Rinoa Heartilly

Rinoa Heartilly (or Linoa in French) is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. She is best known for her trademark 'Angel Wings' which are printed on the back of her duster sweater and as such her 'character symbol' is a white feather that signifies the wings.

Appearance & Personality


Rinoa has layered black hair that reaches to the middle of her back. There are three caramel highlights on each side of her black hair. Her eyes resemble Tifa Lockhart's alot, both being a very deep and dark brown and having similar size and shape to them. She has a very thin and feminine figure. Though she resembles Tifa in many ways, she does not resemble her in bust size, seeing as Rinoa has a very small bust while Tifa's is exteremly large. Another way she looks similar is they both have the same heart-shaped face, although on occassion Rinoa's looks more round or even oval than heart.

You first see Rinoa in a white gown with an off-white/ yellowish sheer fabric halter dress wearing her signature necklace, a bracelet on her right arm, and white shoes. Players see this ballroom outfit two-three times in the game.

Her signature outfit is a long, sleeveless, blue-hued rib-knit duster sweater that has a pair of white wing designs on the back, which become actual feathered wings when she enters her Angel Wing state. She also wears matching rib-knit arm warmers, a black halter top, a denim button up skirt, a black ribbon on her left arm, and black bike shorts that have zippers going down the front with a pair of silver buckled black boots.

Rinoa bears a striking resemblance to Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII. This is furthered by their surnames, Lockhart and Heartilly, both having a "heart" sound in them. However, her personality more matches Aerith, though Rinoa displays a more childish and naive tint to her character. It can be said Rinoa is a blend of the two heroines.

Rinoa's personality is everything that Squall's is not: feisty, compassionate, warm and friendly, and these traits annoy Squall to no end at first. However, opposites attract, and through the course of the game, they fall in love.

Story
Rinoa Heartilly is the daughter of General Caraway and Julia Heartilly. When Rinoa was five, Julia died in a car accident, and her relationship with her father grew rocky over time. She is a member of the resistance faction Forest Owls, based in Timber. Her father has full knowledge of her activities.

A year before the game's events, Rinoa began a romantic relationship with a SeeD cadet named Seifer Almasy. It is from Seifer that she learned of the mercenary-for-hire service that SeeD provided. Rinoa first met Squall during the SeeD celebration party at Balamb Garden. Rinoa herself was on an errand on behalf of the Timber Owls to convince Headmaster Cid Kramer to employ some SeeD mercenaries to aid her cause and, with Squall's unwitting help, was able to find Seifer without being too conspicuous on the dance floor. With Seifer's help she was introduced to Cid. Hearing her plight Cid immediately relented, allowing her the use of a group of three SeeDs to be used at her disposal despite the meager payment she offered in return and the complaints of the Garden Faculty.

The three SeeD chosen were Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt and, perhaps by fate, Squall Leonhart. While disappointed that Seifer was not part of the squad when they arrived in Timber she was nonetheless elated that SeeD had come, enveloping Squall in a hug upon his arrival. The SeeD group at first willingly assisted in Rinoa's plans to kidnap Vinzer Deling, the President of Galbadia, by hijacking his train. Although the plan was successfully deployed, the President aboard was a fake. Rendering the operation a failure, the SeeDs' confidence in the Timber group began to wane.

Returning to Timber, they learn that the real President was going to be in the Timber TV Station to make an announcement. The Forest Owls attempt to hatch a new plan, with their SeeD mercenaries watching skeptically from a distance. Squall requests that he see the contract that bound the SeeD group to the Timber Owls, only to discover that they were under Rinoa's command as long as Timber remained under Galbadian oppression. While on their way to infiltrate the TV Station, new intelligence indicated 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 to her goals. The argument ends with her leaving. Later, having seen the whole incident on the Timber TV Station screen, and discovering the Forest Owls' base destroyed, she returns and enters the station in pursuit of Seifer. Arriving too late to find Seifer, she orders the SeeDs to help her lie low while the town is searched by the Galbadian forces. Contemplating Seifer's fate leads Squall and Rinoa into another argument over their views on life before they are given word that it was 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, who they presumed was dead from execution. Rinoa ended up revealing her past relationship with him, and after doing so, they receive new orders. Rinoa pretends that she is a SeeD to avoid conflict and joins Squall's group in heading to Deling City to meet their contact, General Caraway; Rinoa's father. Caraway locks his daughter in another room and then turns to inform the SeeD of his plan to assassinate the sorceress Edea. When the briefing finished, Rinoa finally managed to escape the room, rushing to Quistis to tell her of another plan to stop the sorceress by getting her to wear the Odine Bangle. Quistis, however, berated her; thinking that Rinoa's plan was only contrived to oppose her father's plan, Quistis walked off to her position. Left to her own devices, Rinoa proceeded to carry out her plan, infiltrating the Presidential Residence, and offers the bangle to Edea as a gift. It seemed that the sorceress had seen through her plan, and Edea instead casts a spell that renders Rinoa under her control. Like a puppet, Rinoa placidly follows Edea out onto the pedestal where she is designated as a sacrifice for the ceremony. Edea then summmons two Iguion statues from the wall, and they begin to attack Rinoa.

