Aerith Gainsborough

Aerith Gainsborough, also known as Aeris Gainsborough, is one of the main protagonists of Final Fantasy VII and a major character in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. She is the last of the Cetra and so is hunted by the Shinra throughout her life for her unique abilities. Aerith is portrayed as an independent, outgoing and kind young woman who displays an intuitive understanding of others at times, and is deeply in-tune with nature. Partway through Final Fantasy VII Aerith is killed by Sephiroth, an event that has been cited as one of the most famous and influential moments in video game history.

In the English release of Final Fantasy VII, her name was translated as Aeris by, as the Japanese language does not have the "th" sound, and the closest thing is "su," the equivalent of the English-language "s" sound. The translators took the "su" sound in her Japanese name to mean an "s." However, since Kingdom Hearts and in all related appearances since, her name has been translated as "Aerith," and the name Aeris has been considered a retcon.

Aerith's speaking debut came in Kingdom Hearts, with her voice actress pop star Mandy Moore. For Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Mena Suvari took over with her performances being heavily criticized. In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Aerith was voiced by Andrea Bowen, whose performance has been better received.

Appearance and Personality
In Final Fantasy VII, Aerith wears a shin-length pink dress with a slit up the front that buttons up. Over this she wears a red bolero jacket with metal bracers on her wrists. She has brown boots and uses staffs and rods as her weapons. In all her appearances, Aerith's hair is drawn back in a thick plait with a large pink ribbon tied around it. Her bangs are segmented and frame her face on the sides, and she has emerald green eyes. This is Aerith's most well-known appearance. She roughly keeps this appearance in Kingdom Hearts, but her jacket is absent and she wears a large blue belt around her waist. She also retains this outfit in Advent Children. Co-Director Nozue has said that Aerith's appearance in Advent Children was designed with particular detail, as it was believed that fans would pay close attention to her when she appeared. Nomura stated that they knew from the beginning they would not show her face until the final scenes, and when her face was finally revealed, he thought she looked "cuter than ever".

In Crisis Core, Aerith wears a blue and white dress with a red cami underneath and pink wedge sandals. It is in this game that her trademark pink ribbon is bought for her by Zack, who also suggests she continue to wear pink when they meet. In Kingdom Hearts II, Aerith wears a more elaborate red and white dress held up by a single strap around her neck, and a frilly white and pink skirt. She wears a similar outfit in Before Crisis with a frilly white and green skirt. In Final Fantasy Tactics, the Flower Girl wears a blue and black dress with a hood.

Aerith is very upbeat and cheerful, and several times in Final Fantasy VII attempts to cheer up her fellow party members. As she was raised in the slums, Aerith maintains that she can take care of herself, and is capable of fighting off Shinra troops and goes out of her way to help Cloud rescue Tifa from Don Corneo. Aerith and Tifa can often be found spending time together when the party splits up on occasion and are good friends. As a child, Aerith was reluctant to accept her Cetra heritage, and in Final Fantasy VII, she later admits to Cloud that she considers herself alone, as she the only remaining Cetra. She tends to exhibit strange personality quirks at times, such as being afraid of the sky in Crisis Core, and claiming she can "hear the wind calling her" in Before Crisis. These traits may be influenced by her Cetra heritage allowing her to communicate with the planet.

Birth
Aerith's backstory is given in Final Fantasy VII through a series of video tapes found in Icicle Inn. She was born to Ifalna and Professor Gast Faremis in the Icicle Inn on February 7th, 1985, and is half-human and half-Cetra. When she was barely twenty days old Professor Hojo tracked Gast down, killed him, and captured Ifalna and Aerith. The two became subject to numerous experiments at the hands of Hojo and Shinra as they researched the Cetra. Seven years later in 1992, Ifalna and Aerith escaped from Shinra Headquarters, but Ifalna was greatly wounded and only made it as far as the train platform in the slums under Sector 7. Elmyra Gainsborough was there awaiting her husband's return from the Wutai War, and took Aerith from Ifalna to raise as her own.

