Why the Forgotten Capital?

[Sephitachi7]

Why do you this Aeris' death place was changed from the Great Cave to the forgotten Capital?

[Bahamut2000X]

Whut?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

It wasn't. Stop believing rumors from seven years ago.

[Sephitachi7]

It is true that they are not fact, but I wouldn't call them rumors because they do have a pretty strong basis. Oh and sorry I forgot to include that I'm basing this on The Final Fantasy VII Citadel: Secrets & Mysteries. If you read it through to 'What We Shouldn't Have Seen IV' you'll see that they make some pretty compelling arguments as to why this is true.

So I'll rephrase my question. Why do you think that Aeris' death place was chosen to be the Forgotten Capital and not any other place?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I'm familiar with the article, and the "arguments" it poses are laughable.

So I'll rephrase my question. Why do you think that Aeris' death place was chosen to be the Forgotten Capital and not any other place?

What better place to kill the last remaining Ancient than an abandoned city once populated by her kind?

[Bolivar]

I'm tired of seeing people on the internet using the word "laughable".

The article was interesting, except part of it stems from the authors thoughts on a resurrection scene. The creators have stated that one character was to die, that they determined his from the start, and later that they had no intention of bringing them back. Now, as to if they were going to kill her at the Northern Cave, they post some interesting points but I doubt it. Her only dialogue is minimal, she should have had some when the group is all united before they head out from the cliff climber's house, or the part where Cloud gives a party member the black materia, they all say something then, I think. The one part that is puzzling is why Aeris' theme is playing. My guess is that it's just the music they gave if someone were to access it from the debug room.

Onto your second question, it's a little weird. At that point she knew Sephiroth was going to have her killed, and Aeris knew it could very possibly be Cloud to do it. She also knew that she had to return to the planet to be able to stop Sephiroth, so she wanted to pick a spot where she could die...somewhere serene. I'm guessing she had never been there, and she chose that as the place.

[The Crystal]

Aerith didn't knew she was going to die, didn't want to, and didn't need to.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I'm tired of seeing people on the internet using the word "laughable."

And what's with people calling foods "delicious," right?

[Sephitachi7]

Aerith didn't knew she was going to die, didn't want to, and didn't need to.

Tifa does say that she didn't think Aeris wanted to die at all. But then at the end you see Aeris' face probably symbolizing that she was controlling the lifestream and therefore needed to die in order to return to the planet and do what she needed to do.

As for the arguments being 'laughable', actually I think some of them are pretty strong. This is of course my opinion, but I think a playable character having lines after they are not supposed to is a pretty strong argument to there being some uncertainty of where she was going to die. This does not serve any purpose in testing because they could have done the testing with a playable character.

[Bolivar]

I'm tired of seeing people on the internet using the word "laughable."

And what's with people calling foods "delicious," right?

I think cliche appeals to internet trendiness are lame and becoming redundant. But that's just me.

Now, as far as what me, sephitachi, and the crystal have been talking about, it's questionable over whether aeris "wanted" to die or not. Tifa does say she doesn't think that was the case at all, and that's obviously the writers pointing towards an alternative. I think she didn't "want to" per se, obviously she was a young woman whose life was just beginning. At the same time, alot had changed, alot had happened, and she knew the only way she could stop Sephiroth was by becoming one with the planet, and subsequently chose the forgotten capital as a place to pray before Sephiroth (or Cloud) came to kill her. She knew no one could protect her, after seeing what happened to Cloud at the temple of the ancients.

[The Crystal]

Aerith's dead helped to save the planet, but there is no way she could know that, at the time.

If that was her plan, she would have mentioned it in "The Maiden who Travels the Planet", but she didn't. And she wouldn't have said "Then, I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over." to Cloud in his dream.

She was there to summon Holy. The spell would destroy Meteor, and screw with Sephiroth's plans. Why she would want to die? To help destroy something that would have already been destroyed by Holy?

Aerith wanting to die, don't make any sense within the story, it's not backed up by any official source, and it's contradicted by Aerith herself(in Cloud's dream).

[Bolivar]

That's true, but didn't holy have the opposite effect when it was summoned?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Holy had the opposite effect...of Meteor. It drove it back, although it ultimately needed the Lifestream's assistance to finish the job.

I'm tired of seeing people on the internet using the word "laughable."

And what's with people calling foods "delicious," right?

I think cliche appeals to internet trendiness are lame and becoming redundant.

I must be oblivious to that particular vein of "Internet trendiness." I only used the word because it best suited my opinion.

[The Crystal]

That's true, but didn't holy have the opposite effect when it was summoned?

No, it didn't. That was an error of the translators.

[Big D]

That's true, but didn't holy have the opposite effect when it was summoned?

No, it didn't. That was an error of the translators.

Indeed. It wasn't "having the opposite effect", rather it was "doing more harm than good". Meteor had already fallen so low that Holy had to be at a very low altitude to counter it; the clash between the two powers was so close to the ground that the energy was harming Midgar.