Aerith Gainsborough

Aerith Gainsborough, alternately known with the first name Aeris, is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake. She is a major character in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, appearing in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-.

Aerith is the last of the Cetra, an ancient race with powerful magical abilities, and so the Shinra Electric Power Company hunts her throughout her life, seeking to exploit her powers. She meets Cloud Strife in Midgar, and the two become close, leading her to join his quest to fight Shinra and hunt down Sephiroth. Aerith is upbeat, carefree, and joyful, being flirtatious towards Cloud and compassionate towards others.

Aerith wields staves in battle, and is in the back row by default, as she primarily uses magic from equipped Materia in battle. Her Limit abilities are defensive, either providing restorative powers, healing other party members, or bestowing status enhancements.

Aerith was born to Ifalna and Professor Gast Faremis in Icicle Inn on February 7, 1985, making her half-human and half-Cetra. When she was barely twenty days old, Professor Hojo tracked Gast down, killed him, and captured Ifalna and Aerith.

Held in the Shinra Building, Aerith and Ifalna became subject to numerous experiments at the hands of Hojo and Shinra. A man named Gheddi Beck watched over Aerith and Ifalna while they were held in captivity. Aerith made drawings of what was interpreted to depict the promised land, the land of legend Shinra believed was fertile in mako energy. A boy who was Aerith's playmate at the facility, his mother working as a caretaker of Aerith and Ifalna, instructed her to draw Mideel. Gheddi—looking to make money—headed there to find the promised land for himself. He poisoned his friends with mako and assumed the identity of one of them, Glenn Reiner, but ended up getting mako poisoning himself.

Seven years later, in 1992, Ifalna and Aerith escaped the Shinra Building. Ifalna was wounded and only made it as far as the train platform in the Sector 7 slums before collapsing. Elmyra Gainsborough was there waiting for her husband's return from the Wutai War, and before passing, Ifalna asked her to keep Aerith safe, and so Elmyra brought Aerith home with her. For years, Elmyra raised Aerith alone as her adopted daughter in the slums of Sector 5. Shinra relocated her, and Tseng of the Turks attempted to persuade her to join Shinra willingly instead of capturing her, but Aerith refused. As she grew up, Aerith continued to hear the planet, and although she was reluctant to admit it, she was aware of her Cetra heritage and strove to hide it.

Growing up, Aerith spent a lot of time in the Sector 5 slums church. Due to the mako reactors draining the life out of Midgar and the surrounding areas, little could grow around the metropolis. Regardless, Aerith cultivated a flower patch out of the dirt under the church's floorboards, as well as a large garden outside her house. She was close friends with Kyrie Canaan, and the two often played together in the church. One day, Aerith told Kyrie to hurry home, and when she did, Kyrie saw her parents' bodies carried in after being killed for stealing a man's wallet. When Kyrie was 10, after learning about the Ancients from her grandmother and figuring Aerith to be one, she ended the friendship with the 15-year-old Aerith due to feeling uncomfortable.

In 0001, Aerith met Zack Fair after he fell into the church from Mako Reactor 5. After mistaking Aerith for an angel, Zack asked her out to a date, but Aerith brushed him off. She showed him around the Sector 5 slums, and Zack bought Aerith her trademark pink hair ribbon. The two visited the Sector 6 park, and Aerith told Zack she feared SOLDIER members for being experiments who love to fight, apologizing when Zack revealed he was in SOLDIER. Zack promised to see Aerith again after he was called back to headquarters.

Aerith and Zack kept in contact for the next two years. After Zack's mentor Angeal's death, Zack visited Aerith, who held him as he cried. Angeal's will lingered in the form of a canine copy that settled at the church and defended Aerith from rogue Shinra security robots.

Zack suggested Aerith sell flowers to make money, as flowers were a luxury item in Midgar. Building her a cart, the two left to the slums to open her business, but it did not go well. Aerith asked Zack for "a few tiny wishes", and he had her write them down. Unbeknownst to them, this was the last time they saw each other, as later that day, Zack was dispatched to Nibelheim with Sephiroth and never returned. In the coming years, Aerith overcame her fears and ventured above the plate to sell flowers, although she used a basket as the flower wagon had lost a wheel.

