One theme that runs in many Final Fantasies is the idea of a knight in shining armor rescuing his fair lady. The main protaganist is often a Hero for his love interest. Some examples:

***FFVIII, FFVI, and FFX Spoilers***
Squall saves Rinoa from outer space and from being frozen in the Sorceress Memorial. Locke saves Celes from the Opera House. Tidus is Yuna's Guardian, tries to rescue her in Bevelle, and swears to find a way of preventing her death in the Final Summoning.
***End Spoilers***

The Cloti's try to claim that Cloud is Tifa's Hero because he took her to the side in the Mt. Nibel reactor. They view that as a fulfillment of the Promise. In reality, whose hero is Cloud?

Part of what is learned in the Lifestream Event is that Cloud picked Tifa up in the Nibelheim reactor and carried her to the side, which Tifa perceives as a fulfillment of the Promise. In actuality, Cloud did not make the Promise willingly or readily. Look at the sequence where Cloud makes the Promise to Tifa:

Tifa "Hey, why don't we make a promise?"
Tifa "Umm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind....."
Tifa "You come save me, all right?"
Cloud "What?"
Tifa "Whenever I"m in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me."
Tifa "I want to at least experience that once."
Cloud "What?"
Tifa "Come on--! Promise me----!"
Cloud "All right.... I promise."

Does Cloud really sound all that anxious to make the Promise in the first place? He says, “What?” twice before he finally agrees to it, and Tifa actually talks him into it. Does this sound like something Cloud agrees to readily and willingly from his heart, or like something he is coerced into by Tifa? Tifa is the one who comes up with the idea. It’s not something that Cloud offers to do for Tifa in the same way that Squall promises to meet Rinoa.

What does Cloud actually do for Tifa in the Nibelheim reactor? He picks her up and carries her to the side, then he goes in to fight Sephiroth. However, Tifa was bleeding to death at the time and may have died despite Cloud’s actions. When Cloud is telling about the Nibelheim event in Kalm, he even tells Tifa: “I thought you were a goner”. In comparison, look at what Zangan did for Tifa in the Nibelheim reactor:

From Zangan’s letter found in Tifa’s piano:

"I went to the reactor to kill Sephiroth."
"But he was nowhere to be found. Instead, I found you, collapsed inside. I felt saving you was far more important than going after Sephiroth. There were several others that were still alive inside, but I was only able to save you."
"As I was coming out of the reactor, Shinra troops were just arriving. I recall a scientist named Hojo was in charge. He ordered the troops to gather up everyone still alive for the experiment. I didn't know what type of experiment he was talking about, but I wasn't about to let them have my dearest student."
"Putting you on my back, I headed down the mountain to the village. I used the Cure spell on you many times."
"And started to head for Midgar to look for a doctor for you. I don't like that city, but my Cure spells weren't helping."
"I decided to go to Midgar to find a doctor I could trust."

Notice that Zangan says he felt that saving Tifa was far more important than going after Sephiroth. Zangan took Tifa from the reactor, carrying her on his back down the mountain, used the Cure spell on her numerous times, then took her all the way to Midgar to find a good doctor. How much did Cloud do for Tifa in comparison? If Squaresoft truly wanted to portray Cloud as Tifa's "hero", as someone who is there for her as much as she is there for him, then why write the story so that Zangan does this for Tifa instead of Cloud?

Cloud is also absent when Tifa needs help in Junon, where she is put in a gas chamber by Scarlet for public execution. Barret is the one who rescues her, so once again we see someone other than Cloud acting as a hero for Tifa. Wouldn’t Squaresoft have written the story so that Cloud is able to help her at that time if the writers had truly wanted to portray Cloud as Tifa’s hero?

How can the “rescue” of Tifa at Don Corneo’s mansion even begin to compare with what Cloud had to face in order to rescue Aerith from the Shinra Building? Tifa wasn’t captured and placed in forceful captivity in Don Corneo’s mansion. She went there voluntarily to get information from Don Corneo. How does the ordeal of climbing all the way to the upper plate up a wire, fighting his way up 69 floors of the Shinra building, obtaining the Keycards, sneaking past the guards, solving the Midgar puzzle, fighting boss battles with HO512 and ultimately with Rufus to rescue Aerith compare to the humorous escapades of dressing up like a woman in order to get into Don Corneo’s mansion?

Look at all that Cloud does for Aerith in comparison. When Cloud first meets Aerith, he rescues her from Reno in the Church and sees her home safely. As already discussed, Cloud goes through a tremendous ordeal in order to rescue Aerith from the Shinra building when Hojo starts experimenting on her.

One of the very reasons that Cloud goes through the whole ordeal of pursuing and killing Sephiroth is in order to avenge Aerith’s death. In addition, the death of Sephiroth also frees Aerith’s spirit, since her spirit had been “trapped” by Sephiroth. Cloud acknowledges this on the Highwind before they head to the North Crater:

Cloud "Although [Aerith] should've returned to the planet by now, something stopped her and now she's stuck..."

