Final Fantasy VIII's Almost Villain
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- A love letter to and character analysis of Ellone, final fantasy VIII's most tragic and underutilised character. In a game about love triumphing all, the love of one lonely little girl for her estranged brother really does save the world.
Music by @EnricoDeianamusic as usual lol:
• FF8 Fisherman's Horizo...
Additional footage from:
@heorotlinea
@Jon2ne1
@walmartpimp2
Tagszzzzzz;
#finalfantasyviii #squareenix #finalfantasy #ellone #videogames #gaming
Something interesting to note - Ellone is the only 'natural' magic user in the game (i.e someone who doesn't rely on technology or GFs to use magic) that isn't explicitly villianised or punished by the narrative. I wonder why.....? What do you guys think?
In line w/ your sorceress video, she's femme but not a full-grown woman, she's "your" sister, and she dresses quaintly, so she's presented as "nonthreatening," in terms of gender & sexuality. Maybe her being a net-good magic-user's just to keep the "magic bad/science good" dichotomy messy.
(As an aside: just discovered and already love your channel; you make great insights and express them well; and this video made me tear-up, so thanks.)
She kinda is punished right? 12ish years of near isolation. Ripped away from her family. She doesn't get got in the end. But she does kinda get the Aerith treatment in some ways. She is made to suffer for being who she is and she has to let some part of her die, the part that has the will and power to change her past to be less traumatic, in order to move forward.
I think of post space Rinoa as a natural black magic user. Meteor Wing Rinoa is so powerful.
I think of Ellone as a white mage who helps Squall get over his issues, but that's just me projecting my Final Fantasy expectations. To me Ellone's power is to the sorceresses power is like Aeris white materia vs the black materia from FF 7. As evil as the sorceresses is how good I think Ellone is.
The whole time compression destroying the world happens when Ellone's power connects with the sorceresses power and that fulfills the Garden yin yang symbolism for me. Putting Ellone and the sorceresses together causes space-time distortions. It unleashes lots of power, like connecting the + and - on a battery.
What if non-GF & non-Hyne magic users come from the moon, all the monsters use magic.
Like she is the descendant of a moon person.
Or a person who mated with a humanlike monster.
You're forgetting about Selphie. Selphie via her limit break is also capable of casting non junctioned magic, some of it extremely powerful. I remember reading a fan theory that she was also a sorceress many years back. I'm sure there are theory videos out there somewhere.
I always read her name as "Alone" and I think given her story that is very apt.
My favourite thing about Ellone as a character is how different she is on a second play through. There is a scene in the library after saving Garden but before facing NORG where she says something like "It would break my heart to know I was forgotten".
Squall doesn't know he's missing out on being reunited with his sis, but Ellone has to deal with the pain of being forgotten by the few people she was close with.
That's so sad...but she wasn't forgotten. She was always Loved. That's so heartbreaking. =/
god that's so true. on my second playthrough i actually got a little emotional at the bit where squall and quistis save ellone in the training centre, because she keeps looking back at them as she's being led away. i always wonder if that was the point at which ellone realised none of them remembered her, or if she'd known before she left the white seed ship...
I always thought her name was pronounced - E lone. Like Alone, but with an E to emphasize that this girl is alone in the world.
I was going to say the same thing.
Me too! Thought it was intentional when I replayed it a few years ago for the first time.
Same !!
*edit*
I actually think this happens a few times in FF games. For example FF9's theme leans heavily into death, and one character in particular, Vivi, deals with this more than the others. His name actually means something in Italian - you live, or you are alive. Whether or not it's intentional, it reminds me of Ellone and how we thought it was pronounced - alone
@@cassius092 Vivi in Latin means something lively and vitality, which is cool because even though Vivi has a short life span as other black mages he chooses to use it to actually live.
Because of the double L, I pronounced it El-lone
It’s so nice to see more and more love, appreciation and videos on FF VIII. Such an underrated game and much deeper than most people realise.
Looking forward to your next video on this game!
