Kefka Palazzo

Long before Wesker developed his god complex...long before Sephiroth went batshit insane and barbecued Nibelheim...long before Dr. Doom, Magneto, Shao Kahn and Bison had set their sights on world conquest...there was Kefka.

I'll bet this guy is crazy enough to fight Galactus and Pyron at the same time. Hell, he could win every single match in Deadliest Warrior without batting an eyelash.

Kefka Palazzo is the primary antagonist and the final boss of Final Fantasy VI. Kefka acts as Emperor Gestahl's court mage early in the game, carrying out the monarch's orders. However, behind Gestahl's back, Kefka attacks various towns and drains the espers' power meant for Imperial use. This gradual culmination in power leads Kefka to overthrow Gestahl and take control of the Warring Triad, effectively becoming the God of Magic itself.

Kefka's appearance is that of an outlandish jester. In his original concept artworks, and in Dissidia Final Fantasy, Kefka wears an outfit composed of primarily red and yellow fabrics, a mismatched jumble of stripes and polka-dots. He wears a red and white striped ruffle around his neck and a red cloak with a yellow and red inner-lining. In his field sprite in Final Fantasy VI as well as alternate artworks and an alternate costume in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Kefka wears green robes with gold linings and red clothing underneath. Universally, Kefka's face is covered with white make-up with red makeup around the eyes, and has white make-up on his hands. He has blond hair tied back into a tight ponytail, accentuated by an extending feather. In his "god" form, Kefka appears as a demonic angel with purple skin and a red loincloth. His limbs are far more muscular than his human form, and he bears six wings -- four light, angelic wings and two dark, bat-like wings (although the Anthologies character model for Kefka's god form seems to replace his dark bat-like wings with light angelic wings). In this form, the only notable resemblance Kefka retains to his human self is his classic ponytail, which is longer and with strands of hair flowing upwards, and the feather that also remains in his hair as a final reminder of Kefka's once-extravagant dress sense. In Dissidia, his appearance is altered slightly, with Kefka also gaining a wide grin resembling a Glasgow smile accentuated in purple lip makeup.

While previous villains in the Final Fantasy series were distant, cold, ruthless, and bent on their goals, Kefka is loud, short-tempered, maniacal, and destructive. His popularity among Final Fantasy fans as a villain is rivaled only by Sephiroth. Kefka is well-known for his many one-liners, his final appearance as an Angel of Death (which has become something of a tradition in the series), and his sociopathic hatred of virtually everything in existence. His dark humor and jester-like appearance have earned him the nickname "The Psycho Clown" among fans. Kefka's most defining character trait is arguably his laugh, a high-pitched whooping cackle that is repeated numerous times throughout the game.

In terms of character, Kefka is maniacal, short-tempered, flamboyant, destructive, and cruel. He is completely insane with no regard for human life, and he, in fact, finds amusement in the suffering and death of others. He tends to crack dark jokes at times, also sometimes breaking out into hysterical laughter upon causing death, destruction, and mayhem, and possesses a hatred of virtually everything in the world; Kefka's only joy in life comes from causing death and chaos wherever he can. What begins as simply a disregard and indifference to human life develops into a sinister nihilism - at the end of Final Fantasy VI, Kefka declares the lives of mortals as meaningless and insignificant, and he finds no meaning in things like love and hope that others cherish. As a result, Kefka's goal at this point is to destroy the bonds of existence itself. According to the Final Fantasy VI creation guide, he also has narcissistic qualities, often being fascinated with the mirror image, and often dressing up for mirrors. This is further implied in both Dissidia and Dissidia 012 with Kefka's mirror matches, where Kefka remarks "Oh, who's THAT handsome devil?!" and "Now that's what I call a true work of art!", respectively, when fighting against himself. Despite his ill intentions towards them, he seems to identify the Returners as "friends", as evidenced by his greeting to the Returners when they confront him atop Kefka's Tower.

