Final Fantasy 8: The Sorceresses, Explained

thegamer.com:

From the opening moments of Final Fantasy 8, we can sense an unmistakable mystique surrounding the game's most instantly recognizable sorceress, Edea Kramer. FF8 starts with a grand several-minute CG sequence that blew minds in 1999 and remains iconic today.

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Although the central conflict shown here involves protagonist Squall Leonhart duking it out with his rival, Seifer Almasy, some imagery interspersed in their duel depicts Edea, graceful and reaching for the sky, garbed in elegant attire. It leaves an impression, one that is only enhanced every time Squall and his friends encounter Edea throughout the story.

But who are the sorceresses in Final Fantasy 8? What ancient secrets do they harbor? And what makes them so mighty?

It is possible to play through the entirety of Final Fantasy 8, engaging in a fair amount of its optional content along the way, without knowing the first thing about the being known as Hyne. Hailed in reverence as the Great Hyne, and allegedly responsible for the creation of not just sorceresses but humanity itself, the figure is cloaked in mystery.

Unlike several other Final Fantasy titles, in which there is a sizable presence of religious worshipers toward a deity or being masquerading as such, we don't see much by way of religious practice whatsoever in the world of FF8. Coupled with the tense and unwavering stigma toward sorceresses, it's reasonable to assess that for all his (or its) supposed splendor, Hyne isn't necessarily revered.

In fact, the words used by our various sources seldom cut into the divine. Hyne is viewed as a god, to be sure, but more of a 'governor,' potentially killable, and from one source, downright