Awhile back I went over the different main antagonists from the Final Fantasy series of games. They were all posted on IGN at different times, but mostly stuck to the same format: Villain review, motivation, design, plot relevance, success or failure. With IGN closing down their Blogging section as of June of 2018, I wanted to preserve this series. I don’t know if there’s a text limit to these WordPress Blogs, but I suppose I’ll find out! I’m going to attempt to put all the Highlights into this one post here. Oh, one last word of warning, I had started the series on Garland for Final Fantasy I, but I’ll be posting them in reverse order (since its easier to look up on IGN), so it’ll be starting with Vayne from XII and going backwards from there.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight XII: Vayne Solidor
A long time ago when I first reached the twelfth entry in my ‘Villains Highlight’ series, I had said that I would not be doing Vayne. The reason was that I hadn’t played FF XII since it had come out and I really couldn’t remember much about Vayne for the life of me. Well, fast forward to a month or two ago and the HD Remaster of Final Fantasy XII has hit shores and I’ve played through it; refreshing my memory on the series. I only had played it once since it didn’t really enthrall me like the others (I just started to replay VII again for, what, the 8th time maybe?) and it didn’t leave much of an impact.
Now that I’ve gone through it older, wiser, and with a new perspective, I enjoyed it a bit more. Not much more, but enough to respect it. First thing I had to do is immediately make Ashe the main character in my mind and play-style. That alone made a tremendous difference. I know you’re getting the whole ‘Tidus, new-to-the-world’ viewpoint from Vaan (and he’s definitely less annoying than Tidus), but the story doesn’t revolve around him; he is definitely not the main character. Everything about the game really revolves around Ashe (and to a lesser extent, Balthier), so making her the main controlled character and repeatedly telling myself she was the main character made the game more enjoyable for me.
Anyway, with that little mini tangent out of the way, I can focus on the main piece here: Vayne. So, after playing through it again, I gotta say…he’s pretty underwhelming. I mean, he’s…I guess he’s technically unique compared to the other villains, but at the same time, that’s a tremendous disadvantage. I know now why I couldn’t remember much; he left virtually no impact. First and foremost, Vayne is a Politician. With a silver tongue and Machiavellian personality, he slowly pulled what strings he could to completely take control of Arcadia, the ruling country north to Dalmasca, the primary area we’re focused on, but that’s all he did. Mateus was Emperor in FF II, but the guy was strong enough to actually take over Hell with his strength when he was sent there. Garland was a strong enough knight to get 4 elemental fiends under his control to wreck havoc across the globe and somehow make himself Chaos due to some weird time loops shenanigans; even Sephiroth, who was really just a puppet to Jenova in the end, was a super soldier capable of annihilating armies if need be. But Vayne? Nothing. All we ever see him do is talking amongst political advisors; scheming to take control, and sending the ‘Judges’ out to do the dirty work. The only threat he posses comes when he is defeated and the Occurian Spirit Venát merges with him to give him some strength. That’s the only time you fight him, or see him fight, and its literally at the end of the game.
EDIT: I just gotta add to this a little bit (even though this post is long already). After reading through, I need to clarify for Vayne. If the game had made some references to his strength as a soldier; maybe showed him in battle or at the very least, had passing reference of his abilities in combat (like stories of how he was ridiculously strong) then he could of had this menacing background being built that made you feel some intimidation leading up to his encounter. The thing is, I don’t even think he was a Soldier; he was just a military leader; never actually on the battlefield. I hate to keep comparing to other FF Villains, but let’s use Sephiroth again. Before you meet him, he’s alluded to in a flashback as a strong soldier; the one who inspired Cloud to set off and join Soldier. In showing the time he went mad, the game shows him killing off a town, setting aflame and murdering one of the main character’s parents. The president of the major, big bad Corporation, Shinra; whom you’re originally led to believe will be the main villain early on; is impaled on his sword without anyone seeing him. A giant monster snake is found impaled on a tree thanks to his doing and the tales of his feats follow the party throughout the game; building him up as this evil, strong being just out of reach. Vayne doesn’t have that. He’s shown within his political chambers talking with others and sending Judges out to carry out his will. The assassination of his father, the King; as well as the subsequent framing of the Senate of the deed; is done off-screen. We never really see him do anything other than talk, strut around, and give speeches. Hell, at least Rufus pulled a shotgun on Cloud and flew away on a helicopter one-handed like a badass for his fight. Vayne did nothing to really come off as someone the party must fear other than his willingness to allow his armies use Nethicite to turn the tides of battle.
It’s hard to really rank him since he’s so different than the other villains. Kuja pulled strings and played people like a fiddle since he loved theatrics, but the guy could back up his schemes with power. He was a mage who had access to an army of Silver Dragons and after dethroning his nemesis, destroyed a planet with his power. Vayne…..he just framed a few ruling members of the political party to make it look like they murdered the king and look like a coúp and took total control without needing senate approval. No magic; no hidden strength; just politics. A little reminiscent of Tactics, actually, with how Dycedarg took power by assassinating his father and manipulating those around him to consolidate power. Ironically, all this takes place in Ivalice; the same as in XII, so its almost like a form of history repeating itself (although since Airships and guns were ‘ancient technology’ in Tactics, is debatable whether FFXII took place long before or long after Tactics).
Man, I keep getting off track, alright so, I think its apparent from my talking about him that I did not find him intimidating at least. As for his master plan, well, I mean he partially succeeded. He was able to successfully frame the other political party members for the death of the king and seized control of Arcades. He also expertly manipulated key Dalmascan Judges so that the King there would be murdered and a war started so he could come in for ‘peace keeping’ purposes. In the end, though; despite having the powers of celestial beings (in the form of a rogue Occuria that involved itself directly when the rest refused), he still failed to fully conquer both regions. His huge Bahamut ship went down before it even really became airborne at couldn’t manage to take out Dalmasca nor Bhujerba. Thanks to his disregard of his own younger brother, he even lost the support of the last remaining Judge (and two others, Balthier & Reddas, quit and left the Arcadian army before the game even started) and had no support left by the end. Vayne was a good politician and nothing else. Even his involvement with the party was…essentially non-existent. He knew Ashe was running around alive thanks to Cid who was working alongside the rogue Occuria, Venát, before his death, but he himself never spoke to or interacted with the main party at all. We never even got establishing scenes of him reacting to anything Ashe and the party was doing. Though his master goal was to take control, the main reason for it all was to ‘Take back the reins of history’ and put them ‘in man’s hands’. That…needs some explaining, to be honest.
Alright, let’s back up a moment. So, the Occuria are celestial-like beings of crazy power. They guide things from the shadows and choose a ‘Champion’ every age or two to represent their will on Ivalice and they refuse to involve themselves directly. In fact, I’m not sure whether the Occuria we see when Ashe meets them are even actually on the same plane of existence as Ashe; I think they were just projecting some kind of energy/spiritual form to make contact. In a sense, they maintain order and make sure that the world doesn’t go to complete hell in a hand basket by giving one person with leadership qualities the power to quell all wars going on and unite the lands under one banner (thereby keeping peace for a time until things destabilize again). Looking at it from a certain perspective, it would mean that humans have no real control over their destiny; that everything is controlled in some minute way by these unseen overseers and there’s no way to change it since anybody who tries will be struck down by whatever champion the Occuria choose and give massive power to.
Vayne, along with Cid, were on a quest to circumvent that. By stealing the power the Occuria parcel out to only certain humans, they planned on charting the course of human history themselves; to no longer be secretly guided by them. If they held power enough that even whatever warrior the Occuria chose could not defeat them, then they were free to take whatever path in life they wanted. Nothing could stop them from conquering the world or doing whatever. It’s my assumption that the one Occuria that helped them gain this power sided with them because he believed that humans SHOULD be the masters of their own destiny; that the Occuria have no right to be meddling in their affairs and they should be left to their own devices. It seems like they won’t interfere directly anyway; what Venát is doing is treason, and they elected Ashe to be the new hero to stop Venát and in turn, Vayne, via total destruction of him and his empire. Ironically, Ashe refused to give in to revenge and go along with destroying an entire nation, so she ended up destroying the source of the power the Occuria give to humans, defying the Occuria who had chosen her to do their bidding. In a way, Ashe was the one to sever the hold the Occuria had over humans and made it possible for Ivalice to take back the reins of history; just as Vayne was aiming for. Of course, she went on to kick his ass and stop him from dominating everything anyway, but she did accomplish one of his main goals for him.
I’d be willing to give Vayne credit for manipulating Ashe and her party into accomplishing this, but in reality, it was Cid who was leading the party everywhere they went. It was his lab the party (and Reddas) raided in order to learn more about the Nethicite that the Arcadian army had. He was the one who baited the party into going to Giruvegan where they’d get more Nethicite. Furthermore, it was Cid, yet again, that the party met at Pharos for the final bit of Nethicite; a huge chunk of Nethicite that Ashe and the party could then use to gain enough power to ignore the Occuria, which was Cid’s plan. Of course, shattering it completely also released the hold the Occuria had on humans, so that, too, accomplished Cid’s goal. Venát was originally with Cid as well and presumably they were the duo that told Vayne about all of this and got this ball rolling; when Cid died, that’s when he had Venát lend his strength to Vayne. Otherwise, it was Cid pulling all the strings in the meantime. Story-wise, it was Cid who first encountered Venát, too, so really, now that I think about it, Cid was probably the real antagonist and just as the Occuria chose Ashe to be their champion, Cid and Venát, in an effort to break free from the Occuria’s control, chose Vayne to be their champion. Everything was according to Cid’s machinations, which is why we encountered him personally more often and even had the ‘twist’ of one of the party members being related to him by blood; it would even explain why Vayne seemed like such a lackluster villain. Because Vayne always seemed like he was in the background as the party was chasing after Cid and trying to figure out what his endgame was, it made the story seem like Cid was the real antagonist.
That was a little long-winded, but I think I just convinced myself that Cid was the real villain of the game and Vayne was nothing more than a tool used to realize his ambition. He really didn’t care of he himself couldn’t make it to see the day his ambition was realized; he just wanted it done and Vayne had the most political connections and the drive to go through with the plans. So, with that being considered, I’m considering Vayne as nothing more than a tool; a huge failure for a villain and probably the least interesting out of all Final fantasy Villains; and its a pretty big list now of villains to compare to.
With my Villains Highlight now done (for sure this time) I think my last entry here should be a super quick recap of the different villains, their accomplishments, and role; just for comparison so it’s easier to judge them all at once. I’ll put it in a separate post though since this one is long enough as it is. Oh, and as for why this is definitively the last one, its because I never beat XIII. I hated it to such a fiery degree that I just could not get myself to finish. I know that idiot priest, Fal’Cie thing is the villain and his whole shtick (and how ridiculously stupid it is), but no matter how I try to convince myself, i just cannot subject myself to that game. I hate the gameplay (or lack thereof), I hate EVERY character, I hate the story, and I hate the setting. I’d rather play Mystic Quest a thousand times over than attempt XIII again.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight X: Seymour
Looks like my first post for the new year will be the tenth installment of my FF Villains highlight! I believe my last posting came in November with a normal blog post with my Mario Maker levels (since then, one of my levels has been mysteriously deleted from Nintendo servers). I can hardly believe that I’m ten villains into this series now; I typically start writing when a combination of ‘time’, ‘inspiration’, and ‘boredom’ clash; which honestly isn’t as often as you’d think. Anyway, without further ado, I bring you the FF Villain highlight for Final Fantasy X: Seymour.
