Originally Posted by muzzer
this might help(taken from squarehybrid.com):choc: :moomba:
In Final Fantasy VIII, a witch/sorceress inherits their powers through being a descendant of the great god Hyne. Hyne was an entity of magic, and during her reign over the people of the world, a war broke out. During this time of fear and death, Hyne chose to flee from the sight of man. Leaving part of herself behind as she left the world.
The people who absorbed this 'left over' part of Hyne, were women, and these women developed the ability to use and control magic. These female magic users became sorceresses and were named Hyne's Descendants. Sorceresses live forever, unless mortally defeated, in which case the sorceress must find a female recipient to pass their powers onto, so that they may accept death in peace.
As most believe believe, the FFVIII world is that of a continuous loop, a circular time warp if you will, where certain events just repeat forever. Ultimecia is defeated by Squall...Ultimecia passes her powers onto Edea...Edea accidentally transfers her powers onto Rinoa...Rinoa is/becomes Ultimecia...Ultimecia is defeated by Squall... it's a circular sequence of events. Which is the thing that makes FFVIII so amazingly complex, intriguing and interesting.
Adel, of course is a sorceress too, but like many other women who absorbed Hyne's powers, she just isn't a main part of those events. As she received her powers from the 'original source'. Some witches, like Edea, are given their powers at a very young age. As Edea states she came into her magic at five years of age, but then again received a new dose of power from Ultimecia.
So from this, we can make the assumption that magic is sometimes passes on from the original Descendants of Hyne, from mother to daughter, and the powers lie dormant until they are awoken, and sometimes witches come into their power by them specifically being given to them by another full fledged sorceress.
There are of course, many possibilities, the majority of which are strongly backed up by evidence in the game if you make sure you pay close heed to everything that is said. But everyone is free to make their own assumptions. I personally believe in the Ultimecia/Rinoa theory, but many don't, because they just haven't payed attention to all the subtle hints and secrets that are revealed through out the story.