Squall Leonhart
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Squall Leonhart is the main protagonist of the role playing game Final Fantasy VIII. At 17 years old, Squall is a student at Balamb Garden, a prestigious military academy for elite mercenaries.
Squall is a bishonen with short, brown hair and dark blue eyes (he is rumoured to be visually based from Japanese singer Gackt). A small scar runs diagonally across his face; he received it at the beginning of the game in a training duel against his rival Seifer Almasy, and left Seifer with a similar (mirror-image) scar in return.
Squall usually wears a distinctive jacket with its collar trimmed in white fur. He also wears a silver pendant in the shape of a stylized lion's head. The pendant, which Squall calls the "Griever", seems to be symbolic of his angst, and takes on significance as the plot of the game progresses.
He wields an unusual weapon called a gunblade, a combination of sword and pistol. The gunblade is an extremely difficult weapon to master; as such, it is rarely used. Squall and Seifer are the only gunblade specialists who appear in the game, although Laguna Loire also uses one very briefly.
His ultimate limit break, Lionheart, does 18 hits on one enemy and with the right amount of strength, can do as much as 160,000 damage points on one single enemy. Additionally, the Lionheart virtually ignores special defense. The Lionheart limit break is the most devastating limit break in Final Fantasy VIII.
Final Fantasy VIII's storyline is unusually character-driven for a video game; the story is arguably more about Squall's emotional growth than about defeating the final boss. At the beginning of the game, Squall is taciturn, moody and withdrawn, and harshly pushes away those who attempt to get close to him. Over the course of the game, the causes of Squall's angst are explored. It is gradually revealed that although he tries to maintain a cold, antisocial attitude, he is actually a natural leader, and can be extremely rash and impulsive when his emotions overwhelm his control. As a result of his friendships with Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas, and especially his growing romance with Rinoa Heartilly, he gradually becomes more open and caring.
Overview
Compared to other Final Fantasy heroes, Squall is notable for being primarily a loner. Even compared to the originally indifferent Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy VII, he comes off as taciturn and deeply cynical. His superiors, such as his teacher, Quistis, regard him as difficult to deal with but greatly respect his loyalty, courage and intelligence.
Squall is unwittingly dragged into the role of the hero. For reasons not totally explained, the headmaster of Balamb Garden appoints him as leader of the academy early in the game. Likewise, other characters have to make efforts to pull him out of his isolation, and Rinoa has to expend a lot of energy to pursue a romance with him. It takes considerable time for him to accept the others' offered friendship.
According to flashbacks in the game, Squall grew up in an orphanage, along with practically all of the other main characters—Zell, Seifer, Selphie, Irvine and Quistis. He uses this upbringing—most notably, his forced separation with an older-sister figure—as an excuse for his coldness (at the beginning of the game, his goal is to grow into a man without any emotional links or dependency on others). However, this excuse crumbles as the game progresses—he eventually learns about the others in the orphanage with him, and they lack his emotional baggage.
As the game progresses, it is strongly hinted that Squall is the son of another character, Laguna Loire, who was away from Squall's mother, Raine, when she died in childbirth. The game does not reveal if Squall and his father ever get reconciled; in fact, his parentage is never discussed openly. Squall does not have a high opinion of his father, who tends to be happy-go-lucky and careless—during a flashback in which Squall sees his father, he refers to him as an "idiot."
His taciturn attitude is also used for comedic relief. One of the most famous cutscenes in Final Fantasy VIII (and, arguably, in all Final Fantasy games) is the scene where he first meets Rinoa, who gets him to dance at his graduation party. As he claims he doesn't know how to dance, the "hero" awkwardly bumps into other partygoers.
Other Square games
Squall also appears as a non-player character in Kingdom Hearts, although his look has been redesigned and he goes by the name "Leon" (though Yuffie occassionally refers to him as Squall, much to his annoyance). In the game his role is to help to Guide Sora, the lead character, on his battle with the heartless with various other Final Fantasy heroes. While his appearance is changed, his personality remains confrontational and rude. His voice is provided by David Boreanaz in the English language version of the game.
