Kefka - The Esper Finally Revealed?

As XIV has had many notorious references to old Final Fantasy games, the goddess statues (Warring Triad) in FFVI appeared in Azys Lla with very little story, which probably means that we'll eventually see the story, but as a long-time fan I've had one burning question...

Kefka was one of the generals in Emperor Gestahl's army and the weakest among his comrades. When magic was discovered, he was the first to experiment with the process of artificial infusion of Esper/Primal power. This caused him to go absolutely insane.

What was never answered in the lore: WHO was he infuse with? We've seen primal infusion across several games (FF6, FF8, FF10, etc.) but there's no suggestion as to which primal he was given. Shiva was drained, and Celes had ice magic, so it only makes sense. But what psychotic demon would have caused his mind to go haywire?

I'm curious if XIV might explore that missing piece of the puzzle that justified his madness.

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Originally Posted by Veritas-Ancora

What was never answered in the lore: WHO was he infuse with? We've seen primal infusion across several games (FF6, FF8, FF10, etc.) but there's no suggestion as to which primal he was given. Shiva was drained, and Celes had ice magic, so it only makes sense..

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As far as I know, the FFVI Empire initially drained Espers en-masse rather than individually. Kefka and Gestahl only figured out how to make proper Magicites after they witnessed Maduin's group transform into crystals.

By the time the Floating Continent becomes a thing, he's got at least two dozen Magicites in his pockets, presumably including all the ones you later find in the World of Ruin.

So it's not a question of "which one?", as much as "how many?"...

...Is Kefka even a thing in XIV? I don't recall ever seeing a hint of him in the lore threads.

if i recall, during 2014 E3 live letter they said there wont be kefka in XIV

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Originally Posted by Twailaith

...Is Kefka even a thing in XIV? I don't recall ever seeing a hint of him in the lore threads.

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No. He is not. I don't think that's what the OP meant though.

Typically, SE has been taking ques from other FF titles in order to construct the lore of FFXIV (Which has lead to the "FF multiverse" fan theory). It seems to take the most influences from FFXII, Tactics, and VI, so far. So, a lot of the most accurate theories about what's going to happen and why in the FFXIV story have been using evidence from other games to predict this game's future. I think what the OP is implying here is not that Kefka will be in this game, specifically, but that IF we can use facts from previous titles to fill in the blanks of FFXIV, than we could also use facts of FFXIV to fill in previously unanswered questions or mysteries of the titles that have been used as inspiration for FFXIV's story.

It's entirely possible. I wouldn't be surprised if SE raided the story vault of previous titles to make this game, so it stands to reason that there could be potential facts about previous games hidden within this one; however, we would have know way of knowing for sure. Since any facts found in FFXIV would be being applied retrospectively, it's just as likely that SE made something new up that doesn't quite fit.

For the record, it was the imperfect infusion process that drove Kefka off the deep end, not any specific esper he was given power from. That bit was never elaborated upon, and as someone else pointed out they only learned to make proper magicite after watching the espers turn into the rocks themselves.

If anything, all the Krilie story could be leading to Exdeath/Exodus Esper.
I doubt that Kefka will be in FFXIV, even though the Warring Triad is already a nice FF6 cameo

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Originally Posted by Cilia

For the record, it was the imperfect infusion process that drove Kefka off the deep end, not any specific esper he was given power from. That bit was never elaborated upon, and as someone else pointed out they only learned to make proper magicite after watching the espers turn into the rocks themselves.

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Pretty much this.

FYI, I'm so happy to geek out over this theory!

It's not so much how many magicites were in his pocket as it was the infusion process itself. The comments are accurate, the infusion process was experimental and went horribly wrong as the guy in Vector said. The question is: did Kefka really get infused with a ton of espers in the initial experimentation? Or, was the first done by a single one? This is a question I'm very much intrigued to learn.

Consider the qualities: he puts on elaborate makeups, elaborate clothes, shrieks with diabolical laughter, takes joy in destruction... if it was in fact one esper, which seems to be the most logical in the first attempt, what kind of psychotic beast could do such a thing to warp a person's mind like that? What being would have so much rage and hellfire behind them that wants nothing more than every allegiance broken and the world burned to ash?

