Rinoa Heartilly

Rinoa Heartilly (or Linoa in French) is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. She is best known for her trademark 'Angel Wings' which are printed on the back of her duster sweater and as such her 'character symbol' is a white feather that signifies the wings.

Appearance & Personality
Rinoa's hair is layered with three caramel highlights on each side of her black hair.

You first see Rinoa in a white gown with an off-white/ yellowish sheer fabric halter dress wearing her signature necklace, a bracelet on her right arm, and white shoes. Players see this ballroom outfit two-three times in the game.

Her signature outfit is a rib-knit blue hued long sleeveless duster sweater that has a pair of white wing designs on the back, which become actual feathered wings when she enters her Angel Wing state. She also wears matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black halter top, a denim button up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts that have zippers going down the front with a pair of silver buckled black boots.

Rinoa bears a striking resemblance to Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII. This is furthered by their surnames, Lockhart and Heartilly, both having a "heart" sound in them.

Rinoa's personality is everything that Squall's is not: feisty, compassionate, warm and friendly, and these traits annoy Squall to no end at first. However, opposites attract, and through the course of the game, they fall in love.

Story
Rinoa Heartilly is the daughter of General Caraway and Julia Heartilly. When Rinoa was five, Julia died in a car accident, and her relationship with her father grew rocky over time. She was born and raised in Deling City and even now she lives at home, but whenever her father becomes too much for her to handle she resides on a train stationed at or near Timber. In truth the train is actually the home-base of the Timber-based resistance group Forest Owls and as a member she is often found planning their strategies and using military tactics learnt from her father. Her father has full knowledge of her activities.

A year before the game's events Rinoa began a romantic relationship with a SeeD cadet named Seifer. It is from Seifer that she learnt of the mercenary-for-hire service that SeeD provided. Rinoa first met Squall during the SeeD celebration ball, where Squall had just recentaly graduated to become a full SeeD. Rinoa herself was on an errand on behalf of the Timber Owls to convince Headmaster Cid Kramer to employ some SeeD mercenaries to aid her cause and, with Squall's unwitting help, was able to find Seifer without being to conspicious on the dance floor. With Seifer's help she was introduced to Cid. Hearing her plight Cid immediately relented, allowing her the use of a group of three SeeDs to be used at her disposal despite the meager payment she offered in return and the complaints of the Garden Faculty.

The three SeeD chosen were Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt and, perhaps by fate, Squall. While dissappointed that Seifer was not part of the squad when they arrived in Timber she was non-the-less elated that SeeD had come, enveloping Squall in a hug upon his arrival. The SeeD group at first willingly assisted in Rinoa's plans to kidnap Vinzer Deling, the President of Galbadia, in his own train. Although the plan was successfully deployed however, the 'President' aboard was a fake. Rendering it a failure and the SeeDs' confidence in the Timber group began to wane.

Returning to Timber they learn that the real President was going to be in the Timber TV Station. The Forest Owls attempt to hatch a new plan, with their SeeD mercenaries watching sceptically from a distance. Squall requests that he see the contract that bound the SeeD group to the Timber Owls and discovered that the groups were bound together as long as Timber remained under Galbadian oppression. While on there way to infiltrate the TV Station new intel indicates that, due to the large numbers of Galbadian guards, the agreed plan would have to be ditched. Squall expresses the SeeD group's missgivings about being part of such a casual organization and causes Rinoa to leave. Later, having seen the whole incident on the Timber TV Station screen and discover the Forest Owls' base destroyed, she returns and enters the station in pursuit of Seifer. Ordering the SeeD's to help her as their client they lie low while the town is searched by the Galbadian forces. Contemplating Seifer's fate leads Squall and Rinoa into another argument over their views on life before they are given word that it was clear to leave town. On their way to Galbadia Garden the two argue again, this time about Squall's cold attitude towards his team mates. The group makes it to the Garden and, after reminencing about Seifer who they presumed was dead from execution and Rinoa herself revealing her past relationship with him, receives new orders. Rinoa pretends that she is a SeeD to avoid conflict and join Squall's group in heading to Deling City to meet their contact, General Caraway. Caraway locks his daughter in another room and then turns to inform the SeeD of his plan to assassinate the sorceress Edea. When the briefing finished Rinoa finally managed to escape the room, rushing to Quistis to tell her of another plan to stop the sorceress by getting her to wear the Odine Bangle, but Quistis berated her; thinking that Rinoa's plan was only contrived to oppose her father's plan, and walked off to her position. Left to her own devices Rinoa proceeded to carry out her plan, infiltrating the Presidential Residence she offers the bangle to Edea as a gift but it seemed that the sorceress had seen through her plan as Edea instead casts a spell that renders Rinoa under her control. Like a puppet Rinoa placidly follows Edea out onto the pedestal where she is designated as a sacrifice for the ceramony. Squall and Irvine manage to infiltrate the Presidential Residence in time to save her and in return she stayed and fought beside Squall when he attacked Edea. However the attack proved unsuccessful and the group was captured and imprisoned bar Irvine who managed to escape. Irvine would eventually return, acting on orders from presumably Rinoa's father, to retrieve Rinoa from imprisonment and, with tenacious convincing from Rinoa, the pair would assist the rest of the group's escape from the compound. During their capture the group collectively learned that in retaliation for the attack on Sorceress Edea Galbadia had targeted Balamb and Trabia Gardens for missile attack. Splitting into two groups; Squall's group and Selphie's group, the escapees managed to save Balamb Garden from destruction and finally reunite in Fisherman's Horizon.



