- “Lowlifes. Shameless filthy wretches. 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.”
- ―Sorceress Ultimecia (expressing her contempt for humanity).
Sorceress Ultimecia (in Japanese: アルティミシア, Arutimishia) is the primary antagonist of the 1999 RPG videogame Final Fantasy VIII. She is an incredibly powerful sorceress from the future, who seeks to compress past, present and future into one, erasing all life but her own. She sends her mind to the present time and possesses the sorceress Edea Kramer, but the primary protagonist Squall Leonhart and his friends manage to track her down to her very own era and destroy her for good.
Appearance[]
Ultimecia is a woman of average height looking around thirty years old, whose undeniable beauty is somehow downplayed by her strange clothing, her horn-like hair, and her tattooed body. She wears a form-fitting crimson gown that exposes her chest, abdomen, and legs; with a black fur ruffle collar that extends to the edge of the bodice, padded shoulders and an extended hemline that drags along the floor behind her.
She wears a headdress that shapes her silver hair like horns, held in place with purple end-pieces, with two long locks left hanging down at hip level. She also wears ornately jewelled necklaces and earrings. Her face, stomach and legs are tattooed with coloured, lined patterns, her hands are coloured purple and she walks barefoot. She has several altered features due to both her evil nature and her Sorceress Power: such as yellow eyes, pointed ears, black feathered wings and long claw-like nails.
Ultimecia is notable for her final form: A gigantic, hideous, twisted, multi-coloured, oddly symmetrical abomination, almost impossible to describe properly. She has blue bat-like wings full of holes on her head, a strange array of purple blade-like protrusions on her back, arms at hip level, and several features reminiscent of her human form: her horns and the strange membrane-like thing figuring her gown. Much worse, she has a black void with a flickering light instead of a face, her chest is open or with several layers of "skin", her gown-like membrane is filled with a starry night, and her human body is hanging upside-down where her legs should be; naked, covered in blue and red veins and with dead-like white eyes.
Personality[]
Ultimecia is cruel, relentless, power-hungry, conceited, self-centred, uncaring and misanthropic. She is cold, impassive, and regal, but her aloof exterior hides a seething anger. She displays scathing contempt and resentment towards mankind, evidenced in her hateful speech to the Galbadian people after publicly killing President Vinzer Deling.
She regards the protagonists with even higher levels of contempt (mixed with a loathing respect, as she calls Squall "an impressive nuisance"), due to her virulent hatred of SeeDs (witch hunters). She discards anyone she no longer needs, she kills thousands without a second thought, and she regards anyone as beneath her. In Dissidia though, she is more cynical than outright hateful, being portrayed as suave and witty. She despises her enemies' resolve and bonds, and tries to break their spirits, but on the other hand hints a melancholic side.
She is not entirely devoid of humanity though, taking pity on Seifer Almasy and making him her Sorceress Knight, when she could have left him being sentenced to death. Also, some of her lines in the original Japanese dialogue and Dissidia hint that she misses the happiness and innocence of her younger days, with which she strives to renew no matter the cost.
Ultimecia also proves to be highly intelligent, devious and manipulative: she easily uses the Galbadian bureaucracy to make her way towards its highest spheres of influence; she manipulates Vinzer Deling and Seifer to do her biddings by playing on their insecurities and desires; she possesses Rinoa but plunges her into a coma to lead the protagonists where she wants them to and only uses her "host" when she needs to; and finally, she displays keen strategic skills during the worldwide war she ignited between Galbadia and the other two Gardens.
By reading through Ultimecia's words and actions, it becomes obvious that she is fully aware of her upcoming demise against "Legendary SeeDs", whom she awaits without fear. It also becomes obvious that her hatred for mankind is due to the intense persecution that she (and likely every sorceress before her) suffered. It is hinted (and confirmed in the Ultimania official guide) that the future generations knew what she did in Squall's era and futilely tried to prevent her ascension to power, prejudicing sorceresses for crimes that had yet to be committed.
Her goal of Time Compression is driven by her desire to overcome her destiny; by reigning in a chaotic universe as immortal goddess, with her fated foes barely existing and unable to harm her; gaining peace at last at the price of everyone and everything to ever exist.
Finally, Ultimecia has rather extravagant tastes and revels in luxury and style. She lives surrounded with riches, lords over her domain sitting on exquisitely carved thrones and dresses with lavish if peculiar clothing, with elaborate headdresses and ornaments. The parade in her honor in Galbadia is magnificent, full of light and colored crystal, yet exceedingly glittering and luxurious. Finally her Castle, while being creepy and gloomy befitting a Dark Queen of her level, is filled with opulent furniture and contains an impressive art collection.
