#ff8 world

My headcanon is weird because I have like...novel-length post-game arcs that happen and I have no idea if I’ll ever finish writing them but, who knows? I hesitate to spoil the first question, but I suppose it depends on what your definition of “happy ending” is. For me, it’s happy, or at least, fulfilling. I don’t imagine them having kids. Squall remains a SeeD, but it is complicated, and he willingly cedes “commander” to Xu (they’re both happier that way, honestly). “What does their life look life” depends on the timeframe. They spend a year with Edea, safely away from the rest of the world so Edea can help Rinoa understand, practice, and control Hyne’s power, while Squall learns to support and balance her (and sometimes serves as target practice, haha). Continuing to live at Garden is more complicated in the beginning than it is later, as everyone tries to sort out just what having a sorceress around with a high-ranking SeeD as her knight actually means. Generally, the younger someone is, the less concerned they are, while the older 20-somethings and senior adults fret about the implications if Rinoa were to “turn.” It’s also just not super clear what “knight” really means, or if it’s anything more than a title + skillset. The confusion can be awkward and uncomfortable at times, and Squall generally hates his administrative duties, not because they’re tedious but because the idea of being responsible for the lives of so many people gives him horrible anxiety. It’s one thing to pledge your allegiance to one person, but the entire population of Garden? Including kids? He doesn’t feel qualified and it makes him miserable.  He has ideas for how he wants Garden to evolve, especially with a more in-depth understanding of sorceresses, but no idea how he would go about implementing those changes. He’s still bad at asking friends for help (or even having it cross his mind to do so). But he does his job, because...? Of course he does. It’s his job. He doesn’t complain. This is Squall we’re talking about. 

Long story short, that can’t go on forever. Being what he is to Rinoa while still having to manage Garden is overwhelming for Squall, and frustrating for Rinoa, who feels caught in-between his love for her and loyalty/attachment to the institution that raised him. It’s not even that they inherently conflict, but that it...just sort of feels like they’re supposed to? It’s too much for one person, too many competing priorities. It doesn’t help that there’s political upheaval all over the Galbadian continent complicating matters.

So, things change. For one, they pick up Ellone in Winhill, and she goes with them--not as a treasured prisoner, as she was on the White SeeD ship, but as a protected resident (who can leave whenever she wants). This is good, in that Rinoa has someone to talk to that both understands her situation, and has a lot of care for Squall. It’s good for Squall, too, for obvious reasons, though perhaps a little awkward, at first; he’s not the clingy child he used to be, not that he doesn’t have pangs of that, still. They have to learn to communicate, again. But the Sorceress/Knight and SeeD Commander titles can’t be unified, simply due to a lack of mental resources and being unable to be in two places at once. Squall steps down as leader of SeeD, and abdicates to Xu, but in doing so is given a new, more fitting responsibility: he’s both a tactical and diplomatic advisor on all matters sorceress, and, as there is still the supposition they will be fighting bad ones at some point in the future, he trains SeeDs to fight or contain them specifically (sometimes with Rinoa as a foil, depending on the exercise). This works for them both, in a lot of ways; for Squall, it’s a single, clear responsibility that doesn’t have a lot of ambiguities. For Rinoa, it’s a chance to feel useful, and to prove that she’s there to help, and working with her does help set some people who had mistrusted her before at ease. 

It’s better, too, because it gives them both opportunities to spend time with friends that they hadn’t had, before, either to work with them, or just be in the same space. More freedom to go outside of Garden, be active in field projects and, especially in Squall’s case, missions. Rinoa has more space to keep in contact with the Forest Owls (which is a whole other mess) and to figure out what her powers really mean to her, as a person, and the fact it’s no longer “taboo” for her to simply exist somewhere helps a lot with that. She’s always a bit of a rebel, at heart, thinking little of questioning authority figures (or authoritative statements) on a whim. But there’s more direction to it, I think, and greater forethought about the consequences of words and actions. She does end up being living proof that Hyne’s power isn’t universally corrupting, even for someone as saturated with it as she is. Not to say she doesn’t make some nasty mistakes. But she isn’t another Adel or Ultimecia, or even Edea. She’s just herself, Rinoa first.Garden’s it’s own matter, and while he isn’t its leader anymore, Squall does what he can to shape it into the force of balance he envisions it being (and believes it has to become, if it’s to survive and have any success in holding its own against Ultimecia and any other future threats). He locks horns with Xu and others about this sometimes; the political and financial details are problems to be resolved, in his mind, not goals to be pursued. Where Rinoa might be concerned about the ethics of a mission, Squall’s is more practical; will this make the situation in the region better, or worse? Initially, that practicality extends only to the immediate results, and Xu in particular is often three steps ahead of him--that evolves over time, though, and they end up working together very well, for the interests of both Garden and anyone seeking its ‘services.’ Often with Rinoa and Quistis playing the angel and devil on their shoulders, respectively. 

