Adel was a wasted opportunity of a character (Eh, may have spoilers)

Adel is talked about, feared and mentioned a great deal throughout the game, but she only has about two spoken lines in flashbacks and then, when you finally meet her, you put a ferocious beatdown on her (or she on you, depending on how good you are at junction/tactics) and never see her again, though it is implied throughout that Adel is pure evil, avarice and selfishness. I think it's such a shame that we never really learned any more about her explicitly, other than the fact that she was basically not very nice.

Story wise she had the potential to become a much greater threat than she proved to be, although I guess you could say that another purpose she served in the story was to show just how powerful Seed truly was: they were indeed capable of taking down any sorceress, no matter how powerful or dangerous.

An interesting point I found on the FFWiki, though, is the text at Timber TV Station: the "noise" broadcast over all the frequencies is in fact lettering that spells "I WILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT ME", "I AM ALIVE" and "BRING ME BACK THERE", theorised to be the thoughts of Adel confined in space... probably the only other direct communication she's ever shown to have with the player.

What does everyone else think? Would you have liked to see more of Adel in the story?

And what the hell is she, anyway? She's like fifteen feet tall and Laguna calls her "human" still...

What do you mean she I thought Adel was a man, hint the manish face and it has no breasts.

Yeah I agree that Adel was under used, I would've like to of seen more of her may be in the laguna flash backs at least 2 battles with some more dialog.

you don't even learn anything of her peronality which is really irrating because she becomes less the wedge and briggs

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

What do you mean she I thought Adel was a man, hint the manish face and it has no breasts.

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Sorceress. The "ess" is a feminine noun suffix, therefore Adel is a woman.

That broadcasted message is one of the things that proves that Adel went crazy due to her suffering from her imprisonment. Ultimecia is the same. She went crazy, went back to the past to rule the world for revenge and vengeance. She knew how Adel felt, and that is why she went after her. Adel + Ultimecia = Gigantic Game Over, which will destroy all of your Memory Card saves!

I have no pure evidence to prove the next bit, but I truly feel that Ultimecia's craziness came from her imprisionment not too long before her future timeline. Such imprisionment was probably made of Esthar. It's either that her imprisonment, a representation of Artemisia, or R=U, that made her crazy.

Adel lacks her own story, just like Ultimecia. But isn't that what VIII is about?

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Originally Posted by Serapy

That broadcasted message is one of the things that proves that Adel went crazy due to her suffering from her imprisonment. Ultimecia is the same. She went crazy, went back to the past to rule the world for revenge and vengeance. She knew how Adel felt, and that is why she went after her. Adel + Ultimecia = Gigantic Game Over, which will destroy all of your Memory Card saves!

I have no pure evidence to prove the next bit, but I truly feel that Ultimecia's craziness came from her imprisionment not too long before her future timeline. Such imprisionment was probably made of Esthar. It's either that her imprisonment, a representation of Artemisia, or R=U, that made her crazy.

Adel lacks her own story, just like Ultimecia. But isn't that what VIII is about?

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I think thats the strongest case for R=U yet.
I feel VIII is one big unfinished story it would be nice if square went back to it and answered some of our questions. Much like crisis core does with VII

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Originally Posted by Serapy

That broadcasted message is one of the things that proves that Adel went crazy due to her suffering from her imprisonment. Ultimecia is the same. She went crazy, went back to the past to rule the world for revenge and vengeance. She knew how Adel felt, and that is why she went after her. Adel + Ultimecia = Gigantic Game Over, which will destroy all of your Memory Card saves!

I have no pure evidence to prove the next bit, but I truly feel that Ultimecia's craziness came from her imprisionment not too long before her future timeline. Such imprisionment was probably made of Esthar. It's either that her imprisonment, a representation of Artemisia, or R=U, that made her crazy.

Adel lacks her own story, just like Ultimecia. But isn't that what VIII is about?

