One of my favorite stories to tell about Final Fantasy 7 was how I found out about Aerith's death. FF7 came out when I 8 years old, and I became absolutely obsessed with this game from the ads I saw on TV and in magazines. We didn't have a Playstation, but my dad did have a computer capable of playing the PC version, so we purchased a copy of that and The Official BradyGames Guide with it. I was only allowed to play an hour a day and so progress through the game was glacial, but I took that guide to school with me every day and I pored over the contents of it in my spare time. I knew everything about upcoming boss battles, like what I could steal from them or what elements they were weak to, and I knew every major twist and turn the story was going to take, about how Meteor was going to be summoned and how we'd have to collect the Huge Materia to defeat it. The guide did not spoil her death. The guide says Aerith is "locked in prayer" as you approach her in the City of the Ancients, and that a cutscene will play before starting a boss fight. They talk about how you can visit her parents house in Icicle Inn, and all the events that reference her later on in the game are carefully worded to be neutral about whether she is present or not. Her death hit me like an absolute truck, and even now I can remember just being a sobbing mess and trying to explain to my poor concerned mom that no, it isn't just like Mario and she won't come back, and generally failing to articulate how much that lack of foreknowledge was hitting me. That moment hit me with emotional damage I didn't know video games could inflict, and really influenced my tastes in gaming for life.

I love Aerith in the original but I love her in the Remake even more. Other media had flanderized her "pureness" but in the Remake, she reminds us that she was raised in the Slums every so often while still remaining her sweet self. If you subscribe to the theory that Remake is a sequel to the original FF7, then I'm all for saving her this time. After all, her relationship with Cloud this time round had been growing with the weight of their previous selves' tragedy. This is the chance for all of us OG fans to make things right.

Aerith is my favorite character of all time. I fell in love with her since I saw her in a gaming magazine talking about FF7. All this just for a friend to come and say to me "Don't get too attached to her, because she dies". You can imagine my face when he said that.

Aerith getting resurrected by flushing the Shinra HQ toilet 10K times makes sense. You've wasted so much water, ofcourse she'd be pissed at you for being harmful to the planet.

I love Aerith but I don't like how the Fandom misrepresents her character, her arc and her motivations.

So great to see In Depth Is Back!

Aerith’s death was literally my introduction to death as a concept. She remains a foundational part of my being.

Great video! Haven't really seen an in depth video about Aerith, her character, story and gameplay. One thing I do have to say is that Aerith stated during the date and after the date that she saw through Cloud's false persona and loved him for who he was even though he wasn't openly showing it. She knew Zack and Cloud were two completely different people but she loved them both as individuals. When she asked Cait Sith for their futures she didn't think of the Cloud persona, she thought of Cloud himself.

just spilt my coffee due to that cut in „GONGAGA“ 🤣

You forgot to mention that she appears in Final Fantasy Tactics as “Flower Girl.” Great video! Big fan.

It's great to see another In-Depth video. Aerith is such an iconic character. RIP. That death scene has still not lost its impact for me. Every time, I bring Barret and Yuffie for that boss fight, because their animations afterward are my two favorites. They absolutely destroy me every time. Barret looking upon her before breaking down, then putting his hand on cloud assuringly. Then Yuffie breaks down crying into Cloud's arms. Now I want to play through FFVII for the thirtieth time, and I last beat it a few months ago! Your knowledge of FFVII is inspiring, and has helped me out A LOT with the game in the past. Thanks for the great work once again.

Aerith is one of my favorite characters and I believed for the longest time that we couldnt revive her in the North American version because of religious reasons in America. I always held on that it was possible to bring her back if I played the Japanese version someday. Her characters death emotionally broke me too because I named her after my girlfriend at the time and named all my characters after people in my life. But I dont know if maybe it was the name I used or if I wouldve always been sad by her death, but it was also her death that got me into the Final Fantasy series too. A game effecting my emotions like a movie would was a great experience.