She’s 22 at this point, and while she has been through a terrible ordeal, I’ve got to think her own outlook on her future is not quite so melancholy. She has 2/3 of her family back, and though 3/3 would be better, she’s risked too much to let sorrow eat what’s left.
yeh she isnt alone any more and as she turns up with kiros and ward behind her in that cutscene. maybe they see her as like a niece and are her family too. to have squall as a brother and laguna as an uncle/father, rinoa as a sister in law, kiros and ward as uncles and all of squalls friends as people she has known since childhood with Edea and Cid as sort of guardians she should be able to move foirward with friends and fammily alike.
watching this made me cry so much. i couldnt help it. there are many reasons. im a huge fan of ff8. because of your vids i am replaying it after many years. this made me very emotional. I just wanted you to know.
thank you so much, im really happy to hear that. i was also a little emotional making this video haha
Understandable. I associates so much emotion to ff8 too. Will always love this game
Ellone is so overlooked that there's no Triple Triad card of her. There are cards for Kiros and Ward, Biggs and Wedge, Fujin and Raijin, even Angelo the dog does have a card! Guess all these guys (especially the dog) are more relevant than Squall's sister who appeared at the very first cutscene of the game and is responsible for half of the game's events.
Also there are no cards of Raine or Julia, but who cares about these ladies as long as we have cards of much more relevant characters: PuPu, BGH251F2 and Chubby Chocobo.
That’s especially frustrating when we can inappropriately play cards with Ellone in space for Laguna’s card. As a card player and key player in the story, she absolutely should’ve had her own portrait card too.
up until i read your comment i had never realised that she doesn't even have a triple triad card. crazy that they gave the CHOCOBO a triple triad card over Ellone???
@GameDove Fits the narrative tho, one could call it Ludanarrative Harmony.
this is such a good channel. i just recently finished ffviii for the first time, and there were almost NO videos about it like this for so long. i’m so happy ffviii is getting more attention bc it really was so good (btw, i always pronounced Ellone “alone” it’s interesting to hear a cooler pronouncing lol)
That's the only way to pronounce the name, it's supposed to be a pun on alone. El-o-nee is just OP mispronouncing her name
@@TheHaddonfieldRegistryIt's エルオーネ so the pronunciation in the video is closer to the original pronunciation than the way you say it
@@TheHaddonfieldRegistry Says who?
Hah, I always thought it was more like "Ellen."
thank you!! its great to see a bit of a resurgence of interest in final fantasy viii, im just happy to be a part of it!!
Also thought it was interesting that Squall was locked into a childhood trauma of having his “Sis” taken away. The other orphan kids mention he was always monopolizing her affection since she was older and a big sister to all of them. It really makes you wonder if Ellone and Squall arriving at the orphanage when he was an infant made her take on an early mother role, and Squall has an unrealized projection on Ellone as his mother figure. She’s a great fixture of lore connectivity overall!
I think it could've worked, it could've been a unique parallel between her and Squall. He chose to be alone, whereas she was forced to be alone through circumstances beyond her control.
"she knows about squall and laguna's relation before we figure it out"
IF at all, when i first played ff8 it never even crossed my mind, it was only after years when i replayed it and wanted to platinum the game that it all clicked
As a counterpoint, according to Dr. Odine, Ultimecia is only able to send her consciousness into the past because of possessing something Odine will later invent: Junction Machine Ellone, which is apparently is a mechanical implementation of Ellone's powers.
So interesting, I kept wondering who u were talking about lol as I did not know her name was pronounced like that and I always said it like "El (like L) lone. Which kind of sounds like Alone lol but with an E. Elone. Which is even more intriguing with your commentary on her being the loneliest girl lol.
I really enjoy your videos. FF8 feels so opaque at times but analyses like this shed so much light.
Thank you ! It really is a bit of a vague story sometimes haha but there's a lot of heart in there if you dig around!