Weapons
Rinoa's weapon of choice is the Blaster Edge, a boomerang-like weapon that can be propelled from a device on the back of the wielder's wrist. It should be noted that Rinoa can't seem to handle the recoil of the weapon, as she is shoved back by it every time she uses it. There are five Blaster Edge types/models available for Rinoa to use throughout the game, they are: The Pinwheel, The Valkyrie, The Rising Sun, The Cardinal and The Shooting Star

Combine
Combine is Rinoa's primary Limit, in which Rinoa teams up with Angelo to perform a variety of attacks, as well as certain effects, as well. To gain access to Combine moves, you have to read about them in Pet Pal magazines. You then pick the move you wish to learn next in the status screen, and then learn it simply by walking. Progress in each skill is marked in steps, so keep walking, and the skill will be learned eventually. However several of Angelo's abilities are not triggered by the actual Limit command, and are, rather, triggered by events throughout the battle.

Combine Skills
 * Angelo Rush: An Interceptor-esque counter. Not triggered by Limit.
 * Angelo Strike: Angelo jumps into the air with an enemy, rotates 360 degrees and slams them down causing medium physical damage.
 * Angelo Recover: Angelo will heal an ally's HP, randomly.  Not triggered by Limit.
 * Angelo Reverse: Angelo will revive a fallen Ally.  Not triggered by Limit.
 * Angelo Cannon: Rinoa launches Angelo off her wrist, creating an explosion and causing slight physical damage.
 * Invincible Moon: Rinoa throws a bone for Angelo and he jumps up in front of the moon, causing its rays to shine on the party, making them temporarily invincible.
 * Angelo Search: Angelo finds an item in the battlefield.  Not triggered by Limit.
 * Wishing Star: Rinoa jumps on Angelo's back, knocking enemies into space and attacking them multiple times, doing high physical damage. This Limit is exceedingly rare in occurrence.

Angel Wing
Angel Wing is Rinoa's second Limit, gained after a significant event late in the story. Angel Wing boosts Rinoa's magic stat to 255, and puts her into a Berserk-like state in which she uses only magic. Rinoa will use any magic from a different stock of magic (more specificly her Sorceress magic) any magic she casts will not come from the Para-Magic stoked during the game. She regretably tends to use curative spells on enemys while in Angel Wing state. Angel Wing can be made into the most effective limit break in the game if Rinoa's magic inventory is modified; removing spells such as Scan and Dispel and leaving spells such as Meteor will allow Rinoa to cause much more damage.

Triple Triad

 * A Level 10 Card, notable for one of its highest point A.
 * Carries no elemental attribute.
 * 1 Card can be refined into 3 Magic Armlets.
 * To obtain:
 * Win the second card game against General Caraway after losing the Ifrit card to him on the first, or,
 * Win a card game against the CC Group in the Ragnarok Airship in Disc 4.

Creation and Development
Nomura had difficulty drawing Rinoa. Nomura wanted to create a character that would leave an impression on the viewer; instead of a beauty, he wanted something cute. He had a hard time with this, and feels that some of his personal preferences were included in the design. For Rinoa he also created a cute vocabulary list and some ideas for her habits which were then sent off to Nojima. For his part Nojima wanted to have Rinoa like books and reading. This is the reason why she was always found in the library at Balamb Garden. She even asks Zell about the 'Pupurun' book series but he's embarrased to say what it's about. One development point that did not make the Japanese-to-English translation was Rinoa's habit of forming cutesy words (much like Selphie). One such word was oHARO~ ("ohayo" (good morning) and "HELLO" put together). Mayuko Aoki acted out the motion capture needed for Rinoa's FMV sequences however Yasuko Yokoyama, not Mayuko Aoki, was Rinoa's motion actress for the dance party. Hoshimi Asai performed the action (stunt) scenes for Rinoa, like when Rinoa fell down the side of Balamb Garden. During the game Rinoa does not have a voice, but in some FMVs she is heard breathing. Foley artists in the U.S.A. recorded and mixed all the sounds featured in the FMV Movies.

Musical Themes
The romance between Squall and Rinoa was always accompanied by a variation of Julia Heartilly's "Eyes on Me". Rinoa's introduction in Balamb Garden's Dance Hall was accompanied by the Eyes on Me variation "Waltz for the Moon" and her second introduction on the Timber Owls train was accompanied by another variant, titled My Mind.

Kingdom Hearts series
Her appearance in the Kingdom Hearts series has been hinted at during the ending of Kingdom Hearts II. Leon is seen reading a letter, from which a small pink winged heart rises, the wings referring to Rinoa.



Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special
Rinoa, along with a other Squaresoft characters from the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, appears in Itadaki Street Special, a game that resembles Monopoly. It has only been released in Japan.

Trivia

 * Rinoa has a fanmade design, known as the "Dion Rogers Rinoa" that is popular amongst cosplayers.

Etymology
Rumour has it that Rinoa's name was supposed to be "Lenore". As it goes a concept designer had seen this name common in occult or witchcraft related text. They transliterated the name to Japanese and brought it to Squaresoft but due to unknown circumstances Squaresoft was unable to decipher the name, so the name "Rinoa" had to stay.