The Game Plan 03.07.08: The Greatest Video Game Villains...Ever (Part 3)

Posted by James McGee on 03.07.2008

This week, I travel to the land of the Rising Sun and spotlight a villain from the most famous Japan's most famous RPG series....Oh, and it isn't Sephiroth.

Some men just want to watch the world burn—Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), The Dark Knight

In the very first column of this current series (in which I'm examining some of the greatest video game villains of all time), I mentioned an affinity for bad guys who are evil simply for the sake of being evil. When I made that statement, the character I really had in mind was The Joker. The most famous member of Batman's Rogues Gallery is one of my favorite characters, because he is just so unashamedly evil, and such a perfect complement to ol' Bats. But when I really started thinking about the nature of the character, I realized that it isn't pure sadism at the heart of The Joker's actions, and his relationship with The Bat isn't one of pure good vs. pure evil. Specifically, the excellent quote at the top of this article reminded me that there is a method to his madness that is even more frightening than evil for the sake of evil. Whereas Batman took his personal misery and channeled it into a positive goal, The Joker allowed his misery to consume him, essentially losing faith in everything. On the surface, it's "misery loves company," but it's actually much more disturbing than that. The excellent Superman story arch "Emperor Joker" offers a glimpse into this madman's inner thoughts. In his own twisted way, he believes that he is helping a doomed world limp towards its inevitable, meaningless end. His world view is nihilism in its purest form.

Armed with this understanding of the character, the inner-workings of my geeky mind immediately made a connection between the Joker and a villain from the world of video games. I remembered another clown whose cowardice and lunacy masked a much more sinister agenda. His superiors wanted to harness the power of gods to rule the world, but this madman wanted ultimate power so that he might destroy himself and everything in existence. Where others saw hope, he saw only despair. He is Kefka, I am James McGee, and here's The Game Plan.


Okay, so it's hard for anyone to look intimidating when he's rendered in all the glory of a 16-bit RPG, but trust me: Kefka's bad news.

Part of what makes Kefka so deadly frightening is how easy it is to underestimate him at first. He may be the most flamboyant villain in the game, but he is not technically the primary antagonist at the beginning of Final Fantasy VI. Much like Darth Vader appears to be Governor Tarkin's lap-dog in the original Star Wars, Kefka is merely Emperor Gestahl's court mage. Actually, he more closely resembles a court jester at first. He tosses off cutesy lines like "This is sickening! You sound like chapters in a self-help book" and "Son-of-a-submariner." Players face him in battle early and often (which, by the Laws of Video Games, means he can't possibly be that big of a threat, right?), and he usually runs away sniveling. It is easy to write the guy off as a minor threat—it's a mistake Gestahl himself makes, right before Kefka betrays him. Kefka distinguishes himself as a memorable character right off the bat, but it isn't until later in the game that players really uncover his true nature, and discover what a huge, devastating role he plays in the story.

Some people may argue that bad is bad, period. But I tend to think there are different degrees of evil. It's one thing to kill a person for money, and another to kill for no reason. It's one thing to kill a person quickly, and another to torture the victim first. While Gestahl and his Empire represent a familiar, almost comforting enemy—that of oppressive authority—Kefka demonstrates a much more sadistic streak. The evil scheme at the heart of FFVI's story is the Empire imprisoning and siphoning magical power from creatures called Espers. Kefka is not content to draw away their power. He prefers to taunt and torture them in the process. Rather than use the countless, willing members of the Empire's army to attack the town of Narshe, Kefka places a "Slave Crown" on Terra, forcing her to do it against her will. Kefka's methods seem to value the dramatic over the necessary.


Okay, that's better. A little creepy, a little ridiculous, and very dangerous.

Maybe the best in-game example of Kefka's twisted tactics is the siege of Doma. Was the Empire "evil" to attack a weaker kingdom? Maybe, but to play devil's advocate, that's what Empires do: they expand, conquer, put down resistance. Doma was outnumbered and outgunned—it would have fallen to Imperial forces eventually. But the slow, inevitable crumbling of their defenses wasn't quick enough for Kefka, and it certainly didn't have the proper flair. Taking matters into his own hands, he poisoned Doma's water supply, not only killing soldiers—men who had trained for the kingdom's defense and accepted the inherent dangers—but hundreds of women, children, and other civilians. Regardless of the task at hand, Kefka's priority is causing the greatest amount of pain.

But what is behind Kefka's sour mood? I mentioned earlier the dichotomy between Batman and The Joker, each dealing with hardship in different ways. Apparently, early experiments infusing humans with magic left Kefka's psyche a little fragile. It isn't clear if there were other events in his life that augmented his madness, but regardless, he's definitely a "glass half empty" kind of guy by the time players encounter him. Many heroes in Final Fantasy VI have faced loss, heartbreak, and adversity—Locke and Cyan have lost loved ones, Terra is something of a wayward soul without a purpose, Gau is orphaned, etc. However, each one found reasons to press on, overcome their particular hardships, and most importantly, not let their own misfortunes color their perception of the world. Kefka…well, his outlook is a little different.

"Life...Dreams...Hope...Where'd they come from? And where are they headed...? These things...I'm going to destroy!!...I will create a monument to non-existence! "

Ooookay, then. Kefka obviously has some issues to work through, but instead he chooses to bring everyone and everything down with him. His goal isn't to rule the world, but utterly destroy it. Hey, I'm all for free speech, so if somebody wants to share their world view with other people, that's their business. But forcing their beliefs on others—especially when those beliefs involve the death of themselves and everyone else—just isn't cool.


This column has nothing to do with Sephiroth. But since you guys love him SO MUCH, I thought I'd include a pic anyway. Anything for my readers!

This is not always a nice world we live in. There is pain, and suffering, and misery. Sometimes, it seems like there's nothing we can do to help the situation. But we can at least choose not to contribute to the problem. Other people feed on chaos and suffering. Kefka, The Joker, and people like them want to cause as much damage as possible before their life—which they see as utterly meaningless—is over. It's true: some people just want to watch the world burn. Or, as Kefka would say "Welcome to my barbecue!"

Special Note: Though I often amaze even myself with the ability to recall the most obscure, geeky tidbits, even I can't remember exact dialogue from a mid-90s RPG. Thanks to www.rpgclassics.com for refreshing my memory.