Posted by Devin de Gruyl on Dec 4th, 2009
Story #10: You can bring Aeris back from the dead.
I may as well confess right now: Aeris’s death in Final Fantasy VII really didn’t affect me all that much.
It’s not that I’m heartless or anything like that… actually, speak to anyone who knows me, and you’ll find out the exact opposite is the case. The problem, unfortunately, is that I knew it was coming before it happened — before I even bought the game, even. What could have been (and should have been) a bona fide surprise plot twist was inexplicably spoiled for me in the original TV ads for the game when it first came out (a bit from the scene where Cloud lays Aeris’s body to rest was shown, while a narrator talked about “a love that could never be”). I get they were trying to emphasize the cinematic scope of FF7 versus the RPGs of the past, but even so, whoever thought that was a good idea to stick in a commercial should have been fired on the spot. Or did the words “Spoiler Warning” not carry much weight in 1997?
Despite my personal feelings on this subject, however, the death of Aeris has become celebrated in gaming lore as a major turning point in the evolution of the genre, if not the concept of the video game as art form. While Aeris was not the first RPG party member to be permanently killed off as part of the game’s storyline (Nei, from 1990′s Phantasy Star II, arguably holds that distinction), hers was the first time an actual character, someone who we actually knew as more than just some stats and a perfunctory character sketch, died right before our eyes – and in a manner so sudden, so shocking, and so unexpected that it actually made #3 on ScrewAttack.com’s top ten list of “OMGWTF” moments in gaming history. The sight of Sephiroth swooping down from the heavens and impaling Aeris on his sword has become, if not the most iconic image in the history of gaming, then certainly in the top ten, perhaps even top three.
To say that players, as a whole, were deeply affected by Aeris’s death would be an understatement of Biblical proportions. For some it was a purely analytical thing borne out of frustration; this plot twist had just deprived the party of its best pure healer, just as the game was starting to shift the difficulty level into high gear. For others, they were legitimately moved, sometimes to tears, at the sight of the life draining out of Aeris’s eyes, and rebelled at the notion that Sephiroth had just senselessly destroyed the closest thing FF7 had to a true Innocent. And, of course, it just made you hate Sephiroth all the more and motivate you even further to wanting to avenge her death… which was, of course, precisely why Square killed her in the first place, so you’d have that reaction.
And as always seems to happen, it sparked a never-ending stream of rumors and hearsay surrounding whether or not there was a way you could somehow bring her back to life.
Much like the whole Triforce deal in Ocarina of Time previously discussed, the Internet was soon fairly abuzz with one theory after another about how you could possibly resurrect Aeris and have her back in your party. The game was placed under a microscope and examined from just about every angle imaginable, searching for clues and possible loopholes in the program that could be exploited. Cutscenes were often cited as “proof” that Aeris was not supposed to die, that originally FF7‘s plot did not call for her death, and that she was supposed to factor into at least a few more scenes after that infamous episode in the Temple of the Ancients. At least one person actually decompiled and disassembled the FF7 discs, and discovered a few unused hooks in the code that could have been used, theoretically, to give Aeris additional dialogue in scenes that only took place after Sephiroth shish-kebabed her.
However, this all has something else in common with the Triforce debacle… it’s all a pack of lies, lies and damned lies.
No matter what you do… no matter where you go… no matter who you talk to… you will never be able to bring Aeris back to life. In a game world where death is only a minor inconvenience, easily remedied by use of a Phoenix Down or handy Life spell, when Aeris died it was every bit as final and irrevocable as it would have been if you or I were impaled on that sword. Short of using a Gameshark code or similar cheat to trick the program into allowing you to put Aeris in your party after she died, the only way you will ever see Aeris again is if you start a new game, or restore from a point before you went to the Temple of the Ancients.
It is also a fallacy, evidently, that Aeris’s death was a late addition to the storyline, put there at the insistence of a corporate higher-up who felt the game’s storyline needed an extra dramatic “oomph.” According to some of the FF7 staff, while Aeris was not necessarily “born to die” from the moment she was created, there had been talk all along that Cloud was going to permanently lose one of his companions to Sephiroth’s blade at some point. Once that decision was made, everyone involved just sort of naturally gravitated to Aeris as the one who should have to pay that price, the one whose death would galvanize everyone on the team and further unite them in their struggle against Sephiroth and his major league “mommy issues.”
And you’ve gotta admit, if that was their goal, they certainly succeeded. In death, Aeris has become quite possibly one of the most beloved heroines in the history of JRPGs, whereas if she had lived she might have been written off as a rather weak-willed and unappealing character, clinging to Cloud like a lovesick schoolgirl and contributing very little to the party’s efforts (other than her aforementioned healing abilities, which as stated were the best in the game). Also, if she hadn’t died when she did and in the manner she was killed, Cloud’s party might never have bonded together into a force effective enough to take on and ultimately defeat Sephiroth; it’s very likely they might have split up and gone their separate ways, and all would have been lost. Sometimes, things just work out the way they should… that would seem to be the case here.
Aeris’s death was a gut-wrenching moment for many. But for those in a previous generation, so was the final fate of Old Yeller. Yet the beloved hunting dog had to be put down… once he became rabid, there was nothing else that could have been done. It was a sad, but ultimately necessary thing; it was even doing a kindness for the poor animal. And Aeris dying was just as necessary, though in a somewhat different perspective, as that legendary moment in film history. Without that plot element, FF7 as a whole would have been a far lesser and inferior experience (as opposed to just a game). It’s best to let her rest in peace… after all, she did what she was supposed to do, and she did it even better than anyone at Square could have ever hoped for.
Verdict: FICTION.
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- Retro-Active: Gridiron Games of Antiquity
- Retro-Active: R.O.B.
- Retro-Active: NES “First Sequel” Syndrome
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Related posts:
- Retro-Active: The Five Best (And Five Worst) Retro Console Controllers
- Retro-Active: Gridiron Games of Antiquity
- Retro-Active: R.O.B.
- Retro-Active: NES “First Sequel” Syndrome
- Retro-Active: Consoles That REALLY Never Made It
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