Childhood friendship?

[Wolfhart]

This has probably been discussed before and I'm sorry if people are tired of it, but bear with me, you could say I'm 16 years late in terms of FFVII knowledge Actually, I don't want to discuss anything, I just would be grateful if someone explained to me the relationship between Tifa and Cloud during their childhood because I find it kind of confusing.

Official sources say that Tifa and Cloud are childhood friends, so it makes no sense to say the opposite but... their relationship before Cloud left Nibelheim isn't very clear to me. What I know is that one could say Tifa was the popular girl, while Cloud was shy/introverted and usually wouldn't play with the other boys, and I don't think they would let him go near Tifa. Then, when Tifa's mother dies and she goes to Mount Nibel and Cloud goes after her and they fall, her father wants Cloud away from her. (And now I can't remember... did Tifa know that Cloud was the only one to follow her? Or did she find out when she's in the lifestream with him?)

It was after he wasn't able to save Tifa that Cloud started to get into fights, right? But I don't think before that he got along very well with the other boys anyway, so... doesn't that make him the "reject", while Tifa is the "popular"? Was Tifa the one to approach Cloud? That brings me to another question... When did Tifa begin to like Cloud? (if we are supposed to know that... well, as if anyone apart from me wants to know that )

Thank you!

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Tifa started liking Cloud after their promise on the water tower. She mentions this in the Lifestream and her profile from the Ultimania Omega does as well.

As for her memory of events on the day her mom died, I think it's implied that she can't remember what happened. By the time she woke up, everyone was blaming Cloud and he was getting in fights, so there probably was little reason for her to question it much.

Finally, the extent of their friendship as kids is unclear. Whether they had more convereations after making their promise on the water tower is unknown, but it alone may be enough to qualify. In any case, I think Japan tends to play pretty loose with that term anyway ("osananajimi"; "childhood friends") and it can even be used in contexts where an English-speaking Westerner would just say "someone they knew as a kid."

 

[Wolfhart]

Thanks for the quick answer!

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

For me, at least, what I took away from the game was this: young Tifa was surprised when Cloud called her out to meet him at the water-tower, because they didn't really know each other well. After he went away to join Shinra, she began to think about him more and more, romanticising his memory, re-scripting the past so that he became the 'childhood friend' he had never, in truth, been, and longing for him to return as her hero. Pretty much all of this was in her head, just like it was all in Cloud's head that he was a SOLDIER First Class.

When they met in Midgar, he was so damaged, and remembered so little about himself, that he was unable to put her right about them having been close childhood friends. In reality, it seems she was closer to Johnny as a child than she was to Cloud.

When they were in the Lifestream together, Cloud wasn't the only one who had to confront false memories. Tifa also had to face up to the truth: she was the popular girl, and Cloud had never been a part of her circle. They had never really been friends in childhood. He had worshipped her from afar, and been jealous of her friends, while she had only vaguely been aware of his existence.

From the script:

Tifa
"...that's right."
"We lived next to each other."
"But I really didn't know you that well."

(The third boy comes up.)

Tifa
"I've known you since we were children and I always thought we
were close..."

(The teenage Tifa looks up, shakes her head, then bows it back down. The
camera switches back to the overhead view of Tifa's room.)

Tifa
"Now that you mention it... I don't recall you ever being in my
room..."

Cloud
"That night I called Tifa out to the well..."
"I thought to myself Tifa would never come, that she hated me."

(Tifa nods.)

Tifa
"Yeah... it was so sudden. I was... a bit surprised."

(She turns to face Young Cloud.)

Tifa
"But..."
"It's true that we weren't THAT close, but..."

(She turns to face her young self.)

Tifa
"After you left town, I really thought about you a lot."

 

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

I always figured they became friends in the time between the water tower convo and Cloud leaving for SOLDIER, which according to official sources was a span of at least 3 months or so, which is notably much longer than the 2-3 weeks they befriended Aerith in.

 

[Lex]

That's always something that's made my heart ache and has also allowed me to identify a bit more with Cloud's character. The very simple fact that he was a bit of a lone child that tried to be included but no one really wanted to get to know him/ bothered. It stimulates the creys ;-;.

 

[Roger]

In reality, it seems she was closer to Johnny as a child than she was to Cloud.

