#Ardyn got so much fucked up by everyone... I have no doubt I would have ended up just like he did or worse if they did that to me

[eirenare]

FFXV: Ardyn’s limp — A potential explanation (theory)

[Putting this text under a “read more” because it’s a bit extensive.]

First of all I would like to thank @jonphaedrus and @superespresso, both for creating an amazing and exhaustive document about Ardyn's bad leg, and for allowing me to link it and cite it for this post of mine. You can find their work here (a seriously recommended read that provides even more depth to Ardyn Izunia):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WHReP_7r4OH5ouszQOA9vVi1bJq1C64r3pFyWdE7Uss/edit#

To be honest I didn't realize Ardyn had a bad leg until I read that document, and it's something that's been on my mind ever since I read it. I've asked myself several times about it, wondering how he ended up with his leg like that. It was another interesting piece of information about Ardyn that I wanted to know more and write about.

Now, I think I may have found a feasible explanation for the origin of his limp. And what would that origin be... ?

Ardyn's crucifixion.

You ready to start? Let's go.

The other day I got to start reading a book that my mother and I bought ("Enciclopedia Eslava", by Juan Eslava Galán), about curiosities throughout history of different areas (philosophy, maths, science, history, geography, literature, etc), and there were some pages dedicated to crucifixion.

You see... I'm a huge fan of Ardyn Izunia (probably my favourite character of all time — he's just so fascinating), and every little detail or bit of data I can find is a blessing, so when my eyes landed on these pages about crucifixion (something I wasn't expecting to find), my first reaction was "okay, there could be something interesting in here".

I hoped there would be useful information about the matter, since it's one of the things about Ardyn that I wanted to write about.

And I wasn't disappointed. In fact there was even more than I thought, and if I thought already that it was a cruel process, well... it turned out to be even worse, to the point where my jaw dropped sometimes while reading these pages.

But before I talk about the book's information, I would like to quote first some texts of last part of the document about Ardyn's limp (from the section "Conclusions and takeaways", pages 47 and 48):

<< [...] For a lot of reasons I think he probably wasn’t born with this leg issue; most of his affectations are just that—affectations. Useful, yes, but things he had to add later. When you see him fight, he takes a lot of positions that require the use of his left leg in ways he can’t, which shows how out of practice fighting like that he is—Ardyn learned to fight differently than he does now, and just rolls with it, compensating for his injuries. It’s also just that I feel like it’s probably way more likely someone tried to saw his leg off. (I mean, I would.) Which leads to my guess about what is actually wrong.

His knee honestly seems to work fine. It can bend, lift turn it, and it takes weight without much difficulty at all. It’s stiff, sure, but that seems more from overusing it than anything. It’s got the most motion out of his entire left leg, which makes it seem like nah, his knee is probably fine. So: didn’t get hamstrung. (It would’ve caused him to bleed out, anyway. Not that that really matters. Since he is Immortal. It would just hurt his feelings.)

That leaves the hip and the ankle. Ankle first, because that’s easier and smaller: he has, as has been mentioned earlier, a really tell-tale flat foot. It slides and sticks and jerks, and it looks like he can neither lift nor straighten it properly, which points probably to him having had his achilles tendon cut or torn. It could heal partly, but he’d never recover.

The hip is a lot more. Let’s work backwards: it looks like someone tried, and failed, to cut his leg off. Based on the lack of motion, the stilted problems he has walking, the way he avoids putting weight on it, it seems similarly akin to a permanent dislocation. The bones were probably smashed and never healed (or barely healed), and as such he lost most of the motion with the leg. So, in summary: someone tried, really badly, to cut his leg off or otherwise remove it, and probably at the same time, partly severed his achilles tendon. [...]

[...] SuperEspresso: Also he’s a dirty liar about not feeling it. The character shows signs of some sort of injury in the pelvis-to-leg area. The diagram shows the tendons and bones in the area of the hip and with what you’ve now looked for specifically, you have a better idea of the location of these issues. If the character did have his leg amputated, the tearing of the tensor fasciae latae would facilitate stiff movement from the hip to the knee, while the separation of the iliacus from the femur could easily cause the stiffness seen in-game.

Another area we need to look at is the pectineus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, and gracilis in the case of a total leg amputation. These are the muscles that connect the pelvis to the femur, and in the case of the pectineus and piriformis, hold the femur into the pelvic socket to keep a legs mobility and strength. Considering the character has some degree of movement, and doesn’t fully limp everywhere, it’s likely the pectineus and piriformis were severed, causing a sporadic dislocation of the hip on the characters bad side, which would explain the twisting of the femur and knee-cap due to movement or over-extension. Another possibility is the iliacus and psoas major being inured, which would extend his injury not only to the hip, but to the spine as well. [...] >>

Now, let's head to the book...