Elmyra raised Aerith in the slums of Sector 5 alone for years. Shinra eventually relocated her, and Tseng of the Turks, who considered her a friend, attempted to persuade her to join Shinra willingly instead of capturing her, but Aerith refused. Though Tseng knew where Aerith lived, President Shinra did not and invested a great deal of resources in searching for her in Midgar. As Aerith grew she continued to hear Planet speaking to her, and although she was reluctant to admit it as a child she was aware of her heritage as a Cetra. Aerith spent a great deal of time as she grew up in the Sector 5 Church. Due to the Mako Reactors draining the life out of Midgar, little could grow there, but Aerith managed to cultivate a small flower patch out of the dirt under the church's floorboards.

Crisis Core/Before Crisis


In 0000, a fifteen-year-old Aerith first meets Zack when he falls into her church from the Sector 5 Reactor. When he awakens, Zack at first mistakes being in heaven and Aerith as an angel, but Aerith quickly corrects him. As a repayment for saving him, Zack suggests a date, but Aerith brushes him off. All the same she shows him around, and Zack buys Aerith her trademark pink hair ribbon. The two go to the park afterward, and Aerith tells Zack she is afraid of SOLDIER members, as they frighten her for being experiments who love to fight. Zack then says he is from SOLDIER and she apologizes. To break the awkward silence, Aerith says his eyes are beautiful. Zack lets her have a closer look, and as they draw nearer, Aerith becomes aware of their close proximity and pushes him for teasing her. He then comments that his Mako eyes are like the sky. Aerith smiles and says that they are "not scary at all". After this, Tseng calls Zack back to the Shinra Headquarters, but he promises Aerith she will see him again.

Aerith and Zack continued to speak frequently over his cellphone and see each other, and after Angeal's death, Zack returns to the church and Aerith holds him as he cries. Zack suggested to Aerith that she sell flowers to make money, as flowers are rarely seen in Midgar and are a luxury item. However she is reluctant to sell flowers above the plate, as she is frightened of the open sky. Zack eventually constructs flower carts for her to sell from, and the two later head out to the slums to sell flowers, although it does not go well. Aerith then asks Zack for "a few tiny wishes", and Zack has her write them down for him on a piece of paper. This is the last time the two would see each other, as later that day Zack was dispatched to Nibelheim with Sephiroth. In the years after Aerith eventually overcame her fears and began venturing above the plate to sell flowers there. Aerith first appears in Episode 6 of Before Crisis, selling flowers to Rude when he goes on his date with Chelsea, although she is not called by name. In Episode 11, on August 9th, 2002, the player Turk meets Aerith coming out of her house, surprised by the flowers blooming there. Aerith tells the Turk she wishes to leave Midgar to see the world, as she can hear the wind calling to her. AVALANCHE arrives searching for her, and the player Turk helps Aerith evade them. Eventually the player Turk is defeated by Shears, and Aerith is taken to her church to meet the leader of AVALANCHE, Elfé. Elfé tells Aerith that AVALANCHE wants to bring down Shinra and protect the Promised Land from them, and thus it is in her best interests to ally with them. Aerith notices an "old voice" coming from Elfé, and this inadvertently leads to the discovery of the Turk spying on them from the rafters. After the Turk battles Shears and Fuhito, Elfé is stricken by a sudden weakness, and AVALANCHE retreats. Tseng arrives and the Turk allows Aerith to flee while they distract him. When Zack escapes Shinra custody five years later, the final Angeal Copy who was left watching over Aerith when Zack left Midgar leaves behind a letter from Aerith as it fades. As Zack reads it he finds out Aerith has been doing well selling flowers in Midgar, and during the five years of his disappearance she has written Zack eighty-nine letters, though he never receives the rest of them. Tseng is in possession of the letters and sends the Turks to find Zack before the Shinra army so they can save him and deliver them, but the Turks ultimately fail. In the game's ending Aerith is seen tending the flowers, then turning and looking towards the sky and clasping her hands. It is at this time, outside Midgar, that Zack is gunned down by Shinra forces. Although Final Fantasy VII makes it clear that Aerith is unaware of Zack's fate, it has been speculated that her last scenes in Crisis Core have retconned this to her sensing his demise.

