Kefka's past?

[Revenant]

Well, I've played this game once and although there was very very little information revealed on what Kefka was before he was, well, what he was. However, I could have sworn that in Vector, the Imperial Capital, some random generic old-man NPC mentions that Kefka used to be a knight that the empire used to test Magicite on, which drove him crazy.

Am I imagining things?

[Zypher]

Nope, that's right. Either that or I'm imagining things too, in which case I'm calling it a conspiracy.

What I'm wondering about is his condition *before* any 'experimentation.' I don't think it mentions anything about that, though....

[Edgar]

Maybe he was a decent general (uh...soldier, he's not a general AT ALL). And when he was magically infused, he greed for power and go crazy? :mad: just a thought :p

[Sephex]

****SPOILERS AHEAD. SO IF YOU READ BEYOND THIS POINT AND YOU NEVER EVER PLAYED THROUGH VI BEFORE YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T READ THIS, IN FACT WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS FORUM IN THE FIRST PLACE?****

What I always thought happened that he was some normal person of a semi-important rank in the Empire. When Magitek was first developed by Cid, he needed someone to test it on. Kefka, being loyal to the Empire at the time, voluntered to be the first test subject.

Now, when the guy who said "something snapped i his mind"...I think he meant that he was different...but not crazy..yet.

I always though at that moment in time, "snapped" meant that that is the moment that he came up with the idea to move up ranks in the Empire and to eventually absorb the magic from the statues. He obviously knew of thier power because he was babbling out his plan in the Magitek research facility...he doesn't say much, but after playing the game only once, you know what he is refering to when you come at that part again.

How did he know? Since the process of infusing magic wasn't perfected yet, it was probably WAY to strong. So strong that he somehow absorbed the knowledge of the way that statues work...and how he can obtain the ultimate power and act out his plan of non-existance.

*waiting for people to pick apart my theory and talk about the sound of vincent's coffin lid*

[BG-57]

(SPOILERS)

My personal theory is he was mentally unstable to begin with, maybe not full blown psychotic, but most likely mean and antisocial (even the thought of a cheerful, friendly Kefka is too hideous to contemplate!). :eek:

Remember, even if we can write off sadistic madmen in history as due to illness (Caligula and Ivan the Terrible spring to mind) they weren't very friendly even *before* they got ill.

I'm not sure why they added that bit about his mind snapping. Are they saying that if he wouldn't have become a monster if he hadn't gotten infused with Magitek? Or is the Empire and Gestahl more to blame? Kind of like saying that Darth Vader was evil because the Emperor *made* him evil. Maybe the emperor is mainly to blame, but the seeds of evil were there before.

[Warmech]

He's obviously Gogo's brother. :P
And I agree with both of you. Magicite seems like powerful enough stuff to push anyone off the edge, especially "special" cases like Kefka.
Where might this NPC old man be? I usually ignore them. :P

[BG-57]

(Minor Spoiler)

He's hard to find because you have limited oppertunities to explore Vector earlier in the game. Look in the Cafe in the northern part of town near the grand staircase leading to the Imperial Palace. It's on the left side. Watch out for guards though. If the place is empty you are too far into the game.

P.S. Sephex, if you change the color of your text, you can cut down the size of your spoiler warnings. :)

[Spuuky]

Or, ya know, you can just use the spoiler tags specifically designed to do it for you.

[Lindy]

I think I may have read somewhere of Leo and Kefka being related, I'm most probably totally wrong, but I may have read it right...

[theundeadhero]

I'm sorry but you are most totally wrong.


*Vincents coffin lid went "whooooooosh"*

[Setzer Gabbiani]

I recall Gestahl's telling Celes that she and Kefka were made to serve him....so what I think is that Kefka and Celes are somekind of brothers....or at least relatives (maybe twins)

[HicRic]

Yes indeed...I remember him saying that, and for the rest of the game, I was afraid Celes would turn to the screen and let off a laugh of her own. Which would scare me. o.o;;;

[Ugtroll]

I think that Gesthal's mention of them being made to serve him just refers to their being infused with magicite. I've always kinda thought that Kefka was the first to be infused with magicite, and that Cid definantly worked the bugs out before infusing Celes. On the deserted island you can see that Celes considers Cid somewhat as a father figure, which to me says that he gave her the powers, etc.