Aerith was always my favorite character of FF7, to the point that her death was the first moment that a videogame makes me sheds tears.

Love this series, it gets better with every video. This had me tearing up again. Aerith is just too sweet. 5:04 5:54 It's worth mentioning that the katakana for her name as written literally spells out "Earisu/Earith" with the E first (the double meaning is much more obvious in Japanese). 20:10 One of my favorite lines in the game is when Cloud says, "Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry......or get angry......" There's just something deeply inarticulately sad about that line. You don't just lose the good times, you lose the sad or bad times too. People are more than just what you want them to be, and to really love someone is to miss those parts of them too. 20:48 Yuffie's reaction gets to me every time. 46:18 Dates are usually written year-month-day in Japanese.

Aerith has always been my favorite character from ff7 from way back when I first played it over 20 years ago. I had to have a laugh when I got her secret scene in the remake when she tells cloud "whatever happens you can't fall in love with me" and all I could think was "Aerith sweety, its 20 years too late for that" XD

42:48 I agree with Aerith feeling infatuated with Cloud at first because he reminds her of Zack, the way they meet for the second time falling down the church, the eyes, the uniform, the sword, some mannerisms, but she quickly notices their personalities are opposite: a shy, moody, sometimes disrespectful trying to act cool but at the same time kind guy and then an outgoing, cheerful, smiley guy, she's able to fall for both as individuals, and then Cloud is the one that isn't influenced by "ZaCloud" in this relationship because he doesn't know who Aerith is at the start of the game, he doesn't have dejavu's with her, or any memories from Zack about her, just as he doesn't have memories of the Turks because Zack never told Cloud about them, and so he's able to get to know her from zero

You'll waste water doing that, you know. Great job on the video! Aerith has always been one of my favorite characters.

aerith has been my favorite ff chara since i was literally 5, thank you for this video ♡

This was amazing, thank you! I love how you mention Princess Guard only being able to be used in only two battles. It's a big reason I love her and Bahamut as a fighting pair... because she has one and only one opportunity to use that summon, against demons gate. So I've always pictured those two as a dynamic duo.

A legend. I adore her character ❤ I don't like the idea that she sacrificed herself. I like that she was straight up murdered, that she genuinely thought she was coming back but bit off more than she could chew. That's even more tragic imo

You wanna know how you know a character’s really good? If you still cry when they die even if you were spoiled and knew it was gonna happen. That’s what happened to me. I’ve just recently gotten into Final Fantasy and by extension Final Fantasy 7, and good God knowing her death was coming didn’t dull the blow at all. I think it’s because I only knew she was going to die and nothing else, but shit man. Her sacrifice still hit me right in the heart.

Was only planning on watching a bit of this before sleeping but stayed till the end. Love these in-depth videos, Aerith is by far one of my favourites in FF7

There is so much to unpack here. I won't try to be brief but i do have to say some stuff so bear with me for a bit. As a lot of people from the community know, I've been around for a while and I can't believe how lucky I've been that I found this place on the internet. You truly are an inspiration for content creation and this video is another proof of it. It is amazing! It can be risky to go in-depth in such a lovable and iconic character; you just know you're never gonna get everything into one piece of media and "someone" is gonna point out the flaws or missing pieces. However, i'd like to praise you for your ability to make a 50min video fly by. It has the right amount of jokes so it can be take seriously but also to keep it entertaining, avoiding boredom. Well structured and balanced content is a treat to watch. Also, no clickbaiting! The amount of depth about Aerith is incredible, that being displayed even clearer at the closing stages of the video. Just leaves me to say: congrats, death, you created what I believe to be a truly instrumental video for the Final Fantasy VII community and for newcomers who want to learn more about it. I also would love to mention that Aerith for me is a special character. When i played the game as a kid, i didn't really understand english so i had no idea of her magnitude. Her deat shocked me even then; When i played it again with my english skills improved, I was blown away when i learnt the why of her actions. I definitely unlocked a core memory when watching you play the remake with the crew and watching Aerith reaching her house. Had tears of joy in my eyes. Having a place that is so cool that I can debate videogaming lore, having detailed lore with labors of love like this In-depth series... I just can't thank you enough for all your work. There, I said it. I'm really looking forward for another In-Depth episode. *tl;dr: its ok i guess, 6/10. the nose is kinda nice*

