The Aerith effect

[DrAssenov]

I love Aerith. She should get her own action-prequel! Or a few dozen mini-games in the rerelease.

I'd like to vent a little about Aeris.

She was born from Dr. Gast and Ifalna, who were hiding out in Icicle Inn as refugees from Shinra. Shortly after, her dad was murdered and she was taken with her mom to be specimens of Shinra.

As a young child, she and her mother escape, but her mother dies from injuries somehow. She is then adopted.

After being considered weird and odd by others, being a lab specimen, and later beaten up by Turks and then killed by Sephiroth, SOMEHOW, she still chooses to do what is right.

Is that why everyone hates her? People have said she's dumb, stupid, too girly, useless.

Is that because she had the courage to do what was right no matter what unfortunate events happened to her? ...She was kind to everyone who needed it?
Is it because she loved her friends so much that she would leave on her own to the City of the Ancients to pray for the protection of the planet?

In reality, she's a strong girl who had to deal with a ton of drama who can still SMILE and CARE FOR PEOPLE other than herself till the day she died. Maybe her chipperness and sugary personality are just her coping mechanisms for the pain and trauma she's been dealing with her whole life. Who can say they've never hidden their feelings and pain with a big smile?

[Jiro]

She did just win Nicest Character in the FF Ciddies, so I guess people recognise her for it!

[Sephiroth]

Aerith is my most favourite female character in Final Fantasy. She is just the embodiement of everything that is good. No matter why she gets "angry" and how she shows that it is nothing compared to her pure-hearted nature.

Aerith's life is very complicated and yet she does not fear dealing with the consequences when it comes to risking everything to safe something which is more precious to her than her life. She is what ShinRa wanted Sephiroth to be (except a warrior).

Her relationship to Cloud is also not the easiest. She still loves Zack but she also wants to find "the real Cloud" since she has also fallen in love with him. Often she is joking around but actually her and Cloud's life could have been completely different with her still being alive. Cait Sith's prophecy about their future combined with "Interrupted by Fireworks" was an incredibly sad moment. Even though Tifa is they key person for Cloud to sort his memories I think in the end he and Aerith would have become a couple. Like Cloud's mother said, "he needs an older girl who cares about him".

Same goes for Aeris, they see her body shape and clothing which represents a sweet girl, while I see the personality - which is not a sweet girl.

She is. Just because you are trying to cope with anything and go on with life and also prove that you still have not forgotten your first love but still try to go on, you are not a bad person.

[Loony BoB]

I don't like Aeris. I don't dislike Aeris because she dies. Anyone who has played the game knows her for more than just dying. They either loved her for being such a nice, sweet girl or they hated her for being such a nice, sweet girl. Or, if they're anything like me, they hated her for being a slut who waited for one guy, saw another show up and then threw herself at him like a proper teenage rebel hobag at every opportunity. She may as well have spent half the game grinding on Cloud's leg. Aeris is also known for being a white mage, I suppose.

Tifa is known for being a kickass big boobed brunette who wears clothes more suited to Aeris' personality and gets judged for her looks rather than her shy, introverted personality (which, let's face it, is really not suited to where she works or how she dresses at all). Not that I'm complaining - was it Nomura who said he designed her to be the ideal girl? Let's be blunt: There's a reason girls wear clothes like that, and that's because guys find it attractive. Guys also find girls that are hard to get attractive. Basically, Tifa is the seemingly impossible combination of sexy looks and beautiful personality. But most people don't see past the looks. Same goes for Aeris, they see her body shape and clothing which represents a sweet girl, while I see the personality - which is not a sweet girl.

[DrAssenov]

I don't like Aeris. I don't dislike Aeris because she dies. Anyone who has played the game knows her for more than just dying. They either loved her for being such a nice, sweet girl or they hated her for being such a nice, sweet girl. Or, if they're anything like me, they hated her for being a slut who waited for one guy, saw another show up and then threw herself at him like a proper teenage rebel hobag at every opportunity. She may as well have spent half the game grinding on Cloud's leg. Aeris is also known for being a white mage, I suppose.

