Venat: Manipulative Villain, or Misunderstood Revolutionary?
Ok, for those who have not finished FFXII/don't know what happens, kindly look this entry over and proceed to something less spoilerific. Thank you.
Alright. Now, we've all had our gripes with villains in the past; Ultimecia has no history, X-Death is too freakishly hard to kill, Kuja wears a thong, etcetera. But this one has been picking at my brain for a while.
In a not-so recent poll by some user whose name I fail to remember, the question was brought up as to just WHO the "main villain" of FFXII was. Now, we can all agree (I would hope) that Vayne got a little too power-hungry for his own good, and apparently gets off on destroying small countries with giant lasers (who doesn't?) and killing his family members, none of which is very noble. We can also agree that Cid's role as resident mad scientist and winner of the Worst Father of the Year Award can both be attributed to the efforts of Venat. So, many people see Venat as the games' major villain, seeing as he/she/whatever it is was the one who set into motion Archadia's brutal campaign of country-squashing. After all, Vayne and Cid would be nothing without Venat's help, as proof in the final boss battle (wherein Vayne is basically a push-over until Venat pumps him full of Magic Roids and cool metal wings).
But is Venat a ruthless tyrant bent on destruction, or merely the lesser of two evils? Venat broke away from the other Occuria because of their use of Nethicite to manipulate the flow of human history, as in the case of Raithwall and Ashe. Now, some will infer that Venat merely wished to end the Occuria's shadowy reign over Ivalice (which he/she/it eventually did) only to seize control using the Archadian army and rule Ivalice him/her/itself. However, as with many things in the Final Fantasy universe, this isn't concrete. Venat's attempt to relinquish all power over human fate onto the actual human race is actually a rather noble pursuit. Or at least, it can be viewed that way.
In the end, as Vayne inches closer to death after getting his ass handed to him my Vaan and gang, then by Gabranth, then Vaan again, he apologizes to Venat for failing in his goal. Venat however states that his/her/its own goals were "fufilled beyond your knowing," then joins Vayne in his death at the hands of the party. Now, a true villain would haply sit back and watch their pawn be killed, or as Final Fantasy history as shown us, kill them himself. Venat could very well have fled, or moved instead to influence some other high-ranking official in the Archadian army and taken over. Venat's only purpose it seems, was to break the other Occuria's control over mankind...
Then again, the freakish Venat/Vayne/scrap-metal monstrosity that is the final boss wasn't exactly meant to be the posterboy for World Peace.
In conclusion, Venat is one of those special villains that we are never quite given the opportunity to fully understand, both in method and motive. Was he lusting for power over all Ivalice? Or was he simply trying to give humanity a hand in its own fate?
The game never really comes down to either side, so it's left for you to decide.
The community's opinions on this are of great interest to me.
Alright. Now, we've all had our gripes with villains in the past; Ultimecia has no history, X-Death is too freakishly hard to kill, Kuja wears a thong, etcetera. But this one has been picking at my brain for a while.
In a not-so recent poll by some user whose name I fail to remember, the question was brought up as to just WHO the "main villain" of FFXII was. Now, we can all agree (I would hope) that Vayne got a little too power-hungry for his own good, and apparently gets off on destroying small countries with giant lasers (who doesn't?) and killing his family members, none of which is very noble. We can also agree that Cid's role as resident mad scientist and winner of the Worst Father of the Year Award can both be attributed to the efforts of Venat. So, many people see Venat as the games' major villain, seeing as he/she/whatever it is was the one who set into motion Archadia's brutal campaign of country-squashing. After all, Vayne and Cid would be nothing without Venat's help, as proof in the final boss battle (wherein Vayne is basically a push-over until Venat pumps him full of Magic Roids and cool metal wings).
But is Venat a ruthless tyrant bent on destruction, or merely the lesser of two evils? Venat broke away from the other Occuria because of their use of Nethicite to manipulate the flow of human history, as in the case of Raithwall and Ashe. Now, some will infer that Venat merely wished to end the Occuria's shadowy reign over Ivalice (which he/she/it eventually did) only to seize control using the Archadian army and rule Ivalice him/her/itself. However, as with many things in the Final Fantasy universe, this isn't concrete. Venat's attempt to relinquish all power over human fate onto the actual human race is actually a rather noble pursuit. Or at least, it can be viewed that way.
In the end, as Vayne inches closer to death after getting his ass handed to him my Vaan and gang, then by Gabranth, then Vaan again, he apologizes to Venat for failing in his goal. Venat however states that his/her/its own goals were "fufilled beyond your knowing," then joins Vayne in his death at the hands of the party. Now, a true villain would haply sit back and watch their pawn be killed, or as Final Fantasy history as shown us, kill them himself. Venat could very well have fled, or moved instead to influence some other high-ranking official in the Archadian army and taken over. Venat's only purpose it seems, was to break the other Occuria's control over mankind...
Then again, the freakish Venat/Vayne/scrap-metal monstrosity that is the final boss wasn't exactly meant to be the posterboy for World Peace.
In conclusion, Venat is one of those special villains that we are never quite given the opportunity to fully understand, both in method and motive. Was he lusting for power over all Ivalice? Or was he simply trying to give humanity a hand in its own fate?
The game never really comes down to either side, so it's left for you to decide.
The community's opinions on this are of great interest to me.