Post watching the video: really enjoyed the video and can see all the work that went into it - incredible and thank you

Yay! My all time favorite final fantasy character of all time! ❤️❤️ I was waiting so long for you to do an in depth video of Aerith! Thanks death! 💜🤝 Yes...I said all time twice. Lol

Had me crying by the end. My favorite in-depth video so far. Loving it.

Every time I play the original FF7 as an adult, ignoring the stuff like Advent Children, I strongly believe the rivalry between Cloud and Sephiroth was really about Aerith and Sephiroth. With Cloud being who both of them try to influence. Both are (half) inhuman Both have a strong connection to Gast, who studied everything that creates the crisis Both represent opposite themes And when you consider how they used to be siblings this is unlikely to be coincidence Tbh a lot of her depth is missed because rather than have a specific subplot where it’s all exposited, she has the progress and themes of the main plot to fill in any blanks. Which fans seem to like chalking up to plot convenience instead of anything deeper. So I really appreciated this video

This was an incredible watch and listen. A lot of work was put into this. Keep up the amazing work you do!

Great vid as always Death, I especially liked the bit about Aerith, that was good. Joking aside, this was a well constructed, well edited and greatly articulated in-depth look at one of the best characters in final fantasy. Thankyou for this and of course the wonderful community members for assisting you with it. Good job!

Woot woot! Thanks for keeping these in-depths going. They're some of the best I've seen and I can see the effort you put into them every time.

Sorry if this comes across as rude but I hate when people say it was Aerith's destiny to make a sacrifice to save the planet. Yes, she was the only one who could activate Holy, but the game makes it very clear she intended to come back and that her death is a senseless tragedy with no greater meaning. They also do this Zack in FF7 which is why while the scene makes me sad I kinda hate the ending of Crisis Core for making his death this big dramatic moment instead of a callous action by a few Shinra grunts.

Death, thank you for doing this , i know in the 4-8 chat i do a lot of quotes of Aeris , but she really is my favorite character of all time next to Sephiroth of course, she's the first video game crush i had . i still can't watch the death scene even in 2022 . it still hurts watching it and i get emotional . she was kind and sweet towards every party member . And now Briana White who does the VA just brings her to life . This game is beautiful and is nostalgia for my childhood and i love playing it today , talking about it and wondering . Thank you for Making this Death you nailed it much respect for you sir.

I still remember her death scene like yesterday. Made me cry during my childhood. She is the most important character in FFVII world. She knew Zack and she knew Cloud is not real SOLDIER. She is the bridge between Zack and Cloud for us players, and she influence both development of Zack and Cloud. She will always be missed. PS: Zack asks Tseng to protect Aerith, but I guess Zack didn't know Tseng will begin to fall in love with Aerith while protecting her in Zack's stead 🤣

Fantastic work Death! Great to see another in depth video, these formats really work well with your delivery style. You did a great job in portraying her character, story and greater importance to character design across all gaming.

Great work dude. Very touching and masterfully done

Seeing Aerith again always makes me feel sad.

Absolutely brilliant! It's amazing how much we still learn about this game and it's characters after all these years. Thoroughly enjoyed :)

This was excellently done. I especially liked how you detailed the relationships between Cloud, Zach & Aeris, it seems like very few people understand and the Zach/Cloud thing. Also, on my next playthrough I'm going to have an infuriated Aerith spam healing wind - I would've never thought of that. P.S. I thought she had the name of a Greek god too.

Thank you for this! I was always hoping you did a video for Aerith. There was definitely a lot of information I didn't know about her. I absolutely enjoyed and love this video.

