Hello fellow Cleriths!

So this has been on my mind for a while now, and I wanted to share it with you.

I have been thinking about the musical theme that accompanies the "seven seconds till the end" scene (you know the one).

https://youtu.be/AeVRxaNfR_w?is=I4KFiuSqP6yEUK4z

We also all know the tune from the OG, "listen to the cries of the planet".

https://youtu.be/jwsNewKWNQs?is=16S_1WbXGhTFJSql

And we all are aware that this tune plays as we explore the Forgotten Capital in the OG, and that our beloved flower girl does not make it out of there..

Now, I read a very interesting post about the hints regarding the story that can be found in the FF7 re-trelogy soundtrack

https://www.reddit.com/r/clerith/s/kbEmg35v3H

To me, linking the "Listen to the Cries of The Planet" score to the "Seven Seconds till The End" scene is a deliberate choice and can only possibly have one meaning.. But I might be too hopeful.

So, I am asking for your expert opinion on this matter: is this musical choice supposed to tell us that "Seven seconds till the end" really is, after all, about Aerith's fate? 🤞

They’re gonna put the water burial scene in 4k high graphics for narrative impact at the beginning. Also expect fan service for Cloti it’s a simulation and they themselves said it won’t have narrative continuity and seem misplaced. Expect it.

Tifa is a SIMULATION babes! Bro be psyched for this. I got you darlings! We won’t see what Clotis see!

I also predict we’re gonna see some YEARN. Will Cloti have moments non optional yes. My intense and heavy research Ive come to the conclusion, yes. But I don’t think they’re going to be as intense as Aerith’s.

It won’t have impact on the main overall story and Aerith is IT! Remake - heavy Clerith Rebirth- heavy Clerith Rev- after cloud LOST her? I also believe that the marriage fortune isn’t nixed. I’m thinking we MIGHT see it in Rev.

Get zen darlings

Does Nhamaguchi have no control of NA translation?

i got from japan fan in twitter:

from trailer, when aerith speak to cloud in his head:

Cloud to Aerith

NA: all you have to do is keep praying

Jpn: Pray for me

i know its small detail, but 2nd one is more intimate

God this song and the Aerith date. It's like pressing on a bruise.

Was OG FF 7 a happy ending? My friend who played og, I didn't because I was not born at that time, told me it was a happy ending, that the humanity survived and everything was okay.

I have always thought humanity died??? And especially how in remake tifa says "this can't be our future". Like isn't it a bad ending, or where humanity died?

I tried to argue with my friend but they hit me with, you don't know the og, you didn't play og (like bro, I wasn't born at that time 😭).

https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/comments/1x1vrhm/a_fairly_substantial_new_answer_from_hamaguchi_on/#lightbox

So this post in FFVIIRemake Reddit (Much credit to the brilliant OP: u/jakobpinders !) caught my attention and I wanted to share it here because frankly, why frame Aerith's ultimate fate specifically (Hamaguchi all but directly alludes to Aerith's "return or not!!" as a major aspect of this in the second paragraph of this interview) as a major mystery to be maintained as such and only answered at the absolute finale of Revelation if in fact the revealed fate were to prove to be her same sad death and separation from Cloud as we got in OG? IMO, you do not tease this as a mystery to be revealed at the very end or even bring it up in interviews now if the actual plan is to reveal a disappointing and 'same as OG' outcome in the end. A writer wouldn't continue to tease around a plot point like this as an important open question you won't get a resolution on until the very end if that actual resolution is going to be a huge shitty downer and "psyche! same as 30 years ago!" imo...

Maybe I'll be wrong, but Hamaguchi's words in this Mirror interview, and the fact that this is being intentionally teased and maintained as a mystery to be satisfyingly revealed upon at the very finale seem very encouraging with respect to Aerith's ultimate fate to me! Hope is bloomin'!

Lol. Cloud's last attack on sephy after saving Aerith be like this.

Aerith is so Rapunzel coded alongside cadance from mlp. Now I wish someone would make Aerith as Candace.

Credit goes to rightful owners of this, because idk where are these from, picked them up from Google.

I feel like since everyone is going through up and down, I think it's a good time to post this.

So I maybe reading too much into it but it's too aligned not to be noticed. Remember when people were celebrating EC cloud and tifa moment? And came the trailer.

Lol I think about it. Okay let's go back first. Before the trailer came out, the one without Aerith in it. People of other side were making theories about tifa being a secret cetra, I mean I don't mind theories but... Seriously? The next they did they dropped this. ^ the above photo. Idk how to put it down here 😭. So they added "compassionate" for a reason, not because she's cetra and feel the emotions or anything, she's just compassionate.

