Rinoa Heartilly

Rinoa Heartilly is a female protagonist and playable character from Final Fantasy VIII. She is best known for her trademark angel wings printed on the back of her duster sweater and, as such, her "character symbol" is a white feather that signifies the wings. She is Squall Leonhart's love interest, and is featured in the game's logo with him.

Appearance and Personality
Rinoa's black hair reaches slightly past her shoulders and has three caramel highlights on both sides of her face. Her eyes are dark brown. In battle, Rinoa wields a unique weapon called the Blaster Edge, a bladed projectile she shoots toward the enemy from a firing mechanism on her left arm. After hitting the target, the projectile returns to Rinoa like a boomerang. Rinoa owns a pet, a faithful dog named Angelo that accompanies Rinoa in battle by attacking the enemy or aiding the party.

Rinoa is first seen at the SeeD ball wearing an off-white sheer fabric halter dress, her signature necklace, a bracelet on her right arm, and white shoes. She appears in the ballroom outfit again at the Garden Festival event in Fishermans Horizon. Her signature outfit is a long, sleeveless, blue rib-knit duster sweater that has a pair of white wing designs on the back. She wears matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black tank top, a denim button-up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts that have zippers going down the front and a pair of silver buckled black boots. Her necklace features a ring. Just before the Battle of the Gardens starts, she receives Squall's Griever ring from Zell, who borrowed it in order to make Rinoa a replica of it. Rinoa adds the Griever ring to her necklace and wears it along with her own for the remainder of the game.

Apart from the angel wings symbol and her ring, shooting stars have a significance to Rinoa. She points at one when first met and also in the final moments of the game's ending. Her strongest weapon is named Shooting Star and one of her most powerful Limit Breaks is called Wishing Star.

Rinoa is compassionate, warm, and friendly, although she can act stubborn and naive. Despite being born to a well-to-do family and her father being an important figure in Galbadian military, she is not spoiled and is greatly concerned by the world situation. Rinoa joins a resistance movement fighting against Galbadia in order to achieve Timber's independence, and in doing so abandons her privileged lifestyle and family. Rinoa's brave persona is evidenced in how she fights beside Squall and his group despite being the only one without military training.

Story
Rinoa Heartilly is the daughter of Galbadia's military commander Fury Caraway and idol singer Julia Heartilly. When Rinoa was almost five, Julia died in a car accident and after Julia's death, Rinoa and her father grew steadily apart. By the time she is seventeen Rinoa has moved away from home and presumably changed her surname to her mother's maiden name. To compound their problems, Rinoa joined the Forest Owls, a group of freedom fighters rebelling against the Galbadian government and its military.

A year before the game's events Rinoa began a romantic relationship with a SeeD cadet named Seifer Almasy from whom she learned more of the mercenary-for-hire service SeeD provides. Rinoa first meets Squall during the SeeD inauguration party at Balamb Garden, where she gets him to dance. Rinoa is on an errand on behalf of the Timber Owls to convince Headmaster Cid Kramer to employ SeeD mercenaries to aid her cause. With Seifer's help she is introduced to Cid and, hearing her plight, Cid allows her the use of a group of three SeeDs despite the meager payment she offers in return and the complaints of the Garden Faculty.

The three SeeD chosen are Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt, and Squall Leonhart. While disappointed that Seifer is not part of the squad, Rinoa is nonetheless elated that SeeD has come to the Owls' aid. The SeeD at first willingly assist in Rinoa's plans to kidnap Vinzer Deling, the president of Galbadia, by hijacking his train. Although the plan is successfully deployed, the president they kidnap is a fake and the SeeDs' confidence in the Timber group begins to wane.

They learn the real president is going to be in the Timber TV Station to make an announcement. The Forest Owls hatch a new plan, with their SeeD mercenaries watching skeptically from a distance. Squall requests to see the contract that bounds the SeeD group to the Timber Owls, only to discover they are under Rinoa's command as long as Timber remains under Galbadian oppression. While on their way to infiltrate the TV Station, new intelligence indicates that, due to the large numbers of Galbadian soldiers, the agreed plan would have to be ditched. Squall expresses the SeeD group's misgivings about being part of such a casual organization and questions Rinoa's commitment. The argument ends with her leaving.

During the TV broadcast a renegade Seifer takes the president hostage over the air and Squall, Selphie and Zell rush to the station to aid Quistis, who had been pursuing Seifer. Seifer is spirited away by Sorceress Edea, saving the president's life. Having seen the incident on the Timber TV Station screen, and discovering the Forest Owls' base destroyed, Rinoa returns in pursuit of Seifer.

Arriving too late to find Seifer, she orders the SeeDs to help her lie low while the Galbadian forces search the town. Contemplating Seifer's fate leads Squall and Rinoa into another argument over their views on life before they are given word it is clear to leave town. On their way to Galbadia Garden, the two argue again, this time about Squall's cold attitude towards his teammates.

