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Death is an inevitable part of most video games. And putting aside the hundreds or thousands of enemies, some of which look exactly the same, that you will indiscriminately take out over the course of the game before you hit those end credits, there are, of course, those distinct character deaths that hit you particularly hard. But the beauty of video games is the freedom of choice and possibility they present to the player. often that they can actually affect the outcome of the story and in some situations even prevent a beloved character from shuffling off their mortal coil.
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Death is an inevitable part of most video games, and putting aside the hundreds or thousands of
0:06
enemies, some of which look exactly the same, that you will indiscriminately take out over
0:10
the course of the game before you hit those end credits, there are of course those distinct
0:14
character deaths that hit you particularly hard. But the beauty of video games is the freedom of
0:19
choice and possibility they present to the player, often that they can actually affect the outcome of
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story and in some situations even prevent a beloved character from shuffling off their mortal
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coil. We've all played games that granted the player agency to ensure a character remained alive
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but to the same token we've all desperately tried to save a character whose fate was unfortunately
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sealed by the developers all along. And the latter is absolutely the case with the 10 games I'm going
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to be telling you about now all of which absolutely broke our hearts with character deaths that we
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just couldn't do anything about. Now, of course, I am talking about big character deaths
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so there are spoilers ahead. Be wary. I'm Jess from WhatCulture, and here are 10 video game deaths
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you were powerless to stop, but kept trying anyway. Oi, you. What are you buying
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Number 10, Roebuck and Polonsky, Call of Duty World at War. Near the end of the American campaign in Call of Duty World at War
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you'll be given a choice of saving one of the two beloved comrades that you've been through fresh hell with
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Sergeant Roebuck or Private Polonsky. When the pair search for a group of Japanese soldiers
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they suddenly activate concealed grenades, at which point the player needs to choose whether
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they want to save Roebuck or Polonski from certain death. The outcome is, as you can imagine
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absolutely heart-rending no matter who you save. And even for the survivor themselves
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they're wracked with guilt over the soldier that met their demise. It's just pretty brutal no matter
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how you look at it. And many players felt it too, to the extent that they experimented around trying
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to figure out a way to take the Japanese soldiers out before they could ready the nades. It was
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eventually discovered that you technically can save both of them if you throw an explosive and
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kill all the soldiers before they can strike, but there's a catch, which is why I said save like that
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Though both soldiers will stand upright and appear to be alive, one of them will still react as though
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the other has died. And as for the other totally not dead soldier? Well, there'll be an unresponsive
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spectre-like zombie from this point forward for the entire game to come. So that might be a fate
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worse than death. Maybe just go with the original. Number nine, Grey Fox, Metal Gear Solid. One of
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the most tragic moments in Metal Gear Solid occurs when your old frenemy Grey Fox shows up in the
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middle of the Metal Gear Rex boss fight in order to offer some assistance. Though Fox absolutely
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does help you out destroying Rex's radome, in doing so he's also crushed against a wall by Rex
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which mortally wounds him. As he dies, he urges Snake to fire their stinger missile launcher at
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Rex, even as villain Liquid Snake, who is piloting Rex, points out that if he does that, he's gonna
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kill Fox At this point control is handed back to the player and if you do as Fox instructs and attempt to fire the stinger Snake will point out he can do it as doing so will finish his friend off Players might then try and find a way to fire the Stinger at a different part of Rex
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chassis further away from Fox, but alas, there's nothing to be done. After a little while, a cutscene
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kicks in, wherein Rex knocks Fox to the floor and then crushes him beneath his foot, ending him once
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and for all. It's easily one of the most brutal character deaths in the entire franchise, and
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Considering you can save another imperiled character, Meryl, earlier in the game
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fans can't really be blamed for thinking there must be a way to rescue Fox as well
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Number 8. Lenny Summers, Red Dead Redemption 2 Lenny Summers is absolutely one of the most likable characters in Red Dead Redemption 2
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and this is a game with a lot of colorful characters, so that's really saying something
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But for Lenny, it was really from the moment that we got drunk at a bar with him in Valentine
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he was just this surefire fan favorite ride or die but that's exactly what makes Lenny's death
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that much more heartbreaking during the robbery of the Lemoyne National Bank as Lenny and
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protagonist Arthur attempt to flee across a rooftop Lenny's met by two Pinkertons who
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immediately gun him down this being a game from Rockstar who've offered alternate fates for