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Originally Posted by -Krypyonite-

if i recall, during 2014 E3 live letter they said there wont be kefka in XIV

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I'm pretty sure Ferdiad is "our" Kefka in this game, especially since he wasn't killed and had a special cutscene hinting at his return. Given Diabolos' return, it's even a greater chance as of 3.1.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

For the record, it was the imperfect infusion process that drove Kefka off the deep end, not any specific esper he was given power from. That bit was never elaborated upon, and as someone else pointed out they only learned to make proper magicite after watching the espers turn into the rocks themselves.

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This is accurate yes, keep in mind that Kefka's infusion process was "before" magicite (in context of knowing anything about it). But keep in mind that Celes was "before" magicite and Gestahl was "before" magicite as well. All of these people used this process to acquire magic, so there's definitely instances where this process was in fact successful. The infusion process became more successful with more experimentation, but still goes back to that first time. What esper, or espers, were the first to be running through Kefka's veins?

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Originally Posted by Velox

I'm pretty sure Ferdiad is "our" Kefka in this game, especially since he wasn't killed and had a special cutscene hinting at his return. Given Diabolos' return, it's even a greater chance as of 3.1.

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I think Regula van Hydrus might be our Kefka... What, he isn't insane? Yet...

What is the Garleans biggest weakness? Their inability to use magic. A similar story to Final Fantasy VI, no? Magic was dead, until the Gestahlian Empire revived it. They did that by infusing soldiers to grant them magic, and that's what drove Kekfa insane.

Now, we have the Garlean Empire sitting happy at Azys Lla, where the Allag did all manner of research... I can totally see a plot where by, the currently composed Regula, attempts to infuse Garleans with magic to overcome their one weakness, but the process results in an absolutely broken madman who then goes "I'ma try and absorb the Warring Triad too!", perhaps... Effectively, our "Kefka" would be the Kefka we didn't see in Final Fantasy VI...

Of course, they could not do that, but after Nael van Darnus being such a strong nod to Sephiroth... I'm incline to think Legates will have some reference built into past villains... Arguably the boat has sailed with Final Fantasy III, but I think Goldor could fill the shoes... He certainly already looks like a Legate, though he was just a minor villain... We already have two Legates who references the villain of the game for their Legion (Nael being VIIth Legion, Regular VIth for reference...), so why not keep that trend? Yes, I'm counting Gaius van Baelsar (XIVth Legion) as a reference to Final Fantasy XIV, how could I not? He so perfectly encapsulates the game, where Final Fantasy XIV relies on nostalgia for a large part of its content, Gaius did exactly the same, even out right copying Nael to a degree...

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Originally Posted by Nalien

Of course, they could not do that, but after Nael van Darnus being such a strong nod to Sephiroth... I'm incline to think Legates will have some reference built into past villains... Arguably the boat has sailed with Final Fantasy III, but I think Goldor could fill the shoes....

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I was actually thinking more along the lines of Garland. This may be a bit of a stretch, but for the sake of fun time theory forming, I'm gonna roll with it.

To my recollection, Garland's past incarnations had two distinct personality types. The first, and most common, is that of a general nurturing a strong obsession with war and conflict (as seen most strongly in Dissidia). He was consumed by the notion of an unending cycle between opposing forces (good vs. evil / light vs. dark... sounds familiar, right?). This obsession with combat would be a good fit, and it would not be difficult to see him go straight off the deep end if he gets caught up with the whole Ascian/zodiark vs. Hydaelyn thing. I could picture him becoming so infatuated with that conflict that he seeks to escalate it for the sake of consuming the planet with it.

The second, and less known, incarnation of Garland is found in FFIX, in which he is an older man (some kind of artificial life form, actually) who is obsessed with the mission of merging the world crystal of Terra with that of Gaia. His end goal is to revive the planet of Terra by invigorating it with the youthful and abundant energies of Gaia by slowly replacing all of the Gaian souls in the lifestream with Terran souls, and then awaken the souls of the sleeping Terrans so they can live again. During this plot Garland seeks to eliminate all Eidolons (Summons/Espers/Eikons/Primals) because he fears their power getting in the way of his plans (not unlike the current agenda of the Garlean empire). The entire plot surrounding Kuja and Garland in FFIX revolves around the utter destruction or enslavement of Primals and the conflict between two world crystals (similar to hydaelyn and Zodiark, though no distinct personalities are shown in FFIX).

Either version of Garland you take, or mix of both, has room to tie in quite nicely as a legatus, I'd say.

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Originally Posted by Februs

I was actually thinking more along the lines of Garland. This may be a bit of a stretch, but hey, since we're theorizing and going off into wild speculations, why the heck not, right?

