This is the first of a couple threads I'm making to help me brainstorm for my FF7 novel. I apologize if it seems like spam of a sort, but I think that each thread asks a valid and interesting question, although I expect it will still irritate people to have them all pop up at the same time. Sorry.

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In my FF7 novelization, I've been wanting to instinctively remove Don Corneo from the story. This is because I perceive him to have very little importance within the story given that the only reason he is in it is that he somehow figures out where AVALANCHE's HQ is, which doesn't seem like it would be very hard given that the group barely hides their presence in Sector 7 one bit. I also think that the whole business with Cloud dressing up with a woman is completely out there and not very serious to his character and personality as we know it. Do you guys think he is a necessary part of Final Fantasy 7, and a character you would definitely want to see in a novelized version of the story? Here are my pros and cons for keeping him in the overall story.

Pros:
- Despite being a predictable lech, he is somewhat amusing in his ridiculousness.
- Seeing Cloud dress as a woman is nearly as hilarious as it is painful.
- Getting rid of him might be harder than keeping him. The whole market area and Cloud/Aeris' purpose there revolves around them trying to get in to see the Don.

Cons:
- He is stupid, over the top, and completely at odds with the overall portrayal of Midgar as a futuristic industrial dystopia.
- It forces Cloud to dress up as a woman, which I believe is very out of the blue and not fair to the character. Not to mention do a number of demeaning things in order to get the feminine items.
- The entire area and part of the game surrounding him and getting into his mansion does not offer any significant additions in characterization to anyone and thus is entirely unneccessary fluff.

I am interested to see if others agree with my impression of Don Corneo. I would much appreciate it if people would post and inform me as to whether they think he is necessary or not. Also, if I do replace him, it will likely be a darker and more serious portrayal of the character instead of his outrageously flamboyant self. So let me know if anyone has any ideas of how/who to replace him with if you have any.

Thanks everyone.

You're wrong though in your statement that Cornero had no importance to the story. He was basically a snitch the Shinra hired to track down AVALANCHE'S hideout, which he did. Although the Shinra then made a major blunder in revealing their plans to destroy Sector 7, with the result Cornero blubbered the information on to Cloud and his party.

Hence, because the Shinra realized that it was Cornero who informed Cloud about Sector 7, Cornero became a fugitive from the Shinra, forcing him to flee Midgar for Wutai, which tied in with the whole Yuffie subquest there.

I also seem to recall a mission in FFVII: Crisis Core that mentioned something about Cornero, but I can't remember the exact details.

As for why Cloud had to dress up as a woman, it was simply a disguise. Cornero refused to allow men inside his manor, and so Aeris thought it was the easiest means to gain access to his abode (although I guess Cloud could have simply knocked out his guard and taken his clothes as a disguise, but where's all the fun in that?)

Cloud clearly was uncomfortable about the whole situation so it's not like he willingly enjoyed it. It was just a means to an end, like dressing up as a Shinra soldier later in the game. If you want someone to blame for making Cloud get in touch with his feminine side, blame Aeris, as she was the one who came up with the idea anyway.

And, also if you end up excising this scene from your fanfic, how would you have Aeris and Tifa meet, seeing as they first meet during this scene (in Cornero's mansion). Eliminating it would just cut too much out of the narrative and alter the pacing of the story.

But that's just my own opinion.

Well, I don't say that he has no importance to the story, as he pushes events along as you say. But, my main bone to pick against him and his portion of the Midgar story is that the entirety of that area (the Market and Mansion) took forever, and seemed like another planet compared to the rest of the game. That along with the fact that he just seems to me like he was inserted into the game's plot almost as a joke.

All in all, I just am not looking forward to writing that section out, as it is hard to imagine it not dragging with all the errands Cloud runs to get decked out in feminine clothing. As a consequence, I'm seeking to tone the area down, and perhaps make Don Corneo and his mansion a darker and more seedy area within Midgar, as well as making it go by faster by skipping all the dressing up nonsense. I won't skip it entirely, but I definitely want to change it drastically, although you make a good argument for keeping it all in as a whole.

Would you personally want to read about that area as it is portrayed in the game? I wouldn't. Although maybe I loathe it more than the average joe. Do you like goofball Corneo as he is and think that the novelization would be lessened by his absence? And when I say his absence, I'm referring to an alteration in his personality, not an erasure of the character.