There’s a common argument in among Final Fantasy VII fans that Tifa knows Cloud’s true self and thus her experiences with him throughout the game are genuine, whereas Aeris does not know Cloud’s true self and therefore her own relationship with him is inherently counterfeit. Dismantling this claim doesn’t require delving into secondary sources (the truth is apparent enough within the game itself), but let’s explore the reality of Tifa’s understanding of Cloud in a bit more depth.
What is true is true is that Tifa and Cloud grew up in the same town of Nibelheim, and that they certainly knew of one another. But were they close – and can we say that Tifa knew Cloud’s “true self”? Absolutely not.
Within Final Fantasy VII’s Continuity
Cloud and Tifa are referred to as “childhood friends” throughout the game, but in disc 2, the reality of their relationship is brought to light. It turns out that Cloud’s friendship with Tifa in their youth is just another falsehood of his identity, perhaps unintentionally instigated by Tifa herself when they reunited in Midgar. Tifa, who was overjoyed to find a piece of her lost hometown and community returned to her, has to strain her memory to recall that she and Cloud weren’t actually close as children.
The following dialogue occurs during the Lifestream sequence.
Tifa: Was that the first day you came into my room?
Tifa: …that’s right. We lived next to each other. But I really didn’t know you that well.
Tifa: I’ve known you since we were children and always thought we were close…
Tifa: Now that you mention it…I don’t recall you ever being in my room…
Cloud: Tifa always used to be with this three-some.
Tifa: …That’s right.
Cloud: I used to think…they were all stupid.
Tifa: What!?
Cloud: You were all childish, laughing at every little stupid thing.
Tifa: But we were children, back then.
Cloud: …I know. I’m the one that was stupid. I really wanted to play with everyone, but I was never allowed into the group.
Cloud: Then later… I began to think I was different… That I was different from those immature kids. That then…maybe…
There is one more line that is erroneously skipped in the English version of the game. (That is, for some reason, the entire text box doesn’t appear, as it seems the translator forgot to populate it with an translation.)
“I don’t have any memories of us playing together, either… My memories with CLoud always begin at the water tower under the stars…”
So Tifa admits she doesn’t even remember Cloud much at all before their teenage water tower promise. They did not play together, were not friends, and so indeed, could not have known one another’s “true selves.”
The reality of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship is addressed directly in the Ultimania Omega.
当時のクラウドは、ティファには印象の薄い存在だった。その彼にこんなことを 頼んだのは、「ヒーローに助けられてみたい」という、幼いお姫様願望を満たしたか ったからにすぎない。だが、約束を交わ したこのときを境に、クラウドは彼女の なかで特別な存在となり、しだいに大きな位置を占めていく。
In those days, Cloud didn’t make much of an impression on Tifa. The reason why she asked him to do this was simply because she wanted to fulfill a childish wish to be a princess rescued by a hero. However, from the moment they exchanged their promise, Cloud came to hold a special presence in her heart, and gradually she held him in higher standing.-FF7 Ultimania Omega page 24
So Cloud didn’t make an impression on Tifa whatsoever prior to the water tower. Asking him to rescue her at the water tower was a request based on a girlish fantasy moreso than particular interest in Cloud. After that moment, however, Cloud does come to mean more to Tifa. It’s true that from thereon, Cloud could be described as “special” to Tifa, and thus, her feelings for him do predate their reunion in Midgar. However, that does little by way of getting to know someone’s “true self” – their ambitions, insecurities, affect, or communication style.
なぜティファは クラウドと幼なじみだ と思っていたのか?
クラウドの記憶をたどるシー ンを見る限りでは、彼らが幼な じみだとは到底思えないが･･･。 「退屈な日々の中、給水塔での 「思い出のインパクトは大きかっ たのでは。細かい日々の記憶よ り、インパクトの大きい思い出 が優先されたのではないでしょ うか。また、幼なじみという言 葉がクラウドとの関係を考える 時にしっくりきたのでは? さ らに言えば、ソルジャーという 成功者を自分の幼なじみだと考 えることが彼女にとって重要だ ったのかもしれません」(開発者)。
◆ティファとクラウドは、ほとんど話したことがないという程度の仲だった。
●Why did Tifa think she was childhood friends with Cloud?
