Magnificent Bastard/Video Games/Final Fantasy

The magnificent masterminds of the Final Fantasy franchise:


 * Emperor Matteus of Final Fantasy II was arguably the series' first Magnificent Bastard. Capturing the princess was just a ploy to assassinate Firion and the tournament to decide who gets the real princess is just a trap for him when that fails. He manages to take over both Heaven AND Hell. He even has a trap in his castle that leads to the basement, presumably so no one can sneak up on him and assassinate him.
 * In Dissidia Final Fantasy, the Emperor is one of the veterans of Chaos' forces in the cycles of war, but schemes to overthrow the God of Discord. Recognizing potential in the personal relationships between Tidus, Yuna, and Jecht, the Emperor manipulates the three into conflict so he can seize Jecht as his own and have him revived as a Warrior of Chaos in the next cycle of war. His intent in this is to seize the power the goddess Cosmos infused in Jecht, granting the Emperor a Dark Crystal in parallel to the Crystals the Warriors of Cosmos acquire, that has let them survive the death of Cosmos when they would have vanished from the world otherwise. With the power of the Dark Crystal, he intends to allow the heroes to kill Chaos before they vanish from the world, then the Warriors of Chaos will also vanish, leaving the Emperor alive to rule the world alone and unopposed. Considering himself the only being fit to rule existence, the Emperor would betray the Gods of Harmony and Discord alike and let his own allies die to realize his ambitions of ultimate power.
 * Kefka Palazzo of Final Fantasy VI followed in his footsteps, particularly in the English version where it's indicated that he planned to betray Emperor Gesthal and become God of the world from the start, rather than it just being a spur of the moment thing. He was biding his time, all the while dressing and acting like a clown. For this, he is one of the most successful villains in the entire franchise. Fitting for a guy who is the video game industry's equivalent of The Joker in almost every way.
 * Final Fantasy VII has Sephiroth. In the past, he the greatest of the Elite SOLDIER unit, until learning he was a genetic experiment utilizing JENOVA. Taking revenge on the town of Nibelheim, Sephiroth fell into The Lifestream and became something far worse. Able to control all JENOVA Cells and influence those injected with them, Sephiroth lured Cloud and AVALANCHE across the land of Gaia, manipulating them into bringing the Black Materia to him, breaking Cloud's mind as revenge for almost killing Sephiroth and personally murdering Aerith, the last Ancient. Erecting a nigh-impregnable barrier around the Northern Crater, Sephiroth summoned Meteor to wound the planet so he could absorb its spirit energy. Defeated but maintaining his consciousness within the Lifestream, Sephiroth created three vessels to find the remains of JENOVA so he could be reborn while simultaneously spreading a sickness to kill people and corrupt the Lifestream little by little. Seeking to use the Planet to travel the stars and find a new world to create life, Sephiroth is one of this franchise's most ambitious and iconic villains.
 * Consummate businessman Rufus Shinra spent his vice-presidency funding the activites of an early iteration of AVALANCHE to subvert his father in hopes attaining the position for himself. When Sephiroth murders him and parts of the company in cold blood, a parade is held in the newly inaugurated President Rufus's honor to mark a new era. When the Weapons attack the world to protect the Lifestream, Rufus tries to get rid of them but is caught an explosion. Revealed in Advent Children to have survived, Rufus powers through restrictive circumstances to get his company back on top, including building the city of Edge with a Meteor monument to represent his rise to power and discovering the remains of Jenova to keep for himself. He later implicitly manipulates Cloud to battling Kadaj and the other Remnants of Sephiroth and derives great amusement in easily fooling Kadaj, having kept Jenova's head with him the whole time.
 * Final Fantasy IX had both Kuja and Garland, who together orchestrate most of the events behind the game and are usually always one or two steps ahead of the heroes. Kuja in particular shows strong qualifications for this trope. Aware he is not trusted and will be disposed of once Garland can afford to be rid of him, Kuja pulls double-duty on his villainy, aiding Queen Brahne in taking over much of Gaia while discretely seeking Eidolons, the one power Kuja believes Garland fears. When Kuja learns of Trance, he shifts focus to acquiring the power for himself and does so. Trance Kuja is strong enough to kill Garland and pushes the playable characters to the brink of death, Kuja sparing them only to contemplate how to kill them to best show his "gratitude" for their help in achieving his Trance. If not for the maddening revelation he will die soon and the subsequent Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum it provoked, Kuja was set to declare himself the ruler of both worlds, and no one would have been able to stand against him. Along the way to this near-victory he manipulates hero and villain alike to pursue his goals, adjusts his plans on the fly to accommodate for setbacks, and never loses his sense of style and charisma.
