Zack Fair
From Final Fantasy Wiki
| Zack Fair | |
 | |
| Japanese Name | ザックス・フェア |
| Romaji | Zakkusu Fea |
| Weapon | SOLDIER Sword Buster Sword |
| Birthplace | Gongaga |
| Date of Birth | 1985 |
| Age | 16 (Crisis Core) 22 at death |
| Height | 6'2" / 187 cm |
| Blood Type | O |
| Japanese Voice Actor | Kenichi Suzumura |
| English Voice Actor | Rick Gomez |
| Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Character | |
- "Boy oh boy... the price of freedom is steep."
- —Zack Fair
Zack Fair is a non-player character from Final Fantasy VII and the main protagonist of its prequel, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. The wielder of the Buster Sword before Cloud, Zack is a 1st Class SOLDIER and is Cloud's best friend during their time working for Shinra. However, after Sephiroth goes insane, they become test subjects to Professor Hojo, and Zack ultimately sacrifices himself to save Cloud's life. He is also Aerith Gainsborough's former boyfriend. He is affectionately nicknamed "the puppy" in Before Crisis and Crisis Core.
In Final Fantasy VII, Zack only appears in flashback sequences, which portray him as almost identical to Cloud Strife, the game's main protagonist, in physical appearance except having black hair, which is longer than Cloud's. When strung together, the sequences explain a great deal about Cloud's past and his connection to Sephiroth, the game's arch-villain. In Crisis Core, Zack's backstory and role in Cloud's pasts are greatly expanded upon. Zack also appears in Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-, Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, and in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
If the player performs the correct actions in Crisis Core, Zack can get his own fanclub like many other 1st Class SOLDIERs. Known simply as the "Zack Fair Fanclub", the player's actions determine its popularity by the end of the game.
Contents |
[edit] Story
- "SOLDIER 2nd Class Zack, on the job!"
- —Zack Fair
Zack was born in the town of Gongaga, and like many boys of his generation, dreamed of joining SOLDIER to become a 1st Class like the legendary Sephiroth. He left Gongaga and joined the Shinra Electric Power Company's military forces around the age of 14 in 1997. By October of 0000, he has reached SOLDIER 2nd Class under the tutelage of SOLDIER 1st Class Angeal Hewley. Angeal's words of wisdom and strong sense of honor had a profound effect on Zack, who wants to be just like his mentor. During his time in SOLDIER, he becomes friends with 2nd Class SOLDIER Kunsel, who guided him in the ways of Shinra. Zack works under Director Lazard Deusericus in the 49th Floor of Shinra Headquarters, along with many other SOLDIER members.
[edit] War With Genesis
In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Zack first appears in a digital training session with Angeal Hewley, who seems disapproving of his reckless attitude towards his enemies and himself. Despite this, he approves of Zack as a member of SOLDIER, and requests to Director Lazard that he be promoted to SOLDIER 1st Class and be sent on his own mission in Wutai. Shinra had been at war with the Wutai for a good time by now, and SOLDIER 1st Class Sephiroth had already become a hero of Shinra for his actions there.
Though Zack was ecstatic over Angeal's suggestion, he received some interesting news during the briefing: 1st Class SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos had deserted Shinra, taking an untold number of 2nd and 3rd Class warriors with him. He had to be found and stopped.
After Zack took out the forces of Fort Tamblin singlehandedly, he met with warriors in strange armor. Sephiroth identifies them as copies of Genesis. Realizing that these were the soldiers that Angeal had last been seen fighting, and that he was nowhere to be seen, Sephiroth comes to the conclusion that Angeal left with his long-time friend, Genesis. Zack, however, refuses to believe that his mentor would ever desert Shinra.