The group makes it to the Garden and after some reminiscing about Seifer, whom they presume dead from execution, Rinoa reveals her past relationship with him, and the SeeDs receive new orders. Rinoa pretends to be a SeeD to avoid conflict and joins Squall's group in heading to Deling City to meet their contact, Rinoa's father, General Caraway. After meeting with the SeeDs, General Caraway locks Rinoa in another room and informs the SeeDs of his plan to assassinate the sorceress, Edea Kramer.

After the briefing Rinoa escapes the room, rushing to Quistis to tell her of another plan to stop the sorceress by tricking her to wear the Odine Bangle said to suppress a sorceress's powers. Quistis berates her thinking that Rinoa's plan is only contrived to oppose her father. Left to her own devices, Rinoa proceeds to carry out her plan alone, infiltrating the Presidential Residence, and offers the bangle to Edea as a gift. Edea casts a spell that renders Rinoa under her control and like a puppet, Rinoa placidly follows Edea out onto the balcony where she is designated as a sacrifice for Edea's coronation ceremony.

Edea summons two Iguion statues to attack Rinoa, but Squall and Irvine infiltrate the Presidential Residence in time to save her. In return she stays and fights beside Squall when he attacks Edea. The attack proves unsuccessful and the group is captured and imprisoned in the D-District Prison, barred by Irvine who escaped. Irvine returns, acting on orders from presumably Rinoa's father, to retrieve Rinoa from imprisonment and, with tenacious convincing from Rinoa, the pair assists the rest of the group's escape from the compound.

During their capture, the group collectively learns that in retaliation for the attack on Sorceress Edea, Galbadia has targeted Balamb and Trabia Gardens in a missile attack. Splitting into two groups the party attempts to prevent the attack. Selphie's plan is to sabotage the missiles aimed at Balamb, and Squall proceeds to warn Balamb Garden of the missiles. It is up to the player's decision to place Rinoa in either group. The party is reunited in Fishermans Horizon where the unharmed but now mobile Balamb Garden crashes. Squall is ordered to act as an ambassador and enact a formal apology, but Mayor Dobe, the leader of the pacifist city, tells them to leave immediately, as their presence can only cause destruction.

Galbadian soldiers invade the town, and Dobe heads off to discuss peacefully with the soldiers. The soldiers do not listen, and Dobe is rescued by Squall and his team. Grudgingly, the mayor accepts their apology, and orders the city's technicians to restore Balamb Garden to full functionality. During this the participants of Selphie's group reunite with Squall and for a moment Squall is almost elated, something that does not go unnoticed by Rinoa.

With the mobile Balamb Garden Squall is appointed commander of the Garden and SeeD, and to celebrate his friends organize a concert for his honor. During the concert Squall and Rinoa have a moment together, the dialogue depending on which instruments the player assigns to the band. In the bad dialogue option Rinoa and Squall argue and Rinoa runs away. In the better dialogue option Rinoa convinces Squall to trust in his friends more.

As his first command Squall liberates Balamb from Galbadian occupation. The next order is to head to Trabia Garden, Selphie's home Garden, and the target for the missile attacks. He offers the Trabia students Balamb Garden's support and while waiting for Selphie to regroup, Rinoa voices her worries about being a burden within the group and what would happen in the future. The rest of the group recollects their pasts and discover they were raised in the same orphanage and that Edea is the Matron of the orphanage who used to look after them.

The Garden embarks to the old orphanage in search of clues, but is intercepted by a similarly mobile Galbadia Garden. The Battle of the Gardens ensues, which results in Sorceress Edea's defeat and Rinoa becoming comatose. It is revealed that during the whole time Edea had been possessed by another sorceress, sorceress from the future known as Ultimecia, but being defeated by SeeD snaps Edea out of it and she becomes the SeeDs' ally.

Rinoa's condition is of great concern to Squall, driving him to great lengths to find a cure. He knows Ellone has the power to send people's consciousnesses back in time and searches for her to ask her to send him in Rinoa's past in order to find out what happened to her. Being lead to Esthar, Squall is sent to the Lunar Base space station with Rinoa to meet Ellone.

Aboard the space station Rinoa awakens under the control of Ultimecia, as after being defeated Edea unknowingly passed on her sorceress power to Rinoa. Ultimecia uses Rinoa to unlock Adel's Tomb and leaves Rinoa to die in space. Squall ditches his escape pod from the Lunar Base that is being destroyed by the Lunar Cry and intercepts Rinoa as she floats away. By sheer fortune, the two discover and board the derelict Ragnarok airship which was floating aimlessly in space near them.

On board the Ragnarok, Squall communicates their current situation to Esthar, and enables the ship's autopilot to return to the planet. During the trip, Squall confesses many things to Rinoa about himself and Rinoa tells him that he is the one to give her the most comfort and happiness. The land base tells the two that Rinoa will be seized by the Esthar government upon landing.

