Hello and welcome! This tumblr is mostly focused on FFVII and the Compilation with tons of unmarked spoilers, so please be careful. My favorite topics are the characters, character arcs + plot, and character relationships (specifically cloti/cloud x tifa with some zerith/zack x aerith). I love all the characters but Tifa is a personal fave. 💖
Feel free to shoot me an ask about whatever!
My original posts:
16. Tifa’s interrogation: the flashback at Kalm - Tifa doesn’t listen passively during the Kalm flashback--she shrewdly uses it to interrogate Cloud
15. Interrupted by Fireworks: the illusion over darker realities - Tifa and Aerith’s dates are part of their larger arc with Cloud’s issues, and Interrupted by Fireworks is meant to hurt
14. Tifa’s journey and resolve - how that night at the Gold Saucer Ghost Hotel pushed Tifa to try to open up to Cloud
13. The implications of Tifa’s familiarity with Marco - Tifa’s newfound knowledge of Marco builds a stronger case for her silence
12. oh please, toriyama, we know the REAL reason for all the cats - i think this is a shitpost about ff7r cats and maybe a cry for help/a ps5
11. “I don’t recall you ever being in my room” - how scenes in Remake make a direct connection to a scene in OG--and undermine a common argument against Cloud and Tifa’s relationship
10. Tifa and Cloud: Closing the Distance - how Remake's cinematography highlights Tifa and Cloud's relationship development throughout the game
9. “I thought you would never come” - how OG plays with our understanding of Cloud and Tifa’s childhood relationship by concealing the context of the Promise
8. The changing colors of the flowers in Aerith’s Church - the changing colors of the flowers reflect (or foreshadow?) certain aspects of Aerith’s character
7. Tifa’s fear of ghosts: it’s not new but it IS improved - the OG roots of Remake Tifa’s fear of ghosts, and how it subtly hints at her inner conflicts
6. Why Tifa is the only person, living or dead, who can resolve Cloud’s crisis - a very detailed, very long-winded analysis of the Lifestream sequence
5. Aerith was never afraid of the sky, but what it meant - CC Aerith's comments on the sky reflect her anxieties about her identity; her relationship with Zack helps her accept it
4. Tifa didn’t want a hero, she wanted to be one - how Tifa’s actions (and a comment by Kitase) reveal how Tifa wants to save the ones she loves
3. Tifa’s Crescent Moon Charm, Round 2: A Romantic Literary Reference - how a beautiful moon could be another way to say I love you
2. It’s not a coincidence, they’re definitely from the same pair (the Crescent Moon Charm earrings, that is) - the significance to the art and naming choice of the Crescent Moon Charm
1. Claudia’s words and memories of the promise - context for Teen Cloud’s thoughts during the flashback scene with his mother, Claudia
Little things:
“Accelerated cellular degradation” - Remake’s new take on Tifa’s worries about Cloud?
how Aerith handles her sadness - Nojima’s comments on TOTP contextualize some of Aerith’s attitudes in Remake
Soooo the Meteorfall Memorial Monument in Advent Children - lol what is this even saying
It's actually borderline irritating to see some people assuming that anyone who're into Cloud/Tifa are defensive about the pairing because they're into the whole idea of first love = someone's one and only love.
I don't believe in this at all, so I don't see any value in the trope. We love(d) many different people throughout our lives and this reality has been reflected in many fictional narratives - FFVII is not an exception.
Cloud/Tifa is the pairing for me because of how they keep choosing one another, despite every single thing that had/could have kept them apart.
Cloud leaving their hometown to join Shinra; their hometown burning down; Cloud's identity crisis; their trauma; Cloud's obvious interest in Aerith; Sephiroth's manipulation of them both; Tifa's loss of faith in Cloud; Cloud's breakdown and 2nd mako overdose; the world nearing its end because of meteor; their communication breakdown post-OG; Cloud leaving their home because of geostigma and depression. All of this served to pull them away from one another, yet they still chose one another. They still gave each other chances. They still have each other's backs. They still returned home, wherever this is doesn't matter as long as they're spending their lives together.
