Highlights

  • Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 is a beloved and iconic character who represents a strong, brave, and protective woman.
  • Tifa's development as a character goes beyond just being physically strong, and she is portrayed as a complex, full-fledged person with her own ambitions and backstories.
  • Tifa's resilience and determination in the face of adversity make her a powerful female role model, and she sets a positive example for future games in terms of developing well-rounded female characters.

Players ask for strong female characters often and usually just get a woman who knows how to fight—too literally, a strong woman. But not in Final Fantasy 7's case. When it introduced Tifa, a character who hadn't even been considered until very late into development, she became a fan favorite even among the Final Fantasy 7 developers. She was intended to be a childhood love interest for Cloud Strife but grew into so much more as the developers kept it going.

As soon as the game was out and she was fully developed, Tifa was quick to become an icon for girls around the globe. Sure, she had the physical strength behind her to back up her words, but she was and is a full-fledged person. She is timid, but not always quiet; she has a defensive side to her, and she isn't scared to let that be seen and get business done. She's there for Final Fantasy 7 protagonist Cloud, but it doesn't feel like she's there just to make Cloud look better. Tifa is an asset all on her own.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Tifa's Best Quotes
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Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Tifa's Best Quotes

Tifas physical strength is one of her defining features, causing many to overlook the power she wields through her words in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Final Fantasy 7's Tifa As A Female Icon

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Tifa: A Strong Female Icon

Tifa being a fully developed person, especially compared to her original concept, is wonderful. Little girls, or just kids in general, who pick up a video game controller need to see a diverse group of people. Not just damsels in distress or seductresses, but women in games truly being real, believable people. Tifa is perhaps one of the best examples of this. She's strong but complicated like anyone who's had to endure a lot like Tifa would. She's truly, to her core, human. Tifa is:

  • Brave and ambitious in the face of danger.
  • Timid, though not a quiet person willing to be walked all over.
  • Protective and there for her friends when they need her.

Too many games make a woman a flat character or just add a girl to be the love interest, coming out of nowhere just to fulfill a happy romantic subplot. However, that woman needs to have her own backstory, her own ambitions, and her own prerogatives. It isn't believable that anyone could agree wholly with what a loved one says or does. Tifa, having her own tragedies behind her, shows this wonderfully in her own drive to help fight back against Shinra with Barrett and the others.

The Final Fantasy series has always been good about fleshing out its characters and thinking about them on a grander scale.

Tifa's resilience, despite her hardened past, choosing to confront some of her traumas face-on and becoming stronger through doing so, makes her tough in ways that truly matter. Her determination in opposing Final Fantasy 7's Shinra also helps support this tough girl energy she has, as even though she's been hurt, she truly is strong and brave.

Her ability to be so brave in the face of countless Final Fantasy dangers and traumas and do her best not to crack, while also not being a different stereotype of a colder woman, is also a brilliant balance. Everything about her character makes her so human and beloved by fans. She's an icon for the ages and a step in the right direction. Games that follow in Tifa's footsteps when it comes to developing a wonderful female character are sure to succeed at least on that front.