Rinoa and Ultimecia Explained | Final Fantasy VIII Analysis

Summary

这个视频讨论了最终幻想8中女主角莱诺娅的角色,她是斯库沃尔的爱人。作者深入探讨了她的性格和行为,以及她与反派最终冥皇有关的理论。作者认为,莱诺娅代表着抓住当下、享受生活的理念,这与最终冥皇追求永恒、摆脱死亡的动机形成了鲜明对比。最后,作者认为莱诺娅并非最终冥皇的未来,而是斯库沃尔最终接受过去、与所爱的人在一起的重要催化剂,这体现了游戏的核心主题。

Takeaways

• 😀《最终幻想8》中的女主角雷诺，引发了粉丝们的不同看法，一些人认为她活泼可爱，而另一些人则觉得她的角色设计有些牵强。
• 🎮雷诺与游戏中的其他角色不同，因为她不是在孤儿院长大的，这让她面临着独特的孤立和经验不足的挑战。
• 👑雷诺被描绘为一个受过宠的革命公主，她的早期冲动和理想主义在游戏中遭到了挑战。
• 💔雷诺的成长过程包括从一个天真的角色转变为被误解和广泛恐惧的女巫。
• 🌌游戏主题深入探讨了时间、命运和世代之间的联系，雷诺和主角斯考尔的关系与拉古纳（Laguna）的过去行为密切相关。
• 💬雷诺与终极敌人阿尔蒂米西亚之间的联系是粉丝理论的焦点，这个理论为游戏的事件添加了更多的兴趣和争议。
• 🏹雷诺的某些行为和言论被用来支持她与阿尔蒂米西亚有深层联系的理论，尽管存在争议。
• 📚游戏的日语版提供了关于格里弗（Griever）和阿尔蒂米西亚的额外上下文，这些细节在英文翻译中被省略或误解。
• ❤️尽管有关雷诺可能是阿尔蒂米西亚的未来版本的理论，游戏制作人否认了这一点，强调雷诺和斯考尔的故事是一个乐观的爱情故事。
• 🎥游戏的结局强调了接受过去、珍惜当下和一起向前看的主题，这与雷诺给斯考尔的生活态度相呼应。

Q & A

视频讨论了什么角色?

视频讨论了Final Fantasy 8游戏中的女主角Rinoa Heartilly。

视频对Rinoa的人物性格有何评价?

一开始视频认为Rinoa被刻画得相当天真幼稚,缺乏经验,但随后她被迫经历种种事件而成长蜕变。

Rinoa和游戏主角Squall之间有何渊源?

Rinoa是Squall在游戏中的恋人,两人的父母曾是恋人,使他们的命运产生了某种联系。

视频提到了哪些支持"Rinoa就是Ultimecia"理论的证据?

支持证据包括Rinoa和Ultimecia对孤独和被人类唾弃的恐惧、人物外形相似、以及Guardian Force Griever的重要性等。

视频对"Rinoa就是Ultimecia"理论持何观点?

视频认为这种理论会削弱游戏的主题和寓意,更倾向于将Ultimecia视为另一个悲剧性角色。

视频如何解释Guardian Force Griever的存在及意义?

根据日文版游戏,Griever不是真实存在的GF,而是Squall内心理想化的象征,Ultimecia借此侵入他的思想。

视频对Final Fantasy 8的主题有何见解?

视频认为游戏围绕着时间、命运和生命短暂的主题,最终传达了要珍惜当下、接受过去的积极寓意。

Rinoa在游戏结局中扮演了何种角色?

Rinoa体现了"活在当下"的理念,帮助Squall摆脱恐惧和执念,成为游戏寓意的重要支撑。

视频对日文和英文版本的差异有何评论?

视频认为日文版提供了更多语境信息,有助于更好理解角色动机和事件发展。

总的来说,视频对Rinoa这一角色持何评价?

