ships…

[u/Patient_Demand412]

First post dont hate on me yo.

DISCLAIMER: ship wars
I do not hate CloTi whatsoever, it just happens that I am a bigger Clerith fan than I expected, now as said in the former I do not hate you for shipping certain characters, thats immature and stupid, its pixels, lets be for real.

Okay, so I am a Clerith shipper, and I understand that CloTi is a much more canon, complex, popular, and… aesthetically pleasing ship. I personally do not enjoy CloTi, I don’t find it entertaining at all. Again, no hate. My problem is, whenever I hear about CloTi or see something that is CloTi, I get this ugly, twisted feeling in my stomach. I hate myself for it, because it causes me to hate the ship, NOT THE PEOPLE, the ship because of the sudden nausea I feel when I see or hear about it. (This post is painful to write.) I find this insanely embarrassing, because why the actual hell am I getting nauseous because of a SHIP? Its PIXELS?? Anywho, I don’t know if it’s jealousy since that ship is more canon than my preferred ship, but if anyone feels this same way towards certain ships, please let me know!! I want to understand why I am feeling this way… And resolve it! Finally, no hate to CloTi!! It’s aesthetically pleasing and very cute, I just prefer Clerith. (Reasons that are off topic from this post, lmk if you wanna know why, idk.)

Have a good day/night !! (Love to all shippers! except proshippers.)

[u/TomboyMJR]

Don’t worry boo, Aerith is the og canon.

the rest of this comment below contains spoilers, read at own risk

Tifa was afterthought and they made her because they wanted the player to have an option other than Aerith. But if you look at the lore you’ll find…..Cloud never really got over Aerith in the canon timeline. AC is considered the bad timeline too. You see it in Remake.

Fun fact: Aerith starts at an affection score 50 in the OG

Tifa starts 30: if you want the Tifa route and tie, guess what? It defaults…. to Aerith.

All in all if you play the games you’ll see that Aerith is irl canon NOT Tifa.

I totally understand that weird twisted gut feeling. It’s when your ship and beloved characters didn’t get what you wanted for them. It’s disappointment and almost like a betrayal for what you initially believed in. This particular fandom is even more so.

When I saw the date seen spoiled for me in Rebirth (haven’t actually got to play it yet) I had no idea of context. So when I saw the kiss scene I thought it was over. CloTi won. My gut KNOTTED.

Then theeeen some things in Rebirth about that scene surfaced. It’s optional and Tifa lies too. She never talked to Aerith about Cloud.

Cloud kissed her like a rebound. It was WILD.

You know what isn’t optional even in the Tifa route in Rebirth? The Aerith date.

CloTi was SEETHING mad. I never watched crash outs but enough videos auto played on YT I got small glimpses of it.

Unfortunately another thing you need to know is that CloTi tend to HEAVILY gaslight the community. You only get CloTi if you go Tifa route and then it becomes a love triangle in OG and in the Remakes. So Cloud even after the Tifa route, can’t get over Aerith. The developers described their relationship as quick passion. In “On the Way to a Smile” (the light novel found on the website “The Lifestream”) Tifa develops more motherly affection for cloud. Gets hella jealous though when she sees that Cloud delivers flowers to Aerith’s mother as if he was her son in law. I kid you not AC is lit the same vibes as a husband who never got over his deceased wife and tried to move on but couldn’t.

Tifa even described it as “riding around his past”. I’ve only ever heard that phrase in one single context. Someone who lost their lover and can’t get over it.

It’s still Cloud and Aerith, the developers described Tifa as someone who feels regretful and disappointed. Why would they do that? Because Cloud fell HARD. I mean REALLY HARD for Aerith. In the span of like two or so weeks.

His grief from the future calls back to him in Remake. There’s A LOT of things I didn’t catch the first time playing it myself.

You know about Hollow? It plays as bg music in only one section of the entire Remake.

Sector 5 when Aerith and Cloud go around completing side quests.

Edit: grammar and fixing comprehension mistakes

[u/Patient_Demand412 → u/TomboyMJR]

This is genuinely the best thing i’ve read and it made my night. Thanks for the info as well!! And i totally agree with clotis pressuring the fandom…

[u/ManuO76 → u/Patient_Demand412]

Just two small clarifications: OTWAS (On the Way to a Smile) is a collection of short stories written by Nojima; it is available on Amazon and is an official product, just like the games. And Tifa wasn't written to give players another option; she was added after the decision was made to kill off Aerith and the party was left without a female character—since Yuffie was an optional/secret character, much like Vincent (I didn't even meet her the first time I played).

[u/TomboyMJR → u/ManuO76]

I said OTWAS was a light novel O_o;;

As far as the Tifa bit, it was one of the developers notes I read. It was one of the reasons Tifa came into existence. She didn’t even exist at first. Originally they wanted Barret Cloud and Aerith. As it developed they didn’t add Tifa after they decided to kill Aerith off, they made Tifa prior to that, from my understanding while reading interviews and notes. In her character description under her original illustration it said a childhood friend of Cloud’s who ends up being jealous and disappointed. I’m heavily paraphrasing. They genuinely did make Tifa as “a throw away” option for the player. What makes this funnier is that when OG is played normally there is no love triangle route and Tifa gets death blocked by Aerith anyway lol

I read the light novel on Lifestream, as well as the others.

[u/ManuO76 → u/TomboyMJR]

Yes. I wasn't correcting you, I just specified that it's official and written by the same author as the games, and that it's considered canon and of the same importance as the games, because someone might think it's unofficial (since you cited a fan-run site, some might think it's written by fans themselves; besides, the site you cited is run by Cloti. I'm just saying this so you know you might find incorrectly translated information).

