A problem with the R=U theory.

[Christmas]

We don't know how many sorceress there were to begin with(ie. how many Hyne gave his powers too). We also do not know how long ago it was since this happened. But odds are that he didn't split his powers into hundreds of fragments, and odds are that it happened a very long time ago.

Based on this, the problem of a sorceress not dying while in hiding and all that is solved, simply because over long enough time, they will die eventually anyway. Sure, in the course of 1 year, chances that a sorceress might catch a disease and die are slim, but over two thousand years or so, the chances are significantly larger.

Not quite. But if it is meant that a sorceress grew old and caught an disease and die, then I must agree to that. But if a sorceress stay in her prime and catch a life threatening disease, it is then most likely to be a plague or something but the chances which I think is still pretty low. Considering there is still a handful a sorceress and if all them in their prime.

3) Sorceresses may not always have been so deep in hiding as they are in FF8s era. As such, sorceresses might still have known about eachother so they could give eachother their powers. As before, given enough time, the amount of sorceresses would be reduced.

I dun really see it this way. Those that are not hiding usually will keep their identities secret or make a big ruckus like Adel and Edea.

I dun really think they will reveal their identities to just anybody and if they happen to, what are the chances that the person that heard the news is also a sorceress.

Like what was stated before, evil sorceress might hunt good sorceress for their powers, so it made mutual trust among them questionable.

And if sorceress do get together, then the role of a knight might not play such a big role. Since sorceress themselves will be able to form a group or such to protect themselves and support each other.

One of the reason of rogue sorceress is that suffer loneliness and condemnation from the world without anyone to accept her. And also, what are the chances that the sorceress that give Edea's her power might know other sorceress. Then why didn't she give her power to her sorceress' friend?

Or maybe there is something like the black mage village like in FF IX but in this case, then there is this place where sorceress get together?

4) Ultimecia could never have gotten all the sorceress powers without time compression. The only other way is to hunt them all down and kill them, but since Junction Machine Ellone is limited, she could only get the powers of the sorceresses Edea, Adel, Rinoa and any other sorceress between them and her own time. Any sorceress before that, and in Ultimecias future, she would not be able to get.

So even though Ultimecia may have hunted down and killed the sorceress of her time, she still has every reason to use TC.

NOTE: If Odine is correct that Ultimecia will really be the only sorceress of her time, then there will be no sorceresses after Ultimecia. Naturally though, Ultimecia does not know this, so she still has every reason to compress time for any future powers.

The main reason is that she wanted to gain every possible sorceress' power throughout history and the future. So if she is the "whole set" like mentioned, then that will defeat the purpose of time compression.

5) FYI, the japanese FF8 has Edea saying "A sorceress cannot die while she has her powers", which seems to make it straight forward, but analysed in it's context, it still seems like the meaning is similar to the one in the english version.

But as I said, this is unsolved until the Ultimania gets here.

Then I must admit to the fact that a sorceress can't die unless her powers is passed on. So regarding the sorceress that was fought in Time compression, I reckon that they passed to Rinoa or they just got absorbed into time? Or their powers got absorbed by Ultimecia.