I know the armbands have been brought up before, but maybe not quite in this way. All of Avalance is wearing them, Marlene is wearing one in her hair, the director has said its in memory of Aerith. But watching the movie again, particularly the scene where Cloud reveals the armband and something suddenly hit me. Blatantly obvious, of course, but he has it on his injured arm. Hidden beneath his armour, guarded away where no one can see or get to it. Now considering the amount of detail the director and artists put into this, the symbolism, the expressions, everything, there is no way it's a mere coincidence. It doesn't just happen to be on his injured arm because they thought it'd look cooler.

This got my whole line of thought racing and even though I was in bed, I got up and got on the computer to write it down. lol He's withdrawn from everyone, hiding in the church, hiding his bandages, hiding his injured arm so no one could see he was dying. So no one had to watch his private pain, the pain constantly shining in his eyes. He was hiding from Aerith as well. Sure, he sought comfort in her church, wanting to be around her, but his guilt prevented him from seeing her. When he did see her, he hid, ducking his head, unable to face her. She is his true injury, the injury he is hiding.

Aerith is Cloud's geostigma. She is what's killing him, making him weak. Technically it's his own guilt and pain (of course not Aerith actually killing him or attempting to hurt him). As he tears off his shoulder padding, it's not to reveal the geostigma eating away at his arm like it appears, it's to reveal the pink ribbon of his memory of Aerith. The same ribbon you see displayed on the other members who have come to terms with her death. Finally he reveals his true pain, what's truly killing him because he is finally beginning to face his own emotions and begin to forgive himself. (Remember, step one was at the Forbidden City when he agreed to put Marlene first.) It is only after he tears off his armor, leaving his geostigma and his memory vulnerable instead of hidden then BOOM here comes the water as Aerith heals him. She is the healer in the game and movie, and certainly not just in the physical sense. Now that he's revealed his weakness, his pain, he's healed and ready to battle stronger than ever, no longer being held back by his premature emotional and physical death. He now is capable of using his unspoken love for Aerith and his desire to protect his family as a tool to give him strength instead of a hindrance in his fear and guilt.

And then the rain pours down and he stands staring up at the sky with the first semblance of peace on his face. The rain is Aerith and now that she has healed him, he doesn't NEED to continue to be healed by the rain, but he continues to stand because now he faces her. Now he feels her. Now he is no longer hiding from her but openly accepting her because he finally feels that he's worthy of the forgiveness she had always granted but that he never felt he deserved. Like the body fought off the Jenova cells within him thus creating the geostigma, he emotionally fought off Aerith and shut himself off to her because her forgiveness was foreign to him. Her death brought him despair, but her love brought him peace. :)

Oh, I love it! I could hug the director and creator because he's bloody brilliant. Take that, ClAerith naysayers :P


Duchie

That's a nice way of looking at AC Lilac =]
Most of us looked at things way too literally to appreciate the underlying meanings of the story.
I agree with you, Cloud's true pain lies in his failure to save the ones he loves..his inability to bring back lost lives...:3

Great analysis and insight! :D

That you found this symbolism is great and considering there is so

much in the ffvii compilation, it's another fantastic point to be able to add to our

already large(compared to cloti symbolsim that is) list of cleris symbolism

thanks for the insight on that. that was amazing :cleris: very well thought out :D have a nice day :huggle:

Wow, what a great post. I had never thought about it like that. I totally agree with you.

Good analysis, which I shall respond in sections below...

I wouldn't put it as to say that Aerith is his injury, but rather his own ineffectiveness in not being able to save Aerith that has become a crucial part of his injury. But I do agree that his guilt prevented him from seeing her.

Yes, the other members of AVALANCHE wore the pink ribbon as a tribute to Aerith, as did Cloud, but to him, it always reminded him of his guilt while the others were able to move on.

I always thought placing the pink ribbon over the geostigma was juxtapositioning two very different things connected by the same thing: Cloud's guilt. Sort of like yin/yang, but a little different.

More importantly, I thought this scene was an answer to Vincent's and Cloud's conversation earlier by the Forgotten City:

No, it has never been. That scene was the moment of his realization that this struggle wasn't really about fighting. He doesn't know what it was about yet, but by the way he looked up, startled at Vincent's words and looked back down again--it was clear Vincent hit a nerve there.

Yes. The moment when he rips a part of that black cloth that covered the pink ribbon and geostigma is the moment is, to me, a symbolization of that he has finally been able to forgive himself. It is the beginning of his healing.

It is one thing to state your problem (what he did in Forgotten City after Vincent's words), it is another to truly confront it (ripping the black cloth). He has finally been able to physically face what his struggle was all about. His battle was within himself, his inability to forgive himself. Cloud has used to associate the pink ribbon with his guilt, and couldn't bear to look at it without feeling that pang, but now, as he is able to face it without the need to cover it up.

His guilt would not let him fight Geostigma or try to face it. He would hide the guilt, which he associated with the pink ribbon, and his disease, because he was unwilling to absolve the first and fight the latter. In revealing both the ribbon and the disease, it symbolizes his willigness to fight and counter two main problems.

I agree. And eventually, the rain falls and geostigma disappears, and with it, the last of his remaining guilt.

Couldn't have worded it better myself. I also like to think it as a symbolic embrace between Cloud and Aerith, but looking at without these pink-tinted sunglasses, I would say it was definately more to signify how he is no longer ashamed of himself to the extent that he could not bear to see Aerith at all.

I have the same feeling while seeing this scene!! When Cloud slowly closes his eyes I could almost hear him says:
"Aerith....thank you. I did it" :cleris:

I know this topic is pretty old, but I just wanted to bring up a small other thing. :/ Please forgive me.

Remember when Cloud was communicating with Aerith in the flower field? She brushed her hand against his wounded arm, where the pink ribbon lied, the one he was concealing, and that's when he turned his face away in shame.

I dunno, someone probably already pointed that out and I overlooked it. But this was a very interesting point, I'll definately keep this in mind while watching AC again. :)

You're right. It is symbolic, too. In relation to the "Aerith as Cloud's geostigma" thing, Aerith touching the ribbon seems like a kind of reassurance to Cloud also.

I think she touched his arm because of the more obvious reason. She said herself that he came even though he was about to break, and she touched him where his injury was right after that. As for Cloud, if he did turn away,(I don't really remember) it was probably out of embarrassment. Unlike Tifa, Aeris seemingly knows just about everything about Cloud now. He can't hide anything from her. =P He's standing bare naked in a field of flowers, you could say.

And as for the ripping off of his sleeve to reveal the ribbon. I love the idea... but I think it was for a more simple reason. He needed that arm revealed in order to show us that the water was going to heal him. And it doubled as good treat for us Cleris fans to show the ribbon. But maybe it might have been deeper than that, I suppose.

^ exactly!

I also kinda felt like maybe her touching his arm could have been kind of a "foreshadowing" to him revealing the pink ribbon under his sleeve. I mean, Cloud was the last one to reveal he had a ribbon, we were able to see everyone else's when they made their appearances. It's kinda like making us wonder if Cloud even had a ribbon, or something in reverence to Aerith, and then, boom! He shows us his arm, and it's right there with the stigma.

You're probably right, tho. I can't really tell when SE's being as deeply emblematic about these things as we might sometimes make them out to be. :D They sure like throwing people for loops.

But, deep or not, the Clerith-y-ness is still there. ^_^ <3

Awesome visual. :angel:

Oh wow lol
that was really good.
I loved reading it <3
great Job