#claudia strife

[emeraldblonde]

I've never been so proud. The man you've become... Women must be hounding you day and night. - Not really.

↪ FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH DEMO

[kharits]

Over complicated alignment chart I thought of while in bed (drawn in random styles)

[artwah]

i’ve been thinking about ff7s theme of parents and children……every main character except cid has a parent and/or child relation. i really want to draw all of the main gang with their parents/children!

[seamayweed]

✨Sephiroth being Claudia Strife's ideal daughter son-in-law✨

+ BONUS:

[allisonmckenzieart]

Claudia Strife and her lil’ baby Cloud 

[holly-fixation]

Last Rebirth demo spoiler for the night:

Did anyone else notice that Claudia's last words to Cloud were exactly Sephiroth's in Remake?

"Run, Cloud. Run away. You have to leave. You have to live."

As heartbreaking as it is to hear Claudia say that to her son, it's not the first time we're hearing it.

[getvalentined]

I am so sick of people asserting that Cloud's father is some super special important person like it's some explanation for the fact that he was able to save the world. Superior bloodline stuff never sits well with me in the first place, but in this case it's just so antithetical to the actual thesis of FF7 and does such a huge disservice to multiple characters that it makes me white hot angry.

The most popular contender is President Shinra, because Cloud being a Shinra bastard would (somehow) explain why he's allowed into the company at such a young age (even though enlistment age appears to be 14 and Cloud left Nibelheim to enlist at 14) and how he wound up on so many important missions—because it can't possibly be that he's actually competent, he's so pretty, how could he possibly be competent? It's not as if we see him being staggeringly competent from jump in every title where he's featured, including those that start prior to him being forcibly mako enhanced by Hojo. Clearly this is nepotism.

After all, we know that President Shinra is always so supportive of his bastards! That's why Lazard hid his identity and worked his way up the ranks to become director of SOLDIER at the youngest possible age and then set about trying to orchestrate a hostile takeover of the company by allowing all three of his best operatives to defect in the middle of a war, a process that was only thrown off because one of them passed off every single mission where he would have had an opportunity to go AWOL.

This was clearly the result of nepotism. There's just so much nepotism going on there. Obviously.

The newest contender is Glenn Lodbrok, the lead character from the First SOLDIER section of Ever Crisis, because he's blond-haired and blue-eyed and presumably one of the first people in Project 0 to survive some level of the mako enhancement process. I guess this is supposed to mean that him being Cloud's father would be a perfect explanation for Cloud actually being capable of literally anything, since the only way for him to become the hero that was chosen by the planet to keep it alive would be if it's part of some bloodline destiny.

There are a whole host of issues with Glenn as an option here, not the least of which is the canonical lore about Cloud's father, namely that he was some nobody traveler who kinda passed through and got Claudia pregnant and then left; he may have died up in the mountains, but apparently all that was ever found was his pack, so there's no way to be sure. Further, Claudia was very young at this point—according to her original concept art declaring her to be 33 at the time of her death, she gave birth to Cloud at 16-17 years old.

Glenn is one of two possible age ranges: if he was active in the early stages of Project 0, being a character in the First SOLDIER battle royale game, then he was around 21 in 1985, meaning a 21 year old knocked up Claudia Strife when she was 15 and then walked out on her. If he's 21 during the events of Ever Crisis, which seems likely based on his character design, that would make him 14 at the oldest when Claudia got pregnant.

Okay, I know this kind of thing happens IRL, but I feel pretty confident in the statement that there is absolutely no way that that's the direction SE is taking this timeline and characterization. I'm not even sorry. That's not happening. Either he's giving "predator," or he's Deadbeat Dad: High School Freshman Edition.

But that's honestly not even the worst of it, the math not matching up is entirely irrelevant when the implications of this assertion are applied to the actual thesis of this series as a whole, to the characters we already know, to the actual lore. Claiming that Cloud is only special because of the sperm donation of a man who abandoned him literally removes any concept of his competence as a character, declaring that he's just the newest iteration in a line of "worthy" men. He can't be worth anything unless his father is worth something. He can't be good at anything unless his father is good at something.

Beyond that, it casts Claudia aside entirely, asserting that the fact that she raised Cloud doesn't matter—she may have brought him up entirely on her own, but that doesn't actually matter. She didn't instill values and morals and guidelines into him that would allow him to grow up into a man who could save the world, she was just an incubator, a nursemaid, a nanny, a cook. She was just a servant who kept him alive long enough for his father's bloodline to awaken within him and make him into the hero he was always meant to be.

Insisting that Cloud's value as a character hinges in any way on his father, a person who had no place in his life whatsoever and whom he doesn't even remember, takes away his agency and declares Claudia to be irrelevant. It says that a sperm donation matters more than an upbringing. It says that the place he started is the only thing that defines where Cloud will end up.