[Invincible]

Originally posted by Setzer Gabbiani
I recall Gestahl's telling Celes that she and Kefka were made to serve him....so what I think is that Kefka and Celes are somekind of brothers....or at least relatives (maybe twins)

They wouldn't be twins because Kefka is almost twice the age of Celes. Kefka is 35 while Celes is 18. And yes, this is official information because I have the FF6 guide from Japan made by Squaresoft. There are also alot of other things not released or released in error to the US.

[Dignified Pauper]

LARGE SPECULATION AND OWN THEORIES *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

I think that Kefka was a man bent on power, but not sadistic and mad (before the experiment of course). He was prolly of importance in the empire and rather intelligent. When Cid first started the Magitek Research, he needed a test subject to be infused w/ the power. Kefka, wanting power and thinking that perhaps it will give him the added edge he needs to gain the rank of a general in the emperor's eyes. Perhaps he was gealous of Leo and wanted to achieve higher importance. Anyways, Cid and Kefka probably met and talked about the experiment. Cid, probably caught up in the technicalogical breakthrough, was blind to the dangers of the experiment and went along with the infusement.

During the infusement, it was probably too much, and Kefka's mind snapped. No longer was he bent on power, but now he craved it, it was his only desire, it slowly consumed him. The man said" something in his mind snapped that day" not necessarily saying he went directly crazy, but that was what started it all..

After the infusement, Kefka's power crave grew and he began to get more infused. Meanwhile, Cid, perfected his technique and infused celes as a child. (This is found out on her way up the mountain of narshe before the kefka fight) Celes, obviously turns out fine. Kefka on the other hand, gaining more power grows more hungry, the more he obtains, the more he wants.
Kefka than devises a plan after learning about the Statues past the gate (prolly learned from studying vast books). He wants to use Terra to get the esper world open. After this, before he enters the esper world, he kills Leo, becoming Ghestahl's right hand, and also defeating anyone he percieves as a threat. Then he makes it past the esper gate and too the statues. Just the sight and feeling of their power drives him mad and his mind almost explodes with desire. When the heroes arrive, he shows his true intentions and uses the statues against ghestahl and then kicks him off the floating continent. Then uses the statues to shape the "Magical Empire of Kefka". After absorbing the power of the statues, his crave for power finally ends, and now he wishes for nothing but absolute power, with no resistance.

Thats what i think anyway.

[BG-57]

Ilsadar, that would make an interesting fanfic. :) I'm doing one on the War of the Magi myself. FFVI lends itself to that because it's a complex and deep story with too many loose ends! :eep:

[Gene Ohm]

I thought noone else had seen that
*glad she, or he as it is for today, wasnt imagining things also*

~NOT Celeste

[Ireng]

Kefka is a fascinating case study. No matter what the player thinks of him, there's no denying that Kefka is one of the most personality-filled villains in RPG history. Before Kefka, RPG villains had been shrouded in mystery; townspeople would whisper hints of the Evil One's existence, but the Evil One himself would only fly in at the eleventh hour via Deus Ex Machina Airlines. Kefka, instead, is onstage from act one, scene two. His mind is not merely warped, but is seriously bent. He has an arsenal of one-liners most Hollywood villains would kill for. He is like a little boy frying ants with a magnifying glass, gleefully amoral; not only uncaring but also unaware his cruelty has any moral implications. It has been said that the audience will hate a good villain ... but love a great one. Kefka achieves the greatest honor a villain can receive: he is well liked.

[The Man]

Originally posted by Ugtroll
I've always kinda thought that Kefka was the first to be infused with magicite, and that Cid definantly worked the bugs out before infusing Celes.That's because he was the first to be infused with Magicite.

The NPC who gives you all this information can be found in the cafe in Vector.

Peace
Aaron

[Yoshimitsu]

I dont think Kefka's evil action doesnt needs to be blamed on his insanity. I always thoguht that Kefka was was very objective oriented person, meaning he will do anything in his way to achieve something. That includes poisoning the waters in Doma, etc. This guy isnt evil, He just has no morals. Thats a bit different.

