I know this is horrible but do any of you actually think Cloud could have stopped Aerith from dying?

I was talking to someone once who said that he could have and should have but you see i don't know what to think.

But i mean do any of you think he should have stopped it because i'm confused :( cos i mean she didn't need to die cos well Holy had already started to work right? so basically (this is going kinda really of the topic) she kinda died for no reason like i mean she didn't need to...


does anyone else feel this way?

And sorry if this has been sed before and also sorry if i've sed something to offend anyone :D :D xxx

I don't think he could. First, he was fighting back the control of Jenova. And second, it was part of the story.. if he could have thought out the entire situation, ran and jumped, and brought out his sword to block the attack all whiel Sephiroth was falling down then I think he would have done it.

But all in all, lets just be happy about "Sephiroth" killing Aerith. Think about how angsty Cloud would be if he killed her with his own hands. If he was emo before, I don't even want to see THAT Cloud. -_-

Actually Holy was summoned late, it couldn't destroy the meteor in time.

The Lifestream, herded by Aerith's, and the other deceased character's, will, came to serve as a buffer.

So yeah, her death was never in vain at all.

Would Cloud have prevented it? Dunno... it's just like asking if Tifa told him earlier about their pasts, would Cloud not give the Black Materia to Sephiroth question.

I don't think Cloud could have stopped it. Like Mista said, if he could have prevented Aerith's death, he would have done so. Look at how depressed he was about it in AC.

Also, look at it this way: Cloud was only ever able to resist Sephiroth's control (or Jenova's, whichever way you wanna look at it) when he was put in a situation where he was going to kill Aerith. He gave the Black Materia to Sephiroth twice, even with his friends begging him not to. He was also forced to strike Aerith. But, when it came to killing her... Sephiroth couldn't make him do it. It was the one and only time that Cloud was able to resist. But, even though he was able to resist Sephiroth's command to kill Aerith, I don't think he had full control of his body back until after Sephiroth had already killed her. More like Cloud was still fighting for full control of himself when Sephiroth came down and murdered her in front of him. That's what I think anyways. :P

Sorry I have to stray a bit...

I've heard two different things about what Holy did at the end. The first was what you said. Holy came too late and clashed with Meteor and like Red said "had the opposite effect".

But I also heard a theory about Holy/the panet choosing to destroy Midgar and/or everyone on the planet because it saw them as something more dangerous to the planet than Meteor. A quote from the game...

Bugenhagen: Holy... the ultimate White Magic. Magic that might stand against
Meteor. Perhaps our last hope to save the planet from Meteor. If a soul seeking
Holy reaches the planet, it will appear. Ho Ho Hoooo. Meteor, Weapon,
everything will disappear. Perhaps, even ourselves.

Cloud: Even us!?

Bugenhagen: It is up to the planet to decide. What is best for the planet. What
is bad for the planet. All that is bad will disappear. That is all. Ho Ho
Hoooo. I wonder which we humans are?


Now I'm not sure on which one is real or not... care to clear things up for me Anti?

For sure, Holy wasn't affective against Meteor until the lifestream showed up, so like Anti-R said, Aerith's death wasn't in vain. Just maybe Holy did intend to wipe out humanity (it seemed to be doing more bad than good at first), but Aerith and the others in the lifestream guided Holy the other way? You do bring up good evidence to support that theory, MCS.

What we do know though is the answer to the "secret" ending that takes place 500 years down the road. The theory that Humanity has been wiped out has been proven false. SE says that they were trying to portray the idea that humanity has gone back to restoring the planet instead of continuing to do it harm.

No, I don't believe he could have.
Adding on to what everyone else has already said, that's precisely where his guilt comes in. He thinks he could have saved her if only he'd tried harder...but we all know it's not his fault. Aerith doesn't blame him, no one does. He didn't have full control of his body, so there was no way he could have saved her no matter how much he'd desired to.

Holy could of saved the planet, as Bugenhagen stated that "something" was holding it back. Cloud automatically knew that it was Sephiroth. If Aerith hadn't died, I would assume that Holy would of been released much earlier and would of been able to destroy Meteor on its own, or prevent it from appearing if it hadn't been summoned yet.

I do agree with the option of Holy actually being overpowered but it was getting some part of what it wanted when the Lifestream came to aid the planet. After all, Midgar was the main source of Mako energy and was the direct centre of the planet sucking reactors.

And I don't think would of, as people have also stated about him being under Jenova's control and then breaking it with the aid of his friends. He was intranced in seeing Aerith again and seeing her smile, it would be hard to notice Sephiroth falling from the height he was at. Especially since Sephy was directly over Cloud and Aerith; they would have to tilt their head upwards from him to come into view.