Name: Cloud Strife
Age: 21
D.O.B: August 19
Sign: Leo
Born: Nibelheim
Eye: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Height: 5'7"
Blood type: AB
Weapon: Sword (Buster Sword)
Job: Mercenary
The main character in Final Fantasy VII. Originally a member of SOLDIER, he is now a mercenary who will take any job. After being hired by AVALANCHE, he gradually gets caught up in a massive struggle for life of the planet. His enormous sword can cut almost anything in two.
Cloud was born in the small, quite village of Nibelheim. His father died when he was a small child, and doesn't remember much about him. At the age of eight, he developed a crush on a popular village girl, named Tifa Lockhart. Cloud and Tifa were not very close as young children, and Tifa's friends often teased Cloud for his weakness. On the anniversary that Tifa's mother died, she seeks the place in which she fell to her death. Cloud follows her to Mt. Nibel, as Tifa is about to fall off the cliff, Cloud attempts to grab her hand, but instead fails. Cloud is blamed by fellow townspeople who come across the unconscious body of Tifa. They immediately and assumingly blame Cloud for Tifa's coma, that lasts seven days. Following this incident, Cloud becomes resentful and starts fights with anyone who crossed his path.
At the age of fourteen, Cloud decides upon joining SOLDIER, an army group run by Shinra, Inc. in order to increase his strength and become like his idol, Sephiroth. Over the course that Cloud is enlisted in the army, he befriends Zack, the former boyfriend of Aerith Gainsborough. Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth are instructed to investigate the reactor that resides on Mt. Nibel. However, Cloud does not return as a member of SOLDIER, but rather a regular Shinra soldier. He conceals himself from Tifa, who has been anxiously awaiting Cloud's arrival. She is now the guide of Cloud's group on their trek to the reactor. As night approaches, Tifa and Cloud's group return to the village. Over the next few days, Sephiroth isolates himself in the Shinra mansion and reads endless amounts of books hide within the library. He discovers how the human race set out to destroy the Cetra. Enraged, Sephiroth sets the beautiful village of Nibelheim ablaze. Several townspeople die, including Cloud's mother, and Tifa's father. He then rushes to Mt. Nibel where Sephiroth is talking to Jenova, whom he believes is his real mother. Along the way, Sephiroth has attacked Tifa, after she attempted to kill him with his own sword. He then attacks Zack who also tries to kill him. Cloud then rushes in to see Tifa bleeding on the stairs, he moves her out of the way, as Zack pleads for Cloud to kill Sephiroth. After a long struggle, Cloud finally throws Sephiroth into the Mako below.
Only a few minutes later, does Zangan come in and takes Tifa to Midgar. Hojo, a scientist of Shinra, Inc. has Zack and Cloud contained for experimenting. After sometime, Zack murders the servant who feeds them, and escapes with Cloud on his back. Both hitch-hike their way to Midgar, in hopes of becoming mercenaries. Only a few feet away from their destination, Shinra guards approach Zack, in which he kills a few of them, but then more return and shoot him to death. Cloud is left alone, and unaware of his surroundings. He crawls across the ground and picks up Zack's sword, and takes it as his own.
Cloud manages to make his way to Sector Six of Midgar, where Tifa discovers him, apparently delusional. She brings him to Sector Seven, where Barret and his AVALANCHE team's hide out is, for a job, place to sleep and eat. A short time later, Cloud meets Aerith on the streets of Midgar, after Sector Eight has been blown up. They re-meet eachother when Cloud, Barret and Tifa blow up the Sector Five reactor, where Cloud falls into the city beneath, landing on Aerith's flower bed. She asks him to be her bodyguard, and takes her home, in exchange for a date. He wishes for her not to engage in his matters, but she does so anyway.
Cloud is the complete opposite of Aerith; he is cold in the beginning and does not care for anyone, but himself. He becomes a mercenary only to obtain money for his own purposes, and hopes to leave Midgar when he gets enough gil. However, after a chance of meeting Aerith for the second time, he eventually realizes that there is more to life than money, and actually begins to care for the people around him, and the planet. He then devotes himself to seeking his revenge on Sephiroth and rescuing the planet. Cloud can be violent, and aggressive. He is one that is afraid to deal with reality. That is why he, for many years, continued to believe his own imaginary world that he made up. He didn't want to deal with the fact he never joined SOLDIER, and realize he was weak after all. Cloud is a schizophrenic, in my mind. He is constantly having episodes dealing with his past, in which he finds it hard to handle, and represses his past memories.
Since Cloud's father died when Cloud was really young, his only family member left was his mother. Her name is unknown, and he does not have any siblings. And to me, Cloud seemed like a mama's boy. She loved Cloud very much, and although Cloud seemed like he was distant from his mom, you could tell he loved her very much. He is devastated when she is killed in the Nibelheim fire. She looks very much like Cloud, and if I'm not mistaken, seems to act similar to Aerith's foster mother, Elmyra.