It could refer to if she is alive (which is possible - the ending hinted at her survival) and he finds her again, that he'll keep her safe this time and not let what happened to her before happen again.
It’s pretty disheartening to see how invested people are in deciphering the supposed specific person “Hollow” is about because so much of the debate seems motivated by shipping. I mean, loss and failure is such a prevalent theme throughout pretty much every stage of Cloud’s life:
• loses father at some point long ago
• blames himself for almost losing Tifa on Mt. Nibel, fueling his idolation of Sephiroth
• gives up his hometown to join SOLDIER, only to fail to make it in
• the very same idol he left town to be like ends up destroying said town and killing his mother
• almost loses Tifa again, believing to have broken the promise to protect her
• loses four years of his life while in captivity, along with his mental health due to Mako poisoning and Jenova experiments
• watches his friend Zack being gunned down, dying in his own arms
• loses himself to a mental breakdown in which his mind creates a fake persona
• fails to stop sector 7’s destruction leading to AVALANCHE members’ deaths
• loses Aerith after nearly murdering her twice, also dying in his arms before burying her himself
• loses his own sense of self due to Jenova’s influence and Sephiroth’s manipulation, leading to another Mako-induced coma
• watches Midgar be destroyed by Meteor
• falls into depression years later out of fear of losing Tifa, Denzel, & Marlene due to guilt caused by blaming himself for the deaths of Aerith and Zack
There are so many different layers to how loss informs Cloud’s character and I feel like “Hollow” perfectly represents somebody still in the middle of that mental journey. It represents everything he’s lost so far, everything he’s going to lose in the future, and everything he’s afraid of losing. Unfortunately though, some people seem to be more interested in how the song validates which characters they want to see have sex with each other.
*cue crowd yelling OHHHHHHH...* jeez, the poor boy is so easy to roast, Barret and even Tifa both tease him a little after such a heartfelt apology to everybody in disc 2
I read (I am mentally pronouncing this 'red' for clarity) it as contemplating the potential consequences of screwing with the timeline to get back people he loves.
'Would I have done this if I knew the effects of it?' type deal.
.... I'm really going to need an explanation here because how in the world does him tweeting out FFVII art of Tifa in promotion of the discounted FFVII Remake digital soundtrack imply that Tifa dies?
In fact, why would he even have any insight or foreknowledge of the development of the Remake project when he's not a developer?
It's pretty obvious to me. The truth is, there is no explanation because there's no actual connection either. It's just that Part 1 is already history and Part 2 is still out of sight, so there's a hunger for speculations, however far-fetched they might seem
So I guess you guys don’t want to hear my big-brained level 10 theory about “Hollow” foreshadowing Tifa dying and then her using the lifestream to return as the three remnants of Tifa also known as Nomura, Nojima, and Kitase, who then summon a giant dolphin and infect the world with Tifa’s stigma taking the form of alcoholic matter that infests the body and plagues the victim with a permanent hangover.
.... I'm really going to need an explanation here because how in the world does him tweeting out FFVII art of Tifa in promotion of the discounted FFVII Remake digital soundtrack imply that Tifa dies?
In fact, why would he even have any insight or foreknowledge of the development of the Remake project when he's not a developer?
@a_apple 2.0 Don't worry! Yosh seems to be a Tifa stan lol and that's probably why he chose her picture to promote the song. I don't think there's any correlation beyond that.
Sorry for reposting and bringing back this thread from the dead. I copy and paste my own text in LTD thread since someone there argued if it was about Aerith not long ago. But I feel like I wanted to share it here too.
People forget to analyze how similar Price of Freedom official lyrics (2014) with Hollow (2020).
This is the song in case you never hear it--> jp.square-enix.com/music/sem/page/tdm/(and my famous ZC fanvid with that song here)
I tried to make connections in their similar lines like this by bolding them with same colors:
Well, I don’t ship Zack & Cloud romantically and would rather use the word 'ai' to describe their love towards each other, not 'koi.' But in English, don’t you think the lyrics of “Price of Freedom” sounds more ‘romantic’ than “Hollow’ because there is a word ‘my love’ and 'my heart'? And if people had no idea about Crisis Core and Zack, they would think “Price of Freedom” is directed to a woman since there’s the word “beauty” while “Hollow” is more genderless to even think it if it refers to Aerith unless you’re a certain shipper.
Intentionally, both games end in the same place, Midgar Outskirt, with two Clouds, one from the past (with or without Zack being alive) and another one from the present crossing each other. And with a similar melody & instrument of two events, the lyrics also connect it. In short:
Cloud in "Hollow", imagine he's looking at the cloudy sky when it's raining and feeling like this: Was it all a DREAM? Will I ever know?
Had I REALIZED?
Would you be here in my EMBRACE?
Show me your SMILE.
But I know you're long GONE.
I'll go howling and hollow to NEVER KNOW.
Cloud in "Prince of Freedom", imagine he's looking at the clear blue sky after the rain and feeling like this:: Look into the sky and see the DREAM we never lost.
There's something I REALIZE.
Together we EMBRACE one dream.
Even when we part, you'll never be GONE.
I'd NEVER FORGET the love you gave me.
I wanna see your SMILE.
It sounds like resolution. BUT the fact is... the chronology of the song is swapped. Cloud is IN lost. Under the rain in a barren land, Cloud in FF7Remake blocking his other self who was already enlightened in Crisis Core to never know Zack; someone he promises to never forget, whose smiling soul and love guides him to embrace the dream & protect the honor together. He has no guidance.
LOST.
EMPTY.
HOLLOW.
So, "Hollow" isn't simply about losing someone dear. "Something important" that Cloud is lost is not "a person" but "his real self" and "the guidance to be his real self." Again, Zack should be the voice guiding him that beats Sephiroth's illusion in Cloud's head to go through. Sephiroth wants Cloud to be his puppet (fake/empty self), Zack asks Cloud to be his living legacy (real/having purpose in life with dreams and honor). These voices are like an angel and devil on your shoulder. Remember Sephiroth taunts Cloud like this:
"Don't pretend as if you're sad.
Don't act as if you're angry, either.
Because, Cloud, you are.... an EMPTY puppet."
And it doesnt happen in Aerith's death only, but also in FFAC when Cloud's mourning on Zack's grave.
It doesnt matter who or what Cloud lost: his mom, Zack, Aerith, Tifa, Denzel, etc; Sephiroth will keep saying he can't be sad nor angry because he's just an empty puppet. Empty. Hollow. When does he not feel hollow? It's when he embraces his real self with dreams and honor. Zack reminds Cloud of that, guides him, before Cloud finally gave Sephiroth omnislash and tell him:
To be honest, I don't see that the two are significantly similar. I could take any two random songs about lost love and they'd be equally similar. There are certain standard words and phrases that all these songs use. I've never taken the lyrics of any of these songs very seriously. Lyricists are the poor relations of the song-writing world.
Well, it's slightly better than just comparing the melody of those two songs. I just add what people have always discussed: "Price of Freedom" and "Hollow". I didn't say Hollow is made intentionally to match Price of Freedom, it just helps to interpret what's in Cloud's mind on two different events from the game endings since each song was purposively made for that, not completely random.
