--A very long post containing some spoilers. It was only supposed to be a small thing, but I got a little caught up--
Ok, its not completely a new question, but I thought it would be interesting to start a thread detailing the signifigance behind Aries death. Too often, I see websites from people arguing that she should never have died, so I wanted to see some theories about the real meaning of her death
I'll start:
The first and most obvious reason for Aries death is to illustrate that "in the real world people die". Throughout the entire game, people are KO'd in battle, and it leads to people believing that in this world, death is not really such a big issue. The Aries scene shows that people really do die, and it also shows the effect her death had upon the party
Secondly (and a very long secondly), the Cait Sith reference I sometimes see in "Aries Death" posts. People often refer to the fact that the Squaresoft team revived Cait Sith, but never Aries. This however was distinctly planned. Throughout the game, since Cait Sith joins the party, he never seems like a totally useful character. Squaresoft go to great efforts to making the gamer feel little sympathy to Cait Sith. Cait Sith is made as a far weaker character all-round than many of the other characters in the game. This is to stop people using him so much that they become attached to him. Also, Sith's betrayl scene helps to make the gamer perhaps hate Cait Sith. In contrast, Aries is made a compulsary character through some of the game and remains useful until her death. She is never cruel to anyone, and this makes many people feel a close bond with Aries.
At the Temple of the Ancients, Cait Sith chooses to give up his "robot body thing" to help save the planet. But to almost every gamer, this is an empty gesture. It is not a real sacrifice because he isn't actually giving up anything. Most gamers also have the feeling that he was not really caring about the planet, but only did it to earn back some trust. Also, as soon as they leave the temple, Cait Sith #2 comes along. Because #2 comes along so quickly, the gamer is given no chance to feel sad about Sith's sacrifice.
Aries however, when she dies is sacrificing everything. She is sacrificing her life, her friends, and anything that ever could have happened with Cloud. Her sacrifice is total. And for this reason, I have seen grown men cry at her death (personally I was never close to Aries). People realise slowly, that Aries is not coming back. There is no Aries #2 who can ever replace that girl in the pink dress everyone loves so much.
Some people will be screaming at me for even comparing the two sacrifices, but I have a very good reason for doing so.
Cait Sith's last words:
There's plenty of stuffed toys like my body around, but there's only one me! Don't forget me even if another Cait Sith comes along. Good bye, then! I guess I'm off to save the Planet...
Aries last words:
It's only a matter of time before Sephiroth uses Meteor. That's why I'm going to protect [the Planet]. Only a survivor of the Cetra, like me, can do it. This secret is just up here. At least it should be. It feels like I'm being led by something. Then, I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over.
Maybe its just me, but I see some similarity between the two deaths, and the two sections of speech. Cait Sith's sacrifice is a joke, but Aries' is real.
Thirdy (bet you never thought that one was going to finish) , there is Aries expression at the end. She does not seem particularly saddened at the fact she is dying. I like to think that this is because Aries has accepted death. She has decided that the only way she can truly do what she needs to do is to join with the lifestream. To sacrifice herself.
Also, there is the issue of the killer. Many people actually liked Sephy (I'm calling him that because I can't spell his name) until the moment he forced his sword through Aries. Straight away, most people hated him. Either people hated him for taking away their beloved Aries, or they hated him for taking anyone from them. Either way, this scene fuels most people to continue on and try to kill Sephy. Now, people hate Sephy so much that there are a lot of pictures on the web of Sephy with his own sword stuck through him and comments like "Ha Ha! Got wot he derervorzed!" or something similar.
Finally from me, Aries death was significant because it led to the party really going after Sephy. Throughout the first disc, the party are following Sephy for reasons that are not quite enough. But this is one thing that completely fuels the party on to chasing after Sephy. However, personally I feel this raises another very important question. This next part is a bit of a spoiler, so you may not want to continue reading if you havn't completed the game yet.
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it is revealed later in the game, that the real reason Cloud is so drawn to Sephiroth is because Jenova wishes to collect all the Jenova cells together in one place. This raises the question, "when Cloud decided to continue hunting Sephy after Aries death, was it really to avenge Aries or was he simply being drawn by Jenova and using the death as an excuse. Something to think about.
Ok, this one is definately the final point I'm making. This turned into a really long post, nobody will ever read really quickly. Oh well, my next point. When Cloud sees Aries, he loses control and almost kills Aries himself. I feel that the interesting point is the fact that Cloud managed to stop himself before he actually killed her. FF7 has many scenes where Cloud loses control, and does things which could be considered a lot worse than murder, but this is the only time he actually regains control before doing something he would regret. This raises another question. "Was Jenova's control over Cloud weak at that time?/Did Cloud love Aries so much he could never kill her even under Jenova's control?/Did Aries death simply make Cloud give up hope, making him easier for Jenova to contol?"
I'm sure there are many points I did not raise in this post, which is why I put it on a message board. If you feel there is something I missed, please add it. I love to learn about things like this.
Phew, done.
--Cal
--EDIT after posting this thing I actually saw how huge I made it, wow. Big first post huh?
