Personality

Quistis is a rather difficult character to discern because she is so entirely paradoxal and radiates some sort of awkwardness after loosing her license. I've always held the opinion that Quistis mostly identifies herself with her license and once she looses it, she has absolutely no idea how to act - she has, after all, managed to force herself to mature more quickly than her peers and rise to the rank of an Instructor. She doesn't know much of actually interacting one-on-one like a normal eighteen year old should; as an eighteen year old Instructor who has maintained her position for approximately a year, she must hold her professionalism and not get too close with her students, right? Quistis is the most intelligent, prodigal, mature, and highest-ranked character in the game.

But why exactly does she push herself so hard? My deduction is that she wanted to prove herself to the world. Orphaned at an early age because of Sorceress Adel, she might've held the childish assumption that her original parents left her because they didn't want her. Her happy life at the orphanage halted when she was adopted later on, a normally fortunate event, but her life with her foster parents did not bode too well and she somehow came to Garden by the age of 10 or so, either by running away, abandonment, or with her foster parents dropping her off there for life. She obviously didn't have a very stable childhood and might have felt useless - after all, a child with worth would've been able to stay with her parents no matter what, right? In her quest for approval, she attains the rank of SeeD at 15 and Instructor at 17. She finally feels secure while being revered by her peers, but once again, when she looses her license all goes haywire.

Her emotions seem to go on overload as she struggles to learn how to deal with them; because Quistis is no longer an Instructor, she no longer has the need to be patient with everyone and everything, she no longer has the need to act in a professional manner, and she no longer has the need to restrict herself. It seems as if Quistis is growing up almost backwards - she experienced adulthood before trying to understand adolescence. She tries to make a connection towards the man who she is somewhat infatuated with - Squall - and sometimes lets her irrational feelings get ahold of her, causing her to hurt others' feelings - Rinoa. She suffers through an emotional tug-o-war game during Final Fantasy VIII and is still sort of distant from the rest of the Gang; she doesn't exactly joke or laugh with them until after the game, when she finally comes to terms with herself.

However, if you look at Quistis in a proficient manner, you will see a complete change of character: she has the ability and does in fact make very calm, reserved, and rational choices. Quistis is the type of person who will think things through very thoroughly - she will identify the problem, come up with several solutions, and pick the best one. Quistis is most likely the most logical character in the game and will at times act as leader when Squall is not in the picture.

Quistis is not a perfect character. If she was, I wouldn't love her character so much, and I don't think anybody would like her at all - no one likes someone who upstages them, after all. While trying to save the world from the evil that is Sorceress Ultimecia, Quistis has to hurriedly find her inner self and become strong for her comrades and team; throughout the course of the game, you can see her evolve from a confused and frustrated individual to a strong-willed and independent woman.

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