Editing Aerith Gainsborough

|universe       = {{uv|Final Fantasy}}

|name           = Aerith Gainsborough

|image         = [[File:Aerith.png|220px]]

|caption       = {{symbol|FinalFantasy|50px}}<br>Aerith Gainsborough's artwork from ''Final Fantasy VII''.

|firstgame     = ''{{iw|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII}}'' (1997)

|lastappearance = ''{{iw|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VII Rebirth}}'' (2024)

|games         = ''[[Ultimate]]''

|console       = PlayStation

|species       = Cetra/Human hybrid

|gender         = Female

|placeoforigin = Icicle Inn (birthplace)<br>Midgar (hometown)

|creator       = {{iw|wikipedia|Yoshinori Kitase}}<br>{{iw|wikipedia|Hironobu Sakaguchi}}

|artist         = [[Tetsuya Nomura]]

|interwiki     = wikipedia

|interwikiname = Wikipedia

|interwikipage = Aerith Gainsborough

'''Aerith Gainsborough''' ({{ja|エアリス・ゲインズブール|Earisu Geinzubūru}}, ''Aerith Gainsborough''; formerly translated as '''Aeris''' prior to {{uv|Kingdom Hearts}}) is a character from the video game ''Final Fantasy VII''.

Aerith first appears in ''Final Fantasy VII'' as a girl selling flowers in the slums of [[Midgar]]. Initially encountering [[Cloud]] after his first mission with AVALANCHE, Aerith offers him a flower before he goes on his way. Cloud next meets Aerith when he falls through the roof of the church where she gets her flowers from. When he learns that she is menaced by Reno, a Turk hired by the Shinra Electric Power Company, Cloud becomes Aerith's "bodyguard" with the offer of a date as payment. From then on, Aerith and Cloud flee Shinra's pursuit, and ultimately leave Midgar to pursue [[Sephiroth]].  

The reason that Shinra is hunting Aerith is that she is the last known descendant of the Cetra, a race of ancient humanoids that had the ability to interact directly with the planet's Lifestream. Aerith is shown "talking to the planet" like this several times. During her early childhood, Aerith and her birth mother Ifalna were subject to various experiments by Shinra to test what a Cetra was capable of. Both eventually escaped, but Ifalna did not make it far. Before her death, she asked a bystander named Elmyra Gainsborough to take care of Aerith, to which she agreed.

 

 

Aerith is a joyful, caring person who is quick to make friends and is naturally pacifistic. Living in the slums of Midgar her whole life, she has a stubborn, street-smart attitude and rarely shows fear. While always looking for the good in people, Aerith will still acknowledge absolute evil like Shinra and Professor Hojo. She can also be flirtatious, especially around Cloud, who reminds Aerith of her previous first love, who coincidentally was Cloud's best friend during the events of ''Crisis Core''.

Aerith serves as the basis of the Aerith's Outfit DLC Mii costume for the {{SSBU|Mii Swordfighter}}. Aerith's Outfit uses both Aerith's design and her weapon from ''Final Fantasy VII'', wielding her initial weapon, the Guard Stick. She was revealed during the ''{{h2|Mr. Sakurai Presents|Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth"}}'' presentation on December 17, 2020.  

 

During the reveal trailer, the Mii Swordfighter representing Aerith is first seen holding a [[Fire Flower]] next to a green-glowing {{SSBU|R.O.B.}} on the [[Fourside]] stage, referencing the intro of ''Final Fantasy VII'', where Aerith is seen staring into the glow of Lifestream while out selling flowers in the slums of [[Midgar]]. The Mii Swordfighter is next seen escaping {{SSBU|Roy}}, who is hit by a [[Barrel]] dropped by {{SSBU|Cloud}} on the [[Temple]] stage, referencing Cloud and Aerith's escape from Reno in the Sector 5 church. The ending image features the Mii Swordfighter in the [[Garreg Mach Monastery]] stage's Reception Hall layout referencing the church as well.

 

Aerith was released alongside the other Round 8 Mii Fighter costumes on December 22nd, 2020.

*There is a running gag in promotional footage featured between ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate'' involving [[Zelda]] standing in for Aerith. This first occurs in Cloud's reveal trailer, where Zelda is featured holding a [[Lip's Stick]] on [[Kalos Pokémon League]] next to Cloud laying down, in reference to Cloud crashing into the Sector 5 slums church. One of the [[Challenge]] [[:File:SSBU challenge image 011.png|images]] in ''Ultimate'' features Cloud appearing to hold Zelda in the water on [[Tortimer Island]], in reference to the events right after her death. Finally, Sephiroth's reveal trailer features a scene where he performs his down aerial next to Zelda on [[Fountain of Dreams]], narrowly missing, similarly referencing her death. The use of Zelda in Aerith's Spirit battle if her Mii costume is not purchased furthers this connection.

[[Category:Third-party characters]]