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How can there be debates about who Cloud ends up with? Aerith is dead. She’s not an option. Her character arc always felt motherly while Tifas is classic childhood friend who the guy doesn’t realize he loves and that love has always been right in front of him. Not to mention Tifas strength as a character is intertwined with Clouds strength and it’s not because of the romance. Both characters become weak when you remove either one. They’re a unit while Aerith stands alone.

The remake scene where cloud catches tifa on the way to the top of the pillar I think is a call forward/foreshadowing and nod back to the OG cinematic of tifa grabbing cloud just as he comes out of his "mind battle" with sephiroth. Just because cloud may catch her in the remake at the pillar doesn't mean he fulfills his promise too early, because he isn't truly himself at that moment.

I think it was very conscious from the writers to put Tifa in the "second girl" position. From the get-go Aerith is advantaged by the scenario. She's the cute, mysterious and powerful girl that you're almost immediatly attracted to while Tifa is written as the childhood friend and not very much else to connect her to the story. The tragic disappearance of Aertih contributes to "mythify" her and, as a player, it can be hard to forget about her until you've finished the game (at least it was my case as a young boy playing FF7 when it came out). You really need a second playtrough to appreciate the subtile writting of her character arc that brings Tifa from being a supportive character into her own life to finally assume a protagonist role.

I feel like this should be obvious. But I understand that the story of the game manipulates us all towards Cloud and Aerith. But REALLY think about it. And of course this is only clear if you know the fleshed out story of Zack. But here it is.... Tifa and Cloud have a long history with each other. They’ve known each other their entire lives. They have been on and off again forever and keep finding each other through out their lives. There’s the super promise cloud makes. They consistently save each other. She’s literally the girl next door. Whereas Cloud and Aerith are more of the unrealistic “love at first sight” trope. But once you know Zack and Aeriths story the Cloud and Aerith story means almost nothing. Zack meets Aerith way before Cloud. She doesn’t even like him. But by sheer will he finally gets her to. And they’re together for quite awhile. Have many moments. Go on actual dates. They really fall in love. Zack keeps leaving for work and uses Aerith as a reason to make it home. Then when he disappeared she still writes him 89 letters for FOUR YEARS. Then knowing the Zack Cloud dynamic makes you realize that Aerith and Clouds relationship is practically a refurbished version of Zack and Aerith. They both meet her the same exact way. Who knows if Cloud was himself what actually would’ve happened between him and Aerith. When Cloud and Aerith meet the only thing keeping them together is that they are both emotionally lost. Cloud literally doesn’t know who he is and Aerith just lost a loved one. Shit in real life this is actually a terrible reason to end up with someone. Instead of completing yourself as a person you fill your voids with each other. You are enabling each other. OH AND....when all is said and done: - Cloud + Tifa = still alive - Aerith + Zack = both dead Take all this up, Cloud and Tifa are childhood sweet hearts, Zack and Aerith build an actual real life like relationship, Cloud and Aerith are each other’s unhealthy crutches, Clouds original feelings for Aerith may not have even been his own, two are dead, two are alive. It’s obvious that Cloud should be with Tifa and Zack with Aerith.

Glad it turned out to be Tifa saving cloud after his battle with Rufus. It makes more sense that she stayed back to wait for Cloud in the remake compared to the original. And it was a good way to splinter off Aerith, Barret, and Red to fight Arsenal.

