Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: The Quickening > Final Fantasy VIII > explanations. *serious spoilers. do not read uless you hae completed the game.*

[Sir Bahamut]

At first I thought "...the hell, of course that's Rinoa!", but upon looking at the pictures, I can see why you might find it hard to tell:





The lips look to feminine to be Squall though, although considering all the other weird stuff appearing in the ending, it may well be Squall. But I don't think it means anything at all really.

[boys from the dwarf]

freaky picture. pretty odd scene. why does it show rinoa dieing? i thought i understood why but now im not too sure. im certain thats rinoa. it may not look much like her but it looks a lot more like rinoa than it does squall.

[Jimmy Dark Aeons Slayer]

It´s her because of the Griver ring.Squall gave it to her before they entered Galbadia Garden and told her to stay with it.

[McLovin']

I don't remember that scene with Rinoa's mask breaking O_o

Would she not die if that happened?

[SeeDRankLou]

When Rinoa was floating in space, there was no hope for her. She was just there, alone. She was going to run out of air and die. Her vision was fading (remember she had trouble focusing on the rings on her necklace which were right infront of her face), so she couldn't really see any of the ships that were far off but still around her. She had emergency air, but why use? She would be able to breathe for five more minutes....and then still die. So why postpone? She gives up, seeing no hope for herself. But then, as Rinoa was taking her last few breathes of life, Ellone used her power on Squall, and Squall was able to reach Rinoa. And then she remembered how much she cared for Squall, and decided to do everything in her power to stay alive, which included pressing the red button on her suit to released the emergency air, so that she could breathe for five more minutes. And then she hoped for the best.

That stuff Sir Bahamut posted should suffice to answer your other question. And you are right about the feather. Remember the opening sequence, the pink flower pedal goes into Rinoa's hand and out comes a white feather, which then flies off as if pointed Rinoa in a certain direction. That's where the white feather the appears in the ending sequence comes from.

Originally Posted by Magus of Zeal

I don't remember that scene with Rinoa's mask breaking O_o

Would she not die if that happened?

It didn't really happen. It's one of the visions Squall has at the end.

[McLovin']

Oh wow. I just re watched the ending on youtube. I am confused.

What is with the blurs of Rinoa?

Also that picture with Rinoa 5 or 6 posts above; it makes sense that it is Rinoa but the lips make me think of Edea:

[jammi567]

Originally Posted by Magus of Zeal ^

Oh wow. I just re watched the ending on youtube. I am confused.

Before the time compression, Squall and Rinoa promice to go to the orpanage if they ever get seperated. But Squall is still stuck in loaner mode, so he gets seperated. He then walks around in a landscape that represents his thoughts and feelings for a while, until he gives up and comes to an edge. He then finds he's on an island, representing that he's even more alone. We then cut to Rinoa, where she looks at his ring he gave her, and remembers the promice they made earlier, so that sends a mental connection to him in the form of a feather, like at the beginning of the game. We then see these distorted images, which show him losing, i think, his trust for her. Or he's getting totally lost in his thoughts that he can't think straight. Rinoa's love and trust in him, however, takes her to him, because she loves and trusts him still.

So basically, it's showing that he still doesn't trust anyone, whilst she does.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

Now I've seen more than one view point on what happened. I believe that it was actually Squall in the suit. Did someone say... "Edea"? Possibly...

I don't think the lips are 'too femimine'. The hair color and length isn't quite right to be Rinoa, or it could be.

The point is. The spawning of the R=U and other speculations is because of this ambiguous ending... I've been watching the ending on youtube too. Trying to remember what I had wrote earlier, and it's slowly coming back to me.

So far I've noticed that "Time-Decompression" leads you back to the "Louve in Dollet" where the failed assassination of Sorceress Edea occurred and finally the Balamb Garden Ballroom...

More later...