Aeris’ face appearing in the dark opens the game, and this image of her falling away from us closes Act I.
Her death is a fitting close to the end of the first part of this story. Act I is all about setting up the world, the characters, and your expectations for how they will proceed. Act II is about knocking all of that down, beginning most dramatically with the loss of Aeris.
Her death has a destabilizing effect, and probably had even more of one back when people were playing this game without knowing it was coming. It’s fundamental to your understanding of stories like this that the heroine doesn’t die halfway through them, much less so suddenly, without so much as a chance to say goodbye. I’m sure that’s part of what drove the tidal wave of rumours about how to bring her back.
In many fantasy stories, the sudden death of a major character is meant to raise the stakes, to be taken as a sign that no one is safe. In VII, it’s a sign that you can’t trust what you’ve taken for granted, as well as the first step toward uncovering the truth.
