Analyzing Evil: Kefka Palazzo From Final Fantasy VI

Hello everyone and welcome to the one hundred eleventh episode of Analyzing Evil! Our feature villains for this video is Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy Six. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching. If you have any feedback or questions feel free to let me know below!

Dancing Mad by Orchestral Fantasy -

#ff6 #finalfantasy #kefka

[TARDISman]

A streamer I watch named A_Raving_Loon did a pretty good analysis of Kefka's breakdown at the end of the game when presented with the party's "chapters from a self-help booklet." Loon posits that Kefka sees life as a joke that he doesn't get the punchline to. Everyone else seems to be having a good time and he literally can't comprehend how they do that. The party makes their statements to him and he blows it off because he's heard it all and he knows it's bunk. He is a clown that is not having fun. He is the sad Pagliacci.

[destructor]

Kefka is truly one of my favorite video game villains and one of the most pitiful. The cost of gaining his powers made I impossible for him to find joy in anything other than pain and destruction. He accomplished his goals halfway through the story and suffered an existential crisis because of it.

[professorhazard]

Finally! You showed Kefka in your first video, and I've had to wait through a hundred and eleven other villains for you to get to him!

[jstratton]

The villain who actually accomplished his goal...and did it halfway into the game.

[matttyree]

Kefka with voice acting is like a cross between Frieza and The Joker

[kellodrawsalotkello]

I love Kefka a lot, he's not just the most insane bad guy in Final Fantasy he's also very tragic Terra points out that his laughter sounds like crying. Kefka is unable to comphrend or think beyond destruction and chaos and most likely he knows that which is why he hates heroes so much. If I'm not mistaken wasn't it mentioned that before the expriments Kefka was implied to be a timid man? which makes the transformation all the more depressing

[Auffinaugh]

Kefka is the object lesson in "your trauma is not your fault, but it is your responsibility."

[flamingdeathbanana]

Kefka saying to Ultimecia in Dissidia "Changing time to hide those wrinkles?" Is the ultimate smackdown and I love it.

[spicytrashpanda]

I'd say, as far as the series is concerned, Kefka is hands down the greatest villain. He succeeded, he destroyed the world. No other big bad can make that claim.

[ELFBOYMUSIC]

I was so happy to see this in my feed. I love Kekfa, and I love The Vile Eye. That's a double love combo.

[ilovehotbbq]

While Sephiroth is more iconic and excellent in his own right (and i hope he's covered one day), Kefka is easily the best villain the series has ever had. Nihilistic and crazy and he actually succeeded in his goals.

[shenloken]

Kefka was indeed a monster. But a monster manufactured by the Gesthal Empire.

It is similar to how Sephiroth was also manufactured by the Shin-ra Corporation. But unlike Kefka, Sephiroth was once admired and beloved. Only after he found out about his fabricated reality did he become a true monster.

Both evil empires helped create two of the most iconic villains in the franchise.

[zedith]

Does anyone remember the dude who Cosplayed Kefka and just nailed the role perfectly? This vid was probably from 10+ years ago, but his mannerisms will always stick with me!!!

[MrfrogAXN]

Kefka is pure gold as a villain, thank you so much for making a video about him.

[JavelinAngel]

Kefka's laugh is so good it was used in numerous memes. Including Sonic.exe.

[scottlemiere]

Kefka is the only one that managed to pull off the villain end goal: destroying the world and remaking it in his own image.

[FirstLast-cgnk]

Another possible reason for Kefka waiting is becuase he views the entire thing as a grand performance, fitting with his theatrical nature: There must be a climactic showdown in the final act between the heroes and the villain for the fate of the world. That's simply how it is done.

[banonKING]

I remember playing FF6 (FF3 in the States at the time) and being absolutely intimidated to raid Kefka's Tower that I stopped playing FF6... began playing Chrono Trigger. Finished all of Chrono Trigger. And then had the courage to go back and take on Kefka's Tower to finally finish FF6.

That's how much of an impression Kefka's evil left on me. That little sprite and his terrifying laugh are videogame legend!

[lil----lil]

Fun fact: Kefka is based on a real life writer: Franz Kefka who then gave us the adjective: Kafkaesque: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality. How fitting!

[redjakOfficial]

Amazing to finally hear Vile's take on the best villain in videogame's history.
Agreed with the theory that part of him wished to be stopped in the end. That theory is backed by the last part of his final boss music, which is so full of sorrow and regret that I feel he finally realized how horrible what he did was. 
Or at least he respected the Returners enough to grant them one last chance to beat him before ending the world in a burst of laughter.