I think the reason why he decided to destroy the world was because he couldnt grasp what the purpose of life was, because he has no morals and saw life as pointless and insignificant. His insanity eventually led him to think that he would bring a solution to the question by creating a monument to non exixstence...

[Edgar]

If he's not evil, then what is the FFVI party fighting for?

Like most other RPG, "To save the world from an evil villian."

[Yoshimitsu]

evil is subjective.

[playaGAW]

There was really no point in killing Kefka because the planet was already dying from the statues messing it up. It wasn't like Kefka was intent on destroying everything when he moved the statues. Kefka was just speeding up the process with his light of judgement. Personnaly I think the chracters just needed someone to blame so they used Kefka and said it was his fault. At the end of the game they were flying around celebrating in the airship but did you notice they flew on the same green patch of ground over and over. This means even though he is dead everything is still unchanged.

[Strider]

That all is probably because of a lack of sprites, man. It's green, ain't it? That means something had to have changed.

[playaGAW]

I forgot to add there is one green space somewhere on the world map I'm pretty sure its by a town. The planet's still ruined nothing significant happened except the espers are all extinct now.

[DJZen]

that's what I like about FF6's plot
Kefka wins. He destroys the world, and wins. You can't do anything about this.

My take on why they fought Kefka is 'cause he's ruling the world with an iron fist now, and no hope of restoring it can be had while he's around. It's like, okay, people have been conquered, but that doesn't mean they won't mount another resistance at some point. Happened in lots of places throughout the world.

[Strider]

playaGAW, I think you're just reading too much into that thing, kinda like Banon and Duncan are the same sprites with difference colors. Being a cartridge, there likely wasn't enough space to mix things up, hence the repeating land pattern.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The World of Ruin became the World of Healing after Kefka's Tower fell.

[playaGAW]

I really think nothing really happened they were just happy they killed Kefka. He wasn't evil just crazy and he looked kinda gay. When I first saw a picture of him in the picture on the FF Anthology case I thought he was a girl. Then just like with Kuja the shock that he was a guy.

[Lassic]

I don't care about kefka's history that much, I care about what he is...

He's the last great villain Square made, He's like Golbez, but he's insane, doing his evil deeds to be powerful enough to rule the world, even if it was in pieces...

Sephiroth was a good villain either, but not that much

[dancingmadK]

The thing I like about Kefka is that he is the first FF villain with an actual realistic personality. All the villains before him had a 2 dimensional character, and nowhere near as charismatic or with personality. Hell, probably even more dimensional than the villains afterwards too. We hardly seen any of Garland, Dark Lord was too merciful,Golbeze turns good later, Zemus was revealed at the last minute, Sephiroth was a mama's boy, Kuja was a sissy, Seymour...was pretty cool, but not all the way evil. Kefka was a bonified psycho who didn't give a rat's ass about anybody, and at the last minute, decided the world would look better if it didn't exist. Plus he's a snappy dresser. LOL

[The Man]

Golbeza had a fantastic personality if you played a decent translation, such as J2e's. Also, I strongly disagree that Kuja was a sissy; anyone who can destroy Terra entirely on his own is a force to be reckoned with. I also felt him to be the best-developed villain in the series, but Kefka would be a very close second.

[aeris2001x2]

I dont think Kefka's evil action doesnt needs to be blamed on his insanity. I always thoguht that Kefka was was very objective oriented person, meaning he will do anything in his way to achieve something. That includes poisoning the waters in Doma, etc. This guy isnt evil, He just has no morals. Thats a bit different.

I think the reason why he decided to destroy the world was because he couldnt grasp what the purpose of life was, because he has no morals and saw life as pointless and insignificant. His insanity eventually led him to think that he would bring a solution to the question by creating a monument to non exixstence...

I have morals, but i see life as pointless and insignificant.

Anyway Kefka was the first truely personality driven villain. however i wish ppl would stop bashing every other villain. Sephiroth, Kuja and Seymour were all great character villains. to say the 2D characters likes of Golbez and X-Death were better is just odd to me.

Ultimately Kefka was the first true top class villain, and the only one close to knocking Sephiroth off his throne.

[Del Murder]

Dude, did you just reply to someone that posted that over a year ago? :D

I think I'll let this discussion rest. Feel free to start up a new topic about Kefka.