Squall Leonhart is a fictional character and the primary protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII, a role-playing video game by Square (now Square Enix). In Final Fantasy VIII, Squall is a 17-year-old student at Balamb Garden, a prestigious military academy for elite mercenaries (known as "SeeDs"). He stands 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall. As the story progresses, Squall befriends Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt, and Irvine Kinneas, and falls in love with Rinoa Heartilly. These relationships, combined with the game's plot, gradually change him from a loner to an open, caring person. Squall has appeared in several other games, including Chocobo Racing, Itadaki Street Special, and the Kingdom Hearts series, as . Squall was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, with input from game director Yoshinori Kitase. He was modeled after late actor River Phoenix. Squall's weapon, the gunblade, also made so that it would be difficult to master. In order to make players understand Squall's silent attitude, Kazushige Nojima made the character's thoughts open to them. Squall's first voiced appearance was in the first Kingdom Hearts game, voiced by Hideo Ishikawa in Japanese and by David Boreanaz in English; Doug Erholtz has since assumed the role for all other English-speaking appearances. Squall had a varied reaction from critics, with some judging him poorly compared to other Final Fantasy heroes due to his coldness and angst, and others praising his character development. Nevertheless, the character has been popular, and his relationship with Rinoa resulted in praise. Creation and design The first character Nomura designed for Final Fantasy VIII, Squall was inspired by actor River Phoenix, although Nomura said that "nobody understood it." Squall is tall, initially with longer hair and a more feminine appearance. After objections by game director Yoshinori Kitase, Nomura made the character more masculine. He added the scar across Squall's brow and the bridge of his nose impulsively (to make the character more recognizable), leaving the description of its origin up to scenario writer Kazushige Nojima. Squall's first illustration was used as a set up to create the world around him. The logo of the game which had Squall embracing Rinoa was left as an open interpretation for fans who still had not played the game. The scar in Squall's forehead was also left ambiguous although Nomura said it was important for him. Nomura's design of Squall included fur lining along his jacket collar as a challenge for the game's full motion video designers. In Final Fantasy VIII Nojima worked to give players insight into what Squall was thinking, in contrast to Final Fantasy VII (which encouraged players to speculate). In retrospective, Nojima believes the staff made him particularly "cool". Across the video game it is implied that the character of Laguna Loire is Squall's father. However, Square Enix never confirmed it. Nomura designed Squall to contrast with Laguna. Nomura created Squall's gunblade with silver accessories. The weapon is a sword with components of a revolver, sending vibrations through the blade when triggered; this inflicts additional damage if the player presses the R1 trigger on the controller as Squall strikes an enemy. Although the weapon was intended as a novel way for players to control weapons in battle, Nomura said he feels (in retrospect) that it looks odd. Additionally, he felt it was very difficult to master. Square's Hiroki Chiba said that his favorite moment in the Final Fantasy franchise was when Squall and Rinoa embrace in space due to the use of Faye Wong's "Eyes On Me" music in the background and having to work every frame to make it work. During one of the cutscenes