Plot Theories

[BG-57]

Well, we had the not-so-serious theory thread which was fun and all. Since it was suggested that serious theories should be in their own thread, here it is.

I'm reposting my theories and feel free to post and discuss your own as well. But please no R=U, that's been discussed plenty in other threads already.

Here are my FFVIII Theories:

1) The GF Eden is a Garden. The evidence is that she looks like an organic version of a Garden. Note the upper disc. Also the garden of Eden was the GF's namesake.

2) The painting puzzle in Ultimecia's castle refers to Diablos. The solution involves a Messenger and Diablos' attack is called Dark Messenger. If the garden that the puzzle refers to is Eden, then Diablos may represent the devil that disguised itself a serpent and corrupted man. Quite an appropriate theme for Ultimecia.

3) The GFs are future versions of the main characters. This is based on a passing resemblance between some of the main characters and some of the GFs. I really doubt that this one is true, but it's fun to think about.

4) It occured to me but to other people independantly as well that Tiamat may be a corrupted future Bahamut. The major evidence is the similar attacks (Mega Flare versus Dark Flare) and the identical character design in different colors. Again, this is unlikely since Tiamat is traditionally a boss monster quite different from Bahamut in other FFs. For one thing, it usually has several heads, like a hydra.

Here's my elaboration of specific master-pet pairings:

Squall -> Griever
Rinoa -> Shiva
Zell -> Ifrit
Selphie -> Carbuncle
Quistis -> Siren
Irvine -> Alexander

Seifer -> Diablos
Raijin -> Quetzecoatl
Fujin -> Pandemonia

[Christmas]

Well, I was half way through when the thread closed. Well

The painting puzzle in Ultimecia's castle refers to Diablos. The solution involves a Messenger and Diablos' attack is called Dark Messenger. If the garden that the puzzle refers to is Eden, then Diablos may represent the devil that disguised itself a serpent and corrupted man. Quite an appropriate theme for Ultimecia.

Regarding the paintings, this is what i interpret the last time in some older threads.

INTERVIGILIUM (Sleep) - The sleep magic
VIVIDARIUM (Garden) - The Garden of SeeD
VIATOR (Messenger) - Diablo's dark messenger attack

Big Picture: In A Garden Sleeps A Messenger:

Diablos sleeps inside the magical lamp which is given in Balamb garden,


Anyone can have their interpretatons of their own like future Esthar having his but since there is nothing much to verify it, I can't say much about those pictures only that it make the boss appear that's all.

I wonder if anyone have another interpretations wish to share.

The GF Eden is a Garden. The evidence is that she looks like an organic version of a Garden. Note the upper disc. Also the garden of Eden was the GF's namesake

Here is something I found out about Eden(for references):

The Garden of Eden story recounts how God created Adam and Eve, commanded them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and how they were expelled from the garden after they disobeyed Him, having been tempted by a serpent, and ate the fruit. As part of the Expulsion, cherubim and a flaming sword were stationed at the entrance to the garden, in order to prevent man from returning and eating from the Tree of Life.

Could the sword mean the sword wielding Ultima weapon that is guarding Eden itself.

Others point out that the world of Eden's time was destroyed during Noah's Flood and it is therefore impossible to place the Garden anywhere in post-flood geography. There is also an attempt to tie this with the mystical sunken land of Atlantis.

If it is flood so it could possible be sunken and you find Eden deep within the sea with a sword wielding monster guarding/having it.

Just take that as references and not take it too seriously.

The GFs are future versions of the main characters. This is based on a passing resemblance between some of the main characters and some of the GFs. I really doubt that this one is true, but it's fun to think about

I doubt it too but do Rinoa seem "cold" to you to describe her as Shiva?

4) It occured to me but to other people independantly as well that Tiamat may be a corrupted future Bahamut. The major evidence is the similar attacks (Mega Flare versus Dark Flare) and the identical character design in different colors. Again, this is unlikely since Tiamat is traditionally a boss monster quite different from Bahamut in other FFs. For one thing, it usually has several heads, like a hydra.

