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iKuja

 
Kuja...Maker of black mages...
— Vivi
kuja

As the mastermind behind the chaotic Alexandria-Lindblum war and creator of the deadly black mages, Kuja is held in irrevocable contempt by Vivi. Kuja cares nothing for the black mages he creates, seeing them only as a means to an end, treating them as disposable weapons of battle once they fall. Kuja refuses to recognise that he's created a people who can think and feel; he restricts their actions, and in doing so prevents the black mages from growing beyond mere puppets.

quote Kuja § I'm not done telling how to make soulless toys out of the dregs of souls! (...) Lives come and go all the time. What's the big deal? quote

Although clearly insane, Kuja is also intelligent. He lacks morals and true caring for the lives of others, but he understands what he's done in making the black mages. He simply chooses to disregard the fact that he's brought souls back to life in the form of black mages. In order to believe this, he denies the black mages any right to any human liberties.

Vivi comes to hate Kuja for just this reason. Having discovered freedom and the fact he can feeling emotions and have his own thoughts and opinions and make his own decisions provides the proof Vivi needs to believe Kuja is in the wrong. Finding the Black Mage Village and seeing others like himself struggle to break free of the puppet status Kuja had forced upon him cements his beliefs. Vivi realises that black mages are like humans and should be treated as a people, not weapons of war.

Hypocrite

Kuja doesn't care about Vivi's protestations or feelings: he all but ignores the little black mage, treating him as a disregardable pest, unworthy of notice. The irony here, of course, is that Kuja himself was produced — not born, but made — as a weapon of war. Just as Vivi was created by Kuja, Kuja was created by Garland.

The black mages can then be seen as a product of Kuja acting out against his very existence, a repercussion of his denying what he is. Kuja was greatly dismayed at discovering he was "made", that he was just one of many prototypes. In an effort to elevate himself beyond the truth of his existence, Kuja hides the physical indicator of his species — his monkey tail — and truly begins to believe he is special and, eventually, godly.

Unlike Kuja, Vivi deals with the truth of his reality in a very different way. Instead of shunning the rest of his kind, he works to free them as he himself has been freed. He doesn't deny the fact he was created; he accepts the circumstances of his birth and moves on. He doesn't let the truths of his being keep the very simple and real fact of his deserving to live from his grasp. Instead of denying, Vivi accepts.

Kuja image 9

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