So, uh, Kefka. Just Crazy?(SPOILERS!!)

Please someone answer me here. This is actually my first playthrough of Final Fantasy VI and I am really enjoying it, but........what's up with Kefka. All I here is how he is just one of the best villains ever. So far, I'm in the WoR and I'm just retrieving all my characters, but it dawned on me that Kefka had no real backstory. All I know is that he was working for Emporer Gestahl and he's power-crazy. He kills an entire kingdom with poison, he looks to get magicite and espers for Gestahl, and then he's just like, "Oh!! I want it. Gestahl must die!!" Am I on cue here or did I miss something. This isn't an attack on Final Fantasy VI, but I just wanted some incite. Thanks for your answers!

The only explanation of Kefka's backstory beyond "he's one of the Emperor's generals" is offered up by a townsperson in Vector. If you're in the World of Ruin, you've already missed it.

Basically it amounts to the fact that Kefka was a magicite-infused soldier like Celes, except he was the first person to ever receive the treatment. And since it was still an imperfect, experimental operation at that point, he came out of it less than sane.

But really, Kefka's greatness doesn't come from his motivation so much as it comes from his actions.

kefka's just insane. (as a result of what was said above) thats why hes one of the coolest ff villians ever! (if not the coolest.):D

'E's out of 'is blooming 'ead!

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Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi

But really, Kefka's greatness doesn't come from his motivation so much as it comes from his actions.

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Agreed. How many other villians actually succeeded in destroying the world and attaining god like power?

Sin, Kuja, Ultimecia. But yes, thanks for your feedback. Now I know why Kefka's crazy. If you didn't tell me, I don't know how my outcome of this game would have been. Thanks for your input.

people like him because hes the only villain that succeeds in tearing the world apart.

Kefka was undoubtedly superior to all of the FF villains up until that point (I actually prefer X-Death and Golbez, but whatever…). However, while his antics were entertaining and sadistic, he is ultimately surpassed by later antagonists. Kefka’s 2-D qualities work rather well in FFVI, but IMO the more complex villains such as Kuja, Seymour and Sephiroth win out.

Then again, the Deus Ex Machina villains such as Neo X-Death, Zeromus and Necron completely own these guys as well, so meh…

comparing in power and a lot of other aspects how is kefka superior to enimies like kuja for example when (SPOILER)kuja trances his power tears apaart and entire planet.

Judging villains by their apparent power is a really stupid way to evaluate the storyline quality of a villain, anyway.

Yeh, kefka was just crazy. A friend of mine summed it up when he said "If you ever gave the joker god like powers, you'd end up with kefka". Which is why he is far superior to sephiroth. Yes, the joker does have a background story, and its rather "meh". The real appeal of both characters character is his charisma and psychotic genious. Out of all the villains in the batman and final fantasy universe, they are the worst not because they're the most powerful, not because they have the most high tech gear, not because of the cool origin, but because they are the smartest, and most evil sunuvabitch's you ever met.

Standout moments with kefka would be the utter genocide of the esper race, the reather cold blooded and pointless murder of leo, the poisoning of the doma castle river, and my personnal favorite: Kefka's fight with the emperor. Complete with kefka pretending he was scared with each attack.

oooh, almost got me that time

Whew, that was close. I Thought I was dead for sure

A little to the left, your almost there!

Muahahahaha

Yah, kefka was just the coolest. Sephiroth might have been cool if he had half kefka's fashion sense, (Evil clown getup vs V-neck leather = Evil clown wins hands down) and a portion of kefka's charisma and competence

Kefka's actions may have been surpassed by those of later villains, but none of them in the FF series did it with as much style. (Roger Bacon of Shadow Hearts and Luca Blight of Suikoden II are the only ones I've encountered who have comparable style, actually).

of the FF villains, Kuja is the one who comes closest to matching Kefka, but he doesn't have brilliant lines like "You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet," so Kefka still wins.

