Tifa Lockhart



Tifa Lockhart is a female protagonist in Final Fantasy VII. She is Cloud's childhood friend from Nibelheim and a member of AVALANCHE. However, her personality is much more laid back and selfless in comparison, with a motherly streak concerning all her friends and her attitude to others. Tifa is quick to hide her true feelings from people, her shyness is a key aspect of her character, and she is caring and loving to a fault. Tifa also owns a bar called 7th Heaven, located in Sector 7 slums of Midgar, which also serves as an AVALANCHE hideout.

Appearance and Personality
Tifa's long hair falls below her waist and is tied at the end in a distinctive dolphin-tail split. Tifa's hair is dark brown, but in some appearances looks black. Tifa's eyes are officially addressed as red, but they have also been depicted as brown in some appearances, and she wears white tear-drop earrings. She wears a sleeveless white tank shirt that shows her stomach with a black miniskirt and a pair of black suspenders connected to her belt. She wears fighting gloves that come up to her elbows, which have metal protecting pads, and she wears old boots. Her body is slim, belying her great physical strength.

In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tifa's hair is shorter for easier animation, and merely reaches partway down her back. She wears shorts with a black ribbon on each leg instead of a regular shorts, and she has a cape tied onto the shorts in a bow in the center. She wears a sleeveless white shirt underneath a sleeveless black vest with a zipper, and when fighting wears leather gloves. Tifa wears this same attire in Kingdom Hearts II. In Crisis Core and Before Crisis, Tifa wears a cowgirl outfit with an orange and brown vest over a white corset with an orange miniskirt and boots with a cowboy hat. She is also seen wearing this outfit in Final Fantasy VII in a photo of her taken with Zack Fair and Sephiroth.

Tifa is a shy character, which is perhaps best displayed by her last name, Lockhart. Tifa does not express her feelings often, and she often has trouble doing so. She has a strong motherly streak and helps take care of the other AVALANCHE members at her bar, and she also has no compunctions about using her strength to keep rambunctious patrons in line, if what other characters indicate is true. Tifa is also caring and helps whenever she can. She often comforts the other AVALANCHE members, and in Final Fantasy VII is often found spending time with Aeris Gainsborough when the party splits up, who is similarly caring and compassionate. She is also close to Barret Wallace, the leader of AVALANCHE. On the Way to a Smile reveals that due to the Nibelheim Incident, Tifa bears a deep-seated hatred of Shinra and Sephiroth, and when the Lifestream emerged at the end of Final Fantasy VII, she metaphorically hoped it would absolve her sins, as she feels horribly guilty over the destruction she and AVALANCHE caused.

Nomura and Nojima had a hard time creating the new Tifa and focused on developing the emotional backbone that her character is to the cast. They made sure to portray her as a modern woman who can function without her man, rather than a clingy one. When Tifa finally tells Cloud what's in her heart, the original scene had Tifa feeling a little guilty about being blunt. Nojima decided to cut it for time. The final portrayal makes Tifa a positive role model and female lead. As she was in Final Fantasy VII, on the outside Tifa is a hard worker and spends her time caring for everyone but herself. On the inside, she keeps the feelings of uneasiness towards Cloud locked up.

Childhood
Tifa's childhood is covered through various flashbacks in Final Fantasy VII. Tifa was born in Nibelheim, the and was long Cloud's next-door neighbour. She was out-going, lively, and quickly gained quite a lot of friends. Although she and Cloud lived right next to each other, and were only a year apart, they were never close. She and the others did not really know Cloud through most of, or all of their childhood. Tifa's mother died when Tifa was eight years old in 1995, leaving her upset and confused. Tifa believed her mother had gone to Mt. Nibel, and that she could meet her again if only she crossed the mountain.

Tifa headed off to Mt. Nibel, and Cloud followed to keep her safe, but Tifa fell from a rickety bridge. Tifa's father found her hurt, and blamed Cloud for leading her to Mt. Nibel. Years later, in 0000, Cloud decided to become a SOLDIER, like his idol Sephiroth, in part to impress Tifa. He called Tifa out to the water tower, a local date spot, to tell her of his plans, and Tifa made Cloud promise to protect her if she was ever in trouble. He agreed, and left to join SOLDIER the following spring. Afterward, Tifa constantly worried about him, reading the newspaper every day looking for some mention of Cloud, and asking Shinra personnel if they knew him when they came to Nibelheim, but there never was anything, for Cloud only became an infantryman.

