I've noticed that in the fandom, it is constantly highlighted how Cloud never stopped loving Tifa and Aerith never stopped loving Zack.....is it me, or can we never move on from our first love?

It is stated clearly in some parts of FF7 that Cloud has problems remembering the so called promise of a lifetime that he and Tifa shared when they were children:

And when you think about it, who can blame the guy? Being stuck in a mako reactor for so many years can have a impact on your brain and memory. Also taking into consideration Cloud's memories of his childhood are for the most part, unhappy.Who knows, maybe he blanked them out....blanking out Tifa as well.

I tell you, over five years is a very long time to get over sometime.....if I was pining for a lad in those years, I'll actually be a little worried. Theres some saying somewhere which heeds: "First love is beautiful, but second love in enternal."

However, if it is true we can never move on from our first love, Rinoa in the FF8 universe was leading Sqaull along, while really pining for some hot Seifer lovin.' *cough*

I'll add to this when I'm not half brain dead and postively sunk. :yawn:

Any thoughts?

Awesome line! :o *quickly scribbles that down*

Anyway, yep, can't agree more. I think it's because of our assumptions as viewers that each character in a story only has ONE love, forever and all eternity... when in reality, most people experience several loves before eventually settling down with The One (or they never find The One). They don't have to be "serious" loves-- crushes, puppy-love etc. Those all count. Everyone will have, to some degree, a romantic history.

And that's precisely what Zeris is: Aerith's romantic history. It could have been something big, something small-- but ultimately, it's something that builds up her past.

As for Cloud pining for Tifa for five years? I'd say it was the other way around: Tifa was the one looking for news of Cloud. We don't get any news about Cloud's thoughts of her during his Shinra stint. However you want to describe Cloud's memories of Tifa and the promise--that he always remembered it, just suppressed it; or that he never remembered it at all--bottomline is that Cloud pining for Tifa is not set in stone.

Agreed.

Rarely do we find our soulmate as a first love. How can one be sure, without previous experience to tell the difference between a soulmate and past love?

Like Lynn said, Zeris love is Aerith's previous lovelife. With Zack as her first boyfriend, she experience her first love, however small or huge, until Cloud comes along many years later. She spend time with him and despite him emulating some of Zack's traits, the love they shared is different from the one she had with Zack. She genuinely fall in love with Cloud, even after his true past was reveal in MOTP.

As for Cloud? It can be debateable whether or not he used to had a crush on Tifa when he's younger. Let's assume so for now.

Tifa's popular in town. Cloud's not that known. She's seem to be only girl in town when they're younger, so there's not much female crush prospects and I doubt Cloud'd be the type to have an imaginery friend. (Hm...fanfiction idea...)

Fast forward, Cloud's now working for ShinRa and though he's not a SOLDIER, we never get to see him bringing up the promise, even to himself. (BC, anyone?) Even if he's that devoted, for some reason, the resulting fate as a test subject after Nibelheim, like Belle said, are hardly healthy for the mind.

The fact that Cloud still loves Tifa after being pumped full of mako, being disorientated after Zack's passing and all that crap, and STILL remember the promise that clearly? I'll believe that if his name is Gary Stu.

Hmmm, let's see, I think I can relate a story to the so-called "first love = only love".

When I was in second/third grade, I had a humongous crush on my best friend, Cooper. (Okay, shut up, I know you're all laughing over there. D: ) Well, I moved, and then he moved...Yes, we eventually got eachother's phone numbers/email addresses/et cetera. I actually still was insanely in "love" for a while; let's see...2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th.....Sort of 7th, maybe even a bit of 8th.....Grade, so I'd say six or seven years at most. xD Pining, was I not? XD Well, I think I finally came to terms with the fact that Cooper isn't exactly my ideal guy anymore. xD Of course, I still love him a lot, but not like that. XD More like, "you're-one-of-my-best-friends-and-I-love-you" sort of thing. First love, that of when you were a child, doesn't tend to be your final love, folks! And that's my crappy story for you all. XP

Pssht, in summary, I pretty much, like Tifa, held feelings for much longer than necessary, and though I actually said "I love you" many times a day when I was in third grade, and kissed him on the cheek quite a bit (no shame as a child, I had no shame :lmao: ) he never liked me like that, anyway. :D Sort of like how I think Cloud's feelings for Tifa are quite platonic, even though Tifa loves/loved him and wants him to love her? D:

HAHA. THAT WAS SO CONFUSING. I APOLOGIZE.

I guess thats a little different. You stayed in touch and were best friends. It was not a factor of admiring from afar. :P I'm also guilty of holding feelings for someone close to me....for over two years, and we weren't even friends. >.< It was part jokey, though. It was kinda "admiring from afar," but I manged to move on. Eventually. :sad:

Things that Cloti's seem to forget is that Cloud and Tifa weren't that close in their childhood, therefore Cloud and Tifa were NEVER in love during their childhood. Cloud and Tifa weren't each other's first loves and they still AREN'T in love >.< I believe that Cloud had been crushing on Tifa and I know he wanted to be part of her big group of friends, but it just never happened for him. I feel that is why Cloud was determined to join SOLDIER, to prove himself. He didn't join SOLDIER because he was in love with Tifa like Cloti's seem to think. I feel like he tried to join SOLDIER so he wouldn't be ignored anymore by Tifa and her group of friends. He wanted to gain their attention and prove that he wasn't weak. That's just how I feel about it *shrugs* I believe that Cloud only ever loved Aerith in "that" way. While Cloud may love Tifa, he loves her as a close friend but not in the way that he loves Aerith.

AWW! Lute your story was too adorable xD!! sadly when I was a kid I was a dork! boys had cooties :angel:

I agree with you LadyAerith that Cloud and Tifa really didnt have a "childhood" together. So basically Tifa and Aerith both started in the same place, relationship wise. But of course I believe that Cloud and Aerith had far more romantic progression even with the lack of time they had together, while Cloud and Tifa have had far much more time together and they havent gotten anywhere. Some people cant take a hint. :whistle: But anyways, I think that the past was a NO factor considering, they really didnt have a "past"

Yup. I agree that they started out on the same page with one another, but Aerith really helped him get out of his 'moody' attitude. She saved him in a way if you wish to think of it that way. But she she died, Cloud didn't know what to do, so he went back all moody and depressed.

Cloud was overwhelmed by the grief and remorse he felt for losing Aerith. I still believe that, even though Cloud knows Aerith has forgiven him, he still continues to miss her and doesn't want to 'move on' from her, hence why he's still single and meeting up privately with Aerith *cough* flowerfield *cough*