Being the huge Final Fantasy geek *ahem* I mean enthusiast I am I couldn't help but notice some similarities between FFVII's Cloud and Aerith and FFVIII's Squall and Rinoa, so I thought I might share my thoughts with you people.

Okay, first off this goes for FFX too, but I noticed that whenever the main hero (Cloud, Squall, Tidus) looks at the main heroine (Aerith, Rinoa, Yuna) you notice something different about their eyes. I dunno, it's hard to explain but I'll just show it.

Cloud when he first catches notice of Aerith in AC


Squall when he first sees Rinoa on the dance floor


and Tidus as he watches Yuna perform a sending


Is it just me or do they all have the same kind of expression, especially in their eyes. It almost looks like (to me at least) like they are falling in love with the person. Again something I thought was funny :3

Cloud's look when he finally sees Aerith in AC


and Tidus when he first sees Yuna


Didn't Nomura say that Cloud shows his emotion in his eyes a lot in AC? And the only time we really see this much expression is when he is looking or thinking about Aerith.

Another thing: Cloud and Squall are very alike in some ways. Cloud at first claimed that he didn't care about the Planet or helping Barret and Tifa, saying he was only in it for the money. As seen here from screencaps from the game:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3566-178.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3566-273.jpg

Squall as everyone knows who played the game, was even worse. He basically didn't care about anyone else, and acted even more like a jerk, saying "Whatever" every second word.

Cloud even acted this way around Tifa. When she asks him about their special promise at first he doesn't remember it, and then when she reminds him he blows her off.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-171.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-180.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-286.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-292.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-295.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-308.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3568-312.jpg

Squall acts the same way to Quistis when she tries to tell him her feelings.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3593-488.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3593-498.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3593-507.jpg

But! Amazingly ... lol ... Cloud even though he claimed he was only in it for the money, accepts to be Aerith's bodyguard for a date! Not only that, he keeps claiming he is Aerith's bodyguard even though he hasn't received any form of payment yet.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3570-174.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3591-158.jpg

Squall also calls himself Rinoa's Knight, Rinoa does not ask him, like Tifa had to ask Cloud to be her knight in shinning armor, which he reluctantly agrees to.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk.../fmv3742-65.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk.../fmv3742-70.jpg

One more thing: Both Cloud and Squall only show their inner feelings when they are with Aerith and Rinoa. Both of them are closed off on the inside, but both Aerith and Rinoa are not, they are very open with their feelings. Tifa and Quistis are the ones who are more shy and reserved with their feelings, unable to show Cloud and Squall how they really feel.

Cloud's words on Aerith:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3570-582.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3627-348.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk.../fmv3667-90.jpg

Squall's words about Rinoa:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3742-121.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/turk...fmv3742-204.jpg

Interesting coincidences? I think not. I think that Cloud and Aerith and Squall and Rinoa purposely have similarities just the same as the main heroes and heroines from VII onward. At least that's my 2 cents ...

Pinkparachute, you're awesome for noticing this. I agree with you, I don't believe this is a coincidence at all. Squall and Rinoa are like carbon copies of Cloud and Aerith.

These are the sort of things Cleris haters try to ignore, but it just shows how immature they are. Why would there be all these similarities if Cleris meant nothing?

very interesting. i think you did well on your research. I agree with you also, this was no coincidence. I mean from what I've seen, almost every Final Fantasy game has a similiar tie to the other ones.
Like for eg.

The hero, who is always a sword weilder, always pairs up with heroine, the staff wielder.

Squall and Rinoa ( well, she doesn't wield a staff, nor do I think she casts magic well... Um, she's an exception. xD) Zidane and Garnet, Tidus and Yuna. ( I think this pair resembles Cloud and Aerith the most, though their personalities are switched. :3 )

And yeah, for FFVII, Cloud and Aerith fit so perfectly into the category. :3

( i have no idea what I was saying ) :S

You could say that in support of the theory, she is connected to magic since she does become a sorceress. Also "Angel Wing" allows her to cast random magic spells. ^_^

I actually noticed something that might have been noticed before but I'll say anyway. First I'm not very good at organizing my thoughts on paper or in this case a post so bear with me please. I've noticed that when Nomura-can designs the main characters the color of clothes they wear best represent their personality. Which is something that a good character designer does. From what I've seen designing characters for a video game isn't as easy as it might look. Anyway a good example would be Vincent. Vincent personality is cold, dark, mysterious and in some ways full of regret. So it would be appropriate that he wear dark colors and/or something that represents his regret. For instance his cape and headband are red and in some cultures red symbolizes blood and since causing bloodshed is a sin it represents the sin he puts on himself. The rest of his outfit is black which represents the rest of his personality. Now let's look at Aerith. While red and pink are the heroine's traditional colors in anime they are also great representations of her personality. Her jacket is red and also in other cultures, red symbolizes courage which is a very good part of Aerith's personality. For instance when she went to the altar she knew she would be killed, but she just kept on walking accepting her fate and bravely did so until the very end. Not only that but she was probably one of the few people not terrified of Sephiroth. Even though Cloud wanted to defeat Sephiroth he was still terrified of him as were the other members of AVALANCHE. Aerith was probably afraid of Sephiroth as well but only a little bit as you can see she was more than willing to stop him even if it cost her her life. And that was probably one more thing she had that influenced Cloud. After she died Cloud was deeply saddened by her death that he pursued Sephiroth and would make Sephiroth pay for her death even if his life was taken as well. And Cloud's feelings towards Aerith helped overcome his fear of Sephiroth as his feelings for Aerith were far deeper than his fear of Sephiroth. Now let's examine Aerith's pink dress. In American culture and possibly others pink is a color of happiness. Which is what Aerith is, cheerful and optimistic :aeris:. In contrast to Cloud's clothing colors which consist of dark blue and black for his pessimistic and distant personality. And not only that but the colors they wear are opposing each other but they perfectly harmonize with each other. Do we see Tifa wear bright, happy joyful colors. Certainly not :no:. Now let's examine some of the other couples which are also good representations as well. First Squall and Rinoa. Let's start with Squall. First off her wears mostly black which also represents pessimistic, distant, and stoic personality. Rinoa on the other hand wears blue while in American culture blue means sadness in other cultures blue is a happy color like pink as seen with blue sky and mood rings. And of course that's what Rinoa is like: happy and optimistic just like Aerith. :aeris:. This one is going to be a bit tricky but now let's get to Tidus and Yuna. Let's examine Tidus' clothes the top half which is mostly yellow which expresses his optimistic and cheerful disposition, but the suspenders are black which still might represent his hatred for his father. And Yuna's top half is white. White is usually a color expressing purity, innocence or benevolence. Yuna is all of those (in X anyway) and both Aerith and Rinoa are like that as well. But now let's examine the skirt it's purple. Which might represent her shy and not very confident personality. I don't know if this is a good observation, but hey at least I tried :).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Rinoa's magic the highest out of FFVIII? Except for Edea, I think ... Also Aerith, Rinoa, Garnet and Yuna were all white mages or had white mage abilities. Aerith had her healing limits like Healing Wind and Great Gospel and her magic stats were the highest. Rinoa had a high magic stat and white mage limits like invisible moon and wishing star (I think). Garnet was a white mage and a summoner, and Yuna was also a white mage and summoner.

That's interesting Mokuren. Aerith wears pink, which is a happy color and reminds us of flowers. Rinoa wears light blue and white which is reminiscent of a blue sky, and Aerith also wears light blue and white in Crisis Core. Garnet wears yellow, like a canary. And Yuna wears purple, fushia and blue-violet the colors of the setting sun.