The show and not tell of Ellone’a home in Winhill being riddled with with bullets (parents executed during the search for her) really kicked off her tragedy as a war orphan. Then she gets the spiritual adoption by Raine and Laguna, thinking she has parental figures again. Immediately followed by being kidnapped by Adel - when it’s possible Ellone’s power hadn’t even manifested yet to justify her capture. I’m not sure it was ever clear that Adel’s actions were ever her own when she was in command of Esthar. Adel could’ve been a puppet of Ultimecia ensuring the stable time loop that Ellone was given to Dr. Odine, so he could create the junction machine Ellone technology for Ultimecia’s future use.
I always thought her name was pronounced like “Alone” until I played through w a partner and she preferred “El-oh-nee” - I think it a much more pleasing sound but I wonder if the pronunciation should be more like Alone - in keeping with the common Squaresoft characternymming patterns.
Thanks!
thank you so much!!!
Wow. Never expected someone to talk about Ellone. Has anyone noticed the real tragedy of her being an orphan? The house where Laguna wakes up, where the pictures of Ellone's mother and father, has some very onminous details. The dinner table on the first floor and the wall behind it are riddled with bullets. Both were probably killed viciously by Esthar Soldiers when they were hunting for succesors for Sorceres Adel.
My god I have never noticed this
always excited to see more videos by you... im glad the ff8 community is alive and well
OMG - I'm in tears, here! I never looked at Ellone that way, but it's beautiful. Thank you for sharing
yesss i love these vids
I've never even played this game and your video was deeply moving. Amazing
Don't know why this made me cry. It's such a great game, depressing characters, the horrors of war, but like you said...never paid much attention to her. It's so sad.
thank you so much, you are so generous!!! i was a little teary eyed making the video too!
I always pronounced her name like “Alone,” which would lend more support to your theory.
It's funny as french even as kid it's sounded like alone (I had far less knowledge in English)
Ah yes, Ellone, that girl who could potentially destroy the world and nobody does nothing about it.
Odine tried doing something, Adel tried doing something, but Laguna didn't let them. If anyone wanted to go for her, Laguna stood in their way.
@@ReneAensland I'm not talking about instrumentalizing the girl, neither weaponizing her, I'm talking about taking the girl where no one can ever find her or sealing the girl so that no one can use her immensely dangerous power. By the way, don't act like the plot makes sense.
@@karagravisshe had the white seed. Protecting her. What you suggested is a bit too cold
@@theflashgordon193 Which were totally useless because she escaped at one point? And they were found by the party like nothing? And ESTHAR also found them? And they wouldn't stand a chance before Artemisa as either Adel or Edea? C'mon, bro, they're background characters, they're not even fleshed out.
Ell-own-ee sounds so pretty, but it’s totally throwing me off haha. I always called her “Ell-Own”.
Wonderful video. One of my all time favourite games that I've played through at least 5 times. Never thought about Ellone in this way, very insightful and moving. ❤
One of the few channels I actually ring bell for
oh wow thank you!!
Im so glad to hear someone else pronounce her name the way I did! I know some people say it like a-lone but ell-onee sounds like well, a person’s name and not a pun
Just realized that "The Smallest Church In Saint Saëns" from Disco Elysium is perfectly suited to Ellone. Especially the lyric-
"I have been so glad here,
Looking forward to the past here"
Wanted to jump in an say that I loved your video. As a fan off FF8 I made a post on reddit years ago that went down in the more villanous route by suggesting that Ellone was meant to be Ultimecia and Rinoa was acting as a red herring/warning Squall of what she could be through loss. Simply put, a lot of the issues of Ultimecia attacking Rinoa (her past self) get sidestepped all the while Ellone does actually fill in the shoes of the motivations of one who would want to achieve time compression. Reception was mixed to say the least deservedly so but it's one I'd like to go back and explore in greater detail given more information about cut content and why Ellone is as she is. As you said in a pinned comment she's the only "natural" magic user in the game and supposedly she "isn't" a sorceress yet the definition of a sorceress is so vaguely defined that I must admit I find that Ultimecia/Ellone could just mimic traits/powers of theirs all the while passing off as one. Ultimately Ultimecia mentions that part of her hate stems from sorceresses being hunted down for years but I find that to be somewhat inconsistent with the themes of FF8 given that there just aren't enough Sorceresses for them to be hunted down in large numbers in the far future. I find it more plausible that Ellone wasn't fully satisfied with the outcome of FF8 in an original timeline and that set in motion the events of the time loop. Whatever that may be, we'll never know but if we were to assume that Ellone never stopped trying to change the past it makes FF8 a very interesting familial battle that ends in a happy ending for at least one timeline of Ellone.