视频认可Rinoa作为游戏女主角的重要性,她的成长过程和个人哲学都是叙事的重点组成部分。

Outlines

00:00

🎮 Final Fantasy 8 中的雷诺阿角色解析

本段讨论了《最终幻想8》中的女主角雷诺阿，包括她在粉丝中的两极评价、与斯考尔的关系以及与游戏主要反派阿尔希米西亚之间的理论联系。雷诺阿是游戏中唯一一个没有在艾迪亚孤儿院长大的主要角色，她的成长背景和与其他角色的不同让她面对着孤立和经验不足的挑战。早期，她的天真和理想主义在面对现实世界的复杂性和危险时被强烈突显出来，尤其是在她与父亲的冲突和对抗艾迪亚女巫时。雷诺阿的角色设计旨在展现她的成长和如何逐渐适应后续事件。

05:02

🕰️ Final Fantasy 8 的时间、命运和遗产主题

探讨了《最终幻想8》中关于时间、命运和家族遗产的主题，及其如何通过雷诺阿和其他角色的故事被描绘出来。雷诺阿的母亲朱莉亚与拉古纳的未果之恋及其对后代的影响，体现了过去对现在的影响和命运的循环。此外，通过雷诺阿与斯考尔的关系，游戏展现了时间的宝贵和把握当下的重要性。讨论还触及了阿尔希米西亚的角色，她与雷诺阿共享的被人类恐惧和排斥的深层恐惧，以及这如何与游戏的核心主题相联系。

10:03

🔮 关于雷诺阿是阿尔希米西亚的理论探讨

详细探索了雷诺阿可能是游戏最终大反派阿尔希米西亚的理论，包括支持和反对这一理论的证据。这一理论基于雷诺阿和阿尔希米西亚之间的相似性，如深层的恐惧、外貌的相似以及“狂暴”的重要性。此理论提供了对游戏故事的另一种解释，将其从一个简单的爱情故事转变为具有悲剧色彩的叙事。然而，也讨论了这一理论的弱点，包括它如何与游戏的其他元素和主题相矛盾。

15:04

🎭 Final Fantasy 8 故事解读与角色发展

综合讨论了《最终幻想8》的故事解读，特别是关于雷诺阿与阿尔希米西亚关系的理论，以及这一理论对游戏整体叙事的影响。探讨了雷诺阿和阿尔希米西亚作为角色的深度、游戏中时间和死亡主题的探讨，以及如何理解雷诺阿的角色成长和她与斯考尔的关系。最后，提出了反对雷诺阿即阿尔希米西亚理论的观点，强调游戏是关于接受过去和共同前行的乐观信息，而不是一场未遂的悲剧。

20:07

🌟 Final Fantasy 8 的积极主题和结局探索

总结了《最终幻想8》的正面主题和乐观结局，强调雷诺阿对故事的重要性以及她与斯考尔之间的关系如何促进了主题的发展。讨论了游戏中对时间、爱情和个人成长的探讨，以及如何通过角色的旅程传达了抓住当下的信息。最后，反驳了雷诺阿即阿尔希米西亚的理论，认为这一理论削弱了游戏的核心信息和角色的发展，强调了《最终幻想8》作为一个关于爱、成长和希望的故事。

Keywords

💡Rinoa

Rinoa是《最终幻想8》中的女主角，视频中对她的性格和角色发展进行了深入的讨论。视频指出Rinoa的角色在粉丝中引发了不同的看法，有的人认为她是一个活泼的角色，有助于主角Squall打开心扉，而有的人则认为她的人物设定过于刻意。在游戏中，Rinoa代表了理想主义和青春的冲动，这些特点在她的决策和行动中表现出来，尤其是在她试图将个人政治理想付诸实践时。

💡Squall

Squall是《最终幻想8》的男主角，视频中探讨了他和Rinoa之间的关系以及他个人的性格发展。Squall最初被描述为一个内向的角色，随着故事的发展，Rinoa的影响使他逐渐打开心扉。视频强调了Squall个性中的转变，以及这种转变如何影响游戏的主题和情节发展。

💡Ultimecia

Ultimecia是《最终幻想8》中的主要反派角色，她是一个来自未来的女巫。视频中讨论了关于Rinoa可能是Ultimecia未来形态的理论，以及这一理论对游戏故事的影响。Ultimecia的行为和动机在视频中被分析，尤其是她对时间和恐惧的态度，这些都与游戏的主题紧密相关。

💡时间

时间是《最终幻想8》中一个重要的主题，视频中探讨了它如何影响角色和故事发展。Ultimecia试图通过压缩时间来逃避死亡和被遗忘，而主角们则学会珍惜当下，接受时间的流逝。这一主题在Rinoa和Squall的关系以及他们对待生活的态度中得到体现。