Crisis Core / Before Crisis
Two years later on September 21, 0002, at the age of 15, Tifa is working as a tour guide in the Nibelheim mountains and is taking martial arts lessons from Zangan. In Before Crisis she is hired by the player's Turk to lead a Shinra expedition from up Mt. Nibel to investigate a faulty Mako Reactor. The expedition included Sephiroth and a SOLDIER called Zack. During their stay, she drops hints to Zack that she dreams of specifically having a blond-haired SOLDIER protecting her, obviously referring to Cloud. Unbeknownst to her, Cloud happens to be one of two Shinra guards with Zack and Sephiroth, but is hiding his identity due to his embarrassment of failing to enter SOLDIER. Without her knowing it the entire time, he happened to be the same guard that prevented her entry to the reactor, attempted to protect her from a monster attack that occurred shortly after (trying to anonymously keep his promise in the process) with little success, and whom she helped down the mountain. Afterward, Tifa leaves messages for Zack expressing her worry for the soldier who helped her. She thanks Zack for his help and asks him if they could talk about SOLDIER.

At the reactor, Sephiroth goes berserk when he learns who his mother is, and upon his return to town and spending several days studying, becomes fully insane. On October 1st, he puts Nibelheim to the torch and razes the town, then sets off to the reactor. Tifa's father and others follow, but Sephiroth slays them. At the reactor, Tifa finds her father's corpse with Sephiroth's Masamune. Declaring her hatred of him and Shinra, she rushes into the reactor and attacks Sephiroth, but he disarms her and cuts her down. Tifa falls down the steps and slumps to the ground, unconscious. After learning of Sephiroth's madness, Zack goes to the reactor and finds Tifa severely injured. He engages Sephiroth in combat, but is defeated. Not long after, Cloud arrives and carries Tifa aside to make sure she will be safe while he fights Sephiroth; Cloud later admits that he thought Tifa's wounds were fatal. Tifa, heavily wounded, would later be taken by Zangan to Midgar for medical treatment. He continuously cast Cure on her to try and heal her, but succeeded only in keeping Tifa alive, and it is implied she has no recollection of the journey to Midgar.

The exact time frame is not given, but at some point after this Zangan leaves Midgar, and Tifa recovers from her wounds and joins AVALANCHE, an anti-Shinra resistance group led by Barret Wallace. She also becomes the owner and proprietor of the bar and restaurant 7th Heaven, which houses AVALANCHE's base in a secret basement.

When Cloud returns to Midgar as a mercenary in 0007, he meets Tifa. Unaware that Cloud was at Nibelheim in the past, but suspecting something is off about his behavior, she recruits him to work for Barret in order to keep him close to examine him further. Later realizing Cloud knows several things he should not and has forgotten things he should know, and also initially doubting her own recollections when faced with Cloud's, Tifa decides to keep this information to herself while she tries to figure out the reason behind Cloud's strangely different character and inconsistent memories.

Final Fantasy VII
On December 9th, Cloud's first mission with AVALANCHE was a success, and he returned to Tifa's bar. The next day Tifa accompanies them on their next mission. The bombing is successful, but Cloud is separated from them. When the rest of AVALANCHE returns to the hideout, they find someone spying on them, who points to the crime boss Don Corneo as a Shinra informant. Tifa comes up with a plan in order to get close to him. Don Corneo is known for calling up girls in his mansion and then choosing the one he likes best to be his "bride" for the day. Cloud sees her being taken to Don's, and infiltrates Corneo's mansion with Aeris. In the ensuing confrontation, Corneo reveals that Shinra is planning to drop the Sector 7 plate to crush the slums. Tifa and Cloud race to help Barret defend the pillar supporting the plate while Aeris takes Barret's daughter Marlene to safety. Most of the other AVALANCHE members are killed, and the pillar is destroyed. Tifa, Cloud and Barret escape while Shinra captures Aeris.

The remains of AVALANCHE fight their way into Shinra Headquarters to save Aeris, but are captured. That night, Sephiroth appears to attack the building, and in the chaos the group is mysteriously released from their cells. After battling various Shinra war machines and the new president of the company Rufus Shinra, the group flees from Midgar to Kalm. At Kalm, Cloud tells the group about Sephiroth's destruction of Nibelheim. His version of events is faulty, but Tifa, confused by his story, does not confront him on these issues both to protect him and because she now doubts her own recollection.

