The orbital Lunar Base satellite.
- "Basically, this lunar base was built to keep Adel under surveillance. We sealed her and kept her here where the earth and the moon's gravitational forces are in equilibrium."
- —Esthar Researcher
The Lunar Base (ルナサイドベース, Runasaidobēsu) is a location in Final Fantasy VIII. It is a space station created to watch over Sorceress Adel, who is sealed inside a suspension seal.
History and Profile[]
After Adel's capture Lunar Base was constructed to keep her safely sealed in a location where she could never escape. Merely killing Adel would not have been enough, after all, she would have only passed on her powers to someone else. With Dr Odine's technology capable of sealing a sorceress's powers, Adel was secured inside a suspension seal and launched off to space by three Ragnaroks. However, due to the powerful sealing technology, Adel's Tomb began to interfere with the radio waves back on earth, resulting in the radio interference.
Full-time crews take turns spending half a year at the Base, and even the president sometimes comes over himself. In the game, Lunar Base is shown to be entered in special capsules, whereupon a person in placed in a state of forced sleep, and launched off into the air. Giant green nets at the base receive the capsules, which are then taken to the boarding room.
Story[]
When Squall Leonhart and his friends arrive at the Base, they are bringing along Rinoa Heartilly, who has fallen into a coma for reasons unknown. They meet up with the Base's leader, Piet, who explains all about Adel's suspension seal. They talk to Ellone, and Squall tries to use her gift to go back into Rinoa's past to find out what happened to her. However, in the middle of the talk, Rinoa wakes up, although she does not act like herself. She puts on a space suit and goes out into space, and breaks Adel's Seal.
Back on earth, Seifer performs the Lunar Cry, bringing monsters from the moon down to earth, together with Adel. Rinoa is left for dead after Ultimecia, who had possessed her all this time, leaves her body in favor of Adel's. The Lunar Base is drawn near the moon, and Squall, Ellone and Piet attempt to escape via an escape pod. The Lunar Base is destroyed. While aboard the pod, Squall begs Ellone to go back into Rinoa's past, and this time she succeeds. The truth about Ultimecia's possession of Rinoa is finally revealed, and Squall goes out into space to rescue Rinoa. He catches up with her, and they find the lone Ragnarok floating nearby which takes them back to earth.
Layout[]
Control Room.
- Control Room
The control room is the station's central hub. It controls all actions, mechanics, etc., and has supervision over all areas. Adel's Seal has two locks: one in the control room, and one on the Tomb itself.
Docking Bay.
- Docking Bay
The docking bay is used to dock ships launched from Esthar and to leave the Lunar Base back to the planet or out to Adel. One must wear a spacesuit, as the bay opens to space.
Prep Room.
- Prep Room
The prep room is a small antechamber used to suit up into a spacesuit in order to leave the Base.
Ellone's Suite.
- Ellone's Suite
A room in the recesses of the station where Ellone stays. Albeit small, it seems comfortable and adequate. It is the only living quarters shown, although there are most likely others.
Boarding Room.
- Boarding Room
A smaller docking area; the boarding room is where boardees from the single-man pods fired from Lunar Gate emerge after their pods have docked.
Med Lab.
- Med Lab
The med lab is an on-board medical facility where Rinoa was kept until her trance brought her into space where she nearly died. It seems to have some of the best technology known.
Escape Pods.
- Escape Pods
The escape pods are small chambers used in times of emergency. They can fit up to three people, and are jettisoned from the Lunar Base back toward the planet. They appear to have the ability to pass through the atmosphere mostly undamaged. It is here that Ellone sends Squall to find out what happened to Rinoa, and also where that Squall leaves in a spacesuit to save Rinoa.
Adel's Tomb[]
- "A high-tech device intended for weakening and confining a sorceress' power. Shot into the moon's orbit after going through a special sealing process. Used to confine Sorceress Adel. It is the main cause of radio interference on the planet."
- —FFVIII Info Corner
Adel's Tomb.
As the name states, this huge object houses Adel's "dead" form. It floats in space near the moon, frozen. Adel has stayed in the Tomb petrified since the end of the Sorceress War, and is awakened by Rinoa.
Interestingly, the tomb is shaped similarly to Esthar City's presidential palace - perhaps a final nod of unwilling respect to Esthar's once-tyrannical ruler.
Musical Themes[]
When first boarding the satellite the track "Dance with the Balamb Fish" plays and continues on as Squall explores the station. When Rinoa awakens possessed, the event is accompanied by the "A Sacrifice" theme until the Lunar Cry occurs and the soundtrack is replaced by the theme "Movin".
People Associated with Lunar Base[]
- Man in Spacesuit/President, aboard the base to check on Adel. It is lead to believe that this is Laguna Loire. When he says he "has a feeling" soldiers would not be needed to escort Squall's party, Controller A assigns a security team to escort Squall's party anyway. He complains, saying "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Why do you always play me like that?" hinting that his hunches have either been debilitating unbalanced, or just flat out wrong. The casual demeanor in which the conversation plays out tells that their working relationship is more liberal-based.
- Piet, the space station's overseer. Little is revealed about him, save for being the Base's director. Whether his working relationship with the president is the same as with the Controllers is not entirely revealed.
- Controller A, one of the operators in the control room. When the president says he "has a feeling" a security detail would not be needed to escort Squall's party, Controller A sends them anyway by saying, "Then we'd better station them all the more." indicating that the president has had a history of inaccurate, possibly devastating, hunches.
- Controller B, the second operator in the control room, and the one to recommend assigning a security detail to escort Squall's team aboard the Lunar Base.
- Ellone, Raine and Laguna Loire's adoptive daughter, and Squall's elder stepsister. Her living quarters on the Lunar Base is small, but superbly comfortable with an adequate view of the cosmos.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The full motion video showing the arrival at the Lunar Base is a homage to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, very reminiscent of the "Blue Danube" scene in the film. In place of "The Blue Danube", "Dance with the Balamb Fish" is played, verifying the homage. The space station utilizes centrifugal force to simulate gravity as in 2001. Within the space station, unique camera angles are used, similar to the ones used on the Discovery One by Stanley Kubrick, to show the centrifugal rotation.