 * Delita Hyral from Final Fantasy Tactics. In a game full of competing Chessmasters and Magnificent Bastards, he finishes the story standing on top of the Gambit Pileup, out-manoeuvring everyone else to become a king by marrying the Damsel in Distress and using the protagonist- his lifelong friend- to do most of the hard work.
 * Let's not forget that Delita became King through marriage to a princess who was not actually a princess. In a world where blood trumps everything, a pair of commoners became the absolute rulers of the realm, through divine right.
 * Also from Final Fantasy Tactics, we have Dycedarg Beovule, the protagonists' oldest brother. Dyce It doesn't work as well for Dyce than it does for Delita though, and.
 * In Final Fantasy Tactics A2, there's Duke Snakeheart, a somewhat loony Nu Mou Arcanist in Duelhorn that does not care if innocent people get hurt during Duelhorn's attacks as long as the job gets done, wants to do things his way, and even hires your clan at one point to protect him from punishment from his clan members, which he says "...Heh, that went well." after he does avoid it. If that wasn't enough,.
 * Final Fantasy XII brings us Vayne Solidor: Cool, calm, smooth, collected, brilliant, and devious, Vayne manages to march in to the land of Dalamasca to depose the king before giving a speech so powerful, even the people who despise him openly cheer. He follows this by organizing a feast to bait the resistance into attack, ready to kill or capture most of them in a trap. Vayne's ultimate goal is to defy the gods themselves, using the material Nethicite to empower himself as the Dynast King of Ivalice and free humanity from the divine Occuria's will, a goal for which no price is too great, even if he has to stain his hands in blood endlessly. Vayne is the very definition of a Magnificent Bastard. If Kefka is the video game industry's equivalent of The Joker, Vayne is their Lionel Luther.
 * in Final Fantasy XIII, Galenth Dysley masquerades as the head of Cocoon's Sanctum government and an old, helpless Puppet King of the fal'Cie, but in reality he is Barthandelus, ruler of the Cocoon fal'Cie. Surveiling the heroes from afar to help and hinder them in equal measure, Dysley attempts to groom the group to become Ragnarok and destroy Cocoon, fulfilling his goal to exterminate humanity. At the head of the government and the most powerful fal'Cie in Cocoon, Dysley is constantly on-top of the situation and always has back-up plans ready to deploy when things don't go his way, forcing the party to dance to his tune if they want to keep up with him. Dysley's plans only failed due to a literal act of god when the Goddess Etro intervened — otherwise he got exactly what he wanted, tricking the party into killing him and killing the fal'Cie Orphan, which would have destroyed Cocoon if not for the efforts of Etro, Fang, and Vanille. Dysley demonstrates why humanity both worships and fears the fal'Cie — an arrogant, cruel, manipulative Evil Overlord who sees humans as tools to be used and then discarded when he has no further need of them.
 * In the first sequel, Caius Ballard is a Guardian tasked with protecting the Seeress and became Paddra legend because of his might. Moved by his honor and tenacity, the goddess Etro awarded the former l'Cie with the Heart of Chaos to make him an immortal warrior to continue his duty forever. Once Caius realizes the curse of immortality, he concocts a plan to destroy of all time, by opening the Door to Souls, so Yeul and indirectly everyone else can no longer experience the pain of mortality. To that end, he tries to kill Etro directly in Valhalla, but when that fails, he sets to collapse Hope's New Coccoon to cause mass destruction, even manipulating a scared Alyssa to put Serah and Noel, his biggest opposition. on a dangerous detour. When that fails as well, Caius has Noel, his Guardian successor he personally groomed, stab the Heart of Chaos. In the end, Caius becomes one of the few series antagonists to completely win.
 * Final Fantasy XV has one of the franchises' finest examples in Ardyn Izunia, who ends up getting everything he wanted. Plunging the world into darkness and infesting it with daemons? He does it for 10 years. Ending the line of Lucis? Done. Turning Niflheim into his own giant playground for his daemon experiments? Done. I Cannot Self-Terminate? Mission accomplished. Ardyn showcases his devious charm in every scene he appears in, manipulating almost every event in the game, rarely ever at loss for a smile and a witty remark as one of the most memorable and charming villains in the Final Fantasy canon.