Cloud as a "Failed Experiment"

by Anastar

In Final Fantasy VII, just before the Reunion, Sephiroth convinces Cloud that he is nothing but a failed experiment of Hojo’s rather than being Cloud of Nibelheim. Cloud even begged Hojo for a number at the Reunion:

Cloud "Professor Hojo... I don't have a number."

Cloud "Professor... please give me a number. Please, Professor..."

Why was Cloud considered a failed experiment by Hojo? Cloud and Zack had been subjected to an experimental procedure by Hojo after they were taken prisoner at Nibelheim. After Sephiroth fell into the Mako reactor at Mt. Nibel, Hojo ran an experiment called the Sephiroth Clones Project in order to prove the Jenova Reunion Theory. The Reunion Theory held that, even if dismembered, the cells of Jenova would "call out" to one another and attempt to reunite into their original form. For this experiment, Hojo used Jenova's main body, which had been left behind in the Mt. Nibel reactor.

The experimental procedure involved injecting Jenova cells into the subjects and then exposing them to Mako, which was the same procedure used to produce members of SOLDIER. However, SOLDIERs are selected from a prime field of candidates who were strong enough in both mind and body to withstand the introduction of Jenova's cells. The mentally and physically strong are able to resist Jenova's influence, thereby acquiring strength far beyond that of normal human beings.

Those who are NOT mentally strong enough to resist Jenova's influence essentially become "portions" or "puppets" of Jenova whose sole purpose is to reunite into Jenova's original form. Those with fragile minds are unable to maintain their own egos and essentially lose the ability to live a normal human life. The subjects of the Sephiroth Clones Project were the survivors of the Nibelheim incident, and there was no attempt to  sort those who could mentally withstand the influence of Jenova cells from those who could not. As part of the experiment, each subject was tattooed with an identification number.

As survivors of the Nibelheim incident, Cloud and Zack were included as subjects in the Sephiroth Clones Project along with the other residents of Nibelheim. However, Zack had already undergone the same experimental procedure when he became a SOLDIER. Therefore, Zack was uninfluenced by the introduction of Jenova cells and was able to function normally. As a result, Zack was able to free Cloud before Cloud was given an identification number.

Unlike Zack, the other residents of Nibelheim, including Cloud, weren't mentally strong enough to resist the influence of Jenova cells, so their minds essentially collapsed. The fragile minds of Cloud and the other Nibelheim residents made them perfect subjects for Hojo's experiment, since the goal of the experiment was to see whether Jenova's influence would drive the subjects to answer the call of the Reunion. Therefore, Cloud was actually a successful Sephiroth Clone, since he experienced the exact result Hojo was hoping for. Cloud actually realized this himself right before giving the Black Materia to Sephiroth at the Materia Tree in the Northern Crater:

  
Cloud "I wasn't pursuing Sephiroth."
(Cloud shakes his head.)
Cloud "I was being summoned by Sephiroth."
"All the anger and hatred I bore him made it impossible for me to ever forget him. That and what he gave me."
(Cloud stands, upside down, on the tree root.)
Cloud "Sephiroth? Sephiroth? I'm here. And I have brought you the Black Materia."

When Cloud says that he was being summoned by Sephiroth rather than pursuing Sephiroth, he means that the Jenova cells in him were calling him to the Reunion in much the same way as the other clones from Nibelheim. Therefore, Cloud wasn't a failed experiment at all. Instead, the only "failed" clone was Zack, who was able to resist the lure of the Reunion and maintain normal human functioning, which made him a failure for the purposes of Hojo's experiment.

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~ Reference: FFVII Ultimania Translations at IGN