Literally everything Cloud does in life, he does for Tifa. It's why he attempts to become a SOLIDER ( his first major decision in life ). Cloud is overwhelmingly in love with Tifa from the get-go. So much so he cannot put it into words ( he's only ten-years-old ). So much so it makes him awkward around the other kids Tifa always attracts to herself. When She goes off on her grief-stricken run up Mt. Nibel, it is only Cloud who has the courage/selfless love 💘 to follow after her. The other kids all bail. We find all this out *for sure* in the lifestream reconstruction of Cloud's mind. It's inarguable. As for Tifa, she doesn't realize the depth of her feelings for Cloud until he leaves, but she does after he's gone. That she won't leave his side, even when the entire world is collasping in the Mideel hospital tells you everything about the depth of her feelings for him. The ff7 logo might as well be their outstretched hands reaching for each other. It's actually the central theme of the story. It is Tifa, more than anyone else who holds everything together ❤. She is the one who can bring Barret back from a fit of rage. She is the one who can convince Red he is not going to turn into a Sephiroth clone. She presides over the reversal of fortune. Her name comes from Tifaret, the 6th sephira in the tree of life in the Kabballah, which means "beauty, glory, adornment" and hilariously "lit". Tipheret is the point of balance between chesed (loving-kindness) and gevurah (restraint). It is about the joy that comes from both working in balance. In the story, she is the character all the others have a path to and from. She's quietly the center. In my first playthrough all those years ago, it was the Nibelheim well and the shooting star 🌠 i was fighting for; that was most real. In Remake: no star. Makes me more than a little worried Sephy may have figured a few things out...

Tifa is bae and no one can convince me otherwise. In my first playthrough of the original, I was never that fond of aerith. I viewed her as a naive airhead. People say that it was her snarky and witty nature being lost in translation, but even still she never resonated with me the way tifa did. I saw a video a while back discussing the origin of tifa from a story writing standpoint. When the game was first conceived, she wasn't a character. She was only written in later as "the other girl" after they realized that aerith had to die for a true sense of consequence and loss to be realized. However, after creating her backstory, many of the people on the team began to care more about tifa than aerith despite aerith initially being the only love interest. Apparently even the people who created the game can't agree on who's the better fit haha.

This video is nice. It brings interesting dialogue about Tifa, but there more to say of her too. Tifa is one of the most loved female characters of all final fantasy. At first, her story is not very pointed out for big reasons that the creators of the game had chosen to do with her and they did super well. They're a group of fans that think Tifa was a-ok character probably because they would really rival her to Aerith, may not like her looks and/or do not really had thought in a deep way understand her character. In general, Tifa is more than a Cloud-first crush and girl next door. She one of the main heroness who really had the intelligence to understand Cloud's struggle and totally believe in him. She is a natural psychologist, empathic to Cloud's mind/ psychic state, who had patience, never gave up on him, who believe in him even with his vulnerable details expose and who heal Cloud's to a super-strong new Cloud that is more than average. The reason why she may be associated with water. She did show true unconditional love to him too and she never turns bad to harming the group (even seeing Cloud being close with Aerith). She turns to be a superwoman, a fantastic fantasy woman in the team. What she does was the main key to saving the planet because she supported Cloud and the team and support is a sense of meaning in life, motivation, and action. The group dynamic would not work with no Tifa in the group. Cloud would not end being the superhero that he became and they wold would have no hope too, even with Aerith sacrifice on doing holy material, it would all shatter if she was not there in the team. It all would have been lost. Same time she by her own skill she is able to fight for a big reason and was able to manage well group dynamics for a big goal. She was not a super-soldier with mako and Jenova cells but her own nature, personality, motherly/carrying detail, extremely resilient mind, and with way of being that she was able to do many right things that accumulated even with the many errors that did happen. Tifa and all in the team serves the mayor goal of saving the world. There a lot more to say about her. She not just a sexy busty, beauty but a very skillful, active, bright female character.

Yeah. After looking up to Tifa so much in my teen hood, she’s pretty much taught me a lot on many things that I think I’ve picked up some of her personality. She’s really cool.

Looking back, I think we can say that that scene wasn't Cloud rescuing Tifa, it was Tifa rescuing Cloud. He lends her a hand yes, they work together constantly. But the big moments of saving are all from Tifa to Cloud, she's the one who comes after him in the Pillar, she's the one who returns for him in Shinra HQ. The moments where Cloud rescues Tifa are all mostly small instances of them helping each other out, not grand gestures. Which is required in a team. I have plenty of complaints about the remake, but that isn't one of them. Let's not forget that Cloud went to save Tifa from Don Corneo in the OG, and here, she's quite clear about the fact that she doesn't need to be rescued, we've seen how much ass she can kick.

