Tifa's dramatic purpose in the story

[Spooniest]

Why is Tifa in the story, besides providing a love interest for Cloud? What is her dramatic purpose? What statements does the examination of her character make? How do they relate to the statments made by the arc of Aeris?

Why Tifa?

[Mercen-X]

My response to this question
can be found in this fan-fiction I wrote: http://home.eyesonff.com/timber-mani...ss-heaven.html

[Loony BoB]

She's not just a love interest for Cloud, she is the link to who he really is, the catalyst towards him regaining his senses after he falls into the Lifestream and being able to stop Sephiroth from controlling him. I'd say she has a larger part to play in the story than most of the cast.

[comma]

Love interest? Nah. Like BoB said, she's there to be Cloud's anchor to reality. She provides dramatic irony because she knows the reality of what happened but doesn't reveal it right away. In fact, in replaying the game recently, I'd say my favorite part was watching Tifa react to Cloud's inaccurate version of events. She's the replay value of the game, because you wouldn't realize on the first play that there's something truly flawed with Cloud's story, but in retrospect, her reactions are meant to reflect an incongruity in and an unease with the provided narrative.

[Denmark]

tits

[Jiro]

Yeah, she serves as an anchor. She's kind of a foil for Aerith in a sense but I think her character, and a lot of characters, are kind of unnecessary or underdeveloped.

[Spooniest]

A foil for Aerith

Intriguing.

Aerith is kind, gentle, frail and wears a pink dress. Tifa, on the other hand, is robust, tough, and wears shorts and a tank top.

But in the end, Aerith turns out to have been the more spiritually powerful of the two. I think people forget what happens right as Tifa enters the Lifestream...

It's kind of disturbing. We get to see Tifa confronted with personal demons of hers as she begins to hear the voices of the planet for the first time. She begins to try to run away, but doesn't get anywhere.

In a way, Tifa's identity is being examined as much as Cloud's is.

[Loony BoB]

A foil for Aerith

Intriguing.

Aerith is kind, gentle, frail and wears a pink dress. Tifa, on the other hand, is robust, tough, and wears shorts and a tank top.

This is bollocks! Tifa is kinder and gentler than Aeris, easily. Sure, when fighting you could say that applies, but certainly not in storyline. People are too quick to look at clothes and jobs and then assume personality traits. I love that Tifa & Aeris both break stereotype when it comes to personality vs. appearances. Just look at what they're like on the Golden Saucer dates and pretty much any other time they interact. Aeris is outgoing, energetic, direct. Tifa is introverted, shy and caring.

But in the end, Aerith turns out to have been the more spiritually powerful of the two. I think people forget what happens right as Tifa enters the Lifestream...

It's kind of disturbing. We get to see Tifa confronted with personal demons of hers as she begins to hear the voices of the planet for the first time. She begins to try to run away, but doesn't get anywhere.

In a way, Tifa's identity is being examined as much as Cloud's is.

While I agree with "spirtually stronger", that's fairly irrelevant to mental strength for the most part. It's hard to say that Aeris is mentally stronger than Tifa when their experiences are so very different. Aeris may have had hardship in her life, but just five years ago Tifa watched her friends and family get murdered and her entire town burned to the ground, and then Cloud pops up - who was there at the time - and acts like everything was different. If I were her, I'd get pretty mentally smurfed by that too. I'd wager such experiences would have a much more traumatising impact on Aeris than what we see of Aeris' memorable youth. Therefore, at the moment Tifa overcomes such things, you could argue that she is mentally stronger than any. She also is mentally strong enough to help Cloud go through his struggles simultaneously, which is no small achievement.

Of course, it probably helps that Aeris can 'speak' to the spirits of her lost ones through prayer or something, too. xD

[Jiro]

Aeris is all "I don't need your smurfing concern Cloud I can handle myself" when he tells her to stay home 'cause it's dangerous. Tifa would probably have at least taken the advice on board.

[Spooniest]

I wonder if you've ever thought that Aerith is um...supposed to be a Messianic Figure? Her Final Limit break? "Great Gospel?"

She gets killed, and 3 discs later, appears again to save the world?

I just thought everybody was already aware of this stuff.

TV Tropes does actually exist, right?

[Flying Mullet]

TV Tropes does actually exist, right?

TV Tropes isn't the absolute truth on everything, just peoples' opinions.

[Spooniest]

I could say, "and this isn't?"

But yeah, I guess TV Tropes is probably more given to wild mass guessing, after all. But that's what's so fun about making up stories...the endless possibilities.

[Mercen-X]

The writers of a story need not have intended a character to be a Messianic Figure for that character to become a Messianic Figure in the eyes of its audience. lol "And on the third disc, she rose." FYI TV Tropes is not about wild mass guessing... I mean, it starts that way, but on further examination, the trope are edited to what fits the work and what doesn't is removed. Admittedly, this isn't easy as there are many tropes that have similarities and some are basically cousins, but that doesn't result in straight up fail.

BoB[/I]]Cloud pops up and acts like everything was different

Eh?

[Bolivar]

Tifa is FFVII subverting the RPG heroine archetype. She owns a bar, shows initiative, and kicks ass from the front line. Instead of waiting to be rescued from the villain's stronghold, she instead saves the protagonist by entering his subconscious and helping him develop his own identity.

[Christmas]

She provides a decent sized pair of boobies?