Tifa Lockhart

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Tifa Lockhart
Tifa Lockhart artwork by Tetsuya Nomura
Game series	Final Fantasy series and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
First game	Final Fantasy VII
Character designer(s)	Tetsuya Nomura
Voice actor(s) (English)	Rachael Leigh Cook
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Yuko Minaguchi (Ehrgeiz) Ayumi Ito (all other appearances)
In-Universe Information
Class/Job	Bar Hostess, AVALANCHE member
Weapon	Glove
Race	Human
Home	Nibelheim
Age	20
Blood type	B

Tifa Lockhart (ティファ・ロックハート, Tifa Rokkuhāto^?), or Tifa Lockheart, is a main female character, along with Aerith Gainsborough, from Squaresoft's blockbuster RPG, Final Fantasy VII. She is an expert in martial arts and uses her fists and feet as her weapons. She has long black hair, which, at its end, is parted like a dolphin's tail, and brown eyes. The game's character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, has revealed that he had difficulties deciding between giving her a mini-skirt or pants, but in the end — with input from other members of the game's development staff — finally decided on the mini-skirt that is now an iconic aspect of the character's design. In contrast, the design of Aerith Gainsborough bears a dress.^[1]

Tifa 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, and by Rachael Leigh Cook in the English versions.

Contents 1 Appearances 1.1 Compilation of Final Fantasy VII 1.1.1 Final Fantasy VII 1.1.2 On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa 1.1.3 Final Fantasy VII Advent Children 1.1.4 Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- 1.2 Kingdom Hearts II 1.3 Ehrgeiz 1.4 Itadaki Street Special 1.5 Last Order 1.6 Xenogears 2 Concept and creation 2.1 Name 2.2 Love 3 Tifa's Theme 4 Trivia 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

[edit] 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.^[2] 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^[3], and his relationship with Tifa remained distant. Cloud blamed himself for the mishap 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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 MPs, one of which, unbeknownst to Tifa, was Cloud. After the inspection, the group returned to town, and Sephiroth stayed in the basement of the Shinra mansion to read through the research notes left by Professors Gast and Hojo. What he discovered brought about a gruesome change in him. (For more information, see Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII).) 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 followed Sephiroth as he returned to the reactor, only to find that Sephiroth had murdered her father as well. In blind rage, she attempted to kill Sephiroth with his own sword, but he was too quick for her. Sephiroth took his sword and seriously injured Tifa with ease. As Cloud made his way into the reactor to follow Tifa, Zack, and Sephiroth, 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 takes Zack's sword before picking Tifa up and moving her to a more comfortable position. Cloud then confronts Sephiroth, who stabs him. With a final burst of strength Cloud picks up Sephiroth whilst still impaled, and throws him off the strut they were fighting on. 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. When Tifa recovered, she set up a bar called "7th Heaven" in Midgar's Sector 7. There she met Barret Wallace, the leader of the Shin-Ra resistance group AVALANCHE. Tifa joined his resistance faction, as she wanted revenge on Shin-Ra 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.^[7]

[edit] On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa

A story from Tifa's point of view, set after Sephiroth was defeated, and before the events of 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.

[edit] Final Fantasy VII Advent Children

Tifa, along with Cloud, is one of the main characters of Advent Children. Her role in the film sequel is mainly that of 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.

[edit] Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-

Tifa has a small role in Dirge of Cerberus, appearing most notably during the World Restoration Organization's full scale conflict with the Deep Ground organization. She is seen at the Seventh Heaven in the final FMV, where she and Yuffie talk briefly about Vincent's apparent disappearance.

[edit] Kingdom Hearts II

Tifa makes a cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts II, seen in her Advent Children attire. She is a resident of Radiant Garden, but when Sora, Donald, and Goofy meet her, they learn that she is searching for someone. This person is later revealed to be Cloud, who himself is searching for Sephiroth. It is later shown that she helps Cloud find his light, though many fans debate as to whether or not Tifa was the source, or Cloud found it within himself. While she continues to be portrayed as a kind young woman, unlike her other appearances, she seems more willing to use force.

