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  Imgdesc Squall in SeeD uniform
  Age 17
  Height 5' 8" (173 m)
  Dob August 23rd
  Weapon Gunblade
  Limit Renzokuken ("Deathblow" in "Unarmed Fight" minigame)
  Info The taciturn and reluctant hero


Squall Leonhart is the Protagonist from Squaresoft's (now Square Enix ) 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's physical appearance consists of medium-length brown hair and cold blue eyes. He is rumoured to be visually based on Japanese singer Gackt , but character designer Tetsuya Nomura has stated that actor River Phoenix was the primary influence for Squall. A small scar runs diagonally across the bridge of his nose; 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/silver fur ( Nomura designed the fur to challenge those working on FMVs of Squall). He also wears a silver pendant in the shape of a stylized Lion 's head as well as a ring bearing a similar lion's head image. Squall calls the lion "Griever" and it 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 . Squall's model is simply called the 'Revolver', though he can upgrade the weapon at junk stores throughout the game. 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'' (''End of Heart'' in the Japanese version), does 17 hits on one enemy and with the right amount of strength and a full 8-hit Renzokuken, can do as much as 249,975 damage points on one single enemy. (9999 HP of damage x 25 consecutive hits = 249,975 HP of damage. In the German version, there are 20 hits with a damage of 199,980 points) Additionally, the Lionheart virtually ignores special defense. Only Zell Dincht 's "Armageddon Fist" and Selphie Tilmitt 's "The End" can compare to the power of the Lionheart limit break.

''Final Fantasy VIII'''s storyline is unusually character-driven for a Video Game ; the story is arguably just as much about Squall's emotional growth as it is 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 cold and deeply cynical. His superiors, such as his teacher, Quistis Trepe , regard him as difficult to deal with but greatly respect his loyalty, courage and intelligence.

Squall is unwillingly dragged into the role of the hero. For reasons not clear until the ending, 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.

He has a distinct rivalry with Seifer Almasy , which continues throughout the game. The opening sequence depicts the duel in which Squall obtained his characteristic facial scar (and subsequently gave an almost identical one to Seifer immediately following) and scenes in which Squall and Seifer are supposed to be cooperating are characterized by squabbles between the two cadets. Later, Seifer allies himself with the Sorceress, requiring Squall to battle him several times. Nevertheless, despite their conflict, Squall still feels an underlying comraderie for Seifer, and mourns him in his own way when he believes Seifer to have been executed after an attempted kidnapping of Galbadian President Vinzer Deling.

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. Though he remembers practically nothing of this past, it causes him to develop into an emotionally detached, highly cynical and introverted boy (his original goal is to go through life without any emotional links or dependencies, because "Others won't always be there. You can only rely on yourself".)

However, Squall gradually warms as the game progresses, and it is later revealed that his deliberate detachment from his companions is a defensive mechanism in order to protect himself from emotional pain, like he experienced when his older sister figure at the orphanage, one of the sole emotional supports in his early life, was forcibly separated from him. His personality warms considerably once his fear of losing those close to him is dragged out into the open and confronted.

Squall is the crux of a Time Loop encompassing the events of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' as well as about twelve years prior. Upon defeating Ultimecia, as his comrades are pulled back from time compression into their own respective places in the timeline, Squall takes a detour back to the orphanage, where he encounters a younger Edea. Since she does not want to involve any of the children, Edea ends up absorbing the dying Ultimecia's powers as part of the cycle of sorceresses (a sorceress must pass on her powers to a successor before she is allowed to die peacefully), and wonders aloud about endings and beginnings (dialogue mirroring words to Squall years later, on Disc 3). Squall plants the ideas for Garden and SeeD in her mind, creating a loop in which he must become the leader of Balamb Garden so that he can make it to this point again. Edea correctly guesses who he is, which is why Headmaster Cid knows to turn over leadership of the Garden to him, specifically. As part of his fear of having others rely on him, Squall has a hard time dealing with this for a while.

His taciturn attitude is also used for Comic 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 coerces him into dancing with her at the SeeD graduation ball. As he claims he doesn't know how to dance, the "hero" awkwardly bumps into other partygoers while staring constantly at his feet with a look of confusion.


OTHER APPEARANCES

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Due to his vast popularity Squall was included as a Non-playable Character in '' Kingdom Hearts '', although he looks to have aged a few years(he is 25 years old according to the japanese version of Kingdom Hearts) and much resembles Laguna. He goes by the name Leon (though Yuffie occasionally refers to him as Squall, much to his annoyance). "Leon" is voiced by David Boreanaz in the English Language version of the game and Hideo Ishikawa in the Japanese version. He assumes the name Leon because he was unable to protect those he cares about from the Heartless when his world was consumed in darkness. He would go by his real name once the Heartless are defeated for good and his world restored. There is also a keyblade in the game called "Lionheart", with a keychain resembling Griever, a reference to Squall (received after defeating Leon and Cloud in the Hades Cup Tornament at the Colisuem).

His role in ''Kingdom Hearts'' is to help to guide Sora, the game's protagonist, on his battle with the Heartless , alongside various other ''Final Fantasy'' heroes. While his appearance changes and he is older (in ''Kingdom Hearts'' he is 25 {Link without Title} , whereas in ''Final Fantasy VIII'', he is 17), his personality remains confrontational and rude. Of the ''Final Fantasy'' characters in the game Squall has arguably the largest role.

A memory-based version of himself appears in ''''. He returns in '' Kingdom Hearts II '' and was voiced by Doug Erholtz for the English version . He actually fights along side Sora in one of the fights in the beginning of the game. He is a partner of Cloud Strife who joined forces with him in the Hades Cup in the original ''Kingdom Hearts''. Sleeping Lion, a Keyblade in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', is another reference to Squall. Leon seems to be the leader of the "Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee", which is composed of the returning final fantasy cameos from the first kingdom hearts and includes Merlin. Leon also plays the largest role for any final fantasy character in Kingdom Hearts II story wise and is the only Final Fantasy Character that has relations to King Mickey and works very close to Sora and company. In the ending credits of ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Squall opened a letter that seemingly came from Rinoa due to the wing-insigna that is also found in the back of his jacket.

In addition, Squall is also an unlockable character in '' Chocobo Racing '' and '' Itadaki Street Special ''. In addition, a 2D sprite of Squall occasionally makes an appearance on the loading screen of the PlayStation version of '' Final Fantasy VI ''.


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