#claudia rambles

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

forever obsessed with dynamics between vampires, specifically that of a maker and fledgling, as a way to explore abuse. the creation of a vampire itself can so easily be a literalization of the lasting impacts of trauma and also much more simply the ways a perpetrator might shape their victim’s very identity. the extremes of isolation in the way that the new vampire, in most narratives, must cut all ties to their mortal life, or else go through an elaborate charade to maintain the facade of humanity, while forever still being removed from it. and the sheer dependence and vulnerability of being in an entirely new state of being, wholly uncertain of what it entails, and relying on another person to define… everything.

#or just the moral dilemmas #rewatching amc interview is kind of making me insane #that moment in episode two when louis is looking for a sort of assurance in the fact that lestat may actually have some good in him #look at how he cares about music look at the simple wondrous things that can bring him joy #and then the immediate dread when the opera performance turns out to be imperfect because he knows how lestat will react to *that* #I think there’s also something really interesting in the highlighting of lestat upbraids the less skilled singer before killing him #(slowly) #but also I will wait to watch more before I articulate my thoughts #vampires #interview with the vampire #amc interview with the vampire #i ramble sometimes #I do still find the lestat and claudia film and novel dynamic by far the most compelling for how she tries to usurp him but almost to be him #but I’m enjoying this #I’m very curious if I will like show claudia more on rewatch #the movie always resonated most with me (sue me lol) because there seemed to be more simultaneous fondness and attachment even at the end

[nburkhardt]

Claudia definitely calls Steve “my baby”.,,,. it’s only been like a day of knowing him.

She clocked him as a scared, sad boy immediately and decided that he’s her boy and will do anything to protect and care for him.

She watched him be silly with her Dusty and just went ‘that’s my baby. I gotta get adoption papers!’

#steve harrington #claudia henderson #henderfam #stranger things #Steve & Claudia #nburkhardt writes #mama Henderson has so much love for her boys #I like to imagine her and Steve cooking together while Dustin rambles about dnd

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

For the record the knowledge of a two-year time skip is making me lose my mind the number of implications this has

New outfits

Late-teens Callum and Rayla

Darker tone

Twelve-year-old Aanya

Ezran has been king for two years

Zym is two years old

Soren and Claudia have been apart for two years

Amaya and Janai have had plenty of time to start dating

Runaan has been IN THAT FREAKING COIN FOR TWO YEARS

ETHARI STILL THINKS HE’S DEAD

#the dragon prince #tdp spoilers #tdp callum #tdp rayla #tdp ezran #tdp zym #tdp soren #tdp claudia #tdp amaya #tdp janai #tdp runaan #tdp ethari #ruthari #janaya #tdp #ray rambles #the dragon prince spoilers

[findafight]

I think it's sooooo funny that people think Mrs. Henderson doesn't swear like yeah she likely makes the best damn quilts in Roane county and is sweet as cheery pie, is a bit overprotective of Dustin and is going to be a lovely grandma who spoils her grandbabies. Yes to all. but she also swears like a landlocked sailor yearning for the sea. Where do you think Dustin picked it up?? Claudia has called someone a motherfucking assface bitch in traffic I know this in my heart.

#claudia Henderson #dustin henderson #stranger things #let her swear!!! she deserves it :) #what traffic in hawkins? idk but she has. #finda's rambles

[raayllum]

They're so sick for this

& was gonna originally leave it in the tags but then I liked it so why not:

I do think this parallel helps contextualize why Claudia's offer is there in the narrative beyond just characterization "she knows this is a loss the boys have experienced, and there is possible room to convince them," or beyond "I doubt they're going to bring Harrow back fully (if at all) so why tease it" and well: I think this parallel is exactly why.

