BACKGROUND
Twelve years before the game starts, Tifa's mother dies. Tifa becomes upset and confused and she believes her Mother has gone to Mount Nibel and sets off to find her. Cloud follows to make sure she stays safe but Tifa is injured in a fall. Tifa's father arrives and blames Cloud for leading her astray. Cloud, distressed at being wrongly blamed and angry at his inability to save Tifa, decides that one day he will become as strong and capable as the Legendary Sephiroth and resolves to join SOLDIER when he is old enough.
After Tifa recovers, she and Cloud become a little closer. She hears of his plans to join SOLDIER, at the same time she starts training under martial arts master Zangan perfecting her hand-to-hand combat skills.
Seven years later, reports of monsters disrupting life for the workers at the Mt. Nibel Mako reactor results in Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud being sent to Nibelheim to investigate. On reaching Nibelheim Cloud keeps his identity hidden from Tifa and the other townspeople. He cannot bear to be seen as just an "ordinary" solider.
Tifa takes the party to the Mako reactor. Tifa and Cloud stay outside. Inside, Sephiroth discovers Jenova's body and sees all the mutated "failed" experiments of Hojo's. He begins to realize his origins may be similar and becomes upset. Zack is disbelieving at first, but when one of the mutated human’s falls out of a pod he also begins to be concerned. The party returns to Nibelheim Mansion. Sephiroth finds all the notes of Jenova Project in the basement of the Mansion. He is aware of Professor Gasts initialization of the project but has not been told how Gast died or Hojo's full involvement in his creation. Later in the night Zack goes to speak to Sephiroth and finds Sephiroth a changed man. Sephiroth has discovered Gasts notes he made at Icicle Lodge about the Ancients. He now believes he is descended from the Ancients and regards normal humans as traitors who abandoned the Cetra to a terrible disaster. However he does not seem to accept Jenova is the cause of that disaster. He rants and raves at Zack before leaving quickly to see Jenova whom he refers to as "Mother". Zack follows him outside and sees the whole village in flames. Many people are dead or dying, a Shinra Soldier (Cloud) tends to his dying mother. Sephiroth heads for the reactor with several townsfolk in hot pursuit. Tifa and Zack chase after him, Cloud following behind. At the reactor Tifa discovers her father's body. Sephiroth has killed him. As Sephiroth moves towards the Pod with Jenova in it, Zack tries to attack him but is batted away. Tifa picks up Sephiroth's discarded sword and attacks him, but he takes the sword back and cuts her down. Cloud arrives to witness this and he tenderly moves Tifa into a more comfortable position before confronting Sephiroth.
Job: Bar Hostess
Age: 20
Weapon: Glove
Birthplace: Nibelheim
Bright and optimistic, Tifa always cheers up the others when they're down. But don't let her face fool you, she can decimate almost any enemy with her fists. She is one of the main members of AVALANCHE. She and Cloud were childhood friends, and although she has strong feelings for him, she will never admit it.