Dr. Odine

Dr. Odine is a non-player character in Final Fantasy VIII. He is an eccentric scientist working for the secluded nation of Esthar. He is an expert in sorceress research. Though Odine has but a minor role in the story, his inventions have shaped the world and directly influence major plot points. One of his inventions is the Junction system, which Balamb Garden now uses to empower its cadets and SeeDs.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Dr. Odine is a tiny man who wears a ludicrously big collar around his neck. He has a receding hairline and his black hair is tied up on the crown of his head. He has a triangular goatee and dresses in Estharian manner, though the large red and white striped collar sets him apart. He wears long purple trousers and a red vest and black pointy shoes.
=== Personality ===
Dr. Odine speaks with a German accent, though no one else in his circle does. Wholly dedicated to his work, he will do anything for his research, often demonstrating a lack of moral empathy for the ramifications of his inventions. As a result he has provided scientific knowledge for both sides of the conflict. He is impatient and bosses others around, and doesn't adopt a more polite demeanor even in the presence of the president of Esthar. Dr. Odine is elated when his inventions gain wider use, and is excited at the prospect of his inventions outliving him far into the future.
== Story ==
Dr. Odine began his career as a monster researcher, but along the way, he discovered the beings known as Guardian Forces. With the cooperation of a sorceress, Dr. Odine became a sorceress researcher, devising a mechanism that would enable ordinary human beings to use para-magic, a form of magic less powerful than Limit Breaks and sorceress power. Para-magic was extensively adopted for use in Balamb Garden, which combines it with the power of Guardian Forces.
During the Sorceress War, Odine was hired by Sorceress Adel and worked on researching the Lunatic Pandora, which Adel presumably planned to use as a weapon of mass destruction. When Odine received information about a girl named Ellone and her superhuman abilities, he wanted to research her. When she was abducted, Odine was allowed to study her. Ellone was confined in Odine's laboratory where he scanned her brainwaves and tried to build a device that would replicate the effect.
When Laguna, Kiros, and Ward set out to rescue Ellone, they convinced Odine to help them trap Adel in a containment seal. Afterward, the Lunatic Pandora was sunk to the bottom of the ocean and abandoned.
It is unknown what Odine did during the intervening years between the mutiny against Adel and Squall's arrival to Esthar, however, he may have had a hand in designing the city's camouflage grid, or participated in the experiments that created the Great Salt Lake. "Odine brand items" gain some notoriety around the world as valuables that restrict a sorceress's powers.
Edea Kramer seeks Odine in regards to his expertise in sorceress power. She accompanies Squall Leonhart to Esthar City where Odine agrees to examine her, later finding that she has no sorceress power left, having unknowingly passed it on. Squall and Edea bring with them a comatose girl, Rinoa Heartilly, whom Squall wants help healing. Odine agrees to put the party through the space travel to meet the now adult Ellone if he is allowed to examine Rinoa first as well.
After it is learned that Rinoa had inherited Edea's sorceress powers and she recovers from the coma, Odine is called for assistance in a plan to disrupt Sorceress Ultimecia's attempts to achieve time compression. Ultimecia is a sorceress from the future who has been possessing sorceresses of present day—Edea and Rinoa, and now the unsealed Adel—and Odine hypothesizes that she is using "Junction Machine Ellone", one of his original inventions that has outlived him and been improved in the future from its humble beginnings. Though elated at the idea of the longevity of his inventions, and seemingly unconcerned for the impending end of the world, Odine explains his understanding of time compression and how Squall and his companions can use it to reach Ultimecia in the future.
== Inventions ==
=== Odine items ===
Odine has created items believed to hold a sorceress' power at bay. One of these items is the Odine Bangle, which Rinoa acquires from her father, Fury Caraway. She attempts to use it on Sorceress Edea, but fails to put it on the sorceress and is almost sacrificed to a pair of Iguions as punishment.
=== Junction Machine Ellone ===
Though it is never revealed how the machine works or what it looks like Odine claims that he has studied Ellone's brainwave patterns and successfully imitated it into a machine. Going by this, it can be assumed that the Junction Machine Ellone is a kind of mental time traveling device. This machine would later be improved upon in the future, when Ultimecia would use it to send her consciousness to the past to possess other sorceresses. Dr. Odine is proud that his machine is used in the future, even if it is for nefarious purposes.
=== Junction system ===
The Junction system is a device that allows a person to replicate the powers of a sorceress via the storage and control of magical powers and Guardian Forces. The system itself is capable of storing 32 different forms of para-magic with a stock of 100 units of each form.
The system acts as a type of filter, filtering out magic (known as Drawing) from a being or entity and storing it ready to be used or junctioned by the user. This allows the user to possess superhuman abilities such as increased speed and strength, as well as being able to use magic as a weapon. Various Junction systems are seen in wide use in the military.
== Gameplay ==
=== Triple Triad ===
Dr. Odine possesses a rare Triple Triad card of Ward Zabac. The card can be won from him in the Presidential Palace or at his lab in Esthar City. He plays with the Esthar region rules.
===Interactions===
Odine is usually found at his lab where he can be spoken to and challenged to a card game. Talking to him is needed to start the "Lunatic Pandora event" in Esthar City for which Zell is the party leader. He also appears in the palace for story scenes.
Right before the point of no return, there is a unique non-repeatable "event" in the palace. After the president has boarded the player's airship, the player can return to the palace and examine the couch in the visitors' room. Squall will sit down, the door on the right will open, and Dr. Odine will rush across the room to the exit. Odine can still be interacted with in his lab both before and after this event, where he talks about studying the new monsters that have appeared.
==Citations==
pl:Dr Odine
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy VIII