Best Villain: Kefka vs. Sephiroth
There are a lot of RPG villains these days. They range from weird to evil, big to small. Come to think of it, there are so many villains from so many RPGs that it’d be damn near impossible for me to list them off here. Hell, I can only ever really remember two of them. I remember them because these villains were awesome at being villains. Each had their own unique personality and each gave you somebody that you really, really despised. They are, of course, Kefka (from Final Fantasy VI) and Sephiroth (from Final Fantasy VII). So, which one was better at being a villain?
Kefka, pictured at the top, is probably the lesser known of the two. He stars in my favorite Final Fantasy, which was well before Final Fantasy was a major seller in the U.S. If there was truly a villain to hate in any game, Kefka was that villain. Those of you who have yet to play Final Fantasy VI (it’s out for the GBA, buy it!) probably won’t quite understand the sadistic nature behind this evil jester, however, I’ll still try to explain him as best as possible. WARNING: There will be spoilers ahead for Final Fantasy VI.
You know how in some RPGs the main villain doesn’t actually start out as a villain? They are probably crude, rude, or annoying but they aren’t really the main villain until way later in the story. Kefka is not that type of villain. While he isn’t the head honcho at the beginning of Final Fantasy VI, he is most definitely a villain. This is no clearer than when he enslaves one of your members at the beginning of the game to ravage a town for an Esper. That’s not the worst of it, though:
- When he suspects his ally is lying he sets his castle on fire.
- When the citizens of Doma refuse to give in to his demands he poisons their water and kills every man, woman, and child.
- When he wants more power he enslaves an entire race of magical creatures known as Espers.
He even destroys an entire world in order to get more power. There is no depth to the evil that is Kefka. While he may look a little silly, he is, by far, the most sadistic villain I have ever seen in any RPG.
Of course, while Kefka was evil and sadistic, Sephiroth was not without his own merits as a villain. He was almost philosophical in his villainy. However, in his philosophy it was clear that he had one thing in mind: revenge. Actually, up until one moment in the game (poor, poor Aeris) I actually thought of Sephiroth as being pretty awesome. He even killed the president of Shinra, who, at the time, was your main villain. WARNING: Spoilers for Final Fantasy VII are coming.
Unfortunately, he had to go and ruin everything. In one of the most memorable moments in RPG history, Sephiroth kills one of your main team members. No warning, no hints, nothing. He just comes down and slices her through the middle. What makes it worse is that the character he kills is probably one of the nicest, and most innocent characters in almost any RPG. I am, of course, talking about Aeris. This is where Sephiroth stopped being “cool” and started being a villain. Which continues on through the rest of the game as he:
- Unleashes “WEAPONs” upon the earth.
- Assembles the Black Materia.
- Attempts to destroy the planet using “Meteor”.
Sephiroth is one of those rare villains that didn’t want power. Where as Kefka wanted to rule the world with an iron fist, Sephiroth just wanted to destroy it. Everything must be destroyed, and everything must end.
So which one is better? Well, personally, I gotta go with Kefka. While Sephiroth definitely made an awesome villain, throughout much of the story his intentions were very hazy. I didn’t know where he was, what he wanted to do, or what his motivations were. It makes for an interesting villain, but not really an “evil” villain per say. With Kefka, I knew his character as well as I knew all of my own members. Hist motivations, his desires, and his ambitions were all made very clear in the story and , as such, it made him all the more evil. Sephiroth may have been one of the most popular video game characters ever, but Kefka remains as the best villain ever. At least in my book…
Thanks for reading!
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iirc sephiroth wanted to be a god.
cool text that’s so true what you have wrote about those two evils
But how about Juda the bad woman of ff9
Please write what you think about her!!
Ciao
sephiroth
1.hated everyone because he thinks hes a monster which lead to him wanting revenge on everyone and destroying everything on earth.
later on you find out if you watched ff7 movie advent children he wanted to
use the planet to find a new planet to rule over after his attempts at becoming a god had failed.
you should play other ff7 games and watch the movies his intentions are more indepth there. like trying to destroy the planet with a disease.
why on earth would you write a description on FF& it when you clearly do not know that her name is not Aeris its Aerith. you would figure that out if you played any other game with her in (ex. Kingdom Hearts) and you see that her name is AERITH!! yes i kno the game says Aeris when you buy it because the translators screwed up. so plllllllllllllllllease if your gonna post something make sure you get all your facts right!
You know whom I hate more than Kefka?
FF7 fanboys that can’t let Aeris be Aeris and Aerith be Aerith without freaking out.
=]
I’ve played FF7, FF7 Crisis Core, watched FF7: Advent Children and Last Order
AND STILL I don’t but that Sephiroth crappy villiany:
* He’s motives aren’t clear -Oh, look, I’m a monster, so I must destroy everything - (we should let the mighty morph power rangers beat him)
* He’s always nagging Cloud (is he in love with him?)
* And in most of the FF7 history I don’t see him, it’s like he doesn’t do anything
Conclusion: Kefka rocks, Sephiroth should get a life, and Aeris/Aerith who cares the exact name?
Sephiroth is a awesome villiany? Yes he is.
But if you was him, what would you do?
A normal human now is a moster. Can you overcome it? Angeal’s dead because that. And Sephiroth, when he knows the trust, he want to revenge. That’s normal. People do the bad things on him so they must pay for it.
(My English isn’t good, so forget me if there are some mistake in my sentences)
To me it did seem that Sephiroth wanted to become a God, however remember “Some people just want to watch the world burn”
I’d like to point out one thing. While Kefka does rule the world with an iron fist, by the time you confront him at the end of the game, he sees no significance in human existance and is on the verge of just completely wiping everthing out. Sephiroth wanted to just destroy everything, and so did Kefka.
Another thing worth noting. I see comments about how Sephiroth wanted to become a god. Too bad for him… Kefka DID become a god.
Neither are as detestable or vile as Luca Blight from Suikoden II.
His atrocities include:
Killing an entire squadron of KIDS. Not only were they kids, but they were on his side. He did to provoke war as a peace treaty was being signed.
Killing and setting on fire an entire town, even going so far as making of of the villagers beg for their life in which he told them he would if she acted like a pig…so she did…and he uttered his most famous line; “DIE PIG!”
Killed everyone in a mercenary fortress that didn’t escape…and set it on fire.
Killed everyone in another town, including the parents of a small child…which rendered her mute for the majority of the game…oh, he set that town on fire too.
Had another town conquered and set the mayor’s head on a stake in front of it.
Had his own top general beheaded for losing one battle.
Sacrificed an entire city to the Beast Rune.
Co-conspired and poisoned his own father at his sister’s wedding.
He was royalty and the most badass combatant on the other side. Almost every fight with him was unwinnable.
Oh and when the time came. It took him being betrayed by his brother in the law, the new king(who he planned his father’s murder with) 18 people, hundreds of archers, and a one on one duel to finally bring him down.
On top of that. He was just a human. No superpowers. Just one strong badass.
I think sephiroth is really amazing. He’s really handome though. Lol. I think sephiroth isn’t bad. He want to destroy the world because he think the human take over the world from “his mother” JENOVA. Jenova isn’t his real mother. It’s hojo (sephiroth’s father) told him that. So, I think sephiroth just misunderstanding. The real bad guy here is hojo, not sephiroth.
AYUDA MAN!!@!1