Tifa Lockhart

She is a friend of Cloud Strife, and a member of the resistance group Avalanche.

Tifa grew up with Cloud in Nibelheim, but lost contact with him years ago. When she meets him again, she convinces him to join Avalanche to fight the Shinra Electric Power Company, whom she bears hatred for due to the destruction of their hometown. She supports Cloud as his comrade and helps him and his allies fight Sephiroth. Tifa is reserved, moral, and empathic, acting as a motherly figure towards her allies when providing encouragement and emotional support. She also serves as the voice of reason, grounding them to think things through and do the right thing.

In contrast to her shy personality, Tifa has a vigorous combat style, typically fighting at close range with her fists. Trained by Rashard Zangan, she uses martial arts skills to fight opponents, and equips knuckles as her weapons. Tifa is an agile close combat fighter making use of powerful techniques in battle, with a unique ability based on her Unbridled Strength chi level.

Tifa was born on May 3, 1987, in Nibelheim to Brian Lockhart and his wife, Thea Lockhart. As a child, she was outgoing, and played with friends named the "Four Fiends": Emilio, Tyler, and Lester, each around the same age as her. Though Cloud was separated by only a year in age, the two used to hang out together, however after Thea’s death, the two had drifting apart and were not close.

Tifa has very dark hair, varying brown to black, which typically falls below her waist and is tied at the tips to form a dolphin-tail split. In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and some other appearances, her hair is mid-back length. Tifa has red eyes, though they have been depicted as brown in some appearances. She has an athletic build, with a slender but toned physique, and visible abdominals. Her bust-waist-hip measures are 92-60-88 cm (37-24-35 inches), and her bust size is Japanese G70 (American 32 DDD)

Tifa's typical attire throughout all her appearances is some variation of a sleeveless top that exposes her midriff, a miniskirt, and a white teardrop earring on her left ear. The three main variants of this attire are her default Final Fantasy VII outfit (slightly modified in Remake), her tour guide cowgirl outfit, and her Leather Suit outfit. In Final Fantasy VII, Tifa wears a white tank top and black miniskirt with a belt and suspenders. She dons red and black gloves that extend to her elbows, red boots, black socks, and a metal guard on her left elbow. In Remake, her skirt has pleated segments (similar to a tennis skirt) to make it easier for her to perform her martial arts, she wears black shorts underneath, and a black sports bra under her white tank top. She wears black leather gloves with metal plates on the back and knuckles, while the elbow pad on her left arm has been supplemented by a red-and-black leather vambrace that has Norse runes on the edging Tifa Lockhart from FFVII Remake bust render. The red sections of her vambrace and the larger metal plates on the back of her gloves have runes engraved on them. She wears a pair of black and red boots with black leg protectors (similar to a gymnast's outfit). She also has a scar across her lower chest from when Sephiroth attacked her, though this is never shown on-screen.

Tifa's cowgirl outfit worn as a tour guide (depicted in Crisis Core, Before Crisis, and flashbacks throughout Final Fantasy VII and Remake) is a chocobo rancher outfit received from a Nibelheim villager. It has a short leather skirt and vest with pockets, a button-up corset, a white shirt that reveals her belly, a belt around her hips, cowboy boots, and a hat. Her Leather Suit (introduced in Advent Children, seen in Kingdom Hearts, and in other appearances as an alternate outfit) is a white tank top under a black zip-up vest with black overhauled shorts that fold at the waist, forming an additional utility pocket at the front and a short duster at the back extending to her heels. She wears a pink ribbon around her left arm in remembrance of Aerith, and a Fenrir ring on her right hand. She wears short black gloves.

