I love Kefka a lot, he's not just the most insane bad guy in Final Fantasy he's also very tragic Terra points out that his laughter sounds like crying. Kefka is unable to comphrend or think beyond destruction and chaos and most likely he knows that which is why he hates heroes so much. If I'm not mistaken wasn't it mentioned that before the expriments Kefka was implied to be a timid man? which makes the transformation all the more depressing
A streamer I watch named A_Raving_Loon did a pretty good analysis of Kefka's breakdown at the end of the game when presented with the party's "chapters from a self-help booklet." Loon posits that Kefka sees life as a joke that he doesn't get the punchline to. Everyone else seems to be having a good time and he literally can't comprehend how they do that. The party makes their statements to him and he blows it off because he's heard it all and he knows it's bunk. He is a clown that is not having fun. He is the sad Pagliacci.
Ted Woolsey pretty strongly misrepresented Kefka's character, made him the Joker. He's closer to Alex from A Clockwork Orange, a much more complex character than Woolsey (intentionally) chose to depict. But for that matter, most players complete miss the political satirical aspects of this game.
A consistent detail I've noticed in all of Kefka's 3d appearances (Dissidia, FFXIV, etc): The smile on his face is literally painted on... Sometimes, he does smile and laugh, sure, but only out of excitement, only when he's about to destroy something, or is actively in the process of destroying something... And I think that's a sobering thought: Kefka never genuinely smiles or laughs... Brings to mind something Firion said about Kefka in Dissidia: "I've never heard a sadder laugh..."
That's a good call, because both are nihilists as well with no real reason for what they do or why they do them. I think, at least, Freiza just wants total subjugation and The Joker just enjoys the back and forth with Batman, as that's fun for him. But Kefka has no real reason to do what he does. He feels like, if Joffrey (GoT) lived longer and gained magical powers. It would be an interesting story of heroes taking him down, but there'd be no real reason as to why he wanted power to begin with. It's fun, until it isn't.
Yeah, and I don't like it. But that's the danger of giving a character a voice after they've already been established. I personally always imagined him sounding more like Ace Ventura. His voice is a little too on the nose.
Kefka’s a nihilist, but there’s a certain point in a transition to nihilism where you have a choice: Either everything means nothing, so you should destroy it all, or everything means nothing, so screw it, let’s roll. He picked the former, but the latter is always a choice
He's a good illustration of anti personality disorder as well. Terra and the others couldn't make him understand the simple human goodness because he wasn't even human, he was an anti human. It literally meant nothing to him and it never could. Happiness, love, hope were alien lies that frustrated him to hatred.
That was a super unique aspect of him as a villain. I remember first playing it and thinking that was the end of the game not even thinking the world of ruin was going to be a thing
@luciano8158 No, the game was actually supposed to end with the returners having defeated the empire with the espers releases at the sealed gate and Emperor Gestahl being convinced he was wrong, then they go to Thamass to also convince the espers to live in peace as well, and I think Kefka would have been in jail. But they realized they had so much more room left they decided to expand on the game. That meant Kefka suceeded in becoming more godlike powerful. Whether the statues were added is not something In aware of. I'm not the foremost expert on this.
Kefka is truly one of my favorite video game villains and one of the most pitiful. The cost of gaining his powers made I impossible for him to find joy in anything other than pain and destruction. He accomplished his goals halfway through the story and suffered an existential crisis because of it.
Short answer Sephiroth is the diva, and i like the idea of giving love to the others sometimes. Lol. Long answer is i watched my best friend play 6 roughly the same time as i was introduced to 8. 8 until ff14 came out was my favorite ff in part due to beginning there. I always loved ultimecia so due to bias she was taking spot 2. And Sephiroth woulda taken spot 3 until Shadowbringers... and Endwalker. I got mad love for Sephiroth no denying that. These are just my personal order
I'd say, as far as the series is concerned, Kefka is hands down the greatest villain. He succeeded, he destroyed the world. No other big bad can make that claim.
I mean Kuja did also destroy the world of Terra, where Garland and his people came from. Disrupting the cycle of life and death between Gaia and Terra, flooding the other world with an excess of monster-producing Mist. But I can see how Kefka's acts of destruction are much more impactful.
Caius Ballad would like to have a word. Not only did he destroy the world in FF13-2 but Caius Alone holds the title of The Only Final Fantasy Villain who won. Even at the end of LR:13 Caius is still alive and still got everything he wanted. And there was nothing that could be done to stop him.
Does anyone remember the dude who Cosplayed Kefka and just nailed the role perfectly? This vid was probably from 10+ years ago, but his mannerisms will always stick with me!!!
It was a channel called Laugh Out Loud Filmworks (something like that) Just search for Kefka Cosplay and it should pop up. Loved those videos. Glad someone else remembers them
I think I know who your talking about. the guy that yelled "Mama's boy" at the Sephiroth cosplayer. the videos are still up on a channel called Laugh Out Loud Filmworks. coincidently I think he quit because of mental health problems.
Another possible reason for Kefka waiting is becuase he views the entire thing as a grand performance, fitting with his theatrical nature: There must be a climactic showdown in the final act between the heroes and the villain for the fate of the world. That's simply how it is done.
He literally tells you its a performance when you reach him. He says he's been practicing his greeting. He knew you'd make it, but he's a literal god at that point, he doesn't believe he can lose.
@@lazaroskarmaniolas7410 Its tired cliche of jrpg protags speaking in an inorganic way. Its not natural and more of a sentai way of speaking that is weird sounding in english. Even by the time that game came out it was already a cliche and it is very funny from that aspect.
@@joshshrum2764 Considering that the world is destroyed and they are still fighting. Exactly why it's so cool. It helps that as Cringy that trope is. The situation actually made it badass
@Zanfitto Well, Kefka basically call all of the heroes cringe because of their motivations to stop him and tried to reason with him... Even so, if you consider what they would had to pass in a broken world and move on
While Sephiroth is more iconic and excellent in his own right (and i hope he's covered one day), Kefka is easily the best villain the series has ever had. Nihilistic and crazy and he actually succeeded in his goals.
@@DevoutSkeptic Ha, came here to say this. Emet did have the advantage of having been in a story-driven MMO with lots of content being released to add to it, but the unfair advantage doesn't dismiss the fact that Emet is unquestionably the best.
@@chrishendry1031 Despite that, Emets stuff is all in the base story of that expansion. You have a little bit of insight from prior parts of the game but nothing on him and the info he brings in. That whole story is so good because it can be a totally solo game and succeed, at least imo
Kefka was indeed a monster. But a monster manufactured by the Gesthal Empire. It is similar to how Sephiroth was also manufactured by the Shin-ra Corporation. But unlike Kefka, Sephiroth was once admired and beloved. Only after he found out about his fabricated reality did he become a true monster. Both evil empires helped create two of the most iconic villains in the franchise.
Fun fact: Kefka is based on a real life writer: Franz Kefka who then gave us the adjective: Kafkaesque: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality. How fitting!
Ehh it’s a stretch also it’s KAFKA with an a not an e Kafka’s wrote about society through the lens of a nightmarish terror inducing and oppressive lens I can’t really see it overlapping with Kefka’s philosophy on destruction and the meaningless of life Kefka is more like an extremist version of Nietzsche nihilism where their is no meaning to life though that’s like I said an extreme way of looking at it
I remember playing FF6 (FF3 in the States at the time) and being absolutely intimidated to raid Kefka's Tower that I stopped playing FF6... began playing Chrono Trigger. Finished all of Chrono Trigger. And then had the courage to go back and take on Kefka's Tower to finally finish FF6. That's how much of an impression Kefka's evil left on me. That little sprite and his terrifying laugh are videogame legend!
He’s so fucking cool dude, seriously, this man’s reach in the media he enjoys and knows so much about is insane, I’m honestly always impressed by his breakdowns and his real deep knowledge of these characters, it shows just how real of a fan he is.
I think the scene with the guards cleaning Kefka’s boots is actually highly important for understanding his motivation and mentality. He never told them to clean his boots. He simply stated that they were dirty. They cleaned them without even being asked to do so. He hadn’t even considered ordering them to clean them. So, all he can do is laugh. And he laughs at how humans jump so quickly into subjugating themselves.
