Gamers have seen few franchises with histories as impressively deep and memorable as the Final Fantasy series. Besides being known for great story lines lovable heroes, Square/Enix's uber-popular franchise is also known for having some of the meanest and most evil baddies in the history of video games.
What does it take to make a successful bad guy who makes a real impact on gamers? The character’s costume certainly plays a part. Maybe it’s how dramatic of an introduction the character has? Maybe it’s all about how insanely crazy, strong, and determined the antagonist is. We still think the costume plays some part. You be the judge.
Kuja
We may catch some flak for putting Kuja in the list, but this Genome’s entire purpose for being created is to make humans fight against one another in war. His creator, while bad too, does make up for it a little in the end. Because of this Kuja is simply one of the most evil baddies in the history of the Final Fantasy franchise. Appearing as the main antagonist in Final Fantasy IX, Kuja wants to acquire the power of the Eidolons so that he can overthrow his creator and rule Terra. Once he becomes aware of a couple things in the story, Kuja takes it a step further and tries to eliminate all life and humanity. Kuja is so evil that he even kidnapped another Angel of Death and left them for dead on Gaia. While some people will have issues with Kuja on here, he (it) was a BAD dude.
Sin might come as another surprise on the list since he’s A WHALE! Ok, he’s a whale-like creature. Besides being big as all hell, Sin (as he was named by the people of Spira) is all about tearing shit up throughout Final Fantasy X. It has a variety of attacks, but many Final Fantasy gamers remember getting hit by the Giga-Graviton which lay waste to many a party member. While we never want to go too into detail on game characters for those who haven’t played a title, Sin was an impressive foe because there’s a point where you think the creature is defeated, but the story turns out that defeating Sin is more of a sacrifice and will just result in a new Sin coming back later. Another Bad mutha.
You’re so Vayne. I bet you think this story’s about you. Appearing in Final Fantasy XII, Vayne (or Vayne Carudas Solidor) is a son of the Archadian Emperor – Lord Gramis. He is likely to be the most contested name on this list as many people argue that Vayne is a good guy because of his love for his little brother Larsa. But that humanity doesn’t compare to the ruthlessness this guy has when anything stands in between him and power. The guy is absolutely obsessed and has no problem with wiping out and/or tricking entire populations in order to get what he wants. His invasions of Nabradia and Dalmasca are enough to convince some. Like other leaders who fooled, manipulated and killed for power only to be found out in the end – Vayne is one evil guy.
Kefka (full name – Kefka Palazzo) is the main baddie in Final Fantasy VI. He’s supposed to just be doing the bidding of Emperor Gestahl in FF VI by carrying out his monarch's orders. Little does Gestahl's know, Kefka is actually attacking towns and villages to drain the power of Espers which is supposed to be only for the Imperials. After a little play behind the scenes without the Emperor catching on and it becomes time for Kefka to overthrow the old man. Kefka was very new when he debuted because he brought a new type of villain to the series. His loud and insane style suited his clownish appearance perfectly and was a complete opposite to the villains Final Fantasy fans had become use to. Kefka was just straight nuts!
You knew when you started reading this list, just like I knew when I started to write it; Sephiroth had to be on it. While we’re not allowed to number our top five lists anymore, there’s little doubt that Sephiroth would top the list if it were titled "popular" bad guys. Even though he's not the most evil, his hatred puts him in the top five. The only weakness this character has in my opinion is that he was once voiced by Lance Bass. Appearing in Final Fantasy VII and becoming part of the cannon since, Sephiroth is almost as admired as feared by fans of the series. He has all the prefect ingredients. He’s a super soldier who’s misunderstood and even misunderstands himself (confusion regarding his origins). If there were an ultimate bad boy in Final Fantasy, it would be him for the “Bad Boy” image as much as being bad. You can base the popularity of character on the fan fiction and fan art you find online. And anyone who uses Google is aware of the … err… passion fans have for the character (and for the character and Cloud together EEK!). He even has a better theme than most heroes do. What are your thoughts?
Ultros – This smart-assed purple Octopus just kept coming back for more.
Edea – Final Fantasy VIII’s evil and somewhat hot (at first) sorceress.
Chaos – Some PSP love for Dissidia’s god bent on destruction
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