Final Fantasy has had plenty of memorable villains and, with more than ten years running, Final Fantasy 14 has had some of the best. While every expansion of the game ties together the overarching conflicts posed, each one includes their own, fantastic villains.
Even the minor villains have such compelling performances and dialog that can make you clench your fist and your blood boil, then give you some of the most tragic backstories that will have you bawling your eyes out. The villains in Final Fantasy 14 are just as memorable as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and possibly even more.
10 Asahi
You can tell when a villain is well-written by the sheer amount of fans who absolutely despise the character. Asahi’s rat-like attitude, his hatred towards his stepsister Yotsuyu, and his fascination with the bloodthirsty Zenos, are only some of the things that make him despised by the fanbase.
After the final events in Stormblood and seeing him shoot and kill his stepsister to make the empire believe that Doma was not entering the negotiations peacefully, the Final Fantasy 14 fandom rallied together to collectively hate the Tribunus.
9 Nidhogg
As sad as it is, Nidhogg is one of the antagonists in the first expansion, the lengthy Heavensward. Consumed by revenge and enacting a 1,000-year war on Coerthas, he never trusted the people of Ishgard, and was proven right when they began to kill dragons to harness the power from their eyes.
Although Thordan is the main villain throughout the Heavensward expansion, Nidhogg is treated as such all the way through the end, until a twist reveals that Thordan was lying about the beginning of the war between dragon and man.
8 Vauthry
The repulsive ruler of Eulmore is a great villain and the physical embodiment of greed and gluttony. A man solely focused on posing as an image of god and a gracious host to the royal people of Eulmore, Lord Vauthry’s crimes against his people are unforgivable.
Vauthry closes the gates to Eulmore to the common folk, forcing them to wait outside until the lottery system chooses them to come in and serve one of their wealthy masters. The worst of Vauthry’s atrocities is that the meal that he’s been giving to the common folk outside of Eulmore’s gate is made out of the servants that have turned into Sin Eaters.
7 Gaius van Baelsar
Many villains in the game don’t get redeeming qualities. They are pure beings of chaos that just want the world to burn. You’ll see their backstories, and you’ll understand their plights, but at the root of their characters, they are evil.
Gaius is one of the few who you see turn around. While his quest to push the Garlean Empire is actively hurting the people of Eorzea and his mentality of the strong must guide the weak is asserted in dangerous ways, he is but a soldier of the Empire to conquer new lands.
Even his iconic and meme’d line shows the humanity in Gaius. “Such devastation… This was not my intention.”
6 Fandaniel
As soon as Fandaniel appears, you immediately feel a raging hate inside you. While he looks exactly like Asahi, it is noted later that it is merely an Ascian using his body as a vessel. Yet the chaos that he causes makes it seem that it is indeed the Doman defector who is orchestrating everything.
Fandaniel seems like he craves destruction and chaos, but he was just a soul who believed there was no meaning to life, corrupting his beliefs and relinquishing all hope left.
5 Elidibus
Themis, otherwise known by the name of his seat in the Convocation Of Fourteen, Elidibus, is a mainstay villain throughout most expansions in Final Fantasy 14.
Sometimes, Elidibus is not seen actively playing a role in the conflict, but he is always in the background, pulling the strings of whoever can cause the most trouble for the Warrior Of Light, and even embodying him as a Primal in his Trial.
One of the most tragic villains, Elidibus is dutiful to the Convocation to a fault. His goal is to bring upon the final days, but this mission is just seen as evil when, in reality, it is so that he can restore his home to what it once was.
4 Yotsuyu
Seeing the atrocities that the viceroy has enacted makes you despise Yotsuyu, but once her backstory is opened up, it's difficult to feel anything but sympathy for her.
Yotsuyu was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, who constantly abused her and married her off to a Doman noble to be rid of her for good. Yotsuyu’s malice and betrayal of Doma stem from her many years of traumatic events, to the point of her losing her memory briefly after almost dying during the final events of Stormblood.
3 Meteion
The first time you meet Meteion, you immediately fall in love with the small creature. Created by Hermes in Elpis, Meteion is an entelechy, or an empath, whose energy derives from emotions rather than aether like most things in the world are. She was created alongside her sisters to explore the universe and find the meaning of life.
What her sisters found wasn’t all too pleasing. Meteion found death, broken worlds, and whole planets that had perished either due to other invaders or their own hubris, making Meteion come to the conclusion that there was no point in living and enacting the Final Days to destroy everything.
2 Zenos Yae Galvus
To many fans, Zenos is a mixed bag. While he is the reason why the Warrior Of Light has to fight hard to stop his atrocities, there is no denying that Zenos is a great villain.
Not only is Zenos a menace whenever he appears on-screen, but he is the perfect foil to the Warrior Of Light. Up to meeting Zenos, every villain you meet has been there to cause conflict and thwart the Warrior Of Lights plans to make Eorzea a better place. Zenos, on the other hand, just wants to catch those hands. Even traveling across time and space to get one last bout in.
1 Emet-Selch
Undeniably the best villain in the game and possibly the entire series of Final Fantasy games. Known by many names, including Hades and Solus zos Galvus, the founder of the Garlean Empire, Emet-Selch is an Ascian whose only goal was to return his home, Amaurot, and his people to their former glory.
The witty and condescending lines delivered by Emet-Selch alone are enough for fans to fall in love with him, but his final line in his battle against the Warrior Of Light is one of the best in all of Final Fantasy.