In sprite form, Kefka has a green cloak. It's a lovely shade of olive, wouldn't you agree? This sprite is clealy based on one of Amano's designs for Kefka. Olive, tomato and mustard, there's really no color combination like that. It sounds more like a salad than a fashion statement, wouldn't you agree?

Battle form Kefka has a wholy different outfit. By this time, Kefka's become far less human and his already dodgy fashion sense has gone completely out the window. Isn't it great? It's based quite impressively on another of Amano's designs. As a battle sprite, it's a very impressive rendering of a regular piece of art. One thing that doesn't quite add up is that Kefka seems to be wearing this red outfit in the opening FMV of the Anthology rerelease. Shouldn't he have been wearing the green-cloaked outfit there?

That facepaint. The clothing alone is not enough to give Kefka his clown reputation. No, it is the face paint that really completes the look. No one knew what to make of Kefka's facial marks when FF3 first came out. Looking at later FF games, however, it's clear that Kefka's facial marks indicate his status as a sorcerer or magic user of status.

And then of course there is the ending... Kefka's mutations or "tiers" resemble nothing so much as the forms Sephiroth takes at the end of Final Fantasy 7. Kefka's third tier especially resembles Bizarro Sephiroth, the form in which there are two heads, a "pretty" one and a mutated one. Kefka's final God form bears a great deal of similarity to Sephiroth's One Winged Angel form as well. Both include a great number of wings and are designed to be visually powerful and striking.

The feather... so, what is with the feather? While the similarities between Kefka and Sephiroth are clear in several respects, the similarities between Kefka and Kuja are a bit more subtle. They both wear a feather in their hair. At first glance, this seems like a very superficial similarity. Look a little deeper, however, and it becomes apparent that the feather is a symbol. Kefka is... well, a froof. He minces about, worried about sand on his boots. Kuja is referred to as a "girly" man. Both are very effeminate men, and the feather is symbolic of that.

art, content, layout by hojo. kefka by square.