SPOILERS Kuja: Truly Evil or Misguided Soul?

[Ice Prince]

BE ADVISED, THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE REGARDING THE STORY'S CONTEXT.


Well Kuja has always fascinated me, and is probably my favorite villain to discuss. I loved everything about him from his look, to his melodramatic personality.

I have personally always viewed Kuja as a misguided soul. Kuja was originally created to serve Garland and to be his "soul collector" on Gaia. However, Kuja had a soul as well, so obviously he had emotions and feelings.

But what has always puzzled me was the fact that Kuja was created to do his job as the angel of death. I would imagine it would be alot like a newborn child learning things as they got older. I'd assume Garland mentored him while he was growing up and teaching him how to use magic and such, and then when he was ready, he was cast out to do the job he was meant to do. If all you've ever known was a simple thing (in his case, gathering souls and such), it would be hard to break the habit I would imagine.

I know Zidane was obviously supposed to take his place one day, but that ended up falling through as we know. Zidane grew to become the protagonist and to stop Garland's schemes, but Kuja wasn't as fortunate.....I think he was already too far gone once he knew of Zidane's true role. Makes me wonder if he'd have turned out different if he'd of shared the same fate as Zidane (IE getting away from Terra at such a young age before Garland got ahold of him).

So that raises the question. Do you think Kuja is truly an evil being and always has been, or do you think his upbringing and original role of "angel of death" is what lead to the way he is?

Discussion is welcome.

 

[Gray Fox]

I believe this with everybody in existence. Your personality, goals, and what not are mostly determined, influenced, and guided by your surroundings. By where you grow up and who you grow up with. So yeah, sure I believe he could've been different if he grew up like Zidane, because he wouldn't have learned to be the way he was from Garland. On the other hand though, Zidane could've grown up to be evil if he was in Kuja's shoes from the start.

 

[Solidjuss]

I think he is a bit of both.Sure he has some evil in his spirit,but he isnt pure evil.He was raised to do his job and things went their way.He found a way to feel himself good by ruling world, while he could have friends and feel himself good by that way.Meaby he revenged to garland by destroying cities,by showing that its all Garlands fault that he has nothing but joy from killing.

 

[Saix]

'Evil' can be determined from the view of the beholder. Did either Garland or Kuja regard their motive to be evil? Both were created to serve a distinct purpose, and unto that purpose their life had meaning; to restore the life and prosperity of Terra. I personally regard evil as an act that is driven by no meaning or purpose - that it is done for the sake of doing it; Kuja did nothing because he "felt like it", just to further increase the effectiveness of Garland's ultimate purpose.

He was ultimately driven out of desperation and jealousy to

Spoiler

destroy the Crystal

, but I don't consider that evil either. His soul was still in his possession, and his overreaction clearly represents this; he was distraught at the notion of him being replaced, and ultimately destroyed - neither of which he had any control over.

Kuja, essentially, is just as much a victim as anyone. I can't help but pity him really.

 

[Sephiroth Crescent]

I truly think Kuja was just acting out on his purpose for creation. If you train a cock to fight(its legal here in Puerto Rico ^^) his natural instinct is to...fight! Kuja was created to be the temporary Angel of Death, so logically...

I think Kuja was evil by nature, but not by choice. At the end he was sorry about what he did, and claimed he didn't deserve to live. I think Kuja was(key-word) evil, but saw the light at the end.

It all comes down to how you see it, was Kuja a villian or victim?

Since Zidane was created to be the true Angel of Death, but then turned out to be the games Protagonist, theres really no disputing that Zidanes upbringing made all the difference. It kind of goes to show that theres good in everyone .


- Kuja

 

[Sephikross]

He wasn't soul'less, actually the point of his creation. Him having a soul gives him free will to choose his own path. If he was just acting out some play he had no control over, he wouldn't have killed Garland. Garland's fate was supposed to be at Danes hands, he said so himself I think after he commandeered the Invincible after Alexandrias destruction. Having a soul, as I've always said gives you liability. Your birth is proof of your guilt, in his case, the day you had a soul thrown into your zombie like shell of a body.

