Okay so I got a request to expand on this tweet, so buckle up. This probably should have been a blog, but...I don't wanna.

So, here we go: why Kefka Palazzo is a great villain [thread] https://twitter.com/barilleon/status/1290854646630711296

Let me start by saying that Kefka Palazzo is grotesquely, unequivocally evil. There is no woobification of or sympathy for a man such as this. Kefka is not your morally grey villain, nor was he ever meant to be.

But that doesn’t mean Kefka doesn’t have a “tragic backstory,” or that he’s “evil, black and white, no explanation needed.” The story makes no attempt to justify or excuse Kefka’s actions, but it does explain them.

Kefka Palazzo was Emperor Gestahl’s loyal fool, and, as we learn, the very first human the empire experimented on when creating Magitek Knights. The game implies that the trauma of that is what sets Kefka down this path: torture, experimentation, and othering from his peers.

If you look at the way the other members of the imperial army treat Kefka, it’s always out of necessity. We see the dutiful Leo being friendly with Celes and Terra even after they’ve defected, but everybody in the empire knows to interact with Kefka only when you absolutely must.

Kefka understands he’s the butt of the joke, and he uses that to his advantage. He legitimately feels, for the first half of the game, like an underdog gone wrong. Almost comedic relief, but with a twisted edge to him.

He's an evil clown, it comes with the territory.

I like Kefka because his backstory isn't unique. Experimented on, taken advantage of, forced into a life of servitude as a magical weapon. Terra and Celes fit that bill, too. But when actually given the choice to indulge in Kefka’s destructive fantasies, both women deny him.

I like Kefka because he is the mirror the game holds up to these characters. They're all faced with the same question: how do you handle the trauma you suffered at the hands of the Empire?

Celes snaps out of her military mindset when she realizes she’s complicit in war crimes.

Terra loses her memories, but when they return she reckons with the full force of the trauma of being manipulated against her will. She fights for a better future and wonders many times through the rest of the game if she’ll ever be able to experience love the right way.

Kefka, on the other hand, perpetuates the cycle of abuse and destruction. It’s Kefka who manipulates Terra, uses her like an object. It’s Kefka who descends into hedonism, nihilism, and the desire for ultimate power and destruction.

I like Kefka because of the point FFVI is trying to make here: these actions were a choice. Kefka isn’t a redeemable or excusable villain because FFVI is about the fact that there is no excuse. The game shows you Terra and Celes and even LEO and says, "There is no excuse!!"

Instead of all the atrocities Kefka commits, instead of all the edgy disillusioned dialogue he spews throughout his later appearances, Kefka could have chosen resistance, and he could have chosen love.

He did not.

Instead, Kefka chose destruction. That choice is what makes him the villain. Not his backstory or motivations. His actions.

Another angle I really enjoy is Kefka as the ultimate result of the cycle of war and violence perpetuated by Gestahl. When discussing w/ Willy, he mentioned that the role of a clown, typically, is to hold a mirror up to society and show an exaggerated version of it.

That's him.

When Celes confronts Kefka and Gestahl at the goddess statues, she tells them that power only breeds war. She also wishes that she'd never been born. Perhaps if she wasn't, the cycle of violence wouldn't have continued.

But Gestahl's violent quest led him to power, which led him to more violence, which led him to more power, which led to...his own violent demise, at the hands of the clown he'd taken advantage of for years.

Kefka is what happens when all you can do is perpetuate what you've learned, when you cannot break the cycle of abuse and power imbalance. To me, he's a cautionary tale.

I look at Kefka contrasted with Terra and Celes, and I see one key difference.

In pure JRPG fashion, the thing that Terra and Celes had that Kefka didn't was...friends. The party, who afforded them empathy. Cid, who treated Celes like a daughter. Leo, who was a mentor to Terra. Locke, the boy-with-girlfriend-issues who felt like he needed to save them both.

FFVI said that it takes empathy and love and support and roll-up-your-sleeves-and-do-the-right-thing WORK to overcome what's happened to you.

And it's messy! Terra and Celes make some questionable decisions. But they don't create a power imbalance and try to destroy the world.

Anyway, like any story I hold on to for way too long, this one isn't about how trauma excuses decision-making. This is a story about trauma and how to face it. And in Kefka's case, it's a story about how not to face it.

Kefka is also the perpetrator of one of my favorite narrative design moments in the game. When you have to talk to as many people as possible in the imperial castle and you're on a time limit, Kefka intentionally runs your clock by laughing at you several times.

Insidious.

Also purely from a JRPG standpoint, good villains are judged on these criteria:

Ambition
Attractiveness
Boss Fight Difficulty
How Hard Your theme Song Goes

Kefka's got it all, baby!!