Squall and Rinoa

by Aneni Soren

This perspective was inspired by something I read in someone else's perspective. Something along the lines of "Rinoa is already a lion, and Squall is trying to become one." I'm just expanding on that idea. (Warning: Spoilers [of the ending!] ahead.)

Squall and Rinoa are probably the perfect couple, because one doesn't hide behind the other. In most stories, the woman hides behind the man and lets him encourage and protect her. In other stories, the man hides behind the woman. However, Squall and Rinoa protect and encourage each other.

Squall is forever getting Rinoa out of one jam or another. He keeps her from getting eaten by evil lizards, saves her from hanging off the edge of a flying military school, rescues her with no thought for his own life in the depths of outer space, and makes sure she isn't sealed in the sorceress' prison. Rinoa owes her life to Squall many times over (not to mention the times that Squall saved everybody's life by doing Renzokuken/Lionheart!). Later in the game, when he stops being such a, well, jerk, he helps her occasional mental insecurity by promising that "he'll be there, so she'll find him if she comes there". Rinoa trusts him, and never hesitates to reveal her thoughts and dreams to him.

Often, it seems like that's all that's happening. Squall getting Rinoa out of one thing or another, saving her butt, she being eternally greatful and submissive. That's not the case. Although Rinoa may never directly save Squall's life with pure physical power, she helps him stop being a lapdog and become a lion. In many ways, like the other editoral said, she was already a lion, although she might not have known it. She had the courage to tell Squall exactly what she thought of him, positive or negative. She was brave enough to know what was good for the world (being sealed in the witch prison-pod space thing), and was prepared to sacrifice herself for the greater good. Most importantly, however, she opened up the world for Squall. Here come the spoilers.

In the beginning, Rinoa is standing alone in the field, waiting for Squall. Flower petals come flying, along with a feather (from one of her "wings"). Meanwhile, Squall doesn't see the flowers, the field, or the feather. All he sees is dried, parched ground and his arch-rival Seifer. For him, the feather is a gunblade. That's all he has. In the ending FMV, after the time compression, Squall is walking all alone, on the same dried, parched ground. Without Rinoa, all he sees in life is dark clouds and loneliness. Rinoa is waiting for him, however, in the field of flowers. She waits, but he doesn't come. Finally, the same way they "felt" each other's minds in space, she feels his collapse. Her angel wings start to kick in, and the same feather falls to Squall. This time, he sees it for what it is: the feather of an angel with the heart of a lion. Nevertheless, he collapses without the presence of Rinoa. She comes running to him and for a second can see his parched ground and his total alone-ness. However, when she embraces him, she brings him back to the truth of life together-the field of flowers. The clouds break, and everyone is happy and all that.

Squall's love for Rinoa, and Rinoa herself, turns his life into a field of flowers. Squall, on the other hand, keeps Rinoa in existence. If it weren't for one, the other wouldn't be alive. That's what makes their relationship great.