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Since the creation of Final Fantasy VII and the subsequent prequels/sequel¹, as well as the various cameos in other video games by SquareENIX, Sephiroth has become synonymous with being the bad guy. From the way he holds himself, to his actions within the collection of VII-related games, to how in Kingdom Hearts he is essentially untouchable, Sephiroth’s definitive role as the ultimate villain is cemented.

But what makes him so special in comparison to the other villains of Final Fantasy? Is he more dangerous than Kefka? Ultimecia? Kuja? These villains were powerful, and contained abilities that were, at least, on par with that of Sephiroth. Within this writing we’re going to examine each of these four characters: Their backgrounds, their personalities, and their powers. With this, the hope is that a better understanding who these characters are, and just who is the “best” will finally be answered.

Of course, the question is obviously raised, “Why not include those before Kefka and those after Kuja? Certainly they all deserve equal footing.”

Well, the villain of X is convoluted. They claim it is Sin, but Sin is simply the result of Yunalesca. So Yunalesca is the villain in that instance, as she perpetuates the need for the “Final Summoning” that results with the Summoner Guard turning into Sin. However, she is defeated before the game is ended. Of course, you also have Maester Seymour, who appears at various times like a persistent boss. But he, too, is defeated before the final boss is gone. So then it is Yu Yevon, who possesses the summons at the end–but he plays almost no role within the game until the ending, and is easily useless as a villain without the Aeons. So it’s rather impossible for me to discern the proper villain.

I also have yet to play XII and will not play XI on principle.

With regards to the games pre-VI. Well, I played I ala Dawn of Souls, but it was a rather generic game, with a generic boss. While revolutionary for its time, it’s not worth mentioning with personalities such as Sephiroth, Kuja, and Kefka.

So, let’s get started then. We’ll save Sephiroth for last.

Kefka Palazzo

Kefka’s history is simple. He is a court mage for the Emperor Gestahl who was driven insane by the effects of Magitek infusion². He crept up the ranks of the army, all the while his mind slowly warping into what can essentially be considered sociopathic and nihilistic.

His rather menacing side is best seen whenever he poisons the water of Castle Doma–killing both his own soldiers and Doma’s–so that The Empire could win the day. He also killed a prominent general (General Leo) after he discovered Kefka’s intentions and sought to end it. It was a pretty dramatic scene, for a little bit. Then the laugh and everything reminded us that Kefka wasn’t dramatic.

He also sought out the Espers, draining them of their power and using it to power the Magitek, until he discovered the better use of the Espers and their energy as Magicite. Then he went to work killing the all Espers, collecting Magicite (“Oooh! It’s warm!”).

Kefka eventually overthrew Gestahl and took control of the empire, at the same time he disrupted the delicate balance of the order of things and caused massive changes to the entire planet. This is how the World of Balance and the World of Ruin are created.³

The creation of the World of Ruin showed one very important aspect of this character: He actually achieved his original goal–domination. Very few of the “villains” in these games actually get to the level where they are in control of the planet. Kefka managed that, but he didn’t want it. Kefka wanted to destroy everything. As he says (in one translation) “I’ll destroy everything! I’ll create a monument to nonexistence!” which plainly shows that Kefka’s goals are beyond simply dominating the planet. Kefka doesn’t want it, doesn’t need it. He wants it gone. He wants it all gone.

But he didn’t stop there, no. He also formed the Light of Judgment. A beam that would destroy cities and was so powerful it would–and could–rip the fuck out of the ground and cause massive gorges and everything else that would come from a giant beam of energy jamming itself into the ground.

In the end, though, Kefka was defeated. He was the villain of the story, and villains get “beaten”. The Light of Judgment became a spell of his, and his views continued even into the final battle. A interesting part of the battle came whenever he was questioning the party as to why they continued to fight, continued to go on, knowing they would all die and everything would end. He didn’t really understand this concept, not out of the typical “I’m going to beat you.” side of the argument, but from the notion that, in the end, everything dies. So why fight?

In being defeated, though, could Kefka be seen as having won? He saw no purpose in anything, and thus likely saw no purpose in his own life.

That’s something for another writing.

Ultimecia

Ultimecia is the central villain for Final Fantasy VIII, which also seems to have the consensus of being the worst of the series of games. I like it, though.

