Here’s how Aerith’s white materia could totally change the story of FFVII Rebirth 

Yesterday, Square Enix released a playable demo and final trailer for the much-anticipated Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The events shown in the trailer prompted speculation about how key scenes from the 1997 original will play out in this second part of the remake trilogy, especially regarding the important role of Aerith’s white materia.  

The following article contains story spoilers for the original Final Fantasy VII. 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will follow on from where 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake left off. After enduring a series of tough final battles and escaping the city of Midgar at the end of Remake, Cloud and co. are set to embark on a new journey across a vast open world. 

The trailer is a heady mix of story scenes, character interactions and hints that your party members can now perform coordinated special attacks. The trailer reveals many of the characters and places that will appear, including Turk member Cissnei from Before Crisis, and glimpses of Junon and the Golden Saucer. Naturally, dramatic interactions between Cloud and Sephiroth are also included. Director Tetsuya Nomura states that the game’s “content is as aggressive as the final trailer” and warns players to steer clear of any pre-release spoilers. 

The part that has attracted the most attention is the scene around 3:30 minutes into the trailer. Aerith, who has untied her long hair, gives Cloud a white materia and says, “Here. Take it. This isn’t about me though. This is about saving the world- and you.” The trailer then closes with tantalizing glimpses of that infamous scene in the Forgotten City where Cloud and the party confront Sephiroth. 

This scene has got FFVII fans particularly excited- not only because it did not appear in the original game, but also because of the white materia. The white materia was a key item in 1997’s Final Fantasy VII, which is only referenced in some lines and cutscenes. In the original, Aerith kept this materia in the big bow in her hair. In the infamous scene at the end of Disc 1, where Jenova (mimicking the form of Sephiroth) stabs and kills Aerith, her hair ribbon comes undone and the white materia plunges into the water. 

In the original version, the white materia served an important role in counteracting Sephiroth’s black materia. For years, there were rumors that the player could go back to the Forgotten City to obtain Aerith’s white materia from the water and equip it to use holy magic, but this is in fact not true. The role of the white materia was restricted to the game’s story. Entering the Forgotten City alone, Aerith prayed with the white materia to invoke Holy magic to protect the Planet from Meteor. Although she ends up being killed, she succeeds in saving the Planet. So, although the white materia was not obtainable for the player, it played an integral role in the original Final Fantasy VII’s story and ending. 

In Rebirth, it seems that players will finally be able to get their hands on the white materia. More importantly, the scene suggests that Aerith might not die in the same manner as in the original, and her death might even be prevented. Incidentally, in a previous comment on Rebirth’s story, Nomura said “a fate awaits that everyone who knows the original will be curious about.” 

In addition, the FFVII Rebirth demo contains the opening chapter of the game: Fall of a Hero in Nibelheim. This flashback segment sees both Sephiroth and Cloud visit the town of Nibelheim to investigate an incident back when they were both in Shinra’s elite force SOLDIER. You can control both characters in the demo. On February 21, the demo will be updated with the addition of the Junon area, which will give players a taste of Rebirth’s open world exploration elements. 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is scheduled to be released on PS5 on February 29. The demo is available now.

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2024-02-07 19:52 JST)