TIME PARADOX!

[Forsaken Lover]

I'm just wondering if anyone else ever thought about this.

Ultimecia, in the future, possesses all the powers of every sorceress. Because a sorceress cannot die without passing on their power and she is the only sorceress left alive in the future. Which means all that power went to her. Follow?

But she goes back in time and GIVES THAT POWE to Edea. Only...Edea isn't the only sorceress alive. Adel is still around.

And of course Edea gives that power to Rinoa. But again, Adel is still around.

So...what does that mean for the power?

And yes I'm aware Adel dies and gives her power to Rinoa but before that is what I'm talking about.

[Wolf Kanno]

Their are three ways to look at this:

1) Despite being trapped in a time loop, Ultimecia will eventually succeed cause her powers grow each time the loop is replayed meaning she will eventually beat Squall and Co.

2) She can never succeed cause VIII all but states it exists within a determinist world meaning no matter how strong she gets, she is always fated to be destroyed by Squall and Co. cause everything in the VIII world has already been predetermined.

3) You're not suppose to think about this cause the writers didn't and you should just stick to the idea that Ultimecia is a badass time witch.

If you want to get into baseless speculation, I would say that its possible that all Sorceress' powers are suppose to be equal but in reality each one specializes in one aspect over all others. For instance, Edea has an Ice elemental theme which can be seen from her Limit Break and weapon whereas Ultimecia shows the ability to make inanimate and intangible objects become real such as the statues in the Parade scene or Griever. If you look at it this way, then Ultimecia is simply trying to gain and merge all the different proficiencies together to make her like Hyne. So the ability to use magic without the use of a GF or Chi is a base ability all sorceress' possess but it is not an ability that is any stronger than others; rather its the specialized ability that Ultimecia is after. I of course have no real proof and god knows the VIII Ultimania and the game itself offers no evidence nor does it actually bother to explain anything at all.

[Serapy]

There's no evidence that Ultimecia is the only witch living in the future. And she did not go back to the past just to pass her power onto someone else because that wasn't her main goal.

Simply put, if Ultimecia has the knowledge of a time machine and how to use it effectively, then she probably had already figured out on how to gain others' powers from the beginning. In other words, you need a time travel ability if you intend to be more powerful (extra power from other witches). Although, that kind of power is different from the power that's passing onto someone else - because if thier powers were the same as the passing powers before dying, then there would be more plot holes.

Proof like you said - Ultimecia gave her power to Matron (later Edea), so if the powers were the same... then
Matron would have gained her time ability as well. But in actuality, she didn't.
Same goes for Rinoa and Adel.

[Christmas]

I think the settings of Ultimecia's era gives people the impression that she is the only person alive on the planet.

[Goldenboko]

I think the settings of Ultimecia's era gives people the impression that she is the only person alive on the planet.

I agree with this little lady

[Iceglow]

Ultimecia gave her power to Matron (later Edea)

I'm not getting involved in the discussion here for now, I can't be bothered. However Serapy you realize that Matron is a title not a name? A Matron is a motherly figure or head woman at something, hospitals have Matrons they're like the head nurse in a department/ward. Edea was her real name all along it's just when when she came forth as the Sorceress assisting Gabaldia she obviously did not have the title of matron associated with her anymore.

[Serapy]

Ultimecia gave her power to Matron (later Edea)

I'm not getting involved in the discussion here for now, I can't be bothered. However Serapy you realize that Matron is a title not a name? A Matron is a motherly figure or head woman at something, hospitals have Matrons they're like the head nurse in a department/ward. Edea was her real name all along it's just when when she came forth as the Sorceress assisting Gabaldia she obviously did not have the title of matron associated with her anymore.

You are basically saying that she's not or never been Matron, null and void. Otherwise, I don't see your argument.

When I mention Matron, I'm talking on behalf of the Co. The person the Co knew was Matron because that piece of name appears alot when the Co. were younger. In that time, Matron, the person that takes care of them, expressing kindness, providing support and protection, etc. You know that certain memories are assigned to a name or text. The
Co. learnt the name Edea when she started causing troubles. That's the memory of 'Edea', whereas it differs the memory of 'Matron'.

We have talked about this before, Iceglow. Dunno why did I have to repeat myself.

Back on topic, you know if Ultimecia was actually the only person living in the future, it will prove that strong witches can prelong thier lifespans. Is there any other better explanation? Ultimecia killing everybody before becoming the last person living herself?

[champagne supernova]

Dude, I pointed this out to you months ago.

Anyway, there is another possibility. There is X sorceress power divided amongst all the sorceresses in the world. When Ultimecia goes back in time, she loses some of her power so the sum of sorceress power still remains X.

But essentially, the writers didn't want you to think about this.

There of course is the other paradox in that Squall, who lived in Garden, went back in time and told Edea about Garden, leading to its construction and allowing Squall to live in it, so that he could go back in time and tell Edea about it...ad infinitum. So, where did the idea of Garden come from initially?

[Serapy]

That paradox explains why Ultimecia cannot defeat Squall and the Co.
If Squall was defeated before the ending, then who is going to tell Matron about the garden and SEED, and how? It would be like breaking a black hole if he never told Matron about the garden/seed and yet she knew about them somehow.

Well, actually. I'm just wondering if course correction is common in time plot stories. Did the VIII writers ever think about that?
If course correction applies to VIII, then it would also explain why every relevant task always succeed. To sum it up, if there's no canadiate to carry out SEED's tasks, then the Co. cannot be killed because they are the only ones that can succeed the tasks.

[Eaglegun]

I don't remember the game stating that Ultimecia takes her powers with her when she possesses a sorceress in the past; I always thought that she simply used their inherent powers. As far as time compression goes perhaps that spell isn't unique to Ultemecia, but rather that she's the only one who knows about it/wants to use it.

On the other hand if she does take her powers into the past then this is an incredibly smart plan. If her power is repeatedly sent into the past so that she inherits an ever increasing power each cycle, then her victory is pretty much guaranteed. If time compression would allow her to exist in spite of never having died and propagated her own existence, then she has found a way to not only break a time loop, but defeat her fated enemy once and for all. Of course not knowing the exact properties of her time travel makes this impossible to say, but even considering this made Ulti even cooler in my book.

[McLovin']

It's an interesting idea but unfortunately there's nothing in the writing to suggest that is what they intended. They didn't think that far.