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

 * Garland - The first boss of the game, he used to be a loyal knight, but he has betrayed Cornelia and kidnapped Princess Sara. He is the main villain of the game.
 * 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.
 * Chaos - The demon king, created when Garland merges with the essences of the four fiends. He is the one causing the time loop. Final boss of the game.

Final Fantasy II

 * Borghen - The Emperor's general and a former noble of Fynn turned traitor.
 * The Dark Knight - Maria's brother Leon, working for the Emperor.
 * 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. He is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy III

 * Gutsco - A rogue appears in the Subterranean Lake and has stolen one of the Dwarves' Horns of Ice.
 * Hein - A monster that cast a spell on the elder tree, causing it to float and renamed it Castle Hein. He also imprisoned and bewitched all of the Castle Argus's inhabitants in Castle Hein, as well as terrorizing neighboring Tokkul.
 * 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. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Guardians of the Dark Crystals- A Group of Creatures sent by the Cloud of Darkness to guard the Dark Crystals of the World of Darkness and kill the Warriors of Light.
 * Cloud of Darkness - Appears whenever there is an imbalance between light and darkness, to return everything to a world of nothingness. Final boss of the game.

Final Fantasy IV

 * Baigan - Baron's captain of the Royal Guards. He betrays his kingdom to gain more power.
 * Dr. Lugae - An insane scientist that follows Golbez, and performs experiments on humans to serve his own purposes. He turns Edge's mother and father into monsters.
 * 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 believes that the Lunarians should annihilate the humans and take over Earth. He can control people's minds, and after he dies, his hate manifests into a creature called Zeromus. He is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-

 * Rydia? - a mysterious girl whom Cecil and his friends encounter while confronting an outbreak of monsters within the Sealed Cave.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

 * Mysterious Girl - a powerful girl who slightly resembles Rydia. She is gathering the eight Crystals for an unknown reason.
 * Kain? - the evil side of Kain Highwind who joins the Mysterious Girl in her plot to retrieve the Crystals.
 * Dark Knight - much like Kain's evil side, Cecil's has reappeared. He attempts to deceive Ceodore and his family, and kill the party.
 * 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 V

 * Gilgamesh - One of Exdeath's minions. He searches for Excalibur, but ends up with Excalipur instead.
 * Demons of the Rift - Thirteen powerful fiends sealed in the Void and released by Exdeath to destroy the Warriors of Light.
 * Exdeath - A warlock born of a tree infused with evil spirits. He wishes to take control of the Void and consume the world with it. He is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy VI

 * Ultros - A wisecracking, carnivorous octopus whom the party encounters throughout the game. He follows them to get revenge for his rising number of defeats, as well as to try and devour them, but eventually gets a job working at the colosseum and gives up his chase.
 * Gestahlian Empire - Led 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 Palazzo - 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. He is the main villain of the game.

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 members of SOLDIER.
 * Sephiroth - The first and strongest SOLDIER, who desires to merge with the planet's life-force and become a god by destroying most of the world with Meteor. He is the main villain of the game.

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.

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.

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.

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.
 * Angeal Hewley - A mentor and friend of Zack who joins Genesis in his rebellion against Shinra to cure himself.
 * Genesis Rhapsodos - A SOLDIER defector and product of the Jenova Project who is at war with Shinra to stop his slow degradation and fulfill the words of LOVELESS.
 * Sephiroth - A SOLIDER 1st class who is driven insane by the revelation of his creation, spurred on by the words of Genesis about Jenova's true nature.

Final Fantasy VIII

 * Edea Kramer - A Sorceress possessed by Ultimecia. Ultimecia uses her body to terrorize the world and search for Ellone using Galbadia's military.
 * Seifer Almasy - Squall Leonhart's rival and a rejected SeeD candidate. Seifer is dedicated to being a Sorceress Knight and serves as commander of the Galbadians under Edea.
 * Ultimecia - A Sorceress from the future who possesses and manipulates people from the past in order to achieve Time Compression. She is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy IX

 * Queen Brahne - The Queen of Alexandria and adoptive mother of Garnet, she was a sweet queen until Kuja corrupted her. She now seeks the power of the Eidolons to conquer the Mist continent.
 * 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 older brother. As Garland's Angel of Death, it is in his nature to cause war and chaos. Upon learning of his mortality, he resolves that if he can't live, no one can. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Necron - A mysterious entity which appears after Kuja is defeated and seeks to return the world to nothingness. Final boss of the game.

