Dismantling the Zerith Myth: On Aeris’s First Love, Zack Fair

One aspect to Aeris’s character, present since the original Final Fantasy VII, is that in the past, there was a young man she loved whom Cloud reminds her of present-day. While most of Aeris’s dialogue and character drama is about her journey as an Ancient and her perceived duty as the last Cetra, this is an interesting facet to her character. Despite appearing naive, Aeris has loved before, and she will bring up Zack several times when talking alone with Cloud. We find out Zack died just before the start of the game, after saving Cloud and entrusting his iconic Buster Sword onto him. Of course, Aeris also dies not long after.

Aha, might say the casual player. Aeris has another love interest! That must end the love triangle. Cloud and Tifa are surely the endgame couple, because Aeris has Zack, and they can be together in the afterlife. After all, at the end of Advent Children, their phantoms seem to disappear into the light together.

But is Zack the one Aeris loves? There’s a canon answer, and all signs point to no.

In Final Fantasy VII (1997):

First, let’s look at the original game. Who was Zack, what was his role in the narrative, and what exactly was his significance to Aeris Gainsborough?

Aeris brings him up to Cloud during their park “date” in Midgar, relatively early in the game, and expresses surprise that Cloud is a First Class SOLDIER just like him. In the English version, she calls Zack her “first boyfriend” though says that they weren’t “serious.”

Aeris: What rank were you?

Cloud: Rank?

Aeris: You know, in SOLDIER.

Cloud: Oh, I was… First Class.

Aeris: Just the same as him.

Cloud: The same as who?

Aeris: My first boyfriend.

Cloud: You were…serious?

Aeris: No. But I liked him for a while.

Cloud: I probably knew him. What was his name?

Aeris: It doesn’t really matter.

The Japanese dialogue is slightly different. Instead of calling Zack her “boyfriend,” she simply calls him “the first person I ever liked/loved” (初めて好きになった人). Cloud then asks if they dated, to which Aeris denies, saying “Nah, it wasn’t like that. It was just me being like, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice?'”

So was Zack actually Aeris’s boyfriend, like the English script says? Interestingly, Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII – a bonus short film included in Advent Children – provides a new translation of key scenes as it rehashes the plot. Its official subtitles have fixed the original translation, with Aeris now referring to Zack as “The first boy I ever liked” instead of “My first boyfriend.”

To be clear, Zack does tell his parents in Gongaga that he has a girlfriend, and when Cloud visits Gongaga with either Tifa or Aeris in his party, Zack’s parents will ask if one of the women is the girlfriend Zack referred to. (“I remember he wrote us 6 or 7 years ago saying that he had a girlfriend. Could that have been you?”) In the Japanese bonus disk, players are able to view key items, including this letter Zack sent to his parents, where he writes “P.S. – I got a girlfriend.” This probably refers to Aeris.

But evidently, Aeris didn’t consider them to be “dating” – so most likely, the terms of the relationship were unclear. This is corroborated by Aeris’s own dialogue in Gongaga, where she says Zack was the type of guy who loved women and surmises that he found someone else. Note that the dialogue is relatively light, considering she’s just been told Zack is still missing, and though she seems thoughtful, she certainly doesn’t seem upset.

Cloud: Aeris…
Aeris: What a shock… I didn’t know Zack was from this town.
Cloud: You know him?
Aeris: Didn’t I tell you? He was my first love.
Cloud: …………
Aeris: Zack… SOLDIER First Class. Same as Cloud.
Cloud: Strange, there aren’t that many who make First Class, but I’ve never heard of him.
Aeris: That’s all right. It’s all in the past now. I was just worried because I heard he’s been missing.
Cloud: Missing?
Aeris: I think it was 5 years ago. He went out on a job, and never came back. He loved women, a real lady’s man. He probably found someone else…
Aeris: Hey? What’s wrong?

[Option 1] (Upon selecting “Poor guy”.)
Aeris: I don’t really mind that I haven’t heard from him. But I feel for his parents.