You mentioned: the shipping debate/love story was the collective consciousness' primary conversational focus on Tifa - that some of her other strengths/aspects as a character were less touched upon. I'll tell you why they're less touched upon in the way that you are suggesting - from the perspective of someone who doesn't touch upon them in this way very much: *Aspect 1: Tifa challenging stereotypes of what role the male hero and female lead plays - who saves whom.* This is only really impressive and noteworthy to someone whose thoughts or expectations are molded by those "hero save the girl" story structures in the first place. Those expectations that Tifa is shattering seem to me like a product of their time, and I don't know any peer of mine who is enamored with the "save the girl" way of thinking, so they might not find particular novelty in how Tifa's character takes a different path from a norm that, to them, is not the norm . (2009-2010 was my first FF7 playthrough, by the way - not 1997.) You even identifying that aspect of her character as a strength is something I didn't know was noteworthy about her back in 1997. She broke a mold I never subscribed to. In fact, Tifa making Cloud promise to save her when she's in trouble seemed to me like either a storytelling anachronism or something that Tifa already grew out of in-universe - that she regards as a silly childhood statement that she's no longer invested in. I think that characters whose strengths lie in subverting or deconstructing a convention of its time period are the types who do not remain as impressive when the collective consciousness expands beyond the convention. once an Evangelion has been made, once a The Boys has been made, once a multiverse makes the big screen for the first time, people will add these storytelling angles into their understanding of story anatomy, and those angles will eventually stop being seen as leading-edge ideas and will simply join the rest of the common tools in the unified storytelling closet. Side Note: I quite enjoy a fan's interpretation of the Cloud/Tifa promise scene in the remake - that Tifa doesn't actually care about the hero dynamic or being saved and that the promise was her dishonest method of making sure she and Cloud meet again - that Tifa came to the well already liking Cloud, but was negatively surprised by him saying he was going to join SOLDIER, thus inventing a promise that would get him to come back to her. The idea of Tifa making a dishonest promise also harmonizes with the question: if Cloud had really showed his face to Tifa back during the Nibelheim incident, would Tifa have been disillusioned or would she have loved to see Cloud regardless? If she really bought into the hero stuff, I imagined she'd have been disappointed. If she didn't really care about the hero stuff and Cloud didn't think he needed it for Tifa's validation, they'd have reunited much more lovingly at that time. *Aspect 2: The points that you identify as being BEYOND the "mere" love story element are actually considered to be WITHIN it.* @ 9:30 you say: "now, to this end - and this shared history angle - it's interesting to consider Tifa's role in the game beyond potential love interest material - and how she helps Cloud recollect and understand himself." The elements you mention from this point onward seemingly implies that your perspective is (and correct me if I'm wrong): "there are several segregations/divisions of Tifa's character - one segregation of which relates to her and Cloud as lovers, which people celebrate, and separate segregations that display Tifa's character strength, depth, and conflicts that people overlook. My experience is: "People don't hone in on a "mere" love story aspect of Tifa and ignore the rest. They see the entire machination - without segregation - as a collective, integrated love story that has depth and many facets. I've seen people frequently discuss Tifa as a lover, but they take [each aspect of Tifa you brought up in this video] into consideration as directly _adding_ to the strength/potency of that love element rather than treating [each aspect of Tifa you brought up in this video] like a collection of separate mechanisms, on islands - whose spinning gears do not also connect with and spin the gears of the other mechanisms. ...and because the love triangle of FF7 is arguably the most interesting character machination in the game for many people, all three of the characters of Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa are largely defined as love story characters. I mean, Cloud's plot twist as a character very directly lends itself to the Tifa love story; Tifa was a supremely important point of focus for it because it was _for her_ that he even wanted to jump through the hoops of becoming a SOLDIER. ...and his supreme sense of shame at not making it to SOLDIER... was based around Tifa potentially losing enthusiasm and respect for him. This was his most humiliating/vulnerable secret that Tifa discovered in the lifestream: that it wasn't really out of a desire for grandeur and glory; it was _for her._ People would think he's a loser for such a thing. Then, the whole reason Cloud is even on AVALANCHE in the first place is because Tifa desperately contrived a reason for him to stay with her instead of leaving (cleverly alluded to in the remake when Tifa is unprepared to pay Cloud for the first Mako Reactor mission, hinting at the concept that adding Cloud was a clunky last-minute unplanned unbudgeted decision). I think that the most interesting parts of Cloud's character are profoundly love-story-centric - as are Tifa's and Aerith's - but these characters being as multifaceted as they are is just what happens when you give the love story.... depth. Thus, I don't think that summarizing Tifa as a love interest is a disservice to her if you are implying that she is a great one. ..now, to address a point brought up by people that think she isn't a great one: *Tangent Point: People considering Tifa to be a character who has nothing going for her aside from Cloud* We both disagree with this statement and its negative implications. They are objectively untrue. From a macroscopic, zoomed-out level, what they may be observing is: List of Unique Elements Each Character Has Going On: Aerith: Cetra/Planet stuff + villains trying to use her as an asset. Cloud: Develop from asshole who doesn't care saving about the planet or friends to caring about saving the planet and friends. Also, overcome Sephiroth's control of you and face the plot-twisty truth about yourself. Tifa: Repair Cloud's damaged mind. ^from this perspective, people that criticize Tifa may likely be looking for some girthy branch that differs from Cloud. There are some who may consider Tifa, from this level of macroscopic zoom, to be a mere satellite to him. I see it much more endearingly than that: I see them as being holistically intimate - perhaps in the "soul mate" sense like you mentioned. Tifa's journey diverged from from Cloud's for five years (Cloud became A Mako experiment and basically stayed comatose in Nibelheim, Tifa became a martial artist, bar owner and AVALANCHE member to save Gaia), then they fused together into one journey. I don't have a particular desire for Tifa to unveil a tangential problem to solve that sends her off into some side-questy village where she can clean up some individual baggage from her past that is segregated from the entire party, for instance. Cloud _already_ has access to the contents of Tifa's past that would contain these types of elements. Cloud and Tifa are together in this. I like their togetherness in this manner. I comprehend wanting Tifa to branch off into something that is more uniquely her, and her not having such a branch means that some people will see her as incomplete or relatively dimensionless as a character, but I don't share this particular dissatisfaction. If I was to pick a cool area in which to expand upon Tifa and add some potent flavor to her, I'd highlight her path to gaining power as The Greatest Student Zangan Ever Produced.

