Fury Caraway

General Caraway

Fury Caraway (フューリー・カーウェイ Fyūrī Kāwei) is a non-playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. The top military official in the Galbadian army (a general), he is the husband of the late Julia Heartilly and the father of the game's heroine, Rinoa Heartilly.

Appearance & Personality

Fury Caraway is the very image of a military General. Loyal, strong willed and stern Caraway bared the interests of Galbadia as a country in his heart and focused his efforts of protecting its best interests, even if it meant crossing the country’s President. However, despite Rinoa's joining a rebel group against Galbadia, Caraway also still cared for his daughter. He never admitted his feelings to Rinoa, but did attempt to protect her in his own way; such as locking her in his house to prevent her from engaging in a dangerous mission to assassinate the Sorceress Edea, and later when he bailed Rinoa out from D-District Prison when she was arrested for engaging in combat against the Sorceress.

Story

Template:Spoilers As a young man, Fury Caraway chose a career of military service to his home nation, Galbadia. By the time of the Sorceress War with neighboring Esthar, Caraway had risen to the rank of General, and was stationed in Galbadia's capitol, Deling City. There, he worked closely with Galbadian president Vinzer Deling to ensure Galbadia's victory over Esthar's leader, Sorceress Adel.
During his frequent visits to the Galbadian Hotel in Deling City, Caraway had befriended the Hotel's beautiful lounge singer, 22-year-old Julia Heartilly. During this time, Julia went through a difficult time emotionally; she had been in love with Galbadian soldier Laguna Loire, but he had disappeared while on a dangerous mission in Centra. Julia was heartbroken, and turned to her friend, Caraway, for comfort. Caraway helped bring her out of her despair, and encouraged her to pursue her dreams of becoming a singer and songwriter. With his support, Julia wrote her first song, Eyes on Me, which was a romantic ballad about her lost love, Laguna. The two recorded the song, and it immediately became a hit all over Galbadia.
Soon afterward, Julia and Caraway married, and built a life together in Deling City. Together they had a daughter, Rinoa, and moved into a large mansion in the city. Caraway advanced his position within the Galbadian military to become the head of military operations, while Julia continued to write and perform songs. Their happiness was shattered a few years later, however, when Julia was killed suddenly in an automobile accident, leaving behind a shell-shocked husband and a five-year-old daughter.
After Julia's death, Rinoa and Caraway grew steadily apart. By the time she was seventeen, Rinoa had moved away from home and had adopted her mother's maiden name, Heartilly, as her surname as a way of symbolically severing herself from her father. To compound their problems, Rinoa joined the Forest Owls, a group of freedom fighters rebelling against the Galbadian government and its military. Engaging in covert operations to liberate territories overrun by Galbadia, Rinoa's chosen lifestyle was an insult to everything Caraway stood for.

Caraway had dedicated his life to serving Galbadia, and had thus always placed his trust in Galbadia's President Deling. However, Caraway began to doubt that the President had the country’s best interests in heart as Deling fell increasingly under the influence of the enchanting Sorceress Edea, going so far as to appoint her the nation's official ambassador. Although Deling assured Caraway the Sorceress would be the perfect tool for intimidating Galbadia's targets to submit to Galbadia's authority without having to fire a shot, Caraway was skeptical. Having lived through the Sorceress War against Adel, Caraway adamantly believed that no Sorceress would be satisfied with being subordinate to anyone.
Fearing that Sorceress Edea would soon take Galbadia for herself, Caraway masterminded a plot to assassinate Edea in an effort to rid the nation of the menace. Allying himself with Headmaster Martine of Galbadia Garden, Caraway called upon several SeeD mercenaries to get the job done. The plan involved trapping the Sorceress within the Deling City Gate during a parade celebrating her inauguration as Galbadian Ambassador. Once caged within the gate, Irvine Kinneas, a sharpshooter, would fire the killing shot while Edea was distracted. The plan failed, however, when the Sorceress managed to deflect Kinneas's bullet. The SeeD group, accompanied by Rinoa, attempted to destroy the Sorceress themselves by engaging in direct combat, but were defeated.

After the assassination mission Seifer Almasy assumes the control of the Galbadian military and General Caraway is dismissed.

Spoilers end here.

Triple Triad

Rinoa

In addition to his military skills, Caraway also plays a mean game of Triple Triad. He carries Rinoa's card, but will only use it in the game if the player loses the Ifrit card to him first. However, even if the player immediately challenges Caraway to another game after losing the Ifrit card, he will have already lost it to Martine. To regain the Ifrit card, the player must challenge and defeat the Galbadia Garden headmaster.

Trivia

• Although not mentioned in the game the General’s first name "Fury" is given in both the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania and the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Character Ultimania.
• In the English language version, Caraway holds the rank of General, while in the original Japanese version, as well as the German and Spanish one, he 'only' holds the rank of Colonel (two military ranks below General). The reasons for this change in the English version is unknown.

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