History Fridge / FinalFantasyVIII

* The above point under FridgeBrilliance regarding the self-perpetuating nature of the loop. If the DummiedOut information entry is ''not'' to be taken as canon, then it's possible Ultimecia becomes more powerful with each loop. To put it mathematically, if a sorceress = 1, then Edea starts out at 1 -> adds Ultimecia's power to make 2 -> gives that 2 to Rinoa -> Rinoa takes Adel's power to make 3 -> that 3 eventually reaches Ultimecia -> Ultimecia gives that 3 to Edea to make 4 -> repeat forever. It's possible that it's not a StableTimeLoop at all, but rather a war of attrition that ''Ultimecia will eventually become strong enough to win.''

* Rinoa in space. Think about it. Rinoa was either [[AndIMustScream aware the whole time of what Ultimecia was making her do]], or else woke up alone in the ''middle of space'' with five minutes of oxygen left!

* The Stable Time Loop is functionally Squall's fault as much as Ultimecia's. Squall gave Edea the idea for [=SeeD=] and the Gardens by telling her "Garden trains [=SeeDs=], and [=SeeDs=] are trained to defeat the Sorceress," which prompts Cid and Edea to build them and start building their teenage mercenary army. Which means, for however many generations between the end of ''FFVIII'' and Ultimecia's rise to power, they've been encouraging hatred against Ultimecia ''before she even did anything wrong''.
** Notice that Squall is very vague here. Instead of saying something akin to "Sorceress Ultimecia will threaten the world in the future and the Garden trains SeeDs to stop her." Squall just says SeeDs exist to defeat the Sorceress. Had Squall said something actually useful, Ultimecia's entire plan, perhaps her entire life could've been drastically different, if she even existed in the first place. How many Sorceresses were persecuted and killed due to this phrasing? Could Squall's comment have led to genocide?

* Edea and Rinoa are completely conscious of what is going on while Ultimecia is possessing them. Meaning Edea was trapped helplessly looking out of her own eyes as a voice not her own gave a speech of war just after murdering the president, then started fighting her foster children - one of the lonelier of which she ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and then launched a set of missiles at their school, her school, with her husband active inside. And that is not even getting to the vamping involved with another one of her kids who seems head-over-heels in lust with her possessor and pledges to be her knight.

** The President's agitated behavior over the security also clues us in that [[spoiler:it's a ''decoy'', who hasn't quite acclimatised to his role, while a real dictator would be paranoid to the level that no amount of security is enough.]]

* The very subtle hints dropped throughout the game that [[spoiler: Squall is Laguna's son]]. For one thing, the characters selected for mind-travel tend to be random so long as [[spoiler: Ellone knew them at the orphanage]]. Squall is always selected -- which is a given since he's the hero -- but he ''always'' mind-travels to Laguna. All of the other characters are paired with Kiros and Ward randomly, but Squall is the only one consistent with one person. Then there's the D-District Prison, where after Squall's torture the Moombas start randomly shouting for Laguna, mistaking Squall for Laguna. Later on in the game it's revealed that Laguna interacted with Moombas and tried to teach them to speak, and that [[spoiler: Moombas identify humans by the taste of their blood]]. The fact that [[spoiler: Squall's blood tastes like Laguna's]] indicates some familial relation. Then there's the incredibly telling dialogue Kiros, Ward, and Laguna give to Squall on the Ragnarok before the final battle.
* Laguna's history with Julia is seldom mentioned after the first flashback, and she appears to be the one that got away.[[spoiler: She later goes on to marry Rinoa's father and obviously bear Rinoa as a child. Assuming the above entry is canon, then Julia and Laguna's feelings for each other are finally given a chance to be lived out by their children, Squall and Rinoa.]]

** Simpler than that: aside from the ones created during the Queen of Cards sidequest, all of the unique character cards are held by someone who is in some way connected to the person represented by the card. Ma Dincht has Zell's card, Rinoa's father has hers, Ellone has Laguna's, and [[spoiler:Laguna]] has Squall's; it makes perfect sense for Cid to have Seifer's card given that, as one of the two caretakers of the orphanage and the founder and headmaster of Balamb Garden, he's the closest thing Seifer has to a father.

