Cloud Strife lived his childhood in Nibelheim with one ambition flooding his mind: Becoming a member of Shin-Ra's SOLDIER. When old enough, Cloud set out for Midgar to become a First Class SOLDIER. Before leaving, however he made an important promise to Tifa. That he would return to rescue her if her life was ever in peril. Cloud was accepted into First Class Soldier following the Wutai war. Cloud made an acquaintance of Sephiroth, the commander of the SOLDIERS, while under employment for Shin-Ra. An adamant bond and respect grew between the SOLDIERS over time. SOLDIER was soon assigned a task to investigate the Mako Reactor in Nibelheim, following the mysterious spawn of monsters in the town. He failed in a mission and met Zack. Him and Zack were with each other for a while going through many hardships until they got to Midgar. He then joined a group called Avalanche who rebelled against Shinra. His rival is Sephiroth and his main goal is to destroy him. He holds a giant blade at all times and is strong enough to be able to swiftly move the blade.

Tifa was a childhood friend of Cloud's in Nibelheim, her hometown. Before Cloud departed for Midgar, Tifa made Cloud promise to rescue her should she ever be in danger. When Shin-Ra sent SOLDIER to investigate the monsters invading Nibelheim and the Mako Reactor there, Tifa acted as their guide to the Reactor. However, the situation quickly became perilous: Tifa's father was a victim of Sephiroth's destruction of Nibelheim. From that moment Tifa formed a lasting grudge against Sephiroth, however when she attempted to assail Sephiroth, she was cut by his blade.
They were close at times but alot of other boys were around her most of the time so they could never really get together. After Cloud left, Tifa became really sad and eventually left Nibelheim to go to Midgar. There she joined the group Avalanche and started up a bar called 7th Heaven in Sector 7.

Vincent Valentine was formally a member of the Turks. During an assignment to overlook a project led by his father Grimoire he fell in love with Lucrecia, a scientist that assisted his father. When Grimoire died saving Lucrecia's life, Vincent and Lucrecia parted ways until they met again when Vincent was sent to supervise the Jenova Project in Nibelheim. His attempts to court Lucrecia failed again since she felt too guilty for his father's death. Instead Lucrecia started a relationship with Hojo and was impregnated in order to supply a test subject for an experiment to see what effect Jenova cells had on an unborn child.. Very mysterious, the second secret character you find sleeps in Nibelheim. Vincent was in love with Lucrecia until an accident occurred which resulted in Vincent sentencing himself to life sleeping. Not much is known about his past but he does swear revenge on Sephiroth and Shinra.

Gwahahahaha. The annoying laughs from Shinra's overweight Head of the Peacekeeping Division. His job was to prevent wars with other cities (although there is no other army in the world). Rufus hated his laugh and I quote "Will you stop that stupid horse laugh!" from him. Heidigger plans to rule Midgar all by himself. He was a big guy but inside he was weak.

Aeris' adoptive mother. She resided in Midgar but moved to Kalm later on. She was nice and caring but she worried about Aeris and didn't want anyone bringing her into danger.

Jenova was originally discovered by Shin-Ra in a geological stratum. Thought to be one of the Ancients, Jenova is actually a creature from outer space who had traveled the galaxy in search of worlds to destroy and infect before moving onto the next. It was in fact the Ancients who did manage to trap her which was where she lay until she was discovered 2000 years later.
Shin-Ra ultimately used Jenova cells for multitudes of experiments in trying to create the ultimate SOLDIER. One of these people was Sephiroth who was injected with Jenova cells before he was born. When Sephiroth found out about these experiments he believed that Jenova was his real mother and planned to fulfill her legacy by destroying the planet.
Although Jenova is not physically in the film [unless you include the box that her remains are held in], she plays a very important role. For it's Jenova who Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo call 'Mother' and are searching for. Jenova is the key to the Reunion and the key for Sephiroth's return.

Kadaj is the leader of the group. He's evil, cruel and manipulating showing no remorse for his actions and not letting anyone get in the way of his goal.
Along with Loz and Yazoo, Kadaj is searching for 'Mother' [Jenova]. However little does he realize that he's actually doing Sephiroth's bidding through the desire that Sephiroth has to return.
Although Sephiroth is the ultimate enemy in Advent Children, Kadaj is the main enemy. Kadaj's plan is to use the children to bring about the Reunion. Enticing them to do his bidding by offering them a new existence and telling them of the planet making the children suffer by affecting them with Geostigma.
Kadaj's ultimate showdown is with Cloud the enemy of Sephiroth also being the enemy of the three men.

