Gestahl

Emperor Gestahl is a non-playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is the dictator and ruler of the Empire.

How Gestahl came to power and his upbringing are unknown. What is known is that his military might increased when he acquired Espers. He personally stumbled upon the Land of Espers while leading an army, and captured many Espers in the struggle. The Elder of the Espers decided that he had to create a Sealed Gate to keep the humans out. An Esper named Maudin escaped with his wife Madonna and his daugher Terra, however both Maudin and Madonna were wounded. Gestahl kidanpped Maudin, and Madonna put Terra in his custody when she died. She did not know who Gestahl was at first, and she immediately regretted the decision.

Gestahl then began to build up his Magitek army and conquer various nations. Young men from each nation he conquered were drafted into the Imperial army and were infused with Magitek. As a result, a resistance group known as the Returners sprouted to defend nations against the Empire. A large scale war broke out, which eventually lead to the destruction of Vector, the Imperial captial, by the Espers. Gestahl appeared to have given up hope by then, and invited the Returners for a banquet of peace. He asked Terra to parlay this message to the Espers. However, he kept his true plans to himself and one of his most loyal advisors, Kefka Palazzo. He wanted to use Terra to lure the Espers out to a place where they would be easily vulnerable. Kefka would then collect all of the Magicite remains of the Espers he killed and brought them back to Gestahl. The pair would then use their new power to attack the Land of Espers again. In doing so, they revived the Statues and created the Floating Continent, where the two of them would be worshipped as gods, and destroy anyone who got in their way.

When the Returners cornered Gestahl and Kefka near the statues, Gestahl offered the exiled Celes Chere one more chance to join the Empire. Kefka gave her a sword and asked her to slay her friends. Celes stabbed Kefka instead. This caused him to demand the Statues to increase their power, but Gestahl tried to stop him because Kefka's actions could cause the world to be destroyed. Gestahl tried to harm Kefka, but to no avail because Kefka was standing in the force field of the Statues which absorbed all magic coming into it. Kefka then demanded the Statues to attack Gestahl. As a result, Gestahl died, and Kefka was free to do as he pleased.