Squall is Dead (theory)

I choose to believe that this is how the game was intended to be understood because, to me, the game makes no sense otherwise. Everything that happens to the characters after the first disc is retarded. The ending is like recapping the game on acid. There has to be something more to the story than a simple ‘Hero Takes All’ plot. 

My opinion?  Someone's thinking WAY too hard about this game.   
 
I can understand someone believing he died during the game's ending, but dying at the end of disc one?  What?  This game just isn't that deep.

I've never played FFVIII, but I love that someone cares enough about it to make a website devoted just to their theory on the ending.  And I'm serious, I think that's awesome.

Paul's dead?!?!?

This reminds me of Spoony's FF8 review.
 
Squall should have died. I mean, he got impaled through the chest by giant icicles.

Sounds interesting. This should be in ff8 forums.

I like this almost as much as the "Ash Ketchum is in a coma in every episode after the first" theory.

Mind blown.

Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite (hey Squall avatar) and i think for one video game to lead to a number of conclusions as fantastical as that amazes me. Hey maybe thats not how it ended and discs 2,3,4 actually did happen, I'm fine with that buts lets consider that this theory is true and Hironobu Sakaguchi never intended to make it known, and instead would rely on the subtle hints granted the player to have them figure it out for themselves; this complexity and a gift that not many video game grant the player.  

The quick screenshot of Squall without a face is deeply disturbing, and I'd never noticed it before because of how fast and brief it was.
 
I honestly don't know if the creators intended the game to be interpreted this way, but if it wasn't, then it's just a bad story told poorly.  At least this theory would make sense of how incoherent and insipid it was.

I thought you meant James Squall for a second and I got scared.

I had never really thought of this as an idea before, I really like it and kind of wish it could be true (only because it would make FFVIII a much deeper game than it would be without this theroy) although one thing stands out in my mind.
 
The first Laguna dream sequence, which happens when they are all on the train to Timber, far before squall (possibly) dies.

FFVIII never really hit it home as a good game, at least for me it didn't. If his theory were to be what really happened in the FFVIII universe, I'd really appreciate that game more?

" Squall should have died. I mean, he got impaled through the chest by giant icicles. "

I think he should have died for completely different reasons. I think being a total BITCH is pretty high on that list.

God, he's like the fucking prototype of Bastila Shan. Sometimes I think they made Dissida only to let you kill that guy over and over again. Come to think of it, BioWare should do something like that too, so you could take Wrex or Sarevok and destroy Shan ad mortem defecata.

Still, the theory makes sense. How long that's on the internet? I don't remember popping on that earlier.

A good write-up. I don't personally think that the developers even remotely had anything like this in mind, but a good theory nonetheless. Of course, in a 40-hour game with lots of cutscenes and dialogue you can find "proof" and "evidence" for every conceivable theory and as long as you only list this stuff, your text will be very convincing.

God, he's like the fucking prototype of Bastila Shan. Sometimes I think they made Dissida only to let you kill that guy over and over again. Come to think of it, BioWare should do something like that too, so you could take Wrex or Sarevok and destroy Shan ad mortem defecata.

" @Ghostiet said:

God, he's like the fucking prototype of Bastila Shan. Sometimes I think they made Dissida only to let you kill that guy over and over again. Come to think of it, BioWare should do something like that too, so you could take Wrex or Sarevok and destroy Shan ad mortem defecata.While we are at it, you should be able to destroy Aerie from Baldur's Gate II, Mission Vao from KotOR, and Ashley from ME1. That would pretty much trump Dissidia in the "Beating the shit out of annoying people" department. "

Honestly, I only got through the first disc of FFVIII, and that wasn't very enjoyable. The write up seems plausible though, and that ending video is very, very strange. It's quite creepy, and that faceless Squall is seriously wtf.

" Paul's dead?!?!? "

 I think they've forgotten a major theory present for some time: FF8 wasn't that good to begin with. Sure, Final Fantasy is known for a lot of deep plots (4, 6, 7, 9, 10, etc.), but they had some dignity that you can't have with an "epic romance."

I'm not buying it (and neither are the authors of the article, it seems lol). It was a good read and an interesting argument but just a bit too much of a convenient "catch all" plot device for it to really pan out.
 
I enjoyed FFVIII, but let's face it -- the plot went pretty bat-shit crazy at times and the fact of the matter is it just wasn't a well-designed story. Trying to rationalize it all as some sort of "life flashing before his eyes" dream sequence is a poor rational for trying to justify a weak story, especially when there is no explanation of it being a dream (though granted the authors of the article say as much, themselves). Hell, you could justify FFVII's plot as being Cloud's dream in a similar fashion considering it's just as messed up at times as VIII's.

What, are you saying that the only explanation for the DRILL SHAPED PRISON, the Moomba, Zell and Co inexplicably growing to giant size, nuclear missiles, NORG, Space Ships, and Laguna becoming ruler over a secret technological utopia, is that it was all dreamed up by a dead guy?
 
pssshhhhhh  Yeah, like THAT would happen...      :D

@Symphony: Yeah, but particularly the ending sequence gets too fucked up. The dream explanation is not pitch-perfect (yet), but it makes real sense.

Also, with FFVII it kinda does the dream shit from the beginning, so musing more about it would make it too bizarre.