Powers and Abilities[]
As expected of the primary antagonist in a Final Fantasy game, Ultimecia is an incredibly powerful and skilled sorceress. This is due to her own already immense power, and more importantly to the magic she absorbed from sorceresses of all eras, gathering all the Sorceress Power in existence and gaining god-like abilities.
Ultimecia wields a wide array of "common" powers, including but not limited to an extended perception of her surroundings; enhanced strength and endurance; high-level telepathy, mind-reading and telekinesis; levitation, teleporting and phasing through solid matter; vast control of the weather and the elements; compelling people to the point of turning them into blindly obedient puppets and making immense crowds do what she wants as if they were acting on their own free will; paralyzing many people at once while keeping them able to see and talk; shape-shifting and altering her body features or clothing in seconds; raising magic barriers; and infusing objects with her magic to animate them or alter them as she wishes.
Ultimecia's own Sorceress Power is based on time and space, which she controls to an exceptional extent. It shows when she absorbs her fallen enemies into the void of time, or when she separates the party in different planes during the final battle. (She chooses three opponents at random and isolates the others, making them appear out of nowhere when she brings them forth.)
Another example is when she makes Griever her Guardian Force (an immensely powerful summoned monster) remain in battle for as long as she wants to instead of disappearing after a single attack. In Dissidia, she even displays the ability to freeze time for an undefined length during which she is the only one able to act and to move. She seems able to keep it stopped for as long as she wants and restarts it when she needs.
Ultimecia can perform feats that transcend the limits of magic and warp reality itself to a huge extent. While possessing a much less powerful sorceress, she proved able to create monstrous clones of people and to turn mere statues into flesh-and-blood beings. When not limited by a host, she can create huge and powerful monsters bound to her will from small objects and likely from nothing, corrupt Guardian Forces into her slaves, transform and empower various beings, or make machines sentient.
She was either able to bewitch her immense castle to make it fly or even to entirely create it with such properties from scratch. She can also seal people's powers like she does to the protagonists when within her castle, and even destroy one of her opponent entire stock of magic in battle.
When she Junctions two people, she literally fuses them instead of merely linking their minds; (as when she junctions Rinoa to Sorceress Adel's body and when she Junction herself to Griever). She can also use Junction to possess any other sorceress and gain almost unlimited access to any living being's mind, enabling her to draw as much power and knowledge as she wants from it, stealing spells from the protagonists during the final battle.
To a further extent, she can bring what she finds in her victims' minds into reality. She creates Griever through this mean, by reaching into Squall's thoughts and giving life to his conception of the most powerful Guardian Force that can exist, resulting in a demon as powerful as she is.
During the final battle, Ultimecia vastly increases her already ludicrous power twice. First by fusing herself with Griever and adding his might to her own, then by assuming her mightiest form and making her power skyrocket to an unfathomable extent.
Under this form, not only does she gain access to unique and highly dangerous spells, but her mere existence is enough to tear through the time and space continuum and to gradually absorb the entire universe. Even worse, her incredible reality-warping abilities increase to the point that she becomes able to make her own thoughts come true. As such, she comes up with the most devastating spell she can think off and draws it from her mind, becoming able to cast it for real as many times as she wishes.
Role in the Game[]
War against Galbadia[]
At the beginning of the game, the SeeDs, an elite mercenary force meant to protect people from military and supernatural threats, sends the protagonists (newly promoted cadets) to stand against the powerful nation of Galbadia, which is occupying its neighbor countries. It soon appears that the mysterious sorceress Edea Kramer, the trusted soon-to-be ambassador of the Galbadian President Vinzer Deling, far from appeasing the tensions as advertised is secretly fanning the flames of war.
The story begins when a resistance faction known as the Forest Owls, led by a young girl named Rinoa Heartilly, hires Squall's SeeDs team's assistance against Galbadia. Later, the renegade SeeD cadet Seifer Almasy tries and fails to murder President Deling, with Rinoa and Squall's team as witnesses. Edea then teleports in the room, concealing her face under a mask. She paralyzes everyone and easily talks Seifer into following her.
Attempting to stop Edea on her own while the SeeDs prepare to kill her, Rinoa infiltrates the presidential residence with a special bangle that would render Edea powerless. Alas, Edea notices Rinoa sneaking in, recognizes the bangle, and telekinetically knocks her out with no effort before compelling Rinoa to follow her like a puppet.
