A Tower, A Promise
Please be warned if you haven’t played the remake this post contains spoilers.
The Promise scene is so telling in the remake. Thanks to technology we’re able to see facial expressions and hear tone of voice. Not only is it clever and touching how Nojima wrote this scene, but so is the way Cloud remembers.
Here we have teenage Cloud and Tifa sitting under a veil of stars. Cloud says he’s joining Shinra to be a solider. Tifa is taken back, but not shocked due to the fact all of the boys are doing the same thing. Cloud confirms this but tells Tifa he’s going to be better--he’s going to be like the great war hero Sephiroth.
Tifa is amazed and impressed ,which was Cloud’s goal in telling her this, but you can tell she has a deep thought.
Our theory on her thought is, if he becomes like Sephiroth that means he’ll be famous and probably won’t remember her. Also, it seems like she mentions how “hard” it is to become like Sephiroth. It’s almost like Tifa is swaying him not to leave. When she brings this up, Cloud turns his face away and his expression is sad while telling her he’ll be gone for a long time almost like he is gently asking her not to forget about him
So, she comes up with this promise for him to rescue her if she’s ever in trouble so he’ll remember her.
Some say Cloud’s reply is one of confusion. Yes, yes it is. Because if you played the OG you’d know why he’s doing all of this: for her. So her requesting to come save her is odd to him because he feels like what he’s doing will “get the girl” thus he will always save her. It could also be said that Cloud doesn’t need a promise to save her due to their history that is later on revealed in the game.
Anyway, it’s also it’s a way for her to remember him as well. So he does “benefit” from this promise as well.
At this moment in time, the two can’t confirm their feelings because they’re young and shy; just like any other teenager.
So, Cloud being Cloud who can’t say no to Tifa, decides to commit to her promise. It could also be said that Cloud is caught offguard that Tifa wants him to save her.
One last thing, some people pointed out that the shooting star is missing from their scene. If you noticed in the scene a “signal warning” just so happens to appear after Cloud remembers his promise to her that resembles a shooting star. Our prediction is that star will be in the Lifestream scene and the signal warning could be used as a signal that this scene didn’t quite play out like this. Maybe when the two are in the lifestream, it’ll be revealed this scene was A LOT deeper than what we thought. Not that this scene isn’t deep already, but given that Cloud can’t fully remember things well it’s a possibility that this scene may be extended later on with his “true self”.
The signal warning, in our opinion, represents the shooting star and a warning to players something isn’t quite right. They knew people would notice the star is removed so who knows what Square is up to. ;D