Throughout history, humanity has pondered many big-picture questions. Above all, we have sought answers to the most pressing of them all: what happens to us once we have shuffled off this mortal coil?
This list does not make any effort to tackle that query. You must discover the answer yourself, in your own way, as is your custom. What Icantell you is that death does not thwart theseJRPGvillains' plans. In some cases, it accelerates them. Within the confines of these specific fictional characters, death’s mystery is answered in full, and it frequently spells bad news for the heroes of their tales. These antagonists have seen what awaited them on the other side, and they have laughed at it.
7Garland
Final Fantasy
Disgraced knight Garland didn’t take his potential punishment lying down when the Warriors of Light approached him to answer for his crimes at the beginning of Final Fantasy. Kidnapping the Princess of Corneria was a vile deed, indeed, and delusions of grandeur had clearly seeped into his brain. He went as far as telling the brave Warriors that he would knock them down. His words, not mine.
But oh, what a twist. The first twist in a franchise that’s proven to be chock-full of them, in fact. Garland’s “death” is averted (or, at least, its ramifications are) when the Four Fiends send him 2,000 years into the past. His treasonous machinations have brought about a loop in time, allowing him to exist forever - effectively immortal. Absorbing the individual elemental powers of the Fiends, Garland then transforms into Chaos. Only then is he put down for good.
6Myria
Breath Of Fire Series
Myria is the overarching lead antagonist of the first three games in the Breath of Fire series. In the first Breath of Fire, in the form of a little girl with a penchant for crying when it gets her what she wants, Myria pits the Light and Dark Dragon Clans against each other both in the past and again in the present.
She’s petulant, but she does offer happiness to those who will serve her whims. The offer is nothing more, however, as in truth, Myria is sadistically determined to bring further pain to the world.
Myria’s defeat in the first game and absence in the second doesn’t mean she isn’t still responsible for Breath of Fire 2’s own string of problems. The villain in that game, the ridiculously-named Deathevan, is something not unlike her offspring.
It’s in Breath of Fire 3 that Myria really kicks into overdrive, though. Having been reincarnated multiple times, she’s now back as a “guiding figure” of supposed benevolence who restricts humanity’s progress because she views us all as children. To be honest, looking at what humanity has been capable of doing to the planet in that game’s lore - and uh, in our own world - I kind of get where she’s coming from. But this ain’t it, Myria.
By the way, Capcom. You keep bringing back everybody else’s favourite Capcom franchises. Mine is Breath of Fire. Please?
5Ajora Glabados/Ultima
Final Fantasy Tactics
It is unclear whether the man named Ajora Glabados was ever trulyhimself. 1,200 years prior to the events of Final Fantasy Tactics, Ajora, venerated as a saint by his followers for performing alleged faith-based deeds, was in fact possessed by a Lucavi - which is to say, demon - named Ultima. A disciple named Germonique betrayed Ajora to the jealous Holy Ydoran Empire, and Ajora was summarily executed. Ultima was effectively trapped as a result.
Final Fantasy Tactics tells a deeply sociopolitical tale with plenty of medieval-style intrigue. As the story progresses, however, it becomes increasingly evident that the Lucavi are orchestrating much of the realm of Ivalice’s ongoing tragedy. Ultima’s resurrection through a revived St. Ajora, and protagonist Ramza Beoulve’s daring plan to defeat him, marks the game’s grand finale.
Still, after twelve centuries, Ultima refused to give up. Her Lucavi followers, led by Hashmal, went as far as to bring Ivalice into a full-blown civil war simply to shed enough blood for the resurrection ritual to commence. Perhaps it’s more apt to say that the Lucavi as a whole did not take Ultima’s “death” as the end of their play, given their tenacious methods to bring her back; regardless, Ajora is swept up in it all, and must be felled a second time before Ivalice can know peace.
4The Four Testaments
Xenosaga Series
Namco’s Xenosaga trilogy, now something of an awkward in-between phase after Square’s legendary Xenogears and Nintendo/Monolith Soft’s ongoing Xenoblade Chronicles franchise, has the “death and rebirth” concept on lockdown. It’s all over the place, in myriad ways. But none are so overtly impactful as the Four Testaments.
Collectively, these four individuals have drastically different personalities and separate objectives in the lives which they lead prior to being reborn in the service of Wilhelm, Xenosaga’s main villain. Even then, they’ve got hefty wills of their own.
3Seymour Guado
Final Fantasy 10
Seymour Guado isn’t quite Final Fantasy 10’s main antagonist, but he’s its main humanoid antagonist, and a thorn in the party’s side for most of the melancholy story’s back half. The team slays him at roughly FF10’s halfway point, but without a proper Sending, he keeps coming back in increasingly unnerving form.
It’s only after second, third, and fourth battles that Yuna can at last send the scheming Seymour to Spira’s version of the afterlife. Seymour Flux in particular - the third fight, fought atop sacred Mount Gagazet - has been responsible for many game overs through the years. And the heinous act which Seymour commits in the lead-up to that fight? Man, what a jerk.
2Death
Persona 3
When the Kirijo Group discovers documentation from a destroyed civilization concerning the prophecy of The Fall, Persona 3’s backstory quickly kicks into high gear. Death, an Arcana that ought never have manifested, will be its harbinger. Nyx, the being who brings that death upon humanity, is fated to awaken.
Not much can be done about it, really, and the scientists of the Kirijo Group almost manage to happily bring about Nyx’s arrival, themselves. Thankfully, that’s subverted. But what is Death, if not relentless? Three times throughout the story, Death takes on distinct manifestations.
As Pharos, he mournfully helps to guide the game’s protagonist, Makoto Yuki. Later, as Ryoji Mochizuki, he seeks to expand his horizons, keenly appreciative of the natural world and the humans who inhabit it. And Thanatos, a recurring demon/Persona within the Megami Tensei franchise, is not only summonable by Makoto, but a form which Ryoji can assume as well.
After it all, and at the intense conclusion of Persona 3’s tale, the hero and his friends challenge Nyx Avatar. Makoto himself goes on to battle Nyx itself, Death’s ultimate manifestation. While it’s a stretch to classify the entirety of this list’s passage on Death as a thorough embodiment of a single drive, I’d argue it is, at minimum, safe to say that Death begs death begets death - there’s no antagonistic force so indomitable.
In Persona 3 Portable, the player can select a female protagonist. Unfortunately, this is the only version that allows it. With chagrin, I tend to think of Makoto Yuki first and foremost, so that’s why I’ve cited him here.
1Miang Hawwa
Xenogears
Then again, even Death can’t quite top Miang Hawwa’s persistence. Miang, also known as Myyah, has enough backstory for me to sternly suggest that interested readers ought to consult Xenogears: Perfect Works, a304-pagefull coverage of the game as well as its more than 10,000-year preceding events. (There is nothing quite like Xenogears.)
For the purposes of my article, then, it will suffice - if barely - to say that Miang is an artificially-created creature with a feminine form, created by the computerized superweapon Deus. When the starship Eldridge crashed on the planet upon which Xenogears is set, 9,999 years before the events of the game itself, she created the first “humans” which populate this newfound world.
Miang’s goal is to bring about the Day of Resurrection, merging with her Elehayym counterpart and brutally utilizing the parts of the humanity she’s created - her children, if you will - to restore her own creator: Deus. In this manner, she has reincarnated countless times, steering history to her whims in such well-documented instances as Zeboim, the construction of Solaris, and the Shevat-Solaris War. Across millennia, Miang emerges, twisting people to suit her ambitions.
