How Zerith Ticks The Romance Genre
(This post is an organised rearrangement of our Zerith fangirling as to why we really love and appreciate their story of love. All credits go to my fellow Zerith shippers on Twitter; @eleamaya, @sylvthea, @ZeroTwt0, @artbyshimo, @KeyToAeris, @aerithluvletter. This one’s for you guys!)
Written for @zerith-week Day 2 — Dating/Kisses
The rule of thumb is, FINAL FANTASY VII is not a romance story. This was accentuated by the ending of the original game where Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was the producer and created the story concept of the original game had said; "And what happened to the characters? It doesn't really matter, after all. It's their growth through the content of the game, though important. The main story of FINAL FANTASY VII is the battle for Planet. Focusing on each character would have distracted from the most important themes. Nothing is more important than a Planet. Nothing is more important than life."
Despite that, Zack and Aerith had been portrayed to have a romantic relationship from the get go. Aerith had mentioned Zack as her first love, and Zack had written to his parents about a girlfriend. Not to mention the numerous times the NPC in Crisis Core had addressed Aerith as his girlfriend as common knowledge, and Zack Fair Fanclub visiting Aerith upon the announcement of him being KIA in a mission as an act of condolences to the deceased's girlfriend. In the story compilation of FINAL FANTASY VII, we did get some love stories; Cloud and Tifa, Cid and Shera, and also... Zack and Aerith.
So how was Zack and Aerith shown to be a romance?
Tracy Wolff, a New York Times bestselling author had said; "Writing an emotionally compelling love story is all about the connection between your characters. The emotional payoff only happens when you've stoked the flames between them as high as the stakes that should be keeping them apart." And while there isn't one specific way to drive the point home, these bestselling authors had listed general rules to create this romance in stories, compiled by J. Kenner in "How to Write Romance Scenes; Ultimate Guide for Romance Authors", which had impressively projected on the love story of Zack and Aerith.
1. Start with attraction.
Even enemies-to-lovers story, there needs to be an attraction, a spark. Zack and Aerith are not an exceptional to this rule during their meet cute. The meet cute is the term for the inciting incident in a romance that sets the tone for the entire story. It had been well-known that when Zack first saw Aerith, he was attracted to her to the point of calling her an angel. He proposed a date to her not because she reminded him of someone but because he was attracted—okay, that was half joking lol. But anyway, this is really self-explanatory. Zack is a ladies-man. He’s not some kinda aloof guy who would hold back his flirting when he saw a girl he was attracted to. And Aerith is not a shy girl. She was also shown to be attracted to the guy when the game showed how her eyes followed his every movements since he doubled back up. She even admitted that she wanted to spend more time with him. Zack also tried to look cool by showing his strength against some monsters, and Aerith wasn't buying it. They share the same sense of humour that magnetizes them towards one another. We got some nice teasing and flirting scene back and forth which became the dynamic of their relationship onwards. But there was still an emotional gap between them here. When Aerith mentioned he was strong, and Zack thought about what was happening with Angeal, he felt deflated. He didn't immediately share what he was thinking with Aerith despite her asking, and that was realistic considering they have just met. Both of them are vocal about their initial attraction, even if the emotional bond has not formed yet. Not to mention their aesthetic and height difference make them look good together, but let's not go there. lol.
2. Building chemistry and dynamic.
Someone once commented that Zack and Aerith fell in love within ten minutes and then they only had cute moments with no development. This is false. The attraction and spark were there within the first ten minutes. The bond was built through time. Through each scene, their observations of one another get deeper and more intimate in a non-high-five way lol. But as I pointed out earlier, FINAL FANTASY VII is not a love story, thus the proportion of the romance being told becomes secondary or even tertiary to the plot. If you’re expecting a love story, FINAL FANTASY VII is not your game. However, we are still being fed with how Zack and Aerith gradually get to know each other. They went for a walk-turned-date, and Zack learned that Aerith loves pink ribbons and scolds people who stepped on flowers. She opened up about being scared of the sky. Zack also learned that Aerith is actually people-smart when she told him that the kid who pick-pocketed him didn't do it without reason. Aerith learned that Zack is actually troubled beneath all the jokes he cracked. And how he was willing to listen to her insecurities when she mentioned her fears. Subsequently they spent time together, getting to know each other better. They also called each other frequently to the point that she interrupted him pre-fight amidst missions. You see, Aerith didn't fall in love with Zack because he was cool, or because he was a perfect prince charming. She fell in love with him because he was a messed-up goof, non-judgemental, and way too caring for his own good. Zack fell in love with Aerith not because she was a Cetra or a Gainsborough or whatever privilege she possessed. He fell for her because she was a quirky girl who likes flowers and ribbons who empathised and helped around the kids in her sector. They chipped off the outer layer of each other and dug deep into their most vulnerable selves—Zack when he opened up to Aerith during his lowest point in his life never caring about being a cool guy, and her with her fear of sky and her insecurity of being different. That's when they finally fell in love. Aerith did not wait for 5 years and wrote 89 letters because of a guy she had a crush on. She did all that for a guy she had learn to love over the course of 18 months, whom she finally revealed the most vulnerable wish she could bravely entrusted to him; her 23 tiny wishes, all so that she gets to spend more time with him.