Now, I’ll probably have to start this off with a disclaimer right off the bat. From the very beginning, you’re led to believe the final villain and main reason for venturing the countryside is to take on the giant flying whale Godzilla, Sin. Over the course of that adventure, another gradually takes his place and Sin slowly transforms from a natural disaster appearing every 10 years (almost like some kind of horrible living El Niño), to a tragic beast destroying for no discernible reason, to finally ending up as nothing more than a puppet for a true mastermind that (honest to God) is not revealed until 10 minutes before the end of the game. Just to clarify, I’m calling the ‘end of the game’ the entrance to the final boss dungeon. You learn about the ‘real’ villain, Yu Yevon, being the reason behind Sin (and what Sin actually is) and immediately (I’m talking next scene) devise a plan and charge balls-fist into the final dungeon. That being said, I refuse…REFUSE…..to label Yu Yevon as the final villain. Not to mention, aside from simply being a floating magic Tick, he as actually fully incapable of killing you. I sat there and TRIED to die. Now, the part right before Yu Yevon himself, where you face every Aeon you’ve ever recruited; that’s kind of cool. You could die there…if not for the fact that you have a permanent Auto-Life effect for the duration of the battles, but Yu Yevon himself does nothing but cast varying levels of the ‘Gravity’ spell, which cannot kill opponents (it cuts away a certain percentage of current HP and thus can never be a kill spell).
Wow….this may be the longest I’ve gone before getting to the mail guy himself, but I had to get the Yu Yevon bit off my chest first. Anyway, Seymour is the main baddie. He starts off as a high ranking Summoner Priest; an ambassador for his race, the Guado (no, not Guido). As he develops an unhealthy infatuation with Yuna, he goes from party ally (and a good look at what a powerful Summoner/Black Mage can look like later-mid game), to stalker of Yuna at the Ice temple…to attempted rapist as he tries to force Yuna to marry her….to mass murderer as he kills the Ronso on Mt. Gagazette…to full-blown Psycho as he tries to merge with Sin and rule over Death (points for originality). Being a traditional Japanese RPG and the first in the PS2 era, the graphics and music kind of give away a bit early that this guy is not to be trusted. Still, the game should be given credit as he is set up as this upstanding political guy and friend to the party. His creepy affections show more with each meeting and by the time you seem him in the Ice temple (the 4th summon, I believe) you fight him and kill him.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, ‘Wait…BM General just alluded to several events involving this guy, but you fight and kill him once?’ Well…this game has an odd story quirk to it. You see, it seems that when people die, Summoners do a fancy little spirit dance, called a ‘Sending’ in order to force the spirit to pass one to the afterlife. When this isn’t done (or rather, IF it isn’t done), a spirit can linger and its malevolent leftover feelings can cause it to transform into a ‘fiend’ (this world’s name for ‘generic monster creature’). A secondary catch is that if a particularly strong-willed soul is left behind, it can actually call back it essential shape and walk around as if it never died. In other words, if you have a strong mind, you can literally force your spirit energy to take on a PHYSICAL manifestation of your old body and continue living as if nothing ever happened. To top it all off, it’s impossible to really tell if somebody is already dead (as at least 5 major story characters are actually dead and you don’t realize until later; including one main party member). So, after that first meeting, even though you kill Seymour, because the party bolts (since, you know, they DID technically just assassinate the equivalent of a Prime Minister) Yuna never has the chance to ‘Send’ Seymour and he comes back as if nothing ever happened.
From there, you encounter Seymour several more times as he seems to be less and less stable due to Yuna attempting to send him and walking the group directly into traps (she has the IQ of a Styrofoam cup as one internet comedian put it). In the end, Seymour resolves to rule over the state of death itself and merge itself with the entity known as Sin (I’ll have to explain that) in order to ‘free Spira from its suffering’. Which…given how death words in this reality…I honestly can’t see the downside. I mean, hear me out: from what you learn, being dead does not stop you from doing anything, really. You can still interact physically with objects. You can hold things, hit people, speak and be heard. The only thing you can’t really do (as far as I know) is eat, drink and sleep. And since you’re dead…that doesn’t really matter anymore. Furthermore, because you can feel and touch things, as well as take physical damage and be hurt, you could hypothetically continue to have sex and feel it. I mean, why not? Seymour feels it when he’s struck by weapons. Auron gets tired and hurt as he’s damaged (he’s revealed to be an unsent towards the end, too!). So it stands to reason that really, death serves no purpose in this reality. There’s absolutely no reason to fear or dread it. I suppose it’s mentioned that those who felt cheated in life or have resentment leftover when they die turn into fiends, so the downside to no sending would be part of the population turning into monsters, but then…the other half are ghosts who can’t really die. If they’re knocked out while already dead, they’ll just come back like half hour later perfectly fine. So again…who really cares? Now that I think about it, if everybody KNEW that death was just a mild inconvenience and that you could come back, then nobody would hold resentment toward being killed since they’d turn around and shrug, knowing they can go about their day regardless of whether they’re living or living impaired. The whole notion of ‘unsent’ being able to retain their physical form (along with everything else) instead of turning into some horrid beast 100% of the time just completely ruins the balance of life and death. There’s absolutely nothing to fear from death, taking away all dramatic tension from it.
Alright, so death rant aside, let me talk about the creature known as Sin quickly as he factors into Seymour’s master plan towards the end (presumably when he learns that death really is just a minor inconvenience). Sin, it turns out, is NOT a giant floating whale of death. Sin is an Aeon of sorts, summoned by Yu Yevon. Sin acts as an Aeon that shields Yu Yevon deep within its core so that he can continue to use Fayth (souls who were sacrificed for the sole purpose of being used to summon). Summoners throughout their journey make their way to Zanarkand to obtain the ‘Final Aeon’ to defeat Sin. It turns out, that once Sin is defeated, it takes Yu Yevon 10 years to craft a new ‘armor’ from the ‘Final Aeon’ that destroyed Sin prior and make it into a new Sin. Yu Yevon possesses whatever Aeon is still around in order to use it as ‘armor’ so that it may continue its summoning in peace, so really, any Aeon can actually ‘become’ Sin. What is it that Yu Yevon is summoning that he needs to hide within a giant genocidal super whale? He’s summoning the memory of Zanarkand from 1000 years ago (before the war) so that he can experience the ‘good ole days’ I suppose. Seymour, learning that Sin is nothing more than a giant Aeon (which in of itself is simply souls known as Fayth) resolves to merge himself with the Final Aeon to become Sin and rule the planet as a sentient city-sized flying demon whale. All things considered, it’s not a bad plan, though of course the party finally manages to send him after their 4th attempt at bringing him down.
While I didn’t really feel particularly strongly about Seymour as I played the game the first time, I have to give him some credit. He may not be the first summoner (though at the tenth iteration, how ‘original’ can they be?), but he’s the first to be a party ally for awhile. Granted, you did get a small bit of flashback time of Cloud working alongside Sephiroth in soldier (though its later revealed it was actually Zach the whole time due to the memories melding a bit), but by that point, the guy is so far removed socially that you can pretty much tell he’s walking a tightrope between insanity and clarity. That means Seymour is the first guy who’s friends with the party and you see a few times on ‘good’ terms (granted, Tidus does have misgivings from day 1) up until he becomes an antagonist for the group. He also is playable for a little bit and does what some other games have done in the past. He provides the player a look into the ‘future’ per sé. When you have him as a party member, you get to use higher level spells and have seen him use high level summoning; giving players a peak at what they can later become when they’re characters reach that strength. Its almost like being a role model so you go ‘damn, I can use that later and be that strong too!’ Of course, you learn you were idolizing a psycho, but c’est la vie.
As far as looks go, he’s pretty standard in terms of robes. He’s a summoner; they pretty much have just one look: a long flowing robe. Seymour’s just happened to be blue and loosely worn to show off his weird Guado chest (oddly enough, something a Guido would probably do). The only real character design quick he has is the choice developers went with for his hair. His hair is blue (not the odd part giving Japan) and fashioned like large antlers. Given everyone else’s normal hairstyles (Wakka not included), giving someone a radically different, weird hairstyle really services to make him standout as extremely odd. So really, while his look isn’t intimidating int he least, his voice gives him the creepy ‘keep an eye on this guy…’ vibe. I can’t quite my finger on it, but there are times when he speaks (sometimes when he’s laughing) that he sounds like the old voice actor for Winnie the Pooh. He sounds like a homicidal Pooh Bear, which really makes him enjoyable in a sense.
The final verdict for Seymour is going to have to be a Failure as a FF villain, however. The guy repeatedly tries to woo Yuna and fails miserably; is defeated by the party 4 times (nearing Team Rocket levels of failure); and just isn’t the least bit intimidating (see: Pooh Bear voice). At the same time, his plan was pretty solid. It was a good idea. Upon learning the full story behind what Sin is and everything going on, it’s a damn good idea to try and insert yourself into the process to rule over death. If he wasn’t such a pushover, it might have been scary. With Seymour wrapped up, I’m just about done. Well, actually….I might have to say definitively that I am done. I haven’t played XII in way too long and I didn’t particularly care for the story and its confusion over the main character; I really can’t remember anything about it other than Ashe was a deposed Princess or something. As for Final Fantasy XIII, well…I never finished it. I couldn’t do it. I hated the story, the characters, the gameplay, and the setting. I just couldn’t stomach it. I wasn’t able to finish. Every time I see it at Gamestop for cheap, I think about it, but my body just rejects the idea. I just can’t bring myself to play it. Defend it all you want; you have a right to your opinion, but mine won’t change. I’ve been playing since FF I and while changes have been numerous to the series, I just can’t stomach the ones brought to the table for XIII. So, unless a HD remaster for XII is made, I believe I’m finished with my FF Villains highlight review.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight IX: Kuja
It’s time for the main villain of Final Fantasy IX: Kuja. Out of all of the games, Kuja was my favorite and I think it was just because of his personality. He is very dramatic and theatrical and plays it up whenever he can. There’s just something about the ridiculously cheesy ways he says some lines that comes off as a villain from a stage production. He refers to the main heroine of the game, Garnet (Zidane’s love interest) as his ‘Canary’ multiple times and with the play ‘I Want to Be Your Canary’ (a famous play in the world of Gaia) you can tell he’s quoting lines from it and referencing in it general. When attacking the Queen of Alexandria (after she played straight into his hands) he waves his arms dramatically and tells the group that ‘Act 2’ now begins (alluding to the event like an ‘Act’ in a play). This is so starkly different to other villains that it makes him really stand out. The others were certifiably insane (either all along like Kefka) or were driven to insanity (like Sephiroth) and were mostly just cold or aggressive villains throughout the time that you knew them. Before Kuja, Kefka and ExDeath were the only ones to really have any bit of personality really shine through and neither were anywhere remotely similar to Kuja.
Before I go too deep, let’s get to his backstory. Kuja probably has the most back story thus far of any main Final Fantasy Villain. You learn about it in bits and pieces, but this is the first villain whose destructive motivations are not a result of clear insanity. He has had a long-term goal that he has slowly been building to while manipulating events behind the scenes. Kuja, along with the main character Zidane, are part of a race called Genomes. Genomes are artificially created bodies (essentially making them Homunculi now that I think about it) that were made for the soul purpose of harboring the Souls of Terra; a mirror planet to Gaia. Terra, due to..uh..reasons I forget…became uninhabitable and was going the way of Krypton, so the inhabitants all went into hyper-sleep, tasking one Guardian, Garland, to save their existence. He created the Genomes (3000 years prior to the game’s timeline) and went about the process of Terra-forming Gaia and preparing it merge with Terra. Once complete, the souls of the Terrans would inhabit the Genomes ‘completing’ them (since they were created/born without souls) and they would live once more on the newly created planet. To complete this terraforming process, they needed energy and the souls of the dead from Gaia in order to power the process. To that effect, a special Genome was created that would actually have a soul: Kuja. Kuja, along with Zidane and Mikoto were the only 3 Genomes created that inherently had souls (as opposed to the rest of the race) and had finite lifespans; though once Garland was done with them, they would die.