💡理想主义

视频中提到Rinoa的理想主义，这是她角色的一个核心特点。她试图将自己的理想付诸实践，但在现实世界中遇到了挑战。Rinoa的理想主义与游戏中其他角色的现实主义形成对比，体现了年轻一代对于世界的看法和行动方式。

💡爱情

爱情是《最终幻想8》的一个主要主题，视频特别强调了Rinoa和Squall之间的爱情故事如何影响他们的个人成长和游戏的结局。他们的关系展示了如何通过相互支持和理解来克服难关，这与游戏的核心信息——珍惜当下和人际关系的重要性——密切相关。

💡孤独

孤独是视频中讨论的一个主题，特别是在探讨Rinoa和Ultimecia的角色时。两者都经历了被人类社会排斥和恐惧的孤独感，这种情感是她们行动的驱动力之一。孤独不仅影响角色的决策，也是游戏探讨人类经验的方式之一。

💡成长

视频强调了角色成长的主题，特别是Squall和Rinoa如何通过经历和相互影响而成长。成长是游戏故事的核心元素，通过角色从经历中学习和改变，观众可以看到他们如何克服困难，实现自我发现。

💡命运

命运是《最终幻想8》中的一个关键主题，视频中探讨了角色是如何被命运所引导和限制的。游戏中的命运观念与时间紧密相关，特别是在探讨Ultimecia的目的和Rinoa与Squall的关系时。命运的主题探讨了预定论与自由意志之间的张力。

💡恐惧

恐惧是视频中讨论的一个重要主题，尤其是在分析Ultimecia和Rinoa的动机时。Ultimecia对被遗忘和死亡的恐惧推动了她试图通过时间压缩来逃避这些命运。而Rinoa的恐惧则体现在她对孤独和未来不确定性的担忧上。恐惧在游戏中被用作探索角色内心世界和驱动故事发展的工具。

Highlights

rinoa是一位引起分歧的角色,一些人认为她活泼可爱,完美地让沉闷的squall打开内心,另一些人则认为她的个性做作且不太可信,存在只为推动squall的人物发展。

Rinoa有着与ultimecia相似的深层恐惧,即孤独、被人类憎恨,以及时光流逝。

rinoa和ultimecia在肉体上的相似性,以及griever守护者对她们两人的重要性,是支持她们为同一人的证据。

rinoa告诉squall要好好珍惜当下,因为未来没有保证,这与ultimecia对时间流逝的悲观看法形成对比。

fisherman's horizon中rinoa和squall的约会,体现了rinoa珍惜当下的理念,却也暗示了接下来剧情的阴暗转折。

rinoa和ultimecia的共同点是害怕被人类仇视,这也是促使ultimecia策划时间压缩的原因之一。

rinoa在鲜花田的梦预示了她在时间压缩中与squall失散的经历。

根据日文版解释,griever不是一个真实存在的守护者,而是一个squall心中的理想化符号,ultimecia将其具现化以对抗他。

ultimecia能够窥探squall的记忆,解释了她为何提及他幼年时的大姐。

如果rinoa就是ultimecia,她将试图杀死自己过去的爱人squall和自己,这似乎说不通。

rinoa和ultimecia可视为两种人生态度的寄托,前者珍惜生命的短暂,后者试图逃避生命的终结。

如果rinoa是ultimecia,将破坏游戏的主题和信息——orphans成长为自信的个体,拥抱爱与友谊,享受短暂而宝贵的当下。

rinoa教会了squall享受当下、珍惜生命的理念,这正是剧情的高潮与结论。

结尾中squall和rinoa在露台上的镜头,体现了他们从孤独走向并肩同行、拥抱生活的人生历程。

rinoa的"活在当下"理念对游戏主题的贡献,凸显了她这一角色在故事中的重要地位。

Transcripts

[Music]

hello today I'm discussing rinoa the

female lead and tempestuous love

interest of Final Fantasy 8 now like all

party members in Final Fantasy 8 Renault

a divides opinion with the fan base with

some finding her a fun-loving lively

individual perfect for prising squall

out of his introverted emotional state

and others finding her a somewhat

contrived and improbable personality

that exists only to perform this

function you know for developing squall

additionally fan theory has persisted

around Reno's relationship to the main

antagonist ultimecia for a number of

years and this has maintained an

interest in controversy around the

central game events because depending on

what you believe this game is either an

optimistic love story or a complete

tragedy which I'll touch on shortly but

beginning at the beginning and looking

at Renault Annelle as she is the only

member of the main party not to

originate at ideas orphanage and as such

she lacks the deep-seated insecurities

as orphans that the others have to

reconcile with and also the subsequent

bond through shared history that these

orphans later develop as such rinoa

faces her own obstacles of isolation and

inexperience early on having not been

raised in the combat centric academies

of garden and learns the hard way when

trying to implement her political

idealism into the complexities and the

dangers of the real world as I've stated

in previous episodes

rinoa is well established to this end

seeming to have a somewhat pampered

existence aboard the timber train with

her flamboyantly decorated bedroom her

nickname being the princess and a

seemingly spontaneous means of planning

missions by honking down on the floor

with zone and Watts and conjuring ideas

out of thin air which immediately

frustrates squall her inexperience is

further conveyed shortly afterwards when

we witnessed the petulant rift with her

father general caraway and she seems to

be in the throes of both teenage

rebellion and a revolutionary fighting

the system streak which is ironic and

complicated considering her father's

stature within the kalpate in military

but to this end much like how squall

isn't meant to be objectively likable at

the beginning of the game

owing to his blunt introversion rinoa is

equally intended to be frustrating in

the opening events of the game

owing to her extreme naivety which is

eroded once she's finally confronted

with the ruthlessness of sorceress edea

or optimi sia and later having to come

to terms with the trauma of being

ostracized from the world when she

actually you know becomes a sorceress

herself so looking at the assassination

mission deling city this is a

significant example of renault 'as early

impulsiveness as her idealistic

half-cocked plan to subdue the sorceress

with an odin mangu compromises the

meticulous planning of caraway and seed

and very nearly ruins the entire thing

for both the gateway team and the sniper

team events leading up to this seize

quistis give rinoa a blunt dressing down

over her improbable plan which I

discussed in my Christus episode and we

also have general caraway attempting to

confine her to the house while the

mission takes place the quistis is guilt

and attempt to apologize you know about

her bluntness prompts the whole sewer

scenario after the Gateway team get

locked in the house and Zell

appropriately states at this point that

we're smack dab in the middle of a

family quarrel the sniper team or

squallin Irving are also forced to act

when renault is planned to subdue the

sorceress quickly goes to ship and the

sorceress is decision to incapacitate

and feed rinoa to some sentient lizard

statues forces squall and Irving to

abandon their post and rescue her indeed

it's interesting to note how rinoa in

her youthful idealism and naivety

doesn't spare a fort for her actions

while we're controlling her on the way

to a deer and how compromising the seed

mission would see everyone including

probably her father almost certainly

being executed and instead we see her

monologuing to herself about how

she's strong and she's going to prove

herself which we very quickly discover

is not the case so I may seem like I'm

being hypercritical of rinoa here and

I'd like to stress that I do really

enjoy her as a character in what I've

stated numerous times I consider to be

one of the most beautiful game

narratives I've played through but again

it's important to establish much like

squall how flawed she is at the

beginning of the game to really

appreciate how she is gradually forced

to endure and adapt to later events that

come her way literally transitioning

from the pampered revolutionary princess

so the misunderstood and widely feared

sorceress before I proceed into the

second stage of Renault his character

arc it's worth noting how the story in

the themes of Final Fantasy 8 while on

the surface are often regarded as

romantic hinge heavily on ideas of time

and lineage and fate and the

multi-generational angle and ripple

effect of Laguna's actions in the past

inform the world and characters of the

present and I think this is a

beautifully constructed addition to

underline the core story regarding rinoa

I really like how her mother Julia was

the much-coveted early love interest for

Laguna and how this opportunity passed

them by

and how you know the stars never aligned

for them as it were but they did a

generation later you know for their

children squall rinoa

which adds a fresh poignant to the

shooting star scene that we see during

walks for the moon and although you know

I'm not going to dwell on these early

courting stages of rinoa because I think

that's self-explanatory it's very

interesting that rinoa is an outlier to

the central party but is still

inadvertently drawn into these events

and this fated circle of characters

owing to Laguna's actions in the past or

in this case his inaction in the past

that led up to the events of her meeting

squall on this notes it's interesting to

consider the rinoa squall date at

fisherman's horizon because it

brilliantly exemplifies the idea of time

and the virtuous aspects of Renault as

character which as she explains to

squall

is to value each moment as it comes

because the future is never guaranteed

which is both a wake-up call for squall

but also strangely foreshadowing as the

following this scenic enjoyable lull in

the action of fisherman's horizon

everything takes a turn for the worst

you know shortly afterwards so I'm going

to edge shortly into the optimist year

discussion but it's worth noting here

that one of the core consistencies

between rinoa and Artemisia is the

deep-seated fear that they both share at

mankind's reaction to them as

sorceresses indeed looking at ultimecia

speech to the crowd at deling city she

states something along the lines of you

know I'm I'm the sorceress you've

condemned for generations for example

and there's a few other snippets in her

fleetingly explored character that

inclined towards this sort of thing you

know being feared being hated and and

reacting to that for a noaa's part she

expresses a profound fear at various

points in the game firstly following her

brush with sorceress edea and the OD'ing

mangu later aboard the Ragnarok during

her emotional reunion with squall and

here she states everything's about to

change for them and shortly afterwards

she discusses her dream where she's left

alone and can't remember where she's

supposed to go and meet squall which

prompts the symbolic scene of them

standing together in the flower field so

many of you when I was fear in this

scene as symbolic and the first inkling

of her presumed future tragedy likely

hinging around the loss of squall and a

series of unfortunate events that would

lead to her becoming the vindictive

sorceress ultimecia for my part I agreed

that this scene in the flower field is

symbolic but I personally always felt

it's because it's foreshadows her loss

of squall during time compression in the

ending of the game and her efforts to

find him again which were witnessed you

know in the ending FMV if we turn to the

japanese translation of the game which

really helps in contextualizing

ultimecia

and events in the ending

the reason rinoa can't remember where to

meet squall and vice-versa is the

effects of time compression which is of

course being lost in time but also a

sort of amnesia and to loosely quote all

ultimecia in the japanese your very

existence shall be absorbed by time

compression you will feel agony as your

thoughts a ripped apart and all your

memories fade away to nothing there

won't be a thing you can do think or

even feel that's the world I'm going to

send you to so reading this and looking

at the bleak nothingness that squall

winds up in the confusion on his face

under the flashing montage of abstract

memories he witnesses it makes a lot

more sense that this is an effect of

time compression and the event earlier

foreshadowed Byron Ella and her

conversation in the flower field and

this is of course the place that she

eventually helps him back to so you know

again this kind of symbolic loop occurs

there and on the note of language it's

interesting to consider just how much

this impacts the mood and the coherence

of the game and a recent comment on

Mizell episode once again notes how the

German version of Final Fantasy 8 gives

yet another slightly different context

for events and characters in certain

situations and this is important

regarding optimist year and the theories

pertaining towards her and her origins

and her intentions so moving now into

the end game and the rinoa as ultimecia

fan theory it's an interesting idea

which I've always enjoyed with a sort of

wry smile and as I mentioned earlier it

puts a somewhat tragic twist on what is

otherwise a horse and romantic

conclusion it's a theory that's also

useful for resolving the common

accusation that ultimecia is a somewhat

random addition to the end of the story

which as I explained in my Adia episode

is a very meticulously written

generational and hereditary narrative

that deals with overlapping

relationships between past and present

and slotting ultimecia into the story

Azra Noah's tragic future does kind of

complement this theme of time which

permeates the game

heavily as well as this generational

idea so there's a bit of needle between

some fans who adamantly believe opposing

sides of this and some who simply I'm

sorry the way so I'm going to broadly

outline the ideas for both and looking

at the evidence for ultimecia

being rinoa which was proposed about as

early as 2001 2002 it generally relies

on three core components which are a

seeming consistency between ultimecia

and renault is deep-seated fears which

is being alone being hated and time

slipping away from them the assumed

physical similarity between them if we

