PROFILE
Name: Rinoa Heartilly (Caraway)Japanese: リノア ハーティリ
Age: 17
Height: 163 cm
Birthday: March 3 (1982)
Blood Type: Unknown (A)
Zodiac Sign: Pisces
Occupation: (P.R.O of a resistance group called "Forest Owls")
Weapon: Blaster Edge
Limit Break: Combine, Angelwing
Pet: Angelo
Some clarifications in the above information. The information above were taken from several sources and were compiled by me. Also some were induced with the principle of deduction. In other words, i just figured it out. :S
THE NAME CARAWAY
Let's start with the name. If you have at least finished disc one of the game, then you would now that Rinoa is actually a Caraway. She's the daughter of Julia Heartilly and General Caraway. So technically, she's a Caraway.
Selphie: So you're Rinoa's father?
General Calaway: I can't remember the last time she called me that.
Why did she took the name of her mother? Well, this is what I think. So she's a part of a resistance group named "Forest Owls". Since her father is a well-known general in the Galbadian Army, to be able to fit in, she changed her last name to Heartilly. Maybe another simpler reason is that she "hates" her father that she just wanna use her mother's maiden name. It's obvious in the game, late in the first disc, that Rinoa and her father don't get along. They quarrel a lot and have verbal fights. General Caraway, is protective of her daughter since the accident with Julia Heartilly when Rinoa was just a young child. Rinoa, on the other hand, wants to break free. And so verbal fights between the two happens a lot.
Rinoa: Hmph...He always does this! So discourteous... making people wait. I'm gonna go complain.
Zell: So the father's a top military officer, and the daughter's a member of an anti-government faction!? That's bad...Really BAD!
General Caraway: Yes, indeed. It's a serious problem. But it doesn't concern you. It's our problem.
THE OCCUPATION
This is one of the most missed out detail of Rinoa. Rinoa is not the leader of the Forest Owls. The leader is Zone.
Squall: I'm the squad leader, Squall. This is Zell, and Selphie.
Zone: Nice to meet ya. I'm the leader of the Forest Owls.
So what's Rinoa's role? I think that she is the representative of the group. A somewhat Public Relations Officer. Well, she was the one who went from Timber to Balamb in order to talk to Cid to solicit help from SeeD. That's what i guess.
But for the Forest Owl members, Rinoa is the Forest Owl Princess. They usually call her this which is evident when you talk to them during the Timber mission early in disc one.
Zone: I guess it's just our princess then.
Watts: It's the princess' nap time, sir.
Zone: Ahh, man... Hey, Squall, sorry, but could you go get the princess?
Standing Man: Our princess is in the room further down.
Man on seat: What!? You're gonna wake the princess? You've got some guts, man.
THE YEAR 1982
Next at the list is her birthday. Well, 1982 is the year that I gave her. I tried scouring the web and looked for a timeline for FF8. Unlike FF9, Square didn't release any timeline. Anyway, I just gave her the year 1982 because I needed it in analyzing her zodiac and other astrological stuff found here. So why the year 1982? Let's do some calculations. Rinoa is 17 in the game. Square released Final Fantasy VIII in October 1999. So when you calculate 1999 - 17, it would give you 1982. Now it's just as simple as that.