Final Fantasy VII
On December 9, 0007, Aerith meets Cloud as he flees from the bombing of the sector 8 reactor. Cloud warns her to get to safety after the destruction of the Sector 1 Mako Reactor, but Aeris does not heed his words, and the player has an option to buy a flower from her. Later after a failed attack on the Sector 5 Reactor, Cloud falls into the church and wakes up on the flower bed. Reno of the Turks comes to apprehend Aeris shortly after, and Aeris asks Cloud to become her bodyguard, offering him a date as payment. Cloud helps Aeris to escape and takes her home, but sneaks out during the night to return to Sector 7 alone. Aeris heads him off and Cloud agrees to bring her along. Taking a break in the playground, the pair see Tifa on a chocobo cart, and assume Don Corneo has kidnapped her. Through an idea of Aeris, she and a crossdressed Cloud infiltrate the Don's mansion and try to rescue Tifa, who reveals she did not need rescuing in the first place, and was trying to get information on Shinra from the Don. Don Corneo tells them Shinra has learned where AVALANCHE's base of operations is, and is planning to drop the plate covering the sector to destroy the entire area. The party's attempts to stop Shinra, and Aeris is captured by Tseng while taking Barret's daughter Marlene to safety. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret attempt to rescue her from the Shinra Headquarters, but are eventually captured themselves. Aeris' heritage is made known to them, and when Sephiroth attacks Shinra the group escapes and leaves Midgar to pursue him. Traveling with Cloud and his friends as they pursue Sephiroth, Aeris becomes increasingly close to them, and following a visit to Cosmo Canyon fully comes to terms with her powers and duties as the last Cetra.

Eventually the party tracks Sephiroth to the Temple of the Ancients, and Aeris uses her innate powers to help decipher the temple's mysteries and find the inner chamber. Here, Sephiroth reveals his plan to use the Black Materia to call Meteor, the ultimate Black Magic. The temple itself transforms into the Black Materia, but Sephiroth manipulates Cloud into giving it to him. When Aeris attempts to stop Cloud, he attacks her and passes out. While he is unconscious, Aeris contacts Cloud in a dream, and tells him that as the last Cetra only she can stop Sephiroth. When Cloud awakens, he is told by Tifa and Barret that Aeris is gone. Cloud follows the clues she had given him in the dream to find her to the Forgotten Capital to the far north. In a temple underneath city, the party finds Aerith praying on an altar. As Cloud approaches her Sephiroth attempts to take control of him to make him kill her, but Cloud is able to resist him. As Aeris finishes praying and lifts her head to see Cloud, Sephiroth descends from the ceiling and impales her with the Masamune. Aeris 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 flees and leaves Jenova∙LIFE to fight them. After Jenova is dispatched and the party pays their respects to Aeris, Cloud carries her to the pool of water in the center of the city and lays her body to rest beneath the water.

Later in the game, it is revealed that Aeris was praying for Holy, the ultimate white magic that can defend against Meteor, called by the White Materia she wore in her hair. The party learns that Aeris had succeeded in calling it just prior to her demise, but that Sephiroth is blocking its power from working. After Sephiroth is defeated at the end of the game, Holy is able to move, but by this time Meteor has fallen too close and Holy's energy is unfocused by its gravity. Within the Lifestream, Aeris commands it to emerge from the planet and push Meteor back. This gives Holy the room and time it needs to fully focus its energy, and on January 0008, Holy and the Lifestream destroy Meteor and save the planet.

