Well let me see if I can clear this up. Prior to Final Fantasy VII, there was the Nibelhelm incident when Sephiroth fell into Shinra's Illusionary trap. Sephiroth went crazy and rolled on the village killing all but a handful of people. Zack went after him but got totally owned. Cloud, using stealth to his advantage struck a grievous blow to Sephiroth. Sephiroth was still alive and when Cloud tried to finish him, Sephiroth stabbed in the heart (game), or chest (if we're talking about Last Order). In any case, Cloud still overpowered Sephiroth and tossed him over the catwalk into the mako below. (In Last Order, Sephiroth jumps). Anyway, Cloud was in some seriously bad shape and Hojo thought Cloud to be a perfect successor to Sephiroth, having been stabbed in the heart by the man and still surviving. Because Hojo was more interested in Cloud than he was Zack, he dopped Cloud up on some serious mako to the point where Cloud suffered from mako poisoning. That is why he was catatonic because of how diluted his system was with mako. Zack saved him but Zack was gunned down before they hit Midgar. They would have shot Cloud too but because he was so jacked up already, they said forget it as he'll die anyway. A common misconception is that Cloud composed his memories from Zack's background. This is not entirely accurate and everyone who argues this needs to both replay the entire game and pick up that Final Fantasy VII Compendium that Square-Enix came out with awhile back. You can actually download it at gamefaqs. Anyway, I don't knock Zack or anyone who believed in the theory but I find it unappealing to say that Cloud pieced his identity together from Zack's. Granted, Cloud did adopt a FEW traits of Zack's but if one replays the game and reads the Compendium, it explains that the Jenova cells have the ability to read someone's mind and alter a person's mind via that information. It is hard to explain but in summary, this is what really happened. If you recall, during the game when Tifa is helping Cloud piece together his memories, there is a memory where Tifa sees Cloud at the Sector 7 station. Cloud has the Buster Sword but he is still catatonic. He doesn't know where he is, he can barely walk, and he still can't speak. Anyway, Tifa sees Cloud and runs to him. She tries to talk to him, Cloud looks at her, and there is a flash across the screen. Cloud is instantly back to normal and he is on cool mode. Now if you read the Compendium, it states in so many words that the Jenova cells in Cloud's body read Tifa's mind and altered Cloud's personality accordingly. Meaning that the Cloud we see in Final Fantasy VII, the Cloud we came to know and love is Cloud as Tifa remembers him, not Cloud as influenced by Zack. Zack did play some part in Cloud's development, but no more than any friend or brother might. Cloud is Cloud. He always has been. |