Tifa Lockhart

Tifa Lockhart alternatively known with the last name Lockheart, is the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII and its related media, the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII from the Final Fantasy series by Square Enix.

Background
Tifa was born in Nibelheim and was Cloud's next-door neighbor. She was outgoing and had many friends, but although she and Cloud were only a year apart in age, they were not close. Tifa's mother died when Tifa was eight years old in 1995, leaving her upset and confused. Tifa believed her mother had gone to Mt. Nibel, and that she could meet her again if she crossed the mountain.

Tifa headed off to Mt. Nibel and Cloud followed to protect her, but they fell from a rickety bridge. Tifa's father found her severely injured and blamed Cloud for leading her to Mt. Nibel. Five years later, in 0000, Cloud decided to join SOLDIER like his idol Sephiroth, in part to impress Tifa. He called Tifa out to the water tower, a local date spot, to tell her of his plans, and Tifa made Cloud promise to protect her if she was ever in trouble. He left to join SOLDIER the following spring and Tifa kept checking the newspaper looking for some mention of him, and asking Shinra personnel if they knew him when they came to Nibelheim. She would find nothing, for Cloud never made it into SOLDIER, becoming only a lowly infantryman.

Two years later, on September 21, 0002, a 15-year-old Tifa works as a tour guide in Mt. Nibel and is taking martial arts lessons from Zangan. In Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- she is hired by the player's Turk to lead a Shinra expedition to investigate a faulty Mako Reactor. The expedition includes Sephiroth and a SOLDIER named Zack. During their stay she drops hints to Zack of dreaming of a blond-haired SOLDIER protecting her. Unbeknown to her, Cloud is one of the two Shinra guards accompanying Zack and Sephiroth, but is concealing his identity due to his shame of failing to enter SOLDIER. Without her knowing it he prevents her entry to the reactor, attempts to protect her from a monster attack shortly after (trying to anonymously keep his promise) and is helped down the mountain by her. Afterward, Tifa messages Zack expressing her worry for the soldier who helped her.

Sephiroth goes berserk when he learns who "his mother" is, and on October 1st sets Nibelheim ablaze before setting off to the reactor. Tifa's father and others follow, but Sephiroth slays them. Tifa finds her father dead at the Nibel Reactor with Sephiroth's Masamune. Declaring her hatred of Sephiroth and Shinra, she attacks him but Sephiroth disarms her and cuts her down. Tifa falls down the steps and slumps to the ground. Zack finds Tifa injured but she doesn't trust him and refuses help. Zack then engages Sephiroth, but is defeated. Cloud arrives and carries Tifa aside before confronting Sephiroth himself; he later admits he thought Tifa's wounds were fatal.

After Cloud had defeated Sephiroth but succumbed to his wounds, Zangan arrived and took Tifa away to Midgar for medical treatment, unable to save all three (Cloud, Zack and Tifa) from the reactor. After Zangan left Midgar, Tifa recovered and joined AVALANCHE, an anti-Shinra resistance group led by Barret Wallace. She became the owner and proprietor of the bar and restaurant 7th Heaven, which houses AVALANCHE's base in a secret basement.

In the years that follow, in the Great Grand Civil War, Cloud, Tifa, and the party go their separate ways. Cloud and Tifa settle down in the city of Edge and set up a delivery business called the Strife Delivery Service. He also takes in three children; Denzel, an orphan suffering from Geostigma, a new disease that has started to appear after the defeat of Sephiroth, and Barret's adopted daughter Marlene and Christopher Thorndyke whose parents were killed by Sephiroth.