Besides, the soul he was given must have been one twisted puppy before it was recycled anyway. He's the biggest narcissistic sociopath I've ever seen. A thousand times cockier than Sephiroth.

Vote = Kuja's evil.

Side note: Zidane and Kimoto are both the EXACT same as Kuja, Zidane was supposed to be doing Kujas EXACT job, playing his EXACT role. You don't see him destroying Terra. Because he can't.

Zidane and Kuja were both on Gaia and Zidane doesn't act as Kuja, Kimoto and Kuja were both on Terra and Kimoto doesn't act as Kuja.


Mod Edit: Please refrain from double posting. If you wish to add more information please use the edit button found on the bottom of your posts. Thank you. =]

 

[Crescent]

I think Kuja was truly evil to a certain extend. When he found out about his limited lifespan, the first thing he thought about was destroying everything and everybody else, because he didn't think it fair others could live if he couldn't.

Compare this with Vivi's reaction when he found out he probably didn't have very long to live. He was depressed, but there was no talk of even deserting, let alone destroying others.

That said, Kujia found some redemption in the end, but there was a lot of anger and hate there that wasn't just the result from misguidedness.

 

[Archideas]

I myself think that Kuja is a misguided soul. He became what he was created to be. I kind of felt sad for Kuja when he found out he had a limited life span and was no more immortal than the Black Mages he himself created. Might be hard to imagine seeing as it's nothing that we can really know or feel, but seeing as he had created his own life thinking he was the ultimate being when he had thrown Zidane into Gaia, it must've been a heck of a shock when he heard he himself had a limited lifespan.

All he'd been doing would be for nought, so I can imagine why he'd gone berserk. To my relief when the ending scenes came up I was overjoyed to see him still being alive. Sadly he died shortly afterwards and I felt sad for him once again.

R.I.P Kuja.

 

[Aeon Teleos]

There is no such thing as pure evil, and Kuja demonstrated that in the end. Zidane himself understood his brother's plight when he said that he probably would have done the same if he was in Kuja's shoes.

So I think "misguided soul" describes Kuja fairly well. However, I really don't think Garland's design was the prime factor behind Kuja's destructively nihilstic attitude. It was Kuja's own free will that chose this path because of ignorance to what the meaning of life really was.

 

[Nikkolas]

I do believe evil exists in this world but that's not relevant as FFIX takes place in a fictional world.

In this world, there's no denying Kuja was bred for violence but it was violence to preserve the life of an entire race of people even if it did come at the cost of antoher planet's populace. However noble Garland's aims were, his methods were cruel and the way he treated Kuja was proof of that. So why Kuja's ambition was far more selfish than Garland, it wa sa byproduct of Garland's own actions.

Yet at the end Kuja saved the party and possibly the world. It took him his whole life and being near death to realize he could live passed his purpose as a weapon and could help people. By doing so he truly made his own destiny like he had always wanted to.

 

[SaShman]

I believe that Kuja was a misguided soul, Kuja was the only FF antagonist who I truly felt sorry for because he was specifically created for violence and I think he could have easily been on the good side if he was put in Zidane's position.

I really liked the fact that Kuja made peace with Zidane at the end as it showed that he wasn't pure evil.

 

[Coco]

I think Kuja was, in general "evil" for the fact that he chose to do all those things. Garland may have added to it to some extent, but ultimately, it was his choice to spread chaos. Given that he had a soul, thus he had free will. I also think that he may have lost his mind in the end. Unlike the other responses, I never felt pity for him. I look at what Vivi went through and so I don't see why Kuja couldn't have had the same mind set as he did. They were both made to carry out killings. They were both angel of deaths. Imo, Kuja just hungered for more power towards the end and when he found out his life had a deadline, he couldn't accept it, thus the evil in him emerged.