Sephiroth vs. Kefka

[HighwindPilot]

Love some of the fallacies spewed from users in this thread.

-Insert flowery language and keen details of work to boast Kefka while undermining Sephiroth with ill-mentioned, deemphasized notes and a dumbed down presentation of his character-

I can play that game too.

Guess what? Kefka was the product of your typical, "experiment gone wrong" trial that essentially made him an irrational psycho. Haven't seen that be--wait, yes I have. You want to talk about child-like motives with Sephiroth's "mommy issues"? Well here you have a guy who pretty much did evil because he wanted evil, no different from the type of kid you'd give a time out to on a playground. Gee, yeah, great depth for a villain.

Stuff like that isn't hard to do. But in reality, Sephiroth's motives ran deeper than "mother issues". It started with what he thought to be a betrayal of his entire race. Additionally, he had a messiah complex so that he thought himself to be greater than Cetra (and all others) even when he learned he wasn't one. Hence, in either case, he saw himself fit to rule all other lifeforms.

And how exactly are their accomplishments indicative for the idea that Kefka is of a greater evil than Sephiroth? Both men pretty much sought the same thing. Sephiroth planned Meteor to smite the planet so that he could then take control of it as a god. No different than what Kefka actually DID do with the Magitek power to create the World of Ruin and control the Universe as a god. The only difference was the success rate; one group got there in time, the other didn't.

And then I see stuff about all else Kefka did compared to Sephiroth? Because Sephiroth only killed Aeris, right? This is, of course, neglecting his trashing of Nibelheim and his complete and utter ruin of Shinra, the very powerhouse government of VII.

Also saw this same bias regarding their backstories. "Kefka controlled an army, he was an elite general", LOL, so was Sephiroth. The man was the hero of the Wutai war, responsible for taking down armies. The #1 SOLDIER of THE world army.

I don't even really care for Sephiroth, but these inbalanced approaches to either of these characters are too blatant to pass up.

Even I might go with Kefka if we're to compare the two in a KH clash, but let's not get carried away with the supporting arguments for this.

 

[The Witch]

Huh? Kefka mind controlled a girl for several years and used her power for his own plans.

WHAT? He "mind controlled" a girl for seven years? And he used her for power? That son of bitch! I mean it.

Sephiroth practically did the same thing to people...only multiply that by 13. And then add on the fact that he literally threw them under the bus AND KILLED THEM.

He also murdered an entire town by poisoning the water, children among those that were killed (Cyan's wife and child).

Sephiroth practically caused/created a disease that mostly attacked children. Geostigma ring a bell? Not only that but he murdered everyone in the Shinra building.

He backstabbed his emperor when it was convienent

So did Sephiroth... only to everyone he was around. Not to mention, he LITERALLY backstabbed someone....Aerith.

and finally, he put the world into ruin which further killed even more people (probably half the world's population was killed)

Again, Geostigma and meteor. Epidemics, are a bitch.:dave:

Afterwards, he became the God of that world and ruled it with fear.

By birth, Sephiroth IS A GOD.

And he anhilated entire villages for going against him. And he did it all while laughing.

Cha, because Sephirth totally didn't kill people that went against him. And he TOTALLY didn't laugh while he was killing someone.

And a little random, but did you not take the joker from The Dark Knight seriously? He was very simular to Kefka and just about as psychotic.

No, do not even compare them. The Joker is far more evil and far more serious than Kefka.

You see, the Joker's makeup and attire are faded and dirty looking. His makeup looks runny and foul. Which gives him the terrifying look we run from.

Kefka on the other hand, does have the "clown" attire that the Joker has, but here's the difference, Kefka's clothes are bright neon colors, his makeup isn't runny or dead, it's got shine and glimmer to it.

The Joker makes sadistic jokes. Kefka just makes funny jokes.

The Joker, literally kills just to kill. Kefka kills because he was raped by dudes. LITERALLY.

So, don't compare them.

But, back on topic. You see it is Sephiroth who is the most evil villain to reign.:seph:

 

[DeathMetal84]

I pick Sephiroth... heck Sephiroth is the greatest final fantasy villain of all time... he can beat all of the other final fantasy villains..:seph:

 

[Rydia]

WHAT? He "mind controlled" a girl for seven years? And he used her for power? That son of bitch! I mean it.

Sephiroth practically did the same thing to people...only multiply that by 13. And then add on the fact that he literally threw them under the bus AND KILLED THEM.


Sephiroth practically caused/created a disease that mostly attacked children. Geostigma ring a bell? Not only that but he murdered everyone in the Shinra building.



So did Sephiroth... only to everyone he was around. Not to mention, he LITERALLY backstabbed someone....Aerith.

Again, Geostigma and meteor. Epidemics, are a bitch.:dave:


By birth, Sephiroth IS A GOD.


Cha, because Sephirth totally didn't kill people that went against him. And he TOTALLY didn't laugh while he was killing someone.

Who did Sephiroth mind control for 13 years? Is this a retcon?

No Sephiroth was not born a God. In fact, Cloud easily defeated him in the Niebleheim reactor when he was still a grunt.

And Kefka's death toll still far exceeds Sephiroth's. And Sephiroth was a pawn of Jenova and is more sympathethic than anything.

Geostigma was also from Jenova.

Shinra also wasn't all that innocent as it was presented as another enemy in the game. (Rufus was not a good guy, and when the game starts, your enemy is Shinra)

Now you could argue Jenova vs Kefka. Heck I'd even say that Shinra was more evil than Sephiroth. (Rufus declaring that he'd rule the world with fear, Reno dropping a plate under orders on an entire sector of innocent people, the fact that they are sucking up the planet's life for energy, and they were the ones who did the experiments on Sephiroth.)

