Zack Fair

Zack Fair

Final Fantasy VII

Dissidia

Kingdom Hearts

“	So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn’t give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as SOLDIER.	„
	~ Zack Fair to Cloud Strife

Background

Zack Fair is a main protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, and the best friend of the lead character, Cloud Strife. Serving as a SOLDIER 1st Class, Zack went from loyal Shinra warrior to a fugitive on the run, as he attempted to get back to his girlfriend, Aerith Gainsborough. His immeasurable honour and optimism echoes throughout the entire chronology of games, serving as a guiding light to Cloud.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Zack’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Ever since he was a young boy from the town of Gongaga, Zack looked up to the Shinra Power Electric Company’s SOLDIER program, and dreamt of becoming a SOLDIER 1st Class. This dream was so prevalent in Zack’s mind, that at 13 years old, he left for Midgar without even notifying his parents. Zack was quickly enlisted into the Shinra infantry, in which he served for nearly three years. However, once he reached the age of 16, Zack was promoted into SOLDIER as a 2nd Class, and was taken under the personal tutelage of 1st Class SOLDIER, Angeal Hewley. Angeal taught Zack the importance of sticking to his dream, and always maintaining his honour. Eventually, both Angeal and Zack were sent off to deal with Shinra’s war on Wutai, specifically Fort Tamblin. The two SOLDIERs infiltrate the fort and bring it to its knees, finally ending the Wutai conflict; however, much to Zack’s surprise, Angeal had suddenly disappeared. The legendary SOLDIER, Sephiroth, arrived on the scene and deduced that Angeal had betrayed them, joining his friend Genesis to rebel against Shinra. Zack’s efforts would then be shifted onto dealing with the Genesis conflict, which eventually even got him promoted to SOLDIER 1st Class in Angeal’s place. His quest would lead him to the Sector 5 Slums, where he refused to fight against Angeal. As a result, Angeal attacked Zack, and sent him plummeting to the slums below. The young SOLDIER woke up in a small, broken down church, where he met a young snappy girl named Aerith Gainsborough. Zack and Aerith would hit it off immediately, and soon form a relationship together. However, duty would continuously pull Zack away from Aerith, as the war against Genesis raged on. Appearing in Modeoheim for a mission, Zack made friends with one of the infantrymen stationed with him, Cloud Strife. The two infiltrated Modeoheim and finally confronted Angeal once and for all, who transformed into a monster to force Zack to fight. Zack struck down his mentor, and held him in his arms as he died. Angeal, with his dying breath, entrusted his honour and dreams onto Zack in the form of his sword, the Buster Sword. For the next two years, Zack would continue on as the only SOLDIER 1st Class remaining loyal to Shinra. Zack’s relationship with Aerith was going on strong, although he would soon be pulled away on a mission alongside Cloud and Sephiroth to the Mako Reactor in Nibelheim. With Sephiroth suddenly going rogue and slaughtering the entire town of Nibelheim, Zack was forced to confront him within the Mako Reactor. Feeling caught off guard and betrayed, Zack was defeated by Sephiroth after a brief scuffle, and knocked unable to fight. However, Cloud stepped up and caught Sephiroth off guard, seemingly killing him. Both Cloud and Zack were knocked unconscious and retrieved by the evil scientist, Professor Hojo, who experimented on their bodies for the next four years. Thankfully, Zack was finally able to come to his senses, and escape from the experimentation facility in Nibelheim. He recovered Cloud and fled the town, hoping to make his way back to Aerith. The Shinra Infantry was hunting Zack and Cloud down, however, and were quickly gaining on him. Seeing no other way out, Zack confronted the entire army and tried to defeat as many as he could to keep Cloud safe. Unfortunately, Zack defeated a majority of the army but could not hold off all of them, and was fatally shot. As the Shinra army left Zack for dead, Cloud crawled up to his friend and watched as his life began to fade. With his final actions, Zack entrusted his honor and dreams to Cloud in the form of his Buster Sword, asked him to say hello to Aerith for him, and faded into the Lifestream.