For starters, there's the sheer difference in presentation that help to contrast and compare Callum and Claudia as characters. More importantly for next season, I think, is that it ties together Claudia wanting to save her father is what led to her working with Aaravos in the first place versus Callum wanting to free Rayla's parents likely being something that is just going to put him further on Aaravos' dark path of destiny for him, if not outright lead to disaster. The road to ruin is paved with good intentions, after all - even if he's being selfless about it because it's not even for himself or one of his direct loved ones, but purely by proxy

#tdp #the dragon prince #dragons liveblogs #it's like poetry it rhymes #where can i put it down? #show me a garden that's bursting into life #callum x claudia #personal fave #idk why it only hit NOW just how similar these are #i think it's bc claudia is offering as a manipulation tactic & #callum is 100 genuine (maybe too genuine) and rayla would never dare Ask but. who knows #either way We're So Fucked #5x09 #tag ramble #parallels #5x04

[getvalentined]

I am so sick of people asserting that Cloud's father is some super special important person like it's some explanation for the fact that he was able to save the world. Superior bloodline stuff never sits well with me in the first place, but in this case it's just so antithetical to the actual thesis of FF7 and does such a huge disservice to multiple characters that it makes me white hot angry.

The most popular contender is President Shinra, because Cloud being a Shinra bastard would (somehow) explain why he's allowed into the company at such a young age (even though enlistment age appears to be 14 and Cloud left Nibelheim to enlist at 14) and how he wound up on so many important missions—because it can't possibly be that he's actually competent, he's so pretty, how could he possibly be competent? It's not as if we see him being staggeringly competent from jump in every title where he's featured, including those that start prior to him being forcibly mako enhanced by Hojo. Clearly this is nepotism.

After all, we know that President Shinra is always so supportive of his bastards! That's why Lazard hid his identity and worked his way up the ranks to become director of SOLDIER at the youngest possible age and then set about trying to orchestrate a hostile takeover of the company by allowing all three of his best operatives to defect in the middle of a war, a process that was only thrown off because one of them passed off every single mission where he would have had an opportunity to go AWOL.

This was clearly the result of nepotism. There's just so much nepotism going on there. Obviously.

The newest contender is Glenn Lodbrok, the lead character from the First SOLDIER section of Ever Crisis, because he's blond-haired and blue-eyed and presumably one of the first people in Project 0 to survive some level of the mako enhancement process. I guess this is supposed to mean that him being Cloud's father would be a perfect explanation for Cloud actually being capable of literally anything, since the only way for him to become the hero that was chosen by the planet to keep it alive would be if it's part of some bloodline destiny.

There are a whole host of issues with Glenn as an option here, not the least of which is the canonical lore about Cloud's father, namely that he was some nobody traveler who kinda passed through and got Claudia pregnant and then left; he may have died up in the mountains, but apparently all that was ever found was his pack, so there's no way to be sure. Further, Claudia was very young at this point—according to her original concept art declaring her to be 33 at the time of her death, she gave birth to Cloud at 16-17 years old.

Glenn is one of two possible age ranges: if he was active in the early stages of Project 0, being a character in the First SOLDIER battle royale game, then he was around 21 in 1985, meaning a 21 year old knocked up Claudia Strife when she was 15 and then walked out on her. If he's 21 during the events of Ever Crisis, which seems likely based on his character design, that would make him 14 at the oldest when Claudia got pregnant.

Okay, I know this kind of thing happens IRL, but I feel pretty confident in the statement that there is absolutely no way that that's the direction SE is taking this timeline and characterization. I'm not even sorry. That's not happening. Either he's giving "predator," or he's Deadbeat Dad: High School Freshman Edition.

But that's honestly not even the worst of it, the math not matching up is entirely irrelevant when the implications of this assertion are applied to the actual thesis of this series as a whole, to the characters we already know, to the actual lore. Claiming that Cloud is only special because of the sperm donation of a man who abandoned him literally removes any concept of his competence as a character, declaring that he's just the newest iteration in a line of "worthy" men. He can't be worth anything unless his father is worth something. He can't be good at anything unless his father is good at something.

Beyond that, it casts Claudia aside entirely, asserting that the fact that she raised Cloud doesn't matter—she may have brought him up entirely on her own, but that doesn't actually matter. She didn't instill values and morals and guidelines into him that would allow him to grow up into a man who could save the world, she was just an incubator, a nursemaid, a nanny, a cook. She was just a servant who kept him alive long enough for his father's bloodline to awaken within him and make him into the hero he was always meant to be.

