Love Triangle Debate
| Ship War | |
|---|---|
| ShipWar: | Cloud/Aerith vs Cloud/Tifa |
| Date(s): | 1997-present |
| Location: | Hell |
| Fandom: | Final Fantasy VII Love is War (2006) by herms85 |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Love Triangle Debate, often abbreviated as the LTD is a long-running ship war in the Final Fantasy VII fandom between shippers of two different pairings involving: Cloud/Aerith (Clerith) and Cloud/Tifa (CloTi).
History
Final Fantasy VII (1997)
During the party's second visit to the Gold Saucer, through certain actions and dialogue choices, the player triggers a "date" cutscene between Cloud and one of four party members: Aeris, Tifa, Yuffie, or Barret. Shippers debate which of the scenarios ought to be considered canon. (Barret's scenario is nigh impossible to trigger without doing so intentionally, and thus many fans were unaware that his date scenario was even possible; in the years since, many fans frustrated by LTD drama will claim that Barret is the "canon" date.)
Rumors circulated that there was a way for the player to trigger flags in the game so that Tifa would die instead of Aeris.[1]
There is debate as to whether Cloud and Tifa had sex beneath the Highwind before their final battle against Sephiroth, and as to whether Cloud’s stated desire to see Aeris again indicates an exclusive romantic commitment to her that transcends even death.
Some shippers have engaged in character bashing to attack the opposing ship. For example, some have claimed that, based on her outfit, Tifa is a "slut", and therefore an inferior love interest.[2] Some even erected entire hate shrine sites dedicated to defaming the character belonging to the opposing ship.[3]
Expanded canon and alternate continuities
After the 2005 release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, shippers debated whether Cloud expressed continued desire to reunite with Aerith as lovers in the afterlife, or moved on from Aerith to be with Tifa. Some have speculated that Aerith resumed her relationship with Zack within the Lifestream.
Alternate continuity versions of Aerith, Cloud, and Tifa appear in the Kingdom Hearts series. Cloud/Aerith shippers point to Cloud’s apparent search for Aerith in Kingdom Hearts (2002), and heartfelt conversation between the two in Kingdom Hearts II (2005), as evidence for their side. Cloud/Tifa shippers point to Tifa’s apparent manifestation as “Cloud’s inner light” in Kingdom Hearts II as evidence for their side.
After the 2007 release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, many fan works increasingly featured Zack/Aerith as a complementary pairing to Cloud/Tifa, and vice-versa. A new, smaller Love Triangle Debate gained traction—this iteration concerned with Cloud/Aerith vs Zack/Aerith.
Around this time period, there may have been something of a reconciliation between some Aerith fans and Tifa fans, who put aside their differences to appreciate both characters and their friendship.[3]
Aerith, Cloud, and Tifa appear in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series.
Twenty Years of the LTD, and Beyond
After twenty years of discourse, the LTD has been often referred to in the past tense as a relic of ancient Web 1.0 history. Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) and its subsequent installments feature an expanded story with additional character interactions, unifying the Aerith fandom and Tifa fandom in shared enthusiasm for Aerith & Tifa as a friendship and Aerith/Tifa as a romantic couple.
Yet the ancient evil still lurks undying in the FFVII fan community.
I can't believe we're less than three months away from the release of this long-awaited Remake!! I just can't wait to see the new cutscenes, and I'm especially interested in the new Cloud/Tifa- Cloud/Aerith moments we'll get !
But I already fear the Clerith/CloTi far coming back! =_= The game isn't even out, and I've already seen so much hate on tumblr, Twitter and co... like, they analyse every single moment of the trailers, every look of Cloud at one girl, and they throw "my ship is canon, yours is shit!" at each other's faces ! Can't we just appreciate one of the most interesting love triangle ever ? Cloud loves Aerith, Cloud loves Tifa, and no one can blame him for that, since both these girls are amazing in their own way!dagga19 on DeviantArt (9 December 2019)
Since quarantine has made me really bored, I decided to jump into the rabbit hole that is twitter. HOLY HELL, why are some of the Tifa and Aerith fans always on each other’s throats?! The insults hurled are just WOWIt’s probably only bound to get worse as the remake is released. Needless to say, I’m sticking to the official FF7R page from now on.
I knew the LTD was bad but this time it seems worse.nmjunction, Bickering between fans, posted to r/FFVIIRemake (23 March 2020)
User Section Banned (Indefinite): Toxic, Bad Faith Discourse."The Love Triangle Debate: Another Turn in the Cycle" thread post #1793, The Lifestream forums (25 April 2020)
[u/deleted posted to Discussion [OG+REMAKE SPOILERS] Ship Wars in r/FFVIIRemake (7 June 2020)]
Glad to see the war still going as an original veteran of Cloud/Tifa Haha.
[gucci-legend]
Lmao I've been fighting cleriths in the bowels of [[]]YouTube comment sections for goin on 7 years now but clearly I still got a lot to learn
.....
