Lester (Final Fantasy VII)

Lester
(レスター, Resutā?)
Biographical information
Home	Nibelheim
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character

Lester is a minor character first depicted in flashbacks in Final Fantasy VII, and later expanded on in Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts. He is a childhood friend of Tifa Lockhart's from Nibelheim, forming the group colloquially known as the "Four Fiends" with him, Tifa, Emilio, and Tyler.

History

Lester was one of five children around the same age in Nibelheim while growing up, along with the Four Fiends and Cloud Strife. The Four Fiends had been friends since they could walk, and earned the moniker "Four Fiends" from the other villagers due to how inseparable they were. Though Cloud was invited to adventures with them, he would refuse and ignore them.

The group comforting Tifa after her mother's passing.

When Tifa's mother Thea Lockhart died while Tifa was eight years old, Lester and the others came to comfort her. The group accompanied her up Mt. Nibel when she went looking for her mother there. Lester and the boys discouraged her from going further. Cloud eventually followed and the two slipped down a rocky slope, the accident putting her in a coma. Lester and the others rushed down the trail calling for help, and told them that Cloud had tagged with them and urged Tifa to press on. Cloud never denied the story, and thus was blamed for the incident.

As Tifa aged, Lester and the others saw Tifa as a potential romantic partner, often showing off to her and inviting her out alone, to which she would respond with vague silence (not declining outright so as not to hurt feelings). When Tifa's ankle was sprained, her father Brian Lockhart enlisted the group to help her on walks to help with the recovery. After Emilio tried to bring Tifa out to the base of the falls, Lester arrived shortly after holding a basket, to Emilio's disappointment. Thereafter, the group began a tradition of tea parties, at Tifa's suggestion. During these, the three boys would always talk about Midgar, with a mix of truths, misconceptions, and half-truths, and expressing hopes to one day move there by enlisting in the Shinra Electric Power Company, somethign that made Tifa feel she had to compete with Midgar for their attention.

On Lester and Tyler's final day, they were picked up by a Shinra helicopter, a special treat provided by Shinra in giving them the chance to leave their hometown in style. Lester offered Tifa a cheerful goodbye followed by a firm hug before rushing to the helicopter, and was visibly envious of watching Tyler having more of the village's younger girls rushing to hug him goodbye while sat in and ready to leave.

Lester, along with Tyler, is not seen or heard from after leaving Nibelheim, leaving his fate unknown.