Many would disagree, but I would consider that Kuja’s line ‘Why should the world exist without me? That wouldn’t be fair!’, completely blows that one out of the water…

Of course, there is little doubt that many of Kuja’s lines were inspired by Kefka’s bizarre comments.

Son of a submariner!

Lines like "But what fun is destruction if no precious lives are lost?", "You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet", and "There's nothing like the sound of thousands of voices screaming in unison" sum up just what Kefka is and how much we like him.

It's my personal theory that Kefka and Celes are related somehow, but too bad the game never gives much depth. However, we don't need too much depth to our beloved villain, really. At least it doesn't end up getting totally misunderstood like Sephiroth's. He's got his fans because of what he does. Doma Castle, for instance. Just messing with the statues shows he's positively insane.

I mean, come on. Sephiroth tried to slam Meteor into the planet. But Kefka actually blew the damn thing up!! No, it didn't explode, but we don't have anymore grass on the planet. And we got to keep a decent overworld theme. And he's dressed as a clown!! That all makes him evil. And it makes him a damn good villain.

My point is... Kefka, you're amazing and we love you.

The only connection i've been able to see between Kefka and Celes is the fact that they're both products of the same experiment, just Kefka's went a little.... haywire...

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

Agreed. How many other villians actually succeeded in destroying the world and attaining god like power?

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The big question is out of all of them besides Kefka who has the GUTS to poison a whole entire kingdom I think it is insane and yet cleaver. I mean out of all the others they don't have quite the insane touch like Kefka. Sure he is insane but that is what makes him unique. But that is what I think everyone has different ideas but yea....

Sephiroth's got the guts; after all, he nearly destroyed the world. Not just metaphorically, like Kefka managed; his plan would have wiped out all life on earth. So I think it's safe to assume he'd have no problem with poisoning a few poor bastards. As for Kefka, he's just f-ing crazy. Kuja was obviously inspired by him.

I've read some reviews of Dragon Quest VIII, and the villain, Dhoulmagus, is made out to be "on par with Sephiroth" in terms of sheer evilness. Is it just me, or is he shamelessly copying Kefka?

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Originally Posted by Masamune·1600

Judging villains by their apparent power is a really stupid way to evaluate the storyline quality of a villain, anyway.

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i wasnt exactly saying that its best to judge on power if thats what you think i meant but i was trying to say just because he may not be the most powerful doesnt mean he isnt the coolest. (SPOILER)to be honest i liked kuja and a few other enemys better than kefka but not because kuja manages to destroy an entire planet and nearly destroys all of existence but because of his reasoning and his insanity. kefka is great but as the games got more advanced do did the ideas and enemys.

Sephiroth is still the coolest villian out there, Kefka's got nothing on the ultimate coolness of Sephiroth

Sephiroth = Best villain ever

What Kefka has that newer games do not have, is charm. It's not so much kefka as FF6 was one of the last games to have that old-school charm. FF6 was just about as complicated as a game could get at that time. It's hard to describe, but the super nintendo was the golden age of gaming, and FF6 was the golden age of FF. No game on the playstation had the same charm that the old games had. They didn't have the same melodrama and cheesiness nowadays as they used to. Which kinda makes them and by extension, kefka, more fun

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Originally Posted by boys from the dwarf

i wasnt exactly saying that its best to judge on power if thats what you think i meant but i was trying to say just because he may not be the most powerful doesnt mean he isnt the coolest. (SPOILER)to be honest i liked kuja and a few other enemys better than kefka but not because kuja manages to destroy an entire planet and nearly destroys all of existence but because of his reasoning and his insanity. kefka is great but as the games got more advanced do did the ideas and enemys.

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That comment actually didn't have anything to do with you. I just thought I would point it out after you brought up the subject, as far too many people seem to equate destruction with depth when evaluating villains.

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Originally Posted by The Man

Kefka's actions may have been surpassed by those of later villains, but none of them in the FF series did it with as much style. (Roger Bacon of Shadow Hearts and Luca Blight of Suikoden II are the only ones I've encountered who have comparable style, actually).

of the FF villains, Kuja is the one who comes closest to matching Kefka, but he doesn't have brilliant lines like "You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet," so Kefka still wins.

