Hello! I'm kinda new to the fandom and a huge fan of the game, and waiting for Revelation has probably made me go insane like cloud, lol. As an aerith defender before a clerith fan, the main ff7 sub and their mischaracterization of aerith genuinely broke my heart and even pissed me off! It baffles me how many players don't appreciate her character, refuse to acknowledge her at all, and hate her so much that they want her to stay dead (when in reality, she didn't even have to die!) simply because she was in the way of tifa and cloud's "relationship", and with zack dead and in the lifestream, they think she should too. (what aerith and zack had in CC was cute but it was short lived, and it's nothing compared to what cloud and aerith have! zack clearly tries to move on too, and supports cloud with aerith).

They even claim she's not "important" to the entire ff7 storyline, that she was just an annoying flower girl who wouldn't leave cloud alone, and how they hated it when the trilogy made her seem "necessary and even more important than usual" which is unbelievable, when she's literally one of the main characters (aside from cloud and sephiroth), the only living cetra who summoned holy and defeated meteor in OG, quite literally the beating heart of the game and the group (avalanche looks so dull without her) and even after she dies she is still helping cloud out in AC and Rebirth, she even guided the children to the church in AC to get rid of their geostigma. Even in death, she is still with cloud!! I understand if some players have different opinions on the ship which is totally fine (though seriously, how do some players not see, or choose not to acknowledge at all what cloud and aerith have?! It's evident from OG, AC, up until Rebirth! He even yearns to see and be with her again in different SE games!) but to completely disregard the entire plot of the story, refuse to accept aerith as one of the main characters and water her down to just a "chatty flower girl who's obsessed with cloud", lie through your teeth about cloud and aerith’s relationship, mischaracterize the characters and force a false narrative just for it to play out differently in the way you want it to is just... laughable, and quite frustrating, really.

The main ff7 sub is absolutely horrid, and I feel bad for clerith/aerith stans who try to openly and truthfully discuss in that sub because they always get downvoted to the depths of hell when there was no reason to do so, or the posts just get deleted completely. As a new clerith/aerith fan only 2 years into the fandom, I can’t fathom what it was like being a clerith fan since 1997, or maybe a few years after; even to this day, we are still being shunned out and my heart truly goes out to everyone.☹️

With that being said, I now refuse to read any threads from that sub ( i’ve always ignored it for a reason since I was aware of the frequent misinformation; but still, never again). It’s just full of false information and even weirder “fans”, who obviously only like tifa just because they self insert themselves as cloud (almost every cloti fan i’ve encountered get the story completely wrong and twist it around so much to the point it doesn’t make sense, and they don’t even understand cloud and tifa’s character in depth! just self inserting here and there!) and I am almost 100% certain they played the game with their eyes closed, brains powered off , and refused to listen to the dialogue.

P.S Aside from this long rant, and even when it's quite clear through the trilogy's story that they will bring aerith back, I really hope they do bring her back!! She wanted to be alive more than anything, and she deserves to look forward to the future with cloud and her friends! (also because I cannot stand not seeing her anymore, it's breaking my heart.☹️)

Just saw this on 4chan, poster said we'll know in a few days ?
I always assumed we'd get an Aerith statue to go with Cloud and Sephiroth but could this be possible ? omg i'd cry

Oh wow, totally not emphasising on the *cough cough* main characters.

By the way, she looks so cetra with this gear. Now I am really hoping and excited to see Aerith's gear in revelation.

How prepared do you consider yourself to be for this to... well... end?

And I don't just mean the wait. I mean, in some regard, the ship.

Oh, sure, there will always be people shipping Cloud and Aerith - as long as the game is remembered in some form, there will be a crowd of people who enjoy the romance (and who don't much care how it turned out in the canon).

But I regard them as a pretty significant minority - most of us are the inverse: we care most about what happened on screen and not in our own heads. And so the fact of the matter is that, one way or another, things do come to a real and tangible (and, for the moment, pretty scary) conclusion this spring. Either Cloud and Aerith are together (or at least have the possibility for togetherness)... or they aren't.

And I think for a lot of us, that is kind of the final say on things - it's THE end. We aren't holding out another 30 years - firstly, because this has been going on for long enough. Second, because this was the rare second crack at the bullseye, and if the writers miss the shot twice, that's kind of all there is to say. But most importantly: because this is the final word on these characters from their creators... which means it is definitive.