Insisting that Cloud's value as a character hinges in any way on his father, a person who had no place in his life whatsoever and whom he doesn't even remember, takes away his agency and declares Claudia to be irrelevant. It says that a sperm donation matters more than an upbringing. It says that the place he started is the only thing that defines where Cloud will end up.

This is literally, 100 percent, the opposite of the thesis of this series. The entire concept of these games, of these storylines, is that the way you were made doesn't have to dictate what you can be, who you are, where you're going. Your genetics do not define you, and assumptions to the contrary are literally what make people into monsters. What matters is the people you love, the people who love you, and the person you are now as a result of those people.

And the fact of the matter is that regardless of timelines, regardless of characterizations, regardless of theories, Cloud Shinra and Cloud Lodbrok didn't save the world.

Cloud Strife did.

Claudia Strife's son did.

And I think people could stand to give both of them a hell of a lot more credit.

#fandom rant #fandom ramble #fandom bullshit #long post #cloud strife #claudia strife #FF7 #FF7R #FF7EC

[dracoj]

i know new vampire powers can’t be unlocked through desire and effort alone because Claudia has been channeling extreme “head go explode NOW” energy at Lestat nonstop for fifteen years at point blank range, and yet he continues on, being a massive cunt at every opportunity

#during the chess scenes I know her inner mantra is ‘die die explode kys KYS on the count of three die one two DIE’ #iwtv #interview with the vampire #Claudia iwtv #j rambles #lestat lioncourt

[blaqueswanzaghouliishiilikeda]

thinking about how bailey bass pointed out how louis wanted someone to own and just screaming inside bc he really approached guiding her transition in a similar way lestat did him. louis guided her with only what he didn’t receive in his guidance in mind in a similar way lestat did him. lestat didn’t get to choose his vampirism so he corners louis into a choice, he didn’t have anyone to teach him so he takes on the role of master teacher, and offers it as a gift bc thats how he endured—by believing it is a gift and that he’s been elevated to a god. louis wasn’t prepared for the guilt and shame of murdering so he focuses on that and he hated being deemed fledgling and what it meant for his and lestat’s dynamic, so he acts as if claudia has a freedom she doesn’t actually have in hopes that it would make up for what was taken. only he never actually considered what he took from claudia, he just projected what he knew about what was taken from him. he doesn’t see that he is using lestat’s angle of putting louis on this earth to enjoy himself and reworking it to fit his savior complex. he saved her and is giving her a life she almost lost. she gets to keep living bc of what he did. only he doesn’t see that in his own way he refuses to acknowledge claudia’s experience as a black girl made enternal child in the same way lestat refuses to acknowledge louis as a black man made eternal subordinate. he doesn’t want to see that she isn’t actually living. not anymore than he is. not even as much as he is bc she doesn’t get to have years running a successful business or fulfilling things she wants. she doesn’t get a spouse and freedom to go out into the world as she pleases. she needs to feed more than he does. so she’s more at a risk than them. she’s locked up in an immortal tower forever the rapunzel to louis’ misogynistic mother gothel. doing her hair and dressing her up while using up her eternal childhood to give himself a purpose. and making the black girl in the house lead their movement towards liberating them from her owner’s owner. taking the scrapes of louis at the very least allowing her as his little sister. he doesn’t see his own oppressive rule over claudia especially bc he is so passive. i think he explains away a lot of the ways he holds power over her because to him, at least he’s not lestat. something about vampiric generational trauma and all that. sorry this got away from me. i’m not sure if i’m making sense. i need him to die is what i’m saying in conclusion.

