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Rinoa at the SeeD Graduation Ball
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17
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5' 3½"
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March 3rd
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Blaster Edge
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Combine, Angel Wing
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A beautiful, spirited young woman
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(リノア・ハーティリー) is the main female character from
Squaresoft's (now
Square Enix ) ''
Final Fantasy VIII ''. She is the seventeen year old daughter of General Caraway, a high-ranking officer in the Galbadian army, and Julia Heartilly, a famous singer and former love interest of
Laguna Loire .
Rinoa is a member of the ''Forest Owls'', a small resistance faction seeking to liberate the small nation of Timber from Galbadian occupation. Rinoa first meets
Squall Leonhart , the male
Protagonist of the game, at a ball at
Balamb Garden , where she manages to charm — through several methods, including mock hypnosis — the usually taciturn and unfriendly Squall into dancing with her. Her purpose for visiting the Garden is revealed when the Forest Owls hire Squall,
Zell Dincht , and
Selphie Tilmitt as mercenaries. She stays with them as they are forced to flee Timber, and ends up travelling along with them.
Outspoken, spirited, emotional and compassionate, Rinoa is in many ways the polar opposite of the cold and unsociable Squall; in fact, she was at one time romantically involved with his long-standing rival
Seifer Almasy . Although their personalities do clash at first, Squall and Rinoa gradually fall in love, and their relationship is a major focus of the game's storyline.
Rinoa's weapon of a choice is a curious projectile device called the ''Blaster Edge''. It appears to be a
Chakram -like bladed ring, mounted to her wrist, that acts much like a
Boomerang . She is frequently accompanied by her faithful dog,
Angelo , who figures prominently in her
Limit Break s. Due to events later in the game, she also acquires a secondary limit break called Angel Wing, in which she becomes uncontrollable for the remainder of the battle, acting on her own by casting spells with greatly increased power.
Rinoa is a relatively controversial character among ''
Final Fantasy '' fans. Opinion of her has tended to polarize into that which views her as an example of the stereotypical
Princess of slang terminology (she is referenced in the game as such on more than one occasion), and that which accepts Rinoa's character flaws as part of a more realistic and interesting whole, citing the game's portrayal of her growing relationship with Squall whom, it is contended, required someone as intense as Rinoa to develop his own personality.
Certain criticism comes along
Racial lines, and has risen as the ''Final Fantasy'' series has continued to drive towards photorealistic graphical imagery, particularly in its
FMV sequences, in contrast to the more
Anime -style look of characters in earlier titles. Accusations come from those who contend that the increase in graphical quality make Rinoa's features, and those of subsequent heroines in the series, appear more-obviously Asian when compared to those of the male love interest, which they consider Caucasian. This is viewed as a stereotypically-racist pairing of an Asian female with the larger, taller, and more virile white male. However, ''Final Fantasy VIII'' character designer
Tetsuya Nomura has stated in interviews that it was always his intention to model Rinoa Heartilly as a young, ideal-driven European girl.
Another highly controversial matter concerning the character involves a popular
Fan Theory that the villain of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' – the Sorceress
Ultimecia – may, in fact, be a version of Rinoa from the future. This theory arose based on many striking aesthetic and plot-related similarities between the two women. However, there is no reason to believe that this or any other connection was intended by the developers of the game regarding the two beyond those connections explicitly illustrated in-game, and other fans argue that it introduces too many
Plot Hole s to work within the context of the game's storyline.
Rinoa, along with
Squall , is featured in the electronic board game, ''
Itadaki Street Special ''.
Though Rinoa does not appear in ''
Kingdom Hearts '' or ''
Kingdom Hearts II '', at the end of ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Squall is seen reading a letter that is seemingly from Rinoa due to the wing insignia. However, the well-being or existence of Rinoa in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series is still unknown.
