The legend goes that the Great Hyne created people. The sorceresses were given a fragment of Hyne's power. It's hard to determine how many sorceresses exist today, for many keep their powers concealed. However, it is believed that they avoid spreading their power too thin.
Sorceresses (魔女, Majo?, lit. Witch) in the world of Final Fantasy VIII are humans who have received the sorceress power, a magical power said to have been given to humanity by the Great Hyne long ago.
A sorceress differs from normal humans as they can use magic naturally (i.e., without Limit Breaks or Guardian Forces—see Para-Magic) until she must pass her powers to another individual at the time of her death.
Calling a sorceress a "Descendant of Hyne" is a sign of great respect. The only known male sorcerer is the originator, Hyne. Though venerated in legend, sorceresses have also been persecuted and feared due to their status.
Origins[]
According to legends, the god Hyne is said to have created humanity and sorceresses who wield his magic. The Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania[1] states that people vowed to destroy Hyne after realizing he tricked them by offering them a worthless part of his body without magic powers, but could never find his other half. Hyne supposedly hid the powerful side of his body inside women, which is why only women have the gift of innate magic.
Known sorceresses[]
Sorceress Edea Kramer, Sorceress Rinoa, Sorceress Adel, and Sorceress Ultimecia are met in Final Fantasy VIII. There may be more sorceresses, unaware of their powers or hiding them from the world.
Although sorceresses are the game's primary villains, not all past sorceresses were evil; some used their powers to help people. The Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania guide has a transcript of a SeeD lecture that posits there were three historically significant sorceresses: one stood up for the people of a small country when it collapsed, another caused the Sorceress War, and a third cooperated with the government to develop Para-Magic. While the second sorceress is Adel, the identities of the other two are unknown. It could be speculated that the third is Edea, considering her ties to the Garden, which uses Para-Magic, and that the instructor in the transcript mentions that she is the one "most familiar to us".
Becoming a sorceress[]
Sorceress power has been passed throughout history by the process of embodiment. Any person who has the capacity to embody the great sorceress power is a candidate.
Sorceress Power & Embodiment - FFVIII Info Corner
Ultimecia transfers her power to Edea.
Any woman with the potential to receive sorceress powers may become a sorceress. The process is called embodiment, wherein a dying sorceress passes on her powers to a chosen successor who can't reject the power transfer. Once an individual becomes a sorceress, another sorceress may use her as the successor to her powers.
A sorceress must be free of her powers to die in peace. What happens to a sorceress who cannot relieve their powers is unknown, but the sorceress power may render a sorceress unable to die until they find a successor. Although rare, a sorceress's body may release the power after a near-death experience. One example is when the SeeDs defeat Edea, and her sorceress powers transfer to Rinoa even though Edea survives.
The specific profile of the successor to a sorceress's powers has never been stated. They may have supernatural characteristics other humans lack, such as Ellone, whom Adel chose as the successor to her powers. Estharian soldiers raided her hometown of Winhill twice in search of a successor, the second of which specifically targeted her. Ellone can transfer one's consciousness into the past or communicate with others telepathically, which may have prompted Esthar to seek her out.
Rinoa's wings.
A physical trait many sorceresses have is the appearance of wings or wing-like structures protruding from their backs when they use their power. Rinoa's white wings appear during her Angel Wing Limit Break and once in a vision experienced by Squall. Ultimecia has black demonic wings, and Adel has dark, sharp wings. Edea doesn't have wings but wears a golden ornament atop her shoulders with two gauze veils hanging down, resembling wings. What physical effect being embodied by the sorceress power has is unclear—the sorceresses that have used their powers a lot are depicted as more monstrous, but how their transformations happened is unknown. Edea has glowing veins on her face and yellow eyes when under Ultimecia's control but loses them after regaining her old self.
Abilities[]
Individual sorceresses are depicted wielding different types of magic. Whether this means they prefer using magic differently or if the sorceress power manifests differently depending on the individual, giving them various abilities, is unknown. Most sorceresses shown using magic in Final Fantasy VIII do so under Sorceress Ultimecia's control, making it ambiguous how much their powers are derivative of being possessed.
Edea's hair disappears.
Edea uses various elemental magic, favoring ice in juxtaposition to her knight Seifer, who prefers fire spells, when under Ultimecia's control. Edea also magically changes her hair's length, phases through a door, brings a statue to life, and commonly enthralls people, making them do her bidding or behave like puppets under her complete control.
Rinoa uses life-giving magic, though seemingly obliviously, reviving both Seifer and Squall with magic from an unconscious state. When she revived Seifer, she was under Ultimecia's control before passing out. She is also shown transforming a flower petal into a white feather that seemingly acts as an extension of her being, as it seeks out a lost Squall.
Adel's energy magic.
Adel uses destructive magic of pure energy, forgoing traditional magical elements. She also junctions Rinoa into her body and uses her as an energy source. Adel's grotesque physique suggests she may have used magic to transform her appearance.
Ultimecia favors magic that transforms time and space. She can manifest concepts into corporeal beings, such as when she looks into Squall's heart to find what he fears and creates Griever to oppose him.
A recurring trait of sorceress's magic absent from the Para-Magic wielded by regular humans is the ability to transform and transcend space, time, and themselves.
