We never SEE Seifer learn his lesson, though. The last thing he does before we see him in the ending is throw Rinoa to Ade. And before that he tried to fight the whole party after thoroughly rebuffing and throwing away his friends.

Seifer is the best character in FFVIII without any serious competition. He's very believable and entertaining. What's more, he has a consistent character arc that we could all "character destruction" as opposed to character development. We watch him just fall apart as the game progresses.

The ending SHOULD have been Seifer joining the party for Ultimecia's Castle. Then he could have truly been redeemed.

Overall, Seifer really is one of FFVIII's better handled story elements. He is the quintessential hero; brash and cocksure, rushes in without thinking, wants to save teh girl and get things done as quickly as possible. He even looks the part of a typical FF main protagonist. (ever notice how many of them are blond?) But this is all subverted and it's very interesting. The problem is that they just didn't follow through on it and give him or the audience a satisfying conclusion.