I like Aerith Gainsborough

She's a good character and is pretty. Her banter with Cloud is hilarious and she's a ghetto girl. Churches fall on top of her and she all, "Meh, whatever." She grows flowers when she shouldn't be able to grow flowers. She agreed to take care of Marlene and got herself kidnapped because Barret and Tifa are horribly irresponsible parents and she seems like the sort who would whack you over the head with that rod of hers to scold you even though it does hardly any damage 'cause stats.

Talk about Aerith Gainsborough here.

Edit: I would appreciate it if people responding to this thread can explain their reasons for why they like/dislike the character being discussed so there's actually something to respond to. Simply saying, "I like/don't like her" doesn't contribute to the discussion and if it's because you already explained all of this before and don't want to repeat yourself, why are you posting?

Thank you.

A lot of people have the same opinion as you.

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Originally Posted by shion

A lot of people have the same opinion as you.

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Someone I talked to here made it sound like that wasn't the case on this forum.

I don't know about on this forum. I know about an even number of people who like her and who dislike her. I personally do not. At all.

I really like Aerith. She's sweet and outgoing. I liked learning about the Cetra and her background. It's interesting to see how her relationship with Zack plays out in Crisis Core and seeing how that translates to her relationship with Cloud in VII.

Don't step on the flowers!

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Originally Posted by Lone Wolf Leonhart

I really like Aerith. She's sweet and outgoing. I liked learning about the Cetra and her background. It's interesting to see how her relationship with Zack plays out in Crisis Core and seeing how that translates to her relationship with Cloud in VII.

Don't step on the flowers!

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She must have been having a serious case of deja vu during that whole ordeal, "Men always be falling through the roof. Maybe I should get that fixed..." Her scenes with Zack was cute. Depressing ending, though. Did they ever settle on a voice actor for her?

I like Aerith.

(SPOILER)Impaled on my sword.

I've already explained pretty much why I don't like her, but she does have a pretty pink dress and pink ribbon~

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Originally Posted by maybee

I've already explained pretty much why I don't like her, but she does have a pretty pink dress and pink ribbon~

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Where have you explained, and when?

What I hate most about Aerith is this: her development post-FFVII is smurfing atrocious. I also find the fact that she was completely oblivious to her impending death frustrating.

But Aerith is an excellent character otherwise. She balances Tifa and neither of them are simple weak damsels, so that's positive points for both of them (though they could've benefited from not being in a love triangle, but 1997 whatchagonnado). As far as weak female healer archetypes go, she blows that out of the water: she's hardy and has survived in the Slums on her own. She eluded the Shinra for a long time. Her stats and skills make her a useful character -- unfortunate that she (SPOILER)dies.

She takes it upon herself to save the world, and does it alone, not only because she doesn't want to burden everyone else, but because it's simply not smurfing safe. Cloud is off the rails. Aerith, despite loving him (to whatever degree), and despite having such strong bonds with her friends, leaves them to shoulder the weight of the world on her own. Heavy.

Aerith is a pretty great character.

I'm confused by the impending death part. Is this something in the compilation I missed or is it something from the original game I'm not remembering clearly?

I also find the thought of her post-FFVII development being bad hilariously appropriate considering... (SPOILER)she's dead post-FFVII.

The way she is depicted in Final Fantasy VII, the Ultimania, the Kaitai and Dismantled, On the Way to a Smile, Crisis Core, Maiden who travels the Planet and Advent Children did not make her my favourite favourite female character without any reason. Now Lightning is but she is a very good number 2 and will always have a special place as character for me.

The whole reason for why I like her is her nature and story. She connects spiritually to Cloud and while not knowing that he confabulates because of JENOVA cells, she knows that something is wrong and sees that some traits about him are original and some are not meant to be. As much as she likes him she wants him to be complete and fully aware of himself again with the supressed part of himself. She is always shown as the character who actually is the embodiement of everything good, the "bright side of life" while Sephiroth is the dark one and still she did wish to just have a normal life and tried to act so, because she both wanted it and also tried to cope with things this way. As special as she is, she does not only connect her consciousness and soul to Cloud but remains in the lifestream for a while as she is a Cetra and tries to help Cloud. She has problems against Sephiroth, even so that he just laughs at her but her bravery to fight against him, even though she cannot directly beat him in power, to help the beloved one, is just wonderful. Exactly how Cloud fights for everything precious to him and always gets his hidden Son-Gohan power this way.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

I'm confused by the impending death part. Is this something in the compilation I missed or is it something from the original game I'm not remembering clearly?