Also it's an impossible task anyway since they're in the DESERT. And he's pleased about till he calls them idiots. "God that was funny! The world is so stupid..."
That is a great observation that may have went over the majority of the heads of people who played this. It surely went over mine and may have taken me that much longer to notice that nuance had you not pointed that out. Good job, user!
I can see where you're coming from, but to me that always read as him *expecting* them to clean his boots. After all, he does stick out his feet to them as they hurry into position. As the video points out: Kefka's certainly got a reputation among the imperial soldiers. They may despise him for being a crazy weirdo, but they also know that he can - and will - kill them on a whim. Like what would you do if your commanding officer - someone you know is a murderous psychopath - looked at you and said "Ahem, there's SAND on my boots"? Personally I would take that to mean "clean the sand off or there's going to be a problem." As for laughing and calling them pathetic idiots...he's Kefka, he calls everyone pathetic idiots (and worse) while laughing. It's kinda his thing. :P
I love that you made a video on Kefka! I feel like many people mischaracterize him, so it's nice seeing such an in-depth analysis. I'd love to see you talk about Ex-Death/The Void at some point!
Amazing to finally hear Vile's take on the best villain in videogame's history. Agreed with the theory that part of him wished to be stopped in the end. That theory is backed by the last part of his final boss music, which is so full of sorrow and regret that I feel he finally realized how horrible what he did was. Or at least he respected the Returners enough to grant them one last chance to beat him before ending the world in a burst of laughter.
The sole fact that he didn't finish the job of completely destroying the world despite having the ultimate power to do it easily supports that headcanon. I believe that even in real life people who fall to that level of evil and nihilism know they are broken and can't be "fixed", so they indeed want to be stopped deep inside (and for that reason they get too reckless and commit "mistakes" which finally allow the "good guys" to kill/catch them).
In the last part of the song, he wanted to die, he wanted to be put out of his misery. Which is why someone with his powers was taken out easily. They didn’t defeat god Kefka, he lost the will to live. Every time I hear the last part, it make me question why the last part of the song is sad. And it quite tragic, he is tragic, but not redeemable. He didn’t die laughing, but in silence.
His final battle theme also says a lot about his personality as well. It’s starts off in hell and the music that plays is full of anger, despair and hopelessness. The second part is fittingly called purgatory, which sounds very circus like, I believe it’s how he views humanity and life itself. Nothing more than a sad joke. The third part sounds like something that would be played in a church, signifying his ascension to divinity. However if you listen closely you can hear his main theme being played during the song. Obviously saying I’m still the same mad man I was from the start of the game. And then comes the final part, which fitting starts with the opening title theme. Like this is what the entire game was leading up too and I fucking love it. The final part is so chaotic but has tones of sadness and loneliness. And finally when he’s defeated he just fades away…after everything he did and said he just disappears into nothingness…which is very sad honestly Good video btw🫡
The third movement is based on Paradise as the whole tower of the gods is based on The Divine Comedy. But you can also hear that as Kefka's theme bleeds into the third movement, it corrupts it and turns it from something heavenly into something more malicious.
I’ve never actually played Final Fantasy before, but I’ve heard of Kefka and how terrifying he is as a villain. He really is truly vile, and it surprised me how sadistic he is. Whenever you do the next tier list, he’s definitely got to be an S tier. Also, I know he is definitely a tad more comedic, but I think it would be really cool if you did a video on Aku from Samurai Jack. He’s one of my personal favorites and has so much personality.
Albert Wesker would be such a treat for an episode of Analyzing Evil since he is my favorite video game villain. Hopefully Vile Eye catches our two comments and works on that next lol.
@@ninjaboi230 Albert Wesker would make a great analysis. He’s one of the most evil, malicious villains in any video game. Not only does he betray everyone he ever worked with, but his ultimate goal is to infect the world with a horrible disease that would wipe out billions of people. And he’s doing it all not because he wants to make the world a better place, but because he wants absolute power and to get rid of people he thinks are unfit for living. That would be bad enough, but what really tops it all off is that the Uroboros disease either enhances you or kills you slowly and painfully based on your genetics- a factor people have no control over. It doesn't get much more evil than that.
Dancing Mad is one of my favorite musical pieces ever. It captures the grandiosity of Kefka's position, the madness that drives him, and the pitiful nature of his empty existence. I'll always applaud Square for having Kefka succeed. Very rarely does any media allow that. Usually, they'll show enough to establish the villain as threatening but they're ultimately defeated in a easy and uncostly manner. But in real life, bad guys often win; they might face consequences at some point but that's not guaranteed. I wish more stories would allow that, especially kid's media. I think it's good to show kids that you will fail, that your heroes will let you down; but, that doesn't mean you should give up, or that success is impossible. It's all about how you bounce back.
The thing I love so much about this game above the other Final Fantasy games is the reason why the main characters fight against Kefka. They aren't just trying to reestablish the status quo, they aren't just trying to stop some generic baddie from destroying/taking over the world. They've all had to sort through a seemingly meaningless life brought about by Kefka's destruction of the world and struggle to find something that gives meaning to it. Contrast that with Kefka, who has the strongest, most sound reason for his villainy of any FF antagonist I've encountered. He isn't some embodiment of nothingness that acts basically on instinct to bring existence into oblivion, he's thought long and hard about it and concluded that life is meaningless using internally consistent logic (if someone like him is the most powerful being in existence, and nothing is above him, what meaning IS there to life?).
@@zeppelincraft1443 if you rush the game he can be a bit hard but for the most part... yeah not that hard. I think RPGs should have scaleable final bosses in general, its too easy to become more powerful than intended.
MY GOD!! Kefka was one of my earliest suggestions for a villain on your channel and this showcases why he is one of the greatest villains in the FF series. He went from an experiment to the Mad Clown of an Empire to a God of Chaos and in the end he was made to be just that and his actions is what made him a patron of evil that needed to be stopped and he did the one thing that most villains failed countless times and that being he destroyed the world. My suggestions for your next video VE are as follows: -NFFA from the Purge Franchise -Handsome Jack from Borderlands -Obadiah Hakeswill from Sharpe
There are two things I would like to add that helped me to form my opinion of Kefka. First, there is a theory that Kefka was once Baram, Shadow's partner when they were traveling thieves. One of Baram's final comments is eerily similar to something Kefka says when he's injured in a fight. Shadow also leaps into battle with Kefka when the party runs for safety, despite having no obligation to them. There are holes in this theory, that prevent it from being tied water tight, I'll admit, but there's still enough ambiguity to imply that Baram was taken alive by the Empire when Clyde abandoned him and was subsequently experimented on, which Kefka canonically was, potentially driving him mad and effectively killing Baram. The second is that I played Final Fantasy Dissidia before I played Final Fantasy VI. Completing Terra's quest and fighting Kefka in the Void, Kefka's final words and Terra's lament of him being broken-hearted and in pain made me consider his nihilism in a different light. Kefka truly seems to me as someone who finds mortality and inevitability to be terrifying and dehumanizing, to the point that he cannot function unless he is causing some manner of discomfort, either annoyance or atrocity, to drive these thoughts from his mind. I do believe Kefka to be tragic and sympathetic in spite of the undeniably evil and unforgivable things he does. In essence, he's like an incurable mad dog struck with rabies and won't stop until he infects everyone with his madness, pain and suffering. Kefka is a character I feel relatable to and it frightens me how much of what he says and does makes perfect sense to me.
_"Life... dreams... hope... Where'd they come from? And where are they headed? These things... I am going to destroy!"_ Kefka has always been my favorite Final Fantasy villain, due to one important fact. He actually achieved his goal. The heroes defeated him at the end, yes, but he had already turned the world upside down for good, not to mention that magic dies alongside him. There's no 100% happy ending at the end, as the damage he inflicted is permanent and will never heal. 9:50 - We actually see him before, when he commands an assault on Narshe and he's the final opponent during this battle.