This is where Kuja’s plot comes into play. Originally created to be an ‘Angel of Death’, he was tasked with traveling the planet Gaia and sowing Chaos, promoting War, and speeding the process of transferring souls from Gaia to Terra. Kuja, however, was not content to be a puppet of Garland and preferred to be the one in control and slowly hatched a plan to commandeer the reigns of control away from him by harvesting souls for his own end. Kuja manipulated Queen Brahne into starting a war, pitting Alexandria against every other major power in the region; even providing her with created soldiers powered by Mist (a magical byproduct of a tree that processes souls as they transition from Gaia to Terra) to ensure the most deaths possible. Seriously, I think like 80% of Cleyra and Burmecia were wiped out and Lindblum took a fair bit of damage, too. Late game, Kuja’s plan to gather a bunch of energy and power by controlling Eidolons (by Summoning Alexander) fails (he’s foiled by Garland) and looks for another way to get the power needed to topple Garland. He discovers that the ability to ‘Trance’ is attainable by anyone (as well as what induces a Trance) and knows it’ll give him the edge over Garland and thus takes his fight directly to Terra to challenge Garland. He learns of his finite lifespan, meaning the power he finally attained and beat Garland with won’t do him much good and goes into an angry depression, concluding that if he must die, then everything must die with him. Kuja proceeds to destroy the entire planet of Terra and seeks the Crystal of Life (a throwback to the original Final Fantasy’s that heavily centered around elemental Crystals) and opts to destroy it in order to destroy all life.
That was a bit of a long-winded history on Kuja, but there you have it. Like the other Genomes, he had a Tail, but mostly kept it hidden. You really only saw it when he went into ‘Trance’. His fur and hair also stood on end and turned a bright shade of red/crimson. Essentially, ‘Trance’ turned him into a Super Saiyan, complete with the ability to destroy planets. His normal attire…eh…how do I describe it? Heavily flamboyant. Mostly mage garb, baring his mid rift and colored purple and white (playing to his vanity since those are considered ‘royal’ colors). Honestly, I can’t really describe it, so I’m going to take the cheap way out and just refer to the picture I posted up top for how he appears.
Kuja, in addition to being a Black Mage and specializing in magics in that category, is a master manipulator. He was solely responsible for manipulating the Queen and using her to start a war. There were no implications of mind-control magic used, so we know it was all through speech that he controlled Brahne and used her. He also manipulated Cid’s wife, Hilda, into running away with him so that he could use one of the only airships on the planet capable of traveling without Mist (which only covers one continent); he also somehow managed to recruit the Black Mages (after using them for war as disposable soldiers) into fighting for him once more. So it’s more than apparent throughout that this guy is good with words. It goes hand in hand with his love of theater and dramatic way of speaking; making him pretty different than traditional FF villains in that respect.
Before I get into whether he was a success or not, I should mention something briefly. While Garland was initially behind Kuja being on Gaia in the first place, he really didn’t accomplish much and Kuja usurped the role of master villain from him after killing him late in Act 3. That works out for the better since it would have been disappointing to have another ‘behind the scenes’ villain responsible for the game’s events like Final Fantasy’s III, IV, and VIII. By the time you meet Garland, its really only to discover the rest of Kuja’s backstory as well as the main hero’s since you learn at that point that Kuja and Zidane are essentially brothers. Both are Genomes and both were granted souls so as to actually be ‘complete’ and have personalities (as opposed to the other Genomes who are soul-less and considered merely vessels as they have no emotions or personalities).
The other villain to note would be Necron. You actually face him after the final battle with Kuja and he can be difficult (mainly because he attacks fast; sometimes twice; and has the chance to do one of the most broken combos imaginable). Necron is mainly just a boss because the party does not want to accept defeat by Kuja and the end result of what he’s done. He’s like the maintainer of life; the one who maintains the Crystal of Life and looks to just let everything settle into nothing-ness when the Crystal of Life is destroyed. Only through the party’s sheer force of will does he see that life as deserving to continue and allows the crystal to be re-created. He initially fought the party reasoning that if not Kuja, then somebody else would arrive to the same nihlistic conclusion and seek to end all life, so why not stop all negativity of life by simply not allowing life to occur? He might have made a pretty deep, interesting villain, but he only has a few lines of dialogue, so no matter.
Now on to the last portion: Success or Failure? Was Kuja successful or was he a failure of a villain? Well, I’m going to be honest and straight up say this here: I’m heavily biased since Kuja is my favorite villain, but I’ll try to be impartial. If you don’t agree, well, that’s on you. I would call Kuja a success based on all he accomplished in the story. He may have failed to defeat the party in the end, but he took the Chiaotzu way out. Kuja, like I mentioned at least 3 times before, managed to start a war amongst the major powers of the planet simply with words and manipulated Brahne; orchestrating the whole thing from behind the stage. Even that act was merely a part in his plan as he takes control of the Eidolons that Brahne had gathered; eventually using them in order to summon a super powerful one, Alexander, to take out Garland with. The Eidolon Alexander was so strong that it scared even Garland, according to Kuja (hence why the jewel was split into 4 pieces and divided amongst the world years ago when Garland first tried to terraform the world, but was prevented by the Summoners of Madain Sari). Kuja also seemed to have great control over monsters, being able to create beings from Mist with his magic and summon an army of Silver Dragons (easily one of the most badass scenes in any Final Fantasy). To top it all off, once he found out that Trance can be attained from anything (when he witnessed Eiko’s Mog Trance to save her), he turned into a Super Saiyan (technically Super Saiyan 4 since he was red!) and destroyed an entire planet after killing Garland. Once the party corners him at the end of the game, he uses the last of his strength to destroy the Crystal of Life (that which sustains all, I guess) and essentially destroys all existence (with Necron being the Maintenance Man of Death to erase all life after the party manages to survive Kuja’s explosive fit). So yeah, he may have went Chiaotzu and tried to take out everyone when taking out the Crystal, but he did succeed in many other bits of destruction.
Interestingly enough, he did survive as well at the end of the game. When the party is brought back after Necron agrees to restore the Crystal, the party is escaping and Kuja, after having a change of heart when he calmly reassesses his life, he actually helps the party escape and Zidance actually goes back to save him. It’s never clear whether he survived, but Zidane does show up alive after the ordeal years later. It’s implied that Zidane spent the remainder of Kuja’s time with him until he died, but one never knows. He may have survived, along with Zidane, but chose to go into hiding due to his actions. And that’s Final Fantasy IX’s villain, Kuja. Next up, Seymour…since a highlight of Yu Yevon would only be about a paragraph long.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight VIII: Sorceress Ultimecia
Welcome to the 8th FF Villain Highlight! We’re actually almost done here now! And what a treat we have for the 8th installment; Ultimecia is the first female major villain for the series! It can be argued that Cloud of Darkness was female (since it did look female and I did refer to it as female when describing it), but Cloud of Darkness only took on the appearance/form of a female entity; it was just a harbinger of the void; a manifestation of Darkness and had no true gender or form, really. So, that means Ultimecia gets the honor of being the first female overarching villain for Final Fantasy!
After the much more enthusiastic writing for the highlights of ExDeath, Kefka, and Sephiroth, we come to the villain of a game I didn’t really care for too much when it first came out. My appreciation of it has since grown, but I’ve never really cared too much for Ultimecia herself. Like some of the earleir villains before her, she is more of a ‘Shadow’ villain. By that, I mean that she is relatively unknown up until Disc 3 (out of 4 discs..and the 4th disc is solely for the final location). She has been manipulating events within the story from the background and possesses others to get her work done; much like how Zemus and Cloud of Darkness were operating in Final Fantasy’s 3 and 4 respectively. You’re led to believe the main villain is Sorceress Edea, but once defeated, she explains that she was being possessed by Ultimecia, who is a sorceress from the future and has the ability to possess other sorceresses from the past. How you have such a wildly specific magical ability is beyond me. Alright, so Final fantasy 8’s main villain had a…unique plan. I’ll give her that. She wanted the same as everyone else (control the world), but her method of accomplishing this was ludicrous, really.
You may want to sit down for this, because this might get a bit confusing. Ultimecia’s ultimate goal (that somehow sounds redundant) was to possess a sorceress who has the ability to project other peoples’ consciousness into people of the past (which she used to see if she could influence the lives of people she personally knew in order to prevent the death of her mother, Raine….I think). Using that sorceress (whom we learned through the story was the adopted child of Laguna; Ellone) she would be able to compress time to a singular point. Ultimecia could only project her consciousness back into the past to possess someone so far; Ellone’s reach was infinite. She could not, however, possess anyone; so by controlling Ellone, Ultimecia could throw her consciousness back as far as she wanted and magically compress time itself to a singular point; effectively destroying the past and future to make ‘present’ the only time possible. What she would do with this, I have no idea. I mean, it’s implied that once accomplished, only her realm exists and she ‘rules’ over all….but ‘all’ no longer exists since she now sits outside of time, so what did she really do? If not for the main group somehow traveling back with her consciousness to the future, she would have ended up the sole living human…thing…in existence.
You know what? Let’s continue on this hypothetical path here a moment. Let’s say that the main group failed/didn’t make it/got trapped in a time warp. Then Ultimecia is on her own in that point of time where there is no future or past. Sure, she can’t age, so she’s immortal, but there’s no past either. Everything outside her castle is gone (as evidenced by magical barriers forbidding you from going to any of the old locations). Everything else is dead. What does she eat? How can she eat? Everything’s gone and she can no longer possess someone from the past or anything because there is no past anymore. What does she do now? You rule over your little castle, hurrah for you, but you have no subjects save for the 8 weird-ass monsters you created. I just don’t get her master plan. Was it to just be alone? Is that all? If that’s it, then you’re a freakin’ sorceress; go to the Moon (which is apparently the source of all monsters….go figure) and rule in isolation on the moon with a bunch of monsters as servants (since she’s already proven to be fine with subservient monsters).
Alright, ranting aside…what about her looks and her role. Well, being a master of magic is nothing new, but when you think about it, you can really only fall into three categories: Knight or Mage or Beast, so I can’t really harp on her being yet another Mage. Her looks though…that’s a different story. She looks like a typical sorceress with the dark colors and the long, flowing robes with one notable difference: the hair. Her hair is styled after a steer’s horns. Why does she have 2.5 ft long spiked hair? She looks ridiculous! Especially with her weird, clown-like purple makeup. At least the dual black wings are pretty cool and the black feathered boa…or whatever that shoulder piece is…looks pretty nice. Honestly, aside from the hair, her design is pretty cool. She’s a got a good, intimidating (sans the hair) look going and looks elegant and powerful without being too showy (like ExDeath, who, despite having some badass looking armor, was colored a light blue; or Kefka who basically looked like a medieval version of the Joker from Batman).
As far as her master plan goes and whether I consider her a ‘success’ or not, I’m going to say that she was a Failure. She was never really all that intimidating and her plan was just utter nonsense. Sure, she managed to kill off a politician of Galbadia (executed him right on stage, too…the masses are kind of stupid) and possessed other people fairly freely, but you don’t see her most of the game (actually, you don’t her until the final battle itself) and I feel like there were tons of other ways to stop this and foil her plans without things getting so complicated. In fact, if Irvine hadn’t mucked up his shot earlier, the game probably would have ended right then and there. I mean, if the person she’s possessing is assassinated, I’m assuming she’d die too if she didn’t see or sense it coming. And, it might be cruel, but if Ellone was the critical factor in getting Ultimecia’s plan to work, then just get rid of Ellone! Yeah, it sounds dark, but I mean you are battling an evil sorceress who is trying to destroy existence; I think the existence of all outweighs the existence of one. So I mean, her plan should have gone down multiple times but it was only because that would be a pretty quick, crappy ending that it didn’t happen that way. When Ultimecia did succeed (because the main party LET her possess Ellone), you see time compressed into a single point and she’s stopped pretty much immediately and everything is reversed…or time fixes itself or something. She didn’t seem to have any plans upon succeeding; no ambition at all. She wanted to compress time….and that’s it. She was content to just sit on her throne and do nothing, I suppose.
