The Sleeping Forest is a location in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It is a cold, boreal forest located directly between the Bone Village and the Corel Valley, on the way to the City of the Ancients. Cloud Strife first witnessed Aerith Gainsborough here during a dream sequence, before later visiting it with the Lunar Harp possessed. Cloud later returned to the forest years later, and was visited here by Aerith's spirit.
History[]
In Final Fantasy VII, during "Parting with Aeris", Cloud first witnessed Aerith here in a dream after "Within the Temple of the Ancients". In it, Aerith told Cloud about the forest, and told him not to worry about her, and to let her handle Sephiroth. Sephiroth then appeared after, suggesting she must be stopped from interfering.[1] Cloud and the party thus decided to follow her to the Forgotten Capital, and obtained the Lunar Harp from Bone Village to proceed.
In Advent Children, Cloud passed through the Sleeping Forest en route to the Forgotten Capital where he was visited by Aerith's spirit in a similar manner to how she visited him in his dream years earlier. Shortly after, Cloud was ambushed by Kadaj's group, as well as the children under his control. In the ensuing chaos, Cloud took on Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj and was nearly defeated before being saved at the last minute by Vincent Valentine.
Geography[]
The Sleeping Forest is located around the southern tip of the the northern continent of the planet, a continent otherwise mostly covered in snow. The forest's connects is the midway point between the forest and Corel Valley; it is a rocky hill with different flora growing in the rocks.
Gameplay[]
There are no random encounters on the forest on the world map. The Sleeping Forest appears in a dream sequence during "Parting with Aeris", and is later visited on the path toward the Forgotten Capital. The forest comprises three screens. The first is visited during the dream sequence, and as the first screen of the forest upon visiting. Before the player has the Lunar Harp, the first screen repeats.
The player can pick up Kujata Materia in a brief window. It is found in the second screen, upon returning to the forest, and must be caught before it leaves. If the player's Materia inventory is full when picking it up, the Kujata Materia will be lost forever.
Musical themes[]
"In Search of the Man in Black" plays inside of the Sleeping Forest.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]
This section about a location in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Behind the scenes[]
Dummied dialogue for Bone Village suggests a few potential changes for the Sleeping Forest throughout development. Some dummied lines include tutorials for the Ancient Forest. This in the final game is an optional area far away from the Sleeping Forest geographically, but in the game code the fields are ordered in a way that otherwise mostly matches with the order the game introduces areas, but places the Ancient Forest in between Sleeping Forest immediately and Corel Valley.
The entrance to the Sleeping Forest from Bone Village may have been planned to be closed at one point, as dummied dialogue suggests the way in would have opened for Aeris with "a loud noise".[2]