Why is Luca Blight the Greatest Villain in my RPG Collection?

by Jorge Desormeaux

Original Editorial: Luca Blight: The Greatest Villain of All

[Introduction]
To define a 'best villain', we have to start by defining what we're looking for. 'Best' means 'most effective', so we're actually looking for 'the most effective villain.' But effective towards what end? And what makes a villain effective?

Before we define what a villain is, we should study what a character is- and what makes him effective. I hold that the three most important qualities for a character are: motivation, power, and style. This is because, for a character to be memorable, he has to touch something inside the player of the game: he has to stir or create something inside the player. Be it admiration, respect, hatred, dislike, disgust- a good character is one that transcends the game, novel, play or movie itself and becomes a believable character (note that what is really important is for it to be believable in its context- in that sense, a badly-structured world can effectively destroy an otherwise good villain. But more on that later). It doesn't matter what particular emotion the character stirs (unless it happens to be disgust with the stupidity of the game); his first measure of effectiveness is captivating the player's attention by awakening something in him, and his second measure of effectiveness is how closely the things he has awakened match his role.

Now, motivation, power and style are the most effective ways of showing what the character is all about. Since all stories (at least for the purpose of this article) involve a conflict, the first two elements reflect: why is the character fighting? And how is he fighting? By inference and interaction with other characters, these elements will effectively create a good picture of the character's personality, demeanor, beliefs, intelligence, and so on. Don't believe me? Let's look at a simple example: Gustave XIII, from SaGa Frontier 2.

[Gustave]
As the game starts, we're shown a battle between two armies, with soldiers striking at each other with techniques and magic. During the heat of battle, the leader of one of the sides is told that 'his son has been born'. Quickly issuing an order of withdrawal, the leader goes back to his castle to see his new-born son. That son is Gustave XIII, son of Gustave XII, the current King of Finney. Time passes, though, and it quickly becomes evident that not all is well for Gustave, aged 7: when the time comes for him to attempt the succession ceremony to the throne, which involves mastering or channeling power through a magical artifact sword, the 'Firebrand', it is discovered that he lacks magical power. Completely, it appears- 'a rock has more Anima than he does'. For this disgrace, the King exiles his wife, Lady Sophie, and her misbegotten son from the kingdom, naming Gustave's younger brother potential heir to the throne. So it is that Gustave grows away from home, his status and history making his peers avoid him, with only one person he might call friend, who only sticks to him because he lacks the ability to use magic either. He grows violent and wild, during this period. Several years later, aged 12, he discovers something that would change his life forever: steel. Since magic is elemental and depends on the forces of nature, most weapons and protective gear are made from 'natural' materials: spears of rocks, swords of polished and reinforced wood, and so on, so that normal soldiers are capable of unleashing strong magical techniques on their opponents. Steel, however, is 'unnatural'- so much so that it disrupts the flow of magic, so that it's only used for utilitarian purposes, such as cooking knives. So he convinces the local blacksmith to teach him the art of shaping steel, planning to create a steel sword to compensate for his lack of magic- since he can't use any in the first place, it has no cost for him. He trains during his teenage years until he's a powerful enough warrior to defeat a bandit team with a friend when he's 15, having forged a broad steel sword that he'll use for several years. During the time, he becomes more responsible and focused, and much stronger. When he turns 20, one year after his mother's death, he plans and executes flawlessly his first conquest, obtaining the lands of the young and immature Count of Wide through clever political play. As the years go by, he grows stronger, and respected as a powerful and sensible young lord. He creates a small squad of steel soldiers to serve under him, and after his father's death, aged 27, marches back to his homeland with his forces to claim his throne. The aid of the county of Wide, his advisors, and his own forces give him the edge, and he overthrows his younger half-brother. Later on, we get to see Gustave as a grown, 30+ lord, and he's as strong as ever, and we get to witness how he ignores the magical arts of an assassin and saves him from death, to make him his bodyguard, until the final showdown in a fort.

Gustave's motivations were, at first, be acknowledged. His status as a non-gifted human who was exiled and lost the throne were a painful barb during his childhood, and one that scared away most potential friends. That is why he resolved, first of all, to become strong. He fashioned the best weapon he could use, defying tradition and custom, and trained so as to be able to use it effectively. He also built up a strong character and became clever and skilled enough to be able to take a powerful county without the use of force. Eventually, he decided to show the world what he was really capable of, and bring peace to the continent under his leadership. His biggest power was, undoubtedly, determination. Most men, handicapped like he was, would have given up and wallowed in a pit of self-pity, saying "I never had the chance". He stood up and trained and learned enough to compensate. Besides his character, he was also a superb warrior, and a responsible man. Seeing him kick ass in battle with his big steel sword was impressive, especially compared to the other main character available during the period. Gustave had the drive to achieve, the determination to prepare and train for it, and the power to do it. And all this leads to his style. Featuring detailed, artistic backgrounds and high-quality 2-D sprites, Gustave always looked imposing, from childhood onwards. Not only did he have visual style; his power and ability in battles showed you that he was a strong fighter. And he also possessed a strong character and attitude to back that up- all things considered, Gustave was a strong, determined character who never let fate hold him back and persevered, and he inspired respect, maybe a little admiration.