In the Japanese versions of Final Fantasy VI and Dissidia, Kefka frequently uses the first-person pronoun "boku-chin" when referring to himself, a pronoun usually reserved for young boys, implying that his maturity and state of mind is comparable to that of a little kid. Other hints at this personality are shown while fighting Terra in Dissidia, where he regards battle as being similar to playtime, such as maniacally telling Terra to play with him while trying to lob spells at her as well as feeling upset when Terra manages to teleport from the attack and has a tantrum, because he "wanted to play more." In the aftermath of fighting Vaan in Dissidia 012, Kefka excitedly remarks that fighting Vaan was the "most fun he's had in minutes!"

Dissidia shows a different view to Kefka's nihilism. Once he is defeated in Shade Impulse, Kefka laments what he sees as the futility of life in a speech mirroring his speech in Final Fantasy VI, and fades with a sad laugh. Afterward, Terra says that Kefka destroyed as an attempt to fill his broken heart, implying a more sorrowful side to his personality -- that of a man who cannot find any meaning in life other than mindless destruction. This is further reinforced by Firion's opening quote if he is the opponent to Kefka in Dissidia, where Firion mentions to Kefka that he's "never heard... a sadder laugh..."

Many details of Kefka's early life are unknown. He is thirty-five years old by the time of the game, and Emperor Gestahl's right-hand man. Kefka is the first experimental Magitek Knight, a procedure that gifted him with incredible magical power, but also shattered his sanity as a side effect of the process not being perfected yet. Kefka became a cruel, destructive madman and eventually acquired a reputation as one of the most dangerous men in the Gestahlian Empire. The exact circumstances are unknown, but sometime prior to the game, Kefka used a Slave Crown to control Terra Branford and, as a test of whether the free-will dampening effects of the crown were effective, had her burn fifty Imperial soldiers alive.

Just prior to the game's events, Kefka sends Terra to Narshe to acquire the frozen esper Valigarmanda, sending Biggs and Wedge with her. The mission fails when Valigarmanda awakens in response to Terra's power, dispatches Biggs and Wedge and damages the Slave Crown, restoring Terra's free will but leaving her with amnesia. In her subsequent attempt to flee from Narshe, Terra's memory is temporarily restored and she remembers Kefka ordering her to kill his own men and enslaving her before she blacks out.

Kefka's first appearance in person is when he comes to Figaro Castle seeking Terra under orders from Gestahl and presumably as part of reconnaissance (although he also complains about Figaro's location within a desert, as well as forcing his soldiers to wipe his boots after sand was on them). King Edgar, who is sheltering Terra in the hopes she will join the Returners against the Empire, conceals her whereabouts. Kefka doesn't believe Edgar and sets the castle on fire. When the castle burrows under the desert, Kefka has his bodyguards attack the fleeing Edgar, Terra and Locke Cole. The trio dispatch them and leave Kefka fuming.

Kefka eventually comes to the kingdom of Doma as part of a battalion led by General Leo. Although Leo is attempting to win the siege against Doma with minimal casualties, Kefka is secretly plotting to poison the river and kill the entire population of the castle. After Leo is called away by Emperor Gestahl, Kefka takes command of the Imperial forces and orders them to dump the poison, with one of the soldiers being reluctant to use the poison (mostly due to there still being captured Imperial personnel within the base). Sabin Rene Figaro and Shadow attempt to stop him, but Kefka flees and dumps the poison himself, killing everyone in the castle except for Cyan Garamonde and a Doma Sentry, as well as maniacally musing to himself about the music of the unified screams of hundreds of voices. Until his ascent to Godhood, this was considered Kefka's worst crime. This also sends Cyan into a deep depression over his guilt, which has potentially disastrous complications for him later in the game.

As the Returners reunite at Narshe, Celes warns the others that Kefka has gathered a large force of Imperial soldiers and is leading them against the town himself. Kefka orders the troops to kill anyone in their way and leads them to the clifftops above Narshe to claim Valigarmanda. The Returners retreat to the mountains to guard the esper and, after fighting off his troops, confront Kefka in battle. Defeated, Kefka flees, but swears revenge.

