Squall Leonhart, Aspie hero

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I bought a copy of Final Fantasy VIII (8) from eBay sometime last year, and I never really got into it, but only a few weeks ago I read someone's comment in a Video Game thread in the forums, and he said: "[Squall Leonhart] is the biggest Aspie of all". I'd never really thought of Squall in that way; only that he wasn't too fond of interacting with other people and that he was always confused about why other people said or did certain things.
So soon after this, I resume playing the game for the first time in many months, and I started to see a real connection between Squall Leonhart and Aspergers Syndrome! He struggles to understand the rest of the party most of the time, he is seen questioning to himself why other people make certain choices or why things are the way they are, and when he was commissioned by Headmaster Cid to take command of the entire assassination mission, he was overwhelmed by the sudden responsibilities thrust upon him, and does this not sound like us Aspies in general?
We can all feel a strong sense of empathy for Squall because we have similar difficulties in all of our lives, and in turn we can enjoy the game so much more because we can relate to him.

Comments? Opinions? Share your love for Squall right here!

Well... I suppose from a certain view Squall might appear aspie.
I personally think he's just the stuck up loner/idiot stereotype.
He's still got one of the best quotes around though; "I dreamt I was a moron."

You guys feel empathy for Squall? Hmm, that very interesting to hear [so to speak] because I'm so cold and can't feel nothing except for a few emotions. For the whole love Squall thing my opinion is that I don't like him or any other hero in the Final Fantasy series or any hero for that matter. I prefer characters like Sephiroth who don't have weaknesses like romance (it really is becoming annoying, I mean there are so few pieces of movie magic [or game magic in this case] where they lack the heavy burden of boring me with love if you could actually call it that) or lack of ambition [not to mention he is cold like me] [I didn't even feel anything when Sephy murdered Aerith] But the good guys always have to win.

Because if the protagonists lost now where would the satisfaction come from if your heroes were defeated and there was no happy ending.

P.S. Quite a bit off topic, sort of; Hmm...I think the credit for Aeriths death actually goes to Mother in the guise of Sephy. People never really give her any credit for various things like being partially the reason why Sephiroth goes on a rampage or what not.

I can remember loving FFVIII and relating strongly to Squall when I was about 16. My impressionable teenage mind saw how a person might be able to be quiet and withdrawn, but also have a great deal of strength and command respect from others, and I admired him a lot for that.

I don't think he's supposed to have Aspergers at all, though. His personality is an archetype that appears a lot in Japanese games, anime, etc, and with all his "Whatever"s I think he's just meant to be someone angsty Japanese teens can relate to. It was refreshing to play the role of a character like that back then, though, and none of the FF heroes since then have been as interesting to me. It was interesting to read a character's private thoughts more often than his speech, while he shut out everyone around him.

Looking at the latest Final Fantasy game now, I think it puts into perspective how different Japanese stories and characters are to western ones. I look at the characters and just see a bunch of fashion models trying to be as cool and melodramatic as possible. Hearing similar impressions from people I know, it seems like the story they want to tell is failing to cross the culture gap this time, and I believe that the jump to super-detailed, fully animated and voice-acted characters is one of the main culprits. We're seeing the characters as their creators intended them this time, whereas the older games like FFVIII told their stories with text and mostly-static character models, leaving our imaginations to fill in the gaps. If FFVIII was re-released today with FFXIII's visual fidelity and voice acting, I'm not sure I'd relate to Squall or his story half as much.

Aspie-like he might seem, Squall still has some of the best lines in the game.


"Are we going there to tell everyone they're violating curfew?"