Aerith also sold flowers to Rude of the Turks on his date with Chelsea. On August 9th, 0002, a Turk met Aerith as she exited her house, surprised by the blooming flowers. Aerith told the Turk she wished to leave Midgar and see the world, as she could hear the wind calling to her. The eco terrorist group Avalanche arrived searching for her, and the Turk helped Aerith evade them. Shears from Avalanche defeated the Turk, and Aerith was taken to the church to meet Elfe, the leader of Avalanche. Elfe urged her to join them to help them defeat Shinra and protect the promised land, but Aerith heard an "old voice" emanating from Elfe, inadvertently leading to the discovery of the Turk spying on them from the rafters. After the Turk battled Shears and Fuhito, sudden weakness struck Elfe, and Avalanche retreated. Tseng arrived, and the Turk allowed Aerith to flee while they distracted him.

Years later, when Zack escaped Shinra custody, the final Angeal copy that was left watching over Aerith was dying and sought him out. It left behind a letter from Aerith. As Zack read it, he discovered she had been doing well for herself selling flowers in Midgar, and during the four years he had been gone, had written Zack eighty-nine letters, the rest of which he never received. Tseng held the letters and sent the Turks to save Zack before the Shinra army could locate him to deliver the correspondence, but the Turks ultimately failed. Aerith tended the flowers in the church while, outside Midgar, Zack was gunned down by Shinra forces, something she seemed to sense.

On December 9, 0007, in Final Fantasy VII, Aerith met Cloud Strife as he fled the bombing of Mako Reactor 1 during "No. 1 Reactor Bombing". Cloud could either warn her to get to safety, buy a flower for 1 gil, or blow her off. Later, during "The Woman at the Church", Cloud fell from Mako Reactor 5 and awakened on the church flower bed, where the two shared a brief conversation. When Reno of the Turks came to apprehend Aerith, she asked Cloud to become her bodyguard, offering a date as payment.

Aerith took Cloud to Elmyra's house who insisted Cloud leave to protect Aerith. He attempted to sneak out early in the morning, but Aerith confronted him and forced him to bring her along. At the Sector 6 playground, Aerith told Cloud he reminded her of Zack, as Cloud was also a SOLDIER First Class. The pair spotted Tifa Lockhart, a friend of Cloud, on a chocobo cart headed towards Wall Market. Cloud wished to help her, and Aerith chased after her.

In "To Corneo Hall", Aerith suggested Cloud crossdress in order to infiltrate Don Corneo's mansion, and helped him secure an outfit. After reaching Tifa, she revealed that her plan was to interrogate Corneo for information on Shinra. Aerith and Cloud agreed to help, and when the group confronted him, Corneo revealed Shinra planned to drop the Sector 7 plate to crush the current Avalanche's hideout in the Sector 7 slums, a group Tifa and Cloud were members of. In "Prevent the Fall of the Plate", Aerith, Tifa, and Cloud rushed to the Sector 7 slums to stop Shinra. Tifa requested that Aerith rescue the daughter of their friend and leader Barret Wallace. Tseng captured Aerith after she had secured the girl, Marlene, and the plate was dropped.

Aerith was taken to the Shinra Building to be experimented on by Professor Hojo to learn the promised land's location. Believing research would take at least 120 years and extend beyond Aerith's lifespan, Hojo wished to breed her with Red XIII, a member of a species with extraordinary longevity, to produce a hybrid. In "Storming the Shinra Building", Cloud, Tifa, and Barret freed Aerith and Red XIII from Hojo's lab. Red XIII joined Cloud to defeat Hojo's monsters and help the group escape, though the Turks captured them. Aerith was then imprisoned in the cells with the others.

In "The Nightmare Beginning Anew", Aerith spoke to Cloud held in the cell adjacent to hers with Tifa. When Aerith reminded Cloud of the deal to be her bodyguard for one date, Tifa looked upset, before changing the subject to discuss Aerith's Cetra heritage. Aerith believed she could not find the promised land even if she wished to, and intended to leave Midgar. The next day, the group awoke to find their cells mysteriously opened, the Shinra Building abandoned, and President Shinra dead. Shortly after confronting Rufus Shinra, the new president of the company, Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII evacuated via the elevator while Cloud and Tifa stole vehicles on which the group escaped via the Midgar Expressway.

