7th Heaven



The 7th Heaven is a bar and restaurant owned and run by Tifa Lockhart in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII; serving as a home base for many of the games' main characters, specifically in Final Fantasy VII.

The bar has had two locations. The original, located in Midgar slums' Sector 7, is destroyed along with the rest of the sector. A new bar was later built in the city of Edge after the fall of Meteor.

Story
Located in the slums of Sector 7 in Midgar, the original 7th Heaven bar was built by an unnamed carpenter during the events of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and named "7th Heaven" by Zack Fair during a conversation.

Intended to house an anti-Shinra base from the start; in Final Fantasy VII it serves as the base of operations for the AVALANCHE terrorist organization. By using a secret elevator disguised as a pinball machine, AVALANCHE members can reach the secret headquarters below the bar's main floor. To most of the organization's members, the bar is also their only known home. The familial ties in the business are at such an extent that, when Tifa once joins Cloud Strife and Barret Wallace on an AVALANCHE mission, the bar is left in the trusted care of Marlene Wallace, Barret's four-year-old adoptive daughter.

The bar is destroyed when President Shinra orders the destruction of the Sector 7 pillar, dropping the plate upon the slums and crushing the entire area. Marlene was not in the bar at the time, having been saved by Aeris Gainsborough, another citizen of the slums, before the plate fell.

Layout
The bar and restaurant area is where customers are served and eat. Located in the slums the bar is designed primarily with wooden tables and benches. A jukebox and pinball machine occupy one corner, while a large television screen is located on the wall behind the bar.
 * Bar and Restaurant:

Accessed via a secret elevator near the pinball machine, this basement serves as headquarters for Barret Wallace's AVALANCHE faction. The headquarters houses mapping and communication facilities as well as a computer hub, television screen and training equipment.
 * Secret Basement:

Development
It appears the early designs for 7th Heaven were later used for a generic pub in Junon. The "Making Of" bonus disc included with Final Fantasy VII International includes a pre-release shot of the Junon pub where Cloud is using lines he says in the 7th Heaven in the final game.

The Junon pub also appeared in a GameFan article written nine months before the release of Final Fantasy VII, which suggests it was originally planned to be a more important location than it ended up being in the final game. Comparing the layout of the Junon pub to the Beginner's Hall in Junon suggests that the underground level of the Beginner's Hall may have been the original AVALANCHE hideout, situated below the 7th Heaven bar.

Pre-release shots of the area also reveal what changes were made to the 7th Heaven bar during development. The pinball machine was part of the background in the early version of the area, but was likely turned into a 3D object for simplicity's sake. Different graphics for the TV screens in 7th Heaven also have been spotted in pre-release images; while in the final game the TV reader looks like a cartoon character, in the early versions the newsreader appears as a real photo of a person. The TV behind the bar is never used in the final game, but dummied dialogue files suggest that a conversation between Tifa and Cloud while watching the news was once planned for the game.

Musical Themes
Before setting out to destroy the Sector 5 Reactor, the background music to the 7th Heaven is "Tifa's Theme". After Cloud decides to take up one more job and destroy the Sector 5 Reactor, "Barret's Theme" replaces Tifa's as the 7th Heaven's theme.

Etymology
The number seven occurs numerous times in Final Fantasy VII as an allusion; e.g. AVALANCHE is based on Sector 7, Shinra Headquarters has 70 floors, there is a status called All Lucky 7s; the bar 7th Heaven follows with the other allusions to the number. itself is a part of religious cosmology found in many major religions, such as Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. The number 7 in Biblical references symbolically represented perfect completion. The number also has a significance in Quranic numerology. According to Jewish teachings in the Talmud, the universe is made of seven heavens, the seventh heaven being where ofanim, the seraphim, and the hayyoth and the throne of the Lord are located.

Trivia

 * Tifa can use an attack called Seventh Heaven in the fighting game Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring.
 * There have been several (untrue) rumors that the ruins of the original Seventh Heaven are accessible in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.
 * In Final Fantasy VII, the sign at the top of the bar in Midgar reads TEXAS COWBOY CLUB. The neon sign on the 7th Heaven reads TYLER BAR. Inside the bar the welcome mat also reads TYLER BAR and there are neon signs on the walls saying TEXAS and DRAFT BEER.
 * Notably, there is no "Texas" in the world of Final Fantasy VII, but "Lockhart" is the name of a city in the real life state of Texas, United States. Tifa was also dressed as a cowgirl in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and cowgirls are often associated with Texas. Also, "Tyler" is the name of a city in Texas, which accompanies the theme of the bar.
 * Tifa's most powerful exclusive weapon, "Seventh Heaven", in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, is named after the bar.
 * Zack's slogan for the bar in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- was "Seventh Heaven! A slice of heaven in Sector 7!".
 * If Cloud bought a flower from Aeris after the attack on Sector 1 Reactor he can give it to either Tifa or Marlene at the bar. This affects Date Mechanics.

7. Himmel (FFVII) Séptimo Cielo (Final Fantasy VII)