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True but then again Kuja has been missunderstood but they are close. But yes "You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet," is the best line there is and the one on the Floating Content (which I'm not there yet on the one I am on. I have it on my comp.)

Kefka is the best villain ever for the following reason: he just ruins people's stuff and doesn't care. I hate it when games try to justify why a villian is bad. "Oh I'm bad because my parents never loved me" Shut up, who cares? Just let him kill a bunch of children, like Kefka does, and then we'll want to take him out anyway. I don't want to feel bad for the villain. I don't want any of this "well he's not REALLY bad, just misunderstood" b.s. Just make him f***king crazy.

It's entirely possible to be both misunderstood AND bad. Is Emperor Palpatine somehow absolved of guilt for the single highest body count in all of fiction that I'm aware of, just because people didn't understand what it was that he wanted? Complexity doesn't mean their moral responsibilities are somehow negated.

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Originally Posted by ?????

I've read some reviews of Dragon Quest VIII, and the villain, Dhoulmagus, is made out to be "on par with Sephiroth" in terms of sheer evilness. Is it just me, or is he shamelessly copying Kefka?

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Actually, my first thought when reading about Dhoulmagus was that he was a clone of Deathjester from Seiken Densetsu 3. Then again, Deathjester and Kefka share a number of similarities, as well.

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Originally Posted by ?????

It's entirely possible to be both misunderstood AND bad. Is Emperor Palpatine somehow absolved of guilt for the single highest body count in all of fiction that I'm aware of, just because people didn't understand what it was that he wanted? Complexity doesn't mean their moral responsibilities are somehow negated.

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This is very true, and largely the reason I rank Luca Blight and Roger Bacon as more successful villains - both of them have more than simple insanity motivating their actions. Kefka still has moderately more style than either, though.

And no way in hell is Sephiroth the greatest villain of all time. It’s difficult to see him as a villain at all when you consider that (SPOILER)he was brainwashed by Jenova in the first place. If Sephiroth is a villain, then so is Kain.

Actually, I would say Sephiroth is more comparable to Golbez than Kain…

Sephiroth was hardly brainwashed. He was influenced by Jenova, sure, but brainwashed? He still retained his free will and mental capacity; choosing to aid her was his idea, since even though he was born of Lucrecia, Jenova still functions as his primary mother-figure, not to mention that his genes are basically hers. He could have chosen to reject Jenova and become a hero, using his extraordinary powers to help people. What he did instead was try to destroy the world, so Cloud had to own his ass hardcore.

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Originally Posted by Alixsar

Kefka is the best villain ever for the following reason: he just ruins people's stuff and doesn't care. I hate it when games try to justify why a villian is bad. "Oh I'm bad because my parents never loved me" Shut up, who cares? Just let him kill a bunch of children, like Kefka does, and then we'll want to take him out anyway. I don't want to feel bad for the villain. I don't want any of this "well he's not REALLY bad, just misunderstood" b.s. Just make him f***king crazy.

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Nothing wrong with a crazy villain. ^_^ I mean, like I said, who cares if Sephiroth is misunderstood. All he did was just burn down a town. Oooooh. He so wants to be Kefka, to me anyway.

What I want to know his WTF is up with the TREE called ExDeath?!

Maybe “brainwashed” was a bad term, but he’s still been fed all sorts of lies about his parentage and the like. I guarantee you that if he hadn’t had the Oedipus complex for Jenova, he wouldn’t have summoned Meteor.

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Originally Posted by Memoria

What I want to know his WTF is up with the TREE called ExDeath?!

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Square was trying to be clever but it all went wrong...