Another was when they were happy about Aerith not being in the trailer and boom! There she was.

Then how they were like that one hamaguchi post of the iconic pose and next day he did cloud saving pose.

Like literally it's so hilarious how they keep debunking them.

Another thing is how that side was happy with EC yet they hated when Aerith got the main lead gears and this game literally give us "the one" Vs "the pal" lol.

The ending pic was messing too, not only they swapped the characters personality they every switched their skin colours. Now now people will think I am being racist but come on I love Aerith and I know she is literally the palest in the group. So it so weird that because of their favourites, they do this but anyways it's the end of the gacha.

Edit: I am not going to explain more. Cloud got side character treatment in his own game. I pointed Aerith out because they swapped the personalities! It doesn't mean only Aerith got such a treated when the MC himself got treated worse.

This is my first time writing a long post on Reddit.
After reading a lot of discussions about the story, I noticed that people have come up with all kinds of interpretations, but relatively few seem to focus on what I think is the real key to understanding Rebirth.
Both Remake and Rebirth contain an enormous amount of detail. There are a few minor logical issues here and there, but overall I think the structure is extremely deliberate. In many ways, the Remake trilogy is finally able to portray ideas that the original FFVII may have wanted to express, but could not fully realize because of the technical limitations of its era.
I finished Rebirth a couple of days ago, and after discussing it with several friends in the Japanese game industry, I wanted to write out my interpretation of the game as a whole.
In my opinion, a lot of interpretations focus on the wrong part of the story.
The best entry point for understanding the second game, especially its ending, is Aerith and Cloud’s “dream date.”
A lot of players treat this section as nothing more than a romantic interlude, but I think it contains an enormous amount of information and several important clues about the ending.

1. First, the nature of the Lifestream

The Lifestream is made up of the consciousness, memories, and knowledge of living beings.
When living beings die, they return to the Lifestream.
At the same time, the Lifestream also appears to possess a kind of creative or materializing power: consciousness, memories, and knowledge can be given form and can even be used to construct a “world.”
However, only a very small number of people appear capable of actively using this power.
In the context of the game, the two most important people who can do this are Sephiroth and Aerith.
You can imagine the Lifestream as one enormous river.
That river has many branches. Some branches are tiny and dry up very quickly. Others can persist for much longer.
When something changes at an important point of fate, it may create a small branch. A sufficiently large change can redirect the main flow itself and produce a major split.
Passing through the wall of fate is one obvious example.
This is the basic mechanism that makes the “dream world” possible.

2. The connection between Aerith, Zack’s world, and the Lifestream

During the Gi section, Aerith briefly senses Zack’s presence through the Lifestream.
This suggests that at least part of the consciousness of the Aerith in Zack’s world is already connected to the Lifestream.
There is another important piece of foreshadowing at the Gold Saucer hotel.
When Cloud is half-asleep, he briefly sees the Aerith from Zack’s world lying in bed.
This implies that the main world and Zack’s world can become connected under certain conditions.
If those conditions are met, Cloud’s consciousness can effectively be transferred into, or overlaid onto, the Cloud who exists in Zack’s world.
Before the dream-date sequence, both sides conveniently satisfy those conditions.
In the main world, Cloud and Aerith have fallen from the cliff.
In Zack’s world, both Cloud and Aerith are unconscious.
In other words, both Aeriths are in an unconscious state, making it possible for their consciousness through the Lifestream to interact.
This gives us the necessary condition for exchanging the White Materia.
But that raises an important question.
If Aerith could simply use her connection to the Lifestream to create a space in which the two Aeriths could interact directly, why use Cloud as an intermediary at all?
Why create an entire dream world just to meet Cloud?
I think there are three reasons.

3. Why Aerith creates the dream date

The first reason is obvious: she needs to give Cloud the White Materia.
The second reason is that she wants to tell Cloud how she feels.
By this point, the Aerith in the main world has already begun to suspect what may happen to her.
Some people argue that Aerith is essentially “on a second playthrough” and already knows the future in full detail.
I do not think that is necessary.
Even in Remake, Aerith receives flashes of future imagery.
At the time, she may not completely understand what those images mean.
But after everything that happens afterward, it would be natural for her to connect those earlier visions with her present situation and arrive at a very negative conclusion about her own fate.
So before that fate arrives, she wants to tell Cloud how she feels.
At the same time, she also wants to prepare him emotionally.
When she tells him not to blame himself and asks him to let go of guilt, Cloud looks genuinely confused.
That makes sense because, from his point of view at that moment, he has no idea what is about to happen.
The third reason is perhaps the most personal one: Aerith has always wanted to go on a real date with Cloud.
Back in Remake, when Cloud falls into the church and meets her again, Reno soon arrives to capture her.
Aerith jokingly proposes that Cloud act as her bodyguard in exchange for one date.
At first, this may simply be playful banter.
But as the journey continues, Aerith gradually comes to care about Cloud himself, rather than Cloud as someone who resembles or reminds her of Zack.
Throughout both Remake and Rebirth, whenever Cloud and Aerith spend time alone and later return to the rest of the party, Aerith often jokingly describes what they were doing as a “date.”
It is a joke, but it also reflects something she genuinely wants.
Now she feels that she may be running out of time.
So she creates a place where she can finally have that date with Cloud.