Johnny isn't from Nibelheim. He calls Cloud "childhood friend" because he is that in respect to Tifa. Probably also call Jessie "Gay option" and his parents "Neighbours".

 

[T@ctic]

Official sources say that Tifa and Cloud are childhood friends, so it makes no sense to say the opposite but... their relationship before Cloud left Nibelheim isn't very clear to me. What I know is that one could say Tifa was the popular girl, while Cloud was shy/introverted and usually wouldn't play with the other boys, and I don't think they would let him go near Tifa.

hm......i dont mean to be rude or something, but PLEASE dont note that because of cloud's introversion, he is shy or hates people or doesnt like playing or anything like that. introverts are as good as speaking out just as much as extroverts. being shy is something completely different. shyness has something to do with self-consciousness issues and can be with intro/extro verts alike. its just a pet peeve with me to all the introverts that get downplayed as "shy" which isnt true. my little brother is a huge extrovert but clams up simply because he is shy. his personality has nothing to with it.

................so off topic.

well um, just because you are childhood friends doesnt mean you were close. i mean of COURSE people are going to think that right off, but i used to be childhood friends with a boy who moved just 3-5 months ago but we weren't close at all. but i knew him well enough to know if there was something wrong with him. again, there are a pair of brothers across my house i have talked/half hardheartedly played with, and i consider them my friends but we aren't close at all. still, they know my name easily and even asked me with a bit concern if i was feeling "down" (i was simply spending time alone outside). so yea childhood friends does sound like the epic thick as thieves relationship that my mom and dad had since they were 10 - maybe even younger - , but if someone says, "oh we weren't close" don't be all confused.

ok done im so tired and i want to sleep so baaaaaaaaaaad

 

[Wolfhart]

^ Hm, ok.

 

[Ite]

Also consider the size of Nibelheim. By FFVII standards it's a major town, but it is a post-medieval world, there were probably only twenty children in Nibelheim, one small schoolhouse, and a curriculum that included "how not to get eaten by wolves," a class some children probably failed.

"Childhood friend" in that context means "You lived two houses away from me."

ALSO! The game is largely about memories and how unreliable they are. Tifa retconned her relationship with Cloud several times after he left Nibelheim. Her invoking the "You're going to run out on your childhood friend?" is almost more about her abandonment issues and the fact that everyone else from her past is a charred corpse.

Anyway, it's complicated.

 

[T@ctic]

^ Hm, ok.

"Hm, ok?" "HM, OK?!?!?!??!!"

DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE RUDE AND THEN YOU GO AHEAD AND BE MEAN TO ME LIKE THE.....THE.....uhrm........person.......you......are?

yea sry i may have seen like a pedant (ok maybe i am ) but i didnt mean it directly towards you. it was totally unnecessary i know, but still-

nvm if i was being a jerk i was being a jerk. no need to excuse myself for that. iv'e acted like a jerk on the LS so much im kinda ashamed of my trollish/stupid posts on here. so if im being a jerk tell me ok :/ i dont want to be running around here getting on people's nerves anymore >.<

 

[Wolfhart]

I wasn't trying to be mean, sorry if it seemed like it. I wasn't offended by your post either. I'm not sure I get how a person can be shy and extroverted at the same time, but I guess that's just my problem and I didn't want to start a discussion about it. Also, I realized that my concept of "friendship" doesn't apply in this case.

So my "Hm, ok" meant something like "Hmm... I see what you mean, I don't agree but I don't want to start a discussion".

 

[T@ctic]

I wasn't trying to be mean, sorry if it seemed like it. I wasn't offended by your post either. I'm not sure I get how a person can be shy and extroverted at the same time, but I guess that's just my problem and I didn't want to start a discussion about it. Also, I realized that my concept of "friendship" doesn't apply in this case.

So my "Hm, ok" meant something like "Hmm... I see what you mean, I don't agree but I don't want to start a discussion".

yea yea i know you didnt have to explain i was jus' playing with ya.

if you just want to learn more in shyness and intro/extroversion just look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraversion_and_introversion

Introversion is not seen as being identical to shyness or to being a social outcast. Introverts prefer solitary activities over social ones, whereas shy people (who may be extraverts at heart) avoid social encounters out of fear.