Zack now begins to fight against the forces of Genesis while meeting up with several other characters of Final Fantasy VII and uncovering the truth behind Project G. He first fights armies of Genesis Copies in Genesis and Angeal's hometown of Banora Village with the Turk Tseng one month after the Wutai mission. Zack's hopes are shattered, however, when he finds Angeal standing over the body of his dead mother, Gillian Hewley. Zack is horrified that Angeal could do something so horrible to his own family, and is badly shaken. He attempts to talk to Angeal, but the latter only says, "The mother could not continue to live...and neither can the son," and walks away. After Zack defeats Bahamut, whom Genesis had summoned, he questions Genesis about what happened to his dreams and honor. Unfortunately, Genesis only declares that they are monsters and flies away on a black wing hidden beneath his coat, leaving Zack as Tseng arrives to pick him up as the village is bombed.
In April 0001, Zack is at Shinra Headquarters when Lazard gives him the title of SOLDIER First Class (most likely to replace all the Firsts who are gone). Zack is not happy that he attained his dreams so early, and after so many losses. But then, Genesis's army attacks Midgar, and Zack has to fight them throughout the city. Along the way, he saves Cissnei, another member of the Turks. Sephiroth and Zack both head to the Sector 5 Reactor to find the rogue Dr. Hollander, who is suspected of working with Genesis. Zack chases Hollander through the Reactor until he runs into Angeal, now with two white angel wings and believing himself to be a monster. Refusing to fight his old friend and mentor, Zack lets Angeal drop him down into the Slums.
Zack drops through the roof of a church, where Zack meets Aerith Gainsborough. Grateful to her for saving his life (although she insists that she did nothing but say, "Hello-o!"), Zack offers to pay Aerith back with one date. Zack suggests that Aerith should sell the flowers that only grow in the church. Later on, Zack gets his wallet stolen by a child, and would eventually find him, only to find that the child's wallet was eaten by a monster. In generosity, he lets the child keep his wallet in order to buy some medicine, or you can choose to take the wallet back from the monsters. That being done, it happens that the kid had a lot more money in his wallet than in Zack does in his. Zack then buys Aerith the ribbon that she is seen wearing throughout the series. It was also revealed in a DMW reel that Zack wants Aerith to wear all pink when he was around. However, their date is cut short when Zack has to return to the Midgar Plate to defeat Genesis. He protects Professor Hojo during this time. Angeal rejoins Zack, and together they drive Genesis out of Midgar. Zack has to face Bahamut Fury while Angeal deals with Genesis.
[edit] Tragedies of Modeoheim
After the Midgar attack, Zack is sent to the mountain town of Modeoheim, with Tseng accompanying him once more, as well as several Shinra infantrymen, one of whom is Cloud Strife. Their helicopter is shot down by Genesis' troops on the way there, and the team must hike their way across the snow. Zack and Cloud make headway fast. When Zack makes the comment that his companion can at least keep up after seeing how far behind Tseng and the other troops are, they learn that they are both "country boys" and become immediate friends. From this point on, Cloud begins to accompany Zack on many missions and start to look up to him as a hero and role model, not unlike Zack looking up to Angeal.
They eventually come up on a Mako Excavation Facility that Zack must infiltrate while Tseng and the troops continue on to Modeoheim. Inside, Zack finds Genesis and Dr. Hollander arguing. He confronts Genesis while Hollander squirms away. Eventually defeating the degrading Genesis, Zack watches while the former SOLDIER lets himself fall into the depths of the reactor. Assuming him dead, Zack hurries after Hollander.
Inside a ruined bath house, Zack finds Hollander and Angeal. He learns here that Angeal's biological father is actually Hollander, who used the late Gillian Hewley as a test subject for Project G. It is also revealed that Angeal did not kill his mother, but that she killed herself. Although Hollander refers to him as the perfect soldier, Angeal refuses this title and, accepting the monstrosities of Project G, renames himself as the "perfect monster". He then fuses with several Angeal copy monsters and becomes Angeal Penance.
Zack is forced to fight and kill this creature, obtaining the scar shown in Advent Children. Angeal is left barely alive, and apparently degrading from the wounds. Using his last strength, he hands the Buster Sword to Zack, telling him one final time to remember his dreams and honor to be a true member of SOLDIER. Distraught over the death of his mentor and friend, Zack finds comfort in the arms of Aerith, strengthening their relationship to its strongest. As one of the last 1st Class SOLDIERs, and with the war with Genesis considered over, Zack takes over Angeal's job of being the emotional heart of the organization. He meets another SOLDIER member named Luxiere, who also looks up to him as a role model, and constantly sends Zack mail, as he is inspired by Zack's speech to the Shinra troops he commands.
