Kefka Vs. Sephiroth

BEFORE YOU READ: Know that I love both FF6 and FF7, Kefka and Sephiroth.

As every FF fan who's ever been on the internet knows, there is a lot of dispute between fans of FF6 and fans of FF7. Or more accurately, there is a lot of dispute between whether Kefka or Sephiroth deserves the title of "Best FF Villain". All of this bantering is for absolutely nothing. It's childish and immature. They're VIDEO GAMES, people. They're imaginary characters living in imaginary worlds, and they don't even know that you love them. But their creators DO, and that is how publicity is born.


I'm going to start by stating my own opinions about this. Please, burn it into the front of your brain, that I do NOT expect anyone to take my opinions as true, factual, or above anyone else's. They are just my own, personal opinions.

First off, I truly do believe that Kefka is the most evil character ever created by anyone. However, his level of evilness is not really what makes him the best villain, is it? If it was, than Sephiroth should be much less popular, as Sephiroth is meant to be pure-of-heart, and not evil at all. Is it the amount of villainous accomplishments that makes the better villain? If it was, then Mateus Palamecia of FF2 would be the most popular, as he did everything that both Kefka and Sephiroth did, and then some. (I will talk about Mateus more later)

Let's look at the facts. Sephiroth is without doubt the most popular video game villain in the world. His name has been used thousands of times as screen names, there's never been a song with more remixes than One-Winged Angel, no sword sells more copies on Ebay than his Masamune, etc. Still not convinced?

I went to Google and typed "Video game villain", and got 1,030,000 results.

Then I searched "final fantasy sephiroth", and got 1,700,000 results, meaning he's so popular, he comes up in situations that don't even involve video game villains. Kefka only got 155,000. (You may cry now T_T)

Even with such a low amount of search results compared to Sephiroth's, Kefka is still somehow known as the FF series' second most popular villain. Really? Are you serious? Then how unpopular are the other villains in comparison?! Poor Mateus... Poor ExDeath... Poor Ultimecia... Poor Kuja... And poor, poor Garland............

(ahem) I'm getting off topic here. Where was I?

In any case, the fact remains that Sephiroth is the most legendary video game villain ever, and that the Kefka fans are pissed at this fact because:

Kefka came first.
Kefka was more evil.
Kefka succeeded in destroying the world.
Kefka did it for himself.
Kefka was more entertaining.
Kefka was more "original".

I believe all of this to be true. However, if all of those things made Kefka the better villain, then why is Sephiroth more popular? Why? Can you answer?

It's because Sephiroth was never intended to be evil, much less more evil than Kefka. Sephiroth was intended to be "pure-hearted" or "misguided". He is given the Masamune, because the ancient legend about Masamune Okazaki was that only those who were pure of heart could skillfully wield his swords, something Sephiroth does better than anyone. Sephiroth turned to the "dark side" only when he read the books in the Shinra basement, which provided FALSE information, as they were only speculations of the scientists who discovered JENOVA.

But I'm getting too into this. I think it's time for individual analyzing, starting with Sephiroth.


The views regarding Sephiroth is that he is the "ultimate evil" who believes JENOVA is his mother and is attempting to destroy the world because he's gone insane. Negative connotations are that he is being controlled by JENOVA, is a "Mama's Boy" in regards to her, and is emo. All of that is utter BULLCRAP.

"Sephiroth is the ultimate evil": As I stated before, Sephiroth was never intended to be evil. You don't have to be evil to be an antagonist. I write stories myself, all of which have world-dominating, homicidal villains in them. And if ANYONE calls them evil, I'll kill them. Over and over. Until they're dead.

"He believes JENOVA is his mother": At first perhaps. But even with the inaccurate information provided in the Shinra Mansion's logbooks, it's safe to say that Sephiroth KNOWS that JENOVA is not his real, biological mother. More accurately, she's his mother metaphorically, or his "Genetic" mother. And even if he didn't know it then, he would find out very soon. When Cloud throws him in the Lifestream, Sephiroth ends up spending the next five years in it, wandering. He obtains the knowledge of everyone who has ever died, including Ifalna and Gast, who knew JENOVA wasn't an Ancient, nor Sephiroth's mother. The only reason he continues to call JENOVA his mother is because she's the closest thing he has. He doesn't know that Lucrecia is his real mother, because the only ones that know are Lucrecia, Vincent, and Hojo, none of whom were dead at the time.

"He is attempting to destroy the world": Again, inaccurate. He states his plan several times throughout the game, that it's a miracle that people still think he was trying to destroy the world. His goal was to become "One with the Planet". The Meteor was meant only to injure the planet (not destroy it) enough so that it would gather all of its energy to heal the wound. (Just as our blood cells gather at injuries) Once all of the world's life force was in one place, Sephiroth would absorb it all, and literally become the Lifestream. He'd be in complete control of every living being on the Planet, and would truly be its God. Kefka was considered to be a god because he was extremely powerful and ruled the world. But Sephiroth, if his plan had succeeded, would be impossible to stop. No, really IMPOSSIBLE. You wouldn't even be capable of thinking about stopping him, much less acting on it. Further evidence that he wasn't trying to destroy the world involves his Super Nova attack. When he uses it, he destroys every other planet in the galaxy, except for Earth. Why? Duh. He wants to rule it, not destroy it.