Novellas
Aerith's role in the Lifestream fending off Meteor is expanded in the novella Hoshi wo Meguru Otome, which depicts Aerith in the Lifestream immediately after her death helping to fight Sephiroth's influence over it as well as consoling other dead characters from the game. She reunites with Zack, who she is surprised to learn is dead, and helps Tifa and Cloud when they fall into the Lifestream. When Holy fails to defeat Meteor, Aerith commands the Lifestream to push it back and help Holy destroy it.

Aerith is the central character in the On the Way to a Smile novella "Case of the Lifestream - White". As Sephiroth avoids dissolution and spreads Geostigma using the Lifestream tainted with his memories, Aerith tries to help heal the spirits of the dead he has caused and contain the damage being done to the Lifestream. Despite the help of the spirits of other Cetra, those infected with Geostigma eventually begin to die faster than Aerith can heal their spirits, so she resolves to try and contact Cloud and stop the infection on the Planet itself.

Advent Children


Aerith's appearance is first hinted at when Cloud and Tifa collapse wounded in the flowers of her church - they later awaken healed. Aerith appears to Cloud in a vision as he rides to the Forgotten Capital to save the children of Edge from Kadaj. Standing behind him she questions his reasons for coming, and Cloud tells her he wants to be forgiven. When Aerith asks "by who?" Cloud turns to see her and the vision ends. When he loses his cellphone during his fight with Kadaj and his brothers, Aerith leaves a message on it as it descends into a pool of water, assuring Cloud she never blamed him for his death. During the battle against Bahamut SIN, Cloud is consumed by Bahamut's attack, and in the midst of the fireball sees a vision of Aerith, who takes his outstretched hand and transfers enough energy to him for him to cut through Bahamut's attack and destroy it.

In the aftermath of the battle Cloud pursues Kadaj and his brothers on motorcycle, eventually confronting Kadaj in the Sector 5 church. Kadaj attacks Cloud with a blast of energy, destroying the flowerbed. Water full of energy from the Lifestream erupts in a geyser from the hole, healing Cloud of his Geostigma and sending Kadaj fleeing. Cloud follows him, and in their battle Kadaj absorbs Jenova's cells to become Sephiroth himself. Sephiroth covers Midgar in the corrupted Lifestream under his control, and as Marlene, and Denzel watch it descend over the city, she senses Aerith's presence. When Cloud defeats Sephiroth once again and he is transformed back into Kadaj, Aerith calls down healing rain over the city, healing most of the inhabitants of Geostigma. Hearing Aerith's voice and mistaking her to be his mother, Kadaj dissolves into the Lifestream. His brothers attack Cloud from behind, and the three are consumed in an explosion from the Materia in their arms. Floating in a void of white space, Cloud senses Aerith's presence and also mistakes her as his mother. She and Zack joke over people calling her that, and tell Cloud his place isn't with them yet. Cloud awakens in the water of the Sector 5 church, and the Moogle Girl tells him "she" said to wait there and he would be back. Using the water, Cloud heals the remaining children and the group celebrates. As Cloud surveys his friends he sees Aerith speaking to children near the entrance of the church, then standing and walking to the light-filled doorway where Zack stands. Aerith turns and assures Cloud "everything's alright," and she and Zack turn and walk into the light, Cloud smiling as they fade. During the ending credits, Aerith is shown standing among the fields of flowers as Cloud rides his motorcycle through the countryside. In Advent Children Complete, as Tifa is about to get crushed by falling foundation during the battle against Bahamut SIN, an image of Aerith about to meet her death at the hands of Sephiroth is superimposed over Tifa in Cloud's right eye. During the new ending, phones around Edge ring, and the unheard voice of Aerith tells the children who answer to go to her church to be healed, confirming what was implied in the original release (that it was Aerith who directed the children there). Later, the same type of flowers that are grown in her church are planted on the cliff overlooking Midgar where Zack died, and the Buster Sword has been laid to rest among the flowers in the church. In the ending scene where Aerith's face is revealed, her facial structure is redesigned from its Advent Children appearance, in addition to the sharper graphics from the different format of the film.