Again, some foods for thought on Bahamut and Tiamat:

Tiamat & Bahamut
The same edition of Dungeons & Dragons that introduced Bahamut also introduced his antithesis. This opposite was named Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon, and Queen of Evil Dragons, as well as the mother and deity of all evil dragons. This pairing features prominently in the deity lore of the game, with Tiamat even being featured in the short-lived television cartoon version of the game.

This pairing of Tiamat and Bahamut as antithesis of each other has since recurred in other fantasy settings, with the most notable recent example occurring in Final Fantasy VIII. In each instance, Bahamut is always portrayed as benevolent, while Tiamat is portrayed as malevolent, largely in keeping with their historical origins.

Just take it as references.

I reckon that if Tiamat is the future version of Bahamut, then it could mean that Squall missed Bahamut in the Deep Sea Research Center and Ultimecia got Bahamut and turned it to Tiamat.

But I dun really think it happen this way.

I believe that there are other GF that exist instead those Squall had.

EDIT: Just something I just remembered.

Wasn't Griever created from the whole party's minds? I seem to recall Squall of SeeD mentioning something about that. Apparently, Ultimecia talks about creating the ultimate GF "from your minds", or somesuch, in either the original Japanese or in the European translations.

Since Greiver can be created from the whole party mind, we can had another deduction.

Bahamut is known as a powerful GF and as long as it concern, SeeDs most probably know it.

SeeDs attack Ultimecia's castle and Ultimecia just draw it out from the SeeD's mind like how she created the Ultimate GF. She draw it out and created other GF and then corrupt it to turn it into a monster as stated in the scan info?

[BG-57]

INTERVIGILIUM (Sleep) - The sleep magic
VIVIDARIUM (Garden) - The Garden of SeeD
VIATOR (Messenger) - Diablo's dark messenger attack

Big Picture: In A Garden Sleeps A Messenger:

Diablos sleeps inside the magical lamp which is given in Balamb garden,

Anyone can have their interpretatons of their own like future Esthar having his but since there is nothing much to verify it, I can't say much about those pictures only that it make the boss appear that's all.

I wonder if anyone have another interpretations wish to share.

That's a good literal interpretation of the puzzle. The link to the garden of Eden is more allegorical. I'll admit I have a weakness for allegories, but the garden being Balamb is more likely.

Here is something I found out about Eden(for references):

The Garden of Eden story recounts how God created Adam and Eve, commanded them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and how they were expelled from the garden after they disobeyed Him, having been tempted by a serpent, and ate the fruit. As part of the Expulsion, cherubim and a flaming sword were stationed at the entrance to the garden, in order to prevent man from returning and eating from the Tree of Life.

Could the sword mean the sword wielding Ultima weapon that is guarding Eden itself.

Others point out that the world of Eden's time was destroyed during Noah's Flood and it is therefore impossible to place the Garden anywhere in post-flood geography. There is also an attempt to tie this with the mystical sunken land of Atlantis.

If it is flood so it could possible be sunken and you find Eden deep within the sea with a sword wielding monster guarding/having it.

Just take that as references and not take it too seriously.

The FF's are replete with biblical/historical/mythological references, although usually not consistently.

I doubt it too but do Rinoa seem "cold" to you to describe her as Shiva?

Only in the sense of color. The color palettes of both Shiva and Rinoa are dominated by cool blues. Ironically Rinoa is actually a fairly warm person. There are few clues to Shiva's personality since she doesn't utter a word, unlike GF's the party has to fight to recruit. In contrast, I have very clear ideas about the attitudes of say, Ifrit or Diablos.

Tiamat & Bahamut
The same edition of Dungeons & Dragons that introduced Bahamut also introduced his antithesis. This opposite was named Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon, and Queen of Evil Dragons, as well as the mother and deity of all evil dragons. This pairing features prominently in the deity lore of the game, with Tiamat even being featured in the short-lived television cartoon version of the game.

This pairing of Tiamat and Bahamut as antithesis of each other has since recurred in other fantasy settings, with the most notable recent example occurring in Final Fantasy VIII. In each instance, Bahamut is always portrayed as benevolent, while Tiamat is portrayed as malevolent, largely in keeping with their historical origins.