"JENOVA is controlling him": If JENOVA was controlling him, then Sephiroth would've came to get her from Nibelheim years prior. Sephiroth was living his own life, making his own decisions, without the aid of "mind-control". Sephiroth finds the books, uses his own judgement, and goes to get JENOVA himself. I'm sure JENOVA didn't even know who the hell he was when he showed and started calling her mother, but she eventually thought "Hmm. This human thinks I'm his mother, and an Ancient. And he wants to take over the world for me. Okay, fine, be my guest. Sucker." Furthermore, JENOVA is not dead. You fight her four times throughout the game. Headless or not, her cells let her regenerate, which is called her Reunion.

"Sephiroth is emo": Again, absolutely ludicrous. What the hell does "emo" mean, anyway? I ask different people, and they give me opposite answers. One thing I'm certain of is that Sephiroth does not fit under any description of "emo" I've ever heard. He's not overly emotional NOR is dark and depressed, he doesn't write poetry to get people to feel sorry for him, and he doesn't cut himself. The only conclusion is that people are calling him emo because they don't like him. That's like calling George Bush a witch because you don't like him (because it's not true, but witches still have bad reps).

phew... anyway, I'm done talking about Sephiroth. Let's talk about Kefka now.


Kefka is viewed by his fans as the best villain in the entire series, a claim I take to be true for the SOLE reason that I do not consider Sephiroth a villain, but rather an antagonist. Kefka is viewed as an insane, megalomaniacal psychopath with no regard for human life, or any of existence for that matter. He enjoys tormenting people both physically and emotionally, and goes to any and all dishonorable means to get his way. Kefka is pure evil. He mind-controlled a main character into doing his bidding, poisoned the people of Doma, destroyed the world, afterwhich took over the world, and then threatened to destroy it again. It is for these reasons that people love Kefka so much. (which brings up the question as to why anyone would like someone who did these things if they were REAL, but that's an entirely different topic)


Now, why would people still consider Sephiroth to be better when he never did ANY of these things? Sephiroth's accomplishments can't even dream of living up to Kefka's. So why? Do you know? I do.

Sephiroth is more popular because of his character. It's not his level of evilness or his dastardly deeds. It's not his looks, his costume, or his sword. It's his personality, his morals, and his background. He's viewed as the better adversary because he has good, plausible reasons for doing the things he does. He proclaims himself as a hero, going as far as to call himself the Chosen One and the world's Savior. He feels that humans are greedy and cowardly, and need someone to put them in their place. People like characters they can... (ahem)... "relate" to.


WHO likes WHO?

What is the factor that determines which FF fans end up liking Kefka or Sephiroth better? After reading, witnessing, and interacting with several discussions involving Kefka and Sephiroth, I came to one conclusion:

What they played first.

People that played FF7 first ended up liking it and Sephiroth better, while the FF veterans who played FF6 first ended up liking it and Kefka better. That and that alone is what marks peoples' preference. I admit, I was once a fapping fanboy for Sephiroth, but only because I played FF7 first. Now that I've played just about all of them, my love for Sephiroth has since... deteriorated.

I am currently experimenting with this theory with my friend Todd Koons. Before the experiment, he had never played an FF game in his life. I'm having him play 6 first, and then 7. So far, he has vastly enjoyed 6. His favorite characters are Sabin and Edgar (I think).


Anyway, I'm done talking about Kefka and Sephiroth. D-O-N-E. Done. Now, there is another character I'd like to bring up:


Emperor Mateus Palamecia, main villain of Final Fantasy 2.

I do not claim to like this character better than Kefka nor Sephiroth or even ExDeath, but let me just say that the title of "Greatest FF Villain" is Mateus's birthright! Mateus did absolutely everything that both Kefka and Sephiroth did and then some.

Kefka's accomplishments: Manipulating a party member, wiping out a kingdom by poisoning its water, destroying the world, taking over the world, killing a temporary party member, and preparing to destroy the world again.

Sephiroth's accomplishments: Burning down the hero's hometown, killing a beloved party member, coming back from the dead on his own.

Mateus's accomplishments: All of the above, plus the following. Kidnapping the princess, replacing her with a homicidal imposter, holding her up as a prize in a tournament which turns out to be a trap, locking the heroes up in a dungeon, destroying every town in the world TWICE EACH, taking over Hell. In the GBA and PSP versions, he also takes over Heaven.

With that said, can someone PLEASE tell me why Mateus isn't more popular? Thanks.



FINAL WORD:

Well, now that the rant is finally out of me, I think I'll call it quits for now. There's no point in arguing over whether Kefka or Sephiroth is better, because it won't change anything. Why can't we all just stick with the phrase:

"Kefka's the best villain; Sephiroth's the best antagonist."

... and stop the arguing? Thank you for reading!!