Equipment and Stats
Aeris is severely lacking in the physical stats but makes up for it with her high magic stats. She wields various rods and staffs that often have many Materia slots and boost her magic, making her most suitable for wielding Magic and Summon Materia. One of her weapons, the Fairy Tale, can be acquired in Gongaga Village and has seven Materia slots, the most of any weapon up to that point and for some time after. However, as Aeris cannot be used after disk 1, her combat abilities are highly limited in comparison to the other party members who can acquire stronger weapons later in the game.

Limit Breaks
As a White Mage-like character, most of Aeris's Limit Breaks revolve around healing the party, and a few buff the party up. Of particular note is Fury Brand, which instantly fills the other two party members' Limit Break bars; the strategies that could be formulated with this should be obvious. Aeris's ultimate Limit Break Great Gospel requires a bit of work to find and teach, but fully heals the party and makes them invincible. However, for Aeris to actually use the technique, it has to be taught to her on disk 1.

In Crisis Core, Healing Wave is a Limit Break used by Zack when Aerith's portrait lines up in the Digital Mind Wave. It acts similar to Great Gospel, healing Zack of all negative status ailments, granting him invincibility and restoring a large amount of AP, MP and HP, also increasing them beyond their max amounts if enough is healed. In Advent Children, Aerith calls healing rain to heal the people of Edge of their Geostigma, a reference to Great Gospel.

Boss
Aerith is fought as a boss in the Training Mode of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-.

Development
Aerith was, along with Cloud and Barret, one of the first three playable characters designed for Final Fantasy VII before more were added. In the original development materials, it is stated the DNA of her mother Ifalna, not Jenova, would have been used to create SOLDIERs, and Aerith herself would have been cheerful but a bit naive regarding men, having never been in a relationship. During early plans for the game, Aerith was to have the Geomancer Job Class. Though the final product has no job system, Aerith's Limit Breaks manifest as her drawing power from the earth, a typical trait of Geomancers.

In a subplot that was cut from the final product, Aerith would tell Cloud stories about a nameless SOLDIER who used to buy flowers from her years ago. She eventually fell in love with him, but her her feelings were unrequited. Cloud would have eventually deduced from these stories that the unnamed SOLDIER was Sephiroth, and would have gone out of his way to hide evidence of his true character from Aerith to avoid shattering her idealized vision of him. At one time, it was also considered that Sephiroth and Aerith would be brother and sister, and for Tifa to tell Aerith the truth about Cloud and the Nibelheim Incident, including Zack's presence there when the village was destroyed.

Though he has made humorous remarks to the contrary, Tetsuya Nomura has stated that Aerith's death was always planned to be part of the plot, even when she, Cloud and Barret were the only planned characters. In an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly, Nomura stated the following:


 * "We knew even in the early concept stage that one character would have to die. But we only had three to choose from. I mean, Cloud's the main character, so you can't really kill him. And Barret... well, that's maybe too obvious. But we had to pick between Aerith and Barret. We debated this for a long time, but in the end decided to sacrifice Aerith . . . In the previous FF games, it became almost a signature theme for one character to sacrifice him or herself, and often it was a similar character type from game to game, kind of a brave, last-man-standing, Barret-type character. So everyone expected that. And I think that death should be something sudden and unexpected, and Aerith's death seemed more natural and realistic. Now, 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. "

Music
Aerith's musical theme is simply called "Aerith's Theme". Two other pieces focusing on Aerith, "Flowers Blooming in the Church" and "Water", are derived from this central piece.