The reason why the game has the best story ever compared to other games is because the authors threw in a ton of spirituality, religion, and philosophy. The reason why Sephiroth keeps appearing and disappearing in the game is because that is Cloud's interpretation of what his mind is experiencing, meaning it's not the real Sephiroth, but a mental image of him. The subconscious records things we have emotional attachments to since child birth, and we can also create false memories via the conscious mind. Identity issues can also happen if a person doesn't know exactly who they are. This is the reason why Cloud kept pretending to be somebody he wasn't, and then finding out it was all a lie. When you pretend to be something, you can subconsciously create that identity, but your inner being will always know the truth.

The triumphant return of in-depth. Love that intro.

Do you work out Aerith? That’s Gainsbrooo

Dude! the Hype was totally worth! i only liked Aerith after the Remake lol, from Aeris to Aerith this In-Depth was greatly researched and love her even more as a character after this, excited to see whats next for her in future titles. Lets Go!

I’ve been waiting a long time for this. Let’s go!!!!

Thank you for these in depth looks at the ff7 cast. Im going to watch all of them and all of the other ff7 videos you have posted. You are a FF7 god. Much respect to your knowledge and research. Looking forward to much more FF lore. FF7 holds a very special place in my heart. Im glad to see others so captivated by the game.

Man... just by the work you've had 'til de first five minutes - where I stopped to write some congrats and thanks - about the translation, I know this will be an awesowe journey and you're a true hero. Thanks for your hard working, also on gaming this gem.

I would flush 10,000 times and I would flush 10,000 more, just to be the man who flushed 10,000 times to see Aerith once more.

Amazing video. Really brings back those old feelings

So hyped to watch this as I relax in bed and recover from covid :) excited that this series is back!!

Death, each in-depth since the first has only improved upon your abilities as a storyteller. This isn't about one being "better" than another; rather, it's how you've grown and matured over the years. It's easy to take for granted a 50-minute video as a viewer. But as I watch this, always in the back of my mind is the work and time you clearly invested for the final product. I can imagine what it takes to storyboard the idea, craft the script, and then edit it all together. Speaking of editing, it's the quick little inserts of GIFs or sound bytes sprinkled throughout that really add to the flavor. I especially like the seconds of black after the open with Aeris's (yes, AERIS!) theme playing. It really sets the stage. I'm glad you drew attention to the internet rumors about her resurrection, too, because I was right there during that time when they were everywhere. It's a bit of a nostalgia trip. Though I knew they were ridiculous rumors, it always piqued my curiosity that maybe someway, somehow there was a degree of truth out there. One last thing: I think it might be a nice way to break up segments (from background, to mechanics, to trivia) if we saw you on camera again instead of just at the beginning and the end. It wouldn't need to be much more than a sentence or two. Just enough to mark the end of one story device and the transition to the next. Thank you for your dedication to your craft, my friend!

A wonderful tribute to a great story, as always. Thank you for all the work you do for this community

I love these In-depth videos. Excellently made, and very cozy. 😁

Thanks for the incredible work! Keep it up, my man. -OwlsMowles

Never thought you'd bring this series back

Omg finnaaally another in-depth 😍❤

Interesting video, glad it randomly popped up from the algorithm (makes a change for me lol)

That intro though)) I've gotta try this myself, was searching for that for ages) Jokes aside, thank you for the great work you're doing! This video is fantastic, can't wait to see with what you're gonna come up next)

Finally got some time to watch the video. Absolutely amazing death, love it!

A bit disappointed to hear you narrate at 17:57, that "Cloud is the Zack version of himself" Cloud was never a version of Zack. It's a well known fallacy, known as the Zaccloud fallacy. Cloud created a Soldier persona of himself based off of his ideals of Sephiroth and time with Zack. His soldier persona has none of Zack's personality. The only similarity is in appearance and how he gestures and postures.

