Template:Sideicon Elmyra Gainsborough is the adoptive mother of Aerith Gainsborough. She appears in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake, and is mentioned in On the Way to a Smile "Episode: Tifa".
Profile
Appearance
Artwork for Final Fantasy VII Remake
Elmyra has short, brown hair (dark and a similar color to Aerith in her in-game model, but lighter in her artwork), and wears a green dress with a white apron. Her attire is similar to that of a traditional housewife.
Personality
Due mostly to her own past, Elmyra cares deeply for Aerith and is protective of her. She is quick to sympathize with anyone who has a family member to care for and struggles to grasp the concept of loosening one's protective grip.
Story
Elmyra finds Aerith.
In Elmyra's past, her husband was drafted into the Shinra military during the Wutai War and was killed before he was due to go on leave. While waiting for him at the Sector 7 train station before receiving the letter from Shinra informing her of his death, she discovered Aerith with her dying mother, Ifalna, who begged Elmyra to protect Aerith before passing away. Aerith was seven years old at the time.
Elmyra taking care of her adopted daughter.
Elmyra cared for Aerith and protected her from harm. She noticed Aerith's strange powers when she said she knew Elmyra's husband had died before notification from Shinra arrived, but did not talk about them often to keep Aerith from becoming afraid of herself, as well as keep her from being taken away by Shinra for studies and experiments.
When Aerith returns home with Cloud as her bodyguard, Elmyra asks him to leave in the night so as to protect Aerith from Shinra and SOLDIER. He does so, but Aerith follows him. She rushes back to the house with a little girl called Marlene, whom she had promised to protect, and becomes kidnapped when the Turks follow her.
Cloud returns to Elmyra's house with Barret and Tifa where they learn of Aerith's past. Elmyra agrees to look after Marlene, Barret's daughter, but criticizes him for leaving his daughter alone. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa vow to rescue Aerith from Shinra, and later Reeve, a Shinra executive sympathetic to Cloud's group's plight, places Elmyra and Marlene in hiding in Kalm. Elmyra and Marlene are locked away, and Reeve brings her the news of Aerith's death later on.
After Meteorfall, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret visit Elmyra and Marlene in Kalm. Elmyra makes it clear she doesn't blame them for Aerith's death, knowing it was Sephiroth who killed her. She later becomes one of the clients of Cloud's delivery service, wanting a bouquet brought to the Forgotten City, Aerith's final resting place.[citation needed]
Other appearances
Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Elmyra appears as an NPC only during the events of the Record Dungeon series. Like her original appearance in Final Fantasy VII, she meets Cloud, now accompanied by Tyro and Elarra, after he guides Aerith back to her home in the slums. After Aerith is kidnapped by Tseng, she explains to both Tyro and Cloud's party about Aerith's past.
Gallery
Etymology
Aerith's surname comes from the French singer Serge Gainsbourg,[1], though it's spelled with the English variant, which is alsothe name of various towns in English-speaking countries. Incidentally, "Gainesborough" can translate to "crafty person from the city". Many European surnames derive from locations.