Antihero?
Villain?
Tragic villain?

For me...
"Find the legendary Lunatic Pandora, said to be hidden beneath the ocean. Only then shall the sorceress provide you with dreams again."

Seems to me like Ulty did something to his mind. Like she manipulated his boyhood fantasy and made him do what he did.

I've said this in other threads, but I think Seifer's actions and behavior was more the result of Ultimecia's influence.

It's true that his own childhood desire was to be some great protagonist, but he didn't suddenly decide that he'd rather be a knight to an evil sorceress.

If anything, Ultimecia probably deluded him into thinking that she was the helpless damsel in distress and Seifer was the only one that could protect her.

Ironically, Squall is in the position that Seifer desired even though he never really wanted to be in the spotlight.

He was more of a Tragic Antihero... manipulated or not, he believed he was in the right the entire time until the end... and as we can see in the ending of the game, he's basically glad he lost, and its obvious he has a respect for SeeD, and most likely a strong respect for Squall at that pont, as well.

His tale in FF8 was very tragioc, but I don't think its fair to write him off as just a villain... thus why I say he's a combination of of the first and last option... he truly was a Tragic Antihero.

I also agree with what The Scriblerian, said.

I don't know if Seifer's heart was always in the right place. At more than one point during the game, he was very clearly acting out of selfish desire to see his dream realized. That being said, I don't think that Seifer is a bad guy, he was just...human. In his position, I'm sure a lot of people would've done the exact same thing. Through the later part of the game, I don't really think he was entirely mentally stable, so you can't expect him to make the most logical choices.

You really have to look at the circumstances surrounding his life to understand his character. A lot of people overlook the fact that he was an orphan because they think "Oh, an orphaned character in a video-game...Like I've never seen THAT before." However, they also overlook the fact that it's basically been proven that those who grow up for a significant length of time without a mother figure are known to have a greater chance of suffering through psychological disorders. Yes, he had Matron, but it evidently wasn't long at all before he was shipped off to Balamb Garden so that he could spend the rest of his childhood learning how to kill people. Not a very stable upbringing, eh?

Basically, Seifer had nothing except for his skill in combat and his "romantic dream." He wanted to be a sorceress's knight all his life, so when the opportunity presented itself to him, he jumped at the chance. This lead to a chain of events that eventually caused him to snap. At this point, he was pretty much a broken man who would do whatever his sorceress told him to for sake of realizing his dream. He'd been put through the ringer. Life took its toll on him and he was just kind of trying to see things through to the end however possible.

So I guess Takk had the right idea. Seifer was pretty much a tragic antihero. He had the potential to be a hero. He had the skills, the know-how, and the determination to do great things, but due to circumstances, he was unable to. Even so, he found peace at the end of the game, which is pretty admirable for someone like him.

I definitely wouldn't call Seifer a bad person, but after he encounters Edea and agrees to be her knight, pretty much all of his actions are done with his romantic dream in mind and without taking into consideration the consequences it might have on those around him. Again, though, I don't blame him for it. He wasn't in the best of shape mentally speaking, so you can't really expect the guy to be thinking clearly at that point. During most of Disc 1, Seifer is basically just acting on impulse. It's not so much that he doesn't think about the greater good, it's just that it never really occurred to him that his actions might have a negative effect on other people.

Seifer was just an impulsive guy. He acted on his core conviction and hoped for the best. As Squall said, "He was one of us." Yes, he was always a jerk and wasn't on the best of terms with the party, but they were still cut from the same cloth. They had the same goals in mind and both wanted the same thing. It's just that Squall and Seifer had different ways of going about it. Unfortunately, Seifer's method happened to result in him meeting Edea, which was essentially what lead to his dissent into insanity.

And I don't really consider Disc III to be a good example of Seifer's character. The guy was genuinely insane at that point.