In Roman crucifixion, the condemned person didn't carry the whole cross, "only" the crosspiece (patibulum): the upright post (stipes) was permanently mounted in the crucifixion area. Sometimes there wasn't a crosspiece, just the upright post, and they would pin the raised arms of the condemned there. Sometimes the condemned would get lashings before getting crucified as well.

The executioners would undress the condemned, pin his arms to the patibulum with a nail between the ulna and radius, and they would rise him over the stipes. After that they would pin or tie the legs to the upright post. Below his feet they would put a footrest (suppedaneum lignum), a triangular piece.

That process is depicted in this official Ardyn Izunia artwork:

For what it seems, the condemned could sometimes agonize for days before dying.

The tension in the chest and abdominal muscles would force the condemned to breathe with the diaphragm, in a quite incomplete mode. This would lead either to asphyxia or to coronary insufficiency. The thing is, when the condemned felt the lack of air, he would instinctively rest the weight of his body astride on top of the sedile/cornu, which was a thick nail that stood out from the cross at the height of the crotch. That would alleviate the feeling of asphyxia, but the pain of the sedile was so unbearable that the condemned would end up rising his weight for relief, which would put in motion again the process leading to asphyxia or heart attack. Another thing was that, to make things even worse, that sedile, well... sometimes they would put it inside where the sun doesn't shine.

Sounds horrible so far, and it hasn't even finished... It just keeps getting worse.

(Sometimes, though, the condemned ones would be offered anesthesic beverages; for example the posca, a mix of water and vinegar, would mitigate the suffering.)

And now enters a part of the process that will sound very familiar regarding the text above from the document about Ardyn's limp...

The exactor mortis, the executioner that directed the execution, sometimes would make the death of the condemned quicker... by fracturing the bones of the condemned with an iron bar. That would prevent the condemned from "resting" on top of the sedile when asphyxia or heart attack would happen (as a side note, they could make things even more horrible: if they wanted to extend the agony of a too weakened condemned, they would pierce the side with a spear so that the air would penetrate directly to the lung).

And, remember about the footrest? Well... Sometimes they wouldn't give them one. The book mentiones the case of a man that had his heels laterally pierced to the upright post.

Regarding the broken leg, there are some options I've thought about.

It could be that they fractured Ardyn's left leg so that his death would be quicker and that for some reason they stopped before fracturing the right leg (someone or something may have prevented that from happening, or Ardyn could have died before they did it). Or they simply just broke that leg. And since it looks like only the Achilles tendon of his left foot got severed, that would rule out the possibility that they pinned his feet directly to the upright post... unless they didn't place the nail of the right foot in the exact same position and it didn't sever the tendon.

It could as well been that Ardyn arrived to crucifixion with his leg recently broken, but the official artwork of him being lifted for crucifixion didn't show that, so it could have happened way earlier (maybe an injury of when he was younger, even?) or as mentioned earlier, as a "coup de grace" during crucifixion.

We don't know exactly (for now, at least) how Ardyn's regeneration works, but given how his state is according to the document, it could be that he got injured in a time when his regeneration was much slower and difficult (and thus it healed badly or didn’t at all), or that he didn't even have that power back then.

Another option would be that they started with what we consider his good leg, and that Ardyn died with that leg regenerated or almost regenerated and the other one fractured. This would also explain why only one of Ardyn's ankle was severed as well. This is the explanation I find more feasible so far.

There would be another option, as well... A much crueler one and that wouldn't involve a slower regeneration: that Ardyn got both legs fractured and that they kept fracturing them as they regenerated, until he died (which could have resulted in him dying with one leg healed up and the other not having had time enough to heal).

As an interesting detail: in Japanese, when Bahamut talks about Ardyn, he says something that would translate to this, according to the website TheLifestream.net: "a foolish man who was rejected by the Holy Stone for that unclean body and was buried without ascending to the throne" (source: https://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-xv-lore/final-fantasy-xv-fan-theories-and-observations/observations-about-the-translation-and-localization-of-ffxv/ ).

Buried... So Ardyn would have been dead time enough that they would presume him dead and buried him.

To conclude, this is how I think Ardyn's crucifixion went down:

— they pinned Ardyn's feet to the upright post with nails, severing the Achilles tendons

— they wanted to speed up the process and fractured his right leg

— once they were done, they proceeded with the left leg, and the right leg and heel started to regenerate

— the right leg and heel fully regenerated while they were fracturing the left one

— Ardyn died either before they were done with the left leg, or before it had time to regenerate

— he got returned to the world of the living after not being able to enter the Afterlife

And this is it, the end of the post.

