Top 10 Greatest Final Fantasy Villains
Inspired by the Dissidia Duodecim roster, who do you think deserves to be called the best antagonist in the Final Fantasy franchise?
Sephiroth is a fictional character and main antagonist in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII developed by Square. Better villain than Kefka because no one makes a better villain than a fallen hero. Kefka is certainly the more evil villain, the more lively, but that's about it. Kefka destroyed the world, and Sephiroth managed to survive and, to an extent, become part of the lifestream even after his defeat in FF7, which was his original goal - not to destroy the world but to become one with it and control it.
If director Nomura's words are of any substance, then he is even more powerful after doing this. Sephiroth can't be killed entirely. After FF6, Kefka is, with the exception of Dissidia, dead, and he dies in Dissidia too (Sephiroth does not). Despite all this, I vote for him here just because he's always been my personal favorite.
THE *greatest* FF villain is Mateus. In FF2, he planned to be defeated so he could split his soul in two and conquer both heaven and hell, which he did. For a brief period, he ruled heaven, hell, and the mortal world. In Dissidia, he outlasted nearly every other villain save for Garland/Chaos, plotted Cosmos' death at the hands of the heroes, and nearly became a god to outlast Chaos. Neither Sephiroth nor Kefka's resumes are that great.
Kefka Palazzo is a character in the Final Fantasy series of video games. Originally designed by Yoshitaka Amano, he appears in the 6th installment of the series - Final Fantasy VI. Kefka did something none of the others did: He destroyed the world, became a god and ruler, and actually remained in that position for quite some time before the band of heroes rallied back together. He may not have killed any of the playable characters, but he didn't need to. Even with a dozen heroes, he STILL trumped them until the very end.
Kefka is pure evil: a being that needs no reason for his actions. He simply wishes to see everything destroyed in order to feed his sadistic desires. He is the snake in the grass, seeing his chance to strike when people are at their weakest and taking what he wants. Sure, that may not be the most badass way to go about it, but it is effective.
And let's not forget how powerful he truly becomes when he becomes the God of Magic. Look at his size when you fight him and how much of an abomination he is. That shows all this magical energy being let loose and gives you a sense of his potential. Think about what he did to the world. The only thing that held him back from completely erasing the planet was the simple fact that he wanted to rule over it. Had he not let his ego get in the way, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
I really loved all the main villains, but Kuja has a special place in my heart. He's extremely badass and powerful! I mean, he destroyed Terra, killed Garland, manipulated Brahne into war, and even killed your party! You never actually defeat him!
Kuja redeems himself at the end, which shows his "human" side, which every villain needs. I liked Sephiroth and Kefka, but they didn't have humanity in their insanity like Kuja did.
Kuja... What can I say about him that hasn't already been said? Besides being one of the few Final Fantasy villains that isn't purely evil, he is, as previously stated, never beaten by the party. He packs powerful magic, and there's always "that" moment that every male player experiences.
In the words of one of my friends, "When I was first playing Final Fantasy IX and saw Kuja, I thought, 'Wow, that chick's not bad looking. Wait, THAT'S A GUY?!'"
I honestly love this character. From her design to her cold, calculated nature, she is truly a villain for the ages. Though others may have raw strength, powerful magic, guile, or all of the above, Ultimecia stands above all others in terms of strategy.
Not only was she incredibly powerful in terms of sheer magic prowess, let alone access to the single most powerful magic, that of time, she was also a cunning intellectual. She pitted nations, allies, and even your friends against you. Manipulating those whose wills she couldn't break to do her bidding, she was incalculably powerful. Her manipulation of time and past events leaves most players, let alone characters in the story, reeling. Even in defeat, she can leave you wondering if Squall and company had or even should have defeated her. It's for this reason that she gets my vote. Her 32-bit self made me question the main character's sanity, and at times, even my own.
People! This is Garland! He knocks everyone down!
He's the original baddy, and more so, the original goody-turned-baddy. Forget Sephiroth. This 8-bit mastermind paradox metaphor had it all.
Remember back in the days of Mario and Zelda, where the whole game was about finding the captured princess in a castle, saving her, and getting the end credits? Well, Final Fantasy I started your adventure doing all that. Little did they know that Garland wasn't some two-bit villain wannabe like Bowser or Ganon. He died, was transported 1000 years into the past by himself in the past's future, to wreak havoc in the present and destroy the world! For a knight of Cornelia, he sure had some badass armor to boot, which kept getting more and more badass in the subsequent remakes. He still holds up his rep in Dissidia, with a sword that makes Cloud's look like a toothpick.
Very underrated villain who, unlike Sephiroth, cannot be excused for his evil deeds as they were all made with a clear mind. The only problem was the writers really didn't make him intimidating enough. At points, he even seemed comical in his indifference to the party, whereas every time Sephiroth showed up and his music hit, you knew some badassery was about to go down!
