Tifa Lockhart

Tifa Lockhart is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII, and the deuteragonist of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. In Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, she plays a supportive role. Tifa is Cloud Strife's childhood friend, but lost contact with him years ago. When she meets him again, she convinces him to join the resistance group she is a member of, AVALANCHE, to fight Shinra Electric Power Company.

Tifa supports Cloud as his comrade and helps him fight his nemesis Sephiroth, bearing the same hatred for him as Cloud does due to the destruction of their hometown.

The Miracle Elite Storyline

Phantom's Apprentice

TBA

A Christmas Bizarro in July

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Nightosphere Most Wanted

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Backstory

Tifa was born in Nibelheim and was Cloud's next-door neighbor. She was outgoing and had many friends, but although she and Cloud were only a year apart in age, they were not close. 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 she crossed the mountain.

Tifa headed off to Mt. Nibel and Cloud followed to protect her, but they fell from a rickety bridge. Tifa's father found her severely injured and blamed Cloud for leading her to Mt. Nibel. Five years later, in 0000, Cloud decided to join 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 left to join SOLDIER the following spring and Tifa kept checking the newspaper looking for some mention of him, and asking Shinra personnel if they knew him when they came to Nibelheim. She would find nothing, for Cloud never made it into SOLDIER, becoming only a lowly infantryman.

Two years later, on September 21, 0002, a 15-year-old Tifa works as a tour guide in Mt. Nibel and is taking martial arts lessons from Zangan. In Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- she is hired by the player's Turk to lead a Shinra expedition to investigate a faulty Mako Reactor. The expedition includes Sephiroth and a SOLDIER named Zack. During their stay she drops hints to Zack of dreaming of a blond-haired SOLDIER protecting her.

Unbeknown to her, Cloud is one of the two Shinra guards accompanying Zack and Sephiroth, but is concealing his identity due to his shame of failing to enter SOLDIER. Without her knowing it he prevents her entry to the reactor, attempts to protect her from a monster attack shortly after (trying to anonymously keep his promise) and is helped down the mountain by her. Afterward, Tifa messages Zack expressing her worry for the soldier who helped her.

Sephiroth goes berserk when he learns who "his mother" is, and on October 1st sets Nibelheim ablaze before setting off to the reactor. Tifa's father and others follow, but Sephiroth slays them. Tifa finds her father dead at the Nibel Reactor with Sephiroth's Masamune. Declaring her hatred of Sephiroth and Shinra, she attacks him but Sephiroth disarms her and cuts her down. Tifa falls down the steps and slumps to the ground.

Zack finds Tifa injured but she doesn't trust him and refuses help. Zack then engages Sephiroth, but is defeated. Cloud arrives and carries Tifa aside before confronting Sephiroth himself; he later admits he thought Tifa's wounds were fatal.

Personality

While deceptively strong, Tifa is empathic and emotionally shy. While identifying and responding to the feelings of others, Tifa does not express her feelings often, and when she does she struggles doing so. Tifa has motherly qualities, acting as a support for others, and keeping the others around her optimistic.

In Final Fantasy VII, Tifa is a hard worker and spends her time caring for everyone but herself, keeping the feelings of uneasiness towards Cloud locked up. She offers sanctuary and protects those in need, and is often an emotional crutch for the other AVALANCHE members to lean on. Tifa finds them to be kindred spirits seeking to end the tyranny the Shinra Electric Power Company has brought unto the Planet, although initially she joined the rebel group to seek revenge for the destruction of her hometown and the deaths of her family and friends therein. Tifa helps Cloud along the way in his soul-searching to find himself, while reminding the other party members to "be strong."

Unlike the other party members, she does not explicitly have a backstory to tell the others, which can partly be attributed to her shyness, and partly to how much of it is shared with Cloud, as they hail from the same hometown. This forms a bond between the two, and Cloud is Tifa's emotional link to the old life she used to lead in Nibelheim, which was destroyed by Shinra's influence.

In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tifa has grown more forward and tries to keep their family unit together when Cloud falls into depression. She acts like a parental figure towards the children in her care, both defending them in battle and giving them emotional support. Though not clingy, she appears hurt by Cloud's distantness. Tifa pushes him to take action and to stop brooding with what he considers to be his past failings.

Gallery

Final Heaven

"Tifa Lockhart as she appears in Final Fantasy 7: The Remake"

"Samus Aran and Tifa Lockhart"

"Tifa Lockhart and Bigby Wolf"

"Chun Li and Tifa Lockhart"

"Mai Shiranui and Tifa Lockhart"

"Tifa Lockhart and Dong Zhuo (Dynasty Warriors)"