I also find the thought of her post-FFVII development being bad hilariously appropriate considering... (SPOILER)she's dead post-FFVII.

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In the first Final Fantasy VII when it was sure that she was the one to die and she would die in an unexpected and sudden moment (which she doesn't if you ask me as Sephiroth followed her and you went to her because she would die) Motomu Toriyama already focussed on depicting Cloud and Aerith special that you would never expect and want her to die as she has become so important. This has become greater and sadder with the story expanded as you already know that she dies/is dead. As her consciousness is connected to Cloud's and everything related to her, especially the church, is his Promised Land, I totally love what the story makes her.

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Originally Posted by Pike

... but I kind of liked her story and always thought that she and Cloud make an adorable non-canon couple.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

It's very difficult to say why, but it is largely based on how she interacts with these characters. I think the fact that I really like how Tifa and Cloud have such a realistic relationship (based on my experiences, and I'm obviously talking about the way they interact, not their plot points) while I feel that Aeris just kind of jumped in and started hitting on him over and over despite him clearly not wanting to get involved (case in point: he tries to run away).

Of course, the canon in my story is different to the canon in the stories of those who play it differently due to the dates and under-the-airship dialogue etc, but I can only go by the impressions I got of each of these individuals and I always felt that Aerith/Zack and Cloud/Tifa just worked while Aeris/Cloud did not. It kind of reminds me of real world relationships you see sometimes and think "Really? Those two? Huh. I don't really see it."

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I like Aeris as a character, and I like most of her interactions with the others.

I just don't see a romantic connection to Cloud at all.

She doesn't really hit on him, she's only vaguely flirtatious, and that doesn't seem serious, it's just her personality. Her "I'll go on a DATE" thing is almost exactly the same sort of moment as the "We're going to go PLAY" that she drops on Barret. It's more teasing than serious flirtation, because she knows it makes him uncomfortable.

All of her serious moments with him are her trying to determine why he's so broken and to find the real Cloud persona that is buried below his various psychoses. Even their "date" (if you take her instead of Tifa, the way you should) is centered entirely around her pointing out his similarities to Zack and wanting to actually find out what the real Cloud is like.

Oh, and Tifa is the one who actually succeeds at that task and pulls the real Cloud out of his broken mind.



I think Aeris is a great character, I just think the Aeris/Cloud shippers were playing a completely different game.

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This romantic relationship is canonical as the official context of the textboxes and the other official material says. Also there is no "finding real Cloud", if you think that you did not understand his confabulation, as it is only one Cloud, one consciousness and the part of him that is supressed is also very well him, just trying to be complete again while he is the master of his illusion. One monologue sums it up:

"At first when I met Cloud, I believed he was similar to Zack. Little actions, the way he spoke ... his kindness. But Cloud is Cloud. I, now undoubtedly, love Cloud much more than Zack."

- Final Fantasy VII Dismantled, published by Square (Square Enix today)

Or like I say: Tifa is Rose's husband but Aerith is Jack (Titanic).

Aerith very well knew Cloud. She knew who he was, what was right and what was wrong and she wanted him to know as well, "meeting him" and not only in the self-completion context. A relationship like with her is the reason her church is his Yakusoku no Chi. Aerith wants to know their future together, she wants to find him complete and fully aware of himself, she likes him better than Zack and she wants him o be jealous of Zack. This is what Final Fantasy VII is and today and understand why the creators say that most people don't understand the story correctly and not using the intended context and all officially published material will not bring you the truth, sorry.

Like, AERIS DIES is kind of an FF meme, but when you really think about it it's actually really tragic. This lonely orphan girl who has been hunted all her life by a corporation who still manages to keep a happy cheery outlook gets brutally sliced through the torso. If you put aside all the slightly hokey mysticism and saving the world sacrifice business, as a purely human story it's actually really sad.

Even though she wasn't the best to use in battle, I thought Aeris was a great character. She had a cracking back story with her being the last of the Cetra. I found the story of Ifalna and Professor Gast fascinating too. God damn Hojo killing Gast then kidnapping Aeris and Ifalna. I also enjoyed the relationship she had with Cloud and Tifa. Especially Tifa, as they were close friends even though they both knew how Aeris felt about Cloud. She was always an upbeat personality too despite having a very tragic upbringing.

I find the stuff after she died a little unsavoury though. All the drama with her body and the soup dude from Wall Market wasn't particularly pleasant. It'll be interesting to see if Square Enix include this if they ever decide to do a remake.

