Final Fantasy VIII~Irvine Kinneas

Irvine Kinneas

"Guns and Women, of course."

—Irvine Kinneas, on what his "department" is

Irvine Kinneas is a playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. An expert gunman known as the "Best Shooter in Garden", he is a consummate ladies' man whose reputation for cherishing the company of women is almost as well known as his accuracy with the gun.

An orphan of the Sorceress War, as a child Irvine Kinneas lived in a seaside orphanage, referred to as Edea's Orphanage, in Centra. He was among many children, including Squall, Quistis, Zell, Seifer, and Selphie, who were under the care of Edea Kramer, a Sorceress. The circumstances of his adoption largely unknown, Irvine eventually ends up studying in Galbadia Garden and graduates as a sharpshooter; an expert on firearms.

When Squall Leonhart's Balamb Garden SeeD team is hired by Galbadia Garden to assassinate Sorceress Edea - who by then had become a Galbadian ambassador under President Vinzer Deling - during a public celebration, Irvine is assigned to the party as the group's sniper. As the group departs for Deling City, Irvine wastes no time on hitting on all three of the girls (Quistis, Rinoa, and Selphie) on the team.

Irvine seemingly chokes

Meeting and receiving their orders from General Caraway of the Galbadian Army, Irvine is teamed with Squall as the point assassination team while the other SeeD's are assigned to trap the Sorceress. As the ceremony begins Edea kills the President and claims Galbadia as her own. Rushing to their positions, saving Rinoa in the process, Irvine and Squall wait as Edea is trapped under the Galbadian Gateway. However, remembering who Edea was, Irvine seems to choke but after some encouragement from Squall, who forgot who Edea used to be, he fires at the Sorceress, but Edea's magical barrier blocks the shot. Squall takes the job in hand and attacks the Sorceress and Rinoa and Irvine join him shortly after, with Irvine claiming he has to redeem himself. Squall is knocked unconscious, ultimately resulting in the mission's failure despite Squall's efforts. As the team is captured and imprisoned, Irvine either escapes or is, due to the Galbadian affiliation of his Garden, allowed to go free. Either way he later receives orders from General Caraway to pick up his daughter, Rinoa, from the prison; she was released due to the General's efforts. However, Rinoa forces Irvine to assist in the rest of the team's escape.

Irvine keeps the prison forces at bay

Irvine breaks into the prison, where he finds his teammates under a hail of fire. He eliminates the enemies and tells them how to get out. He then stays behind to buy his friends time, engaging in a gunfight with the soldiers at the prison. Shortly after the escape, they learn that in retaliation for the attack on Sorceress Edea Galbadia had targeted Balamb and Trabia Gardens for missile attack. Splitting into two groups; Squall's group and Selphie's group, the escapees manage to save Balamb Garden from destruction but not Trabia Garden. Eventually they finally reunite in Fishermans Horizon.

With no immediate missions to perform Irvine returns to what he does best; namely, being a "player". He moves to try and console Selphie, who has become upset over her failure to save Trabia Garden, by asking Squall to have Fishermans Horizon's mechanics also build the Garden Festival pavilion which Selphie had been attempting to work on since before becoming a SeeD. Taking charge of the operation of the festival he gains the involvement of the rest of the team by suggesting it was to celebrate Squall's recent promotion to "Commander" and to help bring Squall and Rinoa closer together. During the preparations Irvine took time to explore Fishermans Horizon, tangling with a Galbadian soldier who was left from a previous raid on the town. He also noted that, during his wanderings, the town was pretty spartan. It was revealed to be because a warning bulletin had been issued on a suspicious man in a brown coat carrying a gun. Even after reading the article Irvine still did not realize the bulletin was about him. The planned festival was a success, with Squall and Rinoa getting some time alone to talk and, presumably, Irvine winning points with Selphie.

Irvine recounts his time in Edea's Orphanage

When the party arrives at Trabia Garden, on Selphie's request, Irvine slowly leads the SeeD members to remember their past in the orphanage and having known each other and Edea. It is Irvine who makes them remember their history together, makes them realize that the great powers the GF grant come with the price of memory loss, and he shows them their beloved Matron and Sorceress Edea are in fact the same person. It is suggested that Irvine did not have a nervous breakdown during the assassination plan; but in reality he still knew who his Matron was and was afraid to kill her. He then goes on to express his feelings and thoughts on the matter, saying how he wanted to stay true to the path he had chosen in life, and how he believed they should fight the Sorceress, even if they now remember who she was. After hearing this, the group makes their resolve to fight their former Matron but first they head to the Centra continent to search for clues. Unfortunately Galbadia Garden, now under full Galbadian control, is waiting for them. They go to battle against Edea and, despite great losses and near defeat, they launch a desperate counter attack; invading the Garden and defeating Sorceress Edea. It was revealed that Edea had been possessed by an evil sorceress from the future, known as Ultimecia. However, Rinoa falls into a coma almost immediately after.

Irvine, Edea, and the rest of the party follow Squall who had taken Rinoa to Esthar to look for Ellone. In Esthar Squall and Rinoa were sent to Lunar Base where she came out of her coma. After returning to the planet the group comes in possession of Ragnarok, with Irvine showing open admiration to Selphie's skills in piloting it. The group returns to Esthar after retrieving Rinoa by request of Laguna, the president of Esthar, to stop Ultimecia once and for all.

Even Quistis is not spared from Irvine's advances.

Using the Ragnarok they invade the Lunatic Pandora and fight past Adel. Using Ellone's time powers, they were able to start a time compression, and enter Ultimecia Castle in the future, where Ultimecia awaited. Upon Ultimecia's demise the group was momentarily trapped in Time, but due to their belief and reliance on each other, they managed to return to their time safely. The reported demise of Ultimecia resulted in a celebratory ball in Balamb Garden which saw Irvine returning to what he loved most: wooing the girls. 

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Irvine_Kinneas