During the game, Sora fights alongside her in Radiant Garden, as well as against her 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.

Fans debate over whether or not Tifa actually exists as human, since the only beings she is found talking to are Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cloud, and Sephiroth. Even Leon and Yuffie sees her. Nomura states that there are many different ways to freely interpret her status and encourages the fans to think about it freely. While he explains the idea that Tifa and Sephiroth parallel what each respective being could represent (i.e. light vs. darkness) is a possible view, he also gives another interpretation in which Tifa could possibly be an inhabitant of Radiant Garden.^[8]

[edit] Ehrgeiz

Tifa's first cameo appearance is as a playable character in the fighting game Ehrgeiz. 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.

[edit] Itadaki Street Special

Tifa appeared in the electronic board game Itadaki Street Special and the upcoming Itadaki Street Portable.She is shown in her old Final Fantasy VII costume.

[edit] Last Order

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 metahuman 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, but she manages to heft and swing it with one hand.

[edit] Xenogears

A poster depicting Tifa appears in a room in the city Etrenank in the PlayStation RPG Xenogears.

[edit] Concept and creation

[edit] 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 the "Tiff-ah" (as in Tiffany) and "Tee-fah" (the Japanese pronunciation). Once Advent Children was released, the name "Tee-fah" was spoken by the Japanese voice actors, yet some still speculated that the English release would change the name to sound more like "Tiffany". The name's pronunciation was confirmed as Tee-fah in an interview with Rachael Leigh Cook, who described Tifa's character in Kingdom Hearts II.

[edit] Love

In Final Fantasy VII, both Tifa and Aerith are possible love interests of Cloud. The issue of who Cloud actually loves, however, has been hotly debated amongst fans for years. Square-Enix has been deliberately vague over the matter, and perhaps wisely so, as an official statement to either effect may alienate some among Final Fantasy VII's fanbase.

In On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa — written by Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children scenario writer, Kazushige Nojima — Tifa asks Cloud if he loves her, but quickly changes the question^[9]:

"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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Trivia

• Tifa was not originally present in the early drafts of Final Fantasy VII's story.^[10]
• Tifa was originally illustrated in red clothing, which was later used as her alternate outfit in Ehrgeiz.
• Tifa's last name is "Lockhart" in Squaresoft's official Japanese materials^[11][12], but appears as "Lockheart" (with an additional "e") in the English version of Final Fantasy VII's instruction booklet, as translated by Sony Computer Entertainment. This inaccurate version also appears in a number of other second-party materials.
• Some fans believe that Tifa's name is derived from Tiphereth, one of the Sephirah of the Kabbalah.^[13] Others believe it to have been derived from the name "Tiffany." Tifa's name may have German origins. Located both on the 7th Heaven bar sign as well as the bar's welcome mat on the inside are the words, "Tyfer's Bar." The German word, "Tiefer" is pronounced roughly the same as Ti-fa. The word means "deeper."
• 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 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.^[14][15]
• 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.^[16]
• Tifa's original length of hair was cut shorter due to the difficulty of animating the sheer length and colour. (Lighting effects proved difficult while working with black hair.)^[17]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tifa Lockhart on Final Fantasy Wiki at Wikicities
• Tifa Lockhart character profile at the official Square Enix Final Fantasy VII site

• On the Way to a Smile - Translation of On the Way to a Smile
• Tifa Lockhart Fan Forum - Discussion Board

v • d • e Final Fantasy VII and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

Advent Children - Before Crisis - Crisis Core - Dirge of Cerberus - Last Order - Lost Episode Cloud - Aerith - Tifa - Barret - Red XIII - Cait Sith - Cid - Yuffie - Vincent - Zack - Sephiroth - Jenova - Rufus - Turks Character list - Location list - Term list - Timeline AVALANCHE - Materia - Midgar - Shin-Ra - One-Winged Angel - Soundtrack - Reunion Tracks - Advent Children Soundtrack - Dirge of Cerberus Soundtrack