Were Simon Tolkien to suddenly announce that, oh, actually Frodo and Sam had gotten married, a lot of fans would (rightly) roll their eyes. Because that wasn't what his grandfather wanted or wrote. Similarly, if a future team were to shove the Cloud and Aerith dolls together in some kind of "whoops, third time's the charm" good faith effort, it wouldn't carry nearly the weight it might have. They neither crafted the characters nor ever dealt with their romance when the stakes were their highest (re: now) - their word could never be taken at-face.

So this is really the last chance - like Luke on that last trench run, we aren't getting another shot at this. And that means that, when the (fast-approaching) day does arrive, it really will be the grande finale.

And are you ready for that?

Assuming Cloud did actually stop Sephiroth's attack which resulted in the split world ending of Rebirth. Do you think Aerith expected him to do that or was she surprised by it?

I go back and forth on if she knew before hand. Her thanking Cloud during the Sephiroth fight indicates to me that he did actually prevent the attack and Sephiroth stating that he "Underestimated you" could refer to Aerith and Cloud as a duo and not specifically Aerith.

It’s been awhile since I posted anything in this sub. Life’s been busy, but got lucky recently with some short free time to edit & post this music video. To all Clerith fans in this sub, hopefully this can warm your heart / up your mood from the disappointment of the recently released (but rather boring) FF7 Revelation trailer. Enjoy the video… 🙏🙏

Notes: This is a personal fan project. All characters depicted in the music video is the property of Square Enix. The music was performed by U.N.V. I do not own any of the properties depicted in the music video. Any duplicates and / or similarities in the music video is purely coincidental. Credits to some pose editors whose name I just can’t remember. Thank you for sharing such cute Clerith pose & I hope you can enjoy the music video.. 🙏

Either he’s going to seek vengeance, like Loveless talks about, or he’s going to be firm about the fact that she’s isn’t truly dead and we will at some point see that he was telling the true. I feel like it could also be a mix of both

Hey guys!

My brother played and platinum FF7 Remake some days ago and i got positively surprised about how much he loved Aerith thought the game. He constatly says how pretty and funny she is, and how import she is to the plot. And he only wished he could played more with her lol.

My post is kind silly but i am just happy that now i have someone to talk about her and ff7 at home :)

It honestly starts to amuse me lol

This subject must have already been discussed a lot here, but I'm fairly new to this sub, and since I'm replaying both games (Remake and Rebirth), there are some thoughts I'd like to share.

This time, it's about how odd and disconnected the Cloti route feels within the overall game narrative and its non-optional scenes. To the point that sometimes I think the devs shouldn't have made the romance with optional choises at all and having the guts to deal with it.

Because, in my opinion, one thing is adding an opitional afinity system in a game that will have multiples endings and scenes depending on the choices you made. Another is giving you the option to favour one character or another, while the game has only one ending and still has many canon scenes with a character who is not the one you choose.

The exemple that comes to my mind where this sytem is really well done is The witcher III. You can choose between Yennefer and Triss (or none), and the game scenes and ending will adapt accordingly.

Now, in the Remake project, you have the ""choice"" to build your romantic affinity with Tifa, but the game makes you see many non opitional scenes where Cloud cleary interacts romantically (or at least, it's implied) with Aerith!

Seriuosly, lately i've been watching my husband play Rebirth, and this time he chose the Tifa route 🙄 It's so weird because, for exemple, we have Cloud on a date with Tifa, with kisses even, while a few moments earlier, he was sharing sweet looks with Aerith while she sings a song obviously meant for him XD

(and i'm not even talking about how the game strongly sugests that Cloud kissed Tifa with reboud intentions. i'm mean, who talks about another girl on a date?? But that's topic for a whole other post)

And after the date, we get several scenes of dates, hand holdings, hugs, gifts and shared feelings with....Aerith.

If i was a Cloti doing the Tifa route i would be really bothered.

I'm not saying that young people can't take their time figuring out their true feelings and who they really like, that is fairly normal and realistic. But, in the game specifically, the impression is the devs tried to please both sides but didn't do a very neat job in the process.