I’m not sure if that’s the sort of answer you were looking for, but I’m not sure what day-to-day would mean otherwise, unless you just mean...what kind of coffee does Squall drink when he’s groggy at 5am after two hours of sleep because a rexaur got loose in the main lobby...

@ahmyhotdog  hit the heart

Starter

I don’t think there’s an option that isn’t messy as hell. On one hand, if Galbadia just takes their ball and leaves, Timber would be left free but likely destitute. Even if Galbadia had technically ceded control, they might put a lot of pressure on Timber to bow to their demands in order to prevent embargoes. On the other, an occupation is an occupation. For Timber to throw off its chains, it would have to have some kind of backup, but where to get that backup from (and how to negotiate for it) would be extremely tricky. Dollet is the only other country on the continent that might ally with them, but they’re not strong enough and much too far away to be of any use. Garden might be an option to kick Galbadia out with, but neither Garden nor SeeD offer diplomatic services (that the game mentions), so that wouldn’t answer the “OK, now what?” question. And Esthar is......Esthar. You’d have to give them a really good reason to intervene, but honestly I don’t think Timber’s even on their radar, Laguna or no Laguna. 

I honestly think that in the end, what’s between Galbadia and Timber will be between Galbadia and Timber. One option Timber might have would be to use Galbadia’s defeat and political disarray to stoke dissent and gain supporters from within Galbadia and Deling City itself. An uprising of Galbadia’s own people that favors Timber’s enrichment and emancipation might be the best option, as it stands at endgame. It would still be messy and take a while, but it’s at least feasible. Garden could be involved in some ways, but their political business and national identity would have to be in their own hands. 

If you interpret the text beneath Raine’s name as a born - died date, her age is either 24 or 25, depending. Reasonable, given what we know of her already. 

And that’s interesting and has been said before I’m pretty sure, but I just wanted to point out that if true, it would mean that, barring “MO” meaning something specific, Winhill and perhaps the rest of the world count years in base 26 which means they have been keeping this calendar for...my math kiiiiind of sucks but if I’m figuring this right, it’s somewhere in the ballpark of 238,947 years.  If you were to assume that ‘M’ is something other than an integer, that’s still 10,459 years, which is a little more plausible given the history offered to us in the game, but it’s still a really blinkin’ long time. 

I spend entirely too much time amusing myself with the idea of bite bugs, their silly name, their sillier appearance, their annoying ubiquitousness, and the fact they “fart” out of their mouths. 

They seem like the kind of cockroach-like pests that must cause all manner of problems for people. Not super dangerous to anyone but children but absolutely irritating. They’re large enough to carry away any small object that isn’t bolted down (and maybe some that are), so I imagine they steal things a lot. I also imagine they nest in highly inconvenient places, like chimneys or within machinery. 

And they smell. Their signature bug-farts are utterly nasty and hard to wash off. They’re big stinky thieving flying beetle-hornet-skunks and no one wants to be their friend. 

Anyone else think entirely too much about bite bug ecology, and if so, what are your takes?

Hmm, I just can’t see Nida. Squall might be oblivious to a lot of things, but there would be some practical value to knowing your roommate’s name. I think it’s either Seifer (who doesn’t actually live there, he found an empty single room and just moved in) or a student who has transferred out, perhaps Wimbly.

That’s fair! This is just my HC, but I always interpreted Squall as having one of those senses of humor where it’s really hard to tell whether or not he’s joking. I always thought of his hmmm who are you again to Nida as being one of those jokes (it was also a narrative choice, I think; Nida didn’t figure into the main story at all until that point, so they had to think of a way of introducing him. “Haha that random SeeD we included in graduation isn’t actually random but you didn’t know his name and neither does anyone else, even Cid said he didn’t stand out, the joke is that he’s really boring and we needed someone to fill in, get it get it” was probably the impetus for the exchange). I could be wrong, but it felt like the consensus around Garden was that Nida was the most boring person there, and even Squall kind of agreed (though not in a malicious way). 

