In Final Fantasy VII, Cloud is the central force around which the narrative is constructed. In the beginning, the player is introduced to him as a mercenary and former member of SOLDIER that carries a disinterested air about him. During a mission in which he worked with the anti-Shinra organization AVALANCHE, he encounters a young woman by the name of Aerith Gainsborough, who is wanted by the Turks for being the last member of an ancient tribe known as the Cetra. Later, the player is introduced to Sephiroth, a former SOLDIER 1st Class.
Early in the game, Cloud's past is a mystery. He claims that he was in the city of Nibelheim with Sephiroth when Sephiroth discovered his true origins as a Shinra experiment, subsequently went berserk, and massacred the local population. After finding Tifa wounded, Cloud confronts Sephiroth. Yet, when examined closely, Cloud's memories of these events and others are filled with holes that prevent them from making sense. It all comes together later in the game.
As it turns out, Cloud suffers from a mixture of amnesia and mind control. Although he had been in Nibelheim during Sephiroth's rampage, he was not there as a top ranking member of SOLDIER, but a grunt under the command of both Sephiroth and another man named . Following the incident, Cloud and Zack were captured by Shinra and experimented on with Jenova cells for several years. Upon their escape, Zack was killed, and Cloud was left for dead in a confused stupor, believing himself to have been the SOLDIER Zack was.
Cloud's predicament is not entirely unlike that of Terra Branford of Final Fantasy VI. Whereas Terra was raised to become a magic-wielding soldier under the control of the antagonistic Empire, Cloud's mind is manipulated by Sephiroth, using his Jenova cells to make use of him as a puppet. Under Sephiroth's influence, he presents his enemy with the Black Materia capable of summoning Meteor and destroying the world. In addition, where Terra was eventually able to regain her memories and learn to be her own person, Cloud spends much of the game atoning for his mistakes, including his own perceived failure to save Aerith from Sephiroth when she leaves the party in order to cast Holy; the only spell capable of directly countering Meteor.
By the end of the game, Cloud regains his sense of self, but due to the abrupt nature of the conclusion, his development as a person after the defeat of Sephiroth was left as a mystery.
