Sherry Barnett studies and later teaches ancient languages and artifact research. As a second-year student at Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy, she carries childhood trauma from witnessing her mother’s murder, unaware of the circumstances. Lutheran Barnett, the academy’s deputy headmaster and her mother’s benefactor, adopted her. Under his guidance, she continued her mother’s archaeological work, honing exceptional skill in deciphering ancient texts—a rare talent among scholars. This academic dedication caused social difficulties, leaving her struggling with basic interactions and forming few meaningful bonds. Lutheran openly worried about her lack of friends. Physically, Sherry has pastel pink hair and eyes. Her shoulder-length hair is typically braided on both sides. During her student years, she wore the academy uniform: a navy-blue blazer with white and gold accents, white shirt, navy blue corset and necktie, white skirt, black tights, and white lace-up block heel boots, often layered with a black robe. Initially, her personality blends intellectual curiosity with social underdevelopment. She shows loyalty to the few she connects with, such as developing a one-sided romantic interest in fellow student Cid Kagenou after he gives her chocolate. Her social naivety includes obliviousness to danger, necessitating repeated indirect protection during peril. A terrorist incident at the academy triggers her transformation when her adoptive father dies. Unaware that Lutheran orchestrated the attack as a Cult of Diablos member and murdered her mother, Sherry witnesses Shadow kill him. Shadow knows Lutheran manipulated both Sherry’s and her mother’s research for the cult’s gain but withholds this truth to spare her pain. Sherry thus believes Shadow killed her benevolent stepfather without justification. The trauma reshapes her personality. She withdraws, sheds her cheerfulness, and fixates obsessively on vengeance against Shadow. In an anime-original scene, she stabs Shadow’s portrait with a knife while laughing maniacally, revealing profound psychological deterioration. Isolated and plotting revenge, her activities after these events remain unexplored beyond her debut.