Just take it as references.

I reckon that if Tiamat is the future version of Bahamut, then it could mean that Squall missed Bahamut in the Deep Sea Research Center and Ultimecia got Bahamut and turned it to Tiamat.

But I dun really think it happen this way.

I believe that there are other GF that exist instead those Squall had.

For some reason the character designers got a little lazy with the bosses. Tiamat and Bahamut are essentially the same character design with different paint jobs as are Ultima and Omega Weapons. The resemblence between these bosses naturally leads to speculation that they are related somehow.

[Christmas]

The FF's are replete with biblical/historical/mythological references, although usually not consistently.

So I kinda figure why Ultima weapon came with the sword(taking that as a references) but why it is Cloud's sword remain a mystery and also

For some reason the character designers got a little lazy with the bosses. Tiamat and Bahamut are essentially the same character design with different paint jobs as are Ultima and Omega Weapons. The resemblence between these bosses naturally leads to speculation that they are related somehow.

if we remove the sword from Ultima weapon, it will just make another Omega weapon with a different paint job.

And since FF VIII is related to time travelling, other might relate Omega weapon as an evolved version of Ultima Weapon.

But unlike FF VII, WEAPONs do not play a big role in the part of the storyline so most likely their designs is not taken into serious considerations unlike FF VII, which each WEAPONs had an unique design.

But look at the references in FFX and FFX-2, there is Omega Weapon, Ultima Weapon and Nemesis/Paragon.

Both using the same weapon design but different paint job. But this time they specific them as a species of WEAPONs. I guess this species system in FF X and FF X-2 avoid a lot of confusion.

PS: I edited my first post.

[BG-57]

So I kinda figure why Ultima weapon came with the sword(taking that as a references) but why it is Cloud's sword remain a mystery and also

I actually started a thread asking about that. While a lot of the responses were attempts at humor, a serious suggestion was that it wasn't the FFVII Ultima sword the FFVIII Ultima monster carried, but it was simply the FFVIII Ultima sword. If we look at FFVI for a moment they had two Ultima (Atma) weapons: a monster and a sword. So in many of the incarnations of Ultima include both the monster and the sword. It just happened that the Ultima sword looks the same in FFVII and FFVIII.

if we remove the sword from Ultima weapon, it will just make another Omega weapon with a different paint job.

And since FF VIII is related to time travelling, other might relate Omega weapon as an evolved version of Ultima Weapon.

But unlike FF VII, WEAPONs do not play a big role in the part of the storyline so most likely their designs is not taken into serious considerations unlike FF VII, which each WEAPONs had an unique design.

But look at the references in FFX and FFX-2, there is Omega Weapon, Ultima Weapon and Nemesis/Paragon.

Both using the same weapon design but different paint job. But this time they specific them as a species of WEAPONs. I guess this species system in FF X and FF X-2 avoid a lot of confusion.

The evolution of Ultima Weapon into Omega Weapon doesn't pose a problem if Ultima Weapon is spared in the present. But if Omega Weapon is a future version of Ultima Weapon, it can't have been killed in the past. It's only possible if they are reversed, that is Ultima is Omega's future self, since the party can defeat Ultima first.

I may be misinterpreting time compression here of course. But if it incorperates the present time, then it could conceivably incorperate the past before.

Since Greiver can be created from the whole party mind, we can had another deduction.

Bahamut is known as a powerful GF and as long as it concern, SeeDs most probably know it.

SeeDs attack Ultimecia's castle and Ultimecia just draw it out from the SeeD's mind like how she created the Ultimate GF. She draw it out and created other GF and then corrupt it to turn it into a monster as stated in the scan info?

I wondered if that would explain the origin of other GF's: created out of pure will. Maybe by sorceresses of the past, possibly.

[Christmas]

I actually started a thread asking about that. While a lot of the responses were attempts at humor, a serious suggestion was that it wasn't the FFVII Ultima sword the FFVIII Ultima monster carried, but it was simply the FFVIII Ultima sword. If we look at FFVI for a moment they had two Ultima (Atma) weapons: a monster and a sword. So in many of the incarnations of Ultima include both the monster and the sword. It just happened that the Ultima sword looks the same in FFVII and FFVIII.