One of the three Silver Haired Men, Yazoo is cool, calm and collected. Although outer appearances are deceiving under that cool exterior is a cold and brutal person who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
The opposite of Loz, Yazoo shows very little emotion. However depending on his mood he will occasionally play along with Loz's jokes or will snap at him.
Yazoo is in charge with the task of gathering children as part of Kadaj's plan to use them for the Reunion.
A master of a gunblade called the Velvet Nightmare, it's Yazoo who makes a last effort attempt to end Cloud's life.

One of the three Silver Haired Men, Loz is the person who will always use brawn over brains. Preferring to fight rather than use other methods to get things done. He doesn't appear to think for himself too much he usually just follows the orders given to him by Kadaj.
Loz can be seen like a child who never grew up. He likes to play games and have fun and joke around. He's emotional and is prone to emotional outbursts, crying easily.
Loz's role in the movie is fairly limited. Although he's seen often, it's usually in an action or fighting scene, whether it's trading martial arts kicks with Tifa or pursuing Cloud on motorbike. Loz uses a weapon called the Dual Hound which is attached to his left arm and has extremely fast reflexes and techniques in battle.

Crisis Core is centered around a SOLDIER by the name of Zack and the events that occur during his progression to the rank of 1st Class. Likely events that the game may cover include:
Zack's training under Angeal their various missions within SOLDIER and the work it took for him to obtain the rank of (one of) the most talented 1st Class SOLDIER.

In depth information on the inner workings the ShinRa Company, their military, it's standing with the other departments and the different units within SOLDIER - such as the 13th Unit "Ragnarok" and 14th Unit "Lost Force".

Zack's rivals, comrades and enemies within the military including people such as Cloud, Sephiroth, Tseng, Sebastian and Essai as well as the missions they serve in together.

Zack and Aerith's relationship as well as a promise made between them just before Zack left to Nibelheim never to return.

The Nibelhiem Mission where Zack, Cloud and Sephiroth are sent to investigate monsters emerging from their Mako reactor. The events there leading Sephiroth to the discovery of his twisted past followed by his brutal destruction and massacre of Nibelheim and the townsfolk, defeat of Zack and wounding at the hands of Cloud followed by his disappearance.

The experiment known as the Sephiroth Copy Project performed on the victims of the Nibelheim incident - begun shortly after Sephiroth's disappearance. Approx. 4 years later Cloud and Zack's escape and pursuit by the Turks and Military forces, as well as Zack's death at the hands of ShinRa soldiers outside of Midgar just prior to the events of Final Fantasy VII.

Project Genesis and how it's related to Sephiroth, Zvet and the Deepground Soldier. The reasoning for and the cover up and removal of all records of the project and of Genesis himself - performed by a yet unspecified 1st Class SOLDIER.

An MP within the ShinRa military, originally from the town of Nibelheim. Cloud was unable to fulfill his dream to become a member of SOLDIER but became close friends with Zack over the course of the missions they shared together and holds both him and Sephiroth in high regard. He accompanies both of them to the fated incident at Nibelheim and later escapes with Zack.

purple] An orphan prodigy who was taken in by Shinra for combat training. She's the youngest member in the history of the Turks and fights with a huge shuriken called, “Rekka.” She and Zack cross paths several times though it appears to be more than simply coincidence and the two share an amiable friendship with hints of deeper feelings.

A member (and later the head) of the Turks. He originally met Zack through a mission they were partnered together on. Over the course of the SOLDIER’s time with Shinra they worked together several times and had a fairly good working relationship together. In a twist of fate Tseng was in charge of cleaning up the Nibelheim incident as well as rescuing and later hunting down Zack and Cloud.

green] A scientist who has worked at Shinra for a number of years. He was involved in the original Jenova Project under its subset Project G and is also responsible for the technology to create Copies from individuals like Genesis. He lost a bid for control of the Science Department to Hojo years ago after Gast left and has essentially been living in disgrace at Shinra. Growing more bitter and eager to plot his revenge.

