i don't know if this has been brought up before and i'm nervous i might be like reading this wrong, but when i read on the way to a smile: lifestream white, and aerith was said to be healing spirits that came into the lifestream, it made me think that she became god in a way. that goal sephiroth wanted (yknow or atleast wanting something akin to that) falsely believing he was a cetra, blah blah, and in the end, aerith is the one who actually achieves something like that. she is cetra, so she can have some sentience while in the lifestream can't she? (correct me if i'm wrong; i'm going mostly based off dome here and i just woke up lol) but i found it super interesting!!! like i think it's common knowledge that her and sephiroth do parallel each other, a very known trope of light vs dark.
anyways that's been on my mind for a while. again, if i'm wrong, correct me haha i'm not that up to date with everything because apparently some things have been retconned? if that's the case, lmk!
reading this and viewing them as tragic siblings good lord i'm gonna KMS!!!! ppl brought up how aerith seems familiar with sephiroth in the japanese voices, and that just stabbed me in the chest bruhhhhh