User blog:Pat141elite/PE Proposal:The Emperor of Palamecia

Kefka Palazzo was my very first proposal and the first Final Fantasy villain I've made a proposal. The second was Professor Hojo, and third one will be the Emperor of Palamecia himself, aka Emperor Mateus from Final Fantasy II.

What is the work?
Final Fantasy II is the second installment in the Final Fantasy series, developed and published by Squaresoft. It was released in December 1988 for the Family Computer exclusively in Japan, but was later re-released worldwide for the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, the PlayStation Portable, iOS, Android, and other platforms.

A long-lived peace...is at an end. The emperor of Palamecia has called forth monsters from the underworld... and has begun his campaign for world conquest. A rebel army arose in the Kingdom of Fynn to thwart the emperor's plan. But the rebels' castle fell to an all-out assault by the empire. Left with little choice, the rebels withdrew to the remote town of Altair. Four youths from Fynn also found themselves fleeing the imperial forces. They had lost their parents at the hands of the empire. But their escape wasn't over...

Who is the villain?
The Emperor of Palamecia, or also known as Emperor Mateus, is the hegemonic tyrant of the Palamecian Empire through demonic forces and the main antagonist of Final Fantasy II. He is responsible for the tragedies that befell the four main heroes and have brainwashed Leon to be his subservient dark knight.

What did he do?
The Emperor begins his campaign for world domination by summoning an army of creatures from Hell. Several kingdoms, like Fynn, Kashuan and Deist, resist, but are subdued. In the case of Deist, the militarily-powerful homeland of the Dragoons, the Emperor orders the poisoning of their wyverns' water supplies, leaving the Dragoons powerless.

The novelization develops on the origin of his powers, attributing it to Satan, lord of Pandaemonium, with whom Mateus made a pact to summon demonic forces into the mortal world. The demon that corrupts the minds of Palamecian emperors originates from the beginning of the world when it became trapped within the indestructible "Stone of Iludia" and swore revenge. After ascending to the throne, Mateus exiled his mother, Aile, to the deserts of Palamecia, and yet she still spends her life trying to find a way to save him, although she never succeeds.

The royalty of Kashuan, which survived the Palamecian Empire's attack, founded the Wild Rose Rebellion alongside the kingdom of Fynn. The Empire attacks Fynn to destroy the resistance and after capturing it, the Emperor begins the construction of the fearsome Dreadnought.

After Firion and his friends gather the Sunfire and Princess Hilda is captured by the Dreadnought while traveling to Kashuan on Cid's airship, the Emperor replaces the captive Hilda with a Lamia Queen. After the Dreadnought is destroyed, the Imperial Lamia is taken to Altair, and later felled. The Emperor announces a tournament at the Palamecian Coliseum, and makes Hilda the prize. Firion and his comrades attempt to rescue her alongside Prince Gordon of Kashuan.

After defeating a Behemoth pit against them, Firion and his friends attempt to kill the Emperor as they approach him to take the prize. It is a trap and the Emperor locks the party away via the Dark Knight. Meanwhile, the Emperor continues his assault on the land above.

After the Liberation of Fynn, the Wild Rose Rebellion acquires the Ultima Tome, but by that time the Emperor has summoned a giant Cyclone and crushed the towns of Paloom, Altair, Gatrea and Poft, and is approaching Fynn. The Emperor resides inside the Cyclone to personally oversee the destruction of Fynn and the party makes their way inside by summoning a wyvern. The Emperor initially assumes they are not important enough for him to fight despite acknowledging that they revived the Wyverns of Deist he had wiped out earlier, and thus deploys several of his royal guard against them. After two units are wiped out, the Emperor concludes he may have underestimated Firion's group, and decides to dispose of them personally, claiming such is to be considered an honor. The Emperor is killed in the fight, and the Dark Knight Leon proclaims himself the Emperor of Palamecia and takes over the army.

After breaking into Castle Palamecia, Firion's party confronts the Dark Knight and the Emperor appears in a new demonic form. He had arrived in Hell and defeated Satan before claiming the throne of Pandemonium. After Leon protests that he has no intention of relinquishing the title, Mateus reveals he no longer cares about ruling the empire, but intends to destroy the world with his new powers, starting with the surviving members of the Wild Rose Rebellion. Ricard summons the wyvern to get the party out of Palamecia while he confronts the revived Emperor, who slaughters him with ease.

While it is unknown if the Emperor intentionally allowed to be killed to arrive in Hell, as he already had power over Hell-spawn, it is likely it was his true intention all along. After killing Ricard, Mateus summons Pandaemonium to the mountains where Palamecia once stood and resumes his world-domination campaign. The party travels through the Jade Passage and breaks into Castle Pandemonium, and after defeating the Emperor's hellish generals, Firion and his friends confront the Emperor. The Emperor is defeated, and fades away, although not before expressing disbelief that he could lose against the same group twice.

In later remakes, namely Dawn of Souls, 20th Anniversary and mobile versions, something unforeseen happens when the Emperor is killed: his soul splits in two, one going to Hell to become the lord of Pandemonium, the other going to Heaven and becoming the lord of Arubboth. With his new powers the second Emperor summons the fallen souls of Minwu, Josef, Scott and Ricard as representatives of those who fell in the wake of the empire's conquests.

As they reach his throne within the walls of Arubboth, the Emperor asks for their forgiveness and offers them eternal life. They consider his offer, but the souls of the people they care about appear and tell them to look past the Emperor's charade.

The party realizes they are being tricked, and that this Emperor is no different from the other. They attack the Emperor's light side while Firion's group battles his dark counterpart. The Light Emperor vows to have them know eternal suffering due to their refusal to forgive him, and as he dies, tells them the struggles of violence and war will continue as long as humans exist. He fades away just as his dark counterpart. Minwu later comments that if anyone can change man's violent legacy, it would be Firion and his friends.

Heinous Standards
The Emperor has exceeded the level of heinous standards and stands out than later Final Fantasy villains. His rap sheet alone can even make Kefka a run for his money. He's responsible for conquering several peaceful nations and has persecuted and killed those who foolishly opposed him and he has the body count to boot. After his death, Mateus has the blatant audacity to overthrow both God AND Satan to become the ruler of Heaven and Hell, respectively.

Mitigating Factors
Anything positive or redeemable about Mateus is already non-existent to begin with. He's easily described as an arrogant and misanthropic tyrant who comes across rude and standoffish underneath his polite exterior. Mateus is utterly devoid of anything that resemble compassion and love to name a few, declaring himself that he has the right to judge humanity for their sins. His Light half even shows signs of God complex, as evident during his confrontation with the spirits of Minwu, Josef, Scott, and RIcard; and threatens them with eternal damnation when they refused his offer of eternal life.

Final Verdict
Easy yes.