Table of Contents for R=U:
I’ve come to the surprising conclusion that even now, despite many FF8 fans claiming to play FF8 multiple times; Final Fantasy fans who reject the R=U Theory don’t seem to understand why R=U Theorists believe it was credible…
I’m somewhat at a loss as to the complete misunderstanding by detractors of why this theory exists and why people like myself concluded it was plausible. A lot of these detractors honestly seem to just use ad hominem and it’s very, very odd that they continue to argue two things: Time travel mechanics from stories like Back to the Future – which has absolutely no bearing or significance on the story, worldbuilding, setting, and magic powers of Final Fantasy 8. A film made by American writers in Hollywood years prior to Final Fantasy 8 being made has nothing to do with the three prominent co-writers of Final Fantasy 8 and it makes no sense whatsoever to use outside logic of a different fantasy series from another country that completely ignores the worldbuilding in Final Fantasy 8. Alternatively, they argue that cryosleep is why Adel didn’t need food, water, or oxygen when Final Fantasy 8 absolutely never said anything about cryosleep in any of the game’s script. It’s possible some people confused the sealing chambers for cryosleep, but unfortunately there’s nothing I could find within the game itself that even implied cryosleep. Moreover, the reference to cold sleep for Squall and his party going to space is also not cryosleep; cold sleep is temporary sleep whereby it is expected that you’ll need food, oxygen, and water once you wake-up similar to animal hibernation but that clearly is not the case with Adel being entombed for over a decade. The game only refers to the sealing chamber interchangeably as a tomb and that’s as far as it goes. It’s possible that, due to the massively popular influence of Tekken 3 (1997) at the time, young gamers applied the logic of Nina Williams cryosleep backstory onto Final Fantasy 8 (1999) because of the generalized Sci-fi aspect of it, but perhaps that is too much of a leap in logic on my part. The only explanation Final Fantasy 8 itself gives is that sorceresses cannot die until they pass on their powers, per what Edea says at the end of the game. That’s honestly as far as it goes according to the in-game script and worldbuilding. There might be some confusion as to what is meant by “die in peace” but this seems to be the weakness of the English translation as people who said they played the German and Japanese versions and try to discuss the game on the Final Fantasy VIII Wikipedia’s Talk page claim that the Sorceresses / Witches cannot die at all until they pass on their powers:
I can’t speak for the Ultimania guides, but insofar as the content of Final Fantasy VIII itself, that was the only explanation given from what I found. The game provides us with two separate characters that attest to this. There are two examples of Sorceresses surviving in space when death should have taken them; Adel, whom people will argue was in cryosleep despite the lack of evidentiary basis for this assumption, and Rinoa Heartilly herself since she survives in a spacesuit without oxygen for a brief period of time.
Now, when I explain this on Final Fantasy forums, I’m surprised by the dismissive responses; usually, I’m told that Adel is in cryosleep because how else could it make sense and then I’m told that Rinoa survived because of love and it was obviously just a poorly written scene. I think I understand what’s going on here, so please consider these two counterarguments that I have about how we’re meant to understand Final Fantasy 8’s story:
- What the characters of the story interpret to be true about events is not a form of objectivity given by the authors to the viewers, but their own subjective opinion as characters in the story from their own limited experiences. I suppose we could liken it to their preferred desires and beliefs due to their personal feelings on the issue.
- The consequences of an event not conforming in favor of the moral lessons espoused by the characters isn’t poor writing, it’s the authors expressing a narrative purpose or narrative theme through allegory or metaphor. To give an outside example for comparison’s sake and without spoilers: in Shin Megami Tensei IV, you have to choose between two characters and the one representing the more peaceful route and who speaks of keeping the peace is the route where you as the main character commit more wanton murders upon other human beings than the other route which is far less violent but has themes of upheaval over the status quo of maintaining peace.
Furthermore, if you’re going to argue that it makes no sense that a game about time travel, amnesia, flying spiritual monsters that shoot meteors and cosmic magic blasts, and – oh yes – monsters on the moon is somehow “unrealistic” when it comes to Witches / Sorceresses living longer than regular humans despite it being a major plot point repeatedly demonstrated by plot-relevant characters throughout the game and a confirmation in the ending itself that they cannot die until they pass on their powers with the final boss herself not dying until she passed her powers to Edea; despite all the most powerful endgame abilities you can attack her with . . . you would have to willfully ignore what the game deliberately provided as evidence repeatedly. This is honestly throughout the game itself and Ultimecia, Rinoa, and Adel all demonstrate the supernatural ability to live beyond what should be considered normal circumstances in different ways. Note that, we don’t even have a confirmation of how far in the future Ultimecia even is, it’s just assumed that it is far in the future with no discernible details. There is no NPC in the future to verify Squall’s assumptions about SeeD having fought Ultimecia for generations. That being said, I’m not trying to claim that any interpretation of Ultimecia being an independent person from Rinoa is invalid; what I’m hoping to convey – given the responses that I received from fans who attest to playing the game many times and insist there’s presumably nothing in the game that points to Rinoa being Ultimecia – is that they don’t seem to be clearly understanding what the evidence within the game itself is and often don’t even try to use evidence from either the game’s events or the game’s script to understand what the arguments are. When I made my first post, I assumed – wrongly it seems – that most would apply strictly Final Fantasy 8’s worldbuilding and maybe some story applications from other works that the three co-writers of Final Fantasy 8 have worked on. Instead, for the aforementioned reasons, that didn’t happen, so I believe it’s best to make this as a result of the feedback because it seems like people are ignoring even the most basic contents of the game itself to claim that this theory is completely harebrained in order to insult the theorists instead of engaging with their arguments. That isn’t fair to anyone and I would ask that you consider making a commitment to fairness and honesty, if you really care about being fair to others and understanding why this theory is so prevalent.
When I first played Final Fantasy 8, I was given the following impressions from reading various video game forums before actually starting it: that there were a lot of stupid theories, the plot didn’t make sense but the characters were cool, and that it was a good game. I had heard of both the R=U and Squall is Dead theories, but I decided I would just ignore them because I had assumed there wouldn’t be much of any evidence to support them and forums repeatedly kept saying they were stupid. Yet, when I started the game, I was struck by this scene:
(Please note the top video had the Youtuber change Rinoa’s name to Monica and Squall’s name to their own. But, obviously, it’s Squall and Rinoa respectively.)
At first glance, it seems to comport to the idea that Rinoa and Ultimecia (who is in Edea’s body at this point) have no connection and Ultimecia is just treating her as a nuisance; but the creepy, ominous witch music with Rinoa’s body being treated like a marionette to be toyed with by Ultimecia, the fact that Ultimecia never does turn to face her or see Rinoa for Rinoa in this scene when Rinoa introduces herself, and the fact the game makes a point to show how flippantly Ultimecia treats her… this was a very odd choice. The writers and scene managers made sure to have Ultimecia deliberately not acknowledge Rinoa at all. Furthermore, take a moment to look at this iconic shot:
Why did the writers and scenario planners choose to have Ultimecia force a confused, beguiled Rinoa manipulated via Ultimecia’s magic to stand next to a triumphant Ultimecia as she swayed back and forth in her delirium? As Ultimecia puts the rest of the crowd in the same delirious state, consider the content of her words:
President Deling: (…?)
Edea: “A new era has just begun.”
President Deling: “E-Edea… Are you alright…? Ede…!”
[Edea outstretches her hand and Vinzer is stricken by something.]
Edea: “This is reality. No one can help you. Sit back and enjoy the show.”
[The crowd cheers for Edea’s speech; she tosses Deling aside.]
Edea: “Rest assured, you fools. Your time will come. This is only the beginning. Let us start a new reign of terror. I will let you live a fantasy beyond your imagination.”
What is she talking about? I hadn’t thought on it too deeply until choosing to rewatch the scenes on Youtube after beating the game, but her words don’t make any sense. None of the people in the present have persecuted Ultimecia, none of them even know of her at this point, and the President next to her is depicted to be as confused as I was by her words. Ultimecia’s exact words are “Hailing the very one you have condemned for generations.” But there’s two problems with this: no one in the present moment where this happens in FF8’s story has condemned Ultimecia yet and the fact that the majority are happily willing to make a Sorceress into their leader means that they didn’t condemn her in her present form using Edea’s body. The latter half is even weirder: “What happened to the evil, ruthless sorceress from your fantasies? The cold-blooded tyrant that slaughtered countless men and destroyed many nations? Where is she now? She stands before your very eyes to become your new ruler. HAHAHAHAHA.” If she’s a sorceress from the future, this line doesn’t make sense because she should know from spending time in Edea’s body and her success in using Edea’s body to achieve her political aims that nobody has heard of Ultimecia yet.
When I first saw this scene, I was struck by the weird, seemingly deliberate symbolism, of a confused Rinoa swaying next to a triumphant Ultimecia and this is where I began to seriously doubt that the fan theorists were making things up out of thin air. I had beaten Final Fantasy 7 prior to playing FF8, so I came to understand that this sort of set-up and delivery was indeed intentional and not some random nonsense done by the writers. Why on earth did they make this scene in this deliberate manner?
