Final Fantasy 7 Remakehas been out long enough for players to burn their way through the game andduke it out with Sephirothonce again. However, as players have had time to reflect on the game and its original, some fans have noticed some similarities with the legendary villain and others from within theFinal Fantasyseries.
One such comparison has pittedSephiroth against Ardyn, with Square Enix having pulled fromFinal Fantasy 7when looking for inspiration onFinal Fantasy 15. However, there is one villain in the series that trumps even Sephiroth and has clearly laid the groundwork for every major villain since the series made the transition into three dimensions.
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Namely, Kefka Palazzo has continued to stand for fans of the series' original run onclassic Nintendo consolesbefore making the switch to PlayStation, as the pinnacle ofFinal Fantasyvillainy. While the series was certainly never known for bland antagonists for the main characters to fight, early villains did often border on the edge of “generic demon lord” territory. However, Kefka became a turning point towards villains that players can love to hate and in some cases even pull a bate and switch in the eleventh hour to take the spot as a game’s true villain.
Who is Kefka?
For players who may have missed the six entry in theFinal Fantasyfranchise, or third for many Americans at the time of release, Kefka is the primary antagonist forFinal Fantasy 6. However, while he does act as the final boss for the game, Kefka spends a large portion of his own title as an almost innocuous side-character, playing the role as a subordinate to Emperor Gestahl. It isn’t until what seems to be the end of the game that Kefka betrays his master and steals the power of the espers in order to become a god, withpower easily rivaling any other villainfrom the series.
The turn comes at what turns out to be the end of the second of three acts, with a character who up until then had been little more than a laughing psychopath being promoted quickly to critical threat. In fact, on an initial playthrough, players would be forgiven for assuming that little more of the character than labelingKefka as an inane clown, thanks to both his makeup as well as his tendency to flee with some sort of cynical joke as he leaves. Although, that is not to say that the villain isn’t a brutal monster in the sections that lead up to his eventual crowning as the true villain ofFinal Fantasy 7.
Brutality in Sephiroth
One expert showing of Kefka’s brutality is actually the player’s first interaction with him inFinal Fantasy 6, as he attempts to poison the water supply of the enemy stronghold of Doma to incite a war. This initial encounter immediately paints the character as a cut-throat villain willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way, regardless of how many innocents might die. The brutality on display here is something that gets recycled inFinal Fantasy 7as Sephiroth burns the town of Nibelheim to the ground in pursuit of his mother, Jenova.
In both cases, whoever players might think isthe better villain, a number of the most chilling aspects of Sephiroth come straight from his predecessor. For every town, president, and Aerith that Sephiroth cut down in pursuit of his misguided goals to please Jenova, Kefka slaughters worlds, emperors, and Shadows (depending on player choice) in pursuit of his selfish goals to empower himself.Final Fantasy 7was only able to make Sephiroth so compelling and hate-able as a villain because Kefka had already laid the groundwork for crafting the perfect villain in the series.
Charm in Ardyn
However, it isn’t just Kefka’s eventual rise to power or his brutality that makes him the perfect villain, but the charm that surrounds his character all the way until he finally takes his godly form. Appearing repeatedly throughout the story, only to be easily beaten and sent packing, the clown often relates everything through comedy, like a JRPG approximation of DC’s Joker. This is one of the most successful traits to be passed on toArdyn inFinal Fantasy 15, a character that almost seems to be crafted in the spitting image of Kefka.
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Every part of Ardyn’s personality screams that he is meant to be some sort of combination of Sephiroth and Kefka, withFinal Fantasy 15’s hero Noctiseven calling him “Jester” before their final confrontation. The comparisons express themselves every time Ardyn opens his mouth, telling the same type of twisted jokes that Kefka would often taunt the heroes with, usually being the only one laughing after the punchline. It’s this charm that makes both characters so easy to love, right up until they do something vicious that players have to hate the villains for.
Reflections In Every Game Since
These elements of Kefka that affect Ardyn and Sephiroth are a fairly prominent trend for everyFinal Fantasytitle after the sixth, with characters from each game displaying at least some aspects of the villain. Seymour Guado fromFinal Fantasy 10, for instance, has a number of traits that should be familiar at this point, like laughing at his own jokes about killing the Ronsos. It’s a similar story with almost every major villain that the series has produced since, includingFinal Fantasy 9’s Kuja andFinal Fantasy 8’s rival Seifer.
Every charismatic villain, often appearing and re-appearing throughout their respective games, has been some sort of recreation of the best one Square Enix ever made. However, while Kefka is the one villain that the series has never topped as far as personality goes, there is another triumph within his story that only one other villain has come close to.
The Only One to Win
What elevates Kefka aboveall otherFinal Fantasyvillainsand what has become the defining feature of both his character andFinal Fantasy 6is the fact that he wins. In that eleventh hour betrayal of Emperor Gestahl mentioned earlier, Kefka actually succeeds at taking the power of the espers for himself and becomes a god, destroying the world as a result. As a result, the end of the game isn’t about protecting the world from the villain who plans to destroy it, but rather saving whatever little remains after he has already succeeded.
The closest the series has gotten to this is with Ardyn, again showing the massive Kefka influence on his character. Although, not even Ardyn is able to have as grand a victory as his predecessor, as it is implied that there are tons of survivors still hanging on off-screen somewhere inFinal Fantasy 15. This is not the case forFinal Fantasy 6, however, as even the fewcharacters that remain like Cidcan still die in the aftermath of the calamity that has destroyed the world.