Yes, a villain that truly changed the world to his own liking, and wasn’t bored even after he stopped the heroes the first time, he kept on trucking and tearing the world up. He literally made some of our heroes feel so hopeless and a couple even contemplating suicide because of feeling that they couldn’t live in that new world. In the end, it’s really hope that stopped him, just that little drop of hope kept our heroes going.
My favorite FF villain. Him accomplishing his goal of conquering the world along with having one of the most awesome final boss themes in videogame history in Dancing Mad are two great reasons.
At a glance, you might think that Kefka hates the sight of his own blood because it’s a reminder that at his core, he is just like those he means to destroy, but it’s more than that. His over the top reaction betrays something much deeper than disgust with his own biology, he’s subconsciously afraid of it. Afraid of his own mortality? Not consciously, no. Kefka’s programmed mind won’t allow him to contemplate such things, lest he should realize the truth. His programming compels him to be repulsed by anything that could bring him peace. That’s why he reacts similarly to emotions as he does to the sight of his own blood. Ironically the more power Kefka gains, the further he gets from the one thing that could bring him the peace he is searching for… his own death.
13:25 small correction. Kefka does destroy Mobliz with the light of judgment, but South Figaro is still standing, and wasn't destroyed. Though he doesn't turn the light onto Tzen when you first enter the town in the world of ruin.
I love that you covered this man! Part of me hope this will send you on that path of more Videogame Villans like Handsome Jack from Borderlands or maybe the Tojo Clan from the Yakuza games
Great villain, so glad you're covering video games. Would you ever do A.M. from I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream? (from both the short story and the game)
A. M. from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream would be absolutely fantastic! It's my favorite short story, and I even keep an older computer alive specifically for that game, and others like the Monkey Island series and such. Yeah, yeah, I could just use DOS Box, but it's just not the same unless it's on original equipment!
"Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate." A.M. is the edgy teenager of A.I.s, but still absolutely terrifying.
This was the first final fantasy game I'd ever attempted to play so I am not too familiar with the character, but I know he's considered one of the greatest villains in video game history and I majorly appreciate him being an inclusion to the series.
Since you've gotten into doing video games as well, I've got a few suggestions that could be interesting: Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk 2077) The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2 & 3) Martin Walker (Spec Ops: The Line) And finally, Vaas (Far Cry 3 & Far Cry 6's DLC Vass: Insanity)
I was watching Analyzing Evil: Tony Soprano when I thought, it would be cool if someone did that for Kefka. Lo and behold I see that you already had. Nice stuff here!
Oh I was NOT expecting Kefka, a surprise to be sure... But a welcome one. I'll suggest it again, how about Analyzing Evil: Long John Silver from the original Treasure island novel?
@@NickOleksiakMusic Vayne doesn't get his props because he didn't appear in the game enough. It's not until the end of the game that you finally confront him. His goal of freeing man from the Occuria was really interesting. If Matsuno stayed on the project until the end, then I think Vayne would have been better executed.
@@Dzzy123 Man I always felt the narative was weird in ff12. like the story open many subjects and doesn't exploit them well. I'm sure the game suffer alot from matsuno leaving. Also imagine being the dude who though it would be a good idea to force a main characters in the game and the dude a NOTHING to do with any major villain of the story.
@@theflashgordon193 Vaan is somewhat of an interesting character if you see that he's supposed to represent the regular people that Ashe and Basch are fighting for.
So sad I can’t watch this one just yet, absolutely love your content and while I’ve watched this channel for content I haven’t seen before, I’ve sworn to not be spoiled on this game in particular. On that note, once I do beat the game, I will absolutely return to this review. I’m sure this one is an absolute banger so I’ll give this a like for insurance. All the love, Vile.
Great antagonist! Kefka is one of the best kinds of villains: An uncomfortably human character, unable to let go of the past. I'd love to see more video game villains! Rafe Adler from Uncharted 4, Malefor from the Spyro games, or Saren from Mass Effect would be amazing!
I don't think Rafe is evil though. Outside of that corrupt Prison Warden and Sam and Nate (who are thieves who've killed hundreds of people altogether) he isn't shown killing anyone else. Don't get me wrong, Rafe is a great villain and I like the video I saw breaking down him and his motivations but I can't call him straight up evil. Just obsessed and deranged with proving his worth to himself.
Yeah he's not like Lazarevic, but Rafe is definitely the scariest with his unhinged desire to kill Nathan just to prove himself. He probably was going to do the same to Sam and Nadine by the end.
Nice! One of the best villains of all time from one of the best games of all time. When i saw this in my sub feed, i couldn't click this video fast enough!
Thank you for this video. People always focus on Sephiroth, but he paled so badly in comparison (I actually played both 6 & 7 when they released) - even if Kefka’s archetype is ‘easy’ to categorize as an evil clown, he’s so well done & effective that it outclasses other, more ‘complex’ villains
YES!!! I’ve been waiting to see this. This is my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time and yes, Kefka is my favorite FF villain of all time too, and it’s because there are thousands of Kefka’s out in the real world nowadays and they have always existed since the beginning of humanity’s time on this planet and that’s a very scary thought. Real psychotic people that just want to hurt people and enjoy watching them suffer, and they do what they do because they can, this needs to be addressed because villains like this need to highlighted so that people don’t fall victim to their plight.
Nowadays? Those people have been around since the beginning of man. You just hear about them nonstop now because you have technology that keeps you connected to world events at all times.
@@slappytheclown4 I worded it kinda wrong yeah, since the beginning of HUMANITY so to speak, is when evil hearted people existed, they just want to watch the world burn and literally see the people burning in it to slowly burn in pain while alive in the flames because they enjoy the slow burn.
Awesome. I always found Kefka to be very underrated. I loved that game as a kid. That was probably the first game I was ever emotionally invested in. I really hope they do a remake of some sort.
Same. And not necessarly a technically fancy three parter remake like they're doing for VII. But imagine a tasteful 2D remake with the same kind of view and combats, but with a detailed pixel art world design and sprites inspired by Amano's paintings, and with the entire soundtrack recorded with a full orchestra, of course. Make it happen SquarEnix ! It wouldn't be that expensive or risky of a game to make.
Right now, you really don't. Square Enix has been infected by wokeness and corporate greed. What do I mean you ask? They did some crossover event with Chrono cross and some other gacha game thing and the graphics looked amazing, in that they announced they were going to redo Chrono cross one of my favorite games of all time and the one non MMORPG that I played for 10-plus years. When it finally released, because I've become skeptical of a lot of game companies, I waited a few weeks to see whether it had been altered in some way or not. They censored few parts of the game, the graphics overall were worse than what fans had done on emulators, there were more glitches than were in the original game. They literally just had an AI do a brief quick upscale and they threw it out. Claiming they were giving us a remaster of a beloved game. When the truth is, they censored some of the game, through in the radical dreamers which has admittedly been difficult to get ahold of, they threw some twenty-year-old paint on it called it new and said here you go consume consume consume! So long story short is I'm with you and the fact that I want them to redo some of the games that were older especially the chrono series, but right now all they'll do is get your expectations as high as possible and then they'll throw them in the trash, while demanding 30 to $60 for the trouble.
@@raielle Yeah, I get why you would be mad if you were hyped for this one. That remaster was really lazy, and I agree that Square became overtly greedy (big NFTs advocates too, unsurprisingly). Still, that dosen't mean they won't deliver good stuff or make things right from time to time. FF VI definitly deserves a full remake.
I've noticed that Kefka is the embodiment of nihilism and chaos While the heroes who defeat him hold ,ideals of hope and optimism. Through out the game we see all the heroes confront and face their trauma and past sins. From being abandoned as a child to losing their parents or loved ones to even watching their kingdoms and friends fall to the empire. They over came their sadness and even the end of the world to defeat Kefka who stayed stuck in a endless cycle of hopelessness and nihilism
Kefka was created, so other things humans had was so foreign to him that it would repulse him to hatred. Everything including his own biology freaked him out. He was too scared to kill himself, so he just decided to take the world down and make a show out of something that still didn't make him satisfied. He was so stuck with his nihilism that he never could learn outside of what he thought he knew, he stagnated himself while the heroes overcame and changed. He was a pitiful being that while he accomplish his objectives, was unable to see beyond his short sighted view. His defeat also took away the magic, but people will change and move forward.
