Top 5 of Final Fantasy's Most Evil Bad Guys

Brandon Thompson writes: "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."

[vgn24]

No Villian will EVER compare to Sephiroth man. He rocks. No one can disagree.

[hay]

Kefka been there before and surpassed him. As I love Sephiroth, he's my favourite villain, Kefka is much more than him. Makes Sephy look like a wannabe.

[vgn24]

You're just saying that because I said "No one could disagree" lol

[blitz0623]

Sephiroth is more bad ass than Kefka, but no one will be crazier than Kefka. The guy is a definition of 'evil'. He should be tops in that list, not Sephiroth.

[vgchica]

from the article - "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."

Why can't you number a top 5?

[charlescox4]

How can they give honorable mention to Edea fromVIII? She wasn't that hard.

[hay]

@1.2: Not really.

[NegativeCreepWA]

lol, Sephiroths a little mommas boy always crying for mother. Kefka actually destroyed the world unlike the rest of them.

[K-Tuck]

Sephiroth is a big wet p(an)sy. I'd rate Kuja over him, and Kuja is basically a schoolgirl.

[kevnb]

kefka was awesome

[Cerebellum]

Hands down: Sephiroth. What other villian has a symphony orchestra perform his theme song to live audiences? huh huh? That's right, Sephiroth PWNS!!!

[N4Flamers]

was that a chick dressed as him in the pic. I would have to say the one I hated the most was seymor from FFX. Turned his mom into a summons and kept her in the basement all chained up.

[iamtehpwn]

Sephiroth has more rich character development, and a more obvious motivation for destruction. While Kefka is insane, Sephiroth was once psychology (seemly) normal, and even a great hero at one point.

He also didn't think what he was doing was wrong at all. Sephiroth honestly thought he was saving the world by becoming it's God.

[radphil]

"Sephiroth is more bad ass than Kefka, but no one will be crazier than Kefka. The guy is a definition of 'evil'. He should be tops in that list, not Sephiroth."

I kinda agree with that, though they did say they aren't allowed to number them. :p

Granted Sephiroth is another likeable villian from the FF series, I'd have to give the Bat**** crazy overall title to Kefka. The amount of stuff Sephiroth did in FF7 is kinda pale in comparison to the amount of grief, death, and overall things Kefka did in FF6.

However Sephiroth did make it seem more personal to what he did, which still makes him on the top lists.

[qface64]

why would sefi top the list the list said most evil bad guys technically speaking compared to what some of the other FF have done and what some of them actually are like the embodiment of malice itself sefi isn't really all that evil just someone who went insane

its just a popularity thing in the end anyways

[SprSynJn]

For the love of God man, periods!!

[George Sears]

I define evil as someone for no remorse or compassion for no living being on this planet. A pure malicious conscious from beggining to end. Someone that not even his/her mother would love. For this, Kefka takes the specifications perfectly. A pathetic weakling from the start of the game, towards becoming something like the devil itself. But regardless of his power, he was always an evil twat.

[Nitrogen]

EXdeath!

[CountDracula]

Most Final Fantasy characters (Bad guys included) are pretty much wimps.

[vgchica]

aaannndddd you're nuts

[capn_crunch]

Barthandelus in XIII was pretty lame, even if it wasn't hermaphrodite lame like almost all other FF villains, he was pretty lame.

Most evil had to be Kefka... sorry Sephiroth fans, he was just a lonely kid who missed mommy.

[midgard227]

dear god, main villain of ff13 was probably the worst villian in any game since xenosaga 2....probably cuz they r both popes.....but UGhhh, i think ff13 wuda been better if guy cid, or guy with silver hair or even jihl (chick with huge rack) was the main villain.

i loved the whole cast except for main villain. uggh i hate him so boring

[kevnb]

first game in the series I quit before finishing.

[Trunkz]

Sephiroth = Most Popular Villain

Kefka = Most True Villain

Kefka is THE villain of villains, the guy destroys the world and is just insanely mad and changed how villains were in the past FF games. He wasn't "I'm the best, I am the top villain" he started off as weak, and even goofy.