Squall and Irvine manage to infiltrate the Presidential Residence in time to save her and in return she stayed and fought beside Squall when he attacked Edea. However, the attack proved unsuccessful and the group was captured and imprisoned in the D-District Prison. They were barred by Irvine who managed to escape. Irvine would eventually return, acting on orders from presumably Rinoa's father, to retrieve Rinoa from imprisonment and, with tenacious convincing from Rinoa, the pair would assist the rest of the group's escape from the compound.

During their capture, the group collectively learned that in retaliation for the attack on Sorceress Edea, Galbadia had targeted Balamb and Trabia Gardens in a missile attack. Splitting into two groups; Squall's group and Selphie's group, the party attempted to prevent the attack. Selphie's plan was to sabotage the missiles aimed at Trabia, and Squall proceeded to warn Balamb of the missiles.

Rinoa, having gone with Squall in his group, arrived at Balamb Garden while it was in the midst of chaos. A mysterious faction with allegiance to NORG, Balamb Garden's funder, had staged a revolt against Headmaster Cid. While helping those they could, Rinoa and Squall searched for the Headmaster to warn him of the missiles. Finally finding him bunkered in his office, the Headmaster instructs Squall of the Garden's past status as a mobile shelter built during the Centra era. Upon the activation of the ancient system, the Garden transformed into a mobile fortress and narrowly avoids destruction by moving away from the location the missile's were programmed to target. Cleaning up loose ends due to the rebellion of NORG's faction in the Garden, Rinoa asks Squall for a personal tour of the facility, and in doing so begins to see another side to the taciturn loner. As a result she begins to take an interest in him, attempting to force him into a lighter mood whenever the opportunity arises.

Since there was no way to control the Garden's flight, the Garden crashes into Fisherman's Horizon. Squall is ordered to act as ambassador and enact a formal apology, and Rinoa tags along. Mayor Dobe, the leader of the pacifist city, tells them to leave immediately, as their presence can only cause destruction. Galbadian soldiers eventually invade the town, and Dobe heads off to discuss peacefully with the soldiers. However, the soldiers do not listen, and he is eventually rescued by Squall. 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's group and for a moment Squall is seen to be almost elated. Of course, this doesn't go unnoticed by Rinoa.



With the Balamb Garden now mobile, Squall was appointed Commander of the Garden and SeeD, and to celebrate his friends held a concert for the sole purpose of lightening the load on Squall's shoulders, with Rinoa personally informing him of this. As his first command Squall liberated Balamb from Galbadian occupation. The next order was then to head to Trabia Garden, Selphie's original Garden and the first target for the missile attacks. He offered the Trabia students Balamb Garden's support. While waiting for Selphie to regroup with them, she begins voicing her worries about being a burden within the group and what would happen in the future. This causes the rest of the group to recollect their pasts and discover that they all were raised at the same time in an orphanage. Decisions were made and the Garden next embarked to the old orphanage, but they are intercepted by a similarly mobile Galbadia Garden. The Battle of the Gardens ensued, ending in Sorceress Edea's defeat and Rinoa, unknowingly receiving Edea's powers and becoming a sorceress, mysteriously becoming comatose.