Cloud/Tifa is in a class on its own as a fictional pairing. Their story walks us through multiple phases of their relationship, where at some moments of low, it seemed as though they're going to break, only for everything to end with them still together because they came through together. If this isn't what unconditional love looks like, then what is?
What other fictional pairing in a video game series is depicted the way Cloud/Tifa is? None!
A Clinical Analysis of Cloud's Psychology, Part I - Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis
This analysis was originally posted on Reddit, but I decided I wanted to archive it on this old blog too. This topic's been beaten to death already, but in light of the 25th anniversary stream and Rebirth trailer, I want to release my own take on Cloud's psychology using the lens of professional psychology. I'll cover a range of humanistic concepts and criteria from the DSM-5 (basically the bible of clinical psychiatric diagnosis) and tie them in with the lore of FFVII. Although the reasons for Cloud's identity crisis are well-known among OG fans, I'm interested in breaking down exactly why and how those factors resulted in his fabricated ex-SOLDIER persona within the context of real world psychology. I'm going to look into three main areas of exploration: trauma, identity, and reintegration. These areas will conceptualize how Cloud's experiences opened the gateway to pathology, how his understanding of himself is built and then shattered, and how the pieces come back together. This first post will cover the trauma piece, including the topics of dissociation and clinical diagnosis.
Part I - Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis [you are here]
Part II - Identity, Self-Concept, and Mako
Part III - Reintegration and Unconditional Love
One of the most common misperceptions about trauma is that any adverse experience will cause it. While it's true that adversity can cause stress, this belief undermines the remarkable resilience that humans have. The most important thing to consider is that everyone has resilience and the capacity for coping, but this differs from person to person. In the clinical context, traumatic experiences are defined as frightening, dangerous, or violent experiences that elicit strong emotions and physical reactions. People can also experience trauma by witnessing an event that threatens the life or physical security of a loved one (i.e. watching a parent die). When the stressfulness of a traumatic event exceeds a person's ability to cope, the stress becomes pathological and can be classified as trauma. The tragedy of Cloud's life is that his traumatic experiences are deeply stressful and essentially occurred back to back. Each event ticks off multiple boxes for the likelihood of trauma, and then Cloud essentially experienced them in succession, if we assume that his sense of time in Hojo's laboratory was warped due to catatonia.
Dissociation
Different people have different reactions to the same traumatic experiences, and the ex-SOLDIER persona is a unique one. Although we know Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona is his primary consequence, there's a clinical way to contextualize what purpose it serves. Cloud's headaches are used as a constant indicator that something isn't right with him. His headaches are even described in the FFVII Remake Ultimania within his character profile (translation provided by aitaikimochi):
Cloud suffers from sudden headaches that last for brief moments. This pain is usually accompanied by flashes of his childhood, his fated opponent Sephiroth, or pieces of his past. There are times when visions of the future get mixed up as well. His headaches are filled with mysteries. Perhaps there might be more than one cause of these headaches that plague him...?
Aside from serving as narrative hints, the headaches are also connected to experiences of dissociation. Dissociation is a common consequence of trauma that center around a detachment from reality as a defense mechanism. It has numerous features, some of which open the gateway to psychosis. Let's focus on the specific features that are integrated into Cloud's story.
Memory
Memory is the largest piece of Cloud's dissociation since his ex-SOLDIER persona requires him to ignore key memories. At the start of FFVII, Cloud experienced problems with remembering anything between the Nibelheim incident and his arrival in Midgar. You could argue that Cloud has selective retrograde amnesia, but his memory between the time he left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER and the Nibelheim incident is deeply distorted, rather than unclear or largely missing. This hints to us that Cloud's memory problems are a function of dissociation, which is commonly invoked in trauma victims to protect them from memories of their traumatic experiences. Cloud's case is more complex though, since he also experiences identity problems. Even though sense of identity is also a feature of dissociation, we'll talk about it later in Part II.
