Squall Leonhart
From Final Fantasy Wiki
| Squall Leonhart | |
| |
| Japanese Name | スコール・レオンハート |
| Romaji | Sukōru Reonhāto |
| Hometown | Balamb Garden |
| Date of Birth | August 23 |
| Age | 17 |
| Blood Type | AB |
| Height | 173 cm (5'8") |
| Eye Color | Light blue |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Weapon | Gunblade |
| Limit Break | Renzokuken |
| Final Fantasy VIII Character | |
- "Right and wrong are not what separate us and our enemies. It's our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us."
- —Squall Leonhart
Squall Leonhart is the main protagonist from Final Fantasy VIII. His name, Squall, is an English word, referring to a Storm. His surname is derived from the Latin element leo meaning "lion", and Hart, derived from the Dutch hart meaning "Heart", a fitting etymology in that while he is cold and aloof, he is also a born hero.
His weapon, the gunblade, is one of the most famous weapons of the Final Fantasy series and he is one of the few people to master the weapon.
Contents |
[edit] Appearance & Personality
- "Uses a sword called a gunblade. Special skill is Renzokuken, using the gunblade. Silent, and a bit cold."
- —Scan description
Squall starts the game as an introverted, brooding, cold, and taciturn teenager who refuses to let anyone form a bond with him due to past abandonment. However, as the story progresses he learns to trust his comrades and form relationships with his allies that prove empowering in the end. He even falls in love with a young woman named Rinoa Heartilly who is the main reason he begins opening up in the first place.
Though withdrawn, Squall does not shrink from what he considers his duty. Much as he resents assuming leadership, he is the first to ensure that what is necessary gets done. Squall's clear mind and sense of responsibility lead others to trust and follow him. He's even quite popular at Balamb Garden. Even though everyone agrees on how difficult Squall can be, staff and students admire and like him. He is a born leader and courageous to no end, eventually willing to put his life on the line for the sake of his friends. Squall begins to be that type of leader thanks to the things that happen to him throughout the game, where he has to put the safety of his friends before his.
Squall is most often seen wearing a distinctive black leather bomber jacket with fur trim on the collar and a low-cut gray shirt underneath. With this he wears black pants along with three interconnecting belts hanging off the waist as well as black boots and gloves. He has a silver chain necklace with a Griever pendant on the end and matching ring. The only time he isn't wearing this particular outfit is when he's wearing his SeeD uniform, which he only does if he's required to.
Squall's weapon of choice is the Revolver gunblade of which he owns a customized version with the Griever symbol imprinted on both sides. His rival, Seifer Almasy, also wields a gunblade named the Hyperion. In a duel with Seifer, which was meant to be a training session, Squall received his trademark facial scar. He immediately returns the favor by giving a mirror injury to his long-time rival.
Another trademark of Squall is "...Whatever", a phrase that he utters frequently during the course of the game in a dismissing demeanor. The animal motif of Griever, an anthropomorphic lion-like Guardian Force, is also heavily associated with Squall as it is a GF that comes from his subconscious mind. Squall greatly admires lions, describing them as "known for their great strength and pride", qualities he strives to have in himself, even though his colleagues already see him as fitting with that description.
[edit] Story
- "Rinoa... Even if you end up as the world's enemy, I'll... I'll be your knight..."
- —Squall's thoughts on Rinoa's situation
Squall was born to Raine Loire in the village of Winhill, though she died shortly after his birth. His father, Laguna Loire, never knew that Raine was pregnant, as he was in Esthar saving his adopted daughter Ellone from the clutches of Adel, a malevolent sorceress. After Raine passed away, both Squall and Ellone, who was sent back to Winhill by Laguna, were sent to an orphanage on the Centra continent.
