Cloud was a young man looking for his past. He was dark, moody, and critical, but set on getting his life together. When it came to love, he was pretty much indifferent, or so he thought. He viewed love as something that can be used and disused without a care or notice. Not only did this develop his character better than most think, but it also carried across another message FFVII executed. Love didnt mean anything in the world of FFVII. No one valued human emotions anymore, especially love. And through examples like Cloud's indifference, the death of Aeris, and Don Corneo's womanizing, FFVII further proved it's point that mankind had thrown away all that truly meant something.

Next on the list you have Aeris. The naive, young, innocent flower girl from the Sector 5 church. She represented all that humanity that had lost in FFVII. Innocence, compassion, hope, and endearment. This the gamer could associate her with in the way she dressed, acted, and spoke. When Sephiroth killed Aeris, that was representing the downfall of mankind. As Aeris was impaled, so was innocence, compassion, hope, and endearment. Aeris's death was the true ending of the game. It represented that it was already to late for humanity. It represented the murder of all that humanity needed most. Aeris wasn't killed for shock value or cheap tears, she was killed as a sort of symbolic sacrifice to what the world of FFVII had lost. And the reason the other characters did nothing was because they knew it was over. They realized Aeris was dead for good, and at the same time, the gamer realizes that mankind is pretty much dead also. When you think of Aeris, you think of a cute, naive little girl. And unfortunately, a lot of gamers passed off her symbolism as poor development. This was not the case.

That brings up Tifa, the lost romantic. Through her past with Cloud and the other AVALANCHE members, she was the sort of glue that held everyone together towards the end. She tried so hard to get Cloud to open up to her, and to some degree she suceeded, but not before it was too late. Tifa was a tragic character. She was a lonely character. Despite her happy go lucky image on the outside, you could tell she was reeling with depression and lonliness on the inside. All she really cared about was Cloud, and she continually showed this by her continued efforts to help him and the times she even risked her life for him (the Mideel Lifestream burst). But because of Cloud's demeanor with love and relationships, he never opened up to her, yet another symbol to what FFVII was trying to convey. As stated above, Cloud was very dark and indifferent when it came to love. Tifa, on the other hand, wanted only to be loved, and if everything fell to ashes around her, she would still have love, and that's all she needed. This showed how humanity was too caught up in it's own problems to confide and love one another. Cloud rejected Tifa's love, and humanity did the same to itself. And before Cloud realized his mistakes, it was already too late, the same with humanity.

To tie the three together, Square did a masterful job. First I'm going too explain what actually happened, then I'll explain my take on what it meant.

Cloud thought he loved Aeris, when he really felt the love radiating off of Tifa. Instead of pursuing Aeris though, Cloud tried to sway even greater from love. Eventually, it became to much for him and he decided to go after Aeris. But do to his procrastination, Aeris was murdered at the hands of Sephiroth before Cloud could express his feelings. This changed Cloud for the better, and he realized he actually loved Tifa all along. But because of certain circumstances and Cloud again questioning what and who he loved, that relationship was never fufilled.

What this love triangle was trying to get across was that you don't need a reason to love someone. Cloud debated with himself on his love for Aeris and Tifa and that delay ended up ruining all chances with both of them. Humanity was too selfish and cynical to love anyone, and if they did, it had to be for a damn good reason. Through the ending scene, FFVII leaves us all with a feeling of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. Through the bittersweet love triangle of Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa (and among other things) FFVII showed how mankind had warped their opinions on such matters as love and compassion. And through the love triangle, FFVII was able to convey it's dark, depressing, bittersweet atmosphere that so many of us love today.