Neither ship is canon, though. You can interpret Cloud’s feelings however you’d like because he never officially states that he’s in love with either girl, nor does the canon material state that anyone is a couple. Tifa is his childhood friend, but even in the source material after the Lifestream fiasco she says she realizes they weren’t even close as kids.
Advent Children doesn’t make them canonically official either, as far as I know.
I totally get preferring one ship over the other. I personally think Clerifa is superior.
But really, what I don’t get is why make a whole blog for the sake of arguing whether something is canon or not? And even if it was canon, people are never going to stop shipping Clerith? Seriously. If Square Enix put out a statement today that said, “Tifa and Cloud are an official couple, they’re getting married in a spin-off game hooray :)” it still wouldn’t stop anybody from writing or drawing Clerith. So…I really just don’t get it. What exactly is the point of this? Do you just enjoy arguing with people and telling them that they’re wrong?
Before I answer this I want to say something.
I made this blog because it was exhausting having the same arguments over and over and I wanted to have one place where I could just gather everything I wanted to say about it once, and then be done with it. However, my inbox is now pretty full with stuff I've already addressed, and the time it takes to answer them prevents me from making more generalized writings that I can just link to in the future. I could simply give you a very short "you're wrong", but I don't think that's particularly satisfying or productive, that having been said, retyping the same things I've already said in slightly different wording also isn't the best use of my time. When I give a reply, I want it to have some effort and time put into it so I apologize to anyone whose sent me a question that I don't get to.
So lets get into it.
You're wrong, one ship is canon, I think I've done a pretty good job explaining why on this blog, so I won't go into a full rehash here, but I will address it quickly.
There is a difference between whether or not something is canon, and whether or not we know what is canon. Something can be canon, and yet never be confirmed to be canon. Canon is simply the story as it is. Either Deckard was a replicant in Blade Runner, or he wasn't. The issues of whether or not the audience is ever told what the answer is, and whether or not there is an actual answer, are two different things entirely. Tifa and Cloud is canon, that's the story, now whether or not that's been confirmed is a different matter. I'd argue that it has been, both inside the games and out, but it's still a distinction I should point out.
Lets first acknowledge that there is an implication in your question.
"Neither ship", "Neither" implies two ships. Which two ships are you talking about? One is Cloud and Tifa, clearly, but what is the other ship? I assume you mean Aerith and Cloud but why would you single them out? Why are you dismissing the Jessie/Cloud shippers? Or the Zack/Cloud shippers? Or the Sephiroth/Cloud shippers?
Was there ever some divine proclamation that there are two valid ships and two ships only? No, so why is your question implying that those other ships are somehow less worthy of consideration than the other two ships when this has never been officially stated? You might "like" Clerifa, and you're free to like whatever you like, but when it comes to what is potentially canon you disregard all other ships but two, I just go one further.
The reason is quite simple, we don't need a final fantasy bible in order to determine what is going on in the story. In fact, if a story requires outside information in order to make sense of it, the story has failed.
For all intents and purposes, we know that Cloud and Sephiroth are not secretly in love because that's simply not the story that's being told, no matter how much you want it to be, and regardless of whether or not it has ever been explicitly denied by the developers.
When I watch the sixth sense (spoilers for the sixth sense btw) I don't need Haley Joel Osments character to tell Bruce Willis "You're dead dude, you're a ghost, here's your death certificate, here's a video of the cremation, when you were sitting with my mom she didn't actually see you" for us to understand that Bruce Willis is canonically dead. That's simply the story being told through visual storytelling, and when we look back at all the evidence that makes it look like Bruce Willis was alive, we understand that that's an intentional red herring.
The lifestream sequence is such a moment. We get the reveal that Tifas opinion is the only one that matters. We get the reveal that Cloud fell in love with Tifa when he was a boy. We get the reveal that Cloud reason for becoming a Soldier was to get Tifa to notice him, that he's literally dedicated his life to it. We get the reveal that the cold distant Cloud we've seen throughout the game came to pass as a result of Cloud not being able to live with failing her and wanting to be the sort of hero that could protect her. Everything we've seen in the game concerning Cloud is recontextualized as being related to his feelings for Tifa.
Not only that, but Cloud is revealed to have been behaving like Aeriths ex and we get an entire game where we play as said ex, desperately trying to get back to her, which goes out of it's way to mirror Aerith and Zacks relationship with Cloud and Tifas, as well as state that Aeriths one wish is to spend more time with Zack and show how during FFVII, that was exactly what she was doing.
This story is about as subtle and ambiguous as a sledgehammer to the face, it's not a matter of personal interpretation, it's a matter of lying to yourself vs not lying to yourself, which I will repeat until it sinks in.
Even though Zidane and Garnet did nothing sexual and never started any sort of relationship in FFIX we still understand that Garnet and Zidane are canon, and not Eiko/Zidane. In the same vein we know that Cloud and Tifa are canon because THAT'S THE STORY. And I won't sit here and pretend that it's not just because
it might upset someones feelings.
Every other candidate you might have had in mind as Clouds partner, be it Jessie, or Aerith, or hell, Zack or Sephiroth if that's your groove, they're literally all dead. This is literally an open and shut casket.