I liked Aeris. I can't say she was my favorite character or anything, but I kind of liked her story and always thought that she and Cloud make an adorable non-canon couple.

Also the intro to the game, where Aeris is walking and the camera just zooms right out, gives me all sorts of feels.

When I was younger I didn't like her much but on my more recent couple of playthroughs I've had a much much higher opinion of her. Like Paul said, if you have a think about what her life has actually consisted of, it's a really harsh story, but she keeps her sunny disposition anyway.

Plus, if you give her a chance to get her later limits, holy crap she's the most OP character ever.

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

Plus, if you give her a chance to get her later limits, holy crap she's the most OP character ever.

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(SPOILER)No wonder they killed her off.

I liked her friendship with Tifa too and her positive outlook despite all the crap she's gone through. I would have became a cold cynic by now if I were in her shoes, as I believe most people would.

People don't like her because she's awesome. Haters gonna hate.

Simply wow... I had no idea so many people here felt this way about her.

I personally love her character, and every single playthrough she is in my A team till she dies... Great healer, amazing mage type with a high magic stat makes her perfect for blasting away enemies with matra.

Never really understood why people hated her so tbh.

finnaly some goddamn apreciation of Aerith!
everywhere you go on the web its nothing but hate :S wich i just dont understand.
i think she is very cute and a vital part for my team. seriously, im always training cloud, aeris, and the one who has the lowest lvl (so they can catch up a bit)
im really going to get desperate when IT happens.

I like Aerith and how she interacts with Zack. I dislike Aeris and how she interacts with Cloud/Tifa.

It's very difficult to say why, but it is largely based on how she interacts with these characters. I think the fact that I really like how Tifa and Cloud have such a realistic relationship (based on my experiences, and I'm obviously talking about the way they interact, not their plot points) while I feel that Aeris just kind of jumped in and started hitting on him over and over despite him clearly not wanting to get involved (case in point: he tries to run away).

Of course, the canon in my story is different to the canon in the stories of those who play it differently due to the dates and under-the-airship dialogue etc, but I can only go by the impressions I got of each of these individuals and I always felt that Aerith/Zack and Cloud/Tifa just worked while Aeris/Cloud did not. It kind of reminds me of real world relationships you see sometimes and think "Really? Those two? Huh. I don't really see it."

talking about Zack and Aerith: what do need too do in FFVII to see the date? :D

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Originally Posted by Shaibana

talking about Zack and Aerith: what do need too do in FFVII to see the date? :D

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Rip a hole through the fabric of space and time and pull Zack out.

Or mods. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mod somewhere that allowed you to reskin Cloud as Zack.

Aerith appreciation is a silent majority I believe. The haters are more vocal. I tend to let them just rant and stay quiet. It's nice to see some love for the poor gal. I'm an appreciator myself. From a story stand-point; the way she bucked all the tropes about special girls, and healers, and whatnot. The love triangle isn't very tropey either. There is literally no drama between them. They all care for each other and respect each other, and wait patiently for things to play out naturally. And even though a lot of people were happy she died; and she's definitely not the first video game female to die. But it stilll got me the first time.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

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Originally Posted by Shaibana

talking about Zack and Aerith: what do need too do in FFVII to see the date? :D

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Rip a hole through the fabric of space and time and pull Zack out.

Or mods. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mod somewhere that allowed you to reskin Cloud as Zack.

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.. no there is an actuall backflash scene where you can see the date between Aerith and Zack :l

Ehem, Aeris. I don't know who this Aerith is, but it sounds remade to me ;)
Edit: Yeah, she's a cool wingman, i'd always have her on my team everytime i replay FF7.

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Originally Posted by Niale

Ehem, Aeris. I don't know who this Aerith is, but it sounds remade to me ;)

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ow for the love of god, dont start there!

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Originally Posted by Shaibana

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

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Originally Posted by Shaibana

talking about Zack and Aerith: what do need too do in FFVII to see the date? :D

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Rip a hole through the fabric of space and time and pull Zack out.

Or mods. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mod somewhere that allowed you to reskin Cloud as Zack.

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.. no there is an actuall backflash scene where you can see the date between Aerith and Zack :l

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Oh. First I heard of it so I have no idea how you get that.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

I like Aerith and how she interacts with Zack. I dislike Aeris and how she interacts with Cloud/Tifa.

It's very difficult to say why, but it is largely based on how she interacts with these characters. I think the fact that I really like how Tifa and Cloud have such a realistic relationship (based on my experiences, and I'm obviously talking about the way they interact, not their plot points) while I feel that Aeris just kind of jumped in and started hitting on him over and over despite him clearly not wanting to get involved (case in point: he tries to run away).

