Adel (Final Fantasy VIII)

Sorceress Adel is a minor antagonist in Final Fantasy VIII. She is a powerful sorceress who once ruled Esthar and was feared the world over. The Sorceress War was fought against Adel and her nation.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Adel has a well-built torso and her red hair is tied into a long plait. Her skin is white and her eyes are crimson. She wears a headpiece, a black skirt with frock, arm bands, and body armor (although this piece is often confused as being part of the multiple black tattoos that adorn her torso, creating the impression of her being topless). A set of tattoos delineate a mirror-image of wings on her back. In the fighting sequence the tattoo is replaced by an actual set of pinnae, or wings. Adel is at least four times the size of the average person.
===Personality===
Adel is said to be cruel, brutal, avaricious, power-hungry, and utterly ruthless. She has no morals or empathy, and is the epitome of pure evil. None of her actions in the game show anything more than this.
===Gender===
Adel is stated in the English localization to be female, and the word "sorceress" is a gender-exclusive term, however, her physique and unisex name have led to confusion. In Japanese, the term for sorceress, (written with the characters for "magic"/"demon" and "woman") is analogous to the English word "witch". The French version at times refers to Adel as "he". The Italian version gives her the explicitly feminine form of her name "Adele".
Circumstantial evidence within the game indicates that sorceresses can only be women. All other sorceresses are women, and Adel only searches for girls to be her successor. The Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania posits that sorceresses are womenFinal Fantasy VIII Ultimania p.042, and Kazushige Nojima's short story, Aru Hi no Garden no Jugyō Fūkei, describes the association with Great Hyne's magic and women, and that this is the specific origin of the word .
==Story==
Sorceress Adel rose to power in Esthar during the time period between the destruction of the Centran Empire and the advent of the Sorceress War. How she became the ruler of Esthar is unknown, although Selphie Tilmitt notes similarities between the rise of Sorceress Edea and Adel in her diary. This would indicate Adel cooperated with the former head of Esthar before taking over the position forcefully, possibly through assassination.
Estharians rarely speak of her in more than hushed voices, indicating it was a rule of tyranny. Adel began what was to be known as the Sorceress War by pitting the forces of Esthar against Galbadia in a step towards world domination. Galbadia retaliated, and instead of being conquered, expanded its own power and became a dominant nation in its own right.
Esthar discovered the Crystal Pillar that controls the periodic Lunar Cry. Realizing the destructive power she could harness by using the Lunar Cry as a weapon, Adel ordered a special compound that became known as the Lunatic Pandora built around the pillar. Lunatic Pandora served two purposes: it made the Crystal Pillar mobile, allowing Adel to choose the precise location of each Lunar Cry, and it amplified the pillar's frequency emanations, causing the "cries" prompted by the pillar from inside the Pandora to be even more destructive.
Since a sorceress must pass on her power to another upon death before she can rest, Adel intended to find a successor and ordered the mass kidnapping of young girls, planning to choose one with the most potential and raise her to become the next tyrant of Esthar. One target of particular interest was Ellone, the adopted daughter of Laguna Loire and Raine who had a unique ability to send another person's consciousness back in time. After Ellone had been kidnapped, Laguna, a former Galbadian soldier, stopped at nothing to rescue her.
While rescuing Ellone, Laguna joined the Estharian resistance against Adel's rule. Knowing that killing Adel would have her pass on her sorceress powers to someone else, the resistance came up with an alternative: containing her. Laguna enlisted the help of his friends, Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac, as well as the scientific knowledge of Esthar's top scientist, Dr. Odine. Although initially loyal to Adel, Odine's ultimate desire was research, and so he built a cryo-containment device for the resistance to bind the sorceress's powers and place her in suspended animation. The resistance placed the device inside a building that would later become known as the Sorceress Memorial.
Resistance fighters took control of the Lunatic Pandora and sunk it into the ocean, both to draw out Adel and to lessen the impact of future Lunar Cries. When Adel came to the Memorial investigate, resistance members told her they believed those responsible to be holding Ellone hostage inside. When Adel entered the building she found a facsimile of Ellone resting within a container, Laguna following her close behind. Before Adel could retaliate, Laguna pushed her and Kiros and Ward remotely closed the container, binding her in thin golden cords and freezing her instantaneously. Releasing a gelatinous cooling and buffering agent, the device protected the frozen Adel from outside contact preventing any stimulus from awakening her.
