User blog:Pat141elite/Pure Evil Proposal:Kefka Palazzo

This is my first time doing a CM/PE proposal. And to start, even though the category is already there, here is the Final Fantasy franchise's answer to The Joker. Enter Kefka Palazzo, the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VI. And, I already played the game a number of times from the PS1 to the Steam.

What's the Work?
Final Fantasy VI, or Final Fantasy III in the SNES localization, is the sixth installment of Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. The story of the game tells magical beings known as Espers are being exploited by the Gesthalian Empire to expand their Magitek power. Soon, such abuse of magic led to cataclysmic results, as the result of the actions of unhinged, nihilistic, individual...

Who is he?
Kefka Palazzo (or Cefca) is Emperor Gestahl's court mage who is carrying out the emperor's orders, who secretly schemes behind his back. His backstory says that he was the prototype Magitek knight, thus he was given magical powers. However, the process of bestowing his powers came with a price: his sanity. As a result, this turned Kefka into the deranged lunatic that he is known in the series, thus gaining the notoriety as one of the dangerous men in the Empire.

Sometime after that, Kefka used a slave crown to control Terra Branford—a human/esper hybrid the Emperor had kidnapped from the Esper World when she was an infant who can use magic naturally. As a test of whether its enslaving effects were effective, Kefka had her burn fifty imperial soldiers alive. With that, Terra is sent to Narshe, accompanied by two soldiers (Biggs and Wedge) to capture a frozen Esper.

Kefka is first introduced when Terra, now freed from the slave crown's control taking refuge in Figaro Castle with Locke when they bargain Edgar Roni Figaro of Terra's whereabouts. When Edgar scoffs Kefka off, that was the last straw as he attempts to invade the castle.

What he has done?
As mentioned above, Kefka used a slave crown to brainwash Terra Branford to make her use the full extent of her powers to burn down fifty Imperial soldiers without breaking a sweat. Then, he attempts to invade the Figaro Castle when he is informed about Terra taking refuge there.

Kefka's depravity begins to rear on his ugly head once the player faces him in Doma. After being confronted by Sabin and Shadow in the Imperial camp, Kefka poisons the Doma river, killing the castle's population, that even includes Cyan Garamonde's wife and son.

After the ordeal in Thamasa and the Esper caves, Kefka continues his mad quest to capture every single Esper and go as far as to kill General Leo in cold blood. Later, he and Gesthal then plan to awaken the Warring Triad in the Floating Continent, where he finally betrays Gesthal and transcends to godhood, where he brought the whole world to its knees. As a result, the Triad are reduced to weakened husks after Kefka drains their power. Kefka builds a tower from the rubble of the world he had destroyed, and from there rules by smiting anyone who are foolish enough to defy him with the Light of Judgment: a beam of magical energy that can destroy entire towns - that even includes Mobliz, where the population of adults in that town perished protecting their children. A cult rises, worshiping Kefka (likely out of fear more than anything else). Kefka creates numerous new monsters to guard his tower should anyone rise up against him.

Mitigating Factors
Absolutely nothing. Kefka is a cruel, heartless, and sociopathic nihilist who enjoys causing so much death and destruction for fun. The reason he destroyed the world is to make all humanity live in despair and fear of him. His speech in the final battle against the heroes state that he will go so far as to deprive everyone of their life, dreams, and hope.

Heinous Standards
Some villains in the Final Fantasy series tend to be hegemonic or showing signs of God complex (Emperor Mateus, Ultimecia), cataclysmic (Cloud of Darkness, Exdeath), unwitting pawns (Xande, Golbez), rivals (Garland, Sephiroth), tragic villains (Shuyin, Ardyn Izunia), a greater evil (Zemus/Zeromus, XV Bahamut), or just an ordinary human with no magical power whatsoever (Rufus Shinra). He stood out as the worst even by the standards of the series. Kefka's cruelty and sadism is chalked up to eleven, making some of the mentioned villains look tame in comparison. In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Emperor Mateus states that he doesn't want to be in the same room with someone like Kefka.

Final verdict
100% yes.