Hearing voices
Hearing voices can be considered a part of dissociation when the voices are internal, or inside the head. It's when they are external and appear to be coming from outside the body that we begin to think of psychosis. This is where fantasy starts to blur how we can interpret Cloud's psychology. Cloud mainly hears two different types of voices during his journey: Sephiroth's voice, and his own voice. Cloud hears Sephiroth's voice taunting him from time to time, and it is an external voice. However, it's important to recognize that Sephiroth is a true external influence with his own agenda. Therefore, we can assume that it really is Sephiroth speaking to Cloud, not just a fabrication of Sephiroth in Cloud's head. We know this because when he experiences a headache, Sephiroth's voice often comes after. Basically, the more unstable Cloud's identity becomes, the more he mentally vulnerable he is and the more he hears Sephiroth's voice.
The other voice, Cloud's own voice, is internal. The problem is, sometimes it's tricky to tell whether it is functioning as dissociation or as a storytelling device. The key to understanding this is recognizing that this internal voice is meant to represent Cloud's real self. Cloud's identity crisis is the core of his pathology and is portrayed as a suppression of his real self. The times when he does hear his real self appear to be moments of clarity. In this case, the voice of Cloud's real self is understood as a sign of deconstructed identity; this voice is a manifestation of dissociation.
Intense Flashbacks
Intense flashbacks are another common feature of dissociation. Again, our perception of this concept in Cloud is somewhat unclear due to the fact that flashbacks are also a storytelling mechanism. However, we can use Cloud's headaches as an indicator of whether he is recalling a memory voluntarily or involuntarily. Cloud's involuntary flashbacks are shown to be disruptive and disorienting. They will initiate sometimes due to triggers in the environment, but might also occur out of the blue. Again, these flashbacks largely tie back to Cloud's identity crisis, so it's safe to say that this is another feature of his dissociation.
Reality Testing
Reality testing refers to a person's ability to understand and distinguish the external and internal world, or reality and fantasy. When someone has problems with reality testing, he experiences hallucinations. For the most part, Cloud is able to grasp his reality and navigate the environment just fine. It's either when something in the environment triggers Cloud's memories or when Sephiroth reaches out to him that he experiences intense hallucinations, which are indeed moments of dissociation. Again though, it's sometimes hard to tell if these are fabrications of Cloud's mind or if they are purposeful illusions created by Sephiroth, especially since other party members can sometimes see Sephiroth as well. But, even though there are moments where Cloud seems to have trouble distinguishing reality from his imagination, these moments are better explained by Sephiroth's influence. Therefore, I wouldn't say that Cloud's hallucinations are a sign of psychosis.
The other complicated piece here is the knowledge that the existence of Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona is an inherent rejection of reality. Essentially, the ex-SOLDIER persona is like a delusion, a fixed belief that is resistant to change even with the presence of conflicting evidence. Cloud has to reject the reality of who he is, what happened to him, and Zack's existence in order to keep himself grounded. This is maybe subject to change now in Rebirth, but as far as the original story goes, Cloud begins to doubt himself once he is told that his memories actually belong to another person he can't remember. So, should we still talk about psychosis?
Real World Disorders
Before we proceed, a disclaimer. I do have professional training in clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy, but ultimately I'm still playing armchair psychologist. This is just my personal take on Cloud's psychology.
When I talk about psychosis, this refers to a remarkable disconnect from reality (see the NIH). Psychotic episodes can involved disturbed thoughts and difficulty with understanding what is real and what is not. It seems appropriate to discuss psychosis in Cloud's case given that his dissociation does make us question his understanding of reality around him, including what he remembers.
One of the most common things that I've seen people speculate is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) due to the implication of the ex-SOLDIER persona as a distinct personality. DID was formerly called Multiple Personalities Disorder, and it's pretty much what it sounds like. The key feature of DID is the presence of two or more distinct personalities that alternate in the conscious. Most of the the time, each personality (or alter, as it's often called) is unaware of what the others are doing when they have control of the conscious. See Marvel's Moon Knight for an excellent recent portrayal of DID. There's a lot of dispute about what causes DID, but the general consensus is that DID results from the combination of childhood trauma, mostly abuse or neglect. To best explain it: "in DID, traumatic memories are decontextualized and processed to retain internal and external balance, which leads to formation of alter personality states each with a sense self and agency, personal history, and a mission" (Şar, 2014).
