Ifalna



Ifalna is one of the last remaining Cetra and the mother of Aeris Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII.

Appearance and Personality
Ifalna very much resembles her daughter, with her blue eyes, long brown hair and bangs, though Ifalna wears hers loose. Ifalna wears a long sleeved red dress with a purple wrap round her waist, and flat red shoes.

In the brief time that Ifalna is seen, it is evident that she deeply loves her daughter Aeris and wishes for her to be safe in a world that only wants to exploit them both. From the horrors she suffered it can be assumed that she is mistrustful of Shinra.

Story
Between 24 to 28 years ago, Professor Gast Faremis set out on a pilgrimage to search information on Jenova and the Cetra, otherwise known as the Ancients. At some point he meets Ifalna, one of the very last Cetra, and takes her to Icicle Inn on the Northern Continent for further study. The keywords section of the Crisis Core Complete Guide states that Gast helped Ifalna escape Shinra Electric Power Company the time he quit the company.

Ifalna entrusts her knowledge of Cetra, Weapons, and Jenova, also known as the "Calamity from the Sky" to Gast, who tapes these conversations; the player can easily find these tapes on reaching the house. The two fall in love and conceive a daughter, unbeknown to the Shinra Corporation. They remain hidden for the duration of the pregnancy, and Gast names his daughter Aeris. Just 20 days after her birth, Professor Hojo locates the family and demands Gast hand over Ifalna and their daughter. When Gast resists, he is shot dead by Hojo's henchmen and the two Cetra are relocated to a Shinra lab.

The pair are held prisoner for about seven years, during which time Ifalna gives two things to Aeris: first is the White Materia, and second is the knowledge of how to use it to summon Holy. Eventually Ifalna escapes with Aeris, but is mortally wounded. On the steps of Sector 7 station, she entrusts Aeris to a nearby woman, the recently widowed Elmyra Gainsborough, and then dies of her injuries.

Trivia

 * Ifalna is mentioned by name in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. A scientist found within the Shinra Headquarters laments her death, and is discovered to be working against Shinra. He is arrested by Kunsel.
 * She is also mentioned by Hojo on the player's first visit to the Shinra Building; when President Shinra inquires after Hojo's progress with Aeris, he replies, "As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother, Ifalna".
 * In Ifalna's concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura she is said to be 29 years old.
 * Aerith states that she could hear her mother's voice as a child and that, though she expected this to eventually go away, it "never stopped." However, Ifalna plays no further role in the game, and is one of the few deceased characters connected to Aerith who does not appear in Maiden Who Travels the Planet.