Most people I know who have played SaGa Frontier 2 liked him- those who didn't, still acknowledged that he was a memorable and powerful character. He had a motivation that was easy to identify with- being acknowledged by others, and growing- considerable power that he acquired through his own merit, making him worthy of respect, and having enough style to make him stand out.

[Villains]
If what makes a character stand out, then, is how his personality traits and in-game representation touch the player, what makes a good villain?

The villain in an RPG is, quite simply. the guy who is at odds with the main character. Ultimately, they will differ in either ends, means, or both ends and means- all that matters is that the hero is the figure who defines others as villains or allies. An effective villain, therefore, will do a good job of providing obstacles, counterpoints, or acting against the hero. This is a very wide definition- which means that there is no 'formula' for the creation of a good villain. Basically, any villain can be effective if it provides a strong combination of motivation-power-style and fulfills his role as the hero's enemy.

Most villains emphasize one aspect over the others. Sin from FFX, for instance, was always portrayed as an immensely powerful creature, and you got to see it in action several times. So in terms of power, it ranked quite well. However, Sin didn't have a personality, per se- so in terms of motivation, all it did was randomly destroy things, which was pretty poor. And style? Well, some power helps, and it certainly had an imposing presence, but it didn't have very much of it. Seymour, however, was a lot less powerful, but he had a very clear personality and motivation, and he had lots of style, with his clothing, voice, and the types of schemes he executed, and the uses he gave to his power. That's why, when you ask someone 'who is the villain in FFX?', he or she will probably think of Seymour first, though Sin was the final antagonist. Sin was a very powerful obstacle, but it wasn't a good villain- it engendered little sympathy, understanding, or hate- it simply was there. Seymour was a much more effective villain. For anyone who has played FF9, the same applies. The true villain, and the good villain, was Kuja. His motivation later in the game- if I die, this world will die with me- is very powerful and well-executed, so that he comes off as very genuine. He was quite powerful- his trick with Trance and his Ultima show are pretty impressive. And though he might look like a girl, he undeniably has a lot of style: his silver dragons, distinct clothing style, arrogant attitude and use of power are all effective. Overall, he's a very well-made villain: he's easy to understand, perhaps even sympathize with, is powerful in magic and clever, and has a powerful style. The last boss, though? Can anyone remember its name? We have a running joke that the design team for FF9 had some space left over in the last disc, once the ending FMV was done, decided that Kuja wasn't that hard a boss anyway, and they might as well throw an extra challenge in the end. It was absolutely gratuitous; it might as well have said 'Hi, I'm evil, and I'm here to fight it because the designers thought it would be cool'. No motivation, not much style- does it matter that it was powerful? Not really. Zagato, from the anime series Magic Knight RayEarth, is another interesting case study. He was quite powerful- but not omnipotent; certainly not the strongest character in the series according to its hierarchy (it should have been Clef). But his motivation was what gave the whole series its real twist: he didn't want to destroy the world. He was simply fighting a world that demanded to kill his love to keep on going, and he could not accept that- wouldn't let her die, and if it meant the end of the world, it wasn't a world worth living in. While some might call him selfish, others would consider him noble and brave for fighting the world like that. Was he evil? Maybe. But his motivations are simple, powerful, and appealing: sacrifice, selfishness and love. And his style? CLAMP is adept at making handsome, tall, dark characters with capes and robes; he certainly had his share.

But how can you choose a 'best' villain, when the motivation ranges from misunderstood anti-hero to madman intent on destroying the world? When power ranges from self-taught magic or swordsmanship to pilfering the power of the gods (or demons)? And when most have their own distinct style, that makes them unique?