The group travels around the world tracking Sephiroth, with Tifa supporting the party when she can. When they arrive at Nibelheim, they discover the town has been rebuilt, and the villagers (who are really Shinra employees hired to cover up the Sephiroth incident) do not remember Cloud or Tifa ever living there.

When the group reaches the Northern Crater, Sephiroth appears and begins to show Cloud the true events of Nibelheim's razing. Tifa, worried what this could do to Cloud, pleads for him to stop, but Sephiroth's manipulations take their toll. Cloud submits to Sephiroth's will and hands over the Black Materia, a powerful Materia that can summon Meteor, then apologizes to Tifa as the crater begins to shake. Tifa and Barret flee on the Shinra ppairship]] Highwind as the crater collapses and are captured, with the rest of AVALANCHE escaping another way. Tifa and Barret were brought to Junon, where they were to be executed as scapegoats to show that Shinra was still in control as Meteor loomed in the sky.

Tifa is thrown into a gas chamber, while Barret is rescued by the other party members hidden in the crowd. While gas seeps into the chamber, Tifa breaks out of her restraints. Sapphire Weapon attacks Junon, blasting a hole in the gas chamber, which saves her. Running to escape the Shinra forces, Tifa climbs up onto the Sister Ray. Scarlet confronts Tifa, and the two women descend into a catfight. The Highwind appears below the cannon and Tifa jumps down to the airship and safety from Shinra. She is elected temporary leader of the party while Cloud is gone.

Cloud is later found in Mideel, suffering from a Mako overdose. Tifa stays behind to watch over him, and Cid is elected leader. Later, the friends decide to check up on Cloud, who is not showing signs of improvement. However, the Ultimate Weapon appears, and Lifestream swallows Mideel, and Tifa and Cloud fall into it as Tifa tries to push the unresponsive Cloud to safety.

Inside Cloud's Subconscious Tifa uncovers the truth about the Nibelheim incident, and restores Cloud's memories and motivations. Later, in the aftermath of Midgar's siege by Diamond Weapon and the impending chaos of Shinra's destruction, Cloud dismisses the party members, instructing them to find a reason to fight. Tifa stays behind with Cloud, as she had nowhere else to go. Depending on the player's interactions with her during the game, the following scene has two possible dialogue course, one implying a strong romantic connection, the other less of one: the more romantic scene is considered the canon option.

In the game's ending in late January 0008, Tifa stays behind to help Cloud to safety as he descends into the Lifestream for a final battle with Sephiroth, and is caught by him as he returns to his own body, and the two stay near each other throughout the remainder of the ending.

Novellas
Tifa is the focus of Case of Tifa in On the Way to a Smile, examining her life and relationship with Cloud after the game events. Tifa, Cloud, and Marlene become a family in the newly built city of Edge, and Tifa runs a bar while Cloud runs a delivery service. Her life with Cloud is initially happy, but Tifa becomes increasingly concerned with Cloud's secrecy and growing depression, which begins to strain the family's unity. Cloud later brings Denzel to the bar and he joins the family, but Cloud continues to grow distant from her as time goes on. As the novella ends, Cloud has left 7th Heaven with no explanation, despite briefly showing signs of happiness again. Tifa calls his cellphone several times but eventually the answering service takes over. Shortly thereafter, the events of Advent Children begin.

Tifa also has a brief mention in Hoshi wo Meguru Otome. After learning from Zack that Cloud truly is not himself, Aerith protects Tifa's mind from the Mako poisoning while she is in Cloud's subconscious, believing she can restore Cloud's true persona.

Advent Children / Advent Children Complete
Tifa plays a large role in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, taking place one year after Final Fantasy VII in 0009. In it, she serves as Cloud's emotional support. She runs a bar called 7th Heaven, rebuilt in Edge, and cares for Marlene and Denzel alone; apparently, she also handles the business side of Cloud's delivery service.

While taking Marlene to Aerith's church to find Cloud, she discovers that Cloud has Geostigma. Loz shows up, hoping to find Jenova's head under Cloud's care. Instead, he finds Tifa, who he begins to duel. Though she puts up a good fight, Tifa is eventually defeated after Loz begins to use his superhuman speed and pile bunker, Dual Hound. Later Cloud finds her unconscious and prepares to hunt down Marlene, but is stopped by a bout of pain from his Geostigma. Cloud first turns down Tifa's request to go to the Forgotten Capital to get Marlene and Denzel, fearing that he will be unable to help them, but Tifa gives him a speech about his apathy and self-loathing, talking him into going.

