Final Fantasy Villains celebrates and analyzes the major villains of the series, all the way from the original princess-kidnapping Garland to the sociopathic Annabella Rosfeld. While other wikis might give dry chronicles of their actions, this book tells us who they are, where they come from, and what motivates them. Are they the heroes of their own stories? What did the original designers intend? In the absence of official intent, what might their backstories be, given what we see on screen? The book even deep dives into some of the more obscure villains, like the opera-crashing Ultros and the school bully Seifer. It also looks at some characters traditionally thought of as heroes in villainous lights, such as Cecil during his dark knight phase and Kain when he succumbs to his jealousy.

Each major villain’s write up contains at least one image, including the suplexed phantom train from Final Fantasy VI, and a humorous caption. All sixteen of the main line titles are covered, in addition to one bonus chapter on Final Fantasy Tactics. The author writes about these characters with a mixture of tongue-in-cheek levity and more serious analysis where appropriate, connecting them to some of the emotions that make us all human.

Michael Greenhut was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1978. He is a professional game programmer and an occasional writer of fiction and nonfiction. Currently, he lives in Fort Lee, NJ with his wife and son, and works for Playmatics. Michael has worked on casual games, educational games, and just plain weird games. His favorite video games are Final Fantasy IV, Suikoden 2, Chrono Trigger, and Life is Strange.