This orphanage, run by Edea Kramer, was where Squall grew up, and despite the presence of other kids his age, Ellone was his closest friend, nicknaming her "Big Sis" although it is unknown whether he knew about their sibling bond. Due to Ellone's unique power to send a person's consciousness back in time, she was eventually sent away from the orphanage to be under the protection of a group of older orphans called the White SeeDs. No one told Squall why "Sis" left, and he assumed that she abandoned him. Due to the emotional pain of this assumption he developed a defensive mechanism that caused him to be an emotionally detached, highly cynical and introverted boy who wished to go through life without any emotional links or dependencies, so he would not have to suffer the pain of being left again. This is the source of his solitary and somewhat asocial nature throughout most of the game.
As Squall himself theorizes, he was never adopted due to his already difficult personality, so, sometime between the ages of 5 to 10 years of age, Squall was admitted into Balamb Garden to train as a SeeD. He chose to train with the gunblade, which is a difficult weapon to master and takes years of training. This wasn't a factor as Squall kept to himself and trained whenever he could. He quickly became Seifer's rival, who is a mirror image of Squall in many ways.
Seven years later Squall has became known as a "lone wolf" to his peers. His superiors, such as his teacher, Quistis Trepe, regard him as difficult to deal with but greatly respect his natural talents. The rivalry between him and Seifer has grown to become common knowledge amongst the Balamb students. Also, due to his use of GFs Shiva and Quezacoatl, his memory has weakened, remembering only the feelings of abandonment he felt when Ellone left. As the games starts Squall is near the end of his education and, after an eventful field exam, graduates along with Selphie, Zell and Nida.
It is during the inauguration ball that Squall meets Rinoa, when she forces him to dance with her. It is learned later that she would be his first employer, working as part of a hired group with Selphie and Zell to assist in the Forest Owls; freedom fighters devoted to freeing Timber from Galbadia's control.
His first mission with the Forest Owls ended in failure, when, in an attempt to kidnap the Galbadian President Vinzer Deling as he visited Timber, they instead captured a body double posing as the President. Having issues with the level of "professionalism" in the Forest Owls, Squall asked to see the terms of employment the SeeD group were under. They were under the Owls' employment until "Timber gains its independence". Far from satisfied the group nonetheless follows with the Forest Owls' plans to intercept the President's Timber based broadcast; the first world-wide broadcast for 17 years. Just short of invading the studio however Rinoa lets slip her views of the way SeeD live and Squall remarks about her group's competence in turn. After the two exchange words Rinoa abandons the plan and leaves.
A few minutes after the President begins broadcasting however Seifer, with Quistis in hot pursuit, takes the President hostage over the air. Under Quistis's request, Squall, Zell and Selphie rush to the studio to find Seifer backing away with the President into another room. However, at this point, the Sorceress appears, and convinces Seifer to come away with her. Seifer is announced executed.
With the Forest Owl's base destroyed, Squall and the others lie low for a while. Contemplating Seifer's fate leads Squall and Rinoa into another argument over their views on life before they are given word it is clear to leave town. On their way to Galbadia Garden the two argue again, this time about Squall's cold attitude towards his team mates. The group makes it to the Garden and receives new orders. They are to assassinate the Sorceress during her inauguration ceremony as the ambassador of Galbadia. A new team member, Irvine Kinneas, is assigned to help them. With Squall as their leader the group takes a train to Deling City to meet with their contact, General Caraway, and run directly in the middle of a father-daughter feud between Caraway and Rinoa.
Later that night hell breaks loose, as the ceremony begins Sorceress Edea kills the President and claims Galbadia as her own. Discovering Seifer alive and standing next to the Sorceress as her Knight, Squall takes his position with Irvine as the rest of the SeeDs takes theirs. As leader of the assassination team, if the sniper should fail to hit his target, he must fight the Sorceress himself. Irvine seems to choke, however, but after some talking to Squall, he fires at the Sorceress. She uses a magic field to stop the bullet. Squall then jumps down to the parade grounds, and fights his way through Seifer, and eventually reaches Edea. After the battle, Edea casts her limit break, the Ice Strike, which impales Squall through the shoulder, rendering him unconscious.
