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

[McLovin']

Originally Posted by Jimmy Dark Aeons Slayer ^

It´s the second time i said it but that was the ring Squall gave to Rinoa so it can only be Rinoa!

But that doesn´t mean she died...ohhhh no sir it only shows one of the possible alternative futures and what would happen if Squall didn´t safe Rinoa.

Perhaps the ending was an alternate future if rinoa was not in his life.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

What's rational about this confusing ending. What's rational about "Time Compression" when no one actually agrees or understands it is; only to be bogged down by the next endless unproven 'theory'.

The fact of the matter is, that there is no conclusive understanding of how the ending ended, but I really just want to understand... Why is the R=U debated, instead of discussed? Why is it hated more than any other interpetation? Is it because people just don't want to see it that way?

I'm still working on my 'essay' but I'm trying to word it so that people understand I'm not "PROVE" anything... Just stating how I see the R=U is as 'plausiable' as anything else. I also want to try to prevent from getting trashed and burned like I did so many years ago.

You the flames... It was like I spouted blashphemy. And that's what I want to undestand why is this R=U trashed in such a fashion if it is just fantasy? I'm hoping to find something with the responses.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

Originally Posted by Magus of Zeal ^

Originally Posted by Jimmy Dark Aeons Slayer ^

It´s the second time i said it but that was the ring Squall gave to Rinoa so it can only be Rinoa!

But that doesn´t mean she died...ohhhh no sir it only shows one of the possible alternative futures and what would happen if Squall didn´t safe Rinoa.

Perhaps the ending was an alternate future if rinoa was not in his life.

Mmmmm.... Could be...

[Go powerful women]

Alright. My opinion is that while Squall was alone on his little island of hopelessness he began to think of the one person whom he loved and gave him hope. The visions of Rinoa dying (the faceplate of the helmet breaking) was meant to crush Squall's spirit. (This vision was the scariest because it was the one time that he thought Rinoa was going to die so it was easiest to believe.) Seeing her die and believing that she was dead made Squall give up. Therefore he passed out right after that vision. He could withstand all the other crazy visions but her death was the last straw and he gave up. I also think that Squall got seperated from the others because his subconcious was concentrating on other things. Such as his childhood when he was alone, Edea, and what happened to Ultimecia. He wasn't able to find his way back like the others because he had things yet to do. Rinoa thought of how she wanted to go to the place they promised to meet so she went there. After a while she got worried and wanted to be where Squall was. Hence she ended up in Squall's desert. When she found Squall she wished that they could have met where they promised and the time compression ended and they ended up there.

[boys from the dwarf]

from this thread i have established that the visions at the end are just torment and madness and dont have much to do with reality. its rinoa in the spacesuit. squall give the ring to her and i dont see any reason why anyone else would want the ring. and as you learn in the garden war scene she is determined to survive because she has something important that belong to squall. that determination is what made her hang on when she was about to fall ad i think her seeing the ring in space was also part of her determination.

my opinion is that squall does die in the ending but i cant prove it and wont fight to prove my point if someone thinks otherwise. just remember that this is my opinion.

squall is lost and would definetly die because of lack of water and food. he's already tired out and the time compression makes him see disturbing visions and i think the final vision of rinoa dieing just finished him. he collapses and possibly dies. im not sure if rinoa would have acted the same way she does when she see's squall on the ground if he was alive.

the discussions about FF8's endless are endless. i agree with what PAK said about this just being ideas, ideas and mroe ideas piled up on each other and each question brings up new questions. good luck on your essay and it should help clear things up on the forums. maybe you could ask for the moderators to make it an important and permanent thread so these discussions dont happen about once a week. anyway. thats my say on the matter.

[Sir Bahamut]

Sorry, but is your opinion that Squall dies and then is revived by Rinoa, or that he dies permanently? If the latter, you realise you're implying that the whole Garden and all of Squall friends would be laughing merrily and joking about having a party right after Squall's death, right?

As for PAKs "essay", I think you should wait till you see it before making claims to its importance. No offense to PAK, but it may turn out to be entirely unnecessary.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Dark Aeons Slayer ^

It´s the second time i said it but that was the ring Squall gave to Rinoa so it can only be Rinoa!

But that doesn´t mean she died...ohhhh no sir it only shows one of the possible alternative futures and what would happen if Squall didn´t safe Rinoa.

And this is a 'fact'? Not a point of view?

Alternative futures? Frankly, I don't see that happening because Ultimecia was only compressing the past of one timeline. But that's just my opinion/view.

The helmut is unclear on whether that is Rinoa or no. I think it could be either Squall or Rinoa, but the question remains... That didn't happen, or did it? How many licks does take to get to center of a tootie pop? (yeah, I know someone claims to have answered that but... )

In this case, it's more to the liking of "Which came first: The chicken or the egg? The helmut exploding or no? The world may never know...

Damn, now I got that tootsie roll song in my head... "The world look mighty good to me... Cuz' Tootisie Roll is all I see, whatever it is I THINK I SEE, becomes a tootsie roll to me... (sigh) Memories.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

Originally Posted by Sir Bahamut ^

Sorry, but is your opinion that Squall dies and then is revived by Rinoa, or that he dies permanently? If the latter, you realise you're implying that the whole Garden and all of Squall friends would be laughing merrily and joking about having a party right after Squall's death, right?

As for PAKs "essay", I think you should wait till you see it before making claims to its importance. No offense to PAK, but it may turn out to be entirely unnecessary.

I'm beginning to think you're right Sir Bahamut. I think that Squall may have died the time Sorceress Edea struck him down with Blizzara. He was 'revived' ans sustained throughout the story since that time. He is then revived by Sorceress Rinoa at the end apparently. But could that have been a 'hallucination'? I don't think it was.