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Ruled under the military dictatorship of President Vinzer Deling, this country continues to expand its territory. Countless invasions of other countries are attempted, but most are deterred by SeeD. Deling City is its capital.

FFVIII Info Corner

Galbadia is one of the greatest political powers in Final Fantasy VIII. It is a military dictatorship under the command of Vinzer Deling. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward were Galbadian soldiers who appear in flashbacks.

Story[]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)
GalbadiaArea

The present extent of Galbadia.

Galbadian territory spans the western continent, but that was not always the case. 4000 years ago the civilization of Centra created two major empires: Dollet and Esthar. While Dollet, in the west, excelled in military force, Esthar, in the east, grew scientifically advanced.

80 years ago,[note 1] after Centra's destruction, Dollet split into three countries: Dollet, Timber and Galbadia. Sorceress Adel, the ruler of Esthar, made a bid for world domination, but was opposed by Galbadia's growing military under the leadership of Vinzer Deling. To bolster its forces during the Sorceress War, Galbadia attempted to invade and conquer its neighbors, and Galbadia became a totalitarian nation, as during the war power was given to the government to fight against the technologically superior nation of Esthar.

Vinzer Deling was inaugurated as the nation's lifelong president, and, in less than 20 years, Galbadia expanded into a force to be reckoned with due to politics of fear, Timber's occupation, and the imprisonment of political dissidents under the pretense of progress. The president's approach to diplomacy is mainly oppression.

Although Sorceress Adel was deposed by her own subjects, Vinzer Deling continued to conquer, and the majority of the western continent came under the Galbadian flag, although there are rebel factions fighting the oppression, most notably in Timber.

Galbadia attacks Dollet to capture their dormant communications tower. Dollet hires SeeD, a mercenary force hired out by Balamb Garden, to secure the town center and drive the Galbadian forces out. Galbadian forces fix the communications tower, and Dollet agrees to let Galbadia have it, as long as the city is spared from further harm.

FF8ScreenshotDeling1

Vinzer Deling addresses the world in a television broadcast.

Using the communications tower for a worldwide broadcast, President Deling announces Sorceress Edea as the new ambassador of Galbadia, and great unrest follows. Though the president broadcasts a message of peace, in truth he wants to use his new ally to intimidate his opponents into surrendering.

On the day of her inauguration, Edea kills President Deling, leaving Galbadia in disarray. After surviving an assassination attempt by SeeD, she takes the reins of the nation and embarks on a quest to find a woman called Ellone, using Galbadia Garden as her base of operations. Her knight, a former SeeD cadet Seifer Almasy, assumes much of the responsibility and assigns his friends, Fujin and Raijin, as high-ranking officers in the G-Army.

Edea has the SeeD squad responsible for the assassination attempt taken captive within the D-District Prison. Seifer is to interrogate them to divulge the true purpose SeeD persecutes sorceresses, but the SeeDs escape. Galbadia launches missiles against Trabia and Balamb Gardens to snuff out the SeeD for good, but the Missile Base is destroyed in the process by sabotage from the escaped SeeD group. While Trabia is decimated by the missiles, Balamb Garden escapes, as the escapee SeeDs warn the Garden of the impending attack and activate its mobile functions, moving the Garden away from the spot the missiles were programmed to target.

With Galbadia's main weapon gone, Edea sets out to destroy Balamb Garden herself in a direct attack. As a Galbadian army regimen arrives in Fishermans Horizon on their quest to find Ellone, Balamb Town is occupied by forces led by Fujin and Raijin. Both towns are liberated by the SeeD and Galbadia gains no new leads on Ellone's whereabouts.

FFVIII SeeD Battle

G-Army battles Balamb Garden's SeeD forces.

Galbadia and Balamb Gardens meet in the Battle of the Gardens where Seifer leads the G-Army while Squall leads his army of SeeDs. Squall leads his team to infiltrate G-Garden, and after a direct confrontation Edea and Seifer are defeated and Rinoa becomes comatose after passing on a hidden message to Seifer, who departs. As Edea addresses Squall and his allies in kindness, everyone retreats to Edea's House to talk things over.

It is revealed that Edea had been possessed by another sorceress from the future called Ultimecia who wants to find Ellone to destroy the world via time compression. When Edea was defeated, Ultimecia was banished from her body into Squall's party member Rinoa. Using Rinoa to deliver Seifer his final orders, Ultimecia tasks the G-Forces to salvage the Lunatic Pandora from the bottom of the ocean.

With Edea gone, Galbadia is left being led by Seifer, Fujin and Raijin, the G-Forces believing that Seifer is now in leagues with a sorceress more powerful than Edea. After salvaging the Lunatic Pandora, the G-Army infiltrates Esthar City. Steering the Lunatic Pandora on the Tears' Point induces Lunar Cry, and Esthar is overridden by monsters as Sorceress Adel's tomb falls from space to the Pandora to become Ultimecia's new host body.

At this point most of the Galbadian soldiers are unwilling to follow Seifer further and go AWOL, and even Fujin and Raijin abandon him. Seifer is defeated by the SeeD, and appears to no longer be affiliated with Galbadia, as he returns to Balamb with Fujin and Raijin for a more peaceful life. What becomes of Galbadia when it is left leaderless is unknown.

Spoilers end here.

Locations[]

The Galbadia region is found on the Galbadia Continent. The locations found in the Galbadia region are:


Military[]

Galbadian paratrooper.

The Galbadian military is powerful, and even regular troops are highly trained. According to the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, G-Forces are capable of using para-magic with their weapons.[1] Different colored uniforms signify rank and ability. Military personnel are trained in Galbadia Garden that focuses on weapon development. Regular Galbadian foot soldiers wield swords and para-magic, while higher ranking units wield machine guns alongside magic. Special force units also exist.

The G-Army utilizes both mechanized and biological weapons in the form of tanks and robots. Galbadia's most destructive weapon is its long-range missiles.

Other appearances[]

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy[]

Galbadia is present as a room for preset characters of the game's Multiplayer Mode Online Lobby.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]

G-Soldier and Elite Soldier from the Galbadian military appear as enemies.

Behind the scenes[]

The uniforms of the Galbadian soldiers have "08" on them, possibly alluding to the game itself, Final Fantasy VIII. Galbadian motorcycles are labeled 80a.

According to Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, the West Cactus, a wind cacti that resides in Galbadia's arid regions, is known as one of the Three Great Delicacies of the World, next to the Balamb Fish. What the third delicacy is, is unknown.

Galbadia was written "Garbadia" in some promotional materials before its English release.[2]

Notes[]

Annotations[]

  1. 80 years is only used in the English localization; the original puts it at 100 years

Citations[]

  1. Final Fantasy VIII, Scan description for a G-Soldier: "Galbadian soldier that uses magic with a sword. Strong enough, but nowhere near as strong as any SeeD member."
  2. Game Story (dead) (Accessed: August 01, 2001) at Final Fantasy VIII PlayStation Europe site (dead)

References[]

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