Kefka's Tower

"“Kefka's practically a god now, sitting up in that tower of his with the power of the Warring Triad at his command..."

- One of the Albrook citizens about Kefka's Tower.

Kefka's Tower (ガレキの塔, Gareki no Tō, lit. "Tower of Rubble") is a massive towering palace that is home to the diabolical clown Kefka Palazzo, and it is a location in Final Fantasy VI. The building was created as a monument to destruction, and stands as a symbol of Kefka Palazzo's power. Inside his tower, Kefka exercises his reign of terror over the World of Ruin, using the Light of Judgment to smite anyone who opposes him. The tower serves as the game's final level.

History
General Celes Chère, formerly of the Gestahlian Empire, along with the gambler Setzer Gabbiani and the nobleman Edgar of Figaro Castle, together made their way towards the former Court Mage's own tallest palace on the mainland in the chaotic World of Ruin.

Although Celes can walk up to the tower right after sailing to the mainland, the tower cannot be entered on foot. This dungeon can be reached immediately after obtaining the Falcon and, as such, it is possible to go through the ruins, and thus fight and possibly beat Kefka using only Celes, Setzer and Edgar, as they are the only characters the player is required to obtain to progress in the World of Ruin. When the party first enters the tower, they question the fate of magic, Espers, and Terra if they destroy the Warring Triad - since the 3 gods are the source of magic, their destruction would cause magic to vanish from the world.

When the party confronts Kefka at the top of the tower, he declares that all life is meaningless and insignificant, and expresses his desire to continue destroying the world until humans have no hope or dreams. The party engages Kefka's final minions including the Statue of the Gods before battling Kefka himself. With Kefka fallen, the tower begins to collapse, and Terra transforms into her Esper form for the final time, leading the party out of the tower. The party races to the airship as Terra flies into the air to lead them to safety, her powers fading.

As the party escapes, the magicite they have collected vanishes. Maduin comforts Terra with the knowledge she can survive if her human side has a strong emotional attachment to the world. Terra loses her powers and falls through the air, narrowly landing on the deck of the Falcon. Due to her love for the children of Mobliz, Terra awakens as a human being, and the reign of Kefka is finally over.

Inside Kefka's Tower
The tower is a mismatch of architecture, mixing rubble, machinery, and palace-type areas in an entirely random fashion. Most of the rubble appears to be from Vector and the Magitek Research Facility - Imperial banners, shattered esper capsules, and conveyor belts make up much of the tower's inner areas. A few rooms in the tower are unchanged recreations of rooms from those locations, such as the prison cells of Vector and a hallway lined with esper capsules from the Magitek Research Facility. The magic used to twist the land into the tower is reflected in the area, where the grass and smaller islands form a swirl with the tower standing in the center.

The tower must be completed using the teamwork of three different parties. Each party has its own path, and each path is lined with powerful bosses, listed below. The parties can change paths at a complex switch puzzle, requiring all three parties to work together to trigger several switches at once to open the path to the Warring Triad, which stand as the tower's final guardians. After this, the parties assemble at the top of the tower, where they confront Kefka in the final battle. Due to using several parties, the player can exploit the Save Point Glitch.

At one point in the tower, the first party the player chose must choose either a left or right path - if they choose the left path, the first party will fight Fiend, the second will fight Goddess, and the third will fight Guardian and Demon. If they choose the right path, the first party will fight Goddess, the third will fight Fiend, and the second will fight Guardian and Demon. It is impossible for the first party to fight Guardian or Demon, the second to fight Fiend, or the third to fight Goddess. The switch puzzle used to change the paths is rather complex, but this is the basic end result dependent on the first party's movements.

Music
The background theme of Kefka's Tower is fittingly called "Last Dungeon".

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Kefka's Tower appears as the representative arena for Final Fantasy VI. In this place, Firion begins his storyline, Cecil splits up from Tidus and Firion, and Zidane and Terra battle Kefka in their respective storylines. The tower is also host to a handful of confrontations between villains, such as when Kefka advises Kuja to kidnap Squall.

The portion of the tower shown in Dissidia is a multi-layered factory-like area. The top section features catwalks and esper-retaining capsules in small alcoves, while the lower section contains several closed-in areas with pipes running between walls. The upper portion of the tower is much wider than the lower areas, and has railings the character can grind on. The Ω form of the stage features vents of magical steam that explode from walls whenever part of stage is destroyed, knocking characters through the air and bouncing them between walls. The steam also damages their Bravery, adding it to the Bravery pool.

The Magicite is the battlegen item obtained through stage destruction in this area. There is a minor graphical glitch in the area involving the capsule tops.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Kefka's Tower returns as an arena in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Trivia

 * Kefka's Tower is host to several palette swaps of earlier bosses in the game. The boss Inferno is based on Number 128, and Ultima Buster is based on Ultima Weapon. The Prometheus, Fiend Dragon, Daedelus, and Muud Suud are palette swaps of Tunnel Armor, Blue Dragon, Dullahan, and Humbaba, respectively. Though palette swaps of enemies are frequent in Final Fantasy games, these enemies in particular were originally the only palette swaps of these specific bosses, were only encountered in the Tower, and furthermore are each only found in a single room. This changed in the Advance release, where new enemies and bosses were added, leaving Tunnel Armor and Number 128 as the only aforementioned enemies with a single palette swap.
 * An NPC or two will mention the construction of the tower, as having pulled material in from around the entire globe. This effect can be seen most prominently immediately around his tower with the ground spiraling around it.