Aerith Gainsborough

Aerith Gainsborough, also known as Aeris Gainsborough, is one of the female protagonists in the Compilation 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. She is portrayed as a independent, outgoing and kind young woman who displays a stark understanding of others at times.

In the original Japanese version of Final Fantasy VII, her name is Aerith, but it was translated as Aeris in the English version by SCEA. Since Kingdom Hearts, her name has been re-translated to Aerith in her appearances such as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

She is the only character in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII to bear more than two different English voice actors.

Birth
Aerith was born from one of the last remaining Cetra, Ifalna, and her father was Professor Gast Faremis. However, when she was still an infant, Professor Hojo tracked down Gast, killed him and captured Ifalna and Aerith. The two became subject to numberous experiments by Hojo and Shin-Ra. At an unspecified point afterwards, Ifalna and Aerith escaped, but Ifalna was greatly wounded and only made it as far as Midgar. Dying on the train tracks within the slum, Ifalna gave the young Aerith to Elmyra Gainsborough just before she died.

Elymra raised Aerith through the years, and eventually Shin-Ra relocated her. Though Shin-Ra continues to try to capture her, they never can succeed. Tseng of the Turks, who considers her a friend, attempts to pursuade her to join Shin-Ra instead of kidnapping her. As Aerith grows, she continues to hear voices of the Planet speaking to her, and along with Tseng's visits is aware of her heritage as the last Cetra, although when she is younger she is reluctant to accept this.

Aerith lived with Elmyra in Sector 5 in the Midgar Slums for the rest of her life up until the beginning of Final Fantasy VII. 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 her own flowers in the Sector 5 Church due to the presence of the Lifestream there. Aerith tended to the flowers on a regular basis, selling them about Midgar to help Elmyra make ends meet. So great was her connection to the church, that even after her death children play there, and a spectre of Aerith can be seen there tending to the flowers after her death.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
A younger Aerith appears in Before Crisis. She first shows up in Episode 6, selling flowers to Rude when he goes on his date with Chelsea.

In Episode 11, her role is the same as it would be later on in the series; As the last Cetra, she is caught between AVALANCHE and Shin-Ra, both parties attempting to capture her. A Turk in the area tries to protect Aerith from the AVALANCHE forces in the area, but she is still captured. AVALANCHE is after Aerith to protect the Promised Land from Shin-Ra, but Aerith refuses to cooperate with them. While in their custody, Aerith senses a strange voice from the AVALANCHE commander, Elfé, created by the Zirconiade inside her. Aerith is saved when the Turk jumps to her rescue, causing the group to fall into her Church and onto the flowers as will happen so often in future events. AVALANCHE retreats when Elfé collapses, and Aerith is allowed to go home.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-


Aerith first appears when Zack 'falls from the sky' into her church. After an amusing minigame, he buys her the pink bow which she ties on her head as a thank you for "saving his life" much to the girl's delight. They then proceed to form a relationship together, even going on a hasty date within hours of meeting. During this time, Aerith says that she is afraid of SOLDIER and believes that they are not normal, and that being "normal" is the greatest happiness. Zack then says he's from SOLDIER and she apologizes. To break the awkward silence, Aerith says that his eyes are pretty. Zack then 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, "If that's the sky I'm looking at then I'm not scared." She appears in other scenes, and is implied to be his girlfriend. A romantic relationship is heavily implicated after Angeal's death; as Aerith proceeds to hold Zack as he cries. Their relationship continues until Zack ensues on a mission that took him away from her for four years, while she doesn't know his whereabouts. The last time Zack and Aerith are seen together, she gives him her own personal wish list, which had "I want to spend more time with you" written on it. She even writes him 89 letters while he is gone for the past four years, but they are never delivered.

In the ending scenes of Crisis Core, Aerith is seen tending the flowers, then turning and looking skyward and clasping her hands. It is at this time, outside Midgar, that Zack was gunned down by Shin-Ra forces. Although Final Fantasy VII makes it clear that Aerith is unaware of Zack's fate, it has been interpreted by some that Crisis Core's last scenes have retconned this to her sensing his demise.

