Character Information
Aerith was born to Ifalna, one of the last of a race called the Cetra, and Professor Gast Faremis, a genius scientist. Soon after her birth, thugs from the greedy corporation Shin-Ra attacked their home in Icicle Inn, murdered her father, and kidnapped Ifalna and her infant daughter. The two were experimented upon by Shin-Ra’s scientists, but finally Ifalna and Aerith escaped. Ifalna was gravely wounded but managed to make it to the town of Midgar, where she put her young daughter in the hands of Elmyra Gainsborough, a young woman recently widowed.
Elmyra raised Aerith like her own child, and kept her safe from the Shinra Corporation. It was around this time that Aerith met Tseng, a Turk, whose mission was twofold: to protect her, and to convince her to help Shinra find the Promised Land. Aerith violently rejected her Ancient heritage, but Tseng stuck around to keep an eye on her, and the two became close friends. Drawn to beauty, she discovered the two places flowers would grow in Midgar: Elmyra’s house, and a small church in the Sector 5 slums. When she was about sixteen, a young man with black hair and startlingly blue eyes fell through the roof of her church and into her life. His name was Zack Fair, and he was her first love. He built her her first flower cart and encouraged her to begin selling flowers - "Midgar full of flowers, wallet full of gil!" They dated for a while until an important mission took Zack away from Midgar for four years. Aerith wrote him many times, but she never heard back, and he never came home.
When Aerith was twenty-two, she met another young man with the same blue eyes as Zack who also fell through the roof of her church. Following him was the trouble in the form of Turks, Shin-Ra’s elite fighting team who were trying to get her back to the science labs where, as far as they were concerned, she belonged. Thinking quickly, she offered to date him if he’d be her bodyguard. He agreed, and helped her escape.
She found out later that his name was Cloud Strife, and he was a mercenary currently in the employ of a rebel organization called AVALANCHE. She loved the idea of fighting against the people who had made her life miserable for so long and joined the team. They began tracking Sephiroth, a former SOLDIER gone mad, and slowly but surely, the pieces of Aerith’s destiny fell into place, and she realized what she had to do.
After Sephiroth stole the Black Materia from Cloud, Aerith went to the Forgotten Capital and began to pray for the release of Holy, powerful white magic. Unfortunately, Sephiroth figured out her plans as well and brought it upon himself to stop her. Permanently.
Following her death, Aerith traveled through the Lifestream to find where she could release Holy, and she called upon the souls of the others in the Lifestream to join her in her attempt to defeat Sephiroth. Holy was successfully summoned, Sephiroth was defeated, and Aerith, thinking that her destiny was fulfilled, let go of her core and memories to rejoin the Planet.
Two years later, Aerith found herself called upon again, to help Cloud and her friends defeat Bahamut-SIN and Sephiroth's remnants. Focusing her willpower and love, Aerith was able to help Cloud perform superhuman feats and even calls out to Kadaj to distract him, ultimately leading to his and his brothers' destruction. Her core is reformed when Cloud ends up in the Lifestream following the battle, and she and Zack inform him that his work on the Planet isn't quite done yet. After they make sure Cloud makes it back to the surface okay, they bid him farewell and return to the Lifestream, and Aerith is sure her work is done now.
...until, of course, she wakes up at Junon with a headache and a large, ornate staff she doesn't recognize...
Appearance: Aerith is a slender girl of about 5’4”, with long chestnut-colored hair pulled back into a long braid and startlingly green eyes. She generally tends to wear a long pink dress with a red, metal-accented bolero, and sturdy brown boots for everyday wear. When she needs to get gussied up, though, she likes sexier dresses in bright colors.
appearance in the game; Inn at Junon uniform
Materia and Equipment:
- Weapon: Princess Guard (7 materia slots, Atk 52/111%, Magic 22)
- Armor: Minerva Band (Nullifies Fire, Ice, Holy and Gravity damage; 6 materia slots, Def 8%)
- Accessory: Earrings (Magic +10)
- Materia: Cure (Level 3/Regen); Fire (Level 1); Heal (Level 2/Esuna); Ice (Level 2)
Personality: Aerith is cheerful and good-natured with a sly, teasing sense of humor. She will try to be friends with everyone, even romantic rivals. She’s very peaceful and in touch with nature, so if you can’t find her, check the garden - she’s probably tending to the flowers. She‘ll do anything to protect her friends, and she can kick some butt, but her talents mainly lay in healing. She was fairly isolated growing up, and as such, loving and being loved are very important to her, and loss of love is devastating to her. Aerith also has a temper, and she does try to control it, but her emotions do tend to get the better of her. Now, even after losing her memories, she is still unfailingly cheerful and polite - she doesn't want to take the chance of making someone mad, just in case they're important.
Powers, special abilities: As a half-Ancient, Aerith is able to hear the Planet and communicate to a limited degree with the souls of her ancestors. She is a powerful magic user, especially when it comes to healing magic, and she also has a green thumb, able to grow flowers in even the most unforgiving conditions.