"Cloud is commonly believed to be searching for Aeris during the game, but in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix (the extended version of the game, only available in Japan) it is revealed that he is actually searching for Sephiroth, whom he is later seen battling in the "Showdown of Fate" video."

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Strife

._. so..Cloud wasn't searching for Aeris..at..all? ;~;

(..<_< >_> gomen nasai if this has been discussed before. -did a poor attempt on looking for a topic relating to this- ;_; )

Did some rethinking (in class, when I was supposed to be studying) and now I believe he might actually be searching for Sephiroth.

Don't shoot me yet, though. :P

Cloud says he's searching for someone. We automatically relate the "someone" to Cloud's light, probably due to what Sora says, but that might not be the case. We and Sora may be mistaken, and Cloud is searching for his darkness instead. Notice how Cloud confirms that Sora is looking for his light, but doesn't necessarily elaborate on himself.

I dug up the conversation between Aerith and Sora in Final Mix. It's pretty telling whom Cloud is searching for:

Source: Asperity

Why is Cloud searching for "him"? Perhaps to conquer the darkness within him, he must confront its embodiment: Sephiroth.

I think we'll only really know the reason for Cloud's search for Sephiroth in his KH2 sidestory (which reeks of retcon to me... I highly doubt Nomura had some grand plot for Cloud and Sephiroth in mind when they created the possibly-failure Kingdom Hearts :rolleyes: ).

Does this, however, mean that Cloud isn't searching for Aerith? I don't know. On one hand, it feels strange that Aerith would know where Cloud was but he doesn't-- yet remember that they are on separate worlds now, with typically uncrossable barriers (and last I remember, transportation via gummi ship wasn't the norm in KH). While Aerith may have heard about a spiky-haired swordsman wandering the Grecian world, Cloud may have not and may still be looking for her.

---

I have a few problems with this Cloud-searches-for-Sephiroth belief:

01. It was confirmed in an interview with Nomura (possibly someone else, I could be mistaken) that Cloud's involvement in KH is the result of Aerith's involvement in the game (not the other way around, as I'm sure many might believe). But this belief makes it look like Aerith has nothing to do with Cloud... except as one thing-- Cloud's light.

Aerith and Sephiroth are polar opposites. It only makes sense that they hold opposite symbols in Cloud's life as well.

02. Another reason, albeit not a very good one, is that Sephiroth wasn't in the original Japanese Kingdom Hearts. He was only included in the NA version, and then in Final Mix. Why would Cloud be looking for him if he wasn't in the original game?

But Leon is said to feel guilt for not being able to stop the Heartless invasion, and one can only assume from the wings on his jacket that Rinoa and Balamb were the ones he'd failed to protect.

---

Whatever my misgivings are, the script says what the script says. So my guess is that, while Cloud may have been searching for Aerith in the original KH, it was changed to him searching for Sephiroth to give a cool background to Showdown of Fate.

I don't know.....I never really thought Cloud was searching for Sephiroth *only*.

To me, I kind of felt he was searching for Sephiroth, but at the same time I felt, he was searching for Sephy *because* of Aeris. :unsure: If that makes sense. :lol: Because Sephy took away his light..?

That's a very possible interpretation as well, yin-chan. ^_^ Aerith, as we see, is perfectly fine in Traverse Town, but perhaps Sephiroth was in some way related to the Heartless invasion of Hollow Bastion... thus separating Cloud from her. There is the theory going around that to find his light, Cloud must first conquer his darkness.

I honestly think this whole plot between Cloud, Aerith and Sephiroth was originally meant to parallel what happened in FFVII. That's why a lot of it was left unexplained, and I could believe that Sephiroth took away Cloud's light as we saw happen in the game.

Now that they're probably expanding on it, though, I wonder how close to FFVII this sidestory will be. :ermm:

I've always wondered, at what point were Cloud and Aerith separated? Was it when the Heartless invaded nine years ago? The KH manga certainly made it seem that way, since only a young Leon, Yuffie and Aerith were shown when Cid explained this to Sora.

But Cloud hadn't been introduced in the manga at that point, so maybe he hadn't been included because of that.

Nomura once said that Cloud wasn't "left behind, but probably got lost in the confusion". It makes me wonder if he got lost while Cid was saving the kids, or if he was lost somewhere along the way as the group headed to Traverse Town.

If they'd been separated for nine years... just... wow. That means he might've been wandering, alone, since he was 13. Possibly looking for Aerith all that time too. :cray:

I'm afriad I have to disagree with you Lynn :sad:

First line of Cloud's : I couldn't FIND the light.
Sora reassured Cloud he'll find it, and that he's too searching for his.
Cloud reconfirmed what both himself and Sora are looking for again, "For your LIGHT?"

