Heroic Traits
- Magical/Mysterious Birth
- Cloud's birth is missing. When we first meet him he is 21 in Midgar.
- Missing/Questionable Childhood
- Much of Cloud's childhood is missing. We knew he grew up in a small town called Nibelheim. We also know he had a huge crush on Tifa. In the Kalm Inn, Cloud relays the story of "five years ago" from when he was sixteen. In that story he joined SOLDIER and headed back to check out the monster increase. Later we find out he never made it into SOLDIER, instead he was a soldier grunt. Whild Cloud is in the lifestream it is shown that he and Tifa were not childhood friends and that he did make a promise. It is also learned that Cloud wanted desperately to be friends with everyone but was often an outcast. This was one reason he wanted to join SOLDIER in the first place. He wanted to be noticed.
- Identity in Question
- Cloud rarely questions his identity for the first half of the game. Tifa is discontent by the story he tells of Nibelheim because she didn't see him there. This leads to the belief that one of the two is wrong, but which one? Aeris also mentions that one day she would like to meet the real Cloud. When Cloud gets Mako Poisoning and falls into the life stream we learn that the life he has been living is Zack's. Everything he thought he did and achieved was actually a very dear friend's. After returning, Cloud is uncertain if he is strong enough to fill the role of leader again.
- Betrayal
- Cloud actually faces several betrayals. One happened when he was sixteen, Sephiroth burned his hometown and killed everyone he loved. This sent Cloud on an emotional breakdown which leads to a later betrayal. Choosing to believe that he can trust his friends, Cloud is annoyed to find out that Ciat Sith is a double agent and relinquishes the Black Materia to him. The worst betrayal comes from Cloud, who after finally retrieving the Black Materia again, hands it to Sephiroth.
- Tragic Flaw
- Cloud is uncertain and insecure. He often feels like he amounts to nothing. This leads to a constant brooding and often leads him to be manipulated. Although he wants desperately to help people he is burnded by his insecurity to the point of being aloof and ignoring the outstretched hands of those around him. In addition, he often takes on way too much himself. Believing that he has to shoulder everything causes even greater stress and discontent for him which he is unable to let go for many years. We see this as he blames himself for Zack and Aeris's deaths.
- Death at the Hands of Evil
- Cloud gets by with scraped knees most of the time. However, in Nibelheim he should have died when Sephiroth stabbed him. Thanks (that's a loose thanks, by the way) to Hojo, Cloud underwent a similar experiment to the SOLDIER process and survived.
- Resurrection Myth
- One can consider either the Nibelheim Incident and the events after that led him to Midgar as his rebirth or the ending of Advent Children when he returns from the Life Stream. The former starts him on his path to being the man he wanted to be, but not by his own hands. Because Zack cares for him and drags him out of Nibelheim back to Midgar, Cloud survives. And only for this reason does Cloud have a chance at life. When Zack dies, Cloud starts his new life. The second happens after defeating Kadaj; Cloud closes his eyes to take in the rain, to truly relax and accept things as they are. Instead, he gets shot and dies. His energy goes directly to the lifestream where Aeris and Zack send him back stating he's too old to adopt.
- Special Powers
- Cloud's special power stems from the experiment that saved his life in Nibelheim. He has the Mako and JENOVA injections but is not actually a Shinra Certified SOLDIER. In fact, he is considered a "failed" experiment. However, he still holds much of the "SODLIER" strength that is associated with the experiment.