User Profile

Character Name: Tifa Lockhart
Series: Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Species: Human
Sexuality: Heterosexual

Appearance: One tends to take notice of certain "features" of Tifa's immediately, namely her overly large breasts. But focus too much on those and you'll miss the muscles in her arms and legs, the callouses on her knuckles, and the steel in her eyes.

Tifa is an attractive but not overly beautiful young woman. With her long dark hair and winning smile, she is quintessentially "girl next door" in her looks. Though slender and not particularly tall, she has strong limbs and a body that's used to taking abuse, and her hands have all sorts of little scars, particularly on the knuckles, from her battles with the various enemies seen throughout FFVII. Her eyes and hair are both dark brown and her skin is fair. When she was younger Tifa dressed somewhat recklessly in a white, midriff-baring tank top and black miniskirt, but nowadays she dresses a little more conservatively in black leather--a sleeveless jacket over a white camisole, shorts, and a sort of bartender's apron that's short in the front and long in the back, as well as black combat boots. When taken to Manhattan she's also wearing a pair of black leather gloves and a red ribbon tied around her left bicep, in memory of Aerith.

Personality: Tifa's "never give up, never give in" outlook on life often puts her in the role of providing emotional support to other people, particularly one Cloud Strife. A few years ago this translated into a rather childish, happy-go-lucky type of optimism, as well as a somewhat arrogant belief in the rightness of her actions, that often didn't hold up in the face of real trials and tragedy. But Tifa has matured a lot in recent years; an older-sisterly type, she does what she can to support her friends but also recognizes when they need time alone and apart, even if it hurts her to be without them. In herself she provides a home, a domestic center that her friends can leave and gravitate back to as their needs dictate, because she herself is solid and unwavering in her emotional support, even if indirectly--if she cannot be with a friend, she will at least be there when that friend returns.

This does tend to lead Tifa to take on the burdens of her friends' emotional needs and put theirs above hers, especially where Cloud is concerned. Tifa would do anything and everything she could to help him. If he called to her, she would come running. It hurts her deeply when he goes away and doesn't allow her to care for him and help him, but she manages just fine--she has other responsibilities and strength in reserves to deal with her own troubles. But Tifa loves Cloud deeply, and her tendency to put others' needs before hers means that she won't reveal that she needs him, or needs him to care about her, or just needs his companionship, so Tifa is never entirely happy and content in her day to day life.

She does take pleasure in simple things--mixing a good drink, playing with Marlene or Denzel, a good spar or genuine fight. Tifa holds onto what happiness she can, because she knows how quickly and easily it can all be taken away.

Abilities: Tifa is an excellent fighter, and her only weapons are her fists and feet. At one time she used different gauntlets to enhance her strength, but now she prefers a simple pair of black gloves. Without gauntlets and materia, Tifa is simply a very strong human woman with a great deal of martial arts training. She's acrobatic, fast and can hit hard enough to crack walls. She can overpower the average human, but her abilities are not super-human, just the result of a lot of training, practice and experience. Tifa trains and spars constantly to maintain her level of skill and strength. She will tire much quicker in Manhattan, and hurt longer after fights.

Tifa's been a bartender for a long time and can mix basically any drink you could think of, as well as do some neat little tricks like twirling and juggling bottles. She's accustomed to managing businesses--both her own bars (there's been more than one) and the Strife Delivery Service with Cloud.

Weaknesses: Tifa's biggest weakness is her tendency to put the needs of others over her own needs. It means she'll never really be happy, and it's become so ingrained in her that as an extent she's become reluctant to show when she's upset or angry or afraid, leaving her to deal with her troubles on her own without the support of her friends, unless they take it upon themselves to notice. She rarely asks for help, not wanting to burden anyone else.

Also, without materia and weapons Tifa is only human, albeit a very strong human. It's her constant training that makes her a strong and fast fighter, but Tifa can be overpowered by those stronger and trickier than her.

Manhattanite or outsider? Outsider

History: Tifa grew up in Nibelheim and trained under the martial arts master Zangan. She knew Cloud only distantly as a child, though he wanted to be friends with her; when she was eight and her mother died she went to Mt. Nibel in search of her mother's soul, and Cloud was the only one of her friends who followed her that far. When she missed her footing on a rope bridge, Cloud tried to save her, but they both fell; Tifa was knocked into a coma that lasted for three weeks, and Cloud was blamed by Tifa's father. From then on they were even more distant, until Cloud, at the age of fourteen, told Tifa of his goal to leave for Midgar and join SOLDIER, wanting to impress her. Despite them not being close at that point, Tifa was upset by the news, and made Cloud promise that he would achieve his goals and that he'd also come to rescue her if she was ever in trouble.

A year later, Tifa found herself acting as a guide for two SOLDIERS, Zack Fair and Sephiroth, and a few grunts including, unbeknownst to her, Cloud. The group had come to Nibelheim to inspect a Shinra mako reactor. When Sephiroth went mad after reading Gast and Hojo's research notes and burned Nibelheim to the ground, Tifa pursued him to the reactor and found that he had murdered her father. She attempted to take revenge using Sephiroth's own sword, but he injured her gravely and knocked her aside. Zack arrived to try to stop Sephiroth, followed by Cloud, who tended to Tifa before going after Sephiroth. Both of them were cut down as well, and taken by Hojo for experimentation; Tifa was taken to Midgar for treatment for her terrible injuries.

Once recovered, and blaming Shinra, mako and Sephiroth for the loss of her family and hometown, Tifa joined up with the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE under the leadership of Barret, dedicated to destroying mako reactors to save the Planet. She set up Tifa's 7th Heaven, a bar which also became AVALANCHE's meeting place, in the Sector 7 slums of Midgar. One day she found a barely-coherent Cloud at the train station, and took him to Barret, urging him to join the resistance.

As time went on Tifa came to realize that there was something odd about Cloud--he knew some things he shouldn't and had forgotten some things he should know. But she was caught up in their journey, as the group met new friends such as Aerith, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith, and Vincent Valentine and found themselves caught up in a struggle with Sephiroth for the fateof the Planet, as Sephiroth intended to bring a giant meteor crashing into Gaia. She kept close to Cloud and watched over him, very concerned for his mental well-being.

Aerith was soon killed by Sephiroth, an event that affected the entire group deeply and left an unhealed wound in Tifa's heart, as evidenced by the ribbon she currently wears around her arm in Aerith's memory. Not long after Aerith's death, Tifa was able to help Cloud to understand that many of his memories were fabrications based on the events of Zack's life, not his, and helped him remember his own true memories and who he truly was. Together the group takes on Sephiroth and wins against him, stopping the Meteor with Aerith's otherworldly help.

Two years after Sephiroth's defeat, Tifa and Cloud are living in the aptly-named Edge, a city thrown together on the outskirts of the destroyed Midgar, with Barret's adopted daughter Marlene and an orphaned boy, Denzel. When Cloud contracts Geostigma, a disease afflicting those exposed to mako and Jenova cells, he begins to stay away from Tifa and the others, sleeping in Aerith's church instead of at home. Though hurt by his absence, Tifa tries to keep things together and let Cloud know that she's here for him when he needs her. With Marlene, Tifa visits Aerith's church and finds evidence that Cloud has been living there. She and Marlene decide to wait for Cloud's return, but someone else arrives instead--a "remnant" of Sephiroth, Loz, looking for Cloud. The two of them have a heated battle, which Tifa initially appears to win. But Loz takes advantage of her through the use of a Haste materia and knocks her unconscious. Tifa wakes up in Manhattan.

Friends (4):

Friend of (111):