Who's Really More Evil Between Kazuya And Heihachi?

There might be an ongoing perhaps never-ending debate on who's really more evil between Heihachi or his son Kazuya. To understand both villains, one might as well take a look at the past these facts between our two major antagonists Kazuya and Hehiachi, both who I actually enjoy using against many of my peers in the past. Tekken doesn't tell the whole story immediately and details keep unrolling to explain the whole Mishima Blood Curse.

So let's take a look at the history of the two shall we? Much of this information is non-linear meaning some of the newer information were revealed in later games. We knew of Kazuya's fall off the cliff from the first Tekken game, we knew that Devil existed within Kazuya in Tekken 2, we see there's something F*CKED UP about the Mishima Bloodline whether they possess the abnormality or not... which continues to the tragic saga of the Mishima Bloodline. Now let's see who is the most evil between the two?

Before the first Tekken, what really happened?

In Tekken 5, we would learn more about why the Mishima Zaibatsu had its problems in the first place. In the past, the Mishima Zaibatsu was owned by Jinpachi who was a kind old man and friend to Wang Jinrei and Kazuya back then was just your normal kid. Heihachi grew so hungry (I wanna compare these guys to the Greek gods) that he overthrew his father. Jinpachi got locked up under the Honmaru for several years, died of starvation and returned in Tekken 5 possessed by a vengeful ghost as verified by Katsuhiro Harada. The action would deprive Kazuya of a loving grandparent and giving him a nasty father that would forever change the course of the Mishimas. In Tekken 7, apparently Heihachi killed his own wife Kazumi based on the introduction from the arcade.

If I couldn't digest Cronus eating his own kids into his belly (and they still survived) or getting rid of his father Uranus, Heihachi throwing his OWN SON into the cliff is stupid. It was that even that turned the frail boy Kazuya into the monster. Kazuya was only able to survive because of the Devil Gene. Kazuya becomes a murderous man hating his own father thus perpetuating the cycle of hatred. I would really agree that perhaps Heihachi's only regret (see here) is that he created the Devil, something too powerful for him to stop later on. Heihachi only adopted Lee Chaolan not out of pity but only to raise a rival for Kazuya which just complicated the conflicts.

While Heihachi appeared to be a charitable guy, he wasn't. I mean, he was actually responsible for a lot of horrible things behind the scenes. Who knows of what evil he did aside from what has just been previously mentioned? 

The first Tekken tournament

The first tournament happened to be where we get a bit of Kazuya. Kazuya had returned swearing revenge on his father Heihachi. Heihachi was one horrible I mean horrible parent if he could kill his own wife Kazumi (this is yet to be proven), bury his own father alive and throw his son Kazuya off the cliff. Whether or not Heihachi knew of Lars' existence prior to Tekken 6 is still a mystery or maybe, I really need to replay Scenario Campaign again. 

Kazuya was shown to be a loner and the fact he's crazy with revenge proves he isn't really a good guy. While acting as the "protagonist" of the first game, he beats Lee Chaolan then he challenges Heihachi. Kazuya did the unthinkable as he threw off his own father on the same cliff. This would perpetuate the cycle of revenge.

The second Tekken tournament

You thought Kazuya will right the wrongs of his father? Well don't be surprised as two wrongs never make a right. After throwing off his own father (who survived), he immediately did a lot of activities such as genetic manipulation of animals, assassination of his critics, he soon became a force to reckon with perhaps due to the Devil gene within him. I would dare believe that he had submitted himself to the Devil within making him do his actions. Meanwhile, I'd like to believe that Heihachi (since it was revealed in Tekken 4 that he had no Devil Gene) was evil at his own free will. But later, Kazuya seems to have been in perfect harmony with his Devil persona.

Heihachi still reveals himself to be a cruel guy. After he defeated his own son in a match (presumably due to the Angel persona who might have been born out of Jun Kazama), he did the unthinkable. Not satisfied with the cliff, he threw his son off a volcano. Kazuya was supposedly destroyed but it was revealed in Tekken 4 that he was revived by G Corporation which he soon took over from within. After Heihachi won the Zaibatsu from his wayward son, he carried on with his usual facade of being a good guy but in reality, he was willfully cruel even without the Devil Gene. 

