Final Fantasy Villains: Crazy or just very bad pasts

[Shaissa]

So I know Final Fantasy isn't the only games that do this, but that is besides the point.

Have you noticed that in almost every main FF game (and a few of the spinoffs) that there is that one villain (might not be the main villain, but there is usually one) that has some very dramatic past event done to them?

Sephiroth being experimented on by his own parents. Edea, being manipulated by another sorceress from the future. Vayne had to kill his two older brothers.

Do you think these add depth to the villains, and make you feel kinda sorry for them, or do you just think that this adds to just an excuse for them to be crazy? Do you have a favorite villain? was it his story in the game that made that villain your favorite?

For me my favorite Villains were Ajora (Final Fantasy Tactics) and Kefka (FFVI)

Why? Mainly because the games gave you almost no reason to feel sorry for these villains. Sure they mention that Kefka was the first experiment to the Magi Soldiers by the empire, but that is it. There was nothing else told, no parents mentioned, no long term effects to some alien cells in him, no being created to be destroy things... These guys were just out to be crazy... and that is what I want in a villain. No real sad story about their past. Just all out crazy.

 

[Big Casino]

Some people feel the need for every character to be heavily built upon and a villains backstory is a must. For me it doesnt matter that much. Im finding it harder to think of examples within gaming but i can count off numerous villains from TV and cinema who are utterly fantastic and i never knew anything of theyre backstory. Moriarty from Sherlock came to mind as a recent example. Its maybe easier in film and tele to have stronger characters, when your looking at a real person all their emotions and even things like facial expressions make the character. In a game as old as FF7 where everyone is made up of block polygons they have to work much harder to make the villain seem genuinely menacing and fitting of the role. They need to rely on text dialogue and i think backstory certainly helps.

I think sometimes shrouding a character in mystery is more interesting than telling his story outright. Its kind of like how they build suspense in films by hiding the bad guys face from view. Once you know everything about them theyre not as effective as like i said earlier it kills the mystery and with villains it humanises them. I think no matter what approach is taken that good solid writers will almost always get it right. I dont think the FF series has ever seen a truly magnificent villain. Most are tired and cliche and when i think about it for a series which has ran as long as it has there really should be at least one great villain.

 

[Starships]

The only villian within the series I feel sorry for is Kuja. The rest ? Not so much.

Garland- Do we know much about him ? Basically he stole the Princess and tried to become ruler of the world all the time, every time.

Paramecia- I heard that he lost his daughter, tried to bring her back, and then Satan took control of his mind, his mother tried to help him, but it was too late. I don't know if this is true, or some made up internet bullshit or not.

Xande- idk much about him at all

Zeromus- Some alien dude, meh.

Ex-Death- a evil tree

Kefka- Basically a walking, talking sociopath, basically insane, basically one of the most evil and dangerous villains with no redeeming factors.

Sephiroth- I find it hard to feel sorry about him after what he does to Cloud to tbh with you all

Ultimecia- Some witch from the future, who feared everybody and hated everybody because humans fear and despise witches. She felt rather empty and plain, and we could of known so much more about her, which makes me wish that Rinoa = Ultimecia was canon, but oh well.

Kuja- Created to be a anti- Christ, basically. Snapped and went insane, basically a narcissist, though the difference between him and other villains, is that he realizes what he was doing wrong, and what he was doing wrong, and apologized and even made sure that his brother and the other characters were alright and okay, before his death.

Seymour- Had mummy issues from memory, need to replay FFX, again like Sephiroth failed to feel sorry for him after what he did to Yuna. Dirty, creepy. Seymour reminds me of that creepy guy in the ice-cream truck watching school children and perving on them. * shudders *

Vayne- can't remember, though I did feel sorry for him in a way, because that haircut was terrible.

Why? Mainly because the games gave you almost no reason to feel sorry for these villains.

Ah, I'm the opposite because I love Kuja because they gave you a reason to feel sorry for him. Then again I do like Kefka, because he's basically the most disturbing and dangerous and creepy villian I've ever seen in a video game. But I do prefer a villian, that gives you the touch of sorry's, because I'm a marshmallow.

 

[leeasato]

I love a good story, and especially
well evolved characters. I know sometimes it is hard in a video game medium to
give enough time to all the characters, but I feel it really helps contribute
to the necessity of why such character needs stopped, or why they snapped, or
how their a victim as much as the party, they just didn't have the same
chances. Many villains with backstories can be drawn parallel to other main
characters in their games.

GENERAL SPOILERS FOR VARIOUS MAIN TITLE GAMES

VI - To go through a couple, Kefka, was a sociopath, plain and simple, but
it can be argued that the experimentation is what destroyed his understanding
of worth to all living things. It made him absolutely crazy. I feel like he had
enough back story, not to pity him, but to understand how lucky Celes was,
having endured the same process later. Where Kefka suffered untold damage,
Celes managed to embrace, and choose to use what had been done to her to
instead save the world.

VII – Sephiroth, he was the perfect soldier, exactly what he was supposed
to be. He was a hero to all, everyone loved and revered him, everyone wanted to
join the military to meet him, to have a chance to be like him. He was a
product of human testing, and was successful till eventually he grew unstable
so to speak and exacerbated by the research notes he found and misunderstood.
Cloud in comparison, or even Zack, suffered similarly, in being guinea pigs of
Mako and Jenova cell research. Although not born with it, they were exposed to
high levels and cells, and survived. Again as with celes, a change in the same
process lead them to lead better lives, but arguable Cloud’s life was unstable
for majority of the game as well, but at the end he chose to fight Sephiroth as
much as Sephiroth chose to end life.

IX – Kuja again parallels Zidane who, again, was the second in an
experimental process. Where Kuja rebelled and snapped so to speak, Zidane never
knew of his origin until it was too late to hope he would fulfil his purpose.
Kuja accidently saved Zidane from the same fate he suffered, and in the end
Kuja atoned for what he had done. Which I agree with above makes him probably
one of the best villains due to his shot at redemption.

X- Seymour is very much like Yuna. Both came to being from a union of a
human and another race despised by Yevon. Yuna’s mother family cut ties to help
the family, Braska, although disgraced, continued on to become high summoner.
Giving Yuna a redeemable quality that helped people overlook Braska’s
transgressions. Seymour suffered instead, while Yuna was nurtured, even after
losing her family, Seymour was exiled with his dying mother, who sacrificed
hers(all he had in the world) in order to redeem him. Instead it leaves him with a twisted view of how unfair life is(all he knew in early years of
development), and traumatized by his experience in turn he, once recalled from
exile, attempts to instead destroy all life and end suffering. Yuna is directly
opposite, hoping to save lives, even for a short while, and relieve suffering.

I don’t want to ramble on more than that. But I find with things such as
the above it helps not only understand the villain, but flesh out the main
characters which leads to the general growth of the story and game. The
comparisons that can be drawn allow for both empathy(for circumstance of being)
and loathing(for what they could’ve done with their power)