History Characters / FinalFantasyVIKefkaPalazzo

** ''Dissidia'' depicts Kefka not merely as not seeing the value of love and hope, he actually can't understand them anymore, his mind is just too broken, and he causes destruction because it's the only thing that brings him joy. He delivers his famous end-game speech from ''VII'' on the meaninglessness of life, but ''Dissidia'' frames it in a more despairing and melancholy tone. Kefka laments that everyone will die no matter what they do and all they worked for will be reduced to dust after their deaths, and he practically begs Terra to explain to him how someone can continue to live in spite of that knowledge. And the answer she has for him -- live for the sake of love and happiness -- is one he can't accept because it doesn't make sense to him.

'''The''' OmnicidalManiac.

''[[EvilLaugh "Uwee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"]]''

** ''Dissidia'' depicts Kefka not merely as not seeing the value of love and hope, but he actually can't understand them anymore, he's just too insane, and destruction is all he has to bring meaning to his life with everything else beyond his understanding now. His famous end-game speech in ''VI'' is reused in ''Dissidia'', but with a very obvious tone of despair to the words, Kefka lamenting the meaninglessness of life and practically begging Terra to explain to him how someone can live knowing they'll have to die someday.

* MonsterClown: Monster ''harlequin'', but close enough. His in-game overworld sprite doesn't look like a clown or harlequin (aside from probably the red splotches below the eyes), but he acts like it. In the Amano artwork and the cutscenes added in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation version, he wears a harlequin costume and clownish makeup, and his actions are ''very'' monstrous.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When first seen in Figaro outside of Terra's flashback, he complains about Gesthal's orders, Edgar living out in the middle of nowhere, and how the Gestahlian Empire's recent recon jobs are the pits, before ordering 2 of his men to wipe the sand of his boots. After the Troopers tell him everything's all set, he laughs and calls them idiots before reaching the castle. This shows his [[TheStarscream secret desire to overthrow Emperor Gesthal]], [[BewareTheSillyOnes his silly, but deadly nature]], and his [[BadBoss callous disregard for the Empire's men]].

* GenocideBackfire: Poisoning Doma's water supply, which resulted in a very angry Cyan. In his case, it wasn't really out of fear or hatred of the Domians as much as feeling it was a good time to do something like that. [[CuttingTheKnot Not to mention helping the Gestahlian Empire break the Siege of Doma faster and win]], [[PyrrhicVictory though at the cost of some their guys imprisoned by the Domians]].

* AgentPeacock: A hammy and flamboyant MonsterClown.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Unlike previous antagonists, who started out as the BigBad at the beginning of their respective games, Kefka started out as a subordinate to a villain that was originally thought to be the BigBad, but is later revealed to be [[TheStarscream manipulating his boss]] and the party, and then managed to destroy the world and go on to be its ruler after achieving godhood.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Figuratively and literally, to Gestahl. He eventually kills the old man and gloats over his wounded body before finishing him off, but by that point you're more concerned with what Kefka is going to do once he's done with Gestahl than you are with Gestahl getting offed.

* OneWingedAngel: Technically, ''four'' winged angel, with a couple of demon wings depending on the image.

* PsychopathicManchild: Kefka acts like a disturbed child, with his maniacal laughter, tantrums, and selfishness. It's especially obvious in the Japanese version, where he uses the first-person pronoun "bokuchin", which is primarily used by young boys, when joking around or trying to act sweet.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: He's almost always "Cefca" in Japanese materials, including ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia]]''[[note]]with one exception -- [[http://www.espritduo.com/images/ff6_final_battles_concept_art.jpg this concept art]] (as a side note, the name "Sefilos" didn't make it in the game, but you may recognize it [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII somewhere else]])[[/note]]. Lampshaded in the ''Advance'' translation, which has one guard in Figaro Castle mention a fringe cult that spells his name with "C"s and not "K"s, and that it doesn't really matter since it's the same guy either way.

