List of antagonists

The Final Fantasy series has featured many villains, both minor and major, who serve as antagonists to the player party throughout the game. Below is a list of the key villains from each installment.

Final Fantasy

 * Four Fiends - Four Demons representing the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. They capture the four Crystals and steal their light, causing chaos in the world.
 * Garland - The first boss of the game, he used to be a loyal knight, but he has betrayed Cornelia and kidnapped Princess Sara.
 * Chaos - The demon king, created when Garland merges with the 4 fiends. He is the one causing the time loop.

Final Fantasy II

 * Borghen - The Emperor's general.
 * Dark Knight - Maria's brother, Leon, under the Emperor's control.
 * The Emperor - The ruler of Palamecia. He comes back to life after dying by fusing with the dark powers of Hell, thus becoming the ruler of Hell himself.

Final Fantasy III

 * Xande - A pupil to the great Archmage Noah. Xande was given the gift of mortality from his master. However, he couldn't handle this, and so set out to get back his immortality.
 * Cloud of Darkness - Appears whenever there is an imbalance between light and darkness, to return everything to a world of nothingness.

Final Fantasy IV

 * Archfiends - The four fiends were Golbez's minions, each of which battled the heroes at least two times. Their names were inspired by names of devils in Dante's Inferno.  They are Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, and Rubicante.
 * Golbez - Cecil's brother who was under the control of Zemus. Golbez took command of the Red Wings airship fleet attacked the world in an attempt to steal the Crystals and summon the Giant of Babil.
 * Zemus- A Lunarian who hates humans, and decides that the Lunarians should just take Earth for themselves. He can control people's minds, and after he dies, his hate becomes a creature called Zeromus.

Final Fantasy V

 * Gilgamesh - One of Exdeath's minions. He searches for Excalibur, but ends up with Excalipur instead.
 * Exdeath - The remains of the great evil, Enuo. This evil remnant fused with the Great Tree of the Elder Forest, and became Exdeath.

Final Fantasy VI

 * Ultros - A wisecracking Octopus which the party encounters throughout the game. Eventually gets a job working at a colosseum.
 * Gestahlian Empire - Lead by Emperor Gestahl, the Empire seeks the power of magic to control the world, and has developed Magitek as a result of their research into Espers.
 * Kefka - An experimental Magitek Knight driven insane by his augmentation. Kefka develops a hatred of everything and begins acquiring power on his own while serving Gestahl.

Final Fantasy VII

 * Shinra - The power company that controls the world. Shinra extracts life energy from the planet for profit and has conducted a series of genetic experiments involving this energy. Staff members include the Turks and President Rufus Shinra.
 * Professor Hojo - Shinra's top scientist and Sephiroth's father who conducted a number of experiments with Jenova's cells on his son, leading to the development of SOLDIER
 * Jenova - The Calamity from the Skies, Jenova fell to the planet long ago and attempted to destroy it. Her cells are used by Shinra to create SOLDIER.
 * Sephiroth - The first and strongest SOLDIER. Sephiroth desires to become a god and is devoted to Jenova, who he believes is his "mother".

Final Fantasy VIII

 * Vinzer Deling- The power-hungry dictator of Galbadia. He attempts to use Sorceress Edea as an instrument of fear against those who appose him.
 * Edea Kramer- A Sorceress possessed by Ultimecia who the protagonists must face. Ultimecia uses her body to conquer the world using Galbadia's military.
 * Seifer Almasy- Squall Leonhart's rival. Seifer is dedicated to being Ultimecia's Sorceress Knight.
 * Ultimecia- A Sorceress from the future who possesses and manipulates people from the past in order to achieve Time Compression.

Final Fantasy IX

 * Queen Brahne - The Queen of Alexandria who was a sweet queen until Kuja corrupted her. She now seeks the power of the Eidolons and will destroy all other nations to get it.
 * Garland- the leader of the dead planet of Terra. He is using his Angels of Death to disrupt the Cycle of Souls in Gaia to create a homeland for lost people, living inside the Genomes.
 * Kuja - A Genome with a soul, he can be considered Zidane's big brother. Garland's Angel of Death, it is in his nature to cause wars and chaos. Upon learning of his mortality, he resolves that if he can't live, no one can.
 * Necron - A mysterious entity which appears when the Crystal is destroyed and seeks to return the world to nothingness.

Final Fantasy X

 * Seymour Guado - A half-human, half-guado maester who believes that the only way to end Spira's suffering is to destroy it.
 * Yunalesca - Yu Yevon's daughter who gives Spira false hope through the final summoning.
 * Jecht - the main character's father, who became Sin against his will.
 * Yu Yevon - The summoner who is worshipped by all of Spira. In reality, he is the source of all their troubles, terrorizing the world clad in his armor known as Sin.

Final Fantasy XI

 * Shadow Lord - Lord of the Beastmen, it was he who started the Crystal War and formed the Beastmen Confederacy. Final boss of the original Final Fantasy XI.
 * Kam'lanaut - A Zilart prince. Eald'narche's brother. He was seen to the public as a hero and founder of Jeuno's current state.
 * Eald'narche - A Zilart prince, he wants to open the gates to paradise, and tried doing so by manipulating the Shadow Lord. Final boss of Rise of the Zilart.
 * Nag'molada - A member of the Armahrwn Society and a diplomat of Jeuno. His desire for the "truth" is what sets many of the (bad) events in motion in Chains of Promathia. He is unique as he is more of an anti-hero, until the final chapters...
 * Promathia - The Twilight God, and creator of the Beastmen. He punished the people of Vana'diel for trying to open the gates to paradise. Final boss of Chains of Promathia.
 * Razfahd - The young, mislead vizier of Aht Urghan, his lust for power and control nearly leads to the second Ragnarok through Alexander's manipulation and revival.
 * Alexander - One of the two prime gods of the Near East who is destined to battle Odin once more. His dangerous blind judgement and manipulation would mean his true revival would lead to the end of Vana'diel. Last boss of Treasures of Aht Urghan.