Shortly after, the Sorceress kills President Deling by stabbing him through the chest with her bare hand and seizes power in Galbadia, insulting the crowd who still cheers for her due to her magic. Edea then gives life to two Iguions statues (powerful reptilian monsters), and orders them to devour Rinoa, who is later rescued by Squall.
Meanwhile, the SeeDs' plot ends up in a failure, as Irvine Kineas the sniper meant to shoot Edea hesitates and gets noticed. When he finally fires, she blocks the bullet with a magic barrier; forcing the protagonists to directly engage the Sorceress in battle. The SeeDs defeat Seifer who has become Edea's Sorceress Knight and right-hand-man, but Edea near fatally pierces Squall with a conjured icicle, and has most of the SeeDs imprisoned and tortured for information.
The Battle of the Gardens[]
The protagonists are freed from jail by their friends who escaped imprisonment, only to learn that in retaliation for the attempt on her life, Edea ordered a missile attack targeting both Trabia Garden and Balamb Garden (the military academies where the SeeDs are trained). While nothing can be done to prevent Trabia's destruction, they manage to activate special machinery that turns Balamb Garden into a mobile fortress, enabling it to scarcely escape the missiles.
Later, Squall and his friends remember their childhood, which they had forgotten due using Guardian Forces. It appears that they were all (including Seifer but excluding Rinoa) raised in an orphanage run by Edea herself, who was back then a kind and loving woman, the opposite of the remorseless tyrant she is now. (Irvine remembered, since he never used Guardian Forces until now, hence his hesitation.) Moreover, it is revealed that it was Edea and her husband Cid Kramer who created the SeeDs and the Gardens, adding to the mystery.
They learn that Edea is using the Galbadian army in a worldwide search for Ellone, a young woman from the orphanage with the unique ability to send people's minds in the past, burning cities on their wake. The sorceress personally took control of Galbadia's formerly independent mobile Garden to track down Balamb Garden. Galbadia Garden attacks and invades Balamb over the ruins of Edea's orphanage, forcing the SeeDs manage to storm the enemy fortress and confront Edea, whom they defeat at last. Unfortunately, Rinoa inexplicably falls into a coma shortly after.
Search for Esthar[]
When the protagonists finally enter the ruined orphanage, they meet the real Edea Kramer, who reveals that she was possessed all along by the true villain, a sorceress from the future named Ultimecia, who wants to compress time into a single moment, threatening the whole universe.
To do so she must find Ellone and Sorceress Adel. Seventeen years ago, Adel, the tyrant of the futuristic nation of Esthar tried to take over the world in the gruesome Sorceress War, until her she got trapped into a stasis chamber and sent into space by her rebelling people, helped by Squall's father Laguna Loire (who left for war and never learnt he has a son). To cast the Time Compression spell, Ultimecia needs to have her mind in the future, the present and the past at the same time. The machine she is using to reach the game's present era cannot go further into time, so she needs Ellone's power to send Adel's mind back in her own past.
Squall's team travel to Esthar, hoping to find a cure for Rinoa. They are joined by Edea, who hopes to relinquish her Sorceress Power to prevent Ultimecia from possessing her again; power which she unknowingly passed to Rinoa after her final defeat. When the protagonists finally reach Esthar, with Squall, carrying Rinoa on his back, they are led into space to the Lunar Base where Adel is constantly watched over. There, Squall finally meets Ellone and Laguna and asks their help to save Rinoa.
It now appears that Ultimecia took advantage of the power transfer to possess Rinoa and cause her coma, knowing that they would bring her to Eshtar to find a cure. She takes control of Rinoa to unseal Adel's Tomb before leaving her to die in space. Meanwhile, she has Seifer, whom she healed after his defeat, take over the Lunatic Pandora, an ancient weapon devised by Adel's scientists to cause a Lunar Cry: the fall of countless monsters from the moon, using it to bring Adel back to Earth. Once again, Rinoa is saved by Squall, who becomes her Sorceress Knight.
The SeeDs form a plan to defeat Ultimecia for good: They intend to kill Adel, which would transfer her powers to Rinoa, forcing Ultimecia to possess her again so and enabling Ellone to send their minds into Adel's past. Ultimecia would then cast the Time Compression spell, but Ellone would halt the process by bringing back their minds, so that the protagonists could travel through the time warp to Ultimecia's future and settle their score once and for all. Later, Seifer abducts Ellone and Rinoa, unknowingly serving the SeeDs' plan, and brings them to Adel, who is now possessed by Ultimecia. The Seeds reach Adel whom they destroy, putting their own plan into motion.
