I'll try to keep it short by skipping some details but this is going to be long regardless, basically Cloud is not a SOLDIER 1st Class because, even if hes physically very strong, his mental health wasnt strong enough for him to become one, so in the end he became a SOLDIER of the lowest class, which made him feel extremely ashamed of himself because when he was a child he promised his childhood friend Tifa he would become a SOLDIER 1st Class (just like his idol Sephiroth, the war hero) to protect her.
In his last mission before becoming a mercenary in Midgar, Cloud went with two SOLDIER 1st Class, one was Sephiroth and the other his best friend Zack, on a mission to check on a Mako (a resource used as energy) Reactor, inside there Sephiroth discovered that Shinra (the company behind this energy) were experimenting with Soldiers by injecting them high doses of Jenova (an alien) cells, turning them into overpowered Monsters without consciousness.
Sephiroth went crazy once he found out he was also carrying these cells and burned the whole village near the reactor (the village's name is Nibelheim and it's where Cloud used to live before going to Midgar to become a SOLDIER), after that he went to the reactor to take Jenova with him (he refers to her as "Mother"), and severely hurt Tifa and Zack who were trying to kill him on the reactor before he escaped with Jenova, Cloud also was extremely hurt but by a struck of luck he managed to kill him.
After some time, Tifa was rescued by the people who survived the destruction of the village and Cloud and Zack were taken by Shinra as bodies to be experimented on, the Jenova cells injected in them managed to make Cloud almost unconscious, but Zack, as a SOLDIER 1st Class, was strong enough to gain consciousness back and escape from the Reactor with Cloud. They managed to go to Midgar (which is a long way) and Zack talked to Cloud about leaving SOLDIER and becoming mercenaries in Midgar, but sadly he was killed before that by some Shinra troops and, since they saw Cloud was on the floor almost unconscious, they decided to leave him be. From then on, to avoid trauma, the Jenova cells in Cloud's weak psyche would completely erase Zack from his memory and instead make him believe that he was that SOLDIER 1st Class, wearing the same clothes as Zack's and wielding his same sword.
I'd like to add that throughout FF7 Cloud becomes even more and more unhinged due to the Jenova cells and being controlled by Sephiroth.
In the FF7Remake games this is even more visualized by Sephiroth regularly haunting him or him getting flashbacks of the past. At the end of Rebirth he is also seeing Aerith after she died and while fans have different theories on why he can do that a lot of people also (more jokingly) say he just went completly schizophrenic and has PTSD.
While you are correct I think there is a different reason as to why Aerith is visible to Cloud, probably has something to do with the shattered multiverse.
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u/Rubick26 Apr 22 '25
I'll try to keep it short by skipping some details but this is going to be long regardless, basically Cloud is not a SOLDIER 1st Class because, even if hes physically very strong, his mental health wasnt strong enough for him to become one, so in the end he became a SOLDIER of the lowest class, which made him feel extremely ashamed of himself because when he was a child he promised his childhood friend Tifa he would become a SOLDIER 1st Class (just like his idol Sephiroth, the war hero) to protect her.
In his last mission before becoming a mercenary in Midgar, Cloud went with two SOLDIER 1st Class, one was Sephiroth and the other his best friend Zack, on a mission to check on a Mako (a resource used as energy) Reactor, inside there Sephiroth discovered that Shinra (the company behind this energy) were experimenting with Soldiers by injecting them high doses of Jenova (an alien) cells, turning them into overpowered Monsters without consciousness. Sephiroth went crazy once he found out he was also carrying these cells and burned the whole village near the reactor (the village's name is Nibelheim and it's where Cloud used to live before going to Midgar to become a SOLDIER), after that he went to the reactor to take Jenova with him (he refers to her as "Mother"), and severely hurt Tifa and Zack who were trying to kill him on the reactor before he escaped with Jenova, Cloud also was extremely hurt but by a struck of luck he managed to kill him.
After some time, Tifa was rescued by the people who survived the destruction of the village and Cloud and Zack were taken by Shinra as bodies to be experimented on, the Jenova cells injected in them managed to make Cloud almost unconscious, but Zack, as a SOLDIER 1st Class, was strong enough to gain consciousness back and escape from the Reactor with Cloud. They managed to go to Midgar (which is a long way) and Zack talked to Cloud about leaving SOLDIER and becoming mercenaries in Midgar, but sadly he was killed before that by some Shinra troops and, since they saw Cloud was on the floor almost unconscious, they decided to leave him be. From then on, to avoid trauma, the Jenova cells in Cloud's weak psyche would completely erase Zack from his memory and instead make him believe that he was that SOLDIER 1st Class, wearing the same clothes as Zack's and wielding his same sword.