| Kefka | |
|---|---|
Final Fantasy VI artwork of Kefka by Yoshitaka Amano |
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| First game | Final Fantasy VI |
| Designed by | Yoshitaka Amano |
| Voiced by (English) | Dave Wittenberg |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Shigeru Chiba |
| Fictional profile | |
| Home | Gestahlian Empire |
Kefka Palazzo (ケフカ・パラッツォ Kefuka Parattso, spelled Cefca Palazzo in Japanese materials) is a character in the Final Fantasy series of video games. Originally designed by Yoshitaka Amano, he appears in Final Fantasy VI as a clown-like, nihilistic psychopath who acts as the game's main antagonist. He also appears in the spinoff fighting games Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, wherein he is voiced by Shigeru Chiba in Japanese and Dave Wittenberg in English.
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Kefka's appearance was designed by Yoshitaka Amano, who was given complete creative control over Final Fantasy VI with the brief character outlines he was handed, designing them to feel "alive" within his imagination though with consideration for the representation as small computer sprites.[1] Given only the artwork and outline to work with during production, writer Yoshinori Kitase felt that one early scene of the character approaching a castle was too "boring to make completely normal", and decided to ad-lib a scene with one of his accompanying soldiers dusting off his boots in the middle of a desert. The scene set the tone for Kefka's personality from that point onwards as a result, suggesting there "may be a screw or two missing from this character's head."[2]
In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Kefka's nihilistic ideology is built up in a new light during Kefka's death scene where Terra believed that he was really a man who found no meaning of life other than utter destruction.[3]
Kefka first appears as a general under the game's primary antagonist Emperor Gestahl. Prior to the start of the game, he was the first human to be experimentally infused with the magic-like craft "Magitek," which granted him the ability to wield magic, although the imperfect process warped his mind and made him into the nihilistic psychopath he is during the course of the game.[4] Kefka mentally enslaves Terra and uses her to lead an attack on the town of Narshe to claim the frozen esper there. When she escapes Imperial control, he pursues Terra to the kingdom of Figaro, setting the castle ablaze as she, Locke and King Edgar flee.
During a siege on the kingdom of Doma, Kefka grows impatient with fellow Imperial General Leo and poisons the drinking water in the castle of Doma, resulting in mass casualties and a swift victory for the Empire. To gain the trust of the protagonists, Gestahl has Kefka imprisoned, citing the poisoning of Doma. Kefka later goes to the village of Thamasa to kill the espers congregated there,[5] killing Leo when he tries to intervene. Using the power of the espers, Kefka helps Gestahl raise the espers' homeworld and create the Floating Continent, where they intend to awaken three entities known as the Warring Triad. Upon being confronted by the protagonists, Gestahl freezes them except for former Imperial general Celes, whom he orders to kill her friends to show her loyalty to the Empire. She instead stabs Kefka, who becomes enraged. Kefka and the Emperor then get in an argument as to what degree they will wield the power of the triad - the Emperor taking a more conservative approach, since he only wants enough power to rule the world, while Kefka wants to unleash the Warring Triad's full potential. The Emperor tries and fails to kill Kefka, who retaliates by having the Warring Triad strike Gestahl down and unceremoniously boots him off the Floating Continent to his death. Kefka then moves the statues of the Warring Triad out of balance, unleashing enough raw magical energy to reshape the face of the planet and bringing about the second act of the game.[6]
Imbued with the power of the statues, Kefka becomes the god of the ruined world he created, using the statues to forge a massive tower of random debris to serve as his headquarters. Kefka smites the millions who refuse to worship him with his "Light of Judgment", a beam of incinerating light capable of cutting fissures into the planet's surface. Confronted by the protagonists at the game's conclusion, Kefka reveals his nihilistic motivations. When the protagonists reject his claims, Kefka goes berserk and proclaims his desire to eradicate everything.[7][8] He reveals his godlike form and attacks the protagonists before he is ultimately dispatched, causing the power of magic to vanish.