Statistics

Key: Pre-Modeoheim | Post-Modeoheim

Tier: At least 4-A, likely far higher | 3-B

Name: Zack Fair

Origin: Final Fantasy VII

Sex: Male

Age: 17 years old | 18 - 23 years old

Classification: SOLDIER 1st Class

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: At least Multi Solar System level, likely far higher (Zack was able to defeat the Summon, Bahamut Fury, who created its own realm containing several stars. He could also defeat Bahamut Fury’s summoner, Genesis Rhapsodos) | Multi-Galaxy level (Defeated Genesis Rhapsodos while he was strengthened by the Red Orb. A far weaker Genesis was able to contend with Sephiroth, who was confirmed by Hojo to have known Super Nova at the time of their fight; Super Nova has Sephiroth create a dimension, containing one galaxy with room for countless more)

Durability: At least Multi Solar System level, likely far higher | Multi-Galaxy level

Striking Strength: At least Multi Solar System Class, likely far higher | Multi-Galactic Class

Lifting Strength: Unknown

Travel Speed: Athletic Human (Is comparable to Cloud Strife, who can run at similar speeds to a Chocobo; Chocobo are said in the Dissidia Final Fantasy Museum to run at 20 mph)

Combat Speed: At least Massively Hypersonic+ | FTL+

Reaction Speed: At least Massively Hypersonic+ (Could briefly react to a projection of Sephiroth. Should be similar to Cloud Strife, who could dodge the lasers from Shinra security system) | FTL+ (Was able to briefly contend with and react to Sephiroth’s attacks; Sephiroth was confirmed by Hojo to have known Super Nova at the time of their fight, meaning he could react to the comet of his Super Nova)

Stamina: Superhuman (Zack was on the run from Shinra for a very long period of time, and yet was still in prime condition to take on basically the entire Shinra infantry. He is able to go on covert missions for several days at a time and still be raring to fight)

Range: Standard Melee, Extended Melee with Buster Sword, far higher with Materia and Digital Mind Wave

Intelligence: Extraordinary Genius (Zack is a master of combat, able to defeat his superiors, Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley, who have years of experience over him. He was also able to defeat Minerva, the manifestation of the Lifestream itself, which has existed for countless years. He can perfectly replicate abilities from his peers from just hearing them; abilities that normal people are said to be incapable of replicating)

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Powers and Abilities

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Human Achievements (Zack was promoted to SOLDIER 1st Class. He could proficiently create and decorate a flower cart), Acrobatics, Weapon Mastery (Zack is masterful with the Buster Sword), Vehicular Mastery (Zack is skilled with driving a motorcycle), Power Mimicry (Zack’s Digital Mind Wave allowed for him to perfectly replicate techniques from his peers, even some which cannot usually be copied), Aura (Zack can summon an aura with his DMW), Martial Arts (Angeal’s DMW gives Zack proficiency in hand-to-hand), Explosion Manipulation (Zack can create explosions using Angeal’s DMW), Summoning (Zack can freely summon a Shinra helicopter with his cellphone), Blessed and Healing (Zack is fully healed by praying to the planet), Light Manipulation (Zack can summon a glyph of light), Electricity Manipulation (Zack calls upon lightning with Genesis’ DMW), Energy Projection (Zack can shoot concentrated bursts of energy with Meteor Shot), Regeneration Negation (Mid-High; Jenova can regenerate itself fully so long as its cells remain. However, pieces of Jenova defeated by the heroes were unable to enact the Reunion), Limited Flight (Zack can briefly fly with Genesis’ DMW), Limited Statistics Amplification (Zack temporarily makes all of his attacks critical hits with Cissnei’s DMW)

Resistance to: BFR (Type 3; Zack was able to fight within the Lifestream, and fight the manifestation of the Lifestream herself, without being forcefully removed from the physical world), Mind Manipulation & Memory Manipulation (Zack is able to fight the manifestation of the Lifestream without succumbing to its memory manipulation. He was able to retain himself after death), Corruption (Type 1 & 2; Zack was completely resistant to Sephiroth’s cells and could not be corrupted by him the way Cloud was. He was also exposed to Mako for several years and never became a Makonoid), Deconstruction & Matter Manipulation (Despite fighting inside and against the Lifestream, Zack’s body was not dissolved into it the way Sephiroth’s was), Heat Manipulation (Was unaffected by the heat of Ifrit's dimension)

