Tifa Lockhart

Tifa Lockhart is one of the main characters of Final Fantasy VII. She was designed by Tetsuya Nomura. She is an expert in Zangan-Ryu martial arts and uses her fists and feet as her weapons. Tifa has long, dark brown hair with the ends parted like a dolphin's tail, a large bosom, and deep brown eyes. She is voiced by Yuko Minaguchi in Ehrgeiz and by Ayumi Ito in the Japanese versions of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts II. She is voiced by Rachael Leigh Cook in the English versions.

In her debut appearance, Tifa is a member of the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE and owner of the 7th Heaven bar in Midgar. Tifa is the childhood friend of Cloud Strife. She convinces him to join the group and later assists him in saving the planet from Sephiroth.

Final Fantasy VII
Tifa Lockhart was born in Nibelheim and grew up next door to Cloud Strife. Though they knew each other since childhood, circumstances prevented them from getting close, and Cloud was left to admire Tifa from afar.

When Tifa was eight, her mother died, and soon after, believing that her mother's spirit may have passed through the mountains, she decided to follow the path leading up the nearby Mt. Nibel. Her three closest friends, who were afraid to follow her up the mountain, abandoned her one by one. Cloud, however, who had been following them unnoticed, continued on after Tifa. When Tifa missed her footing on a rope bridge leading into the mountain, he ran to save her but was too late, and both of them fell into the gorge below.

Cloud survived the accident while suffering no more than scraped knees, but Tifa was in a coma for a week. Tifa's father held Cloud responsible for the incident, and his relationship with Tifa remained distant. Cloud blamed himself for the accident as well and felt that he had been unable to save Tifa because of his own weakness. His self-reproach led to anger toward himself, which then led to him into fights with others. Later, he would hear of Sephiroth, a legendary soldier admired by many young men, and he would conceive a plan to prove to himself and to everyone else that he was strong enough to protect Tifa.

At the age of fourteen, Cloud asked Tifa to meet him one evening at the well in the center of town. Cloud then told her of his plans to leave for Midgar and join SOLDIER. It is later revealed that this decision was largely influenced by a desire not only to become strong enough to protect Tifa, but also to impress her as well. Tifa was both surprised and disappointed at Cloud's news; she asked him to promise that if he achieved his dream and that if she were ever in danger, he would come to her rescue.

Springtime came and Cloud left for Midgar. Despite never really being close with Cloud, Tifa found his departure harder than she had expected. She began to think about him frequently, wondering whether he was well and whether he had achieved his dream. She began to read the newspapers, thinking there might be an article about him, but it would be years before she heard any news of him.

When she was fifteen, Tifa acted as a Nibelheim guide for a group of SOLDIER personnel inspecting the mako reactor on Mt. Nibel. The group consisted of the 1st-Class SOLDIERs Sephiroth and Zack, as well as two military police officers, one of which, unbeknownst to Tifa, was Cloud. After the inspection, the group returned to town, and Sephiroth stayed in the basement of the Shin-Ra Mansion to read through the research notes left by Professors Gast and Hojo. What he discovered brought about a gruesome change in him. Without warning, he set fire to Nibelheim in the night and slaughtered the townspeople.

With her hometown in ruins and most of her loved ones dead, Tifa pursued Sephiroth as he returned to the reactor, only to find that Sephiroth had murdered her father as well. In a blind rage, she attempted to kill Sephiroth with his own sword. However, he proved too strong for her, and with terrifying ease he disarmed and seriously injured Tifa, nearly killing her. As Cloud made his way into the reactor, he found Zack lying against some machinery with critical injuries, as well as Tifa's severely wounded and unconscious body at the bottom of the stairs leading into Jenova's chamber. Enraged, Cloud took up Zack's sword before picking Tifa up and moving her to a more comfortable position. Cloud then confronted Sephiroth, who stabbed him. With a final burst of strength Cloud lifted Sephiroth whilst still impaled, and threw him off the edge into the Lifestream below. In the aftermath of the incident, Zangan appeared on the scene and took the grievously injured Tifa to safety.

Due to the severity of her injuries, Zangan carried Tifa to Midgar for medical attention, where he left her in the care of a doctor before returning to his travels. Upon recovering, Tifa set up a bar called "7th Heaven" in Midgar's Sector 7. There she met Barret Wallace, the leader of the Shinra resistance group AVALANCHE. Tifa joined his resistance faction, as she wanted revenge on Shinra for the events that had occurred in Nibelheim.