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Garland was Final Fantasy I though. If the theory is right, I'd expect;

• Legate of the Ist Legion to have some plot involving four fiends, perhaps ending with the Eikon Chaos, Walker of the Wheel being released...
• Legate of the IInd Legion to involve Pandemonium/Hell (we have an instance in the dats call the Seventh Gate of Hell...), and another Eikon, Mateus, the Corrupt.
• Legate of the IIIrd Legion... Not sure, a mad man obsessed with gold (gold plated Magitek... Hmmm)? Just someone ruling over a troubled dominion (Garlemald has plenty...) which is rebelling, similar to the Saronia section of FFIII? Xandes and Cloud of Darkness are already directly in the game, so I'd imagine we'd have to go for something like that...
• Legate of the IVth Legion probably gets tempered by the Eikon Zeromus, the Condemner.
• Legate of the Vth Legion... Probably takes up Allags Void research? ExDeath is likely to end up being Exodus, the Judge-Sal, so it might be nice to reference Enuo instead...
• Legate of the VIth Legion, see last post.
• Legate of the VIIth Legion. Nael van Darnus. Summoned a meteor. Did the whole walk through fire thing. Even had a Latin choir accompany his final fight...
• Legate of the VIIIth Legion, Time Kompression!
• Legate of the IXth Legion, takes up the Allags automaton mantle? Creating a soulless army, perhaps even trying to harness Primals somewhat (another thing Gaius did...), more of a Brahne than Kuja or Robo-Garland.
• Legate of the Xth Legion, probably has daddy issues.
• Legate of the XIth Legion... That's a whole can of worms I don't want to open...
• Legate of the XIIth Legion, probably designed their equipment... I don't actually remember much of XII TBH...
• Legate of the XIIIth Legion... IDK...
• Legate of the XIVth Legion is already dead.
• Legate of the XVth Legion can form a boy band and go on a road trip...

Could certainly go more in depth to individual ones, can certainly have a lot of fun with the concept... Makes me wonder how long Garlemald will be around for... Will we be skipping over some Legions? I probably wouldn't mind that, some of them have some real potential, but others seem fairly weak (though perhaps I'm lacking imagination). I mean I can't see the IIIrd Legion being particularly impressive at this point, but a passing reference stating that they discovered the gold alloy resists magic, or that they're in charge of dealing with rebellions within Garlemalds expanding boards, and I'd say that fits with the theory. It would perhaps be too formulaic to go through the entire Legion doing this, as I've just done... A few here and there would be great though.

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Originally Posted by Februs

Either version of Garland you take, or mix of both, has room to tie in quite nicely as a legatus, I'd say.

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Yeah, a Garland copy works well for either the Ist Legion or IXth Legion. I'd go with the Ist Legion though, just because I don't recall Final Fantasy really having any other villains on a similar level... Then again, I suggested a Goldor copy for the IIIrd Legion... That's more because Crystal Tower already spent the rest of Final Fantasy IIIs material, though...

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Originally Posted by Nalien

• Legate of the XIIth Legion, probably designed their equipment... I don't actually remember much of XII TBH...
• Legate of the XIIIth Legion... IDK...

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FFXII => depends. Could be yet an other legate with links to ascians, more specifically an ascian who wants to tackle the plans of the other ones and let the world go as it pleases without any deity ruling it (that would involve annihilating Hydaelyn and any other god, primal and whatever else there is as well if it is what it takes to let the world away from any godly influence) (so, a Vayne-like legate). Or a legate who wants to change the Empire from within and works with us in order to do that (Larsa-like)

... or one of the judges, who are almost all psychotic murderers (must protect the empire at all costs hurr durr) except one, who (spoiler)

killed his king and betrayed his kingdom, while framing his own brother for this. All of this to reduce the war costs and lives lost by the country he came from and loved. True heroes are unsung. He ultimately helps you because Larsa is a way better bet than Vayne for anyone who isn't a complete moron.

