So while Hojo seems to be the truest and evilest root of all the problems in FFVII, Venat is most definitely the real bad guy of FFXII. Vayne, Cid and all of Archadia are just its pawns. Venat is scarcely better than the Occuria as both of them use humans as puppets.

One interpretation a friend offered is that Venat never intended Vayne to be a Dynast-King at all. He was just a tool who would eventually be stopped and thus Ivalice would actually be free.

What say you? Doesn't Venat count as the real Big Bad who was just manipulating Vayne?