Tifareth, along the paths of the Sephiroth (Early development speculation)

[Ryushikaze]

So, we know a few things about the early development of FF7, like that it took place in npresent day New York City, starred a detective named Joe, etc.

We know about Cloud with his darker hair and spunkier attitude (that got recycled into zack, basically)

We know about Aerith being lovers with Sephiroth, then sister to him, then that changed entirely.

Or do we?

We know Aerith was named as an Anagram of I Earth.

Or do we?

See, I think that a lot of what was said about the early game development is a lot of little white lies to simplify things, and to cover up that originally there was neither Tifa nor Aerith, but perhaps Tifareth, and one character became two.

If you are not aware, very early on Barret was named Bro. We know this from a few sources, including this image.

But wait, who's that Vincent looking fellow? Vincent? No, Sephiroth!. And he and the lady by Cloud share a mother? So she's Aerith? Right? No, her name is Tifa, not Aerith.

But they quickly changed her design, right? And Sephirothy? Like in these pictures?

Aerith and Sephiroth looking close together. Only, wait a second.... that earring.

Here too. Aerith... doesn't wear earrings. We have literally never seen her with an earring before the remake. And even then, they are hidden behind her hair the few shots we see of them, and vanish again later. But you know who is always seen with a visible earring, on the same ear? Cloud!
But that's not him, so who else? Right! Tifa! But wait, that lady is wearing a ribbon, and Tifa doesn't wear ribbons in her hair.... curiouser and curiouser.

Does this mean that Tifa was there in the beginning? And Aerith wasn't? Well, yes and no. Does this mean Tifa existed first, then got scrapped, replaced by Aerith, then brought back? On that one I say definitively no. See, what I'm trying to get at is that in the beginning there was no Tifa or Aerith, there was only Tifa and Aerith, probably called something like Tifareth to compliment Sephiroth, since the two were to have a link. I suspect that in the early design document we see with "Tifa" related to Vinceroth, that their relation was to be a later revelation, with Tifa revealing her name to Tifareth, sister of Sephiroth. Maybe even leading to a strained loyalty. But that's just my guess.

Anyways, as development went on, they changed Sephiroth's look, and so along with that Tifareth's look changed as well, giving us the "Aerith but with Tifa's earring" concept of the two pictures above.

Finally, when the decision was made to kill this character, rather than "killing Aerith and creating Tifa" as the shorthand version of the story goes, they decided to split Tifareth into two characters, one named Tifa, and one named Aerith. Certain aspects of Tifareth, the earring, her original look, being childhood friends with Cloud, went to Tifa, while the new look and a lot of the more mystical aspects went to Aerith, who was to die.




So, yeah, that's my theory on where the names Tifa and Aerith actually originate from, and also why Vincent looks so much like Tifa despite them having no particular link in the canon. It's because they did before, back when both were different characters entirely.

So, what do you think? Plausible? Likely? Am I just blowing smoke?

 

[Torrie]

It's definitely an amusing topic to be dwelling on and also a nice reminder that I haven't finished reading X-SOLDIER's longread on FF7's symbolic nature. As for me, however much I enjoy looking at early stages of development (not only FF, but anything, really) and piecing together the original and the final ideas, I don't think the early material should have more weight compared to the final product. Mere curiosity is fine though.

In this particular case, I can clearly see that the devs were so overloaded with ideas that splitting almost each of the main characters into two seemed like a good plan to carry out. I could try to imagine what the game would have looked like if all the original ideas had remained the way they appeared at that time (and that would require waaay too many conditional sentences), but I don't really want to.

 

[Ryushikaze]

It's definitely an amusing topic to be dwelling on and also a nice reminder that I haven't finished reading X-SOLDIER's longread on FF7's symbolic nature. As for me, however much I enjoy looking at early stages of development (not only FF, but anything, really) and piecing together the original and the final ideas, I don't think the early material should have more weight compared to the final product. Mere curiosity is fine though.

Oh, absolutely. None of my speculation changes the nature of either the OG's story or the Remake's. More that the very idea of FF7's early development was so full up with so many ideas that went unused or got shuffled into other games entirely (Parasite Eve, natch) that its a fascinating what if exercise, and helps us understand certain curiosities in the games as they are as artifacts of that earlier development, like Vincent and Tifa's similarities despite having no connection to each other.

In this particular case, I can clearly see that the devs were so overloaded with ideas that splitting almost each of the main characters into two seemed like a good plan to carry out. I could try to imagine what the game would have looked like if all the original ideas had remained the way they appeared at that time (and that would require waaay too many conditional sentences), but I don't really want to.

I mean, I think it's better to think of the development of the game as a series of phases, rather than a pool of ideas, but yes, seeing what might have come of the early phases had they stayed that course would have been most interesting. Sort of like how Versus 13 was obviously a very different game from what finally became 15.

 

[Eerie]

This is funny, because it's exactly my take too on the names and how Aerith and Tifa were created, alongside Vincent and Sephiroth. They literally split Tifareth in 2 rather than create a whole new character, and this is shown with through the designs. I find looking at how they brainstorm the story really interesting.