[edit] Before Crisis
On January 16, 0002 Zack Fair is sent to deal with the insurgency known as AVALANCHE. He is sent to Icicle Inn to defeat an AVALANCHE base along with a player Turk and his SOLDIER friends, Essai and Sebastian. If the Turk player is female, Zack will hit on her. Along the way, Essai and Sebastian are kidnapped by AVALANCHE and turned into Ravens, monstrous genetically enhanced humans created by Fuhito to be his personal guard. Zack fights and kills a Raven named Kyneugh, and tries to save the SOLDIERs. However, when he arrives they have been completely transformed and must be defeated in battle. After their deaths, Zack makes a grave for them with each of their swords crossing that appears in his DMW.
By early summer, Zack is sent to Costa del Sol to rest with Cissnei watching him. However, his rest is broken by an attack of Genesis Copies, which is just the first salvo of a new round of conflict. With the help of the secret traitor within SOLDIER, no one less important than Director Lazard himself, they break Dr. Hollander out of imprisonment in Junon. Zack is sent there, with a good number of Turks and Shinra Troops to quell the threat of Genesis' copies and the stolen machines of the Shinra company. Hollander escapes with the help of the Genesis Copies, but Sephiroth, who appeared late on the scene, forgives him, and gives him permission to go back to Midgar and see Aerith.
Midgar had also been in danger at the same time. Hordes of monsters had appeared, escaped (or perhaps set free, according to Kunsel) from Hojo's lab. One monster in particular, though, had gone to Aerith's church. A single Angeal copy that was protecting Aerith from the monsters and Shinra's confused machines until Zack arrived. Although never fully stated, it is believed that this single copy is all that is left of Angeal's will on the Planet, and is perhaps being controlled by Angeal from the Lifestream.
Before Zack leaves on his next mission, he and Aerith build a wagon so that she can sell flowers throughout Midgar. Zack has to stop selling early, though, as he is called away for another mission. Trusting Tseng to look after her, he, Sephiroth, Cloud, and two other Shinra troops head to Nibelheim, Cloud's hometown.
[edit] The Nibelheim Incident
Zack, Sephiroth, and Cloud Strife all enter Nibelheim on September 22nd, but Cloud hides his face out of fear of being spotted by his childhood friend, Tifa. Just before the group heads up Mt. Nibel to reach the Reactor, a picture is taken of Sephiroth, Tifa, and Zack together. They all then head up the mountain and reach the Reactor.
The problem is easily fixed. However, inside the Reactor are pods filled with horrible monsters that had been infused with massive amounts of Mako. They also find a creature named Jenova, who Sephiroth was told was his mother. This, along with words from Genesis, sends Sephiroth over the edge. He hides himself in the basement of the Shinra Mansion reading over files upon files of the Jenova Project. When Zack tries to look for Sephiroth, and finds him, Sephiroth says that he wants to be left alone. However, during a DMW scene, Sephiroth talks to Zack about the Jenova Project's result, himself. On December 1st, Sephiroth comes out of the Mansion. Now insane, Sephiroth burns the village to the ground, slaughtering most of the townsfolk.
Zack runs up the mountain behind an enraged Tifa, both out to defeat Sephiroth. Once again inside the Reactor, Tifa is easily cut down. Sephiroth stands outside of his mother's tube, and does not even notice Zack enter. The two battle, and Zack, being a 1st-Class SOLDIER, manages to hold his own against Sephiroth for a time before he himself is defeated. Finally, Cloud, furious over the death of his mother and seeing Tifa gravely wounded, takes up the Buster Sword and defeats Sephiroth. Sephiroth falls into the Lifestream, where he will disappear for four years. Tifa is saved by Zangan, but Cloud and Zack are both taken by Shinra forces to be used in Professor Hojo's newest experiment.
