The main character of Final Fantasy VIII, Squall is a cadet of the special combat unit SeeD from the Balamb Garden Military Academy.

Squall is a relatively short man (but tall in comparison to previous Final Fantasy characters), and a grumpy teenager only 17 years of age. Stone-faced and aloof as he may be, he only talks enthusiastically about matters of interest to him. At other times he is quite short spoken, keeping his thoughts to himself (as you'll see..). He possesses an expert ability to learn and improve his fighting skills with his Gunblade.

He is a loner and has almost no comradeship for the people around him, lacking a sense of team unity and has a tendancy to be very anti-social. Around his neck, Squall wears a necklace which bears a strange griffin-like symbol which can also be seen near the barrel of the Gunblade.

For his inordinate fighting talent he has earned the enmity of Seifer Almasy, an older student who regards him with jealousy. The scar on his forehead resulted from Seifer's Gunblade during an intense training session that got out of hand (shown in the intro).

Final Fantasy 8's character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, wanted the character's name to have the meaning of a passing shower, which is how he came up with the name Squall. His last name, Leonhart, was the name of one of the main characters from an earlier 8-bit fantasy which never made it to western shores.

A gloomy and tempramental teenager he may be, but as the story unfolds, and his relationship with Rinoa grows ever stronger, we will see the inside to his cold outer shell...

Story Aspects (No Real Spoilers)
He graduates from a cadet in Balamb Garden to a member of the elite SeeD organization early on in the game after proving his worth in the Dollet mission and passing his exams. He is clearly regarded by Cid, the principal of Balamb Garden, to be one of his best.

Squall meets up with a mysterious girl called Rinoa Heartily at a ball in the Garden, arranged to celebrate the recent exam passes. Rinoa is friendly to the ever cold Squall, and she eventually brides him to dance with her.

The day after the ball, Squall's ordered on his first mission as a member of SeeD. He and his new collegue, Zell Dincht, head over to a place called Timber. Here, he find the dancing partner from the previous night is the leader of the resistance there, whom he is to help as part of SeeD.

As the game progresses, Squall's love for Rinoa becomes ever stronger....