Aerith Gainsborough

Elmyra Gainsborough - Adoptive Mother

Yuna Naimah - Half Sister

**Aerith Gainsborough,** 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 also compassionate towards others

 History

Aerith was born to Ifalna and Professor Gast Faremis in Icicle Inn on 7 Februm, 089VY; 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. The two became subject to numerous experiments at the hands of Hojo and Shinra as they researched the Cetra.

Five years later, Ifalna and Aerith managed to escape the Shinra Headquarter. But a wounded Ifalna was only able to make it as far as the train platform in the slums under Sector 7. Elmyra Gainsborough, who was there awaiting her husband's return from the Wutai War, found the two and, believing that she wasn't going to survive her wounds, Ifalna asked the woman to take Aerith with her and keep her safe, thus Elmyra adopted Aerith and took her to her home in the slums of Sector 5 where she raised her for the rest of her life. Being only five years old at the time of her death, Aerith remembered little of Ifalna but after her mother's death, Aerith began to hear whispers of her voice.

For much of her life Aerith was hounded by Shinra who repeatedly attempted to re-kidnap her; Tseng, a member of the Turks, who considered Aerith a friend, attempted to persuade her to join Shinra willingly, but Aerith refused. In her home in the slums, Aerith found and cultivated a small patch on land in the Sector 5 Church where she minded a flower patch that grew out of the dirt under the church's floorboards.

At the age of fifteen, Aerith meets Zack Fair when he falls into the church from the Sector 5 Reactor, and a romance eventually blossoms between them. Zack buys Aerith a pink ribbon, which she ultimately becomes synonymous with, and encourages her to sell her flowers in Midgar and even builds a small cart for her. The two continue this budding romance for about two years, however it ends abruptly after the death of Zack at the hands of Shinra soldiers.

## Personality

Aerith is upbeat and joyful, and often attempts to cheer up her fellow party members. As she was raised in the Midgar Slums, Aerith maintains that she can take care of herself and can fight off Shinra troops, as well as demonstrating more subtle forms of savvy. Aerith is flirtatious with Cloud and possesses a carefree and naive nature, expressing a desire to fly on an airship when the party sails out of Junon.

When Aerith has made up her mind about something she will not listen to anyone who tells her otherwise. Though she means well, Aerith can be insensitive to other people's problems, like when Barret is troubled in the Gold Saucer. Aerith and Tifa often spend time together when the party splits up and are good friends, though both also appear slightly jealous of the other's closeness to Cloud.

As a child, Aerith was reluctant to accept her Cetra heritage; she later admits to Cloud that she considers herself lonely, as she is the only remaining Cetra. She exhibits personality quirks at times, such as being afraid of the sky, and claiming she can "hear the wind calling her". These traits may be influenced by her Cetra heritage allowing her to communicate with the Planet.

Aerith has a strong sense of forgiveness; she even shows compassion to people who might not deserve the gesture, like Tseng. Aerith is an independent, outgoing, motherly, and kind young woman who displays an intuitive understanding of others and is deeply in-tune with nature. Her extrovert personality is a contrast to Yuna's more shy, guarded demeanor.

## Image

Aerith wears a shin-length pink dress that buttons up the front and a red bolero jacket. She wears brown boots and metal bracers on her wrists and around the edges of her jacket sleeves. Aerith's long light brown hair is plaited with a large pink ribbon; within the ribbon she keeps the White Materia orb given to her by her mother. Segmented bangs frame Aerith's face and she has emerald green eyes.

In her youth, Aerith was known to wear a blue and white dress with a red camisole underneath and white wedge sandals with pink straps. During her first date with Zack Fair, he bought her the iconic pink hair ribbon and later suggested that Aerith continue to wear pink.

## Weapons and Abilities

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 entirely defensive, either providing restorative abilities healing other party members or granting them positive status enhancements.

She is focused towards casting magic with high magical stats and low physical stats, and wields several staves which often contain many Materia slots and boost her Magic. All of her Limits are healing abilities and buffs. Her ultimate weapon, Princess Guard, is the only ultimate weapon with standard Materia growth, and increases in attack power proportional to killed allies.

## Trivia

* Aerith seemed to have a good relationship with Red XIII, often patting him on the nose; something he says he used to hate, feeling being treated like a child, however he also liked the attention. This is revealed if the player talks to Red XIII before the second visit to the Forgotten Capital.
* Aerith is 21 at the beginning of Yuna's pilgrimage.

### Etymology

Aerith's name is meant to sound similar to "earth" due to her connection to the Planet. Additionally, the Hebrew word עירית, ʻīrīṯ (the ṯ was pronounced th), refers to the asphodel flower. It is also a modern Hebrew girls' name, Irit. This might have been appropriate, considering Aerith's association with flowers. Because of the inexact way Hebrew treats vowels in writing, an alternate reading ʻērīṯ is also conceivable from an intuitive reading of the letters.

Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Many European surnames derive from locations.

## Gallery

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