Squall wakes up to find himself imprisoned and tortured by Seifer in the D-District Prison. It is during Seifer's interrogation/torture, that Squall learns Edea has ordered a missile strike against both Balamb and Trabia Gardens. Squall, with the help of his team mates, escapes and immediately informs them of what is to happen. They divide into two groups: One, led by Squall, to warn Balamb of the missile strike, and the other, led by Selphie, to sabotage the missile base and stop the launch. Squall then races to Balamb Garden to warn of the impending missile attack from the Galbadian forces as retaliation on the attempt on Sorceress Edea's life.
However, as he arrives, the Garden is in the midst of chaos, a mysterious faction with allegiance to Garden Master NORG, Balamb Garden's founder, has staged the revolt against Headmaster Cid. While helping those he could Squall searches for the Headmaster to warn him of the missiles, finally finding him bunkered in his office. The Headmaster instructs Squall of the Garden's past status as a mobile bunker of Centra make. Upon the activation of the ancient system, the Garden transforms into a mobile fortress and narrowly avoids destruction by moving away from the spot the missiles were programmed to target. Cleaning up loose ends due to the rebellion of the Master faction the Garden, now seaborne, is met by the White SeeD ship and are requested to hand Ellone (who was hiding in the Garden) over into their protection.
When the Garden crashes into Fisherman's Horizon due to a lack of a steering device, Squall and his group are ordered to act as ambassadors and enact a formal apology. Mayor Dobe, the leader of the pacifist city, tells them to leave immediately, as their presence can only cause destruction. Galbadian soldiers eventually invade the town, and Dobe heads off to discuss peacefully with the soldiers. However, the soldiers do not listen, and Squall is forced to fight the soldiers in order to save Dobe's life. During the fight, Squall and his team reunite with the Missile Base team, of which they had no word until then. In a rare display, Squall shows himself very happy that they are alive and well, something that Rinoa does not fail to notice. After the battle, Dobe grudgingly accepts the team's apology, and orders the city's technicians to restore Balamb Garden to full functionality.
Shortly after that, Cid reveals he is indeed Sorceress Edea's husband, and presents his renounce as Director of Balamb Garden, appointing Squall as the Garden's Commander and leader, a decision that Squall is not at all pleased with. To show him their support, Selphie and Irvine organize a concert in Squall's honor, and Rinoa has an eventful chat with him, encouraging him to trust in them as they trust in him, and letting him know that they will be backing him up. After the Garden is fixed, Xu and Quistis are appointed as Squall's advisers and he sets course to the town of Balamb, only to discover it is currently occupied by the Galbadian Army. As his first command, Squall liberates Balamb from Galbadian occupation after defeating Fujin and Raijin.
The next order is then to head to Trabia Garden, Selphie's home Garden. He offered the Trabia students Balamb Garden's support and, while waiting for Selphie return and due to a segment in Rinoa's conversation, Irvine starts telling everyone about their past together in the orphanage which they had all forgotten (except for Irvine, of course) due to a GF usage side effect: memory loss. Remembering everything about their childhoods, the team recognizes Sorceress Edea as their loving Matron. The team decides to defeat Edea in spite of the past, and the Garden next embarks to the old orphanage in search for clues, but is intercepted by similarly mobile Galbadia Garden. The Battle of the Gardens ensues. Squall leads Balamb's defense, at one point giving a heartfelt speech to Balamb's SeeD and cadets, encouraging them to fight on. Squall and his team then infiltrate Galbadia Garden, defeating Seifer once more and challenging Edea to a final battle, ending in Sorceress Edea's defeat and Rinoa becoming comatose.
Intensely concerned over Rinoa's state Squall decides to search for Ellone who thinks might be able to help Rinoa. Edea Kramer, who was now free from the tyrannical grip of an evil sorceress from the future named Ultimecia, accompanies the team. Learning from the White SeeD that Ellone was now in Esthar, Squall opted to go alone, carrying Rinoa on his back, but his friends followed him and together they entered Esthar and from there to the Esthar space station. It was then discovered that Ultimecia had taken control of Rinoa and used her body to free Sorceress Adel from her space-bound tomb. The station is evacuated as the Lunar Cry begins, but instead Squall goes after a re-awakened and free Rinoa, as Ultimecia has left her to die in space.
