Aerith Gainsborough

"Young, beautiful, and somewhat mysterious, Aeris met Cloud while selling flowers on the streets of Midgar..."

Aeris Gainsborough is a female protagonist of Final Fantasy VII. She uses a staff as her weapon and wears a pink ribbon in her hair. Having lived in the slums of Midgar for years, she has become street-smart, and has had to evade the Shin-Ra many times.

In the original Japanese version of the game, her name is Aerith, but it was translated as Aeris in the early English versions. Since Kingdom Hearts, her name was retranslated as Aerith in her future appearences such as Advent Children.

Before Crisis
A younger Aeris appears in Before Crisis. Her role and purpose is unknown.

Final Fantasy VII
Aeris was born from one of the last remaining Cetra, Ifalna, and her father was Professor Gast. When her mother managed to escape the Shin-Ra who tried to capture her, she made it as far as Midgar. Ifalna was badly wounded, and gave the baby Aeris to Elmyra Gainsborough just before she died.

Aeris lived with Elmyra in Sector 5 in the Midgar Slums for a long time. Being a Cetra, she could hear the words of the planet. Even though people claimed nothing could grow in the slums, because the Mako Reactors drained all the life out of Midgar's surrounding areas, she managed to grow flowers in a nearby church.

She then met Zack, a First class SOLDIER from Gongaga Village, whom she would claim later in the game was her "first love." When Zack was killed by the Shin-Ra, she never found out about it, but she felt in her heart that he was dead.

She sold flowers on the street for one gil, when she met Cloud Strife, who bears a striking resemblance to Zack. Later on, Cloud winds up in the church, where he introduces himself to Aeris and becomes her "bodyguard". When Cloud sees Tifa, and decides to break into Don Corneo's mansion, Aeris helps him disguise as a girl. Aeris gets captured by Shin-Ra once, but Cloud and his friends manage so save her.

Later on in the game, the party goes to the Temple of the Ancients to obtain the Black Materia. Cloud obtains the Black Materia, but is controlled by Sephiroth, and gives it to him. Cloud also ends up hurting Aeris, and passes out. He sees Aeris in a dream, with her telling him that she will come back when it is over. It turns out that Aeris has gone after Sephiroth. She claims that by using the White Materia, Holy, which she has in her ribbon, she can stop him. Although earlier in the game she claims her Materia is completely useless and does nothing, clearly through learning of the power of the Black Materia in the Temple of the Ancients she learns of it's true power.

The party arrives at the Forgotten Capital, where Aeris is praying for Holy. Sephiroth gains control over Cloud again, and instructs him to kill Aerith. Cloud is stopped by his friends, but then Sephiroth falls down from the ceiling and kills her with a stab through her back. When he pulls the Masamune out of Aerith's body, she falls forward and the Holy Materia in her hair ribbon falls out and into the water. Cloud is enraged, and after a battle with Jenova-LIFE, he takes Aerith's body down to the water, and lets it sink down to the Lifestream together with the Holy Materia.

After Sephiroth is defeated at the end of the game, the Holy that Aerith prayed for is able to begin to move, and together with the Lifestream, Aerith's Holy spell is able to fight off Sephiroth's Meteor.

Advent Children
Aerith is in the CGI-movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. She appears, at a few points of the movie, to Cloud in a vast space of light, usually without background (presumably the Lifestream.) Cloud blames himself for her and Zack's death, and asks her for forgiveness. Aerith, however, tells him that it's time he did the forgiving. She eventually convinces Cloud to forgive himself via these meetings---she even manages to leave a message on his cell phone telling him that his coming for her was all that really mattered (the message is the last one on the phone before it hits the bottom of the lake), and that she never once blamed him for her death. Throughout these meetings the audience can only see the bottom half of her face. It is only in Cloud's fight against Bahamut SIN that her face is finally seen, though very briefly. In this scene, each member of the original game party helps Cloud in his final attack. The last to appear is Aerith--she is reflected in Cloud's eyes as a bright line shines. He takes her outstretched hand and is able to defeat Bahamut.

Aerith encourages Cloud on in his fight against Kadaj, and some images of her are seen, along with a few of Tifa's and Zack's, when Sephiroth asks Cloud who the people closest to him are. Her Gospel rain begins to pour and heal the people of Geostigma. Marlene wonders if it's the 'flower girl', and Tifa thanks her, saying she knew Aerith was there somehow. Kadaj hears her voice in his dying moments, mistaking her for the Mother he was seeking. Cloud, too, calls her Mother, when he floating in a blank space after being caught in an explosion. This makes Aerith comically wonder why everyone's calling her that. Zack's voice tells her that it's probably because everyone is so fond of her. Aerith sends Cloud back, with Zack telling him that, unfortunately, there is no place for Cloud 'here' yet.

Waking up again in Aerith's church, Cloud sees her sitting beside some children, with Zack leaning against the doorway. Aerith heads towards the door, and just before exiting, turns and smiles at Cloud, telling him that everything is all right now. This is the first proper view we see of her face. Aerith then turns and leaves, walking into bright light along with Zack. Cloud, smiling, agrees that he's not alone anymore. Aerith is seen in the ending credits, standing in a huge field of flowers.

Level 1
Restores a partial amount of HP to the entire party.
 * Healing Wind

Casts the silence and stop status temporarily on opponents.
 * Seal Evil

Level 2
Restores bad status alignments cast upon the party.
 * Breath of the Earth

While sacrificing her own limit Aeris grants the two other party members a full limit gauge and the Fury status.
 * Fury Brand

Level 3
Temporarily makes the party invincible
 * Planet Protector

Fully restores the party's HP and cures bad status alignments.
 * Pulse of Life

Level 4
0ttjDvPnIJs Aeris' final and ultimate limit break fully restores HP, clears status ailments, and makes the party invincible for a short time.
 * Great Gospel

Final Fantasy Tactics


Aeris made her cameo appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics, where she is initially referred to as Flower Girl and later as Aeris by the town knaves that Ramza and Cloud fight later. Apparently Aeris and her mother owes a 30,000 gil debt with the town knaves.

Kingdom Hearts
She is first met in Traverse Town with Leon (Squall) and Yuffie. The three of them, plus Cid, Cloud and Tifa all lived in Radiant Garden before it was taken over by the Heartless and re-named Hollow Bastion.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she seems to be the only person in the Traverse Town made from Sora's mind, who knows what is going on, and why they have forgotten what happened in Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, Aerith is part of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, together with her friends from Traverse Town, wearing the dress from Before Crisis. She and Cid are the only ones that do not fight alongside or against Sora in the game.

In Kingdom Hearts she is voiced by Mandy Moore. In Kingdom Hearts II, she is voiced by Mena Suvari, a performance that has been criticized in various website reviews.

Itadaki Street Portable
Aerith also appears as a character in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable.