Rinoa is Ultimecia - Final Fantasy VIII Fan Theory

[@The_Claymores]

Kitase later clarified in an interview that there were three writers for FF8: himself, Nomura and Nojima. So although Kitase didn't write Rinoa to be Ultimecia, he said its possible that Nomura or Nojima added that nuance into the story.

[@Voidmoney]

Thanks for the info!

[@ryuichimiyazaki5620]

Just to add, Kitase didnt know about Zack in FF7 til near the release of the game

[@KieranHamilton-y7s]

True but it was confirmed to not be her canonically and people I think are not understanding that they both exist as thematic contrast.

[@KingJaeTV]

Wish there was more behind Ultimecia because it just seems like she was the witch from the future who went back in time and controlled other witches...

[@VincentSaturn]

I believe this theory and it made so much more sense to the story. There’s so many more clues to this. 1)In the opening, when Rinoa runs into Squall, arms, the feathers around her are black like Ultimecia’s 2)Ultimecia and Rinoa share the same weapons in Dissidia, Ultimecia does the finger point gesture and even says “shall we dance?” 3)at some point in FF8, Squall tells Rinoa “I’ll be your knight even if you turn ‘evil’” 4)Ultimecia’s castle is floating right near the orphanage, above the field where Rinoa and squall were to meet I’m sure there are more. I’ll just have to play it again to see

[@Voidmoney]

Great stuff! I did come across lots of symbolism like this when I was researching the video. There's quite a lot of that sort of thing.

[@peropero2208]

Also another person said that Rinoa and Ultimecia are similar as they both have pets (Though I wouldn't really call Griever a pet if I also think of him as Squall turned GF)

[@captainsquarters1030]

Love the theory, and was super happy to hear Kitase recanted.

[@TitansTracks]

First of all great video, I love watchin these theory videos! I absolutely agree with what you said at the end. I have never played this game, but I was still intrigued by the theory. Not because of any drama or discord but because I legit love this medium as an art form. There's so much you can take away from a game, especially if it's made by a passionate (or well paid) team of developers! It truly is a special individual experience! Also I love how the editing just got more corrupted as you were ranting ahaha.

[@Voidmoney]

Thank you so much Titan! This comment means so much.

[@Chris_P_Bacon62]

Even though I've never believed the Rinoa=Ultimecia theory, I've always found it very intriguing. It would be awesome if it were true. That being said, I've always been open to the possibility that Ultimecia might be Squall and Rinoa's daughter or granddaughter.

[@Voidmoney]

Very interesting theory. The one thing about FF8 that I find very interesting is that the story is basically a bootstrap paradox, depending on Ultimecia passing on her powers to Edea, and then to Rinoa, so I guess one thing I wonder is if the powers just end up coming full circle back to Ultimecia.

[@Chris_P_Bacon62]

@@Voidmoney One thing I know for sure is that Edea was already a sorceress before she received Ultimecia's powers at the end, and I've always found it interesting that Ultimecia dies 13 years before the start of the game, and how young Squall had just missed her. As for who Edea originally got her powers from, nobody knows, but she first became a sorceress at age 5, iirc. I know that Ultimecia lives many generations in the future, but we don't know exactly how many generations, so I think the developers intentionally left that up to us to decide. As for Ultimecia's age, I don't think the developers even know because it's irrelevant to the story, but she looks like she could be anywhere from 28 to 60. It's cool that the developers left some of this stuff up to interpretation, just like in ff7 when Cloud and Tifa supposedly had sex under the Highwind. We don't actually see what they did because it skips over to the next morning, but I think they left it up to us to decide what they actually did between point A and point B. You can believe that they played poker all night if you wanted to 😆

[@Voidmoney]

One of the things that I find somewhat disappointing is when fandoms unnecessarily establish what happens behind the scenes to the point that there's nothing to speculate on -- as a fan of literature, I enjoy when writers leave interpretation up to the reader. Those gaps that give space for fans to fill in are what allow conversations to take place in games decades later. There are a lot of things left unsaid in FF8, and actually having those ah-ha moments connecting the dots is part of what makes the world intriguing. While I'm not particularly interested in the stories of most of the main cast, I do think they did an exceptional job on the supporting characters, and figuring out what they were up to behind the scenes is the thing that drove me through the game. Laguna's story is sort of the epitome of that experience for me, but as time goes on I've felt more drawn to the mysterious Ultimecia, who years ago I thought of as a weak and absent villain.

[@hiyazaki09]

Ultimecia is Quistis 🤘🏻🤣👍🏻

[@nealhammersmith8798]

This story follows a boot strap paradox

[@Voidmoney]

Yes, which in my opinion makes it a lot more interesting. It explains a lot more about the motives of the villains (even Seifer).