Who is Ultimecia? ****SPOILERS****

[Murdock]

LOTS OF SPOILERS. DON'T READ IF U DIND'T FINISH THE GAME!!!

Replaying this game we all come to this question again, Who is Ultimecia? is she just a random sorceress from the future, with no connection to the heroes, or could she be someone else?

Most fan theories out there point to either Rinoa or Ellone as being the sorceress, and, after another play through, I think it points much more to Ellone than Riona. Here're my thoughts:

SQUARE DENIED:
Square denied R=U a few years ago, but this hasnt stopped fans from going on with this theory. Some believe square denied it because if it was to be true, FF8 would be a very sad shakespearean neverending tragedy, and, well, square isn't known for wrinting such sad endigs.
Now, if E=U, it's sad, but not THAT sad, while also giving the story a lot more meaning. Also, the game has an ending instead of a time loop.

YIN YANG
Rinoa and Ultimecia are constantly portraited as complete opposities. Riona is happiness and hope, U is fear and sadness. One is an angel, the other a devil.
Now, Squall: he lives in sadness and fear because he cant let go of his past, untill he meets Rinoa. Who is Squall past? Ellone. She's the one who abbandoned him, why? U was shearching for her.

RIONA JUST HAPPENED TO BE THERE
U was never after RInoa, she didn't have any connection to Rinoa, she just happend to be there when they defeated U inside Edea. U was after Ellone the whole game.

U TRIES TO KILL RINOA.
She sends to creatures to kill Rinoa on the first part of the game. Later she leaves Rinoa to die in space.
Defenders of this theory claim that U lost all her memory because of GFs, but woudn't meeting herself in the past ring any bells?

ULTIMECIAS POWER
U powers are like Ellone in a bigger scale. Somewhere in the game they claim that's beacause she is using Ellene junction machine though.

THE GRIEVER
A lot of R=U theory is around griver, Squall's ring he tells Riona about, than it turns out U ultimate GF is the griever.
But, who gave him the ring? Why does he have an attatchment to it? He didn't meet his mother or father, and he talks a lot to matron without she ever mencioning it, so, it could only be Ellone.

ULTIMECIA'S END
Why would she anchor the castle to the orphanage? E had a strong connection to that place, but not R.
Also, U final words are about childhood. Than she and Squall pops up at the orphanage, when Squall was a Kid, searching for "SIS". Again, no attachment to R there, but to E instead.


Gaps on the plot.
There're some gaps there, but let's remember ff8 was supposed to be a much bigger game. Unfortunatly a part had to be cut off so it could fit 4 ps1 cds. What part was cut off? Laguna's part. That would certainly cast a lot of light into Ellone's story.

So guys, your thoughts?

[Derfas]

My thoughts is that Julia Heartilly is Ultimecia, just by comparing her pose and dress.

[Murdock]

Originally posted by Derfas13:

My thoughts is that Julia Heartilly is Ultimecia, just by comparing her pose and dress.

maybe if we got the complete laguna sequence we'd know more about her.

[Shinigami Miroku]

I think that there's no reason for Ultimecia to be anything other than how she's presented in the game - a malevolent force who has accumulated so much power due to the passing on of abilities from one Sorceress to the next (think of it as being similar to My Hero Academia's "One For All" power) that she went insane and desired to create a world similar to that of Kefka: a world in which only she exists and is in control. Ultimecia being either Rinoa (which, as you pointed out, was already debunked by Square) or Ellone (which makes no sense since Ultimecia needs Ellone's power in order to complete her mission, hence all the stuff going on in discs 2+3) makes no sense. Aside from the problems above, these would break the narrative themes that drive the action in the game, being the themes of the three natural loves (the eros [romantic love] that develops between Squall and Rinoa, the storge [fellowship] that develops between Squall and his team, and the phileo [familial love] between Squall and Ellone). It is true that the pain of loss can be crippling, even maddening for some, but the strength of character that Rinoa and Ellone display, along with their trust in Squall, would seem to preclude any sort of madness.

[Murdock]

" Ellone (which makes no sense since Ultimecia needs Ellone's power in order to complete her mission, hence all the stuff going on in discs 2+3) "
Guess you're right about this. Another thing fans always question is: why ultimecia castle is anchored in the orphanage, if she has no connection to that place? Replaying the game I realized that it's actually Ellone that sends Ultimecia there, guess I didn't pay attention to that the first time.
Also, if, as you stated, Sorceress powers accumulates due to the passing on of abilities from one Sorceress to the next, than, some residual memories could also pass on.

[Shinigami Miroku]

Originally posted by Murdock:

Also, if, as you stated, Sorceress powers accumulates due to the passing on of abilities from one Sorceress to the next, than, some residual memories could also pass on.