If you've read it until the end you have my gratitude. We don't know yet what happened exactly, but I think that "yet" has its own charm (although in all honesty this wait for Episode Ardyn is killing me a bit, haha): it makes us think, it makes us imagine, it makes us analyze, it makes us share our theories and views, and in definitive, it makes us have fun.

Having said this, I hope you all have a nice day!

See you soon, fellow FFXV fans!

[sparklecryptid]

yuletide hat

bitchin holidays everyone hope y’all have a good one. 

also on ao3

-

“Bitchin’ Yule,” Selena calls out as she pushes the door of Ace’s apartment open, “I brought gifts!”

“Bitchin’ Yule?” Nyx asks as he meets his sister at the door, taking her coat and ushering her deeper into his and Ace’s home, “I thought it was Merry Yule.”

“Merry isn’t as cool.” Selena dumps the presents she’s brought at the foot of the table that holds the four candles that their little family lights each Yule to honour their parents. The women that had raised them may have passed but they will always have a place at their table and in their homes.

Yule for the people of Galahd is a time of reflection after all, a time of light and love, family and faith, and a time to consider and celebrate the lives of those who had been lost in the years before. The candles they light on this day are to invite the spirits of their dead back to their home, to let those who have passed on know that they will always be welcome.

“Heathens,” Ardyn calls them from where he’s sprawled on the couch, “It’s Happy Yule, obviously.”

“It was Happy Yule a hundred years ago,” Selena retorts and sprawls on the couch next to Ardyn, “You’re just old.”

Ardyn gasps, as though he’s been terribly wounded and clutches at the spot over his heart. “How you wound me, dear niece,” Ardyn mourns, “Calling such a young and spry man such as myself old, who taught you manners?”

“You did.”

Ardyn laughs.

“Did I?” He asks, “I recall your brothers having a hand in that.”

“We did no such thing,” Libertus says, entering the room with a tray of drinks in hand. At the doubtful look cast his way he amends his statement. “Nyx and I didn’t. Ace however, taught Selena how to say fuck so I think he’s to blame for this.”

“Lies!” Ace’s voice echoes from the kitchen, “I did no such thing.”

“No you did,” Nyx disagrees, a twinkle in his eye, “Selena didn’t know the word fuck until you called Ardyn an ‘ugly hat motherfucker’ in front of us. She then went home and would say nothing but motherfucker for the rest of the day.”

Laughter rings out from the kitchen and Ace enters the living room with a tray of food. A grin on his lips as he places this tray next to the one Libertus brought out and placed on the coffee table.

“You have to admit,” Ace says, casting a teasing look toward his uncle, “That Ardyn’s hats are terrible.”

“I,” Ardyn says primly with a red velvet hat with white trim on his head, “Have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I say you were a pointed wizard hat on Halloween.”

“It was fashionable.”

“It cost three hundred gil at Mogmart.”

“And was worth every cent.”

Ace rolls his eyes and takes his place on the loveseat next to Nyx. Libertus is seated on the armchair they bought specifically so their friends could lounge on it. It had been money well spent, if the fact that whenever more than one of their friends came over scuffles broke out over who got to sit in the chair.

So far, Axis has won the right to the chair each time and Ace has considered more than once investing in a daybed merely so his friend has a place to lounge without pissing off the others. Though knowing Axis, he would scorn whatever Ace bought and claim the chair regardless.

Nyx tugs Ace closer to him until Ace is curled up in the crook of Nyx’s arm.

“Feeling affectionate?” Libertus teases them, a soft smile on his lips as he watches his friends. Nyx scoffs.

“Shut up, Libs,” he says and causes the room to laugh with him, “Not my fault Ace is a tried and true heating pad.”

“I’m not that warm,” Ace’s protest falls on deaf ears, as Nyx just pulls him even closer still, “You’re just cold.”

Nyx opens his mouth to respond but Selena beats him to it.

“If you say anything sappy, Nyx,” she warns, “I will beat you to death with a pillow.”

“You wouldn’t,” Nyx disagrees, “Not when I have Ace here.”

“That’s because Ace is innocent,” Selena threatens, “You, however, I would maim.”

Ardyn watches the exchange between siblings fondly and shakes his head.

“Now, now,” he says, “There will be no murder on this lovely Yule night. Rather, there will be presents opening.” As Ardyn says this his armiger opens around them and various wrapped boxes fall out of it, the pile becoming so large that it  nearly covers every inch of floor in Ace’s living room.