Rinoa's condition was of great concern to Squall, driving him to great lengths to find a reason behind the coma and how to wake her from it. Eventually being lead to Esthar, Squall is sent to space, where onboard the Lunar Base, Rinoa awakens under the control of Ultimecia. The sorceress uses her to unlock Adel's Tomb and then leaves her to die in space where Squall, having ditched his escape pod from the exploding Lunar Base, intercepts her and the two board the derelict Ragnarok. Upon landing back in Esthar Rinoa was taken by Esthar officials to contain her sorceress powers in a new tomb. Squall intervened, breaking upon the seal and took Rinoa away with him to Edea's Orphanage where the two bond as a couple and make a promise to meet in the flower field when the battle is over. The group heads back to Esthar, and using the Ragnarok, they invade the Lunatic Pandora and fight through Seifer and Sorceress Adel. Using Ellone's time powers, they were able to start a Time Compression, and enter Ultimecia Castle in the future, where Ultimecia awaited. Upon Ultimecia's demise the Time Compression unraveled back to normal, leaving the combatants stranded in time. Each member managed to get back by remembering who they were and where they wanted to be. Rinoa reappeared in the flower field, where she and Squall had made their promise, but Squall was nowhere to be found.

Using her sorceress powers, she managed to locate Squall in a desert-like plane. He was near death but for her arrival, and her belief that he would survive, Squall was saved from non-existence. The two were sent back to the flower field, alive and well.

Weapons
Rinoa's weapon of choice is the Blaster Edge, a boomerang-like weapon that can be propelled from a device on the back of the wielder's wrist.

It should be noted that Rinoa can't seem to handle the recoil of the weapon, as she is shoved back by it every time she uses it.

There are five Blaster Edge types/models available for Rinoa to use throughout the game, they are: The Pinwheel, The Valkyrie, The Rising Sun, The Cardinal and The Shooting Star.

Combine
Combine is Rinoa's primary Limit Break, in which Rinoa teams up with Angelo to perform a variety of attacks, as well as certain effects. To gain access to Combine moves, you have to read about them in Pet Pal magazines.

Angel Wing
Angel Wing (ヴァリー, Varī) is Rinoa's second Limit, gained after a significant event late in the story. Angel Wing boosts Rinoa's magic damage 4 times mightier as usual, and puts her into a Berserk-like state in which she uses only magic. Rinoa will use any magic from a different stock of magic (more specifically her Sorceress magic) however she will not cast curative or defensive spells; any magic she casts will not decrease the Para-Magic stocked during the game. Angel Wing can be made into the most effective limit break in the game if Rinoa's magic inventory is modified; removing spells such as Scan and Dispel and leaving spells such as Meteor will allow Rinoa to cause much more damage.

Creation and Development
Nomura had difficulty drawing Rinoa. Nomura wanted to create a character that 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 then sent off to Nojima. For his part Nojima wanted to have Rinoa like books and reading. This is the reason why she was always found in the library at Balamb Garden. 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). Mayuko Aoki acted out the motion capture needed for Rinoa's FMV sequences however Yasuko Yokoyama, not Mayuko Aoki, was Rinoa's motion actress for the dance party. Hoshimi Asai performed the action (stunt) scenes for Rinoa, like when Rinoa fell 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 U.S.A. recorded and mixed all the sounds featured in the FMV Movies. There is a speculation among fans that Rinoa is inspired by Japanese actress and singer, Takako Matsu, although this has not been confirmed yet.

Musical Themes
The romance between Squall and Rinoa was always accompanied by a variation of Julia Heartilly's Eyes on Me. Rinoa's introduction in Balamb Garden's Dance Hall was accompanied by the Eyes on Me variation "Waltz for the Moon" and her second introduction on the Timber Owls train was accompanied by another variant, titled My Mind.

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

Trivia

 * Rinoa has a fanmade design, known as the "Dion Roger's Rinoa" that is popular amongst cosplayers.
 * Rinoa has appeared in the second segment of the Dead Fantasy series and appears to be using a new Blaster Edge model, one called Silenced Tear.
 * In the original demo of Final Fantasy VIII Rinoa was part of the team that infiltrated Dollet and is featured in Selphie's place in the evacuation FMV.

Etymology
Rumor has it that Rinoa's name was supposed to be "Lenore". As it goes a concept designer had seen this name common in occult or witchcraft related text. They transliterated the name to Japanese and brought it to Squaresoft but due to unknown circumstances Squaresoft was unable to decipher the name, so the name "Rinoa" had to stay. Rinoa's surname, Heartilly is derived from the real English word heartily. Heartily is an adverb meaning in a cordial manner, with warmth and sincerity, with zest or enthusiasm, a word that describes Rinoa very much.