Upon landing back in Esthar, Esthar officials arrive to take Rinoa to contain her sorceress powers in a new tomb on Sorceress Memorial. She reasons that because she does not want to be hated and feared or hurt anyone else, she will allow her powers to be sealed. After being pushed into action by his friends Squall breaks into the Sorceress Memorial as Rinoa is about to be cryogenically frozen, breaking the seal of the tomb and taking Rinoa away with him to Edea's Orphanage.

On the flower field behind the orphanage Rinoa voices her concerns about being possessed and turning evil and Squall makes a silent vow to become Rinoa's Sorceress Knight. Rinoa asks Squall to kill her should her worst fear of becoming evil come to reality, but Squall reassures her that his enemy is Ultimecia alone. Rinoa tells Squall of a nightmare she had in which she wanted to see him, but could not find him. The couple make a promise to meet at the flower field by the orphanage should they be separated.

Joining forces with Esthar the SeeDs come up with a plan to defeat Ultimecia. They use the Ragnarok to invade the Lunatic Pandora and fight through Seifer and Sorceress Adel (now Ultimecia's vessel). Ultimecia orders Seifer to capture Rinoa, who is junctioned to the physical body of Adel through Ultimecia's powers. Squall and the others defeat Adel, who is forced to pass on her sorceress power to Rinoa. Ultimecia possesses Rinoa and Ellone uses her powers to send Ultimecia and Rinoa back in time so that Ultimecia can cast time compression, a magic only possible to cast if the sorceress's consciousness simultaneously exists in the past, present, and future.

The process of time compression is long, and allows for Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis, Irvine, and Selphie to enter Ultimecia Castle in the future. Upon Ultimecia's demise the time compression unravels leaving the combatants stranded in time. Each member gets back by remembering who they are and where they want to be. Rinoa reappears in the flower field, where she and Squall had made their promise, but Squall is nowhere to be found. Using her sorceress powers, Rinoa finds Squall in a Void, trapped between time. Close to death she saves him by bringing him back to the flower field.

During a party at Balamb Garden to celebrate SeeD's victory over Ultimecia, Squall and Rinoa stay outside on a balcony overlooking the ocean. Noticing a shooting star, much as the one he had seen on the night the pair first met, Squall smiles at Rinoa and kisses her as the Garden flies under the moonlight.

In Battle
Rinoa uses a Blaster Edge in battle. Through upgrades via Junk Shop, she can come to wield other variant models. The Blaster Edge, which should be attached to her left forearm, does not appear in cutscenes. When in trouble she also receives the aid of her dog, Angelo.

Weapons
Rinoa wields the Blaster Edge as her default weapon. There are five blaster edge types available for Rinoa to use throughout the game.


 * Pinwheel – Initial model. Described in Weapons Monthly, April Issue.
 * Valkyrie – Described in Weapons Monthly, May Issue.
 * Rising Sun – Described in Weapons Monthly, July Issue.
 * Cardinal – Described in Weapons Monthly, August Issue.
 * Shooting Star – Described in Weapons Monthly, 1st Issue.

Limit Breaks
Rinoa is the only character in Final Fantasy VIII to have two Limit Breaks. The first one she starts with, while the second is obtained through story progression.

Combine


Combine is Rinoa's primary Limit Break, in which Rinoa teams up with Angelo to perform a variety of attacks. To gain access to Combine moves the player has to read Pet Pals magazines, and walk around with Rinoa in the party so Angelo can learn it.

Angel Wing
Angel Wing is Rinoa's second Limit Break, appearing in her Limit Break list after she obtains sorceress powers. While in the Angel Wing state Rinoa's magic damage is boosted five times more powerful than usual, and puts her into a berserk spell-casting state in which she uses only magic.

Stats
Despite being the character with the least combat experience, of the main party Rinoa has some of the highest base stats at level 100, surpassing all others in strength, magic and spirit.

As a Boss
During the battle with Adel, Rinoa is junctioned to her, immobile, because Adel is absorbing her powers. If she dies, it is Game Over.

Development
Tetsuya Nomura, the main character designer for Final Fantasy VIII, had difficulty drawing Rinoa. He wanted to create a character who 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 sent off to the scenario writer Kazushige Nojima.

For his part Nojima wanted to have Rinoa like books and reading; this is the reason she is found in the Balamb Garden library when not in the active party. 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).

acted out most of the motion capture needed for Rinoa's FMV sequences, although acted as her motion actress for the waltz scene and  performed Rinoa's stunt scenes, such as when she falls 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 USA recorded and mixed all the sounds featured in the FMV movies.

