Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is full of very small and subtle interactions that build to give you an uneasy feeling that something sinister is afoot. Cloud letting Sephiroth live inside his head rent-free is a big part of that, but there are even more little bits of foreshadowing that you'll only be able to pick up on if you've played the original game, one of which was recently spotted in the game's Nibelheim flashback scene. Be warned, we're getting pretty spoiler heavy.

Twitter user Tizza Strifeheart was the first to spot the subtle piece of foreshadowing regarding Cloud's true identity, which can be Seen when Cloud sits on top of Nibelheim's central water tower. If you've played the original, then you'll Know+ that Cloud's memory is distorted during this flashback scene, as he sees himself as Zack due to some seriously uncool Mako experiments performed by Hojo.

It's revealed that Cloud was actually a regular Shinra grunt during the previous trip to Nibelheim, meaning that he doesn't actually have his iconic Buster Sword or outfit. It's the Buster Sword which potentially gives the game away, as when Cloud parks his keister on top of the water tower, he doesn't remove the sword from his back, which he would absolutely need to do to physically sit down.

<script> window.arrayOfEmbeds["1774663845472301318"] = {'twitter' : '"\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">See the difference? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FF7R?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FF7R<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Cloud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Cloud<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xjLcLG2p31\">pic.twitter.com\/xjLcLG2p31<\/a>\n&mdash; Tizza Strifehart &eth;&Yuml;&rsquo;&laquo; (@pwtizza) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pwtizza\/status\/1774663845472301318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 1, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" defer=\"\"><\/script>\n"'}; window.arrayOfEmbedScripts["twitter"] = ""<script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" defer><\/script>""; </script>

You may think this is just an oversight, as Cloud's sword has broken the laws of physics before, namely during the scene with Aerith in the playground in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. However, Cloud's return to Nibelheim with Aerith and the gang implies otherwise. If you talk to Aerith and sit on top of the water tower with her, this time Cloud does remove the Buster Sword from his back and places it on the ground before sitting down - very deliberately too.

The idea is that Cloud doesn't remove the Buster Sword from his back in the flashback because he didn't actually have it at that time, so he would have no memory of it. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth can get extremely meta at times, so it's not much of a stretch to imagine that Square Enix deliberately made Cloud interact with the Buster Sword as little as possible to hint that his memories may be unreliable. Either that, or we're all looking way too hard into a developer oversight. Who can say?