This is literally, 100 percent, the opposite of the thesis of this series. The entire concept of these games, of these storylines, is that the way you were made doesn't have to dictate what you can be, who you are, where you're going. Your genetics do not define you, and assumptions to the contrary are literally what make people into monsters. What matters is the people you love, the people who love you, and the person you are now as a result of those people.

And the fact of the matter is that regardless of timelines, regardless of characterizations, regardless of theories, Cloud Shinra and Cloud Lodbrok didn't save the world.

Cloud Strife did.

Claudia Strife's son did.

And I think people could stand to give both of them a hell of a lot more credit.

[little-black-dress-zack-fair]

Cloud: Zack, this is my Mom. Mom, this is my Zack.

Cloud:

Claudia:

Cloud: Wait—

Zack: No, he's right, I am his Zack.

[strayheartless]

Thinking about Mountain kids Cloud who grew up with mountain kid street smarts, so when things go bump in the night... no they didn't.

Like, imagine AGSZC ends up in Nibelhiem during some time off (sans alien mother thing) and Cloud just falls right back into doing things like leaving protection charms outside their window; telling spirits to fuck the hell of when he comes back from the woods.

And he won't let City kid Sephiroth come hunting with them. He wont let quaint little villiage kids Angeal and Genesis come either, because theres shit out there that even First class soldiers shouldn't fuck with.

The trinity are mightily confused because he will let Zack come. Thats because Gongagans know about spooky shit that lurks in the tree's and he may not be mountain smart but he's jungle smart and its basically the same thing.

ASG waiting all day for them to come back to the Strife house and they can see that Claudia's getting agitated that they've been gone so long, when all of a sudden both of them fall through the door's and are like:

"sorry we had to take the long way because the fucking Nibelhiem creeper thought we were easy targets."

They then watch in slightly disturbed awe as Zack helps Claudia lock all the windows in the house and Cloud checks the shot gun for rounds. And their just like "what the fuck are you people on" but in reality its just that Mako monsters aren't shit next to whatever the hell is in the Niblehiem woods.

Its always been this was, the people in town all know. Cause remember kiddies! if you think you saw something in the woods, no you didn't!

[archi-pelago]

The last one had Genesis looking wide-eyed, eyebrows arching. “Poppy m—opium? You make opium?” “Absolutely not,” Claudia corrected, squaring her shoulders, raising her chin as she scooted in close, pulling her gloves up and reaching into the bowl to scoop up a bit of the mixture with her fingers. “Why, that would be a crime, Mr. Rhapsodos. Do I look like a criminal to you?” “I’m beginning to wonder,” he replied, an uneven smile barely tugging at the corner of his mouth. Claudia just laughed.

u should read smoke and mirrors, it has genesis and weed

[altocat]

What are your thoughts on Cloud and Cloudia's relationship?

The scene made me super uncomfortable, the way she barely even recognized him and he went to sulk in his bed ignoring her

Cloud's just being a moody teenager. The emotional goal is to have a situation where it feels like Cloud is taking the love of his mother for granted before losing her unexpectedly. Honestly, I'm glad that we got a bit more with Claudia, as she'd always felt like an afterthought in the original. But she was clearly a very warm mother who dearly loved her son and only just wanted the best for him.

[kharits]

I really need a Vincent time travel fix-it fic

[doctorbeans]

hi im alive. have some nonsense <3

[blaaaaask]

When you make poor decisions in your life.

LATER

And then Claudia's follow-up of like "Uh that's what they got you wearing, huh??"

[rottenpumpkin13]

Ok. I have to ask it. I have to.

Now that Sephiroth knows who his real mother is….. what happens when he gets to Nibelheim? Does he fall for mumsy’s lies and sweet nothings, or does he fight back with the knowledge he now has and cherishes?? ;-;

*Angeal and Genesis are sitting in Claudia Strife's kitchen having tea*

Claudia: So that's how I helped Cloud come to terms with his father's absence.

Angeal: Interesting. And do you think Sephiroth would benefit from the same advice?

Claudia: It depends. How has he been taking the news?

Genesis: Three therapists have refused to take him.

*There's a commotion just outside the window. Sephiroth runs by screaming and beating his own head*

Sephiroth: GET OUT! I REFUSE TO BE BEWITCHED BY YOUR CALL! YOU'RE NOT LUCRECIA CRESCENT! HOW DARE YOU IMPERSONATE MY MOTHER, YOU DISEMBODIED VOICE OF EVIL!

*Cloud runs after him with a broomstick*

Cloud: STOP INSULTING IT, YOU'LL ANGER IT MORE!

[markcampbells]

the work I was tasked with today:

me mentally, sobbing: Cloud always sets his price as a merc at 2,000 gil bc it's what his mom offered him when he left home 😭😭😭😭