Extending the Boundaries of Love ~Beyond the Compilation~
by
¤lonewolf¤
The creators at Square-Enix have continued to feature Cloud and Aerith in games
that have no relationship to the story of Final Fantasy VII. The presence of Tifa Lockhart in
Final Fantasy VII has been used by some players to suggest that she has a strong
romantic link with Cloud. The strength of Cloud and Aerith's interactions in
alternative universes (AUs), and the lack of Tifa's involvement in subsequent
games, clearly supports the idea that the original game was intended to depict
Cloud and Aerith romantically.
First, in the video game Final Fantasy Tactics, Cloud and Aerith make their
first of many video game appearances. Cloud is summoned into the world of Final
Fantasy Tactics, and true to his character in Final Fantasy VII he has his own
agenda and treats Ramza much like he did Barrett and Tifa at the beginning of
Final Fantasy VII, the way a Hard Core ex-SOLDIER would.
After, he meets a flower girl, who tries to sell him a flower for one gil. Cloud
instantly warms up to the girl, who is quickly revealed to be Aeris. She not
only has Aeris' physical appearance but her occupation and name as well. The
girl is soon accosted by the town thugs, who suggest she’d make more money
selling her body than flowers. Cloud protectively comes to her aid, telling them
to take their dirty hands off of her. He tells Aeris to run, and defeats the
thugs, thus fulfilling his contract as her bodyguard as he did in the original
game.
Importantly, note that as soon as the knaves are defeated, Cloud says, “I lost a
very important thing…” and questions who he is, and what he’s doing. Since he
states earlier that his eyes are burning, repeating the same famous lines from
her death scene, it’s safe to say he’d already lost Aeris. But even when he
questions who he is, one thing remains for certain: his love and desire to
protect her continue on and he is willing to abandon his selfish ways to come to
her aid. Even in subsequent video games, Aerith alone is able to melt away his
cold exterior.
Then when Ramza says that there’s a way for Cloud to get home, stating that
there’s "someone waiting for him", Cloud joins him, saying he must make it to
the promised land. It's made obvious that when Cloud was summoned to this world,
he was searching for Aerith.
However, note that Cloud’s greatest attack is no longer Omni-Slash, but Cherry
Blossom, a fight named after flowers. This further cements the deep bond between
the two characters.
Cloud and Aerith's most important appearance together is in the ground-breaking
Disney Square-Enix hybrid Kingdom Hearts series. In a story about good and evil,
light and darkness, Cloud and Aerith are some of the only Final Fantasy
characters to have been in every Kingdom Hearts game.
Likewise, in Kingdom Hearts games, Aerith is a member of the Hollow Bastion
Restoration committee and is one of the few who remember the town before it was
given such a dreadful name. Fittingly, the original name of the town is “Radiant
Garden”, a reference to flowers (and this revelation also comes to the player
from none other than the flowergirl herself). In this game, Aerith serves as an
advisor to Sora, the main character, and even aids the other characters in
battle with her healing skills.
Originally in Final Fantasy VII, Cloud had lost Aerith and was bent on finding her. In
Kingdom Hearts, he worked as a mercenary for Hades and was hired to defeat
Hercules in battle. It is interesting to note that Hades is the Greek god of the
dead, and although Aerith is alive in this series, it pays tribute to her
sacrifice in the original game.
To save their beloved, several romantic Greek and Latin couples, such as Psyche
and Eros, and Aeneis and Cruesa, have journeyed to the underworld. Cloud no
longer works for Hades by Kingdom Hearts II, having found his light, Aerith, as the two are
reunited at the end of the first game.
In Kingdom Hearts II, however, Cloud is still troubled by the return of Sephiroth
-- his darkness. Although Tifa Lockheart also appears in this game and tries to
help him, it is Aerith who shows that she knows and understands that Cloud’s
ability to defeat Sephiroth comes from within. Aerith says that no matter how far
he goes, she’ll be there, waiting for him to return. This, in many ways, mimics
the ending of the movie Advent Children, where Aerith knows Cloud's healing must
come from himself, and she patiently waits for him at the end of the credits in
a field of flowers. Please note that the age-old image of the maiden waiting for
her knight to return is kept alive in both canon and AU material. Aeris waits at
the end of the game in the Promised Land, waits for Cloud at the end of Advent
Children, waits for him at the end of Kingdom Hearts, and so on.
So while Tifa searches for Cloud and Cloud must come to her aid against
Sephiroth, Square-Enix proves Aerith is in Cloud’s heart and that he will be
fine. When Cloud and Sephiroth leave Radiant Garden to have their battle, Tifa
is still in pursuit, whereas Aerith trusts Cloud to overcome his darkness and
recognizes that it is he alone who can do so. Not unlike Advent Children, Aerith
knows that Cloud's light must come from within and that this battle is his to
fight. She patiently waits for him to return as he promised her.
In the final credits Aerith is last seen in the canyon, looking up where Cloud
left, whereas Tifa is not shown at all. The pink butterfly during the ending
also seems to be somehow connected to her, bearing her signature color.
So while the classic game and current compilation thoroughly endorse Cloud and
Aerith as tragic lovers torn apart by circumstance, it’s safe to say that in any
game where one is to be found, the other is referenced to, clearly mimicking
their epic romance immortalized in FFVII.
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