Darkness & Light an Essay on Tifa in Kingdom Hearts II
By: Angelwing Aeris with credit to Pink Ribbon
Kingdom Hearts II
Cloud finally gets his very own expanded sidestory and
joining him in his adventures is a familar yet new character Tifa Lockhart, his old
childhood friend from the FFVII Compilation. Interesting to note, Cloud,
Yuffie, and Tifa are sporting their Advent Children outfits, marking their
connection to their home world and their roles in the game. It is also
important to note Aerith also receives a new outfit tying her to Cloud’s home
world and her role in the game as his light and supporter from afar. In this
second installment Tifa is a woman who is shrouded in mystery whom Cloud
appears to be avoiding for unknown reasons. She tries everything to find him in
the world of Radiant Garden including kicking walls–but Cloud struggling
to defeat darkness and find his own inner light to combat it ignores her and speaks
of having to conquer his darkness, a person who is no other than Sephiroth.
Cloud:
I'll get him. This time we settle it. Me, and the one who embodies all the
darkness in me.
Donald: I thought you looked kinda different, Cloud.
Cloud: If I do, it's his fault.
Sora: Whose?
Cloud: Sephiroth. Tell me if you see him.
Sora: Okay. What's he look like?
Cloud: Silver hair. Carries a long sword.
Sora: Sure. Well, be seeing you, Cloud.
Cloud: Be careful. He messes with your head, makes you think darkness is the
only way.
~Kingdom Hearts II
This
conversation reveals that Cloud is struggling to deal with his darkness, while
a conversation between Cloud and Aerith while Sora looks on further makes it
clear that Cloud must also find his inner light to balance the inner darkness,
making the light in this second installation depersonified.
Aerith: Is something wrong?
Sora: Uhh...
Cloud: It's nothing. I don't want you involved.
Aerith: You mean you don't want me there when you go away again?
Cloud: I just--- Listen, even if I go far away, I'll come back.
Aerith: Do you mean it?
Cloud: Yeah.
Aerith: See? You don't look so sure. Well, okay, I understand. Go---get things
settled.
Cloud: Huh?
Aerith: No matter how far away you are...once you find your light...I'm sure it
will lead you back here again. Right?
Cloud: I suppose.
Aerith: So I'll stay here---and I'll cheer for you--- Okay, Cloud?
Cloud: Okay. *walks away*
Aerith: Wonder if he'll be okay.
Sora: He'll be fine. I'm sure there's some light in him somewhere.
Aerith: You're right.
~Kingdom Hearts II
Tifa tries to her
best to find and communicate to Cloud and ultimately does not achieve this goal
until the climax of Cloud’s battle with his inner darkness Sephiroth, to which
she is thrust in the middle of. She is a relatively minor character which plays
an active role in Cloud's sidestory. More importantly she calls into question
who Cloud’s light is. As we will see later on if ever there was any association
of Cloud's light with a person, then that person would be Aerith. While Tifa
happens to the one character that actually gives her light to Cloud literally,
his reaction is immediate – he is blinded by its intensity. Even Sephiroth notices
this and admits is not right for him as shown in the dialogue below.
Tifa:
I will give you my light/I will give my light to you.
Sephiroth: The light doesn't suit you.
Cloud: For me…I don’t know.
- Kingdom Hearts II
Sephiroth’s
statement does appear to be true as Cloud has been too deep in darkness to be
able to embrace the light fully, Cloud being blinded by Tifa’s light is a
symbol of that. Interestingly Cloud also knows the truth behind Sephiroth’s
words, because he doesn’t outright reject them. Instead, he responds with doubt
and uncertainty, the only time in the whole fight. While Cloud knows that darkness
is not for him, he is equally unsure that light is for him as he needs balance.
In this scene, you could say that Sephiroth represents the darkness and Tifa
represents the light. Nomura offers this interpretation as well:
Nomura: "For example, in the sense of 'if
Sephiroth is darkness to Cloud, then the light is Tifa', people might take it
as Tifa being a kind of being, not like a regular human being."
