I was thinking earlier about the picture Amano drew of Sephiroth holding Aeris with a sword to her throat. Holding her hostage.
It's been theorized that the piece was based on FFVII before Aeris died, and supposed that there was a part where it happened. However, I don't think that is true.
There's a picture of Cloud laying Aeris' body to rest, but rather than a lake, he's lying her in a bed. If you go through a book of Amano's art, many things are more symbolic than literal.
In FFVII Aeris' spirit is held hostage by Sephiroth's will, requiring Cloud and the gang to free her by defeating him, which they do so in the end.
So, to sum, I believe that said picture is symbolic of the way FFVII actually goes, to show that Sephiroth is holding Aeris' spirit hostage.
And if I had written this any worse I don't think it would be readable...sorry, I usually think things through before I write them down, but I didn't so well this time.

Makes sense to me, Sef. It could be though, that the original concept of aeris just being kidnapped by seph naturally evolved into her spirit being held hostage instead. The whole "laying her on a bed" and other such imagery seem to be rather "standard romance fair," and I recall it being said somewhere that the producers of FF7 wanted to break away from a standard love story mold.


By the way, is your sig from www.utilikilt.com? That site cracks me up. Too bad the kilt isn't coming back into fashion, tsk.

Yeah I saw those pictures as well and I completely agree. Yet it would be kinda weird to think of it that way. He already killed her why does he need her spirit.

I saw those pics they were strange...here's my theory about the spirit/hostage one :P

maybe...Sephiroth secretly loved Aeris and wanted her for himself but couldnt becasue Cloud was in the way so...he decided to kill Aeris so that Sephy can have her to himself in the afterlife (or life stream, whatever)

ah, love! XD

It could have been that they had Aeris in a coma like state a la Rinoa, until they decided to kill her off. Didn't they say something in the game about how your spirit has to be searching for the lifestream in order for Holy to work? I can't remember what it was exactly, but maybe they actually did plan for her to come back after it was all over, because then Sephiroth would have been defeated, Meteor would have gone, and then Aeris could have "woken up", not having to summon Holy any longer.

I'd heard in earlier versions of the script they originally had Aeris and Sephiroth as siblings, which makes the whole thing even more interesting...*ponders*

Hrms, I suppose it's possible these concept drawings depict events SE had originally intended to happen in the story...but I think I'm leaning more toward what Sefie said about them being more symbolic than literal.

The Sephiroth/Aerith piece, to me, portrays the concept of two oppositional forces, light and darkness (good and evil). Being the last Cetra and having the ability to summon Holy/control the lifestream, she is pretty much a threat to Sephiroth. You could say that I see her as his main opposing force. IMO, Amano might have been trying to depict that concept by drawing the two of them together, his sword held to her throat.

As for the Cloud and Aerith one...I guess I'm thinking more in terms of FFVII's theme. Well, we know 'life' focuses on the idea that people's consciousness remain behind even after they pass away. Perhaps that's what SE was showing in that piece. Aerith is portrayed to be "asleep" (not dead), hence, the whole bedroom setting. Of course, we get to the very end of the game where her eyes are portrayed opening again...like she's reawakening.

Whatever the case though, I'll have to agree that showing Cloud laying her on a bed is just extremely romantic. :wub:

Zelda:

...you could be right. Maybe I'm just making it more difficult than it really is. :P

And, of course, Aerith does, in fact, appear in the movie in spirit form, which showed she wasn't quite done yet with the mortal world. Especially Cloud.

Ah well. Pity he didn't get a chance to pick her living form up and put it on a bed in the game. (Of course, he might have to then join her on said bed...no, bad thoughts)

Or, it'd also be cool if he picked up her Spirit Form in the movie and put her on a bed after the fact. Even as a spirit, I somehow imagine her saying or do something to cause a blush in Cloud.

It also could be a way of representing Sephiroth killing her without actually showing his sword piercing her. Sorta making you think of how he overpowered her, but not showing the exact scene. I don't think that most of the pictures are literal, because we also don't see Red and Cloud getting buddy buddy while resting in the game either. Just really bad fanfics