Here's the theory if you want to give it a read.
www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/eie0wz/basis_for_a_theory_ellone_is_ultimecia/
Sorceress's without knights will inevitably lose themselves. But Ellone's case is odd, because her power is awe inspiring, in comparison to what we see in the game, so I'm thinking maybe her knight(s) are the white seed. Maybe they're just in the game for protection from Ultimecia. Maybe the white seed are her knights? Who knows the full explanation? It could have been cut for some reason, or I'm overthinking things.
Ellone isn't a sorceress. She's just a girl with a power that no one completely understands.
I always read her name as Eh-lone, which sounds a lot like "alone". I thought that was the intention so I'm dissapointed to learn that it's pronounced Eh-low-knee xD
Your videos are super cool, I hope you keep talking about ff8 and other Final Fantasy games!
thank you, i will do my best!
Thank you for explaining what is easily missed if you doesn't pay a lot of attention. Indeed, Ellone is much more important than the playable characters imho, but she didn't get as much time on screen to fully develop her narrative arc. For example, I didn't realize till this video that she wanted to prevent Laguna leaving Winhill at all.
Honestly I think it's impressive how they managed to write her character to be so easy to forget. At least in my mind she is basically on the fringe of my FF8 memory. So much so that I half thought first few appearances in this video were not from the actual game, as if she was dlc character or modded character (I am not sure I can articulate that well tho). And I say this in a positive way, it feels very fitting for the narrative.
I have loved & been playing FFVIII since I was 8 years old when it was released, and I'm so thankful you made your channel and took the leap in making content about the game. 😭There is not enough love for FFVIII. Thank you for your service 💙|
EDIT: THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME CRY WITH THIS VIDEO
This is great stuff! Glad I found this channel!
Ellone walked so Namine could run holding hands with Kairi
I always pronounced her E-lone like E and alone - the A
Correct.
The game fails to remark how important she is to the world of FFVIII. She's the link between the 2 generations Laguna and Squall, Sorceress War and Deling's Galbadia, you know. She's also the only one with this power to junction souls and experience the past, that's how DR Odin created the GF Junction system and the Elone Junction Machine which Ultimecia used presumably. And the most important part her kidnapping led to Sorceress Adel's downfall and the end of the Sorceress war, so yeah she is the most important character in FFVIII but even though they mention her some times it's never to the point, she's the real heroine of the story, not a fighter though
...my heart.
🥺🥺🥺
interesting, in my mind, I never pronounced her name like that, I read it like the word '' alone '' But with an E at the beginning
Ooooh thats how her name is pronounced. Edit, holy wow. I know what people will say but, this, tiny video, changed my life a lot. The ending speaks volumes. Well done.
This was a beautiful look at a forgotten character. I guess I'm as guilty as the cast of not remembering Ellone for what she was.
"Elo-ny"? We always pronounced it as "Elone", similar to "alone".
I always pronounced her name like El-lone (like alone) not l-o-knee like you seem to be doing.
I thought the play on words was intentional 😂😂
I so wish Squall could have known Raine; that Raine, Laguna, Ellone, and him could have been the family they deserved to be. Oh well, at least fanfiction can appease me and give me wholesome RainexLaguna romance >
Im a huge FF8 (and FF in general) fan and just stumbled on this video and your channel. LOVE everything about it! Also...even though Ive been playing 8 my whole life Ive never heard Ellone called "El-oh-nee". I always read it as "Ee-lone" and now I've realized my entire life is a lie. Hahah.
Got some FF8 vids coming out on my channel too and hope to publish a new huge one soon!
Love your deep takes on this gem of a game. But where did you hide all those years??
pretty obvious that squall is laguna's son almost immediately, simply by the pacing of the story
FF8 still being talked about in 2025. God bless.