Coming across an abandoned spaceship called Ragnarok, the couple use it to return to the planet. Here Squall and Rinoa share an intimate moment where Squall reveals many things about himself to Rinoa, with her telling him that she feels best when he's with her. The land base then informs them that Rinoa is to be seized upon returning to Esthar due to her becoming a Sorceress. Squall lets Esthar take her into custody, but after being forced into reason by his friends, he breaks into Sorceress Memorial where Rinoa is being held. He frees her and the team heads back to Edea's Orphanage, where Squall vows with silent resolution to become Rinoa's knight, and they both promise to meet there in case they should be parted. They then return to Esthar by request of Laguna to stop Ultimecia once and for all.
Using the Ragnarok they invade the Lunatic Pandora and fight through Fujin, Raijin, Seifer, and Adel, vanquishing the Sorceress. Using Ellone's time powers, they are able to start Time Compression and enter Ultimecia Castle in the future, where Ultimecia awaits. After the final battle and upon Ultimecia's demise, Squall was taken back in time to the orphanage where he not only witnessed his own self as a boy, but he implanted to Edea the ideas of SeeD and Garden. After witnessing the moment in which Ultimecia passed on her Sorceress Power to Edea, he fell back into compressed time where he nearly died, if not for Rinoa, and his team who believed in his existence enough to bring him back to his time and live. During the party at Balamb Garden to celebrate SeeD's victory over Ultimecia, Squall smiled at Rinoa for the first time and kissed her at the balcony.
[edit] In Battle
- Main article: Gunblade
Squall utilizes the unique gun-sword hybrid weapon known as the gunblade. Depending on the media he wields either his own customized gunblade or one of its variant forms.
[edit] Weapons
- Main article: Revolver
- Main article: Lion Heart
Squall's own model gunblade is unique in its appearance, featuring a stenciled image of the Guardian Force Griever on both sides of the blade as well as possessing a chained pendant of Griever's head attached to the base of the handle. The gunblade's casing itself seems also to be custom, featuring an enlarged image of Squall's Griever pendant on the lid.
There are seven gunblade types/models available for Squall to use throughout the game: The Revolver, The Shear Trigger, The Cutting Trigger, The Flame Saber, The Twin Lance, The Punishment, and The Lion Heart.
[edit] Limit Breaks
- Main article: Renzokuken
In Final Fantasy VIII, the player performs Squall's limit break, Renzokuken. Immediately after starting, the player will be prompted to tap the R1 trigger button at the correct time, indicated by a moving bar on the bottom of the screen. Squall will then proceed to slash a targeted enemy four to eight times before beginning one of his four finishing moves.
The ability to use all of Squall's finishers depend on what gunblade he is currently wielding and appears after his limit break, Renzokuken. The finishing move is then chosen randomly; however, Squall learns finishing moves in accordance to his acquiring of new gunblade models, and can only utilize a certain finishing move if he's already acquired the gunblade model necessary to perform that technique. For instance, Squall can't use the Lion Heart if he's not equipped with the Lion Heart gunblade.
Finishers
- Level 1: Rough Divide - Obtain Revolver or higher to execute.
- Level 2: Fated Circle - Obtain Shear Trigger or higher to execute.
- Level 3: Blasting Zone - Obtain Flame Saber or higher to execute.
- Level 4: Lion Heart - Obtain Lion Heart to execute.