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Yeah; she is only broadcasting the same three messages over and over so I imagine that she'd be a bit of a dribbling nutjob by then (instead of just an evil one).

When you say "isn't that was FFVIII is about", I'm not sure what you mean... are you saying most characters lack their own stories? Because as much as I like the game I'll be the first to admit that it feels like they were just making up the story as they went along, which can cause a bit of negligence in the character development department.

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Originally Posted by ReloadPsi

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Originally Posted by Serapy

That broadcasted message is one of the things that proves that Adel went crazy due to her suffering from her imprisonment. Ultimecia is the same. She went crazy, went back to the past to rule the world for revenge and vengeance. She knew how Adel felt, and that is why she went after her. Adel + Ultimecia = Gigantic Game Over, which will destroy all of your Memory Card saves!

I have no pure evidence to prove the next bit, but I truly feel that Ultimecia's craziness came from her imprisionment not too long before her future timeline. Such imprisionment was probably made of Esthar. It's either that her imprisonment, a representation of Artemisia, or R=U, that made her crazy.

Adel lacks her own story, just like Ultimecia. But isn't that what VIII is about?

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Yeah; she is only broadcasting the same three messages over and over so I imagine that she'd be a bit of a dribbling nutjob by then (instead of just an evil one).

When you say "isn't that was FFVIII is about", I'm not sure what you mean... are you saying most characters lack their own stories? Because as much as I like the game I'll be the first to admit that it feels like they were just making up the story as they went along, which can cause a bit of negligence in the character development department.

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Yeah I agree with that whereas in many of the other ff games the character development follow in a liner fashsion.

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Originally Posted by ReloadPsi

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

What do you mean she I thought Adel was a man, hint the manish face and it has no breasts.

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Sorceress. The "ess" is a feminine noun suffix, therefore Adel is a woman.

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Rupe Hall calls himself a queen doesn't mean he's a she does it.

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

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Originally Posted by ReloadPsi

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

What do you mean she I thought Adel was a man, hint the manish face and it has no breasts.

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Sorceress. The "ess" is a feminine noun suffix, therefore Adel is a woman.

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Rupe Hall calls himself a queen doesn't mean he's a she does it.

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And yet, all the sorceresses are female. I believe it was stated in the game...

And to top it all off Adel is a unisex name : D

Oh really? I always thought of it as a short for Adelaide, or something, which is a female name/

Maybe she's a hermaphrodite? Or maybe she took some mean steroids to win the World Olympics in Winhill?

I felt she was underdeveloped but I can say that about a lot of characters in VIII. It would have been interesting to see her clash with Ultimecia though.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Maybe she's a hermaphrodite? Or maybe she took some mean steroids to win the World Olympics in Winhill?

I felt she was underdeveloped but I can say that about a lot of characters in VIII. It would have been interesting to see her clash with Ultimecia though.

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Adel would probably have knocked the crap out of Ultimecia. She would've walked right up to her, picked her up by the throat yelling "Gotcha!" like Jax from Mortal Kombat II and proceeded to punch the smurf out of her until she nosebled to death.

And I kinda forgot: yeah, the French version refers to Adel as a hermaphrodite at some point.

Great thread. I've always thought of Adel as a mystery character, and one that could have been pursued more. The broadcasts over the Timber TV station fueled interest in her when I first played. But then sadly, Adel, and the whole sorceress war of the past is only whispered upon in the game.

Adel is pretty intimidating when she shows up. She could have been the big baddie.

The boy's name Adel \a-del\, also used as girl's name Adel, is of Hebrew and Old German origin, and its meaning is "God is eternal; noble". More familiar as a part of other names.

Adel has 2 variant forms: Adal and Edel.

Baby names that sound like Adel are Adael, Adil, Adiel, Adeel and Udel.

Adel is a very rare male first name and a common surname.

Adel - meaning of Adel name

Adel was preety intimidating, yeah. Then again, Ultimecia can meddle with time and send herself through different times.