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Originally Posted by Prancing Mad

What Kefka has that newer games do not have, is charm. It's not so much kefka as FF6 was one of the last games to have that old-school charm. FF6 was just about as complicated as a game could get at that time. It's hard to describe, but the super nintendo was the golden age of gaming, and FF6 was the golden age of FF. No game on the playstation had the same charm that the old games had. They didn't have the same melodrama and cheesiness nowadays as they used to. Which kinda makes them and by extension, kefka, more fun

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I could not agree with this more. I miss that old-school feel... seems these games just had more depth. Perhaps part of it was that since the graphics weren't so great, it encouraged you to read more, and thus you enjoyed it more- you had to have a bit of an imagination to enjoy these games, which is why they weren't all that popular. Think of it this way: people always say "the book was better than the movie". The later games are more like movies because they are much more visual, whereas the earlier games encourage you to use your imagination. As someone who started playing Final Fantasy when I was 7 with final fantasy II, it is impossible for me to like something that is more visually based.

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Originally Posted by The Man

Maybe “brainwashed” was a bad term, but he’s still been fed all sorts of lies about his parentage and the like. I guarantee you that if he hadn’t had the Oedipus complex for Jenova, he wouldn’t have summoned Meteor.

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I believe that the main villain of Final Fantasy VII was in fact Jenova.:mad:

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Originally Posted by Memoria

I believe that the main villain of Final Fantasy VII was in fact Jenova.:mad:

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Of course it was. This, I believe, is actually one of the major flaws of FFVII: so many people who play the game don’t understand that.

So I guess Emperor Palpatine was the main villain in Star Wars then?

There is a difference between ‘main villain’ and ‘the one behind everything’.

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Originally Posted by ThroneofDravaris

So I guess Emperor Palpatine was the main villain in Star Wars then?

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Correct. If not for Palpatine’s interference, Anakin would never have been turned to the Dark Side. Then again, for that matter, Anakin would never have been born, since it’s insinuated pretty clearly that Palpatine was responsible for Anakin’s immaculate conception as well.

Kefka did what he wanted when he wanted how he wanted. =]
With no thought of what would happen, what so ever. I'm sure in Kefka's life he had no doubt about anything.

We all know Sephiroth had his crazy doubt moments with Jenova and what he was and what not, Obsession led Sephiroth to insanity.

Experiments led Kefka to insanity, but that makes me think.. because Kefka was prolly crazy -before- the experiments as a child.

Now now Kefka, Don't put arsenic in Leo's sippy cup... and well.. yeah. You get the picture. >=]

I knew Kefka was crazy when I heard that Mario 64 bowser laugh come outta his mouth....hehehehe

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Originally Posted by Shadowfoxhanse

I knew Kefka was crazy when I heard that Mario 64 bowser laugh come outta his mouth....hehehehe

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Omg. o o. When you said that.. I realized how amazingly simaliar the two laughs are! x x;

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Originally Posted by ?????

I've read some reviews of Dragon Quest VIII, and the villain, Dhoulmagus, is made out to be "on par with Sephiroth" in terms of sheer evilness. Is it just me, or is he shamelessly copying Kefka?

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sephiroth wasnt really that evil a villian...i dont know why theyre comparing the two. (a sign the reviewer may not know alot.)

no, hes not copying kefka, but you have to get through much of the story to know this.

or what the hell:

(SPOILER)hes really being possessed by the Lord of Darkness, Rhapthorne. hes only the first, Jessica being the next, and later a dog, Leopold. then rhapthorne is finally unleashed...

Kefka is right up their in my top villians with, tied for second place with Kuja. The only one better would be Xenosaga's Albedo Who killed his followers and even the people he worked with despised his very existence. I assume he realized he was being used, but didn't care for he wanted only one thing, and by following them he can achieve it. He is one of the only villians that in the end achieves exactly what it is he wants.

Kefka is just so cool. I mean, he causes so much damage because its fun.

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Originally Posted by ThroneofDravaris

Square was trying to be clever but it all went wrong...

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I liked X-Death being a tree....

You’re one of few my friend, one of few…

The only flaw I can find with Kefka as a character is that he almost disappears from the second half of the game, but then there wasn’t really any need for him to show up before the end. And of course when he does reappear, he does so with one of the greatest boss sprites in the series…