Tifa has a few other alternate outfits. During "To Corneo Hall" in Final Fantasy VII, Tifa wears a violet high-neck minidress with matching heels, a chain belt, and her hair is in a wavy style. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the equivalent "The Town That Never Sleeps" chapter sees Tifa wear one of three dresses based on player choices: her violet minidress ( now with a v-neck, black laces, and ankle-straps on the heels; her hair remaining the same) by default or if the player selected a "refined" dress, a black leopard-print cheongsam with her hair up in "odango" buns if the player selects a "sporty" dress, or a short black kimono-style dress with pink flower hair accessories if the player selects an "exotic" dress..

Tifa is empathic, motherly, intuitive, and reserved, both out of being observant and for being emotionally shy. Tifa identifies the feelings of others, offering sanctuary and protection for her teammates. While looking out for others, she rarely discusses her own feelings: when asked, she will usually express surprise, or quickly change the subject. Tifa considers all options and takes in all information before acting (best seen when she does not speak up about Cloud's confused past until she is certain of her own recollection of events), and encourages others to practice this same restraint and think things through first. Tifa can and does fight to defend herself, often preferring to so as not to get others involved. While normally reserved, Tifa still shows aggression at times, seen when beating up Rakesh, interrogating Don Corneo, and standing up to Scarlet after being provoked. Tifa has a stubborn pride that comes from her Nibelheim upbringing, but has low self-confidence and is overly self-critical of her faults.

Tifa is defined by her grief and loss throughout her life, manifesting in her conflicted nature, low self-esteem, and her reserved tendencies. As a child, she was more outgoing, chipper, and extroverted, but the trauma of losing her mother at eight years old made her withdrawn at the time, and introverted later in life. As a teenager she lost her father and hometown in the Nibelheim incident, and as an adult experienced the fall of the Sector 7 plate. As a result, Tifa feels grief and anger towards both Shinra and Sephiroth, driving her desire for revenge. This, as well as her coping mechanism for pain being to withstand it rather than run from it, leads her to join Avalanche to get back at Shinra. While she acknowledges they have to be bold to make a change, she is ill at ease about the use of methods such as the reactor bombings and feels trapped, expressing guilt at many of their actions. Her conflicted nature allows her to resolve a tense argument between Cait Sith and Barret, able to understand both sides. Ultimately, when alone with Cloud to talk about her feelings of loss, she is overwhelmed and simply bursts into tears, showing her fragile emotional state which she tries to conceal.

As a supportive but troubled figure, Tifa shares mutual dependence with her friends. In her friendship with Barret, he depends on her as his moral compass, grounding him to do the right thing, whereas she depends on him to push her forward when she is indecisive. Tifa is protective of Aerith, while depending on her to remain optimistic and upbeat. The clearest example of her nature is with Cloud. Tifa depends on him as the only remnant of their hometown of Nibelheim following its destruction, and thus of her old identity. She is therefore protective of him, though this is mutual. Later, the two realize they were there for one another in times of need, but never knew it. Tifa has suggested romantic feelings for Cloud, showing slight jealousy when seeing him grow close to Aerith (though it does not harm their friendship). Aside from Cloud, Tifa shows little romantic interest in others, ignoring the advances of her three childhood friends, Johnny, Rude, and an Avalanche member who attempted to win her over with flowers.

Following the defeat of Sephiroth, Tifa attempts to put together a normal family, building a new bar and raising a family with Cloud, Barret, Marlene, and later Denzel. She tries to keep the family unit together when Cloud falls into depression, acting like a parental figure towards the children in her care, defending them in battle and supporting them emotionally. She appears hurt by Cloud's aloofness, and in the Geostigma crisis, pushes him to take action and stop brooding over his past failures.

Tifa is a martial artist who was taught by Zangan, and in contrast with her reserved personality, is deceptively strong. Her fighting style primarily involves punches and kicks, and she uses knuckles and claws as her weapons to augment her strikes. Her skills put her on par with the rest of the party — including Cloud, an enhanced supersoldier; and Barret, a battle-hardened leader wielding a cybernetic gun-arm — despite not having the same advantages. Tifa has a strong physique with tight muscles,[98] something that Zangan noticed upon deciding to train her as evidence of her aptitude.