No, do not even compare them. The Joker is far more evil and far more serious than Kefka.

You see, the Joker's makeup and attire are faded and dirty looking. His makeup looks runny and foul. Which gives him the terrifying look we run from.

Kefka on the other hand, does have the "clown" attire that the Joker has, but here's the difference, Kefka's clothes are bright neon colors, his makeup isn't runny or dead, it's got shine and glimmer to it.

The Joker makes sadistic jokes. Kefka just makes funny jokes.

So just because Kefka's make up is brighter and his clothes are brighter he is somehow better than the joker? I guess I'll go into a room full of people dressed in expensive clean clothes with well put together make up and open fire on them with a machine gun and that would be better than if I was dressed like a homeless with make up that has been for several days?

the Joker, literally kills just to kill. Kefka kills because he was raped by dudes. LITERALLY.
n\
So, don't compare them.

Um what?

But, back on topic. You see it is Sephiroth who is the most evil villain to reign.:seph:

But he didn't reign. Cloud and co stopped him before that happened. And again it was really Jenova who was the real villian of FF7.

Ugh I don't even mean to come off as a Kefka fangirl

 

[Valvalis]

So just because Kefka's make up is brighter and his clothes are brighter he is somehow better than the joker? I guess I'll go into a room full of people dressed in expensive clean clothes with well put together make up and open fire on them with a machine gun and that would be better than if I was dressed like a homeless with make up that has been for several days?

I think this is a great point. Even though Kefka looked like a "clown," I would still be much more terrified of him than of Sephiroth. IMO the strange clothes were an even greater sign that Kefka's mind had been given over to madness. And though Sephiroth is considered "crazy" too, he still dressed himself similarly enough to most of the people in his world that he didn't seem to stand out that much. The long silver hair is somewhat characteristic, but really any old person in that world could've had the same locks, no offense to anyone.

I had to vote for Kefka, because honestly, I thought he was much more frightening. Though they had similar pasts, Kefka's mind was physically interfered with during the Magitek infusion, whereas Sephiroth chose to become evil upon a simple discovery of information. One could argue that choosing to be evil makes you a worse person than doing it involuntarily; however, if you are capable of such choices then you are also capable of changing. It may sound farfetched, but if certain circumstances had occurred, it may very well have been possible for Sephiroth to have been coerced back to the good side. Kefka, on the other hand, was mentally unstable enough that this would have been unlikely in his case. And mentally unstable villians are far worse to be around than ones who are capable of conscious thought; even though some might say Sephiroth went "insane," I honestly think he was still aware of what he was doing, and that it was more of a "people screwed me up so I'm gonna get back at them " thing, kind of like when children who are punished try to do worse things to get back at their parents.

If you look at their accomplishments, Kefka also wins, hands down. He interfered with a lot of towns/areas of the world personally and killed many more people than Sephiroth did. He destroyed his boss, altered the physical face of the earth with massive earthquakes, and eventually came to rule the world for a while, living in a tower from which he blasted whole towns to smithereens with a beam of light. He was also worshipped by a tower full of fanatics who feared his power. Sephiroth had great ambitions, but he was thwarted just as his scheme was about to come to fruition; and sadly, he had no known fans in the game when he was evil. None that I can remember, anyway.

@Hitsugaya: It is sad that Sephiroth murdered a praying girl; however Kefka also murdered a bunch of Espers who lived peaceful lives and looked like cute little animals. Plus, not everyone who prays is necessarily good; if he had killed a girl who was playing marbles or something instead it would've been just as sad.

I also couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Sephiroth, whereas I hated Kefka throughout the entire game. Maybe it was just the way they told the stories, but by the time it was revealed (by an NPC I think) that Kefka was crazy because of an experiment, I already hated him so much that I didn't feel anything about that. But getting to see Sephiroth fight a battle alongside Cloud, and how he hurt he was by the knowledge that he had been experimented on, I had a little sympathy going on; he hadn't done enough at that point to make me feel like he was even the main villain in the game. If I feel any kind of sympathy/empathy towards a villain, it's pretty much impossible for me to see them as purely evil and cut off from any trace of humanity, which is how I saw Kefka ever since his first scene.

On an interesting side note, I also see that Sephiroth was voiced by a member of N'Sync in Kingdom Hearts I think if they wanted to portray him as an ultimate "badass", perhaps they could've picked someone a little more evil to voice him? Just a thought; I'm actually surprised people don't talk about this more.

(of course here I'm saying this and now they'll pick Britney Spears for Kefka in the new one)

 

[Rydia]

I forgot all about Kefka killing the Espers D:

On an interesting side note, I also see that Sephiroth was voiced by a member of N'Sync in Kingdom Hearts I think if they wanted to portray him as an ultimate "badass", perhaps they could've picked someone a little more evil to voice him? Just a thought; I'm actually surprised people don't talk about this more.

(of course here I'm saying this and now they'll pick Britney Spears for Kefka in the new one)

Nah what will happen is Kefka will be voiced by another N*Sync character, as well as Kuja, Seymore, and Golbez (Who will all also be randomly added in KH3) and we'll have the first Final Fantasy villian boy band! And I will be their first groupie.

 

[The Witch]

I could go back and forth about how Sephiroth has done the same evil as Kefka, but I just don't give a damn.

However, I will say this.

Sephiroth is better solely because I can look at him and NOT laugh.

 

[Neo Bahamut]

Pre-Warring Triad: Sephiroth, no question. He had at least the same magical ability as Kefka & more physical ability.

Post-Warring Triad: Kefka, no question. Even though we don't know how far Sephiroth's abilities extend by the time of AC, Kefka was the GOD OF MAGIC.

Also, how do we know that Kefka is going to be in KH3?