3. Emotional/internal conflict that build the tension.
Conflicts are important in story building. This includes hinting at any emotional wounds or baggage, and showing how falling in love might heal them. In romance, there are two main conflicts that make up good stories. One of them is Internal Conflict in which would build the tension between the two partners. Aerith and Zack are not normal people. Aerith is a Cetra. Zack is a superhuman SOLDIER. They both had eccentricities, Aerith probably more than Zack. But it was her Cetra heritage that held Aerith back. Her traumatic experience of watching Ifalna getting suspicious drugs and doing shady things to get them out of Shinra had her built up a defence mechanism to avoid the glaring problems right in front of her eyes. It manifested in their relationship in a way. There was this awkward push and pull on Aerith's side the first time they met because she was hesitant if Zack would accept her for who she is. It was a highlight of Aerith's insecurities that made her long for Zack but wary of his attraction at the same time. But she grew out of it while being with him. Slowly but surely, she expressed herself more, she gets bolder; her fears, her kind of wagon she wanted while still being mindful of him. She attempted some carefree conversation for a bit when Zack cried—her usual defence mechanism—but they showed how she knew him enough to recognise that wasn't what he needed, and she proceeded to give him a hug. They supported each other through their fears and lows. Their love healed each other. She was the best version of herself when she was with Zack. Caring, outgoing, sassy, but still empathetic. Zack, on the other hand, found out about Aerith's internal conflict from Cissnei. Aerith never told anyone about it, because she had been lying to herself to seek comfort in normalcy. Interestingly enough, she didn't need to. The minute he found out, he was only like "okay, so, anyway—". For Zack, she was still one of a kind, Cetra or not. It is the kind of scene where, in the case if Aerith finds out about it, her love for him would only deepen. It is his understanding and acceptance that makes their love that much sweeter. If this reveal happened earlier in their relationship, it would probably create a wedge between them. But their bond had been cemented, no ancestry was relevant to how they view each other by this point. Behind those walls, they were just Zack and Aerith, two ‘normal’ people who love and support each other unconditionally, giving comfort and hope for freedom and future, with no ulterior motive. And that was how their relationship grew as the game progressed.
4. External conflict that separated the lovers.
External conflicts work as the actual reason the lovers became separated. A realistic obstacle outside of the relationship that keeps them apart, driving the actions and plot of the two characters. The factors that keep the characters apart are important to make people root for them to get together. Most of this external conflicts for Zerith came from Zack's side, in contrast to their internal conflicts which mostly were Aerith's. Angeal's death, Zack reprimanding Tseng for tailing Aerith after knowing she was a Cetra, that foreboding when Zack had to be deployed to Nibelheim... Aerith asked when he'll be back and if she could call Zack during that mission even if it was constantly her routine in previous missions and it had never been a problem. The foreshadowing of their tragedy; building flower wagons and selling flowers, as if to savour every last seconds they had together. We have this bittersweet but equally heartbreaking scene when Aerith told Zack that she had fun even if they weren't selling well because he was there with her. Zack, too, entrusted Aerith to Tseng despite his vocal complaint about it before. The build-up of their separation was imminent. And then it happened. They were separated for good. What's unique and beautiful about Zerith's external conflict though, is the fact that neither of them were at fault for the separation or miscommunication. Aerith tried to reach out to him. Zack tried to get back to her. They both did their parts to their very best. It's just that their external conflict was too huge, it prevented their message from reaching each other.
This one is a bit tricky. Because we all know that Zerith is a tragic couple. However, here's the thing. Even a tragic romance has some sort of a happy ending—something to follow through the 'Downfall'. It is called the Perspective/Reflection. The story needs to put the tragedy into perspective, not let the Downfall go all the way down. The best example I could think of is Nicholas Sparks's romance novels, such as "Best of Me", when they had spent the time they lost and had their closure, the hero accepted the fatal fate he should've gotten earlier. And the heroine, despite heartbroken, becomes a better mother, better partner, and she moved on with a bittersweet memory. There is a hopeful glimpse of the character moving on or a montage of memories as they reflect on the loss. It should not end by making the living lover go around flower fields to take commemorative photos endlessly—okay, that referenced joke was uncalled for, sorry. But this is what Zerith had in spades. The Downfall of their romance was their separation, the failure to reunite, the grief that Aerith would never see her lover again. But what is the perspective after their tragedy? What is the resolution or reflection of their relationship? And this had been answered beautifully in Advent Children, bringing the romance story between Zack and Aerith into full circle, completing the criteria of writing a love story. The fact that they had reunite, walking out of the church together, with a full knowledge that they accepted their fate, and they stayed by each other's sides in the Lifestream, always. Later accentuated by Aerith’s yellow flowers blooming on Zack’s resting place, and Zack’s Buster Sword placed in the Sector 5 church where they spent the most time together, as if to tell us they have the eternity together.
In a way, Perspective/Reflection is the tragic romance's version of happily ever after, not in a fairy tale way, but more convoluted that leaves us satisfied with the culmination of the romantic relationship, in an odd way. The type that wrenches our hearts and keeps us thinking about them for days even. Ending on this note however, I do believe that the developers are not actually done with the Zerith's Perspective/Reflection. They had their Downfall—their fate was predestined to be separated, to be star-crossed. But such is the mystery in Remake, something they enunciated to be something to look forward to in Rebirth.
So is Zerith poorly written?
I'd say, according to the standards of the New York Times Bestselling Authors, they're pretty damn well-written considering FINAL FANTASY VII is not a love story, and they're not even the main pairing. But the important plot points and pivoting events to bring their relationship forward are included. They got their own beginning, their own conflict, their own dynamic, and their own ending. Their love and passion are explored from the superficial attraction down to the deep subconscious connection that made us turn our heads just by having them passing by each other.
In short, they ticked the boxes of romance recipes authors go for.
And with that, I wish a Happy Zerith Week 2022 to all Zerith nation. With Crisis Core Reunion and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth coming soon, let's rejoice and celebrate this well-written romance and buckle our seatbelts for more of their tear-jerking adventure!