Final Fantasy VII
Aeris continues to sell flowers on the street for one gil after Zack's death, when she meets Cloud Strife, who bears a striking resemblance to Zack. Cloud warns her to get to safety after the destruction of the Sector 1 Mako Reactor, but Aeris doesn't heed his words. Later on, Cloud falls into her church on a failed attack on the Sector 5 Reactor, and wakes up on the flower bed. Reno of the Turks comes to apprehend Aeris shortly after, and Aeris offers to date Cloud if he becomes her bodyguard - he agrees and helps her escape.

Shortly after, Aeris and Cloud discover Tifa Lockhart has been kidnapped by Don Corneo, and through an idea of Aeris, she and Cloud infiltrate the Don's mansion and rescue Tifa. Don Corneo tells them that Shin-Ra has learned where AVALANCHE's base of operations is, and they're planning to drop the plate covering the sector to destroy the entire area. The party's attempts to stop Shin-Ra fail, and Aeris is captured while taking Barret Wallace's daughter Marlene to safety. Cloud, Tifa and Barret attempt to rescue her from Shin-Ra Headquarters, but are captured themselves. At this time, from several sources, Aeris' heritage and Shin-Ra's interest in her are fully revealed. Traveling with Cloud and his friends as they pursue the renegade 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 accompanies then, using her innate powers to help decipher the temple's mysteries and enter the inner chamber. Here, Sephiroth reveals his plan to use the Black Materia to call Meteor, the ultimate black magic. The temple itself becomes the Black Materia, but Sephiroth manipulates Cloud into giving it to him. Cloud passes out, and dreams of Aeris, who tells him that she can stop Sephiroth. When Cloud awakens, he is told Aeris is gone, and follows the clues she leaves him to find her. The party arrives at the Forgotten Capital, where Aeris is praying. Sephiroth gains control over Cloud again, and instructs him to kill Aeris. 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 Aeris's body, she falls forward and the Materia in her hair ribbon falls out and into the water. Cloud is enraged, and after a battle with Jenova-LIFE, he takes Aeris' body down to the water, and lets it sink down to the Lifestream.

Later in the game, it is revealed that Aeris was praying to cast Holy, the ultimate white magic that can defend against Meteor. However, Sephiroth is blocking Holy from working within the core of the planet. After Sephiroth is defeated at the end of the game, Holy is able to begin to move, and together with the Lifestream, Aeris' Holy spell is able to fight off Sephiroth's Meteor.

Aeris' role in the Lifestream fending off Meteor is expanded in the novella Maiden Who Travels the Planet, which depicts Aeris in the Lifestream helping to fight Sephiroth's influence over it as well as consoling other dead characters from the game.

Final Fantasy VII: 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 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, 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 and distorted due to the curvature of Cloud's eye. 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 light shines. He takes her outstretched hand to renew his strength in the face of Bahamut's attack, and Cloud 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 given 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, seemingly waiting for Cloud's arrival.

Equipment & Stats
Using a variety of poles and staves in battle, Aerith is severely lacking in the physical stakes but makes up for it with her high magic stats and is thus more suitable for wielding Magic and Summon Materia.

Limit Breaks
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Great Gospel 0ttjDvPnIJs

In Crisis Core, Aerith's DMV is Healing Wave, which is somewhat similiar to Great Gospel.

Music
Aerith's leitmotif is simply called "Aerith's Theme".

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
A poster of Aerith can be seen hanging in multiple places around the main square in Edge, such as at points J-9, H-6, and G-5.

Final Fantasy Tactics


Aeris made her 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.

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 as Aerith by the ruffians that harass her.

Kingdom Hearts
She is first met in Traverse Town with Leon and Yuffie. The three of them, plus 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 game and eventually gives them the powerful Curaga spell. In the ending credits, Cloud and Aerith reunite in Hollow Bastion. This scene implies it was Aerith that Cloud mentioned he was looking for earlier in the game.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
A memory-based version of Aerith appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. She seems to be the only person in Traverse Town made from Sora's mind, who knows that she is just a memory, 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. She shares a close relationship with Yuffie, Leon and Cloud and assists Leon in the restoration of Hollow Bastion and encourages Cloud to settle his grudge with Sephiroth.

In Kingdom Hearts she is voiced by Mandy Moore. In Kingdom Hearts II, she is voiced by Mena Suvari.

Itadaki Street Special
Aerith appears in Itadaki Street Special along with Cloud,Sephiroth,and Tifa.

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

Etymology
Aerith's name is a transliteration of the Japanese word for "earth".