I really hope they do a Remake of FF6 on the 3DS (or even PS3 for that matter) the game deserves more of a Remake then FF7 (Yep I said it).

[mindedone]

only in the sense that not as many people have played it, and is lauded as being one of the best ffs ever. I myself haven't played it, but I've looked for it once or twice and couldn't find it.

[midgard227]

sephiroth is the most badass no matter how evil any1 else is.

kefka is a freakin clown and always lost points because of that to me lol.

when u see sephiroth u know somethin epic is gonna happen.

kefka u just know hes a looney and will laugh alot....sorta like miyamoto XD

[Brewski007]

Totally agree, Kefka might be the unstable crazy guy who laughs and is twisted, but sephiroth adds 100 more layers to the word "evil". Sephiroth is humanised in some respects and the player can understand the roots of his evil ways, knowing he wasnt always evil and grew into one badass psycho allows the gamer to become more immersed in sephiroth's transgression into legendary badass.
When kefka was on the screen it wasnt near as captivating as when sephiroth was. The music for sephiroth was just perfect. Every gamer can still hear that music when they remember sephiroth... Surely thats reason enough for him to be the best bad-guy of the series... hell even a great contender for best bad guy of any game.
But even still, probably the most iconic moment for me that makes sephiroth the purest evilest character was the murder of aeris.

[midgard227]

u just know stuff is crazy when he's there lol.

somethin bout a clown just always seemed stupid to me. but kef is still a good villain.

and ur right, its that amazing song that just adds to the epicness :D

[Etseix]

haha true, first time i fought kefka i was like /dam this is going to be a incredible battle!/ 5 atacks later - i won and he escaped laughing, (lol ?) BUT still, Kefka did actually destroyed the world, that clown needs points for that :/ and Sep.. well he just want to kill the good guys, i want a remake of FFVI so bad :S just think about it, Sabin doing the slam atack to a TRAIN!? DAM i must see that on high def!

[booni3]

i cryed when sephiroth murdered aeris

[Noami]

title says most evil guy...sadly i have to give it to kefka
Sephiroth simple wasn't bad enough from the start he created that mom complex, got confused and delusional..

Kefka was just pure evil since the start
other final have not have a good villain since FF6 in my opinion...

Sephiroth Character creation was well made but Personality was not the definition of evil.

Kefka..was just pure evil even though the jester.clown dress concept dint attract much ppl on liking him but he is the must evil and plays the villain roll better than the rest.

-sorry for my english its not my main-

[midgard227]

while ur entitled to ur own opinion, lets make it simple.

kefka had evil intentions yes buuuut

did he kill the love interest of the main character? no he killed no one as a matter of fact, sephiroth is the only character to actually kill someone off in well almost any jrpg period, he killed many, from shinra soldiers, tifa's entire village and father, to aerith, even leading to zacks death.

sephiroth nearly destroyed the entire planet, its was seconds away from destruction, u dont have to be crazy to be evil, it was his intent that was evil

[Redempteur]

"he killed no one as a matter of fact"

You're delusional .

kefka killed :
- the emperor.
- cyan ENTIRE village.
- countless villages when he tipped the statues ( you can see quakes all around in the cutscène )
- general leo.
- and the list goes on

and he ruled afterwards.

not to mention all the mind control and all the other bad dead he did ...

sephiroth killed aeris (no fight at all ... going from the back ) and the former shinra president ( a fat guy with no fighting skill ) and a bunch of no name soldiers ...

[George Sears]

Midgard right of the bat I see you don't know what you are talking about. Kefka killed lots of people before he became a god like entity. He poisoned a town and everybody died, he succesfully absorbed the power of Gods to become one himself. He destroyed a planet and made it his image. Basically, he did everything Sephiroth failed to do.

Not to mention that overall he was a more interesting villain with personality. Not so emo and plastic like Sephiroth. I actually liked Kefka besides all his evil doings.