“Uncle,” Ace says, “Holy shit.”

“There is nothing holy about shit.”

Ace glares at him, and Ardyn merely grins and chucks a stuffed tonberry at his head.

“For you,” Ardyn says, merrily, “Bitchin’ Yule!”

-

“You went overboard,” Ace chides gently as he walks Ardyn out, “We didn’t need anything Uncle.”

Ardyn pauses, gold eyes fixed firmly on Ace. A crack of the armiger and a hat, one of Ardyn’s old ones cleaned and good as new, falls on top of Ace’s head as they step out into the snow covered street.

Snowflakes fall from the sky, Ace blinks up at his uncle, wide-eyed and shocked.

“Ardyn-” Ace starts and Ardyn presses a finger to his lips and Ace falls silent.

“There is nothing I can give you that will amount to what you have given me,” Ardyn says, “You have given me a chance at life, Aether, a chance to fully live. There is nothing I can do that will ever suffice to show my gratitude toward you for what you did.”

When Ace looks up at Ardyn, his face is soft.

“I don’t need anything from you,” Ace says, “I did what I did because-” Ace stops, takes a breath before continuing, “-because I love you. You’re family, Ardyn. I could not let a prophecy nor a God take you from me.”

Ardyn’s chuckle is gentle. “I adore you,” Ardyn says, “You are my son in everyway that matters. I would have ruined this world if anything happened to you.”

“No,” Ace says and his voice is gentle, “You wouldn’t have, not if I asked you not to.”

“You’ve too much faith in me.”

“Yes, but love makes us all fools doesn’t it?” Ace smiles up at Ardyn. “Thank you,” Ace says, for everything.”

“I should be thanking you.”

“You already have,” Ace laughs, “Just by being here this evening. I am keeping this hat though.”

Ardyn grins. “Of course.”

[the-archetype-of-civilization]

THIS IS ALL OPINION, YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT.

ALSO, SPOILERS FOR MANY THINGS AHEAD.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I think there are many reasons why people love villains so much.  Some because they identify their problems with themselves, or understand their motives to a reasonable extent.  Some because they just enjoy a good villain with evil intent to ruin the order set in a universe.  But one thing brings almost all of it together that solidifies both arguments for a villain that needs to be explored and understood more in order for villains to truly feel like villains and inspire the fear that they create: proof, a show of strength.

There are many different villains I could describe that fit the bill to each parts of what makes a good villain.  One that I believe many reasonably understand and agree with in terms of villainy is the MCU character Killmonger, a tragic character forced to live under the weight of being orphaned by the very people he was born into, and realizing the true extent of the racism bred all around the world.  Though, in my opinion, his actions were underwhelming in terms of the fear he wanted to create.  While he did display his strength in defeating T’Challa single-handedly and almost created a genocidal raid across the globe, there wasn’t enough screen time with him to truly show just how much of an imposing threat he was (killing civilians does not count, it’s an easy way out for them).  A menace requires fear instilled from consequence.  If you build up a villain to do something monumental and with tons of repercussions and stop it at the last minute where everything is peachy keen, his imposing-ness is null despite any of the speeches he (convincingly) makes.  Ultron is a villain I think that I think is in a similar vein, but very close to being a true villain in my eyes because the dude was literally about to destroy Earth with a hand-made meteor and that was a sight to behold.  But, despite having a charming(?) personality for a robot that’s supposed to display overblown (not subtle or underwhelming) cynical, nihilistic, and misanthropic tendencies (and yes, that is a very big gripe of mine as a fan of Ultron from the comics!), Ultron didn’t do much in his time to show how villainous he was aside from killing off Quicksilver (which wasn’t much of an impact considering that it was his first time appearing on the main screen and was killed off right then and there.  It’s more of a shock for the movie industry than it is in terms of story).  Also, that movie design was absolutely hideous!  His robot army design was perfect, but his main design completely goes against who he is!  He’s not supposed to look more human, he’s supposed to be a robot that hates humans!  He shouldn’t look like them with fucking teeth and pupils!

Those last two were hard to find at the top of my head, but for these villains it’s pretty easy to find.  There are plenty of villains that can create monumental and horrifying destruction, but still be underwhelming in terms of personality.  While they don’t have to necessarily be agreeable or even have understandable motives, personality is what drives the character across.  The standard “I’m evil because I’m evil” could work as long as they have the flair for it.  Darth Vader fits the mark as a terrifying villain with a “evil” personality but gets away with it by being a tragic character in his own right.  Exdeath from Final Fantasy V I believe fits this bill rather well considering the amount of destruction he causes in the world, but has an underwhelming personality of “I WANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING BECAUSE I’M EVIL,” even thought he’s my personal favorite FF villain.  But sometimes it’s okay to have a standard villain of being evil for the sake of being evil if the actions that they do are monumental to the plot.  But, this is just a personal opinion of mine.  Kefka and Sephiroth can be argued to be great FF villains, creating mass chaos and killing important characters with evil intent and ruthless personalities.

