Final Fantasy: 25 Greatest Villains 

After the deeply dark story of Final Fantasy Tactics, Square Enix opted for a lighter tone with its successor, intended for a younger audience given its release on a Nintendo console. Tactics Advance ostensibly takes place in the real world, with teenagers Marche, Ritz and Mewt transported into a dream world inspired by the latter and his love for Final Fantasy.

In this world, Mewt is a Prince, with his deceased mother brought back to life as Queen and his alcoholic father given purpose as Judgemaster. Marche opposes his friend by seeking to return to reality and could be viewed as the game’s villain himself given that he seeks to return Mewt to a world where he is meek, motherless and mercilessly bullied at school, as opposed to one where his every desire is fulfilled.

Opposed by Ritz and even his own brother Doned, who is given the freedom to walk in Mewt’s fantasy as opposed to his confinement to a wheelchair in the ‘real’ world, Marche’s crusade becomes more justified as Mewt becomes more tyrannical, before he eventually convinces his friend that facing a harsh reality is better than hiding from it.

Complex and fascinating from a psychological standpoint given the dilemma that he presents, Mewt is as far from a traditional villain as you can get. His uniqueness certainly elevates Tactics Advance, which is criminally underrated in the overall series pantheon.