TheUndead: Vincent is, to all intents and purposes, a walking corpse animated only by Chaos. The resemblance to a vampire is purely intentional (although he's actually closer to a zombie when you get right down to it).
667* VoluntaryShapeShifting: Zigzagged. He changes form at will, but can't change back until battle ends.
668[[/folder]]
669
670[[folder:Cid Highwind]]
671!! Cid Highwind
672[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff7_cid_highwind.png]]
673!!! '''Voiced By''': Creator/KazuhiroYamaji (Japanese), Chris Edgerly (English)
674!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''
675!!! '''Spin-Off Appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
676->''"Sit your ass down in that chair and drink your goddamn TEA!"''
677
678A gruff airship pilot with dreams of going into space. He is the most uncouth of the protagonists; he constantly swears and loses his temper, and chain-smokes cigarettes. Despite this, he has a good heart, and is even voted temporary leader of the party at one point. He fits into the archetype of a father type character.
679
680----
681* AcePilot: His backyard is fully of flying ships he's piloted, and he commands the party's airships.
682* ArtisticAge: He is really 32 years old. You wouldn't think so considering his appearance in the game. In ''Advent Children'', he looked more his age.
683* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Despite the fact that he verbally abuses his girlfriend, Shera, constantly throughout the game, he really does deeply care for her. He even names his new airship after her, and finally marries her some time between ''Advent Children'' and ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus.''
684* BadassBookworm: He doesn't show too much of it, but it requires a lot of patience, technical knowledge, and general intelligence to fly and maintain any aircraft. Cid's seen to be competent with light aircraft, a zeppelin-like airship, and a jet-type one, and was he hand picked to be the world's first astronaut and man in space.
685* BadassNormal: One of the most prominent examples. He doesn't have innate magical powers, an assault weapon for a hand, combat training, or genetic enhancements. He's got a homemade spear and dynamite.
686* BerserkButton: Cid's pretty protective of his toys, such as the Tiny Bronco and the Highwind. He's also extremely upset about Shinra's decision to cancel its space program.
687* BifurcatedWeapon: Few of his weapons are halberds, axes attached on lances/spears that could function as both.
688* BlueIsHeroic: Cid wears a blue jacket and is one of the good guys, [[AntiHero rough on the edges as he may be]]. He's wearing a blue shirt in ''Advent Children'' and is notably much calmer.
689* BoisterousBruiser: One of his reasons for joining the party is because he likes the idea of "numbskulls" fighting Shinra. Plus, he can back every word of his boasts up.
690* BroomstickQuarterstaff: Cid's joke weapon is a mop. It could be dug in Bone Village or bought in the Junon weapon shop.
691* CigarFuseLighting: His Dynamite LimitBreak has Cid lighting them with his cigarette before throwing it at enemies.
692* ClusterFBomb: He's much worse about this than Barret.
693* DeathFromAbove His Boost Jump, Hyper Jump and Dragon Dive Limit Breaks, where he leaps and descends to attack enemies. His final LimitBreak, "Highwind", combines this with MacrossMissileMassacre.
694* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Cusses out the Ultima Weapon when it appears at Mideel, tells it to BringIt and demands it come back for more when it leaves the battle.
695* DragonKnight: Cid is based of the Dragoon class, complete with the standard {{Limit Break}}s (some of which even have "dragon" in its name) of the character class, even though he isn't one officially.
696* FamousForBeingFirst: Cid was going to be the first man in space. Eventually he finally got into space, with a crew of other player characters (and Shera).
697* GogglesDoNothing: Despite wearing a pair of goggles on his head, Cid never pulls them down. Likely they're there to tie into his pilot theme.
698* GrumpyOldMan: Well, he's only 32, but that's old by Japanese anime[=/=]video game standards.
699* IconicItem: Cid is never seen without his {{goggles|DoNothing}} in sequels, spin-offs, and every other crossover appearances.
700* ImprobablePilotingSkills: He can pilot almost everything.
701* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He swears, smokes, is verbally abusive to pretty much everybody, but he gave up his dream to save Shera, genuinely tries to make amends with her, fights tooth and nail for the planet, joins the WRO, and gives a passionate speech about the need to protect the planet.
702* LeeroyJenkins: He certainly has this attitude, even if he doesn't actually ruin any plans for the party, as shown by his gung-ho attitude about fighting Shinra.
703* LifeDrain: Dragon drains HP from enemies to heal him.
