Aerith
This column is a reprint from Unwinnable Monthly #138. If you like what you see, grab the magazine for less than ten dollars, or subscribe and get all future magazines for half price.
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Imaginary correspondence
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Spoiler warning: Vague spoilers for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake (no, not the obvious one.)
Dear Aerith,
When I was a kid, I had a growing collection of videogame guidebooks. I had a hard time getting through JRPGs due to a lack of patience, but I loved looking through the official guides, previewing the adventures that awaited me.
One night, I looked through the guide for Final Fantasy VII and discovered that you would die. As it was with many folks, you were the first fictional character whose death I remembered experiencing. The confident, fun-loving woman who I admired was going to die and I couldn’t do anything about it.
It’s easy to focus on the shock of your death when talking about your character. But, I think when we do so, we forget to mention why it was so shocking in the first place – because your personality shone so strong in life.
You were kind and confident. You had a good sense of humor. When you look at the lineup of healers and white mages in the genre, there just isn’t anyone who’s like you.
And now, with new life given to your game in the remake, you get a new life as well. You’re here again, not quite the same, yet somehow also exactly as we remember.
With this new life comes new possibilities. It soon became clear that you’re set to change fate – yours and the planet’s. When death becomes undeath, you’re left with what you call “boundless, terrifying freedom.”
With your future up in the air, what will you do with these newfound possibilities? Will you make another impression as the symbol of life after death, or will you have a new fate? Will the world go to ruin, or will it come out unlike anything we’ve seen before?
Whatever you achieve, I’m looking forward to it.
– Melissa
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Melissa King is a freelance writer and a triple threat at Unwinnable – contributor, social media editor and Exploits managing editor. Follow her writing or commission her work @LongLiveMelKing.