#iwtv #claudia #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #please excuse my rambling. i really had a point im not sure if i made it there tho 😭

[godlizzza]

thinking about post-bride and, like, what if they presumed herbert died in the collapse of the crypt and dan's left in the aftermath, all clear? at first he'd be like, 'ok yes, this is good. im finally free of him. now i can have a Normal Life.' but he quickly starts to feel this sense of unease and wrongness. like, this life he's now living doesnt feel real. he feels like an actor in a play who keeps fumbling his lines. things like going to work alone, going out for drinks with coworkers, coming home to francesca- none of it feels right.

his thoughts are plagued with memories of herbert, and not just the worst moments, but their entire life together. he thinks about that night when everything fell apart, how he saw herberts hand sticking out of the rubble but he grabbed francesca instead. he tries to ignore it but he cant. and as that uneasy feeling continues to mount it all comes to a head when he has the terrible realisation that he misses herbert. that he wants him to be alive.

and once he sees that he cant unsee it. this quiet little life he has, that he once craved so desperately, now feels artificial and fake. and that undoes dan.

idk just the thought of someone hating someone so much, blaming them for everything thats wrong in their life, only to realise how much they need them when theyre gone just does something to me.

#this could also apply to a dan who has turned herbert in and thinks about him while hes in prison #im just thinking of that part in the interview with the vampire novel after louis and claudia have killed lestat #and louis is so discontented #and he has that terrible realisation one night where hes like 'my god. i WANTED him alive!' #oof. just gets me good #ramblings #danbert #dan cain #herbert west #re-animator

[blacclotusss]

Everytime I think about Claudia as a person, my heart automatically clinches up. Behind the vampirism and all the walls she's built up, is a an anguished young woman. She's been failed by everyone she's encountered in her life. Her aunt and were god-awful, especially him watching her use the restroom as a child. Despicable. Then, Louis whisks her away from her burning home and asks Lestat to turn her against her will. She thinks she found a family but ended up with another abuser. She decides to leave and see what's out there for herself and meets Bruce (yuck!) who turns around and assaults her. Makes her way back to New Orleans to try and rescue the only person she gives a fuck about and winds up being choked against the wall and watching her brother be abused and severely beaten. Her and her brother end up killing their abuser, her brother chokes her up against the wall just like their abuser but she can't do anything now and sets off to sea with him to find a new home. They arrive in Paris and they find a coven of vampires. She finds a sweet woman who she sees as her new companion just for that coven to turn on her and kill her. Claudia has NEVER been given a fighting chance to make something out of her life. She's been put through bullshit from when she was born to her death. It's so heartbreaking...

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #claudia de pointe du lac #just rambling

[rijinksiwtv]

On Claudia

I noticed that a lot of the people I know offline that read IWTV as a teenager and aren't in the (current) fandom didn't know that Claudia was based on Anne Rice's daughter, who died of childhood leukaemia. Some dismissive comments like "it's a book/series that you read and find cool as a teen, later not so much" and I get it, they read it as a teen and looking back they see things differently, remember those years critically. Reading Interview myself I learned of the background behind Claudia's character in very early chapters when I looked the series up on Wikipedia, and knowing that hit different. I can't tell if I would've had a that much different reading experience if I knew about it later.

Anyway it's clearly a deeply personal work and not a story specifically aimed at teens, though I guess so many people read it at that age that I've seen Amazon marketing the entire Chronicles as being for 10-14 year olds (while TVA is still categorised as erotica. Who approved this)

#thoughts #claudia #interview with the vampire #the vampire chronicles #anne rice #ramblings

[kindaorangey]

there are a million things that are great about tdp s5 but one i'd like to give special mention to is how viren realising all the wrong decisions he's made only made me hate him more.

#because he doesn't think about talking to claudia or trying to reason with her and warn her about his decision to die #he just has his revelation. washes his hands of responsibility. and goes into the woods to die #what a fucking asshole #tdp spoilers #tdp s5 spoilers #tdp s5 #tdp #the dragon prince #thunder rambles

[evren-sadwrn]

My top 5 list of the cuntiest most amazing outfits served by John Wick characters(because the costuming team always be serving goddamn). Anyways hear me yap I’m in a party bored out of my mind

spoilers for all movies in the John Wick series, be warned!!

5. Ms. Perkins — John Wick(2014)

Goth as hell, fucking love it. It was SUCH a serve. Everything is black as shit. The leather boots and gloves?? This entire outfit just screams 2014 goth chick and you know what, she slayed it so much. Too bad she doesn’t get quite enough recognition which is utterly heartbreaking💔💔 Those boots are such a slay and that bag too. I remember watching John Wick for the first time and looking at her and going “is that a 2014 tumblr girl.” And knowing the fact it’s canonly set in 2014 just really makes this all so funny and in a way realistic.