Of course, the canon in my story is different to the canon in the stories of those who play it differently due to the dates and under-the-airship dialogue etc, but I can only go by the impressions I got of each of these individuals and I always felt that Aerith/Zack and Cloud/Tifa just worked while Aeris/Cloud did not. It kind of reminds me of real world relationships you see sometimes and think "Really? Those two? Huh. I don't really see it."

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I like Aeris as a character, and I like most of her interactions with the others.

I just don't see a romantic connection to Cloud at all.

She doesn't really hit on him, she's only vaguely flirtatious, and that doesn't seem serious, it's just her personality. Her "I'll go on a DATE" thing is almost exactly the same sort of moment as the "We're going to go PLAY" that she drops on Barret. It's more teasing than serious flirtation, because she knows it makes him uncomfortable.

All of her serious moments with him are her trying to determine why he's so broken and to find the real Cloud persona that is buried below his various psychoses. Even their "date" (if you take her instead of Tifa, the way you should) is centered entirely around her pointing out his similarities to Zack and wanting to actually find out what the real Cloud is like.

Oh, and Tifa is the one who actually succeeds at that task and pulls the real Cloud out of his broken mind.



I think Aeris is a great character, I just think the Aeris/Cloud shippers were playing a completely different game.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I think Aeris is a great character, I just think the Aeris/Cloud shippers were playing a completely different game.

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They might have been. Isn't the whole love triangle thing depended on the dialog options you choose? It's been a while.

As much as fans of both pairings say there's canonical evidence to support their claim, a lot of it is left to subjective interpretation. I'm still a firm believer that Cloud could have been with either of them -- or neither given that um romance is not more important than saving the world. The fact that Cait Sith's only accurate prediction included Aerith dying and her/Cloud being a perfect match kind of sums that up for me, and it's hard to deny that Cloud had a thing for Tifa growing up (and even harder to deny that they had sex underneath the Highwind). Arguments on both sides are really intense and broad with lots of material from various other games, interviews, etc, but I just -- I don't think there is a right answer here and it's the speculation that interests me the most.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I think Aeris is a great character, I just think the Aeris/Cloud shippers were playing a completely different game.

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They might have been. Isn't the whole love triangle thing depended on the dialog options you choose? It's been a while.

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The changes are relatively small, and even with the changes, she seems more interested in fixing his shattered psyche than romancing him.

Admittedly, when I first joined this forum, I did a lot of Aerith bashing. But that was about 8 years ago.

Nowadays my sentiment is more or less "eh, she's alright". I like her cute, upbeat personality, and despite always being a Tifa fan, I always found Aeris to be the more attractive girl from a character design standpoint. I guess my basic gripe is that (SPOILER)she dies too early for me to have ever gotten attached to her. I always remember her as "that cute girl who flirted with Cloud a lot, btw she's the last Cetra".

I feel like if Aerith was present in the party until right before Cloud rejoins the party in Mideel, I could have seen a bit more of Aerith independent of Cloud. Granted, Tifa suffers from the same problem to an extent, but at least I knew she was chasing Sephiroth for her own reasons (avenging her father) just as much as wanting to be with Cloud. Aerith just kinda follows Cloud and then after the scene at Kalm has maybe two dialogue boxes during which she ponders Sephiroth's status as an Ancient.

Again, that's just how I saw Aerith. I've been reading everyone else's comments here, and I've noticed that other people do bring up some good points. I just never thought about that when I played through the game.

A lot of people played through this game when they were younger, and as such they had different mindsets and their opinion on Aerith was informed like that. Playing it later in life, but already knowing that she dies, means people are less likely to get invested and really explore her as a character, so the intricacies and cleverness of Aerith are a little lost.

I really really like Aerith. She grew up in the hood, which is where I grew up. She was fearless and was really spunky. If they gave her a voice in the original FFVII or if they made an anime of the actual game, I'm pretty sure people would find her very interesting and hilarious.
I replayed FFVII in my late-twenties and couldn't stop laughing at Aeris' plot to get Cloud to crossdress to save his childhood crush, Tifa. How shocked and insulted Cloud's pixelated-polygonal body language seemed made me imagine it in real life.
Aeris knew that there might have been something between the two, but any jealousy that could have been there didn't get in the way of wanting to do what was right - save Tifa. She was flawed like a human, yet still tried to do the right thing.
I also agree with all the other awesome stuff you guys have been saying. :D