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Aerith and Tifa as Sephiroth’s Foils

There are a lot of moving pieces to Final Fantasy 7–something that has historically contributed to its infamous reputation of being confusing. But one consistent thematic pattern that FF7 utilizes is duality. Life and death. Meetings and partings. Loneliness and togetherness. Many of the main themes presented in FF7 fall into this same format. Even the characters can be considered dualities in and of themselves. One of the most obvious dualities in the game is that of Aerith and Sephiroth. However, in varying degrees, all of the main characters are in some way antithetical to Sephiroth.

Like in many other classic hero vs. villain tales, you’d think that Cloud is the perfect foil to Sephiroth–after all, they’re at odds, so it would make sense that they’d be opposites. However, what makes Cloud and Sephiroth’s conflict so fascinating is that they actually have a good amount in common. Both Cloud and Sephiroth struggle with their identities. They also experienced trauma and loneliness in the past, and tended to isolate themselves from others. It’s this commonality that actually makes them compelling rivals, as Cloud not only has to battle Sephiroth, but also the aspects of Sephiroth that Cloud himself struggles with.

The real foils of Sephiroth are Aerith and Tifa. While there is some debate as to whether Aerith or Tifa is the real heroine of FF7 (mostly spear-headed by weird LTD-pushers), the big-brained answer is that they’re both the heroines. This is evident in concept art from an older FF7 Ultimania, pictured below: 

As you can see, the concept for the story’s heroine started out as a hybrid of Tifa and Aerith. The character’s design resembles Tifa, and the name below the sketch reads “ティファ”, or Tifa. However, the character’s role was very different. She was intended to be both the childhood friend of Cloud Strife and a Cetra, the sister of Sephiroth (who originally looked more like Vincent). Eventually, the idea to kill off one of the main characters was introduced, and the role of the heroine was split in two: the Cetra, Aerith, and the childhood friend, Tifa. There is some evidence of the original concept still present in the series; Tifa’s iconic red eyes match Vincent’s, because originally, the two characters were designed to be siblings before eventually going to separate roles.

Based on this evidence, it would seem logical that both Aerith and Tifa retained their dualities with Sephiroth. And, indeed, even in the final product, both characters provide a foil for Sephiroth to balance the scales.

To exemplify the dynamic that Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Sephiroth have with one another, I’ve drawn a (crude) spectrum:

Obviously, Aerith and Tifa play different roles and have different importance to the story. Aerith’s role is more “big picture”, so to speak. She is responsible for the Planet and for protecting it from Sephiroth after discovering his plans to destroy it. Tifa’s role is more fine-tuned and detailed. She is the rock and the only stable element of the Nibelheim story, a key part of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth’s backstories. To understand how each of them foils Sephiroth, we have to look at them individually and analyze how they interact with both Sephiroth and Cloud.

Part I: Aerith as Sephiroth’s Foil

As stated above, Aerith’s role as foil is a little more obvious. Sephiroth and Aerith are both “Cetra”–or, at the very least, they both claim to be. For Sephiroth, his identity as a Cetra is tied to his belief that Jenova, his “mother”, was a Cetra who was betrayed by humanity when humans left the traditional Cetra nomadic lifestyle in order to colonize the land and the Planet. 

However, Jenova was not a Cetra at all–she was actually a “calamity from the skies” that crashed down and created the Northern Crater two thousand years before the events of FF7. After encountering the Cetra, the creature known as Jenova began infecting and killing the Cetra one by one. These killings only stopped when the Cetra banded together to seal Jenova in the Northern Crater; but, by the time it was done, the Cetra were dying off.

So how did Jenova become known as a Cetra? That seems like more than a clerical error to me. It was actually Aerith’s father, Professor Gast, who uncovered Jenova from the Northern Crater and mistakenly identified her as a Cetra. The Shinra Corporation, desperate to find the Cetra’s “Promised Land” thinking that it would be rich in Mako energy, enlisted the professor to find a way to create a Cetra from a human specimen. Using the cells extracted from Jenova, Sephiroth was created, and after reading Shinra’s archives, he discovered his relationship to Jenova and embraced his identity as “Cetra”. 

Aerith, on the other hand, really is a Cetra. Her mother, Ifalna, was the last Cetra–making Aerith, by relation, half-Cetra. Her connection to the Cetra race is real, unlike Sephiroth’s.

