Let’s just set things straight: Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII is a twink.

Poor choice of words aside, Squall is one of the prettiest, goddarn loveliest-looking men involved in the world of Final Fantasy. He is also a regular in a lot, and we mean a lot, of gay fanfiction. That’s fine, more fantastic reading opportunities for us.

Even better Final Fantasy 8 Remastered has finally released so we can stare at the most handsome guy around in a lot more detail than we could before.

Seriously, we commend all those fanfic writers out there that looked at Squall’s pixelated face and said ‘yes, this is the face of the one we’re going to write copious amounts of gay fanfiction about’. That’s great, and you deserve to be applauded for a good eight minutes.

But let’s talk about the matter at hand: Squall being a twink. There’s not much to argue that Squall isn’t a twink, and really what makes a twink apart from being small, athletic and being down to kiss Seifer whenever the opportunity arises? That’s like, the whole plot of Final Fantasy VIII isn’t it?

That answer has never really been answered and if we’re honest, Gayming Magazine doesn’t have the answer either. To us Squall is just a character that we often like to gush about, whether it because his brooding is just a thing that does it for us, or because he’s actually a very kind, scared to be vulnerable man that we can’t help but relate to.

The fact he’s in a lot of gay fanfiction is maybe just a coincidence (it isn’t) but Squall is the perfect protagonist to describe 1: being a twink and 2: a man who is most certainly not afraid to cry and convey his emotions.

For those reasons alone? Squall is not just a great representative of a protagonist who is free from the constraints of toxic masculinity, but an amazing twink too. Get you a man who can do both, right?

Final Fantasy 8 Remastered is available to play today on PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch.

More from Gayming Magazine… Listen to the Gayming Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever good podcasts can be found! Come and join the fun with hundreds of gaymers from around the world in the Gayming Magazine Discord.