Aerith joined the group now led by Cloud on their quest to hunt down Sephiroth, whom they believed was behind the massacre at the Shinra Building. Having heard Sephiroth was linked to Cetra, Aerith wanted to know more about her heritage and protect the promised land from him. After running into the Turks in the Mythril Mine, Tseng told Aerith that Sephiroth's reappearance meant Shinra would be off her case, and he wished her well. When the group passed through Junon and stowed away on a cargo ship, Aerith told Cloud she had glimpsed Shinra's Highwind at the airport, and wished to fly on it one day.

In Costa del Sol, they ran into Professor Hojo who was there on vacation. Aerith asked him about her late mother, but Hojo revealed nothing and seemed disinterested. Aerith retreated to the hotel and mulled over the possibility of being the last Cetra in the world. In the Gold Saucer, Aerith attempted to cheer up an angered Barret, causing him to run off alone. Later, after reaching Gongaga, Aerith met Zack's parents. They had not heard anything from him for years, and mentioned that Zack's letters to them had mentioned his girlfriend, whom they suspected was Aerith. Aerith then told Cloud that Zack was her first love, but that since it had been years, he had likely found another girl and moved on.

When the group visited Cosmo Canyon, Aerith spoke to the village elders. She learned more about her heritage, and came to terms with her responsibility as the last Cetra. When the party later returned to the Gold Saucer, Aerith was a date option for Cloud. On the date, Aerith mentioned how much Cloud resembled Zack, but yet was still different, expressing a desire to meet the "real him".

The party eventually tracked Sephiroth to the Temple of the Ancients, where Aerith used her Cetra powers to help decipher the temple's mysteries and locate the inner chamber. Sephiroth revealed his plan to use the Black Materia to call Meteor, the ultimate Black Magic, before the temple itself transformed into the Black Materia. Sephiroth took control of Cloud, forcing him to relinquish it, and when Aerith tried to stop Cloud, he attacked her before being knocked out. Aerith left the group, but while Cloud was unconscious, she spoke to him in a dream. As the last Cetra, only she could stop Sephiroth, and she promised to handle it. Cloud followed Aerith's clues to the Forgotten City.

In a temple underneath the Forgotten City, Aerith prayed for Holy, the ultimate White Magic, called by the White Materia she had worn in her hair, in order to stop Meteor. The party found her, but when Cloud approached her, Sephiroth attempted to control him and make him kill her, but Cloud resisted. As Aerith finished praying and lifted her head to see Cloud, Sephiroth—using Jenova's body as a vessel transformed into his likeness—descended from the ceiling and impaled her with the Masamune. Aerith collapsed into Cloud's arms, and as her hair ribbon unraveled, the White Materia concealed in her hair bounced off the altar into the water below. Shortly after defeating Jenova∙LIFE, the party paid their respects to Aerith, and Cloud laid her to rest.

Though Aerith had succeeded in summoning Holy, Sephiroth blocked its power, and she began fighting off his influence over the lifestream. She encountered many other deceased people, including Barret's childhood friend Dyne, fallen Avalanche members Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, President Shinra, and Hojo. Aerith also met Zack, learning of his demise. She also helped Tifa survive falling into the lifestream and into Cloud's Subconscious.

The party eventually descended to the planet's core and vanquished Sephiroth. After defeating Sephiroth's spirit, Cloud found himself among the lifestream in an out-of-body experience, with Aerith extending her hand to him. As Cloud tried to grasp it, he returned to his body to find Tifa, telling her he could met Aerith again in the promised land. Sephiroth's defeat allowed Aerith to release Holy, though Meteor had fallen too close and Holy's energy was unfocused by its gravity. Within the lifestream, Aerith commanded the lifestream itself to emerge from the planet and push Meteor back, allowing Holy to focus its energy. Thus, in January of 0008, Holy and the lifestream destroyed Meteor and saved the planet.

In Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile "Lifestream: White", as Sephiroth avoided dissolution and spread Geostigma using the lifestream tainted with his memories, Aerith tried to heal the spirits of the dead and contain the damage being done. Despite the help of the other souls of the Cetra, those infected with Geostigma died faster than Aerith could heal their spirits, so she resolved to contact Cloud and stop the infection on the planet itself. Aerith considered creating avatars similar to Sephiroth, but decided against this as she would prefer to meet Cloud as he remembered her.