4. Marquis de Gramont — John Wick:Chapter 4(2023)

I like to call this outfit the “let them eat cake” fit because he’s French, an aristocrat, and he was eating cake in this scene. They really put Bill “campy horror boyfriend” Skarsgård in high waisted trousers and a slutty waistcoat. The red is so nice in this scene, it really went well with the golden sunlight that the Marquis is often drenched in. And that pocket watch too is just exquisite. His suit is such a breath of fresh air from all the black/dark outfits that stayed constant throughout the movies. Love how all of his suits are literally not tactical at all and just style. Really solidified his character as a spoiled cunt.

3. Akira Shimazu — John Wick Chapter 4(2023)

Rina Sawayama was so good as Akira oh my lord. I was literally lost for words that mother Sawayama came to slay(she could beat the hell out of anyone) and this outfit!!!! I’m such a sucker for tri-color outfits especially when there’s like two colors that are the same/shades and one color that just heavily contrasts it(in a good way). Oh and the battle outfit underneath was also awesome, love how the costuming team also takes into account that almost everyone in the movies are either hitmen or just need to be fighting.

2. Sofia Al-Alzwar — John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum(2019)

First off, I love the Cassablanca Continental, its like the best(in my opinion) out of all Continentals seen so far. I love the entire aesthetic of the place and the fact that Sofia absolutely manages to blend in quite well. She matches the decoration of the Hotel. And that sheer black coat combined with the belt of coins(?). Also, that cute pup<33 I love the embroidery on this, I’m such a sucker for embroidery like on her coat.

1. Gianna D’Antonio — John Wick 2

Holy shit!!!!! Mother Gianna D’Antonio!! Slayed her 10 minutes of screen time fr. That sparkly dress underneath her fur coat. Oh and that coat! I love it so much, I’ve been trying to find like something that resembles it. I am genuinely so in love with Gianna’s outfit in her death scene. Despite the sparkles and sequins, it manages to stay classy which is probably because it’s Claudia Gerini. And seriously, her hair too! Everything about this entire fit just makes it amazing. The sparkling dress makes Gianna eye-catching at the party which is what she probably would have wanted. I am so incredibly salty there wasn’t much else to see from her because I just know that she would’ve had better outfits or a better presence if her brother didn’t send John to kill her.

All in all, the costume teams of all movies managed to make such a good set of clothing for the characters. It gives so much life to their characters and the fact their actors managed to understand their characters too makes this all so beautiful to watch. I’m such a fan of costuming in movies and AHHHHH!!!! I truly do believe that outfits help a lot with audiences getting an idea of a character<333

thank you for reading<3

#john wick #john wick 2 #john wick 3 #john wick 4 #ms perkins #marquis de gramont #marquis vincent de gramont #sofia al-alzwar #gianna d’antonio #adrianne palicki #bill skarsgård #rina sawayama #halle barry #claudia gerini #long post #costume design #🪐rambles #fashion #costuming #movie outfits #movie fashion #movie costuming #fashion design

[findafight]

Little headcanon I've been brewing for like over a year is that Claudia Henderson was a tech/computer programmer for the legitimate side of Hawkins Lab prior to season one, so after everything goes down Dustin is very obviously not really happy with his mom working at an evil government lab that uses the legit energy side to cover up the evil child experimentation side. He begs her to find a different job because he hates the lab, tries to reason with her that it's farther out of town than other places she could work at, and Dustin is wary of the woods after Will. She obviously doesn't want to distress her kid, and dotes on him, so looks into other jobs despite the lab being reliable and government funded. If nothing shakes out it's fine but if it does Dustin will be happy.

Turns out a few places like the mayor's office and the police station and the library are all considering beginning digitization, and maybe the hours are worse and it's at three different locations, but it's a city job and she's still doing what she loves and is good at. Dustin is incredibly relieved she stopped working at the lab, even if he could never fully articulate why he suddenly hated her working there so much, but she's glad her Dusty is more comfortable now, possibly because he knows he'll be able to bike to her more easily now if something happens?