Man, i've always loved your in depth videos. I've always had such a strong connection to her. She was the light in the darkness i needed as a kid. I can't tell you how many times i played through this game over and over. And then with NT, i was so happy to be able to have her through the rest of the game

It must have taken alot of time and love for this one. As always Death. Thank you

"i thought you were dead?" "i was" (morgan freeman narration) they never spoke of this again

Great job Mike. Your scripting of this video was absolutely phenomenal! Amazing work.

I always thought Aerith was kinda annoying, when I was a kid. I’m playing the remake now, and she is literally ripping my heart out with how amazing kind and thoughtful she is. I’m hoping those phantoms change the story just enough that Aerith may get to live through where her death scene is.

This video is absolutely fantastic. A real piece of work. I like a lot of your stuff and your streams, but this, this is top tier content!

Aerith my main girl in the final fantasy franchise

Great 👍 in-depth analysis here. I love all the information on Aerith. Amazing and legendary character in gaming history.

Really enjoyed this video man. Always love looking at discussions/analysis of OG FF7.

I tend to think that Watashi Sephiroth and Jenova are one and the same entity.

Thank you for this! Great to see the in depth series come back! The whole Tifereth/Chesed section was fascinating. Also: i never knew that her name was based on Serge Gainsbourg although as a French person I always thought it sounded alike, i had no idea I was so close from the truth. Fantastic content once again, thanks for all the work put into it!

Cloud is perfect for offense while Aerith is perfect for defense.

I really appreciate the acknowledgement of her name. So many people are sticklers to calling her Aeris because it’s what they know, it’s what they remember. But the fact that her name is supposed to represent the earth as Clouds name represents the sky, it’s important to put aside nostalgia in room for proper corrections. 24:52 - 25:02 So this is something I noticed and there is no official proof, however if you look at Aeriths death scene in game and compare them to to the Ancient recorded version, there are differences. Who knows if this was planned or if this was an earlier version that wasn’t updated, but the point remains, they are not the same used footage. So again, it’s possible it was meant to be the event that just happened, but it’s just as likely this is the planets memory and this was in some way ordained by the planet.

Catching up to as much of your stuff as I can, as recently things were very busy: top-notch content as always, man! I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it in the video but coincidental to my viewing, today is her birthday, so with love to this great character I'd like to comment the following: I believe Aerith could actually foresee, at least to a great degree by the end of her journey, what would most likely transpire in the story and that the key piece to victory would actually be her own death, providing at important moments irreplaceable support from beyond the grave: safeguarding Cloud and Tifa's consciousness and identities in the Lifestream, giving Cloud a frame to piece together his past, cleansing Cloud as well as Sephiroth/Jenova's remnant "red life-force" after the final battle and of course guiding the Lifestream to aid Holy in destroying Meteor. Knowing all this beforehand would also suggest that she was inviting the party in the City of the Ancients for a farewell (and to later understand the meaning of her actions aided by Bugenhagen) but at the same time I believe she was knowingly inviting her own death, as Jenova-Sephiroth should not have been able to make it through the Sleeping Forest alone without the party solving the riddle of the forest and making it through first. Sephy thought he was just using Cloud but Aerith *is* "street-smart" after all... This also makes her the single most heroic character in the story and although Cloud can be considered the "main" character, she was in fact the "central" one (book-ends with her looking at the camera and everything). Thus, happy birthday to our beloved brave girl!

In-Depth is back? You love to see it and it's the best one yet

This video is brilliant, your passion and knowledge of FF7 is just unreal. Love this channel it's my favourite game from childhlkd which I still play to this day at least a couple of times a year and I still don't get bored of it.

Just wanted to say been here since Remake got announced in 2015. And l love videos like these specifically. This channel has done a lot for me over the years!

This video was amazing I learned so much I didn't know. You've made a fan in me! I'm also leveling up to use your easy method of beating Ruby weapon. You're a gem dude !

Love to see this video series come back!

