AncientGrimoire
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Grim
Nobody denies that Cloud had romantic feelings for Aerith.
However, his feelings for Tifa arguably stronger.
The problem is Clerith can only exist in a non-Cloti world, which just does not exist.
It’s simple.
Aerith is not a threat to a Cloud and Tifa relationship, romantic or otherwise.
Tifa is a threat to a Cloud and Aerith romantic relationship. And not just because she’s another woman that Cloud has feelings for. But because she is THE ONLY one who can heal Cloud. And they are so playing this up in Rebirth. The simple fact that has been reinforced again and again that Cloud wants to be someone special to Tifa, and Tifa is the only one who can find the real Cloud and help piece his mind back together.
We didn’t need Zack and Crisis Core for this to be an already established fact of the story.
We didn’t need Cloud and Tifa kissing in Rebirth either.
They all back up what was already the case back in 1997.
This has been mentioned in the excellent essay that Insane Hobbit wrote, but if they wanted to firmly establish Aerith as the sole romantic interest for Cloud as some Clerith’s so feverishly believe, then they would have gone ALL in establishing that after Aerith’s death.
But surprise surprise in the OG, after Aerith dies, Tifa is the one who gets prominence. Tifa is the one who is established as Cloud’s romantic interest (much as Aerith was also in Disc 1) and the Lifestream and the Highwind only reinforce this to the point where if anyone is still disproving the romantic relationship of Cloud and Tifa come the end of the original, and even worse perpetuating this charade still after Rebirth goes further to establish the romantic connection that Cloud is able to have with both women despite the narrative still inevitably favouring Tifa given Aerith still dies and Part 3 is yet to come, then you’re actively choosing to engage in a story where for the narrative you perceive to work, you have to excise entire swathes of the story and characters in order for your head canon to actually work. And when that’s all you have, with everything else taken away, all that you have left is something that isn’t a very good love story. Because for the love story you want to work, entire characters (including Cloud and Aerith’s own characterisations) have to be completely rewritten, and by that point why are you even still engaging with this story?
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