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 and wishes to become Sin to achieve his goal of destroying all life. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Yunalesca - Yu Yevon's daughter and an Unsent who gives Spira false hope through the Final Summoning to destroy Sin.
 * Jecht - Tidus's father with whom he has an antagonistic relationship. As Braska's Final Aeon he forms the core of the current Sin. He is the first reluctant villain of the series.
 * Yu Yevon - The summoner who is worshiped 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 boss of the game.

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. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Vegnagun - A gargantuan sentient machine with a goal of destroying all life.

Final Fantasy XI

 * Shadow Lord - The Lord of the Beastmen, it was he who started the Crystal War and formed the Beastmen Confederacy. Main villain and 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 - The ma Zilart prince, he wants to open the gates to paradise, and tried doing so by manipulating the Shadow Lord. Main villain and 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. Main villain and final boss of Chains of Promathia.
 * Razfahd - The young, misled vizier of Aht Urghan, his lust for power and control nearly leads to the second Ragnarok through Alexander's manipulation and revival. Main villain of Treasures of Aht Urghan.
 * Spitewardens - A group of undead souls who serve Lady Lilith.
 * Lady Lilith - A mysterious woman from an alternate future of Vana'diel. Her goal is to make her own dark future come to pass. Main villain and final boss of Wings of the Goddess.

Final Fantasy XII

 * Ba'Gamnan - A bangaa bounty hunter that chases Balthier.
 * The Occuria - A race of ancient, godlike beings, also known as "The Undying", that seek to control the world and the course of history by giving power to those they favor.
 * Venat - A rogue Occuria, it believes that mankind should be able to forge their own history free of the gods, and uses the Archadian Empire to further this goal.
 * Dr. Cid - Balthier's father and a scientist of Archadia who, with the help of Venat, created the manufactured nethicite that allows Archadia to come to power.
 * Archadian Judges - The supreme enforcers of Archadian law in the world of Ivalice. Each wields extraordinary legal power in his or her own right over lower-ranked Archadian officers.
 * Vayne Solidor - The Emperor of Archades who murders his father to gain control of the Empire. He wishes to use the power of nethicite to conquer Ivalice and declare himself the next Dynast King. He is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

 * Judge of Wings - A powerful Judge-like villain, created from a viera named Mydia. 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. He is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy XIII

 * Cid Raines - A brigadier general working for the Sanctum, who was made a l'Cie by Barthandelus and whose Focus is to guide the main characters.
 * Jihl Nabaat - A cruel and intelligent PSICOM officer who views l'Cie as subhuman.
 * Yaag Rosch - A lieutenant colonel of the Sanctum who sees all l'Cie as threats to the peace and prosperity of Cocoon.
 * Barthandelus - A powerful fal'Cie, and lord sovereign of Cocoon, who hides underneath the guise of Galenth Dysley, the primarch of the Sanctum. His ultimate goal is to kill Orphan, which in turn would bring about the destruction of Cocoon. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Orphan - The fal'Cie that acts as the source for Cocoon's power, Orphan wishes to bring about the return of the Maker by summoning Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon, even if it means that it must die in the process. Final boss of the game.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

 * Caius Ballad - An immortal man who wishes to destroy the future to save a seeress named Yeul. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Alyssa Zaidelle - A woman whose continued existence in the timeline is a paradox and who wishes to foil Serah and Noel's plan to correct the timeline, so she can continue to exist.
 * Adam - A sentient man-made fal'Cie who uses humans to preserve its own existence.