When re-evaluating this scene, I decided to separate the two ideas of Ultimecia and tried to think of which of these would fit better. As I mentioned, I came to the conclusion that Ultimecia is an amnesiac Rinoa whose mind was eventually corrupted by Adel’s memories (perhaps after Squall’s death in the future) when Adel forced her to be junctioned onto her. Now, if Ultimecia is just some future sorceress using Edea’s body who is independent of Rinoa and talking about all her troubles, then this could make some sense; the “Hailing the very one you have condemned for generations.” line could just be a future sorceress laying out her frustrations, but then she follows it up soon after with this line that doesn’t make sense for a future sorceress to say: “Rest assured, you fools. Your time will come. This is only the beginning. Let us start a new reign of terror. I will let you live a fantasy beyond your imagination.” What does she mean by “a new reign of terror” if literally nobody knows who she is, the legend of Squall defeating her isn’t public information, Squall is obviously not championed as the Legendary SeeD yet, and she herself hasn’t even been born yet? If she’s a Sorceress from the far future, then obviously her past self hasn’t been born and she hasn’t even faced persecution by these people. Her actions through Edea don’t demonstrate facing persecution either; she’s completely succeeding in her immediate goals from the looks of it. If she’s really a Sorceress from the future, how do her words make any sense? I don’t understand how they would and Ultimecia herself should have been able to obtain knowledge of the history of her own actions in what would be her past, since Final Fantasy 8 is a time loop. She has knowledge of Junction Machine Ellone, Ellone’s history and her unique power, we can ascertain that she knows who Sorceress Adel is, and Ultimecia utilizes Edea’s past as the Matron to manipulate Seifer. However, if she’s an amnesiac Rinoa with Adel’s memories having corrupted her mind, then her words make perfect sense in the context of the story, because what she’s referring to is Adel’s past of the Sorceress War and Adel’s aims of using the Lunatic Pandora to threaten to destroy entire nations; technology Adel was having Doc Odine and others develop similar to what was used upon the destruction of Centra. Likewise, she’s referring to Adel’s tyrannical rule of Esthar which is elaborated upon later in the game with examples like Ellone’s parents were murdered while Adel was seeking a successor to pass on her powers:
R2 (Laguna): “What the heck has he done with his life? Don’t you wonder? When Ellone was about 2, there was a massive hunt for girls in Esthar. Esthar soldiers came to Winhill and Elle’s parents resisted. They were killed on the spot. The massive hunt was to find the successor for Esthar’s ruler, Sorceress Adel. Ellone was raised by Raine who lived next door. And I came to know her. Then there was another massive hunt for a successor in Esthar again. Elle was taken away, even though I was there… It’s the most painful episode of my life. So I rescued her and sent her off to Winhill. Shortly after that, Raine died. And Ellone was sent straight to an orphanage.”
Squall: “Why didn’t you go back to Winhill with her?”
Laguna: “I wanted to! But I had my reasons. I found out about this afterward, but… The reason why Ellone had to leave the orphanage was because of her special power. Doc Odine wanted to do research on Ellone’s special power. He looked for her everywhere. The owners of the orphanage were Cid Kramer and his wife Edea. You know them better than I do. The Kramers took Elle out of the orphanage to protect her. They prepared a big ship to accomodate her. Gracious of them, huh? After awhile the ship turned into another orphanage and Elle looked after all the kids. She said her life on the ship was a happy one, but who knows…? I don’t know how she could’ve been happy on a ship. She was on the ship for over 10 years. That ship was attacked by Galbadia recently. Esthar’s ship rescued them, and she finally met up with me. It was pure luck that we found her. I was out in space at that time. Ellone followed me out to space. Little Elle was all grown up… Then she told me everything.”
Squall: “Did she get back safely from space?”
Laguna: “Our escape pod rescue team was a little late. Ellone was taken into custody by Galbadia. She’s inside Lunatic Pandora. We’re gonna rescue her. Help us out, ok? Phew……
And from selecting the other options:
R8 (Laguna): “You wanna hear it? Really? Okay, I’ll tell you. I only set out to rescue Ellone, but of course that wasn’t the end of the story. It’s a country ruled by Sorceress Adel with the ingenious yet inhumane Odine. Both of them were interested in Ellone. We couldn’t just pack up and leave.”
[Flashback to O-Lab, with Odine, Laguna, and li’l Ellone.]
Odine: “Adel will be angry. My research will be kaput!”
Narrative: Odine only thought about his research. But, while researching under Adel’s orders, he was still making many inventions…
[The Sorceress Memorial is shown.]
Narrative: It was a device to seal magic (Sealing Facility). Maybe Adel can be defeated. I owed a big favor to the Adel resistance who helped me rescue Ellone. I spoke with my comrades. Two issues came up. First… Stopping the Crystal Pillar from calling monsters from the moon and destroying everything like what happened in Centra. Second… Freeing Esthar from Adel’s hands. We planned and planned. Based on my brilliant ideas, of course.
[The Lunatic Pandora Research Facility is shown.]
Laguna: “We’re back… Back in the Lunatic Pandora Research Facility. There is only one goal… Following Odine’s instructions, we operated the panels and moved the Crystal Pillar. We set the course and the stop point in the ocean, and…goodbye.”
[Lunatic Pandora moves out of sight.]
Laguna “Whoa!”
Narrative: That was easy. But…we were found out. So we gathered for a final battle to lure Adel. Adel appeared as we expected.”
[Cut to the Memorial; Adel stands at the foot.]
Adel: “What is going on?”
Laguna: “We hunted down the culprit who moved the Crystal Pillar.”
Adel: “Where?”
Laguna: “Inside there. Ellone’s been taken hostage.”
Narrative: I knew she would go in right away if I mentioned Ellone.
[Inside, Ellone is in the same transparent orb-room Rinoa was in.]
Adel: “You thought I would fall for that trick?”
Narrative: Adel realized that Ellone was a hologram…… But… It
was too late.
Laguna: “Yeah… Of course. My plans are… always… Perfect!!!
Kiros!!! Ward!!! Now!!!”
[Laguna pushes her into the orb-room and seals her.]
Laguna: “Ha ha ha! Piece of cake!”
Narrative: Adel was careless. She may be a sorceress, but after all, she was human. We succeeded… But… we couldn’t keep such a dangerous sorceress around as a trophy. We had to do something… So…we decided to send her far, far away… Some place very far… Into outer space…”
[FMV. The Ragnarok and two others hoist Adel into space.]
Laguna: “That about wraps that part up. But the real work began after that. A fierce debate ensued about who should govern this country after Adel was gone. I wasn’t paying close attention while they made me up to be this hero of the revolution, and I ended up being president. Odine made a lot of noise about wanting to do research on Ellone. It was a mistake to send Ellone alone back to Raine. Raine died, and Elle was sent to the orphanage. If I had only gone to Winhill with Elle… I would’ve bee able to see Raine one last time. Raine was dead. Ellone, missing. My job kept me busy. I was left here thinking about this and that and before I knew it, all this time had passed. Well, that’s about it.”
In other words, if you compare and contrast Ultimecia’s words based on either being an amnesiac Rinoa corrupted by Adel’s memories or being a sorceress from the future; the argument that she’s an amnesiac Rinoa corrupted by Adel’s memories makes much more sense in the context of the game. This is not me desperately trying to grab at straws, the supposedly disjointed hodgepodge of ideas provided in Final Fantasy 8 actually makes perfect sense once Adel’s junctioning of Rinoa is understood to be the main factor for why the events of Final Fantasy 8 are in a time loop. Note that, Ultimecia seeks out Ellone to get closer to Adel; why did Ultimecia arbitrarily decide that she needed to junction herself into Adel to do the time compression that she wanted? For a Sorceress who was born and lived in the far future, this seems highly arbitrary and nothing in the game suggests that Ultimecia had any sort of hero worship of Adel. There’s no triumphant statue of Adel in Ultimecia’s castle, instead the game has Griever artwork on the doors and walls of her castle. That suggests that there really is greater in-game evidence to support the idea that the damaged and corrupted mind of future Rinoa makes her believe that she and Adel are somehow connected; Ultimecia may have thought that Adel was either an ancestor or felt an affinity to Adel’s early life, because future Rinoa’s damaged mind had her early memories corrupted and replaced by Adel’s early memories. Ultimecia’s attempt to “regain herself” is what doomed her real self in the past. That may seem like a self-contradiction, but what I’m saying is that Ultimecia’s words, behaviors, and her artistic designs in both her castle and her physical appearance point to a confused, amnesiac Rinoa and not some Adel fundamentalist from the future.
Take note of how Ultimecia, in Edea’s body, reacts to Squall in perhaps the oddest manner possible on their second encounter:
[They all head to the auditorium.]
Squall: (……? What’s going on?)
[They look around. The sorceress crashes down to the podium.]
Sorceress Edea: “So the time has come. You’re the legendary SeeD destined to face me?”
Squall: (What is she talking about?)
Sorceress Edea: “I must say that I am impressed. …An impressive nuisance. Your life ends here, SeeD.”
[Seifer walks up to her.]
Sorceress Edea: “Worthless fool.”
Squall: (You’re not our ‘Matron’.)
Sorceress Edea: “All SeeDs must perish!”
[The battle with Edea starts, but Seifer stands between the two.]