Kefka’s character takes all of those classical tropes about villains like the tragic backstory and the morally ambiguous motive and throws them in the fire. And it’s beautiful.
I understand that Sephiroth is the most popular and Kuja is my personal favorite, but Kefka really is the BEST villain in FF If it weren't for the limitations of the SNES, they would have been able to paint a more vivid picture of just how DESTRUCTIVE and INSANE this man was Btw since we are doing remakes and all...
This is my favorite game ever, and that is completely because of when and where I was in life. That's kind of how favorites work. It's not because the game is amazing, but it was amazing to me at the time
I am overjoyed to see Kefka receiving the Vile Eye treatment. That lunatic was responsible for some of my fondest gaming memories. He was cartoonishly evil, and whenever you heard his theme you knew something very bad(yet somehow funny because he seems to be enjoying himself so much) was going to happen.
I hope he does more animated villains. Like Tighten from Megamind or something. That movie was the start of me realizing I was a "nice guy" and growing out of it.
One of the best moments in the game is when Leo and the gang are laughing together, and then you hear Kefka's laugh before he appears on screen. Goosebumps.
The only reason I was able to see Kefka in a different light where I would have never thought to before was funnily enough because of Onion Knight in FF:Dissidia. During one of the opening dialogues between Kefka and him is "You have such sad eyes" I cant put into words how much that short sentence makes me feel. There is a deep tragic sorrow of being too far gone to ever be saved I feel about him. Also hopefully this video is a clue about an upcoming video on a certain edgy mama's boy which I've been requesting for awhile now. Love the video and especially the series you've created, it's so cathartic hearing that restrained calculated tone going over some of the worst characters in media and their vile acts, I get the feeling you're like a shadow cloaked judge wearing a simple casual suit with some form of distortion or mask hiding your face and delivering the final verdict on the character in question bringing down a sentence based on their crimes and misdeeds befitting of their level of wickedness and their personal reasons for doing them.
Firion said something similar in his opening dialogue vs Kefka as well: "I've never heard a sadder laugh..." Also something the Dissidia series made me aware of (and that's been consistent throughout all of Kefka's 3d appearances): The smile on his face is literally painted on... Sometimes, he does smile and laugh, sure, but only out of excitement, only when he's about to destroy something, or is actively in the process of destroying something... And I think that's a rather sobering thought: Kefka never smiles or laughs out of genuine happiness...
I'm so happy you did one on Kefka, this is a great series and Kefka is such a great villain. I have a five foot poster of the Tower of Gods in my bedroom, such great imagery!
I'd love to see you cover Kuja or Caius from the Final Fantasy series. They're more sympathetic villains. Egil and Zanza from Xenoblade Chronicles might warrant a look, too.
This game is so good, truly a masterpiece above all else. This game is the most important thing in my life, I love it with all my heart. Cannot wait to play it with my future children.
So this is the second video game villain you have covered. Good to see you now covering villains from this medium. Never knew about FF6 or this villain. When I saw the thumbnail, it looked like a Homelander, Joker and Ronald McDonald hybrid fusion.
Yet another amazing villain. Kefka is definitely the best FF one followed by Seymour if you ask me. On a completely different note, I would like to see Loghain Mac Tir from Dragon Age Origins analyzed. He's definitely very interesting.
Next you should analyze Handsome Jack from the Borderlands saga, he is a villain that at first only gives us reasons to hate him, but as we know his past and the context of the events of the game, the more we sympathize and understand why he is the way he is and why he wants to do his goal in the game.
It's a crazy coincidence that today is they day I learned of this channel's existence, seeing as Kefka is my favorite villain of all time, from my second favorite game of all time.
I love these video game villain episodes!! If you get a chance, you should check out Saren from Mass Effect, Gwyn from Dark Souls, or Challus Mercer from Dead Space!
Download the FREE Upside App at upside.app.link/vile to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.
Do an episode on Roland Bishop from Juice please ! I appreciate your work
Can you please do Nino Brown from New Jack City?
Day 59 of asking the vile eye to do a video on Ra's Al Ghul from Nolans batman
Can u please do the hand from smash bros n the last of us girl n devil cry baby satan
The vile eye please do a video on shaokahn form mortal Kombat
I love Kefka a lot, he's not just the most insane bad guy in Final Fantasy he's also very tragic Terra points out that his laughter sounds like crying. Kefka is unable to comphrend or think beyond destruction and chaos and most likely he knows that which is why he hates heroes so much. If I'm not mistaken wasn't it mentioned that before the expriments Kefka was implied to be a timid man? which makes the transformation all the more depressing
A streamer I watch named A_Raving_Loon did a pretty good analysis of Kefka's breakdown at the end of the game when presented with the party's "chapters from a self-help booklet." Loon posits that Kefka sees life as a joke that he doesn't get the punchline to. Everyone else seems to be having a good time and he literally can't comprehend how they do that. The party makes their statements to him and he blows it off because he's heard it all and he knows it's bunk. He is a clown that is not having fun. He is the sad Pagliacci.
And when you see Kefka's height (167 cm) and weight (48kgs) its just sad. The guy is so depressed he doesn't even eat.
Ted Woolsey pretty strongly misrepresented Kefka's character, made him the Joker. He's closer to Alex from A Clockwork Orange, a much more complex character than Woolsey (intentionally) chose to depict. But for that matter, most players complete miss the political satirical aspects of this game.
A consistent detail I've noticed in all of Kefka's 3d appearances (Dissidia, FFXIV, etc): The smile on his face is literally painted on... Sometimes, he does smile and laugh, sure, but only out of excitement, only when he's about to destroy something, or is actively in the process of destroying something... And I think that's a sobering thought: Kefka never genuinely smiles or laughs... Brings to mind something Firion said about Kefka in Dissidia: "I've never heard a sadder laugh..."
Kefka with voice acting is like a cross between Frieza and The Joker
That's a good call, because both are nihilists as well with no real reason for what they do or why they do them.
I think, at least, Freiza just wants total subjugation and The Joker just enjoys the back and forth with Batman, as that's fun for him.
But Kefka has no real reason to do what he does.
He feels like, if Joffrey (GoT) lived longer and gained magical powers.
It would be an interesting story of heroes taking him down, but there'd be no real reason as to why he wanted power to begin with.
It's fun, until it isn't.
Looked him up, and apparently he does the voice for Kakashi in Naruto. I totally couldn't tell it was him until he said the "Beyond the Chaos" line
Man that’s a terrifying combination
He's got Joker's nihilism and sick sense of humour and Frieza's power.
Yeah, and I don't like it. But that's the danger of giving a character a voice after they've already been established. I personally always imagined him sounding more like Ace Ventura. His voice is a little too on the nose.
Kefka is the object lesson in "your trauma is not your fault, but it is your responsibility."
Kefka’s a nihilist, but there’s a certain point in a transition to nihilism where you have a choice: Either everything means nothing, so you should destroy it all, or everything means nothing, so screw it, let’s roll. He picked the former, but the latter is always a choice
nice
More like "your trauma is not your fault, but it is your burden to carry."
big brain comment
He's a good illustration of anti personality disorder as well. Terra and the others couldn't make him understand the simple human goodness because he wasn't even human, he was an anti human. It literally meant nothing to him and it never could. Happiness, love, hope were alien lies that frustrated him to hatred.
The villain who actually accomplished his goal...and did it halfway into the game.
That was a super unique aspect of him as a villain. I remember first playing it and thinking that was the end of the game not even thinking the world of ruin was going to be a thing
@johno1544
Fun fact, the game was intended to be shorter but Square realized they had a lot of memory left so added much more
@@CurlyFromTheSwirly so does that mean the game was supposed to end with him accomplishing his goal half way through?
@luciano8158
No, the game was actually supposed to end with the returners having defeated the empire with the espers releases at the sealed gate and Emperor Gestahl being convinced he was wrong, then they go to Thamass to also convince the espers to live in peace as well, and I think Kefka would have been in jail.
But they realized they had so much more room left they decided to expand on the game. That meant Kefka suceeded in becoming more godlike powerful.
