In the myriad of official books, manuals, pamphlets, descriptions, and signage, we see time and time again Cloud’s relationship with Aeris being described using the word “heart” (心). From Aeris thawing Cloud’s heart to his heartfelt grief at her loss, here’s a digital exhibit of the Clerith relationship.
Aeris’s brightness comes to open Cloud’s cold and closed-off heart. But this warm respite proves brief, as he loses Aeris to the hand of his nemesis Sephiroth.
Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Exhibition
The Story follows the protagonist Cloud’s point of view, but it is the heroine Aeris who opens Cloud’s heart and plays an important role in bringing him closer to his mysterious past.
Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Exhibition
Bugenhagen: What to do? Have you lost your way? When that happens, we each have to take a good long look at ourselves. There’s always something in the deepest reaches of our hearts.
[…]
Bugenhagen: Do you see it? What is it that you are searching for?
Cloud: I remember Aeris a lot.
Final Fantasy VII
“It is my sin that I couldn’t protect my loved one” – under this assumption, Cloud closes off his heart. What will the reunion with Aeris bring him? “I.. think I want to be forgiven. Yeah, I just want to be forgiven.”
FF7 10th Anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile
The Price of Strength
Final Fantasy VII Remake, Chapter 9
Aerith ambushes Cloud at the edge of town, intimating she wants to spend more time together. As she walks on ahead toward the Sector 7 slums, Cloud feels his heart skip a beat.
Is it possible to reunite with “that” character…?
Final Fantasy VII Dismantled
[..] Alongside some children who are caring for the flowers, you may see a memorable figure. However, if you try to approach… Was this a phantom that the slightest hope inside your heart called forth?
Speaking the raw truth, Cloud’s] words are an expression of his heart seemingly crushed by profound sorrow.
Final Fantasy VII 30th Exhibition
Tifa lumped the receipt with the others and cleaned up as if nothing were wrong. But she was terribly shaken. How is circling the world delivering packages any different from him circling his past? The fact that he couldn’t protect Aerith tormented Cloud – that she knew. He was trying to get over that and live. But if he went back to the place where she had left him forever, wouldn’t the grief and regret just tear fresh wounds in his heart?
Case of Tifa (Advent Children The Novel translation)
Aeris Gainsborough: A girl with the blood of the Ancients flowing through her veins who is engraved in Cloud’s heart for the rest of his life.
Dirge of Cerberus (Japanese game manual)
Cloud arrives at the top and sits just a short distance from where Aerith is. Aerith closes the distance [between them] and smiles. Their shoulders just barely touching. Cloud’s face looks calm, but on the inside his heart was throbbing.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Plus Ultimania
While her words are directed at Cloud, there is a part of [Aerith] that’s also trying to convince herself as well. Furthermore, her words may contradict what she truly feels in her heart.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Plus Ultimania
Words left by Aerith
In new love, you can forget old love, I’ve heard.
FF 30th Exhibition
Is that so?
My heart hurts a bit.
Is it okay to go on?
Ten years since that day. (pictured: Aeris praying at the altar.)
Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania
Final Fantasy VII will forever be in our hearts. (pictured: Cloud’s reunion with Aeris at the church, Cloud’s date with Aeris at Gold Saucer, Cloud laying Aeris to rest, and Cloud and Aeris reaching toward one another in the ending.)
Cloud will help me. I know he will. But I also know it will end up hurting him.
Case of Lifestream: White (On the Way to a Smile)
The Cloud she knew had a heart so very easily wounded.
Two years have passed since she returned to the Planet, and Aerith still lives on in the hearts of her friends who saved the Planet. Especially in Cloud, to whom she is a symbol of “the sin of failing to protect a loved one,” and the main factor in him closing off his heart. For the sake of Cloud and a Planet once again falling into crisis, she offers her hand in support. Her appearance is like a mother watching over the whole Planet, and it feels as though she lives on in every part of the world.
Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania (page 52)
ここに、エアリスがいる
……そしてセフィロスも
……りくつじゃない。
感じるんだ、俺の心にAeris is here.
Cloud, Forgotten City
…and so is Sephiroth.
…It’s not a theory.
I feel it in my heart.
Earth & Sky: A Cloud x Aeris Love Story 