A fair point, and one that I've mulled over myself, but because we've had no evidence of this happening with the other sorceresses (e.g. Edea, at least to my knowledge, never mentions any trace memories she recalls from having taken on Ultimecia's powers, or trace memories from any of the sorceresses of the past; anything that is mentioned of Ultimecia, Adel, and so on, is either common knowledge, or otherwise gleaned from interactions with said characters themselves), I'm not really ready to put any weight behind that hypothesis.

[Kawayol]

"Ultimecia" doesn't exist. Never did.

[Evencrux]

I don't believe Ultimecia is someone from the current timeline. I personally believe she is just another person born in the future who became a sorceress who decided to meddle with time because she discovered that there was someone in the past (Ellone) who could accomplish her goal of Time Compression.

From whom did Ultimecia receive her powers from? We don't know (maybe). Could she be a descendant of someone in the present timeline? Sure. Maybe.

[Kawayol]

Again - "Ultimecia" doesn't exist and NEVER did, so stop calling her that. Really. Stop.
You've been arrogantly lied to/misled by westerner Square for all these years, people.

[Bushibu]

Gotta love reading this fan theories holy moly what are you guys doing while playing the game, read the text box and use some brain and think about some stuff it's not that hard xD
But fun theory nonetheless

[MattyJ]

Originally posted by 陳躍文:

Again - "Ultimecia" doesn't exist and NEVER did, so stop calling her that. Really. Stop.
You've been arrogantly lied to/misled by westerner Square for all these years, people.

Then who is this?
https://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-VIII/Update%20119/19-FFVIII_23806.jpg

[Kawayol]

Originally posted by MattyJ:

Who is this?

Artemisia. I'm not even going to start it with you on this. I can only sincerely recommend that you'd go and educate yourself thoroughly on the subject matter, before venturing any further.
While you're at it, never ever forget lessons of such disasters as "Working Designs' Lunar".

[MattyJ]

Recommendation noted, and ignored, I'll venture off on my quest to defeat Ultimecia without your gatekeeping. Thanks.

[Kawayol]

Then you're permanently blacklisted from this here point on. I really don't tolerate lack of education when it's coupled with arrogance and seasoned on top with stubbornness. Don't bother "answering", because I won't see/read any of it. Uncut/unaltered/uncensored Japanese original had perfect context and explanation for the character or it's/her motivations, because the character was based off of actual historical figure and a semi-mythological deity. Then "westerner Square" came and butchered everything to all hell and back. "Ultimecia" never ever existed any, because it's a 100% made-up gibberish that was never canon any. Artemisia, on the other hand, is an actual person and was ALWAYS the only proper name. Sit and bark at the concrete wall of me permanent block forevermore for all eternity to come and then some.

[Kawayol]

Originally posted by Lunie the Kitty:

Ultimicia/Arutimishia

These are two completely different things, as Artemisia is NOT a transcript. "Ultimecia" is an absolutely made-up gibberish that never existed initially, because in the Japanese original it was EXACTLY "Artemisia" and nothing else. There is a perfectly explained context for why her name is Artemisia, in the original uncut/unaltered/uncensored Japanese release. Everything was messed up and twisted to all hell solely only when it was bastardized by the so-called self-proclaimed "localization". "Ultimecia" is NOT canon, as this word itself has no meaning behind it whatsoever in the game. The game was utterly butchered by POS from "westerner Square" office when it was "ported outside of Japan", the script and absolute majority of the text in game was nearly completely rewritten. "Ultimecia" is an ARTIFICIAL construct, a mutant munchkin, that NEVER existed in the original. In this lieu, any versions post-PSOne's Japanese original are ILLEGITIMATE. They have NO legitimacy whatsoever. They are MISLEADING LIES.

[Kawayol]

Originally posted by Lunie the Kitty:

Arutimisha is the exact original name before garbage butchering

Yeah, well, it sure as hell NOT an "Ultimecia" in any way, shape, or form. Because Artemisia is an actual historical figure (actually several notorious people heralded that name throughout history), as well as a semi-mythological deity (NOT to be confused/mistaken with Artemis. They're not same thing), on which the character in the game was based on to begin with. "Ultimecia" has no context, no reasonable explanation, no logically sound right to exist any. "Ultimecia" is a 9001% made-up word that has no connotation or precedence whatsoever. While Artemisia does and always did. Anyone who still keeps/continues on calling this character WRONG/improperly/incorrectly as "Ultimecia", clearly got their head/mind/thoughts misled by "westerner Square's" arrogant lying, essentially "fake news"-tier BS. It's an outright crime. Very similar to how Working Designs utterly ruined Lunar for west/EU, back in the days.

trying to pick fights with everyone

Where? What? Since when stating harsh factual truth of reality became "trying to pick a fight"? And "with everyone", to the boot? Seems you're overthinking way too much/too hard.