One day, Tifa found a barely-coherent Cloud sitting at the Sector 7 train station and took him back to AVALANCHE's base to recover. It was the first time she had seen him in seven years, though he would later say, much to her confusion, that it had only been five. Tifa soon realized that Cloud knew many things he should not have known, while apparently unaware of other things that he should have known. These abnormalities caused her great concern for his mental welfare, and she persuaded him to join AVALANCHE so she could be with him and watch over him.

Tifa was not originally present in the early drafts of the story.

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
In Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring, Tifa makes her first appearance outside of the Final Fantasy franchise, as a playable character. She is one of the last bosses in the Arcade version, and her theme song was switched from her original theme from Final Fantasy VII to the Final Fantasy Prelude.

Itadaki Street Special
Tifa appears in the Itadaki Street Special for PlayStation 2 and Itadaki Street Portable for PlayStation Portable. She is shown in her Final Fantasy VII costume.

Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile
Tifa is featured in "Episode: Tifa" of Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile, which is told from her point of view. It takes place after Sephiroth was defeated but before the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tifa, Cloud and Barret move to Edge, a new town being constructed just outside of Midgar, and set up a new 7th Heaven as they attempt to build a family life for themselves. After Barret leaves to settle his past, Cloud and Tifa tend to the orphan Denzel and Barret's adopted daughter, Marlene. During the story, Tifa tries hard to maintain a sense of family unity and the concept of a "normal family" itself. She particularly concerns herself with Cloud, as he begins isolating himself from her and the others as time goes on by living in Aerith's church.

Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-
Tifa also makes an appearance in the OVA Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-. Last Order retells the actual events of Nibelheim's destruction based on flashbacks in Final Fantasy VII. Though she has relatively little screen time, she stars as one of the main characters in the anime and appears in her mountain guide costume from the flashback in Final Fantasy VII. Tifa's superhuman strength is evident when she takes Sephiroth's sword and attempts to strike him with it. Realistically, a weapon of such length made of metal would be difficult to lift and swing with both hands; however she manages to heft and swing it with one hand, although it is possible that this strength was the result of the adrenaline rush produced from her rage and hate towards Sephiroth.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tifa returns as one of the main characters. Her main role is being emotional support for Cloud, urging him to come to terms with the unwarranted guilt he places on himself. She also displays a great deal of concern for the children in their care, particularly Marlene and Denzel. Tifa takes part in a one-on-one battle with the new villain, Loz, and later joins in the fight against Bahamut SIN. During the film, her athletic abilities, martial arts skills, strength, and agility are clearly proven to be superhuman. Her strength may have been above normal earlier than the film and the present time of the game. In the fight scene with Loz, Tifa shows her true power and knowledge of martial arts. Although she loses, she shows she can put up a fair fight..

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Tifa has a small role in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, appearing most notably during the World Restoration Organization's full scale conflict with the Deep Ground organization. She goes into the battle with Barret and the WRO ground forces, sends Vincent the map of the Shinra building, and later throttles an enemy soldier helping to clear the way to Omega Weapon. She is seen at 7th Heaven in the final FMV, where she and Yuffie talk briefly about Vincent's apparent disappearance.

Kingdom Hearts II
Tifa makes a cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts II, seen in her Advent Children attire. She appears in Radiant Garden, but when Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy meet her, they learn that she is searching for someone. The person turns out to be Cloud, who meanwhile looks for Sephiroth. In the Heartless war later in the game, she is seen to have sighted Cloud, who meets with Sephiroth briefly, to find that he has left, leaving her to fight the Heartless that quickly gathers.

During the war, Sora fights alongside her in Radiant Garden, as well as against her later, in the Olympus Coliseum. In battle, she has her famous "Final Heaven" limit break, as well as several other of her Limit skills from Final Fantasy VII, such as "Beat Rush" and "Water Kick". Tifa also gives Sora the Fenrir Keyblade if he defeats Sephiroth in an optional boss battle.

