Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Final Fantasy VIII

Go To


    open/close all folders 

Main Characters

    Squall Leonhart 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Squall_Leonhart.JPG
"Right and wrong are not what separate us and our enemies. It's our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us."

Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (Japanese), David Boreanaz (English) [Kingdom Hearts], Doug Erholtz (English) [all appearances starting with Kingdom Hearts II]

A skilled soldier who acts as the main character. Though he is one of SeeD's most accomplished students, his cold and professional demeanor ostracizes him from everyone else. He has a rivalry with Seifer, and specialises in the notoriously awkward gunblade.


  • Above Good and Evil: Much more of the Nietzschean variety than the watered-down and definitely villainous version that currently constitutes the actual trope. When asked his feelings about opposing an enemy who is "pure evil," Squall reflects that he's not so sure there's any such thing, considering good and evil to be largely a matter of perspective. This happens before the guiding hand of character development sets in, but even late in the game he remains motivated more by the desire to protect Rinoa and the rest of his friends than by any sense of "the right thing to do."
  • The Ace: Handsome, brave, dedicated, considerably skilled and powerful, as well as an excellent commander and strategist in the making. He doesn't see himself as such however and has to overcome his insecurities to fully become the trope.
  • The Aloner: Briefly, in the end, sequence. He gets lost in time after defeating Ultimecia and wanders around aimlessly, alone, a fittingly ironic fate given his antisocial behavior earlier in the game. Fortunately, Rinoa manages to find him and they return to their time.
  • Always Accurate Attack: He has maximum accuracy with every model of the gunblade, to the point that he's functionally immune to Blind. Squall just deals less damage instead of missing more often.
  • Always Save the Girl:
    Squall: "Rinoa... Even if you end up as the world's enemy, I'll... I'll be your knight."
  • Animal Motifs: Lions. He sees them as a symbol of pride and strength. This is why he always carries Griever around with him. He also has the symbol of a lion on his keychain and his jacket.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Cid steps down as Headmaster and promotes him to Commander of SeeD specifically in order to change Garden from a school to an active fighting force against the sorceress. The decision is undoubtedly helped along by the fact that Cid already knows, courtesy of Edea, that Squall is going to defeat Ultimecia in the future.
  • Badass Boast: Squall asks Rinoa's father, a big-name General for one of the most powerful nations in the world, not to interfere with Squall's group's contractual obligations to Rinoa and her resistance movement. When said general asks what Squall and company will do if he does, Squall utters just two phrases in complete calm: "We're all SeeDs here. We'll act accordingly". Cue all of his comrades behind him standing up straight in defiance, until Irvine manages to break the tension.
  • Badass Driver: Squall hijacks a top-down car during the disc one finale and speeds up to square-off against his Rival Turned Evil and the (literal) Disc-One Final Boss.
  • Because Destiny Says So: Cid uses this reasoning (vis-a-vis a Stable Time Loop) for appointing Squall commander of Garden, despite the fact that Squall was a cadet a very short time ago and there are far more experienced SeeDs in Garden.
  • Beneath the Mask: His "cold, unfriendly loner" persona is a mask he developed as a child in order to deal with the pain of losing his "sister" Ellone. If you look at his entire persona, it's very much like how a child would think a "tough adult" would act; beneath it, he is insecure and emotionally immature, and more caring than he likes to let on.
  • BFS: Revolver doesn't quite cut it, but the later models, especially the Twin Lance, the Punishment and the Lion Heart, are pretty hefty. Blasting Zone, his third Finishing Move, puts it into a whole new level.
  • Big Good: The Stable Time Loop ensures that Squall will be the legendary SeeD who instilled the idea of SeeD and Garden to Edea.
  • Big Man on Campus: Much to his own consternation, a lot of the students at Balamb Garden look up to Squall despite his anti-social tendencies. Headmaster Cid recognizes this fact, and eventually puts Squall in command.
  • Blade Across The Shoulder: His pre-battle and winning animations have him doing this. It becomes his default stance in Dissidia, and the Gunbreaker class in Final Fantasy XIV inherits this from him as well.
  • Blade Spam: Renzokuken, as its name indicates in Japanese (It means Continuous Sword) consists of a string of sword slashes. Especially when ended with Lion Heart, where he slashes the enemy a ton more times.
  • Bloodless Carnage: After the fight with Edea and Seifer at the end of disc 1, Squall gets hit by an icicle in the shoulder courtesy of Edea. Although it is hard to see a closeup of both his front and back wound, no blood has been spilled on the ground as seen in the overhead shot of Squall falling down. In fact, the next time we see him, the injury is nowhere to be found on him and he seems to have recovered from it just fine.
  • Broken Ace: Much of the student body of Balamb looks up to and admires Squall due to his incredible fighting skills and calm professionalism despite his lone wolf attitude. This tends to confound the emotionally stunted Squall who created his cold-hearted and powerful persona to be strong enough to not have to deal with other people. He mends his breaks and grows into The Ace proper during the game.
  • Brutal Honesty: He prefers to be blunt and straightforward.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: His feelings towards Rinoa. This is because, for the majority of the game, he's simply not emotionally mature enough to understand his feelings towards her, or how to reciprocate.
  • Can't Stand Them, Can't Live Without Them: Squall spends the first two discs of the game grimly resisting Rinoa's efforts to get him to open up to her, but gradually giving way. When she falls into a coma at the end of Disc 2, however, he realizes how much he doesn't want to lose her, and she becomes his main priority.
  • Celebrity Resemblance: Intentionally modeled after actor River Phoenix.
  • The Chains of Commanding: It's the reason Squall gets ticked over Cid forcing him to lead Balamb Garden. Given that he's barely capable of coping with his own problems, the thought of assuming responsibility for the well-being of others under his command weighs on him almost to the point of paralysis.
  • Character Catchphrase: "Whatever." In Japanese, it's "I'm sorry" or "My bad" (悪かった な, warukatta na) but done more sarcastically, in the same tone of Well, Excuse Me, Princess! note .
  • Character Development: Goes from a stoic, aloof and emotionally stunted Ineffectual Loner, to a reliable commander who stops concealing his Hidden Heart of Gold.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Griever. The game even notes its importance to the plot later on by being one of the few non-Guardian Forces to be renamable.
  • Child Soldiers: He was enrolled at Garden upon its founding, at which time he was no more than five years old.
  • Chuunibyou: Downplayed example, as the Stoic affectations he adopts, do not fall into any of the major subdivisions listed in the trope page, and nobody really accuses him of being childish. But what cannot be denied is that Squall does not know how to adult, and his attempts to fake it are fairly transparent.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Black to contrast Seifer's white.
  • Commanding Coolness: Invoked. When Cid hands leadership of SeeD over to Squall, the position doesn't come with a pre-established rank. His friends discuss it among themselves and rather arbitrarily dub him "Commander," presumably because "Headmaster" no longer accurately reflects the role and "Commander" sounds cooler.
  • Consummate Professional:
    • He flat-out tells Rinoa that his job is to follow her orders, even if she commands them to take on impossible odds and sends them to certain death, because she's the client. His teammates agree with this. Rinoa does not.
    • The fact that he's paired with a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits highlights this even more. The rest of his squad is highly idealistic, while Squall is (or tries to be) more emotionally detached. One particular scene has the group worrying over Seifer's fate after the latter has fallen into the hands of the sorceress; when Rinoa asks him, he bluntly informs her that it's likely he's already been executed, and that she shouldn't get her hopes up for his survival.
    • A related scene shortly afterward illustrates how Squall subverts this trope when he blows a gasket over the thought of being referred to in the past tense because everyone is talking about what Seifer was like, showing that he's not as "professionally" detached as he wants to be.
  • Cool Sword: His Gunblade, be it Revolver or the upgrades of it. It looks like a pistol-sized gun with a ginormous blade at the end of it instead of a conventional barrel. The trigger of the gun adds an additional blast to deal more damage upon being hit (featured in-game as an Action Command one can do to guarantee a Critical Hit).
  • Crash-Into Hello: How he met Selphie. She literally ran straight into him in the second-floor hallway of Balamb Garden.
  • Critical Hit Class: In a way. Squall can't critical hit naturally, as instead his critical hits are tied to the trigger mechanic. Once a player has mastered the timing on the trigger, most of Squall's attacks will critical hit.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Played very, very straight; see Color-Coded for Your Convenience. Cold and aloof though he may be, he's nonetheless a hero wearing all black.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Much of the game is spent with the other cast members holding a blowtorch to his frosty attitude.
  • Determinator: Pretty much the entire third disc involves Squall turning into one of these to heal Rinoa. And then there's that time he jumps down several stories in order to save Zell.
  • Diagonal Cut: The last cut of his most powerful finisher, the Lion Heart, is this.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Squall gets into a spacesuit and leaves the Escape Pod to rescue Rinoa, who's floating out in space. Even though he succeeds, they're both stuck out in the middle of space, low on oxygen, and with no way to get back to the Planet. Fortunately, Deus ex machina saves the day.
  • Dueling Scar: He receives a scar over his face from dueling with his nemesis (who receives a matching but flipped scar, making their scars a literal case of "Dueling Scars").
  • Dynamic Entry: Squall makes a couple of impressive gunblade-first leaping entrances. In the D-District Prison, he saves Zell by leaping a half a dozen stories onto a prison guard about to shoot him.
  • Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age: His weapon is a gunblade, a weapon said to be very hard to master.
  • Ensign Newbie: Fresh off his graduation, he's put in charge of a field team and sent off on a mission.
  • Everyone Can See It: Interestingly, even Squall can see that everyone can see it, but he doesn't realize how much he loves Rinoa until she becomes a Sorceress and goes comatose.
  • Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Gunblade users are talked up as being super-fighters simply due to how Difficult, but Awesome controlling Gunblades tend to be.
  • Facepalm: He's known for doing this in reaction to what others have said or done so often, he even does this within Kingdom Hearts.
  • First-Person Smartass: He does an Inner Monologue far more than the other characters do, some of which borderline on snarking. At one point, he even snarks at his own reaction to something.
  • Genius Bruiser: In addition to being the most powerful SeeD cadet, he has a keen mind and proves a competent, strategic leader.
  • Good Is Not Nice: He's pretty harsh on Rinoa and the Timber Owls, but his points are valid. There's also the fact that he's a mercenary to start with.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: He acquires his Hero Scar during the opening FMV. The Garden nurse says that it likely won't fade for quite a long time.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: In his own words, there are no true Good or Evil, just people with opposing viewpoints.
  • Handshake Refusal: A running gag early on in the game is that Squall refuses to shake anybody's hand, no matter what the circumstance is. This is significant because the first telltale sign that he subconsciously sees Rinoa differently from other people is that he accepts her handshake during formal introductions.
  • Hates Being Touched: Downplayed. Squall just says he's not used to it when Rinoa is sitting in his lap and has her arms wrapped around him.
  • Hates Small Talk: When badgered by his companions to speak, you can visually see his whole body sigh before he stands upright to make as short a statement as possible. Squall is a Terse Talker even after character development, only saying as much as he absolutely needs to, and only when he has to.
  • He Knows About Timed Hits: Pressing R1 at the right time will cause Squall's basic attack to critically hit automatically.
  • Hereditary Hairstyle: He has his mother's dark brown hair.
  • The Hero: Although he's rather anti heroic one, at least at first, Squall is the main protagonist of the game and the one who goes through the most Character Development.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Or Gunblades, in this instance.
  • Heroic BSoD: Several, thanks to his severe emotional damage.
    • After Seifer's apparent death, he freaks out when the rest of the team starts talking about him in the past tense, realizing that someday people might be talking about himself that way.
    • When he first meets Ellone in the present and finds out that it's her that sends him and the other to the minds of Laguna, Kiros, and Ward, he has a massive freak out at her and then immediately resorts to collapsing on a chair and going completely silent.
    • He has a lot of trouble maintaining a leaderish mindset during Rinoa's coma. Specifically, he walks out of Garden with her on his back without telling anyone, deciding to find Ellone by himself.
    • An epic one in the end. His head basically breaks and he winds up in a barren desert created by his mental reaction to Time Compression, from which Rinoa rescues him.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: He proves to be massively insecure. It's one of the main reasons for his jerkass behavior — by putting up a tough, unfriendly facade he can hold others at arm's length and control how they perceive him, rather than let them see his true weaknesses and anxieties and risk being looked down on or rejected as a result.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Squall is perfectly aware he comes off as cold, unfriendly, and professional. He acts this way on purpose to keep from getting close to people because he doesn't want to have to experience the pain of losing them as he did with Ellone. In his (initial) opinion, being alone makes life easier for him as opposed to relying on others.
  • Hope Is Scary: He believes he'll feel less pain if he doesn't get his hopes up. Rinoa drags him out of this mindset.
  • I Can't Dance: In the ballroom scene, he insists to Rinoa that he can't dance. Turns out to be a lie, at least once Rinoa gets him to loosen up a little; he later confirms that SeeD trainees are taught formal ballroom dancing as a potential cover skill.
  • I Hate Past Me: Witnessing a Pensieve Flashback of himself as a child crying over Ellone's disappearance, he describes it as a "disgraceful sight."
  • I Work Alone: Squall continues to try and pull this, but to his own consternation, constantly gets put into more and more leadership roles.
  • Iconic Starter Equipment: His basic gunblade, the Revolver, is his trademark weapon and is the default for his appearances in side media and related content.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: At the end of Disc 1 when Edea launches an ice crystal straight through his chest. He got better.
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: Gunblades like these are almost impossible to replicate in real life, let alone use effectively.
  • Improbable Weapon User: It is said in-game that the weapon he wields is a hard one to master. Several characters comment on the extreme difficulty of gunblades and how Squall and Seifer are the only two people willing to wield them.
  • Ineffectual Loner: A protagonist version. He didn't want to be the hero, anyways. He grows out of it.
  • Informed Attribute: Squall is spoken of as one of the most famous students at Balamb Garden that other students admire. However, most of the other Garden students the player interacts with show no such admiration, and given Squall's anti-social attitudes it's questionable why they would look up to him, which is something Squall himself has difficulty understanding since he constantly tries to push others away.
  • Inner Monologue: Squall does more of this than he does actual talking. A source of humor with pretty much anyone who gets to know him.
  • Ironic Echo: Near the beginning of the game, he tells Quistis that he's not interested in listening to her and tells her to go talk to a wall. Half a game later, after Rinoa falls into a coma, Squall realizes he loves her and begs her to talk to him. Frustrated by her silence, he notes it's like talking to a wall.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Squall has a much bigger bone to pick with Seifer than with Ultimecia.
  • Kick the Dog: Sometimes, he goes a bit too far with his facade; such as the infamous scene where Rinoa storms out of an argument calling him a "meanie".
  • Knight in Sour Armor: He's a pretty cynical guy, but for all that commits himself to the idealistic Rinoa.
  • Lady and Knight: Vows to become Rinoa's knight in Disc 3. Whether he's the Bright or Dark variety is irrelevant to him. All that matters is Rinoa's safety.
  • The Leader: Assigned as such to a SeeD mission to help Rinoa's resistance group. He is later promoted to the leader of Balamb Garden.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Squall has the highest HP and vitality among the six main characters, and is quite fast too.
  • Loners Are Freaks: He catches this kind of attitude from many other characters in the game.
  • Love Epiphany: Squall realizes his feelings for Rinoa after her comatose in Disc 3.
  • Magic Knight: Though VIII and several other Final Fantasy games have no job system, remnants of gameplay mechanics or story always hint at them. In Squall's case, he's a Magic Knight or Spellblade, since his Limit Break finishers always have him infusing his blade with powerful energy, a hallmark of the job class. He gets classified as this in Final Fantasy Record Keeper, as well.
  • Master Swordsman: Referred to by Headmaster Cid as a "Gunblade Specialist", as they are his weapon of choice. A "Gunblade" being a notoriously difficult weapon to Master, only Squall and Seifer are capable of wielding them, and Squall is widely considered the most formidable warrior at SeeD. SeeDs, in and of themselves are considered to be the elite, the best operatives in the world. You do the math.
  • Meaningful Name: "Squall," as in a violent storm, and of course "lionheart."
  • Mix-and-Match Weapon: The difficult to master Gunblade. Notorious because he and Seifer are the only ones capable of using them effectively. His Revolver Gunblade has become iconic.
  • Named Weapons: His gunblades are called, from weakest to strongest, Revolver, Sheer Trigger, Cutting Trigger, Flame Saber, Twin Lance, Punishment, and Lion Heart.
  • Never Be Hurt Again: The reason for his cold, detached demeanor is because his fellow orphan and sister, Ellone, left him alone as a child and he developed abandonment issues. He feels that, eventually, all friends and family die or go away, and the only way to avoid the pain from that is to never let anyone in again.
  • New Child Left Behind: His mother died at birth, and his father didn't learn about him until much later.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Squall's efforts to revive Rinoa from a coma over the course of Disc 3 end up playing into the Big Bad's hands, as Ultimecia, controlling Rinoa, releases Adel from imprisonment as her stasis pod is dragged out of orbit by the Lunar Cry.
  • No Social Skills: Enrolling at Garden at approximately the age of five did a hell of a number on Squall's social aptitude.
  • Not So Stoic: His stoicism increasingly breaks down as his coping mechanisms are tested and proven wanting. Disc 3 provides the best example, but instances occur as early as Disc 1, starting with the mini-meltdown he has over the way people talk about Seifer after his supposed death.
  • Official Couple: He and Rinoa. Heck, they're the logo.
  • Opposites Attract: His introverted personality and Rinoa's extroverted one.
  • Parental Abandonment: His mother died giving birth to him. His father, on the other hand, was away during the pregnancy to rescue his kidnapped older sister on the other side of the world and was immediately elected as that nation's president following his successful ousting of its dictator.
  • Pet the Dog: He's consistently not-mean to Selphie, generally letting her have her way with things. Indeed, if you decide to play along in front of her friend at Trabia, he tells her Selphie's been a great help, which causes her to teasingly remark that it's not like him all to say that.
  • Pinball Protagonist: For a good part of the game, he's mostly passive, simply carried from mission to mission as part of his job. A lot of political events go on in the background, but unlike the typical save-the-world do-gooder hero, he and the rest of the party don't have an impact on them (e.g. Timber's resistance plot fails, but they move on anyway because they completed their mission). Early Disc 2 shows a distinct contrast in Selphie being proactive in trying to stop a missile launch while Squall just goes back to Garden under her orders. Eventually, he gets fed up with being this, complaining he feels like a helpless puppet. Disc 3 is when he finally does something of his own volition and tries to get Rinoa medical help in Esthar.
  • Pretty Boy: He's explicitly called "the best looking guy here" by Rinoa at the SeeD ball and his facial scar does little to detract from his good looks.
  • The Proud Elite: He is a tall, dark, handsome, proud, stoic, quietly dismissive Jerkass (although he has a compelling Freudian Excuse). When it comes to Rinoa, however, he gets all squishy and emotional. And when he finds out his True Companions are Not Quite Dead, he's visibly pleased.
  • The Quiet One: Even after most of his Character Development takes place, he's still not the stereotypical loud teenage JRPG hero.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Rinoa demands his opinion on the Forest Owls, Squall gives it. They're amateurish, don't think through the consequences of their plans, and neither their skills nor their attitude inspires any confidence in him or his team.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue Oni to Seifer's Red Oni.
  • The Reliable One: Squall may not be interested in making friends, but he follows orders, takes his responsibilities seriously, and always gets the job done. In fact, close inspection of the text shows that however much he may complain, Squall consistently does just about everything anyone asks him to do over the course of the story. Despite his prickly and anti-social behavior, his considerable skills and his reliability on the job earned him a lot of respect from his peers at Garden, and this has a lot to do with why he keeps getting thrust into more and more leadership roles despite how little he wants to be in charge of anything.
  • Resigned to the Call: Until Disc 3, anyway.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: His default Gunblade, as the name indicates, has a revolver handle, contrasting Seifer's, which resembles a semi-automatic.
    • He, however also subverts this. Whilst the most famous Gunblade is his initial Revolver, his upgrades follow a pattern: First, he changes the blade to a more powerful one, then he changes the handle to one resembling a semi-automatic pistol. Whilst Cutting Trigger and Twinlance use the silver Revolver handle, the Shear Trigger, Flame Saber, and the Punisher (which are more powerful versions of the Revolver, Cutting Trigger, and Twinlance, respectively) use the black semi-auto handle. The Lion Heart, the most powerful Gunblade of all, does away with it all and instead uses something resembling an Assault Rifle for its handle. It even comes equipped with fire selectors like assault rifles and sub-machine guns do.
  • Rousing Speech: Gives one to motivate his troops during the Battle of the Gardens.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The savvy guy to Rinoa's energetic girl. He's a lot more pragmatic, experienced and aloof, while she's more green, energetic and cheerful.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: While in the infirmary when Squall gives Rinoa a tour of Balamb Garden, Dr. Kadowaki asks if Rinoa is Squall's girlfriend. The player is given the option several times of having Squall either confirm or deny it.
  • Shout-Out: If you haven't figured it out by now, the Gunblades are these to Star Wars. The Infinity +1 Sword "Lion Heart" even looks like a lightsaber.
  • Significant Birthdate: Squall shares his birthday with River Phoenix (August 23), on whom his design was based.
  • Somebody Else's Problem: When Seifer shows up on TV to capture President Deling, Squall quickly decides not to get involved because it has nothing to do with their mission—until Quistis gets in front of the camera to specifically ask for their help, so he has to.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: He actively presents himself as surly and unsympathetic to keep others from getting close, while inwardly he's deeply insecure, longing for support from others but desperately afraid of the pain that would come from losing them.
  • Spam Attack: His Renzokuken Limit Break, which actually translates to "continuous sword". His ultimate Limit Break, Lion Heart, takes this further.
  • Spell Blade: Final Fantasy VIII has no job classes at all, but they are hinted through stats, weapons, and Limit Breaks. Squall is typically considered to be a Fighter/Warrior, but his ability to infuse his Gunblade with various types of energy for his Limit Break typically makes him be considered a Spell Blade or Mystic Knight in games such as Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
  • Spin Attack: His Fated Circle Limit Break. He spins, causing a giant shockwave that shreds the enemies.
  • Stab the Sky: The pose he strikes in order to perform his Blasting Zone Limit Break. He LITERALLY stabs the sky with the gigantic blade beam that surpasses even the atmosphere.
  • Stepford Snarker: He explains his neuroses to Rinoa and finishes by saying "Don't tell anyone I said that." While she is in a coma.
  • The Stoic: It's interesting to note that the exact qualities that make him a good soldier (quiet, emotionless, obedient) make him a poor human being because he forced himself to become an adult as a child to cope with the loss of Ellone. Contrast this with Laguna, who is both a competent soldier and a complete dork because he matured at a natural pace.
  • The Strategist: He spends the entire Battle of the Gardens turning a desperate fight against superior enemies in both numbers and weapons into an even match, eventually turning the tides.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Most of his physical traits come from his mother.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Ice mostly, until Character Development sets in. Even then, he could still easily be seen as a bit distant since he's The Quiet One.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Squall behaves this way through the first disc or so. In his defense, by the end of Disc 1 every single one of Squall's comrades makes at least one very poor decision that needlessly endangers themselves, others, or the mission. Squall himself has to bail them out on multiple occasions.
  • Sword Beam: His Blasting Zone and Fated Circle Limit Breaks both unleash huge amounts of energy waves to hit multiple opponents.
  • Sword Drag: His first finisher, the Rough Divide, has him doing this before slashing his opponent bottom to top. It can more clearly be seen during the introductory cutscene, it is the attack he performs to scar Seifer.
  • Sword Lines: During his Limit Break "Renzokuken", whatever gunblade Squall happens to be wielding gets the second type.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Well, average height at 172cm (roughly 5'8"). The Ultimania has amended his height to 177cm (roughly 5'10").
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: In addition to being tall and dark-haired, he also doesn't hesitate to snark when people get on his nerves.
  • Team Dad: Much to his own annoyance. He tends to become a Papa Wolf with his friends, not that he cares to admit it.
  • Technicolor Blade: The Cutting Trigger and Flame Saber Gunblades have a bright Red blade, whereas his most powerful weapon, the Lion Heart, has a blade that goes from white-hot to deep blue in a gradient.
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: Part of his problem with relating to others is that he won't engage in this. In Cid's office in Balamb Garden, when Squall asks him to handle what he's planning to rescue Balamb Garden from being hit by missiles, Cid asks him why he wants to do it. The player alone is privy to Squall's inner monologue ticking off at least five specific reasons why he wants to take on the mission before he finally lands on, "I don't know why... Who cares?" and tells Cid, "My feelings have nothing to do with it, sir." Later in the game, Rinoa has to tell him flat-out that she and the others won't understand how he's feeling if he doesn't tell them.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: Squall's Character Development throughout the game is to learn how to connect with other people and how not to shut yourself to the world if things don't turn out the way you hoped to.
  • Too Many Belts: Six to be specific. note  It goes to even greater lengths in his appearances in other games. In Kingdom Hearts, for example, he uses several belts around his forearm!
  • Troubled, but Cute: Despite his cold exterior, Rinoa finds him cute and endearing, and frequently teases him about it. It's also mentioned by Yuffie in Kingdom Hearts.
  • Tyke-Bomb: All SeeD are this to an extent, but Squall is a standout case being the focus of the stable time loop.
  • Unbroken Vigil: Squall to Rinoa, after Rinoa falls into her coma. He takes the vigil on the move when he decides to take Rinoa to Esthar in search of Ellone.
  • Undying Loyalty: Even though he started off distant from everyone, after Character Development became completely devoted to Rinoa. Even stating that even if she becomes a witch against the rest of the world, he'd be her knight.
  • Uptight Loves Wild: The source of his growing attraction to Rinoa.
  • Vibroweapon: How gunblades work according to the Ultimania guide. Pulling the trigger sends a shockwave through the blade, and timing this right allows Squall to deal a lot of damage in gameplay.
  • Visible Silence: He's fond of giving these when he has nothing to respond or simply doesn't feel like responding.
  • Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Squall is stoic, brooding and professional, while his father is a proud dork.
  • Warrior Prince: Unbeknownst to Squall, his Disappeared Dad has been the President of Esthar for much of his life. By the time they finally meet in person, Squall is already an accomplished warrior leading his own team.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: When the rest of his party members learn that Squall let Rinoa go with Esthar officials to be cryogenically frozen, they all furiously call him out for just letting Rinoa go after all he did to save her.
  • When He Smiles: In the game's Stinger, we finally see Squall smile for Rinoa, and it is gorgeous.
  • World's Best Warrior: SeeD is considered an elite force with unsurpassed operatives. Squall is recognized as the greatest SeeD by the end of the game, what with being the Legendary SeeD and all.
  • You Are in Command Now: But he doesn't want it, and doesn't enjoy it. Even though he does well in it. Starts with him being in command of his SeeD and then eventually Balamb Garden as a whole.

