15 Video Game Mysteries Answered Years Later

14. Final Fantasy VII: Who Was Zack Fair?

The original Final Fantasy VII is an absolutely HUGE JRPG packed to the brim with characters, secrets and mysteries to uncover. As the protagonist Cloud Strife's backstory is slowly told through a series of flashbacks and interactions, players find themselves with a bunch of questions to ask. However, not all of these questions are answered by the time the credits roll. One of the main enduring mysteries for fans who picked up the game in the late 90s was, who is Zack Fair and what role did he play in Cloud's backstory?

Cloud's fragmented memories initially showed him as a part of an elite faction known as SOLDIER- or at least he thought he was. In these flashbacks, his own body kept switching with the mysterious Zack's, leaving fans wondering what was going on.

10 years later, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core was released, a game that put Zack front and centre and finally told his story in full. It turns out that Zack was actually the SOLDIER, a man who befriended Cloud and Aerith before eventually being kidnapped, and escaping only to be gunned down by Shinra troops. Before dying, he had asked Cloud to carry on his legacy, giving him the infamous Buster Sword. This trauma had caused Cloud to adopt elements of Zack's identity, muddying the timeline and leaving players initially confused after the original game's 1997 release.