The phrase 大切な者 (たいせつなもの: taisetsu na mono) is often used to describe Aeris’s value to Cloud. 大切な人 (たいせつなひと: taisetsu na hito). Taisetsu itself means “important” or “significant” – but in this context, the meaning is also “precious,” “valuable,” “dear,” “cherished,” or “beloved.”
In both cases, a noun is added to this adjective. The first noun is mono – which can generally mean “thing” or “person.” The second noun is hito, which always means a person or people.
In the case of taisetsu na hito, the phrase means a precious or beloved person, a special someone, and even a significant other. When thinking about how these phrases are used to describe Aeris’s personal significance to Cloud, these definitions are meaningful indeed.
Here’s just some examples of this phrase being used between Cloud and Aeris!
Original Game: Cait Sith’s Fortune
Cait Sith introduces himself as a fortune-telling machine, and delivers cryptic fortunes to Cloud in the Gold Saucer amusement park. He shares the following message to Cloud:
求めれば必ず会えますしかし最も大切なものを失います。
(literal translation) If you’re pursuing something, you shall definitely find it. But you will lose that which is most precious to you.
In English, the line is similar: “What you pursue will be yours. But you will lose something dear.” (For what it’s worth, the Japanese didn’t only say “something dear” but rather, “something most dear.” Either way, there can be little debate on what the precious something Cloud loses is. He encounters Sephiroth, whom he is looking for, and the most monumental loss he experiences in the story is Aeris.
Cait Sith’s line is essentially the progenitor for all the following examples – it’s why we can assume the term usually refers to Aeris, or otherwise invokes the image of her death when Cloud uses it throughout the Compilation and his many cameo appearances in various console and mobile games.
Advent Children
おまえの最も大切なもののは？
(literal translation) What do you cherish most？
In Advent Children’s final battle, Sephiroth asks Cloud what he cherishes most. Cloud answers that he cherishes everything, but we do get to see his exact thought process following the question. The first person he imagines is – you guessed it – Aeris. He thinks of her three times in the film’s original montage.
Final Fantasy Tactics
Cloud’s cameo in Final Fantasy Tactics is set while he’s in the Lifestream during the main game, at the height of his identity crisis. He is still reeling the loss of Aeris. He says:
なくしてしまったんだ…
大切な…とても大切なもの
(literal translation): I lost… an important… a very important thing..
Cloud will meet Ivalice’s version of Aeris, save her from bandits, and then express his intention to go to the Promised Land. Read more here.
World of Final Fantasy
俺の大切な人を奪ったんだ
(literal translation) He took away someone precious to me
だから見つけ出して復習の？大切な人を奪われた起こりをぶつけるの？
(literal translation) So you’re looking for revenge? You’re lashing out with your anger from having this person you loved snatched away?
In World of Final Fantasy, Cloud is pursuing Sephiroth in vengeance for taking Aeris’s life. In a conversation with him, Terra refers to Aeris as Cloud’s 大切な人 and asks if this is the way to honor the memory of the woman he loved. Here’s the official English translation of the scene – while it doesn’t find any way to translate the 大切な人 in any way beyond “someone” and “woman,” by Terra’s last line, Cloud’s romantic feelings are clear.
Here’s the full dialogue in English:
Terra: Why are you after this person? Did he do something to you?
Cloud: I’ve been waiting too long to pick up his trail. This time.. I’ll..
Terra: Cloud! I didn’t expect to find you here.
Cloud: Terra! Oh, yeah. Quistis mentioned that you were close by. Listen, something else came up. You should go track down Lightning in case she needs your help.
Terra: “Something came up”? You left Lightning to face that Mirage all by herself?! What could possibly be so important?!
Cloud: Look, there’s this guy. I’ve been hunting him for awhile. Now I’m finally right on his heels. I’m not gonna let this chance slip away!
Terra: Hunting him? Cloud, you’re scaring me. Why are you after this person? Did he do something to you?
Cloud: He took someone away from me. Forever.
Terra: So when you find him, what are you going to do? Will killing him bring back the woman that you lost?
Cloud: …..
Terra: This isn’t any way to honor her memory. To take your love for her and turn it into hate? Especially when it makes you abandon your friends! You have to decide. What’s more important? Is it anger and revenge?
Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia
あいつは大切なものを奪った
…この世界でも奪おうとしてる
(literal translation) He stole something precious … Even in this world, he’s trying to steal it.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper
クラウド「大切なもの……今度は亡くさずに済んだ」
(literal translation) I didn’t end up losing someone precious to me.. this time.
It’s a throwaway line, but references Aeris’s death nonetheless. But in Record Keeper, Aeris is alive and well – so Cloud can comment that he hasn’t lost a precious person.
Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania
とりわけクラウドのなかでは「大切な者を守れなかった罪」の象徴として、彼の心を閉ざす要因となっていた。
10th Anniversary Ultimania, page 52
(literal translation) Especially in Cloud, to whom she is a symbol of “the sin of failing to protect a loved one” and the main factor in closing off his heart.
大切な者を守れなかったのは自分の罪ーそう思いこみ、心を閉ざすクラウド。エアリスの再開は彼に何をもたらす？
10th Anniversary Ultimania, Cloud’s profile
(literal translation) “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?
罪って許されるのかーそう尋ねるクラウドにポツリと答えるヴィンセン ト。 ともに「大切な人を守れなかった」 という罪の意識を持つ者であるがゆ え、その言葉は重みを持って響く。
10th Anniversary Ultimania, page 72
(literal translation) “Can sins ever be forgiven?” — Cloud asks this to Vincent, who mutters a brief answer. For both of them, “I couldn’t protect my loved one” is the sense of guilt that they carry, so their words resonate with weight.
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Hollow
Final Fantasy VII: Remake‘s title song, Hollow, is almost definitely about Aerith. While the lyrics alone make it pretty clear, Famitsu.com had an interview with FF7 lead writer Kazushige Nojima, who himself wrote the lyrics. He shared that he was given just a few keywords from Nomura, and he wrote the song with the concept of a ballad about a man who lost something precious.
By the way, the Hollow is officially a song from Cloud’s point of view.
野島: […] 野村さんからは“クラウド視点”、“雨の中たたずむ”というキーワードをもらいました。私の中では“何か大切なものをなくしてしまった男の歌”と解釈して書いています。
Famitsu Interview: https://www.famitsu.com/news/202005/18197861.html
Nojima: Nomura gave me keywords such as “Cloud’s point of view” and “standing in the rain”. In my mind, I interpret that as “a song of a man who has lost something important.”
Who is Aeris’s 大切な者?
Cloud alluding to Aeris as his “taisetsu na” person – his precious, beloved someone – is frequently noted. But how about the opposite? Does Aeris feel the same? (Spoilers: yes!)
Kingdom Hearts
Here’s a reverse! This time, Aeris is using 大切 to describe Cloud.
エアリスは、大切なクラウドの身を深く心配しているぞ！
Kingdom Hearts II Ultimania
(literal translation) Aeris is deeply worried about Cloud, who is precious to her!
On the Way to a Smile
クラウドは女の友人であり、恋人でありーー大切なものの象徴であり、守るべき存在だった。
On the Way to a Smile, Case of Lifestream (White)
(literal translation) Cloud was the woman’s friend, her lover – a symbol of someone precious, an existence she must protect.
Earth & Sky: A Cloud x Aeris Love Story 