The next day, when Loz and Yazoo have mind-controlled the children with Geostigma into going to the memorial in the center of Edge, Tifa attempts to save Denzel from them. She is knocked out by Bahamut SIN while protecting Denzel. Quickly waking up, she joins the battle with the remaining AVALANCHE members against Bahamut SIN, and is the last person to physically help Cloud — with Aerith providing support from the Lifestream — into the air to deliver the final blow to Bahamut SIN. Tifa appears on the Shera with the AVALANCHE members while Cloud fights Kadaj and Sephiroth, and arrives in the church with Denzel to heal his Geostigma, and share a shy smile with Cloud as he relaxes with the children in the pool of Lifestream purified water.

In Advent Children Complete, Tifa's role is largely unchanged, but she plays a larger role in the fight with Bahamut SIN and the Shadow Creepers, protecting Denzel from them until Cloud arrives to join the fight.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Tifa only appears briefly during the game which takes place one year later in 2010. The first is during the ground assault on Midgar, leading the tanks with Barret and Cloud. The second is when the gang is cheering on Vincent towards the end when he is "saving the world", and the third is at the end, when Yuffie enters 7th Heaven to inquire about Vincent. She is still running the bar, and lets Shelke live with them. Tifa can also be heard during a phone call to Vincent during his descent into Midgar's underground, but in audio only.

Equipment and Stats
Tifa is a Monk, and thus has high physical stats and equips Claw and Glove type weapons. However, stat differences in Final Fantasy VII are unnoticeable for most characters. Only a handful of Tifa's gloves have higher-than-average strength, but the two that do are exceptional. One, the God's Hand, has 255% Accuracy, meaning Tifa will never miss, and the other is her strongest weapon, the Premium Heart, which grows stronger as Tifa's Limit Break gauge fills. Both weapons also boost her magic power. Also notable is the Master Fist, which does not have a particularly powerful strength rating, but which gets significantly more powerful for each status effect Tifa is under while it is equipped, and even outclasses several final weapons if Tifa has numerous ailments afflicting her.

Limit Breaks
Tifa's Limit Breaks are unlike most Final Fantasy VII characters'. Instead of selecting a move from a list, Tifa's Limit Breaks consist of consecutively hitting the opponent with each move adding on to the previous. Each move deals physical damage to a random opponent. The Limits are selected through a selection process similar to the Slot skill from Final Fantasy VI. Each time the reel hits "Yeah!" damage is doubled, but each time it hits "Miss", the attack does not connect. Stopping the reel on "Hit" allows the attack to connect, but does not increase its power. The player stops the reel, and later skills have "Yeah!" harder to hit and surrounded by "Miss".

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Tifa appears to use some of her Limit Breaks during her fight against Loz in the Sector 5 Church, namely Beat Rush, Somersault, and Meteor Strike. However, these may not be actual Limit Breaks, as Tifa does not acquire a blue aura while performing them as other characters do using theirs.

Kingdom Hearts II
When fought as an opponent in the Colosseum tournaments, Tifa's strongest attack is Final Heaven.

Development
According to the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, Tifa was originally planned to be a supporting member of AVALANCHE rather than a field operative, and to be partly responsible for the group's formation which would have started in her bar. In a plot point cut from the final product, Tifa was intended to be attacked by Cloud and have a scar on her back from the assault. The circumstances for this are not stated, but Tifa would have had amnesia of the attack, implying this may have taken place during the Nibelheim Incident, or have been an altered version of her childhood injury for which Cloud was blamed.

Tifa's diary was also originally meant to be found in the game, in which she writes about her early relationship with Cloud. In it she names some of her friends from Nibelheim: "Wel", Dan", and "Meiday", all of whom asked her out to the water tower, just as Cloud did, showing her immense popularity in the town. She also mentions that Cloud started to get into fights with the other kids by when he was eight years old, the same year her mother died.

In cut conversations, Tifa was to speak with Aerith over Cloud's strange behavior, explaining the events of Nibelheim's destruction and Zack's role there. Tifa would have shown Aerith the picture taken before the Nibelheim Incident, which she would have kept in a locket, as proof of this. Tifa was also to meet her old master Zangan again, at which point he would teach her the "Final Heaven" technique, as opposed to learning it from a letter from Zangan in the final product. She would also have given Cloud mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in Mideel to revive him after going through his subconscious.

