Final Fantasy Tifa Death

[Pernille Pennebaker]

Ive noticed that a lot of places that discuss the LTD are less focussed on analyzing and explaining final fantasy VII, and more focussed on throwing insults at either the characters, or the people who support them. I think I've done a fairly good job at making sure this place stays relatively matter-of-fact, and despite believing that "Cloti" is the only interpretation of the story that makes sense I am usually pretty positive about Aerith as a person, and more importantly, as a character. My stance tends to be that the only version of Aerith I think is fundamentally unlikable is the one presented by Cleriths.

So permit me to slightly backtrack on that as I ask:

I ask this because I was watching the new Rebirth trailer, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes during the scenes where Aerith sings, or where it tries to survival-bait the viewer. In FFVII Aeriths death plays only a small part in the grand scheme of things. It neither prevents nor causes holy, holy was summoned before she died and is actually held back by the will of Sephiroth, which is the bulk of the external plot. And it doesn't cause Clouds mental break, which was an inevitable outcome of his history with Tifa, Sephiroth, and Nibleheim.

So why does the trailer make it feel like Final Fantasy VII is the story of Aeriths potential death? I thought the point of Aeriths death was that it comes suddenly and unexpectedly, without a large fan-fare, leaving nothing but a hole in its wake. I thought the point was to show a death that wasn't like "in hollywood". So why does her death now get it's own musical accompaniment and stage play?

Aerith was once a normal girl with a big destiny, one that she was as unsure of as any of us, she was just a person, just like us, with maybe a hint of something more. She got angry, she could be petty, she could be clueless. In another words, she was human.

Aerith is now Jesus and Mary all in one. Fans got so upset at her death that Square-enix felt the need to include her in everything and every time Aerith became a bit less human, and a bit more idolized, until in remake she became a walking, talking, deus ex machina. In advent children she was presented as almost angelic, giving guidance to lost souls both good and bad and healing the children. But it was still ok because most of it was centered around Clouds psyche. The problem isn't with Aeriths death having importance to Cloud. The problem is square-enix trying to milk Aeriths death for all it's worth, making it into a soulless spectacle.

Aeriths death is now the horror monster that loses its terror once you see it. It's everywhere and everything has to revolve around it and because of it it's no longer a good story, but cheap emotional manipulation.

Years of fan obsession have deified away everything that once made Aerith interesting. The grand story of Final Fantasy VII, the quest to save the planet, and the internal heroes journey about accepting the past and the true self. Clouds backstory and struggles, it's all overshadowed by the once irrelevant plotpoint of "will Aerith die?".

While I think the cheap spectacle of hyper focussing the marketing and potentially early game around Aeriths death have already essentially poisoned the remake, making it into a mere shadow of what it could have been, I still believe that Square-enix has enough integrity left to actually kill her and move focus back on what actually matters. But I have to say, at this point it's not even just because I want the story of FFVII to be protected and experienced as it should be. But also because I am just getting sick and tired of what Aerith has become, and would now consider Sephiroth stabbing her as a mercy killing for what's left of her character.

The main takeaway from this analysis will be that the general leading thematic thread of FFVII in terms of Clouds internal development throughout FFVII and subsequent entries is the concept that:

- Cloud has to reach a state of supreme happiness by discarding his fake self, and embracing his own humanity.

As such, when someone exhibits these traits they are exhibiting aspects of the divine. According to some you can therefore reach a form of divinity by traversing the paths between the Sefira and embodying all the aspects of god. This set of nodes and paths is often called the tree of life.

The Tree of Life is often compared to a ladder and represents spiritual ascent. But as we can climb the Tree towards the Divine, so the Divine can reach down toward us. These two directions are called the Path of Redemption and the Path of Enlightenment.

There are a bunch more parallels that can be found by squinting and comparing the details of FFVII to Kabbalistic principles, like Aerith being 22 years old and there being 22 paths in the sefirot. But doing so runs the risk of finding patterns where there are none, and it does little to add to the argument except for cluttering it up. I doubt that Nojima and the others intended for FFVII to be a perfect 1-to-1 adaptation of Gnostic principles, or that they analyzed them 10 layers deep, at some point we have to distinguish the intended parallels from the meaningless references.

