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We always assume that in any story there ought to be a heroine, usually the love interest of the hero. This is undoubtly quite an immature concept, but one that normally works well within the fictional world of role-playing games. Final Fantasy VII came and totally turned this common conception upside down, by presenting two main female characters, as well as an unsolved love triangle formed by them around the hero.

Despite my old, primary beliefs of the opposite, I don't think there's a defined "heroine" in the game. We do have Aerith as the closest to a lead female stereotype we can possibly find, but, then again, and in spite of my preference towards CloAer, she's not the only girl in Cloud's life, and, while being pivotal to the plot, works more as martyr and a hope giver than an actually active presence (after all, she died in Disc 1): contrary to Tifa, who always was and will be there, not fortunate enough to have Aerith's aura of hope and happiness, but constantly doing her best to help her loved ones and the world itself through the hardest times they've ever seen. Heroic enough? I think so.

From my point of view, a person that doesn't meet all the requirements for being a "hero" is closer to being one than one who does, because the greatness isn't in doing well due to your strength, it is in succeeding in spite of your weaknesses, and that's surely what Tifa does throughout the game; however broken-hearted, no matter how lacking in the hope department, nothing stopped her from giving her all to her duty, and, without her, Cloud probably wouldn't have recovered, and neither would the world, consequently, have been saved. But one can't possibly deny Aerith's contribution in all this; she was the one calling upon Holy, and the one bringing out the best in Cloud while she was alive: the one who taught him how to laugh, the one who showed him how to feel.

In conclusion, Final Fantasy VII definitely not being a common game, common concepts don't apply in it, no matter how bad you want them to or how hard you struggle to prove they do. There isn't one heroine in this game; actually, there are two: two opposite personalities with totally different contributions to the positive outcome of the story. While prior to Aerith's death Tifa didn't have much of a spotlight role, she showed her true nature and became as crucial as the flower girl was as soon as the latter passed away. And seeing as how having two "heroines" worked perfectly well in the game (better yet, it wouldn't have worked any other way), I don't see why we should be complaining.

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