In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Aerith appeared to Cloud in a vision as he rode to the Forgotten City to save the children of Edge from Kadaj. Standing behind him, she asked his reason for coming. Cloud wanted to be forgiven, prompting her to ask, "By who?" as the vision ended. Aerith later explained she never blamed Cloud. When he fought Bahamut SIN, he saw a vision of Aerith again as she took his outstretched hand and transferred energy to him to cut through the dragon's attack and destroy it.

After Cloud defeated Sephiroth who had been reborn from Kadaj, Aerith called down healing rain over the city, curing most of the inhabitants of Geostigma. Hearing Aerith's voice and mistaking her as his mother, the dying Kadaj dissolved into the lifestream, following which his brothers detonated themselves to take out Cloud. Cloud later awoke in the Sector 5 slums church among a pool of Aerith's healing water on her old flowerbed. He used the water to heal the children suffering from the virus. As Cloud celebrated with his friends, he spotted Aerith speak to the children near the entrance before walking through the doorway, where Zack waited.

In "Fateful Encounters", Cloud found Aerith on Sector 8's Loveless Avenue, where she was attacked by Whispers. Cloud, unable to see the Whispers, approached her before seeing a vision of Sephiroth. Aerith spoke to him as he came to, and gave him a flower, telling him that lovers give them when reunited. Cloud warned Aerith to keep her distance, but she was unfazed. When the Whispers attacked Aerith again, Cloud could see them when Aerith grabbed his hand. Cloud drawing his sword attracted the attention of Public Security, and Aerith fled the scene.

In "Budding Bodyguard", Cloud crashed through the roof of Aerith's church after falling from Mako Reactor 5. After a conversation, Reno arrived to take Aerith in. She asked Cloud to be her bodyguard, though Cloud had never specified he worked as a mercenary. Seeing he was confused, Aerith excused herself by explaining that she had guessed it from his sword. After defeating Reno, the Whispers and Aerith stopped Cloud from killing him, and the two fled the church while Reno ordered the soldiers with him not to shoot at Aerith.

Aerith and Cloud crossed the rooftops near the church and got to know one another. Aerith took Cloud to the Sector 5 slums to meet Elmyra. The two helped out the locals, starting with children at the Leaf House orphanage. They ran into a Sephiroth-clone whom Cloud momentarily saw as Sephiroth taunting him, though the illusion broke and the clone walked off. Cloud asked if Aerith knew Sephiroth, and she replied that she only knew him as a war hero who died five years ago, though appeared troubled when Cloud implied he may still be alive. After helping the townspeople, Rude, another member of the Turks, blocked their path. Though Aerith requested that Cloud leave Rude alone as she believed he wasn't a bad person, the two teamed up to fight against him until Rude was interrupted with a phone call summoning him to another mission. He urged Aerith to stay home before departing, which she refused.

Elmyra asked Cloud to leave in secret and to never come back into contact with Aerith, causing him to sneak out at night. Aerith caught up to him on the way toward Sector 6, commencing "The Town That Never Sleeps". She showed him a route back to Sector 7, professing her dislike for Sector 6. At the Evergreen Park, Aerith told Cloud he reminded her of her first love who was also in SOLDIER, though Cloud's ears rung when she mentioned his name. Even after Aerith showed him a secret passage to Sector 7, Cloud was reluctant to leave her alone in such a dangerous place. The two spotted Cloud's friend Tifa being taken by chocobo carriage to Corneo's mansion and Aerith insisted they help her, warning Cloud how dangerous Wall Market was.

Wall Market was an illegal entertainment district run by the crime lord Don Corneo, who invited women to his house to be his "bride". Aerith and Cloud sought the approval of an influential Wall Market member whose opinion the don trusted. Aerith garnered Madam M's endorsement after she and Cloud won the Corneo Cup tournament at the Corneo Colosseum, and Madam M gave Aerith a new dress and a hairstyle. Cloud did not want Aerith to enter Corneo's mansion alone, and Aerith informed him that Andrea Rhodea, the owner of the local VIP club Honeybee Inn, wanted to meet Cloud so he can be disguised as a woman. The reluctant Cloud went through the makeover much to Aerith's delight, and they entered the don's mansion and met Tifa. After the don chose Cloud as his bride, Aerith and Tifa beat up the don's lackeys before confronting him. Corneo told the three Shinra planned to drop the plate over the Sector 7 undercity, and sent them plummeting through a trap door.