    Rinoa Heartilly 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rinoa_Heartilly.JPG
"Look into my eyes...You're-going-to-like-me...You're-going-to-like-me...Did it work?"

A member of the Timber resistance group "Forest Owls". Her outgoing and happy-go-lucky attitude contrasts sharply with Squall, as does her lack of actual battlefield experience. She strikes up a relationship with Squall and becomes determined to crack his shell. She wields a boomerang-esque weapon called a Blaster Edge.


  • Abnormal Ammo: Another fairly unique weapon, Rinoa uses a type of weapon called Blaster Edge, which fires an Absurdly Sharp Blade from her wrist-mounted launching device. Most models resemble discs, but the Pinwheel and Cardinal look like birds or boomerangs, and the Valkyrie is basically a small, flying sword.
  • Action Girl: Although she's less experienced story-wise, she does have a pretty good strength stat.
  • Attack Animal: Angelo. Her first set of Limit Breaks involve her helping Rinoa do combination attacks.
  • Badass Adorable: She's a really cute young lady, and more than capable in battle.
  • Barely-Changed Dub Name: She was renamed "Linoa" in the French version.
  • Battle Boomerang: Fired from a wrist mounted launcher. Often they overlap with Rings of Death or Deadly Disc.
  • The Beastmaster: Quite funny when you consider she also tames a certain lion throughout the game.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Her dog Angelo.
  • Black Mage: Though there is no job system per se in VIII, through their special attributes characters have a hint of this. Though Rinoa's first limit break uses her dog Angelo to attack like a Trainer would, and she uses traditionally Ninja weapons, as a unit whose second limit break has her casting exclusively black magic spells, she ends up as this. It also helps that she eventually becomes a Sorceress in-game.
  • Black Magician Girl: If her high magic stats don't count her as one initially, she definitely becomes one upon becoming a Sorceress.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Rinoa wears a blue vest and is one of the good guys.
  • Canine Companion: Her Big Friendly Dog Angelo.
  • Character Development: At the start of the storyline, she's a well-meaning but spoiled and naive rich girl, whose idealism and enthusiasm override good sense, leading to her making hasty, ill-thought-out plans. After several disastrous results and spending time around Squall's team, she begins to understand just how out of her depth she really is, culminating in her becoming a more effective member of the team who makes carefully-considered decisions by the third disc, including the calm-yet-terrifying choice to surrender to Esthar so that they can seal her away and prevent her from being possessed again. Her dialogue also becomes notably less childish and more mature over the course of the game, especially after she recovers from her coma.
  • Character Tic: Rinoa and her cute "pointing towards the sky" gesture are synonymous with each other. Whenever Rinoa makes an appearance in other media, official or fanmade, she is very likely to strike this pose. She is also known to cutesy gestures like hugging her knees or dangling her feet whilst sitting.
  • Combination Attack: Her Limit Breaks with Angelo which aptly fall under the name Combine.
  • Convenient Coma: At the end of Disc 2 until the first half of Disc 3. Caused and used by Ultimecia.
  • Cosmic Motifs: Aside from angels, she is also associated with shooting stars.
  • Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: She does this a lot when talking to Squall, starting in the ballroom sequence.
  • Cute Bookworm: She's delighted when she first sees Garden's library, and can always be found reading there when not in the active party.
  • The Cutie: Designed by Tetsuya Nomura to be cute rather than gorgeous.
  • Damsel in Distress: Justified as, unlike the other playable characters, who are Child Soldiers, she lived a comfortable upper-class life with no background of combat training. Rinoa requires rescuing four times over the course of the gamenote  and is unplayable for a good amount of the third disc thanks to being variously comatose, possessed by Ultimecia, or imprisoned by Esthar. That said, only the first time was result of a Distress Ball and, gameplay-wise, she Took a Level in Badass by becoming a Sorceress.
    • Unintentionally Exploited during Rinoa's last distress situation. While she is kidnapped by Seifer and taken to Adel, it's important to remember that Seifer inadvertently played right into the protagonists' hands by hooking Rinoa up to the Sorceress, since the plan was for Rinoa to absorb her powers upon Adel's defeat.
  • Didn't Think This Through: While she's well-intentioned, she doesn't fully grasp the seriousness of the situations she's involved in, or the consequences her actions will have for others. She's fond of coming up with big plans but doesn't consider what will happen if they fail or if they succeed—they hijack the train car but she clearly doesn't have any idea what to do with "Deling" once they do. Part of her Character Development is outgrowing this.
  • The Face: Rinoa is quite good at social situations, since she is able to persuade Cid to loan out SeeD within one meeting, and helps bring Squall out of his shell. This likely factors into her decision to try and get Edea to put the Odine Bangle on.
  • Feather Motif: Beginning with her turning a flower petal into a feather in the opening sequence. Her limit break Angel Wing and her Infinity Plus One Blaster Edge also share an angel wing/feather theme. And her duster sweater has a pair of angel wings on the back.
  • Foreshadowing: The player gets a strong hint about where Rinoa is actually from when the party gets to Galbadia and she tells them how to navigate the city's bus system.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Not Rinoa herself, but Angelo is actually a female dog.
  • Guile Hero: A subtle, mostly non-manipulative example. Rinoa is very adept in social situations, reading people, and figuring them out. She's able to motivate, lead, and inspire intense loyalty in a resistance movement, hobnob at a fancy dress party, and when it comes to it, manipulating people into helping her. The fact that she's able to force Squall out of his shell in such a short time (compared with Quistis, who was trying for years to get him to open up) is remarked upon.
  • Heroes Love Dogs: And so do heroines!
  • Honorary Princess: Rinoa is not a princess, but the resistance calls her that as a nickname, most likely because she's the daughter of the occupying state's military commander.
  • Human Shield: Used as one by Adel during a boss fight.
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: Her Blaster Edge weapons. No one discusses how insane they are, or how would anyone avoid being cut by the very same sharp projectile you just used to dispatch your enemies. Apparently, Blaster Edges can fire anything from the wrist-mounted launching device, seeing as how Rinoa also uses to hurl her dog at opponents.
  • Improbable Weapon User: The "blaster edge", a chakram-like weapon she fires from a wrist-mounted launcher, which returns like a Precision-Guided Boomerang. She launches her dog from it in one of her Limit Breaks.
  • Last Girl Wins: Rinoa is the last female to (permanently) join the team and the one Squall falls in love with.
  • Literal Cliff Hanger: Off the side of Balamb Garden during the Battle of the Gardens.
  • The Load: For the first two discs, every plan Rinoa comes up with goes badly, and she very frequently has to be rescued. She grows out of it in the second half of Disc 3, but still finds time to get abducted one more time. Because this time, the heroes want her to be captured.
  • Magic Knight: Very strong with both magic and physical strength.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Subverted. She acts like it around Squall in Disc 1 — and gets told off for it. She shapes up in Disc 2 after nearly getting killed by Edea. Played more straight in the emotional aspects when her persistence in getting to know Squall and for him to open up and rely on her initiates his Character Development.
  • The McCoy: She's highly critical of Squall's coldness towards his teammates.
  • Military Brat: She has the distant father, although not the uprooted lifestyle since he's a general rather than a grunt.
  • Missing Mom: Her mother died in a car accident.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: At level 100, the playable character with the highest unmodified strength stat in the game isn't Squall, Seifer, or Ward. It's Rinoa. This is most likely a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation; due to being unavailable for an extended period, Rinoa misses out on stat-boosting opportunities that the rest of the party is able to take advantage of, and thus has better-than-average natural stat growth in order to prevent a case of Can't Catch Up.
  • Mythology Gag: To the Ranger class and a Shout-Out to Forest Ranger: She's a crossbow(-of sorts)-using fighter who fights with a dog and lives in a city built in the middle of a giant forest.
  • Nom de Mom: Properly, her name ought to be Rinoa Caraway thanks to her dad. Rinoa goes by her mother Julia's surname, either as a form of protest against her father or just because being obviously related to a Galbadian general would hurt her credibility with the various factions of the Timber resistance.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Her dog Angelo, who helps her in her Limit Breaks.
  • Not a Game: Rinoa gets this lecture by Quistis, who shoot Rinoa down after hearing her plan to use the Odine's Bracelet.
    Rinoa: [to herself] I'm not a SeeD, but... I can do this... This isn't some kind of game...
  • Not What It Looks Like: Rinoa claims she doesn't want to ask Squall to see his ring (so Zell can make a replica of it) because people would get the wrong idea.
  • Official Couple: She and Squall, who are so official they are the trope picture.
  • Opposites Attract: She and Squall.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: For someone without military training, Rinoa has a few shinning moments in Disc 1, like running on top of a moving train or infiltrate the Sorceress quarters in Galbadia by herself, but her plans fails and, compared to the SeeD members, she is just an amateur.
  • Plucky Girl: Although she openly admits her fear of fighting alone, she still manages to stand toe-to-toe with the trained mercenaries.
  • Power Gives You Wings: Gain angel wings whe nactivating her "Angel Wing" Limit Break. Also, the Valkyrie and Cardinal are wrist mounted Automatic Crossbows.
  • Quizzical Tilt: Her standard pose whenever she's not moving has her tilt her head a bit to the side. It helps emphasize her curious and naive nature.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The heroine with the palest skin and darkest hair of the three women.
  • Rebel Leader: She leads the Forest Owls, the only active resistance group in Timber.
  • Rebellious Princess: At least stylistically. She's not an actual princess, but the Forest Owls call her that. Rinoa grew up in the lap of luxury and is clearly used to getting her way, but despite her naivete she's very socially-conscious, compassionate, and highly motivated to help people in need. She's more than willing to leave the comfort of her father's Deling City mansion to get her hands dirty helping a resistance faction fight the oppressive Galbadian occupation of Timber, and is the main driving force behind the Forest Owls.
  • Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Her late mother was a famous singer and her father is a Galbadian general. Her father's home in Deling City turns out to be a luxurious mansion, but despite her privileged upbringing Rinoa is very aware of what's going on in the world around her and chooses to fight her own country's occupation of Timber.
  • Ring on a Necklace: She keeps the wedding ring of her deceased mother around a chain. Later on she also gains one of Squall Leonhart's own rings,note  signifying they were becoming that much closer.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: She's the energetic girl to Squall's savvy guy.
  • Security Cling: Rinoa does this three times to Squall. First, after being rescued from the Iguions, she grabs onto him and doesn't want to let go. Later, while on the Ragnarok, after the intense sequence of events that's just occurred, she takes advantage of the gravity being turned off to float down into Squall's lap and puts her arms around him, telling him that it makes her feel safe. The third time is when she hugs him after he rescues her from the sorceress memorial.
  • Significant Birthdate: Born on March 3rd (Girls Day/Dolls Day in Japan).
  • Sixth Ranger: Played with. She's the only member of the gang who didn't hail from any Garden and by extension, the only person in the group who didn't grow up in Edea's orphanage.
  • Spam Attack: Her Wishing Star Limit Break.
  • Spoiled Brat: She does things like throw tantrums (which also apparently involves scratching the hell out of whichever unlucky member of La Résistance has to wake her up from a nap) and kicking Irvine down the stairs when he tries to play it cool while rescuing Squall and co. from prison. It's one of the early clues hinting to her affluent background as the daughter of a Galbadian general.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She and her parents all share a certain physical trait.
  • Summon Magic: While all characters have unrestricted access to all summons, of the main party Rinoa has the highest initial compatibility with more than half the available summons, making her the most well suited to act as a summoner off the bat.
  • Terrible Artist: She painted the presidential car for the Forest Owls' Model Planning scene, and all members of Squall's team agreed that she did an awful job at it. She tries to play it off as she did it on purpose because it "represents [her] hate towards Deling" to no avail.
  • True Blue Femininity: Her coat is blue, and she is the most feminine member of The Team.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: This is essentially her dynamic with Squall and Seifer.
  • Uptight Loves Wild: Again, her and Squall. In this case, Rinoa is the first girl to really force herself into Squall's life and get him to open up.
  • You Are Not Alone: A good deal of her interactions with Squall revolves around getting him to realize this.

    Zell Dincht 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Zell_Dincht.JPG
"Why don't you try to show a little more passion...? You know, like me!"

A fellow SeeD who works alongside Squall and Selphie. Though he appears to be a comic-relief, hot-blooded goof at first, he is actually a highly competent soldier with a deep knowledge of world history and a lot of integrity, quickly proving that he will do anything for his friends. In many ways, he is in fact the most secure and confident of the whole group. He uses no weapon in battle, preferring instead to use martial arts.


  • Anime Hair: Less extreme than Cloud's, though; it looks like a more plausible application of gel.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: He's no monk, but he fits the part where he fights with nothing but hands and feet. He'd also fit the Monk class in the franchise. His weapon ends up being pivotal in escaping the D-District Prison, because his combat style isn't dependent on his weaponry.
  • Battle Aura: His Burning Rave and My Final Heaven Limit Breaks.
  • Big Eater: The ending implies this, and you can usually find him loitering in the canteen.
  • Big Entrance: Right after Quistis introduces him, he is seen shadow boxing, back flips, and then does an upclose-to-the-screen "YEAH!" Shot.
  • The Big Guy: Physical powerhouse edition, in spite of being the smallest male party member.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: He loves fighting and having fun, which sometimes gets on Squall's nerves.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being a loud, overly energetic nuisance, Zell is not just a meathead. He knows all about the various Odine goods, usually is the one to explain everything and is a reliable second-in-command.
  • Butt-Monkey: Almost any time something comically embarrassing happens to one of the playable characters, it's happening to Zell, from being repeatedly snubbed for handshakes to getting "volunteered" to dodge bullets by himself during the D-District Prison sequence to once accidentally crashing into the girl's bathroom using his T-board before the events of the game.
  • Character Tic: Several, from punching the floor to shaking his fists in rage. Zell is... passionate, and it shows through his every motion. However, Zell's most oft-seen tic is his penchant for shadowboxing, and he will do it everywhere and anywhere, something that annoys Seifer (and Squall, a little bit) to no end.
  • Chewing the Scenery: If the game had voice acting, Zell would have been a Large Ham as evidenced by the text changing pace and switching caps whenever he's amped up.
  • Child Soldiers: Like the rest of the SeeD cadets. He finishes his training and graduates to active SeeD at the age of seventeen.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Although he doesn't wear dominantly black attire as Squall does.
  • Drama Queen: Everybody will know if Zell has an issue with something simply due to how he reacts.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Zell could be spotted twice before his formal introduction. First if the player has Squall log in the Garden database before leaving the classroom right after the opening cutscene where he's seen writing on a forum in Garden Square. Second if Squall goes to the cafeteria before heading to take the Fire cavern exam, in which Zell failed to score his Trademark Favorite Food.
  • Facial Markings: Has a tattoo on the left side of his face.
  • Genius Bruiser: As his status as Mr. Exposition and Mr. Fixit can attest to. He's definitely not Book Dumb, despite early impressions.
  • Got Me Doing It: Just before fighting Raijin in front of the hotel room, Zell ends up saying Raijin's signature phrase "ya know" at the end of one of his sentences before correcting himself.
  • Happily Adopted: By Ma Dincht. Zell adores her.
  • Heroes Fight Barehanded: Although technically he wears gauntlets.
  • A Hero to His Hometown: Zell is well-known and quite well-regarded around the town of Balamb, as seen during the Galbadian army occupation sequence in Disc 2. It stands out all the more because up to that point in the story Zell has mostly been depicted as the hotheaded Butt-Monkey of the SeeD team, contrasted against Squall's efforts toward professionalism — to the residents of Balamb, however, Squall's just another SeeD, while everyone knows Ma Dincht's boy and are looking to Zell for help in the current crisis.
  • Hero Worship: He looks up to his grandfather, and was inspired to become a SeeD because he was a soldier.
  • Hidden Depths: While he acts like a typical Boisterous Bruiser and Dumb Muscle, he's actually quite smart, adept with machinery, and is one of the most well-informed members of the party. Landing on the Deep Sea Research Center has him explain what they were doing here, causing Squall to admit that he has to rethink his opinion of Zell.
  • Hot-Blooded: He's quick to judge and quick to act in most given situations and often loud about it.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: Learns his limit breaks from fighting magazines, which can easily be mistaken for a fan list of attacks from shonen manga and anime.
  • Idiot Hero: Downplayed. Zell is hyperactive, loud and acts before trinking, but has Hidden Depths.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His Meteor Barret Limit Break has Zell literally punching his way through his opponents.
  • Innocently Insensitive: When the group decides to go after Ultimecia, Zell proclaims that, as SeeDs, it's their job to destroy the sorceresses, completely forgetting that Rinoa is also a sorceress. He prompty apologizes when Quistis and Squall yell at him.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With "Big Bad Rascal", a young Jerk with a Heart of Gold in Balamb, who looks up to him.
  • It's All My Fault: He has a moment of this after he inadvertently said that Seifer belongs to the Garden right in front of the Galbadian President. It turns out not to matter, mostly because Edea was planning to go to war against Gardens anyway.
  • Keet: Among other things, his character introduction is him backflipping and cartwheeling into the entrance hall.
  • Leader Wannabe: Zell is always eager to be assigned squad leader. Squall either turns him down (as Gateway team leader in the end of Disc 1) or could reluctantly give him a chance (before Squall himself heads to Lunar Base in Disc 3).
  • Maybe Ever After: The ending cutscene has him eating his favorite food with the Pigtailed Librarian who has a crush on him.
  • Meteor Move: No, not Meteor Barrett, though Meteor Strike does count as he lifts the enemy up, before jumping up and doing a mid-air throw down towards the ground. But the crown winner here goes to Zell's Different Beats combo finisher, which has him perform a chain of somersault kicks that send both the enemy and himself eventually high into the sky, before performing a fiery diving kick all the way back down to the ground.
  • Mr. Exposition: "Thank you very much, Mr. Know-It-All Zell."
  • Mr. Fixit: Subtly implied in the game that he has a love of machinery, and bringing him to the Bonus Dungeon makes it easier to complete it because he takes the guessing out of the guessing game.
  • Mythology Gag: His "Meteor Barret" Limit Break is a reference to the previous Final Fantasy game.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Two Dolphins join him in attacking during his Dolphin Blow Limit Break.
  • Noodle Incident: Quistis related that there was an incident where Zell crashed his Cool Board into the girls' restroom. Zell quickly cuts Quistis off before she can tell the rest of the story.
  • Number Two: Squall can briefly appoint him as a stand-in leader in his absence during Disc 3.
  • Oblivious to Love: The Pigtailed Librarian has a crush on him but he never seems to pick up on it.
  • Percussive Maintenance: How he ends up fixing the machine in the Bonus Dungeon. He tries to get it to work, but then resorts to just banging the thing. It's useful to save on pressure points to fight the Ultima Weapon.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Official sources state that Zell is only 5'6" or even 5'5". He is also physically one of the strongest party members.
  • Power Fist: Zell's weapons are fighting gloves, his first being a leather glove with metal plating over the knuckles.
  • Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Some of his slang comes across as this, especially contrasted with the others.
  • Ramming Always Works:
    • His strongest limit break finisher, My Final Heaven, has him dash with a punch towards, and then beyond the enemy to run one lap around the world before finally punching. All enemies will be damaged by the sonic boom, or something...which is fairly plausible since the Combat King magazine and animation imply that Zell is traveling at approximately the speed of light.
    • One of his other finishers, Meteor Barrett has him charge up a ball of energy, before performing an aerial charge right into the enemy while still holding the energy ball and slamming it right into their face, before dashing beyond the enemy.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: There's an optional quest where you can make Zell admit that he likes this color.
  • Red Is Heroic: His outfit has red all over it (vest, shoes and his Infinity +1 Sword).
  • Roundhouse Kick: The Mach Kick, one of his limit break moves.
  • Running Gag:
    • Will wipe his hand on his pants and present it dramatically for a handshake, but never gets one.
    • Always missing out on his Trademark Favorite Food.
    • His tendency to be a Leader Wannabe usually either ends with Zell disappointed or Squall reluctantly giving him a chance.
  • Shipper on Deck: Like most of the cast, he's a solid Squall and Rinoa shipper.
  • Shoryuken: Dolphin Blow, where he crouches before hitting his enemies with a flying uppercut, as dolphins jump next to him.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Possibly to Marty McFly. He's dressed in a red jacket, is very Hot-Blooded compared to the rest of the cast, hates being called a chicken, and for no particular reason two easy-to-ignore/miss cutscenes involve him riding a hoverboard. Then there's the whole thing involving his relations with Dr. Odine and the timed mission in Esthar...
    • His facial tattoo is apparently based off of something the developers saw on MTV.
  • Sick Captive Scam: Zell uses this technique to help the team escape from D-District Prison. He has Selphie and Quistis lie down and act unconscious and tells the guard that a snake bit them.
  • Simple, yet Awesome: The "Armageddon Fist" technique involves ignoring all the flashier moves in Zell's Limit Break to focus on alternating the two most basic instead. The two moves in question have the fewest number of button presses to execute, and therefore the quickest to pull off. While the fancier moves may do more damage per hit, the longer and more complicated input combinations and the setup required to unleash them means they take more time to execute; especially at higher levels when a good STR junction can mean every individual hit reaches the damage cap, getting out as many hits as possible in the shortest amount of time is by far the most efficient means of racking up the highest total damage.
  • Spectacular Spinning: His Different Beat and My Final Heaven final Limit Breaks causes the enemy (and Zell himself while attacking, in case of the former) to spin.
  • Spirited Competitor: Zell's outlook in battles. He enjoys challenges but is a good sport.
  • Stock Shōnen Hero: He's said to be designed to resemble a typical shonen manga hero, despite not being the protagonist.
  • Super-Speed: Duel, his limit break, consists of him being given from 4 up to 12 seconds to strike the opponent with special martial arts techniques exclusive to him. His being able to chain lengthy combos implies a heightened, slowed perception of things, Zell is probably moving much faster than we think. Also, for his last finisher, My Final Heaven, Zell runs a lap around the world in about 4 seconds before using that momentum to punch the opponent with explosive energy.
  • Super-Strength: With his Meteor Strike Duel technique, Zell can lift any enemy in the game, jump up and throw it on it's head. Yes, even colossal beings like Ultima and Omega Weapon. Even outside of game mechanics, Zell is strong enough to casually punch the floor of a train and make it's electrical systems fail.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In his backstory, he was revealed to be a crybaby.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: A kind of bread in the original Japanese; hot dogs in the English translation. Unfortunately for him it seems that they're everybody's Trademark Favorite Food and the cafeteria is always sold out whenever he tries to get one. (This makes for a minor Dub-Induced Plot Hole in the ending FMV, where Zell is seen stuffing his face with, and choking on, said flavored bread. However, they can still be seen as bread with hotdogs stuffed in them.)
  • Tyke-Bomb: Ironically, he's emotionally healthier than the rest of the cast since he grew up with a loving adopted family and wasn't forced into becoming a SeeD.
  • Unknown Rival: Zell considers Seifer his Arch-Enemy due to the latter bullying him as a child. Seifer, while doesn't ignore him, only considers Squall as his legitimate rival.
  • Wall of Weapons: In his room in Balamb, where he has several guns on the wall.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Two of his Limit Break moves, Heel Drop and Meteor Strike.

    Selphie Tilmitt 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Selphie_Tilmitt.JPG
"Destroy everything!"
Voiced by: Mayuko Aoki (Japanese), Molly Marlette (English) [Kingdom Hearts series]

A transfer student to Balamb Garden who ends up working alongside Squall and Zell. She is surprisingly perky and upbeat for a soldier, but behind her smiling face lies a psychotic, destructive streak that surfaces during times of stress. She is one of the more observant and practical members of the party. Also, she likes trains.


  • 10-Minute Retirement: After visiting her Doomed Hometown Trabia Garden, she announces that she would be ending her blog out of fear that she'd reveal her weak side if she kept going. Like most teenagers who make such declarations on the Internet, this doesn't even last one scene before she's back at it.
  • Action Girl: She's a fully trained SeeD with both skilled magic and skill with nunchucks (giant sized ones, at that).
  • Always Accurate Attack: Selphie is the only other member of the party (aside from Squall) who can attain absolute perfect accuracy by acquiring her ultimate weapon, the Strange Vision. Even if she's afflicted with blind, Selphie just can't miss with said weapon. That her weapon is a nunchaku makes it even more impressive.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Searching for her four specific Limit Breaks often takes time, and gives your enemies the first initiative to strike.
  • Badass Adorable: She's cute as a button and the smallest member of the team, but she'll take down a missile base and maybe even erase you from existence if she has to.
  • Beta Couple: She and Irvine.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: As revenge for launching missiles at her old Garden, she decides to blow up Galbadia's weapon base while on a mission with a smile. Even before that, her casual suggestions for dealing with various situations will inevitably gravitate towards the most violent options imaginable, to the shock of her teammates. In particular, on her very first mission, she suggests blowing up the President's train with a rocket launcher. While in D-District Prison, she suggests skinning a moomba to wear its fur as a disguise. Mechanics wise, she has not one but two One-Hit Kill spells in her Limit Break: "Rapture," which one-hit-KO's every non-boss enemy, and "The End," which can one-shot anything up to the Final Boss if you're lucky enough to roll it up.
  • Blood Knight: This is it, time for the main characters and Balamb Garden to finally face Sorceress Edea and the entire might of the Galbadian military. Selphie's reaction? "Whoo-hoo! Garden vs. the Sorceress, the Final Battle. This is so exciting!"
  • Character Catchphrase: Selphie tries to get "Booyaka!" to catch on among the students. It doesn't work.
  • Character Tic: Selphie has a few. She tilts her head to the side quite a bit, and if you get out into the world map during the brief moment where she's the party leader, she squats, or adjusts her boots one at at time if left idle.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: She's the New Transfer Student Squall bumps into and can optionally show around the Garden right before taking the Fire Cavern exam.
  • Chewing the Scenery: If the game had voice acting, Selphie would have been a Large Ham as evidenced by the text changing pace and switching caps whenever she's amped up.
  • Child Soldiers: Like the other SeeD cadets. She is seventeen years old when she finishes her training and becomes an active SeeD.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Obsessed with trains and maybe a little too eager to go for the violent solution....
  • Combat Medic: Selphie comes equipped with the most powerful healing spell of all (full cure) as part of her limit break as soon as you get her (and it's the most common unique spell you'll get through her random Slots Limit Break), and her unique abilities allow her to protect and heal the team. Or, you could just cast that triple Meteor her limit break just gave you, or use that magic stat and enviable accuracy to pummel her enemies with either magic attacks, Guardian Forces or plain ol' physical attacks.
  • Communications Officer: During the SeeD exam, Selphie is assigned to Squad A, the Comms Squad, and when you meet her, it's because she's been assigned to deliver a message to you, Seifer's nickname for her is even "Messenger girl". Not only that, Selphie is knowledgeable in communications technology, being an active blogger online.
  • Confusion Fu: The basis of her Limit Break. You either get lucky and roll a Triple Meteor or The End within three turns, or you end up getting yourself killed because nothing but Pain and Esuna pop up. (Unless, of course, you exploit the PS1 cheat.)
  • Crash-Into Hello: How she met Squall. She smacked into him a short while before they had a mission together. He can give her a short tour of the Garden at this time.
  • Cute and Psycho: For all that she's a sweet little Genki Girl, she's also far and away the most violently pragmatic of Squall's True Companions. Whenever she's involved in the planning phase of a mission, she always seems to suggest using explosives. Also, when planning how to escape D-District, while a Moomba is in the cell with everyone, she casually suggests skinning it and wearing it as a disguise. It's hard to tell if she was actually joking or not (she claims to be).
  • The Determinator: Besides the dedication and hard work required to become a SeeD (being the only exchange student, the only Trabia student to graduate that year and only one of four graduates), Selphie simply will NOT stop until you're in her Garden Festival Committee. There's up to 3 different instances where she will try to recruit you, and that's before even leaving for your first SeeD mission. Not only that, but she collects old Timber Maniacs issues and tries to unravel the mystery behind the Laguna visions and who he is through her online blog.
  • The End: Her most powerful Limit Break (which is actually named "The End") uses this. It transports the enemy to a picturesque field empty but for wildflowers and butterflies, before "The End" shows up written in the corner of the screen, per this trope. Then the enemy in question just... dies. The whole thing is rather Meta, given that the field in question is actually where the climax of the ending of the game takes place.
  • Fangirl: For Laguna. She collects all of his magazine articles and comments on them. She even comments when first seeing him how cute he is.
  • Fictional Social Network: Garden has an on-line messaging board that quickly gets shut down after it gets misused by the cadets. Selphie uses the net to manage her public online diary and blog later on.
  • Foreshadowing: Her The End Limit Break is nearly identical to the game's final scenes.
  • Friend to All Children: She seems close to the children at Trabia Garden, as seen in Disc 2.
  • Genius Ditz: Despite her kookiness, she runs Garden's intranet and leads the raid on the Galbadian missile base.
  • Genki Girl: She's incredibly energetic, always bouncing around and getting excited about things. She makes up songs about trains, jumps up and down when excited or victorious and is always organizing events and trying to get others to join in.
  • Hidden Depths: She initially appears to be emotionally invulnerable, always keeping a cheerful or at least energetic disposition; however, shortly after she fails to save Trabia Garden from being bombed and goes to visit the now ruined Garden, she has a hard time keeping it together. If the player visits the makeshift Graveyard while Selphie is off the team, he can find her there, talking to the graves of her friends, telling them how she accomplished her dream of performing on a band on stage.
    • On another note, she's also apparently a very capable pilot, even a combat one, as she is the defacto pilot of the Ragnarok airship once you get it.
  • A Hero to His Hometown: The Trabia Garden students are happy when Selphie visits them near the end of Disc 2.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: At 5'2" she's the shortest female character, and her Victorious Childhood Friend is Irvine who, at 6'1", is the tallest member of the party.
  • Killed Offscreen: Her Rapture Limit Break flies many random encounters somewhere (probably) only she knows.
  • Little Miss Badass: She's the shortest of the party, but not the youngest (Squall and Irvine are younger), and as badass as she is cute and bubbly.
  • Love Freak: She suggests "Everyone! LOVE AND PEACE!" as the first message to go out over television broadcast.
  • Magic Skirt: If you Scan her, you can't turn her character upside-down. (Why are you trying?)
  • Minidress of Power: It is so short she can't be scanned the same way as everyone else. In spite of this, she is able to fight in it and never flashes anyone.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Of the three main female characters, she's the one with the most revealing outfit.
  • Naïve Everygirl: She doesn't always seem to pick up on when people are freaked out or annoyed by her.
  • New Transfer Student: Her introduction even involves giving the player an option to have Squall guide her about Balamb Garden.
  • Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Despite being a cute, pretty and petite teenage girl, Selphie has the darkest sense of humor out of the whole cast, typically suggests incredibly violent and destructive courses of action (even half-jokingly suggesting to skin a Moomba and wear it's hide as a disguise) and is usually unaware of how much she freaks out normal people when this happens. She can also be found engaging in Creepy Child behavior such as rocking herself back and forth if left alone in the cockpit of the Ragnarok after attacking the Lunatic Pandora in a very violent fashion.
  • One-Hit Kill: Her The End Limit Break instantly defeats any enemy, including bosses. The only exception is the Final Boss. Even then, that's only on a technicality (the final battle having multiple stages, The End will only advance you to the next stage rather than winning the whole battle in one go).
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Well, she has two One-Hit Kill Limit Breaks...
  • The Pollyanna: Deconstructed after Trabia. She plays the part for the sake of her Trabian friends, but she's deeply upset and can't be used as a party member for a short while.
  • Rail Enthusiast: I like trains!
  • Revenge: After what happened to her hometown, Trabia Garden, as she puts it: "Take me with you when you fight the Sorceress, ok? I wanna get even, I want my revenge!"
  • Shipper on Deck: Like most of the cast, she's a solid Squall and Rinoa shipper.
  • "Silly Me" Gesture: She doesn't hit herself on the head, but Selphie's introductory FMV includes the wink and tongue-stickout parts of this after she trips her way down a hill.
  • Squishy Wizard: She's one of the best natural magic-users in the game, but she isn't the most physically resilient without Junctions.
  • Stepford Smiler: Selphie tries hard to remain in her usual high spirits when Trabia Garden, her hometown, gets bombed. However, everyone on the team sees through her. When she does visit Trabia, even though she's likely tearing up inside (she can be seen talking to the graves of her friends), she tries to cheer up the survivors, and succeeds.
  • Tyke-Bomb: She was trained as a SeeD since a young age and is very good at her job.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Squall. When she leads the missile base infiltration, she insists on Squall choosing the teams. Even when things go south, her team faces impending death and demoralization, and Irvine (if you choose him) is convinced Squall sent him on a failed mission because he doesn't trust him, she is still convinced Squall believed in them.
  • White Mage: Though there is no job system per se in VIII, through their special attributes characters have a hint of this. Though her Limit Break is typical of the Gambler class, Selphie is the closest thing to a White Mage in the game. The unique spells that only she has access to are ultimate versions of White magic spells such as Cure, Protect, Shell and Levitate. Her most powerful spell, The End, kills any and all enemies it is unleashed on, but does it in a very non-violent, happy ending way. In Final Fantasy Record Keeper, she is classified as a White Mage as well.
  • White Magic: Her unique spells: Full Cure, Wall and Rapture, are all ultimate versions of traditional white magic spells.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Her response to the Timber Owls' elaborate plot to abduct President Deling: she suggests blowing his private car up with a rocket launcher.

    Quistis Trepe 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Quistis_Trepe.JPG
"You know, the boys often choke on this test when I come with them."
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Kristina Pesic (English) [World of Final Fantasy]

Squall's instructor at Balamb Garden. Beautiful and intelligent, she is adored by the student base to the point where she has a fan club. However, behind her perfect appearance lies an insecure human who struggles to control her own emotions, and who has unrequited feelings for Squall.


  • Action Girl: Quistis has military training and is a competent party member thanks to her versatile Blue Magic.
  • Badass Teacher: She's smart enough to become an instructor at age of 18 and is an excellent combatant.
  • Barely-Changed Dub Name: Her name was changed from "Kistis" to "Quistis".
  • Breath Weapon: Many of her Blue Magic spells.
  • Chain Pain: Quistis' starting weapon is a chain whip.
  • Child Soldiers: She entered SeeD training at the age of ten after her adoption "didn't work out".
  • Cool Big Sis: Subverted. She's initially set up and subconsciously acts as one of these, but as the game progresses, we see her making several irrational and immature decisions, the same as the rest of the cast.
  • Cool Teacher: She tries to be this. Although she does have a fanclub, her efforts bounce off of Squall and Seifer.
  • Elemental Powers: Her Electrocute, Aqua and Fire Breath Limit Breaks.
  • Energy Weapon: Her Laser Eye, Ray Bomb and Homing Laser Limit Breaks.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Her fanclub seems to be composed mostly of girls.
  • Everyone Looks Sexier if French: Her name implies this.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: If her pack of fangirls and fanboys is anything to go by.
  • Eye Beams: Her initial Limit Break is "Laser Eye". She can eventually pick up Ray-Bomb!
  • Fan Community Nickname: Her admirers call themselves Trepe Groupies or simply Treppies.
  • Fired Teacher: She's knocked back to a regular SeeD after the Dollet exam, due to Seifer's disobedience.
  • Gatling Good: Quistis Gatling Gun Limit Break. She also uses a BFG to finish off the Spider Tank boss.
  • Happily Adopted: Sadly subverted. She joined Garden because things "didn't work out" with her adopted family.
  • Head-Turning Beauty: Her beauty has resulted in her own resident fan club in the Garden, such that one member bemoans his inability to concentrate or sleep due to obsessive thoughts about it. She is a strong contender alongside Edea Kramer for FFVIII’s World's Most Beautiful Woman. Her charms are fully lost on Squall, however, who considers her at best a nuisance.
  • Hopeless Suitor: To Squall. She may be interested but he wasn't biting even before Rinoa showed up.
  • Hot Teacher: She jokes that male students get distracted by her on missions.
  • Improbable Age: She's the instructor at only eighteen years of age. Tetsuya Nomura even said he was surprised when she got cast as a teacher. But then again, Quistis gets fired from her position early on for lacking leadership qualities.
  • Instant Fan Club: The Treppies. She doesn't pay that much attention to them.
  • Invisible Parents: Quistis mentions having a bad relationship with her adoptive parents during the graduation ball, but they're never seen in the game.
  • Jack of All Trades: If you get all of her Blue Magic spells, she becomes capable of attacking the opponent with almost every elemental magic there is, inflicting status ailments on them, heal your team, protect your team, buff your team, or just plain old killing the opponent immediately. She's also the only character who can break the 9,999 damage cap per hit with her ultimate Limit Break: Shockwave Pulsar.
  • Like Brother and Sister: She initially thought her feelings for Squall were love but later came to realize they were this.
  • Loving a Shadow: Quistis realizes that her "feelings" for Squall were actually sisterly affection rather than romantic affection.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: Her Micro Missile Limit Break.
  • Navel Window: Her outfit is otherwise completely modest except that she keeps her shirt zipped up from the bottom to expose her bellybutton.
  • No Body Left Behind: Degenerator literally degenerates majority of your random encounters.
  • Not a Game: She sternly tells Rinoa that "This isn't a game" after hearing her hare-brained plan to put a special bracelet on Edea.
  • Number Two: She is Squall's de-facto second-in-command, being the first to become a SeeD. She's notably the only party member to be with Squall in the Balamb Garden cockpit once it becomes mobile, positioned in his right. In Disc 3, if Squall refuse to let Zell guide Edea to Lunatic Pandora, Quistis will be the one to replace him.
  • One-Hit KO: Depending on the enemy, her Degenerator and Shockwave Pulsar Limit Breaks. If the monsters you're fighting have levels that are divisible to five, then her Lv5 Death skill counts as well. Depending on the enemy, Bad Breath is capable of this too.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Downplayed. Pink-tawny-salmonish, anyway. She is sweet and caring with a small romantic side.
  • Power Copying: A variant. Unlike most Blue Mages in the series, Quistis doesn't learn spells by being hit with it, but through use of certain items, often but not always associated with the monster who uses the move she's learning.
  • Quickly-Demoted Woman: Starts as a teacher and mentor to Squall and is the most senior SeeD in the party, but she subsequently follows his leadership after being demoted and the debacle at the Timber TV station.
  • Sensei-chan: While talented enough to become the youngest ever SeeD, she wasn't prepared to be placed into a leadership position over her peers. As a result she struggles with maintaining emotional detachment, asserting her authority over unruly students and the alienation her job as instructor gives her from people her own age.
  • She Is the King: She's The Leader of the CC Group, officially dubbed the Card King.
  • She Was Right There All Along: Quistis turns out to be The Leader of the CC card group, and is the last member you'll face during the Queen of Cards sidequest.
  • Shipper on Deck: Like most of the cast, she's a solid Squall and Rinoa shipper.
  • Ship Sinking: Has an interest in Squall, but it isn't reciprocal and she eventually loses interest after remembering that she grew up with him and thought of him as her little brother, which is a product of the Westermarck effect.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: The cutscene with Quistis at Dollet taking down X-ATM092. Although not petite, she's still pretty trim and the gun she's using is freaking huge.
  • The Smart Girl: She's considered a prodigy, having become a full SeeD at fifteen and an instructor at seventeen. She's the only character able to study and learn enemy attacks. And while she's officially a Blue Mage, her aesthetic and role earlier in the story is similar to the Scholar job class. Plus she's the Card King.
  • Statuesque Stunner: The tallest female party member at 172cm (roughly 5'8").
  • Stealth Insult: After she wishes Seifer good luck, Seifer complains that only bad students need that, prompting her to repeat that to him specifically. Unlike many recipients of such insults, Seifer isn't dumb enough to let it fly over his head.
  • The Tease: While a more Deadpan Snarker variation of this trope, she quite enjoys verbally messing with Squall even at the very start of the game.
  • Teen Genius: She's only a year older than Squall, but she's an instructor at the school at the start of the game.
  • Tyke-Bomb: She joined Balamb at the age of ten and became a SeeD by fifteen and an instructor by seventeen.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: Quistis, though she doesn't remember being Squall's friend, and when she does, she realizes her feelings for him weren't supposed to be romantic at all, leaving her embarrassed.
  • Was Too Hard on Her: She regrets harshly rebuking Rinoa for not taking the mission to assassinate the sorceress seriously. Unfortunately, when Quistis goes to check on Rinoa, she gets locked in, as a result of Caraway's attempt to keep Rinoa out of harm's way.

    Irvine Kinneas 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Irvine_Kinneas.JPG
"Thanks for the support, but I never miss my target."
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa [Opera Omnia]

An expert sniper hailing from Galbadia Garden who joins the Balamb Garden party on an assignment. He likes to style himself as a cool, unflappable gunman and complete ladies' man. However, this is just a facade so he can cope with the suffocating pressures of his job. His true personality is much more shy and dorky.


  • Abnormal Ammo: Uses plenty of these in his Limit Break.
  • Armor-Piercing Attack: With his AP rounds, Irvine can penetrate any target's defenses for greater damage.
  • Badass Longcoat: Indeed. It makes him look even more like a cowboy.
  • Beta Couple: He and Selphie. The ending hints at them getting together and he already seemed really interested before that.
  • BFG: His final weapon Exeter is one of these.
  • Bottomless Magazines: Unless you're using his Limit Break. He just never seems to run out of ammo.
  • Braids of Action: Male example. He always keeps his long hair tied back in a ponytail.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Can't bring himself to tell the others that they were all orphans together and Edea was their matron. He's pretty hurt that they don't remember.
  • The Casanova: Talks himself up as one and tries to form a party with himself, Selphie, and Rinoa.
  • Casanova Wannabe: What he really comes across as. Not that he lacks potential though.
  • The Charmer: He can't help but flirt with the ladies at least some of whom find him interesting. Selphie's heart immediately starts pounding hard after the first time he tries to flirt with her, telling her that they're meant to be. This happens right after they've just "met".
  • Child Soldiers: Like the other SeeD cadets — although unlike the others, he has yet to graduate.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: He is cocky and flirtatious but also kind, helpful and good-natured. He treats the female members of the group as being just as competent as the males. He loves Selphie not only because of her physique, but because of how cool and spirited he finds her.
  • Cold Sniper: Subverted. He makes much of "the loneliness of the sharpshooter," but completely fails to live up to the image.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Gets his in style when breaking the heroes out of the D-District prison. He somehow manages to sneak into the prison and gun down a handful of mooks from the back without anyone even realizing what hit them. When the entire garrison is subsequently mobilized with authorization to use lethal force against the cast, Irvine takes on the entire prison force all by himself to provide cover fire for the escaping heroes. Even the party members assigned to him during this confrontation could do nothing beyond taking cover from the hail of bullets.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: Irvine appears to be invoking this on the train to Deling City, when he's telling Selphie they're destined to be together when they just met a few minutes earlier at Galbadia Garden. However, the orphanage flashback reveals that he has known her a lot longer.
  • Finger Gun: His cinematic introduction has him hold out his finger and letting a butterfly land on it (displaying a sharpshooter's steady hands) and then makes a finger gun and fires it, scaring the butterfly away. In-game, he does it at other times, usually at people he finds annoying.
  • Fire-Breathing Weapon: When he loads his gun with Fire ammo, he can use his Flame Shot to rain fire on his enemies.
  • Firing One-Handed: Particularly during cutscenes. During his limit break, depending on the type of ammo, he showboats by firing from several positions, including one-handed and with the gun behind his back.
  • Fragile Speedster: He has the highest speed stat among the six main characters, and the only characters faster than him are Seifer and Kiros.
  • Friendly Sniper: Particularly once he gets past his initial flakiness. He is seen trying to flirt with people as well as to shake Squall out of his shell. He even tries to help Squall get with Rinoa and stands up for his friends when they're not around and someone is critiquing them.
  • Grenade Launcher: When he breaks out the Demolition Ammo, he gets access to the Canister Shot.
  • Gun Nut: Aside from the fact that they are his weapon of choice and uses rare models and ammunition, if you take Irvine into Zell's bedroom, he can't help but to fawn over Zell's antique gun collection which previously belonged to his grandfather, a veteran of war.
  • The Gunslinger: He fits all four archetypes depending on the ammo he uses for his Shot Limit Break.
  • Gun Twirling: Irvine does this every time he wins a battle and from time to time he does it in in-game cutscenes.
  • Handsome Lech: He's good-looking, but also flirtatious and is seen to be trying too hard at times.
  • The Heart: He has a bit of a rocky start, but from the visit to Fisherman's Horizon onward Irvine makes the most active and consistent efforts to keep the party pulled together and emotionally centered.
  • Hidden Depths: At first, Irvine seems like an annoying, flamboyant ladies man who's thinks too highly of himself and later seems like a coward for failing to live up to that façade. Later events reveal that Irvine hides a secret from the moment you met him, that himself and all the team members, except for Rinoa, grew up together at an Orphanage, ran by none other than Sorceress Edea herself, then a loving mother figure. Irvine put up such an artificial persona because unlike the others, he didn't suffer from memory loss from the use of Guardian Forces, and was hurt that the closest thing he had had to a family had forgotten about him. Likewise, he tried to back off from killing Edea not because the pressure was too much for him, but because he's being asked to kill someone who might as well be his mom, after all, he wouldn't be considered the best sharpshooter in all Gardens if he wasn't actually good. After he reveals all of this to the gang, Irvine is shown to be a man who cares deeply for his friends, and the likely heart of the team who in spite of fashioning himself a ladies man has been in love with Selphie since childhood.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: The whole "cold sniper" routine he has going is a cover for his confusion and hurt over the fact that nobody remembers each other.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Fires these courtesy of the AP Ammo.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Justified during the parade sequence. He is a sniping specialist and he uses a special rifle rather than the one he wields in random battles.
  • A Lady on Each Arm: Irvine does this with Rinoa and Selphie if you follow his suggested party split after escaping D-District Prison. The girls aren't particularly okay with it, but if Squall says he don't care, they will play along with Irvine just to spite him.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: A Tall, Dark, and Handsome man who has his hair in a ponytail.
  • Mage Marksman: Has sharpshooter training from his time at Galbadia Garden, and learns how to use Para-magic and Guardian Forces after joining the party.
  • Miles Gloriosus: This seems to be the case at the Deling City Parade, but there's more to it than that.
  • More Dakka: His limit break consists of him just firing round after round of Abnormal Ammo. One of those is the Fast Ammo, which allows access to the Quick Shot limit break, allowing you to shoot as quickly as you can press the button at reduced damage. It can be a true game-breaker with the correct stats.
  • Named Weapons: His guns are named after famous warships.
  • Nice Guy: Despite what he would like others to believe, Irvine a friendly guy who wouldn't hurt a butterfly that landed on him.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: He comes across as an idiot to Squall, but when it comes to other people he's the most insightful member of the party. He may or may not have been feigning nervousness when he has the opportunity to assassinate Edea because he's the only party member to remember that she raised them. He was definitely keeping silent about most of the party growing up together.
  • One-Man Army: Completely pulls this off in style when saving the cast from the D-District prison. He somehow manages to sneak into the prison (albeit after heavy persuasion from Rinoa), gun down a few unfortunate mooks from the back, and then provide cover fire against the entire prison garrison while the cast makes their escape. All by himself.
  • Poisoned Weapons: Equipping Irvine with the Dark Ammo allows him to use his Dark Shot Limit Break. Aside from doing damage, it can poison an opponent, blind him, prevent him from using magic, put him to sleep (literally), and slow his movement.
  • Ray Gun: Using the extremely rare Pulse Ammo for his limit break has Irvine shooting veritable pillars of light from his gun with the Hyper Shot. It's his most powerful type of ammo, although not the most useful.
  • Reluctant Warrior: A couple of his lines of dialogue tell us this. He mentions how all the fighting can really mess with your head, and how there are some things best left forgotten, especially when your life revolves around fighting. When alone, and challenged by a lone Galbadian officer, he tries to talk his way out of it despite being perfectly capable of killing him in one blow.
  • Shipper on Deck: Like most of the cast, he's a solid Squall and Rinoa shipper.
  • Shotguns Are Just Better: He's also good with other firearms, but shotguns are his preferred weapons.
  • Sixth Ranger: He attended Galbadia Garden, which is more militaristic than Balamb or Trabia, and is the last permanent member to join.
  • Sniper Rifle: Irvine is equipped with one during the assassination attempt on Sorceress Edea. Sadly, you don't get to use it in battle.
  • Spread Shot: When Irvine uses the Shotgun Ammo, he performs the Scatter Shot Limit Break, which allows him to shoot all enemies in front of him at the same time repeatedly.
  • Swiss-Army Gun: All of his guns have the ability to produce several effects just by switching up the ammo type, so he gets a rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher, machine gun, anti-materiel rifle and ray gun all in one!
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Attempts this, but only succeeds at the tall part.
  • Tyke-Bomb: A trained gunslinger since youth.
  • Vehicular Theme Naming: His guns are all named after warships.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: With Selphie.

Secondary Characters

    Laguna Loire 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Laguna_Loire.JPG
"I speak with passion, from the heart! That's what matters most."
Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese), A.V. Kennedy (English) [Dissidia series]

A Galbadian soldier who dreams of becoming a world-renowned journalist. His dorky and excitable demeanour obscures his extensive combat experience and natural courage. He uses a machine gun in battle and is the main character in the flashback sequences that Squall's party experiences throughout the game.


  • Action Dad: Squall's father and a retired army soldier. Raine was already pregnant with Squall during the last two dream sequences in which Laguna is still active in combat.
  • Alliterative Name: Laguna Loire.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Became President of Esthar on the strength of defeating and sealing Adel.
  • Badass Normal: Notice how Laguna doesn't use superhuman powers or rely on cool weapons to get by. A hand-grenade and a few machinegun rounds are all he needs. And while he doesn't qualify during the dream sequences, due to Squall's assistance, his greatest moment of glory happens without any help from Squall.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Kinda goofy, nervous around women, terrible sense of direction, swings from a rope in the sky to spray you with machine-gun fire — wait a second.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Is wearing the standard blue Galbadian enlisted uniform and wears a blue jacket upon leaving the army.
  • Bottomless Magazines: His machine gun never seems to run out of ammo or even need to reload, not even while using his Limit Break.
  • Breakout Character: One of the most fondly remembered characters in the franchise, and it shows, getting to be the third representative for VIII in Dissidia 012 over other major characters like Rinoa (who would succeed him in NT) and Seifer, and being one of the most supported characters from VIII in Record Keeper.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Laguna is a powerful combatant, a charismatic leader, and a general Nice Guy with a strong sense of right. However he's a klutz who has trouble approaching Julia, constantly mixes words up and confuses what he's trying to say, and generally acts more than a little goofy.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Talking to Laguna in Ragnarok before heading to Lunatic Pandora strongly suggests that he is already aware of his relationship with Squall but holds back on revealing it despite the very obvious hints from both Kiros and Ward.
    Laguna: Let's talk when it's all done. I have a lot to tell you... Well, if you don't want to hear it, I'll understand.
    Ward: (spoken by Kiros) It's a good thing you don't look like your father.
    Kiros: You look very much like your mother.
  • Chewing the Scenery: If the game had voice acting, Laguna would have been a Large Ham.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: He is flaky, is incredibly energetic, mixes up phrases while speaking, fashions himself the protector of a village after being healed there and is constantly talking about the power of love in the later stages of the game.
  • Crazy Enough to Work: His plans, especially the one with Adel.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Literally referred to as a moron when we first saw him, but goes on to become president of Esthar, the most technically advanced nation in the game, and sealed away Adel to earn that title. That's without you helping him with junctions, by the way.
  • Curse Cut Short: While falling off a cliff.
    Laguna: O S-[hit]!
  • Determinator: He's determined to do what he believes he much do, to the point that his Limit Break is called Desperado!
  • Deuteragonist: His importance in the game's storyline (as seen in the flashbacks, he's heavily involved in and responsible for many of the game's plot points), his presence in Dissidia Duodecim, and the manual outright describing the game as being the story of both him and Squall plant him in this category.
  • Disappeared Dad: To Squall. He seems to be aware of the connection but by this time his child is a young adult and is past being raised.
  • Dork Knight: He is a huge goofball, but played a Knight in Shining Armor in one film.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: Whenever Squall and his friends "mind travel" to Laguna's period, they would be junctioned to Laguna and his friends, temporary granting them the use of their powers.
  • Florence Nightingale Effect: How he fell for Raine. She took care of him after he was injured and ended up in her home village.
  • The Fool: His goofy persona makes him this, but he has Hidden Depths.
  • Freudian Trio: Id.
  • Friendly Tickle Torture: The "Cuchi-Cuchi Treatment" he threatens Kiros and Ward with.
  • Friend to All Living Things: He quickly befriends the Moombas being used as slave labor in Esthar.
  • The Gunslinger: He IS called "The Man With the Machine Gun" for a reason. His Limit Break just has him toss a grenade at enemies then unload More Dakka at them before the grenade from before explodes.
  • Hero of Another Story: Of the "Dream World" sequences for which he's the protagonist to, which is actually the past.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kiros and Ward.
  • Honorary Uncle: He is both this and Parental Substitute to Ellone, with her even calling him Uncle Laguna.
  • Honor Before Reason: His main outlook on life.
  • Hunk: Selphie sees and describes him as this.
  • Idiot Hero: He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, and frequently makes fairly stupid mistakes, such as getting lost. After his first dream of being Laguna, Squall thinks, "I dreamt I was a moron."
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Flashbacks shows he was always very close with Ellone; when they first met, she was a child and he was a young adult.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: A lot of shit happened to the guy, but he continues to get through with his life.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When he learned that Julia got together with General Caraway, who consoled her after Laguna never came back (due to him recovering in Winhill), he took it like a champ; as long as Julia is happy, that's all that mattered to him.
  • Jack of All Stats: During his segments of the game, he tends to serve as the balanced member of the team, between the Mighty Glacier Ward, and the Fragile Speedster Kiros.
  • Keet: He is incredibly energetic and always eager to do things and help others.
  • Klingon Promotion: Not that he intended for it to happen. But considering Adel's method of ruling, he was definitely an improvement for the people of Esthar.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Falling off the cliff after tossing Kiros and Ward from it to escape Eshtar. It's also implied that he takes the most time needed to recover.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: when the Estharians kidnapped his adopted daughter, the Unlucky Everydude stopped dorking around, became a revolutionary hero and president.
  • Location Theme Naming: He is named from either a province from the Philippines or a place in California. Both are known for their beautiful beaches. Laguna also simply means lagoon in many languages. Loire is both a river and a region of France, known for its beautiful green valleys and castles.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Surprisingly, the Galbadian military didn't have him cut it.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Though it's never stated on-screen in so many words, connecting the dots from various things said by Ellone, Kiros, Ward, and Laguna himself makes it clear that Squall is Laguna and Raine's son.
  • Magnetic Hero: He gets put in charge of the Esthar resistance basically because they think he's a swell guy.
  • More Dakka: He's not called "The Man With The Machine Gun" for no reason.
  • The Musketeer: During filming of a movie he makes to earn some money, he's attacked by a dragon and must make use of an old gunblade to defend himself.
  • Never Got to Say Goodbye: Laguna wasn't there during his wife's Death by Childbirth because he's Walking the Earth on a rescue mission to save their adopted daughter.
  • Nice Guy: One of his most endearing aspects. Part of the reason why he was never willing to leave Winhill is because he felt obligated to repay the villagers' kindness by defending them from monsters.
  • Oblivious to Love: Apparently, he has no clue that he is the soldier that Julia fell-in-love with than never returned. Kiros is obviously disappointed that he (Laguna) didn't.
  • Our Presidents Are Different: The subverted President Buffoon and also President Action type. Overall, it seems that he's done a pretty job for Esthar in the present day, or at least before the Lunar Cry took place.
  • The Pollyanna: A very rare male version. He always wants to help others and always tries to look on the bright side of things.
  • Real After All: Squall and friends believe he's just a "character" in a series of dreams they are experiencing until The Reveal of Ellone's Mental Time Travel powers midway through Disc 2.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He is not interested in power or war but in ruling benevolently and helping others out the best he knows how, which is the only reason he took the job.
  • Renaissance Man: Soldier, monster hunter, writer, actor, Rebel Leader and President. These are all the roles Laguna played throughout the story.
  • Retired Badass: He, Kiros, and Ward can still kick ass even after leaving the Galbadian army.
  • Screw the War, We're Partying: This seems to be Laguna's attitude in the first flashback sequence when he leaves Timber and goes to Deling City to see Julia peform.
  • Second Love: Raine. Ironically, their son will end up with the daughter of Laguna's first love.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: His Desperado Limit Break begins with Laguna tossing a grenade at the enemy, and is capped off by the explosion.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Black-haired and definitely handsome. His initial character profile gives his height as about 5'9", which is average height for a man in some parts of the world, but considerably above average for a Japanese man; the Ultimania guide later revised his height to 181 cm (about 5'11").
  • Unlucky Everydude: The guy can't catch a break. Separated from his crush by a high-ranking rival, badly wounded, separated from his friends, mistrusted by the townspeople he's trying to protect...
  • Wacky Parent, Serious Child: His son is a brooding, stoic, introvert, while Laguna himself is cheerful and personable.
  • Walking the Earth: Laguna spends a lot of his time traveling the world searching for Ellone, writing magazine articles to pay his way. His search, as covered by old issues of Timber Maniacs and occasional in-store references, covers every major location on the world map as well as several minor ones.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He believes very firmly in the power of love and acts on it, even when others think him foolish for it.

    Kiros Seagill 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kiros_Seagill.jpg
"You cut a pretty pitiful figure up there. I'd say you're about a -3 on the manliness scale."

One of Laguna's best friends and fellow Galbadian soldier. He has a sharp wit and often pokes fun at Laguna, but also trusts him with his life.


  • Ambiguously Brown: He has darker skin tone, but no determined ethnic origin.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: His katal/katar.
  • Brutal Honesty: Take a look at his quote above. That's him evaluating Laguna on his attempt to hit on his crush.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Between him and Ward, Kiros is mostly the one who keep Laguna's bizarre personality in check.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Unavoidable when your best friend is a Cloud Cuckoo Lander like Laguna.
  • Dreadlock Warrior: Surprisingly, the Galbadian military didn't have him cut it.
  • Dual Wielding: Uses double katars in battle.
  • Fragile Speedster: His speed stat is also the highest out of any playable character in the game.
  • Freudian Trio: Superego.
  • Glass Cannon: His magic stat is behind only Rinoa and Edea, and is actually higher than Selphie's.
  • Hero of Another Story: Of the "Dream World" sequences, as The Lancer of Laguna.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Laguna and Ward.
  • The Lancer: He is Laguna's constant companion in all the "Dream World" sequences.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy: He and Ward don't gush over Julia the way Laguna and the rest of their comrades do.
  • Real After All: Squall and friends believe he's just a "character" in a series of dreams they are experiencing until The Reveal of Ellone's Mental Time Travel powers midway through Disc 2.
  • Retired Badass: He, Laguna, and Ward can still kick ass even after leaving the Galbadian army.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • He and Ward actively encourages Laguna to make a move on Julia.
    • When he visits Laguna in Winhill, he sees that Laguna is falling for Raine and clearly approves.
  • Spam Attack: Blood Pain.
  • Translator Buddy: Once Ward becomes mute, Kiros has been the one relaying the things he wants to say.
  • Walking the Earth: Accompanying Laguna.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Laguna, as he's always with him in every one of his scenarios aside from a brief part at the beginning of the 3rd one and that was only because he lost track of him. When Laguna decides to go traveling the world looking for Ellone, Kiros was with him almost every step of the way. When Laguna ended up staying in Esthar and becoming their leader after overthrowing Adel, Kiros gives up whatever life he may have had on the outside and becomes a citizen of Esthar as well serving as one of his right hand men.
  • Verbal Tic: Is prone to correcting people with phrases similar to "One would typically say X, that's what one would say".

    Ward Zabac 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ward_Zabac.jpg
"......"

A Galbadian soldier and the third member of Laguna's unit. His intimidating appearance on the battlefield contrasts sharply with his caring demeanour outside of it. He is rendered mute after suffering a serious injury to his throat during battle.


  • Acrofatic: Impressively agile despite being on the heavy side.
  • Anchors Away: Combined with a spear for a giant anchor like harpoon that is thrown at the enemy.
  • Badasses Wear Bandanas: This one does.
  • Bald Head of Toughness: Played with. He's one of the strongest in the game and one of the tallest, making him a Mighty Glacier and the team's The Big Guy. However, his intimidating exterior that his baldness is used to emphasize belies his Gentle Giant personality.
  • The Big Guy: Physical powerhouse, and the single tallest playable character in the entire series at a monstrous 7' (outside of the customizable player character from XIV, which can break 7' if they are a Roegadynn or Au Ra).
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the French localization, he isn't mute: he just swore he would never say a single word again in the entire game.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Before becoming mute; again, unavoidable with Laguna's antics.
  • Death from Above: His Limit Break, Massive Anchor, has him throwing his Anchor to the skies, then jumping after it. Both fall down on the opponents, causing a small explosion.
  • Dub-Induced Plotline Change: Ward actually loses his voice after the second dream sequence. The French version made him an Elective Mute instead.
  • Freudian Trio: Ego.
  • Gentle Giant: He's a huge, tough looking man, but he's a Nice Guy.
  • Handicapped Badass: After becoming mute.
  • Hero of Another Story: Of the "Dream World" sequences, as The Big Guy of Laguna.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Laguna and Kiros.
  • Improbable Weapon User: A giant harpoon/spear/anchor isn't a very common weapon, but thanks to his huge stretch, it works wonders for him.
  • Mighty Glacier: Level for level, Ward's base Speed stat is the lowest out of any of the playable characters, maxing out at level 100 at a rating most of the other characters have reached at level 50. His Strength, on the other hand, is consistently higher than that of any other character save Rinoa.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy: He and Kiros doesn't gush over Julia the way Laguna and the rest of their comrades do.
  • Perma-Stubble: Shaving seems the least of his problems...
  • Put on a Bus: He doesn't appear in the third "Dream World" sequence. If the player reads the Timber Maniacs issue at Shumi Village before the fourth sequence, he won't appear in that sequence either. Nonetheless, he will appear in the fifth and final "Dream World" sequence.
  • Real After All: Squall and friends believe he's just a "character" in a series of dreams they are experiencing until The Reveal of Ellone's Mental Time Travel powers midway through Disc 2.
  • Retired Badass: He, Laguna, and Kiros can still kick ass even after leaving the Galbadian army.
  • Scars are Forever: The facial/throat scar that took his voice.
  • Shipper on Deck: He and Kiros actively encourages Laguna to make a move on Julia.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: Wears a tank-top after his retirement from the Galbadian army.
  • The Speechless: Not always. He was originally perfectly capable of speech, but became mute after an attack by Estharian soldiers. The French version makes the situation more humorous by having him swear not to speak a single word again in the entire game.
  • Stout Strength: He's heavyset and wields a massive anchor quite handily.
  • Walking the Earth: Accompanying Laguna.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Laguna, although not as much as Kiros as he does ditch them occasionally to do his own thing and is not with them in the third and possibly fourth flashback. Regardless though, Ward is with him when he overthrows Adel in Esthar and ends up abandoning whatever life he may have had on the outside to remain with Laguna and Kiros there as one of Laguna's right hand men.
  • Visible Silence: He becomes mute later in the game.

    Cid Kramer 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Cid_Final_Fantasy_VIII_9278.jpg
"I don't want you all to become machines. I want you all to be able to think and act for yourselves."

The headmaster of Balamb Garden, and one of the original founders of SeeD.


  • Beware the Nice Ones: Nicest guy on the planet, and founder of SeeD. However, he can have quite a temper if provoked, as NORG finds out.
  • The Bus Came Back: In Disc 3, he's always available at the orphanage with his wife.
  • Celebrity Resemblance: Looks an awful lot like Robin Williams.
  • Cool Old Guy: He's very well-liked by the students of Balamb Garden and when NORG goes on a rampage, a large chunk of the student body sides with him.
  • A Father to His Men: He really cares for the SeeD, and not just as soldiers.
  • Happily Married: His lethal solution to Edea's possession and reign of terror is not born out of hatred, and may in fact have been a mutual concoction between himself and his wife, if the Stable Time Loop ending is factored in. When Edea is freed of her possession and eventually returned to normal, he is overjoyed simply to have her back. The ending shows him (re)introducing her to Quistis and Irvine and he simply can't contain his happiness and affection for her throughout.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: He's fully prepared to send his and Edea's kids to kill her, because he knows he's not capable of it himself, but it all works out in the end. And, depending on your perception of the Timey-Wimey Ball, he might have known it would anyway.
  • Nice Guy: He's a kind and caring man, and wants the SeeD to think for themselves instead of being mindless tools of war.
  • Non-Action Guy: Frankly not cut out for the dangers of running a mercenary school at all. SeeDs appear to be the true force behind the school and actually run it pretty well in his absence.
  • Parental Substitute: Literally to Squall and others when they were children, and then later to numerous other students at Balamb Garden, many of whom are orphans from the Sorceress War.
  • Put on a Bus: After appointing Squall as SeeDs's commander at the middle of Disc 2, he disappears.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Sort of. He tries, but the Garden Faculty undercuts his efforts.
  • Recurring Element: He is this game's Cid.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: His surname and his main dilemma is a literal Pun of Kramer vs. Kramer.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He looks like an average, middle-aged man, but Edea looks like a supermodel.

    Ellone 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ellone.jpg
"You cannot change the past, but seeing it once more is enough."

A mysterious girl who shares a connection with Squall, Laguna, and SeeD. She is hunted by various factions during the game, most notably by Sorceress Edea.


  • The Atoner: It is heavily implied that the reason Ellone frequently "casts" Squall as Laguna using her Mental Mind Travel power is to reunite the father and son since she feels directly responsible for the former's Parental Abandonment (Laguna left Winhill to rescue Ellone in Esthar, eventually becoming the country's president. As a result, Laguna wasn't there during Raine's Death by Childbirth).
  • Break the Cutie: This woman has gone through absolute hell since early childhood. First, her parents were killed when Esthar soldiers tried to take her from Winhill. Then, she was successfully kidnapped and imprisoned in Esthar to become Adel's vessel as the next sorceress. And once Laguna frees Esthar from Adel's rule, she's forced to live in permanent hiding with special SeeD's guarding her at all times. Also add in the fact that Ellone was forcibly separated from Squall and the others when Edea became Ultimecia's next target and you've got a young lady who's had a very rough and harrowing life.
  • Cheerful Child: Before all the stuff with Adel happens, anyways. It seems to have worn her down by the later dream sequences.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: First appearance is her visiting Squall in the infirmary after his duel with Seifer in the opening FMV. She also later appears in the Training Center where she's rescued by Squall and Quistis, and she calls Quistis by her childhood nickname.
  • Cool Big Sis: To Squall in Edea's orphanage.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Brown eyes to match brown hair, further emphasizing her kind nature and gentle personality.
  • Damsel in Distress:
    • Esthar spent years trying to kidnap her and even as an adult she has to remain in hiding due to the rise of yet another sorceress.
    • During the SeeD graduation party, Ellone ventured alone to the monster-infested training grounds and was saved by Squall and Quistis, who were near.
  • Happily Adopted: By Raine. Considering her young age, it's likely easier for her to adapt to the sudden absence of her parents, not to mention that Raine is a very good and loving foster mother.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Laguna. He becomes more of a Parental Substitute and adoptive uncle as the dream sequences progress.
  • Living MacGuffin: The plot only happens because of her special ability. Ultimecia wants to capture Ellone for her power to send people's minds back in time, so she can active Time Compression; and Laguna, Kiros and Ward were aided by Squall and co. trough her Mental Time Travel.
  • Mysterious Waif: Ellone comes and goes throughout the main storyline, randomly popping up as a mysterious onlooker at several points early in the game.
  • Neutral Female: She's not combat proficient and relies on SeeDs to protect her from outside threats.
  • Never Got to Say Goodbye: Ellone wasn't there during her adoptive mother's Death by Childbirth because she was kidnapped literally in the other side of the world.
  • Onee-sama: To Squall. And considering Raine is actually his birth mother, they can officially be named as adoptive siblings.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her parents were killed when they wouldn't hand her over to Esthar.
  • Randomly Gifted: Her powers which are considered to be separate from (though compatible with) the magic used by Sorceresses and are never given an in depth explanation other than she was born with them.
  • Real After All: Squall taught she's just a "character" in a series of dreams he and his friends are experiencing until The Reveal of her Mental Time Travel powers midway through Disc 2.
  • She Is All Grown Up: Happens between the dream sequences. Ellone was a small child during the Sorceress War and ages up to her mid- or late-twenties by the game's main storyline.
  • Shipper on Deck: Gleefully ships Laguna and Raine when she was a child. In the present, she actively supports Squall and Rinoa like most of the cast do.
  • Survivor Guilt: Ellone already feels guilty that Laguna had to leave the pregnant Raine to look for her in Esthar. Raine's eventual Death by Childbirth intensified Ellone's guilt.
  • Time Master: Her powers can send one's consciousness to the past.
  • True Blue Femininity: Wears a blue blouse as an adult.
  • The Woobie: In-Universe, Laguna describes her this way. Ellone's life has been incredibly difficult and she's still in hiding when the storyline takes place, meaning that she hasn't had any degree of freedom since early childhood.

Minor Characters

    General Fury Caraway 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/general_carawaynb.png
The General of the Galbadian Army and Rinoa's estranged father.

    Julia Heartilly 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/julia_9.jpg
A lounge singer in Dueling City that appears during Laguna's flashbacks. Like most of the Galbadian army, Laguna has a crush on her. Unlike everyone else, she actually returns his interest.
  • Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Raine's Betty, being the attractive, exotic one to Raine's more down-to-earth Girl Next Door.
  • The Chanteuse: She only plays piano rather than singing during her appearance (though she adds singing to her act later, which helps launch her performing career), she's a young, attractive woman in an evening gown, performing melancholy music in a classy, old-fashioned lounge.
  • Glamorous Wartime Singer: Though she performs in her country's capital city rather than touring the front lines, her audience still consists almost entirely of soldiers on leave, including her Love Interest.
  • Lady in Red: Introduced wearing a revealing red dress and is desired by virtually every man during that scene.
  • Life Will Kill You: In a game about teenagers trained as hypercompetent mercenaries fighting incredibly powerful sorceresses and conscript soldiers fighting a losing war against a technologically superior army, in a world where monsters are commonplace and very dangerous... Julia dies off-screen, in a car accident.
  • Missing Mom: Though it's not revealed until well after Julia is introduced as Laguna's love interest, in a bit of bait-and-switch, she's actually Rinoa's mother, who died before the beginning of the game.
  • Ms. Fanservice: A beautiful woman wearing a very revealing dress in her only scene.
  • The Muse: Laguna actually acts as one for her — her hit song "Eyes On Me", the one that let her start incorporating singing into her piano performances, was about Laguna watching her from the audience.
  • Posthumous Character: She died a decade or so before the start of the story, appearing only through Laguna's flashbacks.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She has a pale complexion and really dark hair. A trait she will share with her daughter.
  • Real After All: Squall and friends taught she's just a "character" in a series of dreams they are experiencing until The Reveal of Ellone's Mental Time Travel powers midway through Disc 2.
  • Sexy Backless Outfit: Her dress bares her back.
  • Sexy Slit Dress: Her dress has a slit that shows off her legs.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in a single dream sequence, but she is the mother of one of the main characters.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She, her husband and their daughter all share a certain physical trait.
  • The Tease: Well, she did invite Laguna to her room where they had a couple of drinks.

    Raine Loire 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raine_1.jpg

A resident of Winhill, and Ellone's Parental Substitute. She eventually becomes Laguna's wife and Squall's mother.


    Xu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xu.png
A high-ranking member of SeeD and Quistis' closest friend at the start of the story. She serves as an aide to Headmaster Cid and a second-in-command of sorts.
  • Action Girl: Required for being a SeeD member. When inner turmoil erupts in Garden, Xu immediately takes over and organizes the defense for Cid's side.
  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Her hair is brown, and she's almost always seen being very serious. She's not too far resembling a female version of Squall with how professional she tries to be.
  • Anime Chinese Girl: Judging from her name.
  • Iron Lady: Xu is one of the highest ranking SeeDs when the story starts, her presence is always accompanied by the weight of her authority, often seen as second only to the Headmaster, and other SeeDs talk about her with reverence. She thus always acts composed, stoic and to the point.
  • The Lancer: To Quistis. She's even her Number Two in the CC group.
  • Mauve Shirt: She is a named member of SeeD but is not that significant to the plot.
  • Number Two: To Headmaster Cid, later to Squall. In fact, thanks to Cid's Cloud Cuckoo Lander behavior and Squall's history-mandated extended leaves, Xu really is the one in charge of making sure things runs smoothly in Balamb Garden. She's also Heart, the second best player of the Card Club group, after Quistis, who is revealed to be the mysterious King.
  • Only in It for the Money: Played with. SeeD is, after all, an elite mercenary-training facility. After you get back from your SeeD exam, Xu mentions that they could've made more money if only the enemy had stayed longer and made more ruckus. She doesn't display such opinions afterwards, though.
  • Only One Name: We never learn Xu's last name despite her being easily the most important SeeD in the game who's not in your party.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gave a well-deserved verbal beatdown to Seifer in Disc 1 after he broke from the mission and arrogantly refused to learn his lesson.
    Xu: Seifer you'll never be a SeeD. Calling yourself a [team] captain is a joke!
  • The Stoic: Xu is almost always serious, composed and to the point.
  • The Strategist: When the Garden Master orders Headmaster Cid to be delivered to him, loyal SeeDs and cadets spread throughout Garden in force, making the Master's forces think that Cid is in hiding. He'd actually never left his office, it was all a plan to fool the enemy devised by Xu.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Headmaster Cid, then to Squall and the Garden. Even after SeeD's true purpose is revealed to be battling Sorceresses and not just training and dispatching mercenaries for a profit, Xu remains steadfast as a pillar of Balamb Garden.

    Nida 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/viiinida_3.jpg
A member of SeeD who graduated with Squall, Zell and Selphie.
  • Ace Pilot: Becomes the Garden's pilot once it becomes mobile.
  • Brick Joke: If you take the time to speak to him before he is introduced as your pilot, Squall tends to forget his name, playing into the joke of him being a background character. It's also a bit of foreshadowing for the darker side-effects of using Guardian Forces.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Introduced as a nameless SeeD graduate along with Squall, Zell, and Selphie way before his proper introduction and then becoming the Garden's pilot.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Though to be fair, we don't know if it's his actual given name or he's into Last-Name Basis.
  • Mauve Shirt: He is a named member of SeeD but is not that significant to the plot, and even have less screentime and dialogues compared to Xu.
  • Satellite Character: Lampshaded by headmaster Cid himself during the graduation ceremony.
    Cid: Do your best. Even if you don't stand out.

    Dr. Kadowaki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_kadowaki_8.jpg
Balamb Garden's resident doctor.
  • Last-Name Basis: Her first name isn't revealed.
  • The Medic: Again, she's Balamb Garden's resident doctor.
  • Retired Badass: Well, retired badass card player since she was the former leader of the CC group.
  • She Is the King: She's the previous leader of the CC Group, officially dubbed the Card King.
  • School Nurse: Well, doctor.
  • Team Mom: To the entire Balamb Garden. Squall even mentions that students go to the infirmary just to seek her advice.

    The Pigtailed Girl in the Library 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/library_girl_with_a_pigtail_from_ffviii_remastered.png
A student at Balamb Garden who's frequently at the library. She has a one-sided infatuation with Zell.

    Ma Dincht 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madincht.jpg
Zell's adoptive mother and a resident of Balamb.

    Martine 
"Failure is not an option."
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martine.jpg
The ruler of Galbadia Garden.

    Zone & Watts 
"Gathering info is my specialty sir!"
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/watts_1.jpg
Watts
"Ouch my stomach!"
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zone_on_the_white_seed_ship_from_ffviii_remastered.png
Zone
Rinoa's closest allies in the Forest Owls.

    Dr. Odine 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/odine.jpg
Esthar's resident scientist.

    Mayor Dobe & Flo 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mayor_dobe.jpg
Mayor Dobe
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flo_9.jpg
Flo
Dobe is the mayor of Fisherman's Horizon and a former Esthar scientist. Flo is his wife and presumably a former Esthar scientist as well.
  • Actual Pacifist: They firmly disapprove of violence and those who resort to it. This isn't portrayed in an entirely positive light: had it not been for Squall and company's use of violence, they and their entire town would have been slaughtered. Squall can call him out on this, saying that he finds the principle admirable, but there are times when one must fight, and this gives Dobe something to think about.
  • Brutal Honesty: They are much, much more blunt and straightforward than Squall, much to the latter's surprise and annoyance.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Flo is basically her husband in different gender.
  • The Fettered: They will stick to their Actual Pacifist views no matter what.
  • Grumpy Old Man: Aside from their Brutal Honesty above, they're also very aloof. Though they do play cards with you.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Dobe is a classic example of a Wide-Eyed Idealist turned bitter by the politics of reality. Despite this they do retain at least some idealism, as Dobe claims he can negotiate with President Deling; when Squall informs him that Deling is dead and the sorceress is now in charge, Flo remarks "a sorceress is still a person."
  • Jerkass: Their Brutal Honesty really gets in the main characters, even the also brutally honest Squall.
  • The Leader: Of Fisherman's Horizon.
  • Neutral Female: Flo practices her Actual Pacifist views.
  • Non-Action Guy: Dove practices his Actual Pacifist views.
  • Obstructionist Pacifist: When Galbadian soldiers attack the town, Dobe tries to stop SeeD from fighting in its defence and goes to negotiate with the Galbadian captain. He has no idea how to respond when the captain tells him he's under orders to destroy the town, nor when Seed deifes his wishes and saves his life in the process.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Flo wears a pink shirt.
  • Satellite Love Interest: Flo is usually with Dobe. Very briefly inverted when it's Flo who approaches you alone and bluntly tells you it's your fault the Galbadians are there, before Dobe tells her she's wasting her breath.

    The Queen of Cards 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cardqueen.jpg
A master of Triple Triad, she controls regional rules and is part of a sidequest to obtain rare cards. Her real name is unknown.
  • Amicably Divorced: She and the Dollet pub owner are no longer together, but he still allows her to use his pub as her headquarters when she's in town.
  • But Now I Must Go: Everytime she acquires a rare card, she moves to another country.
  • Chewing the Scenery: She speaks very theatrically. If the game had voice acting, she would have been a Large Ham. The actress in Laguna's knight flashback uses her model, implying she may actually be an actress, justifying this even further.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": She's only addressed as the Queen of Cards.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: The player has to lose a number of rare cards to her in order to get new ones.
  • Family Business: Her father is a painter and the one who makes the cards. Her ex-husband also runs a pub (and is apparently an avid card player himself) which she uses as her headquarters.
  • I Let You Win: In order to get more rare cards, as detailed in Failure Is the Only Option above.
  • Informed Ability: She boasts of her card skills, yet her gameplay and deck are no different from any other NPCs. Come Disk 4, however...
  • Took a Level in Badass: While her apparent card skills are an Informed Ability initially, come Disc 4, if you face her at the escape pod in Esthar, she suddenly has the highest card-playing AI, every rule in the game, and if you didn't create new cards by losing specific rare cards to her during the game, she'll have all of them in her deck.

Villains

    Seifer Almasy 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Seifer_Almasy.JPG
"I've always gotta be doing somethin' big! I don't wanna stop. I'm gonna keep running! I've come this far...I'm gonna make it to the end, to the goal!"
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Will Friedle (English)

One of Balamb Garden's top students, and Squall's rival. Though he is just as competent as Squall and respects him, he lacks the detachment necessary for a soldier and frequently disobeys orders when his temperament flares up. In fact, he has many of the same personality traits and insecurities as Squall and they shared the same childhood; the difference between them being that Squall's defense against the world is reserve, indifference and cynicism while Seifer's defense is arrogance, outspokenness and romanticism. Though he is outgoing and honest, his single-minded pursuit of his dreams leads to him failing the SeeD examination, and further disasters.


  • Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He's the only other gunblade user in Garden and has a pretty big ego in Dollet. In particular, he demands that he gets the kills so that he can get the majority of the XP.
  • Ascended Fanboy: The Ultimania guide reveals that he was influenced by seeing the movie in which Laguna played a knight, and that he based his gunblade stance on the one Laguna used during the film.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Becomes the Head of State to Galbadia from Disc 3 onwards.
  • Badass Longcoat: Wears a grey coat with an emblem resembling the symbol of the Cross of Saint James on the sleeves.
  • Boss Corridor: The last fight with Seifer and the fight with the Mobile Type 8 prior has two hallways before SeeD runs into them.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: There is extensive fan debate as to how willingly Seifer served Edea as her Knight, but he certainly is this in the final battle with him, being used by Ultimecia. He even admits that he doesn't care, just wanting to impress Squall and prove he was right.
  • Break Them by Talking: He tries to play on the party members' memories of their time with him (or in Irvine's case, the fact that he's from Galbadia Garden), and that Sorceress Edea is his and his fellow orphans' Matron. He ends up getting a party-wide Shut Up, Hannibal!, concluding with Squall calling Seifer just another enemy.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Most players will find Seifer a pushover if they spend enough time grinding and stacking magic for their Junctions. But put this into context: Seifer loses access to both the GFs and the Junction system upon his defection from Garden, which means he has been severely weakened and no longer has any way to artificially buff his capabilities. This doesn't stop him from still being deadly enough solo an entire Galbadian army unit or fight against the heroes in 3-against-1 confrontations, where he can easily kill an unprepared or underlevelled character in a single stroke. Lastly, Seifer was also able to learn how to draw and stock para-magic without a GF and the Junction system in a very short period of time after his Face–Heel Turn, something which none of the cast (not even Edea!) were able to pull off.
  • The Bully: Loves belittling people he dislikes or who are weaker than he is, and sometimes even acts out of line deliberately to piss them off.
  • Can't Catch Up: As a Garden student, he's fully equal to Squall or even a bit stronger, and Quistis mentions that they're both in a class of their own in strength and potential, as well as using gunblades. Problem is, after he leaves Garden, Seifer loses access to the Guardian Force and Junction resources that SeeD use, so Squall treats him like more of a Goldfish Poop Gang and he can never come even close to the party's strength.
  • Chewing the Scenery: He can be quite theatrical.
  • Child Soldiers: Like Squall, he's been at Garden since it was founded, which would have been when he was about six years old.
  • Chuunibyou: Downplayed but very much deconstructed. Seifer is VERY obsessed with idea of being a Sorceress' Knight, and it's seriously affected his humility (or lack thereof) and morality. It's mostly kept under control while as a Garden student, but once he actually gets to be in the service of A Sorceress, it spirals out of control, leading to his Tautological Templar mindset below and his villainous deeds in general. If he was brainwashed, it's pretty clear there was not that much needed in the first place.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: White to Squall's black.
  • Cool Sword: His gunblade, Hyperion.
  • Creepy Crosses: He's distinguished by the Templar cross that he wears, which is used in his most powerful Limit Break as a portal to what looks like Hell.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: Unless you send your characters into battle with him without junctions, Seifer as a boss is unlikely to give you a lot of trouble. But during an automated sequence just before the final battle with him, he goes Odin on Odin by reversing his Zantetsuken to vertically bisect him...with no effort at all (In fairness, when Odin appears as a boss in the series, he generally lacks Contractual Boss Immunity to make up for his time limit). Even Squall is shocked. Of course, this sets up the stage for the appearance of Gilgamesh a few turns later, who proceeds to utterly defeat him in your place.
  • Delinquents: Ironically, he's the head of the disciplinary committee.
  • Determinator: Seifer simply does not back down. Even after you KO him.
  • Didn't Think This Through: His plan when he breaks into the TV studio isn't actually that different from Rinoa's train job—he just grabs Deling without considering what to do next or how to deal with the retribution from Galbadian security.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The last faceoff with Seifer concludes the third disc of play, and is also the game's Point of No Return, since a lot of stuff is blocked off on Disc 4.
  • The Dragon: To Ultimecia. He is her Knight and protector, leading Galbadia Garden, and later Galbadia in her name.
  • Dual Boss: The third time he's fought, it's with Edea by his side. This isn't a full demonstration of the trope because he still fights alone; Edea cannot do anything and SeeD cannot affect her in any way until Seifer is sent to the floor.
  • Duel Boss: The very first time Seifer is fought as a boss, it's him vs Squall alone. He doesn't take much to put down, and Squall mocks him for being a weak boss.
  • Enemies List: He has his 'tough-nut-to-crack' list. You first hear about it early in the game when Quistis wishes him good luck after him telling her that he doesn't need luck and he tells his lackeys Fujin and Raijin to "add Instructor Trepe to the list!" It's later made more clear when he's subjecting Squall to Electric Torture and says that he didn't think he'd talk easily.
  • Establishing Character Moment: In the opening cutscene where he duels Squall, Seifer uses a one-handed style is that flashier than Squall's more practical two-handed stance, pauses in the middle of the duel to taunt him, and once Squall begins to overpower him Seifer busts out a Fire spell to stun him and then slash him in the face while he's getting up. This sets up him as an arrogant bully and show-off who has no problems playing dirty to beat his rival if he can't do it fairly.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Squall. Their designs also make this very obvious—Squall is brunet, Seifer is blond; Squall wears black, Seifer wears white; Squall has more feminine features, Seifer has a very strong jaw; and they have opposite scars.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Until the ending.
  • Four Is Death: Just like his Sorceress master, Seifer is fought as an enemy four times total; the last time doubles as the Point of No Return for most of the game's sidequests.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: He's a case of Seniority and Proximity, since while he's on the same side as the rest of the protagonists for the first disc, no one especially likes him. Even Fujin and Raijin eventually decide he's gone too far and stops helping him.
  • Gangsta Style: If you removed the "blade" part of his gunblade, this is exactly how he holds the "gun". Justified since he adopted his stance from an in-universe B-Movie where the actor (which happened to be Laguna) had literally no idea how to wield a gunblade and just followed Rule of Cool.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: A subtle variation; the scar that Seifer acquires in the opening FMV would be a hero scar on its own, but it's a mirror-image inverse of Squall's, making it more of a villain scar in context.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: He's briefly playable during the Dollet mission.
  • He Knows About Timed Hits: He knows that the majority of the XP comes to the guy who makes the kill, which is why he wants to hog the kills.
  • Hidden Depths: Though he is a jerk and a bully, there's more to Seifer than just that. His references to a "romantic dream" and his preoccupation with the idea of being a Sorceress's Knight suggest that he aspires to being a heroic figure, an aspiration which Ultimecia plays upon to manipulate him into serving her. Rinoa talks about how he spent the previous summer working with her and the Timber Owls in their resistance against the Galbadian occupation of Timber, and how helpful and inspiring he was. Some of the dialog between Seifer and Squall during the field exam indicates an odd sense of respect between the two and suggests that, in his overly aggressive way, Seifer thinks he is helping Squall by challenging him. And, of course, the entire reason he breaks out of Garden and goes to Timber in time to be drawn in by Edea is because he thinks they've been sent into more danger than they're equipped for and will need help.
  • Hot-Blooded: He's really enthusiastic about the fighting in Dollet.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: What Seifer's ambitions to be a Knight essentially boils down to. His problematic and rebellious behavior at Balamb Garden is rooted in his desire to be respected by his peers. His antagonism towards Squall is implied to be jealousy of Squall achieving just that.
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: His Hyperion gunblade.
  • Improbable Weapon User: As with Squall, he uses a gunblade. Unlike him however, the grip is more of a traditional pistol one as opposed to the curved grip that Squall uses, meaning that Seifer's was likely even more difficult to master. It's harder to time the hit in gameplay too.
  • I've Come Too Far: In the last Boss Battle against him, everyone from his foes to his closest friends, and himself, know that he is but a pawn for the Big Bad, and stands no chance, but he is too stubborn to call it quits.
  • Jerkass: Though initially one that does think he's doing the right thing.
  • Jerk Jock: A Big Man on Campus belittling people he deems weak.
  • Jumped at the Call: Unfortunately for him, it was the wrong call.
  • Karma Houdini: He never pulls any sort of act of redemption, and yet he never has to face any real consequences for his actions. In the ending cinematic, he is seen fishing with Raijin and Fujin, while Balamb Garden flies by. To be fair, he was very clearly used and manipulated by the sorceress, possibly even to the point of mind control.
  • Ki Manipulation: The manual says that the fire magic used in Seifer's Limit Break is produced by chi and not Para-Magic.
  • Kick the Dog: Literally and figuratively.
  • Lady and Knight: Dark Knight to Edea's and later Ultimecia's Dark Lady.
  • Light Is Not Good: Wears a long white trench coat. Also serves as one of the antagonists.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's pretty fast for his physical size and moves just as swift and hard as the more wiry Squall in battle.
  • More than Mind Control: Seifer is somewhere between Brainwashed and Crazy and this trope.
  • Moveset Clone: He has the same progression of Limit Breaks as Squall does, and the same "trigger" attack, but it requires different timing.
  • Named Weapons: Hyperion comes from Greek Mythology.
  • Never My Fault: Admitting being wrong is clearly not his forte...
  • Never Speak Ill of the Dead: When the party thinks he is dead, they remember him in a fonder light—much to the frustration of Squall who isn't willing to sugarcoat that Seifer was a bully and a Jerkass.
  • Out of Focus: After Disc 2, his importance to the plot diminishes severely. That's because he spent most of Disk 3 trying to find and control the Lunatic Pandora, under orders from Ultimecia.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: He's a legitimately dangerous fighter in his own right, including being able to defeat Odin in a single blow and easily solo a unit of Galbadian soldiers. But he's no match for Squall, particularly when the latter's stacked to the nines with Guardian Forces and Junction.
  • Pet the Dog: He has a few Pet the Dog moments when it comes to Rinoa...but his many Kick the Dog moments tend to overshadow it...and we never see those moments since they occur before the game.
    • There's also one non-Rinoa moment: when Squall, Zell, and Selphie graduate as SeeDs, while he's clearly annoyed that he didn't graduate (and got scolded on top of that), Seifer takes the time to gather all those who didn't graduate and then give Squall and Zell a genuine, warm applause. Considering his attitude, it comes off as this. But then he proceeds to kick a lot of dogs later.
    • He also leaves Garden unauthorized in order to help Squall and his group, since he considered they could wind up fighting the entire Galbadian Army. This good action on his part, though, leads to him being captured and brainwashed by Sorceress Edea.
  • Playing with Fire: Loves fire magic almost as much as his gunblade, and even uses it as part of his Limit Break.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: A type C case, In contrast to Squall, who is more emotionally withdrawn, Seifer is more emotionally stunted; incredibly impulsive, violent, and a bully that jumps at the chance to serve by Edea to fulfill his childhood dream. He ends up getting Brainwashed and Crazy as a result.
  • Recurring Boss: After his Face–Heel Turn, Squall has to confront Seifer on deadly terms 4 times; the first of these is a duel, and the rest are all party boss fights. Seifer is virtually a pushover in these fights, something Squall lampshades the first time.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red Oni to Squall's Blue Oni.
  • The Rival: To Squall, until...
  • Rival Turned Evil: Once the Big Bad gets a hold of him.
  • Sequential Boss: The third time SeeD fights him, he has Edea behind him; it's one battle, but Seifer and then Edea fight on their own.
  • Shadow Archetype: To Squall.
  • Smug Super: A major reason why he hasn't become a SeeD despite his exceptional skills.
  • Spin Attack: His Demon Slice Limit Break.
  • Sword Beam: His No Mercy Limit Break.
  • Tautological Templar: Disc 2 seems to display this mindset in full, with him thinking all his actions as a Sorceress Knight are automatically good while those opposed are automatically evil. Besides the "evil mercenary" accusation he throws at the party when confronted in Galbadia Garden, he accuses Balamb Garden of attacking like swarms, never mind that it was his side who opened hostilities.
  • Teens Are Monsters: A seventeen-year-old, obnoxious bully, who becomes The Dragon to the Evil Sorceress.
  • Torture Technician: Seifer fills this role while the team is being held in D-District Prison.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: He, Squall and Rinoa fit the dynamic.
  • Tyke-Bomb: Like most other Garden students and prospective SeeD's, Seifer was trained to be a mercenary throughout his childhood, making him a deadly opponent to most other humans. Unfortunately, it didn't help his emotional development at all.
  • Vibroweapon: Like Squall, the player can trigger this when he attacks, but it's a lot harder because Seifer's attacks are quicker.
  • Worthy Opponent: He sees Squall as this, fitting with Seifer viewing the game through his own personal narrative that casts Squall is his personal Arch-Enemy. Squall does not reciprocate it, just seeing Seifer as a bothersome bully who's become an agent of the enemy. This apparent lack of respect just riles Seifer up further.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Seifer grew up a fan of films about sorceresses and heroic knights who defended them, thus he believes that sorceresses are innately good and so is he by serving them. Seifer crafts a narrative in his head where he is Edea's loyal bodyguard and military commander, tasked with hunting down the "evil mercenaries" of SeeD that are led by his Arch-Enemy. The actual events of the game don't play out that way since the morality of the two sides are the total opposite. By the time the third disc comes around, Seifer has clearly given up on clinging to this narrative and is just trying to justify his choices to avoid admitting he's been wrong about seeing himself and the sorceresses as heroic figures.
  • You Are in Command Now: Spends the third disc as the leader of Galbadia after Edea is freed from Ultimecia's control.

    Sorceress Edea 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Edea.jpg
"You must fight to the end! Even though it may bring tragedy to others!"

A vain and power-hungry Sorceress who uses her brainwashing magic to seize control of Galbadia. SeeD is assigned the task of assassinating her.


  • "Ass" in Ambassador: Edea's initial role. Galbadia plans on using her as an ambassador to create fear and ultimately Take Over the World.
  • Badass Cape: It even only appears in battle!
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: More like Possessed and Crazy actually.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Her losing her Sorceress powers doesn't slow her down. While she can't utilize her natural magic, she can still junction GFs to herself like her children can, and her sky high Magic stat means that she'll be hitting as hard as the rest of the party when she casts a spell.
  • Charm Person: Visiting Deling City during the second disc and talking to the citizens will reveal that when they saw Edea speaking to them before she killed the president, they all felt incredibly loyal to her and are willing to do whatever she wanted them to. It's never addressed why her magic didn't work on the protagonists.
  • Creepy Long Fingers: Edea has some long fingers, an apparent trait of evil Sorceresses.
  • Dark Action Girl: Subverted. She is a master of her own magic and gives Squall a hard time, nearly killing him… Except it’s Ultimecia herself possessing her body the one who’s in complete control here. The real Edea is a kindhearted, gentle woman who loves Squall and everyone raised at the orphanage.
  • Dark Is Evil: A black-clad Evil Sorceress out to dominate the world. Except for the fact Edea’s true personality is a kind, gentle woman who isn’t in actual control of her mind and body thanks to the actual Big Bad Ultimecia.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: She dresses in black even before she's possessed.
  • Demonic Possession: Was possessed by the malevolent Sorceress Ultimecia.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Literally for both Disc 1 and 2. Edea is the very last boss faced on these discs before they end and the player is prompted to change discs.
  • The Dragon: Briefly to President Deling when she first is mentioned but after killing him she reveals herself as the the Big Bad.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Deling might be President Evil, but it is clear as soon as she enters the picture that she's the one to be worried about. Case in point, she quickly impales Deling and takes over Galbadia for herself.
  • Driven to Villainy: Edea (or rather, Ultimecia), is driven to avenge the Sorceresses who were persecuted long ago. In the Japanese translation, "Sorceress" is rendered as 'witch', which makes her motives clearer.
  • Dual Boss: The second time Edea is fought, she has a wounded Seifer in front of her. Squall and co. cannot touch her (and vice versa) until Seifer is down, at which point she'll start attacking the party herself.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Her standard of beauty.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: This is her specialty, since her Limit Break is ice based and she impales Squall with a giant icicle.
  • Evil Sorceress: And a great threat to the world for precisely that reason. Though not as much "evil" as "possessed". Edea's the first of three evil sorceresses SeeD must contend with in FFVIII.
  • Femme Fatalons: When in the evening dress, her fingers are long and sharp. Outside the dress, they're normal.
  • Fluffy Fashion Feathers: The neckline on her dress.
  • Flunky Boss: The second fight with her requires SeeD to first knock down Seifer again before they can hit her.
  • Force Field: She uses one to protect herself from Irvine shooting her.
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe: What she wears.
  • Glass Cannon: When she's a party member, she has great chemistry with GFs, but cannot take much punishment.
  • God Save Us from the Queen!: The malevolent ruler of Galbadia.
  • Grand Theft Me: The victim of one by Ultimecia, and the first of two Sorceresses during the game to be possessed by the Final Boss, with Rinoa being the other.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Briefly joins the party as they cross the Great Salt Lake.
  • Hand Blast: Her basic Attack command is this.
  • Happily Married: Her possession by Ultimecia puts understandable stress on her marriage to Cid, but it's very clear that despite the circumstances they still love one another deeply and are both positively ecstatic in the finale when they're finally free to return to each other after over a decade apart.
  • Heel–Face Turn: After Squall and the party defeat her for the second time, she regains her senses and is freed from Ultimecia's control.
  • Hot Witch: A very good looking sorceress.
  • An Ice Person: She loves her ice spells, and uses an ice spear against Squall at the end of Disc 1.
  • Impossibly-Low Neckline: She's sexy and dresses to show it.
  • Klingon Promotion: After she kills President Deling, she ascends to Queen/Empress of Galbadia.
  • Lady and Knight: Dark Lady to Seifer's Dark Knight. However, it has to be noted that Seifer was never directly under Edea's control, but Ultimecia's.
  • Lady of Black Magic: A refined and sophisticated Sorceress with a specialty in Ice Magic.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: Shown in the flashbacks and in the ending, and she really looks hot in it. She's briefly seen with long hair during her reveal sequence with Rinoa before she tucks it into her headdress with her powers.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: While not blood-related, she was the caretaker of the orphanage where Squall and co. grew up.
  • Meet the New Boss: Edea's character arc is similar to Golbez, the main villain during two-thirds of Final Fantasy IV. Both characters climb to power by remaining in the shadows, share a personal connection with the main heroes, but were in fact controlled and undergo a Face Turn by the third act. Edea is also fought multiple times, much like Golbez was.
  • Nice Girl: This is Edea’s true personality when she isn’t being controlled by Ultimecia, being a kind, motherly woman who raised Squall and the other kids as her adoptive children.
  • Older Than They Look: Edea was already a grown woman thirteen years prior to the events of the game, and probably isn't more than five years younger than Laguna, but even in the game's present day she doesn't look much older than Squall and his teammates. Her sorceress powers may have something to do with this.
  • Parental Substitute: To Squall and the others aside from Rinoa, since they grew up at her orphanage.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Her murder of President Deling.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: She wears a long, black dress with the feather neckline and the decoration that sprouts up from the back.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Her dress is a gradient that goes from deep purple to black. She's also one of the mightiest characters in the story.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She can actually give Rinoa a run for her money.
  • Recurring Boss: Squall and SeeD attempt to assassinate her at the end of the first two discs of play, which both go into boss fights.
  • Redemption Demotion: Justified Trope as she actually isn’t evil or in control of her body and mind. After she is defeated and freed from possession, it's because she unwittingly gave up her powers to Rinoa, and thus when she joins the player she's no different from them in terms of abilities.
  • Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Her dress is skin tight and shows off a fair amount of cleavage, portraying a sexualized version of her true self. When the real Edea is free of Ultimecia’s possession, she wears a significantly more modest and plain looking dress, implying this isn’t how she would normally dress.
  • Sequential Boss: The second time SeeD fights her, she has Seifer in front of her; it's one battle, but Seifer and then Edea fight on their own.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Her design is heavily inspired by Amano's character designs.
    • Her surname and her conflict against her husband and many of their adoptive children is a literal Pun of Kramer vs. Kramer.
  • Shoulders of Doom: More like Back Of Doom. She sports a massive peacock tail-like metal fan across her shoulders with a silk train draping off it.
  • Sorcerous Overlord: She ultimately becomes this.
  • The Starscream: She (actually Ultimecia) kills Vinzer Deling and takes his place as leader of Galbadia.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: When free of Ultimecia's possession, her real personality—that of Edea Kramer—returns. While she's still serious and professional given the circumstances, she's far nicer and personable than expected. Come the ending when she's fully free of the Sorceress influence and reunited with Cid she's positively beaming when he (re)introduces her to the party.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: When possessed, she has Ultimecia's golden eyes.
  • The Usurper: Kills Deling to take his place.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kills Deling as soon as she no longer needs him.

    Vinzer Deling 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/presidentdeling_7.jpg
"I am Vinzer Deling, lifelong president of Galbadia!"
The self-proclaimed lifelong president of the Galbadia.
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: The people of Galbadia cheered wildly when Edea killed him. Ultimecia's mind-control might have instigated it, but outside of Galbadia he was viewed as a tyrant.
  • Arch-Enemy: To many countries in the world, but the game only let us see Timber. Among the Timber resistance group the Forest Owls, with members Zone and Watts having legitimate reasons to hate him.
  • Asshole Victim: As written above, no one felt sorry that he died. Even General Caraway have mocking words to say to him posthumously.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: It is unclear how heroic he was before, but he did become the ruthless tyrant out to Take Over the World that Adel was when he fought against her.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Deling wishes to Take Over the World, but lack magical powers and is out of league when compared to the sorceress.
  • Celebrity Resemblance: To George W. Bush. Ironically, this game was released a year and a half before Bush became president. He also has shades of influence from Richard Nixon.
  • Corrupt Politician: How he came to power.
  • Egopolis: Named the Galbadian capital after himself.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: Deling announces to a cheering crowd that he has recruited Sorceress Edea to help "negotiate" with neighbouring countries. She asks the crowd if they have forgotten the horrors of the Sorceress Wars, and then casually kills him.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Led the resistance against Adel's bid for World Domination, and later launched his own.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Was a random soldier during the war against Esthar, and is now president. He did the same with Galbadia, turning a small nation to a superpower and a modern variation of The Empire.
  • Kick the Dog: A lot of his actions.
  • Non-Action Guy: He's not combat proficient. He also counts as The Unfought (see below).
  • President Evil: He wants to conquer the world.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: His clone gives one to the resistance for being fooled by his plan, and dismisses them as a bunch of amateurs who fell for deliberately leaked intelligence.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Well, he is a politician...
  • Smug Snake: Apparently. You only fight an undead clone of his, and his attempt to use Edea/Ultimecia as a forceful ambassador leads directly to his death.
  • Take Over the World: His ultimate goal.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: He used his military success to take power and did not let it go.
  • The Unfought: The party never had a chance to fight him due to being killed by Edea. The president on the train was an impostor.
  • Unwitting Pawn: All in all, he was just the puppet Ultimecia needed to lead her own war, and was quickly disposed off.

    Biggs & Wedge 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-G-Soldier_FFVIII_8917.jpg
"I was demoted because of you! I'm only a lieutenant now! I'll get my revenge!"

Two Galbadian soldiers who encounter Squall again and again, each time leaving with both their pride and career prospects severely damaged.

For tropes about them in the other games see Final Fantasy Recurring Characters.


  • Dual Boss: Both times SeeD gets to fight them, they fight both Biggs & Wedge together (one of them is on patrol in the first fight, but will join the fray when he gets back).
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: They are never once considered a serious threat, not even when Biggs sics the infamous Spider Tank on SeeD.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Despite all the time they're demoted, they're never seen apart.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Source of some of the game's funniest moments.
  • Legacy Character: They have turned up in other FF games, always as Mooks.
  • Recurring Boss: Biggs & Wedge are fought twice in the game, both times close to the beginnings of Discs 1 and 2.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Biggs is red, being a lot more short-tempered and overconfident, and Wedge is blue, being more level-headed. Hell, they even have matching colors.
  • Running Gag: Every time the party defeats them, they get demoted. Biggs especially, since he starts the game as a Major and winds up a Private by the final encounter.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: They finally quit the Galbadian military right when you're about to fight them for the last time.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: Named after Luke Skywalker's Red Squadron wingmen in Star Wars, like other characters in the Final Fantasy series.
  • Starter Villains: These two are the second boss fight of the game, and not much of a threat, especially when they get blown away by Elvoret, who replaces them as the boss of Dollet.