[edit] Defeating Genesis
Four years later (December 19, 0006), Zack has a hallucination of Angeal appearing before him in Shinra Mansion's basement. As he flies off, Zack's strong will to be free allowed him to break the tube enabling him and Cloud to escape. Because of Hojo's experiments, both have become Sephiroth Clones, but Zack is completely unaffected by the experiment thanks to having been in SOLDIER. Cloud is completely comatose from Mako Addiction, but Zack can still fight. He cuts their way out of Nibelheim, which had been rebuilt by Shinra to hide the Incident of four years earlier. Cissnei in Crisis Core, or whoever the player's Turk is in Before Crisis, is ordered to take Zack in, but betrays orders and allows him to pass.
Zack and Cloud hide out from Shinra forces while trying to reach Midgar until early autumn 0007. One of Genesis's Copies eats a part of Zack's hair. Since Zack has been infused with Jenova Cells, it turns the copy into a horrible monster. Zack defeats the creature, and heads home to Gongaga. Here he once again runs into Genesis, now with a degrading Genesis Copy that was once Hollander. Hollander and Genesis try to take Cloud for his pure Sephiroth Cells, because Zack is worthless thanks to being a former member of SOLDIER. Instead, Lazard—in the form of a degrading Angeal, thanks to unknowingly obtaining his cells— and Zack fights the two. Zack finally kills Hollander once and for all.
It is at this point that Zack finally realizes that Genesis has been working from Banora the whole time, the Banora "Dumb Apples" that Genesis always carried being the clue. Zack travels there, and leaves Cloud under Lazard's protection. Zack travels down into Genesis's cave until he comes upon Genesis who uses the power of the Lifestream, but still is defeated. Zack takes his old enemy up to the surface.
[edit] Death
- "Hey, would you say I became a hero?"
- —Zack Fair
At the end of September, while Zack and Cloud head back towards Midgar, a massive army of Shinra Troops awaits them. Despite Cissnei and Tseng's attempts to save Zack first, the Shinra army attacks. Zack fights hard against overwhelming odds. However, the enemy is just too many, and despite all of Zack's SOLDIER training (assumably, defeating not all, but most of the army, considering there is apparently only a handful of soldiers left in contrast to the vast amount of enemies facing him earlier), he is defeated. Riddled with bullets, and his Digital Mind Wave destroyed, Zack is barely alive when Cloud awakes and comes to him. Zack hands the Buster Sword to him, like Angeal handed the Buster Sword to Zack four years earlier. As Cloud wanders off towards Midgar, Zack is pulled into the Lifestream by Angeal. Zack then wonders if he has become a hero after all.
The combined weight of all this trauma finally makes Cloud snap, and barely conscious, he makes his way to Midgar dragging the Buster Sword behind him. Collapsing in the Sector 7 Station, Cloud is found by Tifa, where he, aided by the Jenova cells he now has in his body, adopts Zack's memories and persona, combining it with an idealized image of himself to create a new personality and history for himself. After the creation of this facade, Cloud truly believes that he was successful in joining SOLDIER, and that he fulfilled Zack's role in the fateful mission to Nibelheim 4 years before. He believes he has come to Midgar to seek work as a mercenary, just as Zack said he intended to do. In fact, Zack no longer even existed in Cloud's mind; HE was essentially Zack. Realizing something is wrong with Cloud, Tifa convinces him to join her and Barret with AVALANCHE to keep an eye on him. It is on the first mission Cloud performs for AVALANCHE that Crisis Core ends and Final Fantasy VII begins.
[edit] Final Fantasy VII
Much of Final Fantasy VII's story revolves around Cloud's battle to reclaim his memory, to accept his true identity rather than relying on his constructed "Zack" personality—a combination of Zack's persona, the stories Zack had told him, and what he presumed a First Class SOLDIER would act like—and to validate himself in a world that has rejected him. When the party visits the depressed town of Gongaga Village, they learn that it was Zack's hometown. Aerith also reveals at one point that Zack was her first boyfriend, and that Cloud resembles him. His parents are also there, still waiting for Zack's return, concerned that they hadn't heard from him in a while.