This give her declaration in the final chapter of FF7 Remake all the more important:

There’s a duality between Aerith and Sephiroth in truth versus lies. Aerith’s heritage as a Cetra is founded in truth. She is connected to the Planet in a way that is real. She is a Cetra, in covenant with the Planet to protect it that was passed down to her by her mother. In contrast, Sephiroth’s claims to be a Cetra are lies–whether he’s aware of it or not. Jenova, Sephiroth’s “mother”, is not a Cetra. She is not even from the Planet, but rather from somewhere beyond it. Jenova acted as a parasite of the Planet and is actually responsible for sending it into chaos and draining it of its life. He has no real obligation to protect the Planet, and he is not truly connected to it the way that Aerith is.

Aerith and Sephiroth also represent the original duality between the Cetra and Jenova, with both parties continuing to be at odds with one another even two thousand years later.

Tying in a more overarching FF7 theme, Aerith and Sephiroth also personify the duality of life and death, respectively. With Aerith, her “domain” of sorts, the Sector 5 church, is bursting with life. It is the only place in Midgar where flowers will grow. Even gameplay-wise, she is a healer, and is constantly giving life to other characters in the party. Sephiroth, on the other hand, only destroys. He set fire to Nibelheim and killed the townspeople, including Cloud’s mother and Tifa’s father. Cloud even notes his strength while recounting his version of the events in Nibelheim.

Therefore, Aerith and Sephiroth represent two different dualities: life versus death, and truth versus lies.

Part II: Tifa as Sephiroth’s Foil

Tifa’s role as foil to Sephiroth is more understated but nevertheless important, especially in the latter half of the story. Tifa, Cloud, and Sephiroth are the only survivors of the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth burned the town of Nibelheim to the ground and killed the townspeople after discovering his “Cetra” heritage. However, Cloud’s memories are clouded due to his trauma and the Mako poisoning he endured during the five-year gap between the Nibelheim incident and the start of FF7; and Sephiroth purposefully twists the truth in order to weaken Cloud’s already-fragile mental state. Therefore, the only one who can decipher what’s true and what’s not is Tifa.

Like Aerith, Tifa also represents the truth, while Sephiroth represents lies and deceit. This is very evident in this scene that takes place in the Northern Crater, and again in a scene during Tifa’s journey into Cloud’s mind. In the Northern Crater, Sephiroth tries to convince Cloud that he was never real, and that all of his childhood memories, even the ones he shared with Tifa, were fabricated.

Sephiroth, at first, succeeds in convincing Cloud that he is not the “real” Cloud but rather someone who never existed, who never grew up in Nibelheim, and who clung on to fake memories as a means to cope with that fact. However, later in the Lifestream, Tifa expresses a different sentiment:

By reminding Cloud of a memory they both share–a true memory–she is able to provide a solid ground, wherein Cloud can begin to rebuild his true self after falling for Sephiroth’s deception.

Obviously, Tifa’s relationship with the truth is complicated, and she herself suffers from her own self doubt throughout the story. But in this defining moment, Tifa finally realizes without a doubt what the truth is, and together both Cloud and Tifa are able to reconstruct what really happened in Nibelheim and solve the mystery once and for all.

But this duality isn’t simply about truth versus lies. It’s also about hope versus despair. In deceiving Cloud, Sephiroth strips him of all his hope. Cloud is filled with such fundamental despair that he can’t see the truth and believe that he is indeed an experiment created by Hojo. Tifa, in contrast, provides him with hope when she affirms his memories with her own. Separately, Tifa’s resolve to continue the team’s journey without Cloud is another example of her hope in the face of Sephiroth’s despair.

The idea of hope versus despair in Sephiroth and Tifa is exemplified in Kingdom Hearts (although KH is not canonically related to FF7, I think it’s a neat little call back):

In Kingdom Hearts II, Sephiroth represents Cloud’s darkness, while Tifa represents Cloud’s light. This is a similar dichotomy to truth versus lies, metaphorically, where Sephiroth is “casting shadows” on the truth, and Tifa is “shedding light” on what really happened. (Okay, sorry for the puns!)

Another duality that Tifa and Sephiroth represent is the dual meaning of reunion in the context of FF7. It’s common knowledge among FFVII fans at this point, but to everyone who’s playing for the first time or who has recently picked up the franchise and not gotten all caught up yet, Sephiroth talks a lot about “the Reunion”.  Like, a lot.  Sephiroth’s “reunion” is a reference to the Reunion Theory, a scientific theory posited by Professor Hojo that states that Jenova’s cells–once separated from their host, i.e. Jenova–will seek out the main body.  This makes everyone who has ever been injected with Jenova’s cells essentially part of a massive Jenova hive mind, with the primary goal to eventually reunite with Jenova.