  "Nothing can beat the music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison." Kefka

[radphil]

"sephiroth nearly destroyed the entire planet, its was seconds away from destruction, u dont have to be crazy to be evil, it was his intent that was evil"

Where as Kefka DID destroy the planet. The both idea of intent and crazy to be evil is still leading off...to be evil.

@9.2

Why in the world did you guys give him 2 disagrees for something that is true? >_>

[Redempteur]

don't mind : just the work of two delusional sephiroth fanboys ..

[NaiNaiNai]

all these people calling sephy a pansy are pathetic.

Kefka was worthless in comparison.

yea he may have been crazy but he never attack one person so hard...taking everything they loved and just destroying it over and over. thats more evil than any other FF bad guy.

Hell Seph is more twisted in his finger then kefkas pathetic ass.

*edit*

BTW killing everyone and destroying the planet doesn't do much. since people aren't around to feel the pain from it. while what seph did, cloud, tifa, barret, the main cast and most of the people after *movie* had to suffer constantly from what he did, sorry causing someone constant pain is far worse then killing them.

[Gun_Senshi]

Sepiroth is an emo that fails doing anything

Kefka is a mutthafkka which breaks the 4th barrier and wants you to destory the tv you're playing the game on, and also destroys the whole world while laughing in your face at your failure of stopping him

[vgchica]

It says in the article that Sephiroth is "not" #1, but would be if it were "most popular" villain.

[CLOUD1983]

Sephiroth is for sure the most evil of all of them, first of all it was Gaia greatest hero the strongest warrior in existence all the boys admired him and wanted to be like him when they grow up, all that gives him a gr8 background from where our story unfold that's a plus.

When he learn about the experiments they did to him and what they did to his mother (the alien being from where they use genes to make him the ultimate soldier) he "snap" and want to take revenge from the humans for what they did (use his mother as a guinea pig) he burn down Nibelheim every one die in the fire including Cloud's mother, Tifa's father follow after that trying to stop him that was only the start.

Now dont forget the hundreds of Shinra soldiers he killed when he invade Shinra tower, among them was even the president Shinra, now if we add to all this the murder of Aeris one of your players when she left and went alone to stop him and sacrifice her self, (the most tragic/sad moment in the history of video games) now after all that how can you still disagree that Sephiroth is not the most evil villain ever in the FF franchise? even though didn't succeed to destroy the planet at the end, it was very close if the meteor land we all know what will be the outcome a huge portion of the planet would erased completely that's how far he was ready to go...

His madness and evilness make him the ultimate villain and no one can compare with him, at least until now I haven't see any one.. and as for popularity he is again number 1 one of the reasons FFVII is the greatest jrpg/FF & game ever created is Sephiroth it self you have so many reasons to hate him so many reason to keep you move forward to find him and settle everything once and for all.

<3 FFVII <3

[Redempteur]

"I haven't see any one."

go play ff6

"it was very close"
like most vilain ..before they are stopped by the heroes ...

[NaiNaiNai]

you know what the other pathetic thing is.

Kefka completely fails, since once he is beat everything goes back to normal....sorry but last I checked the planet was still damaged people were still dead and alot of things screwed up. *aka stigma* thanks to seph.

[NoSuchSol]

Just to give a heads up - I believe I received a virus from this website. Got the Windows Anti Virus (av.exe or ave.exe) about the time I was previewing that site. Java started acting and kept on crashing. Then AntiVir popped up 50 or so warnings/detections, but still didn't catch this one.

It might not be that specific website, but there were only a couple that I had pulled up so far and this was the only one running when it started going AWOL. http://www.vishnutuning.com... was the other but they aren't outsourcing ad space.

FYI.

[Meryl]

lol I love these debates I always used to think sephiroth was bad arse until i bothered playing on earlier FF's lol, kefka truly was evil

[e-p-ayeaH]

It says right there :O but how....now im confused :S

[Ironfungus]

Transvestite is the term I might use.

[Tuxmask55]

Sephiroth is nothing but a whiney little bítch. He doesn't belong on this list.