Seifer: “I’m the sorceress’ knight. You’ll never…get past me.”
[They start beating on Seifer.]
Seifer: “I can’t afford to lose.
[In his injured state, Seifer goes down easily.]
Seifer: “Ughaah! …Damn. I’m disgraced.
Edea: “Defeated… Useless fool. Enough play. SeeDs must die!”
[They defeat Edea after awhile.]
Edea: “A…Ahhh…”
[A large stream of noxious-looking gas escapes from the defeated sorceress.]
Squall: (What happened…? My…body…)
[In the brightened area, Squall sees a trance-like Rinoa over Seifer’s body.]
Squall: (Rinoa…)
[She cradles him and kisses him.]
Squall: (……! Rinoa… Seifer…)
[Seifer gets up and the brightness ends. Rinoa slumps over.]
Quistis: “Rinoa? Are you all right?”
If she was a Sorceress who was born in the future, how was she not abundantly familiar with who Squall was, especially if she researched Ellone, who should have been popularly regarded as the adopted sister of the “Legendary SeeD” destined to take her down? How did she not recognize him during their first encounter? If she’s been oppressed and stigmatized all her life and still chooses to follow the actions, that she should know abundantly from reading about the history that could lead to her downfall, how could she not have thoroughly researched and learned all that she could about the man who was destined to murder her and who she has feared all her life? In fact, how does this particular line: “You’re the legendary SeeD destined to face me?” make any sense from the perspective of a future sorceress seeking to save herself from her doomed fate to be murdered by Squall? How can she be confused about the legendary hero destined to kill her? She researched Ellone, but not Ellone’s adopted brother, the very man who will bring about her downfall before risking her life in a gambit to change the outcome of how her life ends? Many FF8 fans and detractors wrote it off as a plot hole woven mess; but take note of what happens immediately after, that we as players don’t see until Ellone helps Squall to junction into Rinoa’s memories but chronologically should take place after the second Edea fight, in which Squall’s party defeat Ultimecia puppeteering in Edea’s body:
[He’s at the Galbadia Garden’s auditorium again, after fighting Edea.]
Squall: (You’re…)
[Rinoa’s body floats over and cradles him in a trance-like state.]
Squall: (Rinoa…)
[Rinoa kisses Seifer (CPR?).]
Squall: (This isn’t Rinoa!)
Rinoa: “Oh, my loyal knight, Seifer. The sorceress is alive… The sorceress demands.”
Squall: (Ultimecia!? The future sorceress is inside Rinoa!? …Transferred from Edea? Where’s Rinoa!!!?”
Rinoa: “Find the legendary Lunatic Pandora, said to be hidden beneath the ocean. Only then shall the sorceress provide you with dreams again.”
Squall: (Rinoa! Where are you!? Answer me!)
Seifer: “As you wish, Ultimecia.”
Rinoa: (…Squall…I’m scared.)
Squall: (Rinoa!!!)
Ultimecia: “Who’s there!? Get out!”
[Ellone’s session into the past ends.]
Squall: “Rinoa!”
[Ellone drops out of her pod onto her knees.]
Squall: “Ellone!?”
Ellone: “Did you get to find out what happened to Rinoa? Were you able to change the past?”
Squall: “I couldn’t do anything…… What should I do?”
Ellone: “I remember those eyes. You just looked at me with the same eyes you had when you were little. Those curious, innocent, puppy dog eyes. I loved those eyes.”
Squall: “That’s in the past.”
Ellone: “That’s right. What’s important is right now. I finally realized that.”
Squall: “I have to help Rinoa now. That’s the only thing I can do, right?”
Ellone: “Yes. Talk to her, Squall. Your voice may not reach her, but your heart will. Are you ready? I’m taking you to the nearest past… To the closest present to the future…”
Future Sorceress Ultimecia is somehow intimately familiar with the details of Lunatic Pandora and where Laguna Loire had it buried, she’s intensely focused on hunting Ellone to conduct time compression, and she uses Rinoa’s body to unseal Adel from the sealing machine called “Adel’s Tomb”, but she is not focused at all on Squall Leonhart, the man destined to kill her and whom she only shows confusion towards? The details of a super weapon that destroyed the country of Centra is just public knowledge during Sorceress Ultimecia’s time, but not the information on the hero who kills her despite her supposed persecution during her supposed time period in the far future? Does it make sense that she shows confusion upon seeing Squall Leonhart, someone whom she knows is prophesied to kill her? Please don’t forget, Lunatic Pandora was created by Dr. Odine under the orders of Sorceress Adel. It was buried into the ocean before Laguna successfully tricked Sorceress Adel with a projected image of Ellone to shove Adel into the Sealing Machine to then send Adel into space. Laguna is the one who narrates this explanation of the events that transpired and we’re actively shown it. Ms. Sorceress-Born-In-The-Future seems oddly obsessed with… exactly the same things that Sorceress Adel was obsessed with, knows intimate details that Sorceress Adel would have knowledge of with respect to Lunatic Pandora, and when Rinoa is still under Sorceress Ultimecia’s control; Ultimecia forces Rinoa to break the seals on Sorceress Adel’s Tomb and to bring Sorceress Adel back to the planet. Sorceress Ultimecia repeatedly chases after Ellone to conduct the specific sequence of time compression that she wants, mimicking the behavior of Sorceress Adel in the past who wanted Ellone for her powers too. Ultimecia’s ostensible reason, according to Doctor Odine, is to go further back for some unclear reason that he says not to think about; could it have been that Ultimecia wanted to go back before Adel was ever sealed away? Sorceress Adel was also desperate for a successor whom she could live through; the story depicted her repeatedly hunting for Ellone, but by the end of the game, she forced Rinoa to be junctioned onto her body and it was Rinoa who inherited her early memories and powers.
Now, let’s examine Ultimecia’s speech before the final battle, where Squall’s team finally meets her face-to-face. Compare and contrast her words on the basis of if she’s a Sorceress born in the future or an amnesiac Rinoa with Adel’s memories corrupting her mind:
Sorceress Ultimecia: “…SeeD… SeeD……SeeD…… SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive ‘time kompression’. Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs. The price for your meddling is death beyond death. I shall send you to a dimension beyond your imagining. There, I will reign, and you will be my slaves for eternity. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Whom shall I exterminate first!? I’ll start with you three!”
If Ultimecia is supposed to just be a Sorceress from the future, then why is Ultimecia not talking about any persecution that she faced? What’s particularly odd is that she doesn’t understand how or why SeeD exists, despite having controlled Edea’s mind and body. She did reference SeeD in her first battle in Disc 1 when controlling Edea, but barely and she does know that Squall is the one destined to kill her in the second fight, but her knowledge is spotty. Ultimecia claims SeeD was swarming throughout the generations, but her choice of words seems odd. Nothing about discrimination, persecution, or anything specifically about why she hates SeeD. She just refers to them as if they’re bugs that won’t stay squashed and her words seem more akin to abject befuddlement and exasperation; as if this is a new problem that she isn’t used to dealing with. How could she have fought these people for generations and yet have no understanding of them or who they are, despite having overtaken Edea’s body? Throughout the entire narrative Ultimecia only expresses confusion, uncertainty, and exasperation when it comes to SeeD. How on earth could that be possible for a woman born in the future, who had to have known of and been influenced by the persecution that these people imposed upon her? How could she know nothing about their culture? After Squall’s group saves the world from Ultimecia in their present, which from Ultimecia’s perspective should be Ultimecia’s past, how could this not have played a huge aspect in world politics and impacted Ultimecia since birth, if she’s a Sorceress from the future? She has nothing of substance to say about them, except to express her frustration despite generations of war with them, with us seeing a shot of all the dead SeeD soldiers before climbing up the massive chain to enter her castle?
If Ultimecia is an amnesiac Rinoa with Adel’s memories having corrupted her mind, then this reaction does make sense. She’s intimately familiar with what Adel is familiar with, but Adel never met and doesn’t know anything about SeeD. Adel was obsessed with making a successor, using Ellone’s unique power, and not being forgotten by people. The creepy foreshadowing of Sorceress Adel’s words on the screen in Timber express as much: “’I AM ALIVE HERE’, ‘BRING ME BACK THERE’, and ‘I WILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT ME‘” the last one may explain her purpose in wanting to have a successor and the fact that upon awakening, she immediately junctioned Rinoa onto herself is further evidence to support this as the reasons for her actions. Adel was desperate from having been sealed away for nearly twenty years by that point in time. Ultimecia’s time compression at a specific point in the past was likely to make her one with Adel based on the corrupted memories that she had of Adel. Ultimecia only compresses time once Ellone sends her further back in Adel’s memories, as per the plan to defeat her. Although Ellone got to choose, the one that Ultimecia clearly wanted to be junctioned onto was Sorceress Adel and she specifically sought a point in the past; what is noteworthy is that Rinoa herself gets forced by Ellone into Adel’s past after already being junctioned onto Adel. Upon Ellone pulling her out of being junctioned to Adel in the past, Rinoa says this line: “Rinoa: “I…was inside Adel… The young Adel…”” and Ultimecia subsequently uses time compression upon getting to a point in time prior to Adel being sealed away into space. Of course, Ellone then pulls them out of it as the time compression starts to give Squall’s team the small window of opportunity to enter the future to kill Ultimecia. What’s particularly noteworthy is that there is not a single person among the dead SeeD bodies alive who can independently verify who Ultimecia is or how long SeeD has been fighting her; Squall just assumes that it has been generations and the line about generations is left deliberately vague; it could be anywhere from twenty-five years to thousands of years and the player is left with only speculation and guesswork. The game never gives any definite answer and there is no one alive in the future who can verify the exact timeframe in the future that Ultimecia exists within in relation to Squall’s group. It’s suspicious that we’re deliberately never given a definitive timeline at all, unlike most other time travel stories.
