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Et Cetera, Et Cetera, Et Cetera!

For miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else.

Lost in Translation

It seems that there were quite a few changes, subtle or otherwise, in the process of translating Final Fantasy VIII into Enligh. I have a Korean story guide book which is a more direct translation, and it differs from the English translation in many ways. Some differences from the original dialogue... (ET = English Transltion)

Situation	ET	Original	Comparison
When Selphie wondered why Seifer came to the Timber Broadcast Station	Rinoa: I think...he came to help us, the 'Forest Owls'. I talked about it a lot with him.	Rinoa: I think he came because of the 'Forest Owls'. I asked him for advice on a lot of things.	In the English translation the implication is that Rinoa simply talked to Seifer about the Forest Owls and her dream to free Timber. In the original, however, the implication is more that Seifer actually helped Rinoa with the Forest Owls, probably during the summer they spent together. As a Garden trainee Seifer must have been well-versed in weaponry and possibly tactical maneuvers, possibly guerilla resistance-style tactics. I think it's also possible he taught Rinoa how to fight--ever wonder why Rinoa's weapon is so similar to Fujin's? :)
When asked at G-Garden whether she still liked Seifer	Rinoa: If I didn't, I wouldn't be talking about it.	Rinoa: If I did I couldn't talk about it like this.	Huh? o.O I checked another source, and it bears out the story guide book, too. It seems the translators either made a huge boo-boo, or mistranslated on purpose to create a lover's triangle between Seifer, Squall, and Rinoa. Whether to go with the English transltion or not is up to the gamer, but it seems Rinoa wasn't originally the "tart" she's made out to be in the English version.
Edea's ascension speech	Edea: How you celebrate my ascension with such joy. Hailing the very one whom you have condemned for generations. Have you no shame? What happened to the evil, ruthless sorceress from your fantasies? The cold-blooded tyrant that slaughtered countless men and destroyed many nations? Where is she now? She stands before your very eyes to become your new ruler. HAHAHAHAHA. Squall: ...? Edea: A new era has just begun. Deling: E-Edea...Are you alright...? Ede...! (Edea kills him) Edea: This is reality. No one can help you. Sit back and enjoy the show. Rest assured, you fools. Your time will come. This is only the beginning. Let us start a new reign of terror. I will let you live a fantasy beyond your imagination. ... Let us end this ceremony with a sacrifice.	Edea: We witches have lived in your fantasies for generations--foolish fantasies of your own creation. Witches garbed in terrible apparel, who curse and kill innocents with cruel rituals. They use merciless spells to burn green fields and freeze your warm hometowns... How boring." Deling: ...? Edea: Do you breathe sighs of relief because the fearsome witch of your imagination is on your side? Which of us is the one that dreams, fantasy upon fantasy? Deling: E-Edea...What are you... Ede...! (Edea kills him) Edea: Reality is not so sweet. Reality is never so sweet. So run, fools, into your fantasies. In the fevered world of your imagination will I dance for you! The witch of terror shall dance through all of eternity. You and I together will create the ultimate fantasy. In it even life and death are but an exquisite dream. Eternal be the witch and the fantasy! Eternal be Galbadia, her slave! ... Oh yes, an evil witch needs a sacrifice and a cruel ritual.	(Note: The terminology corresponding to "witch" is used throughout the original FFVIII, while the Enligh translation uses "sorceress" instead.) Okay, the English translators changed a lot of things in this speech. In the English translation Edea/Ultimecia is a total megalomaniac, while in the original she's less a megalomaniac than a bitter cynic. While in the English translation she seems bent on world domination(Galbadia's "fantasy"), the original hints more at her real goal: Time Compression. The original also shows just how effectively she uses dreams and imagination, and furthermore hints that her whole nature is more ephemeral than real. Also, the part of her speech about running from a hard reality to fantasy seems to hint at Seifer's motivations as a Sorceress' Knight. Seifer's encounter with her at Timber could be construed to mean that there was something in his past, his boyhood, that he wished to leave behind--in fact, his whole dream of being a Sorceress' Knight was probably based on escapism. In this light it's not hard to see how Ultimecia ensnared him so easily--and how he came to commit such crimes on her behest.