It is interesting that Nomura seems to depersonify her and calls her “not a regular kind of human being”. This symbolism is fitting as the theme of this game is centered in finding inner light, rather than searching for a love interest. The speculation of Tifa being Cloud’s “light” is further put to rest in this KH2 Ultimania quote. Tifa is not even human but rather merely the tool for Cloud to find his inner light.
As such, Tifa symbolizes light which to Cloud is manifests itself as “white” light. As shown in her conversation with Sephiroth, she fails to understand that darkness cannot just be covered by light. Darkness will always be a part of him as it is in all characters of Kingdom Hearts. The solution is finding your inner light within the darkness. To co-exist darkness with light as one cannot exist without the other and vice versa.
Sephiroth: He cannot cast away the darkness.
Tifa: It doesn’t need to be cast away. You should just cover it with light.
- Kingdom Hearts II
Nojima: Tifa’s been with Cloud for a large part of her life at this point, but she still doesn’t understand some of the complexities of his heart, and this makes her uneasy…
- Reunion Files
Tifa is a manifestion of light itself “something different, who doesn’t exist as a human being,” and is unable to comprehend the fact that inside every heart recede light and darkness coexisting together. Interestingly, she is portrayed as not understanding either the complexities of light or Cloud’s heart not just in Kingdom Hearts but in the Compilation of FF7 as a whole. However, Aerith represents the answer as Nojima says below:
“In my opinion, Aerith doesn’t belong to either light or darkness. Kind of like, she’s in another world, and can go to either if she wants to. She’s independent, not steeped in either light or darkness. To put it another way, she’s the most stable, having both light and darkness.”
- Interview
Aerith is compatible with Cloud, whose light is rather golden in color, as opposed to the pure white light of Tifa’s. Aerith would be a better candidate to help Cloud deal with the darkness within his heart as she can help find the light within him. She did this in Final Fantasy VII. Before Cloud meets Aerith, he is a cold, uncaring “lone wolf” who pretty much fits his role as the heartless mercenary. But because of her influence, he begins to change gradually. She even manages to get him to laugh. By the end of the game, Cloud is no longer uncaring or cold towards life. Aerith helps him find balance. That is why she is his light.
Nojima: “So Cloud’s really running from something but goes around pretending, saying that he’s chasing Sephiroth.” Then we decided to make it him running from the ‘something warm’ like what Tifa was after in FFVII AC.” ~Nojima; Interview
It’s very interesting that Nojima mentions that Cloud is pretending to chase Sephiroth. In relation to Sephiroth, Tifa represents the light itself. In relation to Cloud, Tifa represents the present, in both Kingdom Hearts II and Advent Children. There appears to be a constant struggle to keep the balance between light and dark inside Cloud; to restore the balance, Cloud has to overcome the darkness inside himself and find the light within. That’s why Aerith doesn’t accompany him to fight along his side in Kingdom Hearts II. She is aware chasing the darkness and destroying it permanently is no solution, and she knows she helps him spiritually giving him strength like she has always done in Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children. Sephiroth might never be destroyed completely, as he did say “I will never be a mere memory…”? Sora actually refers to Sephiroth as the “darkness inside of [Cloud].”
"Since Sephiroth must exist, Aerith must exist. There was no doubt about that one." ~Nojima; Interview
Aerith must exist because she is Cloud’s light, and Sephiroth is his darkness. Light and darkness cannot exist without one another. Cloud manages to find the light inside himself in Advent Children despite Sephiroth’s presence:
Nomura: “As for Cloud… he sees Aerith several times throughout the film. It’s not that he sees her because he feels her presence. He sees her because her consciousness lives on inside him.”
- Distance
Aerith is the key to finding the light within himself—that’s why her he sees her consciousness inside him. In that sense, Aerith is Cloud’s light while Tifa is light itself.