The Ignored Implications of Final Fantasy VIII’s Orphanage Plot Twist
What I have found to be particularly odd is that people who claim there is no chance that Ultimecia is an amnesiac Rinoa seem to just ignore all the disturbing implications of the Orphanage plot twist. It’s simply treated as a corny plot twist of a badly written story, but the fact none of the main cast who lived in the orphanage recognized Ellone or the Matron despite how the story makes it clear that they love them unconditionally and they serve as motivations for so much of the cast – including Squall’s – actions is extremely damning; moreover, Squall in particular failed to recognize two women that he loved in a familial way. He doesn’t recognize Ellone as his missing stepsister despite meeting her face-to-face, because he actually forgot her existence in the early part of the game to the extent that his childhood promises to Ellone about taking care of himself was then misconstrued as not wanting to depend upon others, even when Ellone herself is asking him for help. Not only does he not recognize her, but his solitary promise to her is misinterpreted as wanting to stay away from her. His memories confused his feelings of familial love for something he needs to be guarded against. Take note of this salient fact as well, meeting Ellone face-to-face did not cause Squall to recover his memories of her. His amnesia was so powerful that he needed to be explicitly reminded with other characters bringing up their own memories, before his full memories of the orphanage were gradually restored:
[Once R5 is viewed, the party goes back to walking around Garden.]
Xu: “Squall! Squall! Have you seen the headmaster around?”
Squall: “He’s at the infirmary.”
[-] Quistis: “What’s going on?”
[-] Rinoa: “Sounds like trouble. What’s wrong?”
Xu: “Go to the [2nd floor deck] and see for yourself. There’s a ship approaching. It could be Galbadians or worse: the sorceress might be aboard, coming to attack us! I have to tell the headmaster right away.”
[She runs off. On the second-floor deck, they see a large white ship docked right next to the floating Garden.]
Squall: (A ship!? A Galbadian ship!?)
[Three crewmembers walk out and yell up at Squall.]
Crewmember: “Is Headmaster Cid here!?”
Squall: “No, he’s not here. Are you from…Galbadia?”
Crewmember: “We are SeeDs! This is Edea’s ship. We are Sorceress Edea’s SeeD!”
Squall: (…SeeD!?)
Crewmember: “We’re coming aboard! We’re unarmed!)
[The three jump up to the balcony. Squall takes out his weapon.]
Crewmember: “Please. We come in peace. We must speak to Headmaster Cid. Where is he?”
Headmaster Cid: “I’m right here.”
[Cid walks out with Xu.]
Crewmember: “Headmaster, we’ve come for Ellone. It’s too dangerous here now.”
Headmaster Cid: “…Yes. I’m afraid so.”
Squall: (Ellone? That girl from Winhill?)
Headmaster Cid: “Squall. You know who she is? Please go find her. She’s somewhere in the Garden.”
Squall: (Who are these guys? How are they connected?)
Headmaster Cid: “Squall?”
Squall: “…Yes, sir.”
[The SeeDs go inside.]
[-] Quistis: “Squall, Ellone is that girl, right? That little girl Laguna was looking after.”
[-] Zell: “Squall, Ellone’s that girl, huh? Y’know, that little girl Laguna was taking care of.”
[-] Irvine: “Yeah, she was that girl who was with Laguna.”
Squall: “Probably.”
[-] Irvine: “I guess we’d better split up and find her.”
[-] Quistis: “Do you know where she is? Let’s split up and look for her.”
[-] Zell: “So she’s in the Garden? Where is she? Let’s split up and find her.”
[The ally bolts off.]
Rinoa: “Hey Squall, who’s Ellone?”
Squall: “She’s a person in the ‘dream world’.”
[Everyone splits up, but Squall finds her first, in the library.]
Ellone: “Yes, Squall?”
Squall: “Are you…Ellone?”
Ellone: “Yes…”
Squall: “You’re Ellone? THE Ellone?”
[She nods.]
Squall: (What is going on?) “You know…Laguna, don’t you?”
Ellone: “I do. I really love Uncle Laguna.”
Squall: “Then tell me! What is it that we experience!?”
Ellone: “I’m sorry, Squall. It’s hard to explain. But…one thing…
It’s about the past.”
Squall: (…So we were viewing the past?)
Ellone: “People say you can’t change the past. But even still, if there’s a
possibility, it’s worth a try, right?”
Squall: (Change the past? Is she serious? Give me a break…) “Are you the one responsible!? Are you the one taking us to that ‘dream world’!?”
Ellone: “I’m sorry.”
Squall: (…Not again. So much I don’t understand.) “Why me!? I have enough problems as it is! Don’t get me involved in this!”
Ellone: “I’m sorry.”
Squall: “Don’t… Don’t count on me.”
[Squall backs up and collapses in a chair. Xu enters.]
Xu: “Squall, did you find Ellone?”
Ellone: “Umm… I’m Ellone.”
[Xu looks at Squall.]
Xu: “Are you all right?”
[Ellone walks over to Squall and whispers something before leaving.]
Squall: (What Ellone said under her breath was… You’re my only hope. Why do people depend on each other? In the end, you’re on your own. I’ve made it this far by myself. Sure, I couldn’t do a thing when I was a kid… I’ve depended on others, but… I’ll be the first to admit that I’m here because of other people.)
[While Squall is thinking, Ellone has already left on the White SeeD ship. Later on, he lies on his bed, still contemplating.]
Squall: (I’m fine by myself now. I have all the skills I need to survive. I’m not a child anymore. That’s a lie. I don’t know anything. I’m confused. I don’t want to depend on anyone. How can I do that? Someone tell me… Someone? So I’ll end up depending on others after all.)
[Flashback…? A small child stands outside in the rain, his back to a pillar.]
Boy: “…Sis… I’m…all alone. But I’m doing my best… I’ll be ok without you, Sis. I’ll be able to take care of myself.”
[The scene ends when Rinoa walks into Squall’s room. He jumps up.]
Rinoa: “Hey, again.”
Squall: “I wasn’t asleep.”
Rinoa: “Oh really? I think I heard you talking in your sleep. I’m not telling you what you said. Hey, let’s go for a walk.”
Squall: “Again?”
Rinoa: “That was a guided tour! This time, it’s a walk!”
Squall’s feelings of familial love only hardened his heart and brought feelings of contempt and reluctance towards the very person that meant the world to him. His confusion over his feelings due to his amnesia caused him to feel distance and contempt for the person that he cared about most up to this point in the story. In other words, his feelings of love were misinterpreted by he himself for wanting separation, distance, and he felt anger towards Ellone because he lacked the information to understand his own feelings. His face-to-face meeting with his own sister – and yes, his sister regardless of if Ellone is adopted – did not restore his memories and it made him even more frustrated, confused, and stauncher in his belief of not wanting to help others including her. His feelings of wanting to take care of himself to prove himself to the memory of his sister was lost to him and his feelings were reinterpreted to mean that he didn’t care for anyone, because he lost his memories of why he had those feelings. His lost memories caused him to be the opposite type of person that he sought to be. Remembering his lost memories caused him to gradually change back to become the person that he did want to be.
This issue is explicitly brought up during the infamous orphanage twist and extends to the other characters’ bringing up how their confusion over their feelings and lost memories caused them to behave in ways that didn’t comport to who they actually were. Irvine’s confusion over everyone else’s lack of remembrance of the orphanage is something most people who replayed the game will notice or acknowledge, but take note of what happened with the others:
Selphie: “Sorry to keep you waiting! Thanks so much for coming all the way out here, everyone.”
Irvine: “Cheer up, eh?”
Selphie: “Thanks. Take me with you when you fight the sorceress, ok? I wanna get even. I want my revenge!”
Rinoa: “Um… Do we…have to fight? Isn’t there another way? Y’know, to avoid any bloodshed?”
Zell: “Yo!? What the…!? What are you sayin’ all of a sudden!?”
Rinoa: “Maybe someone really smart can come up with a way, so we wouldn’t have to fight anymore…”
Squall: (What are you getting at…? If someone can come up with something, that’d be great… But no one’s doing anything… They’re all scared, uneasy. All they do is complain. They just pretend to be thinking. They criticize others, but in the end, they can’t do anything, either. Rinoa, why all this, all of a sudden? What do you expect from me? I grew up in Garden. I’m a SeeD. Do you understand?)
Rinoa: “Squall? You have to voice your feelings or else I won’t understand.”
Squall: “You were…part of a resistance movement in Timber, right? Unlike others who were all talk, you took to your weapons and fought… And now you’re saying all this? What happened to you?”