Whether the statues were added is not something In aware of. I'm not the foremost expert on this.
Kefka is truly one of my favorite video game villains and one of the most pitiful. The cost of gaining his powers made I impossible for him to find joy in anything other than pain and destruction. He accomplished his goals halfway through the story and suffered an existential crisis because of it.
Kefka Ultimcia Emet Selch and Sephiroth in that order for me
@@johnoliver4469 Sephiroth last? Woah, that needs an explanation if you don’t mind
Short answer Sephiroth is the diva, and i like the idea of giving love to the others sometimes. Lol. Long answer is i watched my best friend play 6 roughly the same time as i was introduced to 8. 8 until ff14 came out was my favorite ff in part due to beginning there. I always loved ultimecia so due to bias she was taking spot 2. And Sephiroth woulda taken spot 3 until Shadowbringers... and Endwalker. I got mad love for Sephiroth no denying that. These are just my personal order
@@johnoliver4469 you implied that you like 14? Not judging just surprised to the point where I’m asking for clarification.
@@pigmasters3263 i love 14.
I'd say, as far as the series is concerned, Kefka is hands down the greatest villain. He succeeded, he destroyed the world. No other big bad can make that claim.
I mean Kuja did also destroy the world of Terra, where Garland and his people came from. Disrupting the cycle of life and death between Gaia and Terra, flooding the other world with an excess of monster-producing Mist. But I can see how Kefka's acts of destruction are much more impactful.
@@Sh0tgunJust1ce I was talking specifically about the FF series, as stated in the opening.
@@tonts5329 Kuja was severely underrated imo.
Gwyn did the same thing, only his apocalypse was worse.
Caius Ballad would like to have a word. Not only did he destroy the world in FF13-2 but Caius Alone holds the title of The Only Final Fantasy Villain who won. Even at the end of LR:13 Caius is still alive and still got everything he wanted. And there was nothing that could be done to stop him.
Kefka saying to Ultimecia in Dissidia "Changing time to hide those wrinkles?" Is the ultimate smackdown and I love it.
Does anyone remember the dude who Cosplayed Kefka and just nailed the role perfectly? This vid was probably from 10+ years ago, but his mannerisms will always stick with me!!!
Captain Jack Sparrow is just kefka without the powers.
I've heard of this cosplayer but never seen the video
It was a channel called Laugh Out Loud Filmworks (something like that) Just search for Kefka Cosplay and it should pop up. Loved those videos. Glad someone else remembers them
I think I know who your talking about. the guy that yelled "Mama's boy" at the Sephiroth cosplayer. the videos are still up on a channel called Laugh Out Loud Filmworks.
coincidently I think he quit because of mental health problems.
@@MrLFJ7 Well I have a treat for you then my good friend ua-cam.com/video/2TRGt6QpMv8/v-deo.html
Another possible reason for Kefka waiting is becuase he views the entire thing as a grand performance, fitting with his theatrical nature: There must be a climactic showdown in the final act between the heroes and the villain for the fate of the world. That's simply how it is done.
He doesn't wait. He hides. He tried to kill Celes at Tzen, but couldn't aim the beam well enough. He trash talks because he's cornered.
He literally tells you its a performance when you reach him. He says he's been practicing his greeting. He knew you'd make it, but he's a literal god at that point, he doesn't believe he can lose.
Kefka is the only one that managed to pull off the villain end goal: destroying the world and remaking it in his own image.
Dragon quest 11 villain.
Gauntlet Thanos. Emperor Joker. Spider Carnage almost
Kefka is one of the few characters to call out the heroes after doing the whole "I fight for love!" to tone down the cringe.
Truly our guy.
@@lazaroskarmaniolas7410 Its tired cliche of jrpg protags speaking in an inorganic way. Its not natural and more of a sentai way of speaking that is weird sounding in english.
Even by the time that game came out it was already a cliche and it is very funny from that aspect.
But the party clinging to life is badass because it’s like they won’t let everything die.
@@joshshrum2764 Considering that the world is destroyed and they are still fighting.
Exactly why it's so cool. It helps that as Cringy that trope is. The situation actually made it badass
@Zanfitto Well, Kefka basically call all of the heroes cringe because of their motivations to stop him and tried to reason with him... Even so, if you consider what they would had to pass in a broken world and move on
@@dakchan1214 Your mom.
Kefka is pure gold as a villain, thank you so much for making a video about him.
While Sephiroth is more iconic and excellent in his own right (and i hope he's covered one day), Kefka is easily the best villain the series has ever had. Nihilistic and crazy and he actually succeeded in his goals.
Emet-Selch is the best FF villain imo
@@DevoutSkeptic Ha, came here to say this. Emet did have the advantage of having been in a story-driven MMO with lots of content being released to add to it, but the unfair advantage doesn't dismiss the fact that Emet is unquestionably the best.
@@chrishendry1031 I've never cried after defeating the main villain other than Emet-Selch.
@@DevoutSkeptic He’s such a good villain that’s it’s kinda hard to call him one. He’s just an antagonist for me, especially knowing the motives.
@@chrishendry1031 Despite that, Emets stuff is all in the base story of that expansion. You have a little bit of insight from prior parts of the game but nothing on him and the info he brings in. That whole story is so good because it can be a totally solo game and succeed, at least imo
Kefka was indeed a monster. But a monster manufactured by the Gesthal Empire.
It is similar to how Sephiroth was also manufactured by the Shin-ra Corporation. But unlike Kefka, Sephiroth was once admired and beloved. Only after he found out about his fabricated reality did he become a true monster.
Both evil empires helped create two of the most iconic villains in the franchise.
Finally! You showed Kefka in your first video, and I've had to wait through a hundred and eleven other villains for you to get to him!
Same here! Well worth the wait, I'd say
Fun fact: Kefka is based on a real life writer: Franz Kefka who then gave us the adjective: Kafkaesque: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality. How fitting!
Franz Kafka though...not Kefka.
Ehh it’s a stretch also it’s KAFKA with an a not an e
Kafka’s wrote about society through the lens of a nightmarish terror inducing and oppressive lens
I can’t really see it overlapping with Kefka’s philosophy on destruction and the meaningless of life
Kefka is more like an extremist version of Nietzsche nihilism where their is no meaning to life though that’s like I said an extreme way of looking at it
I remember playing FF6 (FF3 in the States at the time) and being absolutely intimidated to raid Kefka's Tower that I stopped playing FF6... began playing Chrono Trigger. Finished all of Chrono Trigger. And then had the courage to go back and take on Kefka's Tower to finally finish FF6.
That's how much of an impression Kefka's evil left on me. That little sprite and his terrifying laugh are videogame legend!
I was so happy to see this in my feed. I love Kekfa, and I love The Vile Eye. That's a double love combo.
He’s so fucking cool dude, seriously, this man’s reach in the media he enjoys and knows so much about is insane, I’m honestly always impressed by his breakdowns and his real deep knowledge of these characters, it shows just how real of a fan he is.
I think the scene with the guards cleaning Kefka’s boots is actually highly important for understanding his motivation and mentality.
He never told them to clean his boots. He simply stated that they were dirty. They cleaned them without even being asked to do so. He hadn’t even considered ordering them to clean them.
So, all he can do is laugh. And he laughs at how humans jump so quickly into subjugating themselves.
And you know what. He is pleased as punch when they do it.
Also it's an impossible task anyway since they're in the DESERT. And he's pleased about till he calls them idiots.
"God that was funny! The world is so stupid..."
That is a great observation that may have went over the majority of the heads of people who played this. It surely went over mine and may have taken me that much longer to notice that nuance had you not pointed that out. Good job, user!
I can see where you're coming from, but to me that always read as him *expecting* them to clean his boots. After all, he does stick out his feet to them as they hurry into position. As the video points out: Kefka's certainly got a reputation among the imperial soldiers. They may despise him for being a crazy weirdo, but they also know that he can - and will - kill them on a whim.
Like what would you do if your commanding officer - someone you know is a murderous psychopath - looked at you and said "Ahem, there's SAND on my boots"? Personally I would take that to mean "clean the sand off or there's going to be a problem."