Obviously, this is a bad thing for Cloud, who was exposed to Jenova cells and is thus connected to Sephiroth.

However, Cloud and Tifa also have a reunion at the beginning of the story–a reunion between friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time. Unlike Sephiroth’s reunion, this is a positive thing. Cloud and Tifa, on multiple occasions, discuss “meeting again” and “finding each other” after so many years apart. Even after they reconstruct Cloud’s memories, he says:

Sephiroth’s reunion with Cloud leads him astray from the path; Tifa’s reunion with Cloud sets thing right again. One reunion destroys Cloud’s perception of what’s real, and the other helps him to find the truth once again. Reunion changes meaning with Sephiroth and Tifa, and these opposing definitions of what “reunion” is make Tifa and Sephiroth perfect foils.

Part III: Final Thoughts

Part of what makes Sephiroth such a compelling villain are the striking similarities he shares with the protagonist Cloud Strife. In the original storyboard for FF7, Tifa and Aerith shared a role as the main heroine and the perfect foil for Sephiroth. But even after the role was separated into two distinct characters, the characteristics that made each one of them a foil to Sephiroth remained. For unique reasons, they balance the scales, providing an anchor of “good” to counteract the badness of the story’s main antagonist. 

That’s all I have to say about it! I’ve been thinking a lot about Tifa and Aerith’s unique roles in the story as deuteragonists, or dual heroines, and how they both represent antitheses to Sephiroth. I figured I share my thoughts!

Outline a Rough Draft of Your Novel

This is a worksheet for people like me, who see the dreaded Triangular Mountain of Plot Points and curl up inside. Stories don’t always need to form the shape of a triangle with their conflict, climax, and resolution.

Try these steps out to make a rough draft of your first plotline.

(I say first because most writers always go back and add or delete ideas along the way! What you plan with these steps doesn’t have to be permanent.)

Step 1: Set the Scene

Filling out these points will expand your story and make it seem more real in your mind, if it isn’t something that you have a good concept of already.

This is the step you’ll want to return to if you’re struggling to write later because there aren’t enough concrete details about your fictional world/cast of characters.

Step 2: Pinpoint Your Theme

Stories have themes, even when you don’t realize it. Concrete themes, like survival, love, or death, are more straightforward. In Room, the story is about how the main characters survive through a testament to their love for each other.

Or you could want to write about something more fluid, like the experience of growing up. A coming of age theme (like in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) will demonstrate how the young protagonist matures in their identity or their world view by the end of the book.

Whatever your theme is, write it at the top of your planning page or document. I’ve found that I have to return it while outlining when I feel lost or stuck. It’s easy to wander away from your theme when you get excited or if it’s been a while since you got your initial idea. (And you’ll need a concrete theme if you decide to pitch your manuscript to literary agents, so you’re saving your future self a bit of extra work.)

Step 3: Create Your Initial Conflict

Every story needs an initial conflict to kick things off, even if your outline would look more like the line on a heart rate monitor than a triangle. Think about Georgie sailing his boat down the street and going missing in It or Prim getting selected at the reaping in The Hunger Games.

Step 4: Make Each Chapter a Bullet Point

Keep in mind that each chapter needs to have a point that drives your character or plot towards your main theme or conclusion.

Don’t panic if you don’t have all the details of your plot in mind yet! Remember, this bullet point stage is for rough draft planning. You could come up with five chapters that end the book. That’s awesome—go write what you plan!

You’ll get more ideas as you start writing. When inspiration strikes, jump back into the heart of your bullet point list and thread ideas in wherever they fit best. That’s what’s so great about working with a list form instead of writing everything in a simple shape. You have endless room and the eternal ability to expand your fictional world.

Sometimes this part of novel outlining takes me a month. Sometimes many. It depends on how vivid the story is to me when I think about it.

Most of the time, I let my outlines marinate. Make this bullet point list or one without chapter headers. Open your notes when you get an idea for a scene detail, a conflict, dialogue, or anything else. When you want to organize, you’ll have pages of thoughts that came to you while you were working out or grocery shopping. Use them as inspiration to piece together a longer story (or throw out the ideas that aren’t as great as you thought they were).