Now, before I officially delve into this character and explain it, there’s some issues to address. Namely: Why not Sorceress Edea, Adel, or even Galbadia as a whole. Simply put: Ultimecia is the villain. She’s stated to be the villain after Edea is no longer possessed by her spirit, and you spend the majority of the fourth disc in her kingdom, fighting her minions, to get to her and have an obnoxious boss fight.

So, here it is:

Ultimecia is a sorceress, well, a sorceress in the terms as laid out by VIII. I’m not going to bother myself explaining it, because it’s not that relevant what a sorceress is, just that she is one. Due to her unusual powers (to be explained a little bit later) she managed to travel back into time, and possess Edea Kramer whenever she was a much younger woman, resulting in the actions that take place in the game.

It’s rather a predestination paradox thing that I can’t be bothered to explain because it would involve me telling the majority of the storyline. Suffice to say, she and Edea become what they become because they are supposed to.

She’s a harsh woman, who pronounces her “c”s like a “k” and wears clothing that no real woman would ever wear.

Like several bosses, she’s not given as much time for elaboration as the other sub-bosses of the game so not much is really known about her except for what I’ve already explained, and her hated for the organization SeeD–whose entire existence is designed to stop her. Certainly merits hating.

Her powers, however, are were she really shines. Ultimecia utilizes an ability called “Time Compression”. What is this? you may be asking. Well, time compression is the ability to mesh the past, present, and future into a single point. It is within this single point that only Ultimecia exists (or at least, in a manner. The Party still exists, but that’s more of the storyline. The game wouldn’t even have a fourth disc otherwise) and she is basically the supreme ruler in this compressed area. And, like Kefka, she succeeds in doing what she wanted. She compresses time. In fact, that’s all of the fourth disc. You can’t do anything except fight her and maybe go after chocobos in the fourth disc because she has compressed time and they won’t let you go into any towns.

Kind of makes sense, considering it seems like every aspect of the town would be there all at once. It would make movement…difficult.

Of course, she’s defeated, time is restored to normal, and the predestination paradox occurs. Such is the way of all the bosses.

Kuja

Those who have played Final Fantasy IX are likely arguing to a certain extent that Kuja is not the boss I should be talking about with this. Kuja, while a boss within the game, is not the “ultimate” boss. A guy called Necron is. Well, Necron, like Ultimecia, is a boss that appears really at the end of the game with little background on the character itself save for it’s own villainous monologuing.

However, Ultimecia is the CORE boss of VIII. What do I mean by that? I mean that all things within VIII exist because she does. Galbadia bombed Balamb and Trabia because Edea was being controlled by Ultimecia, &c. &c. &c. Necron, however, only appeared AFTER Kuja, and was really just there to be there. It was a hard boss, yes, but it was not the focal boss of the game. It’s even stated within the game that purpose of Necron is to give everything a “clean slate” following the fuck-all destruction Kuja does. Kuja was the boss, and that’s why I’m talking about him.

Kuja was constructed like Zidane. They’re both “genomes”, empty husks designed to take the souls of the people of Terra once a bunch of stuff happens involving the dead souls of the people of Gaia. Kuja was first, however, and was given too strong of willpower for Garland to control him, and so Garland created Zidane. That’s another story.

Kuja is a poetic villain, like one would expect from some kind of pretentious play where everyone monologues their evil plans to things like birds and speaks in terms of “acts”–especially considering that’s what he does. He is also well aware that his time has a limit, and has decided to devote his life to being an all-round bastard. Also, Kuja’s main power is that he’s a powerful mage. He has no specific spells⁴ (other than Flare Star) which deal massive damage and leave the party feeling sodomized by a cumbersome object and his magic tends to attack every party member.

Kuja, like the two before him, actually succeeded in his eventual goal–he destroyed the crystal from which all life came from. He essentially killed life and existence. He decided so with a very “I’m going down and taking you all with me” approach, which proved to be unsuccessful as Zidane et al. managed to fix everything done by him.

He dies in the end, the limit on his life expiring.

Sephiroth

The most recognizable villains by people who don’t play the Final Fantasy series, Sephiroth became the definitive bad guy after stabbing a vacant-looking Aerith in the torso with his obnoxiously long sword.

But who is he?

Sephiroth was born the son of Dr. Hojo and Lucrecia⁵ and was injected with Jenova cells while in the womb and was born an exceptional soldier and everything else. Sephiroth, like those before him (meaning the scientists who created this travesty or whatever you want to call him.) believed that Jenova was a member of the Cetra⁶ and was very distraught over what had become of them–to the point of madness. Sephiroth learned that Jenova still existed, and was being used in creating super-soldiers based upon the idea of Sephiroth. He kidnapped Jenova and eventually set about trying to become one with the lifestream, as Jenova wanted, and take the world over.