As for laughing and calling them pathetic idiots...he's Kefka, he calls everyone pathetic idiots (and worse) while laughing. It's kinda his thing. :P
@@ruggedlemmings9163 this gives a better insight to that entire scene in reference.
I love that you made a video on Kefka! I feel like many people mischaracterize him, so it's nice seeing such an in-depth analysis. I'd love to see you talk about Ex-Death/The Void at some point!
Amazing to finally hear Vile's take on the best villain in videogame's history.
Agreed with the theory that part of him wished to be stopped in the end. That theory is backed by the last part of his final boss music, which is so full of sorrow and regret that I feel he finally realized how horrible what he did was.
Or at least he respected the Returners enough to grant them one last chance to beat him before ending the world in a burst of laughter.
The sole fact that he didn't finish the job of completely destroying the world despite having the ultimate power to do it easily supports that headcanon.
I believe that even in real life people who fall to that level of evil and nihilism know they are broken and can't be "fixed", so they indeed want to be stopped deep inside (and for that reason they get too reckless and commit "mistakes" which finally allow the "good guys" to kill/catch them).
@@Sextus70certainly an argument to be made there. Serial killers are often recorded saying as much when they are finally caught.
Kefka's laugh is so good it was used in numerous memes. Including Sonic.exe.
Sonic.exe sux. This character is bad, just like his creator.
Nah just the creator sucks.
In the last part of the song, he wanted to die, he wanted to be put out of his misery. Which is why someone with his powers was taken out easily. They didn’t defeat god Kefka, he lost the will to live. Every time I hear the last part, it make me question why the last part of the song is sad. And it quite tragic, he is tragic, but not redeemable. He didn’t die laughing, but in silence.
@@Abcq755 easy??? yes if you are overleveled (above level 70)
But if you are underleveled? Better to prepare your reraise and arise
His dissidia VA absolutely channeled Mark Hamill, and I'm all for it. It's perfect.
His final battle theme also says a lot about his personality as well. It’s starts off in hell and the music that plays is full of anger, despair and hopelessness. The second part is fittingly called purgatory, which sounds very circus like, I believe it’s how he views humanity and life itself. Nothing more than a sad joke. The third part sounds like something that would be played in a church, signifying his ascension to divinity. However if you listen closely you can hear his main theme being played during the song. Obviously saying I’m still the same mad man I was from the start of the game. And then comes the final part, which fitting starts with the opening title theme. Like this is what the entire game was leading up too and I fucking love it. The final part is so chaotic but has tones of sadness and loneliness. And finally when he’s defeated he just fades away…after everything he did and said he just disappears into nothingness…which is very sad honestly
Good video btw🫡
The third movement is based on Paradise as the whole tower of the gods is based on The Divine Comedy. But you can also hear that as Kefka's theme bleeds into the third movement, it corrupts it and turns it from something heavenly into something more malicious.
Yea I’m my opinion dancing mad should be classified in the levels of Mozart.
I’ve never actually played Final Fantasy before, but I’ve heard of Kefka and how terrifying he is as a villain. He really is truly vile, and it surprised me how sadistic he is. Whenever you do the next tier list, he’s definitely got to be an S tier.
Also, I know he is definitely a tad more comedic, but I think it would be really cool if you did a video on Aku from Samurai Jack. He’s one of my personal favorites and has so much personality.
I would comment
but I have to get back.
Kefka is such a classic villain.😺
Sephiroth, the king of being gaslit sounds like a promising continuation here.
The man. The myth. The legend.
Porky Minch would be a good video. And finally your voice gives this monster the respect and dread he deserves.
Thank you.
And may that brat rot in his perpetual coffin
Yes!
Oh that one means business
Glad to see more video game villains getting covered! I hope one day you cover Albert Wesker from Resident Evil as well.
Albert Wesker would be such a treat for an episode of Analyzing Evil since he is my favorite video game villain. Hopefully Vile Eye catches our two comments and works on that next lol.
@@ninjaboi230 Albert Wesker would make a great analysis. He’s one of the most evil, malicious villains in any video game. Not only does he betray everyone he ever worked with, but his ultimate goal is to infect the world with a horrible disease that would wipe out billions of people. And he’s doing it all not because he wants to make the world a better place, but because he wants absolute power and to get rid of people he thinks are unfit for living. That would be bad enough, but what really tops it all off is that the Uroboros disease either enhances you or kills you slowly and painfully based on your genetics- a factor people have no control over. It doesn't get much more evil than that.
Dancing Mad is one of my favorite musical pieces ever. It captures the grandiosity of Kefka's position, the madness that drives him, and the pitiful nature of his empty existence.
I'll always applaud Square for having Kefka succeed. Very rarely does any media allow that. Usually, they'll show enough to establish the villain as threatening but they're ultimately defeated in a easy and uncostly manner. But in real life, bad guys often win; they might face consequences at some point but that's not guaranteed. I wish more stories would allow that, especially kid's media. I think it's good to show kids that you will fail, that your heroes will let you down; but, that doesn't mean you should give up, or that success is impossible. It's all about how you bounce back.
One of the greatest villains of all time.
Fun fact: "Kefka" means "little brush" in Slovak, usually used for "toothbrush".
The thing I love so much about this game above the other Final Fantasy games is the reason why the main characters fight against Kefka. They aren't just trying to reestablish the status quo, they aren't just trying to stop some generic baddie from destroying/taking over the world. They've all had to sort through a seemingly meaningless life brought about by Kefka's destruction of the world and struggle to find something that gives meaning to it.
Contrast that with Kefka, who has the strongest, most sound reason for his villainy of any FF antagonist I've encountered. He isn't some embodiment of nothingness that acts basically on instinct to bring existence into oblivion, he's thought long and hard about it and concluded that life is meaningless using internally consistent logic (if someone like him is the most powerful being in existence, and nothing is above him, what meaning IS there to life?).
His fight in FF14's Omega raid tier was amazing too, genuinely good fight and the Savage Tier was incredible.
The only part about Kefka which is bad is his game strength as a final boss in FF6. FF14 does great demonstration.
@@zeppelincraft1443 if you rush the game he can be a bit hard but for the most part... yeah not that hard. I think RPGs should have scaleable final bosses in general, its too easy to become more powerful than intended.
MY GOD!! Kefka was one of my earliest suggestions for a villain on your channel and this showcases why he is one of the greatest villains in the FF series. He went from an experiment to the Mad Clown of an Empire to a God of Chaos and in the end he was made to be just that and his actions is what made him a patron of evil that needed to be stopped and he did the one thing that most villains failed countless times and that being he destroyed the world.
My suggestions for your next video VE are as follows:
-NFFA from the Purge Franchise
-Handsome Jack from Borderlands
-Obadiah Hakeswill from Sharpe
0:03 This is what you hear, when you walk by an open window at Square/Enix.
There are two things I would like to add that helped me to form my opinion of Kefka.
First, there is a theory that Kefka was once Baram, Shadow's partner when they were traveling thieves. One of Baram's final comments is eerily similar to something Kefka says when he's injured in a fight. Shadow also leaps into battle with Kefka when the party runs for safety, despite having no obligation to them. There are holes in this theory, that prevent it from being tied water tight, I'll admit, but there's still enough ambiguity to imply that Baram was taken alive by the Empire when Clyde abandoned him and was subsequently experimented on, which Kefka canonically was, potentially driving him mad and effectively killing Baram.
The second is that I played Final Fantasy Dissidia before I played Final Fantasy VI. Completing Terra's quest and fighting Kefka in the Void, Kefka's final words and Terra's lament of him being broken-hearted and in pain made me consider his nihilism in a different light. Kefka truly seems to me as someone who finds mortality and inevitability to be terrifying and dehumanizing, to the point that he cannot function unless he is causing some manner of discomfort, either annoyance or atrocity, to drive these thoughts from his mind. I do believe Kefka to be tragic and sympathetic in spite of the undeniably evil and unforgivable things he does. In essence, he's like an incurable mad dog struck with rabies and won't stop until he infects everyone with his madness, pain and suffering.
Kefka is a character I feel relatable to and it frightens me how much of what he says and does makes perfect sense to me.
