Kefka Palazzo

is a character who debuted in the 1994 Square role-playing video game Final Fantasy VI. Yoshitaka Amano created his visual design and director Yoshinori Kitase wrote his scenes. He is one of the most well-known and well-received villains in the Final Fantasy series. His popularity led to featured roles in the fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy and its sequels. He also appears as an enemy boss character in games including Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Artniks, Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, and Final Fantasy All the Bravest. Kefka is first introduced as the court mage of Emperor Gestahl. Over the course of the game, he reveals himself to be a nihilistic psychopath, gone mad from the cruel experiments that gave him his magical powers. When Gestahl is poised to seize the source of magic in this world, Kefka betrays him and takes it for himself. With his new godlike powers, Kefka rules the remains of a ruined world with an iron fist. Kefka is considered one of the most memorable video game villains ever created, with critics and fans noting his intense hatred and maniacal laughter as defining characteristics. He has also been compared to the Joker from the Batman franchise. Conception and creation Kefka's appearance was designed by Yoshitaka Amano, who was given complete creative freedom in Final Fantasy VI, with only brief character outlines as guidelines. His approach was to create "real" and "alive" characters, though with consideration for the representation as small computer sprites. Writer Yoshinori Kitase however expressed these "did not give him much character". While working on the very first scene for the game, Kefka's approach to a castle, Kitase felt it was too boring to do normally, and added a scene where Kefka demanded soldiers dust off his boots in the middle of a desert. This scene was meant to imply that there "may be a screw or two missing from this character's head", and while Kitase noted it was completely off the top of his own head it felt like a perfect fit for Kefka, and helped define the character's personality for the rest of the story.