Introduced in Final
Fantasy VII, Tifa is the childhood friend of protagonist Cloud
Strife,
owner of the 7th Heaven bar and member of the terrorist organization
AVALANCHE, who oppose the city of Midgar's Shinra corporation and their use of
"Mako" energy from the planet as a power source. She convinces Cloud
to join the group to keep a closer eye on him after noticing his personality
had changed, and follows him in pursuit of the game's antagonist, Sephiroth.
Unable to keep him from being influenced by Sephiroth's control, she helps him
recover after his mind becomes fractured, and they realize their mutual
feelings for each other and work together to help defeat Sephiroth.
As children, Tifa and
Cloud had decided to follow a path to a mountain near her home town of
Nibelheim only for both to be injured, with Tifa in a coma for a week and her
father holding Cloud responsible for the incident. Cloud eventually left to
join Shinra's "SOLDIER" program in order to become stronger, later
revealed to be done in order to earn her attention. In response, she requested
if she was ever in danger, he would return to save her. Years later he rescued
her from a berserk Sephiroth after he had destroyed the town of Nibelheim on
an expedition for Shinra, beating him to a stalemate but with both Cloud and
Tifa critically injured. Surviving the incident, Tifa is taken elsewhere by
the martial artist instructor Zangan, eventually arriving in Midgar and
meeting AVALANCHE's leader, Barret Wallace, and joins his group in order to
get revenge for the destruction of her home town. She eventually encounters an
incoherent Cloud at the city's train station, and convinces him to work for
Barret to keep him close and safe.
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