Ultimecia.Final Fantasy VIII was recently re-released in physical form for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. It is one of three games in the “golden era” of the franchise (between Final Fantasy VII and IX ). A whole new generation of players now have the opportunity to play this legendary game. People who have already played the game also have the opportunity to reexamine different aspects of the experience, including famous characters and plot elements.
Spoilers ahead for Final Fantasy VIII.
I’m particularly interested in revisiting Ultimecia, the last villain in the game and a character who has never been given a clear motive for her highly questionable actions.
If you’ve never played the game (but are used to spoilers), the experience revolves around Squall Leonhart (not actually his real name), who is doing a mercenary internship at Balamb Garden Academy. Squall and his comrades take on paid missions to make a living. He finds it difficult to express himself and make connections with others because of the traumatic experiences he went through as a child. Squall’s walls begin to crumble when he meets Rinoa Hertilli, a member of a resistance group called the Wood Owls, who are trying to free their city from the oppressive Galbadian military.
As you progress through the game, you will learn more about what happened to Squall, why he passed out, and how Rinoa, his other classmates and friends help him become a more gullible person. You will also see why his antagonist (and classmate) Seifer Almasi is clearly seeking to end humanity. As with many Final Fantasy games , we get to know the enemy early on, who is ultimately not the one pulling the strings – the Seifer isn’t your main target. Rather, a mysterious and powerful figure known as Ultimecia controls events by literally possessing other characters (for most of the game, you are led to believe that Edea is, yes, another sorceress isis the main antagonist, although in fact she is a somewhat tragic figure. manipulated by Ultimecia).
What’s shocking here is that the game does a great job of exploring the backstory and motives of all the characters except Ultimecia. The final boss and main villain barely have 10 lines of dialogue throughout the walkthrough.
The desire to keep the veil of secrecy over the main threat of the game is understandable – only hinting at a real danger and preparing for an important disclosure. Final Fantasy VII has handled this well with Sephiroth. Admittedly, this is a difficult line. The idea, I think, is to make the characters (and, of course, the players themselves) feel uncomfortable even for the mere mention of the name of the antagonist. This is a great way to create tension.
But Ultimecia is treated very differently. It suddenly appears out of nowhere halfway through the story after you are lulled into a false sense of security that you have already dealt with a major threat. It’s only now that the situation is becoming much more confusing, as several timelines converge into one.
Ultimecia (from Dissidia Final Fantasy NT). Source: Nova Crystallis.
After a series of events, a plan is made to infiltrate her lair and take her out. The funny thing is that she lives in the future, where she is apparently the only person in the world. Whether she killed everyone herself or was the only one capable of surviving is one of the many unanswered questions. Upon arriving at her castle, you will see a bunch of dead SeeD soldiers lying at her doorstep (SeeD is the militia organization that Squall and his friends belong to). Apparently, they tried to get her out, but they failed.
When the battle begins, Ultimecia summons a beast, which is based on the jewelry Squall wore. This is a lion named Griever. Does this mean that there is some kind of connection between them? Again there is no answer.
Finally, having survived a terrible battle in which the sorceress goes through a series of transformations (Frieza, is that you?), She begins to utter the following words as her life gets closer and closer to zero: “Remember your childhood … your feeling … your words … your emotions … time … it won’t wait … no matter … how hard you hold on … it eludes you … and … “
The thing is, she’s about to finish these words – they indicate that she is more than just a normal final boss. She could just be an empathetic villain with a really interesting backstory. But she goes through part of the dialogue, and then she is killed. These breadcrumbs we received a few minutes before her death suggest that she went through something very traumatic and lost something irreplaceable – the awakening of her powers prompted her to do whatever she could to get it back.
There remains a mystery to which there is no definite answer. Fans have speculated about Ultimecia for years. One of the more interesting ideas is that she is actually Rinoa from the future (which makes sense given that Rinoa awakens her own magical powers during the game) and that she lost the love of her life (Flurry) and tried to return by the time she was with him to spend eternity there. This theory is supported by the fact that Ultimecia owns the Griever, a monster that Rinoa knew about after she asked Squall if she could borrow his ring (which was engraved with a monster).
As fun as the fan speculation is, this is not a replacement for the chasm of nothingness we were left with at the end of Final Fantasy VIII , at least when it comes to Ultimecia. Shedding a little more light on this character through the game could give her a better connection to the plot, which could interest and push players forward. Instead, confronting the Ultimecia leaves you feeling indifferent. It feels like you don’t really know who you are fighting – you just have to defeat them to finish the game and watch the credits.