The only time Cloud is able to fight off and battle Sephiroth’s will is when Sephiroth tries to make Cloud kill Aerith in the Forgotten City. Even when it meant the fate of the world, Cloud was unable to keep himself from giving the Black Materia to Sephiroth at the Reunion, despite the others asking him to stop in the same way they asked him to stop in the Death Scene. The only time Cloud was able to fight off Sephiroth’s will was when he had to do it for the sake of Aerith.

Cloud then decides to meet Aerith in the Promised Land at the end of the game, and he is actually seen attempting to meet her there in Final Fantasy Tactics. All of this would indicate that Cloud is actually portrayed as Aerith’s hero in Final Fantasy VII rather than Tifa’s.

Well, he's already fulfilled his promise to Tifa by tossing her to the side during the Nibelheim flashback, and he's Aeris' offcial(bona fide') body guard.
Besides, your essay says it all! DEFINATLY Aeris'. Besides, she's the closest thing to a Damsel in Distress that there IS in the game. Ya know, poor Cloud's ended up saving all the girls(you hafta rescue Yuffie from Coreno). Poor guy, he's kept so busy!

Also, let us not forget that Cloud willingly accepted being Aerith's bodyguard for one date. How do we know that he "accepted"? Because he helped her get away from the Turks, and THEN infiltrated the Shinra building (MUCH more dangerous than dressing up like a girl and going to some perv's house) to rescue Aerith, later stating, "Hey, I'm your bodyguard, right?" :wub: He seemed quite proud of the fact that he was Aerith's bodyguard.

What of Tifa and her wish to be rescued by a famous hero? Well, we all know that was selfish of her to ask anyways. "Hmm... I ignored this guy for a long time, but if he is going to become as powerful and famous as Sephiroth, maybe I should get to know him..." LOL! :lol: Tifa BEGGED Cloud to make that promise. She had to ask THREE times before Cloud grudgingly accepted. Later, Cloud blew off the promise right to Tifa's face when he joined AVALANCHE, so, apparently it didn't mean a thing to him. And yet he readily accepted becoming Aerith's bodyguard for ONE DATE, dubbing himself "bodyguard" right in front of everyone, including Tifa. :rolleyes:

I always loved what Aerith and Cloud said to one another in the Shinra building after they got put in jail:

Cloud "Aerith!? You safe?"
Aerith "Yeah, I'm all right."
Aerith "I knew that Cloud would come for me."
Cloud "Hey, I'm your bodyguard, right?"
Aerith "The deal was for one date, right?"
Tifa "............oh, I get it."

Their caring for one another is very evident there. Even Tifa shows jealousy at that moment. Why would she be jealous if Cloud's interest in Aerith wasn't pretty obvious? Tifa's jealousy alone shows that something was going on between Cloud and Aerith, and Tifa shows jealousy several times during Disk One.

Shadow Spirit mentioned to me once that the idea of protecting someone because you want to is considered significant to the Japanese because it shows that it's based on affection. I hope he'll comment on that further, since I can't remember the details of what he said. Shadow? You around?

Even though Cloud doesn't perceive himself as Aerith's hero in Advent Children, since he blames himself for letting her die, it's still quite obvious that he's portrayed by Square as Aerith's hero rather than Tifa's in FFVII.

I think it's cute that Aerith asked Cloud to be her bodyguard, even though she isn't so weak. (I mean, running from the Turks all those times...) And Cloud fulfilling his 'bodyguarding' duty seriously. If he didn't, and had considered himself Tifa's hero than Aerith's, he wouldn't be so determined in saving Aerith from ShinRa like he was in the beginning of the game...

Uuuuurgh... it's that "promise under the stars" thing again that the Clotis love to rub into my existence. Gah. It's the bane of my existence... uuurgh.

Anyway..... I strongly believe that Cloud is Aerith's hero. He has done more defending for Aerith anyway... and yes, he did accept bodyguard duties for her sake. B)

Baaaaaaaaah..... :ph43r:

Hmm, I usually get Don Corneo to choose Aerith instead of Tifa, and I don't really get many 'extra' items for Cloud. Though I don't really know which one is more easier to get (or 'default') but I think it depends on how much stuff you get for Cloud?

Anyway, Cloud is Aerith's bodyguard, and he even mentions that to her by himself, while the promise was always only mentioned by Tifa, so it's obvious which one Cloud values more. Also, when he goes to save Aerith from the ShinRa mansion, I remember Cloud saying something in the elevator (if you did take that route) about not wanting to cause commotion until he saved Aerith, then Barret said something like "I never thought you'd do something like this for someone" (something like this anyway...it was a really long time ago.)

Hey... If Cloti keep rubbing in that Cloud protects Tifa more because of a promise Tifa made him do and the 'rescue' at Don Corneo's place, aiks... they've got another thing coming.

Whom did Cloud always worry about when he says things like "I dragged you into this..." or "I couldn't get you involved.." something like that. He says them mostly to Aerith.

