"All of you are members of SeeD, but... nevertheless, you're still students at this Garden. Furthermore, because you are SeeDs, you must set an example to all others and abide by the Garden's rules. Understood!?"

—Balamb Garden Faculty

The Garden Faculty (庭学部, Niwa Gakubu^?) are non-player characters in Final Fantasy VIII. They are the Garden personnel responsible for the administration and overseeing conduct and ethics. Of the three Gardens, only the faculties of Balamb Garden and Trabia Garden are denoted, with the former's faculty being the most prominent.

ProfileEdit

Balamb GardenEdit

The Garden Faculty of Balamb Garden play a significant role in the first part of the game. While technically the term can be applied to both faculty and instructors (Aki, Quistis, Xu) the Garden Faculty wear a unique and distinctive garment that offsets them from the uniform worn by the instructors; dressed in white and red robes with a yellow, face-covering headgear. Garden Faculty work to uphold the Garden rules as well as managing the day-to-day businesses, but their more direct role is to act as the Garden Master NORG's representatives.

The Faculty are often witnessed clashing with the Headmaster by interrupting him, speaking for him, and also can be seen behaving skeptically toward the Forest Owls mission Cid apparently has accepted without the Faculty's approval. The instances lead the player to believe that the two sides do not get along. The Faculty are seen up until the Garden riot during which NORG attempts to take the establishment over from Headmaster Cid. The Faculty attempts to gather and execute all SeeDs by releasing monsters around the Garden. After NORG's plan fails, the Faculties disappear from the Garden completely.

Trabia GardenEdit

"Just tell yourself there are people less fortunate than you are. There are millions of people in this world who are."

—Trabia Faculty

The Faculty of the Garden here appears in an olive-green military jumpsuit. One single Trabia Faculty member is heard advising the party not to force their misfortune upon others. A Trabia student can be seen afterward forcing said Faculty to donate for the restoration of the Garden.

BattleEdit

The Garden Faculty can be seen in battles during the Garden riot. If the player goes to most of the areas of the Garden, there will be one to battle. They appear in battle with other enemies, then use a single line of speech and fade from battle.

GalleryEdit

Concept art by Tetsuya Nomura.

Balamb Garden Faculty Member with Cid and party.

Garden Faculty outside the Fire Cavern.