The original plans for Cloud and Tifa's moment under the Highwind were far more suggestive than the final product. Following a fade-out scene, Cloud was to walk out of the chocobo stable on board the Highwind, followed by Tifa who would check around as she left. This idea was rejected for being too "extreme", and a less risqué "toned down" version of the scene replaced it.

Tifa's job class was originally listed as "Shooter (Martial Artist)".

Musical Theme
Tifa's eponymous theme "Tifa's Theme" (ティファのテーマ Tifa no Tēma) plays during Tifa's flashback of Cloud's promise. Additionally, "Tifa's Theme" original plays as the background music to 7th Heaven before heading out to destroy the Sector 5 Reactor, to when it switches to "Barret's Theme".

Kingdom Hearts II


Tifa appears in Kingdom Hearts II, looking around Hollow Bastion for Cloud and helping Leon defend Hollow Bastion when the world is invaded. Tifa wishes to help Cloud fight Sephiroth, and has spent much of the game searching for him. She eventually interrupts a battle between the two and gives Cloud the power of light to combat Sephiroth's darkness. Cloud shines brightly and he and Sephiroth depart to places unknown to continue their battle. Tifa thanks Sora for his help in locating Cloud and gives him the Fenrir keychain. She later appears as a boss in several cups in the Underworld Coliseum, fighting with the other Final Fantasy characters.

She may or may not also be a human resident of Hollow Bastion, but rather a physical embodiment of light to oppose Sephiroth, who symbolizes darkness. The ambiguity of her nature was deliberately inserted by Nomura in order to generate discussion among players.

Itadaki Street series
Tifa also appears as a playable character in Dragon Quest &amp; Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, as well as Dragon Quest &amp; Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable, alongside Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth.

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
Tifa is an initial playable character in Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. Her moveset includes Somersault, Beat Rush, and chargeable energy blasts. A third costume can be unlocked, depicting her as the "cowgirl Tifa" from the Nibelheim flashbacks. Her title in Story mode is "Summoner", and she can only be fought by successfully defeating "Guardian" Cloud.

Xenogears
In an Easter Egg in Xenogears, the player can spot a poster of Tifa on the wall in Solaris. Her stance is the same as her artwork.

Etymology
Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania states that "Tifa" is a shortened version of the name Tiffany. In Japanese, Tiffany is written as ティファニー - the same way that Tifa is spelled, only with '-ni' at the end. Tiffany in turn comes from a Greek word that means "manifestation of God". Despite this, Tifa's name is pronounced with a long "e" (Tee-fa) rather than a short "i", as Tiffany is pronounced. Tifa's last name, Lockhart, might be a reference to Tifa's hiding away her feelings for Cloud, "locking" them within her heart, or to her role in unlocking Cloud's psyche later in the game.

Trivia

 * In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, Zack can speak to a man building a bar, who asks Zack what to name it. When Zack suggests "7th Heaven", the man loves the name and suggests getting "a young girl with a big bosom and long legs" to work the bar, obviously referring to Tifa.
 * Tifa appears in Monty Oum's Dead Fantasy in her Advent Children attire, along with Rikku, Yuna, Rinoa, Kairi, Cloud, and Dead or Alive characters. In Dead Fantasy, Tifa's main enemy is Hitomi as they are both martial artists. She is in parts I, II, III, and V of this series, sparring with the other Final Fantasy females against the Dead or Alive characters. As of Dead Fantasy V, she has lost most, if not all, of her Materia to Hitomi, was severely wounded by Hayate's men, and is now being held by DOATEC. Apparently, Cloud has teamed up with Yuna to find and rescue Tifa.
 * The entire fighting sequence between Loz and Tifa in Advent Children has been duplicated in the music video for the Korean pop singer Ivy MV's "Temptation of Sonata", albeit with minor changes, such as small parts of the fighting choreography being altered due to the absence of Loz's Dual Hound, and Tifa's victory by snapping Loz's neck at the end. The music video was later banned on TV and singer Ivy was sued by Square Enix.
 * In Dissidia Final Fantasy, one of the strongest Grappling weapons shares its name with Tifa's strongest weapon from Final Fantasy VII, the Premium Heart.
 * Her "Dilly dally, shilly shally" line was referenced in the video game The World Ends With You, which was also made by Square Enix.