Musical Themes
The romance between Squall and Rinoa is accompanied by a variation of Julia Heartilly's "Eyes on Me". Rinoa's introduction in Balamb Garden's dance hall is accompanied by the "Eyes on Me" variation "Waltz for the Moon", and her second introduction on the Timber Owls train is accompanied by another variant, titled "My Mind", which often is considered to be her theme.

This would continue on as a pattern over the next two games, as the character themes of Garnet and Yuna would likewise be variations of "Melodies of Life" and "Suteki da ne", the themes of their respective romances with Zidane and Tidus.

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

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Rinoa appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game and is represented on two cards both of which are part of the "Wind" set.

Kingdom Hearts series
During the end credits of Kingdom Hearts II, Squall (going by the name Leon) receives a letter from a girl who is presumably Rinoa, as her trademark "angel wings" icon appears from the letter.

Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special
Rinoa, along with 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.



Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Mobile
Rinoa reappears in this mobile-phone edition of Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable. While initially not part of the player roster, she was later added on August 16, 2010, following the game's release.

Final Fantasy VIII Demo
In the original demo of Final Fantasy VIII, Rinoa is part of the team that infiltrated Dollet and is featured in Selphie's place in the evacuation FMV. She has no Limit Break, and no spoken lines, but is the only one able to summon a Guardian Force.

Final Fantasy VIII Technical Demo
Squall and Rinoa appear in a technical demo for the PlayStation 2 where they reenact the waltz scene from Final Fantasy VIII to showcase the console's graphics engine.

Dead Fantasy

 * For more information, see Dead Fantasy Wiki: Rinoa Heartilly.

Rinoa has appeared in the second segment of the fanmade Dead Fantasy series. In this series she uses a gunblade for melee combat, possesses permanent angel wings (that enable her to fly) and uses the sorceress power. She debuts in Dead Fantasy II with Kairi to aid Yuna, Rikku, and Tifa against their Dead or Alive rivals. Rinoa will appear in a future installment to fight against her rival, Rachel.

Dion Rogers' Rinoa
Rinoa has a fanmade design known as the "Dion Rogers' Rinoa" that is popular among cosplayers. Late 2004 to early 2005 Square held a competition to see who would make the best fanart following the theme "FFanything-2". The winner would get their design turned into a pixel rendition.

Merchandise
Being one of the central characters of Final Fantasy VIII, Rinoa has featured in numerous merchandise, such as in the Final Fantasy Play Arts Action Figures, Final Fantasy Trading Arts, Final Fantasy Trading Arts Mini and other Final Fantasy VIII Action Figures.

Rinoa has been part of the Coca-Cola marketing campaigns where she has had several different bottle-cap figurines: chibi and regular versions, red crystal versions of each and the color of the figurine's base either yellow or red.

The Transcendent Artists Collection: Final Fantasy VIII statue features Rinoa with the Guardian Force Siren.

The Rinoa Zippo lighter is perhaps the rarest piece of merchandise; only a few hundred were ever produced. Other very rare pieces of merchandise are the ballroom scene Final Fantasy Cold Cast Collection statue and the Rinoa chrome statue, both limited at 3,000 pieces.

Etymology
Before the magazine Shonen Jump revealed the name "Rinoa Heartilly" many publications translated the name as "Lenore", which means "light" (romaji transcription of "Lenore" is Rinoa). The French translation of the game comes closer to this, calling her "Linoa" (also a Haitian/Tahitian female name meaning "light of the earth").

The name Rinoa may be a variation of Riona, a Gaelic Irish name meaning both "pure" and "royal". Both meanings could be attributed to Rinoa, in the angelic appearance of her sorceress powers and in the Forest Owls members referring to her as "princess".

Rinoa's surname, Heartilly, is derived from the English word "heartily". Heartily is an adverb meaning in a cordial manner, with warmth and sincerity, with zest or enthusiasm.

Trivia

 * During the ending of Dissidia Final Fantasy, when everyone is disappearing, a feather (possibly a reference to Rinoa) falls down towards Squall. He grabs hold of it and disappears with the other Warriors of Cosmos. In Shade Impulse, Squall mentions to Ultimecia and Onion Knight that he made a promise to return to someone in his world, referring to Rinoa.
 * Three of Rinoa's weapons, the Valkyrie, Cardinal and Shooting Star are Ultimecia's exclusive weapons in Dissidia Final Fantasy.
 * In the original game's release, Rinoa's height was listed as 161 cm (5' 3.5"), however the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, the latest edition of which was released seven years after the game's release, revised the height to 163cm (5' 4"). This is because all the character heights were wrongly converted from the metric to imperial for the North American version of Final Fantasy VIII.
 * After Balamb Garden becomes mobile, when the party members are not assigned as player characters they can be seen wandering the Garden on their own. Rinoa can be found reading books in the library.
 * Aside from the Laguna flashbacks, Rinoa is the only playable character in the present timeline to not have any connection to SeeD or Garden.