Did 'Final Fantasy VII's' Aerith Have To Die?

Aerith Gainsborough's death in Final Fantasy VII is one of the most infamous moments in the franchise's history. But did Aerith actually have to die?

[Neonridr]

technically No, but it made for a much better story as a result.

[NukaCola]

Spoilers and your Captain speaking:

She had to die, and she did when Sepheroth killed her. Her death released her materia into the world and it flowed into the LifeStream. It was her Holy that was absorbed by the planet and stopped Meteo from destroying the world. The world knew that it was going to die if it did not save itself. We learn throughout the game the planet has to stand for what is right when industry, coorporation and government corruption abused the world in their conquer of money and greed. I know everybody wants to jump on the train but Final Fantasy 7 is the shiznit

Boom!

[ConsoleDeals]

Huh, never realised that Aerith was the actual name and Aeris was the English name. But yes, she did. Not only did it progress the story but think back to all the games you have played, how many have had a moment that impacts on you like that one did?

[SoulMikeY]

Aeris sounds better to me, Aerith sounds like Mike Tyson can say it right...

[rainslacker]

Her death actually had reason. It wasn't just Sepiroth being a douche.

But yeah, her death was pretty surprising, since a main character death in any game was unheard of, and she was a likable character.

[Hoffmann]

Since the developers wanted it..yes she had to die.

The other question is..are wikia articles even allowed on N4G?

[Killz4Twinkies]

^^

[Atomicjuicer]

As the game will be remade soon, this headline is a spoiler.

Should be flagged but I'm not able to as I don't have contributor status.

[Goldby]

just flagged it

[DragonKnight]

Just because the game is being remade doesn't make the story brand new. It's not a spoiler to say she died considering how old the game is, and how many versions of it there already are.

[SoulMikeY]

Remade about 20 years later, there's whole generations that haven't played the original dude, don't be ignorant.

[Movefasta1993]

Yes because every gamer was born during that era...

[ameliabaz]

It's a 20 year old game that's been released on multiple platforms including phones and ps4. It's not like it;s an obscure old game on a difficult-to-find platform. If people still haven't made time to play it, then they have no right to complain about spoilers.

[DragonKnight]

Please, this is the internet age. Even if, and that's a big if, they haven't played it, they've more than likely heard about it. And if they are interested, they already know the story. Game's story is 20 years old, get over it.

[rainslacker]

I think when we're talking about an iconic scene, for an iconic character, from an iconic game, that the spoiler stuff is just thrown out the window, because every body already knows, and if they don't, they probably aren't perusing these forums or some out of the way blog to have it spoiled for them.

Knowing she dies doesn't really change the story, and since I'd imagine there would be a lot bigger aspects of the story that people wouldn't know if they didn't know about Aerith's death, that they probably won't have the surprise spoiled for them. In any case, those people wouldn't know when she died, or why, or the reasons for it.

Saying this is a spoiler is like saying that Frodo makes it back to the shire at the end of the LOTR trilogy is a spoiler.

Oops....spoiler alert....

[TheMutator]

Yup she's an obsolete and useless character lol

[Hoffmann]

OBSOLETE!

[Viryu]

I feel sorry for everyone who read the title and haven't yet played this game, but planned in the near future.

[MeteorPanda]

l think a 2 decade game has a pass on spoiler tags.. hell google her name and tell me her first image isnt just her getting speared like a fish for the first 20 searches, lol

[Goldby]

with a new version coming out in the future it is very spoilery and should have that in the title. after all, thats the only reason this article is existing right now. if ther was no FF7R ther would be no article

[MeteorPanda]

while true. the remake is based off an existing game. googling aeris does give too many spoilers as it is. if the devs were smart theyd find a way to retell the tale without having fans who know the story getting bored.

l hope for this conundrum. Save Aeris = bad ending. Let Aeris die = good ending.

[rainslacker]

It's also shown again in Advent Children, and tons of youtube fan videos. It's the topic of countless articles. I believe the FF7 anime has something about it. It's talk about with reckless abandon in tons of comments. It makes lists of most surprising or sad moments in video games. It's up there as one of the most iconic scenes in gaming.

If people haven't played the game, and didn't know this, then they probably just don't care. There would be no way someone just coming into the series, looking at the remakes to get into it, to not come across this facet of the story accidentally, so if they're really worried about such things, they should probably just stay off the internet, and not talk to any of their friends about it.

@Goldby

we see articles like this about once a year. Questions about the FF7 plot tend to be common filler pieces, which is a testament to just how good the story was to begin with.

[Hoffmann]

Spoiler: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalkers dad.

Another one, Jesus died in the 2nd chapter.

[rainslacker]

What!!!

Dude....

Come on....thanks a lot. I just got those movies from red box today. You owe me $6 for ruining it for me. Next you'll tell me that Luke and Leia are siblings or some other such nonsense.

[solideagle]

Spoilers...ggggrrrrr

[JasonBloodbourne]

Spoilers man!

[ShadowWolf712]

Who cares, I felt nothing either way.

[MeteorPanda]

the more important question is did Sephiroth have to take off his gloves mid jump to do it?

[DragonKnight]

And put them back on without anyone seeing.

[rainslacker]

The answer is yes. He wanted to make sure they were clean...and he was just that good.

[machtkampf]

It was the only thing that really made it memorable. Glad they did.

[Rebel_Scum]

lol @ people crying spoliers for a 20yr old game. EVERYONE knows Aeris dies as much as they know Mario saves the Princess or Darth is Luke's father.

[discobastard]

Yes.

NEXT QUESTION!

[Artemidorus]

Yes because that's how the story went but the new one has an opportunity to offer a change or choice

[ameliabaz]

I hope they don't change the story tbh. Aerith's death is one of the most pivotal parts of the plot. If she doesn't die, then her spirit can't access the lifestream at the end of the game to stop meteor. Changing such an iconic gaming moment just for the sake of 'choice' or shaking things up would be silly.

[Artemidorus]

I don't want them to change the battle types but they did

[formanbradley]

There's a reason why I hate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because you never have to worry about the main characters ever dying. There is no tension in an experience if you already know what will happen. Same thing applies to video games.