Nibelheim

Nibelheim is a small mountain village close to Cosmo Canyon, in the world of Final Fantasy VII,. It is the hometown of both Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart. Years ago something terrible happened here. Afterwards Shin-Ra claimed their hero, Sephiroth to be dead. Most of the Sephiroth Clones, waiting for the Reunion, can be found all around the town. There is Mako Reactor located on nearby Mt. Nibel. The Shin-Ra Mansion is the most promenant structure in the town.

Shin-Ra Mansion
The Shin-Ra mansion holds many secrets of Hojo's experiments. The mansion, having been in Shin-Ra Electric Power Company's possession for ages, was the setting for the horrible experiments that would become the Jenova Project.

Many years before the events of the main storyline of Final Fantasy VII, the basement was used for experiments by the head of Shin-Ra's Science Division, Hojo. He used Jenova cells on his colleague, and lover Lucrecia Crescent, which ultimately lead to the birth of Sephiroth, a child born with Jenova cells. This special child would be sent to Shin-Ra, and specially raised to the be the ultimate SOLDIER.



The Turk Vincent Valentine, whose mission was to protect the scientists during their experiments, fell in love with Lecrecia. When he hears of the horrible things being done to her and her child, Vincent confronted Hojo. The argument grow heated, and Hojo shot him. The scientist then uses the dead or nearly dead body as another test subject. This time, Chaos, the servent of the Omega WEAPON, would be implanted inside the Turk. Vincent sees himself as a monster now, and a failure for not saving Lucrecia. He decides to repent for his sins by resigning himself to a coffin in the mansion's basement.

Cloud and Tifa's Childhood
Despite the nightmare which occurred within the mansion, Nibelheim remained a peaceful town for its residents. Cloud Strife, and Tife Lockhart both grow up here in relative normality. While Tifa played with her three freinds, Cloud was alone and isolated. All Cloud has is his mother, no father is ever mentioned. Being alone, he began to consider the other children to be childish and himself better than the others.

One day, Tifa's peaceful life is shattered when her mother dies. Emotionally distraught, she believes that she can find her mother again by climbing Mt. Nibel. Though her freinds follow, each one slowly breaks away when Tifa goes too far. But Cloud continues to follow. Tifa would wind up injuring herself, and when the adults find her, they immediately blame Cloud. This makes him all the more alone.

During this time, Cloud begins to idolize Sephiroth, the hero SOLDIER of the war with Wutai. He feels that if he can become great like Sephiroth, the people of Nibelheim will have no choice but to accept him. The night before he leaves, he meets up with Tifa and promises to become a SOLDIER First Class. Cloud also promises under the moonlight, that he would come to her aid when she needed protection.

Cloud leaves for Midgar the next morning. Tifa trains with the town's martial arts expert Zangan, and becomes a mountain guide for Mt. Nibel.

The Nibelheim Incident
Years later, Cloud has met his idol Sephiroth, however has no attained his goal of being SOLDIER First Class. Rather he is a lowly Shin-Ra guard, under Zack Fair. The two SOLDIERS and their guards head to Hibelheim to defeat the strangely high amounts of monsters nearby, and to fix the Reactor up on Mt. Nibel. Cloud is too ashamed to show his failure to his hometown, and so keeps his mask on when they meet with Tifa, who will be their guide. While a picture is taken of the party before heading out, Cloud stays out of it.

The group makes its way to the Reactor, and Sephiroth manages to fix it easily. However, while inside, he finds the hideous by-products of Hojo's experiments. Freakish monsters inside pods that once were human. Sephiroth begins to wonder if he is no different than these monsters, and so enters the Mansion to read all he can on the Jenova Project. The answers drive him insane.



Believing himself to be the heir to the Cetra legacy, Sephiroth slaughters most of the population of Nibelheim, and burns the town to the ground. Zack, Tifa, Zangan, and Cloud all try to help, however the disaster is too far gone. Cloud's mother, and Tifa's father both are murdered. His anger spent, Sephiroth climbs Mt. Nibel to find his mother, Jenova inside the Reactor.

Both Tifa and Zack fight and are defeated by Sephiroth. Cloud enters last, and is all the more distraught over seeing his only freind and childhood crush both barely alive. He manages to drive the Buster Sword into Sephiroth while he is distracted by getting Jenova out. Sephiroth then stabs right through Cloud with his Masamune. But Cloud grabs onto the sword within his stomach, and uses it to force Sephiroth down into the Lifestream, where he supposedly dies.

Tifa is rescued by Zangan, but Cloud and Zack are both captured by the Shin-Ra forces out to smother the situation. They will both be used as test subjects in Hojo's Jenova Reunion Theory. The town is repopulated with Shin-Ra employees here to make sure word of the incident never gets out. As for Tifa, once she recovers, she heads to Midgar to get revenge on Shin-Ra.

Hunting for Sephiroth
Three years later, Cloud and Tifa have reunited and together search for Sephiroth across the Planet. Their search leads them to their hometown of Nibelheim, which is now infested with Sephiroth Clones. Nobody in the town recognizes either one of them, since they are all fakes put in place by Shin-Ra. Since there is nothing here for them now, Cloud and Tifa leave to Mt. Nibel to continue their search.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
During the events Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, Vincent Valentine returns to the manor via the underground tunnels and sewers, to search for information about Deepground and Dr. Crescent's research on OMEGA and Chaos. He meets Deepground troops who had arrived in the mansion earlier, and is fought by a large spider mech in the entrance hall. It is here that Rosso the Crimson extracts the Protomateria from Vincent and he is only saved from the hand of Rosso by Yuffie. By this time, the mansion is in ruins.

Items Found
In town:


 * Luck Source
 * Elixir
 * Turbo Ether
 * Platinum Fist
 * Luck Source

Shin-Ra Mansion:


 * Twin Viper
 * Silver M-Phone
 * Magic Source
 * Enemy Launcher
 * Odin Materia
 * Key to Basement
 * Destruct Materia

Disc 3 Only:

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 * Final Heaven - Tifa's ultimate Limit Break can only be found my playing this medoly on the piano in her house:

Shops
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Item Shop

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Trivia
The name Nibelheim is based on Niflheim, also called Niflheimr, a location in Norse Mythology meaning "Mist World." In the story of Gylfaginning, Odin explains that creation began when the ice of Niflheimr met the flames of Muspelheim.

Nibelheim