Tifa is known for being a kickass big boobed brunette who wears clothes more suited to Aeris' personality and gets judged for her looks rather than her shy, introverted personality (which, let's face it, is really not suited to where she works or how she dresses at all). Not that I'm complaining - was it Nomura who said he designed her to be the ideal girl? Let's be blunt: There's a reason girls wear clothes like that, and that's because guys find it attractive. Guys also find girls that are hard to get attractive. Basically, Tifa is the seemingly impossible combination of sexy looks and beautiful personality. But most people don't see past the looks. Same goes for Aeris, they see her body shape and clothing which represents a sweet girl, while I see the personality - which is not a sweet girl.

I have to disagree with your comments about Aeris.

Aeris tried contacting Zack with 88 hand-written letters over 4-5 years. She never received a response. Then he died. THEN Cloud fell through the roof of her church, the same way that Zack initially did.

Falling in love with someone who reminds you of your first love from years ago doesn't make you a slut.

[Loony BoB]

Tongue in cheek. But she still threw herself all over the fella faster than a rat eats cheese.

[DrAssenov]

Tongue in cheek. But she still threw herself all over the fella faster than a rat eats cheese.

Hehe. She's a girl who goes after what she wants. "You gotta lock that DOWN!"
I did find it humorous at the beginning-- she was really attracted to him, and Cloud being the social expert that he is, was somewhat dry and indifferent with her (like he was with everyone else.)

[Loony BoB]

Yep. I still think she gets assumed to be this really sweet, nicey-nice girl all the time purely because she dresses conservatively. Her personality is far from a shy cutesy pie, if you get what I mean. Still, she wasn't an angry girl... just... not exactly what you'd call lacking in confidence. xD

[DrAssenov]

Yep. I still think she gets assumed to be this really sweet, nicey-nice girl all the time purely because she dresses conservatively. Her personality is far from a shy cutesy pie, if you get what I mean. Still, she wasn't an angry girl... just... not exactly what you'd call lacking in confidence. xD

I agree with the contrasts in the clothing styles. Tifa dressed *ahem* less modestly, but was much less flirty than Aeris.

Seeing how she behaved in Crisis Core-- Aeris was not really into Zack until he kept persevering. His flirtatiousness probably rubbed off on her (Zack hits on every girl he runs into.)

I don't think she was really shy at all.

[Skyblade]

I still feel people get Aerith's relationship with Cloud completely wrong. I don't think it was romantic or flirting really at all. She sees his facade, and wants to tear it down. She doesn't love him because she doesn't know him. She sees that he's broken, that his mind is warped and shattered, and she tries to fix it. That's why she's constantly digging at his personal life, or trying to get him into a position where she can talk to him seriously and in private.

She know's something's up with him, from very early in the game. She's constantly questioning his thoughts and making him rethink his facade. And isn't she the voice that causes him to question himself at the inns and the other rest times?

She's an Ancient. She knows that something's wrong with Cloud, and she has an urge to fix it. She also has an instinctual knowledge of the Lifestream and the afterlife, so she knows her own love is waiting for her there, and she can still go meet him.

[Jinx]

\

She know's something's up with him, from very early in the game. She's constantly questioning his thoughts and making him rethink his facade. And isn't she the voice that causes him to question himself at the inns and the other rest times?
him.

I thought that was Zack???

Honestly, except for the date, there are not events that make you think that Cloud is interested in Aeris. And even the date itself isn't romantic or anything. I think if anything, they might've had a fling, and realized they were better off as friends.

[Skyblade]

\

She know's something's up with him, from very early in the game. She's constantly questioning his thoughts and making him rethink his facade. And isn't she the voice that causes him to question himself at the inns and the other rest times?
him.

I thought that was Zack???

Honestly, except for the date, there are not events that make you think that Cloud is interested in Aeris. And even the date itself isn't romantic or anything. I think if anything, they might've had a fling, and realized they were better off as friends.

Really? I always thought it was Aeris.

But, yeah, I can't remember Cloud ever showing a romantic interest in Aeris.

[Sephiroth]

I still feel people get Aerith's relationship with Cloud completely wrong. I don't think it was romantic or flirting really at all. She sees his facade, and wants to tear it down. She doesn't love him because she doesn't know him. She sees that he's broken, that his mind is warped and shattered, and she tries to fix it. That's why she's constantly digging at his personal life, or trying to get him into a position where she can talk to him seriously and in private.

She know's something's up with him, from very early in the game. She's constantly questioning his thoughts and making him rethink his facade. And isn't she the voice that causes him to question himself at the inns and the other rest times?