Judging from the scene in which Cloud’s memories are recalled, it is hard to believe that they could actually be childhood friends…
“During those monotonous days, the memory made at the water tower must have made a big impact. I think perhaps such impactful memories took precedence over memories of trivial daily life. Also, maybe the phrase ‘childhood friend’ felt right when she thought about her relationship with Cloud? What’s more, it may have been important for her to think of this successful SOLDIER as her childhood friend.” (Developer)
◆The level of companionship between Tifa and Cloud is that they had hardly ever spoke.
~Developer comments, TV Gamer, May 1997
This piece is especially interesting. While TV Gamer doesn’t reveal who made the comment, we know it was someone on the dev team. As implied in FF7 itself, Tifa may have bloated the memory of the water tower in her head, as it’s simply a more interesting occurrence than all the times she didn’t notice or think about Cloud. The dev also implies her interest was piqued when Cloud said he was going to become a SOLDIER – and when he appeared in Midgar presenting as just that, Tifa may have been extra motivated to distort her own memories in order to emphasize their (in reality, non-existent) friendship.
Within Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth Continuity
In Remake, there is an interesting scene toward the beginning in Chapter 1 where Cloud seems to remember a young Tifa calling out to him. It seems to suggest that Tifa tried to get Cloud to play with her group, but Cloud ignored them.
But fascinatingly, the Remake Ultimania has something else to say about this scene. Note the text in red!
他の少年たちが唖然とする中、駆け寄ってくるティファ。
ティファ (8歳) 「また無視した!」(怒ったふりで)
(以上はクラウドの“無意識”が瞬時に改変した記憶。実際は、ティファは クラウドに気づかなかった)
The other boys are dumbfounded, and Tifa runs over.
Tifa (8 years old): Are you ignoring me? (she pretends to be angry)
This is a memory that was altered “unconsciously” for an instant. The actual scene is that Tifa did not notice Cloud.
Cloud’s memory here is false. In reality, Tifa did not notice Cloud. This is another example of Cloud’s JENOVA cells trying to alter his memories to suit the narrative he created for himself: that he’s a SOLDIER, and that he was childhood friends with Tifa.
In Nojima’s novel Traces of Two Pasts, we take a deep dive into Tifa’s childhood, under the pretense of her telling the story of her life in Nibelheim and Midgar to other members of their party present-day. In her recounting, she and Cloud were childhood friends who played together when they were very small, but drifted apart around the time she turned 8.
Is Tifa an unreliable narrator here, misremembering her alleged friendship with Cloud as she does in the original game? It’s certainly possible – even likely – that Cloud and Tifa did play together from time to time as very young kids. After all, they were neighbors. Whether this is a retcon or something that will be delved into in part 3 of the trilogy is unclear, but the core concept of their past has not changed.
野島：「幼なじみではあるがさほど親しかったわけではない」──ティファとクラウドの関係をきちんと語ること、ザンガンとの交流、悲劇のあとミッドガルへ行くことになった経緯、身寄りのない15歳の少女がスラムでどのように暮らしたのか。これらを描くことが課題でした。なかなか面白くなったと自負しています。
Nojima: “They were childhood friends, but they weren’t particularly close” – properly telling the relationship between Tifa and Cloud, their interactions with Zangan, how they ended up going to Midgar after the tragedy, and how an orphaned 15-year-old girl lived in the slums. The challenge was to depict these things. I’m proud to say that it turned out to be pretty interesting.
In this interview, Nojima discusses how he wrote the novel based on the fact that Cloud and Tifa are 幼なじみ (childhood friends) but not actually very close. That more or less clears up the question – Cloud and Tifa were not close as children in the Remake continuity, either, and thus Tifa does not know his “true self.”