* Squall's name. Yeah, the Final Fantasy protagonists have kind of a weather-themed name tradition going on, but it just dawned on me that his parents fit the bill. [[spoiler: Theirs are specifically ''water'' themed names. Laguna is the translation of ''lagoon'' in some Romance languages, and Raine is literally ''rain''.]]

* The first time Squall and Rinoa meet she asks him to ‘look into my eyes’ [[spoiler:paraphrasing the song her mother wrote about his father ‘Eyes on Me’.]]
* When visiting Deling City to watch Julia play, Laguna sits the exact same way [[spoiler: his son]] does during class

* There was a scene for Irvine that hit a lot harder in retrospect when I realized something. When Irvine is nervous and preparing [[spoiler: to assassinate the Sorceress Edea]], he's probably hiding the real reason he's troubled. Later in the game, you find out that [[spoiler: all of the principle characters were raised in the same orphanage, with Cid and Edea as caretakers, and everyone but Irvine forgot due to the influence [=GFs=]. So Irvine remembers the woman he's preparing to assassinate as a loving caretaker and mother figure. No wonder he's nervous]].
** That scene pretty much changes Irvine's entire character when you know about [[spoiler: Edea being Matron.]] He knows he can't blow the secret and tell Squall the real reason he's nervous, and there's a very good chance that his excuse, that he always gets nervous and screws up, was a complete lie; if he couldn't perform under pressure, Galbadia would have sent some other sniper, and he wouldn't be able to hold his trigger finger still enough to let a butterfly land on it. There's nothing to indicate he ever screwed up any other time, before or after that event.
** Not only that, but apart from Rinoa, [[spoiler: he's all together with his old childhood friends... but it's clear none of them even vaguely remember him, which is something that should already hurt for someone. Combine that with the above about Edea and not only is he hollowed by that, but the fact that said friends are effectively ordering him to put a bullet to her head like it was nothing like broke him further.]] Worse, it was obviously pointless to tell them that reason at that moment as he'd be seen as crazy on top of being full of hot air about his skills. It's why it's likewise good foreshadowing that the first thing we ever see him do is to let a butterfly land on his pointed finger, which requires the precise steadiness expected of a gunner and sniper like him. Irvine's arc therefore represents the pain we all feel when [[spoiler: our old friends and the people that we loved before have outright forgotten about us]] and you just end up feeling awful for the poor guy, having to create a facade of the aloof but womanizing marksman to hide such pain.
** Not to mention that [[spoiler: even when they finally remember about each other in Trabia, Squall still doesn't recall Irvine as being part of their group as kids!]]

** What if the monsters are sent [[spoiler:(back)]] to [[spoiler:the moon]]?

* [[spoiler:Edea and Rinoa]] are completely conscious of what is going on while Ultimecia is possessing them. Meaning [[spoiler:Edea]] was trapped helplessly looking out of her own eyes as a voice not her own gave a speech of war just after murdering the president, then started fighting her foster children - one of the lonelier of which she ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and then launched a set of missiles at their school, her school, with her husband active inside. And that is not even getting to the vamping involved with another one of her kids who seems head-over-heels in lust with her possessor and pledges to be her knight. You may commence internal screaming.

* Edea and Rinoa are complete conscious of what is going on while [[spoiler: Ultimecia is possessing them.]] Meaning Edea[[spoiler: was trapped helplessly looking out of her own eyes as a voice not her own gave a speech of war just after murdering the president, then started fighting her foster children - one of the lonelier of which she ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and then launched a set of missiles at their school, her school, with her husband active inside. And that is not even getting to the vamping involved with another one of her kids who seems head-over-heels in lust with her possessor and pledges to be her knight.]] You may commence internal screaming.

* The Balamb Garden Training Center - the one full of live monsters, including at least one ''T-Rex'' - is open to students at all hours, without supervision. The Infirmary closes at curfew. If a cadet ends up badly injured after hours due to getting out of their depth in the Training Center, for instance due to a run-in with the T-Rexaur, they are on their own until the Infirmary opens the next morning.

** [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming I will now take that to be]] {{Canon}} CharacterDevelopment on Rinoa's part. [[ManlyTears Makin' me cry]], [[{{Tsundere}} damnit]].