the whole cloud, zac and sephiroth thing

[KaiMcCloud]

can anyone explain what went on between cloud,Sephi and zac coz im confused.i know that when you do the flashback in kalm you are actually telling the story from zac's point of view,but i just dont get the relationship between the three of them.

[TheAbominatrix]

(SPOILER)Sephiroth is a higher up in SOLDIER, Zack is a SOLDIER as well. Cloud is a grunt, and is accompanying the two on their mission to Nibelhiem. Zack and Sephiroth seem to be friends, Cloud probably just admired the two of them from afar, seeing as he very badly wanted to be in SOLDIER.

After the incident at the reactor and the freak out of Sephiroth, Cloud and Zack are imprisoned in those glass tubes in the basement of the Shin Ra mansion, and then escape together. They probably become friends during this point, but of course Zack dies before they reach Midgar, and Cloud assumes his identity.

Hope that clears it up.

[Big D]

Cloud just got really caught up in Zack's life, because of Hojo's experiments 0 the effect of Jenova's powerful cells that were injected into Cloud's body. Zack's life was the one he wanted to have; because he was so messed up, it became his life. Like she just said.

[Rainecloud]

It's just a coincidence that Zack happened to have exactly the same hairstyle, weapons, armour, height, weight, posture and manner of speaking as Cloud.

Honest.

[Shayo]

i thjought that cloud and zack were clones of sephiroth and that explained why they were the same in apperance and height and weight

[blue_midget192]

yea cus Cloud was a "failed clone" of Sephiroth, like thoses black hooded figures, but he was the only one to actually make it back to sephiroth-cus all the clones are drawn to him-i think it was Hojo that said this in midgar b4 u have to fight him, and wern't all the soldiers in SOLDIER kinda infused with Jenova cells anyway?

[TheAbominatrix]

They are not clones in the typical sense of the word. It's made clear in the game that Cloud was a normal kid, and grew up in Nibelhiem and all. He was, however, infused with JENOVA cells, and THAT makes him a 'clone'. Zack as well, because you do meet his parents at one point. Besides if they were clones in the normal way we think of clones, they would look EXACTLY like Sephiroth, down to the last detail.

Normal SOLDIERs are exposed to Mako, I dont know if they're infused with anything. I think that was a project during the later years of Shin Ra.

[Shayo]

ya but i always thought that cloud was a clone of Zack and was cloned at a young age, and Zack was infused with jenova cells at the young age

[TheAbominatrix]

Cloud is not a clone of Zack. If he was a clone of Zack, he would look exactly like him. He would also have the traits of Zack, and he probably wouldnt be a grunt sentry, he'd be a full on SOLDIER. Not to mention that if these kids were experimented on at a young age, they would have been taken from the parents and raised as SOLDIERS, to make them more effective. There's no evidence that these kids were ever tampered with before they lef for Midgar when they became teenagers.

Zack and Cloud being around the same height and body type is just coincidence in the game, neccesary for the makers to allow Cloud to take Zack's uniform and fit into it perfectly.

[Big D]

Zack's spare uniform doesn't fit Cloud perfectly; it's a little baggy on Cloud's smaller frame.
Anyway...
Zack was infused with Jenova cells, only after joining SOLDIER. Iy's a normal part of the process used to make SOLDIER members so strong. However, people have to be pretty strong already before they can join SOLDIER, so they can resist the 'brainwashing' effects of Jenova's cells.
Sephiroth was unique, he was the 'ultimate' blend of Jenova's cells and human life. Shinra wanted to re-create this success, to "clone" Sephiroth, so to speak. To do this, they exposed regular people to Mako energy and Jenova cells - two key steps in making SOLDIER members, but with more serious effects for regular people. Most became those black-cloaked "zombies" when Jenova broke free of Shinra's imprisonment; Sephiroth began to guide them to the North Cave and use them to do his dirty work. Cloud was busy living out his ex-SOLDIER 'daydream', so the effects on him were different.

[Enoki]

I always thought that during the reactor incident zack was killed and cloud tryed to avenge him. Sephiroth kicked his ass and afteward he dint assume zack's identity because he really believed it, but because he preferd zack's more glamorus' and adventurous story so since nobody but tifa really knew the truth and zack was dead then he would just tell everyone zack's story instead of his. Eventually Cloud told the story to him-self the story so many times he began to really believe it and surpresed the truth. Even though Tifa really knew the truth she chose not to say anything when cloud tells his story to the others because she is worried about him and wants to watch him more before she reveals the truth.......but thats just what i thought.

[Big D]

Nope, Zack and Cloud both survived. Head back to the Shinra Mansion in disc three, and go to the basement - you'll get shown a cut-scene where Cloud finally regains all his lost memories, and has a flashback to the time when he and Zack escaped from Shinra.
Cloud really did look up to Zack as a 'role model', the kind of guy he wanted to be; but he only adopted that make-believe role because he wasn't able to resist Jenova's mind-altering effects.

[DocFrance]

In that scene, when Cloud and Zack are riding in the pickup, Zack is trying to think of a place for them to stay. He says something a-like-a-this:

"Hmmm... I guess there's a place we could stay in Midgar... no, her mother lives there, scratch that..."

Now who could he be talking about? :rolleyes:

[Big D]

Aeris. We know that she and Zack had something going for a while, back when they were both about 16 - i.e, right before the Nibelheim incident.

[DocFrance]

Oh, duh. Jeez, I just had a memory lapse. It's been a long day. I almost forgot Aeris was in this game.