Final Fantasy Friday: Villainous Intent

/ The Shameful Narcissist
A Final Fantasy (et al) post to welcome you to the glory of Friday (if you don’t have weekends off then may this hopefully brighten the midst of your work week) with more located here!

Last week I asked for everyone’s favorite main character, but you all know where my heart truly lies.  Nor did this start with Final Fantasy; I’ve always been a lover of the villainous and fluffy.

fluffy-destroyer-of-worlds

Remembering back to my Disney days (not that I don’t still like Disney, but back when I was a kid and Disney was a major influence), I always had this strange affinity for the villains.  I always thought their songs were the best (a trait that has not left me in my current Final Fantasy state), and even though I didn’t have the abstract thinking skills at the time to rationalize or explain this (I didn’t learn villainous sympathy until much, much later), I still always though characters like Maleficent and Scar were cool (the latter also had the “British accent” going for him).  Graduating to the Final Fantasy school of villainy was an easy step (especially considering Squeenix and Disney work so well together).

You all already know my favorite Final Fantasy villain or “villain” for reasons expanded on and explain here, here, and really everywhere on this blog (the quotes are also explained in the links.  Spoiler alert: I don’t think Sephiroth is the real villain of FFVII)..

For those who are new here

For those who are new here

I’m not going to do an actual poll; one, it’s nearly 11:00 here, and since I took a longer nap than expected, I’m getting a much later start on all I need to accomplish tonight; two, I don’t know the names of the villains for some of the Final Fantasies I haven’t played (like the latter ones.  I know about Exdeath in V); and three, many of the games have multiple villains.

Let’s have an awesome comment discussion about your favorite Final Fantasy villain!

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43 thoughts on “Final Fantasy Friday: Villainous Intent”

  1. I really liked Seymour (I think that was the guy’s name. FFX was a long time ago!) although he wasn’t really the main villain either. He very much had the classic villain requirement that he truly believed he was doing the right thing, although he seemed to enjoy hurting people in the process.

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  2. I have a hypothesis that children that are somehow “different” (or feel different) from their peers tended to like the villains in Disney more. They are usually more complex and are outcasts from society. They perhaps see themselves as a sort of “villain” in their own story, perhaps for whatever they identify as making them the “other,” so there is something they identify with in the other person.

    I just realized how offensive that might seem if that isn’t why you identify with villains, so… damage-control-based apologies?

    This comment was in lieu of anything intelligent to say about Final Fantasy 🙂

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    • Omg no need to apologize at all! I was always weird and different. My mom used to say that I “marched to the beat of a different drummer,” so no worries in the least. When you think about it villains are outcasts of society. This isn’t to say someone trying to blow up the earth doesn’t need to be stopped, but nothing happens in a vacuum, and by ignoring the ways and means someone reaches that point, we are doing both them and ourselves a disservice. I think you’re dead on, and I never really thought about it like that, so now I have something new to ponder!

      Actually, you’ve said something highly intelligent about Final Fantasy by proxy since it explores those themes as well 🙂

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  3. Mwahaha! (Sorry, I had to. lol) Yay for villain love! 😛
    My boyfriend always teases me because I love a good villain. I think that is one of the big reasons I’ve always been such a Batman fan because aside from him and his various partners being so cool, he has an amazing rogues gallery.

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    • I am always open to a good villainous laugh. I like cackling myself, but there’s a time place for that.

      My husband is aware I would leave him for several villains, and he was a bit pouty when I developed my crush on Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Omg, beautiful.

      Batman villains are pretty damn amazing. None of them are simple/cut and dry, and I’m a huge fan of complex and sympathetic villains. I still get chills (not pun intended, ah who am I kidding of course I intended the pun lol) thinking about the animated episode featuring Mr. Freeze. Ugh, that is eternally heartbreaking.

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  4. Awesome! I can relate, as I have always loved the “Villains” in any series. Scar is one of my favorites along with the Joker and Darth Vader of course! I have not played any on the Final Fantasy Games as I have just not had an interest, but this post was very interesting.
    -Luna

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    • Scar is such an awesome villain, and Darth Vader is like the villain other villains strive to be! Who is your favorite iteration of the Joker? I love the animated one voiced by Mark Hamill (speaking of Star Wars), but I think Heath Ledger’s rendition is my favorite live action version.

      Thanks for commenting!

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        • I thought Jack was a great Joker! Actually, that movie creeped me out as a kid. The end of it when you just heard the laugh repeating over and over again gave me nightmares! There are many different interpretations of the character. I mean you figure the original creators are either deceases or no longer writing comics (thinking Stan Lee in the former example), so different interpretations abound!

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  7. Definitely Zeromus from FFIV. The message he left the party with at the end of the game was chilling, and no matter how long I look at his final form, I can’t orient myself at all. He’s truly just an anomalous, evil monster. Also, the music from that fight is some of the best in the series. Can’t argue with that!

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    • His form makes no sense and I completely agree with you. I really feel like Squeenix would do extremely well in the horror genre, since they use drips and drops of it in nearly all of their games, but they make it Fridge Horror so you don’t really get it until you think about it later. Zeromus was probably what they were going for with IX’s Necron, but I think the Z man made much more sense since he was literally described as the spirit of hatred that Zemus had become. Zeromus was also hard as hell to beat! He’s a great example of a true villain. No sympathetic characteristics there.

