Ifalna

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Ifalna
(イファルナ, Ifaruna?)
Biographical information
Home	Icicle Inn
Age	29
Physical description
Race	Cetra
Gender	Female
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Green
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character
Type	Non-player character
Behind the scenes information
Designer	Tetsuya Nomura

Take Aerith someplace safe.

Ifalna's last words

Ifalna was the last remaining pureblood Cetra and the mother of Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake. She is seen in flashback sequences: during the story Elmyra Gainsborough tells Cloud Strife and his friends of how she came to adopt Aerith, and through video logs found in an abandoned house in Icicle Inn.

Profile

Appearance

Ifalna resembles her daughter, with emerald green 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.

Personality

Ifalna loves her daughter, and wishes for her to be safe, even in a world that only wants to exploit them both.

Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Ifalna and Gast in Icicle Inn.

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. He met Ifalna, one of the last Cetra, and took 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 entrusted her knowledge of Cetra, Weapons, and Jenova (also known as the "Calamity from the Sky") to Gast, who taped these conversations. The two fell in love and conceived a daughter, unbeknown to the Shinra Corporation. They remained hidden for the duration of the pregnancy, and Gast named his daughter Aerith. Twenty days after her birth, Professor Hojo located the family and demanded Gast hand over Ifalna and their daughter. When Gast resisted, he was shot by Hojo's henchmen and Ifalna and Aerith were relocated to a Shinra lab.

Ifalna's death.

The pair were held prisoner for seven years, during which time Ifalna gave two things to her daughter: the White Materia, and the knowledge of how to use it to summon Holy. Ifalna escaped with Aerith, but was mortally wounded. On the steps of the Sector 7 Slums station, she entrusted Aerith to a nearby woman, Elmyra Gainsborough, and died of her injuries.

In Final Fantasy VII Remake, Professor Hojo reveals that Shinra had salvaged Ifalna's corpse, with her cells being extracted from hair, skin, bones and internal organs for the research on the Ancients.

While under Shinra's custody, both Aerith and her mother were kept in a room equipped enough for basic needs (a bed, a bathroom, etc.). Surprisingly, they were almost treated as guests, with Aerith even being given crayons, which she used to draw on the walls of the room. According to Aerith, Shinra scientists would come to the room and take her mom away everyday, leaving her alone.

Spoilers end here.

Behind the scenes

Concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura.

In Ifalna's concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura she is said to be 29 years old.

Aerith states she could hear her mother's voice as a child and that, though she expected this to 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 Hoshi o Meguru Otome.

Ifalna is mentioned in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-: A scientist within the Shinra Headquarters laments her death, and is discovered to be working against Shinra. He is arrested by Kunsel.

Gallery

Field model from Final Fantasy VII.

Ifalna pleads for her daughter's safety in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Concept art for Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Etymology

Ifalna's name in Japanese (イファルナ, Ifaruna?) is an anagram of the transliteration of "final" (ファイナル, fainaru?). This refers to her being the last/final Cetra.