Marlene Wallace Marlene Wallace is a major non - playable character in " Final Fantasy VII " . She is the adopted daughter of Barret Wallace . Marlene is a bright and intelligent child who is more mature than most children her age . Profile . Appearance . As a four - year old girl in " Final Fantasy VII " , Marlene has shoulder - length brown hair cut in a bob with a straight fringe , and wears a pink dress with a yellow bow on the front , and brown boots with white socks . In " Advent Children , " six - year old Marlene wears her hair in a plait at the back of her head , tied with a pink ribbon , though she has kept the fringe , and her outfit consists of a white turtleneck and knee - length skirt of the same color , patterned with stripes . Personality . Marlene is quiet and shy the first time the player meets her , but she takes a liking to Aeris , calling her " Flower Lady " . Oddly , despite her age , she seems to be trusted behind a bar . As an older girl in " Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children " , she has become caring and thoughtful , showing incredible maturity for her tender years . She dearly loves her father and wishes he were around more , a feeling he reciprocates . Story . " Final Fantasy VII " . Marlene is the daughter of Barret ' s friends Dyne and Eleanor . Barret had taken Marlene in as his own daughter after his friend Dyne , his hometown Corel , and loved ones were destroyed by Shinra troops . As Marlene was less than a year old when her town was burned to the ground and her mother was killed , she has no memory of her biological parents . In the game ' s storyline Marlene is four years old . She takes it upon herself to care for Tifa Lockhart ' s 7th Heaven bar when Tifa joins Cloud Strife and Barret on an AVALANCHE mission . Later , Shinra destroys Sector 7 and Aeris Gainsborough takes Marlene to safety while the AVALANCHE fights to defend the pillar that supports the plate above . Shinra follow her and Aeris gives herself to the Turks in exchange for Marlene ' s safety . During this time , Aeris asked Marlene questions regarding Cloud ' s personality , suggesting she had developed a crush on him . Marlene is then left with Elmyra , Aeris ' s adoptive mother , and is later held hostage by the Shinra spy Cait Sith to force Cloud to cooperate with him on their journey to the Temple of the Ancients . She later receives the news of Aeris ' s death at Sephiroth ' s hands by Reeve . Marlene appears one last time at the end of the game , sensing Aeris ' s presence just before the Lifestream emerges to aid in the conflict between Holy and Meteor . " " and " " . Marlene appears in the CG film " Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children " as a major character , now six years old . Unlike many of the other children in the film , she is unaffected by Geostigma . It can be noticed that in the film she is wearing her hair similar to the way Aerith wore hers . Her role in the film is fairly large . Marlene recounts the story of Sephiroth and the events of " Final Fantasy VII " to the viewer at the beginning of the film . She is close to Denzel , caring for him when he is afflicted by Geostigma . She goes with Tifa to Aerith ' s church to look for Cloud , and is subsequently abducted by Loz and taken , with the other children , to the Forgotten Capital . There , she witnesses Kadaj ' s manipulation of the Geostigmatic children , including Denzel , and is forced to watch as Cloud takes on Kadaj , Loz , and Yazoo . She manages to escape from her abductors to Cloud and Vincent . By the end , she is safely back in Edge with Denzel . In the last scene she is seen holding Barret ' s hand , symbolizing that their bond is still strong . In " Advent Children Complete " , Marlene ' s role is expanded upon . After Loz takes her to the Forgotten Capital , she attempts to escape but Kadaj takes down a tree and blocks her off . When Cloud takes her back to 7th Heaven , they talk about why he left , which according to her , was either because he failed to find a cure for Denzel ' s Geostigma , or because he got the stigma as well . After Cloud replies that he could not care for himself let alone anyone else , Marlene impersonates Barret and tells Cloud not to give up . She also travels with Denzel and the other children of Edge after Aerith calls him on the bar upper floor ' s phone telling everyone to go to her church and wait for Cloud . Creation and development . Marlene was originally supposed to be Barret ' s biological daughter and not Dyne ' s and Barret would have saved her from the Corel disaster . Concept art also exists for " Marlene ' s friends " , which are nonetheless never seen in the final game . In " Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children " , the idea to begin the film with an opening narration of Marlene describing the events of the game grew out of a more generic idea of a child describing events they were too young to fully understand . Marlene ' s bangs were difficult to animate due to them being so fine and brushing over her eyebrows to create unwanted shadows , and motion capture work was found to be difficult as young children were hard to direct . Tetsuya Nomura has said of Marlene that due to her time with Tifa , she has been taken under her wing and is a " mini - Tifa " in personality , but also shares a physical similarity to Aerith and could sense her presence near the climax of " Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children " , giving her aspects of both women in her character . Other appearances . " Final Fantasy Trading Card Game " . Marlene appears in " Final Fantasy Trading Card Game " with an Earth - elemental card . She ' s also depicted on one of Barret ' s cards . Etymology . Marlene ' s Japanese name is Marin .