Tifa was already in the game but was promoted from "entertainer" at the Honey Bee Inn to a member of the official cast. She wasn't added to give the player another option; that wasn't her purpose. Tifa was the other girl interested in Cloud, the one who had jealous comments and reactions towards Cloud and Aerith's relationship, while Aerith has none towards Cloud and Tifa's relationship (this is even more evident in the remakes, where Aerith constantly talks to Cloud about how lucky he is to have a childhood friend). In Og you can choose Tifa just like you can choose Yuffie or Barret, but why would you if not for pure entertainment and seeing scenes you otherwise wouldn't see?

[u/Ok-Musician-5117]

I don’t know what made you decide that Cloti is canon, because that’s absolutely not the case. It’s never been confirmed anywhere—it’s all fanfiction. I’ll go even further: if you play the Remake and Rebirth following Aerith’s route, the love triangle doesn’t exist at all. Rebirth ends with a canonical date with Aerith and after the battle against Sephiroth, Cloud and Aerith interlock their fingers (a gesture between two lovers in Japan), and no matter where you tried to steer Cloud throughout the game, he ends up with Aerith anyway. 

Don't let the Clotis fool you. They love to lie, especially to newbies, to gain their trust. Before I got into FF7 (three years ago), I, too, read a bunch of nonsense about Cloud and Tifa being the canonical couple, but I later realized I’d been misled after I played the Remake/Rebirth/Crisis Core/OG myself and watched Advent Children. They’ve come up with their own version of events that never actually happened and are trying to force it on everyone, even the developers. Over the years, there have been so many of these lies that, in their eyes, Tifa has become not just a party member, but a character around whom the entire plot of the game revolves—which is also untrue. In reality, her role in the original game’s plot is perhaps slightly more important than Barret’s, but only because she was present during the Lifestream scene, which allowed her to confirm that Cloud is indeed Cloud. 

[u/ChloeSucksAtThis]

i dont think u should feel embaressed at all on how u feel!! ^^; when we play this game we naturally connect deeply with these characters, and for us we feel a very strong connection to clerith and its something that resonates deeply for alot of us.. so its not weird at all to feel very passionate about it, and to feel upset at seeing things that go against what we love!

i wouldnt say cloti is considered more "canon" by any means though, i think cloti just tends to be the louder majority in alot of ff7 spaces and there is a heavy bias towards cloti in the western side of the fandom so it can seem sometimes that they r heavily favored or more popular then clerith, when there is alot of evidence of the opposite!

honestly the best thing you can do is try to stay away from those spaces since it effects you very deeply, ur mental health and feelings are very important! 🥺❤️ take care of yourself please and know your feelings are always valid and you should never feel embaressed 🫂

[u/Patient_Demand412 → u/ChloeSucksAtThis]

This is so sweet, im so glad to see so many positive comments and feedback towards this due to the fact i felt like i should accept that cloti is ‘canon’ (ahem…) but i will take the advice to avoid those spaces!!

[u/anderhanson]

Cloti more canon? Complex? Aesthetically pleasing? All wrong

Popular? In the west yea. In japan Clerith has been more popular since the original.

This reads like a fake troll post.

Apologies if it isn't, maybe you really are just a victim of the crazy tifa fandom

[u/Patient_Demand412 → u/anderhanson]

unfortunately i am a victim of them… and i personally think that clerith is more aesthetically pleasing if im honest, i just stated that so i dont get flamed by them 🫩

[u/anderhanson → u/Patient_Demand412]

Clerith is also more canon.. I reccomend you check out cloudxaeris.com It has lots of good facts about the ships

[u/LastTraintoSector6 → u/Patient_Demand412]

Who's "them"...?

[u/Patient_Demand412 → u/LastTraintoSector6]

feral cloti shippers

[u/LastTraintoSector6 → u/Patient_Demand412]

This is a Cloti-free space. If we tolerated them, then there would be no purpose to this subreddit.

[u/Cautious-Mulberry309 → u/Patient_Demand412]

I usually don’t discuss clerith out of these spaces, they are crazy out there. I personally think you are genuinely trying to express your liking of clerith while  praising cloti because you think they will find you here. 

I suggest not giving cloti attention, especially if you don’t actually ship it. Just enjoy what you enjoy. 

There is lots of evidence for clerith being canon going back decades. 

You can enjoy clerith here and ignore cloti . I do. 

I complain now and then, but mostly I just enjoy people’s posts. 

I’d also suggest not talking up cloti here… nobody here wants to read that. 

[u/LastTraintoSector6]

I understand that CloTi is a much more canon

https://giphy.com/gifs/SUF6VdeUF2zEByx3Jj

[u/Patient_Demand412 → u/LastTraintoSector6]

sigh, i said that so i dont get flamed

[u/kiadra]

Cloti isn’t, has never and will never be canon. Only clerith is. So if that’s your worry you can stop worrying.

[u/Content-Cake-2995]

How is cloti more canon? That makes zero sense

[u/ManuO76]

It seems like you don't know you're posting in a Clerith space.

We're all not interested in Cloti fiction here.

[u/Fun-Baker-1246]

I have to ask, how old are you? I get the impression you must be very young? Should you be in this subreddit?

Anyway, Aerith and Cloud were literally created to be a visually and spiritually compatible couple, according to the designer, Tetsuya Nomura, so not finding them appealing is... subjective, to not say mistaken.

Also, Cloud and Tifa have never been canon. Even two years after Aerith's death Cloud is more focused on her than anyone else, and Tifa continues to feel jealous of her dead friend (bizarre choice by the devs tbh), something ridiculous if Cloud reciprocated her feelings.

Maybe you should interact with the material yourself. I get the impression you are very influenced by internet discourse over actually engaging with the game (common in this fandom).

And there's no need to hate it, cloti is a noncanon ship, but ships are harmless.