_"Life... dreams... hope... Where'd they come from? And where are they headed? These things... I am going to destroy!"_
Kefka has always been my favorite Final Fantasy villain, due to one important fact. He actually achieved his goal. The heroes defeated him at the end, yes, but he had already turned the world upside down for good, not to mention that magic dies alongside him. There's no 100% happy ending at the end, as the damage he inflicted is permanent and will never heal.
9:50 - We actually see him before, when he commands an assault on Narshe and he's the final opponent during this battle.
Yes, a villain that truly changed the world to his own liking, and wasn’t bored even after he stopped the heroes the first time, he kept on trucking and tearing the world up.
He literally made some of our heroes feel so hopeless and a couple even contemplating suicide because of feeling that they couldn’t live in that new world.
In the end, it’s really hope that stopped him, just that little drop of hope kept our heroes going.
This was a pleasant surprise of a choice for one of your vile eye videos. Great content and diversity!
This is easily the most pleasant surprise I've seen from your series (which I LOVE in general). Thank you for this.
My favorite FF villain. Him accomplishing his goal of conquering the world along with having one of the most awesome final boss themes in videogame history in Dancing Mad are two great reasons.
At a glance, you might think that Kefka hates the sight of his own blood because it’s a reminder that at his core, he is just like those he means to destroy, but it’s more than that. His over the top reaction betrays something much deeper than disgust with his own biology, he’s subconsciously afraid of it. Afraid of his own mortality? Not consciously, no. Kefka’s programmed mind won’t allow him to contemplate such things, lest he should realize the truth. His programming compels him to be repulsed by anything that could bring him peace. That’s why he reacts similarly to emotions as he does to the sight of his own blood.
Ironically the more power Kefka gains, the further he gets from the one thing that could bring him the peace he is searching for… his own death.
Handsome Jack would make for a great episode.
Also a Halo villain would be perfect for episode 117.
Nice to see more video game villains! Hope we get to see ones like Count Bleck, Dimentio, Volo, etc.
13:25 small correction. Kefka does destroy Mobliz with the light of judgment, but South Figaro is still standing, and wasn't destroyed. Though he doesn't turn the light onto Tzen when you first enter the town in the world of ruin.
I love that you covered this man! Part of me hope this will send you on that path of more Videogame Villans like Handsome Jack from Borderlands or maybe the Tojo Clan from the Yakuza games
The Tojo clan is such a great shoutout
Yes please do the Tojo Clan!
Great villain, so glad you're covering video games.
Would you ever do A.M. from I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream? (from both the short story and the game)
A. M. from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream would be absolutely fantastic! It's my favorite short story, and I even keep an older computer alive specifically for that game, and others like the Monkey Island series and such. Yeah, yeah, I could just use DOS Box, but it's just not the same unless it's on original equipment!
"Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate."
A.M. is the edgy teenager of A.I.s, but still absolutely terrifying.
One of the best villain's in gaming I will say
Good news
This was the first final fantasy game I'd ever attempted to play so I am not too familiar with the character, but I know he's considered one of the greatest villains in video game history and I majorly appreciate him being an inclusion to the series.
Since you've gotten into doing video games as well, I've got a few suggestions that could be interesting:
Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk 2077)
The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2 & 3)
Martin Walker (Spec Ops: The Line)
And finally, Vaas (Far Cry 3 & Far Cry 6's DLC Vass: Insanity)
I’ve been waiting for this one. Sabin and Edgar are underrated protagonists as well.
I was watching Analyzing Evil: Tony Soprano when I thought, it would be cool if someone did that for Kefka. Lo and behold I see that you already had. Nice stuff here!
Oh I was NOT expecting Kefka, a surprise to be sure... But a welcome one. I'll suggest it again, how about Analyzing Evil: Long John Silver from the original Treasure island novel?
By far the best villian Final Fantasy has ever had.
Gotta agree. A lot of people really like Sephiroth, but it was Kefka who really stuck with me as the most evil character in all of FF history.
He's not my favorite, but he is definitally the best of the nintendo era at least.
I really like exdeath, he is a big angry tree.
Shout out to "Every Group Outside of Ramza's Party" from Final Fantasy Tactics.
@@DeviantDespot exdeath voice acting stick with for years. Also his ultimate who stop the song
Ah yes, KEFKA. Loved your Yu Yevon video, this should be a banger. Hopefully you cover Sephiroth, Vayne, and Barthandelus some day also!
@@NickOleksiakMusic Vayne doesn't get his props because he didn't appear in the game enough. It's not until the end of the game that you finally confront him. His goal of freeing man from the Occuria was really interesting. If Matsuno stayed on the project until the end, then I think Vayne would have been better executed.
@@Dzzy123 Man I always felt the narative was weird in ff12. like the story open many subjects and doesn't exploit them well. I'm sure the game suffer alot from matsuno leaving.
Also imagine being the dude who though it would be a good idea to force a main characters in the game and the dude a NOTHING to do with any major villain of the story.
@@theflashgordon193 Vaan is somewhat of an interesting character if you see that he's supposed to represent the regular people that Ashe and Basch are fighting for.
@@Dzzy123 interesting take, still no enough to justify is existence imo but I like it
Thank you for some XIII love on your comment
I really missed your series and I look forward to see your take on the Final Fantasy Villains.
So sad I can’t watch this one just yet, absolutely love your content and while I’ve watched this channel for content I haven’t seen before, I’ve sworn to not be spoiled on this game in particular.
On that note, once I do beat the game, I will absolutely return to this review. I’m sure this one is an absolute banger so I’ll give this a like for insurance. All the love, Vile.
its a great game you wont be disappointed
Amazing analysis. 'Why cling to life knowing everything must die?'
Great antagonist! Kefka is one of the best kinds of villains: An uncomfortably human character, unable to let go of the past.
I'd love to see more video game villains! Rafe Adler from Uncharted 4, Malefor from the Spyro games, or Saren from Mass Effect would be amazing!
I don't think Rafe is evil though. Outside of that corrupt Prison Warden and Sam and Nate (who are thieves who've killed hundreds of people altogether) he isn't shown killing anyone else. Don't get me wrong, Rafe is a great villain and I like the video I saw breaking down him and his motivations but I can't call him straight up evil. Just obsessed and deranged with proving his worth to himself.
Excuse me Michael, but is kefka your favorite villain on the Citadel?
I'm Commander Shepard and Kefka is definitely a contender for the greatest villain on the Citadel.
Best part of Blasto 8: Blasto cures the genophage!
Yeah he's not like Lazarevic, but Rafe is definitely the scariest with his unhinged desire to kill Nathan just to prove himself. He probably was going to do the same to Sam and Nadine by the end.
@@michaelkaduck1915 lol
Nice! One of the best villains of all time from one of the best games of all time. When i saw this in my sub feed, i couldn't click this video fast enough!
Thank you for this video. People always focus on Sephiroth, but he paled so badly in comparison (I actually played both 6 & 7 when they released) - even if Kefka’s archetype is ‘easy’ to categorize as an evil clown, he’s so well done & effective that it outclasses other, more ‘complex’ villains
EP 111 wow, I remember when there was 16 episodes of this series. How the channel has grown, so awesome to see!
YES!!!
I’ve been waiting to see this.
This is my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time and yes, Kefka is my favorite FF villain of all time too, and it’s because there are thousands of Kefka’s out in the real world nowadays and they have always existed since the beginning of humanity’s time on this planet and that’s a very scary thought.
Real psychotic people that just want to hurt people and enjoy watching them suffer, and they do what they do because they can, this needs to be addressed because villains like this need to highlighted so that people don’t fall victim to their plight.
Nowadays? Those people have been around since the beginning of man. You just hear about them nonstop now because you have technology that keeps you connected to world events at all times.
@@slappytheclown4 I worded it kinda wrong yeah, since the beginning of HUMANITY so to speak, is when evil hearted people existed, they just want to watch the world burn and literally see the people burning in it to slowly burn in pain while alive in the flames because they enjoy the slow burn.
Great video. Kefka for me is the Joker of the Final fantasy universe. Would realy love a video about Sephiroth!