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  9. Kefka has been my favorite villain for a long time, though Ardyn from Final Fantasy XV is actually a strong contender for taking that title! Both are deliciously evil, but the recency effect is making me lean Ardyn right now. Funny because I never once thought that I’d like stuff from more modern FFs more than the classics. It’s pretty awesome! And of course, Sephiroth is great too! I don’t like Kuja or Seymour or Jecht though. And I barely remember the XII villain, haha. FFI Garland is pretty good though!

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    • Kefka is a major favorite of the FF fandom! I think a lot if it has to do with the fact that he did what ever villain seeks to do, as in, he succeeded in his task…for a time. He also fulfills that particular niche of being both villain AND comic relief (Ultros did that in the same game to a lesser level. Then he became the receptionist at the coliseum). It’s the Evil Clown trope with the Joker being another great example. Clowns are creepy to begin with. Throw megalomania into the mix, and it’s total nightmare fuel (Stephen King’s It for one…but that’s a whole other thing, too).

      I’ve heard “good” things about Ardyn. How he’s another complex villain like my Seph. That’s encouraging for when I get to FFXV.

      Vayne Solidor? I think that was FFXII’s villain? I never finished that game. I got right to the end, but I never finished it. I heard that Vayne wasn’t the actual villain though. Final Fantasy love’s doing that head fake. Even though XII wasn’t my favorite, I am looking forward to the remastered version coming out later this year.

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      • I think Vayne’s the one, but XII blurs so much in my head. That’s why I’m also excited to replay through the remastered version. That and my wife hasn’t played through it yet so it’ll be new to her!

        Kefka’s amazing simply because he was truly villainous. He wasn’t too complex. He was just deliciously evil. He gets what he wants midway through VI too. What villains get that honor?! I also love his laugh, his theme, his tower. Kefka’s the villain I love to hate. Ardyn is sort of similar, which is why I like him, but he’s definitely more complex than evil megalomaniac. He’s kind of a cross between Sephiroth and Kefka, but shows obvious similarities to the latter. He’s so conniving and greasy. He fits the game so well. I didn’t expect to like him as much as I did, but there’s something about him that makes you want to punch him. And that’s the kind of villain I like.

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  10. With my limited Final Fantasy experiences, I’ll say Caius Ballad from FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns. I can’t really explain due to spoiler reasons, but I found his story somewhat similar to the way someone writes a certain protective general/innocent flower girl dynamic. Just saying. Also one of the battles with him has the second best music I’ve heard so far in the Final Fantasy universe (the best is of course One Winged Angel). As the only person on the internet who likes the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, I feel like it is my duty to mention it as often as possible. 🙂

    My very close runner up is Sephiroth. I guess you’ve successfully brainwashed me, haha 🙂 *starts listening to 30 min version of One Winged Angel*

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  11. FF7s line up of sephiroth, jenova, and shinra is my favourite, erm, antagonistic force to struggle against, let’s say. Sometimes it feels like you dont really know who youre supposed to be fighting, and who is really bad, and i love shit like that.

    But one particular villain? Hmm… Kefka was great. He was a super strong villain. Very memorable/unsettling. But that’s definitely a safe answer to go for. 😛

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    • I have a lot to say about Sephiroth (I wrote a defense of him), and yes, the game makes it a point of making you think about who you’re really fighting (I don’t think it’s Sephiroth). When it comes down to it, it’s human hubris that’s the catalyst for everything.

      Kefka has been a fan favorite for a long time! He did wind up succeeding in his purpose, which is why so many cite him as their favorite, which is true. I’m more of a Sephiroth fan though for many reasons, one of which being his a more complex character. Many fans like that Kefka’s story arc was simpler though, and I say to each their own!

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      • Yes i remember that great essay you wrote about Sephiroth. It was fantastic and enlightening. 🙂 and that’s a good way of putting it. Kefka is a straight up villain who achieves and it’s easy for fans to get behind him for that. But Sephiroth is sympathetic. I’m a sucker for sympathetic characters

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        • Aw *blushes*

          Yup! I also considered that Kefka was liked due to him just being a straightforward villain in addition to the comic relief. He’s an “Evil Clown” trope just like the Joker who’s also a comic relief villain. It’s really interesting when the villain is also the comic relief. Sephiroth is tragic and sympathetic. He fails in his task, which is good for humanity and the Planet, but humanity was also doing a great job destroying the world, too, and in fact when you really dig down, the Shinra was responsible for all of the shit that happened lol. Humanity strikes again!

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  12. I’m super late but anyway, I like Kefka! 😅 He’s all sorts of crazy and he’s probably the 2nd hardest boss to beat from the old Final Fantasy games next in line to Sephiroth.

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    • You’re right on time! It’s an ongoing discussion 🙂 Kefka is a major fan favorite, and I can’t deny that he succeeded in his villainous mission to destroy the world and become a god, something my beloved Sephiroth never accomplished, but then again it was more Jenova who wanted that grrrr. Kefka was definitely challenging, but yet that battle was strangely beautiful. The music was based on Mozart’s Toccata in D, and I always think of it as “Gothic church music” hehe. Nobuo Uematsu is such a genius.

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