the story of zack, cloud and sephiroth.

[sezra]

after playing through the game countless times, watching advent children and last order hundreds of times, the whole cloud-zack-sephiroth story still has alot of debates between me and my frineds.

so im asking, can somone re-tell the whole story between the three of them? yea, yea... probably asking alot i know. lol.

~Sez

[Rydrobot]

There is an animated movies that is in Japanese about the three of them. It is called Last Order, and came with the Japanese version of AC. I downloaded it the other day and watched it, and it explains a lot of gaps in the story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Order:_Final_Fantasy_VII

if that doesnt explain it then i'm sure someone else will post the entire story.

[Xurts]

Okay.

Cloud grows up as a normal kid in Nibelheim. After an accident involving him and Tifa on Mt. Nibel, he realizes that he wants to be able to protect her. So one night he invites her out to the well to tell her that he is leaving and that he wants to join Soldier.

Now, when Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth all return to Nibelheim to do the check-up on the reactor on Mt. Nibel, Cloud is not a member of Soldier. He is probably crushed by this, and he doesn't want Tifa to know that he failed. That's why he doesn't tell her that it's him.

Zack, however, at the time, is everything that Cloud wanted to be. Strong, confident, high ranking Soldier, and working together with Sephiroth.

As they progress with their investigation, Sephiroth discovers that he was an experiment. When Lucrecia was pregnant with him, Hojo (Sephiroth's father) injects Jenova's cells into him while he is still inside Lucrecia. At the time Hojo thinks that Jenova was a Cetra (Ancient), and that injecting Jenova's cells into him would make him a Cetra and he would have the powers that they had. Hojo also believed that being a Cetra, Sephiroth would lead him and Shinra to the Promised Land, a place Shinra believed to be full of Mako energy. Unfortunately, Hojo was wrong.

After Sephiroth finds out about this, he burns down Nibelheim. Tifa and Zack follow Sephiroth to the Mt. Nibel reactor, where they both try to attack him but fail. Later Cloud comes along and picks up Zack's sword. He goes into Jenova's room where Sephiroth is and stabs him in the back. Then Cloud goes and sees if Tifa is okay. Sephiroth is wounded pretty badly from this, so instead of taking Jenova's entire body with him, he pulls of its head and tries to leave. Cloud continues to follow Sephiroth out, and attacks him, but Sephiroth stabs Cloud right through the chest and lifts him up in the air. Cloud manages to force himself back on the ground, and he throws Sephiroth into the Lifestream below him.

Sephiroth (or, what's left of him) is carried to the Northern Crater, where the Planet is still healing its wound. Sephiroth becomes incased in Mako where he remains until the Reunion takes place.

Shinra eventually hears about all of this, and they send a team (including Hojo) to go and see wtf is going on. When Hojo arrives, he orders that all of the survivors be rounded up. He was planning on doing another experiment involving them.

When everyone is rounded up (including Zack and Cloud), Hojo injects Jenova's cells into them, and he also infuses them with large amounts of Mako. Since Mako is condensed Spirit Energy, and Spirit Energy containts memories of people's past lives, when the test subjects were given this large amount of Mako, their minds were flooded with new information and memories. The subjects who did not have a strong sense of self, or ego, became lost with all of the new information. Among the subjects who became lost and confused, Cloud was among them. Cloud didn't think much of himself at the time, which is why he became lost. Zack was able to maintain his mental health, since he was very confident with himself and had a strong ego. He was not lost in the sea of memories.

Hojo's intention with this experiment was to test his "Reunion Theory". It states that once Jenova's cells are separated, they will all come together again. Once all of the Jenova cells return to its body, a 'reunion' occurs.

I'll also mention that these test subjects are referred to as "Sephiroth Clones". Hojo was not trying to create copies of Sephiroth that had his strength, but trying to copy the experiments he performed on him.

Zack eventually manages to break out of his containment. He frees Cloud as well. They both escape Nibelheim and head towards Midgar. Cloud during this trip is pretty messed up and confused, having succumbed to Mako poisoning.

A couple miles outside of Midgar, Zack and Cloud are attacked by Shinra soldiers. Zack is shot and killed, and they leave Cloud for dead. Cloud's mind at this time begins to change. The Jenova cells he has start to alter his memory so he will be able to recover. They took his memories he had of Zack and Tifa and altered them so that Cloud was at the center of them all, and he took Zack's place in his memories. Cloud also acquired many of Zack's abilities and characteristics. It was only by assuming the identity of Zack that Cloud was able to recover from his Mako poisoning. So he picks up Zack's sword, and stumbles towards Midgar.

Cloud was actually the only "Sephiroth Clone" that was a success, since he was the only one to make it to the Reunion at the Northern Crater, where he gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth.

[Dragon Mage]

Yeah that pretty much sums it up. Good explanation Xurts. I thought there a was slightly different explanation but this one makes more sense.

By the way thanks for making this thread. The makers really messed up when they made the game and didn't explain this very well.

[Zeromus_X]

A somewhat inadequate translation can possibly be to blame for that.

Although I think, once it is all pieced together, it makes a very interesting story.

[Xurts]

Thanks Dragon Mage. :love:

[superflyy]

I really love this story and yes it's so damned confusing! But when it's laid out like that and the movie + game fills in the images for you its really awesome! :D

[Xurts]

I would like add that all of this was not my work. This is work of the brilliant Squall of SeeD, since he explains this story oh-so-well in his Advent Children FAQ. He came up with most of the ideas, I just explained them. Just giving credit where credit is due!

[sezra]

thanks... that was the only down side to the game, that part of the story was really hard to follow. but like somone else has said, seeing it laid down like that, and filling in the gaps with L-order + the game, it starts to make sense.

the thing i never really understood was why cloud would assume the role of zack for so many years, and also why zack was relativly un-harmed by the experiments but cloud was so overwhelmed by them.

you have cleared alot of things up for me... thanks.

~Sezra

[Xurts]

thanks... that was the only down side to the game, that part of the story was really hard to follow. but like somone else has said, seeing it laid down like that, and filling in the gaps with L-order + the game, it starts to make sense.

the thing i never really understood was why cloud would assume the role of zack for so many years, and also why zack was relativly un-harmed by the experiments but cloud was so overwhelmed by them.

you have cleared alot of things up for me... thanks.

~Sezra
My pleasure. :)

[Thorn]

Thanks Dragon Mage. :love:

Lol I love that. "Shinra go up to the crater to see wtf is going on".

That helped me alot, I was particularly confused with the "sepiroth clone" concept.

Good stuff.