Adel's History
Sorceress Adel rose to power in Esthar during the time period between the destruction of the Centran Empire and the advent of the Sorceress War. How she became the ruler of Esthar is unknown, although Selphie Tilmitt notes similarities between the rise of Sorceress Edea and Adel in her diary. This would indicate Adel cooperated with the former head of Esthar before taking over the position forcefully, possibly through assassination.
Estharians rarely speak of her in more than hushed voices, indicating it was a rule of tyranny. Adel began what was to be known as the Sorceress War by pitting the forces of Esthar against Galbadia in a step towards world domination. Galbadia retaliated, and instead of being conquered, expanded its own power and became a dominant nation in its own right.
Esthar discovered the Crystal Pillar that controls the periodic Lunar Cry. Realizing the destructive power she could harness by using the Lunar Cry as a weapon, Adel ordered a special compound that became known as the Lunatic Pandora built around the pillar. Lunatic Pandora served two purposes: it made the Crystal Pillar mobile, allowing Adel to choose the precise location of each Lunar Cry, and it amplified the pillar's frequency emanations, causing the "cries" prompted by the pillar from inside the Pandora to be even more destructive.
Since a sorceress must pass on her power to another upon death before she can rest, Adel intended to find a successor and ordered the mass kidnapping of young girls, planning to choose one with the most potential and raise her to become the next tyrant of Esthar. One target of particular interest was Ellone, the adopted daughter of Laguna Loire and Raine who had a unique ability to send another person's consciousness back in time. After Ellone had been kidnapped, Laguna, a former Galbadian soldier, stopped at nothing to rescue her.
While rescuing Ellone, Laguna joined the Estharian resistance against Adel's rule. Knowing that killing Adel would have her pass on her sorceress powers to someone else, the resistance came up with an alternative: containing her. Laguna enlisted the help of his friends, Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac, as well as the scientific knowledge of Esthar's top scientist, Dr. Odine. Although initially loyal to Adel, Odine's ultimate desire was research, and so he built a cryo-containment device for the resistance to bind the sorceress's powers and place her in suspended animation. The resistance placed the device inside a building that would later become known as the Sorceress Memorial.
Resistance fighters took control of the Lunatic Pandora and sunk it into the ocean, both to draw out Adel and to lessen the impact of future Lunar Cries. When Adel came to the Memorial investigate, resistance members told her they believed those responsible to be holding Ellone hostage inside. When Adel entered the building she found a facsimile of Ellone resting within a container, Laguna following her close behind. Before Adel could retaliate, Laguna pushed her and Kiros and Ward remotely closed the container, binding her in thin golden cords and freezing her instantaneously. Releasing a gelatinous cooling and buffering agent, the device protected the frozen Adel from outside contact preventing any stimulus from awakening her.
The container, appropriately dubbed Adel's Tomb, was launched into space and brought to rest in orbit around the moon, causing the worldwide radio interference rendering most wireless technology useless for the next 17 years, until Sorceress Ultimecia possesses Rinoa Heartilly and reaches the Lunar Base, thus gaining access to Adel's Tomb. Rinoa deactivates the trap under Ultimecia's control, freeing Adel, as Ultimecia's sorceress' knight, Seifer Almasy, starts a Lunar Cry from the salvaged Lunatic Pandora. As monsters fall from the moon, Adel's Tomb is caught up in the morass and brought down with them, falling into the Lunatic Pandora. Ultimecia abandons Rinoa's body to possess Adel's.
Laguna and Dr. Odine come up with a plan to subdue both Adel and Ultimecia for good by hiring Squall Leonhart's SeeD party for the job. They invite the team to the Presidential Office where they explain the details, while also saying that if Adel's consciousness wins over Ultimecia's, Adel will want to destroy "this era". Squall and his allies infiltrate Lunatic Pandora to save Ellone, whom Seifer has taken captive on board. As Seifer's allies, Fujin and Raijin, betray him and release Ellone, Seifer kidnaps Rinoa and presents her to the possessed Adel, who junctions Rinoa to increase her powers. Adel loses to the SeeDs and transfers her powers to Rinoa before dying.
