Quistis Trepe

A child prodigy and Blue Mage Quistis Trepe is a playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. Fans of this character have been known to refer to themselves as 'Trepies' after the character's own in-game fan-club.

Appearance & Personality
Quistis is known as a child prodigy around Balamb Garden. At 15, she became a SeeD, while at 18, she is the youngest instructor in the Garden and even has her own fan club. However, because she is so young, she is more lax and not as strict as the other instructors, and this causes problems with some of her students not taking her as seriously as they should. Quistis is of a friendly disposition and always tries to maintain her calm. Due to her quiet assertiveness and restraint, very few people take the trouble to view her as the young woman she still is and so, forced to mull over her thoughts and worries alone, kept at a distance from her pupils by her rank, Quistis tends to brood a lot. It becomes apparant that she would love to develop a more personal relationship with the people around her, particularly with Squall. Yet she is hesitant to make a bold move and maintains her role instead. As a result, she gets moody and even depressed from time to time. Considering her history at Balamb Garden, it is hardly surprising that she regards the school as home. She is fiercely protective oabout the Garden and all that SeeD stands for. Quistis wears a pink zippered vest that extends to just above her hips, it also features a high colar. The lower half of the vest is worn open, revealing the midrift. Over her arms she has dark brown arm warmers with brown gloves. A long pink skirt that has pockets with a silver waistband with black pants, a brown belt and black shoes. She has her blond hair tied up at the back, held with a silver comb accessory, but keeps her fringe free to hang down either side of her face. As an instructor in Balamb Garden she wears her SeeD uniform and also wears a pair of silver rimmed glasses.

Story
Quistis grew up in the same orphanage as most of the other lead characters. After Ellone left, Quistis inherited her role as Squall's big sister. Soon after the orphanage group disbanded Quistis was sent to a foster family, but due to difficulties with her adoptive parents, she ran away and at some point ended up on the streets. At 13 she was brought to Balamb Garden, where at 15 she became a SeeD. Due to excessive GF use, Quistis mixes up the sisterly feelings she had towards Squall while at Edea's orphanage with feelings of love.

After the final examinations, she is dismissed by the Garden staff for her apparent inability to control Seifer, Quistis joins Squall, Zell, and Selphie on their mission to Timber, albeit in an ad hoc fashion. She becomes reinstated as instructor after the defeat of NORG, the shadow leader of Balamb Garden.

Limit Break
The blue magic system in Final Fantasy VIII is similar to those of the other installments. The difference is that it can only be used as Quistis' Limit Break. Blue magic involves learning enemy abilities, some of which are very powerful. Quistis learns Blue Magic by using special items that are obtained in various ways (winning a battle finishing a subquest, etc.). Once an item is used on Quistis, she will learn that ability permanently.

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 Samantha Souls.
 * To obtain:
 * Win a card game against one of the Trepies in the Balamb Garden classroom, or,
 * Win a card game against the CC Group in the Ragnarok Airship in Disc 4.

Creation and Development
When designing the characters, Nomura had wanted at least one female character to wear a skirt. Quistis was originally supposed to fill this part, but Nomura decided a long skirt worn over pants would look better. The role was eventually passed to Selphie.

Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable
Quistis is the only one of the Final Fantasy VIII cast to appear.

Etymology
Quistis' name makes use of the digraph Qu to represent k, as in the French word Qui, "who". Her name is pronounced as "Key-stiss".