[edit] Novellas
In Hoshi wo Meguru Otome, Aerith encounters Zack after her death at the hands of Sephiroth. Aerith contemplates about Cloud's persona, but summons Zack instead - as he is the one Cloud thought himself to be. Zack is among those who aided her in the destruction of Meteor. They reminisce about their relationship, and Zack retains his flirtatious demeanor, telling Aerith to give him a call when she feels lonely.
[edit] Advent Children/Advent Children Complete
- "You already beat him once, didn't you? This should be a cinch!"
- —Zack Fair (Advent Children Complete)
Throughout the movie, a large gray wolf appears in many of the same places as Cloud does, but at different times, only meeting him once at the end. One speculation is this wolf is the representation of Cloud's loneliness and guilt for failing his friends, among them Zack. Another speculation is that this wolf is an incarnation of Zack's spirit, keeping an eye on Cloud during his most dire moments. This appears next to the Buster Sword memorial in the wastelands, very briefly twice among the rapid succession of images of Sephiroth, Kadaj, Zack, and the Jenova cells after Cloud's recollection of Zack, in the church when Cloud falls unconscious due to Geostigma symptoms, next to the lake in the Forgotten City after Cloud drops his phone and you hear Aerith's voice, and next to Cloud before he awakens in Aerith's church. This wolf disappears in the end when Cloud finally manages to forgive himself for his failures, including the deaths of Zack and Aerith, and after the wolf fades, Zack and Aerith appear to Cloud to show that even though his guilt has faded, his memory and appreciation of his friends has not.
During the final battle in Advent Children Complete, Zack appears behind Cloud just as Sephiroth seems to have him beaten. With the Buster Sword in his hand, Zack reminds Cloud not to forget his SOLDIER honor, before correcting himself because Cloud never actually was in SOLDIER. But still, he encourages Cloud to defeat Sephiroth, reminding him that he is Zack's living legacy. Zack's ability to appear to Cloud, even after being absorbed into the Lifestream, his memories becoming one with the Planet, was likely Aerith's doing, although she was probably only able to help Zack maintain this form for a brief period of time.
After the credit roll in Advent Children Complete, we see yellow flowers blooming where Zack had previously died. Denzel asks Cloud if it's someone's grave. Cloud replies that is it not, and says that it's a place where a hero began his journey. The next scene shows Aerith's church, where a restored and well-kept Buster Sword has been relocated to rest among the flowers.
[edit] Development
Zack Fair's plot role in Final Fantasy VII was already there before he was created. From the start it was decided that Cloud's cocky personality would be false. It was only later that it was decided to create a character who Cloud based himself off of. Before Zack, Aerith was to see her first love in Cloud, though that person was not yet decided upon. Some early ideas even placed that person as Sephiroth. Later, the character Zack was placed to both serve as Aerith's old love and to solve the mysteries surrounding Cloud. Since he was so late in development, he was one of the last characters drawn by Tetsuya Nomura.
[edit] Weapons
Throughout Crisis Core, Zack Fair wields four weapons. As a SOLDIER 2nd Class and briefly after his promotion to 1st, he is a master of the SOLDIER Sword, the traditional weapon of most SOLDIERs. Upon defeating his friend and mentor, Angeal, Zack inherits the legendary Buster Sword, receiving it as a final gift from Angeal before his death. Thereafter, Zack uses this large broadsword as his own in honor of his friend. This same sword would later be passed onto Cloud in a similar manner. In Costa del Sol, Zack fights briefly with an umbrella, swinging it around like a sword. Interestingly, this odd weapon has the same attacking power as Zack's other weapons and works well to defeat Genesis's forces. Later on, in the mission after Nibelheim, he uses a sniper rifle.
[edit] Digital Mind Wave
- Main article: Digital Mind Wave
Digital Mind Wave, or DMW, is the limit break system in Crisis Core. Throughout the game, more characters who are connected to Zack will be added to the DMW. It is also possible to unlock Summon DMW's or gain Chocobo Mode, along with other creatures' DMW. These are all unlocked throughout the course of certain events throughout the game.