[Option 2] (Upon selecting “(…jealous…envious…)”.)
Aeris: Are you…jealous? Hmm? Hmmm? Are you, Cloud?
Aeris: I’m kidding. I’m sorry.
(If Aeris’ date mechanics value is 120 or more.)
Aeris: I was hoping maybe you were…

Aeris: Let’s go, Cloud.

Gongaga dialogue

Look in particular at how Aeris asks Cloud “what’s wrong” when she pensively considers that Zack found someone else. (Apparently, Cloud looked jealous or disconcerted.) If Cloud expresses his jealousy, Aeris flirtatiously teases him. If her dialogue points are high enough, she will say that she was hoping he might be jealous. So, Aeris flirts with Cloud and hopes her past relationship might spark action in her current love interest. That doesn’t sound particularly mournful of Zack’s absence at all.

Final Fantasy VII Dismantled, an official guidebook released shortly after Final Fantasy VII was released, describes Aeris’s feelings in Gongaga. This Aeris asserts that she loved Zack and was broken up when he disappeared, but also admits they weren’t “particularly intimate.” She then concludes the following:

At first when I met Cloud, I believed he was similar to Zack. Little actions, the way he spoke… his kindness. But Cloud is Cloud. I now, undoubtedly, love Cloud much more than Zack.”

Final Fantasy VII Dismantled, page 159

Aeris will bring up Zack one final time during her date with Cloud in Gold Saucer.

Aeris: ……it’s beautiful, isn’t it?
……first off, it bothered me how you looked exactly alike.
Two completely different people, but look exactly the same.
The way you walk, gesture…
I think I must have seen him again, in you…
But you’re different.
Things are different.
Cloud…
I’m searching for you.
Cloud: …………?
Aeris: I want to meet you.
Cloud: But I’m right here.
Aeris: (I know, I know…what I mean is…)
Aeris: I want to meet…you.

Gold Saucer date

On this promised date, Aeris won’t name Zack, but she is, of course, referring to him when she admits she was “bothered” by how Cloud resembled her first love. However, she asserts, Cloud is different, and “things” are different. Then, she says she is “searching” for Cloud and wants to “meet” him – romantically-colored language, especially in the original Japanese, that expresses her interest in Cloud’s true self.

These are the only times Aeris will mention Zack – and the only time she mentions him by name is in Gongaga’s optional scene. She cites Cloud’s similarities to this mysterious person – who later is revealed to be a key figure in Cloud’s sordid past and false alter ego.

Zack’s real role in Aeris’s dialogue isn’t to set him up as her present-day love interest. His existence through Aeris’s dialogue simply serves to hint toward Cloud’s uncanny connection to another First Class SOLDIER. We will later find out that Cloud did not only know Zack, he is using Zack’s sword, story, and mannerisms in a deluded attempt to act out his desperate fantasy of being a cool hero instead of an alienated failure.

An anti-Clerith argument frequently assumes that Aeris does not know, so cannot love, the “real” Cloud, and only loves Cloud’s alter ego – “Zack.”

Of course, even in the context of the original game, we can already tell Cloud acts nothing like Zack. We know he incorporated Zack’s backstory into his own in terms of Nibelheim and his relationship with Sephiroth, and Cloud is likely mimicking Zack’s mannerisms and battle style. But Zack is friendly and social, a ladies’ man – not traits Cloud ever has. Cloud doesn’t have Zack’s memories (beyond arguably some moments in Nibelheim), nor his feelings, and definitely not his personality.

We also know for a fact that Aeris perceived Cloud’s true self, and that’s the person she was interested in. This isn’t conjecture, as official materials have confirmed it several times. For instance, in Ultimania Omega:

Although Aeris felt affectionate to Cloud because he behaved like her first love Zack, she gradually became interested in Cloud himself, and she is attracted to him.