FFXIII => Someone who got an obscure mission from a god, and they have to determine by themselves what to do. In the end, they become crystals and... Oh wait, Ysayle is already dead :(

On the Imperial Legions - I can't possibly guess what they intend for each and every legate. If I had to guess:

-Ist Legion: a crazy, General Kilgore-style Legate who just loves war. The original Final Fantasy gave Garland little characterization, but Dissidia did far more with him.
"You smell that?! ... ceruleum, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. ... I love the smell of ceruleum in the morning."
-IInd Legion: a cold and calculating Legate who made a contract with Voidsent and may come back from the dead as a demon after rising in the Voidsent ranks.
-IIIrd Legion: we already have Xande and the Cloud of Darkness from III in-game almost wholesale, so anyone's guess is as good as mine...
-IVth Legion: genocidal madman who wants to wipe out all non-Garleans.
-Vth Legion: ???
-VIth Legion: Regula van Hydrus. Well... magically inept Garleans on Azys Lla with all their magitek research... I'm expecting either a Kefka or Leo out of Regula.
-VIIth Legion: Nael van Darnus. Pretty much emulated Sephiroth.
-VIIIth Legion: wants to go back to happier times, will mess with space-time to try and do it.
-IXth Legion: initially does very well, goes off the deep end when the Emperor promotes someone over him. Def. obsessed with primal containment.
-Xth Legion: even more anti-theistic than you average Legate.
-XIth Legion: ???
-XIIth Legion: perhaps more politically apt than your average Legate. Would hope to see them in Garlemald proper and have them be either an ally or an anti-villain.
-XIIIth Legion: ???
-XIVth Legion: Gaius van Baelsar. We know what happened to him.

Seeing as XV isn't even out yet, and we don't know if they'll reference it, I have no idea what the Legate could even possibly be like.

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Originally Posted by Veritas-Ancora

What esper, or espers, were the first to be running through Kefka's veins?

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Yes. (I'm not going to put more thought into a question that is ultimately pointless and has no real bearing on XIV's world.)

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Originally Posted by Nalien

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All of this made me smile with nostalgia. Fantastic make up, and your Primal predictions are awesome. Chaos, especially, would be a fantastic addition... though, I'm not sure I'd want to see him as a Primal. The Eidolons in FFXII were actual deities and have strong ties to the zodiac braves/lucavi, and supreme gods. Primals just seem too limited, by comparison. They are much too reliant on outside influences, and have no mystery. I think SE has made a couple of very subtle hints within FFXIV that implies there are forces at work that are older and have much more depth that are at work. Ie: Ascians, Zodiark, and the Warring Triad, as well as a few references to "Demons" (decidedly not Primals) in contrast to holy beings. I'm much more interested to see where that part of the lore takes us rather than the endless repetition of the same old "Primal threat."

If the Legate theory pans out, though, I'm really looking forward to a couple of entries.

• Legate of the IIIth Legion: For reasons you've already mentioned.
  
• Legate of the VIIIth Legion: Time Compression. Ultimicia's in-game incarnation. I don't necessarily see this legate being Ultimecia, per say, but rather being influenced by a similar character. I can picture a sorceress making serious political headway (similar to the way Ultimecia/Edea worked her way into the Galbadian Empire as an adviser) within the Garlean Empire, and using them as a means of furthering her own sinister plot. It's also worth noting that Omega Weapon makes an appearance in FFVIII, so it's possible that they can wiggle him back in with this Legate, since he's kind of been pushed aside at this point. Doomtrain would also be a notable Eikon that could fit in with this lore... though I can see them making Doomtrain into a dungeon rather than a Primal, If they did it right, I think it would make for a nice raid.
  
• Legate of the IXth Legion: I'm interested in the whole souless army thing (mechanized or otherwise), because it would seem to be a logical development for a military nation incapable of using magic. It also might have serious lore implications for the Mother Crystal, if they tap on any of the crystal content from that game. Given that Hydaelyn is the Mother crystal as well as the namesake of the planet, it would seem that they've already somewhat taken a few ques from the Gaia/Terra crystal lore. Notable Eikon/God like creatures to be included with this would be Ark, Ozama, and Necron... though that may be a little too much savage level content to put into one set of patches...
  
  As for Garland, there is room for overlap between IX's Legate and that of II's, since Pandemonium is also the Headquarters in which Garland resides. If I remember correctly, it served as the Hall of Terran souls on Terra, and Garland spent most of his time there.

If regula kills the emperor we will know he is our kefka, i am placing my bet and i saying that we players fight emperor Varis and then Regula shows up and finishes him off

besides you don't want a kefka in the game cause the primal fight would be like

"yes we killed him congrats guys gg"
"what!!! WTF....he has another form?"

20 mins later...

"ok now he is dead! congrats guys gg"
"OMG another form?...we are going to wipe"

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Originally Posted by PogueX

besides you don't want a kefka in the game cause the primal fight would be like

"yes we killed him congrats guys gg"
"what!!! WTF....he has another form?"

20 mins later...