704* MacrossMissileMassacre: His ultimate LimitBreak Highwind has him call in his airship of the same name to fire missiles at the enemy party.
705* MythologyGag: He is pretty much a meta-reference to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', from appearance to moves.
706* ScienceHero: Openly puts his faith in science, and his piloting skills are vital to the party.
707* SeniorSleepCycle: Depicted as having one in-game, apparently as part of his grumpy old man portrayal. When the party is forced to stay at the Ghost Hotel in the Gold Saucer, Cloud's speech apparently puts him to sleep. Later, he is seen napping on the bridge of the Highwind just before Barret declares him to be the new leader. Finally, if the player chooses him to accompany Cloud on a gondola ride at Gold Saucer's Round Square, he will doze throughout the entire ride.
708* SirSwearsALot: Whatever cussing doesn't come from Barret likely comes from Cid.
709* SmokingIsCool: Except when it's censored out... and yet still clearly visible.
710* SpamAttack: Big Brawl is a series of rapid slash attacks.
711* TeamDad: He's the third oldest of the party and is gruff and rude, but cares for them in his own way.
712* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Dynamite has him throw a stick of dynamite at enemies.
713* YouAreInCommandNow: His brief stint as team leader in Disc 2.
714* YoungerThanTheyLook: Even though he's 32, he can be easily mistaken for a decade older. The years of chainsmoking help to justify this slightly.
715[[/folder]]
716
717
718[[folder:Zack Fair '''(ALL SPOILERS FOR ''FINAL FANTASY VII'' UNMARKED)''']]
719!! Zack Fair
720%%
721%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16724821670.22531000
722%%Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1657562877069685600
723%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
724%%
725[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zackcrisiscore.png]]
726%%
727!!! '''Voiced By''': Creator/KenichiSuzumura (Japanese), Rick Gomez (English), Caleb Pierce (English, ''Crisis Core Reunion'')
728!!! '''Appears In''': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' | ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' | ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' | ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis''
729!!! '''Spin-Off appearances/Other Series Appearances''': ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' | ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'' | ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' | ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' | ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia''
730->''"Boy oh boy... the price of freedom is steep."''
731
732An energetic SOLDIER that was Cloud's best friend, he accompanied Sephiroth on the Nibelheim mission, where he was critically wounded and turned into a lab experiment for Hojo. Though he escaped several years later and took Cloud with him, he was caught and gunned down by Shinra. The dying Zack entrusted his Buster Sword to Cloud, who inadvertently also assumed a fake identity based on Zack's life and personality. ''Crisis Core'' explores his adventures prior to Nibelheim as he deals with the conspiracies that infested SOLDIER during its glory days.
733
734----
735* TheAce: He's handsome, friendly, and a flirty ladies man, in addition to being a powerful and respected SOLDIER. {{Justified|Trope}}, in that this was intentional to have him contrast sharply with Cloud's ClassicalAntiHero.
736* AllYourPowersCombined: According to [[AllThereInTheManual the Ultimania guide]], this is how Zack learns his Limit Breaks -- he meets someone, and upon doing so, learns how to copy their Limit Break and modify it to create his own, such as Meteorain->Meteor Shots and Healing Wind->Healing Wave.
737* AnimeHair: Zack has a lock of sharply spiked black hair. It changes styles during ''Crisis Core'' to show his growing maturity and aging, but it's still spiky.
738* BeenThereShapedHistory: Besides his influence on Cloud's past, Zack was the guy who named the 7th Heaven bar, bought Aerith her iconic hair ribbon and suggested she sell flowers, and is partly responsible for sparking Yuffie's obsession with Materia.
739* {{BFS}}: He fights using the Buster Sword. He wields a standard CoolSword before he inherits it.
740* BladeSpam: His Chain Slash and Octaslash DMW attacks are rapid slash combos.
741* BreakoutCharacter: Arguably bigger than Vincent. Both got their own spinoff, but not only is Zack's better received, but Zack got the honor even though he only appeared in an optional flashback, as opposed to being a former playable character.
742* ChekhovsGunman: He is only mentioned off-handedly by Aerith, and an old couple who turn out to be his parents early in the game, but he holds the key to figuring out Cloud's past.
743* ChickMagnet: Almost as much as Cloud. Case in point: Aerith ''and'' Cissnei in the same game. Way to go Zack.
744* ColonyDrop: Meteor Shots fires meteors at enemies.