And then, there are ones that do absolutely neither.  Snoke, having an underwhelming personality and no threats to show for it (the Starkiller base represents the First Order, not Snoke himself personally).  This, unfortunately, goes the same way for the Night King in Game of Thrones.  An interesting and fearsome character and exudes fear from his mere appearance, shows little to nothing about how fearsome he is.  Despite being the brains for the White Walkers, he himself doesn’t do anything monumental or show the personal fear that he himself could instill regardless of his army.  A villain is only imposing by himself when there’s no one to help him.  If he can get the job done himself, he’s sure to be feared.  The Night King hasn’t succeeded in that.  Despite him making an attack at Hardhome, killing one dragon and weaponizing it on the Wall and at Winterfell (briefly, I should say), he doesn’t show anything that he can personally do that would create fear when it’s just him and with no army.  Other than raising people from the dead, we haven’t even seen him fight anyone!  Nothing that shows how he can personally hold his own in a fight.  And I’m sure some can argue that maybe he doesn’t care or need it, but why focus on him at all then?  Why go through the effort to make us fear the White Walkers (a foe that EVERYONE fears) and find the leader that gets killed so quickly and so easily without even making people suffer the consequences of crossing him?  The Golden Company was something far worse, however!  A so-called “fearsome” sell-sword faction completely annihilated in one episode of their physical introduction?!  Bullshit!  There are plenty of villains here that I could mention that can’t achieve fear or motive here, but I’ll save it for these two examples considering that these two were the ones I was very frustrated with.

But, there are two villains that I can think of right now that fulfill motive and fear right off the bat.  The main one (that I’m sure many of you saw coming) is the MCU’s version of Thanos.  No doubt, someone that has an understandably flawed and warped sense of destiny and justice, believing genocide of an entire universe to be “merciful” and saving it from destruction.  It’s absolute brilliance, especially compared to Thanos in the comics, that really fulfills the role of “the Mad TItan” more than the MCU version.  And that’s not to count just how much chaos he has created over the course of 22 films.  Despite being seen in small cameos and brief snippets and mentions, Thanos was someone to be feared in the MCU that many people were eagerly awaiting to see finally revealed in Infinity War.  And he achieved it in spades.  A villain that is absolutely ruthless with his enemies, despite being understanding and honorable about their goals. Imagine beating up the Hulk in 1-on-1 combat so much that he’s not angry anymore and refuses to be.  That’s a feat in itself.  And even while utilizing the Infinity Gauntlet, he can hold his own in a battle against 7 of the greatest heroes in the universe that almost got it off of him!   He pulled a fucking moon down on a planet right after, too!  And the coup de grace of it all was of course the snap heard throughout the universe: the Decimation.  And he succeeded in his mission and rested, like he said he would.  He wasn’t evil because he wanted to be or was vengeful about what happened: he believed himself to be a savior, someone that was willing to do what others wouldn’t.  And even without the Infinity Gauntlet, the guy won’t quit and is still ridiculously strong in a fight with just a double bladed sword in Endgame!  A perfect movie villain rarely shows itself, and Thanos was definitely one of those and I hope we see more that follow in his footsteps.

The secondary villain that I think of (that not many would understand) is Ardyn Izunia, or Ardyn Lucis Caelum, from Final Fantasy XV.  Hajime Tabata aimed to make FFXV’s villain to be better than Kefka and Sephiroth combined.  Now, that’s a gamble.  Considering how memorable and iconic both villains are, it would be very hard to accomplish something like that.  But, in my eyes, I believe he did.  Ardyn is a very tragic character, a Christ-like figure that wanted to cure the people of the land from the Starscourge that plagued them.  He would absorb the disease and cure them, unlike his brother Somnus that would kill them mercilessly.  After his fiancee was killed by Somnus himself, branded as a traitor and demonized by the people that he cured, denied ascension to the throne by the Crystal, and abandoned by the Astrals that were by his side.  Fueled by hatred for his betrayal on almost all fronts (including his fiancee, he believes), he seeks to end the Lucis bloodline and destroy the world that the Astrals created out of vengeance.  Hey, if you found out that you were simply a tool used for the gods to fix the shit that THEY fucked up themselves, you’d be pissed too (*cough*Noctis*cough*).  And boy did he show them what for.  He becomes chief commander of Nifleheim’s military, including weaponizing people as daemons, using Magitek to ascend to military supremacy, and seizing all of the crystals in the world until all point to the last one located inside Insomnia.  Not only that, but he kills Noctis’ childhood sweetheart and he brings the entire world to ruin for years to come while Noctis was inside the Crystal.  Ardyn basically did what both Kefka and Sephiroth achieved individually: bring the world to ruin and kill a pivotal character/love interest, respectively.  And he can seriously hold his own in a fight, able to use the same powers that Noctis can easily.  He even used Ifrit (an infernal Astral!) as a puppet!  That level of hatred for a bloodline is something palpable.

