What Sort of Love?

[Valkyrur]

Spoiler Alert to those still clueless about the storyline of FFVII... Which I doubt, actually, but don't say you weren't warned.








By chance, I came across this short novel by Nojima... Some important guy in the game's production team. I forget his exact position, but he wrote this series of short novels titled "On a Way to a Smile". Each short story in this series focuses on a specific character, and I happened to read one which focused on Tifa's perspective of the events after the story in Final Fantasy VII.

In this story, Tifa's thoughts and emotions are very well-detailed. Sheds a lot more light about her personality, especially her self-doubt and guilt after the events of FFVII. I also notice her growing involvement in the family that she created with Barrett, Cloud and Marlene (and later, Denzel). Well, and her love for these people. To Marlene and Denzel, I believe I won't be wrong to think her love for them is sisterly, or motherly...

... To think otherwise...

But besides that, I am more curious about her love for Cloud. From reading the short story (translated here, by the way), I was beginning to get the impression that her love for Cloud was more motherly than that of a romantic interest. Especially from all her thoughts about Cloud growing distant to the family, and stuff.

So... What do you guys think?




PS. I recommend reading the short stories to those who haven't. They're quite a nice read, especially for a fan of the series. Helps to build a link between the main game and Advent Children as well.

 

[The Witch]

That's exactly the impression I got, too. There's a part in that novella that really defines how she feels for Cloud, and they straight up say "mother"

***
"Tifa burst out laughing. Cloud went on about how he got paid a little for delivering items. He told her about how he felt guilty spending it all on the modifications for the bike.Tifa thought he was like a kid. It may have been a little sad that Cloud had found another world that I didn't know about but, the fact that his world was expanding was a welcoming thought. Yes, it was similar to the feelings a mother would have. Tifa walked Cloud outside, enjoying the new feeling that was blooming in her."
***

See how it described her thinking Cloud was a kid and then it directly say her "feelings" were like that of a mother and that she also enjoyed those mother-like feelings she was having for Cloud? That, to me, always implied that her love was motherly/platonic. This is also reinforced with this quote from Nomura;

***
"Tifa was a very difficult character to create. Like Aerith, she also has a maternal side to her, but in a different sense. Not only was she looking after Marlene and Denzel, but Tifa also felt a certain maternal bond to Cloud, who is a "big kid" himself in some respects." - Nomura, pg. 18, Reunion Files
***

This quote is actually really really good. It first mentions how both Aerith and Tifa have "maternal" sides to them, but then it says that Tifa's is different, it then goes on to say that she wasn't only looking after Marlene and Denzel (who are in fact her adopted kids; which she has maternal feelings for) but that Tifa also felt a certain "maternal bond" to Cloud, who Tifa always thinks of as a "big kid".

The way this novella always labeled Cloud as a "kid" in Tifa's eyes, and on top of the fact that Tifa says she enjoys feeling like a mother to Cloud, it really emphasizes that her love for him is maternal, like a mother to a son.