Best Villain Motivation

[Nikkolas]

People have all sorts of different criteria for why they like a villain. Generally one of the things that matters most to me is the Why of their villainous nature. Why are they evil? People are not born evil after all, or at least that is what I believe. So what circumstances pushed them to this course of action? Can I relate to it or understand it and possibly even envision myself taking a similar road if exposed to the same circumstances?

And so here we are. Which FF villain do you think has the most interesting or well-explained reasoning for being a villain?

I've been in an FFX mood as of late and have reflected on how much I like Seymour. His character is motivated by a lot of personal tragedy to be sure but it helped him "understand" the world better. He truly wants the exact same thing the heroes do but his trauma has led him to a far more twisted solution to the Spiral of Death.

Even still, Spira is such a bleak world and the atmosphere of Hopelessness is so prominent that Seymour really fits more than any of the other "Kill Everyone" villains. He is a Dark Messiah, looking to offer salvation to the poor souls trapped in mortal agony.

 

[Gir Sin Genji]

I like Garland.
The reson I think he's a good villain is because he had spent his entire life being a kings pawn, jus another soldier. But then one day he decides, "Hey, maybe I'll do something crazy."
And not only is that inspiring, but in the end he's basically immortal. He become the ultimate embodiment of entropy, and threatens to destroy the time continuum. He's pretty badass in my eyes.

 

[Steve-O]

my top one has to be caius from FFXIII-2 he was the best villan design I seen in a video game for years, and is why I loved FFXIII-2 soo much, he motive of trying and save yuel, a girl that he felt he loved is just sooo good and beautiful story writing

 

[Linnaete]

At first, Kefka came to mind, because the Empire's charming feats of human experimentations practically wiped out half his brain with how clinically insane that guy would become. I thought: great! It's so nice and simple! It doesn't come under that trope of "doing it for the girl I care about!" that people like Shuyin - and maybe Caius, though I'm a bit ignorant as to what exactly his relationship with Yeul is, as I haven't played the game - that I really hate to see being overused. It's also nothing silly like Sephiroth's mummy's boy complex, or just out of whack like Kuja's genocidal motivations purely because he's pissed about his imminent expiration. But then, I thought Kefka's motivations are in fact underwhelming at best, because it's barely anything more than the fact that he wants to mess everything up and be evil just because...he can. It's a step above Ultimecia, but then again, anyone can beat Ultimecia in the villainous motivations department.

I also did consider Seymour. It's only the character's dreadful execution later on that would ruin him for me, but as it stands, his motivations really aren't that bad, or as relatively bad as some of the others. Spira is bleak and wrought with a cycle of death and malicious rebirths, but it's also a world of bigotry and ignorance, if I remember Seymour's backstory adequately enough - his being a mixed species hybrid that was looked upon as being a bit of an abomination, despite his paternal lineage. Years of loneliness and a tragic loss of the last person he had in his life he could cling to would then forge a very nihilistic view of the world, seeing destruction as its only liberator. Yes, Seymour is short, batshit insane, but I can see why he would be driven insane. Anyone with that kind of childhood wouldn't come out as a saint, as much as Yevon would like to portray him as being. They would be more likely to come out as Rose friggin' West or something. However, his sheer nihilism and desire to defeat Sin by becoming Sin is probably a bit too batshit insane for someone who we assume is batshit insane. That's just an unholy level of what-the-heck-were-you-smoking batshit insanity - so much so, that it probably hurts his motivation a bit more than it aids it.

Now, Vayne! Yes, I know people don't like the guy because they can't accept a more grey and impersonal sort of villain in their Final Fantasy games, but really, if you sit down and examine the guy, you would see that he has a lot more to offer than you give him credit for.

So what drives his political ruthlessness? Well, firstly, it's clear as day that if you were born into such a prestigious family line of a society - of a whole empire - that prides itself in a history and tradition of military strength over diplomatic compromises, you WOULD have it drilled into your head that you may well be a future leader of this proud Prussian-like society, and that their continuing strength and all the work done by your ancestors, would one day be on your shoulders. And this is a society, much like Europe of old in the 17-18th centuries or something, that would punish weakness. You therefore grow up, seeing yourself as a born leader. You are a representative of your people - your voice would one day be theirs, and you exist for the betterment of your kind. Vayne inhabits the very spirit of this kind of society, and it's therefore no wonder that he would willingly slay his own brothers if it would mean supplanting any further dangers to the Solidor dynasty. This naturally extends to foreign relations, i.e. invade, pillage and annex anyone that could fortify your position.

But then, you stop to think: is this more than being simply being a power-hungry dictator that wants to install some kind of Archadian Reich across all of Ivalice? Well, no, because Vayne kind of elevates himself to being not just the voice and light of his people, but his entire species as well, in order to liberate man from the oppressive shackles of Occurian omnipotence and puppetry, in order for man to achieve full independence to decide its own destiny. It's just a pity that we do not get anything more concrete or crystal clear about Vayne's own fixation with this ultimate goal - how and when he first came about to it for instance - but, FFXII's story is a story that leaves plenty of room for creative interpretations anyway.

