Eyes: Brown
DOB: May 3
Age: 20 at start of FFVII
History: Tifa spent her early years in the small town of Nibelheim. Cheerful and optimistic, Tifa was a very happy child, at least in her earlist years. Although very outgoing, she could also be extremely shy, almost painfully so, especially when it came to matters of the heart.
Tifa was always quite popular, especially with the boys. But none of the boys in Nibelheim really struck her interest except for the shy loner, Cloud Strife. Although there was an attraction between the two, both of them were too shy to address it in more than the most superficial way, and most of her other friends did not like Cloud.
The first shadow to fall on Tifa's life was the death of her mother after a sudden illness. Tifa was very close to both of her parents and was devestated by this loss. Soon after, and not
caring about the consequences,
Pic by Laine at Tasty Graphite
Tifa spent a lot of time after this wandering though the woods and fields around Nibelheim, most of the time alone, and she soon became very knowledgable about the entire region.
Tifa's father tried various ways to take her mind off what had happened to her mother. One of those things was enrolling her in a martial arts class, which Tifa took an instant liking to, much to the surprise of her father.
Tifa was not happy when Cloud told her he was leaving to join SOLDIER. It seemed that everyone she knew had big plans, and they all involved leaving Nibelheim. She did manage to get Cloud, somewhat reluctantly, to promise that if he did become a member of SOLDIER, and she was ever in trouble, he would come back to help her. It was the closest she could come to telling him how she really felt about him.
After Cloud left Tifa immersed herself in her martial arts training, and it soon became the most important thing in her life. Her sensei Zangan soon took notice of this determined young lady, and she quickly became his star pupil, as well as close friend.
Her martial arts training took her mind off of Cloud, but she never really forgot about him. So one day when she heard that Shinra soldiers were coming to town she hurried to meet them, but she was disappointed when it seemed that Cloud was not among them.
The Shinra soldiers, led by the famous Sephiroth, were in town to investigate a disturbance at the Mako reactor on Mt. Nibel. Sephiroth decided they needed to hire a guide to take them out to the reactor, and since Tifa knew the area so well, she was chosen.
The next day she led them out to the reactor, but to her chagrin, Sephiroth did not permit her to enter, but instead left her outside under the watchful eye of a Shinra guard. This guard was actually Cloud, but his face was hidden and she did not recognize him (See Cloud's bio). Sephiroth came out a short time later and flew off in a rage. Although at the time she had no idea what had happened, she was suddenly afraid.
Tifa was not in town when Sephiroth started the fires that would bring about the destruction of Nibelheim, but she saw the flames from afar and reached the town when the fire was at it's height. She caught a glimpse of Sephiroth and somehow knew that he was responsible. She tracked him back to the Mako reactor only to find her father slain on the doorstep.
The loss of her father was almost too much for Tifa to bear. In a blind rage she picked up a cast away sword and chased after Sephiroth, bent on taking revenge on the man who had taken away her father. But Tifa had no training with a sword, and even if she had, she would have been no match for Sephiroth, who was widely considered the finest swordsman on the planet. He easily disarmed her, and then turned the sword savagely on her. She fell back, wounded nearly to the death.
She was rescued by Zangan, who came to the reactor a short time later to find it deserted except for Tifa's crumpled body. He took her out of the reactor and with great difficulty nursed her back to heath.
With no more family, and their town destroyed, Zangan took Tifa to Midgar. Zangan opened another school of martial arts, and Tifa's training intesified. Soon she was even taking over some of the teaching chores.
But martial arts was not Tifa's only talent. As she grew older she developed into a pretty fair businesswoman. When she was nineteen she took the money she had earned working with Zangan and bought a small bar in Sector Seven. It was not in one of the best areas of Midgar, but she got it for a very good price.
It was at this time that she started to drift away from Zangan. From the time of the destruction of Nibelheim, Tifa held a burning hatred for all things that had to do with Shinra, and she didn't hold back if anyone asked for her opinion. In this way her bar soon became a hotbed for all those who were unhappy with Shinra. When Barret Wallace came to her bar to talk to her she quickly agreed to join his group, and soon offered the use of her bar as the headquarters of AVALANCHE, his fledgling group of resistance fighters. Zangan was opposed to this idea, for though he was not fond of Shinra, his beliefs did not permit the kind of terrorist attacks they were contemplating, and he thought the AVALANCE group much too militant. Although she loved the old man, she did not agree with him, and threw her lot in with Barret.
Soon after Barret came up with a bold plan to sabotage Mako reactor one. But Barret was concerned their group was just too small to successfully carry out the plan, so the members set out to discreetly find at least one new recruit. Thus it was that Cloud walked into her bar one day soon thereafter, and she was once more reunited with her childhood friend.
she wandered up into the dangerous terrain in the foothills of Mt. Nibel. Cloud was the only one of her friends brave enough to follow her, but when she had an accident and was seriously hurt, many of the townspeople blamed him.