Ultimania Omega, Aeris’s profile

Aeris senses an overlap between Zack and Cloud, and detects that this Cloud isn’t his normal self. She saw into his true existence, which he himself wasn’t even aware of, so lines like “I’m searching for you” and “I want to meet you” have deep meaning.

Ultimania Omega, Aeris’s profile

Despite Zack’s popularity as a character, he is nearly non-existent in Final Fantasy VII. We only see him twice: once in Nibelheim flashbacks during Sephiroth and later Cloud’s exploration of what truly happened on that day 5 years ago. Second, in an optional scene accessed through the Nibelheim mansion’s secret laboratory, where Cloud, post-identity crisis, can remember escaping Hojo’s captivity with Zack.

During the latter scene, Zack brings up Aeris – sort of. While Zack hitches a ride with the nearly-comatose Cloud to Midgar, Zack chats casually about their next steps. He mentions he knows a girl they can stay with, though then backtracks when he remembers she lives with her mom (most likely referring to Aeris.)

Zack : What’re you gonna do once we get to Midgar?
Cloud: ………
Zack: I know what I’m gonna do.
I got a place I can crash for a while…
No wait, the mother lives there, too…|
Guess that’s out…
Cloud: ………
Zack: Yep… gotta change my plans!

If this seems rather crass for a man who is supposedly in love with Aeris, the Japanese version is even less romantic.

1) Zack: I’ve got people I can count [on] all over.
2) Zack: I’ll get everyone to help me out…
3) Zack: Uh, does every girl live with their parents…
4) Zack: Crap, no good. Change of plans!

That’s right – Zack wonders if “every girl” lives with their parents. So, just as Aeris surmised in Gongaga, perhaps Zack really is a ladies’ man.

Within the context of the original Final Fantasy VII, Zack is a minor character who serves an important role in Cloud’s past, whose presence unravels an important mystery in Cloud’s self-identity. His character jumpstarts a relationship between Cloud and Aeris, but Aeris ultimately concludes she has interest in and feelings for Cloud himself, and her dialogue in Gongaga suggests she is over Zack’s loss.

BEFORE FINAL FANTASY VII

In Before Crisis (2004):

Both Aeris and Zack appear in Before Crisis, but on separate missions, and so they do not interact. According to the timeline, they would have already met, and would currently have romantic feelings toward one another. It is, however, interesting to note that neither ever mentions the other.

In Before Crisis, Aeris’s subplot is about her attempting to run away from Midgar and be free from Shinra. She aches to go on a journey, though at the end, she decides that running away is only letting her oppressors win.

Zack helps the player Turks with a mission. If you play as a female Turk, he will flirt with her. If he is in a relationship with Aeris at this time, it’s a little uncomfortable that his flirtations amount to cheating.

If Zack and Aeris were meant to be star-crossed lovers, why would Zack flirt with another woman? Wouldn’t having Zack instead drop a sappy line about his girlfriend in Midgar better drive home the narrative that he is “coupled” with her? Why not have Aeris ever ask the player Turk if they know a SOLDIER named Zack, or share any hint of her love story – like suggest her journey was partially to find a boy she liked?

The answer is most likely because Aeris’s past relationship with Zack was not considered to be important to Final Fantasy VII‘s overall narrative at the time of Before Crisis’s release.

In Crisis Core (2007):

Released ten years after the original game, Crisis Core developed a prequel story centered around Zack, his adventures and accomplishments through Shinra, ultimately culminating in the Nibelheim disaster, his escape with Cloud, and death. Naturally expanding on Zack’s role, so too was the relationship between Zack and Aeris has expanded.

To some, this meant that although Zack may have been a minor character in the original, Square Enix was finally laying the love triangle to rest by neatly pairing Zack and Aeris together. This would therefore retcon the original game’s ambiguity, as well as Aeris’s nonchalant attitude toward her lost first love.

