Sant' Angelo di Roma



Angelo, full name Sant' Angelo di Roma, is Rinoa's pet dog in Final Fantasy VIII. Despite the masculine name, Angelo is female. Her design is based on a black-tricolor that one of Tetsuya Nomura's co-workers owned during the game's production.

Angelo is two years old, born December 13. Though given the opportunity when meeting Rinoa with the Forest Owls, the player may change Angelo's name any time with the Pet's Nametag item.

Story
Angelo's profile in Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania reveals her full name and date of birth, as well as how Rinoa came to own her: Rinoa found Angelo at the Timber Pet Shop when she was just a puppy. Without telling her father, Rinoa bought Angelo on impulse.

Angelo is with Rinoa at the Forest Owls' base when Squall, Zell and Selphie are hired by the group to kidnap Vinzer Deling, the president of Galbadia. When Squall is asked to fetch Rinoa from her room, she introduces Squall to Angelo, explaining how the latter helps her in battle. Rinoa asks Angelo to wait while they discuss strategy with the others, and Angelo whines, dissatisfied of being left out.

Angelo accompanies Rinoa for most of her journey, helping her and the others in battle when the need arises. Rinoa can teach Angelo new tricks by reading the Pet Pals magazines. After Rinoa becomes comatose Squall takes her to Esthar to meet with Ellone whom he hopes could help her, but after discovering Ellone has gone to the Lunar Base, an Estharian space station, Squall and Rinoa are sent up there leaving Angelo behind. Zell's group finds her at the Lunar Gate where she howls in distress for having been separated from Rinoa.

Angelo returns to Rinoa's side after she returns from space, now recovered from her coma. After Squall saves Rinoa from the Sorceress Memorial the group escapes to Edea's Orphanage where Angelo stays by Rinoa's side on the edge of the flower field. Angelo accompanies the party to the future where they fell the evil sorceress Ultimecia. They return to their own time and during the festivities at Balamb Garden Angelo roams about the party, perhaps looking for Rinoa who is sharing a moment with Squall on the balcony.

Limit Break: Combine


Although Angelo appears in particular scenes as an NPC, she functions primarily as Rinoa's first Limit Break. When Rinoa's Limit activates, the player may select "Combine" to summon Angelo into battle. Angelo rushes to the battlefield, performs one from her pool of four aggressive tricks, then flees. The trick performed is dependent upon the party's current Crisis Level.

Conversely, any of Angelo's four passive tricks may activate during battle without character input: one as a counterattack against an enemy that has inflicted direct damage to Rinoa; two as recovery countermeasures of any party member in HP Critical or KO status if Rinoa is present; and, one to search the battlefield for random items. The chance of the three tricks other than Angelo Rush occurring depends upon the unseen "Dead Time" variable, in conjunction with whether the player has yet acquired the Gilgamesh Guardian Force.

Despite Angelo's capacity to learn eight tricks, Rinoa has initially taught her only one of each type: Angelo Rush and Angelo Cannon. To gain access to the remainder, the player must obtain six issues of Pet Pals magazine.

Angelo is left on the planet's surface with Zell before Rinoa and company are blasted into orbit. The commandeering of the Ragnarok from its Propagator threat thus marks the only point in the game that Rinoa cannot Combine with Angelo.

Pet Pals Magazine
Pet Pals is a dog magazine that informs Rinoa of new tricks to teach Angelo. Once the magazine has been read from the Item inventory, that issue's trick will be listed in Rinoa's Status screen and the player may select from the list of tricks for Angelo to learn by having Rinoa in the active party and walking on the field. A distinct chime indicates a trick's mastery.

Triple Triad
Despite not being a Guardian Force, Angelo's Card has been categorized as a level 8 GF Card.

Pocket Station Memorycard Icons
An icon sprite of Angelo appears in the Pocket Station memorycard file manager.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Angelo's Combine moves appear in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. The Pet Pals magazines also appear.

Ability Cards=


 * -|Legend Cards=

Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Rinoa's attack is Angelo Cannon in Final Fantasy All the Bravest. Rinoa launches Angelo off her wrist and into the enemy when performing her attack.

Merchandise
An action figure of Angelo, manufactured by Bandai, was included in the Collectable Box Set of Final Fantasy VIII "Extra Soldiers" action figures released in 1999. It was never sold separately.

Etymology
Angelo's full name, Sant' Angelo di Roma, means 'Saint Angel of Rome' in Italian. Angels are a recurring motif in Rinoa's design (eg. the wing pattern on her duster, the Shooting Star blaster edge, her second Limit Break Angel Wing). Names ending in -o carry masculine connotation in Romance languages and the feminine equivalent would be Angela. However, Japanese is not a language of Latin origin, so no such trend exists in its lexicon.

In the German and French localizations, she is called Angel.

Trivia

 * During the camcorder footage of the ball in the credit roll, Angelo roams about the cafeteria.
 * Angelo shares some similarities with Interceptor of Final Fantasy VI. Like Angelo, Interceptor often appears in battle when his owner Shadow is in the party. When anyone in the party is attacked there is a small chance he will counter with a tackle attack.