What's the point of Cloud Strifes character development?

[Darc]

Well one of the themes of Final Fantasy 7 is character development itself, but he whole thing with Cloud Strife just leaves me scratching my head because it's kind of like this big turgid thing, and they spend so much time focusing on his personal shortcomings, but then at the end I feel like there's never a specific message or point to his perceived shortcomings and the focus on them.

Sure, Cloud has lots of identity issues, it fits with the theme well, but another aspect that's always focused on is that he has a lot of personal faults and shortcomings. One of the main aspects of Cloud is that he very obviously is really insecure, and has serious identity problems even in the beginning (before the experiments performed on him) and as well, he struggles the whole time with not being good enough, being "weak" (on the inside) and as well he is deemed as a failure when he is experimented on (apparently the experiments on him didn't work sufficiently and he couldn't handle the Mako) in the story, if a person is bathed and infused with Mako energy, it can make them stronger but only if they can psychologically handle the process, which he cannot. Then before that he has big dreams of joining Soldier and becoming a 1st class famous solider/warrior, which he as well fails at and only makes it as an infantry men, which again he also is not very good at. In fact, he's not really cut out for Soldier at all (which, honestly isn't that bad of a thing, it's why he's a "good" guy I think) and then after he is bathed with Mako and infused with Jenova cells, it allows Sephiroth/Jenova to telepathically mind control and manipulate him a bit, which he as well struggles with throughout the entire story. He also imagines that fake past in his head where he is the person he wishes he was and mistakes himself for that. At the end, he overcomes Sephiroth's mind control and banishes him from his subconscious altogether.


Is he just a classic case of an underdog or something? kind of like Charlie Brown with spiky hair and super powers?

Is about self and personhood and finding and becoming your true self, and the path that towards that? finding one's true identity perhaps?

 

[Darc]

I guess the whole point is just that he's a victim in a sense, isn't he?


I guess that's all it really represents. A victim (like many of the characters) of "Shinra" lol.

He ironically, because the strongest person in the series because he overcomes the most adversary? the thing is he is obviously one of the strongest characters in the game and a good leader, so I don't understand in the beginning all of the stuff to do with being a weak character? is it because he just didn't know who he was? and thus he had to overcome adversary to know, and in fact he was actually strong? but as well, it's because he wasn't meant for shinra or soldier and that is what made him strong?

Even with Zach, he died whilst Cloud kept living and surviving, so I supposed in a strange way the whole time whilst not being on the outside supposedly the "strongest" (or by whatever merit was used at the time) he had the strongest inner strength? because in the end, all of the characters succumb to some form of madness due to the jenova cells.


And the reason why he thinks he is weak, is the reason why he is strong?


Anyway, Cloud is always typed as an ISTP, but I think he's an IXFP....in the remake he will be probably more like an INFP. He obviously doesn't have Fe at all and he has a constant internal emotional battle with himself all of the time which I imagine is telling of Fi He always feels bad about himself in comparison to living up to his "ideals" (in his head) about being a perfect soldier or whatever (because obviously I imagine, he wanted to help or save people) but seemingly he ends up only seeing his weaknesses and how he falls short, which, of all things, he wanted to be some brazen macho kind of hero character, which he was obviously not suited for at all(which again, talk about being a dreamer, and unrealistic. Not to mention some weird romanticized view of Soldier I imagine) I mean like I imagine most XNFP's (or even ISFPs) who join the freaking army. They are just not suited for it hardy at all.



Even just his actions make me think INFP, in videos like this it seems obvious to me.

Spoiler