Final Fantasy VII end of disc 1 spoilers that everybody here knows even if you haven't played the game below
20. Final Fantasy VII – Aerith Dies
It is surprisingly difficult to find a video of this entire sequence that isn’t an LP with some dude talking over it the entire time! The quality of the link I provided isn’t the best, and the sync is a bit off, but it’ll do. I’m glad this video included Cloud’s speech afterward, because it’s a really underrated moment in the game and it gets overlooked because of all the stuff that preceded it, but more on that later. Anyway, this is one of the most well known video game spoilers out there, at least among our circles. I can’t imagine there’s anyone on Board 8 who doesn’t know it, even if they’ve never played the game. And most people have some sort of opinion on this scene, whether good or bad. I feel kinda bad for people who play Final Fantasy VII with prior knowledge of Aerith’s death because I feel like you’re missing out on a solid emotional experience. I’m sure some people disagree with me, but it is what it is.
Well, that’s enough of a setup. Let’s talk about Aerith’s death scene and all that surrounds it. First of all, the buildup to this moment is great. You’ve had all that crazy stuff go down at the Temple of the Ancients where Cloud goes insane and gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth. Then Aerith appears to him in a dream/vision thing (and Sephiroth shows up, too) and disappears. Realizing that Sephiroth knows what Aerith’s planning gives you a sense of urgency to find her in a hurry before it’s too late, but inwardly as an 11 year old boy playing this game for the first time (back in 1997, mods), there’s a part of me that unconsciously expected me to rescue her just in the nick of time because that’s how it always works. Keep in mind that this was only the second RPG I’d ever played, the first being Super Mario RPG, so I wasn’t exactly used to the good guys dying. The good guys always win. As a kid, I instinctively believed this to be true.
Then you get to the Forgotten City, and the atmosphere for this place is off the charts, with the music and the strange design and how staid and how lifeless everything is. You look all over the place, but there’s no sign of Aerith or Sephiroth. The game gives you the option of staying the night in one of these seashell houses, and I figure this is probably what I’m supposed to do, so why not. Then when Cloud wakes up in the middle of the night and it’s dark outside, you know something’s up. The game through Cloud directs you where you’re supposed to go so you don’t have to go around everywhere trying to find it, which is nice.
Then you find this staircase where there used to be this big freaky fish and it’s like “Whoa.” So you go down the stairs and find a place that’s totally unlike anywhere else you’ve been in the Forgotten City. When you get to the bottom of the stairs, you find Aerith. Cloud insists on going up to her by himself, and for some reason, despite what just happened at the Temple of the Ancients, the other party members let him! When you go up and try to “talk” to Aerith, Cloud draws the Buster Sword and the creepy music begins playing. I think it’s kind of humorous the way you can push the directional arrows when you’re standing right in front of her to make Cloud do weird body gyrations, but that’s beside the point.
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