Rinoa: “I guess…I’m just scared. Sometimes…when I’m with all of you…I… feel like we’re on the same wavelength……you know? But when the battles start happening, it’s different. Everyone’s tempo seems to pick up and… …I get left behind. I try to catch up, but it’s no use… How far is everyone going? I can’t hear anyone… Once I catch up, I wonder… Is everyone safe? Will they welcome me with open arms? ……Is everyone ok? Will we all make it back together? When I start thinking like that…”
Irvine: “Rinoa, I understand. Someone might not be there. Someone you love may disappear before your very eyes. It’s tough when you live your life thinking that way. But that’s why I fight… When I was a little kid… I was about 4 or so… I was in an orphanage.”
[Irvine picks up the basketball and shoot, bricking it hard.]
Irvine: “Plenty of kids… All with no parents… It was around the end of the Sorceress War, so I guess it couldn’t be helped. Anyway, that’s where I was. And out of all the kids there, one was very special to me.”
[Irvine flashbacks to that orphanage.]
Girl: “Irvy, wanna play?”
Irvine: “I really liked this girl, and it made me so happy just talking to her.
[A ‘little’ Irvine breaks out of the grown-up Irvine.]
Boy Irvine: “Sefie, wha’cha playin’!?”
Girl: “WAR!”
[The two kids run off and the flashback ends.]
Selphie: “Was that orphanage…a stone house?”
Irvine: “You guessed it…”
Quistis: “An old house made of stone? …By the ocean?”
Irvine: “You guessed it… I knew right away, when we first met!”
Selphie: “Heeey, why didn’t you tell us!?”
Quistis: “Yes, why didn’t you tell us?”
Irvine: “‘Cause you two seemed to have forgotten! It just kinda sucked that I was the only one who remembered… Spunky little Sefie and bossy little Quisty.”
Selphie: “That is just sooo weird…”
Quistis: “Huh?”
[All three of ’em are in the flashback, when another little boy runs in.]
Zell: “Hey… Do you guys remember setting off fireworks?”
Irvine: “That was…”
[The little Irvine runs in.]
Boy Irvine: “This way!”
[In the memory, Irvine, Zell, Selphie and Quistis are standing on a beach.]
Irvine: “How about this?”
Selphie: “YEAH!”
Zell: “The ocean! The lighthouse!”
Quistis: “We did set off fireworks!”
[The flashback turns to night with the little kids on the beach.]
Zell: “Yoooooo!!! Kids aren’t suppose’ta play with fireworks! I’m tell-ing!!!
I’m gonna tell on yoo!!!”
Boy: “Cry-Ba-by-Ze-ll! Go back to bed!”
[Adult Zell interjects his thoughts.]
Adult Zell: “If I remember this, does that mean I was there, too?”
Quistis: “…We all got in big trouble.”
Adult Zell: “Then…what about my parents in Balamb…?”
[The little kids’ beach scene ends and the kids are inside again.]
Quistis: “The Dinchts in Balamb must have adopted you.”
Irvine: “Yep, that’s probably it.”
Zell: “I…was here…”
Little Zell: “Yoooo! C’mon! Stop it! Matwyn, help!!!”
[A boy runs in.]
Boy: “CRY-BABY-ZE-ELL!!!”
Selphie: “Who’s THAT!?”
Boy: “NAH-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAH!!!”
Boy Zell: “Stop teasing me, Seifer!”
Quistis: “Oh my goodness!”
Zell: “Seifer… My archenemy…”
Selphie: “WOW! He was there, too!”
[Irvine walks over to Adult Squall.]
Irvine: “Well?”
[The orphanage scenes end.]
Irvine: “Seifer was there, too. Except for Rinoa, we were all there.”
Selphie: “Heeey that means…”
Squall: “Yeah………I was there, too.”
[Back in the kid-in-the-rain scene, adult Squall stands by his counterpart.]
Squall: “I…”
Boy Squall: “…Sis…”
Squall: “I was always waiting for ‘Sis’ to come back.”
Boy Squall: “I’m…all alone. But I’m doing my best… I’ll be ok without you, Sis. I’ll be able to take care of myself.”
Squall: (…I didn’t turn out ok at all.)
Boy Squall: “…Sis Elle…”
Squall: “Elle…Ellone. So, Ellone was ‘Sis’. She was a bit older than us, and we all used to call her ‘Sis’. Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer, Ellone and myself… Yeah… I’m not sure what the meaning behind all this is, but we were definitely together.
[Squall’s flashback ends and the adults are all back on the orphanage beach.]
Zell: “You mean, Sis is Ellone?”
Selphie: “She’s the one that takes us back to Laguna’s period.”
Squall: “…She said she wanted to change the past. I don’t know why…”
Quistis: “There can only be one reason for that.”
Selphie: “She must not be happy with the present.”
Zell: “If that’s the case, I’m definitely up for helpin’ her! She’s part of our orphanage gang!”
Selphie: “You didn’t even remember who she was!”
Irvine: “Hey, Selphie… That goes for you, too! Hmm… So, Sis was Ellone, eh? Everyone was fond of Sis, but you, Squall, you kept hoggin’ her for yourself.”
Squall: “You sure have a good memory… …This is really strange. I don’t think I was adopted because of the way I am. Probably the same with Seifer, too. You two must have been at Garden by the age of 5 or so… Even so, he’s never mentioned anything about growing up in an orphanage. And nothing about this has ever crossed my mind when I see him, either. Don’t you find that odd…?”
Selphie: “That IS strange…! In my case, I had loads and loads of fun after going to Trabia. That’s probably why I forgot all about my childhood. That’s what I think. But I don’t know what’s up with you guys! It’s so odd that you would forget!”
Quistis: “I…remember. Yes, I remember now. Things didn’t work out too well at my new home. So I came to Garden at the age of 10. That was when I was first noticed Seifer and Squall. Seifer and Squall were always fighting.”
Squall: “Yeah… Quistis always used to break us up.”
Quistis: “Yes! That’s right! Seifer was a kid who always needed to be the center of attention. But Squall always used to ignore him… But eventually they would end up fighting. Squall could have easily walked away from it, but always took up the challenge. He should’ve just ignored him, but Squall, almost in tears, would say…’I gotta do my best by myself. Or else I won’t be able to see Sis’. I guess I was trying to take Sis…I mean, Ellone’s place. I tried, but to no avail… That’s probably it! Even after becoming an instructor, I couldn’t stop thinking about Squall. I thought it was…love. I had to hide my feelings because I was an instructor, but I’ve come to realize it wasn’t. It was my childhood feelings as a big sister that lingered… Oh well…”
[An embarrassed Quistis walks away from everyone. Squall goes over.]
Quistis: (A misunderstood love…? Actually, I had completely given up when Rinoa came into the picture.) “Hey! It must be the same for Seifer! I’m sure Seifer has forgotten his childhood, too. But whenever he sees Squall, his inner feelings start to boil, and…”
Zell: “Is that why he’s always pickin’ fights with Squall?”
Squall: “…Why is it that we forgot? We grew up together as kids… How’s that possible…?”
Irvine: “How about this? …The price we pay for using the GF. The GF provides us its power. But the GF makes its own place inside our brain…”
Quistis: “So you’re saying that the area is where our memories are stored? No…! That’s just a rumor the GF critics are spreading.”
Zell: “So if we keep relying on the GF, we won’t be able to remember a lot of things?”
Quistis: “There’s no way Headmaster Cid would allow such a dangerous thing!”
Irvine: “Then how is it that I remember, while everyone else has forgotten? Well…? In my case, I hadn’t junctioned a GF until recently. That’s why I remember a lot more than you guys.”
Quistis: “How about you, Selphie? Your first experience with the GF was when you came to Balamb Garden, right?”
Selphie: “…Yeah. I have a confession to make! When I was 12, I went on an outdoor training session. I found a GF inside one of the monsters I defeated… I junctioned that GF for a while. So I have experience with GF, too. But…but, it’s really weird! I can’t remember the name of that GF!”
Quistis: “It must be the GF’s fault. …What should we do?”
Squall: “What should we do? …Nothing.”
Zell: “What do you mean nothing!?”
Squall: “What do you want to do? You wanna stop using GF now? As long as we continue fighting, we’re indebted to the powers of the GF. If there’s a price I have to pay for that, I’ll gladly pay it.”
Selphie: “Heeey, I know! Let’s all keep a diary! That way we’ll always have something to remind us!”
Zell: “Are you sure that’s what you want!? Maybe…that’s for the best. Yeah… I don’t care if I forget about my childhood, when Seifer used to pick on me. What’s important to me now is having the power to protect my parents in Balamb. They adopted me. There’s no way I’m lettin’ go of that power!”
Quistis: “Hey… Do you all remember Matron?”
Zell: “She was always wearin’ black…”
Squall: (Matron… Dressed in black… She’s the…)
Selphie: “Let’s see…”
[A woman in black walks into the memory.]
Zell: “I see a resemblance. Matron… They look alike…”
Selphie: “Wait… I just pictured her face, and…”
Quistis: “Very kind… Long black hair… Yes, I really admired her.”
Irvine: “Look alike? Nah, that’s not it. Matron’s name is Edea Kramer. Matron IS Sorceress Edea.”
Selphie: “Matron… Sorceress Edea…”
Quistis: “Why is the Matron…?”