Not all Ultima weapons in he FF series came with a package of a sword and a monster. The incarnations sorta break in FF IX.

Zidane's Ultima weapon was dug from the ground.

In the Japanese version of FFX, Tidus' Celestial Weapon is called the Ultima Weapon, although the name was changed for reasons unknown to Caladbolg for the North American and European localizations and also the Ultima weapon in Omega Ruins had no relationships with the sword.

But according to the info about Eden regarding the "flame sword guarding the entrance". I will reckon that Square gave Ultima weapon a sword so as to based on the tale.

So if Ultima Weapon need a sword. And Cloud's sword is one of the most remembered model of the sword "Ultima Weapon" since there isn't much to say about the model of the sword "Atma Weapon" in FF VI.

Also, like I stated before, since the "sword" just bear a minor significant reference value to the mythical legends without too big a role in the plot, Square simply took the model of Cloud's sword and used in for Ultima Weapon and at other point of view, we can see it as a crossover like how Rikku have Auron's masamune when transformed into her Dark Knight dressphere.

The evolution of Ultima Weapon into Omega Weapon doesn't pose a problem if Ultima Weapon is spared in the present. But if Omega Weapon is a future version of Ultima Weapon, it can't have been killed in the past. It's only possible if they are reversed, that is Ultima is Omega's future self, since the party can defeat Ultima first.

I may be misinterpreting time compression here of course. But if it incorperates the present time, then it could conceivably incorperate the past before.

Note that in FF VI, you fight Atma Weapon and Atma later in the game as an optional boss. Both Atma and Atma Weapon look the same and only with different paint job.

When you fight Atma, he mentioned something:

"Left here since birth....."

It is implied that it is left here in Kefka tower since it is born. And since Kefka Tower existed after the world is undone, so it imply that Atma didn't exist before Atma Weapon's time.

When you fight Atma Weapon he mentioned about:

"My name is Atma... I am pure energy, and as ancient as the cosmos"

Can energy be destroyed? Energy can be transfered and convert into other form of energy.

I reckon that the energy that made Atma weapon sorta converted into other form of energy which made Atma.

So the same might apply to Ultima Weapon and Omega Weapon in FF VIII since their is this incarnation of sword and monster going on and it started in FF VI itself.

But try not to take it too seriously since this is still just a game and the idea I got might not really apply to a game.

But overall, I guess it is just Square didn't bother much to give it a new design.

I wondered if that would explain the origin of other GF's: created out of pure will. Maybe by sorceresses of the past, possibly.

Maybe not.Because Ultimecia created Griever out of Squall's mind because it is the most powerful GF Squall thought it would be. So Squall know the existence of a GF and Ultimecia created it out of his mind.



Here are some GF related info:



So, before Dr Odine discover about GF, in other people mind, they have no idea what is GF so sorceress might not be able to create something that isn't in their mind at all.

[BG-57]

Not all Ultima weapons in he FF series came with a package of a sword and a monster. The incarnations sorta break in FF IX.

Zidane's Ultima weapon was dug from the ground.

In the Japanese version of FFX, Tidus' Celestial Weapon is called the Ultima Weapon, although the name was changed for reasons unknown to Caladbolg for the North American and European localizations and also the Ultima weapon in Omega Ruins had no relationships with the sword.

I forgot to mention the FFVII Ultima Monster drops the FFVII Ultima sword. While the Ultima sword and monster are not always linked they are in FFVI, VII, and VIII.

But according to the info about Eden regarding the "flame sword guarding the entrance". I will reckon that Square gave Ultima weapon a sword so as to based on the tale.

So if Ultima Weapon need a sword. And Cloud's sword is one of the most remembered model of the sword "Ultima Weapon" since there isn't much to say about the model of the sword "Atma Weapon" in FF VI.

