Final Verdict on Seifer?

[Nikkolas]

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.

 

[The Scriblerian]

He was a dreamer who knew he was destined for something great, and who let his impatience and cockiness get the best of him.

He had the abilities of a hero, the dream of any boy, and the hard hardheadedness and strength to make it all come true. It just so happened that the oppurtunity came from someone he never really expected, but couldn't really turn down.

 

[Fusionist]

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.

 

[Takk]

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.

 

[Davey Gaga]

None of the above.

His heart was always in the right place - full of ambition. His only flaw was that he was too ruthless to take what he wanted and that often caused problems for your party.

 

[The_Oathkeeper]

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.

 

[Davey Gaga]

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.

Well, in the right place for himself, anyway. He wasn't an evil person. He wanted to be the leader of the SeeD team, wanted to become a hero and tried to do so on national television and somehow, from there, managed to realise his life-long dream, alongside the person who raised him. Given his conversation later, he remembered Matron and so being the Sorceress' Knight also meant repaying whatever debt he felt towards Matron.

...Of course, the latter part of Disc III would contradict these statements.

 

[The_Oathkeeper]

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.

 

[Busta]

To me he's just a punk who wants to mark his territory or sort of prove that 'no one messes with him'. he's not really a bad guy, I jsut think he's got that male competitiveness in him where he doesn't want to be shown up by Squall, and he wants to prove he's the more dominant.

I've never really seen him as a villain, but more of an obstacle.

 

[Donald Trump]

I've never really seen him as a villain, but more of an obstacle.

I think you are right, Seifer rarely drove the plot, the exception being the bit at the tv station, yet arguably that's because of Edea anyway. Seifer never really displays the independence of a villain, he is always the sidekick. To a certain extent he is rebellious at the garden, but he never does anything villainious.

I wouldnt say he was an anti-hero either, as he isnt heroic, his goals and aims were selfish, not heroic.
Yet he wasnt exactly bad, its just that his dreams conflicted with what is right, he choose to follow his dream, which is selfish. Seifer is almost amoral in the pursuit of his dream, he is aware of the negative impact of his actions, but he doesnt care.

Seifer's character is redeemed at the end, he realises he is behaving stupidly/wrongly and he goes back to fujin and rajin. I think that because seifer is only 18 or 19 his actions are easily forgivable, and are more a reflection of his impetuousness rather than actual badness

 

[The_Oathkeeper]

Eh...Seifer isn't really the type of character you expect to drive the plot. He's basically just there most of the time to provide a rival for Squall, and he does do a pretty damn good job of that, to say the least. The two supplement each other well in terms of ability and serve as stark contrasts to one another when it comes to motivation/personality. That type of character rarely has a huge impact on the plot. In fact, it's fairly common for the main character's rival to serve as second banana to the real major antagonist. They're not exactly famous for being catalysts, just...rivals. They exist to impede the protagonist. There are exceptions to this rule, but they don't tend to take place in JRPGs.

Seifer is, morally speaking, a bit hard to peg following a nonconventional school of thought. If you want to be simplistic about it, then yes, he was a villain...or at least an anti-villain. He endangered the lives of many people and even offered Rinoa up to Adel at one point. It's fairly easy to classify him as a genuine villain, but looking a bit deeper into his character, he was just trying to achieve his life's dream. As said, his "romantic dream" was all the poor guy had to cling to at that point. He'd been stripped of pretty much everything else; he'd lost his parents, lost his friends from the orphanage, failed to make it in to SeeD again...Life was really screwing Seifer over.

I guess it all comes down to Seifer being a victim of circumstances. It's not his fault he went insane, it just happened because so much crap went on in his life that he just couldn't keep it together. The guy might've consciously realized what he was doing, but at that point, he wasn't thinking clearly enough to care. Had he been in his right mind, I sincerely think that Seifer would've turned back at some point. You just have to understand the magnitude of what was going on in his life to really understand his character.

 

[Dean Winchester]

None, Seifer knew what he was doing and was willing to take it to the last consequences as long as it helped him to achieve his goal, to become a leader, to do something big and to leave his mark.

 

[The_Oathkeeper]

Yes, but look at what he'd gone through prior to that. Somehow, he lost both parents at an early age, was stripped from his beloved orphanage so that he could be taught how to kill people for a living, then failed to make it as a member of that very organization several times. All he had left to turn to fall back on were his impulsiveness, his skill in combat, and his "romantic dream." The guy had genuine problems. You couldn't have expected him to be thinking very clearly at that point. Yes, he wanted to be doing something big, but had he been in his right mind, I really don't think he would've gone to such great lengths in order to accomplish his goal.

Squall even said that Seifer was one of them. Again, they were cut from the same cloth, and had similar goals in mind at the beginning of the game. They were simply going about it in different ways. Once Edea came into the picture, things became more complicated. Seifer, after being put through the ringer and having everything stripped away from him, was offerred a chance to actually make something of himself and realize his dream. He had nothing else to do and his mental stability was beginning to wear itself down. The guy really didn't know what he was doing.

I don't think that Seifer should be completely forgiven, though. He did some horrible things, but his perception of right and wrong were probably horribly skewered and warped by that point considering just how messed up in the head he was. He'd been orphaned, abandoned, deemed a failure by the Garden, was made a social outcast...There's only so much the human mind can take before it breaks down. That's the only reason why I don't consider him a villain.

 

[Howl]

I have said before that a confused villain is a weak villain, and a villain who follows the orders of another is weaker still...
And Seifer is both of those things. He's confused, and that makes him a great pawn. I don't think that he has a whole lot of smarts...he seems to be a bunch of powerhungry brawn. =\