Much speculation has been placed on the issue of Aeris's death and the possiblity of her revival. This is the biggest rumor to grace the Final Fantasy series. Unfortunately, the revival of Aeris is 100% false. To prove the invalidity of Aeris's revival , look no further than the ending FMV. Marlene, from Kalm's clock tower, states, "The flower girl?," soon followed by an image of Aeris similar to that of the intro FMV. What does this mean? I feel that the green 'sparks' surrounding Aeris are in truth generated by the Lifestream and she is in fact in the lifestream. How do you end up in the Lifestream? You die. Why is Aeris there at the end of the game? Because she is dead at the end of the game. There is not another FMV or alternate ending to Final Fantasy VII, so Aeris's death is permanent. She was meant to remain dead and not be resurrected. This is how Aeris called up the Lifestream to save the planet from Meteor after holy failed to contain Meteor.

So, Aeris was meant to remain dead. But still there are more issues surrounding this topic. Yet another arguement is that Aeris was first meant to be ressurected but Square later deleted this element due to deadlines. I also find this to be false. First, this rumor is based on the delay in the U.S. release. Now this is incorrect for two reason. The U.S. release was delayed due to translation problems and enhancements to the U.S. version. The enhancements include Underwater and Ruby Weapon and the battle with Diamond Weapon. This was the reason for the U.S. delay. SIDENOTE: The U.S. version was later released in Japan in the form of Final Fantasy VII: International. The other reason is the ending FMV. As I stated above, the ending is only applicable if Aeris is dead at the end of the game. Now, if Square wanted to exclude the revival process due to deadlines, then the ending FMV would have to be completely redone. That takes an extrodinarily long time, not to mention cost a ton of additional money. Now if you want to cut something out due to deadlines, altering a part of the game where the ending would have to be redone is an extremely awful idea.

Finally, I draw my attention to "Aeris's Ghost." The 'ghost' is an image of Aeris which briefly appears in the Midgar slums church following Aeris's death at the hands of Sephiroth. This further sparks the idea of Square once planning on the revival of Aeris. This, as I said before, is impossible. What I believe this to be is Aeris's spirit energy before she returns to the planet. If you can recall Aeris's adoptive mother, Elmyra, telling the story of how she first found Aeris, you can remember that she tells Cloud that her husband was in the war at Wutai. Well, she explains that he was supposed to come home on leave, never did and she ended up finding Aeris. Then one day Aeris explains that someone dear to Elmyra had died and was coming to see her, but had returned to the planet before able to. Then Elmyra received the notice that her husband had died soon after. So what does this have to do with anything? First, it states that a person's spirit energy remains intacted before returning to the planet. The extent of this period can be found by noticing that Watai is on the other side of the world, opposite Midgar. Thus, if Aeris was able to know that Elmyra's husband was coming to see her, then he would have to be of a marginally close proxmity (I'd say about if he was able to reach the continent Midgar is on.) That is quite a long trip. Thus, there must be a substancial time before one returns to the planet. This is what I believe Aeris's ghost to be. The spirit energy of Aeris prior to her return to the lifestream.

Now, there is one way to obtain Aeris following her death. Go buy a gameshark. Otherwise, cry now that you know Aeris is dead forever or suck it up and cherish the Final Fantasy VII story for what it is, wielding the knowledge that Aeris remains forever within the blood of the planet, known as the lifestream.