Tifa is.... the best....

Tifa will forever be my favorite ff7 charecter. Her resilience is impressive, and her loyalty is Admirable. In the remake, she's clouds hero! Always there and constantly saving his ass from himself!

I love that you caught that tifa is more motherly and she saves cloud even before playing the remake. In the remake, when you're running around sector 7 with her she's lecturing cloud about how to speak to marle and how to get things without violence. I think cloud still wants to rescue the damsel in distress which attracts him to aerith although it seems they added a little to the remake to tifa in her saying she feels trapped and her scene when she hugs cloud in aeriths garden to kind of present the fact that she needs to be saved as well. I like what the remake did. It makes the shipping war much harder which is what's so great about ff7

I love both Tifa and Aerith, and generally try to stay away from the love triangle debate when discussing the game. I think in terms of their relationships with Cloud, they both have their own unique dynamics with him and overall impacts on his story that make them equally important. I think that while Tifa defies the "damsel in distress" convention in a lot of ways, one could argue that the quality of her character is somewhat lacking in that, outside of her shared past with Cloud and her relationship with him, she doesn't have much of her own character arc or larger impact on the story. In fact, her main motivation throughout the game seems to be to follow Cloud and stick by him, as evidenced by her decision to stay with him after he gets poisoned and has his mental breakdown in the late game, saying specifically that she doesn't care about anything but him. In that way, I feel like she kind of falls into another trope --- which involves the female character carrying most of the emotional weight, giving and giving but not getting much back, relationship-wise. Generally, I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with Cloud being more fleshed out than Tifa. After all, he IS the protagonist. That said, I think the fact that Tifa was essentially hopelessly devoted to him while Cloud was emotionally incapable of meeting her in the middle for the majority of the game tended to make their relationship feel kind of one-sided a lot of the time. And I find that kind of thing a bit sad to watch. Contrast that with Aerith who, despite her death halfway through the game, grows to care for Cloud but has a lot of her own issues to contend with and her own destiny to follow. And while she is not as physically capable as Tifa, I think her unique storyline and backstory set her up to be a more independent character that stands on her own rather than as a support system for the protagonist. She is so deeply tied to the story itself (with even the implication that she saves the world from beyond the grave), far beyond her relationship with Cloud or Zack, and I could see why that might make her more appealing and memorable to some --- aside from the fact that she does possess kind of a magnetic and ethereal quality.

What i like about Tifa was how her femine nature to take care of and heal is what helps Cloud as his furtherest depths. Not her brute strength. I enjoy hows she a badass but still a woman, if that makes any sense

These need more views. This is excellent work.

happy birthday tifa!!! :3

Great analysis. I'm working on a review of FFVII right now, and I'll admit, I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to cover Tifa. She's such a strong strong character, but so much of her arc is tied up with Cloud. It can make it difficult to parse where Cloud ends and she begins.

I think Tifa is an interesting character, but I think that at least in the context of the game Aerith has much more appeal as a romance. I initially thought it was because of the game's heavy reliance on text and the fact that Aerith is much more talkative and witty her charm comes out much more often, and I still think it's the case in the original. But even in the remake I think Aerith is very energetic and such a huge contrast to cloud that she is instantly appealing as his partner. But after all of this, I still think Tifa is much more suited for cloud, especially once he becomes cloud again. Aerith and real Cloud could have worked just fine, but Tifa and real cloud just clicks.

My duuude. Yes.

Did you forget that cloud is there for tifs at the nibelheim mall reactor?

Avalanche Time!

Great video! I've been playing this game for almost 20 years and quite honestly I have always found Tifa to be annoying and even with the remake. She's "strong" sure physically but not so much in other points of her personality IMO. She always feels like a big sister helping out her little brother (Cloud) I look forward to more of your videos 😊

Pls Remake Part 2 and 3 dont waste Tifa because of toxic shippers the lifestream scene in the Remake would be awesome.

Will we ever see Zelda series analysis? 🤔 Or Silent Hill / Resident Evil / Devil May Cry / Golden Sun / Legend of Dragoon? 🤔

Who is here after she become the Italian senate?

Something I noticed. Cloud's Mom in flashback: You should marry someone older. Someone who will take care of you. Cloud: I'm fine. That's when I decided to Google Tifa's age. She's 23, while Cloud is 21! That's why she was so much more mature than him in these instances. Aeris is also 22. It's so poetic.

bro you said "Aeris"

italy brought me here!

Honestly the only Tifa I could think of is the Abridged version.

Tifa cares about him mostly like a childhood friend, she was never in love with him. She was the prettiest girl in the town and he just decided he would protect her, that was his hormones talking because he never got too close to her and her circle of friends. It's like Biggs said, he is still like a kid from the orphanage. He still feels like a excluded kid and he wants to appear strong and selfless to cover his inner loneliness. But Aerith is the one that cracks his antisocial shield, something Tifa was not capable or interested in doing.