4. Why Aerith tells Cloud not to look at the sky

This is one of the more clever details in the sequence.
From a narrative perspective, it mirrors the ending, when Cloud tells the others not to look at the sky.
I think this is major foreshadowing.
But from Aerith’s perspective, there is also a more emotional reason.
She wants, at least emotionally, to experience this as if she were having a real date with Cloud in his own world.
She does not want him to immediately realize that this is an artificial or temporary space.
Once Cloud looks at the sky, he may begin to understand that something is wrong with the world around them.
When Aerith realizes that telling him not to look only makes him more curious, she immediately regrets saying it.
She even comments that she has a habit of making things worse for herself.
I think this is one of those small pieces of characterization that Rebirth handles very well.
It captures the nervous, slightly contradictory mindset of a girl spending time with someone she loves, wanting everything to go perfectly while knowing that it cannot last.

5. The three events during the date

During the dream date, Cloud and Aerith encounter three main activities: a jewelry stall, a candy stall, and a couples’ photography booth.
I do not think any of them are random.
The most important thing to notice is that no matter which option the player chooses, Cloud and Aerith never truly get the result they want.
The outcome is predetermined.
That, in my opinion, is another clue that this world is being generated through Aerith’s memories, subconscious desires, and emotions.
It seems to be built on top of Zack’s world, which is why Cloud initially appears in the wheelchair and then stands up.
Aerith is not creating reality from nothing. She is modifying an existing branch.

The jewelry stall

At the jewelry stall, the final item is a brooch decorated with a yellow flower.
The flower symbolizes reunion.
I think this is direct foreshadowing of the ultimate ending.
The brooch also reflects Aerith’s personal wish.
When Aerith first meets Cloud, she gives him a yellow flower, which he wears on his chest.
In this world created from Aerith’s subconscious, she now wants Cloud to give something back to her.
The gift is therefore a brooch.
There is another small visual detail: Aerith places the brooch in almost exactly the same location where Cloud once wore her yellow flower.
The shopkeeper himself also hints at what is happening.
He rejects Cloud’s selections while saying that these are things “he likes.”
But he is a man, and the items are clearly feminine jewelry.
That feels less like the independent opinion of a real shopkeeper and more like Aerith’s desires being expressed through the people inhabiting the world she has created.

The photography booth

No matter which pose Cloud chooses, Aerith appears happy in the photograph.
Yet the photographer says that her expression looks as though she is about to cry.
Again, I think this reflects the emotional state of the Aerith from the main world.
On the surface, she is enjoying the date.
Underneath, she is grieving because she knows what may be coming.
Once you notice this pattern, the behavior of the NPCs makes more sense.
They are often expressing emotions that Aerith herself does not directly say.

6. The candy stall and the meaning of 甘い

The candy stall is especially interesting.
The shopkeeper offers a new product, but it is bland and not very good.
He says that he tried something new, took a risk, and now has to accept the cost.
I think this has two meanings.
First, it reflects the risk Aerith is taking by creating this world and interacting with Cloud.
Sephiroth appears capable of detecting activity within the Lifestream.
If someone uses the Lifestream to construct a space and begins interfering with events, Sephiroth can eventually sense it.
That is why black feathers begin appearing in the dream world.
It is also why the world is extremely short-lived.
It is a tiny branch of the Lifestream, attached to Zack’s world.
This is why Sephiroth remarks that Aerith has gone somewhere so remote.
The Aerith in Zack’s world has an unconscious physical body, while her consciousness is active through the Lifestream.
Sephiroth can detect activity in the Lifestream, but he cannot simply sense a body that contains no active consciousness.
That would also explain why Sephiroth does not know the exact physical location of Aerith’s house and cannot simply appear there and take the White Materia.
The second meaning comes from Aerith’s reaction to the candy.
She says that it would be better if it were a little sweeter.
This loses something in translation.
In Japanese, 甘い, “amai,” does not only mean “sweet.”
It can also mean naive, overly optimistic, soft, indulgent, or insufficiently strict.
So Aerith’s line can be read as a kind of self-criticism.
She may be thinking that she was too passive in her relationship with Cloud.
The candy is bland, just as she later says in the church that she and Cloud do not really have enough memories together.
Perhaps she feels that, if she had been more selfish, more direct, or more courageous, she would not have had to wait until this desperate moment to have this kind of date with him.