She's an Ancient. She knows that something's wrong with Cloud, and she has an urge to fix it. She also has an instinctual knowledge of the Lifestream and the afterlife, so she knows her own love is waiting for her there, and she can still go meet him.

While she misses Zack, she also wants to meet the real Cloud and really is interested in him. The heart-breaking crying scene in Gongaga shows that. Cloud himself is, even though he can be very arrogant, also very shy. He wanted to meet Tifa in Nibelheim but care about her friends being around, thinking they were dumb and so tried to meet her alone and all. Aerith is way better in taking the initiative and just because she is interested in some guy first especially because he reminds him of her first love there is no reason why she shouldn't want to experience what he really is like. He was not in his "Zack swap" role all the time. His memories were just not what they should be. Nevertheless he showed some of his real Cloud characteristics all the time - his arrogance was not justified all the time, when it comes to it being based on the thought of being an ex-SOLDIER, of course. But Cloud shows very much characteristics which were really based on his normal personality and so Aerith also had a reason to like what she experienced about the real Cloud. As I have said, the prophecy was one of the saddest parts of it. And Cloud just is not the "Hey, babe, I love you" guy; his romantic feelings are shown not like normal, most of the time the actions themselves show what his feelings are about her and just a few of his lines show what he feels while Aerith is careful but knows what she is doing and similiar to Rinoa who dragged Squall to the dance floor is not afraid of taking first steps (I know that Rinoa was just around because she wanted to talk to Cid, that is not the point here).

[Skyblade]

I still feel people get Aerith's relationship with Cloud completely wrong. I don't think it was romantic or flirting really at all. She sees his facade, and wants to tear it down. She doesn't love him because she doesn't know him. She sees that he's broken, that his mind is warped and shattered, and she tries to fix it. That's why she's constantly digging at his personal life, or trying to get him into a position where she can talk to him seriously and in private.

She know's something's up with him, from very early in the game. She's constantly questioning his thoughts and making him rethink his facade. And isn't she the voice that causes him to question himself at the inns and the other rest times?

She's an Ancient. She knows that something's wrong with Cloud, and she has an urge to fix it. She also has an instinctual knowledge of the Lifestream and the afterlife, so she knows her own love is waiting for her there, and she can still go meet him.

While she misses Zack, she also wants to meet the real Cloud and really is interested in him. The heart-breaking crying scene in Gongaga shows that.

"Wants to meet him" indicates that she is not in love with him. She senses the massive delusion that he's hiding under, she knows that the Zack persona he's presenting is not the real Cloud. You don't love someone you don't know.

She's interested in the real Cloud, sure, but what sort of interest? I don't think it's romantic, because the real Cloud is a mystery to her. Part of her is just the friendly, nice, outgoing person she is, but I think most of her feelings are more motherly. She's worried about the poor child with the skinned knee (or, in this case, the shattered mind).

[Sephiroth]

"Wants to meet him" indicates that she is not in love with him. She senses the massive delusion that he's hiding under, she knows that the Zack persona he's presenting is not the real Cloud. You don't love someone you don't know.

She's interested in the real Cloud, sure, but what sort of interest? I don't think it's romantic, because the real Cloud is a mystery to her. Part of her is just the friendly, nice, outgoing person she is, but I think most of her feelings are more motherly. She's worried about the poor child with the skinned knee (or, in this case, the shattered mind).

You're missing a few steps. It is not just Hate-Not interested-Interested and Friend Zone-Romantic Interest/Love. There are many levels between them, Before you love someone there already needs to be a great interest in this person. And Aerith does have this interest, she is climbing up the ladder of the last two mentioned aspects and is not just a true friend you can always count on (which is also between the two last aspects, since "Friend Zone" does not need to mean anything about a true friendship, normally it does not when it comes to really, really important and personal issues). "I want to find/meet you." "But I'm here." "No ... what I mean ... I want to find/meet you." Aerith really is personally interested in Cloud. Of course she is a nice girl who wants to help as many people as possible but the relationship with Cloud is something completely different and all those short dialogues show it, even those you don't need to answer correctly like Cloud intending to fly around with Aerith in the Highwind and all. She is is a Cetra, but she also is a woman.
This "it is not the real Cloud" is not true. She knows Cloud, the Cloud she knows is not some other person as the Cloud you call "real". It is just him having some memories he thinks to be true and what he is confused about, meaning his consciousness and his psychological self which is tried to be awakened by his superego, by his subconsciousness and by Aerith but has the problem of himself being embarassed about his own life and the influence of Sephiroth so he displaces his true past memories.