And THEN the demodog infestation and S2 lab scandal breaks and Claudia is watching the news thanking God she got the hell out of there a year prior, well clear of the blast radius and saving her life, wondering what the hell Dustin knew that made him so insistent she leave...

#claudia henderson #dustin henderson #stranger things #finda's rambles #claudia being a computer tech is so real to me. i love her. i think instead of rubber ducks she uses little cat statues tho lol #and imagine the DRAMA of her hearing about the mass casualty event at the lab and realizing she left her job just in time bc dustin hated #that she worked there. hoohoo!!

[raayllum]

You think I've done awful things, and I have. But I'm not evil. It's me. You know me. I'm still the same person.

I actually think these lines / scene from Claudia is one of her most interesting in the entire show, so let's talk about it, beat by beat.

You think I've done some awful things, and I have.

This line, along with others from Viren (his "I had to" is another form of justification, and what's to justify if you done nothing 'wrong' or nothing to be blamed for?), i.e. "In the name of love, you will perform acts so unforgivable, you will never forgive yourself" as well as Claudia's explanation in 4x01 ("I had to do things... I never imagined I would be able to do" with tears in her eyes) and Terry's assertion ("I've seen you do a lot of awful things, dark magic things") is like... while Claudia still doesn't see the error, I'm willing to bet, with the bulk of her actions (elves and dragons are still clearly not wholly people to her), she's still done things that she considers awful. Things that crossed her previous moral lines, beginning, I'd bet, with the deer in 2x09, and that which only escalated from there.

Claudia still thinks she's a good person (which we will get to in a second, believe me) but she doesn't think she's squeaky clean. She knows, just as Viren knows (and just as Callum knows/believes) that she's done genuinely awful, terrible things.

A character feeling bad about doing something, or a character recognizing that something they've done is terrible ("It's horrific, Viren" "We have no other choice"), is not a get off scot free card in this show, and it never has been. Not for Claudia, and not for anyone else.

While Claudia has been manipulated by Aaravos, everything she's done is of her free will, and without lying to herself about the exact nature of them (even if there's still plenty she's in denial of like the plague, but I digress).

Claudia is like 5 different cognitive dissonances in a trenchcoat, but she's not stupid, either.

But I'm not evil. It's me.

This to me shows the mask slipping the post, because if there wasn't even a hint of possibility at being evil, you would feel no need to declare otherwise. I forget where I've said this before but Claudia cares (esp in arc 1, less so in arc 2 but it's not nonexistent) about being a good person. It's kinda like how Viren doesn't really care if he's good or not, but he wants to be important (matter). Bonus points for Claudia's hypocrisy/shields being worn down over time ("She kidnapped you and Prince Ezran, how can she be good?" -> attempting to do the exact same thing an episode later). She's cracking, but desperately trying to convince them (for mostly manipulation reasons) and herself (genuinely) that she's not, that instead...

You know me. I'm still the same person. I am.

TDP has always been very interested in identity, most notably for characters like Callum, Rayla, and Soren in arc 1, but it's fun to see it be expanded and interrogated further by looping Claudia in during arc 2. S5 and arc 2 places a lot of emphasis in particular on the idea of knowing yourself ("That's not my name. I am Elmer") or knowing others ("She's not the elf, she's Rayla") / preserving your sense of self in the face of change or hard circumstances ("But violence tests us" "Callum, you're the 'destiny is a book you write yourself' guy").

Claudia highlights this twofold. She asks the boys to know her, despite how much time and bad blood has gone by. She appeals to the many years of friendship they had in contrast to their few months turned years of being foes. It's barking up the wrong tree (Callum's Spellbook asserts that even as of s2/s3, "I feel like I don't know who she is anymore" on his end) but I am actually inclined to believe her.