Final Fantasy XIV

 * Gaius van Baelsar - A Hyur who leads an invasion to Eorzea.
 * Nael van Darnus - A ruthless man who feels that the empire's invasion of Eroza is of divine intervention to save its people from their pagan ideals. He is the main villain of the game.
 * Travanchet - A shadowless and very skilled Elezen mage who leads the Sahagin attack against the Knights of The Barracuda Fleet.

Final Fantasy Tactics

 * Wiegraf Folles - Leader of the Corpse Brigade, joins with the Knights Templar, becomes controlled by Belias.
 * Dycedarg Beoulve - Leader of the Order of the Northern Sky, one of the primary advisors to Duke Larg, and becomes controlled by Adrammelech.
 * Folmarv Tengille - Leader of the Knights Templar, he is being controlled by the Lucavi to resurrect their leader.
 * Saint Ajora Glabados - Worshiped as a saint, but with a view to summon the Lucavi.
 * Ultima - The Bloody Angel. Ultima is the leader of the Lucavi Demons.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

 * Llednar Twem - The personification of Mewt's anger and hatred.
 * Li-Grim - The incarnation of all the dreams that make up the world of Ivalice. She pretends to be Mewt's mom and grants him everything he wishes for.

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, preferring to let his katana do the talking.
 * Neukhia - A demon from the Rift, called by the twin Gran Grimoires.

Vagrant Story

 * Jan Rosencrantz - A traitorous double-dealing ex-Riskbreaker.
 * Romeo Guildenstern - The ambitious leader of the Order of the Crimson Blades.

Final Fantasy Type-0

 * High Commander Cid Aulstyne - The leader of the militaristic nation of Milites. He sends his army of l'Cie soldiers and airships to destroy the crystals of the other nations.  He is the main villain of the game.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

 * Raem - A monster born from the cataclysm 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 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

 * 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.

Final Fantasy Legend II

 * Ashura - Ashura became a god with MAGI and now rules Ashura's World. He wants to get the ultimate MAGI so that he can conquer the other worlds. Once the heroes defeats him, stating that his minions had already shrunk themselves and entered the body of the Ki to steal her MAGI.
 * Ninja - He raided the Guardian's Base and stole all the MAGI they had collected from across the worlds on behalf of the "new gods". Ninja kidnaps Lynn in order to lure Dad, he threatens to kill her, but Dad leaps at him into a portal. The heroes think that this marked the end of both but a short while later the lone Ninja reappears, taunting the heroes before engaging in a fight and is defeated.
 * Venus - She rules over her own city where she exiles anyone that didn't live up to her extreme standards of "beauty". The heroes stay in the city, but find out that they were lied to by Venus about the existence of MAGI in her world and they go hunt it down themselves. Much later when Venus shows no sign of stopping, the heroes confront the goddess and defeat her, freeing the inhabits of the city from her tyranny.
 * Echigoya - A criminal who smuggles bananas (opium in the Japanese version). When the heroes arrive in Edo World, they work with a Hana to try and stop his criminal empire but find out that he is in alliance with Sho-gun who granted him immunity to the law in exchange for great monetary reward. The heroes confront the two and Echigoya attacks alongside an impressive total of nine guards but is still defeated by them.
 * Sho-gun - A corrupt official who runs Edo World, he worked in alliance with the smuggler Echigoya to supply the world with illegal bananas (opium in the Japanese version). He planned on using MAGI to squeeze more money out of the townsfolk. After Echigoya defeat, they track down Sho-gun at his castle where they defeat him. He calls an unexpected "ally" in the form of his demonic-looking father, however Magnate is displease with Sho-gun's failure and kills him.
 * Magnate - The true mastermind behind the banana smuggling fiasco (opium ring in the Japanese version). However Magnate was not really concerned with this subplot, simply using it as a means to get MAGI. After disposing of his son Sho-gun, obviously displeased with his son's failure. He transporting himself and the heroes to the rooftop of Edo Castle where they engaged in a battle for control over their MAGI and was defeated.
 * Apollo - He seeks all the MAGI in the worlds, but waits patiently until the heroes collect them all but a single one which he keep safe. Once the heroes have accomplished this task, Apollo appears before them and demands they hand over all their MAGI to him which they eventually submit to. Apollo is confronted again in Central Shrine, he tries to obtain true godhood and they engage him in battle, however due to the level of power he absorbed he was able to take on a secondary form and rapidly began to melt until he violently exploded due to missing the 78th MAGI.
 * Arsenal - Due to Apollo's abuse of MAGI causes the Arsenal to become active. This powerful ancient security-system prepares to destroy the worlds in order to restore order. The heroes, aided by the goddess Isis, fought their way to the machine and destroyed it.

