Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake features a redone version of the original game's opening cutscene, both of which feature a mysterious young woman in red. Fans of the original are quite familiar with this unnamed "flower girl," but first-time players may be wondering who she is.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake takes place entirely in Midgar, the first area players visit in the original Final Fantasy 7, making it a sort of "episode one" of several remake releases. But Square Enix has said Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a full-length RPG, despite being set in only the original game's first area. In an effort to flesh-out Final Fantasy 7 Remake into a full-length game, Square Enix is adding new content to the original's Midgar story, including new dialogue, new cutscenes, and new characters. The "flower girl" in Final Fantasy 7 Remake's opening isn't one of these.
The young woman seen in Final Fantasy 7 Remake's opening is Aerith, a flower seller and one of the original Final Fantasy 7's main playable characters. She's first seen mysteriously crouched by a pipe leaking green, glowing Mako energy particles into an alleyway. Aerith then hears something down the alley and runs away, bumping into a man and dropping some of her flowers. Players of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake demo might be especially confused by her appearance, since she doesn't seem to be connected to anything else in the demo and doesn't appear again before it ends, but she will end up being a big focus during the rest of the game.
As such, Aerith plays a central, important role in Final Fantasy 7's plot, so it's best not to get into spoilers. Suffice to say, she has a strong connection to the planet that eco-terrorist organization AVALANCHE is trying to protect - one that she and players discover more about throughout their journey. She's also the subject of one of the most notorious plot twists in gaming, which is likewise best left unspoiled.
Fans of the original PlayStation game may be confused to see her name written as "Aerith," since it appeared as "Aeris" in the original. This isn't a new change for Remake, however: Her name has been Aerith in every game she's appeared in after Final Fantasy Tactics. The change is a result of differing English interpretations of her Japanese name, pronounced "Earisu." While the original game transliterated this to Aeris, subsequent transliterations went with Aerith - possibly due to its closer resemblance to the word "Earth," given her aforementioned connection to Final Fantasy 7's planet.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake releases for PS4 on April 10, 2020.