Rinoa Heartilly

Rinoa Heartilly is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII.

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 (possibly born Rinoa Caraway) is the daughter of General Caraway of the Galbadian Army, and Julia Heartilly, a famous singer. When Rinoa was five, Julia died in a car accident, and her relationship with her father was rocky. She eventually left home and joined an anti-Galbadian resistance group in Timber called the Forest Owls.

Rinoa first meets Squall Leonhart at the SeeD celebration ball, where she convinces him to dance with her. Her purpose for being at the ball was to convince Cid Kramer to let her hire a small group of SeeDs to help her group liberate Timber from Galbadian occupation. The three chosen were Squall, Zell Dincht, and Selphie Tilmitt, and according to the contract between Cid and Rinoa, they were to be bound to the Forest Owls until they liberated Timber. Because of this, Rinoa joined the party, along with her faithful dog Angelo.

After an attack on Edea at Galbadia Garden, Rinoa received Edea's powers and became a sorceress. Ultimecia possessed Rinoa and made her open the seal to Adel's tomb for the express purpose of possessing her. After the seal was broken, Ultimecia left Rinoa for dead in space, but Squall rescued her.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.