Gaming has many, many iconic characters. Over the decades, plenty of these characters have stretched far beyond the aspects of their original works into general cultural awareness. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7's Aerith fits somewhere funny, beloved as a character in gaming for the impact she had on storytelling, yet, for so many, blissfully disconnected from th⛄e very moment she became iconic for.

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Within the grand compilation of Final Fantasy 7, which currently boasts over seven games, Aerith has re💟mained a central piece of almost all of them. She links almost every other character to each other, but stands firmly as a strong character in her own right as well🌄. Yet when she is viewed by so many people so differently, it can be hard to know who exactly Aerith actually is.

Aerith's Life In Midgar

Aerith Looking Off into the Distance in Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Though not shared explicitly by Aerith, she is the child of the Cetra, Ifalna, and the Human Shinra scientist, Gast. Though they initially met under the pretense of stud𒆙y, the pair fell in love and had Aerith. This was, however, short-lived. Hojo discovered Gast, and had him killed for keeping a living 💦Cetra hidden from him.

The Cetra are an ancient race of nomads who had the ability to interact with the lifestream – the life force of th🌟e planet.

After this, both Aerith and Ifalna were taken to Shinra's headquarters to be experimented on.

Aerith and her mother were both kept locked away in Shinra's headquarters and subjected to experiments, until Aerith herself awoke to her latent Cetra abilities. In response to this, Ifalna became disposable. Hojo increased the intensity of the experiments carried out on her, viewing Aerith as a safe backup in the event of Ifalna's death.

This continued until the pair managed to escape with the help of another scientist who grew a last-minute conscience.

Sadly. Ifalna was severely weakened by the experiments conducted on her, and pleaded with the first person she could find to take Aerith into her care. This person was Elmyra Gainsborough, who is more commonly known as Aerith's loving, adoptive mother. At this point, Ifalna met her death and Aerith lost both of her pa🧔rent🦂s, though gained another.

Elmyra took in the girl happily, raising her as her own and even getting her involved in the Gainsborough family business. For a time, Aerith knew some degree of stability. Then Elmyra's husband, Clay, appeared to Aerith in a dream, and she broke this news to Elymra, saying he had "returned to the planet".

Understandably, Elmyra did not take kindly to this, viewing it as a cruel joke, one particularly associated with the beliefs of Planetology that was seen as a fringe religious system within Midgar. Her feelings changed in short order when only a few days later, news came from Shinra sharing the details of Clay's death, aligning exactly with what Aerith had said.

Tseng Suit Shinra logo in back

At this point, the Turks make their appearance. They operate as, in kinder terms than they deserve, a surveillance unit for Shinra. They go to the places that the regular soldiers can't and act as representatives.

This is, in most scenarios, as ominous as it sounds. In Aerith's case, Tseng was assigned to bring her back to Shinra in less disr🧜uptive ways than regular soldiers would. Tseng, being only a teen himself at this point, took a softer approach to Aerith. For a time, he simply watched her, before finally confronting Elmyra directly.

Rather pointedly, he told Elmyra that Aerith was a Cetra and that he wished for her return to Shinra, or at least her peace in exchange for the location of The Promised Land. E💃lmyra refused this, offering a compromise of her own - should Aerith reveal the location of the Promised Land to her, she would iไnform Shinra herself.

Tseng, having already softened his stance, accepted this. From th🐼en on, he kept a close eye on Aerith, though one that felt moꩵre protective than invasive.

The Promisꦿed Land is an old phrase from the Cetra that likely refers to the afterlife that Shinra interpreted directly for their own means.

From here on, Aerith lived a relatively uneventful life. She helped in the Sector 5 Slums, despite Elmyra wishing her to keep a low profile for fear of Shinra's retaliation. She helped nature flourish, and she even took up selling flowers to the otherwise barren residents of Midgar.

The highlight in her life at this point was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a Soldier by the name of Zack Fairs, with the pair meeting after Zack had an unexpected fall through the ༒roof of the church Aerith frequented.