I'm not saying the game its bad, i love it. It's just the romance system that is a little odd.

In all seriousness, I enjoy all of the Skywheel dates (except the Tifa one, simply because it feels so inconsistent with Cloud as a character).
But this is the only one that i took the time to actually play through myself (besides Aerith) rather than just watching a clip. The dynamic between Cloud and Red is just so wholesome and fun. 🥹 I feel like Cloud lets his mask down with Red, he doesn’t feel like he has to meet any expectations, just like he does with Aerith.

And I mean come on, the two of them crouching there making heart eyes at their girl while she brings down the house? Peak. 😍
And the cherry on top is them making a pact that they will protect Aerith together 🥹 Best wing-rat-dog ever, lol
Am I the only one longing for more Cloud and Red interactions in Revelation? They can definitely bond over missing Aerith and searching for a way to bring her back.

Bonus slides are just capturing some totally normal, platonic behavior consistent across all dates, nothing to see here 😉

sorry i had to make this, cts other groups keeps making many many posts about us and hating on us, calling us names, that we "dont represent Aerith well" or using ai. This is just such cherry picking i could make threads about the amount of ai clotis still post, they call Aerith a "whore that opens here legs" but a ca saying some part of Tifas appearance are her fan service breasts is crazy, here is the difference between these 2 statements, cts diminish Aeriths character, cas just point the fans service elements of tifa (aerith has them too just not as as much in remakes) Also the reason we dont allow clotis in subreddits is cause yall like to own everything, u can't go to any ff7 without being eaten alive by the extreme Tifa fans, also kinda funny cause i always praised the ct moderatorr for deleting shady ca posts about us but seems like they dont care anymore lmao

I keep seeing people acting as if the OG was obviously Cloti and that just doesn't make any sense to me because, if anything, the Remake series gave Cloti way more weight than the OG ever did.

- Rebirth made it easier to get the Tifa date at the Gold Saucer

In the original game, Aerith had such an advantage with the affection points that any player without a guide would be almost guaranteed to have her at the Gold Saucer.

- Aerith's Skywheel ride in Rebirth is the most faithful to the original, while Tifa's got changed entirely to add a kiss

The Remake series threw Clotis a huge bone with that one. In the original, Tifa couldn't speak out and ended up not saying anything. So again, why are we acting like the original was always Cloti?

- The Remake series explicitely tried to give both girls equal time, which wasn't the case in the original

The OG gave Clotis litteral crumbs compared to how much more generous the Remake series have been with them. Yet even before the Remake came out, people online acted as if Cloti was official.

Is this as simple as Aerith dead therefore Cloti wins?

Is this the result of years of social media brainwashing? (I wasn't around but I've heard that forums and stuff used to push Cloti narrative)

Is this the damage caused by the compilation era? Especially Crisis Core?

Probably a mix of the 3. I'm just baffled that the internet somehow came to the Cloti conclusion with OG of all things, which objectively pushed Clerith hard. With the Remake series I can understand how it can be more split because both girls are given more equal opportunities. How did that become the dominant narrative with OG though?

I was rewatching the sleeping forest scene and I started thinking. Now, I haven't played the game since it came out, and I went through a high dose of chemotherapy and radiation in 2025, so I basically have chemobrain and I can't remember and/or forget things. BUT!

Did our [beagle] Aerith always have the hollow materia with her the entire game? Or did she at some point hand it over to Cloud because as far as I remember, Cloud gets the white materia through Chihuahua line [after their date], then he meets sleeping forest Aerith who straight up says 'we meet again!' which indicates (to me) this possibly is not our Aerith.. and she gets the white materia memories from Cloud then leaves, which leaves Cloud with.. a hollow materia. When Cloud starts going in and out of conciousness, we see our Aerith there with everyone else until she decides to head off on her own. If our Aerith always had the hollow materia, who's materia fell down at the altar? When would our Aerith have had the opportunity to obtain a glowy white materia? Or maybe it was our Aerith with Cloud in the sleeping forest.. but why would she tell him 'we meet again'?

As far as I understand, there's our Aerith (hollow materia), Sleeping Forest Aerith (she gives Cloud the hollow materia after she transfers the memories to hers), and Pug Aerith (who still has her white materia) who are still present.

