Aeris or Aerith

[silentenigma]

And you are contradicting yourself with your "convert back and forth," as the allusion to Earth is reflected most appropriately with "su" as "th" and not "s". As a matter of fact, it would hardly be recognizable as an allusion to Earth with "s"...

(I might be dumb, but I didn't notice the allusion even when the games used "Aerith." "Earith" does the trick, though.)

Okay, this actually gets at the crux of our arguments, so I'll try to clear it up once, right here, the best I can.

Your stance, as I have gathered:
The definitive name is and always was Aerith, a Latin construction alluding to the English word "earth", which was then translated to Japanese as エアリス.

If you are right, then it obviously follows that the author's intention for the name is Aerith, and エアリス should be be translated back to English as such.

My stance:
The definitive name is and always was エアリス, a Japanese construction loosely inspired by the English word "earth." No particular Romanization was intended.

If I am right, then the author's intention for the name would be the Japanese name itself, and as such, the most authentic translation would result in a sound that is as similar to エアリス as possible.


You listed some evidence for why you believe "Aerith" was always intended by the author, and here is a summary of my responses:

The manuals,

The original Japanese manual is unreliable, as it contains other relevant errors, and it may not have even been taken seriously by the game's own devs (see next point below).

the code,

Up until the final release of the game, various devs who touched the game's code and text used the names Aerith, Earith, and at some point, Aeris. If anything, the lack of conformity suggests that there was no standard Romanization conceived early on. I would speculate, however, that most were aware of the "earth allusion" since TH was used most often at that point. Also, these variants popped up in the debug room during the translation process, after the original game's manual was made, which implies that the manual was not treated as a definitive statement on the matter. (They don't call it 'Engrish' for nothin'!)

the Kaitai Shinsho,

Is there anything in this besides the interview that mentions that エアリス was made as an "allusion to earth"? Because that is just as compatible with my position as it is with yours. It does not imply that the Romanization came first or simultaneously.

the fact that they corrected it later

Square isn't a hivemind. Someone changed the localization later, but we don't know that it was at the behest of the same person who originally came up with the name. Since we don't know who the Author was, we don't know if he even cares about the name's localization or has even been involved in FF since the change. What about all of the times the name didn't change, in the international version and re-releases? In FF Tactics? Did the Author somehow fall asleep just in time for the translation in 1997 and not wake up for five years?

I'm not even sure that the current lead devs are more than vaguely aware of the localization change. I might be ill-informed, but as far as I know this could easily be an adjacent localization department acting independently.

many creators think of Western versions exactly when they make up the stuff.

Yes, some Japanese writers come up with Romanizations simultaneously. But we don't even know who came up with エアリス, so how are we to know he was that type of person? For example, if it was Sakaguchi who did it, I would bet on the contrary, as he hardly cared at all about Western localization at that time.

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So here's what I think may have happened: Author makes Japanese name. (The hypothesis on how this was done is given in my original post.) Devs and coders Romanize it when necessary as they build FF7. They know the name was inspired by "earth", so they typically use Earith or Aerith. Some even might think the name will end up transliterating to Aerith, but there isn't a standard, and localization really isn't a concern at that point. Aerith ends up on the manual of the Japanese game.

Time for localization. It's messy early on, because it's basically being done in-house. We get the debug room with Earith and Aerith still the most common variants. We see things like Cefiros, Ketcy, and Ballet. But ultimately, they clean everything up and get Sephiroth right...along with Cait Sith, Barret, and a million other things. They obviously care; they're not lackadaisical. Similar deal with エアリス. "Aerith" would be the most obvious choice in the world - It's on the Japanese manual, it's in the code, it was inspired by the word "earth", and they know that you have to be careful with S/TH - but in the end they decide on Aeris. Could be a judgement call, could be the result of consulting the Author about the differences in English pronunciation. But it is decided, after consideration, that while the "earth" thing is neat, at the end of the day the name - a totally invented word - should sound like it does in its original form. English speakers would probably one day figure out its inspiration anyway.

Fast forward, years later, and roles within the company have changed. Perhaps different people now determine what ends up in the localized versions of new games. These people really care about the "earth" thing, to the point that they come to the conclusion that "Aeris" was a mistake. They begin putting "Aerith" on all new products.

It's not that far-fetched, and it's not nearly disproved by the evidence presented in your post.

On the other hand, what I find hard to believe is that the localization team would decide against Aerith, which would have been by far the easiest choice, without having a legitimate reason for doing so.

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The rest of this post are minor responses:

most of the time for a single r "ru" is used as the "u" is often ignored, other than the "i" in "ri".

Don't they only drop the "-u" sound when the syllable comes at the end of the word? Also, the author wouldn't necessarily follow convention if it meant a better-sounding name; it was still a made-up word, after all.

Maybe we should go with his early Romanization then, "Earith". Do we even know who came up with the name in the first place? (Nomura wasn't even the first one to draw concepts for Earisu.)

First of all, her early Romanization is Aerith, as shown in the original manual and everything. Second, it should be really easy to understand that not every idea that someone initially has it set in stone. That means, even if they have an idea, if they later decide to take a different approach that is also okay (everything else would mean that it is not allowed to have the idea that Aerith dies because it was not meant first and that Aerith and Sephiroth had to be lovers or siblings, et cetera). That is how things are created. And as their mindset was and is Aerith, it is Aerith.

You may be indicating here that you're aware of the Nomura document that I was referring to, since you mention the validity of changing one's mind mid-development (which I absolutely agree with). And I think we agree that he was probably not the one to come up with the name, but in case anyone hasn't seen it:
early-ffvii-aerith.jpg
The question becomes: If there had been an established intended Romanization originally, then why was one of the top creative heads not even aware of it at the time?
Alternatively, if it had been initially intended as "Earith", but then the Author changed his mind to "Aerith", then why did the Japanese not adjust along with it?

it is a mere fact that even if it would have been a retcon and not a correction (which it is) they have all the right in the world to decide what is true about their property.

Han shot first.

It's time to argue about this again

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