The Difference Between Cloud and Squall

by Lunar Phoenix

In both Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 the lead male characters are presented in a similar light. That of the brooding withdrawn young man who has sheltered his heart from pain by turning it to stone, who later finds through the determination of a young woman the strength to open up.

Cloud grew up with the basic inferiority complex. Simply put, he just didn't feel worthy about anything and everything. His whole goal to become a member of 'Soldier' is based off to try and prove to everyone that he is not inferior. We've seen it growing up in the real world where the kid who doesn't go with the flow gets shunned. Shunned: it's a hard thing and most of us have gone through it growing up. Everyone can pretty much say that they tried to be someone. You may not have liked the music, but you listened to it if it got you attention and if you got friends through it. It's hard to say 'this is who I am and if you don't like it, tough'. We need connections growing up, and being shunned can be a very painful thing to endure. Cloud endured it. He tried to be in Soldier and once again got rejected, which is another way of saying 'you're not good enough,' and in the following months and years, he was put into a situation where he got confused. He thought Zack's life was his own and tried to live up to it. Zack was a Soldier; Zack was everything Cloud wanted to be, but more than that Zack was Cloud's friend. Cloud up until then only knew people who looked down on him. By having someone in the position he wanted, be a friend, a 'real' friend, not just some 'do this for me and I'll let you stand near me' type, must have seemed like the ideal person to know. It was probably the first real experience for Cloud in having a friend. In fact if you change two letters in his name it tells you more about Cloud -- Could. Cloud COULD be a hero, he COULD be this warrior but he had to stop trying to be something he wasn't. He had to figure out who he was through the confusion brought by the Mako poisoning and find himself again.

In this, I see justification for Aeris' death and the problem that her presence creates for Cloud. We know she dated Zack, but she was unable to let go. We can tell she couldn't let go because of the way she treats Cloud. Cloud uses the same weapons that Zack uses, Cloud tried to BE Zack and Aeris wanted her boyfriend back. She couldn't let go of Zack so in her own way she tried to use that inferiority in Cloud to her advantage. If she could keep him as he was then she could still have Zack. Therefore, she kept reminding him that he was her bodyguard that she needed him. If she could just keep Cloud's attention on herself she 'could' have her boyfriend back. It's more tragic that Aeris couldn't let go of Zack in a fantasy world rather than the real one. In the end it hurt Cloud more in failing to fulfill his obligations. Aeris lived in a fairy tale world -- a world of flowers, blue skies, and a prince who sweeps his girl off her feet so they could live happily ever after. Aeris never found reality and instead of facing it and moving on she tried to keep it going through Cloud. Aeris didn't love Cloud. Aeris loved Zack and she would try to keep Zack anyway she could, even if it was a lie.

This leads to the problem with Tifa. Unlike Aeris, Tifa knew Cloud longer and knew who he really was. One can feel for her when she's watching a young man she knew as a child push himself in such ways, because he has become convinced it's the only way to prove himself. Soldier provided the public acceptance he felt he needed to earn her friendship. She knew what had really happened and yet it's only later in the game when she admits to the truth. Why would she wait so long? I think it's because of Aeris. Cloud had been gone so long that he had become trapped in this idea that he was in fact Zack. She tried to humor him but at the same time I think she couldn't fix the problem with Aeris around. Aeris wanted full attention at all times. She wanted a bodyguard, and she wanted to be the focus. She fed the idea of Cloud being Zack through this because one can understand that so long as he thinks he's someone else he'll do this. Tifa didn't need a bodyguard; she didn't need someone hovering over her 24/7 because she couldn't protect herself. It's more like being new to Hollywood. You come in with dreams and ideas and if they don't happen fast or even if they do, someone will offer drugs. It only takes one hit before you're hooked then all you need is a drug dealer and the cash for the stash. Mako was the drug that created the idea that Cloud was Zack and Aeris was the drug dealer. She may not have been keeping him in the Mako but she kept the idea in his head that he was Zack and that's all she needed -- her boyfriend back one way or another. Tifa had to try and wake Cloud up -- make him see the truth for what it was. She had to make him see that he wasn't Zack, and that he didn't need to be Zack to have friends -- that everyone with him so far wasn't there for Zack but there for Cloud.

The whole message from that point of the Mako poisoning to when Cloud had that talk with the other members of his group was pretty much the point of the game. "We don't care about who you were. What matters is now. And now you are our friend and we won't abandon you. You'll never be inferior to us because you're our friend."

Squall, on the other hand, had a separation problem. He doesn't feel like he's lesser to any one; it's more that he just got screwed, let's be honest. When he was younger, his main problem was that he didn't want to lose the people he cared about. Face it people, an orphanage is two things: it's a home for unwanted kids, and it's a home of kids who have to say good-bye sometimes before they're able to. When he was a baby he got separated from his mother, never so much as been looked at by his father, and the only family he had was his 'Sis'. Then she disappears on him too. Considering how a standard orphanage goes, it raises the question of how many times he had to say "goodbye" when he was a kid. So he decided he wouldn't need anyone. That's a bit harsh for a kid to shut off a need for friends and everything to spend the rest of his life watching over people but not getting involved. Coupled with the fact that the GFs caused memory loss, we're talking about a guy who chose a way of life and forgot the reason why. Unlike Cloud, Squall doesn't think he has to be better then everyone else just to have friends. He just has to realize that he's never going to be alone. This was the only valued reason for Rinoa's whole presence in the game since her obsessive, clownish nature was a constant reminder that you're never alone.

Cloud: One doesn't have to be better then others to have friends.

Squall: One doesn't have to be completely alone; they CAN have friends who won't leave in spirit even if they have to in flesh.