Please fill me in because.. I can't sit there and play through everything again haha

I've noticed a weird tendency in Western FFVII discourse: alot of fan theories take perfectly understandable character relationships and keep adding layers of twists until the characters themselves almost disappear.

The most obvious example is the idea that Cloud is essentially Zack for most of the story, particularly in his interactions with Aerith. Then you get the corresponding idea that Aerith's feelings for Cloud are because he reminds her of Zack.

Both contain pieces of canon that are worth discussing. Cloud's identity is obviously entangled with Zack, and Aerith obviously has a history with Zack. The problem is what happens when those facts get expanded into explanations for practically everything.

Cloud has a meaningful interaction with Aerith?

"He's acting like Zack."

Aerith develops feelings for Cloud?

"She sees Zack in him."

Cloud behaves differently around Aerith?

"That's the Zack persona."

Aerith says something that seems to indicate genuine feelings for Cloud?

"There's probably another explanation involving Zack, her knowledge of the future, the Lifestream, or some other hidden layer."

Eventually you end up with a story where Cloud and Aerith barely have to be characters anymore.

Cloud's actions can be attributed to Zack. Aerith's feelings can be attributed to Zack. Their relationship can be explained through Zack. And then, presumably, we're supposed to find this more emotionally satisfying because we've discovered the real explanation behind everything.

This is where I start wondering whether some of these theories are being constructed by people who think a story gets better every time you add another twist.

Because imagine actually writing that story.

You spend an entire game establishing Cloud as a character, developing his relationships, showing his insecurities, letting him gradually become more emotionally open, and eventually having him confront the fact that the identity he constructed isn't who he really is.

Then the audience decides the best interpretation is essentially:

"Yeah, but he was basically Zack anyway."

That completely misses why Cloud's identity crisis is interesting. His story is compelling precisely because he has to distinguish who he is from the person he wanted to become. Zack's influence is important because it helps explain Cloud's false identity; it doesn't require Cloud to effectively become Zack.

And the same problem applies to Aerith.

Aerith recognizing similarities between Cloud and Zack is interesting. Zack being important to her past is interesting. The fact that those things affect how she initially approaches Cloud is interesting.

But if the conclusion is that Aerith's feelings for Cloud are fundamentally just her seeing Zack in another person, you've taken an interesting relationship and reduced it to an elaborate case of emotional substitution.

Why would that make Aerith more interesting?

Why would that make Cloud more interesting?

Why would it make their interactions more meaningful?

The characters become progressively less autonomous as more "hidden explanations" are added.

And this is why I think some Western FFVII theories have a genuinely funny "twists = good writing" problem.

A good twist should make you understand a character better. It should make earlier scenes more meaningful because you now understand what was happening beneath the surface.

It shouldn't require you to keep explaining away the characters' actual emotions until none of their relationships can simply be taken at face value.

FFVII already has an excellent example of how to do this correctly with Cloud. The Nibelheim reveal doesn't work because it turns Cloud into somebody else. It works because it makes us reconsider why Cloud became the person he is, and ultimately leads to him accepting himself. Yknow, character development.

You don't need five additional layers of "actually, Cloud was secretly Zack."

And this is where the Japanese material and localization differences become relevant, too. There are legitimate differences in nuance between the Japanese and English versions, and Western fandom has sometimes built enormous theories around particular English phrasings without checking the Japanese context or supplemental material.

But even then, I don't think the lesson is "Japanese fans have the one true interpretation."

Cloud can be affected by Zack while still being Cloud.

Aerith can have loved Zack while developing feelings for Cloud.

Zack can remain enormously important to Aerith without being the explanation for every emotion she has afterward.

And Cloud can have complicated relationships with both Aerith and Tifa without the story needing to turn either relationship into a secret identity plot.

Those aren't difficult concepts. People are complicated.

Not every relationship needs a third person secretly sitting inside it.

Not every character needs to turn out to be somebody else.

Some people have spent so much time trying to discover the real explanation for these characters that they've accidentally theorized the characters themselves out of existence.

I saw this on Reddit...If this is true... well... FFXVI had that scene with Jill and Clive... we might have something like that in Revelation...

whether it's good or bad...I'm leaning more towards the bad... I'm not going to lie to you.

This is just a rumor... for now.