Yes, we all know Cloud's memories are mixed with Tifa's to swap his life with Zack's and that happened in the same moment he met Tifa again because the JENOVA cells inside of him automatically used that read mind and use mimic ability without him even knowing. But just because I think of some very important aspects about my life different than they have happened, I am "not not" the real person. Do you know how many people have memories which just have not happened they way they remember? Actually we all do. And we also often do that as some defense mechanism - maybe even without noticing. Cloud's memories are just messed up more and of course that also has some great influences in his character. That does not change the fact that the Cloud you see is Cloud who just thinks he was living a life he didn't live. Take away his false SOLDIER-memories the arrogance which mostly comes from it and replaced his doubts about his own skills and everything you see that is shown is the real Cloud. Cloud did not copy any of Zack's personality. He just mixed his life memories with those about Zack. The characteristics are his own. There is much of his original personality which is shown all the time. He is just a very confused person simply because he knows that his past does not make sense and Aerith wants to see him the way he already is minus the false memories plus his real memories and the result of this confusion being gone forever so she can see him without any doubts about his own life and accepting his own life. And as mentioned, not only the Ultimania, but also the heart-breaking scene in Gongaga shows that. There is no doubt that she's really missing Zack but she also tried to continue living her life. And her asking Cait Sith about Cloud and her being a couple was not just for fun. She really wanted to know even if Cait Sith felt sorry for Tifa. Like I have said once before, Aerith had the concept of the girlfriend Cloud's mother wanted him to get. An older girlfriend which cares about him. Final Fantasy VII does have a complicated love triangle. It was intended that way. The three characters were also not intended to be the cliche-type of characters when it comes to expressing admitting their true feelings and all. Some of the events cannot even be watched without paying the full attention to experiencing the story with the key characters of the scenes like the mentioned Gongaga-scene or the longest conversation with Cloud and Tifa once Tifa has a high affection level and all. Final Fantasy VII is not blunt about feelings and that is good. Words are not the only way to express things. Axiom of Communication #4: Communication uses digital and analog modalities.

Maybe I should show you the scenes one day. The one with Gongaga is one of the lines which cannot be seen normally because of errors of Final Fantasy VII and yet it is an intended story sentence of Aerith in Gongaga. And of course there are many other lines like the one in the Temple of the Ancients and the "I ... want to find you." which does not mean Cloud himself only but also expresses her personal feelings for him and her whole behaviour when she talks to Cloud all the time. However, maybe we'll talk about that one day. Otherwise this could be a very long conversation. Which is good, by the way. I love the Cloud-Aerith-Tifa-topic in Final Fantasy VII. You can also write me an E-Mail or a PM. I will most likely notice one of those earlier since both of them are mentioned in my E-Mails and I normally am not looking around here that often as you may have noticed - maybe really 1 month in a year. And I hope I did not seem like someone showing off with some psychological words. I just use them because they are the correct words. Actually I hope you can even read what I wrote because often my sentences get too long for people.

Why has Aerith been retconned into some "sweet, pure, innocent thing" when she was in fact a grown woman with a sometimes dark sense of humor and flirtatious personality.

Aerith wasn't a smurfing warrior, but she wasn't supposed to be. She was essentially fun, feminine, friendly, and nice, but also self-reliant and even mischevious at times. She was a ordinary chick with ordinary interests who had more backbone and drive than the genetically-enhanced supersoldiers. That was her purpose. She pushed the action and often times acted as the voice of reason for the group.

This chick threatened to rip a guy's balls off. And it was smurfing hilarious. And totally in character. Why have people forgotten that? <acronym title="Final Fantasy VII">FFVII</acronym>'s characters are more and more commonly seen a pile of character archetypes, particularly with Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa, that never existed in the game's original release. It puzzles me, and further demonstrates why the Compilation is bad and panders to the character shippers and anime fans way too much. A lot of the soul and originality was lost. What made Aerith special is that she was ordinary, not weak. There is a huge smurfing difference and it irritates me that people have just reinterprated the character that way.

EDIT: She was not retconed into it. She was all that all of the time. You seem to misinterprete her. You only see one side of her character while she has both the cliche type you think she didn't have and the one you like. Same for Cloud and Tifa.