The container, appropriately dubbed Adel's Tomb, was launched into space and brought to rest in orbit around the moon, causing the worldwide radio interference rendering most wireless technology useless for the next 17 years, until Sorceress Ultimecia possesses Rinoa Heartilly and reaches the Lunar Base, thus gaining access to Adel's Tomb. Rinoa deactivates the trap under Ultimecia's control, freeing Adel, as Ultimecia's sorceress' knight, Seifer Almasy, starts a Lunar Cry from the salvaged Lunatic Pandora. As monsters fall from the moon, Adel's Tomb is caught up in the morass and brought down with them, falling into the Lunatic Pandora. Ultimecia abandons Rinoa's body to possess Adel's.
Laguna and Dr. Odine come up with a plan to subdue both Adel and Ultimecia for good by hiring Squall Leonhart's SeeD party for the job. They invite the team to the Presidential Office where they explain the details, while also saying that if Adel's consciousness wins over Ultimecia's, Adel will want to destroy "this era". Squall and his allies infiltrate Lunatic Pandora to save Ellone, whom Seifer has taken captive on board. As Seifer's allies, Fujin and Raijin, betray him and free Ellone, Seifer instead kidnaps Rinoa and presents her to the possessed Adel, who junctions Rinoa to increase her powers. Adel loses to the SeeDs and transfers her powers to Rinoa before dying.
==Gameplay==
Adel is fought at the start of Disc 4 in the Lunatic Pandora. Rinoa has been junctioned onto her, forcing the player to mind their choice of attack, as Rinoa needs to survive. Adel drains her life force to restore her own. Junctioning for high magic defense and using Zell's and Irvine's single-target Limit Breaks after lowering Adel's resistance to damage with Meltdown works well. The party must not summon Guardian Forces as they also hurt Rinoa.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade===
Adel is an enemy during the event "Showdown." In battle, Adel uses Ultima.
FFAB Adel.png|Adel.
FFAB Adel Ultima.png|Ultima.
===Final Fantasy Record Keeper===
Adel appears in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
FFRK Cursed Adel.png|Adel (Ultimate).
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Adel from Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade has a lightning-elemental card.
==Behind the scenes==
According to the Debug Menu, the FMV of Adel junctioning herself to Rinoa was going to be on Disc 3, so it is likely Adel was going to be the final boss of Disc 3 instead of Seifer, but her boss fight and FMV were moved to Disc 4 likely due to lack of disc space. This would have kept with the pattern of ending each disc with a sorceress battle.
Adel only speaks three lines throughout the game: "What is going on?" "Where?" and "You thought I would fall for that trick?" However, on Squall's visit to the Timber TV Station, several repeating phrases display on the screen, including "IWILLNEVERLETYOUFORGETABOUTME" (I will never let you forget about me), "IAMALIVEHERE" (I am alive here), and "BRINGMEBACKTHERE" (Bring me back there). These are undoubtedly the words of Adel, whose spacebound tomb causes the worldwide radio interference down on the planet.
Prior to Adel, sorceresses seem to have an innate element or magic type they specialize in; in Edea's case it's ice, in Rinoa's case it is healing and resurrection, and in Ultimecia's case it's time and space. Adel does not have an obvious magic affinity; however, due to casting many non-elemental spells, Adel may simply be affiliated with energy and non-elemental spells in general.
In discussing the plan to take advantage of time compression, Dr. Odine suggests Adel could overrule Ultimecia's consciousness when the latter attempts to control her.
==Gallery==
Adel FFVIII Sketch.jpg|Concept art.
Adel's Tomb FFVIII Art.jpg|Adel in her tomb.
Adel comes to Sorceress Memorial from FFVIII Remastered.png|Adel comes to the Sorceress Memorial.
Laguna freezes Adel in her tomb from FFVIII Remastered.png|Adel frozen.
AdelAsleep.jpg|Adel imprisoned in slumber.
Adel's tomb.jpg|Adel slumbering.
Adels-Tomb-FFVIII.png|Adel's Tomb.
Adels hand from FFVIII Remastered.png|Adel's hand.
Rinoa Adel boss.jpg|Rinoa held captive by Adel.
==Etymology==
In the Italian version she is called Adele.
==Citations==
de:Adell
it:Adele
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy VIII
Category:Antagonists
Category:Sorceresses