Awesome. I always found Kefka to be very underrated. I loved that game as a kid. That was probably the first game I was ever emotionally invested in. I really hope they do a remake of some sort.
Same. And not necessarly a technically fancy three parter remake like they're doing for VII. But imagine a tasteful 2D remake with the same kind of view and combats, but with a detailed pixel art world design and sprites inspired by Amano's paintings, and with the entire soundtrack recorded with a full orchestra, of course.
Make it happen SquarEnix ! It wouldn't be that expensive or risky of a game to make.
@@redjakOfficial heck yeah. Same with Chrono trigger and other older titles
Right now, you really don't. Square Enix has been infected by wokeness and corporate greed.
What do I mean you ask? They did some crossover event with Chrono cross and some other gacha game thing and the graphics looked amazing, in that they announced they were going to redo Chrono cross one of my favorite games of all time and the one non MMORPG that I played for 10-plus years.
When it finally released, because I've become skeptical of a lot of game companies, I waited a few weeks to see whether it had been altered in some way or not.
They censored few parts of the game, the graphics overall were worse than what fans had done on emulators, there were more glitches than were in the original game. They literally just had an AI do a brief quick upscale and they threw it out. Claiming they were giving us a remaster of a beloved game.
When the truth is, they censored some of the game, through in the radical dreamers which has admittedly been difficult to get ahold of, they threw some twenty-year-old paint on it called it new and said here you go consume consume consume!
So long story short is I'm with you and the fact that I want them to redo some of the games that were older especially the chrono series, but right now all they'll do is get your expectations as high as possible and then they'll throw them in the trash, while demanding 30 to $60 for the trouble.
@@raielle Yeah, I get why you would be mad if you were hyped for this one. That remaster was really lazy, and I agree that Square became overtly greedy (big NFTs advocates too, unsurprisingly). Still, that dosen't mean they won't deliver good stuff or make things right from time to time.
FF VI definitly deserves a full remake.
Good choice, I feel like this is a video I've already watched, because it's the kind of material you'd make a good video on.
Probably the most evil Final Fantasy villain of all time!
Kefka is by far my favorite vilain in the FF franchise, i'm so glad you picked him, he is an amazing character !
I've noticed that Kefka is the embodiment of nihilism and chaos
While the heroes who defeat him hold ,ideals of hope and optimism. Through out the game we see all the heroes confront and face their trauma and past sins. From being abandoned as a child to losing their parents or loved ones to even watching their kingdoms and friends fall to the empire. They over came their sadness and even the end of the world to defeat Kefka who stayed stuck in a endless cycle of hopelessness and nihilism
Kefka was created, so other things humans had was so foreign to him that it would repulse him to hatred. Everything including his own biology freaked him out. He was too scared to kill himself, so he just decided to take the world down and make a show out of something that still didn't make him satisfied. He was so stuck with his nihilism that he never could learn outside of what he thought he knew, he stagnated himself while the heroes overcame and changed. He was a pitiful being that while he accomplish his objectives, was unable to see beyond his short sighted view. His defeat also took away the magic, but people will change and move forward.
The greatest evil of all time is being analyzed by The Vile Eye.
Kefka’s character takes all of those classical tropes about villains like the tragic backstory and the morally ambiguous motive and throws them in the fire. And it’s beautiful.
I understand that Sephiroth is the most popular and Kuja is my personal favorite, but Kefka really is the BEST villain in FF
If it weren't for the limitations of the SNES, they would have been able to paint a more vivid picture of just how DESTRUCTIVE and INSANE this man was
Btw since we are doing remakes and all...
Yes, a FF6 remake is long long overdue
I gasped when I saw the title- I love this. Thank you!
Edited to add: I would love to see Seymour from FFX!
I have been waiting for this one. Kefka was always my fav FF villain
This is my favorite game ever, and that is completely because of when and where I was in life. That's kind of how favorites work. It's not because the game is amazing, but it was amazing to me at the time
Analyzing Evil: The Crooked Man (The Wolf among us)
I am overjoyed to see Kefka receiving the Vile Eye treatment. That lunatic was responsible for some of my fondest gaming memories. He was cartoonishly evil, and whenever you heard his theme you knew something very bad(yet somehow funny because he seems to be enjoying himself so much) was going to happen.
I hope he does more animated villains. Like Tighten from Megamind or something. That movie was the start of me realizing I was a "nice guy" and growing out of it.
One of the best moments in the game is when Leo and the gang are laughing together, and then you hear Kefka's laugh before he appears on screen. Goosebumps.
Maybe I could learn a thing or two from Kefka in my quest to overthrow Megatron.
Yes yes yes my role model. I now just need power...godly power . You may live, be grateful to your skill doing these videos.
Kefka is literaly the Joker of Final Fantasy I see Mark Hamil voicing him in a hd remake of FFVI
Been waiting for this very episode ever since your channel had only half a dozen videos. :)
The only reason I was able to see Kefka in a different light where I would have never thought to before was funnily enough because of Onion Knight in FF:Dissidia.
During one of the opening dialogues between Kefka and him is
"You have such sad eyes"
I cant put into words how much that short sentence makes me feel. There is a deep tragic sorrow of being too far gone to ever be saved I feel about him.
Also hopefully this video is a clue about an upcoming video on a certain edgy mama's boy which I've been requesting for awhile now.
Love the video and especially the series you've created, it's so cathartic hearing that restrained calculated tone going over some of the worst characters in media and their vile acts, I get the feeling you're like a shadow cloaked judge wearing a simple casual suit with some form of distortion or mask hiding your face and delivering the final verdict on the character in question bringing down a sentence based on their crimes and misdeeds befitting of their level of wickedness and their personal reasons for doing them.
Firion said something similar in his opening dialogue vs Kefka as well:
"I've never heard a sadder laugh..."
Also something the Dissidia series made me aware of (and that's been consistent throughout all of Kefka's 3d appearances): The smile on his face is literally painted on... Sometimes, he does smile and laugh, sure, but only out of excitement, only when he's about to destroy something, or is actively in the process of destroying something... And I think that's a rather sobering thought: Kefka never smiles or laughs out of genuine happiness...
I'm so happy you did one on Kefka, this is a great series and Kefka is such a great villain. I have a five foot poster of the Tower of Gods in my bedroom, such great imagery!
Ah yes the inspiration for the Joker from Batman Ninja.
The Joker has been around in DC Comics since 1940. However, FF6 came before the Emperor Joker story in DC Comics.
@@AdrianFahrenheitTepes i was meaning that particular version and design.
“Second only to Sephiroth” I wasn’t expecting you to slap me in the face the moment I started this video
I'd love to see you cover Kuja or Caius from the Final Fantasy series. They're more sympathetic villains. Egil and Zanza from Xenoblade Chronicles might warrant a look, too.
This game is so good, truly a masterpiece above all else. This game is the most important thing in my life, I love it with all my heart. Cannot wait to play it with my future children.
Never seen a villain like Kefka before
So this is the second video game villain you have covered. Good to see you now covering villains from this medium.
Never knew about FF6 or this villain. When I saw the thumbnail, it looked like a Homelander, Joker and Ronald McDonald hybrid fusion.
Lol no. This is the 4th video game character he’s covered. Not second.
@@Gadget-Walkmen Ok I see thanks.
One of the best villains in video game history ! ❤
Yet another amazing villain. Kefka is definitely the best FF one followed by Seymour if you ask me.
On a completely different note, I would like to see Loghain Mac Tir from Dragon Age Origins analyzed. He's definitely very interesting.
Next you should analyze Handsome Jack from the Borderlands saga, he is a villain that at first only gives us reasons to hate him, but as we know his past and the context of the events of the game, the more we sympathize and understand why he is the way he is and why he wants to do his goal in the game.
It's a crazy coincidence that today is they day I learned of this channel's existence, seeing as Kefka is my favorite villain of all time, from my second favorite game of all time.
I love these video game villain episodes!! If you get a chance, you should check out Saren from Mass Effect, Gwyn from Dark Souls, or Challus Mercer from Dead Space!
Gwyn isn't even really a villain, let alone evil.
Never expected this one but I'm very excited