.
i have opened Pandora’s box with this threadshadowqueen15, [OG+REMAKE SPOILERS] Is it just me or does this game favor Tifa? posted to r/FFVIIRemake (28 July 2020)
*Sees another topic about the love triangle debate**Puts on hazmat suit*
*Enters comment section*
OP, your inbox is about to blow up. Hope you're ready.commanderswag69 posted in r/FFVIIRemake (15 August 2020)
It's had a resurgence in popularity since the remake was released in January 2020, but Final Fantasy VII is an OLD game. I remember playing it on my parents' PC way back in the day and being blown away by the storytelling and graphics... in 1997. As you might expect from something with a significant following and romance themes in the plot, its shipping wars are equally old. Twenty years ago, people were fighting in fan groups about whether Cloud (the protagonist) should be with Tifa or Aerith (the two female lead characters), and today... people are still doing the same shit.From what I can piece together, the manager of an upcoming Cloud/Aerith ("Clerith") zine recently used a blockchain to block 3000+ accounts on Twitter for a variety of reasons, such as not shipping Clerith exclusively, following accounts who didn't like Clerith or who liked Tifa or Cloud/Tifa ("Cloti") too much, or being followed by such accounts. Lots of these people asked to be unblocked, which caused some Clerith fans to ask why they would even bother buying the zine in the first place if they aren't exclusively Clerith shippers and dare to dabble in the Cloti arts. Accounts were deactivated due to the drama, and there are a lot of deleted tweets and vehement arguments about preferred ships/approaches to shipping, curating what you see online through blocking, what counts as "toxic" (daring to ship the wrong ship?), and so on.
There are also claims by the zine manager(s) and other Clerith accounts that they have received death threats and been repeatedly harassed, which led to the blockchain, but it does seem like a stretch of the imagination that thousands of people should be included in the block for behavior such as... (checks notes)... liking other ships or not hating Tifa. Fwiw, some of the claimed "harassment" that I could see included posting a gif or picture of another ship.
I have no preference between the Cloud/Tifa and Cloud/Aerith ships at all, so I'm just sitting on the sidelines and watching the mess. This all led me down a rabbit hole of the shipping war even beyond the recent drama regarding the Clerith zine: people trashing the other character they don't like, posting whole Twitter threads of analysis of the characters' statements in the FFVII games (and related/spinoff games, like Dissidia, Kingdom Hearts, or World of Final Fantasy), "evidence" of why their relationship is the only canon, description of why the "antis" are wrong and just bitter and salty, and so on. The Clerith vs. Cloti debate is so low-stakes and so unimportant, yet it takes up a surprising amount of FFVII fandom space and it's really unfortunate. It's 2021. Let's move on, y'all.https://old.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/l9bx5u/hobby_scuffles_week_of_january_31_2021/glrh0yq/
The so called "love triangle" was a misconception created by fans due to misunderstanding the plot of Final Fantasy 7. It is not real.Dovetail, Minster of Truth, proceeding to purge this page and others of Clerith and non-CloTi fan content (24 February 2021)
I am so tired.PictoChatCyberBully, writing this article in real time
As of this writing, the Love Triangle Debate remains alive and unwell.
Reactions to the LTD
The LTD has possibly been the biggest source of wank throughout the existence of the Final Fantasy VII community. While a few fans continue to passionately promote and defend their side to this very day, many have grown exasperated with the decades of fighting. Thus, the generally accepted fan etiquette is to avoid raising the issue of the LTD in most community spaces lest a flamewar spark, much like how one would avoid discussing extreme politics at a casual gathering.
Some fans have expressed dismay that the LTD has pitted Aerith and Tifa against each other as bitter love rivals in fanon, ignoring canon evidence of their friendship.
Some shippers may have turned to alternate ships, such as Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart and/or Cloud/Zack, at least in part to subvert or spite the LTD. For this same reason, many of these fans flippantly insist that Barret is Cloud's canon date at the Gold Saucer.
Meta
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
The Case for Cloud/Aerith
The Case for Cloud/Tifa
- “The Love Triangle of FFVII – An Analysis” by Squall_of_SeeD, Archived version
- World of CloTi: "Love Triangle Debate", Archived version
Third Options and Alternative Perspectives
- Killing the LTD in Final Fantasy 7 Remake allows for more focus on the other 95% of the story that doesn’t include people trying to sit on Cloud’s D. by iaintyourbro (pro-CloTi source)
Communities, Sites, and Points of Interest
- Friends Forever: An Aerith Gainsborough and Tifa Lockheart shrine, Archived version
- Uniting Friends Forever: Aerith and Tifa on Final Fantasy Forums - "This club is about Aerith, Tifa, and their friendship. And not only the friendship of the characters, but of their fans as well. Here, Cleriths and Clotis converse peacefully about their favorite characters' friendship together."
- 'Well, this is awkward...' by Bhryn - Subversion of the LTD in which both Tifa and Cloud compete for Aerith's affections
- Screw Cloud let's be lesbians by frankiki, Ali-Kitty, and Strifehart - Cosplay in which Aerith and Tifa eschew the LTD
- FFVII Love Triangle Discourse Generator (archived 2020)
Further Reading and Resources
References
- ^ kawaiileena. Tifa Getting Killed? posted to Eyes on Final Fantasy on 12 June 2005. (Accessed September 2020).
- ^ ardwynna, jukeboxhound, et al. anyone care to give me a history lesson on how ff7 fandom was like back in the day? posted to Tumblr circa December 2016. (Accessed September 2020.)
- ^ a b fury-brand, et al. anyone care to give me a history lesson on how ff7 fandom was like back in the day? posted to Tumblr on 14 April 2020. (Accessed September 2020.)