It may be no secret, but like I said, I don’t care too much for 8. I appreciate it a little more now, but that’s only because I dislike 12’s story and I hated 13 so immensely that 8 has risen a bit on my list. Now you may (or may not) have noticed this, but this wasn’t nearly as long as my previous entries (I think the last 3 might have all been longer) that’s because there’s not too much to say about her, really. She comes in way too late; you don’t even learn about her until disc 3 (which is really the last disc since Disc 4 is nothing but the final castle; nothing else story-related and EVERY town blocked off and unable to be entered). She has only 1 disc’s worth of time to be built up and really, most of that time is actually spent looking for Ellone and getting too focused on how Rinoa is suddenly comatose. So while Ultimecia was mentioned as the true big-bad behind it all, that fact doesn’t really get to sink in until you’ve found Ellone up in a space station and Rinoa suddenly becomes possessed. So really, I very few things to talk about and even fewer pictures I can bring up. That pretty much ends it here. She’s a failure; sorry Ultimecia-fans. Next up is Final Fantasy 9 (we’re almost at double-digits!).
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight VII: Sephiroth
Well…here it is. If anyone has been following this Highlight series of mine waiting for Sephiroth, the time has come. I’m going to be honest; I was dreading this a little bit. Whether you consider Final Fantasy 7 to be greatest RPG creation gifted unto Mankind or simply an overrated, overexposed average RPG, Sephiroth is by far the most recognized villain the series has ever offered. People outside the series who have never played a Final Fantasy in their lives recognize Sephiroth. Is that testament to how great and successful villain he was or just due to the natural hype surrounding the game and those who love it singing his praises? Did I have to start this highlight off with a rhetorical question meant to bait you into reading more? The answer to the latter is Yes.
Sephiroth. Man, what a character. He’s actually pretty well fleshed out in this game and this is probably the deepest backstory any of the games have given to a villain before. In the others, we know a little about their past and who they were (ExDeath was a tree; Kefka was driven insane due to Magitek experiments), but they were brief looks compared to what we learn throughout the story of Sephiroth. The game starts in one direction, making it look like a band of freedom fighters going against the big, bad corporation for the plot of the game early on, but then throws the wrench known as ‘Sephiroth’ into the mix and you quickly learn that he’s the true villain focus of the game. Everything from the foreboding music, creepy scene (which I’ll get into) where he’s first mentioned, and the murder discovered adds to the weight of this character’s intimidation. At first, you only hear of Sephiroth and see other characters’ reactions to him for awhile before he’s actually revealed. The characters, after being locked in holding cells within Shinra’s main office, find their doors unlocked. Slow, foreboding music is playing as you walk outside the cell to find everyone dead and a trail of blood. You follow it up the stairs to the President’s office, seeing him impaled by a huge sword. That’s your first introduction to something crazy going down. Then you have a Shinra executive, Palmer, crying wildly that it’s Sephiroth and you get clued in a bit more by both him and the main character, Cloud, as to just how bad of news this is (as the rest of the party, sans Tifa, has no idea who Sephiroth is). It’s only when they escape Midgar and make it to the next town that a bit of Cloud’s backstory is shared and the player learns about Sephiroth (though only in fragments).
When I first played Final Fantasy 7, it had first came out. It was 1997, so I was roughly 10 years old by that point. I have to say, thanks to how creepy the music was, the trail of blood leading up the stairs, finding every guard along the way DEAD, and me playing late at night, Sephiroth got cemented into my head as being super bad news and scared me. Once I made it to the Shinra Mansion in Nibehleim later on, I had to wait to play that part of the story in the daytime since I was too afraid to at night (Sephiroth and that damn intimidating music really scared the shit out of me as a child). Needless to say, he left an impact on me and as I grew older and more able to appreciate different aspects of the Final Fantasies, I grew to appreciate what the team behind Final Fantasy 7 had created in Sephiroth. They created a character you could truly feel the menace from. From following his bloody trail out of Midgar, to crossing the Marsh and seeing a giant 40 ft monster snake impaled on a giant tree, to hearing that damning music on a boat and finding all the crewman slain; Sephiroth was a villain they made sure to let you know meant business.
Now, I’ve played Final Fantasy 7…probably around 7 times…so as much as I like it, I can easily admit it DOES have flaws here and there and plot holes (all stories do, really). One of the things I’ve thought of over the years is in regards to something you learn about Sephiroth later. I’ll get into my thoughts in a moment; for now, let me go into Sephiroth’s origin and master plan. After progressing further and piecing more of Cloud and Sephiroth’s story together, you learn that Sephiroth was a genetic experiment (as was Cloud to a lesser extent). Sephiroth was created, infused with Mako and the DNA of Jenova (a destroyer being from Space, essentially), while still within the womb of his mother (Lucrecia). This was done in hopes of him being born as a powerful soldier with the blood of this ancient being known as Jenova, whom Shinra thought was a Cetra (an early civilization of people). The Shinra company also believed only a Cetra could lead them to the Promised Land; a land filled with an abundance of Mako energy (they believed this based on research by one of their scientists, Professor Gast). They had falsely believed that Jenova was an Ancient (a member of the ancient civilization of Cetra) when in reality it was a alien calamity that goes from planet to planet feeding off the energy, killing off all life before transferring to the next one to do the same…kind of like Braniac.
To be honest, I don’t remember when they figured out that Jenova wasn’t an Ancient. It might have only been Sephiroth who knew the truth way later on down the road. Upon learning what exactly he was (via secluding himself in the research mansion the experiments were conducted in) Sephiroth goes off the rails and strives to continue what his ‘Mother’ (Jenova) landed on the planet to do. When he realized he was an experiment and a ‘monster’ he had made his decision to take up his ‘Mother’s work. Sephiroth started by burning the town of Nibelheim, where the Shinra Mansion and the research regarding this project were housed, and going to the reactor where the head of Jenova (the best preserved part of her) was kept. It was here that he ends up being killed by a young Cloud (still a basic Shinra grunt at that point). Sephiroth was Shinra’s first perfected Soldier ‘made’ using the process involving Jenova’s cells and the company continued to try and recreate the perfect soldier; one just as strong as Sephiroth for years later. Cloud (along with Zack) were kidnapped and experimented on for 3 years after they were found unconscious and heavily injured at the Nibelheim reactor following Cloud’s defeat of Sephiroth in an attempt to recreate more Soldiers as powerful as Sephiroth had been.
Whew…this is getting long and I’m not really through Sephiroth’s story yet. Like I said, they gave this guy a LOT of background. All that I’ve mentioned is stuff you find out within the game; events that happened prior to the game’s actual start. Hell, the experimentation on Cloud and Zack is something you really don’t learn unless you go back to the mansion at a certain time later in the game. It’s kind of like an Easter Egg and gives you scenes showing the missing gap of time for how Cloud ended up in Midgar at the start of the game.
Anyway…Sephiroth. After dying at the hands of Cloud, he’s tossed from the reactor into the lifestream; the planet’s bloodstream, essentially; where he remains for 7 or so years until the start of the game where he surfaces. Turns out, his will is so strong, he’s retained consciousness within the stream and is using those with Jenova’s DNA (those Shinra tried to recreated Sephiroth with) to bring Black Materia (the ability to summon a huge-ass Meteor) to the preserved/crystallized body of Sephiroth in a crater at the northernmost point of the world (the crater being the original impact point of Jenova to the planet). That’s when you learn the master plan: Sephiroth is attempting to summon a huge meteor to collide with the planet. It will destroy all life and when the planet tries to heal the injury, it will attempt to gather all lifestream energy to the point of the impact where Sephiroth & Jenova will be waiting to absorb it all and become a super being that will travel the cosmos doing the same to every planet they encounter. So, in short, Sephiroth’s plan and will became that of Jenova’s: to destroy all life on the planet and move on. Upon learning that and thinking about that over time, I began to wonder, is Sephiroth really the villain or is it actually Jenova?
Once you find Sephiroth’s ‘real’ body encased in Mako, you learn that the Sephiroth you thought you were following the whole time were pieces of Jenova’s body (the body that was stored at Shinra Headquarters early game) that had taken Sephiroth’s form and left a breadcrumb trail for you to follow the whole time. So, really, every atrocity committed; every death and murder; was by Jenova masquerading as Sephiroth. So…was this Sephiroth’s will? Did he order this? Or was it all Jenova knowing that people were more likely to follow what they thought was Sephiroth as opposed to a nameless creature only Shinra higher-ups knew about? As we had already seen, Sephiroth was doing everything for his ‘Mother’ whom he claimed was Jenova. We knew clearly that his will was to do Jenova’s bidding, so we have to legitimately wonder: Was Sephiroth the true villain of Final Fantasy 7?
Let’s just break it down a bit to see what Sephiroth did and what Jenova did ACTING as Sephiroth.
Killed Shinra Staff and President- Jenova
Killed Aeris- Jenova
Killed boat crewman leaving from Junon to Costa Del Sol- Jenova
Initialized ‘Reunion’ (The calling of all those with Jenova cells to a certain location- Jenova (Hojo confirmed it was a Theory of his that all those with the cells of Jenova would eventually seek to reunite with the main body)
Burnt down Nibelheim and Killed mostly everyone there- Sephiroth
Most of everything done was actually by Jenova impersonating Sephiroth. Also at each point (The boat, Aeris’ Death, Reunion within the Northern Crater) you fight a body part of Jenova, showing that each of the times you thought you were following Sephiroth, it was actually a piece of Jenova’s body that had mimicked Sephiroth in voice, appearance, and personality. In trying to figure out who was actually the main bad guy here, I then have to wonder, why did Jenova need Sephiroth at all? Why wait so long to enact her plan? Well…I have a theory. This is where it gets into fan speculation and I’m really only saying this due to how many times I’ve played the game.
So, we already know that Jenova’s will was the cause of the Reunion; the will of those with her cells to reunite is what compelled those who went through Shinra’s Soldier program (the program that made them stronger by injecting them with Jenova cells in an attempt to clone Sephiroth) to all gather together on the Northern Crater (with at least one of them carrying the Black Materia). Since Sephiroth was injected with the cells while still a fetus, he grew up with a body integrating the cells (dividing and multiplying naturally within the body via meiosis & mitosis)and they became a part of him; growing with him rather than remaining a simple injection; thus it would stand to reason Jenova’s will would more strongly affect Sephiroth.
Her reunion and plan didn’t come underway until Sephiroth had already found her, however. So, my thought is this: When Jenova was killed by the ancients way back, her will was diffused into the lifestream like any other, but since Sephiroth was stronger; a hybrid lifeform; he was able to retain his will and the reason it took 7 years between his death at the hands of Cloud and the beginning of Final Fantasy 7 (and the initiation of Reunion) was that Sephiroth had to travel the lifestream in order to piece together the fragments of Jenova’s diffused consciousness in order for her will to be exerted on all those with her cells. And the best way for Jenova to get everything to go her way; from using Shinra operatives and Cloud’s party to learning the location of the Black Materia to creating a path so that it could be brought to her; was to use the image of the man the most people would follow and recognize: Sephiroth.
Sephiroth might have gone a little nuts and killed off Nibelheim, but he did find Jenova in the Nibelheim reactor being preserved. He died and was thrown into the reactor depths; into the lifestream of the planet; while clutching Jenova’s head that he had pried loose, so it’s entirely possible that once dead, he spent that time gathering the strength to reunite Jenova’s mind so that the body could then be influenced and forced to gather and finish carrying out the plan years later. In short, while I proposed a theory that perhaps it was Jenova who is the true mastermind; the true main villain of this game, I’m going to shoot down my own postulate. Jenova was dormant and not affecting Sephiroth when he went crazy within the Mansion and killed everyone in town. He initialized the encounter and sought her out on his own. While Jenova may have used Sephiroth’s likeness to manipulate the party, Sephiroth and Jenova were working in tandem to make the plan to absorb all the planet’s life energy (thereby becoming a god-like entity) a reality. Once Sephiroth learned of his true origins, he saw himself above mere humans (especially after recalling his memories of how different he was as a child; how much stronger he was and how he always felt like an outsider). It was a mix of pride and anger at how he was lied to and used as a Soldier that led him to go on his killing spree and to fulfill his ‘mother’s initial goal and NOT the influence of Jenova. In other words, it became a symbiotic relationship between the two of them. She had needed him to pull her consciousness from the depths of the lifestream so the Reunion could take effect and he needed her influence over those with her cells in order to get the black materia and Summon Meteor so he could be at the center of the disaster and merge with the planet’s energy (as well as Jenova herself) as it accumulated to heal the catastrophic injury. In the end, since it was Sephiroth who revived Jenova and put the plan back in motion with the intent on merging with her and them both becoming one entity, he can definitively be considered the main villain and not Jenova.