Name
Before Tifa made an appearance in games with voice actors, many English-speaking players were confused on the pronunciation of her name. They were caught between (as in Tiffany) and  (with the first vowel corresponding more closely to Japanese pronunciation). Once Advent Children was released, the name was pronounced consistently with its Japanese spelling as by the Japanese voice actors, which sounds to an English-speaker more like  than, yet some still speculated that the English release would change the name to sound more like "Tiffany". After all, the unlengthened Japanese vowel "i" (as found in the Japanese version of Tifa's name) is often used to represent (the English "short i" sound, which isn't found in Japanese phonology) and its long counterpart "ī" is typically used for  (the English "long e" sound). The name's pronunciation was confirmed as in an interview with Rachael Leigh Cook, who described Tifa's character in Kingdom Hearts II.

Love
In Final Fantasy VII, both Tifa and Aerith are possible love interests of Cloud. For several years, fans have debated whom Cloud truly loves, especially with no official word from Square Enix.

In On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa Tifa asks Cloud if he loves her, but quickly changes the question:

"Do you love me, Cloud?" Cloud woke up, a dubious look on his face. "Hey, Cloud. Do you love Marlene?"

The nature of an answer to Tifa's original question is left unexplored.

Friendship
Despite the love triangle debate and some fanbase opinions, Tifa and Aeris are, for the most part, friendly towards each other. The two are not exactly close to the point of being best friends, but tend to be very civil and seem to enjoy each others' company. Ever since the scene in Don Corneo's mansion, it's obvious that Tifa does trust Aeris and cares about her safety (she showed the most concern when Tseng took Aeris away in the helicopter before the Sector 7 plate fell). She had no objection or second thoughts when it came to rescuing Aeris from the Shinra building (even when offered the choice of staying with Elmyra and Marlene).

The two are always seen talking together when the party travels to a new area, such as Junon and Cosmo Canyon. When Aeris dies, Tifa gently touched Aeris's hair, and ran in the other direction in tears. Despite her sadness, Tifa does not dwell on guilt over Aeris' death (as much as Cloud does) in Advent Children. At the end of the movie (on the Shera), Tifa looks up to the sky and somehow senses Aeris' presence, acknowledging the fact that Aeris had been watching over Cloud, and thanking her for it.

Although the two weren't the best of friends, they seemed to have a good understanding of each other. Aeris seems well aware of Tifa's feelings for Cloud and understands that she's a shy person. She also obviously has no intentions on hurting Tifa while the two compete for Cloud's affection (as seen in the Shinra building, when she mentions that she would go out with Cloud if he agreed to be her bodyguard, but only to jump in surprise when she realizes that Tifa is in the same room with him and heard what was being said). Tifa also understands that Aeris was more open with her feelings and (as she tells Cloud on the Gondala) that Aeris probably would have been able to just come out and tell him her feelings.

Despite being "rivals" in the love triangle, the two seemed to enjoy each other's presence and got along fairly well.

Tifa's Theme
Although Tifa's Theme is not the most popular theme in the game series, her theme has made several brief appearances in many other character themes throughout the Final Fantasy series. Her theme also reappears in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children in the track Water (which can be looked at as a blend between both Aeris and Tifa's theme, for the bells sound like a fast-pace version of the chorus in Tifa's Theme, while the piano follows a much slower version of Aeris' chorus in her theme.) Others believe that Anxious Heart from the Final Fantasy VII OST is a much slower and dramatic version of Tifa's theme. There have also been several editions of Tifa's theme, mostly re-done with a piano, and her theme is also the first track on the Final Fantasy VII: Piano Collections CD.

Trivia

 * Tifa was originally illustrated in red clothing, which was later used as her alternate outfit in Ehrgeiz.
 * Tifa was originally left-handed, along with Reno, Cid, Barret (after losing his right arm), Loz, Yazoo, Kadaj, and Sephiroth (although he was right-handed in the first Kingdom Hearts). In later Final Fantasy VII games, as well as in the movie Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, and in Kingdom Hearts II, however, she is portrayed as being right-handed.
 * Tifa was one of the only characters, along with Cloud and a few kids, Advent Children featured in its very early stages when it was still meant to be a 20-minute special for the fans.
 * Tifa, along with Sephiroth, was originally intended to be an enemy in the Final Mix version of the original Kingdom Hearts. Because of time constraints, the staff members chose to incorporate Sephiroth and leave out Tifa.
 * Tifa's original length of hair in Advent Children was cut shorter due to the difficulty of animating the sheer length and color. Lighting effects proved difficult while working with black hair.
 * A poster depicting Tifa appears in a room in the city Etrenank in the PlayStation RPG .