Cloud = find light. :lmao:

With regards to Sephy issue,
Cloud said he fell into darkness and couldn't find his light. Instead of trying to fight his darkness, he took the naive (easy) way out by selling his soul to the untrustworthy Hades.
Lesson learnt, he believed now that he had to fight his darkness, to find his light. Therefore he must first search for the embodiment of his darkness - Sephy, if he wanted to find his light - Aerith.

Agrees with STA... ^_^

I see your point, STA.

Before this, I'd actually written that as a reason why Aerith was whom Cloud was searching for-- I believed that while Cloud's initial words may not be clear (I've seen people say that Cloud should've said "couldn't find my light" if he was referring to Aerith), Sora's line was meant to confirm it for us.

How would Cloud know Sora was searching for his light, if Cloud wasn't doing the same?

But then I remembered the Final Mix dialogue. While I don't care much for the dialogue in Showdown of Fate, I think Aerith's line in FM pretty clearly states that Cloud is searching for "him". I just think we need to keep this in mind next time we say that Cloud was only searching for Aerith-- because Aerith herself tells us that he is also looking for Sephiroth.

I share this interpretation too. ^_^ I believe that Cloud is searching for both Sephiroth and Aerith-- that to find his light, Cloud must first find and conquer his darkness. It doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other. It could just as well be both.

I like this interpretation because it keeps in line with how Cloud's storyline is the direct result of Aerith's presence in KH. It would be pretty silly for him to have been included because of her, yet his final storyline has nothing to do with her.

One thing's for sure: Sephiroth is NOT Cloud's light. I balk everytime I see that idea being flung around. <_<

What? Why doesn't anyone mention the interview?

*digs around*

So, as usual, Nomura never wants to give a clear answer (to 'leave room for everyone's opinion'...coward. <_<)

BUT! It still confirms that Cloud COULD be searching for Aerith. Its a possibility, and that he doesn't deny it means that it could be intepreted that way. So its all how we see it.

Agreed. >_< *Bops Nomura*

>.>
<.<

I'm Sorry!!!!!!!! *Hugs him* But still, I took it as Cloud searching for Aeris. ^^ And yeah, he'll never give a straight because he wants our money AND he doesn't like rocks pelted at his face. :P

I always took KH to be a parallel universe to the world of FFVII. In a sense, Sephiroth was behind most of the Darkness in Cloud's life. He was responsible for the Nibelheim tragedy, Aerith's death, and Meteor. Cloud's mother was killed at Nibelheim, and Cloud thought that Tifa was killed. Cloud and Zack were imprisoned after the Nibelheim incident. Zack was killed upon their escape. Sephiroth was also the great General that Cloud compared himself to as a youngster, and the idol that Cloud never felt he could become.

In FFVII, Cloud searched out Sephiroth in retaliation for Aerith's death, the death of his mother, the years of experimentation in Hojo's lab, the death of Zack, the burning of his hometown, as well as the need to free Holy from Sephiroth's control. Aerith's spirit wasn't freed from Sephiroth's control until Cloud had Omnislashed Sephiroth in the Final FMV. We saw Aerith's hand reach out to Cloud once her spirit was freed.

So in a way, Cloud has to search out Sephiroth and destroy his own Darkness in order to be reunited with his Light. It's necessary for Cloud to destroy his own Darkness in order to be reunited with Aerith. So searching for Sephiroth doesn't mean that Cloud's not searching for Aerith, too. ;)

:woot: Thanks for bringing up this interview, Onigiri! I completely forgot about it!

Yep, Cloud searching for Aerith is most definitely a theory that holds... Yay for the interviewer who asked about her specifically!

Like I said, I just think we need to keep Sephiroth in mind when answering the question of whom Cloud was searching for... because I know I had a tendency to automatically answer "Aerith!" every time that question is brought up. ^^;

I completely agree. It's why I believe very little was explained about Cloud, Sephiroth and Aerith in KH or KH: Final Mix-- it was meant to parallel FFVII and thus, needed no real concrete background to it. Aerith and Sephiroth reprise their symbolic roles in Cloud's life in FFVII, and FFVII gamers understood it. Little else needed to be said about that.

Now that they're planning to expand Cloud's character with a sidestory, though... While it could be just some harmless fun, I reckon there's a good chance we'll see a lot of Sephiroth included. It makes me wonder how much of the storyline will still parallel FFVII after this.