Irvine: “Why? You’re wondering why Matron would take over a country, or fire missiles and whatnot? At this point, we probably wouldn’t comprehend it even if we talked about it.”
Squall: (…You’re probably right.)
Irvine: “…Hear me out. SeeD and Garden were all Matron’s idea, right? I’m not a SeeD, but I share the same feeling with all of you. SeeDs are supposed to fight the sorceress, right?”
Squall: (This is strange. That’s right… It was when I was being tortured by Seifer. He wanted to know what SeeD was. Matron should know… But Matron is Sorceress Edea. There’s no denying that. What does this all mean?)
Irvine: “Squall, you listening? So like…this is what I wanted to say. Let’s see… Oh yeah. I understand what Rinoa’s saying. I understand, but still I’m gonna fight. I want to stay true to everything I’ve stood for. I’m sure it’s the same for everyone. That’s why I thought it’d be best if everyone knew we would have to face Matron. You’ve all heard this before. How life has infinite possibilities. I don’t believe that one bit. There weren’t many paths for me to choose. Sometimes, there would only be one. From the limited possibilities I faced, the choices I made have brought me this far. That’s why I value the path I chose… I want to hold true to the path that HAD to be taken. I know our opponent is Matron, whom we all love very much. We might lose something very important on account of the GF. But I don’t mind. It’s not like I drifted here on the tides of fate. I’m here because I chose to be here. And more importantly… We all grew up together. But due to various circumstances, we were all separated. As a kid, you couldn’t really go out on your own… There were no other paths to take… All I did was just cry. But…But…somehow, we’re together again. Just like old times, though a lot’s changed. We’re not kids anymore… We’re strong enough to take care of ourselves. Make our own decisions… We’re confronting a big one right now. Do we fight Matron or not……? I say we fight…Shoot for a common goal… Hey, at least it’ll keep us together a little longer.”
Zell: “…Yeah. Let’s do it. We can’t run from her for the rest of our lives.”
Selphie: “It’s just such a bummer… I can’t believe we have to fight Matron.”
Quistis: “I know… But Zell’s right. We can’t run from her forever.”
Squall: “Rinoa… It’s up to you. We’re gonna fight… I think it’s the only way we can move on with our lives. If that makes any sense at all, come with us. I’m sure that’s what everybody wants.”
Selphie: “Look! Look!”
[A light snowfall starts.]
Selphie: “A gift from the faeries!”
Zell: “Yo, you wanna go check out Edea’s orphanage?”
Irvine: “We might find a clue.”
Quistis: “Clue? You mean as to why Matron turned out like this?”
Squall: (It probably has to do with something that happened in the past. But the past is the past…it’s over, done with.) “Despite what truth we find, it’s not going to change the present. But… I wanna see, too. I don’t know what we’ll find, but… Let’s head for [Edea’s house].”
[Everyone starts to walk away, but Rinoa stops under the basketball hoop.]
Squall: “I guess that’s it… We’re fighting.”
Rinoa: “…You guys are fearless.”
Squall: (Fearless? I don’t think that’s quite right. If you think too hard, you become lost… I think that’s what everyone’s afraid of…) “I wish we didn’t have to fight, either.”
[Squall selects his party and they’re back at the world map.]
Quistis is depicted as being so confused about understanding why she felt protective of Squall to the extent that she thought it was love until recovering her memory. Seifer’s implied to have confused his childhood rivalry with Squall for hate, to the point they permanently scarred each other in the face and Seifer tortured Squall. Selphie reveals that junctioning a Guardian Force when she was twelve-years of age made her lose her childhood memories until Irvine brought them up. The length of time is left deliberately vague, but if it was during an outdoor trip and she did it when she was twelve, then it seems to imply that it was very brief period of time. Moreover, the impact of Guardian Force junctioning seems to be worse for people who aren’t trained in military Gardens. Zell suddenly wants to help Ellone due to an affiliation that he had completely forgotten about. Most importantly, Squall offers no plan on how to prevent memory loss and the others only provide flimsy ideas. Irvine’s lengthy quote about not having many choices, but somehow feeling as if he made a choice is essentially a rationalization. Also, he only said it in the context of time not being predetermined, but it’s a fact that Final Fantasy VIII’s timeline is indeed predetermined, otherwise Squall could never have been the legendary SeeD who killed Ultimecia. In other words, they have no plans on how to overcome the memory loss and rationalize their already limited capacity for choice by pretending their predetermined lives were theirs to make, when the worldbuilding of the game makes it painfully clear that they live in a setting that follows the philosophical underpinnings of Hard Determinism. They don’t have a choice; to argue that they do would be the equivalent of arguing Edea had a choice to be possessed by Ultimecia when the passing of Ultimecia’s powers onto her was out of her control and that is shown by the scene itself. It simply happens and Squall being the one to put the idea of SeeD and Gardens to Edea at the end of the game serves to confirm that the world of Final Fantasy VIII had no freewill whatsoever. It simply wouldn’t have been put in by the writers otherwise.
A Circular Time Loop: Compare and Contrast
While the Promise scene between Rinoa and Squall is often cited as foreshadowing the idea of Rinoa eventually becoming Ultimecia, what is seemingly ignored is how it parallels the conversation that Squall had with Cid about Edea becoming the future threat to the world for reasons unknown at the time. If Ultimecia is a future Rinoa with Sorceress Adel’s memories corrupting her, then the similarities are purposeful:
R3 (Squall): “Please tell me about Sorceress Edea. I heard she’s your wife.”
Headmaster Cid: “You’re quite right… She had been a sorceress since childhood. I married her, knowing that. We were happy. We worked together, the two of us. We were very happy. One day, Edea began talking about building the Garden and training SeeD. I became obsessed with the plan. But I was very concerned with SeeD’s goal, that one day SeeD might fight Edea… She laughed and told me that would never happen. However…”
And, Squall and Rinoa’s promise scene:
[The third teammate leaves.]
Rinoa: “What’ll become of me?”
Squall: “Don’t worry about it. There’ve been many good sorceresses. Edea was one. You can be like her.”
Rinoa: “But Edea’s still… I can’t guarantee anything, either, if Ultimecia possesses me again… You saw me. She controlled me in outer space and made me break Adel’s seal. What might happen next time? What will I end up doing? Will I end up fighting everyone? …Scary thought, isn’t it?”
Squall: (Rinoa…… Even if you end up as the world’s enemy, I’ll… I’ll be your knight.)
Rinoa: “If I fall under Ultimecia’s control again… SeeD will come kill me, right? And the leader of SeeD is you, Squall… Squall’s sword will pierce my heart…… I guess it’s ok if it’s you, Squall. Nobody else. Squall, if that ever happens…”
Squall: “That’s enough! I’ll never do anything like that. The sorceress I’m after is not you, Rinoa. My enemy is the sorceress from the future… Ultimecia.”
Rinoa: “Ultimecia lives in the future and possesses me. She uses my body as her extension in this world. How? How will you save me?”
Squall: “I’ll come up with something… There’s gotta be a way.”
Rinoa: “……”
Squall: “Don’t worry. Trust me.”
Rinoa: “…I trust you. Well, until you find a way, maybe… Maybe I should stay in Esthar, at that memorial? Wouldn’t that be better?”
Squall: “No… That’d be pointless. I’ll just end up going after you again. Rinoa… Just stay close to me.”
Rinoa: “Oh… Those words!”
Squall: “What?”
Rinoa: “That’s what started everything.”
Squall: “What are you talking about?”
Rinoa: “You don’t remember?”
Squall: “Something I said?”
Rinoa: “Oh, just forget it!”
Squall: “No, it’s because of the GF. That’s why I forgot.”
Rinoa: “That’s just an excuse.”
Squall: “Feeling better?”
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.”
Squall: “It was just a dream… It doesn’t mean anything. Don’t worry about it.
Rinoa: “…I guess you’re right.”
Squall: “How about this… I’ll be here…”
Rinoa: “…Why?”
Squall: “The reason why you couldn’t find me was because we haven’t promised yet.”
Rinoa: “Promised?”
Squall: “I’ll be waiting for you. If you come here, you’ll find me. I promise.”
Rinoa: “I’ll be here, too. It’s a promise! Thanks, Squall! Next time, we’ll meet for sure!”
[Zell runs over.]
Take note of what the background character is saying when Rinoa says that she wants time to standstill and stay with Squall in the scenes leading up to the Promise scene. The NPC is repeating the word “Ragnarök” the ending of the world in Norse mythology; and Ultimecia is the one who ends the world in the future. If they truly never meant this to be foreshadowing, why did they deliberately use the word ragnarok as Rinoa talks about wanting time to standstill to stay with Squall? Of course, later his party encourages him to not respect Rinoa’s decision like Squall wanted and to go save her, which is what directly leads to Rinoa being junctioned onto Adel much later in the game:
Voice: “We have some questions for you. We’re collecing escape pods. We have a
good idea of what happened. I hear no one from Lunar Base is on the
Ragnarok. How many of you are there?”
Squall: “Just two.”
Voice: “…… Your names?”
Squall: “Squall. I’m a SeeD from Balamb Garden.”
Voice: “And the other?”
Squall: “…Rinoa.”
Voice: “Rinoa? The sorceress!?” She’s on the ship!?”