Adel vs Ulti: Ulti in her final form.

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Originally Posted by McLovin'

The boy's name Adel \a-del\, also used as girl's name Adel, is of Hebrew and Old German origin, and its meaning is "God is eternal; noble". More familiar as a part of other names.

Adel has 2 variant forms: Adal and Edel.

Baby names that sound like Adel are Adael, Adil, Adiel, Adeel and Udel.

Adel is a very rare male first name and a common surname.

Adel - meaning of Adel name

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Boy, did YOU do all your research :D

Yeah I always found it kinda strange that Adel wasn't developed further as a character in FFVIII considering she caused the Sorceress War which orphaned most of the playable characters of their parents. Sounds like grounds for revenge to me maybe:confused: Maybe a crisis core kinda game set in Sorceress War times could be interesting?

Funnily enough I fought her again yesterday & was extremely pi$$ed when I killed a boss I once got stuck on for close to a year with one dose of Level 100 Squall Lionheart!

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Originally Posted by Shattered Dreamer

Yeah I always found it kinda strange that Adel wasn't developed further as a character in FFVIII considering she caused the Sorceress War which orphaned most of the playable characters of their parents. Sounds like grounds for revenge to me maybe:confused: Maybe a crisis core kinda game set in Sorceress War times could be interesting?

Funnily enough I fought her again yesterday & was extremely pi$$ed when I killed a boss I once got stuck on for close to a year with one dose of Level 100 Squall Lionheart!

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That would be awesome, I think square don't seem to realise how much they could do with the ffVII world. I would like to see some spin off games that would explore different aspects of the story that are un-told.

Would make a great tv series

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Originally Posted by rinoasknight

Would make a great tv series

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I wouldn't be opposed to an Advent Children sort of movie or anime based around FFVIII

I guess they didn't develop Adel more because they didn't need to. After all the point of FF8 is the love story of Squall and Rinoa and Squall's development. Everything else is just there to aid it along. However I WOULD like to have seen more of Adel. Actually seeing Laguna defeat Adel and his transition to president would've been cool.

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Originally Posted by Sword

I guess they didn't develop Adel more because they didn't need to. After all the point of FF8 is the love story of Squall and Rinoa and Squall's development. Everything else is just there to aid it along. However I WOULD like to have seen more of Adel. Actually seeing Laguna defeat Adel and his transition to president would've been cool.

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Yeah that would be amazing, on a different note it it would cool to have a game dedicated Laguna and peice together the bits we didn't get in the dream sequences

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Originally Posted by Sword

Actually seeing Laguna defeat Adel and his transition to president would've been cool.

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There is an optional cutscene/flashback showing exactly that.

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Originally Posted by The Crystal

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Originally Posted by Sword

Actually seeing Laguna defeat Adel and his transition to president would've been cool.

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There is an optional cutscene/flashback showing exactly that.

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Actually yeah I forgot about that but there was supposed to be an uprising against her and all that, right? I would've liked to see more of that. Specifically what would've been in the public eye, cos that just seemed like a quiet little "in the dark" job.

I think it always was an "in the dark" job. The public just wouldn't have minded because Adel was extremely unpopular.

Had Adel replaced Ultimecia as the primary villain of the game this would have been the best final fantasy.

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Originally Posted by ReloadPsi

An interesting point I found on the FFWiki, though, is the text at Timber TV Station: the "noise" broadcast over all the frequencies is in fact lettering that spells "I WILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT ME", "I AM ALIVE" and "BRING ME BACK THERE", theorised to be the thoughts of Adel confined in space... probably the only other direct communication she's ever shown to have with the player.

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I AM ALIVE HERE

BRING ME BACK THERE

I WILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT ME


Definitely the creepiest words ever conveyed in an RPG. They alone justify Adel's role in the story, and the game certainly couldn't have been hurt by more content along the same lines.

