Edea Kramer

Edea Kramer, also known as Sorceress Edea, or Matron, is a temporary-playable character from Final Fantasy VIII. A mysterious woman appointed as ambassador to Galbadia, she acts as the primary antagonist of the first half of the game.

Appearance and Personality
When first introduced, Edea is possessed by Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future, and is thus portrayed as a vain, power-hungry, and remorseless sadist. All traces of her once kind and loving personality are purged from her character by Ultimecia's possession and replaced by an all-consuming desire for world domination.

In actuality Edea is a benign and gentle person. Although she has been under the stigma of being a sorceress ever since the age of five, she has never resented the world for the prejudice it must have shown her - she spends her entire life devoted to helping others, focusing upon the children she cares for in her orphanage. With Cid by her side she would never have shown a single violent streak throughout her life, had Ultimecia not arrived and possessed her.

Edea loves children, as all of the children from her orphanage (which include the entire present-time cast of Final Fantasy VIII, except for Rinoa) remember her fondly, and are unable to wrap their minds around the idea their beloved Matron could ever do the evil deeds Sorceress Edea performs. Although Edea has never shown hatred for the rest of the world, she has shown a strong dislike for her own powers; she is more than happy to have given up her powers, although she feels guilt for having given them to Rinoa.

Edea is refined, sophisticated, and ladylike, traits particularly evident during her possession when Ultimecia used Edea's sophistication and great physical beauty to their optimum effect to beguile her enemies. She has long black hair and brown eyes that are yellow when possessed by Ultimecia. Normally she wears a modest black dress with little jewellery, but while possessed by Ultimecia, Edea wears a purple skin-tight dress with a plunging neckline and feathers around the collar, a headpiece adorned with jewels and a metallic half-circle frame on her back with two long strips of sheer material hanging down on each side. Before revealing her face at the parade, Edea wears a red mask to conceal her identity. During close-ups of her face during FMVs, white lines can be observed extending from the corner of her eye and cheek.

Story
When she was five years old, Edea received sorceress powers from an unknown sorceress. She eventually married Cid, who knew she was a sorceress. They led a happy life and started an orphanage for the Sorceress War orphans on the Centra continent, with the orphans referring to her as "Matron".

When Laguna Loire embarked on his search for Ellone, he visited the orphanage, questioning Edea on what she might know about how to enter Esthar. Later, nearing the Sorceress War's end, Squall, Laguna and Raine's child, would also be sent to Edea's orphanage by the people of Winhill after Raine's death. Ellone came to the orphanage during the same time as Squall, whom he called "sis".

A few years later, 13 years before the start of the game, Edea met Ultimecia and a teenage Squall, both who had come from the future. Ultimecia was dying, having been defeated by Squall, and Edea received Ultimecia's powers. Squall told Edea about the SeeD and the Garden, saluting her with the SeeD salute, before disappearing. Stricken by this encounter, and the fact the Squall from the future had told her SeeD and Garden were her ideas, Edea and Cid began plans to create them. Cid left the orphanage to look for sponsors, as they needed funding, and she stayed at the orphanage with the children.

Later on, after Ellone was being sought by Dr. Odine to complete his research on her, Edea created the White SeeD, a group of older orphans assigned to protect Ellone. At this point Edea and Cid were permanently separated. Cid became the Headmaster of Balamb Garden, his quest being to train young people, Squall among them, as SeeDs to become strong enough to one day take on Ultimecia. Edea stayed on the White SeeD ship with the other orphans and Ellone.

Twelve years after Balamb Garden's completion, Ultimecia possessed Edea and she left the White SeeD ship. The White SeeD and the other orphans were bewildered by this, and voyaged to Balamb Garden to tell Cid of this turn of events. Ultimecia, oblivious to how close she had actually been to this Ellone when first possessing Edea, used Edea's body and name as a vessel to seize power across the planet. Ultimecia wanted to find Ellone, and wanted to mobilize the Galbadian army to find her. To do that Ultimecia would need to take over Galbadia and she, under Edea's guise, allied with the president Vinzer Deling.

During a live television broadcast Seifer tries to assassinate the president and Edea/Ultimecia manipulates him and spirits him away with her. While possessed by Ultimecia, Edea's "shell" kills President Deling, survives an assassination attempt by SeeD, and takes command of the Galbadian army. She declares SeeD as an enemy and orders missile attacks on Trabia and Balamb Gardens.

While Balamb Garden escapes the missile attack, Trabia Garden is not as lucky. Later, forces from Galbadia, brought over by an invaded Galbadia Garden, attempt to invade Balamb Garden, with little success.