Shortly after this, Terra confronts Valigarmanda and is transformed into an esper herself. Tracking her down, the Returners meet the esper Ramuh, who tells them the true source of magic: magicite, an esper's remains, which can teach magic at a much higher concentration than Magitek. Armed with this knowledge, the Returners use Setzer Gabbiani's airship, the Blackjack, to fly to Vector and release the espers imprisoned by the Empire.

Within the Magitek Research Facility, the Returners spy Kefka torturing and beating espers, specifically Shiva and Ifrit. They also overhear Kefka cackling over the power he has gained from the facility's espers and his plans to restore the Warring Triad. After entering the heart of the facility and retrieving the magicite of the dead espers, the Returners meet Cid, who realizes the true source of esper energy. Kefka, overjoyed to learn this, attempts to have Celes, who has betrayed the Empire, hand the magicite to him, but Celes spirits them away so the Returners can escape, although not before Kefka causes doubts to the Returners about Celes's loyalties by hinting that she is actually a spy under the employ of the Empire. Kefka appears later in the Imperial Castle, activating two large cranes to attack the Blackjack as the Returners flee the continent.

With Terra aware of her origins as a half-human, half-esper hybrid, she and the Returners go through a cave to the Land of Espers in the hopes of securing their support for an attack on the Empire. Kefka follows and declares that Gestahl has told him to let Terra ally with the Returners in order to have them open the gate. Kefka is subsequently defeated when the espers emerge from the gate. It is unknown how he is returned to Vector, but Gestahl has Kefka imprisoned as a ploy to earn the Returners' trust so they would ally with him to find the escaped espers.

Gestahl releases Kefka and he is dispatched to Thamasa, where he proceeds to have his soldiers attack both the Returners and General Leo's troops, before killing all the espers and taking their magicite remains. When Kefka orders his troops to burn the town, General Leo steps in and fights Kefka, but he only succeeds in destroying Kefka's shade and the real Kefka emerges moments later and slays the general. Kefka projects a shade of Emperor Gestahl that "admits" he set up General Leo to allow the Empire to acquire more espers. Kefka also explains to Leo that he'll just cover up his murder of Leo by claiming he disposed of a traitor. The sealed gate rips open and a second wave of espers flies straight to the town to attack Kefka, but, at this point, Kefka has simply grown too strong and the espers' attacks have no effect (he implies when the espers arrive that his newfound strength was the result of collecting a lot of magicite prior to arriving at Thamasa.); Kefka easily slays them all with his magic and takes their magicite, enhancing his already potent powers even further.

With the sealed gate open, Kefka and Gestahl cross over to the esper world, find the Warring Triad and raise the Floating Continent. When the Returners confront them, Kefka rushes into the field of the Triad and demands they bestow their power upon him. Ignoring the shocked Gestahl's warnings, Kefka has the Triad strike the Emperor down and pitches his body to its doom off the edge of the island. Kefka moves the Triad out of alignment, shattering their delicate magical field. Shadow and the Returners narrowly escape, but the damage is done; the Triad awakes from their slumber and the World of Balance shifts into the World of Ruin.

In the Apocalypse's aftermath, Kefka drains the Triad of their power, turning them into weakened husks and himself into a God. Kefka builds a gigantic tower, fittingly called Kefka's Tower, from the rubble of the world he had destroyed. With more or less the entire world fearing him, Kefka rules over the World of Ruin from atop the tower, smiting anyone who defies him with the Light of Judgment: a beam of magical energy that can destroy entire towns. A cult eventually rises, worshiping Kefka (likely out of fear more than anything else). During this time, it is unspecified what Kefka spends his time doing, though he implies during his dialogue with the party before the final battle that he created numerous new monsters to fight them and guard his tower should they rise up against him.

