Why is Aerith's death so shocking and heartbreaking?

Darkblade

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I'm not sure why Aerith is so memorable to a lot of people (let alone the characters in the game itself. Of course, though, no matter how long I was with someone, I'd be sad if they were such a good person and died tragically). I knew about her death before I played the game, but it still caused some pain for me (same with Elmyra's story, and Cait Sith #1's death.) Perhaps some people didn't know anyone died in this game, or they didn't think Square would choose her to fill the Matyr's roll. Perhaps it's also because, while she is not perfect in any sense, she was still one who could be labeled "innocent"...
 
Yeah, Aeris's kindness and good heart lead many players to get used to her, as if they expected her being Cloud's eternal love. But then a tragedy happened, she got killed, something that was so unexpected. Aeris died trying to protect the planet.
 
Bro hit the nail right on the head. Aerith's death is extremely memorable because of what she sacrificed to save the planet, she died for it. She and Cloud were headed towards sharing a lifetime together but it was all come to a halt when Sephiroth killed her. It was more than obvious that Cloud was falling in love with her and Aerith definantly loved him and it wasn't for the Zack in him either. Read Maiden Who Travels the Planet and you'll understand what I mean. Also Cait Sith's prediciton Cloud's Star and Aerith's Star. It's a perfect match. Throughout the whole first disk, we saw Aerith and Cloud's relationship grow and we also saw who Aerith is and learned so much more about her. I think that's why it touched the hearts of so many around the world. Aerith wasn't perfect at all in any sense, but she was pure and she was innocent. Aerith is still to this day by Cloud's side. She lives on through him. According to the Reunion Files, just because Aerith is dead physically, doesn't mean she isn't still with Cloud. The end of the movie shows the yellow flower field. Whenever Cloud wants to be with his Aerith, he just rides out to that flower field and she's there waiting on him. So we sort of had a bit of closure on that, but in any case, those are my opinions as to why her death is so memorable and heartbreaking.
 
Her death is shocking for a few reasons :

1. Cait sith number 1 already died so that puts you in a false sense of security about everyone else living

2. Aeris was clearly the woman Cloud loved - like LA said during disk one you saw the relaionship growing between Cloud and Aeris and you (were meant to) get extremely attached to her character.

3. Cloud himself nearly kills her - and when he is able to fight off sephiroths mind control that puts you into a false sense of security (Again) into thinking that shes safe.

As for why her death is Heartbreaking and memorable LA and STL pretty much highlighted the key facts - but i have one thing to add as to why its so memorable - The MUSIC. that god damn awesome piece of music - positioned perfectly and designed to set off the players emotions. Aeris theme is perfect and adds to the overall sadness of her demise.
 
cuz she was poor and kind and i felt sorry for her and the way she lives by selling flowers for 1 gil...
and she was stabbed trying to save everyone... she really was innocent..
and the music fits the scene perfectly i love the FF7 complete soundtrack Nubuo uematsu is the best
 
I didn't like Aeris, and would have rather had Cloud be with Tifa.
That being said, I wasn't shocked, I laughed. Sephiroth was my favorite character at that time, and seeing him kill people was (still is) amusing. ;)
 
Aleksunder This Thread Was Not Made For You To Come In And Say You Didn't Like Aerith/aeris. It Was A Thread Created For The Questioning As To Why Her Death Is So Memorable, Not Which Couple Is Better Than The Other. This Is Your Verbal Warning For Spamming. If I See It Again, You Will Recieve An Infraction.
 
She deserve it coz she was tryin to cheat on her BF Zack...

UM have you even played the game? Zack is DEAD - therefore he is NO LONGER going out with Aeris so no Aeris WAS NOT trying to cheat on zack as he wasnt her Boyfriend anymore!

Plus no-one "deserves" to die - espicially not Aeris - she was the most innocent member of avalanche - as only she And Red XIII joined the team for non-selfish reasons - so i find your above comment unnessesary, Untrue and offending.
 
Yeah, Aeris's kindness and good heart lead many players to get used to her, as if they expected her being Cloud's eternal love. But then a tragedy happened, she got killed, something that was so unexpected. Aeris died trying to protect the planet.

well i didnt know this was going to happen when i played it.. and i was kidda happy to see her go.. she bored me.. also she took me to dat god dam temple of the ancients with bloody hard monsters and that demon wall... overall that place hurt my eyes... grrrrrr!

she was only part of the bigger picture in my view..
 
This thread is asking WHY her death is so memorable, not to come in here and post your damned opinions that you were glad to see her go or not. I'm tried of seeing people bashing characters. If you hate a character so much then feel free to into the characters club forum and create one. This is obviously upsetting a lot of fans and I'm sure it would be upsetting even more if people were openly bashing Tifa. I'm close to closing this thread as well if people don't keep their spamming or snarky comments towards this character in the Anti-Clubs. Thank You.
 
I guess Aeris/Aerith's death is so memorable because no characters every seem to die in FF (Tidus doesn't count because he's not real) but yeah I guess it might also be because she dies in an attempt to save the planet.
 
rephased answer: i however didnt find her death that memorable.. i was too overwhelmed by the whole cool story
 
I find her death to be memorable because she was trying to help save the Planet. And she was such a pure, beautiful character, the last of the Ancients, which made it all the worse when she died (not counting poor Cloud's reaction).
 
She was so innocent, it was so unexpectant and a shock, she was the first playable character in the FF series to be killed off. Just a few reasons of the top of my head.
 
Here's my real opinion....
I think Aeriths dead was memorable coz she was a kind person and coz and no1 expect her to die or to be killed...or...coz none of FF guys has been killed so this is weird ..or new to the FF gamers .
Thats What I think.
 
Perhaps because she is such a gentle type of person. Very quiet and caring. I'm sure everyone can identify personality traits in characters from these games but i think there is a little bit of Aerith in all of us which makes it so heart breaking as she isnt one to fight back nor to cause problems but try to fix them - wrong place wrong time and nothing could be done to stop it. And the way in which she died always gets those that couldn't necessarily relate to her.
 
That Innocent beautiful smile, before and as she dies. That what made me and still does make me cry. She knew she was going to die and it hints it in the game that she might die.
 
I'd say teh only real shock value taht could be attributed to the situation would be that an actual FF character dies in mid-game. Of course, this isn't a new thing to the Final Fantasy series though. FFV had the same thing happen, but it's less popular of a game so it doesn't get the acclaim that it otherwise would.
 
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