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supporting characters in a lot of GTA games players sort of assumed that if they were a
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little bit quicker on the draw, maybe they could shoot the Pinkertons before they open fire on
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Lenny. But no, unfortunately, there's nothing you can actually do here. Of course, that hasn't
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stopped fans from modding the game so they can teleport to Lenny, pick him up, and fly away
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before the Pinkertons riddle him with lead. Sadly, there's no mod that keeps Lenny alive in the story
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mode, but I guess at least we still had that fun night out. Lenny! That was a good bit
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Number 7. Noble Six – Halo Reach Halo Reach's post-credits scene sees the player staging a last stand as they attempt to defeat the Pillar of Autumn while it escapes Reach, with their position becoming overwhelmed by Covenant forces
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You'll eventually be swarmed and killed by the Covenant, leading to an affecting final scene, which eulogizes Noble Six and his brave team
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But given that that final missions title is survive, you'd really be forgiven for assuming
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there might be a way to, you know, survive. Even with Halo Reach being a prequel which leads into
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the events of Halo Combat Evolved and in turn seemingly sealing the fates of Noble Team
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many players initially believed that if they just fought long and hard enough
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they could actually make it out in one piece. But no matter how long you can last against the
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covenant, you will eventually be overcome by the enemy, which is programmed to become increasingly
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aggressive until they take you out. Much as it stings to hear, and you would know this from many
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TV shows, movies, books, and video games where you've encountered this before, sometimes that's
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just the only way it's going to play out. Number six, Emperor Uriel Septim, The Elder Scrolls 4
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Oblivion. The instigating death in The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion is that of Uriel Septim
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the Patrick Stewart-voiced emperor who's assassinated in the game's opening moments, setting the rest of the story in motion. Despite the fact that his demise is kind of necessary for
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the entire story to unfold at all, it still hasn't stopped a lot of players, and I mean
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pretty much anyone who's played that beginning section more than once, from wondering if they
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can just get ahead of the situation and take that assassin out before they get Uriel. I mean
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I think we probably all did it again if you played Remastered. Even accepting Bethesda's penchant for branching storylines and wildly varying outcomes, there
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is no official canonical way to keep Uriel Septim alive But with players being players and Bethesda games being the perfect breeding ground for mods of course some fans discovered ways that you can save Uriel by
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glitching through a wall and sneaking up on that assassin before he gets the chance to grease the
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emperor. Although if that happens the emperor will just follow you around the sewer like a lost puppy
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and then the rest of the game still takes place as if he died because again that was already set
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in motion but kind of funny if you want to try it out. Number five, Jen, Prey. 2006's cult classic
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FPS Prey drops one hell of a devastating mid-game plot twist when protagonist Tommy's girlfriend Jen
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who's kidnapped by aliens at the start of the game is revealed to have had her upper body surgically
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grafted onto the lower body of a reptilian creature. More to the point, this creature has pretty firm
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designs on killing you so there's really not much you can do other than to take on the Jen monster
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type thing. After defeating the creature in a boss fight Tommy tries to figure out how it is he could
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save Jen and as players we assume that Tommy could somehow use his spiritual powers to restore her
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regular form but tragically Jen is quick to tell Tommy nothing can be done to save her life and
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that's right before she asks him to put her out of her misery and the player has to pull the trigger
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themselves, which is always such a gut punch. Even if you might have hesitated at this point
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assuming surely there's a way to save her, unfortunately, well, you know, you understand
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the list by this point. There isn't. That's pretty much it. At least given the series' supernatural
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nature, we know for sure that Jen ends up in the afterlife-like realm known as the Land of the
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Ancients, so that's a little bit of a reprieve. Number four, Ethan Forrester, Telltale's Game of
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For all its flaws, Telltale's Game of Thrones did absolutely stay true to the mantra of the TV show
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that nobody is safe, not even the main guy. Case in point, one of the main playable characters
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introduced in the game's first episode is Ethan Forrester, the young teenage heir to House Forrester
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Of all the main characters, he seems like he's the safest, and even not, this being a Telltale
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game and all, you might get some choice in whether or not he ends up surviving, right
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Well, that's not what happens. Instead, at the very end of the very first episode
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Ethan Forrester is taken out by possibly one of the worst fictional characters ever envisioned