Alright, so…that was a lot of theory and exposition there for this Villain highlight. The reason being is that FF 7 was the first time that this much story went into the game. This was a huge transition. Not only was this the jump from 2D animation to 3D, but the game itself went from a small cartridge to a CD; something that could hold way more information allowing for a much larger game. In fact, the reason Squaresoft had jumped ship from Nintendo for Playstation at the time was that they were told the N64 was going to stick with cartridges. Square said their game would never fit to a cartridge, so they left for Sony who was using CDs. Ironically, the game was so large, they needed 3 CD’s anyway, but had they stayed with Nintendo, it might have needed cartridges numbering in the double digits. Behind the scenes stuff aside, Sephiroth was the first villain they went into this much depth to establish. Whereas Kefka had a ton of personality and screentime as a first for the series, Sephiroth was the first to have a fully fleshed out backstory; the first we learn fully about before the events of the game in order to truly understand his character.
I always leave this for last, but its time for appearance. He was definitely among the more sleek looking villains thus far. He was a Soldier (arguably a more modern version of an evil knight villain) but instead of heavily decked out armor, it was simple shoulder armor, a long flowing cape, and a huge sword with a 4-5 ft blade that was said could only be wielded by Sephiroth (due to its sheer size…though we saw Tifa pick it up in a flashback and attempt to use it to disastrous results). Even the color scheme was simple; almost all black save for long silver flowing hair and white shoulder pauldrons. This game was the first to have CGI cutscenes and the flashback scene of him callously burning down the village is one of the most remembered scenes (other than the CGI scene of him falling from the sky and impaling Aeris) and cemented him as the most intimidating villain in the Final Fantasy series. Like I mentioned earlier, just hearing his foreboding theme in the game just frightened me as a child. He also has the most recognized final boss music in ‘One Winged Angel’ to the point they remixed it and used it for the fight scene in Advent Children as well as the optional battle with Sephiroth within Kingdom Hearts I & II (and no doubt III when it finally releases, too).
So, was Sephiroth a successful villain? Well, he was definitely scary as all hell. He intimated players, he got them to curse his name when Aeris was killed (also made tons of people legitimately cry at that scene as well), and he did briefly become god-life in his One-Winged Angel form as Meteor started striking the planet (it was a magic meteor, so it wasn’t just a simple BOOM, everything’s f*&$ed) and he absorbed the lifestream as it rushed to heal the ongoing damage. His plan was going off without a hitch until Cloud and the others pulled it together and managed to beat him; stopping his interference and absorption of the lifestream so the planet could ward off Meteor. As he was summoning Meteor to destroy the planet and absorb the Lifestream, Aeris, conscious in death while within the lifestream, was working to use the opposite spell: Holy, in order to use the lifestream as a defense AGAINST meteor. The only thing stopping Aeris’ plan from working outright was that because Sephiroth was actively absorbing the energy, it wasn’t able to effectively ward off Meteor, which is why Cloud and the party was needed. Once Sephiroth was finally killed, he could no longer siphon energy from the planet and Holy was able to activate fully, saving the planet.
I went a little off the rails there a moment to get the ending explanation in, but I have to say, given the events and all he did, it was a bit hard classifying it. I’ve been pretty strict on who I consider a Success and who a Failure based on their accomplishments (with Kefka and ExDeath being Successes hands down due to their plans working and actually killing tons of people for awhile). Sephiroth, while he did start to merge with the planet and Jenova, had his plan stopped halfway. So, I guess, I have to say Success. Though he was stopped before it took full hold, it was obvious that his plan was going to work and he would, without a doubt; become a god once fused with the planet’s energy and Jenova. If, story-wise, they allowed him to absorb everything first, well…the planet would have been fully hit by Meteor and destroyed, rendering Cloud and company’s quest to save everyone moot, so they had to have him beat Sephiroth BEFORE his plan was fully realized. Based on that technicality, even though his plan didn’t go off to completion, I’m going to label him as a Success.
After reading this near-book length article, some of you may have noticed I almost completely left Zack out and didn’t mention Angeal or Genesis at all. This is because, for all these articles, I plan on going with just the main game. I’m not taking side games created years later into account. Its also why I made no mention of anything in ‘The After Years’ when I did my analysis of Final Fantasy IV’s villain. Nor will I say anything regarding Shuyin and Vegnagun in Final Fantasy X’s review. Anyway, with that being said, so ends the Final Fantasy Villains Highlight for one of the most iconic video game villains in history and definitely the most well-known Final Fantasy villain: Sephiroth.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight VI: Kefka Palazzo
Wow, so my last post was back in February and my last Villains Highlight was Early January! This might be a new record in time lapse between posts for me. At least this time I have a semi-valid excuse; network problems kept me off internet for some time. Anyway, without further ado, it’s time to get to the Villain of one of the most beloved Final Fantasys ever: Final Fantasy 6. Also…SPOILERS. These games came out, what 20+ years ago? I really shouldn’t have to say ‘Spoilers’…there should be some point in time that if you don’t know it by now, its your own fault, but I’m warning you now anyway: Spoilers abound.
Usually when you get people going on their love for Final Fantasy, they fall into 2 major camps (and one minor, brain-dead one filled with people who thought FF XIII was a good game). One side proclaims Final Fantasy 7 the almighty greatest RPG creation under the sun and the other will shout their undying love for Final Fantasy 6 to the heavens (as well as Chrono Trigger). To be honest, it mostly sounds like half the people who loved FF7 got tired off the attention it got and shifted to FF6 (which is still a great game in its own right). They’re both great, but they’re also wildly different to the point its hard to compare the two. I feel like I might have enough material to go into length about it, so maybe I’ll leave it for another time. For now, its time to spotlight Kefka and rank how he stands amongst the other FF villains.
Right from the get-go we have a bit of information to go off of for Kefka. He’s certifiably insane. We’ve had a villain who was insane before (Zemus), but not to the same degree. Kefka is…how do I describe it? He’s like…anime insane. This guy actually has personality behind him; he laughs, jokes, throws amusing tantrums and just generally acts outside the norm for villains we’ve seen thus far. Not to mention you really have a lot of exposure to him throughout the game as well. And I mean A LOT. If you’ve read through my other villain highlights, you pretty much see a pattern of villains remaining mostly in the background until the end of the game; or perhaps appearing now and again acting as the almighty confident jack-hats that they are. Kefka, however, is a scene-stealer. You run across him quite a bit and even start off the game seeing him. Along with Celes and Terra, he was one of the Empire’s experimental Magitek Knights: Humans infused with the power of magik (crap..was it Magik or Magic? I forget now…). Why is this special? Well, until that point, magic was something that was exclusive to Espers (the designated name for Summon creatures for this game). Humans used to have the power of Magic a long time ago, but it has since dimmed to the point of non-existence in them (save for a small town of users you encounter later on). The process for infusing magic power into soldiers started with Kefka, who was driven insane by it and later perfected with Celes. Terra, who was being controlled as a knight, already had magic, so she didn’t have to go through that whole process. Chances are, if you’ve played the game, you know Im leaving out chunks of information. I don’t want to spoil everything (as it is, talking about the Magic town is already a spoiler) and I’m supposed to be sticking just to Kefka, but he needs a bit of background information.
Anyway you learn early on that he was apart of that Program and driven insane. As a result, he’s an egomanical lunatic who pretty much lacks all basic morals and wishes only for chaos. He seeks power, but not solely for ruling. I mean, yeah, he wants to rule, but he kinda wants it just so that he can destroy whatever he wants to. He acts as the court mage for the Emperor and you see him at various points of the game attacking various places. When Terra is on the run from the empire (who are after her for her abilities) one of the first kingdoms you make it to is that of Figaro (home of the coolest castle idea in history). When they deny Terra is around (refusing to hand her over or let Kefka and his troop search the premises), Kefka has his men set fire to the kingdom and demand it burnt down. You don’t even see him debate it; he just straight up moves to burning the countryside after not getting what he wants. He also laughs about it later. He also kicks the crap out of one of his troops because there was sand on his boots that they did not clean off.
Automatically making him stand out from the rest of the FF villain cast, Kefka has an evil laugh that you actually hear. This is back on the SNES, mind you. They use a menacing little sound byte for him every time he laughs, giving his sprite this creepy look as he does it. Though its primitive (again, because it is the SNES…there were no voice-overs until PS2) it is intimidating and the first time they went to such lengths to really make you feel the insanity and evil emanating from a villain. There is one point in the game where you can battle him, though he runs off, laughing and joking. It’s a bit of a lame joke, but the fact that major villain is actually cracking jokes and messing with the party really is new at this point. As he runs, a character shouts out to him to ‘Wait!’ and responds ‘Wait, he says; Do I look like a Waiter to you?’. A bit corny, but at the same time, funny. Remember, up until this point, we’ve gotten villains who simply spout their ‘I hate everything. I must destroy’ monologue or ‘You guys are worthless insects’ whenever they meet party members. Now we have one that laughs like a lunatic and runs off like a genocidal Daffy Duck.
Let’s move on and touch on what I just said: Genocide. The guy hasn’t even attained his full power in the game yet and he offed an entire kingdom on his own. When trying to get control of the Doma Kingdom for the empire, they resist and he poisons the entire town (via the water supply), killing everyone (except for a lone knight). We’re only a quarter of the way through the game at this point, mind you, and the man has tried to burn down a kingdom, successfully poisons and wipes out another kingdom, and killed 50 of the empire’s OWN troops while testing out the powers of his Slave Crown on the main charcter, Terra. This is why she was escaping in the beginning; she was a puppet to the empire; controlled by Kefka and his Slave Crown. No joke, that’s actually what they called it, so he’s not even going to sugarcoat the act by calling it something else. As you can see, I’m jumping around a bit. Truth be told, I haven’t played this is quite awhile and as I remember one atrocity committed by Kefka, another pops into my mind.
This is my 6th villain highlight so far and from the ones Ive covered thus far, Kefka is definitely one of the most successful. Most times, you stop villains in their plots or slow them down before one big major attack. For Kefka, you always witness it or are unable to stop it. Just to recap and compare (since the posts are quite far back):
FF 1: Garland sends the 4 elemental fiends into the past to weaken the crystals and cause a Time loop where he becomes Chaos. The four fiends are stopped before causing any major damage and Garland is taken down before accomplishing anything major.
FF 2: Palamecia is an Emperor expanding his control and is taken out by the Party, being sent to Hell. He Kills the devil (or Something) and becomes the King of Hell. The party takes him down again before he really does anything significant.
FF 3: The Cloud of Darkness just looks to ‘return everything to the void’ and remained behind the scenes up until the very last part of the game. The most she accomplished was influencing Xande into bringing her into being.
FF 4: Zemus controls Golbez, destroying the Crystals of the Earth and Moon so that he may be freed and kill all Earthlings since he sees Lunarians as the Superior Race and the others as inferior (Basically, he’s Space Hitler).
FF 5: ExDeath is a tree who was the dumping ground for all evil magic and entities, formed a consciousness and became sentient, then looked to destroy all with the Void. He Eventually Summons the void, destroying half the kingdoms on the planet and sucking them into the Void before he’s brought down.
And now for Final Fantasy 6 with Kefka. Honestly, I probably should have started with this, because this is going to be one long list.