It's kind of odd that no-one (in the game) seems to have noticed that the world-wide signal interference, which began with Adel's disappearance, produces static that shows up as unsettling messages.
Still, it was a neat extra titbit about Adel's back-story, which is fleshed out pretty well despite not taking centre-stage for long. They manage to tell us quite a bit about her just in passing, without addressing the topic too directly.

...Why is Adel purple?

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Originally Posted by Hambone

...Why is Adel purple?

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As a result of her imprisonment, most likely.

She was purple before her imprisonment, as shown by Laguna's scenes. According to the FFVIII Ultimania, physical mutations are a side-effect of using a lot of dark magic.

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Originally Posted by Big D

According to the FFVIII Ultimania, physical mutations are a side-effect of using a lot of dark magic.

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I would like to see Adel's appearance before she became a villain. =O

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Originally Posted by Big D

She was purple before her imprisonment, as shown by Laguna's scenes. According to the FFVIII Ultimania, physical mutations are a side-effect of using a lot of dark magic.

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Time-compressed world. The world wasn't TC'd before Adel started undergoing her imprisonment.

The moment when Ultimecia passes her own powers to Edea was the turning point of the TC process. That's how Matron looked very normal, so did Adel.

I'm just going to say thank you Serapy for getting a new avatar.

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Originally Posted by Serapy

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Originally Posted by Big D

She was purple before her imprisonment, as shown by Laguna's scenes. According to the FFVIII Ultimania, physical mutations are a side-effect of using a lot of dark magic.

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Time-compressed world. The world wasn't TC'd before Adel started undergoing her imprisonment.

The moment when Ultimecia passes her own powers to Edea was the turning point of the TC process. That's how Matron looked very normal, so did Adel.

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That makes no sense however. If like in a earlier post the mutation was a result of using a lot of dark magic (black magic) then this would be more logical the other logical assumption is because Adel ruled Esthar by means of fear rather than love from her people or so it seems then she could have used her own magic to "transform" her body so it looks visually terrifying to the populace. Still either way unless Square give us the answer I guess we just won't know.

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Originally Posted by Iceglow

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Originally Posted by Serapy

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Originally Posted by Big D

She was purple before her imprisonment, as shown by Laguna's scenes. According to the FFVIII Ultimania, physical mutations are a side-effect of using a lot of dark magic.

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Time-compressed world. The world wasn't TC'd before Adel started undergoing her imprisonment.

The moment when Ultimecia passes her own powers to Edea was the turning point of the TC process. That's how Matron looked very normal, so did Adel.

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That makes no sense however. If like in a earlier post the mutation was a result of using a lot of dark magic (black magic) then this would be more logical the other logical assumption is because Adel ruled Esthar by means of fear rather than love from her people or so it seems then she could have used her own magic to "transform" her body so it looks visually terrifying to the populace. Still either way unless Square give us the answer I guess we just won't know.

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Makes no sense, how? This is a fantasy game.

Esthar feared Adel that they locked her up for such a long time. This action relied on thier belief regarding sorceresses, which is a quite harsh reason to do such a thing. There are much better alternatives than locking her up for a long time.

Would they do the same thing to Rinoa? Perhaps, seeing that Laguna is the pimp of Esthar and the father of Squall. But it's very possible that Laguna will retire his position in the future. A new president may mean a different being with a different mindset (neglecting the true feelings of connections of Rinoa and humans.) He could say "Oh, right. How wonderful of Rinoa and Squall's CO to help us." but will he sense the same feelings as Laguna? Usually, you sense strong feelings when they happen to yourself. If he does, the high chance of cards will be rolling that Esthar will never lock up another sorceress. Otherwise ...

However, if VIII is a time-compressed world, the feelings are irrelevant, and thus a different matter. Isn't it ironic how Rinoa's look didn't change when she received the powers? She didn't get imprisoned. And it's not because of the love theme. If it was, then I'd be interested to see thier design of Rinoa's "Dark Magic" look. Wait a second, that must be Ultimecia and she's already hot.