That's the way I always thought of it. Sephiroth was the like a block between him and Aerith which is a likely reference to VII where Sephiroth is blocking Aerith from returning to the planet to active Holy.

Cloud is searching for Aerith, but he knew that he had to defeat the darkness before he found her, that's Sephy. So he thought that he could avoid the darkness by siding with Hades but that didn't work. So now Sephiroth has gotten complete control over the blockage between Cloud and Aerith since Hades now has Cloud within his grasp.

wait...what? o_O

all i know is that in KH, Cloud was only searching for Sephiroth so that he could defeat the darkness within himself and ultimately find his light (Aerith).

on a side note, Cloud's story in KH2 is once again about Light Vs. Dark. which means Sephiroth returns!!! yesssssss (hopefully...) as well as Aerith!! :fangirl:

Duh!! Aeris!

What I meant, since Cloud took the easy path and sold his soul to Hades, Sephiroth doesn't really need to stop Cloud from getting to Aerith, as Hades has already done that.

Hey, does someone think they could find that picture where Cloud and Aeris see each other at the end? I can't find it anywhere, so where better than here, where I assume you guys would have one. :P

Here it is:



It's not seen until the credits.

Nah, I don't mind aeris. I'm not a diehard Aeris x Cloud. (But then again, I'm not a diehard Tifa X Cloud either, I don't care :P )

An' I didn't want to think of another name, that's what first came to mind. ;_;


Thanks a bunch anyway, it's greatly appreciated : ) I wanna make a sig with it lol :P

In any case, to add to the conversation, I always thought Cloud was looking for her too. How would Seph be his light. He's evil, he should be dark. (And why would he want to fight seph, he already did in FF7. He even fought him in his mind. So... ? )

Cloud and Aeris were sooooo cute in the ending!!!

Anyways, Cloud is searching for Aeris!!! There is lots of hints in KH about 'finding his light'. Of course Cloud has to get over his darkness before he can find his light, his darkness is Sepoirth!

Considering that everyone else in KH seemed to be searching for their light, I have no idea why Cloud wouldn't be doing the same thing, and searching for his.
I don't see why SE would even bother stressing Cloud and Aerith meeting up at the end, if he hadn't been searching for her to begin with. The fact that KH parallels with VII...well, I strongly believe that in order for him to find his light, he needed to confront his darkness first. Hence, you could say he was searching for Sephiroth (his darkness), only so that at the end of it all, he may find his light (Aerith).

According the interview with SE about KH, it seems Cloud was only brought into the game because of her. How else would there be a connection between these two characters, if not in this aspect? :P

We've also seen something of a repetition of this theme (Cloud searching for someone/the Promised Land) in Tactics as well, yes?

the sure thing..he's not serachin for tifa :D
omg..yesterday i found a cloti saying that cloud was looking for his ligth(tifa) and that in the end of the game he didn't found his ligth yet..and..he will find his ligth in kh2..cause tifa is gonna appear in it(cloti thougt :ph34r:)

Whoa, Redemption's avy tripped me out thinking it was me, even though I haven't had that one for awhile!

Anyway, I believe he was searching for Aerith. Part of why it also would make sense besides the other things mentioned is the fact they gave Cloud the role of having a deal with Hades. If you've seen the movie Hercules, you know that Hercules made a deal with Hades to get back his love Meg who had died. Now knowing Aerith was killed in FFVII and that Cloud was left saying he'd search for her, it makes sense that the two stories should be seen as parallel. I don't think it's coincidence that they gave Cloud a role so similar to Hercules, it makes more sense that they wanted us to consider the two stories' similarities.

Cloud making a deal with Hades to get back Aerith, because Hades is the god of the underworld where everyone goes when they die and he rules the dead sounds fairly reasonable to me if you are taking the time to put the stories into one.

Even if you don't take the time to think of both stories together, there is still lots of evidence to make you think that Cloud is searching for his light, and that that light is Aerith.

It's funny, when I read that, I see it like this...

Nomura--Well, what do you think? :rolleyes: If indeed it was Aeris, then the bit in the ending was the answer. ^_^ You might say it was made so that you can take it that way. *remembers threats he recieved if he confirmed cleris* :unsure: Cloud is a popular character, and I don't really want to decide myself, yes he is like this. Because players make strong conclusions by themselves, I want to leave room for everyone's line of thought. -_- <_<

See what happens when you spend too much time as a smilie whore in this forum!

I thought Cloud was searching for Sephiroth to destroy him and had to leave Aerith to do it. He sells his soul to Hades to accomplish this and that's why he wasn't able to see/talk to her, but in the end after it's all over he's able to be reunited with her.