"ok now he is dead! congrats guys gg"
"OMG another form?...we are going to wipe"

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Just go with what FFVI already perfected, then...

Make him a tiered raid instance in some warped imaginary space where you literally have to ascend from Hell to Limbo to Heaven in order to finally encounter a physical God in the golden sky amidst the clouds.

All while a remixed Dancing Mad runs in the background...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1YYzQ66je4

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Originally Posted by Februs

Chaos, especially, would be a fantastic addition... though, I'm not sure I'd want to see him as a Primal. The Eidolons in FFXII were actual deities and have strong ties to the zodiac braves/lucavi, and supreme gods. Primals just seem too limited, by comparison.

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Well, the thing with that is that we already kinda know they're Primals. The Summoner questline introduced Belias-Egi as the essence of an Elder Primal/Eikon, indicating that the Allag Summoners battled Belias in some form. Even the Warring Triad, which were supreme gods in the same fashion, are just Primals now. That seem to be where the story is going with such creatures, though they could always mirror Shiva/Thordan, and have Primals based off something real. I kind of like the idea of the Ivalice Espers essentially being corruptions of the Twelve... Nald'Thal, the Traders becomes Zalera, the Death Seraph? Same theme I guess... Not too sure if that actually works for all of them though... The Twelve and Ivalice Espers do have a similar naming convention though... <Name>, the <thing>... Probably just the Thavnairian version of the Twelve or something, given the Zodiak Braves quest.

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Originally Posted by Twailaith

Just go with what FFVI already perfected, then...

Make him a tiered raid instance in some warped imaginary space where you literally have to ascend from Hell to Limbo to Heaven in order to finally encounter a physical God in the golden sky amidst the clouds.

All while a remixed Dancing Mad runs in the background...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1YYzQ66je4

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If they can put in dancing mad or one-winged angel theme songs that would be awesome

they still would have to put a dialog with Regula saying ''stop following me kid'' but anyway, i really like that theory!

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Originally Posted by Nalien

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That’s an interesting theory. The descriptions don’t exactly match, but the numbers fit. There are 13 in total. So, by this logic, my best guess would be:

• Hydaelyn is in opposition to Zodiark (pretty much established by in-game lore).
• Halone (fury/war) is in opposition to Zeromus (Judgment/Punishment)
• Menphina (love) is in opposition to Ultima (Divine ascension, Rebirth/reincarnation)
• Thaliak (knowledge/wisdom) = Zalera (Death, truth, judgment of souls)
• Nymeia (Fate, cosmos) = Shemhazai (Ruler of souls)
• Llymlaen (Navigation, Oceans) = Famfrit (Cursed, Oceans, Squalls, Chaos/Waste)
• Oschon (Mountains and Vagrants) = Belias (Guradian, but cast out to become a vagrant himself)
• Byregot (Building, Art, Architecture) = Hashmal (Master of Natural Laws, Creates Order)
• Rhalgr (Destruction, Thunder) = Adrammelech (Destruction, Power, Wroth)
• Azeyma (Inquiry, acts as Warden) = Mateus (Corrupt Protector for those who live in the underworld, kind of warden-ish.)
• Nald’thal (Transactions, commerce, trade) = Exodus (Balance, judge of value)
• Nophica (Matron, Godess of abundance/nurturing) = Cuchulainn (Originally god of purity and preservation of nature but was corrupted by the impurities he was tasked with keeping out of nature)
• Althyk (Keeper, Surveyor of change and god of Space and Time) = Chaos (Walker of the Wheel. God of the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Meditates to reduce the anarchy of life to nothingness)

I took the descriptions from the in-game dossier (identical to the guide), and did as close an interpretation of them as the descriptions would allow. Some of them fit really well (like Cuchulainn) but some are a bit of a stretch, or overlap with multiple gods (such as Adrammelech. He could easily fit with Halone just as well as Rhalgr), but I think it would roughly look like this.

The only weird thing with the lore is the repeated mention of genuine gods/demons (such as in the relic questline, or Diabolos, etc.) It's possible that all of the deities were true beings at one time and are now only pale imitations of their original forms (which kinda sucks, cuz that means we'll never see the genuine articles), but that still wouldn't quite fit with Hydaelyn or Zodiark, or the original 12, for that matter. They predate people, so no one would have been around to summon them into existence in the first place. It's all stuff we'll probably never see though. It seems the true gods are gone, and likely any demons that existed left with them, so we're stuck with the same old, same old, Primal threat.