The Final Showdown[]
After a long journey through a warped universe, in which they must fight eleven Sorceresses from every era, the protagonists end up in the future world under Ultimecia's tyrannical rule, devastated and plunged into an everlasting night.
The SeeDs team enter the sorceress' gloomy flying Castle, with the corpses of all the elite White SeeDs who died fighting her scattered all around. Inside the castle, a spell cast by Ultimecia seals their powers into her eight highly powerful monster servants. They must destroy them all to regain their abilities and stand a chance against her.
After a long and grueling battle which tears through the fabric of time and space, Ultimecia is defeated at last and the protagonists manage to return to the present. However, the sorceress has barely survived and travels through the Time Warp as well, desperately clinging to life. She ends up in Edea's orphanage, thirteen years before the game's events, closely followed by Squall.
Ultimecia dies at long last, having unwillingly created the Time Paradox that would lead her to possess Edea; and completed the cycle of time-travel between the SeeDs and her. After advising Past Edea to create the SeeDs and the Gardens, Squall nearly loses himself in the void of Time, but he ultimately returns to the present and reunites with his friends.
As the Final Boss[]
- “Reflect on your childhood... Your sensations... Your words... Your emotions... Time... It will not wait... No matter how hard you hold on. It escapes you... And... I can't disappear yet.”
- ―Sorceress Ultimecia, in her final form.
The final battle is very long and difficult, being divided in four stages: the fight against Ultimecia in her normal sorceress form; the fight against her Guardian Force Griever; the fight against Ultimecia who junctioned herself to Griever; and finally, the fight against Ultimecia's final and most powerful form.
She chooses three party members at random, meaning the characters cannot be selected for the entire battle. Worse, if a character dies without being resurrected fast enough, she absorbs them into time and permanently removes them from play, before replacing them once again at random. This proves extremely irksome if the party is not well balanced; or worse if there is only one healer-reviver who gets removed from play. As such, it is highly advised to have the whole party at similar levels and several healers and defenders.
The best strategy for the entire battle is to Cast Meltdown (a spell doubling the target’s subsequent damage), to cast Aura on the heroes to unlock their Limit Breaks (most powerful attacks), and to pummel her with Limit Break combos. The heroes must make sure to have powerful protections and to heal often.
Sorceress Form[]
Ultimecia’s least powerful form, yet far from one to underestimate. She casts many dangerous spells including Meltdown, Bio (poison), Maelstrom (divides all the heroes’ life-points), Quake and Tornado (heavy damage to all heroes), Holy (heavy damage), and Death (instant-kill depending on the target’s level); not to mention Dispel (cancels a magic advantage), Double (casts all spells twice in a row), Confuse (the target may attack his allies), and Draw (takes a spell from her foes).
The heroes must always dispel Double or Confuse and not waste any time; the longer the battle lasts, the angrier Ultimecia gets and the deadlier her spells become. It is advised to keep the best spells and items for the following stages.
Griever[]
Ultimecia creates Griever from Squall's mind and sends him in battle. He is a dangerous enemy who can remove a spell from one of the heroes' inventory, preventing its use and cancelling any junction to their stats. He uses dangerous attacks and he can draw spells from the party.
He casts Doom (kills the target after a few turns), Pain (poison, lowered accuracy, prevented spellcasting), and Triple (cast all spells thrice in a row). When sufficiently damaged, he uses his special attack Shockwave Pulsar, dealing critical damage to the entire party. Try to Draw Shockwave Pulsar from him with Quistis.
Ultimecia-Griever[]
Ultimecia junctions herself to Griever in order to combine their might. She instantly destroys Guardian Forces, and creates one, then two Helixes: small metallic creatures that blast rays on targets and grant her fearsome attacks such as Ultima (the strongest spell available), Flare, and Meteor, as well as her special attack: Great Attractor, which hugely damages the three heroes at once.
The heroes must focus on Ultimecia-Griever, and use strong protections (beware for she can dispel magic advantages). When damaged enough, she loses her tails and her Helixes, remains equally dangerous.
Final Form[]
When Ultimecia seems defeated, she reappears under one of the weirdest forms ever assumed by a Final Boss. She starts absorbing the entire time and space continuum and engages the most challenging stage of the battle.
This grotesque but formidable demon will instantly destroy Guardian Forces and dispel magic advantages. She attacks mainly with Hell's Judgement, a unique spell that reduces every hero’s life-points to one. They must be healed immediately after, lest Ultimecia finishes off one of them with a mere Claw Swipe.
