Top 30 Final Fantasy Villains - #18

#18 - Fordola rem Lupis

(Final Fantasy XIV)

Hoo boy, have I been looking forward to talking about this one. The Final Fantasy XIV expansion Stormblood is a story about a rebellion fighting to liberate the nation of Ala Mhigo from the villainous Garlean Empire. You have probably seen that story many times, but what’s interesting is that here, we see many Ala Mhigans who have completely lost hope in freedom, and more still who actually support the occupation. Fordola rem Lupis is one such character.

Fordola was born to two Imperial loyalists during the occupation. When she was a child her father was killed by a lynch mob for siding with the Garleans, and she was left with no choice but to serve the Empire, specifically the Ala Mhigan regent, Zenos. This left her in a very strange position; She was hated by Ala Mhigo for being a traitor, but equally hated by her Imperial cohorts, who look down on her for being Ala Mhigan and a “savage.” With these circumstances, Fordola nonetheless remains loyal to her Imperial masters, believing that freedom for her home is nothing but a fantasy and that Ala Mhigo’s only hope for happiness is to accept their captivity and make the best of it.

I have personally found Fordola to be one of the most fascinating characters in all of Final Fantasy XIV, maybe even the entire series, so her placement this high on the list may be a little biased. I’ll get to why when I talk about her arc following the main story, but before that, let’s talk about her role in the story. Fordola, despite actively serving the Empire, mostly does so out of despair. The occupation is all she has ever known, and in her own twisted way, believes she is helping make her countrymen happy by quashing any resistance, since doing so prevents Ala Mhigo from suffering reprisal. She maintains this belief even as she does some truly monstrous things, like firing a superweapon on her own troops simply to kill as many Resistance fighters as possible.

Fordola is really easy to hate, with her callous murders and her constant scowl (seriously, I’m 100% convinced the only expression she can manage is “pissed off”), but at the same time it’s not hard to feel for her plight. She’s torn between two groups that want absolutely nothing to do with her, and the one person who respects her in any way is the aforementioned Zenos, who is certifiably insane and has zero redeeming qualities. This, combined with her bleak outlook on the world and her backstory, makes her that rare character you can absolutely loathe and yet feel sorry for at the same time.

But the best part about her, hands-down, is her story in the patch content following Stormblood’s main storyline.

This requires a bit of backstory; You see, several characters in XIV, including the player character, possess an ability known as the Echo, which grants them special powers, among which is the ability to see people’s memories. Near the end of the main story, Fordola, in a last attempt to defeat the heroes, undergoes a dangerous, experimental procedure that gives her an artificial Echo. However, she is defeated anyway, is imprisoned and watches as Ala Mhigo, against all odds, successfully liberates itself.

As if seeing her most deeply-held beliefs crumble into dust before her wasn’t bad enough, it turns out that artificial Echo had a side-effect. It went into overdrive, showing her constant visions of the memories of those around her prison- a lot of whom lost friends and loved ones to her. So on top of the general public wanting her head on a pike, she’s forced to experience all the pain she’s inflicted on others, and her constant pleas to just kill her already fall on deaf ears. It’s actually kind of tragic, and even after seeing her murder a couple characters I actually liked, I honestly wound up feeling sorry for her. She spent her entire life defined by her despair and resignation, only to wind up fighting for the losing side anyway. Fordola utterly fascinates me. This is already longer than most of the entries on this list, and maybe that’s some of my own bias at play, as I have always had a fascination for stories about remorse. Ruthless, tragic, and full of rage, Fordola stands out in a huge cast of secondary villains in one of my favorite games of all time. And we still have more villains from this game to go over.