I believe that even in this diversity, there are elements that are better- or more effective- than others. The closer a villain comes to a God, for instance (really a god- not the "I'm invincible! Hahaha- is that a sword stuck through my ches-urgghhh..." routine), the more memorable it will be: Sephiroth's power trip was really effective; between the flashback of Nibelheim (a dragon, two Masamune strikes), the Midgar Zolom incident (staked 30-foot-long snake) and other incidents, he seemed so powerful that not even the last pushover battle (the last, last battle, I mean- the auto-Omnislash one) really diminished his appeal. Sephiroth was inhuman: his motivations were inhuman, his strength was inhuman, and he had an inhuman amount of style, with his big sword, silver hair and black trench-coat. The closer a villain comes to a real person, in terms of motivation and source of power, as well, the more memorable it will be. A villain that outsmarts you- that really outsmarts you and comes with plans you as a player didn't see, but that aren't gratuitous- is much more believable and prone to cause an impression on you, than one who gets his power for free. And a villain who has a motivation powerful enough so that you can sympathize and put yourself in his shoes, or else that you understand and can believe but intensely dislike, is also a very powerful one. That's why extremes work well: The most memorable villains tend to be either mad and irrational, like Kefka, so that they are, in essence, monsters that you cannot understand, you're not expected to understand, but can certainly learn to dislike or hate, or else very human beings who have strong, believable and understandable motivations that you might even sympathize with (remember Breath of Fire IV? I played that game for Fou-Lu. Hell, I willingly picked the 'bad' ending- according to his reasoning, everything he said was right. Since Ryu didn't have a personality or beliefs of his own, Fou-Lu should have won. A case where the villain is a much better character than the hero... man, I personally would have liked to play with Fou-Lu as main character for the whole game. But I digress). The same goes for power. A villain with little power who manages to get the upper hand anyway through real cunning, and a villain who has really god-like powers are both likely to impress the player.

Now, Luca Blight was a very special villain. As a boy, he was traveling with his father and mother, the King and Queen of Highland, respectively, when a group of bandits fell on them and killed most of the guards. The King escaped cowardly, leaving his son and wife to the bandits' mercy, who took both of them to their hideout. One of the King's loyal knights eventually made his way there, killed all the bandits by himself, and rescued Luca and his mother- but not before she was raped several times in front of him. Seeing his father as such a coward and his mother disgraced, Luca grew to harbor an all-encompassing hatred towards people, animals- things in general. Strong by nature, he trained and became an inhuman fighter, by far the strongest warrior in the world of Suikoden- I'm serious. He fought at the forefront of his army because no one was capable of killing him, and he enjoyed the slaughter- called his enemies 'pigs' before he killed them. In a world in which power is usually determined by which True Rune you own, Luca Blight, being stronger by himself than any single other character in the game without a True Rune or magical aid, was a force to reckon with. He was truly an unstoppable monster: in a field army battle, in which your leader's squad, the strongest one, might have an Attack value of 11 and a Defense of 12 if you really concentrated on boosting him, Luca Blight's squad had an Attack of 18 and a Defense of 16. His appearance in the field among the armies was enough to turn back the tide and make you retreat. How was he defeated, then? It wasn't your typical fight of hero vs. so-called God: he was betrayed by his closest advisor and ambushed during a night raid with few soldiers. After your archers pick off most of his troops, he sets off to fight your three squads of 6 characters- Suikoden games are notorious for having a roster of 108 characters, usually 70 or so playable in battle- and fights evenly with them, none of the three successive squads able to bring him down. After escaping through a forest and happening on a tree lit with fireflies, he was finally spotted by a group of archers, who sprayed him with arrows. After a volley of arrows, a fight against 6 people (with powerful spellcasters), another 6 characters, and finally your strongest 6 characters with your main characters, and another volley of arrows, he still wasn't dead- it took a final duel with the main character to kill him. And all this without magic, potions, healing, Runes or anything- he was _that_ strong by himself. Luca was undoubtedly mad. The way he slaughtered people and fought, there's no doubt about it. He was easy to hate, and he had a very strong character. And he had a lot of style- you can't help it, being a monster like him, to stand out in memory in his armor, blue cape, and maniac look (just look at Suikoden 2's opening movie). What was most remarkable, however, was his strangely human dimension- there was no excuse of magical power or unnatural help; his strength was his own, making him at the same time very human, because his power had no 'source' as such, and also very inhuman because of the extent of his power. This dichotomy was very effective in heightening his image as a strong bastard (that was the designers' intentions; for more info on the Suikoden series in general, you can look at http://www.suikosource.com), and that and the actions and role he fulfilled in the game are enough for me to acknowledge him as the best RPG villain I've seen.

Other candidates I favor would be Magus (Chrono Trigger), Fou-Lu (Breath of Fire IV), Lezard Valeth (Valkyrie Profile), Sephiroth (FF7), Kuja (FFX), Melfice (Grandia 2), and Kefka (FF6). All of them caught my eye; some of them made me think hard about their motivations and their personalities for a while. But I don't think any of them made quite so strong an impression as Luca Blight.