Summary
If you asked anyFinal Fantasyfan to namethe greatest villain in series history, chances are they’ll give you one of three characters. Sephiroth and Kefka are the two for the fans that stick to the single player titles, while those that have succumbed to the time sink that is Final Fantasy 14 will more than likely claim it’s Emet-Selch. They’re all pretty good picks for a variety of reasons, each one with different levels of mystery, charisma, and villainy, but none of them have as big of a footprint on the series as the one and only Gilgamesh.
Ever since his first appearance in Final Fantasy 5,Gilgamesh has become the most recurring singular character in the entire series, using the Rift to travel between dimensions on his mission to collect vast amounts of swords from worthy opponents. You have your various Cids and Cait Siths, but Gilgamesh is a single character whose name solely belongs to him. Even if you only have a passing interest in the series, you’ll have crossed paths with Gilgamesh, and his appearance inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthwill no doubt introduce him to many more.
Unlike the big guns of Sephiroth, Kefka, and Emet-Selch, it’s fair to say that Gilgamesh is a complete and utter failure. He’s a tough fight in most games, but the amount of victories under his belt pales in comparison to his rivals. He doesn’t have the supernatural prowess of a Sephiroth, the drive and pure villainy of a Kefka, or the complexity of an Emet-Selch. He’s completely useless, yet filled with undeserved confidence.
We All Have A Little Gilgamesh In Us
His goals and motives are also a lot more tangible. Gilgamesh doesn’t have grand plans for world domination, or a grudge against one particular protagonist. He just likes fighting and collecting swords, and if you’ve got one he wants, you’ll eventually come to blows. His focus on personal gain can feel strangely relatable too. I can guarantee any of you who’ve playedTriple TriadorQueen’s Bloodhave channeled a little bit of Gilgamesh while collecting cards.
It’s all of these traits that give Gilgamesh a personality unlike any other character in Final Fantasy. It’s easy for ‘proper’ villains in the series to blend together, as there are only so many reasons someone could have for wanting to either destroy or rule the world. Gilgamesh has a far more simple motive for his casual villainy, but it makes him infinitely more memorable. He’s wholly unique, whereas characters like Sephiroth and Kefka share similarities to other big villains likeFinal Fantasy 9’sKuja and Final Fantasy 5’s Exdeath.
Despite this, he’s also very flexible as a character. Most of the time, he’s a dim-witted buffoon who always fails in his efforts to snatch swords from protagonists, but there have been occasions on which he’s a lot more serious.Final Fantasy 15controversially took away most of the character’s personality (and arms) to make him much more mysterious and foreboding. In his first ever appearance in the series, he sacrifices himself to save the game’s main cast.
It makes him the perfect representative of Final Fantasy as a whole. We’ve had so many different games at this point, each one varying greatly in tone, whether it be the whimsical adventures seen in games like Final Fantasy 9, or the tales of romance and tragedy inFinal Fantasy 16. Villains like Sephiroth, Kefka, and Emet-Selch are all amazing, and I love each of them for different reasons, but none of them can encapsulate what makes Final Fantasy great like Gilgamesh. I don’t think Square Enix could come up with another character that ever will.