Edea falls in battle to the player party and the near-death experience causes her sorceress power to leave her body and seek for a new host in Rinoa Heartilly. Ultimecia possesses Rinoa, and Edea regains control over her body and mind, explaining what had happened to her. Edea, however, at this point is unaware of having lost her sorceress powers, and only knows Ultimecia has left her.

Edea wants to ensure Ultimecia will never possess her again and joins the party for a trip to Esthar in hopes of Dr. Odine potentially ridding her of her powers. After reaching Esthar, Edea discovers she has already inadvertently relinquished her sorceress power to Rinoa. With the burden of her power finally lifted, Edea goes back to the now-ruined orphanage with her husband, where she would give shelter, advice, and background information to the party. Edea is later seen with her husband in Balamb Garden celebrating the victory over Ultimecia.

In Battle
Edea is a temporary playable character, controllable during the party's trek across the Great Salt Lake and during the time Lunatic Pandora attacks Esthar City. She must equip Guardian Forces to be able to use magic in battle, but has no equippable weapon and can use the Attack command without one.

Edea's physical weapon is the "Blizzard Palm". Physically weak, the Blizzard Palm is further hampered by its inability to be upgraded. Her Limit Break, while powerful, is also fairly limited, as she only has one command and it only deals damage to one target. Unsurprisingly Edea has potent Magic and Spirit scores, and also possesses good compatibility with every Guardian Force in the game. Edea has low HP, Strength, and Vitality, and her Speed and Luck are none too great either. She is the epitome of the traditional Black Mage class, excelling at magic, but little else.

Limit Break
The ultimate manifestation of Edea's sorceress power is her Limit Break, Ice Strike. When activated, she summons several large icicles that are magically hurled at the target, dealing massive damage. Edea's Limit Break's strength is unaffected by Crisis Level and its attack power is 120.

This Limit Break is also seen at the end of Disc One, where she uses it on Squall with near-lethal effects.

Ice Strike is a subset of Edea's skillset called Sorcery. Yet, at the point Edea is playable, she had already lost her sorceress powers, so it seems rather curious she can still use the Limit Break.

However, she actually only lost the powers that were transferred to her by the dying Sorceress Ultimecia long before the start of the game. She retained the powers she already possessed, which focused on ice magic. As Edea explains to Squall after he defeats Ultimecia, she was already a sorceress, and so would accept Ultimecia's powers to spare any of the children from becoming one. Ultimecia's powers were focused on time/space magic, which might explain Rinoa's Angel Wing limit break.

As a Boss


Edea is fought twice in the game; the first time after the sorceress parade, and the second in Galbadia Garden. Before fighting Edea the first time, Squall faces off against his rival, Seifer, alone. After defeating him, Rinoa and Irvine arrive to help Squall, and Edea takes the stage. The battle is scripted and can't end in a Game Over, but if the player defeats Edea they get battle rewards. When confronting Edea for the second time at Galbadia Garden, the party must again defeat Seifer before they can touch her. During this second confrontation, the party can draw the Guardian Force Alexander.

Creation and Development
Edea's character was designed for Final Fantasy VII, and Tetsuya Nomura intended the design to emulate the style of Yoshitaka Amano. It was not until Final Fantasy VIII Nomura found a way to use her.

Musical Themes
There are two themes accompanying Edea's presence. "SUCCESSION OF WITCHES" is the song that accompanies her when she is possessed by Ultimecia, most notably played when Edea/Ultimecia first encounters Seifer in Timber. The other theme is called "Truth", and plays at Edea's Orphanage after the revelation of her possession.

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

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy


Although not mentioned in the game, the player has an option to switch Ultimecia's normal outfit to Edea's outfit in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Not featured in the first Dissidia game, the new outfit refers to Edea's time as a puppet under Ultimecia's control. Unlike Ultimecia's other outfits, she bears no wings in her normal form or EX Modes, though her EX Mode - to junction Griever - remains the same.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Edea appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game and is represented in two Thunder-elemental cards. One pictures her render with the words "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" inscribed in front of her and the other uses her Final Fantasy VIII official artwork.

Trivia

 * The metallic half-circle holding Edea's cape is similar to the one worn by Wrexsoul in Final Fantasy VI. It only appears during FMV scenes and battles, but is not present in her field model.
 * Edea is the only playable character who holds her own Triple Triad card. She is also one of the toughest Triple Triad opponents in the game, due to the Centra ruleset when playing against her. She also has a noticeably smarter AI than most Triple Triad players.