So basically, Vayne ultimately has what he perceives to be motivations for the betterment of his people: firstly, for the betterment of Archadia, but once he consolidates his position, supplanting all possible opposition, he elevates it for the betterment of man and finally pursues that in earnest for his ultimate plan. Raithwall, in taking up his blades to bring order and stability to Ivalice, did it at the expense of enchaining mankind in Occurian chains. He was therefore, the gods' puppet. Vayne sees himself as the exact opposite. He's essentially delivering a big "fuck you" to their uninvited masters because he believes it is in the best long-term interests for man. It's just too bad that given the sort of society and gravitas of a reality he was born into and raised in, he decidedly takes that "the end will justify the means" route. If that means (*inhales deeply) annihilating an entire kingdom, committing regicide, blackmailing an otherwise neutral country, completely shutting off a rightful heir to her throne, killing kin and comrades, taking full autocratic control of a country that frankly he was constitutionally entitled to anyway, killing swathes of refugees running from wars he helped to instigate, risk everything by killing the world's equivalent of the Pope or Dalai Lama, AND undoubtedly use his weapons of mass destruction to wreak further untold damage to resistance populations in order to drive his point across that this is for the betterment of the world in his design...then so be it. Oh, and just as important: Larsa. The innocent kid brother he genuinely seems to care for and to protect.

At the end of FFXII, the player is actually left thinking whether they did the right thing by thwarting Vayne. Great, you foiled a big war and prevented further inevitable casualties. Now what? Are we better off with Raithwall's legacy intact and man still essentially under the reins of the Occuria? Or did Vayne actually have the right idea, but was just a bit of a bastard in how he went about it? It's also interesting to note that Larsa resists everything that makes Vayne who he is, and that he just doesn't see the utilitarian side to committing atrocities for man's long-term benefits. His idea of long-term benefits isn't going to done through goose-stepping into other sovereign nations to raze their cities to the ground. Different ideals. Different philosophies. Vayne is just something entirely on another platform to the other Final Fantasy villains. No mental insanity, dead girlfriends, fear of dying, desire to bring mother back here.

I have no idea if this post even made any lick of sense.

 

[Kuja9001]

just out of whack like Kuja's genocidal motivations purely because he's pissed about his imminent expiration.

He wasn't only pissed about that, he was also pissed at the fact that he didn't get to live much his life how he wanted.

Garland pretty much used him as a slave to try and revive the people of Terra and Kuja knew this, that's when the "plot to get rid of Garland" idea came around.

All he really wanted was freedom and to just live his life and when dumbass Garland told him about his life span the dams in his mind broke.

 

[Shaissa]

Honestly what creates a great villain in my mind is a few things.

First is there backstory, I rather not have a villain that just says "I'm going blow up the planet" without no good reason, Why do they wanna destroy the planet? Was it like Kefka, or Sephiroth where they had some experiments done on them? Or like Garland or Kuja where they were manipulated for so long and finally snapped?


Second thing is you can't end up feeling sorry for the villain, this I think is a major problem with some of the Final Fantasy (and other RPGs) villains, The story hits a point, (usually near the end) Where the hero's just start to feel sorry for the villain. I just hate that! I don't wanna feel sorry for the villains, I wanna be able to whip there ass and not feel bad about it! This was Kuja's major flaw at the end, Zidane goes and comforts him and you just kinda feel sorry for him, They try this with Seymore also, but I stays at his level of insane for the whole game so it does work out.


Finally, I think the villain has to have some manipulating powers. They can't be the only villain in the whole game, FFIV Zemus has Goblez, FFVIII Ultimatia had Edea and Adel, XII Vayne had the Judges (and a whole empire), There can't be just one villain that you wanna kill and no one else. there has to be others that will listen to them till the end.

 

[Catnip]

You know, Seymour has always been a huge joke to Chris and I, but this forum is really opening y eyes to him. He truly is a great villain, isn't he? The voice acting was well done too. I like Seymour. I know he gets compared to Vayne a lot for some reason, but he's far better than that forgettable hunk of shit, if you ask me.

 

[Zidane23]

This ones tough because they were all so extremely evil you can't comprehend their twisted schemes because it just seems so heartless. I'd have to go with Ultimecia by default she wanted to ruin time and live forever she didn't go around killing randoms because of fun she was more focused on her goal. The others were just to sadistic they would kill people whether it helped them with their plan or not. Kuja slaughtered people for fun, Kefka did the same thing but it was more that he just hated people, Sephiroth I forgot what he was even doing trying to be a god or something I guess thats alright, Seymour wanted to kill everyone to end all suffering (considering the suffering in Spira it does make a little sense) but the whole I want to wipe out everything didn't intrest me. Golbez was a puppet and Zemus was pure evil, Ex Death is a lot like Zemus as well he is just evil