is a character from the 1999 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VIII. She is introduced as a recent transfer student from Trabia Garden to its rival school Balamb Garden, a prestigious military academy for elite mercenaries (known as "SeeDs") and home to several of the game's major characters. She is also the pilot in command of the Ragnarok starship, the primary means of air transport for the player's party.
Selphie was the second character drawn by Final Fantasy VIII artist Tetsuya Nomura after the game's lead protagonist Squall Leonhart. The development team originally intended to program Selphie with some of the game's most powerful attacks. A younger version of Selphie appears as a supporting character in the Kingdom Hearts series, which is under the direction of Nomura. Other appearances include the mobile game Final Fantasy Record Keeper as well as the Dissidia Final Fantasy fighting game series. Selphie has received a generally positive reception, being noted for her relatable personality as well as her carefree and energetic demeanour, although some critics did not respond well to her characterization as a childlike female character.
Development
Selphie Tilmitt, along with most of Final Fantasy VIII principal cast of characters, was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who would then pass on his finalized character designs to the game's scenario writer Kazushige Nojima. Nomura came up with Selphie's initial design prior to the completion of his work on Squall Leonheart. Selphie is given a flip hairstyle which was popular in the United States during the latter years of the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, an aesthetic design Nomura considered to be improper in real life. When Nomura first designed Selphie, he drew her in overalls, but he realized that none of the characters would be wearing a skirt. In the end, he gave Selphie a mini-skirt and let another character named Quistis wear pants.
Selphie is depicted in the game as 17 years old and stands at tall. She wields a large pair of nunchaku in battle. In the European version of Final Fantasy VIII, her weapon is renamed as "Shinobou" due to strict censorship laws in the United Kingdom concerning the portrayal of ninja weapons in visual media which were instituted by then-director of the British Board of Film Censors, James Ferman. Selphie's Limit Break, a special cinematic attack sequence, is based on a "Slot" machine. If the player manages to line up the reels in a certain way, Selphie can cast a random spell numerous times or unleash some powerful spells which are exclusive to her Limit Break phase, including a magical attack called The End which can defeat almost any enemy in the game. Selphie was intended to have two additional exclusive Limit Break abilities during the game's development; though they were shown during a game demo that came bundled with the 1998 action role-playing game Brave Fencer Musashi, they were never implemented in the final release due to time constraints and cannot be accessed through normal play.
A preadolescent version of Selphie appears in the Kingdom Hearts series, with the inaugural series instalment in 2002 being the character's first voiced appearance. She is voiced by Mayuko Aoki in the Japanese version, and by Molly Marlette in the English version.
Appearances
For Selphie's first appearance in Final Fantasy VIII, she encounters Squall while running late for class. She asks Squall to show her around as she is a recent transfer from Trabia Garden. During the Dollet exam, Selphie joins Squall's team after Seifer abandons them. She successfully graduates alongside Squall and Zell and becomes a SeeD, and the three are assigned to the same team. When Galbadia launches missiles at Trabia Garden, she reacts with outrage and helps destroy the missile base. She is depicted as active and energetic, although slightly clumsy. She participates in many extracurricular activities, such as planning the Garden Festival and running the school's online website, the Study Panel.
Throughout the game, she revisits her childhood closeness with Irvine Kinneas, who serves as her copilot on the Ragnarok. A recurring character moment involve Selphie singing a song about trains during the party's train journeys.
Other appearances
In the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts, Selphie appears as a juvenile resident of Destiny Islands and a friend of Sora. She is armed with a jump rope instead of nunchaku. Selphie returns in the 2005 sequel Kingdom Hearts II as Kairi's classmate, but lost all memory of Sora and the island.