Brian Lockhart

Brian Lockhart
(ブライアン・ロックハート, Buraian Rokkuhāto?)
Biographical information
Home	Nibelheim
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character
Type	Non-player character
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Tetsuya Nomura
Japanese voice actor	Hochu Otsuka
English voice actor	TBD

Brian Lockhart is a minor character in the Final Fantasy VII series. He is seen in flashbacks in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake, an appearance in Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-, mentioned in a mail in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and expanded upon in Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts. A resident of Nibelheim, he is the father of Tifa Lockhart, and the husband of Thea Lockhart.

Brian raised Tifa on his own after Thea's passing when Tifa was only eight years old. Later, he himself was murdered, and his death led Tifa to join Avalanche to fight against Shinra and SOLDIER.

History

Early history

At thirteen years old, most of Brian's friends had left Nibelheim to look for opportunities elsewhere, but he chose to stay so as not to miss his opportunity with Thea.

At one point when Tifa's family were together, Thea remarked that Cloud Strife (their neighbor, who was raised by Claudia Strife) had the "face of an angel", in an exchange that put Brian in a sour mood for the rest of the night.

In 1995, Thea passed away from an illness, her death sending shockwaves throughout the community. Shortly after, Tifa, coping with her grief, tried to climb Mt. Nibel; Cloud followed under concern for her safety, and both fell from a rickety bridge. Tifa's friends Emilio, Tyler, and Lester (known as the "Four Fiends") claimed that Cloud had urged Tifa on, something he never denied, causing Brian to scold and dislike Cloud thereafter.

Raising Tifa

With Thea gone, other women in the village managed things Brian could not handle on his own, teaching Tifa to cook and sew among other things that were expected of village mothers. Brian worked on maintenance on the route to Nibel Reactor, on the trails and bridge. He was also one of three village representatives on the village council under the elder, Zander, and thus was among those designated for communications with the Shinra Electric Power Company.

Tifa begged Brian for a cat for years. Eventually, Tifa received a cat, Fluffy, on her twelfth birthday, from Zander. At one point when Brian accidentally allowed Fluffy to escape, he roped in the entire village for a coordinated search.

When the martial artist Rashard Zangan arrived at the village, Brian was very suspicious of him and suggested her and Tifa look into it to "poke fun at him", unaware that Zangan had encountered Tifa the day before. After Zangan suggested Tifa lead the exercises with the villagers in Zangan's absence, Brian was initially skeptical but ultimately agreed, having complained about Tifa being docile around the house since Emilio, Tyler, and Lester had all left.

Zangan later asked Brian to be Tifa's sparring partner when she learned Book Five—the book containing strikes and combat techniques—as a former student of his who had no sparring partner had practiced against monsters and met his end; Brian agreed despite his lack of combat experience. Brian eventually warmed to Zangan to the point of inviting him over for a meal and giving him gil as thanks, which Zangan said he would accept only once and would donate.

Nibelheim Incident

Tifa finds her father's body in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Around 0002, monster sightings around Nibelheim increased, causing a sense of unease at the village. Brian was among the representatives responsible for contacting Shinra to try to persuade them to investigate and help, something they took a long time to respond to. By September 18, Nibelheim had begun requiring able-bodied men in rotating shifts, of which Brian was a participant.

Brian's pleas were eventually successful, and Shinra agreed to send an investigation team of SOLDIERs on September 22. Over a week later, on October 1, Sephiroth burned down the village, commencing the Nibelheim Incident. When the town set alight, Brian pulled Tifa and Fluffy from the raging flames to the waterfall to safety, before taking up responsibility as the last representative given Zander's murder. He helped carry wounded villagers to safety also and being assisted by Zangan. He finally headed to the Nibel Reactor, declaring an intent to go talk to him.

When she arrived at the reactor, Tifa found her father lying injured, Sephiroth's Masamune nearby, covered in blood. She cradled him in her arms pleading with him to hang on, as he told her to run before passing away before her eyes.

Original death scene.

Corpse in Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-.

Characteristics

Brian is depicted wearing a chocobo rancher (cowboy) outfit, with a red shirt beneath a cowboy vest, a leather belt, and black pants. This is an attire common to Nibelheim villagers, though Brian would sometimes buy outfits from Midgar, including a pair of sandals for Tifa that were a new fashion trend in the city.

Brian was a caring but overprotective father to Tifa. When she had her ankle sprained and needed to walk for it to heal, he was very reluctant to allow her to walk alone (only doing so on her doctor's advice), giving strict stipulations if she did so, and internally mourning how quickly she grew up. He was also very mistrusting of Cloud and Zangan, although he eventually came to like the latter.

Brian was capable at handiwork, and when asked by Zangan to build equipment, drew up detailed plans about fashioning it and was meticulous, ultimately crafting gear that was above and beyond Zangan's specifications. Although Brian was Tifa's sparring partner to help her improve, he himself had given up quickly into Zangan's first set of exercises, suggesting he was not in as good a shape as his daughter. Though Tifa was taught to cook, Brian was a capable cook himself, cooking a meal for Zangan while Tifa made homemade cupcakes.

Behind the scenes

Concept art of Tifa's father by Tetsuya Nomura.

Tifa's father is known as Tifapapa (ティファパパ, Tifapapa?) in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VII, with the first part of his name changing based on what the player names Tifa. This name only features as his speaker name, and may be indicative of Cloud's perspective. In English he has no speaker name. His Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive profile is titled "Tifa's Dad", and the Final Fantasy VII Remake Deluxe Edition Artbook captioned his artwork "Tifa's Father".

The name "Brian Lockhart" (ブライアン・ロックハート, Buraian Rokkuhāto?) was first used to officially refer to him in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania. This name was first used in Tetsuya Nomura's concept art for the original game, but was not used in the game. Since Cloud's mother and Tifa's father both had names in the original Final Fantasy VII character design documents, the developers decided to use them in Remake. Because Brian has no dialogue in Final Fantasy VII Remake, the developers referred to him as "dead body" during development.

Tifa calls her father Papa (パパ, Papa?) in Final Fantasy VII, while the maturer Tifa interpretation in Last Order calls him (父さん, Tōsan?) and refers to him as chichi (父?) to others.

His concept art by Tetsuya Nomura mentions him to be 40 years old.

Concept art for Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Field model in Final Fantasy VII.

References

Games

• Square Enix (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 4.
• Square Enix (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 4.

Movies

• (2005). Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- [Film].

Books

• Studio BentStuff (2009). Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-2560-3.
• Square Enix (2018). Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 2 [Book]. Dark Horse Books. ISBN 978-1-5067-0662-7.
• Studio BentStuff (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-6586-9.
• Kazushige Nojima (2023). Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-7348-2.

Websites

• Romano, Sal (n.d.) . "Final Fantasy Portal Site: Digging Deep into the World of Final Fantasy VII Remake special interview part one". From 'Gematsu'. Archived from the original on 16:17, August 06, 2020 (UTC).