Final Fantasy Tactics


Aeris makes a cameo appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics, where she is initially referred to as a Flower Girl and later as Aeris by the ruffians that Ramza and Cloud fight off. Apparently, Aeris and her mother owe a 30,000 gil debt with the ruffians. The criminals go so far as to suggest Aeris could make the money by selling her body - but it is at this point that the player intervenes with Cloud. After the fight, she asks if he wants to buy a flower for 1 gil, which Cloud is silent. Aeris asks if something is wrong, and Cloud replies that she reminds him of someone, obviously Aeris from the Final Fantasy VII world.

In the PlayStation Portable release of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, she was referred to first as the Flower Peddler and then re-translated as Aerith by the ruffians that harass her, though her name remains the same in the most recent release of PS1 Classics.

Kingdom Hearts series


Aerith appears in the Kingdom Hearts series with Leon and Yuffie. The three of them, along with Cid and Cloud, all lived in Radiant Garden before it was taken over by the Heartless and re-named Hollow Bastion. She, along with Leon and Yuffie, assists the player throughout the series and is skilled in healing and defensive spells, giving Sora the Curaga spell in the first game. Aerith is close to Leon and is frequently seen traveling alongside him. She is knowledgeable of Cloud's feud with Sephiroth, telling Sora that Cloud is seeking Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and encouraging Cloud to settle his feud, certain that Cloud can find the light to combat his darkness in Kingdom Hearts II. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Aerith seems to be the only person in Traverse Town made from Sora's mind who knows she is just a memory and that she should know who Sora is, unlike most other characters Sora meets including the other Final Fantasy characters.

Itadaki Street series
Aerith appears as a playable character in Itadaki Street Special along with Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth. She was also playable in Itadaki Street Portable.

Etymology
Aerith's name is meant to sound similar to "earth" due to her connection to the planet. In an early version of the magazine Famitsu, it is said that Aeris was the transaction of the word into Hiragana: "earth" turned into "earisu", Aerith's Japanese name. Coincidentally, Aeris is an anagram of "aesir," a term referring to a pantheon of Norse gods, tying into several of Final Fantasy VII's references to Norse mythology. Aeris is a blanagram of "Iris," a Greek goddess. Iris is a messenger of the gods and is associated with rainbows, supplying the clouds with the water they needed to rain.

Trivia

 * An early demo of Final Fantasy VII includes Aerith in the attack on the Sector 5 Reactor, although she does not appear outside of battle and does not speak to anyone during the attack.
 * Aerith, along with Cloud, appeared in the PlayStation 3 demo which recreated the opening sequence of Final Fantasy VII. As in Advent Children, her face is never fully shown; although she is shown from the side early in the video, her hair blocks the viewer from seeing her clearly.
 * Aerith is the only character in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII to bear more than two different English voice actors.
 * Even though her name is never mentioned, there are references to Aerith in Dissidia Final Fantasy; the field of flowers in which Cloud stands in the ending of the game similar to those in the Sector 5 Church, and Cloud's Crystal resembles the White Materia. Three rods in the game re named after rods Aerith uses - the Full Metal Staff, Guard Stick, and the Princess Guard, which is mistranslated as "Crown Scepter". There is also an accessory called "Great Gospel."
 * In the Sector 5 church, an image of Aeris sometimes appears near the flowers and vanishes when the player approaches. The children sitting around will also comment on Aeris's absence, asking where the Flower Girl has gone. It has been speculated this is meant to be her "ghost," but appears after she is captured by Shinra on disk 1. It is unknown if this is intended to be her spirit and the disk 1 appearance is a glitch, or if the vision has some other meaning.
 * Homage is paid to Aerith in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King; in the city of Dalaran, there is a flower vendor named Aerith Primrose who wears a pink and red outfit, similar to Aerith's iconic attire.
 * The name of one of the characters in the online comic VG Cats, Aeris, is a direct and intended reference to Aerith, based on her name in the English language version of Final Fantasy VII.
 * Aeris's death was listed #3 on ScrewAttack's "Top 10 OMGWTF Moments", being beaten out of 2nd by the nuke from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 * Aerith was #1 on Gametrailers' Top Ten Babes Who Are Out of Your League.