Despite what was presented in the original game, in Crisis Core, Zack is unarguably in love with Aerith. In one of many of Crisis Core‘s nostalgia nods toward the original game, Zack falls into Aeris’s church flower bed, and asks her for “one date” – just as she asks Cloud in the original. They have several flirtatious date-like scenes, and seem to enjoy one another’s company. While the romantic tension is palpable, the two do not kiss, nor are they referred to as “boyfriend” and “girlfriend.” Nonetheless, they canonically are a “pair” in Crisis Core – as we can see in the 10th Anniversary relationship chart (pictured above), which connects the pair with a mutual “romantic affection” descriptor.

However, despite mutual romantic affection, there seems to be some stipulations to their feelings. That is, their relationship is actually described as “platonic” and “like friendship” – which sounds more like two young teenagers learning about romance than an ultimate endgame love.

Zack falls into a church in the Sector 5 slums during his mission and ends up meeting the girl Aerith, who’s trimming flowers. They both feel contented simply with each other’s company; it’s a platonic love. They think these kinds of happy days will last forever, but..

Crisis Core Ultimania, Zack’s profile

[Zack and Aerith] attract to each other by mutual feelings similar to friendship, because they’re both juvenile, if you call it love…

Crisis Core Ultimania

Additionally, remember how in Before Crisis, Zack flirted with another girl? The Crisis Core Ultimania canonizes that moment. Being a “playboy” remains an aspect of Zack’s character, and more than that, it canonically bothered Aeris that he flirted with other women.

A woman-loving playboy?
Another face of the soldier Zack

“Zack loves women, a real lady’s man”- As Aeris recalled in FF7, Zack is very good at picking up girls and is skilled at flirting. In BC, he hits on a female Turk during a mission; in CC, he also invited Cissnei, another member of the Turks, to dine together. Since “if it happens once, it happens all the time”, Aeris, who had loved Zack, must’ve felt impatient about all of this….?

CLOUD & ZACK IN THE TRUCK: During the escape to Midgar, which of his many girlfriends did Zack plan to ask for help?

ZACK IN THE ICE CAVE WITH THE FEMALE TURK: In chapter 8 of BC, during the mission in Icicle Village, Zack complimented a female Turk. What a surprise that he said that!

Crisis Core Ultimania

Finally, it’s important to remember that Crisis Core is a prequel. Aeris’s feelings for Zack existed years in the past. The Crisis Core Ultimania describes these romantic feelings as “fleeting,” or temporary.

A descendent of a race called “Ancients.” In FFVII, it is said that she met Zack in the past and had fleeting feelings. What is the meeting and parting of the two?

Crisis Core Ultimania

By the way, while many fans assume the pink hair ribbon that Aeris wears is the same one that Zack gifts her in Crisis Core, let’s look a little closer. The ribbon is a different color and shape than the one she wears present-day. So no, she isn’t wearing the same one Zack bought her, and no, it doesn’t represent her undying love for him. (And no, it’s not just artistic interpretation – we see the same ribbon she wears in the OG in CC’s ending.)

The 10th Anniversary Ultimania relationship chart for Final Fantasy VII has a new descriptor for Zack and Aeris. Rather than saying “first love” – like we might expect – it only says “old acquaintances/friends.”

To summarize, Zack and Aeris’s past relationship, as of the Crisis Core continuity, is this:

• Zack and Aeris shared mutual romantic feelings in the past
• These feelings were fleeting (temporary) for Aeris
• Their relationship was platonic and like friendship
• Aeris was annoyed that Zack flirted with other women
• Aeris no longer wears the hair ribbon that Zack bought her
• It remains unclear if they were ever in a committed relationship (i.e. boyfriend and girlfriend)
• By the time of Final Fantasy VII, their only active relationship is that of old friends

AFTER FINAL FANTASY VII

In Advent Children (2005):

Zack and Aeris both have a spiritual existence to Cloud in Advent Children and the director’s cut, Advent Children Complete. Both converse with Cloud during select scenes, and Cloud grieves both of their deaths.