Ellone is Ultimecia take
Liking and commenting for algorithm boost 🤞
❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
Lol at the barrage of comments about the pronunciation of Ellone's name. :D
Great video, now I want to replay the game again.
By the way, is your channel gonna be solely focused on FFVIII (at least for now)? Or are you planning to cover other games/stories soon?
I'm here for it either way, just being a bit curious.
I always pronounce her name as E-lone. like "alone" but with E instead of A, because it's an allegory of the burden that, to be a sorceress, means to be alone. Its why some sorceress like Ultimasia and Adel, detach of human contact tend to be ruthless and don't care about anyone but themselves, and Ellone and Rinoah who bitterly acepte that their powers makes them feared and or researched to the point of willingly isolated themselves to protect others, and no mater how much they try to bypass this rule and try to search for affection, those others she love at the end will end up hurt because of them, no natter what.
Of all this sorceress i think Edea is in the middle, she decided to stop this bitter cicle once and for all but also letting herself get posses after what i think she thought "the time was ripe" for the battle to begin. So she train the seed together with his rich husband to fight her and win (a battle that all points it extended way into the future) with the purpose of saving herself but as a collateral saving the world of the sorceress influence.
Useless trivia and theories: i think there was supposed to only be one sorceress in the planet at the time, Sorcerers powers get inherit after the former sorceress was unavailable, there fore, Adel after being captured send this powers lose and where capture by Ellone, Being isolated in Ester continent her powers diminished shared with Dr. Odins machine, because of this Rinoas powers start to develop naturally, BUT! when Ultimasia archive time compresión and Squall defeats her, in the future and at the aftermath she appears in Squall chilhood time to give all her powers to Edea, so there was two sorceress in that time periodo, Adel and Edea. I think Ultimesa archive time compresión not only because the explanations that she needed to go further back in time to access more powers with past Sorceress, but because at that point in time there were 3 sorceress, Adel, Ellone and Rinoa, with Ultimesa that will be 4. Even more, as Ellone send Ultimesia consciousness further back in time she overkill it easily using a 5th a 6th or more unknown sorceress powers.
A female character with strength that's not expressed through combat skills. A curious thing.
😍😍😍
I would love it if when (hopefully) they made the remake of 8 they had more timelines.
We could experience the fall of Centra and the building/first use of the gardens.
And we could experience the future SeeDs dire losing battle against Ultimecia until the squad arrives. (plus some aftermath, because the way it is now everyone knows the furture will suck, which is a bit of a bummer).
Wait ...Squall is Laguna's what?!
TBH if you pronounce her name differently, her name sounds like "Alone"
Personally, I find giving vital knowledge to people difficult. They always show they're too corrupt to want to improve.
good video, i think ellone is pronounced like "alone" by the way
Amazing video
*Villain
I am actually more interested in how you pronounce her name, as I always thought it was E-Lone or Alone?
I've always said it like our host here, just based on how it's spelled. Besides, why would someone name their child "alone?" Isn't that kind of silly?
1) coz Japanese writers have always done weird stuff like that.
2) because it isn't Alone, it's Ellone.
It's pronounced el-own
Not El Oh Ne
i like El Oh Ne more tbh
Her name is Eruōne (E-ru-ō-ne) in Japanese, so it should probably be pronounced "Ell-oh-nay."
@@NantenKnight89 it would be elloney
@@NantenKnight89 it just doesn't work
@ The Japanese sound represented by 'e' in Romaji is not the same as the English "long e" sound found in words like "see." It's somewhere between the sound typically represented in English by 'ay,' as in "hay" or "may," and the vowel found in "bet" or "met." (To my ears, at least, it sounds closer to 'ay.') So no, it would not be pronounced like "Elloney." To be clear, I don't have a problem with anyone pronouncing it however they want to, but neither "Ell-own" nor "Elloney" seems to be the intended pronunciation of her name given how it was written in Japanese.
Any information on FF8 is good and esp these sorts of theories. I just wish the content was made by something else besides a badlycoded AI-bot (no human pronounce like the AI that runs this channel).
Excellent video!