Alright, yes, Kain is up for debate as to whether or not he's really a villain in the typical sense of the word. He does flip-flop between wanting to help the party and hinder them throughout the course of FFIV, and is being controlled while doing most of it, but that doesn't take away from his character arc. Kain's standing assertion that Cecil is and forever will be his rival (along with his best friend) makes his allegiance somewhat questionable to say the least. Despite his guilt over his actions that he had no control over, his path through damnation to redemption is a fascinating one, and many years after fans had shelved FFIV, their lingering memories were of Kain and his self-imposed exile to Mt Ordeals. While mind-control is always a disappointing cop out perhaps the worst all the time that Kain stood against Cecil and his party made for some deeply compelling storytelling as two best friends stood on opposing sides. Had Kain been acting on his own free will rather than under the manipulations of Zeromus, his journey would have been all the more fascinating, and his position in this list higher.
When not writing Chris spends more time thinking about playing videogames than actually playing them and can usually be found reorganizing his Blu Ray and book collections. He owns four different editions of A Song of Ice and Fire and no, it isn't overkill. He's left the neon haze of Tokyo and Seoul for the more sedate streets of Bournemouth.