When rescuing Aerith from the Shinra building, he asks either Barret or Tifa to look after her and when Aerith went off to the Forgotten City and spoke to him in a dream, he wanted to run after her but knew he can't. There are many more reasons but can't remember more at the momment. :ph43r:

That is true, but I find it funny that the real heroine and main character of FFVI, Terra, is surprisingly strong on her own. I don't recall her ever being in the damsell in distress situation. I wish they would have another female like in FF game like Terra, as after FFVI all we have is male leads.

Is that really fair? You do know what happened to Cloud before that, and what kind of situation he is. :rolleyes:

But in FFVII I honstly think that Cloud wasn't really a hero in the way that most other FF male leads have been. Now that doesn't mean wouldn't have helped Aerith in any situation if he just could have. But Cloud was going through some pretty strong mental problems while Aerith was still alive, and quite frankly they never gave Cloud a good chance to be a hero like Squall or Tidus were, for example.
Of course it was quite heroic when Cloud stormed Shinra building to save Aerith, even though he ended up being captured. ^_^

But FFVII was good in that way, it didn't try to turn Cloud into this knight in a shining armor that happens to far too many RPG heroes. I find that bit bland. He was a young man with serious problems of his own, and if something Aerith was Clouds heroine, and not the other way around. She made Cloud see things in a different light and helped him in more ways than Cloud helped her, I believe.

My point is that Squaresoft wrote the story so that Cloud was unavailable at the time to help Tifa, which I pointed out in the part in bold. Wouldn't Square have written the story so that Cloud WAS available to help Tifa at that time if they wanted to portray him as Tifa's hero rather than Aerith's?

I understood that, sweetie. I am just such a soft hearted person that I hate to bring out negative points, as if the characters could get insulted by them. :rolleyes:
I can't help it! :lol:

But like I pointed out, Cloud wasn't really anyones hero as he was the one who needed rescuing and help, in a way. I'm sure you understand my point.

But wouldn't you say that he was more of a hero for Aerith than for Tifa? Who does he try to do the most for? Who does Square arrange for Cloud to rescue or help most of the time? Even at the end of the game, Cloud goes to the Northern Crater intending to free Aerith from Sephiroth's control. He says in the Forgotten City that he wants to see that the Planet she loved is saved because he doesn't want Aerith's death to be in vain. (That's from the translations that Wilhelm did of FFVII Dismantled.)

Even though Cloud feels that he failed Aerith by not saving her life, I think it's clear that if Cloud is anyone's hero in the game, it's Aerith's. :rolleyes:

Fine! :lol:

If we really must dress Cloud in that shining armor then he would be Aerith's hero if something. From the very first moment they met he was thinking what would be best for her. Now Cloud might not be the best bodyguard there is or a hero for that matter (at least in the sense we have come to know the word hero), but no one can blame him for not trying.
I suppose one of the reasons why Cloud was so shocked when Aerith had died and he held her in his arms was because he had failed to be her bodyguard, he just couldn't do what he wanted. He couldn't protect her, he couldn't save her and in most situations Aerith seemed to know more than he did and that made him feel so utterly helpless. If only she would have told him more and who knows, perhaps he could have done something differently...or so Cloud believes. :rolleyes:

Exactly... he may not be a huge hero, but if he's anyone hero, he's Aerith's hero rather than Tifa's. Aerith still seems to perceive him that way, too, even if Cloud doesn't perceive himself that way. :rolleyes:

I agree. Cloud had saved Aerith loads of times compared to Tifa. :P

Ok, Cloud had saved Tifa, form what is seen in the game, about two or three times. :unsure:
Unlike Aerith, he saved her from Reno, brought her safely with the others out of Midgar, brought her through the Temple of the Ancients safely except the time he was possesed), went after her at the forgotten city etc... :ph43r:

But I guess when she died, it hit Cloud hard as he was 'supposed to be' her hero, but he 'failed' to save here at the Forgotten City. So, I think he did somewhat feel like a hero at some point be was shy or embarrassed to show it. :unsure:

Yeah, I agree. I think Cloud did felt like a hero...maybe not like one of those big time show-off hero, but a hero who was willing to be there and any small appreciation will lighten their day. Sort of like with Aeris offering Cloud a date, that's a small appreciation that doesn't need so many words.

But I think Cloud did remind me a bit of Squall. Maybe Cloud choose to be Aeris's hero because she gave him an opportunity to be who he is, not what he is. Its like that time when (spoilers alert) Edea was telling the story about how Sorcess without knights go bad (can't remember exact words) and Squall (in his mind) says that he will be Rinoa's knight. (aww...how cute,but without telling her) and Rinoa says she has an apprentice knight because she already had an idea who it was. There were no small lines for Cloud but I took his thinking to say," Then, I'll be your knight" and when he turn around and faced Shinra, it was like confirmation and acceptance to what Aeris's say. It was so cute. :lol: