I've been playing through Final Fantasy 8 lately, and have discovered a lot of information about The Sorceress which I had not discovered my first few times through. The plot dealing with the sorceress is actually incredibly complex; there's a lot of back
PostPosted:Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:18 am
<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>There are seemingly four Sorceresses, Rinoa, Adel, Ultimecia, and Edea. Yet at some point or another, Rinoa, Adel, and Edea were actually possessed by Ultimecia.
Ultimecia posses in order: Edea (before the main time period), then Rinoa (disk 3), then Adel (disk 3), then Rinoa again (disk 3) who is sent back in time to possess a young Adel (disk 3). Adel (who is of a different lineage) is brought to the future using a time travel spell (Time Compression), and absorbed into Ultimecia's body (similar to how she tried to absorb Rinoa earlier), thus giving her the full power of the creator God Hyne (as I will explain below).
To set the stage, a sorceress passes on her powers to a successor, creating sorceress lineages. Within the game there are two lineages remaining, Ultimecia/Rinoa/Edea, and Adels. During Laguna's time, Adel was trapped in suspended animation and lost to history.
As Seifer described at the end of disc 3, the goal of the Sorceress is to reunite her power with that of the lost Adel (who Laguna trapped in outer space). In order to complete this mission, she needs to go back to the past to gain the powers of the lost sorceress Adel. Dr. Odine built a machine which was finished sometime before Squalls time, this machine allows people to send their consciousness back in time, Ultimecia did this and possessed Edea, however it still was not far enough back in time, by this point in history, Adel had already been lost. Ultimecia in Edea's body (as explained at the very beginning of Disk 3) seeks out a way to get back to the past, and she finds this way (as is in Odine's research) in a girl called Ellone. The game is fairly clear that Ultimecia used the machine to get to Edea, and required Ellone to get back further in time.
Ultimecia controlled Edea during Disk 1 and 2 (which Edea explains), and then at the end of disk 2 she possesses Rinoa, and gives Seifer orders (who calls her by her true name, Ultimecia, Seifer knows that Ultimecia is in Rinoa's body). The orders she gave to Seifer were to use the device called the Lunatic Pandora to summon the Lunar Cry (or Lunar tear, I forget which one is which now thanks to Grandia 2 which blatantly copied this). Somehow she discovered the location of Sorceress Adel, and this was part of her plan to retrieve Adel without having to go back in time.
As Rinoa she is taken to the Space Station where she awakens and unlocks Sorceress Adels tomb in outer space. Meanwhile on the planet, Seifer has activated the Lunatic Pandora which causes the Lunar Cry to occur. Shortly before this, Ultimecia had left Rinoa's body and entered into Adels body; which was taken down back to Earth and picked up by the Lunatic Pandora. SeeD immedietly goes to the scene, and there they will destroy Sorceress Adel once and for all. However, before this occurs, Ultimecia attempts to absorb Rinoa's power (which is the other Sorceress lineage) into her own to give her the full power of the God Hyne.
The God Hyne, on disk 3 Rinoa is described as "The descendant of Hyne" though you have to look a little farther to discover who Hyne is, there are hints of it dropped throughout the game (in Garden, and on the SeeD Ship, etc...). Hyne was the God who created mankind, but at some point in time he waged a war against them and lost. As a result, Hyne's power was split, and those who inherited it were known as the Sorceresses. By the time of Squall, there are two Sorceress Lineages, one which is Edea's, and another which is Adel's. Ultimecia is the descendant of Edea's power, as Adel's had been lost for all time. By combining the two remaining lineages, Ultimecia gains the full power of Hyne (which she has at the end of the game).
Adel was searching for young girls (suggested at first during disk 1 or 2 that it was for a successor) for the same purpose, and that was to gain the full power of Hyne (as found out during disk 3). Adel had failed once Laguna had trapped her in the suspended animation machine created by Odine. However, at the end of disk 3, Ultimecia in desparation possessed Rinoa once again after Adel was defeated, and immedietly upon doing this Ultimecia was sent back to the past with Rinoa's consciousness by Ellone, Rinoa described being within "a young Adel". Once inside Adel, Ultimecia waited until she had the power to cast her time travel spell, and then travelled to the future with Adel's body where she would absorb it, and gain her full power. Squall and Co followed her to the future and discovered that Ultimecia now reigned over everything in her time period absolutely, they discover that the SeeD of that time period had all been slain. When SeeD defeats Ultimecia the spell which she had cast unravels, and she and the others are thrown back into the "time compression" void where they have to find their anchor (as Laguna describes in disk 3), Squall finds his in his past, and Ultimecia's essense goes back with him, this is where Edea finds out about Ultimecia's existence but Squall is thrown back into Time Compression again because he isn't supposed to be there in a time period which he already exists in. In the end, Squall passes out, but Rinoa (his anchor finds him) and they do make it back safely to their time period (as seen at the end).
Essentially, the story of the game revolving around the villain is one large time loop.
There is still a shrowd of mystery which hangs over many parts of the game, they include the origin of the Lunatic Pandora, and the Centra continent Civilization which was destroyed over 100 years ago. Judging by the ruins of the Centra area, it can be seen that the civilization was more advanced than that of Esthar. Tears point and the Lunatic Pandora on the Esthar continent do offer a great mystery though. Tears point has a giant statue of some unnamed God or sorceress, and no one in any time period has any real description of it (though it could be Hyne, or possibly an ancient sorceress).</div>
Ultimecia posses in order: Edea (before the main time period), then Rinoa (disk 3), then Adel (disk 3), then Rinoa again (disk 3) who is sent back in time to possess a young Adel (disk 3). Adel (who is of a different lineage) is brought to the future using a time travel spell (Time Compression), and absorbed into Ultimecia's body (similar to how she tried to absorb Rinoa earlier), thus giving her the full power of the creator God Hyne (as I will explain below).
To set the stage, a sorceress passes on her powers to a successor, creating sorceress lineages. Within the game there are two lineages remaining, Ultimecia/Rinoa/Edea, and Adels. During Laguna's time, Adel was trapped in suspended animation and lost to history.
As Seifer described at the end of disc 3, the goal of the Sorceress is to reunite her power with that of the lost Adel (who Laguna trapped in outer space). In order to complete this mission, she needs to go back to the past to gain the powers of the lost sorceress Adel. Dr. Odine built a machine which was finished sometime before Squalls time, this machine allows people to send their consciousness back in time, Ultimecia did this and possessed Edea, however it still was not far enough back in time, by this point in history, Adel had already been lost. Ultimecia in Edea's body (as explained at the very beginning of Disk 3) seeks out a way to get back to the past, and she finds this way (as is in Odine's research) in a girl called Ellone. The game is fairly clear that Ultimecia used the machine to get to Edea, and required Ellone to get back further in time.
Ultimecia controlled Edea during Disk 1 and 2 (which Edea explains), and then at the end of disk 2 she possesses Rinoa, and gives Seifer orders (who calls her by her true name, Ultimecia, Seifer knows that Ultimecia is in Rinoa's body). The orders she gave to Seifer were to use the device called the Lunatic Pandora to summon the Lunar Cry (or Lunar tear, I forget which one is which now thanks to Grandia 2 which blatantly copied this). Somehow she discovered the location of Sorceress Adel, and this was part of her plan to retrieve Adel without having to go back in time.
As Rinoa she is taken to the Space Station where she awakens and unlocks Sorceress Adels tomb in outer space. Meanwhile on the planet, Seifer has activated the Lunatic Pandora which causes the Lunar Cry to occur. Shortly before this, Ultimecia had left Rinoa's body and entered into Adels body; which was taken down back to Earth and picked up by the Lunatic Pandora. SeeD immedietly goes to the scene, and there they will destroy Sorceress Adel once and for all. However, before this occurs, Ultimecia attempts to absorb Rinoa's power (which is the other Sorceress lineage) into her own to give her the full power of the God Hyne.
The God Hyne, on disk 3 Rinoa is described as "The descendant of Hyne" though you have to look a little farther to discover who Hyne is, there are hints of it dropped throughout the game (in Garden, and on the SeeD Ship, etc...). Hyne was the God who created mankind, but at some point in time he waged a war against them and lost. As a result, Hyne's power was split, and those who inherited it were known as the Sorceresses. By the time of Squall, there are two Sorceress Lineages, one which is Edea's, and another which is Adel's. Ultimecia is the descendant of Edea's power, as Adel's had been lost for all time. By combining the two remaining lineages, Ultimecia gains the full power of Hyne (which she has at the end of the game).
Adel was searching for young girls (suggested at first during disk 1 or 2 that it was for a successor) for the same purpose, and that was to gain the full power of Hyne (as found out during disk 3). Adel had failed once Laguna had trapped her in the suspended animation machine created by Odine. However, at the end of disk 3, Ultimecia in desparation possessed Rinoa once again after Adel was defeated, and immedietly upon doing this Ultimecia was sent back to the past with Rinoa's consciousness by Ellone, Rinoa described being within "a young Adel". Once inside Adel, Ultimecia waited until she had the power to cast her time travel spell, and then travelled to the future with Adel's body where she would absorb it, and gain her full power. Squall and Co followed her to the future and discovered that Ultimecia now reigned over everything in her time period absolutely, they discover that the SeeD of that time period had all been slain. When SeeD defeats Ultimecia the spell which she had cast unravels, and she and the others are thrown back into the "time compression" void where they have to find their anchor (as Laguna describes in disk 3), Squall finds his in his past, and Ultimecia's essense goes back with him, this is where Edea finds out about Ultimecia's existence but Squall is thrown back into Time Compression again because he isn't supposed to be there in a time period which he already exists in. In the end, Squall passes out, but Rinoa (his anchor finds him) and they do make it back safely to their time period (as seen at the end).
Essentially, the story of the game revolving around the villain is one large time loop.
There is still a shrowd of mystery which hangs over many parts of the game, they include the origin of the Lunatic Pandora, and the Centra continent Civilization which was destroyed over 100 years ago. Judging by the ruins of the Centra area, it can be seen that the civilization was more advanced than that of Esthar. Tears point and the Lunatic Pandora on the Esthar continent do offer a great mystery though. Tears point has a giant statue of some unnamed God or sorceress, and no one in any time period has any real description of it (though it could be Hyne, or possibly an ancient sorceress).</div>