The third tournament, Kazuya is absent but is mentioned

It's revealed that Kazuya and Jun both had a son together. While I'm pretty disappointed that Harada may have confirmed that rape did not happen (I wonder when would Jun even sleep with such a scoundrel?!), I thought that the whole idea of Jin entering the conflict may have showed Heihachi is worse than his son who has the Devil Gene. Heihachi's actions were willful evil and his facade fooled Jun Kazama. Jun told her son Jin to seek refuge with his paternal grandfather Heihachi (Come on, doesn't Jun have any other relatives to leave her son to?!) if anything should happen to her. Either Ogre killed her or she's just missing which is yet to be confirmed.

What's the whole reason why Heihachi accomodates his grandson? It was definitely not out of love like any grandparent would but instead, like any deranged person who's power hungry, everybody is their enemy. Jin was trained in the ways of the Mishima Karate style, something that he would unlearn in Tekken 4 making him his very own character instead of a Kazuya clone. After Jin defeats True Ogre, he ends up shooting his own grandson which made me think, "Here goes history again." The whole incident would reveal that Jin had the Devil gene like his father Kazuya. 

The fourth tournament, three generations of hatred

Kazuya would return again as a playable character in canon after Tekken Tag Tournament. G-Corporation had revived him behind the scenes and he's still up for revenge. Heihachi becomes the final boss for most characters running the fourth tournament. It was during this time that Kazuya had planned to take over G-Corporation for himself. This was also the time when Jin unlearns his Tekken 3 fighting style and thankfully, he is his own character and I'm glad Kazuya is back and fully playable (in canon) once more. 

It was discovered that Heihachi is trying to become the "ultimate lifeform" though he figures out his DNA can't work with Ogre. The reason was because he doesn't have the Devil Gene. So his plan is to lure both Kazuya and Jin to get that Devil Gene. Kazuya learned of his son Jin's existence but instead of being a loving father, he instead chooses to get the Devil Gene from his son but the Kazama blood is an obstacle. Something and I mean something is WTF wrong with this family and Tekken 4 shows three generations of hate.

The tournament ends with the lineage going against itself. So Kazuya defeats Heihachi (again) and demands to know where Jin is. Jin was in chains where Kazuya sought to get the Devil gene to become "whole again". In the final battle, Jin defeats both Kazuya and Heihachi. Jin attempted to kill Heihachi but saw a vision of his mother Jun which he spared them. During this time, it seems Kazuya's actions are partly dictated by the Devil Gene while Heihachi does evil at his own free will.

The fifth tournament, the first patriarch's return

The ruthlessness of both characters is once again tested. Not much is revealed except their potential to do evil in otherwise non-canon endings. In Kazuya's ending, he at first tries to call out to his paternal grandfather Jinpachi but the Devil persona takes over and kills the latter. In Heihachi's ending, he practically sends his father, son and grandson into outer space without any remorse. It's unknown how far they progressed in the tournament but it was Jin who defeated Jinpachi. The only canon detail that Kazuya has is he actually goes after G-Corporation killing all who opposed him cold blood as revealed in the next game. Heihachi is still a dethroned villain who is getting his just desserts for starting the entire mess.

The sixth tournament, the two evil stars' conflict

The two evil stars are Kazuya and Jin. At this point, Jin had become the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu and declared war on the world just so Azazel could gain a physical form. Kazuya also has his scheming nature (similar to his father Heihachi) where he became a pseudo-hero of sorts as the new head of G-Corporation. I thought Kazuya's scheming side showed up but let's see again who's been really evil between the father and son. On the other hand, Heihachi is once again trying to regain control of the Zaibatsu and I think the old man is getting his rightful karma in more than one occasion since he really started the whole mess to begin with.

The game also revealed that Heihachi fathered an illegitimate son with Lars Alexanderson, Kazuya's half-brother. In the Scenario Campaign, he still had no feeling for his other son Lars as much as he had no feeling for Kazuya. Kazuya only warns Lars of the fate of being of the Mishima lineage after an undecided outcome between the two half-brothers. It might be time to wait for Tekken 7 for the home consoles (hopefully I will get a PS4 soon with a few good games) before we find out more about the family.

Conclusion

I just thought that while Kazuya was evil but who really started the mess in the first place? Heihachi. While Kazuya's evil may or may not be influenced the Devil character, Heihachi has none of that to influence him. Instead, Heihachi's actions are revealed to be pretty much his own free will while Kazuya's actions in Tekken 2 were mostly because of his pact with Devil. Kazuya may still have some goodness within but it's still left undecided. But as of right now, most of the blame should go to Heihachi.