Aerith fell into the sewers with Cloud and Tifa, commencing "Rough Waters". She helped defeat Abzu, and with Tifa's guidance, the group navigated their way to the exit. As Aerith and Tifa got to know each other, Tifa noticed Aerith knew something they didn't. When Tifa was distressed at Corneo's words, and Aerith attempted to cheer her up by making her think of what they would do after saving the pillar, Tifa wanting to go shopping topside with Aerith to buy things for the bar, with Cloud carrying their things. In "Haunted", the group passed through the haunted Train Graveyard. Though Tifa was scared and Cloud was alarmed by the ghosts, Aerith was instead emphatic toward them, striving to understand them. Several children had been taken by Eligor, a mysterious soul-capturing demon who also tried to torture Aerith by repeating images of her lonely childhood. Cloud and Tifa rushed to her aid, and they defeated the monster together, allowing the children's spirits to find rest.

Upon reaching the Sector 7 undercity, in "Fight for Survival", the group were slowed down by the Whispers, before finding the pillar under attack. After helping Wedge recover, Tifa, wishing to help Cloud and Avalanche leader Barret, asked Aerith to look after Wedge and Marlene, Barret's daughter. Aerith volunteered before Tifa even spoke Marlene's name. When Wedge worked to evacuate the sector, Aerith encouraged him by saying he should never look back on this day with regrets, inspiring Wedge to be more forceful. Aerith informed Marle of the incoming danger, improving the evacuation effort. After many obstacles, Aerith reached the Seventh Heaven bar and found a scared Marlene, who warmed up to Aerith. They were accosted by Tseng, and Aerith gave herself up in exchange for Marlene's safety.

Aerith was taken to Professor Hojo's laboratory in the Shinra Building, where she had to lived as a child with her mother. Hojo felt that Aerith sufficed as a specimen, but planned psychological torture, and wished to breed Aerith with a SOLDIER of S or G type just in case the experiments kill her. When Cloud stayed at Elmyra's house later, he had a chance of dreaming of meeting Aerith in the garden. Aerith told Cloud she was safe, but was touched that Cloud wished to rescue her and apologized for worrying him. She imparted that everyone dies eventually and that Cloud was better off not falling in love with her, cryptically explaining that even he thought that he had, it wouldn't be "real".

In "The Belly of the Beast", Cloud, Tifa, and Barret rescued Aerith. Red XIII, another of Hojo's test subjects, was accidentally released when Barret disrupted the locking system by breaking Aerith's containment tank. Knowing he was their friend, Aerith calmed Red XIII by placing her hand on his head, imparting knowledge to him about the Whispers. Cloud passed out, commencing "Deliverance from Chaos". The group reconvened in Aerith's old room, where she told them about her heritage as a Cetra and Shinra's plans. Aerith claimed that there was a greater threat than Shinra, at which point the Whispers swarmed her. She felt lost and unsure, and claimed that the Whispers made her lose a part of herself whenever they touched her. Breaking past the Whispers, Tifa grabbed her hand and assured her that they would overcome it together. Shortly after, Wedge and Mayor Domino told the group via a video call they had secured a route out with the help of Avalanche HQ helicopter. While making their way to the helipad on the roof, the group fell into one of Hojo's science labs in the Drum, Aerith working with Tifa to escape.

The group eventually escaped the building, though Sephiroth waited for them at the end of the unfinished expressway, cutting open a portal. Aerith became stern and defiant but hesitated with how to proceed. She ultimately settled on believing that the group should enter a portal and defeat the Whispers, emissaries of the planet itself that wanted to enforce a fixed future and thus had intervened in various ways during their quest so far. She warned that defeating the Whispers would change fate and lead to "boundless, terrifying freedom". After felling a giant Whisper and helping Cloud in a duel against Sephiroth, the group left Midgar. Aerith lamented that she missed the steel sky of Midgar, as the new sky ahead of them seemed unknowable.

In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,

And she is reprised by Andrea Bowen in the English dub and Maaya Sakamoto in the Japanese dub.