Despite this, I'd argue we cannot say that Cloud has DID as we understand it in the real world for several reasons. The most important aspect is that Cloud doesn't consistently switch between his ex-SOLDIER persona and his real self - in fact, his real self rarely if ever comes out explicitly. Rather, it looks like as long as the ex-SOLDIER exists, the real self is suppressed. This specifically tells us that Cloud's experiencing an identity issue. Furthermore, people with DID present remarkable problems with reality testing regardless of external influences. The times that Cloud sees and hears Sephiroth are arguably still partly hallucinations, but we already established that Sephiroth is deliberately messing with Cloud's sense of reality and identity in some form. He's purposefully taunting Cloud, especially when others cannot see him. We know that Sephiroth is literally reaching out to Cloud, that this isn't all happening inside Cloud's head. Therefore, Cloud's hallucinations are likely not a sign of psychosis, and it's unclear if we can even call them hallucinations in the first place.
If I had to give an armchair DSM-5 diagnosis to Cloud, I would suggest that he has Delusional Disorder. This disorder shares some features with Schizophrenia, but does not include hallucination as a symptom. More importantly, delusional disorder doesn't feature "bizarre or odd behavior" that's often seen in other psychotic disorders. Outwardly, people with delusional disorder don't appear delusional unless the subject of the delusion is involved. I do still hesitate with this diagnosis though, mainly because Cloud ultimately does respond to information that challenges his delusion. The DSM-V does specify that "individuals with delusional disorder may be able to factually describe that others view their beliefs as irrational but are unable to accept this themselves." When Cloud is explicitly confronted with information that is inconsistent with his delusion, this in fact opens the gate for Sephiroth to convince him that he is essentially not real. If he had delusional disorder, Cloud would have continued to reject reality.
The fact of the matter is that Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona cannot be fully understood in the context of real world psychosis. The fantasy elements of FFVII complicate diagnosis, especially considering when and how the ex-SOLDIER persona was born. Plus, I wouldn't pathologize Cloud this far given that I don't think real world psychosis best explains what happens to him. While Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona appears to be a delusion, it doesn't present negative consequences unless he's presented with conflicting information and is vulnerable to change when challenged. Essentially, we can partly understand the ex-SOLDIER persona as an ongoing dissociation that serves to protect Cloud from the memories of traumatic experiences. But, I wouldn't go so far as to give him a DSM-5 diagnosis.
Basically, we can't fully conceptualize Cloud within the realm of psychosis or personality disorders. Rather, his dilemma revolves around the deconstruction of his identity, which I'll discuss in my next post.
Yuffie’s mission in Midgar ended unsuccessfully. Shinra destroyed the base of her allies in Sector 7, she couldn’t get hold of the Ultimate Materia and, most importantly, Sonon died in order to save her.
His death gives a sense of closure to this newly introduced character. Although being quite short, the DLC is full of clever parallels between Yuffie and Melphie, Sonon's younger sister who got killed in front of his eyes during the Wutai war. He failed to save Melphie back then, but he can save Yuffie now.
But the big question is: is Sonon really dead?
The OST playing during the death scene is Seeing Melphie again. After getting stabbed, he has a vision of his little sister (a very touching moment tied to FFVII theme of reunion in the afterlife) accompanied by a bitterweet piano melody, that gets always softer until his last breath. But just when Nero seems to finish Sonon off, instead of mercilessly swallowing him into the darkness, he gently picks him up while the music digresses in an ominious and mysterious tone, hinting that his role may be not over yet.
But what could Nero want from Sonon?
I think the answer may be deduced diggin a bit into Dirge of Cerberus lore.
There's a not very well known entry related to the main DoC game (especially by the western audience since it had been released only in Japan and for a very short period of time): Dirge of Cerberus Multiplayer on-line. While some of the missions were later included in the international release of DoC, the plot of this game got lost despite its importance for the full understanding of the Deepground dynamics.
Here is a link for an excellent article from thelifestream.net that tries to keep a record of this expired entry, and here's a playlist of cutscenes from the game with English subtitles that helps understanding the main plot (btw, a great YT channel where you can also find localized playthroughs of rarities like DoC Lost Episode and Before Crisis).
A quick summary about Deepground and the Multiplayer game.
