In FFVIII, the Timber situation is left a little unresolved. Squall and co are still under contract to the Timber Owls and Galbadia is no doubt going to go through a lot of political upheaval after the president is killed and the Sorceress who killed him and took over just disappears. So I'm curious how you think situation might be resolve overtime. Will SeeD military force be needed? Or would Galbadia cede control back to Timber as they focus on fixing themselves? Maybe a third option?
I don’t think there’s an option that isn’t messy as hell. On one hand, if Galbadia just takes their ball and leaves, Timber would be left free but likely destitute. Even if Galbadia had technically ceded control, they might put a lot of pressure on Timber to bow to their demands in order to prevent embargoes. On the other, an occupation is an occupation. For Timber to throw off its chains, it would have to have some kind of backup, but where to get that backup from (and how to negotiate for it) would be extremely tricky. Dollet is the only other country on the continent that might ally with them, but they’re not strong enough and much too far away to be of any use. Garden might be an option to kick Galbadia out with, but neither Garden nor SeeD offer diplomatic services (that the game mentions), so that wouldn’t answer the “OK, now what?” question. And Esthar is......Esthar. You’d have to give them a really good reason to intervene, but honestly I don’t think Timber’s even on their radar, Laguna or no Laguna.
I honestly think that in the end, what’s between Galbadia and Timber will be between Galbadia and Timber. One option Timber might have would be to use Galbadia’s defeat and political disarray to stoke dissent and gain supporters from within Galbadia and Deling City itself. An uprising of Galbadia’s own people that favors Timber’s enrichment and emancipation might be the best option, as it stands at endgame. It would still be messy and take a while, but it’s at least feasible. Garden could be involved in some ways, but their political business and national identity would have to be in their own hands.
I do think it would be possible for Rinoa to still help them, and significantly, if she chose to, since she’s not technically affiliated with any other political movement. But if she did, she’d have to be very careful about what was appropriate use of her powers, and what was exploitation of the same.