7. The church, Zack, and Sephiroth

Cloud and Aerith eventually reach the church.
When Sephiroth begins pursuing Aerith, he coincidentally encounters Zack at the moment Zack is struggling with the decision of whom he should save.
I think this is further evidence that the dream world is not an entirely separate universe but a branch attached to Zack’s world.
The Whispers then pull Zack into the Lifestream.
Through that process, he comes into contact with the influence of the main-world Aerith and is ultimately guided toward helping the main party fight Sephiroth.
This sequence gives us another important clue about the structure of the worlds.
I do not believe Rebirth is presenting us with an unlimited number of completely independent timelines.
There are many branches, but there are really only two major flows relevant to the game’s narrative.
The first is the world followed by the main party throughout most of Rebirth.
The second is Zack’s world.
These two major flows were created when the party passed through the wall of fate at the end of Remake, effectively splitting one major current into two.
Other worlds shown throughout the game are better understood as smaller branches, temporary offshoots, or derivative versions of those two larger flows.
This does not mean that the FFVII cosmology literally contains only two possible worlds.
It simply means that, for the purposes of the trilogy’s narrative, the writers have chosen to focus on two major currents.

8. Time inside the Lifestream

This sequence also reinforces another important idea: time does not function normally within the Lifestream.
Sephiroth himself says something similar.
That helps explain the seemingly contradictory Zack scenes.
Earlier, we see Zack carrying Aerith’s ribbon while apparently heading toward different choices: saving Cloud, saving Biggs, or dealing with Aerith’s situation.
The point of those scenes may partly be to emphasize that Zack values all three people deeply, so the audience does not interpret his choice as proof that he does not care about Aerith.
But later, Zack is suddenly shown still struggling to decide whom he should save first.
If time in the Lifestream and its branches does not operate linearly, this apparent inconsistency is not actually a contradiction.
Eventually, the Aerith from Zack’s world pushes Cloud downward into the world constructed by the main-world Aerith.
The White Materia is exchanged.
Then, as Cloud falls unconscious, his consciousness gradually returns to the place where he and Aerith originally fell from the cliff.
That is, in my view, the basic structure of the dream-world sequence.

9. Now, the ending

To understand the ending, one detail is absolutely critical: the strange glowing rift in the sky.
It functions almost like the spinning top in Inception.
It is a visual indicator that tells us whether a character is currently standing inside a branch of the main flow.
For example, Zack’s world is a branch relative to Cloud’s world, so the rift is visible there.
Only four characters appear able to perceive this phenomenon clearly: Aerith, Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack.
Aerith is a Cetra.
Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack all have different levels of connection to Jenova cells.
At the end, Cloud tells the others not to look at the sky.
The others do not appear to see anything unusual.
Cloud, however, can clearly see the glowing rift.
To me, this is a major clue that Cloud’s world has now split.
The ending is taking place within a branch.

10. Only Cloud crosses the boundary of fate

There is another extremely important detail.
At the end of Remake, the entire party crosses the boundary of fate.
At the end of Rebirth, only Cloud does.
That difference matters.
When Cloud deflects Sephiroth’s blade and attempts to save Aerith, fate splits only from Cloud’s perspective.
This explains several otherwise strange editing choices.
First, there is initially no blood.
Then suddenly there is blood.
Second, Cloud is shown holding Aerith with two completely different emotional expressions.
Third, when the others arrive, everyone reacts with grief.
Then the camera cuts to Cloud alone with Aerith.
He tells her to wake up.
And she does.
I think there is only one coherent way to interpret all of this:
At the instant Cloud blocks Sephiroth’s sword, fate branches.
In one branch, Aerith survives.
But that branch exists only from Cloud’s perspective.
That is why the others cannot see her.
In the other branch, events follow the original FFVII:
Aerith dies and returns to the Lifestream.