She is a great character and keeping her alive until the start of disc 2 creates a reason for character dialog to be distinguishable among all of them. Her story creates all the enjoyable moments and mystery.

Been watching a lot of your videos lately. I think they are very well done. Thank you for making them.

Fantastic! Glad to see the In Depth series back!

Man, I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this video. So glad to see this series making a comeback!

Great video love to still learn new things about the game after all these years ! :D

I didnt realize how much I missed the intro music. Good to see another in depth!

Loved seeing another in depth! Can't wait to watch, but wanted to quick give you the like you definitely earn with this awesome content!!!

Finally getting to sit and watch this after seeing the notification! Super excited!

Wow thank you so much for this video, I can't express how much I'm grateful for your work on this. A fascinating video for a fascinating character

Amazing video man! You made this at the perfect time for me, was feeling down today, and this video was the perfect thing to pick me up. Thank you 🙏🏼

Finally, after ten thousand years... next in-depth look!

Awesome video! As a long time fan, I appreciate learning some new stuff. I never knew about the name oprigins from the tree of life. Very Cool

Good job. One thing I have to point out: Aerith is actually a representation of the great mother. She communicates with the planet and guides the player through the early part of the story... Which is exactly like your mom. Our moms inherited the tradition of their time and culture, and informed us through the act of raising us to that tradition. Like Aerith, our moms sacrificed their bodies and selves to give us life. One of the developers of FF7 lost his mother during the production of the game, Aerith's death was the exploration of his grief.

Amazing.... your video is what I've been looking for after playing Final Fatansy VII Remake. I played Final Fatansy VII a little after it was released in 1998. Man... What a pieace of work! I'm impressed with the result. Congrats from Brazil! 🇧🇷

Superb work as always. I was just starting to miss Aerith until you did this video. Her loss almost feels like a loss in real life. It just goes to prove how powerful the game is. I live in a village called Earith and we often laugh about how it sounds like Aerith. This video has made my day.

Something to note. Other countries outside the United States write dates as Day, Month, Year having the first number denote the smallest increment and the final the largest as opposed to the U.S Month, day, year which has them all mixed up. So for Japan 72 being the 7th of February makes much more sense.

Since hearing the theory that Aerith was a call girl, it is my new head canon. Makes so much sense.

Been waiting for this one for a long time. Thanks for bringing the series back!

I thought your were dead. I was. Lmao. I absolutely love your character in depth videos. I've rewatched your Tifa video several times and know I'll be watching this many times as well. I'd love if you did a video like this for all the FF7 playable characters eventually, although I know you must put a ton of work into them and they must take forever to make. Thank you for the upload!

A few observations…continuity-wise, Zach fell through the church first but development-wise Cloud fell through first. In fact, the developers specifically copied Cloud/Aerith’s “meet cute” to help the players feel more attachment to Zach. Also, if my memory serves right, Aerith never calls Zach her boyfriend. In the English she calls him her “first love.” In the Japanese this carries more of an adolescent feeling or child-like love. In the West it is akin to a crush or infatuation. Finally, the iconic pink ribbon being a gift from Zach was retconned in FF7r. Aerith is seen wearing her pink ribbon as a child during the train graveyard chapter. Addendum: When Cait Sith says that Cloud and Aerith are a perfect match the fortune is not based on Cloud’s imprinted memory of Zach. The be clear, Cloud retains his original personality and nearly all of his memories. The imprinted parts of Zach only involve the Nibelheim incident and the idea of Cloud being in SOLDIER. Aerith even says as much. Addendum 2: In Advent Children, Zach isn’t beside her. He actually walks away first.

I didn't even finish watching but that walkthrough with how to revive aerith at the beginning made me chuckle and I immediately liked the video haha

OwO? I missed your in depth analisis, my principal lenguage is spanish and there is almost no content of ff7 so i like to watch your videos bc they are easy to understand and very interesting . Thanks to them i learned English , thank you so much for your great content