Also, like I stated before, since the "sword" just bear a minor significant reference value to the mythical legends without too big a role in the plot, Square simply took the model of Cloud's sword and used in for Ultima Weapon and at other point of view, we can see it as a crossover like how Rikku have Auron's masamune when transformed into her Dark Knight dressphere.

The flaming sword reference is an interesting point. Square certainly borrows heavily from bibilical sources, among others.

It was interesting that the Atma sword looked like a lightsaber. But later versions give it a flat edge.

I suppose if Cloud can traverse between the worlds of FFVII and Tactics, then his sword can make a similar trek.

Note that in FF VI, you fight Atma Weapon and Atma later in the game as an optional boss. Both Atma and Atma Weapon look the same and only with different paint job.

When you fight Atma, he mentioned something:

"Left here since birth....."

It is implied that it is left here in Kefka tower since it is born. And since Kefka Tower existed after the world is undone, so it imply that Atma didn't exist before Atma Weapon's time.

When you fight Atma Weapon he mentioned about:

"My name is Atma... I am pure energy, and as ancient as the cosmos"

Can energy be destroyed? Energy can be transfered and convert into other form of energy.

I reckon that the energy that made Atma weapon sorta converted into other form of energy which made Atma.

So the same might apply to Ultima Weapon and Omega Weapon in FF VIII since their is this incarnation of sword and monster going on and it started in FF VI itself.

But try not to take it too seriously since this is still just a game and the idea I got might not really apply to a game.

But overall, I guess it is just Square didn't bother much to give it a new design.

So you're suggesting that the party may have dispersed Utima Weapon instead of slaying it, where it reformed into Omega during time compression. It's possible, and Omega does first appear as a nebulous cloud of evil that materializes after you ring the bells. Both seem to be able to change from a noncoporeal to coporeal state.

Maybe not.Because Ultimecia created Griever out of Squall's mind because it is the most powerful GF Squall thought it would be. So Squall know the existence of a GF and Ultimecia created it out of his mind.

So, before Dr Odine discover about GF, in other people mind, they have no idea what is GF so sorceress might not be able to create something that isn't in their mind at all.

Okay, so any ideas about where the non-Griever GF's came from?

[G SpOtZ]

oh man. i'm not intelligent enough to keep up with this. but i can try. so lets see, apparently griever came from squalls mind. but in his mind, it's the strongest right? and Bee gee fitty seven asks where the other gfs came from. i'm thinking they simply came from others' minds. what one person might think is powerful, may not be so powerful to someone else.

but what i've been really thinking is....
did the designers want to make us think about this so hard? do you think the designers would complicate a game so much that only people who are willing to think about it hard enough would understand the "ACTUAL" plot? i can't say this for 100%, but i'm pretty sure that the game wasn't supposed to be this complicated until people started thinking too hard.

[blackline77]

yeah g-spotz is right. u guys think so hard into it, what i think is it is probably the most straight forward ff of the series.

[Christmas]

oh man. i'm not intelligent enough to keep up with this. but i can try. so lets see, apparently griever came from squalls mind. but in his mind, it's the strongest right? and Bee gee fitty seven asks where the other gfs came from. i'm thinking they simply came from others' minds. what one person might think is powerful, may not be so powerful to someone else.

Not really. See my previous posts. People doesn't know about the existence of GF until Dr Odine discovered them. So sorceress can't create something that wasn't in people mind before Dr Odine's discovery.

but what i've been really thinking is....
did the designers want to make us think about this so hard? do you think the designers would complicate a game so much that only people who are willing to think about it hard enough would understand the "ACTUAL" plot? i can't say this for 100%, but i'm pretty sure that the game wasn't supposed to be this complicated until people started thinking too hard.

I dun think what we are discussing now really affect the actual plot much and just some interesting fact to knows.

Like this one:

"MAGIC

A special power that can only be used by Sorceresses. The magic that is used by human beings is referred to as para-magic. Discovered by Doctor Odine during the course of his Sorceress research, para-magic via junctioning GF is used by Balamb Garden. While it is possible to use para-magic without prior training, without equipping a GF one's power is limited physically, and cannot develop beyond normal parameters. (#) However, in order to create forces capable of fighting without having to rely on the power of the GFs during combat, Galbadia Garden has instituted areas with special anti-magic force fields similar to those used in the D-District Prison."