A year after the Apocalypse, Celes awakes on a deserted island and journeys to reunite the scattered party members, and the reformed Returners assault Kefka's Tower. Battling their way to the summit to confront him, Kefka reveals his goal: In Kefka's view, life is meaningless and insignificant, and everything will only end up being destroyed. The Returners deny his claims by citing how, despite the World being in ruin, they still managed to find positive things to hold on to, such as learning what love is. Kefka finds their examples sickening, feeling that they came from a "self-help booklet", and thus decides to destroy everything, even the essence of life itself. The party battles Kefka's final servants and confronts Kefka himself. Upon confronting Kefka in a golden skyscape, Kefka utters one last nihilistic vision about life, dreams, and hope, and laughs maniacally as he states that he'll destroy everything.

In a final battle, Kefka is defeated. However, since Kefka had become the God of Magic, magic vanishes from the world along with Terra's powers. Terra, due to her connection with the children of Mobliz, is spared and becomes a human, but magicite and espers vanish and Kefka's Tower collapses as peace is restored to the world.

Kefka is a rarity among Final Fantasy villains in terms of power; while most other villains are consistently powerful, Kefka's power improves dramatically as the story progresses. He attacks Sabin in the Imperial Camp with a simple Morning Star, and could be injured by any attack (although he remarks after the second battle that he was actually holding back during those two attempts), and in Narshe he knows spells that are strong for that point in the game, but are overall weak in the grand scope of the game's spell list - his strongest spell at this time is merely Blizzara. Kefka acquires his power slowly by absorbing the espers' strength. By the time he appears in Thamasa, he is able to project realistic illusions, can single-handedly kill dozens of espers in one blow, and is immune to their powers. He is still vulnerable at this point - Celes stabs him aboard the Floating Continent, and Kefka is shocked and enraged by the sight of his own blood, although he seems more angry than hurt.

Following his taking control over the Warring Triad, Kefka becomes the God of Magic itself and his strength increases exponentially. At this point he is able to exploit the abilities of reality warping and other features including: elemental manipulation, power bestowal, and magical absorption. He also utilizes the use of telekinesis, as evidenced when he levitates two of the Returners to demonstrate his power when they arrive to stop him. Now knowing the most powerful magical attacks in the game, including Ultima, Kefka levitates debris from around the world to form his tower, a bizarre patchwork of terrain and rooms. He also uses his "Light of Judgment" to smite those who do not acknowledge his ruling of the world, and at least half a dozen towns are hit by the Light and devastated. Kefka creates various new monsters to guard his tower, including the revived, but weakened, Warring Triad themselves. Kefka also creates a new magical spell called Forsaken, (known as "Goner" in the original U.S. SNES release) his signature attack with a magic power of 220, the highest in the game. However, Forsaken does not ignore defense, limiting its potential power.

All of this is from wikipedia

This is a respect Thread

None of that person's work was original either. It was a combination of wikipedia, youtube and various fansites. 😬
edit1 - Oh wait, that was you! XD Forgive my rudeness.
Edit2 - Linking to other forums is agains the rules.

most of the info I post onto my respect threads are from a wiki site (Wesker, Dom Santiago, Jill Valentine, etc.). Kefka's info comes from FF Wiki.

Originally posted by MadMel
None of that person's work was original either. It was a combination of wikipedia, youtube and various fansites. 😬
edit1 - Oh wait, that was you! XD Forgive my rudeness.
Edit2 - Linking to other forums is agains the rules.

Never knew that but anyway I like mine because it isn't a giant wall of text.

He's the best Squaresolf/Enix villain. Let's leave it at that.

Originally posted by Snafu the Great
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long before Dr. Doom, Magneto, had set their sights on world conquest...there was Kefka.

Fail

Doom and Mag's set their sights on world conquest before this evil clown.

Originally posted by Kazenji
Fail

Doom and Mag's set their sights on world conquest before this evil clown.

Sarcasm on my end.

Kefka could solo those two.

I doubt it

give Doom some prep and he would own Kefka.