That being said, it makes just as much sense for Wimbly, random-T-cadet, or no one at all to be Squall’s roommate, really. I dunno about Seifer...like Selphie or Zell, it feels like he’d make his mark on the room, or at the very least we’d see Hyperion’s case lying around (though again, you might argue that it’s on the opposing wall we can’t see). I can see how it makes sense plot-wise, but I’d have to have context to explain why you don’t see any evidence that it’s him. 

(New idea.) What if Cid indulged his favorites in different ways? Somehow Seifer had a triple with Raijin and Fujin, and the other room closest to Squall's is unoccupied.

I don’t really have a concrete answer for this, as it’s something I have also wondered about at length. I’m not sure whether the Ultimania says Trabia has an army or had an army (if I recall, it’s literally a single sentence mentioned in an off-hand way, and the translations you can find on The Lifestream forums are at times questionable), and either way, it doesn’t adequately explain the current state of the “country.” 

I personally can’t imagine that the cities/towns we’re shown in the game make up the entirety of the population. That would be a very strange economy, to say the least; add that to my ongoing feud with late-90s Final Fantasy’s spatial and geographical sensibilities, and I come near to frothing at the mouth in my frustration with the game(s). It made a whole lot more sense with sprites and grids.

Just as I will never accept FH being plopped in the center of a bridge that spans a body of water that is apparently the width of the Atlantic Ocean, I tend to view the areas we’re seen visiting in the game as representations of a larger whole. I’ve compared Balmb to Iceland on a couple of occasions (with the understanding that there’s probably several inspirations for the place), and I think the larger part of Galbadia can be likened to the Americas, Western ambitions and all. But Trabia’s very existence is something of a puzzle, since the only two groups of inhabitants we ever see are those stationed at Trabia Garden, the Shumi, and, well, Chocoboy. 

But Chocoboy wouldn’t have a hobby, much less a business if the only people renting out his birds were Shumi and the odd Garden cadet. I’ll buy (heh) that there’s a lot of unused land in Trabia, and it’s great place to plant a survivalist branch of Garden alumni, but supplies have to come from somewhere, and if these railroad maps are accurate: 

…Then they sure as heck aren’t coming from overseas. Esthar isn’t an option, either, all cloaking-shielded as it is. 

While I do imagine there are some arrangements between the Shumi and Trabia Garden, and Balamb/Galbadia Garden might send further supplies via sea vessel, I don’t think it makes sense that those would be the only external resources Garden has in Trabia. More generally, the amount of space these continents occupy on the planet is just too big, and the economy of the locations we do see are too robust for those locations to be the only human settlements in existence. 

The Ultimania also notes, when describing the destruction of Centra (which is treated in the context of a sociopolitical entity, rather than simply a continent or city), that Galbadia, the Holy Dollet Empire and Esthar emerged from the wreckage–again, as disparate political groups, rather than cities, continents or even countries (though Esthar manages to be all at once). Trabia, by contrast, is referred to simply as a remote country. Not a lot of information about its place in society as a whole is ever offered, to my knowledge. 

So yes, I do think there’s a lot we don’t see. I think that what we’re shown in the game are the parts that are pertinent to the story, because it’s a game. I hate to go meta like that, but there’s just no excusing it, otherwise, and I prefer to make my assumptions based on what is in the game, as opposed to what’s not. With the possible exception of Esthar–which seems to subsist on some combination of magitek and positive thinking–the political environment we’re shown in the game could not exist without robust exchanges, and the limited view we’re given is not enough to produce that sort of capital, gil and goods alike. I think you can make a pretty good case for the countryside Winhill is a part of containing many other farming communities, I’m sure there are other cities and downs on other sections of the Galbadian continent, and I’m not convinced the island of Balamb is the only one of its kind. Those are simply the parts our game-map emphasizes, because we have to go there in order to progress. 

There are even named sections of the map that you could imagine have communities; no explanation is offered for these names, but they had to come from somewhere. 

I think it’s a pretty safe bet that there’s a lot we aren’t seeing, and while there’s no canon for it one way or another, every single RP group I’ve ever seen has assumed that the locations given to us to explore in-game are both:

1. Bigger than what we see and 

2. Not the only points of civilization in the world.