As the game proceeds, the once detached characters begin to rely on each other, discover what friendship is and finally work together as a real team. So…how does Zell relates to the characters he meets?
Squall Leonhart
Squall, together with Seifer, is Zell’s companion during the Dollet Mission. Considering Squall’s character, it doesn’t come as a surprise that their initial meeting doesn’t hit off immediately. Zell is everything Squall isn’t: very hyper, slightly crazy, impulsive…. His bubbly and positive behaviour may sometime seem out of place, of course from Squall’s point of view Zell is always out of place! His first thinks of Zell as an annoyance and loud mouth talking boy, the only thing he wishes is him to shut up.
Quistis: Squall! Over here! I’ll be announcing the squad assignments for the exam now. Let’s see…You’ll be with…Zell Dincht. Quite a lively fellow.
Squall: Lively? He’s just loud. Can’t I switch members?
Actually, even though Zell’s manners might not be ideal with someone like Squall, he only wants to get to know him and befriend him. Together with other characters, such as Rinoa or Selphie, Zell tries to make Squall open up and be less unsociable. And, despite Squall’s cold reactions, Zell always looks up to him and considers him his leader.
Seifer Almasy
Thanks to his easy-going personality, Zell usually gets along well with other people. There is only one exception: Seifer. Since their days in Edea’s Orphanage, Seifer loved to make fun of Zell and take advantages on him. They frequently engaged fights and it was usually up to Quistis to separate them. Seifer likes to tease people, especially if they get angry easily, this has always made Zell the preferred target of his attacks.
Seifer and Zell followed different roads, but in the end they attended the same Garden where Seifer continued to treat Zell as he did when they were children. He also uses his position of Head of the Disciplinary Committee to order around and Zell did get in troubles with the Committee.
Although it may seem that Zell is not able to stand Seifer, I don’t think he actually hates him. Granted, he was frequently and ruthlessly annoyed by Seifer, still hate is a very strong word and, when corned, Zell himself realises that what he says doesn’t match what he really thinks. Even if he calls Seifer his arch-enemy, he doesn’t wish to see him dead.
Selphie: You really hated Seifer, didn’t you, Zell!?
Zell: Yeah, but…He was from Garden…He was one of us. If I can, I wanna get revenge.
The same thing can be said on Seifer’s part. I believe when he grudgingly applauds him after he passes the SeeD exam, he genuinely wants to compliment with him and his applaud is not meant to mock Zell’s positive result. Of course, given the opinion he has of Zell and, considering he succeeded while he failed, his unenthusiastic reaction is understandable. He also runs out the Detention Room, expressessing some sort of concern, once he discovers Headmaster Cid sent Squall, Selphie and Zell to Timber alone.
Quistis: He was so angry when he found out it was only the 3 of you dispatched to Timber. “What!? They might end up fightin’ the whole Galbadian force! And all they dispatch are 3 rookie SeeD members!? Dammit! I’m going to Timber!” I never would have guessed he was serious about it.
Again, also in this case things can be read into different ways; Seifer statement to Quistis might be a show-off, but it might also be possible he is actually worried about his three companions.
In the end Zell is just an easy mean to release some of his frustration, someone onto whom he can easily shift his anger since he knows very well what ticks him.
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