For years, the pair kept in contact, with Zack urging her to turn her flower selling into a full-fledged business. Over time, they drifted apart due to Zack's own affairs within Soldier, but that didn't sever the ethereal connection they held. At his death, his last thought was of Aerith. As he breathed his last breath, it seemed that Aerith felt it too.

From here, her life continues as before. She sells flowers, s🅷he helps in the Slums, and♛ she once again falls in the middle of events involving another brooding Soldier.

Aerith, And Her Connections With The Cetra

A Cetra using magic to communicate with the planet in Final Fantasy 7

The Cetra form the centre of Shinra's obsessions. They are seen as ancient vanguards of the planet, guiding the power of the Lifestream to and fro, willing the planet in whatever way they wish. Old tales of them speak of a Promised Land filled with seemingly endless supplies of Mako, the energy of the Lifestream.

Enticed by ideas of limitless power and infinite wealth, the revival of the Cetra became central to Shinra's expansionism.

Aerith is herself a Cetra, and quite possibly the last living one on the planet of Gaia. She awoke to these powers while in Shinra's captivity, yet could hardly see said powers flourish in a city sucking the Mako from the Lifestream.

Cetra do indeed have a connection to the Lifestream, able to sense the disparate consciousnesses that have returned to it from those who have passed away. We see this first 🃏i🧜n Aerith telling Elmyra about her husband having died.

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However, the energy of the Lifestream goes both ways. Though Midgar is a desolate city, Aerith can harness what little Mako exists into beautiful displays of nature. The churchꦚ of the Sector 5 Slums has a thriving flowerbed because of her, and the flowers she sells offer an extra bit of life and colour to the otherwise drab Midgar.

In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we see her connection to🌸 the Lifestream in an even deeper sense. While she yet lives, she has 🧸visions. Visions of an existence where she is slain and returns to the Lifestream.

Clearly, this has not yet come to pass, yet simultaneously feels like it is from a world completely disconnected from her own. None but the Cetra have the means to view the memories that once formed the living people of Gaia, yet it seems Aerith has the power to also view the memories of the Lifestream across dimensions as well.

Aerith's Association With Sephiroth

Split image screenshots of the Safer Sephiroth boss fight and Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy 7.

Like the gel that binds her allies, Aerith also has her own connections with the villainous Sephiroth. Jenova, the parasite that wiped out the Cetra, forms much of Sephiroth. Ironically though, Jenova is mistaken as a Cetra by Shinra, and thus Sephiroth is believed to be a🐼n artificially cre♛ated Cetra hybrid.

Inꦗ this way, the reality of the situation, as well as what is believed, clash, yet form a connection between Aerith and Sephiroth tha❀t paradoxically align.

In earlier drafts of the story, Sephiroth an🍸d Aerith were intended to be related, hence the similar hairstyle and clear opposition in their goals.

Aerith's goal, though mostly ignorant of her birth as a Cetra, is to help the planet and the people on it. Being a Cetra lets her act out this wish very directly, though it is far from the🍸 catalyst for her actions. Sephiroth was formed as part of an experiment, and upon learning his heritage, he viewed himself as the successor of the planet who must punish humanity for the destruction of the Cetra.

Where Aerith uses her power to help, irrespective of what birthright would have her do, Sephiroth's goals are borne of believing himself to be a Cetra, or that belief is at least a lens through which he wants to enact his own revenge. Yet Aerith is free to act as she wishes, while Sephiroth is beholden to his own blood in a rather direct sense.

This is seen most keenly after Aerith's own iconic death. She returns to the Lifestream, yet as a Cetra, she retains awareness. She uses this awareness, alongside the White Materia, to summon Holy to combat Sephiroth.

Sephiroth uses the Black Materia to summon Meteor to wipe out all life on Gaia and start it anew. Yet Holy manifests through the wishes of the Lifestream, while the Meteor is the very precursor to the death of the Cetra that Sephiroth purports to avenge.

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