Following their failed transmutation the brothers seek to reacquire their bodies by seeking out the philosophers stone, which you might recognize from, among other things, Harry Potter. Alchemy, both in history and in FMA, is the art of combining different substances in order to create something new. The ultimate goal is to create the Philosophers stone, a perfect substance which can turn metal into gold and holds the secret to eternal life.

The idea of turning lead, or some other metal, into gold is narratively linked with the idea of attaining godhood. To go from the human (lead), to the divine (Gold). This concept runs parallel with the ideas represented by the Sefirot, where the different paths between the aspects constitute a roadmap to godhood.

By trying to revive their mother Edward and Al tried to overstep the boundaries of humanity. Instead of accepting the full gravity of what it means to be human, struggles, failures, and all, they tried to use power as a shortcut to eliminate problems, essentially trespassing on gods lawn.

They try to undo the consequences of these actions by essentially doing more of the same, they try to get their bodies back by acquiring more knowledge and power.

The show ends with Edward doing the exact opposite, in the end, rather than sacrificing human beings to obtain power and knowledge he sacrifices power and knowledge in order to save others. Rather than fixing everything with magic he now has to use hammers and nails and work together with others.

This guiding principle constitutes the core message being told by the story, and can be used as an anchor to gauge the likelihood that a pattern or theme we think we see is actually intended by developers, or imposed by us. We will later use this same approach to assess whether certain interpretations of FFVII hold water.

Gnosticism refers to a group of second century self-defined Christian sects that were regarded as heretical by the early church. Scholars have differed regarding the identity and defining characteristics of Gnosticism. Some point, for example, to its dualism of good and evil, others to its theories regarding the aeons, and the demiurge, etc

As it pertains to Cloud the concept of the promised land, or finding ultimate happiness, can narratively be seen to be a juxtaposition of two things. One is a state of ultimate happiness, and the other is the state in which Cloud can fulfill his promise to Tifa. For Cloud these two are one and the same, his ultimate happiness is to be the kind of person who is able to protect Tifa.

Cloud tried to become the kind of person who could protect Tifa by obtaining material strength, this path follows Sephiroth and the false god Jenova. However, in order to reach true divinity he needs to return to his true self.

Through his journey with Aerith Cloud is able to return to his true self. Aerith and Cloud both help each other work through their issues surrounding their pasts, Cloud helps Aerith work through the loss of Zack, and Aerith in turn helps Cloud with his issues, eventually leading him to Tifa. Aerith here takes up the role of metaphorical mother, the lightside counterpart to Jenovas darkness. While Jenova is connected to the material and the Demiurge, Aerith is representative of the divine Sefira of Chesed, the Sefira of compassionate love. This concept will be more explored in a later article discussing Aeriths role as a symbolic mother, and the themes of legacy, found family, and the death of parental figures in FFVII.

During the events of Advent children Aerith reprises this role. The two main driving forces in the story are Clouds pain at not being able to protect Tifa and the children, and his desire to be forgiven by Aerith. Cloud is no longer able to protect Tifa and the children, he has lost his strength, and has fallen into a state of depression. Once again Cloud needs to achieve spiritual balance. By helping Cloud forgive himself Aerith also directly causes Cloud to return to a state wherein he can protect Tifa and the children, as portrayed by the final battle.

FFVII is a story about humanity. The main narrative arc Cloud has to go through is to achieve happiness by embracing his humanity, weaknesses and all. Doing so will lead him to a state of supreme happiness. Tifas is routinely set up as representative of that final destination, while Aerith is explicitly presented as a guide. Any interpretation of the story that ends without Cloud achieving supreme happiness makes no narrative sense as it would would essentially make the focus of the story purposeless. Therefore, any interpretation of the story that ends with Cloud pining over some other woman can be safely dismissed.

1: Cloud reaching a state where he can protect Tifa.

2: Cloud embracing his true self and the feelings for Tifa associated with it, and rejecting the fake self that is associated with Aeriths ex.

3: Tifa herself.

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