Squall: (So… It’s true? Rinoa is a sorceress?)
Rinoa: “I’ve…become a sorceress. I can’t stay with you anymore, Squall.”
Voice: “Respond, Ragnarok!”
Rinoa: “I don’t want the future. I want the present to stand still. I want to stay here with you…”
Squall: (Rinoa…)
Voice: “Respond, Ragnarok!”
Rinoa: “Nobody would want to be around me anymore…”
Voice: “The sorceress will be seized upon arrival. Be sure to follow the crew’s
instructions.”
Rinoa: “I’m…scared.”
Voice: “Squall, do you copy? Is the sorceress listening, too?”
Rinoa: “I’m scared, Squall. I don’t wanna go back.”
[On a blacked-out screen:]
Squall: (I don’t know what to do… This is just another crossroad in my life. But, for the first time, I don’t know which way to go. I’ve come this far because I’ve…fallen for you. ……Rinoa…… Now…am I just supposed to let you go?”
[The Ragnarok lands and an Esthar waits below as the two disembark.]
Person: “Sorceress Rinoa. Hyne’s descendant.”
Person 2: “Come with us. We must seal your power for the sake of the world.”
Rinoa: “……All right.”
Person: “Thank you for understanding. Tell us when you’re ready.”
[Rinoa turns to Squall.]
Rinoa: “…I should tell you this before I go. I was possessed out in space. There was a sorceress inside me. Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future. She’s trying to achieve time compression. She’s the only one who would be able to exist in such a world. She, and no other. As long as I’m free, she’ll continue to use me to accomplish her goal. I… We can’t let that happen, right…? …I should go now. ……I’m ready.”
Person 2: “All right. We’ll be heading to the Sorceress Memorial.”
[Rinoa waves and starts to walk off.]
Squall: “Rinoa! Don’t go!”
Rinoa: “……Thanks, Squall. But I have to go…”
Squall: (……Rinoa.)
Rinoa: “…… Oh… I still have your ring.”
Squall: “You keep it.”
Rinoa: “You sure?”
Squall: “Yeah…”
[Rinoa waves and walks off.]
And then later, his team encourages him to make a selfish choice:
Squall: “Rinoa is a sorceress now. She received Matron’s powers. An escort from Esthar came to pick Rinoa up. Rinoa’s in Esthar now.”
Selphie: “We have to go get her!”
[Selphie bolts.]
Quistis: “Was she taken by force?”
Squall: “No. It was Rinoa’s decision. She was scared about being a sorceress… Scared of being feared…hated… Scared that no one would want to be around her… She said she couldn’t handle that.”
[Irvine leaves.]
Quistis: “Didn’t you try to stop her, Squall?”
Squall: “It was Rinoa’s decision. What right do I have to object?”
Quistis: “Oh! Stop that! What are you talking about!? Why did you go all the way out into space to save Rinoa!? To hand her over to Esthar!? So that you might never see her again!? No, right!? Wasn’t it because you wanted to be with Rinoa? You’re a fool.”
Zell: “Seriously.”
Squall: (A fool, huh?) “…Maybe.” (What am I doing…? I may never get to hear Rinoa’s voice ever again… What the hell am I doing? What can I do? …Of course…)
Quistis: “Have you decided?”
Zell: “Heading to Esthar, right?”
Squall: “Pandora whatever and Sorceress Adel are out of my hands. I don’t even know where to look for Sis. The only think I know is Rinoa. The only thing I want to do for sure right now is for Rinoa. We’re going to get Rinoa back!”
[The ship rocks.]
And then, of course, they free Rinoa and have no real plans on how to save the world or help others:
[The party jumps out at the Memorial’s blocked entrance.]
Sentry: “You want to see your comrade off…”
Sentry 2: “I’ll make an exception. Go ahead.”
[The party runs into a control room filled with lab techs.]
Engineer: “What are you doing here!? This is a restricted area!”
Squall: “…To do what I should have done earlier. …I’ll never know unless I do it.”
Engineer: “What are you talking about?”
Squall: “…I know what I want and what I have to do. …There’s still a chance. I’m not gonna look back. I’m taking Rinoa with me.”
Engineer: “What!? You must be joking. It’s too late.”
[Squall’s two teammates brandish their weapons.]
[*] Zell: “Go, Squall!”
[*] Quistis: “Now’s your chance!”
[*] Selphie: “Go get her, Squall!”
[*] Irvine: “Squall, come on! Go!”
[Squall runs to Rinoa, whose encased in a transparent orb-room.]
Squall: “Rinoa, hold on! I’ll get you out in a sec!”
[Squall punches the machinery.]
Squall: “What am I supposed to do!? Come on!”
[Squall gives the panel a taste of his gunblade. FMV: Rinoa falls toward him.]
Rinoa: “Squall, don’t! I’m a sorceress.”
Squall: “I don’t care.”
[A teammate who hadn’t spoken yet yells from the other room:]
[*] Zell: “Squall! Rinoa!”
[*] Irvine: “Squall! Rinoa!”
[*] Quistis: “Rinoa! Squall!”
[*] Selphie: “Rinoa! Squall!”
Squall: “Let’s go.”
[Rinoa and Squall hightail it out, but the entrance is filled with guards.]
Man: “………”
[…and the guards back off.]
Squall: (That man… I’ve seen him before.)
[Squall leaves and the party gets on the Ragnarok.]
Quistis: “What’s wrong, Rinoa?”
Rinoa: “I’m just a little…embarrassed.”
Zell: “Why?”
Rinoa: “I was so set on staying in Esthar. But then, when you guys rescued me… It made me so happy, and…”
Irvine: “No need to be embarrassed!”
Selphie: “Yeah, happy is good.”
Rinoa: “Thanks…everybody.”
Zell: “Squall, you’re awfully quiet. What’s up?”
Squall: (I have a lot on my mind.)
Quistis: “As an expert Squall observer… He’s thinking: what do we do now? Blah blah blah… If you think and worry too much, everything tends to turn bad. Squall. Why don’t we just picture a brighter future.”
Squall: “…Whatever.”
Zell: “But seriously, what do we do from here? I’m not really sure, but… Don’t we have to do something about that ‘Lunatic Pandora’ in Esthar? After all, the Galbadians are controlling it. Which means Seifer is behind all this too, right?”
Squall: “Seifer is…Ultimecia’s puppet.”
Zell: “Yeah, and that Ultimecia! We can’t let that sorceress from the future mess up our world! Let’s go kick her ass! We’re SeeDs! We’re here to destroy sorceresses, right!!!?”
Squall: “ZELL!!!”
Zell: “…S-Sorry…”
Quistis: “So Squall…where we goin’?”
Rinoa: “Umm… Can we go to the orphanage you guys were talking about in Trabia?”
Quistis: “That place is in shambles.”
Selphie: “There’s nothing to see there.”
Rinoa: “I want to stay away from places where there are lots of people… I’m a sorceress. If Ultimecia possesses me again…”
Squall: “Let’s go. Head to [Edea’s House].”
[The party jets to their old orphanage.]
The odd artistic design choices
Outwardly Rinoa and Ultimecia look like opposites and that’s true to an extent, but it all started making terrible sense the more I thought of the “Adel’s memories harmed Rinoa’s mind” idea:
Ultimecia’s beautiful humanoid design is mostly a combination of Adel and Julia Heartilly, Rinoa’s mother. Apart from the Purple, which has a magatama symbolizing godhood, the symbolism is weirdly a dark fusion of Rinoa’s mother’s attire and Sorceress Adel. Ultimecia’s grey hair is the same coloration as Rinoa’s father’s greying hair.
Jeremy Gill, a blogger at Hubpages, mentioned the often missed juxtaposition of Ultimecia’s castle and the Caraway Mansion. Ultimecia’s Castle where she holds herself enclosed with multiple corrupted Guardian Forces protecting her can be juxtaposed as a combination of Lunatic Pandora and the Caraway Mansion:
It’s almost a direct reference to Rinoa escaping being locked in Caraway Mansion. In this case, her messed-up memories made her think being locked up in a fortress gave her strength and power. It floating in the air was likely due to Sorceress Adel’s obsession with Doc Odine making Lunatic Pandora functional. Griever designs litter Ultimecia’s castle and she summons and subsequently junctions herself onto Griever because Griever makes her feel safe and powerful. Her reasoning explicitly states she does it because Griever is powerful. The narrative also made it clear Rinoa had an obsession with the Griever design when Squall briefly junctioned onto different parts of her past via Ellone and that Zell is the one who will make the Griever designs for Rinoa… and those designs exist throughout Ultimecia’s castle:
Ultimecia’s final form design reveals there’s actually two people in her body; the top is a blinding light almost as if portraying a woman blind to everything around her and the bottom is of a woman trapped by the blinded one above. The only other time a boss like this exists is when Rinoa is in a Christ-like pose on Adel’s body; a deliberate and uncanny-valley style choice. Sacrificing the innocent (Rinoa) for the resurrection of the guilty (Adel):
Please consider this: If Ultimecia is just a Sorceress from the future, then why would Ultimecia think of the Orphanage as the place to go to in order to escape Time Compression in the ending of Final Fantasy VIII? Attempts to make it seem as if it held any sort of significance, if Ultimecia was just a Sorceress from the future, seems unlikely. Ultimecia never became aware that Edea was the one who proposed SeeD and Gardens due to Future Squall mentioning it to her. Only bodies of nameless nobodies were there and there’s no special iconography or message for why Ultimecia would think of the place. The single long, metallic-like chain that allows Squall and his team to enter Ultimecia’s floating castle has chains connected to other parts of the world and there’s no explicable reason for why Ultimecia would consider the Orphanage to be an important memory to her within the game’s text and visual clues.
