Note: This article contains major spoilers for Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. We recommend you finish Rebirth before reading further.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a haunted game. It's nearly impossible to have any awareness of the popular culture surrounding video games and not already know the twist waiting for you in the Forgotten Capital: Aerith Gainsborough dies. And it's impossible to play any amount of Rebirth without wondering if that moment is coming, what it will be like, and whether your choices along the way might give you the power to change it.

Aerith's death has cast its shadow over both games in the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. Before they were released, it was a question of whether the moment could ever be as impactful as the polygonal memories of many players who first experienced it as children or young adults. After Remake, with its thematic grappling with the expectations of fans and its changes to the original's narrative, the question became whether the developers would, in fact, still kill Aerith. On one hand, if everyone knows that moment is coming, will it still have the same impact? On the other, isn't Aerith's death an essential and inextricable part of the FF7 story?