Table of Contents for R=U: 

1. R=U: A brief summary of why people believe it
2. R=U: An Expanded Explanation

This video of the retraction surprised me. I had honestly felt like… I just shouldn’t even bother with the Final Fantasy series, if it just has very stupid storytelling that fans always point out is filled with idiocy over and over. Reading Yoshinori Kitase’s interview felt like a definite “Word of God says fan theories are all bullshit, you’re stupid for putting any thought or time in interpreting the story for fun” and that was that. I played Final Fantasy X with little to no expectation on the story ever being good; I tried playing a bit of FF13 with that same mindset. Just enjoy the pew-pew lasers and flashy graphics, the story doesn’t matter and has no value. It’s hard to get involved when all the subtext is somehow just… so pointless. You can imagine my surprise that Yoshinori Kitase issued a retraction and clarified that he cannot be sure if that wasn’t what the other two co-writers of Final Fantasy 8’s story intended. The discussion also points to the co-writers and Kitase actively wanting fans to engage and interpret the work; so the gamefaqs and other detractors claiming the writers never intended the story to be an interpretative work and that it was all delusional were definitely wrong, given the context of the detraction. I had honestly written off Final Fantasy’s story as low-tier trash that, similar to some movies, had all these nice and stylish visuals, but no meaningful substance in its actual content after being provided the previous interview. Now that Kitase has retracted it and explained that he honestly cannot be sure if that subtext was purposefully put in by one or both of the other two writers, I’m not really sure if I should try to view Final Fantasy on the same level of quality as I do other Japanese Roleplaying games. After I had read the interview, I’d just assumed the entire series would always be low-tier and to not put much investment outside of Final Fantasy 7, the only good story by Squaresoft since it had no overt plot holes. That being said, I guess… I should just give my reasons why I bothered believing in the Rinoa = Ultimecia theory; I’m sure most of the hawkish Final Fantasy fans will just find something to laugh at:

The Junction system is so damaging to the minds of people that there is literally a huge “plot twist” that the majority of the major characters all forgot that they were raised in the same orphanage. This plot twist is treated as lame and corny, but the subtext does mean that we should expect that the characters will lose their memories – major, important parts of their memories of loving and lasting relationships that give them a clear understanding of who they are as people – in the future. They will eventually forget themselves again.

Rinoa is not a trained soldier. The impact of the memory loss that she receives from using Junction will presumably be enormously worse in scope and scale; it will be far more damaging than anything that the others endure. Her body simply isn’t used to it; unlike theirs, since they trained to be members of SeeD.

Rinoa was briefly junctioned in a Christ-like pose onto Adel. Adel is a power-hungry maniac whose powers were passed on to Rinoa when Adel used her to fight Squall’s team. Despite Adel herself not showing to do this; Ultimecia uses the dialect of Adel’s country, where the scientist who created the machine junction Ellone system speaks in a similar vernacular as Ultimecia. If Rinoa was junctioned onto power-hungry lunatic Adel, she obtained Adel’s memories. Furthermore, human form Ultimecia’s facepaint, bodily shape, and overall design are creepily similar to Adel’s design:

Also, the creepy similarity between Adel’s design of a Christ-like Rinoa and Ultimecia’s final form representing two people. One person is trapped underneath and providing the power to use the apocalypse spell, while the other is blinded by light for a face and unable to see anything or be seen by anyone:

How is Rinoa the Last Sorceress, if Ultimecia exists as a separate person? How on earth does this basic fact: Rinoa is the Last Sorceress and Ultimecia is a Sorceress that exists in the far future make sense? If Rinoa is the Last Sorceress, but Ultimecia exists as a separate person, then surely Rinoa should have transferred her Witch powers, right? But it’s a plot point that Rinoa is the last Sorceress and people want to argue that this is a “plot hole” over the very obvious allusions being implied in the game?

The Promise scene of Final Fantasy 8: Rinoa’s entire speech about SeeD, Squall’s sword piercing her heart, and her desire for time to stand still. Why does this scene… exist? Just why? Why is it there, deliberately alluding to Rinoa secretly wanting Time Compression just like the final boss, Ultimecia?

If Griever was pulled out of Squall’s mind by Ultimecia… how on earth did she know to do that and why Squall? Why is it now clearly confirmed that Ultimecia had Griever designs throughout her castle, which josses the theory that she simply pulled Griever out of Squall’s head? Why does an intimate and private conversation with Rinoa in the middle of the war, about the necklace ring, suddenly turn into a protector and part of the final boss fight for Ultimecia? Why would the game developers set it up that way deliberately? Furthermore: Why is Griever’s default name… named Griever? Griever means one who grieves; what or who is Ultimecia grieving?

The space scene where Rinoa survived, why was the scene zooming in on the Griever necklace that Squall gave Rinoa when Rinoa miraculously survived in space, if it wasn’t meant to imply that Griever was a junction? Why were we as the player able to name Griever as a junction when Rinoa asked Squall for more information about it? Why is the ending scene of Griever’s shadow on the moon as the last scene of the game?

Why didn’t Squall and the team just take steps to make sure Ultimecia never came into existence? Unless . . . memories caused them to forget again just like Rinoa’s panicked spiel alludes to?

Rinoa: “Yeah. Can I tell you a story? I had a dream. It was a scary dream. We make a promise. We promise to see shooting stars together. I get dressed up an put on your ring. But the thing is, I can’t remember where I’m supposed to meet you. I start to panic. I really want to see you, Squall, but I don’t know where to go. I start running through the mountains, the desert, the plains… Through Timber, Balamb, and Galbadia… When I realize I can’t run any longer… I…I just want to see you so badly… So I scream, Squall, where are you!? Then I woke up. I was crying. I’m sorry. You don’t have to say anything. I just felt like I had to tell you.”

From very early in the game: the bizarre, creepy juxtaposition of Edea’s parade with a triumphant Ultimecia using Edea’s body and Rinoa hit by a confusion spell struggling to assert herself and remember what to do to stop Edea.

Rinoa: “I…was inside Adel… The young Adel…”

In short, my honest takeaway from playing Final Fantasy 8 was: Ultimecia might actually be Rinoa’s body with badly damaged memories of loving Squall and the power-hungry tenacity and violent proclivities of Adel’s memories overwhelming Rinoa to confuse her about who she even is and why she’s doing what she does. My interpretation of Ultimecia was that she’s a Rinoa who forgot everything except her love for Squall without clearly remembering who Squall was, just the memories of Griever being his favorite idea, which brought Rinoa feelings of happiness and protection in her confused state; while the majority of her memories were eventually overwritten by Adel’s memories. Rinoa absorbing Adel’s powers may have even made her immortal or extended her life expectancy far beyond normal; how on earth did Adel survive in space for almost twenty years without any food or water and then be strong enough to fight Squall’s team, if Adel’s Sorceress powers don’t grant a lengthy life without food, oxygen, or water? Rinoa also remembers being inside “the young Adel” meaning memories of Adel’s youth would eventually overwrite Rinoa’s memories of her youth. There’s even a plot point where Edea mentions she didn’t absorb Adel’s powers, but Rinoa did and in the end, Ultimecia and Adel’s powers get infused into Rinoa together. The two sides of Ultimecia’s final form, I would argue, represents the blinded ignorance and power-hungry desires of Adel at the top and the trapped innocence of Rinoa’s life to a condemned future as her mind gets overwritten by Adel’s memories. Thus, creating the predestined outcome of Ultimecia and the time loop for the Sorceress powers.

Rinoa: “I don’t want the future. I want the present to stand still. I want to stay here with you…”