Final Fantasy Legend III

 * Dogra - The heroes attempt to rescue Lara, a young girl who Dogra has kidnapped and brainwash into a servant, however after Lara was freed she joined the heroes and together they went deeper into the dungeon to confront Dogra himself.
 * Ashura - He used a strange disease to transform humans into monsters, stronghold is South Tower. The heroes went after Ashura when rumors persisted that he had some Talon Units, Ashura informed the heroes that the Units were no longer in his possession but fought them.
 * Chaos - Ruler over his own castle, he had stolen the Future Unit which the heroes needed to time-travel into the future. The heroes confronted Chaos, he informs them that their future was already doomed and now they were too before engaging them in a fight, but he was defeated.
 * Maitreya - She kidnapped a girl named Faye in order to force her to draw the Mystic Sword Xcalibr. The heroes pursued her to the tower atop a large mountain on Floatland, Maitreya wastes little time with pleasantries and attacks the heroes but is defeated.
 * Fenrir - He acts as the guard to Faye's prison within the North Maze in Pureland, the heroes faced him and defeated him.
 * Guha - Guha and the Buzi engaging in an argument, with him questioning why the Masters had to destroy other worlds while Guha argued it was not his choice to make and that it was the will of Master Xagor, the heroes interrupts them much to Guha surprise that people are able to oppose the Master's will and engaged the heroes in battle.
 * Dahak - A guardian who blocks the heroes' path in Southwest Ruins and attacks them on sight. The heroes manage to defeat him, but Dahak's image manages to live on via the power of Xagor. It is is revealed to be a slave to the Masters rather than a true villain.
 * Jorgandr - Battles the heroes after it summoned a large sandstorm that engulfed the Talon and subsequently caused it to crash. The monstrous Jorgandr proceeded to instantly attack the heroes on the ground but was defeated.
 * Agron - Guards the Barrier Machine in Eastern Ruins which prevented people from entering the Goht Region. The heroes confronted Agron in battle, attempting to slay him with the Mystic Swords but he informs them that he's protected from the swords because of the machine. Dion destroys the machine and a angered Agron attacks the remaining heroes, only to meet defeat.
 * Ballor - Acting as a guardian who blocks the path of the heroes in Xagor's Castle. He also acts as a messenger, informing the heroes of Xagor's true nature and mocks them before engaging them in battle. Even after his defeat, he mocks them with his dying words that Xagor was they are late and that Xagor is now invincible.
 * Xagor - The leader of the Masters and residing within a castle high atop Mt. Goht. He created the Water Entity, which was slowly flooding the World and unleashing monsters upon humanity.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light

 * Servants of Chaos - The seven demons that were sent by Chaos to cause destruction throughout the world. Each of which battled the heroes two times. Their names were inspired by names of the seven princes of Hell from Christian demonology. They are Lucifer, Mammon, Asmodeus, Satan, Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Belphegor.
 * Chaos - The Demon King, Chaos was sealed inside the Star Chamber three hundred years before the events of the game. He is the darkness within the hearts of men and wishes to flood the world in darkness.

Dissidia Final Fantasy

 * Warriors of Chaos - The champions summoned by Chaos to combat the warriors of Cosmos in endless conflict.
 * Chaos - the God of Discord who seeks to destroy Cosmos, the future self of his right hand Garland who engineered the chain of events to have Chaos seek to end all reality during the final cycle of the war.

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.

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.