Aerith's death

Aerith’s death scene in Final Fantasy VII is a pivotal moment in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Her being a central character in the game, Aerith Gainsborough's death is considered one of the notable events in the history of the series due to its shocking and unexpected introduction.

Occurring at the end of disc 1 of the game, this scene acts to motivate Cloud into finally ending his fight against Sephiroth.

Story
During the events of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth reveals that he intends to use the Black Materia to call the Ultimate Destructive Magic - Meteor - to heavily injure the Planet. In doing so Sephiroth, by placing himself at the center of its impact zone, intends to merge himself with the Lifestream as it emerges to heal the Planet's wound and becoming a god; ruling over the Planet via the lifestream.

In a race to obtain the materia, Cloud Strife succeeds in acquiring the Black Materia. However, Sephiroth exerts his influence over Jenova's cells that reside within him, and takes control of Cloud, forcing him to hand the Materia over. Following this, realizing that she may be the only one able to stop Sephiroth, Aerith ventures on her own accord to the Forgotten Capital to try to use the White Materia to summon Holy, the only power able to counter Meteor.

In a temple underneath the city, Cloud and the party finds Aerith praying on an altar. As Cloud approaches her, Sephiroth attempts to take control of him and make him run her through with the Buster Sword. However, this time Cloud is able to resist him. As Aerith finishes praying, Sephiroth descends from the ceiling and impales her from behind with the Masamune in front of Cloud. Dying, Aerith collapses into Cloud's arms as her hair ribbon unravels, her Materia bouncing off the altar into the water below. Enraged, Cloud turns on Sephiroth, who turns out to be another disguised part of Jenova. Cloud and co. then fight Jenova∙LIFE. After Jenova is dispatched Cloud carries Aerith to the pool of water in the center of the city and lays her body to rest beneath the water.

Development
While designing Final Fantasy VII, Tetsuya Nomura was frustrated with the "perennial cliché where the protagonist loves someone very much and so has to sacrifice himself and die in a dramatic fashion to express that love". He found that this appeared in both films and video games from North America and Japan. Kitase concludes:
 * “In the real world things are very different. You just need to look around you. Nobody wants to die that way. People die of disease and accident. Death comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad. It leaves, not a dramatic feeling but great emptiness. When you lose someone you loved very much you feel this big empty space and think, 'If I had known this was coming I would have done things differently. These are the feelings I wanted to arouse in the players with Aerith's death relatively early in the game. Feelings of reality and not Hollywood.”

While reflecting on the game, Tetsuya Nomura comments that "Death should be something sudden and unexpected, and Aerith's death seemed more natural and realistic", "When I reflect on Final Fantasy VII, the fact that fans were so offended by her sudden death probably means that we were successful with her character. If fans had simply accepted her death, that would have meant she wasn't an effective character. "

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, Aerith’s death and Zack’s sacrifice, and his own inaction to prevent either event from happening, haunts Cloud to the point of crippling depression of what has happened and what might happen in the future.

While in pursuit of thwarting Kadaj and the other Remnants of Sephiroth, Cloud seeks to find forgiveness for his self-perceived “sins.” However, while attempting to amend, Aerith reveals that she never blamed him for her death, only that she was happy that he had came for her at the end.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Aerith's animation while charging Holy mirrors her prayer stance before her death. When fought as an AI opponent, Sephiroth is apparently programmed to use Hell's Gate on Aerith should she be called to perform Holy, mirroring her death in Final Fantasy VII.

Trivia

 * Instead of the traditional battle theme, Aerith’s Theme plays during Jenova∙LIFE battle.
 * Aerith's death scene in Final Fantasy VII contains numerous oddities.
 * When Aerith is first seen at the altar, she is facing the stairs, with her back to the railing. However, when Sephiroth comes down with the Masamune both have their backs to the stairs, yet, once the FMV ends, they are again facing the stairs.
 * When Aerith is first seen at the altar she is kneeling on black and white tiles, yet at the FMV's end the floor is of a single colour.
 * In the scene where Sephiroth descends from above he is shown barehanded, yet in the scene he pulls the Masamune out of Aerith's back, he suddenly is wearing gloves.
 * Cloud is first seen lifting Aerith with her head to Cloud's right and her feet to his left. However, when Cloud is seen laying her into the lake, Aerith has changed position: her head is to Cloud's left and her feet are to his right.
 * In the scene Cloud lays Aerith to the lake, the lake appears much too shallow as Cloud is able to stand on the spot he lays her to rest.
 * The PC version has a humorous graphics glitch that occurs if Vincent is in the party at Aeris's death, where his character model is stuck with one leg extended out into the air.
 * Aerith's death was listed #3 on ScrewAttack's "Top 10 OMGWTF Moments".
 * The meme "Aeris Dies" is a popular spoiler taunt that refers to this scene. It is mostly seen used in videogame pop culture.
 * A lengthy petition asking for Aerith's revival by Japanese players was sent to Kitase. However, Kitase states that "there are many meanings in Aerith's death and that could never happen".
 * This scene was depicted, amongst other Final Fantasy scenes, as a cold cast statue as part of SquareSoft's Final Fantasy Cold Cast Collection.