* WouldHitAGirl:
** In the Magitek Research Facility, Kefka roughs up Shiva before sending her to a room for dying, discarded Espers.
** On the Floating Continent, Celes tries to stop Kefka from abusing the powers of the Warring Triad. Kefka strikes her so hard that she falls to the ground, after which he rearranges the Warring Triad statues.

* FauxAffablyEvil: He's a laughing, joking MonsterClown most of the time...at least until he decides to become a stone-cold psychopath.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Unlike previous antagonists, who started out as the BigBad at the beginning of their respective games, Kefka started out as a subordinate to a villain that was originally thought to be the BigBad, but is later revealed to be [[TheStarscream manipulating his boss]] and the party, and then managed to destroy the world and go on to be it’s ruler after achieving godhood.

!!''Voiced by'': Creator/ShigeruChiba (Japanese), Creator/DaveWittenberg [''Dissidia Final Fantasy'']

->''Voiced by'': Creator/ShigeruChiba (Japanese), Creator/DaveWittenberg [''Dissidia Final Fantasy'']

''[[EvilLaugh "Uwe-hee-hee-hee-hee!"]]''

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Despite his clownish appearance and comical behavior, he is still a very dangerous character and a grave threat.
** In some ways, he highlights the extremes of this trope. Part of what makes him so terrifying is how his laughable quirks pair with horrific actions. His initial appearance features him behaving like a SaturdayMorningCartoon villain, cackling and fumbling around like a buffoon. The fact that he ''continues'' to act so silly while poisoning Doma serves to highlight how unnerving and sinister he truly is.

* TheHeavy: From start to finish: in the World of Balance, he serves as this despite being Gestahl's {{Dragon}}, as he is the one confronting and antagonizing the characters while his boss remains distant; in the World of Ruin, Kefka absorbs the power of the Warring Triad and threatens everything the heroes hold dear, forcing them to face him.

** "[[Film/StarWars I've got a bad feeling about this...]]" Said ''as the Sealed Gate opens''.

* DramaticIrony: Kefka acquires ultimate power, and spends his time for the year afterwards doing nothing but causing more destruction and death, to hammer in his point that all life is meaningless and pointless. However, it's really Kefka's life who has become meaningless and pointless, because he's devoting all his time and effort to stamping out life in a world that refuses to fully die.

* PhysicalGod: After he absorbs the powers of the Warring Triad, Kefka becomes the God of Magic and the first thing he does after gaining said godly power was destroy the world, and later become the ruler of the World of Ruin. He also has his godly form which turns him into an AngelicAbomination that the party has to face during the final battle.

* PhysicalGod: After he absorbs the powers of the Warring Triad, Kefka becomes the God of Magic and the first thing he does after gaining said godly power is destroy the world, and later become the ruler of the World of Ruin. He also has his godly form which turns him into an AngelicAbomination that the party has to face during the final battle.

* MeaningfulName: Aside from his first name litearrly meaning "toothbrush" [[BilingualBonus in Slovak language]][[note]]and bearing similarity to Creator/FranzKafka[[/note]], Kefka's last name, Palazzo, is Italian in origin that means palace, mansion, and/or castle, and also sounds very similar to Basque ''pailazo'', Catalan ''pallasso'', Greek ''paliatsos'', Italian ''pagliaccio'', Portuguese ''palhaço'', Spanish ''payaso'', Russian ''payats'' and Turkish ''palyaço'', which all translate to "clown," and his appearance pretty much makes it clear that the similar names are very fitting.

* ArrangedMarriage: Averted. In the GBA version of the climactic scene atop the Floating Continent, Gestahl urges Celes to return to his side. He then voices his expectation that Celes and Kefka will conceive children for his empire. Celes refuses.

* PhysicalGod: After he absorbs the powers of the Warring Triad, Kefka becomes the God of Magic and the first thing he does after he gaining godly power, was to destroy the world, and later become the ruler of the World of Ruin. He also has his godly form which turns him into an AngelicAbomination that the party has to face during the final battle.