While his original personality is difficult to determine, he was methodic as a villain. He was also, however, another monologuer and spent most of his time announcing his plans to empty rooms while he feverishly attempted to become part of the planet. He also complained a lot about the Ancients and other things.

He set about this plan by summoning Meteor with the dark materia, which would crash onto the planet and created a massive wound cause the Lifestream to gather at that specific point.

Sephiroth’s power was in due to his being a part of Jenova. He was well adapt at sword fighting, and the use of materia. As Safer Sephiroth he possess the typical 1HP skill and one called “Pale Horse” that involves every status effect the game includes. He also possesses “Meteor” as a skill that he can use to deal damage with.

But what became of his plan? Sephiroth didn’t succeed. He managed only to destroy Midgar, as Aerith, posthumously, found a way to summon Holy to prevent Meteor from destroying everything. He was also killed by Cloud following the battle between the Party and Safer Sephiroth in what most leading experts consider to be “a total fucking waste of my goddamn time”.

That being said, Sephiroth eventually “returned” in the form of both Geostigma and three bothers in Advent Children who were searching for Jenova in an effort to bring Sephiroth back and resume trying to take over the planet. The plan failed miserably, and Sephiroth was defeated once again.

What About Jenova?!

It could be assumed that Jenova was truly the main villain. She was part of Sephiroth, and she’s fought four times before being defeated.

As some may recall, it wasn’t actually Sephiroth who killed Aerith in that oft-replayed scene but rather Jenova having taken the form of Sephiroth. All things considered, Sephiroth was completely incapacitated for 90% of the game. Only in flashbacks in the end were you actually playing as/against the man and not Jenova. So it is safe to assume that information that Jenova easily overthrows Sephiroth.

However, Jenova, as stated by various sources⁷, did not have the will to overpower Sephiroth, and it is believed that she was manipulated by him in order to achieve his goals. It is also suggested by sources⁸ that Jenova bent Sephiroth’s mission to suit her, so that both goals could be accomplished.

But…Jenova takes Sephiroth’s form every time, and seems to be “working for” Sephiroth to achieve his ends. Not the other way around.

So…who is better

If we’re to sit here and consider just if Sephiroth is the best, as was the purpose of this writing, we need to look at them. And we need actually consider what it is they do.

Sephiroth was powerful, as were they all, but he didn’t even accomplish his base goal–summoning Meteor to make the wound and all that. Kefka, Ultimecia, and Kuja and had horrible effects upon their planet, and sometimes other planets.

Ultimecia holds the primary advantage of being the only one who actually manipulate time to suit her existence, while Kefka was the most brutal and merciless. Kefka, however, is the only one to actually succeed in taking over the planet completely–though it may not, in the end, have been his goal.

In the end, Sephiroth is not the best character in FF villainy by any means. While powerful, he filled the bill of a villain that was simply that: shallow in appearance–a black leather wearing, giant-sword-wielding⁹ guy who one day lost his mind and started setting shit on fire. That he assisted in the creation of what would become an archetypal villain does not make him a good villain with in the continuity of his story. Had “he” not killed Aerith, his popularity would not be as it is today.

But, “the greatest”? I would say Kefka. Why? The character is original, the concept and writing was original for a villain. That there haven’t been more like him is shameful.

1. Officially called The Complication of Final Fantasy VII, it contains things like Dirge of Cerberus as well as Crisis Core and the various other things involving VII [↩]
2. At least, that’s what the GBA remake says. As it is the most recently created form, it will be the continuity we’ll use [↩]
3. Yes, yes. I’m not going into detail about the statues, or anything like that. Why? Because it’s my fucking essay and this is about Kefka. All you NEED to know is that he fucked shit up. [↩]
4. Spells that are unique to that character. Like Ultimecia’s “Apocalypse”. I know you can draw that spell from her, but what’s the point? [↩]
5. You know who she is, the woman who Vincent Valentine loved terribly. [↩]
6. Ancients. The race who eventually becomes the Monsters you do battle with. [↩]
7. I’m talking here of the Ultimate [Omega] Guide [↩]
8. I’m talking here of Wikipedia and fans that don’t want to believe the Guide. [↩]
9. Just be glad I didn’t go into the details of how much I don’t like that weapon. Good Lord. [↩]