Kefka is the villain representing Final Fantasy VI in Dissidia Final Fantasy, opposing Terra Branford and reflecting his mannerisms from the game. During Destiny Odyssey, Kefka allies himself with the Cloud of Darkness to bring Terra to their side because of her Esper powers, hoping to use the girl for his own scheme to destroy everything. However, when Terra refuses to aid him and learned to control her powers, Kefka attempts to kill her and ends up being defeated with Terra gaining her crystal. During Shade Impulse, after mocking the heroes as they almost faded, Kefka breaks his ties to the other villains and starts his own scheme to become the ruler of the ruined world before being ultimately dispatched for good. Along the entire cast, Kefka appears in the prequel Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.[9] Holding control over Terra's mind, Kefka uses her to fight until Kuja weakens his spell, allowing Terra to resist him. Vaan finds Kefka torturing her and helps Terra escape, Kefka's spell eventually breaking as they leave him behind. Kefka later confronts the heroes with other Warriors of Chaos to stop them from closing the portal the Manikins are emerging from, but is defeated by Vaan.
He also makes a cameo appearance in Itadaki Street Portable.
In 2006, Kefka was made into a toy in the Final Fantasy Master Creatures line. The figure is 6" tall from the bottom of the base, representing his final form from the game's conclusion.
G4's Filter named Kefka one of the top ten villains of all time as selected by viewers, placing number eight on the list.[10] In a "Reader's Choice" edition of GameSpot's "Top Ten Video Game Villains", Kefka placed first, stating "Kefka topped many of your lists, as the villain who gave Sephiroth a run for his money in the status department. You love and hate Kefka, but you surely think he's about as vile and evil as evil gets."[11] In a similar article the boss battle against Kefka was voted by readers as one of the ten best in video games; GameSpot's staff noted "Kefka is one of the two bosses that won through the write-in ballot, meaning he wasn't on our main list of nominees. That means he's a serious favorite."[12] GameDaily listed Kefka as one of the top 25 craziest video game villains of all time, citing his cackle and egotism amongst other things for his insanity.[13]
Nintendo Power named Kefka the best villain to appear on Nintendo consoles in 1994, ranking higher than Donkey Kong Country's King K. Rool and Marvel Comics' Carnage.[14] They again featured him in their January 2010 issue, ranking him as their third favourite Nintendo villain.[15] He also was ranked 3rd place in the "Our Favorite Villains," section of their "250 Reasons to Love Nintendo," article. He was described as "An insane, remorseless clown with godlike powers who wants to destroy everyone and everything (and comes frighteningly close to achieving his goal), Kefka is downright evil." UGO.com named him third in their "Top 25 Japanese RPG Characters" article, stating "Insane, nihilistic, and cruel, Kefka isn't a reserved mystery like other Final Fantasy villains - rather, he's in-your-face at all times, doing dirty deeds just to say he did them."[16] IGN ranked him sixth on their list of the "Top 25" Final Fantasy characters of all time, noting that several factors, such as his dialogue and appearance, contributed to his memorability as a character;[17] in a "Reader's Choice" edition of the article he placed eighth, with similar comments.[18] He was also ranked 18th in IGN's "Top 100 Videogame Villains" list.[19] GamePro ranked him 33rd on the top 47 most diabolical video game villains of all time, citing both his "genocide" and his enslavement of Terra.[20] GamesRadar ranked him the most "outrageous camp bad guys", stating that when compared to Kefka, Final Fantasy VII antagonist Sephiroth seems as interesting as a dead accountant painted brown. They also compared him to Batman antagonist the Joker, praising him for both his villainous ambition and his laugh.[21]
Konami video game developer Tomm Hulett described Kefka as a pure villain, stating "Unlike most Japanese stories, Kefka did not have shades of gray. He didn't have a tragic past that turned him into a sadistic clown that you felt sorry for him over. He didn't have some greater purpose that he lost sight of. Yet, at the same time, he wasn't "evil for evil's sake." There was something twisted and nasty inside him that MADE him that way... and you could feel it... but you also knew there wasn't any good in there."[22] In a review of Final Fantasy VI Advance, IGN stated "it's the game's maniacal nihilist Kefka that really stands out. The most evil and destructive villain in the entire Final Fantasy franchise, Kefka's brutality and ruthlessness is unmatched and he has to be seen to be believed."[23] CNet in their own review described him as "the unrivaled star of the show...he's the kind of villain that you will love to hate", comparing him to Jack Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker and calling his laugh one of the greatest sound effects in any video game.[24] Gamespy declared that Kefka is quite possibly the greatest video game villain of all time.[25]
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