That’s why it’s so important to show your intent just as much as it is to say it.  Both go hand in hand and it’s what creates arguments and discussions like these, so we are able to analyze and study villains as integral and important characters in entertainment.  And to discover the darker sides of humanity that lives and resides within all of us, so we can better learn ourselves and how to control the demons inside all of us.

Honorable mention: With the new Star Wars movie coming out soon, I’m super hyped to see the Knights of Ren making a return!  J.J. definitely did an awesome move by bringing them back, and there’s something so appealing about them.  Something about organized personal goons for the main baddie is a concept that I always love to compare and explore.  It’s why I loved the Praetorian Guard from The Last Jedi so much.  Same for the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, the Black Guard from Tron: Legacy, the K-Tron units from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and the Heavensward from Final Fantasy XIV.  Despite them not having much screen time, or little to no dialogue whatsoever, the times they do appear, their main objective is to eliminate the threats before them with extreme prejudice.  Their main concept overall is action with little dialogue and achieving the simple goal that the viewer can already assume, and that’s something that I absolutely adore.  Costume designs are also a huge plus, because goddamn do they all look good!

[seladorie]

Sel’s Highly Subjective FFXV Fic Rec Master List

Hello! I said I’d do this, and it took a while, but I did! 

The standards for this list are 1) I personally enjoy them, and 2) I’ve gone back to reread them for whatever reason. (Please note the subjective in the title of this list.)

I’ll be updating this list and reblogging it when I do! I only rec fics that I’ve read and feel good about recommending. I don’t always give warnings in the my summary of the fic in the interest of space, so mind the tags when you check something out. There are links to all of the stories, and I tagged which authors whose blogs I know about. 

Happy fic reading!

PROMPTIO:

Incentive by LadyLarkFrand: Cute, domestic, prompt fluff. Good stuff.

Education by Riona: Fluff. Good good fluff of the two of them getting together.

I’m Trying Hard To Take It Back by @someobscurereference​: Soulmate/Soulmark AU where your touch is marked onto your soulmate’s skin forever… and for Prompto and Gladio, it happens when Gladio shoves him on the train.

Fantasy Ride by dirtbag: Prompto and Gladio share a sleeping bag for body heat and yup.

Riding High by LadyLarkFrand. “Gladio never skips leg day. It's something that Prompto admires a lot. Gladio knows he does. Prompto's boyfriend has fantastic thighs and he's a cock-tease, the bastard.”

right into the bliss by greyskiesblack. “Prompto doesn't like himself, no matter how much the others try to convince him that he should.” One of my favorite promptio fics, despite its incomplete status.

Lavender’s Blue (Dilly Dilly) by @someobscurereference​. Cinderella AU, with Prompto as Cinderella and Gladio as… the handsome not!Prince? This is adorable, go read it.

prepare the preparations by scarebeast. “The boys spend the night in the car after a snowstorm. Prompto and Gladio spend the night in a jacket together.” Fluff, trans!Prompto.

Grab the Gladio By the Biceps: Contentious Countess Edition by ohmyfae. “Gladio introduces Prompto to the magnificent world of trashy 10c romance novels. Neither of them are prepared for this.” The sequel is also hilarious.

white lines by spacs. “The more Gladio kissed him, the more nervous he got.”

Show Me by @someobscurereference​. A wrist band is pretty obvious accessory, especially if you keep it on during sex.

PROMNIS:

It Hurts by NoticedKohai: this is trans!Prompto and Ignis, dealing with menstruation. It’s super cute.

Professional Ethics for the Freelance Massage Therapist by edibleflowers: To help him relax, Prompto offers Ignis a massage and… yup. Yup.

Filters by Quail (Salamander): Five times Prompto surprised Ignis with a photo.

a year and a day by @someobscurereference​: Merman!Prompto and Iggy.

the years between by greyblackskies: A long recovery fic for both Prompto and Ignis. Explicit and has dark themes and is so, so good. One of my fav ffxv fics.

