Quote Originally Posted by timmy64
Quote Originally Posted by DJZen
This is what's called a "blatant falsehood". No, this CAN NOT HAPPEN. Aeris dies, there's NO getting around it. There is NO alternative. It's part of the storyline. You can NOT change this. If anyone insists otherwise they're either lying or naive.
the reason for this being a major part in the story, if you notice, the "Holy" materia only appears to have been glowing after Aeris died, so it must have needed her "spirit energy" to activate, as Sephiroth needed a huge amount of it to use Meteor
Like any other Materia (except the Black Materia), Holy only required that someone be connected to the Planet:

Sephiroth
"...the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the
materia."
"Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic..... or so they say."
Cloud
"Search for Holy... How do we do it?"

Bugenhagen
"Speak to the planet."
"Get the White Materia... This will bond the Planet to humans."

Bugenhagen
"Then speak to the planet."
"If our wish reaches the planet, the White Materia will begin to
glow a pale green."
It didn't require anyone to die.