[Character Information] Canon / Fanon: Zack
Canon Facts
- He was 16 at the time of Crisis Core's start, was a First Class SOLDIER for two years, imprisoned for four years in Nibelheim, and died after a year on the run from Shinra at age 23. (Footnote B.)
- His fanclub count post-death = 100K+ members. Said members are douchebags for not telling Aerith OR his mom that he died. :| (Stated in Crisis Core if the player accomplishes certain requirements.)
- Zack is an extremely physical person. He thrives on affection of all types, but physical most of all. Hugs, cuddles, hand-holding, even just a simple touch means a lot to him, whether he's giving or receiving. It makes life a bit awkward and more interesting when he associates with so many introverts. (Source being like. ALL OF CRISIS CORE.)
- His Nibelheim designation was "Specimen A, Code Z". This angers him to no end. (Footnote A.)
- Zack is immune to both Jenova cells and further enhancement with mako. This means that, while he can't become more powerful via mako, there's no risk of him becoming a monster due to excessive exposure, and Jenova can't speak to him or control him. (Footnote A, again.)
- He dated Aerith for about two years, give or take a bit. (Footnote B.)
- Zack is a restless guy; he doesn't like sitting around, doing nothing, waiting for things, etc. He's... really not all that patient. Unless he's dozing or he has company to keep him occupied, he really is like a fidgety kid, fussing about what's to be done regardless of when it should be done. This is the main reason why he doesn't attend Luceti's school; he'd probably be a nightmare student for poor Raine or Gelda. (The mission in Wutai with Angeal.)
-He's messy. He feels right at home when things are cluttered. (DMW scene with Aerith regarding the slums.)
-He loves making promises, even just for silly things. Promises mean a lot to him, even if he tosses them out rather frivilously. He'll always try his best to keep them. (DMW scene with Aerith, about her wearing pink the next meeting.)
-Zack asked Cissnei out to dinner once. He also invited Cloud out to lunch, and wound up getting roped into treating a couple other troopers in exchange for their promise to watch over Cloud. In short: he likes food dates. |D (Various DMWs.)
- He once tried to fool Tseng into believing he was busy so he could flirt with a secretary. Suffice to say it didn't work. (Tseng DMW.)
- He's actually pretty smart at figuring things out. When Cissnei was "coincidently" sent on vacation at the same time as he was, he realized right away that she was sent to keep an eye on him long before she told him. (Cissnei DMW.)
- Zack has a very odd opinion of death, and the deaths of his own comrades, if they're casual friends rather than close- he easily comes to terms with it, since it's really all part of the job. Upon passing the sword graves he made for Sebastian and Essai, Tseng apologizes to Zack, since the Turk assignments caused SOLDIER casualties. Zack shrugs it off and tells him not to worry about it; they were themselves in the end, and that's what matters. "And I can see them anytime I come here." He does feel remorse for those deaths, however, and attempts to reassure the dead that they're doing fine and that they should rest easy, just in case. Following the death of Angeal, he was quite blunt with both Cloud and Tseng, apologizing for taking so long and saying, "Let's go home." That was the first time he wore the Buster Sword, too. It's harder for him when he's close to the person. (Tseng DMW.)
- Zack is a dork and uses RPG terms. He actually says he leveled up. :| I suspect he played video games. (Angeal DMW.)
- Zack can be pretty forgetful sometimes. Useful tool for a forgetful mun |D He forgot to bring his sword to a mission meeting with Angeal because he was looking for materia. One-track-mind much, Zack? (Angeal DMW.)
- He's kind of... unschooled in all things. He doesn't know about the theory behind anything he does, like materia usage, or special SOLDIER protocol and procedures (such as the special privileges that 1st Class SOLDIERs have). His main focus is on the physical aspect of everything- learn by doing. And he has no shame in not knowing- he'll ask what is probably a stupid question to anyone who can give him an answer. Whether he'll listen or not depends on the one offering the information and how attentive he is; sometimes he'll just wander off. (A variety of Angeal and Sephiroth DMWs.)
- He doesn't often fuss about rejection. Cissnei outright refused his dinner date and he just shrugged it off, and then proceeded to try and wrestle a more favourable answer out of her by offering to talk to her superiors, probably about getting her off the hook. Again, she refused. He does have a flare for the dramatic a lot of the time, though. (Re: 'GODDAMMIT' icon |D Also, Cissnei DMWs.)
- He can be something of an unsubtle ass when he wants people to leave him alone and let him do something embarrassing or private. Like flat-out going "Cissnei, go do something" rather dismissively when he wanted to call Aerith from Costa del Sol. HOW RUDE, ZACK, COME ON. Also he's really nosy sometimes. Okay, a lot.
- He doesn't usually hold grudges when people lie. He doesn't like it, but he's forgiving about it. "It's all water under the bridge." (Cissnei DMW.)
- Zack's first time in the slums was when he met Aerith, which means he was probably accepted into the Shinra military pretty soon after reaching Midgar. (Aerith DMW.)
- He loves to bargain for things- it's part of his way of flirting. Repaying someone with dates, earning a date for doing something he thinks is cool, stuff like that. If he fails at doing his part, he'll use his magical cuteness charisma to beg for another chance until he succeeds and wins the bargain. Cheeky brat. On the other hand, he doesn't ask for much in return from other people. He'll give gifts, treat people, help them, whatever, at no cost. It's only when he's asking for something that he makes a deal. (Aerith DMW, among others.)
- Important Dates:
January 16th: Zack's mission with the BC Turk, Sebastian, and Essai to destroy the AVALANCHE base on the northern continent. ( BC Episode 8)
September 21st: The day Zack, Cloud, and Sephiroth arrived in Nibelheim. (BC Episodes 12 & 13. Nibelheim burned, and Zack and Cloud were captured several days later.)