FF 6: Kefka attempt to burn down Figaro, killing everyone. Poisons the Kingdom of Doma; killing all but Cyan.
Incinerates 50 of the Empires own Troops in an effort to test out Terra’s Abilities while controlling her with a Slave Crown.
Betrays the trust of the Espers and Kills multiple of them within the Town of Thasma (endangering the people there). Tricks and Murders General Leo; a commanding officer of a Higher rank than his own in the Empire.
Lures the remaining Espers into a Trap where their power is drained and they are killed slowly and experimented on.
Finds the source of All Magic and betrays the Emperor, killing him and tossing his carcass off a floating continent.
Becomes all-powerful by manipulating the Goddesses of Magic and proclaims himself Emperor of the world.
Sits atop a tower of garbage and ruins called the Tower of God and annihilates towns that resist his leadership; two of which you actually visit and see the devastation first-hand.
Gets his own Satanic Cult to circle the base of his tower and worship him like mindless zombies.
Alright, that last one may not have been by his own volition, but it’s still a pretty hefty list. And this is all off the top of my head, so I may have missed a few things. The end point is that Kefka is one of the most accomplished villains in Final Fantasy History. Sephiroth managed his own douchebagery, but no matter how you look at it, Kefka accomplished more. In these critiques of villains’ overall effectiveness, I look at accomplishments (not just attempts) to see whether they were a ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in what they do. Hands down, Kefka was an overwhelming Success. You really get the weight of his insanity and chaotic nature throughout your encounters with him in the game. He’s the only villain other than ExDeath to have caused this much destruction with his actions up until this point. To top it off, the game is split into two halves, with the second half being you gathering your party back together 2 years after Kefka has attained ultimate power and has destroyed everything, so you get to see the dystopian society created by the villain, too! Usually the villains win within the last act of the game and you see their evil for only a little. Here, you travel a world already wrecked by the villain and see the far-reaching effects his control has had. Hell, to this day, only this game and Final Fantasy 5 have had radically altered world maps due to the villain accomplishing their goal. I mean, the planet is really screwed up compared to when you were able to fly around via airship before.
I went so long on all his accomplishments that I forgot to cover his appearance. I may have mentioned it briefly, but he is the Emperor’s court mage and his looks fit the part. He actually comes off as a bit of a Court Jester with brightly colored clothing and a frilly looking collared shirt. Honestly, Court Jester is really the best I can do to describe that. So far, I think it was, what, 3 out of the 5 villains have looked like decked-out heavy knights looking to bash some heads? Even ExDeath, a super powerful evil tree-wizard thing, looked like a heavily armored knight! It’s always refreshing when you get a design for a villain that doesn’t look like he’s ready for war. Anyway, the picture at the top should represent him pretty well. The music that accompanies him is also more jovial and jester-like compared to other villains. It sounds more comical with a slightly menacing edge to it. It really is hard to use words to describe it. I kinda wish I could just post a sound byte of it, but I don’t think I can. He really is, all around, a unique villain. You can really feel the creativity and lengths they went to to make him stand out in this game. Squaresoft really pulled out all the stops on this title, honestly.
Anyway, I think I went on long enough there. I believe I covered everything I normally do. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Villain highlight, so I forgot what I normally cover. Appearance, music, accomplishments, personality…yeah, I covered it. In each area, Kefka really went for broke, standing out as one of the most well-known in Final Fantasy lore. I think what really makes him so memorable is just how outside the norm he is. He’s not a bland, evil knight; not out for revenge; not looking for power or subjugation because he’s ‘evil’…Kefka’s just pure insane and is happy to show it off; ecstatic in showcasing it! As per usual, I’ll end on one last picture showing off an in-game moment with him and I think it really captures the personality they gave him. It’s condescending, but not nearly in the same way as other villains. Hopefully it won’t be as long until my next post and I’ll get to the final fantasy villain even people outside the franchise are aware of.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight V: ExDeath
We are now arriving in the Final Fantasies I’m more familiar with. Though I started my foray into Squaresoft’s prize franchise with FF I, I didn’t really play through an entire story until the PSone era when everything was released. Previously I had played through portions of many as a kid, renting things like FF III (which was actually VI) from Albertson’s. Aside from FF 1 (which I actually finished playing alongside my mother who introduced me way back then) my first completed FF was 7 and then I played through Tactics, Anthology (which was V and VI), Chronicles (which was Chrono Trigger and IV), and FF’s 8-12 as each were released. I had gotten VII close to release and each other one from there afterwards too. Since I was old enough to appreciate them and complete them on my own, it was essentially FF VII that hooked me to the series.
That being said, FF V was one of my favorites as I played through due to it being a pretty good story to me at the time, the villain was awesome, and the job system was the most expansive out of any FF. So far, only Tactics has come close in terms of Job classes available for you to choose. Anyway, gushing about the game itself aside, it’s time I turn my more opinionated, critical eyes towards FFV’s villain, ExDeath. At the time, he was the first crazy looking sorcerer I had encountered in an FF. He definitely has the most interesting back-story, but I’ll get to that. Somewhat like Zemus, ExDeath has been sealed by the power of the Crystals and seeks to break free. He’s definitely the most vocal of the main villains so far. By that, I mean he talks a lot; he has a lot of banter with the heroes, those that he defeats, and even with minions that you see. ExDeath was the first villain who wasn’t a cold, heartless monster in acts and personality. Sure, he committed horrible acts against..well…everyone, but he did so while mocking enemies, laughing, and just, well..actually exhibiting personality traits and humor (albeit dark humor). He actually greets Galuf, a party member, almost cheerfully upon being freed since he knows that physically seeing Galuf means that he has truly been released from his seal. Also, he hates Turtles.
Throughout the game, it appears like ExDeath is out for random destruction and looking to go with the ‘conquer everything!’ route, but as you progress, you learn it’s deeper than that. He hails from another world entirely (another dimension, actually) and had fled to the main heroes’ world where he was sealed by previous Dawn Warriors (warriors of light/defenders of the Crystals). Like Zemus before him, he takes control of various people/monsters along your journey in an effort to destroy the Crystals and free himself. He possesses a crazy elephant monster thing, making it go wild to shatter the Water Crystal; possesses the Fire Crystal Kingdom’s Queen, making her use a machine to power her town to the point of breaking the crystal; and possesses the..uh…random, non-crystal affiliated King to make his way towards the Earth crystal and break it as well. Upon breaking all, his restraint is broken and he is able to return to his home world (which is when you first learn that there’s another world entirely).
Right here this game really kind of becomes the first in the line of FF’s to stand out in that it feels like it progresses to a whole other game. You just quested around the world trying to stop him, since breaking the Crystals also f&%^s up nature (destroying the Wind Crystal causes all wind to die out and people can’t sail anymore), and he warps away, revealing he comes from another dimension. Your longtime, amnesiac comrade also reveals he’s from that same world (and was one of the previous Dawn warriors to boot) and leaves. You then agree with the remaining party members to embark on a new journey to stop ExDeath, leaving your world behind for an entirely NEW one to explore! For an old SNES game it really does feel incredibly long and very challenging (optional bosses and the final boss battle itself are very hard compared to FF’s from VII onward).
Once reaching this new world, you’re actively searching out ExDeath who, despite just returning, has already begun attacking the other 4 kingdoms and erected a castle for himself where he always has demonic followers from all over. ExDeath, never really caring about your quest, manages to manipulate the party into destroying the 4 crystals of THAT world (having them disguised via magic) in a bid to obtain further power. You learn from a Turtle Sage in this world who ExDeath is, who sealed him in the main hero’s world, and what he ultimately wants. ExDeath, in addition to being a crazy-ass powerful Sorcerer (probably the strongest to date) is after the power of the Void, making him the second person to want this goal. Apparently, a long time ago, when he was sealed, the two world were actually one and the Void was sealed when the dimensions were split (due to the creation of Crystals). When you break the last four for him, the world are combined and you suddenly have a new world that combines the old one you came from with the new one you had just visited. Also, a giant super rift opens up that ExDeath freely controls to just obliterate anything he wants.
I had said that ExDeath was probably the strongest Sorcerer to date and it’s probably true. Once unsealed, he merely scoffs at the party, not bothering to kill them and having underlings do it because he’s so far above them in power. Even in the game’s own terms, he was so powerful that even when defeated, he would just come right back, which is why they sealed him. Delaying him was the best they could hope to do (that’s some major power, right there). He can cause Earthquakes to destroy kingdoms, Fires to set forests ablaze (he destroyed the original forest he came from), create monsters and/or demons in addition to the ones already following him, and easily possesses others while his powers are still being inhibited! And really, not only does he have legions of monsters at his beckon call and the ability to create more if need be, but they’re all ready and rarin’ to go like some Saturday morning cartoon lackeys. You actually encounter quite a few of them who throw themselves in your way to further ExDeath’s goals. They don’t even need to be told what to do; some of them straight up ask to go out and kick ass!
As for why? Why would he be going through all of this? Well…that’s where he becomes truly unique.
ExDeath is a tree.
Yeah, sounds ridiculous, but when they explain it in game, it kinda makes sense. And it retrospect, what they did was a terrible idea and you probably could have predicted this. There was once a tree in a holy forest (one that ExDeath later destroys) that was used to absorb/seal evil souls. After vanquishing the evil of Enuo (the first worldly threat for Gaia) they decided from that point on that they would seal evil souls into a holy tree in that forest. Over time, however, it became so filled with evil souls that it gained sentience and took on a human form: ExDeath. So, in short, ExDeath is a tree! Having absorbed all these evil, magic demons, he is essentially a composite of them; having amassed power and magic for hundreds of years before being ‘born’, which is why he’s so powerful. ExDeath, once freed, sought to use the Void to have ultimate power and destroy at a whim, destroying entire Kingdoms once he obtains it, and banishing them to another dimension. Also, side-note: this game also features a really cool town I always thought was interesting: it was a town stuck between different dimensions. When the world split, they were apparently right on the dimensional fault line and thus were locked within the Void. It was only once the two worlds were united back as one that the town became accessible, mostly (there were doors that would just warp you to outside the building and you didn’t know why). Once you enter the Void to challenge ExDeath however, you end up going through it where everyone is frozen in time (since they had been locked there for so long when the worlds were separated) and those doors that had warped you inexplicably now led to other sucked up areas within the Void.
I know I haven’t mentioned it in previous FF Villain analysis, but I really liked the final ‘dungeon’ design leading up to to ExDeath. Since he is residing within the Void, a dimensional black hole of magic, you cross through sections that ExDeath has had swallowed by the Void. So you go through sections of Forest, Castle, even towns, all woven into a giant multi-floored dungeon; it’s very cool. Anyway, in the end, ExDeath has been sucked within the Void himself and is imbued with too much power. He is about to use it to just wipe you from existence when the spirits of the previous warriors (Galuf included) contain the Void’s power (never really explained how, exactly) and you’re able to fight ExDeath and kill him for good. At the point, being transformed into a demonic, original appearance (super evil tree) he cares nothing for existence at all and has Cloud of Darkness’ goal: to return everything to the Void. All existence is null in his eyes and he tries to just return all to nothing. I suppose, since he was originally a tree used to absorb evil, that his absorption of the Void’s power led to his will being altered in that he now desires to send everything to the Void, but the shift in personality is never actually addressed.
As far as overall plans go, ExDeath is very successful. Obviously, my opinion is a bit colored by the fact that I loved Final Fantasy V, but when you look at what he accomplished, he was a total success. Like all, he’s defeated in the end, but he accomplished all he set out to do before being defeated. He, himself, killed off all four of the original warriors that sealed him (aside from the main hero’s father who died of natural causes). ExDeath killed the Turtle sage that knew his origin and how to seal him. He destroyed all 4 crystals leading to his freedom, then manipulated the main party into destroying the other 4 that recombined the two worlds. And finally, he took full control and mastery of the Void, using it to destroy anything he chose at a whim (which was cool to watch in old SNES graphics as he sucked up towns when rifts were opened over them). As far as looks go, well…he is not very creative. When I first played it, he was unique to me, but he looks very similar to Golbez (just sporting a light blue Heavy armor look inside of Navy blue), Palamecia, and Garland. They all have that Heavy Knight look with crazy looking armor. Once again, he was also a sorcerer rather than a knight, too.