I guess this solve the mystery of why Galbadian soldiers can use magic without GF but will knowing this affect or let us understand the actual plot much? BTW, that info is from FF VIII Ultimania.

I suppose if Cloud can traverse between the worlds of FFVII and Tactics, then his sword can make a similar trek.

Come to think of it, maybe during FF VIII times, Cloud is already pretty famous among gamers so Square decided pick to use his sword for Ultima Weapon?

So you're suggesting that the party may have dispersed Utima Weapon instead of slaying it, where it reformed into Omega during time compression. It's possible, and Omega does first appear as a nebulous cloud of evil that materializes after you ring the bells. Both seem to be able to change from a noncoporeal to coporeal state.

I guess this is a pretty interesting references I took from FF VI and at the same time might just a create a theory for Atma weapon and Atma of FF VI.

Anyway, there isn't a way to really prove it so I gather my deductions as:

(1) The WEAPONs did not play a big role in the plot so Square just use the same model for the two of them.

(2) The energy theory about Atma and Atma Weapon.

(3) Ultima weapon really did evolve?

(4) They are like the same "species" as like in FF X-2?

Okay, so any ideas about where the non-Griever GF's came from?

Since Dr Odine started as a monster researcher, he might have discover GF through the monster. Whether the GF is the monster itself or something from the monster we never know.

But like in the game, you can draw GF from monsters, so GF might be something inside monsters in FF VIII all along?

Anyway, maybe the Ultimania can answer some of the questions here.

[BG-57]

Perhaps these aren't really plot theories, but you're welcome to add some.

but what i've been really thinking is....
did the designers want to make us think about this so hard? do you think the designers would complicate a game so much that only people who are willing to think about it hard enough would understand the "ACTUAL" plot? i can't say this for 100%, but i'm pretty sure that the game wasn't supposed to be this complicated until people started thinking too hard.

In any popular work, there is a lot of speculation about details that are introduced but not elaborated on. Naturally no creator can explain all the details, so failing direct information (like from interviews) the fans can try to reconstruct the influences and intentions based on the work itself. Kind of like putting togther a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing.

Since Dr Odine started as a monster researcher, he might have discover GF through the monster. Whether the GF is the monster itself or something from the monster we never know.

But like in the game, you can draw GF from monsters, so GF might be something inside monsters in FF VIII all along?

Anyway, maybe the Ultimania can answer some of the questions here.

The GF's can't be intergral to the monsters they reside in since each major drawable GF resides into two different monsters (one of each in Ultimecia's time). While the time compression can explain the temporal paradox, it doesn't explain the spatial one.

Maybe GF's are composed of spirit energy that only rarely can assume coporeal form (which would explain how they escaped notice for so long).

Also Ultimecia had to exercise control to keep Griever from vanishing, which means artifical GF's can't persist unaided unlike natural ones.

I think the distinction between magic and para-magic is just semantic fudging by the creators. Essetially para-magic is the collectable spells you can stockpile like so many potions, while magic is anything a sorceress can cast without need of GFs. A pretty arbitrary distinction.

[SeeDRankLou]

Just because GFs were only recently discovered by Dr. Odine doesn't mean that they haven't existed for who knows how long. Dr. Odine's research just probably led him to discover a way that GFs can be junctioned or what not.

But like in the game, you can draw GF from monsters, so GF might be something inside monsters in FF VIII all along?

The GF's can't be intergral to the monsters they reside in since each major drawable GF resides into two different monsters (one of each in Ultimecia's time).

