Who is Zack?

Not a whole lot of the plot (well, none of it, really..) is spent developing Zack’s character, but there are some things we know about him. We know that he’s from a village called Gongaga, which is just south of North Corel and the Gold Saucer. We know that he left his home ten years prior to the start of the game to join Shinra. We know that he was a SOLDIER, first class. We know that he seems to be something of a lady’s man, so to speak. We know that he was friends with Cloud.

We also know his story. Assigned to a special mission in Nibelheim with Sephiroth, Cloud, and another nameless regular, Zack was the one who witnessed first hand Sephiroth’s downward spiral into madness. After being taken down in the reactor by the man he once considered a friend, he was the encouragement Cloud needed to go against Sephiroth, resulting in Sephiroth’s death.

The next five years, Zack spent in the basement of the Nibelheim mansion, being experimented on by Professor Hojo. What exactly was done to him remains a mystery, but he was able to escape and take Cloud with him, traveling half way across the globe to Midgar. Cloud’s condition is mostly a mystery, aside from the few snippets of memory we see, all of which Cloud seems to be quite out of it. This suggests that Zack had to carry him for most of the way.

Once they reach the cliffs outside of Midgar, Shinra catches up with them, and, although Zack manages to take care of a number of them, they wind up emptying a few clips on him and leave him to bleed to death.

This is what is told to us in the game. But if one takes a closer look, there are more things about Zack that can be uncovered.

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