Step 4: Read Through Your Outline

You’ll have quite a few things going on within your outline at this point, so review everything when you feel like you’ve reached the halfway point or end of your story. You’ll get a feel for the flow, see if the thematic threads or character arcs connect where they should, and spot gaps that need more details.

Writers who don’t typically plan—don’t worry. Read through your bullet point list to refresh yourself.

If you don’t get any ideas like the list above, just start writing. You can update your list with what you write in each chapter as you go, just so you’ll always know where you are in the plot when you sit back down to write again.

Step 5: Check Your Theme or Point

After reviewing your outline, consider if it carries and fulfills your theme or main point that you listed at the top of your document. It should! That’s what creates the bliss of closing a book and knowing every loose end got tied up.

Step 6: Write Your Heart Out

Writers who haven’t written with an existing outline might panic a bit here too. Let me set the scene—when I have a working bullet list outline, I keep it open in its own tab. Then I have another tab with my manuscript.

I usually split my screen in half so I can see both documents, but the manuscript takes up more space so I can see the entirety of each paragraph. I review where I’m at in my outline, then jump into the writing process. The outline is always a click away if I can’t quite remember where the chapter is going, what specific details I planned, or where it’s supposed to end.

Optional Step: Include a “Possible Plot Points” Section

I love letting outlines sit so I can add to them over the course of weeks or even months. At the same time, it creates tons of random ideas that don’t always fit into my outline when I sift through everything and make chapter headings.

The ideas or details that don’t make my outline go in a separate section that I call “Possible Plot Points.” If a chapter is noticeably short, boring, or just plain missing something, I’ll go back to this section. There’s usually something that I can add into my current chapter. Most of the time, I get inspired by the old ideas.

Nothing you write down during your outlining is a waste! Save it all. The stuff you don’t use will become useful later, I promise.

Try this version of outlining for yourself! Whether you’re plotting on paper or your computer, outlining is an immense help in writing long-form stories or books.

Prompt 195

"He might be king," the princess said, twirling the crown around her finger. "But we all know the throne belongs to me."

Prompt #164

“A mirror is not an effective shield, princess.” The soldier circled the royal, wooden sword twirling in one hand.

“I don’t know. Some men’s egos are large enough that they might get distracted by themselves in their own reflection.” For emphasis, she pushed the mirror out towards her trainer-in-secret. “See, look, isn’t that handsome?”

“If you want to distract them,” he said, not bothering to even glance at the mirror, “just let them see your pretty face. No mirror necessary- it blocks the view.”

10 Arranged Marriage Prompts

1. “I don’t like you and I don’t want to like you.”

2. “Tell me what you are really like.”

3. “I am doing this for my kingdom.”

4. “The love… Well, it will come with time.”

5. “We don’t have to like each other. We just have to pretend.”

6. “I’m stuck with you for the rest of my life.”

7. “We might as well get to know each other.”

8. “This is one of the stupidest things I have ever had to do.”

9. “I like this as much as you do.”

10. “This wasn’t my idea.”

story outlining methods, pt. 1:

take off your pants!! (“take off your pants!: outline your books for faster, better writing” by libbie hawker)

this outline starts with a character — specifically their biggest flaw — and leads to five points that will make up the core of your story. it’s best for plots and subplots that focus on overcoming the flaw!

this outline doesn’t just have to be used for coming of age novels. it is just as important in your dystopian, fantasy, or thriller novels that the main character learns something or has changed by the end.

STEP ONE: think about your character

STEP TWO: think about the end of the story

STEP THREE: think about the external goal

STEP FOUR: think about the antagonist

STEP FIVE: think about the ally/allies

STEP SIX: think about the theme

STEP SEVEN: think about the plot

naturally, you don’t have to follow that outline exactly, but it can be a good place to start ;)

9 Useful Character Questionnaires For Writers

Writers want to create characters readers will remember. We want our readers to empathise with them and to be able to think about them as real people – even if the story is set in another dimension.

Useful character questionnaires help writers. We don’t want to search through 200 pages because we can’t find the colour of our love interest’s eyes. Questionnaires also help us to keep tabs on their relationships and prevent plot holes.

Repost from @writinggibsongirl​ (@writinggibsongirl on Instagram), who made this beautiful visual based on this post from a few weeks ago, which shall now be dubbed the “character first questionnaire”. Please follow her and give her some love for making this beautiful photo set. 

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If you’re struggling with plotting, read The Super Simple Story Structure & How to Use It

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