Deepground is a top secret facility created by President Shinra and located beneath the slums (remember that underground lab where Cloud, Barret and Tifa went to save Wedge? That's Deepground) where troopers and SOLDIERs - but also unaware civilians - endure severe experimentations that push their bodies and minds to the limit, aiming to create ruthless SOLDIERs with no moral boundaries. The elite DG SOLDIERs are known as Tsviets, like Weiss, Nero, Argento, Shelke, Rosso and Azul. To avoid any rebellion each candidate and Tsviet has a restriction chip implanted in their brain controlled by four Restrictors loyal to President Shinra. This mechanism is particoularly useful to control those Tsviets who don't make a distinction between allies and enemies.
Because of this the Tsviets started to secretly plot against Shinra until they finally understood how to cheat the system. Shelke and Argento found a way to implant a non-working chip in a candidate, so that they could kill the Restrictors. The protagonist of DoC Multiplayer is indeed this candidate (gender and name chosen by the player). Thanks to her special abilities Shelke tricked the candidate into seeing a supporting partner, Usher, who helped them into ranking as a Tsviet, and most importantly she instilled the hatred towards the Restrictors giving to the candidate false memories of a little sister brutally killed by one of them. In the end the candidate managed to kill one of the Restrictors but got stabbed as well. This is the final dialogue of the game:
Weiss: Can this one still be of any use?
Shelke: Negative. The prolonged SND [Synaptic Net Dive] has rendered most of the brain inaccessible. It's only a matter of time before it breaks down completely.
Rosso: Really? After all that hard work. What a shame.
Weiss: Then hurry up and find a suitable replacement. After all no one knows what the Restrictors really look like.
Azul: So we have to find another one? This is becoming frustrating.
Weiss: It can't be helped. Only one out of hundreds can make it this far.
Rosso: Ordinary humans simply aren't as strong as we are.
Weiss: Precisely.
Shelke: Well, it's actually quite simple. With the help of the HJ Virus I am able to hack into Patricia [computer system] and bypass security. Then all that's needed is to pick a suitable subject before it's implanted with the chip.
Weiss: Shelke, find a new one quickly.
The devs had never provided any time reference for the Multiplayer story but now, with Intergrade, we know for sure that the Tsviets are still under Shinra's control when Yuffie and Sonon met Nero on December 12, and, while the President will be killed the next night, it seems clear that Scarlet is the one who will take full control of Deepground until her defeat the next month.
Conclusion
My theory is that Sonon could be the perfect person to replace the Tsviet-candidate and the dead Restrictor, so that Weiss and the gang can pursure their plan of rebellion gainst Shinra:
Unlike many soldiers Sonon has proved to be an extremely strong and capable fighter standing up to Nero.
He has the right motivation as he seeks revenge against Shinra - especially Scarlet - for the death of his younger sister, which Shelke could further manipulate.
Unlike any other Deepground candidate, he has no working restriction chip implanted.
Sure, one could argue that Nero severely wounded him, but the game clearly reminded us before the battle that Nero can easily disintegrate the bodies of his victims, while he reserves a different treatment to this particoular character. And, by the way, this wouldn't even be the first time a Tsviet pretends to kill someone as Shelke did the same with the Tsviet-candidate. As far as I know the main DoC game never explained how the Tsviets overpowered the remaining Restrictors, who replaced the Tsviet-candidate or what happened to Argento - who isn't part of the DoC cast. Sonon might be the missing piece of this sub-plot that may lead to new secondary arcs that could tie a bit more Deepground to the main FFVII story.
I love this theory because damn I want Sonon to make a comeback--and there are too many little coincidences to ignore!
That said, I'm dying a little that yet again, SE puts critical lore in obscure, hard to access places. This is almost as bad as the Kingdom Hearts lore that's only accessible via a hotel room at Tokyo Disney...
Tanabata 七夕 is a popular traditional Japanese festival of Chinese origins. This celebration commemorates the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi (symbolized by the stars Vega and Altair respectively), lovers separated by the Milky Way who were only allowed to meet once every year, the Seventh night of the Seventh month.
People celebrate Tanabata expressing wishes to the stars - written on small pieces of paper hung on bamboo, often concerning their love life due to the romantic origins of the legend. Tanabata is also called Star festival or Night of the loving stars (and, in China, Chinese Valentine’s day or Night of sevens).