Later, she creates the ultimate spell Apocalypse, which deals extremely high damage to them all. Ultimecia casts it very often, so the mightiest protections are mandatory. She can be prevented from casting it by destroying her upside-down, lower half, but she then uses Holy, Flare, Meteor and Ultima, which coupled with Hell's Judgement can be even deadlier.
Role in Dissidia: Final Fantasy[]
| “ | I'm not foolish enough to surrender my will to some nebulous deity. | „ |
| ~ Sorceress Ultimecia (about Chaos). |
In Dissidia: Final Fantasy and its prequel Dissidia Duodecim, Ultimecia antagonizes Squall as a "servant" of Chaos God of Discord, in his war against Cosmos, Goddess of Harmony. Yet, she only pretends to serve Chaos and plots with Emperor Matheus Palamecia, manipulating heroes and villains alike to seize control of the multiverse.
Whenever Chaos or Cosmos is killed, the Dragon God Shinryu revives them and restarts the war. As such, they only side with Chaos until Cosmos dies, and plan to prevent her revival before dealing with their “master”. Unlike the original game in which she wanted to destroy the universe, Ultimecia wants to compress time to make everything exist forever under her rule.
In Dissidia[]
- “Foolish boy. Everything is an illusion. Your hopes, your friends, your life itself, shall fade.”
- ―Sorceress Ultimecia (to Squall).
Ultimecia proves very deceptive, shape-shifting into Cosmos to misguide Squall and play on his doubts. She is also sarcastic, sharp-tongued and mockingly seductive, taunting and berating allies and enemies alike, stating that they are the puppets of their fate and their own illusions. She considers the never-ending battle between Chaos and Cosmos pointless and despises them both.
Ultimecia attempts to recruit other villains and separates Squall from his comrades to make him easier to deal with. She ambushes Squall in her castle with Garland but Zidane appears to take care of her ally and Squall defeats her. After Cosmos' death, she prepares to compress time but Squall confronts her and defeats her for good.
In Dissidia Duodecim[]
Ultimecia returns in Dissidia Duodecim, in which her secondary attire has her appears as a possessed Sorceress Edea. It appears that the events of Dissidia were in fact the thirteenth cycle of the war between Chaos and Cosmos, in which all their agents fought and had their memories erased.
In the twelfth cycle, Ultimecia toys with the protagonists' life and resolve, as they fight against the invasion of Manikins (crystal-born doppelgangers of the playable characters) summoned by Chaos' servants. Intrigued by Tifa Lockhart’s optimism, she resolves to crush her spirit but to no avail. Cosmos ultimately sacrifices herself to seal the hordes of Manikins into the Rift and is resurrected, leading to the first game’s events.
In Dissidia NT[]
In this arcade sequel/reboot and its game system adaptation Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT, Cosmos and Chaos were destroyed for good along with the world they were warring in after the last cycle. A new world was created through Cosmos' dying wish, only to be claimed by Cosmos' and Chaos' reincarnations, who seek it as a haven: Materia, Goddess of Machinery and Protection, and Spiritus, God of Magic and Destruction. Heroes and villains must once again do battle. Ultimecia, Kefka Palazzo and Exdeath lead Firion, Tidus and Shantotto to a trap, and ponder about destroying the worlds. She verbally spars with Shantotto before the fight.
However, it is eventually revealed that Shinryu's Planet Gorgers threaten to absorb this new world’s energy and destroy it. They soon overwhelm the world, forcing both sides to make a truce in order to lure Shinryu out and destroy him once and for all. Then, every characters of both side leave a duplicate behind to keep fighting on their god’s behalf, before returning to their worlds.
As a playable character[]
- “There are manners, even in battle!”
- ―Sorceress Ultimecia
Ultimecia is a "Sorceress Fusilier": a master of long-range and aerial fighting, who focuses on barrages of projectiles. She fires energy arrows that she can stop and redirect, barrages of energy swords, bouncing energy axes, and energy spears. The more hits she lands, the more damage she deals. Her spells from Final Fantasy VIII fire spheres of destruction and blasting runes. In EX Mode (power-up mode), she junctions Griever to her (instead of the other way around) and freezes time for her EX Burst (ultimate attack): first "Time Compression": a multi-directional barrage of energy arrows, then "Sorceress Heart" a giant explosion.