[FinalomegaS]

You know I've gone through this thread and anyone that has played FF6 before 7 ( yes us old folks)did love Jrpgs story driven deep characters before FVM became the OMGZ thing. If you're a PS1 gen gamer and that's what you played and got all caught up with the FFVII craze then ya you'll be "Sephi is da shyt" but after paying close attention to the master piece SE did with FF6 they couldn't top that.

Many on here are trying to find pros and cons to who is more evil but if you played all FF games you would notice that they tried to replicate the same evilness of Golbez from FF2( US)and give him a bad man look. But in fact he's evil to the core as what we see him, very emotional, lost, delusional, powerful, but in control of his self to a degree.

Kefka... this is the creation of pure evil, hate... hate,hate,hate,hate,hate , all of sephi minus the emotional & delusional problem and roll that up and you have the godly level of evil and hate.

Obviously FF6 remade in 3D would be epic, can you imagine all the skills, espers summon, the opera... the amount of magic , skills , and using magi tech armors....

I will love FF6 forever as it was the only FF game that brought so much to the table, multi player, street fighter actual moves, insane combos and equip combos ( Genji glove, I mean you know what I mean)... Esper summon that kills everything on screen... even the players, fallen one ( cheapness at it's best).

You either love 6 or 7, but let it be known that Kefka isn't just any clown. The jester had world destruction on his mind, and the emperor was just the vessel to bring it into his grasp.

[George Sears]

Yeah FFVI had such a vast amount of characters that even though they were so much, they all had there slice of explaining there background and also being able to actually play as them. FFVI story was just too top notch. It really was the first FF that made me somewhat care (although FFIV was also great story wise aswell) about the characters and actually despise the villain for his constant nuisance and hatred of everything that breathes.

I do like FFVII and appreciate the story and all but FFVI was so awesome that topping everything that they succesfully accomplished on VI was a difficult task. I wish they can make another FF similar to VI when it comes to character integrations and decision making.

[na-no-nai]

yeah i think golbez was badass and totally evil
even tho near the end he came back to his sense

[Ironfungus]

To be fair, the real Sephiroth died when Cloud threw him into the Life Stream at the Mako Reactor. What you fight at the end of the game is a clone of Sephiroth.

Enough of the Final Fantasy 7 hatred also. Turn your hate towards the fanboys who REFUSE to believe that Final Fantasy 7 is NOT the greatest game ever made, and no other Final Fantasy game can compare to it.

Treat Final Fantasy VII with the same respect as you treat any other RPG or Final Fantasy game. Because all of them have something incredible to offer the player (though the same might not be said for the Square ENIX-made Final Fantasies...but I wouldn't know, I haven't played them, except for FFXII).

Final Fantasy VII was my first game. Mainly because, the Playstation was my first ever game console. It's my first love and favorite Final Fantasy because of it. Is it the best Final Fantasy game? Maybe, maybe not. I love it because it's my "first love" when it comes to the Final Fantasy games. But I'm not going to sit here and tell someone why it's the best, when each Final Fantasy in the series has something to offer someone else. You can't expect someone to play your favorite game and get the exact same feeling you did when you played it.

[rezzah]

From what I read from your comments it seems that Kefka was content with ruling the planet. However i remember Sephi saying somewhere that his plan for the planet was to use it as his ship to travel the universe destroying other planets.

Lol I know i coulnd be very wrong, maybe Im gettin the idea from something else, but if this is true then Sephi would definitly be more evil. By not being content with destroying this planet alone, but traveling to others to destroy them as well.

[shinobi333]

kefka was the most evil villian i have ever witnessed in a game hands down.

[NaiNaiNai]

how can you be evil, if everything you did is put back to normal once your defeated.....that's not evil thats pathetic.

its like freza.

[kraze07]

So if a guy runs around raping people but is then killed by the cops does that not make him evil seeing as how the people he raped can pretty much live normal lives knowing the guys is dead. Saying Kefka isn't evil is hilariously far from the truth.

[Redempteur]

sorry , but even if the world comes back in a normal states ..the killed stays dead in ff6 end ...

and that's still a lot of people