Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's own Aerith shares her take on gaming's longest running shipping war
It's probably not the answer you're expecting.
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Arguing over who Cloud ends up with is a tale as old as time, but the voice actor behind Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Aerith has her own take on the debate.
The younger Final Fantasy 7 fans out there, including myself, won't really remember what the shipping wars were like back in the day. It was a warzone, from what I can tell, with people constantly in disagreement over whether Cloud should be with Aerith or Tifa. None of the extended Final Fantasy 7 material has ever really settled on an answer to that, and while romance is certainly in the air in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is in the air, it isn't particularly conclusive either. But what does Briana White, the voice behind Aerith in both Remake and Rebirth, think of the love triangle?
As spotted by a user on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake subreddit, White was recently interviewed by Dan Allen Gaming, where she was asked about Cloud's potential love interests, and her answer was quite a pragmatic one. "I get asked this all the time. Like, who do you ship?" White responded. "And to be honest, I know some people think it's a cop-out answer, but it's whoever you think is right… is right! That's the way the game is designed! There's a reason it's an option for you to go on a date with Aerith, or with Tifa, or with neither of them.
"There is a reason for that. It's because it's an RPG. It's a role playing game. So you, Cloud, the character, the player, get to choose who you like the best. And both are correct! All are correct!"
Honestly, it's the stance that I've taken myself coming away from Rebirth, as it's what it feels like the game is suggesting the most, and offers fans of the series a lot of flexibility when it comes to shipping dynamics. It's also a safe answer, as I can only imagine the kind of harassment she might get if she picked one side or the other. And if we're being honest, we all know that the one true ship is Cloud and Sephiroth anyway.