[edit] Battle
- Main article: Zack (Boss)
Zack is fought as a boss in Chapter 19 of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-. He also fights against himself in Crisis Core, as Experiments Nos. 114 and 123.
[edit] Non-Final Fantasy Appearances
[edit] Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
Zack is a secret playable character in the game Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, functioning more or less as a clone of Cloud in the arcade, versus, and minigame events. Like Cloud, he fights both hand-to-hand and with the Buster Sword, and has renamed versions of Cloud's techniques, including Meteor Shower, High Braver, True Cross-slash, and Unseen Omnislash.
[edit] Trivia
- Zack's full name was first revealed in Crisis Core to be Zack Fair. According to Tetsuya Nomura, it is derived from "fair weather", and is intended to contrast with "Cloud Strife".
- Zack shares both English and Japanese voice actors with Gippal of Final Fantasy X-2: Rick Gomez and Kenichi Suzumura, respectively.
- Zack changes his hairstyle after the death of his mentor, Angeal, from a shorter spikier style with bangs, to his trademark style of long, slicked back spikes with a single bang on his forehead. This new hairstyle resembles the hair of Angeal Hewley, and this was perhaps done to look more like Angeal and carry on his legacy better.
- During a DMW scene, Zack tells Aerith that whenever they meet, they should always do something in particular. Zack's idea was for her to wear pink, but she thought the idea silly. After this event, she wears her signature pink outfit, probably to surprise Zack when he came back from Nibelheim. Zack is also responsible for buying her the pink ribbon she always wears.
- Zack takes his vacation trips to Costa del Sol, the famous beach in the world of Final Fantasy VII.
- During his spare time, Zack is usually found doing squats. He is the current champion of squats in SOLDIER.
- Although most 2nd Class members of SOLDIER wear a red uniform in Final Fantasy VII, Zack's is shown as being dark blue, much closer to the uniforms of 1st Class SOLDIERs. However, it is notable that most of the 2nd Class SOLDIERs Zack comes into contact with in Crisis Core have magenta colored uniform.
- Unlike most other 2nd Class SOLDIERs, Zack never wears a helmet.
- Zack's victory pose in Crisis Core seems to be a combination of Cloud's with Squall's, involving Zack swinging the Buster Sword twice, then spinning it and returning it to its holder on his back.
- It was speculated that the wolf in Advent Children was the spirit of Zack following Cloud around due to its first appearing by Zack's grave marker. Though this has never been confirmed nor denied by anyone that worked on the movie. That said, as Angeal did for Zack, Zack guided Cloud even in death.
- When Zack uses his Chain Slash DMW, the background and the floor resembles the realm where Cloud's scripted battle against Sephiroth will take place.
[edit] External Link
| v · e · d | ||
|---|---|---|
| Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete | ||
| Characters | ||
| Main Characters | ||
| Cloud Strife - Tifa Lockhart - Marlene Wallace - Denzel | ||
| Villains | ||
| Kadaj - Yazoo - Loz - Sephiroth - Jenova | ||
| Other Characters | ||
| Aerith Gainsborough - Barret Wallace - Cait Sith - Cid Highwind - Elena - Moogle Girl - Red XIII - Reno - Rude - Rufus Shinra - Tseng - Vincent Valentine - Yuffie Kisaragi - Zack Fair | ||
| Locations | ||
| Edge - 7th Heaven - Healin Lodge - Forgotten Capital - Midgar - Northern Crater - Sector 5 Church - Shinra Headquarters | ||
| Terms | ||
| Cellphone - Fenrir - Fusion Swords - Geostigma - Lifestream - Meteor - Motorcycle - Remnants of Sephiroth - Shadow Creeper - The Shera - Strife Delivery Service - World Regenesis Organization | ||
| Novellas | ||
| On the Way to a Smile - Hoshi wo Meguru Otome | ||
| Music | ||
| Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children OST - "One-Winged Angel" - "Calling" - "Safe and Sound" |
