Kiros Seagill

Kiros Seagill is a temporary playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. Kiros has a caring personality and a sharp wit. He fights alongside his friends Laguna and Ward in the Galbadian army and helps Laguna make decisions. He later quits the Galbadian army with Laguna and Ward.

At the start of disc two, Kiros is seen paying a visit to Laguna in Winhill. In this past experience, Kiros's conversations with Laguna reveal several details of the game's story.

Appearance
Kiros is a very tall man - standing at 6'4" - with dark brown skin. He sports bead-adorned dreadlocks at the back of an otherwise short-cropped haircut, and wears a gold drop earring with a tassel motif. While he is seen primarily in the uniform of a Galbadian soldier, Kiros later wears a red bodysuit underneath bronze armor with gold wrist guards.

Personality
Kiros was the voice of reason in Laguna's group, always there to at least make an attempt in steering Laguna's AWOL behavior, he is nonetheless loyal to his friends and is always looking out for their well being.

Story
Kiros is the best friend of Laguna and Ward. They all join the Galbadian army, and despite Laguna's clumsiness, they manage to complete their missions. When Laguna, Kiros, and Ward go on an ill-fated mission to the Centra Excavation Site he, along with Ward, is separated from Laguna. Laguna is recovering at Winhill at the time. His whereabouts after that are on unknown but Kiros later suggests he was bored without Laguna and Ward and misses their adventures. He later finds Laguna in Winhill where he helps Laguna on his daily patrols to rid of the monsters around town. When Ellone is kidnapped by Esthar Soldiers he accompanies Laguna, along with Ward to rescue her.

Laguna, Kiros, and Ward get in to some trouble along the way. When they participate in a movie to earn some money they encounter a real Ruby Dragon, which they then have to fight off. During their adventure Laguna gets separated from Kiros and Ward. The three later reunite and continue on their journey to Esthar, where they rescue Ellone and defeat Sorceress Adel. Laguna becomes President of Esthar, and Kiros and Ward become Laguna's advisers.

Later Kiros accompanies Laguna and the party on-board Ragnarok during the mission to infiltrate the Lunatic Pandora. If talked to during this time, he gives clues of Squall's lineage by mentioning he resembles his mother. Kiros also appears to fully understand Ward, who has lost his voice due to an old injury.

In the game's ending Kiros is shown accompanying Laguna to visit Raine's grave.

Weapons
Kiros has a unique fighting style, using paired sharp blades named Katals (based on the real-world weapon called a Katar) wielded in each hand.

Limit Break
Blood Pain - Kiros's Limit Break targets a single enemy and unleashes a series of six quick attacks on them. Blood Pain's attack power is 25, fairly low compared to the other characters', but the multiple hits make up for it.

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

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Kiros appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game and is represented in a Thunder-elemental card. He is depicted in his Final Fantasy VIII artwork.

Etymology
Kiros has two likely origins, both ultimately from the same origin.

One possibility is from ኪሮስ, Kiros, the  form of, the name of ancient kings of. Both the Ge'ez form and the Latin Cyrus form come from Κῦρος, Kûros, which in turn comes from  𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁, Kuruš, of disputed origin.

Another possibility is that Kiros comes from Κύρος, Kýros, which descended from the Ancient Greek form.

Trivia

 * Kiros's weapon, the Katal, is a mistransliteration of, a one-handed push dagger from India. As the classification implies, these daggers are actually used primarily for thrusting attacks.
 * Kiros's victory animation greatly resembles the Yevonite prayer motion in Final Fantasy X.