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Thread: Tifa & Aerith - "Enablers and Users"

  1. #1

    Default Tifa & Aerith - "Enablers and Users"

    Have any of you encountered this strange interpretation of the characters? I've seen it a few times.

    People take the fact Tifa never spilled the beans about Cloud's incorrect memories as her using him. Similarly, Aerith later on admitting on the Date that she knew something was amiss with Cloud has resulted in people I've met complaining she too was simply misleading him for her own reasons.

    Far as I can tell, the idea was born of how Tifa and Aerith purposefully withheld critical information out of, if not malice, but selfish desire for affection. Tifa does say something to the effect that she was worried Cloud was going far away and stuff like that.

    If you can't tell, it's not something I agree with. Tifa was doubting the validity of her own memories so she wasn't going to confront Cloud on how his were wrong. And Aerith didn't really sense anything was up with Cloud until well into their journey. In both cases, I think the girls recognized Cloud was a mess waiting to happen. They were afraid to apply pressure in fear of breaking him, just like indeed happened.

    Does anyone here have any thoughts on this? About why the two ladies held their tongues? Was it selfishness or altruism?

  2. #2
    disc jockey to your heart krissy's Avatar
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    you could argue that they are written with cliche gender roles in mind
    and that neither want to really tell 'their man' off and support him even though he's not making the right decisions
    like in an abusive relationship, the abused will often make excuses for the abuser
    scared of bringing it up
    i certainly read the game as tifa being scared of being like 'hey no you're wrong about your own past bud'
    the fact cloud beats on aerith in the temple could support that mentality and that way of looking at it

    never saw them as either enabling or using cloud tbh
    cloud always wanted to be 'the bodyguard' anyway, as is apparent in his 'promise' to tifa as kids, and how quickly he agrees to helping aerith out when they meet

  3. #3

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    Both are them are pretty misunderstood characters, despite being so loved and adored by many at the same time.

    Tifa is not a user, she was pretty frighted and realized quickly how fragile and unstable Cloud was, she struggles to express the truth to Cloud more than once, and when she attempts to- she stops, most likely worried about how Cloud would deal with the mindsmurf that he's not who he believes he is. Also, alot of fans seem to forget that Tifa had a awful memory too, maybe from suppressed memories, as she's been through alot of trauma as well. She needed to re-remember everything, almost as much as Cloud did. When Cloud recovers, Tifa's love for Cloud seem to be much more stronger and powerful than they were before. Before, she seemed to have a cute crush from her old, almost-fake memories, but then she wants to be by his side always, even when he falls down into depression later on, Tifa always wants to be his rock.

    Aerith, maybe at the beginning, she loved Cloud because of his Zack-ish behavior, but in the end, before she dies, she makes it clear that she desperately wants to know the real Cloud. So her feelings towards Cloud are not that she's hanging around him because he's so close to her ex- but shes curious and wants to know " Cloud Strife ", but she still loves Cloud, despite his flaws, like Tifa does, and sees him as her special bodyguard. In short, she was beginning to move on from Zack, to Cloud before she died. Her feelings might of stopped once she saw " Cloud Strife ", or they might've grown to love, we will never know, as he life was cut tragically short.

    I think most of the harsh bullying that these characters get are from hardcore Cloti/ Clerith shippers.
    Last edited by maybee; 11-22-2016 at 10:56 AM.

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