[edit] Triple Triad
| Squall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | 10 (Player Card) | Element | None | |
| Refine | 1 refines into 3 Three Stars | ||||
| Drop | None | ||||
| Card | None | ||||
| Win | Card game against Laguna in Esthar or on the airship Ragnarok Card game against the CC Group in the Ragnarok airship in Disc 4 | ||||
[edit] Creation and Development
Squall Leonhart was the first character Tetsuya Nomura designed specifically for use in Final Fantasy VIII. Initially he was given longer hair and a more feminine appearance. However, Yoshinori Kitase felt that this design did not work and asked Nomura to shorten his hair and make him look more masculine, which lead to the final design of Squall seen in-game. Aspects of Nomura's first design, however, can be seen in his Kingdom Hearts appearances where his hair is shoulder length; and in Dissidia in relation to his clothing.
Nomura doesn't remember why he created the scar that crosses Squall's face, saying it was just something spur of the moment. Like Cloud Strife's distinguishable hair, he wanted something that set Squall apart and made him more recognizable. The scar was there before establishing the character's history, and Nomura left it to Kazushige Nojima to work out how he obtained it, leading to the famous duel between Squall and Seifer in the game's intro. Squall's design was completed with a fur ruff along the collar of his jacket, included by Nomura for the purpose of challenging the game's FMV designers.
Squall's gunblade was also designed by Nomura. At the time when he was thinking of Squall's weapon he was into silver accessories and he felt he wanted Squall to have a silver weapon. Another key factor in creating Squall's weapon was how he wanted some new way for the player to control the weapon in battle. With both of those ideas combined, he came up with a gunblade. Now that Nomura thinks back on it, he says it has a rather odd appearance.
[edit] Musical Themes
"Maybe I'm a Lion" is Squall's unofficially designated theme by fans, because none of the main characters were implemented with any official themes for themselves. It is played in the final battle's third phase, when Ultimecia and Griever merge.
The musical theme titled "The Oath" is played at various important stages of the game such as when Squall addresses the students during the fight with Galbadia Garden or during his rescue by the others in the D-District Prison; the theme was included in the compilation album FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC: Final Fantasy VIII as an orchestrated arrangement.
[edit] Other Appearances
[edit] Final Fantasy VI
An 18-bit sprite of Squall occasionally appears in the loading section of the Final Fantasy Anthology port of Final Fantasy VI.
[edit] Dissidia Final Fantasy
- Main article: Squall Leonhart/Dissidia
Chaos has summoned all of the main series villains in an attempt to change the tides of an endless war. Cosmos, wanting to protect the crystals, summoned warriors to oppose Chaos' warriors in turn. Squall is one of these warriors and stands as the hero representing Final Fantasy VIII, against Ultimecia.
Though Squall has a chance to join Zidane and Bartz in searching for the Crystal, he refuses and travels to claim his Crystal and defeat Ultimecia alone. Targeted by several villains for his loner nature, Ultimecia herself manipulates Squall's chosen path and declares him an apathetic warrior who believes in none but himself. However, Squall believes in the support of his friends, even if they do not fight alongside him, giving him the strength to fight towards Ultimecia on his own and ultimately defeat her.
[edit] Chocobo Racing
Squall makes an appearance as a secret character in this racing game. He uses a version of the car he drove when attacking Edea in Final Fantasy VIII Disc 1 (The Tempest). To obtain him the player must beat the story mode twice then beat Squall himself in a challenger race set in a Final Fantasy VIII themed circuit. A great character, great speed, acceleration and turning, but he has a bit of a problem with braking. His ideal track is the F.F.VIII Circuit.
Ability: Gunblade - If the player is not in 1st place, using this will make them go Turbo until they get into 1st place, and can only be stopped with a level 3 elemental magic (Fire, Ice, Bolt, etc.) or Mega Flare.
[edit] Chocobo World
An 8-bit sprite of Squall appears in Chocobo World.
