Kefka is not a clown

Something I've noticed in recent years is that there has been a growing tendency to refer to the villain of Final Fantasy VI, Kefka, as a clown. I've observed this trend with a little bit of bafflement, because it seems clear to me that newer people getting into the series are under the misguided impression that Kefka is literally meant to be a clown. I noticed this particular interpretation of Kefka started to gain popularity around the time Heath Ledger gave his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight Rises.

I think a lot of this comes down to people associating Ledgers performance with the kind of tone Kefka gave off and a liberal interpretation of his battle sprite. Personally, at no point when I was playing the games did I ever interpret Kefka as a clown. There's a far more fascinating explanation for his appearance. So buckle up your seat belts, because I intend to try to explain the cultural inspiration for Kefka's character design.

First, this is Kefka's game sprite. Here's another from the side. Here's an animation.

Notice that none of these look like a man dressed as a clown. They look like a wealthy nobleman in a nice green doublet) with a ruff) and a red cloak. He also has a feather in his head, and he's wearing red makeup on the sides of his eyes in what appears to be a checkerboard pattern. Here's his battle sprite to get a non-squished idea of what he's supposed to look like. I just don't get where people see clown in this.

While one could interpret his garish dress as him literally dressing up as a clown, he's introduced to us as an imperial flunky. It seems quite obvious that we're meant to see him as a court dandy with a mean streak. It creates a sense of contempt in the player that helps to blindside them to his dangerousness. We see him as a joke, and his soldiers call him a clown, but they don't mean it literally.

Now, what I find truly interesting is Amano's concept art for Kefka. Here's two of his sketches of Kefka. These are much more garish, but Amano's not channeling Clown. He's channeling Harlequin.

I realize there's nothing particularly new about my interpretation, and it's pretty much official one with games like Dissidia directly referring to Kefka as a harlequin. It also goes back to the more garish Amano artwork. Here I understand the clown comments, although again, it's a harlequin, not a clown. I think it's interesting nonetheless, because Amano clearly chose the harlequin archetype with a very specific purpose.

Both Clown and Harlequin are names of stock characters in Italian Commedia dell'Arte. Commedia dell'Arte was a form of carnival theatre prevalent in the 16th century that relied heavily on archetypal characters who wore masks, face paints, and stock character costumes. Over the centuries, the acts became less improvisational and more sophisticated. As you can guess, our modern clowns come down to us from the character of Clown, who portrayed a naive buffoonish individual.

The Harlequin archetype is much less well known in popular culture. The harlequin is devilish trickster who acts against his masters best interests. He plays the crafty and untrustworthy servant. You see why I find that so interesting. Kefka's pretense of servility to the emperor, only to betray him at the end, is consistent with the harlequin's characterization.

There's one last thing I noted. Remember that I said the actors in Commedia dell'Arte often wore masks or stock costumes to differentiate themselves. The harlequin's character is most often seen wearing red and black diamond patterns on their costume. Here's a harlequin mask. Remember those red sort of diamond pattern makeup marks around Kefka's eyes. Oh, and the harlequin is often shown with something sticking out of his hair, like Kefka's feather.

edit: One more thing. Kefka's official last name is Palazzo, which is Italian, also another connection to Commedia dell'Arte.