Recently I was lucky enough to go hands-on with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Although my play time was largely dominated by combat encounters, this small slice left a lasting impression on me in regards to how events in the final game will play out. It, alongside the latest trailer, has all but confirmed suspicions that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is not going to go how we all might expect.
A fascinating change in events during my demo, coupled with clues and patterns from Final Fantasy 7 Remake, leads me to believe we could be in for a shocking twist of fate for everyone’s favourite flower girl. Here’s seven reasons why we think you’ll be able to save Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Before we dive into Rebirth, let’s first set the scene for what happened in Remake. The first chapter in this trilogy initially presented itself as a retelling, but by the end had veered onto its own extremely meta path.
Throughout Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Cloud and his friends frequently encounter the ‘Whispers’; hooded spectres that Red XIII describes as “Arbiters of Fate”. Their sole purpose is to ensure that destiny plays out according to plan, effectively keeping the events of the original Final Fantasy 7 timeline on track. That would see villain Sephiroth defeated, but not before he takes out Aerith in the process.
But the Whispers are now gone, slain by Cloud at the end of Remake. The future (and past) is now uncertain, something perfectly illustrated in Remake with the arrival of a very much still alive Zack Fair. It seems now that anything can happen. The very end of Remake even dubs what’s to come as “the unknown journey”.
So how does this all affect Rebirth? Despite the removal of destiny’s manipulators, at this point it appears things are still on track. Trailers suggest that Rebirth is sticking to the broad events of the original game. We’ve seen the same locations being visited, the same characters being met, and the familiar path being trodden. But no one is naive enough to believe Square Enix won’t have a surprise or two lined up. And our big prediction is that, this time round, Aerith will avoid her doomed fate.
The Concluding Scene is (all but) Confirmed
The events of Rebirth begin as the party exits Midgar, and will end in The Forgotten Capital. Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura recently confirmed this to the PlayStation Blog, noting that The Forgotten Capital is "where the greatest fate of Final Fantasy VII awaits you." He is, of course, talking about the moment when Aerith is killed by Sephiroth.
Producer Yoshinori Kitase also noted in a statement that “We know fans are dying to see one scene in particular…” all but confirming that Aerith’s death scene will be part of Rebirth.
Or will it? In that same statement, Kitase noted that there will be “a rapid pace of major twists and turns.” And so, much like the shocking finale of Remake, could Rebirth end with a huge twist? Could Aerith survive Sephiroth’s attack?
It’s logical to assume Square Enix will follow the path it laid down with Remake. But what evidence do we have beyond the baseless assumption that Nomura and his team are looking to disrupt our expectations? Well, there is another disrupter who perhaps presents a more convincing argument…
Sephiroth the Disruptor
In Remake it’s more than heavily suggested that Sephiroth knows the events of the original Final Fantasy 7. Basically, he knows he’s doomed to be stopped by Cloud. To arrange his own victory, he needs to change the timeline. We saw him attempt this when he tried to kill Barret, but the Whispers stepped in to keep destiny in order. And so that’s why Sephiroth coaxed Cloud and the party to challenge fate. With the Whispers defeated, Sephiroth is now free to walk a new path and avoid his own defeat.
So how could this lead to Aerith surviving? Well, Sephiroth knows that Aerith’s death is a huge catalyst for Cloud and the group to begin their planet-saving journey. And so by not killing Aerith, Sephiroth can avoid Cloud going on a path of vengeance. That may sound counter-intuitive, but there’s an even more compelling reason for him to keep Aerith alive. In her final moments Aerith calls on Holy, the white magic that prevents Sephiroth’s meteor from destroying the planet. Perhaps, if Aerith lives, Sephiroth could manipulate her into using Holy for his own nefarious purposes?
Aerith Knows
In Remake it’s not just Sephiroth who is hinted to know the events of the original story, though. It’s suggested that Aerith does, too. She’s presumably not going to be very happy with that version of events and want to do everything she can to survive.
It may be that Rebirth is a battle between heroes and villains who already know the path of destiny, with each trying to do everything they can to twist a new fate into something that benefits them. Aerith knows her sacrifice eventually leads to Sephiroth’s defeat, and so it seems likely she’ll need to formulate a new plan in which she can both survive and ensure his demise. Perhaps we’ll be in for a story in which Aerith calls Sephiroth’s bluff; coaxing him into a sense of false security by staying alive, and then thwarting his plans in a way that adds brand new story layers to this reimagined version of Final Fantasy 7.
Destiny’s Crossroads
It may be that Square doesn’t subvert expectations and instead sticks to the classic events. But even if Aerith does die in Rebirth, she could simultaneously survive. Thanks to the destruction of the Whispers, a second, altered timeline was created in which Aerith’s old boyfriend Zack Fair survived. It seems like we’ve seen moments from this new reality in Rebirth’s trailers, such as the scene in the Summer Game Fest 2023 Rebirth trailer where Avalanche are captured by Shinra in Midgar - something we know didn’t happen during Remake.
Kitase confirmed to IGN that “there will be a new episode with Zack, that will contain even more of him than the Remake.” It stands to reason, then, that this altered timeline will play a major part in the events of Rebirth.
With Zack alive, Cloud won’t be able to assume his false identity and fall down the SOLDIER rabbit hole. And so perhaps it’s Zack, not Cloud, who joins Avalanche in this reality. And from there, perhaps this version of the party’s journey completely avoids Aerith’s tragic fate? Maybe all it took was for Zack to survive to secure a more hopeful future for Midgar’s flower girl.
We know that we’re going to see two timelines play out in Rebirth. It makes sense that one will feature more radical changes than the other. Perhaps we’ll see two fates for Aerith, and a story that makes it clear which path of destiny is the most important for Midgar’s flower girl to tread.
A New Timeline
Perhaps Zack’s timeline will be the one with the most changes, but my hands-on showed that the regular Remake timeline will continue to undergo several key alterations. When I arrived at Junon, the classic Bottomswell boss that attacks Priscilla on the beach had been reimagined. In Rebirth the boss - now renamed Terror of the Deep - is actually attacking Yuffie. This location is now where Cloud and the party will meet the materia thief for the first time, which is entirely different to how Yuffie is recruited in the original game. If the events at Junon are now different, then there’s every chance the events at the Forgotten Capital will be, too.
Rebirth
When discussing the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project, it’s important to remember that the name ‘Remake’ has a double meaning. It doesn’t just refer to Square Enix remaking an old game for a modern console, it also symbolises the characters choosing to remake their own destinies. The Final Fantasy 7 timeline has literally been remade, and so it should be assumed that the name Rebirth will also represent multiple concepts.
In an interview with IGN, Kitase explained that the name “Rebirth was thought of as the next iteration that also kind of encapsulates this sentiment of reimagining or recreating.” That explains the development side of the title, then. But what about its in-game meaning? A resurrection could be considered a rebirth. Perhaps then, like Barret, Aerith can be resurrected.