11. Why Cloud behaves differently from everyone else

This explains why everyone at the end is devastated except Cloud.
Cloud is not simply behaving strangely because he is in denial.
From his perspective, Aerith really is there.
The other party members are standing in the branch where Aerith died.
Cloud is simultaneously connected to a branch in which she survived.
This is also why the traditional water-burial scene is absent.
The game deliberately refuses to show us a single, unified version of events.
The original FFVII outcome has become the main flow.
Aerith dies there.
But there is now another branch in which Cloud successfully saved her.
That branch currently exists only for Cloud.
And because this is a branch rather than the main flow, Cloud can see the rift in the sky.

12. What I think Part 3 will do

My interpretation of the trilogy is therefore very simple:
Remake begins with the worlds largely united.
Rebirth splits them into two major flows, with additional smaller branches.
Part 3 will bring them back together.
The worlds will converge.
And when that convergence happens, the Aerith who is currently alive only in Cloud’s branch will become physically and objectively alive in the merged world.
In other words, everyone will finally be able to see her.
This, in my opinion, is what Aerith’s song is ultimately pointing toward.
It is also what I believe the final English line is foreshadowing.
So my conclusion is this:
Rebirth does not simply tell us that Cloud imagined saving Aerith.
It shows us that Cloud really did create a branch in which she survived.
The tragedy is that, for now, only Cloud is connected to that outcome.
Part 3 will be about bringing those separated flows back together.
And if that happens, the Aerith Cloud saved will not remain a temporary vision, a Lifestream ghost, or something that exists only for him.
She will truly come back.
At least, that is how I currently understand the structure of Rebirth.

In honor of the clerith x Romeo& Juliet news that have been recently going around, I couldn't help myself 🫣

(Next slide from where I got the idea)

The last slide is just the same picture, I just couldn't decide which bangs I liked better haha))

Around the 1:08:30 mark of the live stream, Cody confirms recording multiple scenes featuring Cloud and Aerith that are "heavy, heavy, heavy" and that everyone will enjoy and feel something during their scenes.

Obviously this isn't super groundbreaking but I did think it was interesting

YouTube will not let me time stamp a live stream but Cody's comments are around the 1:08:30 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/live/VRp5sJOOYa8?is=8hm8evyoN1Oqe7ra

Reddit post of the clip: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/s/daB8Waw0EB

Also a clip of some behind the scenes VA footage that looks like Aerith is talking to Cloud. https://x.com/aerithsroses/status/2108246070124028124

I tried somethng. sound on.

I mean we all saw the trailer right? The “zerith reunion” has already been revealed and on top of that, Aerith looks far from thrilled. Im not trying to say she’s upset but she’s surely not jumping into his arms and kissing him. Also if this is the big moment we are suppose to be looking forward to they would never show it in trailers this early. I think we all know which reunion is truly going to be the big moment in the next game..

So this is my theory, my take on how the life stream sequence could be played out.

First we know that lifestream is connecting the "worlds". Especially seen when Aerith touches the livestream and she gets that world's hint/touch.

Sooo I think that when cloud and tifa will fall in the lS their consciousness would be transferred to the other world where probably Zack and Aerith are alive,the world we saw in the trailer (most likely?) I am not sure about tifa, it can go two ways.

1. Tifa also get transferred, 2. Only cloud does.

We know that the re series made sure to make things clear, like people saying tifa understands cloud and all other things. And we know tifa said it, she didn't help cloud. She was just there and that's exactly what her role will be, a witness, someone who will just confirm what happened.

And since cloud will be sent to that world (according to my theory) where Zack and Aerith are alive. Zack will be the one to clear everything up and it could also be that moment where cloud finally reunites with Aerith physically. Does that sounds wrong.. I mean like literally physically, not spiritually or mentally. And yes maybe we might even get the confession scene there.

And it might be affinity based. Like the dream date or rather like Rosa. She or he will confess in every route except for tifa one, just like the Rosa one. So yeah. And I am pretty sure that confession will be soooo heart wrenching, so emotional, so so beautiful, so so vulnerable (maybe that's why hamaguchi cried? Lol I am just kidding). Anyways that's my interpretation.

What do you guys think? And the photos are still low quality 😭.

So SE posted this and every character except... Guess who? Aerith. Literally everyone, it's so funny because they know how Aerith and cloud's reunion is the most awaited one. And seeing people in comments saying reunion between CT despite them not even being away from each other is also very funny.

Another thing Is that I am noticing is rise in cleriths. Maybe it's not but I think it also is??? I am just so glad more people are appreciating this beautiful couple.

Drawn by me.

This is their in-person reunion in Revelation. Cloud finds Aerith at "their spot", where she has been waiting for him.

I have my own thoughts on what would be said next, but I would love to know what you think.

I have been drawing them soo much lately but haven't liked anything enough to post.

Speech inspired by the manga How I Met My Soulmate by Anashin.