Top 30 Final Fantasy Villains - #20

#20 - Seymour Guado

(Final Fantasy X)

You’ve seen plenty of works of fiction that feature the Antichrist. Well, if you want an interesting twist on that trope, meet the Anti-Buddah.

Seymour is an inhabitant of the world of Spira, which is plagued by an abominable monster called Sin that keeps technological progress at a standstill by laying waste to entire cities, and can only be put down temporarily before it resumes its rampage. As such, Spira’s civilization revolves around death. Seymour is a hybrid between a human and a Guado (basically tree-people) who was forced into hiding along with his mother because people couldn’t accept their union. After Seymour’s mother died, and he was saddled with the responsibility to give his life on behalf of the people who rejected him, he came to the conclusion that life in Spira was nothing more than an endless cycle of suffering, and the only release from the pain is death. So he became a part of the clergy of the Church of Yevon to eventually find a way to gain control of Sin and put the whole world out of its misery and free them from their pain.

Seymour is a nihilist to the extreme. Given his background and the environment Final Fantasy X takes place in, you can easily see his point of view and how he could come to the conclusion he did. In any other story his ramblings about death’s sweet release would be crazy rambling. And it is. But in the context of Final Fantasy X, it’s not hard to see his point and sympathize to a degree.

Another thing the guy has going for him are the battles against him. You fight him 4 times and all of them are stiff challenges that force you to take full advantage of every aspect of the game’s battle system (except for the final fight against him, which is nearly impossible to lose if you pay even the slightest attention) and his designs, while somewhat busy for his later forms, do have a menace to them. Tetsuya Nomura may be a questionable character designer nowadays, but he sure can design some scary monsters.

Speaking of questionable character design, well… just look at him. Impossible blue hair antlers I can buy, but his outfit that bares his chest for all the world to see is a bit much. If his clothes were toned down, he’d be fine. He does look pretty silly overall, but the outfit is what pushes it over the edge.

Another problem I have with him is his role in the story. Or lack thereof. In the first half of the game he is definitely a major player in the game’s story, and his death after his first battle (he gets better) is the catalyst for everything that follows. But once he comes back as an Unsent (basically solid ghosts who can’t pass on due to having unfinished business in mortality) he really only serves as a recurring obstacle that gets in the heroes’ way.

Despite these problems, his backstory, motivations, great boss fights, and role in the early game’s most critical events is enough for him to scrape into the top 20 just barely.