Three years after the meteor crisis, a new group of SOLDIERs called the Deepground SOLDIERs, created by the late President Shin-Ra suddenly appears and raids the town of Kalm. These SOLDIERs have vowed to cleanse the world of those who they deem unfit to live. The WRO, also known as the World Restoration Organization is headed by Reeve Tuesti and the organization's job is to restore order to the world and prevent anything from harming it. Vincent learns that he is pursued by members of an unknown organization and also deals with uncovering his past. The Deepground SOLDIERs have been chasing Vincent for quite some time now. We eventually learn that Vincent was a Turk in the past and had been selected to oversee a project by his father, Grimoire Valentine. Vincent fell in love with a scientist named Lucrecia. Unfortunately, when Grimoire died, Lucrecia left Vincent, being unable to cope with feelings of guilt that she felt about his father's death. As a result, Lucrecia left Vincent. Eventually, Vincent found Lucrecia and attempted to propose to her. She turned him down and later started a relationship with Professor Hojo. Lucrecia was pregnant and attempted to use the unborn child as the experiment for Jenova Cells. The unborn child that the experiments were performed on eventually turned out to be Sephiroth. Vincent objected to this and the experiment caused Lucrecia to fall very ill and Vincent confronted Hojo over this. Hojo shot Vincent and shut him in the Mt. Nibel mako reactor, where Lucrecia infected Vincent with the mako substance and Vincent became Chaos. Vincent, with the influence of Chaos had a fit of rage and broke out of the pod. Lucrecia used some materia to calm Chaos down and put Vincent into a deep sleep. He later woke up in the basement of ShinRa mansion but noticed that Hojo and Lucrecia are nowhere to be found. Vincent became distraught over the modifications found in his body and shuts himself up in the coffin. Hojo locks the coffin and hides the combination key in the safe of the mansion. The main storyline focuses on the theme of redemption and all the characters have something to redeem themselves about. Vincent manages to save Kalm from the attack and encounters Azul and Shelke, who are members of the Tsviets, the elite force of the Deepground SOLDIERs.

Shelke and Azul have their own side stories, which are tied into the plot. There are also mysteries uncovered regarding the sudden disappearance of many people and the WRO investigates this mysterious event. With Vincent facing these threats, he gradually uncovers more about his past and is able to stop Omega. Afterwards, Vincent goes and reflects on what has went on between him and Lucrecia and finally understands it. The storyline mainly focuses on Vincent's past and is mostly a flashback of Vincent and Lucrecia, along with their history together. Another interesting character is Weiss, who is the leader of the Deepground SOLDIERs. He was a SOLDIER who had been controlled by a computer version of Hojo's own personality. Weiss is instructed to find Vincent and Chaos, absorb the pure mako infected people captured and brought by the Deepground SOLDIERs and eventually have Vincent lead them to Omega. Weiss then uses the pure mako to absorb Omega and then receive the great power for Hojo's intentions for the planet. Eventually, Weiss manages to win back control over the computer and decides on his fate to eventually end his own life to stop the suffering.

Reeve was part of ShinRa during Final Fantasy VII. However, he disagreed with their actions and eventually helped the party in the form of Cait Sith as his controller. In Dirge of Cerberus, his character plays a pretty important role in aiding Vincent and helping the planet.
After the fall of the ShinRa company, Reeve founded the World Regenesis Organization and was at the helm of it. The WRO is devoted to preventing harm from the planet and obtaining intelligence information on some of the mysteries that have been taking place recently. In Dirge of Cerberus, Reeve frequently assists Vincent in his missions and has to deal with a conflict between the WRO and the Deepground SOLDIERs.

Female scientist and works for the WRO. She has appeared in FFVII: Before Crisis and was the one who made Barrett's gun-arm. Also, she is known to be a workaholic. However, she is missing her left eye and has an artificial arm.
Shalua has a sister who is actually Shelke. When Shalua first meets her in DoC, she is distraught and quite heartbroken over what Shelke has become as one of the elite members of the rival Deepground SOLDIERs. Shalua took the blame on herself for Shelke's plight and eventually helped her escape from Azul in exchange for Shalua's own life. Shalua's body is preserved in DoC.

Shelke is one member of the elite unit of the Deepground SOLDIERs. She is supposed to be 19 but looks much younger. Shelke, along with fellow member Azul are hunting down Vincent in DoC.
Shelke has an older sister in the WRO, Shalua. As the storyline progresses, she is linked to the personality data of Lucrecia and begins to express the feelings of her. She is eventually freed from Azul about her sister Shalua sacrifices her life in exchange for Shelke's freedom.

Member of the Tsviets, the elite unit of the Deepground SOLDIERs. Azul quickly rose up the ranks in Deepground to become part of the Tsviets.
Azul is one of three Tsviets to undergo a methomorphose experiment and this enabled him to be able to change to a behemoth-like form called Arch Azul. He appeared in FFVII: Before Crisis as someone who wanted to be a SOLDIER. In DoC, he fought with Vincent three times, finally being killed by Vincent after being struck with his own cannon. Azul also turns on Shelke later on in the game.[/spoiler]


*Rosso*



*Nero*



*Weiss*



*Lucrecia Crescent*



*Hojo*