Other than that, between is overall win percentage (personally killing off heroes that originally defeated him and destroying Crystals) and his banter with other characters, I call him a success. He was very intimidating at most times since he was so powerful causing natural disasters like fires and earthquakes like it’s as simple as making a bowl of cereal. You face him early on and stand no chance; giving you that sense of how powerful he really is. There’s a monster who is essentially a illusory doppleganger of ExDeath as well in Kuza Castle (where the ultimate weapons are kept until you can unlock them one at a time). If you’re not careful, it will wreck your day, just giving you a greater sense of dread for when you fight the real one. He carries himself with such confidence and blows whatever he wants away with such ease; his power is really built up visually and through the stories of others (like the Turtle and old warriors) that when you finally face him in the final battle, you’re scared. It was very well done. Once again, I have to say, ExDeath was a success; a fantastic FF Villain! Even if his look is now the 4th time (out of 5 FF’s so far) that we’re seeing a Heavy knight-looking villain.
“Turtle!” -ExDeath
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight IV: Golbez/Zeromus
Well, well, looks like we have another double villain here! Once again, we’ve got a Final Fantasy where the game is focused on one for a majority of its plot and switches near the end. To this game’s credit, however, you are given hints throughout that something is not quite right with the primary villain, Golbez. Though he is who we contend with for a fair portion, it is Zemus behind the scenes manipulating him (as well as others) for his own human-hating goals.
Golbez, though designed in heavy armor and looking like a Dark Knight, is actually a Sorcerer and uses lots of heavy magic like Teleportation, Meteor, and other crazy spells hurting everyone simultaneously. His design ends up looking like a darker version of ex-Death (though Ex-Death came later, so I suppose Ex-Death looks more like Golbez than the other way around). He also carries an Ebony Blade and can attack, so he really gives the impression of a warrior instead of a powerful mage. Throughout most of the game he’s after the Crystals (par for the course in the Final Fantasies) and mowing down anyone in his way or manipulating others in order to get to said Crystals. At one point, he even manages to manipulate the main party into securing two of the Crystals on his behalf. He is, however, the first antagonist to be directly related to the main hero. Golbez is the brother to Cecil, a Dark Knight (who later becomes a Paladin once he stops being a tool for his Kingdom). There are a few subtle hints, once his relation to Cecil are known, that Golbez may not be as evil as he’s being portrayed and that turns out to be true later. Once being defeated, he’s ‘freed’ from the control of Zemus, the true mastermind behind the plot of the game.
All the evil and hatred towards the people Golbez had encountered; the ruthless tactics he was willing to go to; and even the mental controlling he exhibited were actually due to Zemus; the floating purple apparition thing up there. Zemus is a Lunarian; basically a human-like species that inhabits the moon. Due to how they know the humans will react to a Moon race,(fear, panic, and racism probably) the main people on the moon elected to wait patiently until the Earth people have evolved to the point where they can co-exist peacefully (an admirable choice). Zemus here, however, says ‘screw that’ and had been constantly advocating wiping every last Earthling out since they are clearly inferior to Lunarians. Nobody else shared the position, however, and to keep him from going psycho-terrorist on Earth, they locked him in cryo-sleep. While his body was asleep, his mind remained awake and he actively used his powers to go through with his plans while still locked away. Because he’s an uber powerful sorcerer (like half the main villains in FF history) his ability to mind-control was able to extend to Earth where he took control of Golbez and imprinted his own will over Golbez’s. It also helped that Golbez (and Cecil, too) are half-Lunarian. So, in short the Golbez the player sees most of the game is actually just Zemus projecting his will and hatred through Golbez in order to accomplish his goals (a tactic we will later see used by several future FF villains like Ex-Death, Jenova, and Ultimecia).
Unlike Golbez, Zemus actually looks a bit more unique: a bald, purple wraith-like sorcerer. Granted, he may look Wraith-like due to his constant out-of-body use of his powers to take over others, but this is how we see him most times, so I’ll count it as his looks. He also looks a bit like a puppeteer or something…maybe that’s just me. Anyway, he is the second villain to control others to complete his goal (the first having been the Cloud of Darkness prior). Zemus does do a good job getting others to accomplish his goals throughout the game; getting most of the crystals destroyed (the crystals are keeping him locked in his suspended state…as they often tend to do) and even at one point summoning a Dark Samus to planet Earth in order to eradicate everyone so that the Lunarians can move in.
Seriously, those two are like identical. When I first played through FF IV and had to face the Giant of Babil, I wondered how Samus suddenly appeared on screen and was destroying the countryside. It took me a few minutes to realize it was supposed to be the Giant of Babil; I had only been half paying attention and since I was playing this via FF Crystal Chronicles on PS1, I thought there was an error. That sounds like a stupid thing to assume, but I had experienced an error before where I beat FF VI by walking into a town when it was glitched (the game froze a moment and then the victory scene played out…I was very confused).
Anyway, Zemus had pretty good contacts to be able to summon the giant here and even get Golbez under his control to destroy the Crystals and thus free him. He was pretty close to his overall goal of extinguishing all mankind from Earth thanks to Dark Samus. He already freed himself, took control of someone to destroy crap for him, had a bunch of lackies in Dr. Lugae, Rubricante, Cagnazzo, and the other elemental dirtbags, and even summoned a huge genocidal warmech. He really was almost there! To top it all off, even when the Dark Samus mech was stopped, he himself could only be defeated (once in that super hatred Zeromus form) with the power of Dark Crystals which had been destroyed on the moon! Only Dues Ex Machina where Palom & Porom sent power to the heroes up on the moon was able to force Zeromus into a form where he could be hurt. Zeromus’ initial form was…well…actually formless…and he had no solid body for them to hit, so he was free to fire off anger and destruction on command.
With Golbez’ real personality being that of a kind, caring man and purely horrified at everything he was made to do, it’s hard to really hate the guy and judge him by normal FF villain standards. I mean, yeah, Xande was controlled by Cloud of Darkness as well, but there was already a bit of jealousy and anger in his heart, making it easy for the Cloud to take over. Golbez’ mind was just straight up jacked by Zemus and this wasn’t who he was in the least. Hell, once he came to, he was pretty distraught not only at the atrocities he had committed (like having been behind the total annihilation of Rydia’s village), but at the feelings of hatred he had which were really Zemus’ feelings. So while I included him in the analysis, it was simply because he was thought to be the villain most of it. Zemus is the true mastermind; the true psychopath that is being judged. And, to be honest, he’s not bad. Sure, he’s got the same kind of spiel of taking someone over as the Cloud of Darkness did, but rather than doing it simply ‘to drag all into the Void’, he did it because he thought his race was superior and that earthlings didn’t deserve to exist, let alone keep their nice-looking planet while Lunarians had to stick to the Moon. His design, when compared to the rest is also fairly cool. He’s a magician, like Xande, but instead of looking like a beefed up monk or a crazy decked out Warrior (like Golbez, Garland, and Palamecia) he had this very Mage-like look to him (or a demonic puppeteer). The purple skin also helped to really make him look other-worldly too. I like his design, overall. If Golbez had been a bit more evil and I could judge him, I would be more negative towards him since he has almost a palette swapped design of Garland and looks very similar to Palamecia as well. Had he been the main villain, he would have been the 3rd (out of 4 FF’s so far!) villain to look like a super decked out Heavy Knight (even though he’s technically a sorcerer).
When it comes to master plans, Zemus came very close to being successful. He managed to get free after being imprisoned and actually had enough hatred to almost be revived through sheer willpower. However, in the end he was a bit of a failure. For one, his master plan was so reviled by his own people that they thought him psycho and locked him away in the moon. Again…his own people! Then, his plan to destroy earth with Dark Samus failed. And finally, he was killed and, despite being resurrected by pure Hate (like some kind of undead Red Lantern) was killed by the same people again. Sure, all villains fail in the end, but some do accomplish what they set out to do before being defeated, so I have to count him as a failure. Not a bad design Zemus, and you were pretty creative summoning a Metroid character, but in the end, you couldn’t cut it. And though I liked your color scheme and design, it actually didn’t lend much to your intimidation factor. You may have been the main villain, but you weren’t all that scary or intimidating. Even your rage form just looked like some blue mist.
My hatred will not be stanched until it has consumed all else! You shall be next. Come! Pass into this darkness I have wrought!
- —Zeromus
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight III: Cloud of Darkness/Xande
Alright, so here we are with our first FF villain who is NOT who you see the whole game! We see this later with people like Ultimecia and Necron, where you’re under the belief you’re against one person only to find out near the end (or at the very end) that it was someone else entirely manipulating things for their own nefarious purpose. In Final Fantasy III, the villain who remains in the shadows is Cloud of Darkness…or Dark Cloud…which seems a bit underwhelming and first, but makes sense once you learn a bit. In truth, you learn more about it through Dissidia than you do in Final Fantasy III itself. Also, gonna come out and say this…I never actually played Final Fantasy III. Like, not at all. I tried once for the DS, but I never had the chance to actually get to it and then I forgot I had it. Also, I hated the chibi/super deformed look of the characters. I would have preferred them as sprites and, if possible, I might try and look for a way to play III in English in its SNES/NES sprite form (I forget what system the original was for).
That being said, we’ll be taking a brief look at both Xande, whom the player is led to believe is behind everything, and Cloud of Darkness since they’re both the main antagonists. We’ll start with the plot: It’s Crystal oriented again. Like FF I, this game revolves around the elemental Crystals and how their existence balances the planet. Xande is a powerful wizard (part of a group of 3 under one master) who is given the Gift of Mortality. Obviously displeased he was ‘gifted’ with the ability to die (and unable to understand/appreciate his master’s intention behind this gift) Xande is driven insane. He goes out with the intention to destroy all the Crystals under the belief that doing so will screw up the balance of life to the point in which darkness will consume all and stop time. With time being stopped, he would no longer need to worry about his ‘gift’ of mortality and the inevitability of death.
In theory it sounds good. I mean, here is the first villain who is just certifiably insane and wishes to stop time by flooding the world in Darkness and destroying the objects that create/maintain balance in the world. Palamecia might have seemed insane, but it was just looking to rule everything and only went a bit crazy with evil at the end after infusing himself with the power of Satan (and really, who wouldn’t go crazy after killing the death and inheriting his powers?). It actually turns out that his plan works for a bit. He destroys the Water and Earth crystals and that covers the continent in darkness while the other half of the world is ‘ripped away’ and apparently floats in the sky (its crystals still intact). Apparently the darkness that results and covers the continent still on the surface is enough to stop time and Xande is satisfied. He runs into the Warriors of Light later as he starts to worry about those on the sky continent returning and screwing around with what he’s done.
Xande manages to drain all crystals after sending monsters and such to deal with the warriors of light and, upon still being defeated, everybody learns that the true culprit was the Cloud of Darkness. It had been manipulating Xande into flooding the world in darkness so that everything would be destroyed and reduced to nothing; able to return to the Void. Cloud of Darkness is essentially an eternal janitor monster, waking every now and then to return everything to nothing and render all existence nil. It’s also an ‘it’ (not female despite appearing as such) and has three minds; one within the human body and two more within the tentacles of its body and just ‘chose’ to appear as a human female on a whim.
No matter who you’re talking about, be it Xande or Cloud of Darkness, they succeeded in what they set out to do. Granted, it didn’t last long since the warriors of Light won out in the end, but the villains did succeed in flooding everything in darkness, stopping time, and summoned the Void of nothing (from which the Cloud emerged). Now, despite Xande being who you are aware of the entire game, I’m going to spend more time with Cloud of Darkness. Why? well, because like I said prior I never actually played FF III and all I knew had come from Dissidia, so up until about 10 minutes ago I believed she was the main villain. Reading about her though, the manipulation over another whom you believe is the villain; the time plot involvement; it seems similar to Ultimecia who was another villain who worked behind the scene manipulating others for time shenanigans.
