Although her biological family is unknown and fairly immaterial to us, Ellone is lucky enough to have been adopted into a very loving family--complete with a model mother, father, and younger brother. This section delves into those characters.

Raine: Raine was a small-town woman at heart, living in tiny Winhill, Galbadia. She enjoyed this peaceful kind of life with close neighbors who knew her well and the predictable days filling up predictable, comfortable years. In her hometown Winhill, she owned and kept a small bar (although I suppose it's relatively big in comparison with most of the places in Winhill). Friendly and down-to-earth, this was an ideal job for her as it allowed her to interact with others, and she was overall happy working there. However, when the injured soldier Laguna came under her care, her whole world turned upside down and the flighty, whimsical man somehow caught her heart. Of course, it might have something to do with her adopted daughter teaming up against her to make her fall in love with Laguna.

To Ellone, Raine is a second mother--a position Raine was very apt to fill. Raine was Ellone's source of consistency in her otherwise hectic childhood; a predictable and dependable woman who could take care of her. However, Raine had a sort of intolerance towards deliberate immaturity and constantly got on Laguna's case for talking to Ellone in a baby-voice. (:

Ellone pushed Raine to marry "uncle Laguna" relentlessly as a child, and eventually saw her wish come true. However, she was unable to enjoy this, as Raine died while Ellone was still only a young girl.

You can learn more about Raine at Gentle Rain.

Laguna: An ex-soldier and aspiring journalist during Ellone's childhood, Laguna was a cheerful and playful young man of good disposition who had an easy time making friends among children. Outgoing and possessed by something of a wanderlust, Laguna was never meant to stay in one place for long. It's also the unstable and foreign ideals that the flighty Laguna brought into Winhill that caused most of the villagers to greatly dislike him; as a well-traveled person, and a mixture of such rambling, wandering tendencies, he was easily rejected in such a small, tight-knit community as a stranger, and also for his loud and open personality. However, he stuck around and held himself back from a career and life he wanted all out of love for Raine.

Laguna was instantly a big hit with Ellone, who fondly refers to him as "uncle" Laguna and, as a child, spent as much time as possible playing with him. Ellone is the biggest thing in Laguna's life--even bigger than Raine, it seems, and the two share an unshakably close bond together. Laguna, scatter-brained, is a little distanced from his peers (even somewhat from his own friends who don't have a clear understanding of him, or comment often on his strangeness) and comes closest to raw love and support in Ellone, with whom he can connect very easily. Laguna would do anything for Ellone... and Ellone, obviously, would do likewise by trying to change the past for him; even if it means giving up her life.

In the present, Laguna is President for "xenophobic Esthar".

You can learn more about Laguna at Gallant.

Squall: Inwardly tormented by his troubled past, Squall is an aloof young man with the tendency to shy away from people and close relationships. Without any real purpose to live, Squall goes on by pessimistically putting each day behind him. The source of this obvious turmoil is the abrupt end of his relationship with his older "sister", Ellone. When Ellone left the orphanage at which Squall lived, he broke down. Always an insecure boy, he relied heavily on Ellone for comfort and as a source of love and dependency. When "sis" was taken away from him, he could not handle the loss of her and he refrained from making close relationships with any and all people (until Rinoa taught him how good friends can be :)).

Ellone loves Squall (though not to the extent Squall loved her as a child), and attempts to use him in order to change the past. While this ends as a flop, she is able to re-establish ties with the young man as one of the last remnants of the childhood she needs and still misses.

You can learn more about Squall at The Roaring Flame.

[ hand in hand ]