minimosey
Pro Adventurer
Had some thoughts on both of these recently as, long story short, I roleplay Cloud from early on in Case of Tifa and had to think about when and how his outfit changed. I defaulted to his original game outfit as I'm not such a big fan of how overblown the wolf thing is (earring, shirt, gloves, rings, keyring, phone background, am I missing anything? motorcycle, wolf of guilt in the movie) but I do like the myth of Fenrir in relation to Cloud.
I know it's already pointed out on his ffwiki entry that Fenrir kills Odin, which is related to Cloud killing Sephiroth and thwarting his attempts at godhood, but I think it's much more interesting that Fenrir was bound first, and one of the gods who bound him was Odin. I think it's interesting if the Fenrir story is around in their world (Odin's a summon, they have mythology around other summons, why not have Fenrir be a hidden summon?) and Cloud takes a liking to Fenrir for both parts of it. He was bound and beaten but not going to be beaten forever, and not even godhood's going to save the person who did it.
The other two parts I found interesting (though I'm not sure Cloud would) is that Fenrir innocently trusts the gods when they swear an oath not to trap him and quickly lashes out when he finds out they lied--yeah, that makes me think of Cloud!--and that in the story they tried twice to bind him with heavy fetters but failed. The one that actually did the trick was "smooth and soft as a silken ribbon". Funny because AC Cloud is literally bound by a ribbon
Though it's not as though the ribbon's hurting him. Now, guilt he felt looking at it... And also just, between him and Sephiroth again, it's not brute force from Sephiroth that wrecks him but subtler things messing with his head.
As for the ribbons themselves, I've always found it kind of weird they're not mentioned in On The Way To A Smile at all (unless I missed something?) and finally I just decided I'd rather "retcon" the game in my own headcanon so that the ribbon is something that started in the game. In my head it starts with Tifa, then Cloud, and the whole party picks it up when they get back together having found their reasons to fight.
This is kind of rambling from me but I'm just curious to see what other people's takes are on Fenrir and the party wearing the ribbons in Aerith's memory, when and how those things got started.
I know it's already pointed out on his ffwiki entry that Fenrir kills Odin, which is related to Cloud killing Sephiroth and thwarting his attempts at godhood, but I think it's much more interesting that Fenrir was bound first, and one of the gods who bound him was Odin. I think it's interesting if the Fenrir story is around in their world (Odin's a summon, they have mythology around other summons, why not have Fenrir be a hidden summon?) and Cloud takes a liking to Fenrir for both parts of it. He was bound and beaten but not going to be beaten forever, and not even godhood's going to save the person who did it.
The other two parts I found interesting (though I'm not sure Cloud would) is that Fenrir innocently trusts the gods when they swear an oath not to trap him and quickly lashes out when he finds out they lied--yeah, that makes me think of Cloud!--and that in the story they tried twice to bind him with heavy fetters but failed. The one that actually did the trick was "smooth and soft as a silken ribbon". Funny because AC Cloud is literally bound by a ribbon
Though it's not as though the ribbon's hurting him. Now, guilt he felt looking at it... And also just, between him and Sephiroth again, it's not brute force from Sephiroth that wrecks him but subtler things messing with his head.As for the ribbons themselves, I've always found it kind of weird they're not mentioned in On The Way To A Smile at all (unless I missed something?) and finally I just decided I'd rather "retcon" the game in my own headcanon so that the ribbon is something that started in the game. In my head it starts with Tifa, then Cloud, and the whole party picks it up when they get back together having found their reasons to fight.
This is kind of rambling from me but I'm just curious to see what other people's takes are on Fenrir and the party wearing the ribbons in Aerith's memory, when and how those things got started.
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