squint past the ostentatious aesthetics

and markings that Optima Xie and the

other sorceresses seem to have and

finally the significance of griever as

an artifact and Guardian force which is

utilized in two-game moments

the first being squall lending it to

rinoa where we have the opportunity to

name it and the second being when

ultimecia summons it at the end of the

game now regarding the first point I

mentioned earlier Renault is speech to

squall about how the future is never

guaranteed and I quote here there are no

guarantees in the future that's why

today the time we have now is important

squall and I mentioned this short quote

because the mention of time passing does

draw some comparison to one of autumn EC

as closing dialogues and here I quote

Artemisia as you become an adult you

leave something behind throw something

away time will not wait for you even if

you cling to it it slips away the

instance you open your hands and

comparing these two statements they are

saying very similar things about the

finiteness of being and the relentless

passing of time it's just the one is

optimistic we have rinoa stating you

should make the most of the time that is

giving to us and the other is

pessimistic with ultimecia lamenting the

impermanence of things which prompts the

whole time compression scheme is in the

first place so if we assume autumn

Ashiya is rinoa in the future along with

the common assumption that score has

died at some point it seems clear

how ideas pertaining to life and time

could be the same but a slightly more

warped and embittered and cynical

you know version as she loses those who

she loves we also have the consistent

dialogue points with rinoa and/or

tamesha's aforementioned statements

about being hated by mankind which seems

to be a factor to autumn issues

motivations as well and the historic

condemnation of sorceresses

is a fear that whoa for an hour an

optimist you you know seem to have and

moving on to the second point we have

the aesthetic similarity and to be

honest I don't this is neither here nor

there and we could equally argue

ultimecia looks like quistis going to

Tessio Nomura's relatively homogeneous

character designs for this game but

wholesome easier certainly doesn't look

dissimilar to rinoa either and there are

some consistencies with the wings and

the feather symbols that draw them

closer together as Sorceress's which

I'll touch on shortly and then on that

note there has been some arguments that

you know perhaps ultimecia is like an

ancestor of Rinella but as far as I'm

aware there's nothing to indicate that

the sorceresses powers are hereditary in

terms of bloodlines and family but

rather they get passed on to whoever's

susceptible in the vicinity and finally

we have griever and grieve is an

interesting one because taking the game

at face value it does seem like a very

oddly placed thing within the story with

griever being significant enough to name

but only referenced two or three times

in the story and you know why does it

manifest in the ending when we're

battling or tamesha well theories here

proposed that griever is a DF associated

with squalls ring and renault his

inheritance of this ring allows her to

junction and utilize it in the future

when we come to fight her it's the one

remnant of squall that she has left and

this lends significance to the fact we

are allowed to mean it because it's

associated with our hero squall and

something he passes on to her Noah but

we also name it because it's a gf and of

course we name all of the gfs that we

acquire in this game

so there may be a couple of points that

I've missed out here but generally these

are the core elements of the Rinella

ultimecia theory that people gravitate

towards in their reading of the game

with another more moderate idea being

ultimecia is some distant relative over

an hour which again could be possible

but as I've said there's nothing to

suggest in the game that sorceresses

powers are hereditary either so the more

conventional reading of the story and

these aforementioned elements hinges

less on speculation about how rinoa

could have become evil and accepts that

ultimecia is a tortured separate entity

and a sorceress from the future driven

to evil because of man codes hatred of

her and a seemingly profound fear of

death which I've categorized in my final

fantasy a retrospective as an

existential death anxiety time

compression solves numerous problems for

ultimecia because it creates a void

wherein only she can exist

removing the obstacle of mankind hating

her and it also removes time as a

dimension meaning there's no past

present and future

which means it's no longer possible to

die this conventional reading also

accepts the Renault and squall live

happily ever after and that Final

Fantasy 8 is ostensibly a love story

rather than a Shakespearean tragedy

returning to the autumn Ischia quote as

you become an adult you leave something

behind time will not wait for you even

if you cling to it it slips away while

this does draw parallels with rinoa

statements we must appreciate that they

are both addressing squall in these

respective conversations and I always

felt that ultimecia is dialogue here was

in reference to her own fear of death

and time slipping away but also directed

at squall and his experience of losing

big sis and his subsequent fear of

abandonment because time and

impermanence as we've discussed a key