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and that is, of course, Ramsey Bolton. Now, at first, players might assume that they
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could go back, make some different decisions, and give Ethan a reprieve. But in fact
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all story permutations lead to that same tragic outcome. There is no way for players to save him
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While a lot of players were definitely frustrated that they couldn't find another fate for Ethan
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it was also kind of smart of Telltale to toy with player expectations
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that even though they have a lot of agency in these games, they still can't control everything
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Number three, Reggie Rowe, Infamous Second Son. One of the most important characters in Infamous Second Son is protagonist Delson Rowe's brother
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Reggie. He's killed near the end of the game when villain Augustine leaves the pair dangling
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from a platform with Reggie's legs encased in concrete. Knowing that Delson can't save them
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both and the concrete is soon going to encase his brother as well, Reggie lets go of Delson's hand
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When he does so, he does fall to his death. But Infamous is a superhero franchise, you might think
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Combined with the first game's time travel element, there must be some way to undo what
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happened to Reggie Given the players probably know that Delson has a fourth power which hasn been unlocked yet what if it the ability to manipulate time And before the games end he manage to go back and save his bro
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Well, unfortunately, that isn't what happens. After defeating Augustine, it turns out that that special fourth power unknown up until this point is... Concrete
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Which is absolutely not going to help Reggie, and in some ways is sort of cruelly ironic
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Even though the game has a karma system which somewhat influences the story, you're simply wasting your time if you attempt a squeaky clean playthrough, hoping that in doing so you can avert your digital sibling's fate
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That one, unfortunately, is done and dusted. Locked in stone. It's concrete
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Number two, Sam, The Last of Us. Two of the most memorable supporting characters in The Last of Us are Sam and Henry
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brothers that you encounter and some of the only people you encounter who don't try and murder you on sight
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During one mid-game set piece, you need to provide cover using a sniper rifle
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as Sam, Henry and Ellie traverse perilous terrain. Clickers inevitably eventually attack the group
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at which point Henry and Sam are both tackled to the ground
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Players are then prompted to offer assistance, but you've only got time to shoot the clicker attacking one of the brothers
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Shortly after this sequence, it's devastatingly revealed that young Sam was actually bitten and
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has become infected. When he attacks Ellie, Henry shoots him dead before turning the gun on himself
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out of grief. There is enough ambiguity in the gameplay here that you could be led to believe
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if you decided to snipe the clicker who was attacking Sam instead of Henry, maybe this could
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be avoided. But The Last of Us, as you'd know if you've played it or watched it or just heard
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anything about it, is not that type of game. Pretty much everything always goes wrong and no
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matter which clicker you shoot in this situation, the outcome is set in stone. Sam's fate is sealed
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and in turn his brothers also. Number one, Aerith Gainsborough, Final Fantasy VII. And finally
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was there ever going to be any other choice for number one? Sure, there are plenty of other characters that are devastatingly taken from us in an inevitable way in plenty of games and
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if I haven't mentioned them please put them in that comment section but I couldn't do this video
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without telling you about Aerith. There's simply no more iconic or lamented death scene in video
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game history than that of Aerith and this happens in the original version of Final Fantasy 7. The
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moment she was cut down by Sephiroth is a serious pain point for an entire generation of gamers
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and it didn't take long for players to try and figure out a way to bring her back from the dead
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or ideally circumvent her demise entirely. All over the world in the late 90s it was whispered
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about on schoolyards and all over gaming magazines that there was some kind of secret
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mission you could do which would save Aerith from this fate. Unfortunately it simply wasn't true
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There is no canon authorized way to keep Aerith alive with players ultimately resorting to cheat
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devices like game sharks or mods to play as Aerith following her exploration. Recently
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a glitch was also discovered which allowed players to keep Aerith in their party until the end of the
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game. But in terms of the actual story, she is of course still treated as dead. The subject of
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Aerith's fate has also been something of a touchy subject in the ongoing remake project. And
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considering what a convoluted way they decided to deal with it at the end of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
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where there's sort of a Schrodinger's cat situation going on where she's both dead and
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alive it understandably hasn't given still distraught fans too much comfort