Final Fantasy: 25 Greatest Heroes

Anybody that wasn’t completely hit for six or brought to tears by Aeris’ death at Sephiroth’s hands on their initial playthrough of Final Fantasy VII, assuming no prior knowledge of the event (one of the joys of the pre-internet era), is a soulless monster.

Nobody saw it coming. As the personification of innocence and joyful optimism, Aeris bounces excellently off of the sullen and cynical Cloud, breaking down his walls. The fact that her selfless sacrifice is ultimately futile (as the White Materia she prays for is not utilised) makes everything all the more painful.

The impact that she makes in one disc and ten to fifteen hours or so on screen trumps the majority of her counterparts, who get three or four times that. It’d have been fascinating to explore more of her history with the Turks (who all clearly care for her protection) or her parallels with Red XIII as the last of their respective races, but these are things that the expanded scope of Remake may end up rewarding players with.

The thought of seeing her die once more is a harrowing prospect, assuming that the event still occurs in the Remake’s new timeline. She seems to have foresight of the fact that it will, but until that devastating moment, players can benefit from her inspiring and full of life attitude.