Originally posted by Phoenix 17
Other people and myself have already given evidence as to why it could be Cloud, noone has given evidence it could be Hojo. He could have been involved, but he didnt release her.
That was in a place beyond exageration if that was how it was intended. It would also be easy to misinterpret given people are giving Sephiroth more credit than an ACTUAL near god.
There simply is no evidence suggesting that Cloud released Jenova. Asking questions like, "Why would this happen when he is in this location at this time for this reason" etc. is silly. This is a story. Stories tend to allow for great coincidences to happen because otherwise we'd end up bored to death waiting for something to happen. Would you rather the game make you sit in the cells for days or weeks while we wait for some event to occur to progress the story? I mean come on.

You all seem to forget that this isn't reality. This is a story. Within this story is a plot, a plot which we are SHOWN, in time, complete with story-progressing coincidences. The info we get at the END of the game is the info we need to draw conclusions. There is NOTHING conclusive to the story that says Jenova was in charge, there is NOTHING conclusive to the story that Cloud let Jenova out. The story itself, up until the last THREE battles show us Sephiroth. They even have an elaborately orchestrated song complete with chorus speaking his NAME over and over.

We are told in the building that it is Sephiroth (or a reasonable facsimile) that killed the President. If this "Sephiroth" could kill everyone on the upper 4 floors of the building and leave behind so much damage, WHY would it need Cloud to release Jenova? Even if it IS Jenova and not a Sephiroth manifestation, with that power WHY would it need Cloud to release it from such a simplistic tank? If you wanna nitpick, Cloud couldn't even lift a peice of metal off Cid WITH HELP, so how could he possibly release Jenova from that tank?

We are never explicitly TOLD that Jenova is doing much of anything. All we hear about through 80% of the game is SEPHIROTH. Everythign else anyone says is mere speculation and twisting every little nitpick of a fact to turn in their favor. But the dialogue and hard facts of the story itself, written out is what brings me to MY conclusions. Not speculation.

That is my final thought on this matter, unless someone reveals a more sensible stream of facts. But I think the story, like EVERY story, speaks for itself.