I will state right off the bat, this is MY opinion. I don't expect you to agree and I won't be changing it just because of rabid fanboyism. Also, this should be obvious but just in case, there will be spoilers. You've been warned
#5: Hojo - For those of you who have heard my opinion on 7 before, this may come as a surprise, but if there was one villian that was done right in 7, it was Hojo. Crazy, sadistic, and absolutely brilliant, Hojo's machinations were such that, I can honestly say that I wouldn't want to pick a fight with him. On top of his inhuman treatment of Vincent during the experiment performed on him, he somehow managed to win over 'ol Vince's lady love, Lucretia, only to use her, take her child and pump it full of Genova cells in his attempt to create the perfect being. Even once he's been beaten in the main game, he manages to take over the body of Weiss the Imaculate and, if not for Nero, may have even taken Omega as his own. I may not care for 7, but I do have to give their mad scientist props.
#4: Barthandelus - I'm a fan of XIII and this guy here is one of the reasons why. Though Orphen may have been the one calling the shots, it was Barthandelus that did all the planning. He manages to orchestrate everything Lightning and her friends went through near flawlessly, uses Cid repeatedly to his own ends (despite Cid's attempts to go against him), uses Serah's image to try and break them, and almost suceeds. This Fal'cie has no qualms about killing off his pawns once they've outlived their usefulness and even tortures and heals Fang repeatedly in an attempt to force into becoming a Ragnarok strong enough to bring about the collapse of Cocoon. Clever and powerful, just like a proper puppet master should be.
#3: Ultimecia - This villianess has been one of my all time favorites since the first playthrough of 8. Like Barthandelus, Ultimecia is responsible for everthing that happens in the game. Unlike him however, Utlimecia's goal is self preservation. She takes over Edea, usurps control over an entire country and sets out to wipe out all SeeDs in a ploy to make certain she kills the one man destined to kill her. If one listens to her speech in Galbadia (while she controls Edea) it becomes obvious that Ultimecia was forced to suffer through the genocide of all sorceress until she became the only one left, taking all the power of the others and, in a desperate ploy to keep from suffering the same fate, obliterates everything in her path. After possessing Edea, Rinoa, and Adel, she finally succeeds in initiating her ultimate goal, Time Compression, taking all time and space and absorbing it into herself. This leads to Ultimecia nearly becoming a god, blinking out all life aside from herself and the heroes with nothing but a thought. Granted this leads to her inevitable defeat, but all the same, her ability to manipulate entire countries from across time and space proves she can hold her own with the best of the boys.
#2: Kefka - While 6 is not one of my favorites, it's atagonist, Kefka Pelazzo, easily jumped up my list of villians. Kefka is, to put it lightly, psychotic. The experiments performed on him to imbue him with his impressive magical power, caused him so much pain that it drove him to become the cackling mad man we all know and love. Kefka is so broken and detached from everything around him that the only true joy he's able to find in his life is destruction. He is convinced that everything is so fragile, so transient, that there is no point to anything's existance in the first place. This does not however, mean Kefka is stupid. The psychotic jester manages to worm his way to the top of the empires food chain, winning the favor of his king, only to turn on him the very second he no longer finds him amusing or useful. Palazzo has even figured out how take the power of the magical beings known as espers for his own, only to use this power to spread destruction on a wider scale. His hunger for destruction is matched only by his lust for power, absorbing more and more magic and devouring the espers themselves until he becomes the god of magic, casting his "Judgement" when and where he pleases. It doesn't even matter if someone has defied him, Kefka will eradicate them out of simple boredom. Kefka also delights in turning others into his pawns, if not only to amuse himself. Such was the case with Terra, breaking and bending her will until she became his own personal play thing. The lunatic jester that rose from a test subject to a god.
#1: Emperor Mateus - The wicked Mateus, of Final Fantasy 2 fame, jumped to the top of my list easily. Mateus comes from a long line of royalty that has a history of being possessed by demons. However, the Emperor is far from being any demons tool. After making a pact with the devil himself, Mateus gains control over entire armies of loyal demons, willing and able to do his bidding. In return, upon his death the Emperors soul would be enslaved for all eternity. This does not, however, mean that Mateus is powerless without his demon hordes, as his magic easily outclasses even the most powerful of mages. Mateus manages to stretch his rule over the entire planet, putting down any and all who oppose him, until his only remaining opposition is the Wild Rose Rebellion, who he merely regards as a minor annoyance. Even upon his defeat at the hands of Firion and his allies, Mateus proves you can't keep a good villian down, killing the devil himself and taking all the power of hell as his own, only to return to the mortal realm and announce himself the Emporer of Hell. With his new found power, the Devil Emperor makes quick work of his would be replacement Leon, before easily pushing back Firion and the Wild Rose's fruitless attempts to stand against him, nearly crushing the spirits of the few who had once readily stood against his reign. Mateus' megalomaniacal desire to make all of existance, from the highest clouds of Heaven to the deepest circles of Hell, his very own leaves all of humanity quaking in fear at the very mention of his name. Firion and his friends are forced to kill Mateus a second time before he stays down for the count, and even then it takes a second band of warriors pushing through to the gates of heaven, to vanquish his so-called "good" half, before his Demonic reign finally grinds to a halt, leaving devastation and fear in it's wake. Even in death there is nothing and no one that escapes the rule of Mateus: Emperor of Hell. At least not if he has anything to say about it.
And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, my top 5 villians from final fantasy. Feel free to leave me some feedback and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed typing it.
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