Zack and Aeris interact with Cloud individually. In the case of Aeris, she counsels and aids him several times throughout the movie. In the case of Zack, he only appears as a phantom in the ending, as well as an added scene in Advent Children Complete while Cloud is battling Sephiroth. Zack and Aeris only interact with one another once: when Cloud is near-death, appearing in the spirit world, and they two joke that it isn’t his time to join them yet. After waking, Cloud sees both phantoms exist the church together.

Some surmise that their presence together must mean that Zack and Aerith are officially “together” in the afterlife. But this theory depends on the uncomfortable assumption that two spirits existing in the same movie frame must be a couple, and that there is any way to “get together” with someone after death.

Additionally, it isn’t even clear what kind of presence Zack even has after death. Wheres Aeris is a Cetra, and thus has the supernatural ability to retain her individuality and resist joining the Lifestream, Zack does not. As a normal human, he would spiritually decompose upon death, his energy melding into the Lifestream, the pieces of him separating and joining streams of energy that would become new life – plants, animals, humans. Whatever his presence e in Advent Children is, it’s unlikely to be a cognizant spirit with the same spiritual existence as Aeris. Perhaps his phantom is an echo of a memory in the Lifestream summoned forth by Cloud’s grief, or perhaps Aeris materialized Zack’s image to help Cloud heal.

Even if they’re dead, their conscious is still with us. As for Cloud, he sees Aerith several times throughout the film. It’s not that he sees her because he feels her presence. He sees her because her consciousness lives on inside him.

Tetsuya Nomura, Making of Advent Children

Nomura says that Cloud sees Aeris because her conciousness lives on inside of him. Though he does not mention Zack, presumably the same is true for him. It’s Cloud who links Zack and Aeris’s presence.

That aside, assuming Aeris and Zack are “together” in death because of their mutual presence in Advent Children ignores that their roles in the film’s narrative are specifically to mend Cloud’s guilt and grief. Specifically, they both exist because of Cloud. Not because of their love. Evidence of this is in the 10th Anniversary relationship chart – which, shockingly, indicates no relationship at all between Zack and Aeris.

To be clear, the relationship chart series all exists in a single Ultimania, so should be expected to show story continuity within the entire Compilation. Additionally, romantic relationships do exist, as Zack and Aeris had one in the Crisis Core chart. The fact that there’s no connection between them in Advent Children proves that their mutual existence – whatever they may be – is not related to one another.

At the end of the film, Cloud sees Aeris and Zack departing and fading into a white light. Does that mean the two at least ascended to the Great Beyond together (that is, finally joined the Lifestream?)

Not quite. Though Zack is no longer seen, in the original version of the movie, Aeris appears in the end credits in a field of flowers, still watching over Cloud.

Her presence in the ending isn’t only artistic – in fact, it’s written into the official script itself.

Vestiges of Aerith (nothing with any presence in reality) silently watch Cloud as he rides away. Aerith looks a little lonely, but then she smiles.

Advent Children official script

Her continued resistance toward rejoining the Lifestream and reincarnating is corroborated by Nojima, who says that as long as Sephiroth exists, Aerith must also exist. Aeris not only seeks to heal Cloud’s heart, she also is the vanguard of the White Lifestream and opposes Sephiroth and JENOVA. Sephiroth, who at the end of the film says he will “never be a memory” could return, so Aeris therefore cannot let her spirit dissolve.

I will… never be a memory.

Sephiroth, Advent Children

Since Sephiroth exists, Aerith must exist. There was no doubt about that one.

Nojima, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Reunion Files

While this is conjecture, it seems likely that Aeris would continue to maintain her sense of self in the Lifestream until Sephiroth is finally gone forever.

In On the Way to a Smile:

Aeris’s chapter in On the Way to a Smile is called Case of Lifestream: White, and is divided into three sections that intersperses the other chapters of the novel. This particular novella was released in 2009 – two years after Crisis Core.

It also ends the debate on who Aeris loves.