Healing (Cure, Cura, Curaga, and Full Cure all restore Zack’s health), Poison Manipulation (Poison Aerial, Poison Twister, and Poison Blade command materia inflict poison), Death Manipulation (Death Jump, Death Twister, and Death Blade command materia inflict instant death. Death magic materia inflicts instant death), Time Manipulation (Stop Twister and Stop Blade command materia stops enemies in time. Stop magic materia stops enemies in time), Paralysis Inducement (Power Attack briefly stuns enemies), Vibration Manipulation (Exploder Blade command materia creates shockwaves. Quake magic materia creates an earthquake), Fire Manipulation (Fire Blade command materia attacks with the element of fire. Fire, Fira, and Firaga magic materia has Zack attack with flames), Ice Manipulation (Blizzard Blade command materia attacks with the element of ice. Blizzard, Blizzara, and Blizzaga magic materia has Zack attack with ice), Electricity Manipulation (Thunder Blade command materia attacks with the element of electricity. Thunder, Thundara, and Thundaga magic materia has Zack attack with lightning), Life Manipulation and Absorption (Drain Blade, Aerial Drain, and Power Drain command materia will sap life for Zack to absorb. Osmose Blade and Power Osmose will sap magic energy for Zack to absorb. Drain, Drainra, and Drainga magic materia sap life for Zack to absorb. Osmose and Osmoga magic materia sap magic energy for Zack to absorb.), Regeneration (Mid-Low; Regen magic materia will slowly recover Zack’s health), Statistics Amplification (Barrier, MBarrier, and Wall reduce the amount of health and magic damage Zack receives), Light Manipulation (Energy magic materia has Zack shoot a ball of light. Ultima magic materia creates a flash of light that hurts all enemies), Summoning (Summon Materia allows for Zack to summon powerful beasts, such as Ifrit and Bahamut), Resistance to Status Effect Inducement (Esuna magic materia removes all negative status effects), Limited Invulnerability (The Jump and High Jump command materia make Zack temporarily invincible as he performs a jump attack)

Healing (Potions, Hi-Potions, and X-Potions all restore Zack’s health. Ethers restore magic power), Resurrection (Phoenix Down fully restores Zack when he is defeated), Resistance to Status Effect Inducement (Remedy and Elixir prevents negative status effects)

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Standard Equipment

Weapons

• Buster Sword: The six foot long sword, paid for and created by the father of Angeal Hewley as a gift to his son. Angeal would carry this sword around as a symbol of his honour and dreams, to then symbolically pass the sword onto his student, Zack Fair, just before his death.
• SOLDIER Sword: A longsword that Zack was given after his recruitment into SOLDIER, which he’s used (and broken) several times, before being passed down the Buster Sword.
• Umbrella: During his vacation in Costa Del Sol, he temporarily wielded an umbrella in place of his sword to take out incoming attackers.

Items

• Potion: Restores some of Zack's health.
• Hi-Potion: Restores a little of Zack's health.
• X-Potion: Restores a lot of Zack's health.
• Ether: Restores some of Zack's magic power.
• Remedy: Fully cures Zack of status ailments.
• Elixir: Restores Zack’s health, magic power, and cures him of status ailments.
• Phoenix Down: Fully resurrects Zack when he is defeated.

*Command Materia: Small yellow orbs of crystalized Mako energy that Zack can use to empower himself with techniques he couldn’t previously use; including ones that can inflict status effects, like poison and paralysis.

Magic Materia: Small green orbs of crystalized Mako energy that Zack can use to enable the use of magic spells, oftentimes being elemental in nature, such as Fire/Fira/Firaga which attacks with flames.

Summon Materia: Small red orbs of crystalized Mako energy that Zack can use to call upon legendary, gargantuan beasts from the distant past, to fight alongside him. This includes giant flaming behemoths like Ifrit, to huge dragons like Bahamut.

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Notable Techniques

• Octaslash: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Sephiroth, Zack can replicate his iconic attack. This has him slash his opponents into the air, and strike them eight consecutive times.
• Rush Assault: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Angeal, Zack can replicate his iconic attack. This has him punch the opponent several times, before charging through them and leaving them in a giant explosion.
• Air Strike: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Tseng, Zack can replicate his iconic attack. This has him call upon an air strike from the Shinra attack helicopter.
• Lucky Stars: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Cissnei, Zack can replicate her iconic technique. Being surrounded by bright stars, Zack is given the ability to temporarily land critical hits with every attack.
• Healing Wave: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Aerith, Zack can replicate her iconic technique. This has him pray to the planet, and he is bestowed with healing energy that fully rejuvenates him.
• Meteor Shots: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Cloud, Zack can replicate his iconic attack. This has Zack jump high up into the air, powering up his sword before blasting out meteor-like energy balls from it at enemies.
• Apocalypse: Using his Digital Mind Wave for Genesis, Zack can replicate his iconic attack. This has Zack summon a large circular pattern on the ground beneath his foes, before lighting it up with powerful electricity.

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Other

Weaknesses: Zack can be very naive at times, which hampers his judgement and can put him in trouble; such as when he refused to fight Angeal and was defeated for it. He’s also highly energetic and can sometimes put himself in situations not favourable to him.

Battle Records

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Discussions (Link For Mobile Users):

Discussion threads involving Zack Fair