I think it’s easy to find some nice paralles with FFVII: the focus on the stars (星, that in FFVII universe is used to identify both the stars and the Planet) and number seven, wishes to the stars, separated lovers..? In can make the happiness of every shipper. But there’s one more cute detail.
Until the second half of the XIX century Japanese people used the Wareki calendar, based on lunar phases, so the 7th day of the 7th month is a variable date that usually falls on the firts half of August.
August 11, 1986 - Cloud’s birthday - was indeed Tanabata day in real life! (The date may vary between 11th and 12th but that depends on the time zone). It might be just a coincidence, but I love it a lot anyway! It surely is my new headcanon! ❤️
After I had finished painting Tifa in a saree, a dear friend of mine asked if I’d consider making a matching Cloud for her. 👀 I was totally game for it, of course!!😍
Right away I knew Cloud needed to be in a royal blue/navy blue outfit that complemented Tifa’s. 💜💛 I decided to skip the turban and accessories, and keep the designs to a minimum so it’d fit with his straightforward personality. What do you think? =) I’m happy with how he looks!
I hope you’ll like it! In the next post, I’ll pair them together! Please look forward to it!
I did another round of the Six Fanarts Challenge, but this time it’s ✨ TIFA EDITION! ✨ I love my girl so much that I wanted to try out different styles for her~
Here are the themes for each of the pieces:
1. OG FF7 Design
2. Short Hair Tifa
3. Costume Swap (SOLDIER First Class aka Cloud’s Outfit)
4. Sporty Outfit
5. Exotic Outfit
6. Tifa in a Saree (picked based on suggestions/ideas from Twitter)
I hope you like them! #6 is definitely my favourite, which is yours? :3
Part 3: Another Bombing [A Complete Analysis of Final Fantasy VII]
Welcome to the third chapter of my FF7 analysis. I am writing these posts as one long rumination under the assumption that you have read the prior chapters. If you are new here (thanks for coming!), please head to the following masterlink before proceeding further:
https://hartmonkey.tumblr.com/post/674955243020238848/a-complete-analysis-of-final-fantasy-vii
Last chapter we briefly noted Cloud, Tifa and Barret’s train trip to Mako Reactor 5. This chapter will take a deep look into their individual motivations and personalities as revealed throughout the mission. Before examining this venture, let’s backtrack just a little to an often overlooked moment. I’d left it out last chapter for it feeds into the combat system we are about to embrace – a system that is in every way married to FF7’s lore (the external worldbuilding) and arcs pertaining to individual characters. This moment is where Barret asks Cloud to give the tutorial on using Materia.
Probably this article was better suited for Valentine’s day but I’m not well known for my perfect timing… :)
I thought it could be useful to have a full list of the OG variables that affect the date mechanics, a description of the actual Remake mechanics and the differences between the two games all in one post.
I had initially planned to add here also the Wall Market dress mechanics but this post is long enough and the Remake dresses are just so amazing that they absolutely deserve their own post and my complete devotion💖
Part 2: Seventh Heaven [A Complete Analysis of Final Fantasy VII]
Welcome to part 2 of my complete analysis of Final Fantasy VII. I am writing these posts as one long rumination under the assumption that you have read the prior chapters. So if you are new here, before proceeding further please head over the master link below:
https://hartmonkey.tumblr.com/post/674955243020238848/a-complete-analysis-of-final-fantasy-vii
Last time, we were introduced to “Flower Girl”, the external plot heroine, and briefly touched on the game’s overarching theme of life. Juxtaposed within this theme are the forces of science and nature, as explored through AVALANCHE - the red herring ‘savior’ of the Planet. Hired by AVALANCHE was “Ex-SOLDIER” Cloud - the epitome of strength. This chapter will begin the long delve into his backstory and driving force, where we meet the heart and heroine of the internal plot.
This is the first post in my chapter-by-chapter analysis of the entire Final Fantasy VII. Each chapter will be primarily based on the 1997 game, with discussion of the Remake and other entries in the compilation where relevant (ie. when they pertain to the original story). Aside from a spoiler-warning for the entire FF7 (this is the only warning I’ll give on that regard), I want to note a few things before we start.