クラウドは女の友人であり、恋人であり——大切なものの象徴であり、守るべき存在だった。
(Cloud was the woman’s friend, her lover — a symbol of what was important to her, whose existence she must protect.)

On the Way to a Smile: Case of Lifestream White (page 80)

There has been some debate among fans on whether or not 恋人 (koibito) in this case should be translated as “lover” (implying a two-way relationship) or “beloved” (which only speaks to Aeris’s personal feelings). In the French and German official translations, the concept of “lover” is used.

In the official English version, translated by Melissa Tanaka, the second meaning of “beloved” is used instead.

Cloud was her friend. More than a friend, for she had loved him. He was a symbol of everything she held dear. She would protect him.

On the Way to a Smile: Case of Lifestream (White)

Whether or not “lover” or “beloved” is the more appropriate meaning in this case, Aeris articulates a very clear answer to the debate of who she loves: and that person is Cloud Strife. Again, this ends any discussion of whether or not she truly has feelings for Cloud or if she is only attracted to the resemblance he has to Zack. Aeris canonically loves Cloud.

Is it possible that she loves both of them, and that her loving Cloud doesn’t mean she cannot also love Zack? When you read between the lines and make fill in the gaps with your imagination, truly anything is possible. But in Case of Lifestream: White, Aeris never mentions Zack once.

In her three-part story, she has a tangible existence in the Lifestream. Each part pertains to her opposing Sephiroth, who is also in the Lifestream. Each part concludes with her feelings for Cloud. Never once does the narrative spotlight any lingering feelings she has for Zack, and never once does it suggest that Zack’s spirit is there with her.

Instead, we hear Aeris declare her love for Cloud (or call him her lover, depending on the language.) We hear Aeris worry about Cloud’s fragile heart. We hear Aeris conclude her story with her desire to meet Cloud again (“I want him to see me as he knows me.”)

Other

Other official materials occasionally have discussed Aeris’s feelings for Zack, and generally conclude that she now loves Cloud, or has moved on from Zack.

In Maiden Who Travels the Planet, a short story published in Ultimania Omega, Aeris meets Zack and rejects him in the Lifestream. Written by Benny Matsuyama, some fans have argued that its status as canon is dubious. While Square has never commented on it either way, it remains an official work published in an Ultimania supervised by Square. It would be strange if Square allowed the content of this novel to grossly deviate from the developers’ intentions, especially in something so important as the romantic feelings of the main characters.

In Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the item “Aerith’s Choker” is said to represent Aeris’s determination to move on after losing “someone special” – likely, that would be Zack.

Conversely, Cloud and Aeris are often portrayed with varying levels of romantic subtext. From their presence in Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy Tactics, to being literally married in Final Fantasy Brigade or to Cloud’s love for Aeris being confirmed in World of Final Fantasy, if Square intended Zerith to be the love triangle’s conclusion, it wouldn’t be appropriate or logical to continue to create content that promotes Cloud and Aeris’s relationship.

On the other hand, spin-off content suggesting Aeris and Zack have a romantic relationship is surprisingly sparse. In Kingdom Hearts, Zack does not interact with Aerith, and flirts with the female character Aqua. In World of Final Fantasy, he flirts with Serah. There isn’t a single spin-off where Aeris and Zack are “together” – beyond perhaps a silly event or two in the Japanese mobile phone game Final Fantasy Brigade (but remember, in that game, Cloud and Aeris were literally portrayed as married three times.)

While these scenarios may not speak to the current canon storyline, their existence is significant as a pulse on how Square feels about the love triangle, and whether or not Zack and Aeris are star-crossed lovers and an endgame couple. (Evidence suggests they aren’t.)

Conclusion

The Final Fantasy VII love triangle is intentionally ambiguous, but Aeris’s feelings are not. Without personal speculation, we know for a fact that Aeris is in love with Cloud, and she has sensed his true self – and that’s the Cloud she has feelings for. While it’s possible she could have some lingering feelings for Zack, evidence suggests that – even if he still holds a special place in her heart – she’s over him.