Character from Final Fantasy VII by Square Enix
The last surviving Cetra, a flower seller from the Midgar slums whose gentle warmth and playful spirit mask an ancient heritage and a destiny that will reshape the world.
Aerith Gainsborough sells flowers in the slums beneath Midgar's plates — one of the only people who can coax anything to grow in the Mako-poisoned soil. She is the last of the Cetra, an ancient race that could commune with the Planet, and Shinra has been trying to capture and study her since childhood. Her mother Ifalna died helping her escape the Shinra building as an infant, and she was raised by Elmyra Gainsborough in the Sector 5 slums. Aerith hears things others cannot — whispers from the Lifestream, echoes of Cetra memory, the Planet's slow grief as Mako reactors drain its life force. She is playful and teasing on the surface, dragging Cloud on dates through Wall Market and laughing at his stoicism, but beneath the cheer lies someone who has always known she was different and always known it would cost her everything. Her connection to the White Materia — Holy, the ultimate defensive magic — makes her the only person capable of countering Sephiroth's Meteor. She walks toward that destiny with open eyes, choosing sacrifice not from resignation but from love for a world she wants to protect. Her prayer at the Forgotten Capital is the turning point of the entire saga.
Slender young woman with bright green eyes and long chestnut-brown hair braided down her back, tied with a pink ribbon. Wears a pink bolero jacket over a long pink and white dress with brown lace-up boots. A red cropped jacket sometimes layers over the ensemble. She carries a simple metal staff and often has fresh flowers tucked into her basket or hair. Her smile is disarmingly warm and seems to light up even the dimmest slum alley.
Also known as: Aerith, Aeris, Gainsborough, The Flower Girl, The Last Cetra, The Ancient