10 Fun Cloud x Aerith (Clerith) Facts From Outside the Game To Make You Smile

1. Yoshitaka Amano’s Promotional Artwork for Final Fantasy VII is Mostly Just Clerith

Of famed Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano’s official promotional images for Final Fantasy VII, a whopping five of them specifically featured Cloud and Aeris. The couple sits together, stands together, fights side by side, and in one image, Cloud even is embracing Aeris. (There are, for the record, no images of Cloud and Tifa together in Amano’s set.)

2. “A Story of Love” – The 1997 Commercial

The commercials for the English language release of Final Fantasy VII did not shy away from spoilers at all. Not only do spoil Aeris’s death (?!), they also confirm Cloud’s feelings for the heroine. Listen to the phrase “a story of a love that could never be…” over Cloud holding Aeris’s lifeless body, with the word “Love” written over the image for extra emphasis.

3. The Japanese word for Clerith is an official iOS Search Term for FF7

If you choose to play the original Final Fantasy VII on iPhone or iPad, just search for it in the Apple Store – and it turns out, for the Japanese version of the game, the ship name for Cloud x Aerith is an official search term! Typing クラエア (kuraea – a portmanteu of Cloud and Aeris’s names, and the Japanese equivalent of “Clerith”) into the search bar will indeed yield Final Fantasy VII. This means it was programmed as an official search term for the game.

This apparently does not work for any other ship name (such as the Japanese equivalent of the Cloud x Tifa ship, クラティ.)

4. Farewell Exhibit in Tokyo: Cloud and Aerith’s Heartbreaking Romance

In honor of the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary in 2018, Square Enix held a “Farewell Stories Exhibition” focused on the sad good-byes within the games. Unsurprisingly, Cloud and Aeris’s story takes center stage. One exhibit focused on Cloud’s grief at losing Aeris – identifying her as the one Cloud wants to meet once again.

Another, titled “The Words Aerith Left Behind,” explores Aeris’s thoughts before her death – articulating her feelings, fears, how she fell in love with Zack and then fell in love with Cloud.

Read more about this incredible homage to Final Fantasy‘s most tragic love story here.

5. Matching Parfaits at the Square Enix Artnia Cafe

Here’s one for the sweet-tooths! Ever since Square Enix’s official cafe ARTNIA opened, which boasts an array of Final Fantasy-themed treats and merchandise, two parfaits have topped its menu. The chocolate-banana parfait includes a chocolate Buster Sword in honor of Cloud Strife, and the strawberry parfait includes a pink ribbon in honor of Aerith Gainsborough!

Recently, matcha-flavored parfait themed around Yuffie Kisaragi was added to the menu as well, though Cloud and Aeris’s desserts still sit side by side in the menu. As of this post, no other characters in the Final Fantasy series have a dedicated dessert on the permanent menu.

6. Cloud and Aerith Married in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade

In Square Enix’s mobile phone game Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, Cloud and Aerith have been portrayed as not only married, but a literal Emperor and Empress together! As part of the game’s hinamatsuri holiday events, several Final Fantasy couples have been chosen to play these roles together. Alongside Cloud and Aerith, who were crowned both in 2013 and again in 2018, other royal couples have included Tidus and Yuna.

This isn’t the only time Cloud and Aerith have been portrayed as married in the game. For a 2018 June Bride event, Cloud and Aerith were advertised together as bride and groom.

Read more about this event here!

7. Debug Room: “Love Love” Scene

This one isn’t outside the game per se, but rather deep, deep within it. Buried in the code of every copy of Final Fantasy VII is the “Debug Room” – a testing room for the developers. It’s not supposed to be accessible by normal players, but with game hacks, it’s possible to explore these mysterious quarters full of the chaotic humor of underslept programmers with a deadline.

If you do enter FF7’s debug room, you can access a scene transport menu where the developer in question gave the various scenarios under his belt cute nicknames, such as “Matte Matte (Wait wait)” or “Love Love.”

What scene is “Love Love” referring to? Cloud and Aeris’s date in the park!

8. Final Symphony Concert Description

Final Symphony, an officially licensed Square Enix concert series, went full on, unapologetically Clerith. Its second movement in its Final Fantasy VII symphony, titled “Interrupted by Fireworks,” delves into the love triangle between Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa. Reading the official booklet’s description of the piece, the story could not be more clear: Cloud wavers between Aerith and Tifa, before choosing Aerith. They struggle but finally harmonize together in perfect love, before Sephiroth murders Aerith before Cloud’s eyes.

Read more about this incredible piece here.

9. Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Credits Makes Clerith a Disney Couple

Cloud and Aerith were both chosen to cameo in the Kingdom Hearts series from the very first installment. Cloud is portrayed as searching for Aerith, who is separated from him, and the pair reunite in the end credits of Kingdom Hearts I. In the game’s sequel, Cloud is struggling between his light and darkness, and leaves Aerith’s side with a promise to return afterwards – words reminiscent of her own promise to him in Final Fantasy VII.

Many have speculated that Cloud and Aerith are outright portrayed as a couple in the Kingdom Hearts world, and this seems all but confirmed in the credits sequence of Kingdom Hearts 2.8. It features a montage of romantic Disney pairings, with lovers embracing and reuniting. Guess who appears right in the middle of this sequence, alongside couples such as Cinderella and Prince Charming, Ariel and Eric, Simba and Nala, Aladdin and Jasmine, and more? That’s right – Cloud and Aerith!

Square says they are literally Disney level of love story. Can you even get more obvious than that?

10. Cloud and Aerith’s CENSORED Date in Itadaki Street Comic

The 2017 Itadaki Street DRAGON QUEST & FINAL FANTASY 30th ANNIVERSARY collaboration event brought Final Fantasy characters to the board game world of Itadaki Street, and Cloud Strife was naturally chosen for an appearance. But more than just a party game, Itadaki Street also featured a “museum mode” that allowed players to watch memorable Final Fantasy scenes with commentary from the cast of characters themselves!

One of the Final Fantasy VII scenes that was chosen? Cloud’s date with Aerith. It’s a nice homage to their romance, but the Clerith content didn’t end there. An official comic was published joking that Cloud and Aerith did something in the gondola during their date that needed to be censored. Read the comic above, with my unofficial translation, or click here to read more!