No more playing games!
I command you... Show me your power!
Gesthal: Kefka! Are you mad!?
Kefka: Mad...? Emperor Gesthal, what are you saying? This is the perfect chance to show them the power of the Warring Triad!
Gesthal: Oh, Kefka... You poor, hopeless thing! I'm afraid you leave me no choice! No hard feelings, now... I'm just going to use this power you've unleashed to put you to sleep... What's so funny!? Very well... I suppose it's only fitting that you go out laughing.
It is true that Kefka is far from sane. However, he is not completely insane either. When he received his Magitek infusion, says one NPC, "something in Kefka's mind snapped that day...!" But what is that "something?" Was it his sanity as a whole, or a part of it?
It isn't his emotions, because Kefka shows quite a bit of emotion throughout the game, from laughing to jumping up and down in a rage. The pyramid he appears in at the top of his tower behaves as sort of a mood ring, changing colors as the conversation changes its tone.
It could be his reason, but not necessarily. Kefka recognizes his position in Gesthal's empire (that of a general) and waits until the time is right to take control. He lays his plans and lies carefully in wait, throwing off even the emperor. Kefka's goal is clear: to revive the Warring Triad and become a god.
It is most likely that he became incapable of empathy. Throughout the game, Kefka shows next to no respect for the feelings of others. He harshly orders his soldiers, particularly in Doma.
Please, spare me your petty small talk! Just do your job! And don't let me catch you slacking, or I'll make you regret being born!
Kefka knows who is important to him: himself. He is focused on his own desire to become a god, not letting anyone or anything in the way. It is in his final dialogue (perhaps the best of such scenes) that Kefka examines human nature and its futility.
And time will destroy all of those as well. Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?
Kefka cannot understand the party's reasons for fighting. To him, it is all worthless. And it does make sense: why do people people keep trying despite knowing their eventual destructions? Why would they do such futile things?
It is not insane for Kefka to think this way, but rather completely logical — and devoid of empathy. It is empathy that allows the party to have reasons for fighting, and it is Kefka's lack thereof that keeps him from understanding what they mean.
Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? And where do they go...? Such meaningless things... I'll destroy them all!
As a god, Kefka has no need for life, dreams, or hope — he is immortal, he has achieved his dream (though he viewed it as his "promised glory"), and there is no need for hope at all.
Naturally, this is his downfall.
I do not own anything associated with Kefka Palazzo or Final Fantasy VI — that all belongs to Squaresoft/Square-Enix, 1994-2007. Light of Judgment and all of its original content is © (copyright) Larissa, 2007.