Final Fantasy XII

 * Venat - A rogue Occuria, it believes that mankind should be able to forge their own history, free of the gods.
 * Dr. Cid - A scientist of Archadia, who, with the help of Venat, created the manufactured Nethicite.
 * Vayne Solidor - The would-be Emperor of Archades who murders his father to gain control of the Empire. He wants to be Ivalice's next Dynast King, and will use the power of manufactured Nethicite to do so.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

 * Mysterious Maiden - a powerful Summoner who looks like Rydia who is gathering the eight Crystals for an unknown reason.
 * Kain? - the evil side of Kain Highwind who joins the Mysterious Maiden in her plot to retrieve the Crystals.
 * The Creator - the original creator of the Crystals who seeded them on many worlds to create life, it has deemed the inhabitants of the Blue Planet as evolutionary failures that must be destroyed.

Final Fantasy X-2

 * LeBlanc - Founder of the LeBlanc Syndicate, a rival Sphere Hunter to Yuna and the Gullwings, and a thorn in their side.
 * Shuyin - A blitzball player from Zanarkand 1000 years ago, now a vengeful unsent spirit. He wants to use the machina, Vegnagun, to destroy everything.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

 * Vile Four - Four elemental monsters that serve the Dark King, they attack the four regions of the world and drain the Crystals of their strength.
 * Dark King - A green skinned spider king in the guise of a human watching the world secretly from atop the Focus Tower. It is he who ordered the Vile Evils to drain the Crystals in an attempt to destroy the world.

Final Fantasy Adventure

 * Devias - The son of Medusa, and ruler of the desert city, Jadd. He turned Amanda's little brother, Lester, into a parrot, and was responsible for Julius obtaining the Pendant.
 * Dark Lord - An evil tyrant who seeks the Power of the Mana Tree, so he can take over the world.
 * Julius Vandole - Found and raised by Dark Lord, Julius is actually the last citizen of the Vandole Empire. After learning this, he seeks the Power of Mana, so he can rebuild Vandole and use it to dominate the world.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-

 * Fuhito - A twisted scientist for AVALANCHE who is using the Materia embedded in the back of his commander, Elfé's hand to destroy humanity and return them to the Planet.
 * Zirconiade - an ancient Summon with the power to destroy the world.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-

 * Dr. Hollander - Scientist who worked on the Project G side of the Jenova Project that created Genesis and Angeal Hewley. Joined with his creation when Genesis defected from Shinra.
 * Genesis Rhapsodos - A SOLDIER defector and product of the Jenova Project who is at war with Shinra to stop his slow degregation and fulfill the words of LOVELESS.
 * Angeal Hewley - A mentor and friend of Zack who joins Genesis in his rebellion against Shinra.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

 * Kadaj - A remnant of Sephiroth who embodies Sephiroth's insanity. He becomes Sephiroth after fusing with Jenova.
 * Loz - A remnant of Sephiroth who embodies Sephiroth's physical strength.
 * Yazoo - A remnant of Sephiroth who embodies Sephiroth's allure.
 * Sephiroth - the original villain of Final Fantasy VII, who is resurrected with the help of his three remnants. He now wants to crush Cloud's spirit and then find a new planet to call home, using the Planet as his vessel.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-

 * Professor Hojo - Having uploaded his consciousness into a large computer network, Hojo later fuses with the Deepground Soldier Weiss. He hopes to summon the Omega Weapon, to start life over again.
 * Tsviets - The leading warriors of Deepground. They have no idea that they are actually being controlled by Hojo.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

 * Judge of Wings - A powerful Judge-like villain, she craves the powers of Auracite for unknown reasons.
 * Feolthanos - the leader of the Aegyl who went mad after the Occuria locked him away in Lemurés.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

 * Khamja - A foreign syndicate, comprised of ruthless leaders with ties to Cid's past.
 * Illua - Leader of Khamja. An expert samurai, she carries her dark grimoire with one hand and a deadly katana with the other.
 * Ewen - A agile and secretive ninja, Ewen is a man of few words, prefering to let his katana do the talking.
 * Neukhia - A demon from the Rift, called by the twin Gran Grimoires.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

 * Raem - A monster born from the cataclysism that spread Miasma through the world. It feeds on memories.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates

 * Cu Chaspel - A servant to Galdes, with ties to the protagonist Yuri and Chelinka's family.
 * Galdes - A leader, Hierophant of the Crystal Temple. Has a plan involving crystal users.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

 *  Dark Lord - An evil king that once ruled over the land

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

 * Larkeicus - An ancient immortal archaeologist and inventor who has a plan to alter the past.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

 * Phantoms - Alien ghosts that came to earth via a meteor crash. They attack humans out of pain and agony.
 * General Hein - A general who won't listen to Aki Ross about the phantoms, and will destroy them at any cost, even the world.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited

 * Oscha - The Earl's right-hand man, one of the Four Lords of Gaudium.
 * Herba - One of the Four Lords of Gaudium.
 * Fungus - One of the Four Lords of Gaudium.
 * Pist Shaz XI - One of the Four Lords of Gaudium.
 * Soljashy - A new member of the Lords of Gaudium.
 * Earl Tyrant - A young child in control of Wonderland. A spoiled child, he is really the human embodiment of Chaos.