Sorceress' knight[]
A knight will present you with peace of mind. He will protect your spirit.
Edea Kramer to Rinoa Heartilly, Final Fantasy VIII's Disc 3.
Squall Leonhart is Rinoa Heartilly's sorceress' knight.
The term sorceress' knight (魔女の騎士, majo no kishi?, lit. Witch Knight) is applied to a male companion who protects his sorceress from external dangers and her powers, i.e., protect her from others and herself. Seifer Almasy serves Ultimecia; Squall serves Rinoa (who jovially calls him an "apprentice knight"), and Laguna Loire portrayed a fictional knight in a movie. Cid is implied to serve as Edea's knight, as she refers to him as such during her conversation with Rinoa at Edea's House. The position of a sorceress' knight has been seen as romantic or honorable; Seifer claims his childhood dream is to be a sorceress' knight and retains the sobriquet even after his defeat by the SeeDs causes him to lose Edea/Ultimecia. Multiple works of fiction portray the sorceress and knight relationship in a positive light.
Knights can take additional roles in the service of their sorceress. For instance, Seifer commands Galbadia's military forces when Ultimecia takes control of the country. With Cid as Edea's knight, he manages the SeeDs for her until Squall takes over the organization.
Seifer fulfills his dream of being a sorceress' knight.
Every known knight has a bond to their respective sorceress, but the nature of the bond varies with each pair. Squall and Rinoa have a romantic connection. Similarly, Cid and Edea are married. In contrast, the bond between Seifer and Edea stems from Ultimecia brainwashing him; however, the position is also Seifer's "romantic dream", implying a level of fascination and emotional attachment to his charge. Seifer's comments to the party later imply the bond is related to his filial connection with his "Matron" from recovered memories of his time living at Edea's House.
Since there has not been a mention of a male sorcerer, there are no known female knights.
If spoken to after the party is requested to head to Esthar to learn of the plan to defeat Ultimecia, Edea tells Rinoa that she heard that Sorceress Adel did not have a knight. She speculates that Ultimecia most likely doesn't have one either. This implies that she does not consider Seifer to truly be Ultimecia's knight.
Gameplay[]
Playable sorceresses[]
Rinoa is playable. Her stats are unaltered after she inherits sorceress powers, and she still cannot wield magic without the Magic command, but she gains a new Limit Break, the Angel Wing.
Edea is playable briefly but, unknown to her, is no longer a sorceress. Edea can only use magic via junctioning like the rest of the party and still use her Limit Break, Ice Strike. Her regular attack appears to be magical, as she wields no weapon.
Battle[]
FFVIII Overkill - Disc 4 Part 2 - "Sorceresses"
The battle with 11 Sorceresses
Edea is fought as the boss at the ends of discs 1 and 2—at the Deling City parade and the Battle of the Gardens. The battle at the parade is scripted and cannot end in a Game Over, but if the player fails to reduce Edea's HP to zero, they miss out on the battle spoils.
Adel is fought past the point of no return at the Lunatic Pandora with Rinoa junctioned into her body. The party must defeat Adel without hurting Rinoa, as it is Game Over if Rinoa dies.
At the start of time compression, Squall and the party fight eleven incarnations of sorceresses from different periods. Though there are eleven, they only have three distinct appearances.
The party fights Ultimecia at Ultimecia Castle as the final boss. She junctions herself onto Griever, and later transforms into an ultimate form that absorbs all space and time.
Behind the scenes[]
While the game visually presents near-future sci-fi, Director Yoshinori Kitase wanted the story to be rooted in a fairy tale, and thus sorceresses became the main antagonists.[2]
Etymology and symbolism[]
The Japanese edition of Final Fantasy VIII uses the term "witch" rather than "sorceress". That's why the word appears in the "Succession of Witches" phrase, an anagram from FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC, and the lyrics of the opening song, "Liberi Fatali". The term refers to an old European folk belief that a person who causes harm to humans and animals via witchcraft is a witch.
The English localization of Dissidia Final Fantasy uses the term "witch" almost exclusively. Ultimecia's profile in the museum in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy states that Ellone is a sorceress, but it's a translation error, as the original Japanese profile doesn't say this.
The sorceress is called Hexe in German, Strega in Italian, and Bruja in Spanish.
The conceived appearances of Buddhist demons called asuras could've inspired the sorceresses' appearances. The most evident example is their appearance as beautiful women with deformed hands and feet, as well as in their wings and horn-like protrusions.
Allusions[]
In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Ultimecia's Brave attacks are named after knights, possibly alluding to sorceress's knights from Final Fantasy VIII. The obligation of a sorceress to absorb the essence of another dying sorceress is given an indirect allusion via Kefka's opening line when about to fight Ultimecia in Dissidia, where he threatens her by saying "How about you give me that power?"
Sorceress's knights are mentioned in Final Fantasy XIII-2 as the answer to one of the possible questions in Captain Cryptic's Confounding Quiz. The question is: Which celebrated movie introduced the gunblade, a now-popular toy among kids? The answer is "The Sorceress's Knight". The movie is a Final Fantasy VIII allusion, alluding to the movie Zefer, in which Laguna Loire played the knight.