Duel
The name Duel, perfectly describes what Zell’s limit break consists in. Historically, a duel is a combat between two individuals holding the same weapon. Common weapons used were swords, later (from the 18th century onwards) substituted by guns. Wealthy gentlemen even had guns specifically crafted for these occasions.
Duels were commonly practised from the 11th century to the 20th century and, traditionally, they arose from the defence (either real or presumed) of honour. In this case, duels didn’t automatically lead to the death of the opponent because the aim of the challenger was to re-gain satisfaction after having been offended. Duels also had rules to which the contestants had to obey. Albeit there were many antecedents, the first code of duelling made its appearance during the Italian Renaissance while during the French Renaissance it was published the first code formalised at national level.
In the antiquity was widespread the form of single duels, that is duels between two single warriors (usually the strongest in their army) facing each other in a no-man’s-land. The opposing armies watched the duel without taking part in it. As opposed to the previous honour duels, this type of duel continued until one of the two warriors won. There are many examples of single duel in ancient literature, for example David and Goliath in the Bible or Achilles and Hector, in the Iliad.
Job class
Albeit Final Fantasy VIII doesn’t explicitly rely on the Job system as other Final Fantasy games (for example Final Fantasy III or Final Fantasy V), Zell’s in-battle characteristics make him belong to the Monk (モンク), or Black Belt, class.
Monks’ peculiar ability is to fight with bare hands or with the aid of claws and knuckles. Being weapon-less isn’t a drawback for Monks; normally they are as strong as any normal physical class such as Warriors or Dragoons.
Since Monks cannot wear heavy armour, but only light clothing like robes or hats, they tend to make up for this shortfall by having a higher number of HP points. Another positive aspect of the Monk class is that maintaining it doesn’t require a lot of money since they have little use of weaponry and armour.
Typical abilities for a Monk include Kick, which is an all-enemies attack, Chakra, to heal the Monk himself and/or his allies and finally Focus or Boost to increase their attack value, therefore dealing more damage. Monks can counter any physical attack as well. In the latest Final Fantasy, Monks have their own skill set of special techniques.
Famous Monks in the Final Fantasy series are Yang Fang Leiden from Final Fantasy IV, Sabin Rene Figaro of Final Fantasy VI, Amarant Coral from Final Fantasy IX and Tifa Lockhart of Final Fantasy VII (with whom Zell shares several moves such as Dolphin Blow, Punch Rush, and her Ultimate Limit, Final Heaven).