745* DidntThinkThisThrough: On someone else's part, amusingly. Hojo cared so little for remembering or bothering with examining anyone closely that he and his researchers gathered up survivors of Nibelheim in the ruins of Sephiroth's murder spree, to turn them into Sephiroth-Clones for Hojo's Reunion Theory. This includes the critically wounded Zack left at the Nibelheim reactor a room away from a similarly-injured Cloud. ''Cloud'' gets Mako Sickness from the treatments, but Zack is already a SOLDIER and just getting an extra dose of what he's already been through -- meaning once he's recovered enough, he breaks Cloud and himself out of their tubes, takes down the Shinra researchers and escapes as the most wanted living man on the Planet.
746* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Cloud is tending to him in his final moments. Once he dies, Cloud gives a haunting SkywardScream.
747* DoomedByCanon: ''Final Fantasy VII'' spoiled his eventual death long before ''Crisis Core'' came out. With Zack's death a pivotal piece of backstory, there was no way he could survive.
748* DoomedMoralVictor: Though he defeats Genesis and keeps the pride and honor of SOLDIER alive, he dies defending Cloud from impossible numbers of Shinra forces.
749* DyingMomentOfAwesome: His LastStand sees him taking on platoons of Shinra troops, only losing against the ''last three'' standing.
750* FaceDeathWithDignity: Zack calmly utters his BadassCreed before taking on platoons of Shinra soldiers. While dying, he gives Cloud a motivational speech and [[TakeUpMySword gives him the Buster Sword]] before succumbing to his wounds.
751* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The flashback showing his death in the original game sees Zack getting repeatedly gunned down, though it was a BloodlessCarnage due to the limited technology at the time. Tellingly, the more rendered ''Crisis Core'' gives it a GoryDiscretionShot by showing it through Zack's point of view (though he is seen bleeding to death afterwards).
752* ForegoneConclusion: Since ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is a prequel to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', and Zack's the hero in the game, it's fairly expected when he dies at the end.
753* ForgottenFallenFriend: Of Cloud. He remembers him again later in the story, causing him to have a HeroicBSOD, but he gets better.
754* GuestFighter: In ''VideoGame/{{Ehrgeiz}}'', he makes a cameo.
755* GunshipRescue: His Air Strike DMW attack has Zack call Tseng to bring in a Turk helicopter to unleash machine gun and missiles on enemies.
756* HealingHands: Healing Wave fully restores his stats.
757* TheHeroDies: Zack is the DoomedByCanon protagonist of ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', a {{Prequel}} game set before ''FFVII''.
758* HeroesPreferSwords: He fights exclusively with swords, as with all SOLDIER members.
759* HeroicWillpower: He didn't live long enough for Hojo's Reunion Theory to really take hold, but he notably went through the same experiments Cloud did, and completely shrugged them off without missing a beat whereas Cloud was made comatose and near-entirely fried on the mental side of things before Zack's death "woke him up" with sheer trauma. Given the implications of other parts of the canon, it's plausible that Sephiroth would've simply had no hold over him because he's so mentally stable that the usual Sephiroth-Clone degradation wouldn't have kicked in like it does Cloud.
760* HeroOfAnotherStory: Zack is the main protagonist of the prequel game ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''.
761* InstantRunes: Apocalypse creates a red rune of energy below enemies that shocks them.
762* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Implied in the original game and then retconned with ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. Cloud in the original game could give some pretty dickish responses in the dialogue trees. The game's [[TheReveal Reveal]], where it's learned that he based his badass persona on Zack's, seems to indicate that he picked this up from Mr. Fair. ''Crisis Core'', however does away with all of this and writes Zack as a heroic and energetic NiceGuy. WordOfGod and creation materials have given a HandWave that Cloud's fake persona was based on ''his'' image of a SOLDIER rather than specifically Zack, thus he'd also take some traits from [[SugarAndIcePersonality Sephiroth]], TheHerosIdol.
763* JumpedAtTheCall: Zack is always eager to prove himself and fight to do the right thing.
764* {{Keet}}: He's very energetic and excitable; Angeal has nicknamed him "the puppy" for it. His CharacterDevelopment has him temper it into a more mature and focused type of character without losing his lightheartedness.
765* 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 300-1000 Shinra troopers were deployed to take down this one SOLDIER...and only 3 survived.)
766* LimitBreak: His [=DMW=] attacks.
767* LoveMakesYouDumb: Despite knowing that Shinra is hunting him with orders to kill, he still attempts to return to Midgar, Shinra's headquarters, to see Aerith again.
768* ManlyTears: After [[spoiler:Angeal's]] death, he breaks down in the church and sobs while Aerith holds him.