Design-wise, I really like Cloud of Darkness. A being of darkness who is coming from within a portal of nothing; demonic tentacle things and green-tinged skin. She…or it rather…is a nice blend of red and black over her greenish skin and has no real emotion; just an uncaring monster who wakes up every now and then to suck all existence into a realm of nothingness called the Void. We obviously know shes manipulative thanks to the plot twist that she was behind Xande’s belief that stopping time via flooding the world in darkness would work in his favor. Destroying the Crystals and flooding the world with darkness, however, is how you apparently summon the Void and get her to appear, though. Cloud of Darkness (and Xande, too) was the first FF villain who wasn’t a simple ‘evil warrior’ or had the design of heavily armored knight. Both Garland and Mateus Palamecia were designed like they were wearing heavy armor (though Mateus was skilled in Magic and creating weaponry as well) and archetypical heavy-hitting physical enemies. Both Xande and Cloud of Darkness broke that mold and looked unique. Xande looked like a monk (with his genie pants and belt, but no top) along with a cape and staff (since he was a master wizard) to look like the first intimidating mage in history. Seriously; they all looked like frail guys in robes who had the defense of a wet napkin prior. And Cloud of Darkness was a really unique monster design in that it was half-protruding from a portal of darkness, looking demonic, and seeking to return all to nothing with her scary cloud body and demon snakes.
Again, i can’t go too far without going in circles due to not having played the game, so I’ll wrap things up here. Though I don’t know much (other than sparse details and a general idea via Dissidia before reading the wiki on FF III) I’d like to say Success to her. If only because she seemed to be the first non-Dark Knight villain whose only real motivation was drag existence into a state of non-being. What’s frightening about that is that she isn’t doing it because of insanity, revenge, or just to be a dick (AKA being evil); it was just desire. A desire, since it’s darkness manifested, to return all to nothing so you can’t reason with it. It’s also implied you can’t really actually kill it either. Cloud of Darkness is eternal, so while the Warriors of Light ‘destroyed’ it; all they really did was force it back into a slumber it’ll eventually reawaken from to start the process over. There’s something really cool and intimidating about an enemy that you can’t kill, but merely delay. It’s for that reason that I like Cloud of Darkness’ concept and overall being and call it a successful villain. You may learn about it last second (although, by the sound of it, it’s existence and motivation is woven into the story well without creating plot-holes or it seeming like it was shoe-horned in).
As for Xande…by the sound of it, he was a puppet who was angry at being mortal despite being a super wizard and though he succeeded in his plan to stop time (and not age), he almost brought upon he own death by ushering in the arrival of the Cloud of Darkness and the Void…so…kinda successful? Again..nice design; I’m liking the genie pants…so I’ll say he’s better than Garland at least. I didn’t really care for Mateus despite his expertise in weapons manufacturing and having already ruled a country and ruling Hell.
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight II: Emperor Mateus
The main bad guy of Final Fantasy II, the Emperor. I think his name is only actually mentioned once as Emperor Mateus; the rest of the story he’s actually just referred to as ‘Emperor of Palamecia”. At least this time we have a bad guy who consistently involved throughout the plot. Furthermore, this time we actually have a plot. The emperor of Palamecia wishes to conquer the world. Alright, that’s really summing it up fast, but we’re not at the point where there are a bunch of side-stories and craziness just yet. Still, it’s paced pretty well and the main party sees just how far the emperor is willing to go and just what kind of power he has at his disposal.
As mentioned already, Matues is present, or at least mentioned, throughout the game’s entirety. Whether visiting with the rebel alliance or going to different towns, the emperor is always mentioned and you get a much better idea of just who he is in this game. Apparently, Mateus made a pact with the devil in order to have access to Hell’s minions and uses them in his attacks to increase his dominion over the world. Mateus is shown as actually being pretty smart; knowing how things will play out most times and not willing to put forth the effort to personally appear before foes unless they’ve proven themselves ‘worthy’ of his time (usually by defeating guards he holds in high regard). He holds onto his power up until the main party defeats him, killing him and he’s sent to hell. His kingdom, however, passes to one of his subordinates, a dark knight who was once a friend of the party’s. That is short-lived, though, as Mateus proves how much of a bad-ass he truly is as he allegedly defeats the Devil and becomes the Ruler of Hell. Now infused with the power of darkness (as opposed to simply being loaned the powers) he becomes crazy demonic and no longer wishes to rule the world, but destroy it (and everything else). So he goes from dictator wanting everything to demon wanting to destroy everything. Not bad.
His uncaring demeanor throughout most of the game toward the main party helps establish how confident he is in his own abilities and how threatening he can be. He cares not for the piddly complaints of some dunkoff and his companions; he just tosses a few disposable grunts their way since they are mere insects to him. Unlike Garland who’s most threatening act was to knock everyone down, Mateus is referenced by panicked and devastated villages throughout the game and by his own henchman, building his hype and influence. You really get to feel that this is a guy you might be a bit afraid to tango with, and the way he interacts with the players, even when having proved themselves, reinforces that feeling. Overall, he does a very good job at being menacing and worthy of that ‘final villain’ title he holds in Final Fantasy II.
Final Fantasy II may not be among my more favored FF’s, but I definitely have to given the villain props for how he’s portrayed. The story is fairly basic, but they wrote him pretty well. Not only does he come off as intimating and intelligent, but he’s the first major villain to be a real mechanical genius as well. Throughout the story, hints are dropped that most of the advanced weaponry coming out of Palamecia was personally designed by him; the crowning achievement of which was the airship Dreadnought. Though I call the story fairly simple (since its basically just him wanting to rule the world and the heroes fighting to prevent that) Mateus is actually given at least some motivation. He sees humankind as unable to judge correctly; their justice simply simply not adequate enough and seeing as how he has no real emotional ties, he is also naturally violent. Seeing every human as sinful creatures unable to help themselves, he feels he’s the only one capable of ruling and will take that position by force. The casualty list is actually kind of high in the game (several characters are killed off; though they were just temporary party characters).
In terms of his plans when compared to other Final Fantasy Villains, Mateus fails. He neither completes his subjugation of the land nor his destruction of everything as a crazy demonic version of himself. He had some good plans go through, though. He did manage to destroy quite a number of towns and even kidnapped a Queen replacing her with a Lamia when the heroes attempted to rescue her, but when it came to pulling off the master plan, he failed. He just couldn’t do it. Even when destroying the Devil (kudos to him on that), he still couldn’t destroy everyone. With his new-found powers, however, he did manage to hide himself within a Cyclone and summon a labyrinth from the pits of hell to use as a palace. He had some style, at least. Speaking of which, the Gold and purple look was very regal; I kind of liked it. It gave him this sophisticated, royal look and the horns and pointed edges gave him the air of danger. It was much nicer than Garland’s generic ‘Black Knight of Evil’ look (though Garland did have a pretty epic sword). All in all, once again I must say this: You couldn’t live up to your hype, you fail Mateus. And, just as a note, I will not be saying that about each FF villain simply because they lost in the end; there are villains who did manage to succeed in their plans (only to get brought down later).
“You should consider what I am about to do a great honor… I shall kill you personally!”– Emperor Mateus
Final Fantasy Villains Highlight I: Garland
Alright, the first on what I plan to make a series: Garland! As I was thinking about how to proceed with this, I realized that there will be a couple of villain highlights that are shorter than others. Simply put, as technology and the RPG genre itself progressed, villains became better. Garland is the villain of FF 1, so there’s limitations on how much is actually conveyed within the story about him. Hell, you don’t actually see him or realize he’s relevant for long chunks of the game.
Garland starts off as the very first boss you face about 30 yards from the starting kingdom of Corneria and once you dispatch him, you really don’t hear from him again. He comes off as a disgruntled/shamed knight who was banished from the kingdom and tried to get his revenge by kidnapping Corneria’s Princess. Once you save her though, he’s presumed dead and a bridge is built in your honor so you can expand beyond the tiny country. Also, fun note, back in the first Final Fantasy, your party wasn’t KO’ed or ‘unconscious’ when defeated; they were straight up ‘Slain’. I think it may have been the only Final Fantasy (other than Tactics when you leave your units KO’ed for too long) that your party members are actually killed when defeated.
Anyway, back to Garland, you don’t learn he’s actually the main villain until the very end of the game when you face Chaos. Chaos, a super demon imbued with the power of the four elemental fiends and crystals, reveals he is in-fact Garland when you go to face him. Apparently, upon defeating Garland the first time, he’s thrown back in time where he sends the elemental fiends (Lich, Kary, Kraken, and Tiamat) to screw around with the crystals and send energy to him of that time (who in turn goes back and uses said power to free them and send them forward). Essentially, he creates a timeloop that ensures that he remains immortal somehow.
Now, for the very first Final Fantasy and the last gasp of breath for a dying company (Squaresoft was on the verge of Bankruptcy and Final Fantasy was to be their final game), it’s time travel story is actually pretty crazy. Back then, you really didn’t see too many convoluted plots. Mario was just “Dude, Princess was just snatched by King Koopa; go get her” and Zelda was essentially the same with “Dude, this giant evil boar-man-thing is being a dick; go kill him..oh and save the princess”. Final Fantasy, initially, is pretty simple with its plot of “the lands and elements in turmoil due to evil”, but to have a time-traveling guy who’s causing this to gain immortality and power is pretty crazy.
In the end, Garland did technically accomplish what he wanted; he had enough power to transform into Chaos: a big magic-embodied demon, but he really didn’t have much of a plan beyond ‘immortality’ and power. Later games, we get motives and a bit of backstory for some villains; or at least see enough of them throughout the game so as to get a ‘feel’ for their persona and can determine ourselves why they’ve done what they have. For Garland, however, we’re never really given an explanation. We know he was a knight; we defeated him; and then learn he’s making himself an eternal demon thanks to…himself…essentially, but that’s all we really get. No reason why (though I suppose we don’t need a reason why someone wants power).
In terms of how he ranks against the other villains, I can’t rate him too high. He gets points for creativity at least and he’s the first FF Villain who’s master plan involves the manipulation of time, but I can’t say anything else about him. I could probably derive a bit more about him by taking note of how he’s portrayed in Dissidia, but to be honest, I feel like that’s cheating. I wanted to write these solely based on how they’re shown off in their original game; not via sequels which can sometimes retcon characters.
I hesitate to call him a failure of a villain since it was the very first Final Fantasy and they could only do so much for an NES game, but…there’s not much to say…he’s just a banished knight who got his ass kicked, thrown back in time, and STILL got his ass kicked despite empowering himself with magic & Darkness. Hell, the guy can be defeated by a party of White mages….it’s hard to be worse than that. And as far as threatening the main heroes goes, the best he can do is tell them he’s going to ‘Knock you all down!’. Really? You’re going to ‘knock me down’? You do know I can get back up, right? Hell…the Black Mage will remain sitting and continue to spam Meteor while knocked on his ass, so…kinda failing to see the threat, Garland. I was more afraid of that early town where you’re ambushed by a megaton of pirates.
As I was writing this, I had mixed feelings for Garland. The game had limits, it was the first FF and essentially the first big villain in a very successful RPG franchise. After looking back on him, however, I’m gonna have to swallow my nostalgia and say it: Garland, I’m sorry, but you suck buddy. You have a cool design and turning into a demon isn’t bad, but…you just had little-to-no intimidation to you. You threatened to knock the party down and were, in turn, beat so hard your body was flung back in time (never explained how he actually achieved that) and still couldn’t do anything. Your Dissidia voice and persona were cool, but since I can’t count that, you are a failure. Don’t worry, though; it’s not weighed that heavily against you since you were the first villain on the first major console.
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