Well, outside of Ultimecia's Castle, there are only three GFs that you draw from monsters. Ultimecia's Castle is weird and time compression is going on so who knows how those monsters got their respective GFs, but the others might be explainable. Carbuncle and Siren are both rather weak GFs, relying on status effects for their summons rather than much of any power. So it's possible that Elvoret and Iguions somehow junctioned (or maybe ingested) these GFs. You get Eden in the Deep Sea Research Center, research=anything's possible, the researchers could have put Eden inside Ultima Weapon themselves, who knows. Also to note, every human/shumi that you can draw a GF from is somehow connected to Balamb Garden:

Leviathan from NORG
Pandemonia from Fujin
Alexander from Edea

so all of those GFs are more than likely juntioned to those people. And every other GF you get you have to fight, and then they agree to join you. I would conclude that GFs are simply monsters, but they have some intelligence that would allow them to fight with you instead of the innate hostility that all other monsters have against humans. I don't really know beyond that.

[Christmas]

Iguions somehow junctioned (or maybe ingested) these GFs

Considering the fact the Iguions are just freshly created by Edea out of the two statues, it will seems rather strange that they find Carbuncle so fast and immediately junction it to themselves.

I would conclude that GFs are simply monsters, but they have some intelligence that would allow them to fight with you instead of the innate hostility that all other monsters have against humans.

In Tiamat's scan info it said " Used to be a GF. Became a monster under Ultimecia's power"

So if it is just simply monsters, why were it say that is became a monster after whatever Ultimecia done to it since it is just a monster with some intelligence?

But then again, "From a GF to become a monster" might mean to be able to junction it to can't be junctioned.

Still, why can it cause a loss of memories to whoever that junction it if they are just monsters?

Maybe GF's are composed of spirit energy that only rarely can assume coporeal form (which would explain how they escaped notice for so long).

But judging from the game, there is a lot of GF that assume corporeal form like all the time in the game. Those are the one that you fought like Brothers, Diablo , Bahamut...etc.

If they rarely assume coporeal from, why do they only assume corporeal form when they face Squall and CO?

EDIT:You know, it is mentioned that:

Irvine: How about this? ...The price we pay for using the GF. The GF provides us its power. But the GF makes its own place inside our brain...

Quistis: So you're saying that the area is where our memories are
stored?

So we all know that GF will make a place inside the brain of the person who junction it. It will make the person lose his memories.

So it might have something to do with the mind like Grevier?

Something to note:

You can draw GF from monsters
You can draw GF from other peoples
You fight GF so as to get them to join you.
Dr Odine is the one that discovered GF and he used to research monsters before that.

So it is a possible like BG-57 said, it can be some soft of energies.
But it is in corporeal form most of the time and pass off as normal monsters before Dr Odine discover their potential.

Some other look for a host(mainly monster....?) and then change into incorporeal form and reside inside the host's brain as some soft of energy waves/force resulting in a loss of memories but as a result enchance the power of the host.

The ability to junction a GF might only be avaliable after Dr Odine made the discovery and he created a method of junctioning the GF.

So before Dr Odine's time, people might have met GF and defeat it but couldn't junction it so it is deemed as normal monster.

But I dun really think it is the way though, there might be some flaws here and there. I can't really conclude it.

[BG-57]

You can also get Quetzecoatl and Shiva from the classroom computer, and that would suggest they can exist as energy, perhaps electricity in this case.

They can certainly be contained as Diablos was. I doubt the cursed lamp was the same size as he was. And Bahamut was in the blue core at DSRC.

Other GFs seem to exist mainly in material form, like Ifrit or Brothers.

Another point is they are summons which means most of time they do not appear unless called on by a junctioned character.

So that would suggest that GF's can easily shift between coporeal and noncopreal forms.

Ultima and Omega seem to behave like Bahamut, exisiting primarily as energy and materializing only to fight.

[Christmas]

You can also get Quetzecoatl and Shiva from the classroom computer, and that would suggest they can exist as energy, perhaps electricity in this case.

They can certainly be contained as Diablos was. I doubt the cursed lamp was the same size as he was. And Bahamut was in the blue core at DSRC.

Other GFs seem to exist mainly in material form, like Ifrit or Brothers.

Another point is they are summons which means most of time they do not appear unless called on by a junctioned character.

So that would suggest that GF's can easily shift between coporeal and noncopreal forms.

Ultima and Omega seem to behave like Bahamut, exisiting primarily as energy and materializing only to fight.

Well, it did kinda fit in pretty well I will say.

Anything more to share?