OPINION: RUFUS, THE UNDERRATED
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he greatest villain in the Final Fantasy series isn’t some all-powerful super-soldier - he’s just a normal - but privileged - man. I’m talking about Rufus Shinra - the son of President Shinra, the genius businessman who created the ShinRa company in a single generation. Elitist, prideful and ambitious, he’s skilled, able, and in Final Fantasy VII shows a ruthless, calculated villainy Sephiroth lacks. One of the most exciting and memorable moments of FFVII is Sephiroth’s raged killing spree through ShinRa Headquarters. Yet the trail of blood left by the supersoldier isn’t the most cruel and cold thing in this chain of events - it’s Rufus’ reaction. His father dead in his Presidential Chair at Sephiroth’s hands, Rufus is cold and uncaring. “I’ll let you hear my new appointment speech,” he boasts, spitting distance from his father’s corpse. “...My old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working. The population thought that Shinra would protect them. Work at Shinra, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the Shinra army will help you. “It looks perfect on the outside. But, I do things differently. I’ll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There’s no reason to waste money on them.” Conceited? Yes. Cold-blooded? Even more so. This is the first of many examples of Rufus’ often genius manipulating machinations. FFVII’s expanded fiction gives us more information on the tumultuous relationship between Rufus and his father. Rufus had been trying to overthrow his father for years, going as far as to aid anti-ShinRa groups in the hope they would off or dethrone him. In the expanded universe outside FFVII, more of his achievements are revealed.
Risky moves placed him at the head of a corporate embezzlement scandal - the funding of a terrorist organization out to destroy his father’s company. Despite this he rises to Vice President and gains the absolute loyalty of the Turks – ShinRa’s elite assassin force - before FFVII even begins. It’s quite an accomplishment for a man in his twenties - and one without any special cells inserted into his blood. Even his father knew of his brilliance - which is why he was spared despite his betrayal in Before Crisis. The careful game of corporate chess behind FFVII where a terrified President Shinra fears his son’s influence but also fears jettisoning him entirely is one of the most interesting stories in the game. Most interesting of all Rufus shows something many FF antagonists do not - shades of grey. He’s not simply good or evil, and begrudgingly joins the battle against Sephiroth whilst still opposing Cloud’s crew. We last see his office being blasted to smithereens by Diamond Weapon with him in it, but he survives. The events of On the Way to a Smile: Case of Shinra and Advent Children reveal how he escaped and shows the effect of FFVII’s end-game from his perspective. Infected with Geostigma, Rufus gathers the Turks and turns to Cloud for help, working this time to return the ruined world to its former glory. Here he seems a good guy, completely helpful - and he is honest in his motive... But his careful, manipulative handling of events shows that the same man lies beneath. Rufus isn’t your cardboard cut out, maniacally laughing villain stereotype - and it’s easy to imagine that in the unseen corners of his heart he perhaps sees a vision of the world restored - but also under the safe control of the rejuvenated Shinra Company… By Erren Van Duine [@Nova_Crystallis], Editor of RPG Site and Nova Crystallis. [rpgsite.net / novacrystallis.com]
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