Quite the Collection by @asidian​. Promnis + sex toys.

Watch Your Throat, It Needs To Choke by @socialdegenerate​. Won’t make sense without the first one in the series, but I fucking love this story. It’s promnis porn and it’s beautiful. Read the entire series.

Infinity and Beyond by @someobscurereference​. “In a hundred different worlds, Prompto and Ignis come together in a hundred different ways.”

Filters by Quail (Salamander). “Five times Prompto took a photo of Ignis when he wasn't expecting it”

Rule of Thirds by marleymars. “Prompto bumbles through life and maybe falls in love.” The fic that sold me on promnis <3

GLADNOCT:

so good for me by rustandstardust: Gentle sex between Gladio and Noctis, and that’s about it.

Not Even a Handful by chocolatetigerfics: “Noctis doesn’t like it when Gladio calls his dick puny. Because it is.”

Go The Noct To Sleep by Mythril (fantacination): Sleeping arrangements and GladNoct.

The Heat of Lestallum by beforethequeen. Alpha!Gladio and Omega!Noctis, Gladio falls into rut and well. You know where this goes.

GLIGGY:

Afternoon Delight by mahbecks. Gliggy, rimming. Yup. NSFW, obviously.

Once Upon a Dream by mahbecks. Gladio and Iggy do not like each other. But, they both meet a charming stranger at the masquerade ball…

creature of habit by shepherd. Mutual masturbation.

PROMPTIS:

Black is the Colour by withoutdrawbacks: Noct realizes he has a thing for Prompto wearing his clothes.

Scattershot by Riona. “The longer Noctis spends travelling with him, the clearer it becomes that Prompto can get a crush on anyone.”

friends with benefits by @brosura​. “Prompto has always known that Noctis was the prince, but he’s only ever really cared that Noctis was his friend. And he thought it was pretty clear that he didn’t befriend Noctis for the money and gifts. In hindsight, he probably should have just said that much to Noctis. Or, The Adventures of Reluctant Gold Digger Prompto Argentum and his Rich Best Friend.”

Life Imitates by Riona. “Everyone keeps trying to lecture Prompto on dating Noctis. Which would be fine if he and Noctis were actually dating.”

PROMNYX:

Oh. by TheIskraen “Prompto just wants to know if Nyx is okay.” Takes place when you meet Cor in game. As you might suspect, it’s a bit sad.

i just keep running (into you) by JosephineSilver. Only one chapter, but cute.

NOCTNYX:

brighter than the sun by nickofhearts: “Noctis smokes. So does Nyx. (Noctis accidentally joins the Kingsglaive).”

Imperial!Noct AU by ohmyfae. Ardyn kidnaps Noctis when he’s a kid and “raises” him.

POLYSHIP ROADTRIP:

they say through gritted teeth by mushydesserts: 5 +1 of Gladio carrying someone else, and one time they carried him.

For Duty by Allubttoa: A very interesting premise that explores how the royal family of Lucis gives their warriors their magic. Mostly plot and deals with uncomfortable themes (which I enjoy, personally).

Mind Reader by ohmyfae. Noctis temporarily gets the power to read minds, so he uses it for an orgy. Man after my own heart.

Sincerely, Me by @kwehkwehmotherfucker, @ignis-sassentia. Mostly a story told through texting about Promnis and Gladnoct, though slowly evolving into OT4. Funny, cracky, and I have a good time reading it during my lunch breaks at work.

Know the Rules by @asidian. Fingering, fluff, humor, and Prompto suffering orgasm denial? This fic has it all.

So Close Your Eyes and Believe by @socialdegenerate. “Noctis likes sleep, but he also likes sex. If only he could find a way to combine the two...”

PROMPTO/GLADIO/IGNIS:

Synced by Lalaen: Dom!Iggy and Dom!Gladio take care of Prompto.

On-the-Job Training by Cygna_hima: “As part of his Crownsguard training, Prompto has to learn to resist the effect of alphas; Ignis and Gladio volunteer to help him practice. It gets out of hand.”