769* MeaningfulName: He didn't have a last name until ''Crisis Core'', when he was given the last name "Fair" to invoke the imagery of "fair weather", contrasting Cloud's name.
770* MrFanservice: He's handsome and well-built, and has a scene where he walks around on the beach in swim trunks.
771* NiceGuy: Zack is everyone's friend and this trope is the reason why, he's just very pleasant and friendly.
772* ObliviouslyEvil: Throughout most of ''Crisis Core'', Zack is working for Shinra, and opens the game with helping them subjugate Wutai, but is presented as fully believing in Shinra's propaganda and not understanding why the Wutaians would oppose the use of mako energy to improve the lives of their citizens. The majority of the game dials the resulting moral dissonance back by focusing on a civil war where Shinra is the lesser evil compared to Hollander and Genesis.
773* OneManArmy: Being the sole playable character in an Action RPG, Zack racks up a body count in the multiple thousands. Highlighted at the very first mission of the game, where Zack's objective is to storm and capture a Wutai fort by himself. He does it with ease; keep in mind he's still "just" Second Class at this time. A series of missions pits Zack against swarms of Shinra infantryman, culminating in a battle with ''1000'' soldiers.
774* PosthumousCharacter: In ''VII'' and beyond, he's long dead.
775* PowerCopying: In ''Crisis Core'', Zack's Digital Mind Wave ability allows him to copy and adapt others characters' {{Limit Break}}s.
776* PresentAbsence: Zack's death is the reason Cloud still lives in the first place. Cloud even modeled himself after Zack, which is also an integral part of his character. In ''Advent Children'', Cloud is seen mourning his death along with Aerith's.
777* PromotedToPlayable: Zack merely appears in Cloud's flashbacks in the original game. In many spin-offs, notably ''Crisis Core'', he's a playable character.
778* PurpleIsPowerful: Zack wears the purple SOLDIER 1st class uniform is certainly a formidable fighter.
779* RapidFireFisticuffs: Rush Assault is a barrage of lightning-fast punches ending with an explosive diving tackle.
780* RightHandedMirror: As Cloud is, he is this to Sephiroth. Their backstories and origins are even more similar, but Zack becomes a hero while Sephiroth descends further and further into madness and villainy.
781* ScarsAreForever: The [[XMarksTheHero X-shaped scar]] on the lower part of his cheek. [[spoiler:Angeal gave it to him in pushing Zack to kill him.]]
782* ShirtlessScene: The Costa del Sol scene in ''Crisis Core'' features Zack in his swim trunks hanging out at the beach.
783* SleevesAreForWimps: Wears a sleeveless outfit (except maybe for shoulder guards) and he fights using [[{{BFS}} very large swords]].
784* SpiritAdvisor: Gives Cloud some advice throughout ''Advent Children'' despite being long dead.
785* StatusBuff: Lucky Stars makes all his attacks Critical Hits for a time.
786* SuperSoldier: As a SOLDIER, he has superior strength, reflexes, healing, stamina, and magic proficiency.
787* TakeUpMySword: The {{Retcon}}ned ending to ''Crisis Core'', and his inheritance of said sword from his mentor.
788* TallDarkAndHandsome: He's six-feet tall, dark-haired and wears dark outfits, and is very good-looking.
789* TogetherInDeath: Him and Aerith, but it's more like Together In The Lifestream. Interesting because most people's consciousness will dissolve into the Lifestream after death.
790* TokenGoodTeammate: He works for Shinra, and helped to end the Wutai War leaving the place in the condition it's seen in ''Final Fantasy VII'', but his interests were starting a new life, becoming a true hero, and protecting Cloud. It wasn't until after it became clear that Shinra wasn't going to stop hunting them down that Zack opposed them.
791* WalkingSpoiler: In the original ''Final Fantasy VII'', his entire existence is a major plot twist that goes hand-in-hand with major revelations about Cloud's backstory.
792* WouldntHurtAChild: While mowing his way through a Wutai stronghold on Shinra's behalf, Zack gets blindsided by Yuffie's sudden appearance, as she vows to defend her homeland to the death and stop Zack at any cost. Zack simply feigns losing to her bravado in the hopes that she'll go away (she does), establishing that as deadly and efficient he is against enemy combatants, he wouldn't turn his blade on innocents or children who can't fight back.
793* XMarksTheHero: The main protagonist of ''Crisis Core'' and has an x-shaped scar on the left side of his cheek.

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