However, if you believe R=U theory, then it was because Rinoa’s final words accidentally sent them both there when she envisioned herself and Squall together:
Rinoa: “Time…place…who I wanna be with… I wanna go there! Where Squall and I promised. Squall!”
After she says this, Squall’s temporarily in a black, fade out screen and then he’s at the orphanage. The one who arrives there shortly after is Ultimecia… at the place Rinoa wanted to meet Squall. Oh, I should also add, Squall seems to indicate he felt loneliness similar to when Ellone vanished from his life at the orphanage, so that’s why it was the childhood past, but the reason both Ultimecia and Squall are there is because of the mixed visions of Rinoa and Squall accidentally causing that time paradox. Rinoa’s words and Squall’s feeling of loneliness sending both Squall and Ultimecia to the past version of the orphanage, where they made the promise. Add all of Rinoa’s words saying she doesn’t want a future, wouldn’t mind if Squall’s sword pierced her heart, how she wants time to stand still instead of the future, and so forth.
The Ethics of Squall’s Team compared to Laguna Loire and Fury Caraway
Final Fantasy VIII repeatedly provides a juxtaposition of Laguna Loire and Squall Leonhart’s ethics and actions throughout the game and Laguna is always the one making selfless and compassionate moral choices, whereas Squall’s arc has him go from not caring for others to being completely selfish regardless of how others are harmed. Edea even encourages him to follow this sort of thinking:
Consider contrasting her words with the imagery of the dead SeeD soldiers before the final dungeon. It’s almost a direct reference; not putting in any thought for the safety and security of humanity brought about a monster like Ultimecia to existence. Throughout the game, we’re shown the consequences of Squall and Rinoa’s poor ethics:
Rinoa recklessly joins a terrorist group, knowing it could put both her life and her father’s life in danger, ostensibly to help the people of Timber. However, once her father comes aboard to the plan of assassinating Edea; Rinoa gets angry about her father wanting her locked in the house and out of danger in case things go south and she rushes out with a stupid plan that nearly gets her killed if not for Squall and Irvine’s intervention.
Squall demands Esthar’s help in healing a comatose Rinoa, this leads to Rinoa being controlled by Ultimecia to awaken Adel. When Esthar decides enough is enough, and Rinoa poses a legitimate danger to everyone’s lives, Squall demands she be let free because of his own selfish petulance. What happens? Seifer junctioned Rinoa onto an awakened Adel and Rinoa’s life is put in even further danger because of Squall’s selfishness.
Please contrast this with the actual moral hero of this game’s story, Laguna Loire. Laguna always tries to keep as many lives safe as possible at great personal cost to himself. In order to prevent being a pawn to prolong a horrible war, he lives in hiding and loses his first love who thinks that he died in battle. He lives being hated by the people around him and then goes on to try to save Ellone from her kidnappers after being brutally assaulted by Esthar soldiers that he couldn’t fight back against (Squall’s team basically increased his powers and capabilities, and this is heavily inferred). Despite his limits, he still manages to save Ellone, hides away Lunatic Pandora to keep everyone in the world safe, Laguna uses his ingenuity alone to deceive and seal Adel away and then sends her into space to keep the world protected from her wrath and to prevent her from passing her Sorceress powers to anyone else. He stays in Esthar during a massive political upheaval; at great expense to his own personal life, since he trusted those villagers with keeping Raine and Ellone safe out of the goodness of his heart and belief in people. After Raine dies, those villagers force Ellone and a baby Squall to be sent to an orphanage and commit forgery on the paperwork of Squall’s birth history out of contempt for Laguna despite him putting his life on the line for them and successfully rescuing Ellone. Laguna still makes the painful decision to stay in order to make sure there’s a peaceful transfer of power and to prevent any bloody insurrection or civil wars, resulting in nearly twenty years of peace until Squall’s group and Squall Leonhart himself completely screws it all up by bringing a hypnotized, comatose Rinoa to Esthar for his own selfish reasons.
Also, if you still have a hard-time believing this, look at the actual outcomes of their actions: Laguna created a world of relative peace and stability with Esthar no longer seeking to become a hyper-militaristic, imperialist society using their doomsday weapon (Lunatic Pandora) as a threat to the world. Laguna hurls a sealed away Adel into space and successfully prevents Adel from transferring power for nearly twenty years and it’s undone directly by Squall’s selfish actions. Squall Leonhart doesn’t even think about the long-term consequences of what he sees in what most of us think is the “far future” and only kills Ultimecia… which leads to the Succession of Witches and the time loop of the entire game.. and the world gets destroyed. Regardless of whether we agree or disagree about Ultimecia’s backstory, that remains a fact that the game demonstrates to us. Laguna’s the real selfless hero of the story, so is Rinoa’s father. Squall and Rinoa are their respective prodigal children and the only reason they get away with so much and can still fight back against Ultimecia is ironically because their respective fathers’ love them so much and they’re always there to bail their children out of most of the consequences of their actions throughout the game. Squall in particular, when considering how much Laguna lets him get away with because of grief and love over not being there to raise him, despite Squall putting Rinoa’s life in danger, all of Esthar’s life in danger (repeatedly, I might add…), and conclusively dooming the future of the entire human race, killing one individual, and leaving the future doomed to destruction after patting himself on the back for a job well done.
I want to stress that I’m really not trying to bash or hate on either Squall or Rinoa when I say this. It’s just… we literally see a doomed future, their moral lesson is to simply live in the moment, and they won’t be taking any preventative measures to stop Ultimecia from coming into existence regardless. There is no way that the game wasn’t deliberately communicating that Squall’s beliefs weren’t a danger and a harm to others, whereas Laguna is genuinely the upstanding moral paragon of the game for putting the needs of others before his own personal desires for the greater good of humanity.
Conclusion
To summarize my conclusions: When I first played the game, I was struck by the odd and iconic shot of a confused Rinoa standing next to an Edea who was espousing Ultimecia’s words. Now, what’s particularly weird about her words is that… Ultimecia’s words make absolutely no sense if she’s a sorceress from the future. After beating the game, and when rewatching cut scenes… Everything she mockingly said was actually referencing Adel’s Sorceress War and the historic destruction of Centra. Ultimecia isn’t known by the present people at the time of her speech and she has no reason to hate on people who wouldn’t have anything to do with her persecution from thousands of years into the future. Everything she said outside of discussion about time compression references Sorceress Adel. The gaps in Ultimecia’s knowledge also make no sense: She knows about Junction Machine Ellone and seeks out Ellone — just like Adel, but she is absolutely befuddled by the “Legendary SeeD” destined to kill her? Squall is literally Ellone’s stepbrother and being the Legendary SeeD while utilizing Machine Junction Ellone, should mean that both Squall and Ellone are world-famous by the time of the far future. This woman was supposedly persecuted since childhood, she’s intensely researched Ellone and even knows where Lunatic Pandora is hidden and tells Seifer as much after the second Edea fight, but she has almost no awareness of who the legendary hero destined to kill her is? She has no comprehension of Ellone’s adopted brother but knows of intricate state-secret details of Esthar? Like, what? When Squall brings Rinoa, who is under Ultimecia’s influence, to Esthar, Ultimecia immediately tries to break Sorceress Adel free and the purpose behind this is to go into Adel’s past before some event happened according to Doc Odine. What on earth is the game trying to communicate to us? And that’s where Laguna’s story comes into play: Ultimecia wants to junction onto Adel to get to before Adel was tricked into being sealed and shot into space by Laguna. Why? And that’s where Rinoa being junctioned onto Adel comes into play. Because eventually, when Rinoa grows old, and Squall presumably dies of old age, Rinoa’s memories will be overwritten by Adel’s. Immediately after being junctioned onto Adel, Ellone had to junction Rinoa’s consciousness (with Ultimecia using Machine Junction Ellone on Rinoa) onto a Sorceress of the past. Ellone chose Sorceress Adel:
Rinoa: “I…was inside Adel… The young Adel…”
Laguna: “Ultimecia’s inside Adel. Exactly as she wanted. Ok, this is the showdown folks! Time compression is about to begin. ‘Love, friendship, and courage’! Show’em what you got!”
And that is why Rinoa is highly plausibly to be Ultimecia. Ultimecia is an amnesiac Rinoa that mimics her mismatched memories of Adel, because – to some extent – she thinks that she either is Adel or Adel’s successor since she only has memories of Adel to rely upon as she grows older. Ultimecia’s vernacular is of Esthar’s dialect and similar to Doctor Odine. The vivid Christ imagery of Rinoa on Sorceress Adel’s body is symbolic of this too.
7/2/2025 update: Added a miniscule update clarifying the difference between Cold Sleep and Cryosleep to explain why it also doesn’t apply to Adel’s sealing.
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