People pretend like there are two routes here, a Tifa route, and an Aerith route.....There aren't. This is not some situation where you have multiple endings, one where Cloud ends up with Aerith, and one where he ends up with Tifa, and we don't know which version of the story actually happened. NO, there is a Tifa route, which ends with Aerith dying, the player discovering Cloud always loved Tifa, Tifa and Cloud confirming their feelings match, and them raising children together at the seventh heaven. And then there's ANOTHER TIFA ROUTE! Which also ends with Aerith dying, the player discovering Cloud always loved Tifa, Tifa and Cloud confirming their feelings match, and them raising children together at the seventh heaven.
There is no Aerith route here, so why are people pretending there is? In no version of this story has Cloud ever shown romantic interest in Aerith. In no version of this story does Cloud not have a romantic interest in Tifa, in no version of this story does Cloud not end up raising a family with Tifa. This entire Cloud/Aerith romance is something that literally only exists in the heads of the people who are trying to will it into existence, so why am I asked to pretend that there is validity in what is essentially a conspiracy theory about how "everything we know about FFVII is wrong, and Cloud actually ends up with Aerith"?
Garnet and Zidane hug? CANON!
Tifa and Cloud have sex? "nah man, nothings confirmed".
Zidane shows interest in every girl he meets? "Canonically loves Garnet."
Cloud never shown to have any sexual/romantic interest in any girl except Tifa?
"nah man, nothings confirmed".
Rinoa and Squalls alternate love interests still alive? "doesn't matter".
Literally all of Clouds hypothetical other love interests dead? "NOTHINGS CONFIRMED!"
What is it that people are not getting here? What about this story is seemingly so vague and unconfirmed and open to interpretation?
There is nothing ambiguous about this story.
Cloud has been revealed to have been in love with Tifa ever since he was a child.
Tifa has been revealed to have been in love with Cloud ever since she was a child.
Their feelings have been confirmed to endure to the current day.
Their feelings have been confirmed to match and to lead them to raise a family.
They literally have sex.
Real Cloud has shown zero romantic interest in any other character.
Tifa has shown zero romantic interest in any other character.
Clouds feelings towards Aerith and Zack have consistently been described as "feelings of guilt".
Living with Tifa has been described as his promised land.
Tifa's last name is literally a reference towards Clouds feelings for her.
Aerith has had an entire game showing her loving Zack, and showing how her actions with Cloud were mimicking her time with Zack.
Aerith and Zack have been shown to walk into the light together.
THERE WAS AN ENTIRE MOVIE DEDICATED TO THE IDEA OF MOVING ON, LETTING THE PAST REST, AND GOING ON WITH LIFE!
And most importantly, all these facts fit what was always the obvious and in your face essence of the story. If you needed the developers to explain to you that Cloud is going through feelings of survivors guilt in advent children, and that it's not a love story, then you've failed as a viewer because this was never in any way unclear UNLESS you've got a warped preconception of the story based on your incorrect, emotionally created, misunderstanding of what FFVII is about.
Do you just enjoy arguing with people and telling them that they’re wrong?
Yes.
There are other reasons though, I don't argue with people over everything that they're wrong about, I only argue when people are obviously wrong and I am personally baffled by the fact that they just refuse to admit the glaringly obvious.
For instance, when people argue that the world is flat, even though it really has no impact on me whether or not they believe it, I find that infuriating because it's so obviously wrong.
They're also influencing the fandom, which I find annoying, I like FFVII, and I want to talk about FFVII, but too often I find that I can't because I can't even mention the story of FFVII without people bringing up conspiracy theories and demanding I acknowledge them.
No other FF fandom requires me to pretend that the canonical couples aren't what they are.
Not only does this make it annoying to talk about the game, but it leads to misconceptions that make the game less beloved than it should be. The amount of people who criticize Advent children, not because it's objectively bad, but because they simply don't understand the story, is staggering. And that has consequences. Not only is it generally bad for you if something you're a fan off is hated, since that impact future merchandise, but it also impacts fellow fans.
I've seen numerous people complaining about misinformation and being thankful for the help once they finally understand the story.
Generally, when someone claims to be a fan of FFVII, but is saying something that is incorrect, I will correct them. This shouldn't be that difficult to understand, let's say you love soccer or something and you hear a fellow soccer fan say something about how Germany won the world cup in 1992, and you know that actually Denmark won in 1992. Would you not want to do them the courtesy of telling them they're wrong?
(Yes I had to look this up because I do not love soccer).
When I am wrong about something, I want people to tell me, so I can correct myself and learn more about the things I love. I've never gotten mad about being proven wrong. If you're correct, you shouldn't be scared of people telling you you're wrong, and if you're a fan, you should be happy to learn more about the thing you love.
Every time I debate someone on this topic, I become more knowledgeable about a topic I love. When someone has a defensible position, they don't need to get upset, they can just carry on a conversation. When people get upset because you're telling them they're wrong, it's usually because they're emotionally attached to the position, can't defend it, and so lash out against you to stop you from taking it. They're not in the wrong for being wrong, you're in the wrong for "pointing out that they're wrong".
Well, that or because you've heard the same extremely flawed arguments a thousand times before and are sick of responding to them. Either or.
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