In Dissidia NT, Ultimecia has the same attacks with different names, adding a rain of arrows and a wave of spears erupting from the ground. Her special attacks also have much bigger area of effect. She has a gauge of Black Magic called Maleficium that rises the more hits she lands, and vastly empowers her attacks.
Appearances in Other Games[]
Ultimecia appears in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, a game consisting in Field, Event, and Battle, music sequences in tune to the series' most famous musical themes. In the first game, Ultimecia appears under Edea's possessed aspect for the Waltz For The Moon Event Sequence. In the sequel Curtain Call, she is fought during a Battle Sequence.
Ultimecia is a boss in the action puzzle game Pictlogica Final Fantasy, which consists in fighting in RPG-style while solving puzzles and riddles. The possessed Edea is also featured.
Ultimecia and the possessed Edea are separate characters in the mobile game Final Fantasy: Airborne Brigade, in which the heroes must fend off a monster invasion. They serve as allies and summonable Legends (assist characters). Ultimecia fights with her Dissidia moves, while Edea favours "classical" Final Fantasy spells. Edea also serves as a boss.
Ultimecia and Edea appear as cards in the social collecting game Final Fantasy Artniks, in which the protagonists are tasked by the Dragon King Bahamut to spin the tale of the world he summoned them into. Ultimecia's card features her Dissidia artwork, while Edea's displays the original game's art and Arc Words Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec (anagram of "Succession of Witches" and "Love").
Edea, possessed by Ultimecia appears in the free-to-play game Final Fantasy: Record Keeper, which re-enacts the series' memorable battles. She first serves as a boss, fought like the first battle against her in Final Fantasy VIII, then aided by Seifer similarly to the second battle, thus more challenging. She can later be recruited as a party member. She focuses solely on Black Magic mostly dealing elemental damage and multi-target spells, though she can cast defensive spells.
Ultimecia makes a cameo in the puzzle video game Puzzle and Dragons featuring characters from RPG games, including of course Final Fantasy. She is fought as a boss and later serves as a Five Star Unit. She fights with the same spells as in the first stage of the original final battle against her.
Finally, she makes a cameo in the IOS/Android, cooperative multiplayer strategy game Monster Strike, in which the players must fight and capture all sort of monsters. In the Final Fantasy collaboration, she appears under her normal form and her fusion with Griever from Dissidia.
Trivia[]
- In the German and Italian translations, Ultimecia is called Artemisia, a common sorceress name in Italian folklore, and in the Spanish translation she is called Artemisa. This might refer to Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Moon and Hunting, fitting the moon as a major theme of the story.
- Considering that the sounds 'l' and 'r' overlap in Japanese, it can be assumed that the sorceress’ name was meant to be Artemisia, wrongly romanized as Ultimecia.
- It must be noted that two queens of the Greek city of Caria were named Artemisia, the first sided with the Persians around 480 BC before backstabbing them, the second built a tomb for her husband Mausolus around 350 BC: the origin of the word mausoleum and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
- The English translation of Ultimecia's dialogue replaces the letter 'c' with 'k' (lest she possesses someone or appears under her final form), to figure some sort of accent. This was not in the original Japanese dialogue, which gives the sorceress a no-nonsense and rude tone fitting her as a powerful tyrant. This would later be dropped in the Dissidia games.
- The English translation omits parts of Ultimecia's dialogue that sheds better light on her motivations, focusing instead on her power-hungry and vengeful aspects. In her speech to the Galbadians as Edea, she mocks them for living in delusions instead of facing reality, and states that she will make them suffer her own fantasy, which she calls the "final fantasy" in a nod to the series itself.
- Before fighting her, she rants that the Seeds will never stop pestering her, and describes in detail what would happen to them in the Time Compression: having their existence absorbed, their mind shattered and memories destroyed, unfeeling and revering her for eternity.
- Ultimecia is heard laughing at the very start of the final battle.
- During the first stage of the final battle, Ultimecia uses the Stop ability that temporarily prevents its target from acting, mirroring her power to stop the flow of time.
- Ultimecia and Rinoa appear as opposites in almost every way: one having black wings and grey hair, wearing an extravagant red gown and summoning the lion-like monster Griever; the other having black hair, wearing a simple, blue dress, using her dog in battle, and having white wings manifesting when she calls upon her power.
- An extremely popular fan-theory assumes that Ultimecia is in fact Rinoa's future self, driven to evil by grief after outliving Squall, with her goal of Time Compression being motivated to reunite with him. It was debunked by the game creators, who stated that sorceresses have normal life-spans, yet many fans keep believing it.