Cloud Strife

Cloud Strife
Final Fantasy character
Cloud Strife artwork by Tetsuya Nomura for Final Fantasy VII.
First game	Final Fantasy VII (1997)
Created by	Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi
Designed by	Tetsuya Nomura
Voiced by	English Steve Burton (2002–18) Cody Christian (2020–present) Major Dodson (2020, young) Japanese Kenyu Horiuchi (Ehrgeiz, arcade version) Nozomu Sasaki (Ehrgeiz, home console version) Takahiro Sakurai (2002–present) Yukihiro Aizawa (Final Fantasy VII Remake, young)
In-universe information
Weapon	Buster Sword
Family	Mother - Claudia Strife (Deceased) Father - Unknown (Deceased)
Home	Nibelheim

Cloud Strife (Japanese: クラウド・ストライフ, Hepburn: Kuraudo Sutoraifu) is a character in the media franchise Compilation of Final Fantasy VII by Square Enix. He is the protagonist of the role-playing video games Final Fantasy VII (1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024) and the animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005), and appears in several other instalments in the wider Final Fantasy series. He has also appeared in other media, such as the Kingdom Hearts series by Square Enix and Disney and the Super Smash Bros. series by Nintendo.

Cloud was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a character artist for the Final Fantasy series, whose role expanded to include supervision over Cloud's personality. Yoshinori Kitase, director of VII, and Kazushige Nojima, an events planner, developed the story and wanted to create a mysterious character who acted atypically for a hero. After VII, Nomura redesigned Cloud for Advent Children, giving him a more realistic appearance alongside new weaponry and a new outfit. For Remake, the team aimed to adapt his classic design for a more realistic artstyle.

Cloud has garnered primarily positive reception from critics, and has been described as one of the most iconic video game protagonists. He has also been cited favorably as an example of complex character writing in video games, as one of its first unreliable narrators and for the game's depiction of his mental disorder. Additionally, he is seen as a messiah figure in both the game and film for opposing Sephiroth's schemes and supported by his allies.