This may be a misread, simply because from S1 but especially S2 onwards I always figured Claudia would end up precisely where she is now, so I don't know if it's the consistency influencing my judgement call possibly clouding more intense changes (she refused to use Harrow against the boys in 2x02, to a degree) but... I don't think almost anything Claudia does in S5 is something she wouldn't have done the bulk of in S1, other than threatening the boys, and she's done that multiple times by the time the end of S2 and S3 rolls around, most notably towards Ezran.

She's still the same person, but her circumstances and therefore her responses have gotten steadily, consistently worse. But this has always lived inside her. She's the same person (but worse), they know her and see her more clearly than they ever did before, and both of those things are precisely the problem.

#tdp claudia #dragons liveblogs #5x09 #analysis series #eye motif #the dragon prince #tdp #tag ramble #reminds me of callum's assertion that 'not everything's changed' i.e. he's still as devoted to rayla as he always has been #since arguably 2x03 but i could argue for earlier #or even rayla and ezran and soren of like #by and large in arc 2 they are the same ppl they used ot be #but things are getting worse. so most of them are getting worse. and i think that's really interesting #negative character development/circumstance my beloved #altho rayla is getting better. For Now #one day i'll write a thing just about the claudia + viren eye motif properly

[getvalentined]

Had someone ask me how I write Claudia Strife as having a personality and while I made a quippy little post about it over on the twits, I honestly have a lot of feelings about the common interpretation to the contrary. She has a handful of speaking lines and references in the OG and Remake that I think make her personality pretty clear, and while it's not to the same capacity in her other appearances she is present in Crisis Core.

One thing that sticks out to me about getting this question now, after Remake, is how it really clarifies how little a lot of modern fandom understand the layers of a narrative, the way that characters work together to make each other greater than the sum of their screentime. (Although that's a discussion for later, I think.)

We don't get a lot of content for Claudia, sure, but we have a solid indication of her personality via other characters' recollections of her and references to her—not just Cloud's, but Sephiroth's, and in turn Cloud's reaction to Sephiroth's.

Claudia comments in flashbacks featured in both the OG and Remake that she worries about Cloud being all alone in Midgar, that she wants him to find someone that will help keep him grounded and safe even if things get hard. In spite of this, she didn't stop him from leaving Nibelheim at fourteen to enlist, and she's not trying to convince him to drop out of Shinra and move back home. She allowed him to make his own decisions, she supported him in those decisions, and while she expresses concern she doesn't demand that he do anything.

In Remake, when Sephiroth says that Claudia begged him to spare Cloud's life, Cloud doesn't appear to question the veracity of the declaration at all. Even if Sephiroth was lying—which he may have been—this is something that Cloud appears to believe Claudia would do.

This means that Claudia, in the eyes of her son, was the kind of woman who would give her life to hold the line against the most powerful superhuman in the world. Claudia knew about Sephiroth, there's no way she didn't with how Cloud adored him growing up; she had to know that there was really nothing she could do. After what he did in Wutai, taking her life wouldn't mean anything.

She intercepted him anyway, knowing that he wasn't going to stop with her, no matter how she begged, knowing that he'd strike down anyone else in his path once he got through her—she couldn't have changed his mind, and I doubt that she was actually trying to.

She was trying to slow him down.

Cloud knows who his mother was, and he knows that she'd give her life just to be a distraction, to divert Sephiroth's attention long enough to buy her son an extra minute, an extra second to get away.

Fandom talks a lot about the tragedy that is Ifalna, how she died to get Aerith to safety, and I understand why, but I think a lot of people handwave the fact that she wasn't trying to sacrifice herself. Ifalna was fatally wounded during her escape from Shinra with Aerith, an act intended to get them both out. She accepted that she wasn't going to make it in the end, passing Aerith along to someone she prayed would keep her safe, but that was never the plan.

Claudia Strife didn't just know she was going to die, she made it so that there was no other option if Sephiroth wanted to make it into town, and I don't think we give her nearly enough credit for that. Aerith let Sephiroth kill her so she could commune directly with the Planet and activate Holy, to save everyone; Claudia let Sephiroth kill her to buy her son just a little more time.

It's really no surprise that a woman with that strength of will raised up a son capable of saving the world.

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