He pretty much started the plot of FF7. He experimented on and injected Jenova cells into his own son, Sephiroth, and many others, including Cloud and Vincent, for science. (SPOILER WARNING) It turns out he is the main villain of Dirge of Cerberus.
One of the best villains in the series for sure. One of my favorite villains in a long time, too. There's a lot of oily charm to him, yet his unnerving friendliness serves as a mask for the twisted individual he really is underneath. He has a great design, clear motivation, and personality, and steals every scene he is in. I also think he is by far the most intelligent villain in the series due to the detail and thought he put into his plan of revenge.
Ardyn serves as the perfect opponent for our four main heroes to take on, and Darin De Paul's performance sells it completely.
"Kefka did something no one else did, succeeded with his plan," and all that crap.
Mateus did this before Kefka was even created. He pretty much destroyed the world. He let your party kill him, defeated whatever Final Fantasy's version of Satan is, to become the master of heaven and hell. He also took control over one of your party member's brothers and made him the new Emperor after he himself died.
While not the strongest, that'd be Exdeath or Chaos, he had the best plan out of any of the villains. So terribly underrated.
Seymour is the most incredible villain in the FF series, in my opinion. He starts off good (ish) and plots to end Spira's pain, and in order for this to happen, he plans to marry my favorite female character in the FF series. After that, you see his true colors.
I love the way you have a lot of boss battles with him in different situations. There is even a point where you play as him. And man, is he overpowered. I beat a boss with him in 2 minutes, whereas it took me a million tries to beat the same boss with the original main character. Oh, yeah, and his mom kicks ass.
No one gives credit to the great Exdeath. He was seriously created from a thousand beings of pure evil being sealed inside a tree. How is that not BA? Not to mention his lines, "Turtle!" as well as "It's time for your viscera to see the light of day! Now die!"
Also: Gilgamesh worked for him. GILGAMESH, who has since become one of the most recurring characters next to Chocobos, Moogles, and people named Cid. The only difference is Gilgy is the same dude each time.
Exdeath might not be as super popular as Kefka and Sephiroth, but I always enjoyed how hammy and over the top he was. A very cliché villain, but somehow he made it work, and I enjoyed him.
An underrated villain in the Final Fantasy world. Unlike many of the villains in this series, Rufus isn't your usual, maniacal-laughing stereotypical villain. Instead, he has a cold, calculating approach that villains like Sephiroth and Kefka lack. Every decision he makes is part of a much greater scheme that he has planned. His ability to manipulate people and events to work in his favor is something you don't see in most villains in this series. If he had been written as one of the main antagonists of the series, he might have gotten more recognition as the villain he is.
Throughout the entire game, Sin is a force of nature. It's not something that can be stopped or reasoned with. The only thing you can do is point it somewhere else.
[SPOILER] At the very end, you learn that Sin is just some frail thing barely holding itself together in the form of Yu Yevon. Despite being an unthinking ball of hate, it almost makes you feel sorry for it.
Genesis may not have stood out as a villain, but as a character? Amazing. He wasn't out to destroy the world, rule it, or something generic of that sort. He wanted to help himself. To him, that was enough motivation to hurt people.
His deep obsession with Loveless, while annoying at times, is worth it for the peace and acceptance he finally has when it finally, to him, plays out in reality in a way he never could have accepted. He knows when to stop, and as a villain, this is a bad thing, but as a character, it's always interesting to see. His cocky and pretentious nature makes it seem like he knows what he's doing, even when he doesn't, which makes him convincing anyway.
He's a villain that deserves a higher rank! Whenever he meets Cecil, he manages to actually defeat him! While other villains have trouble beating their main characters, he took control of Kain and made him fight his best friend! Nobody saw the twist near the end!
Maybe not the main villain, but he was perhaps the most competent villain in gaming history. The guy just never loses to the heroes.
I think he's really a good guy. He's sadly Sephiroth's puppet, controlled, and accepts death. He's hot, cute, sexy, yet no one understands him. He's the best character in my opinion, bad or good.
The fact that he succeeds in achieving his goals and that they are all for Yeul just to be happy is why he is the best. The fact that he sacrificed himself for his plan to work amazed me, as I had never seen any villain do that. Then he actually comes back, sees what he has created, and is happy (in a malevolent way).
He's such a well-written and interesting character. He always has you questioning him and is always one step ahead of you. At the end, I truly thought he turned good and was only evil because of his noble cause to protect Yeul. However, after I saw the secret ending of XIII-2, he jumped to the top of my list.
Greatest Final Fantasy Villain ever, in my opinion. She's my favorite FF villain ever! The way that she is and hides herself till the end. Also, part of the greatest FF game ever. FF3 was my favorite!
Best battle theme and funniest villain in Final Fantasy.
Honestly, he was better than Exdeath.
Jecht was a roughneck, drunk, yet abstract villain. He was the FF series' first reluctant antagonist, but from the inside of Sin, he killed many people and destroyed much of the world. His character design is very cool, and his aeon form is genuinely terrifying.