SPOILER WARNING: This Article Contains MAJOR Spoilers for Final Fantasy 16Early on inFinal Fantasy 16,the player is introduced to the character King Barnabas Tharmr, who gives off an intimidating presence as he easily commands another dominant and has another country begging for his help in a war. However, as impressive of an antagonist as Barnabas appears to be early on, his status as a red herring is made obvious as players adventure throughoutFinal Fantasy 16’s Valisthea.
Of course, with the main villain shown off just before the second time-skip ofFinal Fantasy 16, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the secondary antagonist take the backseat. That being said, it is still strange for Barnabas to get as much setup as he does, only for his effect on the narrative to effectively dwindle out hours before the end of the game.
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Barnabas' Influence Before Meeting Clive
As is the case for many of the strongest villains across media, most of the fear and intimidation comes less from what the evil character actually does and more from the effect the audience can see them have on the world. This is the case for many ofcentral villains ofFinal Fantasy 16, including King Barnabas who acts as a name on the wind for Clive for the early parts of the game. Not only is he someone who the mentor figure Cid holds in low regard, but he also appears in a series of cutscenes pulling the strings of the first Dominant the player faces off against, Benedikta.
Beyond those story-heavy moments that establish Barnabas' actions as a king and the negative effect he has had on Waloed, the player is also shown the power of his Eikon Odin very early on. A powerfulstaple of theFinal Fantasyseries, Odin is at his strongest inFinal Fantasy 16as he is able to easily match up against Bahamut without breaking a sweat. However, as impressive as Barnabas appears to be, he’s quickly overshadowed by the actual main villain long before having any real impact on Clive’s more personal narrative.
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Completely Overshadowed by Ultima
Relatively early on inFinal Fantasy 16, Clive and the player are introduced to the strange entity known as Ultima who is the ultimate puppet master. For the sake of building up the game’s big bad, Ultima’s introduction and the several times the villain is mentioned or shown help establish the motivation and need to keep fighting for the sake of Valisthea. That being said, for every bit of characterization given to Ultima, thislatest version of Odinand his dominant Barnabas are made clearer to be a bump in the road.
While this doesn’t necessarily remove the impact of some of Barnabas' biggest feats, such as cutting the sea in half and beating Clive more than once, it sets up this “final boss” to fail long before the end. With the control that Barnabas throws over a situation, commanding Benedikta to speak for him without lifting a finger or speaking any words himself, he’s primed from the beginning to be a worthy antagonist. So, it becomes more than a little disappointing when the King falls before ever assaulting his own stronghold or something that gives his character a little more weight. One could argue this is intentional given Barnabas' errant faith, but that doesn’t make it any better.
Combine this with a later scene where Barnabas has completely submitted himself to Ultima, watching the shadows of formerly fallen villains shift into one another, and the character loses some of his impact. It gets hard to be intimidated by a so-called King who sits naked at the foot of the bed cuddling into the knees of his naked mother. While this helpsFinal Fantasy 16earn its mature rating, it does little to let Barnabas earn a spot among greatFinal Fantasyvillains like Sephiroth or Kefka.
Final Fantasy 16is available now for PS5.
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