Revolver (Final Fantasy VIII)


 * For the weapon from Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, see: List of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- Weapons



The Revolver (リボルバー, Riborubā), is the Gunblade of choice for Squall Leonhart in most of his appearances in the Final Fantasy series. An iconic symbol from Final Fantasy VIII, it has since appeared in several other games in the series. It is a sword with a revolver chamber which serves as the hilt for the blade. Despite its name it cannot be used as an actual gun, meaning it doesn't fire projectiles, and can therefore only be used in melee combat.

The Revolver is famous not only for being Squall Leonhart's weapon, but also for its unique and exotic appearance. It is possibly one of the best known swords in the Final Fantasy series, along with the Buster Sword, the Masamune, the Excalibur, the Ultima Weapon, the Brotherhood, and others.

Final Fantasy VIII
Squall carries the Revolver model gunblade as his personal weapon, adding memorabilia of Griever on the weapon such as an etching across the blade and a Griever keychain attached to the base of the hilt.

In the game, triggering a round in the gun chamber sent a shock wave through the blade, increasing its damage potential, but the timing required is hard to learn, which is why it takes years to master wielding a Gunblade. The player can effectively utilize this ability during gameplay by pressing the trigger button (R1 in the PlayStation version) just as Squall Leonhart is about to hit an enemy, thereby increasing the damage dealt to the target, similar to a critical hit.

The Revolver appears as Squall's first model and as such is quickly outclassed by newer models through the game, however it remained in certain FMV sequences no matter what other model Squall possessed at the time. Such sequences included when Squall freed Rinoa from being flash frozen in the Sorceress Memorial. In the Game Over menu for Final Fantasy VIII, the Revolver appears broken in two with the blade sticking out of the ground with a black background and a white feather.

Final Fantasy XII
In Final Fantasy XII, Gilgamesh has the Revolver gunblade amongst his collection of Legendary Weapons. However, like all his swords, it is slightly different, having an image of a Chocobo printed on the blade, no trigger and lacks the chain and Griever symbol.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
The Revolver appears not only as Squall Leonhart's weapon in Dissidia Final Fantasy but it also is available as an attack boosting item and as a weapon option for Bartz Klauser.

A notable difference is how the weapon is stored. In Final Fantasy VIII Squall is seen drawing it from his left hip like a Katana sword, however in Dissidia he can summon it to his hand when required and dispel it using magic.

Non-specific appearances
Since the Revolver is Squall's icon weapon, the non-specific appearance of this blade is directly related with the appearance of Squall in other games, like Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, the Final Fantasy Anthology, and Chocobo Racing.

Kingdom Hearts Series
Squall wields his Gunblade throughout the series as he leads the majority of the Final Fantasy cast into battle against the Heartless and Nobodies. It is never shown if the trigger function of this Gunblade works properly, and it is unknown if it does or not. The Keyblades Lionheart and Sleeping Lion vaguely resemble Squall's Gunblade, as both possess silver color schemes and Griever accessories. The Sleeping Lion even has a double-edged blade along its length.

Creation and Development
The weapons were, in their original appearance of Final Fantasy VIII, designed by Tetsuya Nomura. At the time when he was thinking of Squall's weapon, he was into silver accessories. He felt he wanted Squall to have a silver weapon as well. Another key factor in creating Squall's weapon was how he wanted some new way for the player to control the weapon in battle. With both of those ideas combined, he came up with a gunblade. Nomura has stated that upon reflection, it has a rather odd appearance.

Merchandise/Replicas

 * Final Fantasy Master Arms include miniaturized replicas of both Squall's Gunblade and Seifer's Hyperion.