    Raijin & Fujin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-Fujinrajin_9366.jpg
"Hey, jus' like Fujin said, ya know!? We're with Seifer. Always have, always will."
Rijin voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Brandon Adams (English)
Fujin voiced by: Rio Natsuki (Japanese), Jillian Bowen (English)

Seifer's partners and only friends. Raijin often slurs his speech and ends his sentences with "y'know", while Fujin speaks in monotone. Along with Seifer, they make up the self-proclaimed Balamb Garden Disciplinary Committee.


  • Ambiguously Brown: Raijin. There are many other dark-skinned students shown around the Gardens, but Raijin is the only one given any substantial background or characterization.
  • Anti-Villain: Both of them. As they admit, they are on no one's side except Seifer's, as they see something in him others don't.
  • Blow You Away: Fujin. She even has the Wind-elemental Pandemona Guardian Force for you to steal from her.
  • The Brute: Raijin relies almost exclusively on physical attacks with his staff, though he does use the support spell Aura the last time you fight him.
  • Co-Dragons: To Seifer.
  • Dual Boss: For the second and third time you fight them. The first time, Raijin is alone with two Galbadian soldiers.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: If Squall goes to the cafeteria before heading to take the Fire cavern exam, they could be seen with Seifer.
  • Electric Black Guy: Raijin.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Fujin.
  • Flunky Boss: You'll fight Raijin along with two Galbadian Mooks.
  • Gentle Giant: Raijin when he wants to be.
  • Glass Cannon: Fujin has attacks that can really hurt, but has a rather poor vitality.
  • Hulk Speak: Fujin only speaks in one- or two-word sentences, at maximum volume. In the Japanese version, she spoke solely in Kanji, leading to more of a Funny Foreigner style as all-kanji lines look similar to Chinese. Notably, near the end of the third disc, Fuujin drops this speaking style to try and talk sense into Seifer.
    • Zig zagged in the French localization, where she speaks sentences more often. Most of them are still very short, but they're sentences nonetheless.
  • Ice Queen: Fujin.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Raijin is big, strong, tough, and fast.
  • Martial Arts Staff: Raijin's weapon is a combat staff used primarily for physical attacks rather than for casting spells.
  • No Indoor Voice: Fujin ALWAYS SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS.
  • One Head Taller: Raijin, compared to his pals (and a lot of other characters, for that matter).
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After a Heel Realization, Fujin actually drops the Hulk Speak and delivers a Patrick Stewart Speech to Seifer.
  • The Power of Friendship: Both see something in Seifer no one else does; they are instrumental in his eventual backing down and bringing him to his own self-contentment.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang: Fujin's shuriken flies back to her hand after being thrown. Overlapping with Fuma Shuriken.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: They only work for the Glabadian army and the Big Bad out of loyalty to their friend Seifer.
  • Recurring Boss: Raijin has to be fought three times in the game, and the second and third times add Fujin to his side.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Raijin and Fujin respectively from Japanese thunder and wind deities.
  • Shock and Awe: Downplayed - Raijin doesn't use any lightning spells or attacks, but is associated with lightning because of his name and because he absorbs lightning damage.
  • Terse Talker: Fujin speaks in one- or two-word sentences. In the Japanese version, her dialogue boxes contain a solitary kanji character.
  • True Companions: To Seifer, with whom they'll stick through thick and thin.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Seifer. Fujin and Raijin state that they're on whatever side he's on, which they do for most of the game, however, at the end of Disc 3 when they finally feel Seifer has gone too far they call him out on it but still tell him they will remain his friends.
  • Verbal Tic: Raijin has one, ya'know. FUJIN TOO.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Raijin, during the three boss fights with him, will not attack your female characters. He even says "I don't hit girls, ya know" if he KOs all the male members of your party and only females are left. Unless of course, he's blinded.

    NORG 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff8_norg.png
"THIS IS MY GARDEN!"
The true ruler of Balamb Garden.
  • Black Sheep: The entire Shumi tribe consider him one for his greed.
  • Dirty Coward: NORG plans to deliver the heroes to Edea.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: His Berserk Button. Not that he deserves any in the first place.
  • Entitled Bastard: He demands respect from the Garden inhabitants for the sole reason of owning the place.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Very evident even though the game has no voice acting. He shouts every line at the top of his lungs and constantly waves his hands around with wild abandon. It says a lot about his character, considering Shumis are otherwise very modest and make a point of concealing their hands.
  • Evil Laugh: "Fushururu" or "Bujururu".
  • Fat Bastard: Huge and morbidly obese to the point of Body horror compared to other Shumis, and a revolting piece of work.
  • Greed: He is filthy rich but wants to use the SeeDs as mercenary for profit.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Cid admits that NORG's presence was necessary for the Garden to even exist, as he helped arrange the primary source of funding. He also pushed Cid to offer SeeD's services as a mercenary group, which gave the Garden immense support. Unfortunately, by the present day, its clear that those pragmatic ideas were motivated by pure profit.
  • Large and in Charge: He is 5-10 times taller and wider than his subjects.
  • Making a Splash: He uses mostly water based spells. He also has the water-based Leviathan G-Force, ready for you to steal from him.
  • Man Behind the Man: He rules Balamb Garden from the shadows.
  • Milking the Giant Cow: NORG shows off his hands a lot, despite it generally being considered that Shumi should keep their hands concealed.
  • No Indoor Voice: HE SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS TOO! AND UNLIKE FUJIN, HE DOES IT IN A COMPLETE SENTENCE.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: A despicable Smug Snake he may be, but contrary to President Deling, he has the power to make the bite match the bark.
  • Outside-Context Problem: By the time Squall's party returns to Balamb Garden to warn them about the impending missile attacks from Galbadia in Disc 2, NORG has his loyalists are causing riots all over the place to root out Cid and his supporters for supremacy.
  • Psychic Power: His Secret Art Psycho Blast is a Sphere of Destruction of psychic energy.
  • Smug Snake: Comes along with being an Entitled Bastard. He treats the Garden inhabitants as Ungrateful Bastards when they sided with Cid despite the fact that he never even made his presence known to them and the latter being A Father to His Men.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: Attempts to seize control of Balamb Garden from Headmaster Cid, but is dealt with before he can succeed.
  • Wham Line: He is the one who reveals that Cid is married to Edea.

    Sorceress Adel 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adel455745_693.jpg

An evil Sorceress who once used her powers to rule Esthar with an iron fist.


  • Ambiguously Human: All Sorceresses are stated to be human women in the game, yet Adel looks decidedly inhuman with her palid grey skin, blank red eyes, blood red hair, pointed ears, and what appear to be horns or antennae protruding from her head. She is also some 15 feet tall and brutishly muscular. Whether this is Adel's natural form or an intense transformation brought upon by her Sorceress powers (or other unspecified means) is still up for debate.
  • And I Must Scream: The specifics of her cryogenic suspension are unclear: on the one hand, in the cutscene when the seal is broken, she opens her eyes as if waking up from a sleep, yet she smirks eagerly instead of looking confused or freaking out upon suddenly finding herself, you know, in outer space. On the other, back in Disc 1, the static disturbing the tv signals in Timber read, "I am alive here", "Bring me back there" and "I will never let you forget about me" – and Adel's sealing device is established as the source of the radio disturbance. This makes you wonder if she really was asleep, or spent her seventeen-year inprisonment conscious, yet totally unable to move, speak or do anything at all.
  • Arc Villain: Adel is the main antagonist for most of Laguna's flashbacks. She's also the lingering threat of the Esthar portion of the present day plot.
  • Brawn Hilda: Some people may not even realize she's a she.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: She's offhandedly mentioned by minor characters as early as Disc 1, before becoming a major figure in Discs 2 onwards starting the third Laguna sequence.
  • Covered in Gunge: Out of her jail.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Adel hair and eyes are red.
  • Dark Action Girl: Even without her body being taken over by Ultimecia, Adel is a wicked Sorceress bent on world domination and rules Esthar with an iron fist.
  • Energy Absorption: She sucks Rinoa's HP throughout the battle. Let Rinoa's HP get to zero (whether by letting Adel suck her dry or accidentally hitting her with a multiple target attack, and it's Game Over.
  • Evil Is Bigger: A tyrannical sorceress who waged war on the other nations of the world, and she's much bigger than the other human characters.
  • Evil Redhead: Adel has red hair and is said to have been one of the most ruthless Sorceresses to have ever lived.
  • Evil Sorceress: One of three that SeeD must fight in the game, and the least visible due to not physically appearing until the final third of the game.
  • Facial Markings: Covering her face.
  • Femme Fatalons: Her fingers are ridiculously long and claw-like, further emphasizing her position as Esthar's brutal ruler and evil Sorceress.
  • Fusion Dance: Forces one with Rinoa, grafting her on her chest to drain her life-force and use as a Human Shield.
  • The Giant: She's about four or five times the size of an average human.
  • God Save Us from the Queen!: Ladies and gentlemen, your malevolent ruler of Esthar!
  • Grand Theft Me: Ultimecia possesses her during the Boss Battle.
  • Human Popsicle: Laguna, with the help of the Esthrar La Résistance, seals her and then sends her containment to space where she will spend her days for the next seventeen years.
  • Human Shield: She uses Rinoa as one.
  • Lady Looks Like a Dude: Honestly, would you guess she was female solely from her appearance? She's huge and muscular as hell.
    • She is described as a hermaphrodite in the French dub.
  • Large and in Charge: She's the (former) ruler of a nation, and happens to be about four times the size of an average human.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Adel has blood-red eyes in the cutscene where she grabs Rinoa and junctions her to herself.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Thanks to Laguna's efforts, she was sealed away in a heavily-guarded prison floating in outer space. This alternative was chosen for she was far too powerful to face head-on before the invention of Para Magic. Worse, doing so would have caused her to pass on her sorceress powers to someone else.
  • Slasher Smile: She sports one just before she reaches out to Junction Rinoa to herself.
  • Sorcerous Overlord: This Sorceress actually ruled a country with an iron fist for a while and was one of the leaders of the Galbadian/Estharian war. Then she was sealed by Laguna. She never returns to power before SeeD kills her outright.
  • Tailor-Made Prison: Laguna and Dr. Odine create a specially-crafted containment unit to not only seal away her powers, but also put her in stasis as well to completely nullify her. The complex was called "Adel's Tomb", implying it was meant to house her forever, if need be, and was launched into orbit to ensure she could never trouble Esthar, Galbadia, or any other people or nation ever again. The tomb only lasts about 17 years before Adel breaks free.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Don't be confused. That is indeed a Sorceress. She just happens to be a 15ft tall, masculine-looking, greyish woman with an overtly muscular frame. Yet nobody ever comments on her appearance. This, combined with the appearance of other sorceresses such as Ultimecia, has led to the Fanon theory that the Sorceress Power causes unknown physical side-effects on each woman which varies from subject to subject.
  • Winged Humanoid: Has some pretty sharp wings on her back

    Sorceress Ultimecia 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ultimecia_ff8_1281.jpg
"This is reality. No-one can help you."
Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Tasia Valenza (English)

Ultimecia is a powerful evil Sorceress from the future. She seeks to cast the almighty Time Compression magic, which would combine the worlds of the past, present and future into a single point and enable her to rule over all of time itself.


  • All There in the Manual: The aptly-named Ultimania guidebook greatly elaborates on her character and explains her history and motivations, such as her Start of Darkness. In the game itself, you only meet her once to fight her, though some information can be gleaned from the things she says while controlling Edea.
  • Arch-Enemy: She absolutely despises SeeD and wants to eliminate them wherever she is. And defeating her is their very purpose.
  • The Archmage: The most powerful Sorceress of all time, making even powerhouses like Edea and Adel look tiny in comparison.
  • Big Bad: She’s the first true female main antagonist in the series note , and the true root of all evil that must be taken down. You've been facing her since the beginning as she's the one controlling Edea and speaking through her in Disk 1, you just don't know this til Disk 3. And that entire disk is spent pretty much finding a way to actually get to her to finish her off.
  • Boss Corridor: The last stretch of Ultimecia's castle is a long stone bridge connecting the clock tower with the door to her throne room; the final Save Point of the game is just in front of the door.
  • Combat Pragmatist: She uses several dirty tricks in her arsenal that can throw unprepared players off-balance, from her randomly choosing the initial party (which can include party members with no junctions), destroying stocked spells (which can hit those junctioned to your important stats), and absorbing party members KO'd for too long into time. Even when her last form's HP hits zero, she still makes a speech that goes on for several more attacks, during which time she can use the Total Party Kill tactic of Hell's Judgment -> Area of Effect spell (either Apocalypse, Ultima, or Meteor). What keeps her from being Roguelike-level cheap is that these tricks are usually too random to be consistently debilitating, making her mostly an intimidating, but fair challenge.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Sephiroth from VII. Aside from being opposite genders, both are extremely powerful magic users and both manipulated the events from their respective games, but that’s where the similarities end. Sephiroth was once a loyal member of SOLDIER until he goes mad when he discovers the truth behind his origin; Ultimecia, on the other hand, is a Sorceress from the future that has a personal grudge against SeeD. While Sephiroth sought the Black Materia to summon a Meteor so he can destroy the planet to absorb the lifestream and become a god, Ultimecia seeks to use Time Compression to rule the past, present, and future as a goddess. Also, while both spend most of the plot influencing events through proxies, Sephiroth is using the disposable, monstrous clones of Jenova, while Ultimecia is using the attractive and formidable Sorceress Edea. Finally, Sephiroth is a mostly physical fighter who prefers using his large sword Masamune while Ultimecia primarily uses her innate magic and only becomes physical while junctioning herself to Griever.
  • Dark Action Girl: Fittingly for her status as Big Bad, Ultimecia is among the deadliest women in the franchise. She has unfathomable power as a Sorceress and is willing to plunge existence into destruction so she can remake it in her own image. She, through possessing Edea and Adel, fights Squall and friends multiple times throughout the game with her winning one of the fights by throwing a spear of ice into Squall, nearly killing him during the assassination attempt at Deling City.
  • Dark Is Evil: Ultimecia is a villainous Sorceress who loves wearing dark clothing as seen through her crimson red dress and black wings in her normal attire and her dark purple dress while possessing Edea.
  • Demonic Possession: Every sorceress the heroes come across is used by Ultimecia as a shell.
  • Driven to Villainy: Judging by her own words, persecutions of sorceresses drove her to seek revenge.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Ultimecia's final form is definitely this. Not only is she gigantic, twisted, multi-coloured, creepy and oddly symmetrical, with arms at hip level, an upside down version of her human self instead of legs, a dark void with a glowing light instead of a face, and a "gown" below filled with a starry night, against all logic and nature, oh no. Her very existence is a threat to creation, slowly devouring the entire universe, past, present and future by simply being there!
  • Evil Counterpart: To Rinoa. They’re both sorceresses and their appearances contrast each other: Rinoa has black hair, simple blue clothing and white wings, while Ultimecia has white hair, elaborate red clothing and black wings. Rinoa encourages Squall to open up despite the risk of loss, expressing the healthy outlook that the uncertainty of the future means they should value what they have in the present, but Ultimecia demonstrates Squall's insecurities about the future writ large, railing against the passage of time and attempting to destroy reality via time compression rather than face future loss.
  • Evil Sorceress: The third and last of the three villainous sorceresses, and the one whom SeeD was founded to fight in the first place. All of their training was in preparation for dealing with her specifically.
  • Face-Revealing Turn: The first time her real body is seen is during a flashback to when she first possessed Rinoa. Ultimecia's body is shown as a transluscent specter that faces the camera while flying toward it, almost as if she's lunging at the player.
  • Facial Markings: She has jagged purple tattoos. Two of them are in a Big Ol' Eyebrows pattern.
  • Femme Fatalons: Her hands appear to have been turned into purple clawed appendages.
  • Final Boss: She's the reason SeeD exists, since they were founded to defeat her, and sure enough, Ultimecia, once seen in person, is the final enemy of the game.
  • Flunky Boss: The fight with her as possessed Edea in Galbadia Garden requires the player to first defeat Seifer for the third time. In the final battle, she brings out Griever as her GF once her first form has taken enough damage, then she Junctions with Griever for stage 3, during which she can summon Helix enemies to amplify her powers.
  • Foil: To main protagonist Squall. Both Squall and Ultimecia encountered hardships in their early lives (though Ultimecia's backstory is All in the Manual), resulting in both of them developing nihilistic viewpoints about life. However, Squall is able to grow as a person by creating bonds with others, and ultimately decides that despite life's cruelties and unknowns, it's still worth fighting for. Ultimecia, meanwhile, attempted to Never Be Hurt Again by literally taking control of others, and using her powers to literally freeze time itself in order to create a world she could rule over without opposition. In the ultimate irony, all Ultimecia's actions do is ensure her own demise.
  • Four Is Death: Ultimecia is an opponent in some form in four Boss Battles across the game, with the last of these fights, which is the Final Boss battle, having four stages to it (this fight is also on Disc 4).
  • Freudian Excuse: What little information the game provides as to her motives implies that, due to being a Sorceress, she was persecuted all her life because of the terrible actions of evil sorceresses in the past. Not only that, but thanks to history, she knows she is destined to die at the hands of a bunch of teenage mercenaries and all her plans are based on a desperate desire to escape her fate. Sadly, her actions in the past caused the start of the persecution of Sorceresses in her own time.
  • Funetik Aksent: Though only as herself in her human form before the Final Boss fight and in the English Translation. She pronounces hard "c" as "k".
  • Fusion Dance: With Griever in the final battle.
  • Godhood Seeker: Ultimecia wants to rule the past, the present and the future at once, as an immortal and completely omnipotent goddess who can decide who and what exists.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Has a pair of black feathered wings
  • Grand Theft Me: Her specialty. She's been possessing every woman with sorceress powers all through history.
  • Guardian Entity: Ultimecia creates herself one in the form of Griever.
  • Hot Witch: She's the token Ms. Fanservice of all the sorceresses in this game.
  • HP to One: One of Final Ultimecia's attacks is Hell's Judgement, which, like Heartless Angel, reduces the party's health down to one. Unlike Kefka and Sephiroth, she will use this attack quite a bit (and this is coming after the Mobile Type 8 in the Lunatic Pandora prior to Seifer had its own HP to One attack.)
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Some localizations call her Artemisia, which is pronounced the same way than Ultimecia in Japanese and also creates an interesting link with the moon, one of the recurring motives of the game.
  • In Their Own Image: Wants to destroy the time and space continuum to make a universe in which only she could live.
  • Lady of Black Magic: An elegant, all-powerful Sorceress of Time.
  • Male Gaze: Her clothes don't leave much to the imagination, and that's probably the first thing you'll notice.
  • Manipulative Bitch: When she's not pulling a Grand Theft Me, she's exploiting the psychological weakpoints of potential minions, both world rulers and Seifer.
  • Ms. Fanservice: She's a Hot Witch who's Naked in Mink.
  • Mystical White Hair: The most powerful Sorceress in history, and she has long, flowing silver hair.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The horns that her hair is styled into resemble the ones on Garland's helmet. Notable as his plan also involved the manipulation of time, and the final dungeon where he was fought also existed in another place in time.
    • Much like Zemus, the true Big Bad of Final Fantasy IV, her existence isn't revealed until very late in the game wherein it's said that she's actually been the one puppeteering The Heavy (who turns out to actually be a good guy without the influence of the Big Bad).
  • Naked in Mink: She's clearly wearing nothing underneath her robe.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: The neckline plunges down to her crotch.
  • New Era Speech: In Deling City while possessing Edea.
  • No Fair Cheating: When's the last time you saw an enemy successfully use Dispel on cheat-fueled invincibility?
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Her goal is to compress time, warping reality to the point that only she will be able to exist.
  • One-Winged Angel: Twice in the final battle. First through a Fusion Dance with her Guardian Entity, then by becoming an Eldritch Abomination and Spacetime Eater out of nowhere.
  • Pet the Dog: Saves Seifer from certain execution without needing to. Sure, she needed a right-hand, but this was nice of her nonetheless.
  • Physical Goddess: In her final form, Ultimecia becomes an Eldritch Abomination that emerges from the void and absorbs stars and planets from across the space-time continuum.
  • Reality Warper: Can alter reality and make real what people think of. In later games, her leaking power is enough to alter the entire country.
  • Recurring Boss: Ultimecia is possessing Edea both times Edea is fought as a boss, and then she possesses Adel at the start of Disc 4. Shortly afterward, Squall's team fights her in person, and the first phase of the lengthy final encounter acts like a third Edea battle.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Wears a form-fitting red ballgown with black angel wings.
  • Red Right Hand: Her bare black clawed feet.
  • Screw Destiny: Her motivation. Ultimecia wants to compress time to escape her fated death at the hands of the "Legendary SeeD."
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Ultimecia's Start of Darkness was brought about when she was persecuted for the crimes she was going to commit, which became common knowledge thanks to the Time Travel antics of her future self (as depicted in the game). Second, Ultimecia's motivation was to use Time Compression to control time and thwart her destined defeat at the hands of the "legendary SeeD". But not only do her efforts to cast Time Compression paint a big bullseye on her chest for SeeD, but her use of the Time Compression spell allows Squall's party to travel to the future and defeat her directly.
  • Sequential Boss: Is fought three times when you meet her in her throne room at the end of the game (There's four parts to the final battle, but the second of them is against a monster she summoned). Earlier, you fight her as Edea with Seifer at the end of Disc 2, but they are fought separately in the same battle.
  • Space Master: Ultimecia controls Space, mostly by isolating three heroes to face the others. Mobius Final Fantasy would later expand her mastery of it.
  • Spacetime Eater: Her final form becomes this, with her mere existence being enough to gradually destroy and absorb the entire space-time continuum.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Dissidia Final Fantasy lists her height as 5'10. And she's definitely a head-turner.
  • Stripperific: Her outfit exposes much of her chest and abdomen and almost all her legs.
  • Summon Magic: She summons Griever for the second phase of her boss battle.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her eerie yellow eyes pass down when she possesses Edea.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: It's implied that she became evil because of the way sorceresses are persecuted in her era.
  • Time Master: Her powers involve time travel and time manipulation, and her ultimate goal is a Time Crash. Dissidia and Mobius would later expand her mastery of it.
  • Vapor Wear: She does not bother for covering outfits.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Has two; first, when the party finally meets her in person, she flies into a rage about how they're always getting in the way. Then, once she's forced into her final form, she flatly states her new goal to destroy everything.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Her hair is a stark white/silvery color.
  • Wicked Cultured: Ulty's castle has an art gallery and a cathedral, among other hints as to her favoured pastimes.
  • Winged Humanoid: Has a pair of black demonic wings as part of her wardrobe.
  • The Woman Behind the Monsters: Sends a handful of evil creatures several times during the game to kill the SeeDs, and has eight guardians in her castle that lock down the abilities of any unwelcome guests who enter; the player must kill most if not all of them to stand a chance against her.
  • World's Strongest Woman: She is stated to be the most powerful sorceress in history, as such she added all of the sorceress power in existence to her already tremendous magic power gaining god-like abilities. Ultimecia even has complete control over Space-Time magic and can warp-reality to deceive her enemies. She also has her other forms in the final battle that has her powers skyrocketed to a status as a Physical Goddess that has her become the greatest threat in existence that must be stopped.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: After Rinoa becomes a sorceress instead of Edea, Ultimecia immediately sees the benefit, knowing that she could feign illness to prompt the heroes to head towards Esthar and Ellone, her targets.
  • You Have Failed Me: Leaves Seifer to his fate before confronting the heroes under Edea's shell. Later averts it for she has further use to him after all.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
    • She kills Vinzer Deling once she's gotten what she wants out of him.
    • She uses Rinoa's body to break the seal of Adel's tomb. Once that's done, she leaves her to die in outer space.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: She summons Griever from Squall's mind, with no evidence that it had existed prior to that. If you rename the ring in Disc 2, Griever is likewise renamed. In the final battle, she also effectively Draws Apocalypse, what she believes to be the ultimate spell, from herself.