Rebirth follows up on some of Tifa’s perceptions about who Cloud is presented in Nojima’s novel in a particularly painful, but important, way. In Nibelheim, Tifa comments that Cloud likes to be alone, to which Cloud argues that she couldn’t be more wrong.
Tifa: Playing that piano again brought back a lot of memories. How Mom used to teach me while Dad was downstairs in the kitchen, doing his best – which was pretty good. Hang-outs with Emilio and the gang. Which we kept inviting you to, but you never came.
Cloud: “Never”? Really?
Tifa: Really. But you seemed fine on your own.
Cloud: That what it looked like? That I enjoyed being alone?
Tifa: You didn’t?
Cloud: Of course not.
Tifa: Huh… Guess we still don’t know each other that well.
Based on the previous Ultimania script, one does have to wonder if Tifa actually invited Cloud to play with them, or if she’s misremembering. Regardless, she seems to have thought – and continues to think – that Cloud enjoyed being alone. In reality, Cloud’s loneliness was painful and a source of shame for him – and, arguably, the crux of his mental health issues. Tifa acknowledges that they still don’t know one another very well.
Contrast to Aeris
It seems that both Tifa and Aeris thus are meeting Cloud for essentially the first time as adults, and they are both gradually getting to know him together. Aeris, however, seems to perceive Cloud’s “true self” much more easily than Tifa. Despite allegations that she’s only seeing Zack in Cloud, it’s in fact official that she sees through to the true essence of who he is.
Aeris senses an overlap between Zack and Cloud, and detects that Cloud isn’t his normal self. She saw into his true existence, which he himself wasn’t even aware of, so lines like “I’m searching for you” and “I want to meet you” have deep meaning. -Ultimania Omega, page 31
Although Aeris felt affectionate to Cloud because he behaved like her first love Zack, she gradually became interested in Cloud himself, and she is attracted to him. -Ultimania Omega, page 31
クラウドの夢枕に立ったエアリ スは、彼をいたわるように、こう 忠告する。 エアリスがクラウドの 本質を見抜いていたことがうかが えるセリフだ。
彼女の心配どおりのちにクラウドは・・・Aeris appears in Cloud’s dream in order to care for him with this advice. This line suggests that Aeris has seen through to true essence of Cloud.
But just as she feared, later on, Cloud… -Ultimania Omega, page 156
Though she realizes that Cloud has lost sight of his true self, Aeris harbors feelings for him. She was determined to fulfill her duty as an Ancient, but on the other hand, he was weighing upon her heart until her final moments. -10th Anniversary Ultimania, page 50
She’s looking for the real Cloud
“I’m searching for you.” / So you don’t have a breakdown.” Her words to Cloud have many layers of deep meaning. She seems to have perceived that the Cloud in front of her wasn’t his real self, even though they had just met. Perhaps it’s due to her innate mysterious power.
↑An impressive scene where she appears in Cloud’s dream and leaves him with caring words concerned about the collapse of Cloud’s heart. -Ultimania Omega, page 29
Conclusion
Therefore, Cloud and Tifa’s relationship isn’t inherently “genuine” prior to the Lifestream simply because they grew up in the same village. Cloud is pretending to be someone he isn’t, and Tifa imposes her personal understanding of who Cloud is onto him.
Of course, none of this means that Tifa cannot fall in love with Cloud, nor potentially vice versa! What it does mean, though, is that Tifa is approaching Cloud as essentially a stranger. She, too, is getting to know him for the first time. The opposite is true – even if Cloud had a massive childhood crush on Tifa, without actually being her friend in those formative years, his image of her may not be accurate to her true self.
It does mean, however, that Cloud and Tifa do need time to get to know who one another truly are, and unpack a lot of baggage from personal misconceptions. Tifa gradually getting to know who Cloud really is is a part of her journey within the narrative, and assumptions that she has access to his “true self” from the start only cheapens their character arcs.
Earth & Sky: A Cloud x Aeris Love Story 