[edit] Non-Final Fantasy Appearances
- See also: Final Fantasy in Popular Culture.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts series
For more information, see Kingdom Hearts Wiki:Leon
In the Kingdom Hearts series, Squall is referred to as Leon, as he changed his name after failing to save Hollow Bastion from the Heartless. He also appears several years older, to match the ages of the other Final Fantasy characters he appears with. Along with Yuffie and Aerith, Leon came from Hollow Bastion and fled to Traverse Town when Maleficent took over the castle. Leon helps Sora with advice and information in the first game, and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he teaches the player many basic concepts for the card-based battle system.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Leon leads the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, and works towards restoring the ruins of Hollow Bastion to the home he and the others once knew. Despite the fact his rival Seifer also appears in the game, the two never interact or even exist in the same world, although both have their trademarks scars. In the ending FMV, Leon receives a letter, its contents unknown, and a pink pair of wings floats from it, indicating it may be from Rinoa. In both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, Leon is a boss in several Colosseum cups, and seems to have picked up on Seifer's affinity for fire, as he shoots fireballs at Sora when not close enough to strike him with the gunblade.
In the Japanese version, Leon is voiced by Hideo Ishikawa. In the English version of Kingdom Hearts, he is voiced by David Boreanaz, famous for his role as Angel/Angelus in the two TV series', Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. In the English version of Kingdom Hearts II, he is voiced by Doug Erholtz instead.
After you beat the Leon/Cloud tagteam in the Hades cup in Kingdom Hearts you get the Lionheart keyblade. Leon also gives you the Sleeping Lion outside Ansem's computer before you beat the MCP in Kingdom Hearts II.
 Sleeping Lion |
 Lionheart |
 Chain of Memories |
[edit] Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special
Squall is a playable character in this special edition of the Monopoly-like video game available only in Japan.
[edit] Trivia
- A reference to Squall in Final Fantasy IX is made when Zidane utters, "No cloud, no squall shall hinder us," while he performs on stage in disguise before revealing his identity to Garnet. This is also a reference to the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife.
- It has been said that Paine of Final Fantasy X-2 is based upon Squall's look and personality.
- Squall also shares the same voice actor as Auron, Hideo Ishikawa, in their Japanese media.
- Squall's Student ID is No. 41269.
- A cosplaying pianist known as “Piano Squall" cosplays as Squall during his charity concerts.
- In a few selected FMV's, Squall's eyes appear to be green. It should be noted that his eyes in actuality are indeed blue. Oddly enough,both his Final Fantasy Mini Arts figure and Dragon Quest & Itadaki Street portable artwork have brown eyes.
- In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, whenever Riku levels up he does Squall's victory pose.
- Squall has a brief mention in "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series", in a rap where Marik Ishtar says he likes Cloud more than him.
- Squall and Rinoa appear in a Technical Demo for the Playstation 2 where they re-enact the waltz scene from Final Fantasy VIII to showcase the console's graphics engine.
- The Japanese name for Leon from Final Fantasy II is Leonhart (レオンハルト Reonharuto), the same as Squall's last name. In the Kingdom Hearts series, Squall would in turn change his name to Leon after failing to save Hollow Bastion from the Heartless.
- In Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, another game created by Square Enix, the in-game dictionary contains an entry for squall which reads: "A sudden torrential rain shower, accompanied by powerful winds, mainly occurring in tropical regions. Speaking of Squalls... Oh, never mind."
- Squall's Triple Triad card numbers are a mirror image of Seifer's, demonstrating their rivalry.
[edit] Etymology
Squall is an English term, synonym of "storm"; this may point out to the conflicting and turbulent emotions within the character. Leonhart is a variation of the English surname "Lionheart" and the original name of Leon from Final Fantasy II.
The Lion is a recurrent theme in his character. Squall regards lions as creatures of great strength and pride, and his personal favorite is the Griever, a Guardian Force which is engraved in his Revolver gunblade as well as his ring and necklace.
[edit] Gallery
 CG art |
 Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano |
 Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano |
 CG render from Final Fantasy VIII |
 CG render from Final Fantasy VIII |
 CG render from Dissidia Final Fantasy |
[edit] External links
- Retrospect - Media and info on Squall
- Wikipedia article on Squall Leonhart
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