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WOW! Squall is so in love with Rinoa he took a SUICIDAL jump out in to space to save her life during a Lunar Cry what DESTROYED the Lunar Space Station but he marries Ellone?

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Have you ever seen the movie called Oldboy? In the end, they have changed but they still love each other.

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I'd like to QFT here.

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Hmmm ... You have basically posted assumptions with the aid of facts from the game. Hardly logical.

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Originally Posted by Serapy

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I'd like to QFT here.

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Hmmm ... You have basically posted assumptions with the aid of facts from the game. Hardly logical.

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Theories...backed by....facts...from the GAME!? Inconceivable!

I agree that Adel was under used. To me she(he/it/whatever) was scarier than Ultimecia or Edea. From that haunting radio message to the sealed tomb, the game seemed like it was building up to Adel's release, only to find out that she talked big but couldn't back it up.

I reckon Edea was portrayed very nicely in her introduction just before she kills Deling. That famous FMV of her walking through the door with help of magic has stayed with me all these years. She's shown to be calm and composed, yet undeniably evil.

I think Adel could have benefited from a contrasting angry and psychotic persona (instead of the 'nothing' Square gave her). She could've had a big speech of her own like Edea did in Deling City or like Rufus did after Sephi kills his old man, but I agree with everyone else in saying that Adel could've been developed better.

Anyone knows if you're stuck on Adel get some pulse ammo together and the Exeter rifle Irvine's limit break allows you to target Adel alone not Rinoa as well. Bye Bye Adel with 9999 damage per bullet. a quick trigger finger will end it in just 1 limit break.

Also with regards to Adel being underused, Adel took Rinoa hostage to get Ultimecia's powers which you stop before it takes place because Adel + Ultimecia = something worse than you can imagine. I think the game should have let the transfer of Ultimecia take place so that you face Adel + Ultimecia super boss and then beefing up Ultimecia herself in the final battle in her castle it would have made the game 5 discs for sure because I envision a Dollet style battlefield going on with Laguna and his government fighting bitterly against resurgent Adel supporters and the Gabaldian army aiding the supporters and Adel in her war to wrest control of the Estharian government and to cap it all off both sides are having a hell of a fight because of the monsters from the Lunar cry. It would have opened up the game to another big battle where Garden is required to go to Esthar to help seeing squads of cadets and SeeD fighting battles along side Estharian troops in the streets of the city to help save civillians ect could have been an awesome extra disc of content.

I've said for years Adel was wasted.
The flashbacks with Laguna really set the tone and it's only made more awesome when everyone is flipping out about her being released. It gives you great insight into how truly frightening she is.

Also, the whole "well Adel might actually beat Ultimecia" was great too. It made you appreciate how powerful she was if it was theoretically possible she'd defeat the main villain.

Finally, the fact Adel was never fought at her best but in a weakened state kinda makes you think she's damn near invincible as the game had ot handicap her before the heroes could win.

Oh and we can't forget Ellone giving that little line about being inside the mind of a young Adel. It makes you wonder what it was like. I'm guessing it was rather tragic and I wish it had been explained.

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

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Originally Posted by ReloadPsi

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

What do you mean she I thought Adel was a man, hint the manish face and it has no breasts.

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Sorceress. The "ess" is a feminine noun suffix, therefore Adel is a woman.

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Rupe Hall calls himself a queen doesn't mean he's a she does it.

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Ru Paul* :bigsmile: But despite outward appearances, Adel is a lady. All sorceresses are female, and the Ultimania says that Adel got transformed by her magic. Sort of like Ultimecia's wings or w/e.

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Originally Posted by nik0tine

Had Adel replaced Ultimecia as the primary villain of the game this would have been the best final fantasy.

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Yupppppp. Adel was the best part of the game.