"You should have... An older girlfriend, one that would take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type for you."

—Cloud's Mother on Cloud's love life

Cloud's Mother, also known as Mrs. Strife (夫人ストライフ, Fujin Sutoraifu^?) is a minor character in Final Fantasy VII. She is Cloud Strife's mother. She appears only once, during Cloud's flashback to the Nibelheim Incident. Being Cloud's mother, she looks a lot like him, with the same hair style and color only with an added ponytail. Cloud describes her as "vibrant". Cloud's mother raised him as a single parent, since Cloud's father disappeared when he was very young. When Cloud goes off to join SOLDIER, she is left all alone in her house in Nibelheim. When Cloud returns to Nibelheim with Sephiroth in the fateful mission, Cloud meets with his mother. She worried about him, especially around girls. Cloud's memory fails about the rest of the conversation.

Due to Cloud's fragmented memory of this meeting with her, it is likely that Cloud's psyche has suppressed the actual details of the conversation in order maintain continuity with his adopted persona. When she supposes Cloud to have been made a SOLDIER, she remarks about his "SOLDIER" uniform. Cloud responds as if he needs to confess something, at which point the memory skips. This is likely because Cloud was actually wearing a Shinra MP uniform.

However, because she is among the citizens that are killed when Sephiroth ravages Nibelheim. When Cloud revisits his old house, he finds one of the stand-ins that Professor Hojo employed as part of the cover-up, who claims she has lived there her whole life.

Cloud's mother also makes a brief cameo during Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, standing at the town's square. However, Zack Fair never really interacts with her, except for some generic dialogue. Zack also receives mail from Cloud inviting him to come over to her house and try her cooking. Her overall look is different, but her facial textures are much similar to her son's. She is still unnamed to date.

GalleryEdit

Concept art for Final Fantasy VII.

Cloud's Mother in Crisis Core.

TriviaEdit

• According to the Crisis Core Complete Guide, her specialty dish is stew.
• Cloud's mother once told him to get an older girlfriend to take care of him. Aerith Gainsborough, one of the two women vying for Cloud's affection, is one year older than Cloud. Cloud states he's not interested.
• In her concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura she is given the name "Claudia Strauss" and is said to be 33 years old.