December 19th: Zack and Cloud escaped from Nibelheim. (BC Episode 19. This is essentially a replication of the scene in Crisis Core with Cissnei.)
October 1st: Zack is shot and killed outside Midgar. (BC Episode 20.)
Personal Fanon
- Zack buries his issues under a smile. Said smile isn't fake or even forced, more often than not; it's just his own way of dealing with things, since he doesn't know how else to do it. Deep down he probably knows that he ought to deal with the crap he keeps forcing himself not to think about, but until something drags it out of him or he snaps, he's perfectly content to keep it out of his head.
- He is actually missing one of his back teeth; he tore it out in Nibelheim when his fingernails broke while trying to scratch messages to Cloud on the mako pod glass. During the year after they escaped from the lab, Zack joked to coma!Cloud about getting so rich someday he'd buy a gold replacement for it.
- Nibelheim left Zack with his own scars, mentally and physically; he has mild-to-serious issues with cramped places, the colour green, being underwater, guns, scalpels, and gruel. Physically Hojo's experimentation left scars here and there, when injuries were left to near naturally rather than magically, though most of the marks on his body came from his death or injuries gained at Luceti. Truth be told, Zack doesn't really know what was done to him in Hojo's lab besides the real obvious stuff, and he's much happier not knowing.
- He has a weakness for flowers and big, meaty pizza. A good day for Zack is a flower on his ear and a pizza in his mouth.
- on that note, he likes meaty sammiches, too. To be precise, "Ham, heavy on the meat with mayo only on the top side of the bread, two pieces of lettuce, no tomato and three pieces of cheese between the lettuce and the ham". Courtesy of Cloud.
- He's not a big fan of vegetables either, mostly because gongaga is sort of one of those oldstyle farmland places. Though with the nature of the area they probably grow weird stuff. His father was a rice farmer (now retired) and Zack finds it so bland he can't stand it. He likes pasta better.
- He hates cherries unless he's popping them. ZING
- At some point in his childhood, he ate a Touch Me to see what would happen. The side-effects were nightmarish and he never did it again. He has a vague phobia of frogs because of said childhood traumas.
- his birthday is December 16th; this was chosen for the astrological sign and the fact that one of the most important trailers for Crisis Core was released that day. There is a tl;dr explanation but I will not get into that. |D
- Zack tends to flop, pass out, and not move practically all night unless there's someone nearby to cuddle up with. He's not really the dramatic-nightmare type unless something happened to really warrant it.
- It's usually easy to tell when he's upset about something; he gets fidgety and purses his lips, and often has trouble getting his point across. He attempts (and fails) to talk with his hands, too.
- The only people Zack truly hates are Hojo and Jenova; Genesis was annoying and he doubts they'd ever get along, but he can handle the teasing as long as he's not really hurting anyone. Sephiroth and Angeal were both very precious to him before they went crazy on him, and the causes of said craziness was evil, evil science. Thus, Zack really dislikes scientists in general, and Jenova can just die in a fire.
- The first facial scar was caused by Angeal in the Modeoheim battle. (Canon, dur.) The second was a motorcycle accident- while attempting to show off a trick to Aerith, she convinced him to wear a helmet which obscured his vision and caused him to crash. The helmet broke and the visor scarred his cheek. Fortunately SOLDIER's heads are harder than helmets.
- Zack loves dogs, and in particular puppies, even though (or maybe because) he's never had one. Actually, he probably empathizes with them too much. He can understand their enthusiasm and their lust for fun and life in general, and he envies them because of that, too, because as much as he'd like to live such a carefree life, he can only enjoy it as much as possible until bad things happen. (And with him, bad things are pretty much inevitable.) He's glad he and Aerith moved in with Lightning and Hope, though, because he's so thrilled to have a puppy around the house.
- A character analysis can be found HERE with the following points:
-Zack is afraid of insanity
-Zack is insane in his own way
-The Nibelheim escape that Cloud remembers in the original game isn't the real one
-Zack is a special snowflake too
- Even though he's glad he can't hear Jenova, he half-wishes he had, even at one point in his life; it's sort of like his old desire to have wings, even though he thought they were the mark of a monster. He feels he could empathize with Cloud more if he knew what she was doing to him, mentally, and he might understand her enough to deal with her properly. He actually feels like a bit of a third wheel for being the only one in the trio without any voices in his head. Currently null due to re-app.
- He is absolutely crazy-in-love with his chocobo. He never had a chance to have one, or even a pet due to his job requiring him to travel so much, so he's thrilled at the chance to have a little critter to care for. Mind you, Tammy's grown quite a lot, but he still loves her just as much as when she hatched. He and Cloud will always be Papa and Mama to her. People who live where she lives get nicknames; Tammy calls Aerith 'Flower', Simon 'Digger', and Tifa 'Cookie'. Denzel was 'Fluffy'. :| Currently null due to re-app.
[this is a work-in-progress and probably always will be. D|]
Footnotes
A - Nibelheim Report:
Escapee Report no. 2
Description of the time of capture.
A Former member of SOLDIER/Number ( )
No effect could be detected from either Mako Radiation Therapy or Jenova on him.
B Regular/Number ( )
Reaction to Jenova detected.
B - The letter to his parents, written 7 years prior to the original game:
"'To Dad and Mom,
"How're you doing?
"Sorry for rushing out of town all of a sudden.
"The truth is, I wanted to become a SOLDIER.
"I thought you'd worry if I said something like that...
"Now, my heart's desire is coming true and I'm doing my best as a SOLDIER.
"P.S. I got a girlfriend.
"Zack'
All Before Crisis information provided by Gunshot Romance.
All DMW scenes taken directly from Crisis Core. Japanese versions viewed from Silent Tweak.