RP Interpretation Meme

[rp_anontalk]

For these anons-

ITT your interpretations of a character for critiquing and analyzing. Kinda like rp_advice_meme in reverse. Don't get too wanky- this'll only work if you play nice. ♥

Edit: Oops, meant this to be on the comm. Oh well.

Comments

AERITH GAINSBOROUGH

[anonymous]

There are other things too, like her unwillingness to tell people what she knows about the Ancients and Holy.

Maybe it's not unwillingness? I don't think she really knows that much. She answers questions about the Ancients and the Planet in Shinra HQ to Cloud & Tifa but one of the things she says is "more than words...I don't know", that she often can't make out what the Planet is saying and needs to get out of Midgar to find her Promised Land. It's kind of a running theme that people keep overestimating how much Aerith knows about Cetra-related matters; when she gets kidnapped by AVALANCHE in BC she gets a guilt trip about Elfe dying without being able to get to the Promised Land, and all she can say is "…but I really don’t know where the Promised Land is…" There's optional dialogue in Costa del Sol where she talks to Cloud about how she doesn't know who she's supposed to be as an Ancient, so I don't think it's that she's unwilling to open up--it's her choice to start telling Cloud about it--as that she's seriously confused and lost and it's hard for her to find information about her heritage. (Although it's debatable whether she would have talked to anyone besides Cloud about that; Cloud's in a pretty unique position since he'd already protected her twice and reminded her of Zack.)

Also, I think disc 2 shenanigans would have happened even if she'd told Cloud everything she knew, because she seriously didn't know much. "The secret is just up here. At least it should be. ...I feel it. It feels like I'm being led by something." I'm not sure she knew what she was doing until she got into the City itself; she just trusted her connection to the Planet and it led her on a friggin' scavenger hunt to using Holy.

Anyway, this is a big digression, because I actually do agree that she's very guarded with the matter of Zack and doesn't like talking about when she's been emotionally hurt. My personal explanation for why her description of Zack and their relationship differs so much from what was actually the case has to do with how much the story of Aerith waiting for Zack parallels Elmyra waiting for her husband's return. When Elmyra's husband died, Aerith knew it was someone important to Elmyra because he had been wanting to return to Elmyra when he passed away--she heard those thoughts. Zack was desperate to return to Midgar to see Aerith. If Aerith sensed Zack's thoughts when he died, she probably knew how much he wanted to see her, which implies something was very wrong that he couldn't visit for five years and couldn't get a word to her, even with her trying to call him and attempting to send letters through Tseng. Instead of contemplating nightmare scenarios of what would keep a loving boyfriend completely silent for five years and then end with his death, she denies that he was coming to see her and changes details around to fit. She'd probably rather believe that Zack had been happy with someone else than that he was being hurt. But definitely being dishonest with herself, yes.

Re: AERITH GAINSBOROUGH

[anonymous]

Agreeing with pretty much all of this, and also commenting to add that the reasons for Aeris' guardedness could also likely be the result of everything people mentioned here, to varying degrees. She doesn't know much, what she does know worries her and makes her life difficult, and that she possibly doesn't prefer to dwell on it, rather, trusting her path to reveal itself.