themes of Final Fantasy 8 and why would

optimist you know about squalls past and

big sis well there's evidence for this

when turning to my next point about

griever now regarding griever the

Japanese version once again offers a

little more calm

texts to this and you know this slightly

misjudged English translation doesn't

really help flesh altimeter out at all

and what we learned from the Japanese is

that griever isn't some existent being

or gf the squaws always sought out or

carried around in his ring all this time

but rather it's a fictional personal

symbol that he's created for himself

as something to live up to and admire a

squall specific brand or logo if you

like during our battle with ultimecia

she states that she will conjure this

thing that he's always admired in his

mind and bring it into existence to use

against him

and the more he believes in its power

the stronger it will become and this

seems pretty crazy but it does share

some consistencies with what we know

about sorceress is powers and for

example Adia conjured up those Iguana

statues you know into into existence way

back in deling city but it also confirms

that ultimecia

has access to squads mind and memories

to some degree which explains why she'd

be talking about and referencing his

childhood and big sis in the

aforementioned dialogue so those are the

loose arguments for rinoa being

ultimecia or not and I think they both

have strengths and weaknesses to them

and it's worth noting that although

Yoshinori courtesy has out rightly

stated that rinoa is not optimus yo it's

worth noting that this game was largely

written by Kazushige nojima who is a

very nuanced and discreet writer who

would have been more than capable of

slipping this him if he'd wanted to but

for my part and my opinion for what it's

worth my concern with the theory about

rinoa being ultimecia is that she's

returning back to a time and attempting

to kill both her former lover squall and

her past self you know formally rinoa

which seems somewhat inexplicable to me

and she doesn't address this at all

and does it not simply make more sense

that you know with this conventional

reading she is simply a widely

persecuted and deeply tragic sorceress

who sought to eradicate her her

oppressors and the prospect of death

through time

compression and then attempting to

destroy those who were destined to

destroy her she's created this tragic

self-fulfilling prophecy and it seems

much more fitting this way to me because

while you know there are contrasts to

run our own ultimecia in terms of the

wings like the white wings and the black

wings and the feathers it seems much

more fitting that much like squall and

cipher being mirror images to one

another and embodying these polarized

personality types so to our rinoa and

ultimecia

mirror images of one another with one

embracing life you know because of its

impermanence and times relentless

passing and the other lamenting mists

and trying to prevent it most

importantly for me to believe that rinoa

is ultimecia is to undermine the themes

and the message and the story of this

game and the growth our characters have

undergone from insecure lonely orphans

to self-sufficient individuals who are

no longer alone you know celebrating

love togetherness and enjoying their

time together while it lasts and this is

the entire purpose of that joyful home

movie footage that we see during the

credit role of the game and rinoa being

together with squall on the balcony

during the game we saw alone try to try

and change the past and she failed and

we saw ultimecia try and change the past

and she failed and where they failed

squall and rinoa and our party succeeded

because they accepted the past and moved

on together instead of trying to change

it and that for me is the overwhelmingly

optimistic life-affirming message and

conclusion of Final Fantasy 8 so that

about wraps up my thoughts on rinoa I'm

conscious that I kind of said swayed off

and started talking about you know

autumn easier in this theory but I think

it's important to address that because

it is so prevalent and I think you know

if we look at it in light of you know

the themes in the story and what this

game has sort of built towards and what

these characters have built towards it

actually does you know a slight

disservice to the game if we entertain

this idea and I think looking at it in

light of the story conclusion with this

conventional reading we

actually see that the ultimecia Rinella

angle is kind of nonsensical really I

also think it's important that in light

of this and kind of in in portraying you

know the positive ending and the

optimistic side of this game in the

conventional reading of the game we can

actually see how important rinoa is to

the game because she does imbue this

sort of seize the moment enjoy your life

you know

seize the day sort of mentality in

school and it's this sort of enjoyed the

time we have

you know while we have it is very much

you know the conclusion that the squall

reaches and and the characters in this

game reach again you know going back to

the home movie footage I think really

embodies that quite well as a conclusion

so there we have it if you enjoyed this

episode you might also enjoy my

long-form Final Fantasy 8 analysis which

is available on the channel along with

some of my other character episodes and

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