Other

    Guardian Forces 
See also Final Fantasy Recurring Summons and Final Fantasy Recurring Characters.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: With exception of Gilgamesh, the GFs listed below will join the party upon being defeated, recognizing their strength.

Quezacotl

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quezacotl_ffviii_art.png

One of the starter Guardian Forces, a lightning elemental serpent-bird, who can be obtained right from the beginning of the game.


  • Dub Name Change: Known as Golgotha in the French version.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Often gets spelled as Quetzalcoatl, Quetzacotl, or Quetzal depending on translation and its appearances across the series.
  • Mundane Utility: Quezacotl isn't particularly powerful outside of the beginning of the game, but it is useful for its Card Mod ability, which allows you to transform Triple Triad cards into a variety of useful items, which can either be used as is or further refined into powerful magic spells.
  • Original Generation: This is Quezacotl's first appearance in the series.
  • Shock and Awe: The lightning-elemental summon of the game. Its battle ability is Thunder Storm.

Shiva

The other starter Guardian Force, the ice elemental summon commonly seen throughout the series. Like Quezacotl, she can be obtained right at the beginning of the game.


Ifrit

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8-ifrit-a_6093.jpg

The first Guardian Force you have to fight (he's also the first boss of the game, period). Squall and Quistis must fight him in the Fire Cavern as part of a SeeD exercise.


  • Big Red Devil: He is the Fire elemental Guardian Force. He also looks like a combination of man and beast, and is pretty big.
  • Breakout Character: Not this Ifrit, but his new design: This is the first time that Ifrit is shown with a more bestial appearance, compared to previous games making him look like a humanoid. This design was also retroactively used for the FFVII version when he cameoed in the Super Smash Bros. series.
  • Kill It with Fire: He's a Fire elemental Guardian Force, so this is to be expected.
  • Magma Man: Or beast in this case. He actually lives in the stuff too.
  • Oh, Crap!: His reaction if you use the GF Shiva against him.
    Ifrit: "They have Shiva?"
  • Playing with Fire: Ifrit is the fire GF and uses Hellfire.
  • Time-Limit Boss: Played with. Since it's part of Squall's SeeD exam, the player chooses their own time limit before entering the Fire Cavern. You have to defeat Ifrit before time is up, but the less time you have remaining when you win, the greater the bonus to your SeeD rank. (You're told to pick a time limit that's doable, but challenging — the test is about accurately judging your own strength.)
  • Warm-Up Boss: Literally. He is the very first boss you'll fight in the game.

Siren

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/siren_ffviii_art_2.png

The first GF that can be Drawn from an enemy, in this case the boss Elvoret on Dollet Tower.


  • Hair Wings: She has them, and they're feathery to give her more of a bird/angelic appearance.
  • Magic Music: She wields a harp to cast Silent Voice.
  • The Medic: Siren teaches healing abilities to the party, such as Life.
  • Non-Elemental: Siren does non-elemental damage with Silent Voice, which silences all enemies. The animation involves rushing her enemies with waves, but it does not do water damage.
  • Our Sirens Are Different: It's her name, and when she is summoned she is shown sitting on a rock at sea playing her harp. Her hair resembles wings, giving her a bit of a harpy look.
  • Permanently Missable Content: If she is not Drawn from Elvoret near the beginning of the game, there is another boss that she can be obtained from in the final dungeon. But if she's not Drawn there, that's the player's last chance.
  • Stripperiffic: Like Shiva, she wears very little clothing.

Diablos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/41475_100000122324595_4393_n_2329.jpg

A devil Guardian Force that controls gravity. You can fight him at any time after Cid gives you the Magical Lamp.


  • Big Red Devil: He's even referred to as the devil in the manuals, which is further emphasized by his demonic appearance.
  • Dub Name Change: He is known as Nosferatu in the French version, and Diablo in the Spanish version.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Has a large pair of bat wings, but is only "evil" until the party defeats him, whereupon he joins them.
  • Gravity Master: Diablos's attack is gravity-based.
  • Magikarp Power: He does a percentage of the enemy's health based on his level. At level 100, he does 100% of the enemy's health (to a maximum of 9999.) At level 1 though, he only does 1% of the enemy's health. Needless to say, it takes a bit of time before his summon is worth using in battle.
  • Our Demons Are Different: A Big Red Devil not unlike the big guy himself.
  • Permanently Missable Content: If you actually sell the Magical Lamp before using it.
  • Puzzle Boss: He's much less of a Wake-Up Call Boss if you have someone in your party with high enough MAG to draw Demi from his available magic to use against him - since Demi does a percentage of the target's HP as damage, this tactic can quickly whittle down his health in only a few casts. In fact, he'll reward the party member who does thisnote  by casting Curaga on them, basically as a way of really hammering home how important it is to try to draw-and-cast enemies.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Until Defeat Means Friendship.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: With the can being the Magical Lamp.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: Optional example. Use the Lamp at the earliest point possible, and prepare yourself for a grueling battle.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Blind. Diabolos' signature gravity magic can't actually kill the party due to being percentage based, his strategy instead being to bring the party to critical levels so he can one-shot them with his basic attacks. Inflicting blind on him drastically reduces the accuracy of these attacks, allowing the party to comfortably sit at low HP and whittle him down while he constantly misses or ineffectually casts magic.

The Brothers (Sacred and Minotaur)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gf_FF8_Brothers_7467.png

A pair of minotaurs fought in the Tomb of the Forgotten King.


  • Aloof Big Brother: Minotaur.
  • Anti-Regeneration: Both of them are constantly under the effect of the health-boosting "Regen" buff, which can be dispelled if you cast "Float" on them.
  • Bash Brothers: Literally.
  • Big Little Brother: Sacred.
  • Big Shadow, Little Creature: During the second encounter, Sacred tells the party that he's calling on his big brother to aid him, and a for a second the entire screen was engulfed by a huge silhouette, which then shrinks to reveal Minotaur.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Their element is Earth. They chuck a huge chunk of land with the enemies on them (And then Minotaur chucks Sacred at that same chunk) in the air during their summon, and their boss battle has them continually recover HP as long as they touch the ground.
  • Dual Boss: The second encounter with Sacred involves both him and Minotaur; this is the fight SeeD needs to win to recruit them.
  • Dub Name Change: Sacred and Minotaur are respectively known as Tauros and Taurux in the French version, and the GF itself is Taurus.
  • Fastball Special: Poor Sacred.
  • Mythology Gag: They're based on two bosses from Final Fantasy V, Minotaur and Sekhmet.
  • Ocular Gushers: Sacred has these as he's being hurled at the chunk of rock he had thrown into the sky.
  • Our Minotaurs Are Different: They are minotaurs, after all.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Hot-tempered Sacred wears red and delivers his dialogue in all caps; his older brother Minotaur is calmer and more sensible, wears blue, and speaks in all lower-case.
  • Shout-Out: To the Greek Mythology. Since they're found in The Maze, the reference is quite obvious. However, they actually owe more to the myth of Antaeus, a son of Gaia who was undefeatable as long as he remained in contact with the earth - as Earth elementals, the brothers regenerate HP as long as they're touching the ground.
  • Sibling Team: Duh.

Carbuncle

A small and cute Carbuncle Creature, another recurring summon from the series. Drawn from the Iguions faced near the end of Disc 1 or from Krysta.


  • Attack Reflector: Carbuncle grants Reflect to the party and can also teach Auto-Reflect to bounce spells back at the enemy.
  • Carbuncle Creature: As usual, it's in the name.
  • Counter-Attack: Carbuncle can teach the Counter ability to the party.
  • Permanently Missable Content: If not Drawn from the Iguions, Carbuncle can be obtained in the final dungeon by drawing from Krysta. But if the player doesn't obtain it there, then it's lost.
  • Support Party Member: Like Cerberus, Carbuncle does not deal any damage when summoned. Instead, it casts Ruby Light on the party, which grants everyone Reflect.

Leviathan

The familiar sea serpent summon from throughout the series. He is obtained by Drawing from NORG.


  • Combat Medic: He is an offensive summon, but he also teaches some restorative abilities like Auto-Potion and Recover, and his refining abilities can turn items into support magic or GF recovery medicine.
  • Kraken and Leviathan: As usual, this leviathan is depicted as a sea serpent.
  • Making a Splash: As usual, he is the water element summon with his ability Tsunami.
  • Permanently Missable Content: If you forget to draw him from NORG (or Trauma in the final dungeon), he's lost permanently.

Pandemona

A wind Guardian Force, new to the series. It is Drawn from Fujin in either of the boss battles with her, and specializes in speed increases.


  • Blow You Away: Pandemona is the wind elemental summon with its ability Tornado Zone.
  • Character Name Limits: Apparently intended to be named "Pandaemonium," but it didn't fit.
  • Dub Name Change: Pandemonium in the original Japanese, Zephyr in French, Eolo in Spanish and Pandemon in Italian.
  • Monstrous Humanoid: It is unclear what exactly Pandemona is. It is lavender colored and has a roughly humanoid shape, with (webbed?) claws and perhaps furry feet, with no clear facial features. It also has a fleshy sac that it inflates for its wind attacks to suck up enemies.
  • Original Generation: This is Pandemona's first appearance in the series, and in the other times it appears it is typically as a reference to VIII, and has not appeared in one of the main-series games since.
  • Permanently Missable Content: If not drawn from either Fujin or Red Giant, it becomes lost.

Cerberus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cerbero646645_5376.jpg

A cerberus Guardian Force you can fight in Galbadia Garden when you invade it at the end of Disc 2.


  • Canis Major: A huge, three-headed dog.
  • Hell: Well, it is where he's from. The ominous-looking gates, blood-red sky, and charred ground are kind of a giveaway.
  • Hell Hound: A demonic, three-headed dog.
  • Multiple Head Case: What else would you expect from a Cerberus?
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Despite what you'd think a dog of hell would do, all he does is apply double and triple to your party when summoned. Considering that Triple is one of the best magics to junction to your stats, he allows you to use three magics for the price of one without going through the precious triple stock.
  • Non-Indicative Name: His summon ability, Counter Rockets, counter-intuitively applies Double and Triple to the party rather than inflicting damage or performing a Counter-Attack.
  • Permanently Missable Content: If you miss him, you can still draw him from Gargantua on the final disc. Miss him there, though, and you lose him for good.
  • Rule of Three: He has three heads and relies heavily on the Triple spell, which allows him to cast magic three times a turn. Summoning him applies Triple status to the party.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: He's based on Cerberus, the three-headed hound who guarded the gates to the Underworld in the Greek Mythology.

Alexander

A holy mechanical fortress that appears throughout the series. Drawn from Edea in the second battle with her.


  • Combat Medic: Offers a powerful attack and teaches the Revive ability. Alexander also has the ability to convert mid-level magic to high level magic and boost the potency of recovery items.
  • Light 'em Up: The holy elemental summon, making it effective against undead with its Holy Judgement ability.
  • Shoulder Cannon: For its attack, Holy Judgment, it launches missiles and holy light from massive shoulder-mounted cannons.

Doomtrain

A monstrous train Guardian Force, acquired from collecting and assembling six rare items.


  • Dub Name Change: Glasya-Labolas in the original Japanese version, Helltrain in French and Spanish, and Kharonte in Italian.
  • Ghost Train: Doomtrain is essentially this, but rather than ghost train it might be seen as a zombie train.
  • Lost in Translation: Its original name was Glasya-Labolas (no relation to the recurring giant enemy), which is why it's summoned using the Solomon Ring (as in The Lesser Key of Solomon) using items representing 666. Fittingly, since Glasya-Labolas knows all sciences, Doomtrain has the Forbid Med-RF ability.
  • Mundane Utility: One ability it teaches is Junk Shop, which allows Squall to open the weapon upgrade shop from the main menu.
  • Number of the Beast: He can be acquired by using the Solomon Ring alongside 6 Steel Pipes, 6 Remedy+s, and 6 Malboro Tentacles.
  • Original Generation: Unique to FFVIII, but Doomtrain can possibly seen as a Shout-Out to Final Fantasy VI with its Phantom Train.
  • Status Infliction Attack: Doomtrain can inflict poison damage but its main ability is to inflict every status effect in the game with its attack, Runaway Train.

Bahamut

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/photo-13_3380.jpg

A powerful Guardian Force encountered in the Deep Sea Research Center.


  • Breath Weapon: Mega Flare, as usual. After flying far up in the sky, he charges energy shots from his mouth and lets it all out.
  • Humans Are Bastards: Holds this belief due to being captured and experimented upon.
  • Intrigued by Humanity: After meeting and battling with the party, he starts decides to become one of the party's Guardian Forces out of interest in them.
  • Non-Elemental: His attacks deal no elemental damage, but are nonetheless deadly.
  • Sequential Boss: You have to fight at least two red dragons before actually fighting him.

Odin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/odin765567_4259.jpg

An optional, unjunctionable Guardian Force encountered in the Centra Ruins. After you obtain him, he can sometimes show up right at the beginning of a fight to One-Hit Kill your enemies before anybody has a chance to do anything.


  • Cool Horse: Sleipner.
  • Cool Sword: Zantetsuken, which instantly can kill any non-boss in one hit.
  • Death by Irony: An iconic character known for his ability to kill his enemies in one hit is bisected the exact same way.
  • Deus ex machina Shows up in the fight against Seifer at the end of Disc 3, but gets cut in half for his efforts.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: On the recieving end of this when Seifer casually cuts him in half during the final fight against him.
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: If you obtained him before completing Disc 3, he will show up at the start of the fight with Seifer, and get cut clean in half.
  • Killed Off for Real: If you have him while you fight Seifer. Fortunately, Gilgamesh is there to replace him if it happens.
  • Master Swordsman: The guy can kill anyone with a slash of his sword, cutting them in half.
  • One-Hit Kill: By him and to him.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: His specialty. He pops up, slashes the enemy in two, and leaves just as quickly.
  • Timed Mission: When you reach the Centra Ruins, he gives the party twenty minutes to either leave, or reach and fight him (which inevitably becomes a Time-Limit Boss). If the timer runs out, it's Zantetzuken time for the party, and an instant Game Over. If they beat him, however, he'll recognize their strength and join them.
  • The Worf Effect: He is an extremally powerful summon who Curb-Stomps everything in his path... until Seifer returns him the favor in Disc 3.

Gilgamesh

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/VIIIGilgy_6415.JPG

An optional, unjunctionable Guardian Force you automatically obtain at the end of Disc 3 if you have recruited Odin. He's obviously a reference to the Final Fantasy V character, if not the same guy.


  • 11th-Hour Superpower: Arrives at the very end of Disc 3.
  • Badass Cape: Of the large and billowing type, especially at the beginning of his summon sequence.
  • Call-Back: His entire appearance is one huge one to Final Fantasy V: Gilgamesh refers to the Dimensional Interval (i.e. the Interdimensional Rift that houses the Void he was banished to) and in the Japanese version, he nearly name drops Bartz, The Hero of V and his Worthy Opponent.
  • Cool Sword: He has four, namely; the Excalibur, Excalipoor, Masamune, and Zantetsuken.
  • Deus ex machina: Shows up out of nowhere in the final Seifer boss fight after 12 turns and literally blows him away before disappearing. This only happens if you completed Odin's challenge earlier; if not, Gilgamesh doesn't show and the SeeDs have to take Seifer out themselves.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Did you just Stealth Hi/Bye Seifer after he killed Odin? Yeah, that happened.
  • Facial Markings: Most of his face is covered, but what is visible of it shows a lot of markings near his eyes and cheek.
  • Flight, Strength, Heart: The power of his four swords: Zantetsuken is a One-Hit Kill, Masamune and Excalibur are both heavy-hitters, and as for Excalipur...
  • Four Is Death: He has four swords in his arsenal. The fourth and final one he acquires even has the ability to instantly kill.
  • Joke Item: It's the very weapon he's associated with, Excalipoor.
  • Master Swordsman: Much like Odin, he can kill anyone with a slash of his sword... If said sword is Zantetsuken, otherwise he deals damage or does almost jack.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: If you look closely though, the arms on his cape are cardboard cutouts, with his real arms on his right side under it and holding his cape.
  • Permanently Missable Content: He is an entirely optional GF, and can only be obtained if the player obtained Odin before confronting Seifer at Lunatic Pandora at the end of Disc 3.
  • Power Up Letdown: A minor example, but he does have a risk of showing up against Adel. Since Rinoa must be kept alive during the fight, but is treated as a target for the purpose of the battle, Gilgamesh will also target her; if he uses Zantetsuken, the battle ends in a Game Over before it can even start. Fortunately, this only applies to this one battle, and doesn't count outside of it.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: Just like Odin, he leaves just as quickly as he arrives after slashing the enemy.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Gilgamesh has always been a proficient swordsman, but here he's capable of killing enemies in one hit should he grab the Zantetsuken. Not to mention he wipes the floor with Seifer if you don't defeat him first... He does this after Seifer has already one-shotted Odin.

Cactuar

A giant cactuar summon which is achieved by defeating Jumbo Cactuar, an Optional Boss. This is the first time Cactuar has been used as a summon in the series, and it was added to newer versions of Final Fantasy VI as a reference to this.


  • Fixed Damage Attack: As usual, Cactuar's ability is 1,000 Needles. However, its damage increases by 1,000 for every ten levels it acquires.
  • King Mook: Jumbo Cactuar is this to the cactuars.
  • Suicide Attack: Cactuar teaches the ability Kamikaze, allowing the characters to do this.

Tonberry

Like the Cactuar, Tonberry is acquired after defeating the Tonberry King, another Optional Boss.


  • Brought Down to Badass: He starts off as the Tonberry King. Defeating him turns him into a regular Tonberry that you can summon, which isn't as powerful but is still very dangerous.
  • King Mook: Obtained after defeating the aptly named Tonberry King.
  • Level Drain: Tonberry can lower enemy levels or even increase them to manipulate EXP gained or spells Drawn.
  • Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Tonberry doesn't learn any Junction abilities and cannot refine any items. Instead, it offers a great boost to Luck and Evasion stats and uncommon support abilities, like letting the person who junctioned it start with a full ATB gauge, gain HP by walking, and manipulate enemy levels. It also gets multiple shop abilities.
  • Mundane Utility: Tonberry teaches multiple shop abilities, like Call Shop, Haggle (get a discount at shops), Sell-High (increase selling price), and Familiar (buy rare items at shops).
  • Non-Elemental: Tonberry's ability in battle is Chef's Knife, which deals non-elemental damage to a random enemy.

Eden

The most powerful Guardian Force in the game, a secret summon Drawn from Ultima Weapon in the Deep Sea Research Center or Tiamat in Ultimecia's Castle, making it a summon obtained from a Super Boss at the bottom of a Bonus Dungeon.


  • Angelic Abomination: Eden is monstrously huge and it is difficult to describe what exactly she is, but a popular fan theory is that she has a link to the Gardens of the game, based on her appearance and name. Aside from the angel wings, she might even be considered to have a roughly jellyfish-shape.
  • Eating the Enemy: Eden comes with the Devour ability, allowing the party to instantly defeat the enemy by devouring them.
  • Instant Runes: They appear at the beginning of Eternal Breath's animation as a Shout-Out to Sephiroth's Supernova attack in Final Fantasy VII, being the same Ptolemaic runes.
  • Non-Elemental: Eden does powerful non-elemental damage with her ability Eternal Breath.
  • Original Generation: This is Eden's first appearance in the series. It later appears in Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, and is referenced in World of Final Fantasy and the Dissidia games.
  • Overly Long Fighting Animation: Eternal Breath is famous for it, but thanks to the Boost system in FFVIII where the player can rapidly press buttons to increase damage throughout the animation, the attack is benefited greatly from it.


Top