ARDYN/PROMPTO:

A Real Charmer by ohmyfae: One of the only Ardyn/Prompto’s i’ll rec because I tend to like happier stories, but this one the story of FFXV changes because Prompto can charm daemons. Including a certain Chancellor. And all of the other bros suffer as a result ;)

RAREPAIRS:

Sagefire by @notthelasttime: Nyx/Ignis, and I know, what?? but it’s a cute twoshot about the two of them getting together through a casual hook up.

all things beautiful by yodelpalma, which is Cor/Dino. Dino helps Cor out on a mission, by pretending to be his boyfriend

Build a Wall Between Us by @socialdegenerate . this one is actually Prompto/Cor! An enduring crush and the end of the world :)

wake a little stronger by grains_of_saturn, also Cor/Prompto, also WoR

Don’t Deny What You Meant by @imperfectkreis it’s Cor/Loqi and gods, I read this so early on when I joined the fandom and it’s still good to go reread it

you keep me from breaking apart by greyblackskies. Prom/Dino. “Prompto has the best boyfriend. Dino doesn't even mind that a stupid spiracorn broke the bracelet he gave Prompto.”

carry your heart by yodelpalma. Prom/Dino. “Prompto has the worst friends.”

A Candidate For My Affections by HigharollaKockamamie. Ardyn/Ignis. “It's been a few hundred years since Ardyn picked up any new dating techniques.”

GEN:

Reprisal of an Old Mistake by pariahpirate: This fic is pretty much how I think of Prompto’s background regarding the laboratories of Niflheim. That said, quite dark.

The Improvisational Method by JosephineSilver: And oldie that came before the game’s actual release I think, but features sly Prompto getting the bros out of trouble by pretending to be a traitor.

Poor Wayfaring Stranger by lithos_saeculum: “Out on a mission, Cor Leonis finds a teenager, lost and sick and partway to becoming an MT. Against the advice of all and sundry, he brings him back to Insomnia. There's not a lot of love lost for MTs in the Citadel, but some of its inhabitants may still be young enough to put aside their prejudices.”

Total Contained Time: Sixteen Years by @she5los. Cor asks Prompto to look at some strange MT tech, which has disastrous consequences. Deaged!Prompto. Mostly gen, little bit of gliggy.

Handle With Care by @she5los. “When Prompto gets kidnapped, his friends know they'll need to step up and support him as soon as they get him back.”

Running Behind by @asidian. MT!Prompto escapes from Niflheim and is found by the bros, and we readers experience all the pain.

Worth the Risk by @asidian. Prompto saves Noctis’ life when there’s an attack in Insomnia. Everyone who doubted him is suitably impressed.

Memories of the Past by @asidian. Deaged!Prompto, where he escaped from Niflheim’s labs later in childhood. Hurts so good.

[mana2348]

Why Final Fantasy 15 lacks in quality compared to Final Fantasy 13. (I mean plot, not game play)

As much as I fucking love FF 15, and it’s game play, and it’s characters. The game is just a fucking tar pit. It’s suppose to tragedy, but as a Final fantasy title it was heart breaking. (the second one, the top being Crisis Core) 

Yell at me, go ahead, but it just supports my love for the Final Fantasy 13 series. 

You know why? 

(I’m just going to put a spoiler warning here for plot, just in case) 

Because Final Fantasy 13 had hope. It fucking gave it’s characters hope even though the entire world was against them, while they were even against each other. We see their struggles, we see them grow as people, we see them care for each other even though they know that no matter what happens they’ll stay together, because of how much they rely on each other  because they need each other. 

And what made it real was that we heard them, we heard their fears, we saw how becoming l’cie changed them, heck, it made Lightning basically unlikeable because we saw her jealousy, we saw her anger with Snow, we saw her distrust with the only family she had, and then we see how she was torn apart when Serah turned to crystal. She mourned the only way she knew how, she even was about to abandon Hope at one point because she believed that he was going to get her killed (writing that I there’s an actual metaphor there). But she saved him, and as they got closer she saw herself in him. She saw where her anger would take her, and she began to forgive the man she blamed for essentially killing her sister. In future titles she becomes a guardian protecting the Goddess Etro, she becomes Serah’s hope that the future will be saved. And even when we see her fail, we also see her struggling to save the world, helping her friends through their despair in Lightning Returns, even deciding to sacrifice her humanity in order to save everyone. She becomes the Savior to become their hope, and ultimately, she grows because after everything that’s happened. She  calls out for help when she needs it, when she realizes she doesn’t want to be alone anymore, not wanting to bear the burden anymore. And she gets what she wants, everyone she loves is reborn, and it’s hinted that she will be reuniting with them in a world where they no longer have to suffer. 

We saw Snow playing the persona of a Hero, watch him suffer as her saw the woman her love “die”, we see every mistake he makes and see him owning up to it. Even if he was indirectly responsible, he still makes that effort to make amends. Even saving the kid that was trying to kill him, just because his mother asked him to. But it’s because he shoulders responsibility that leads to his despair in the final game. He knows what will happen since he didn’t complete his focus, he accepts that he couldn’t protect anyone he loved from the Chaos. But even in his despair he still helps people, he locks himself away when he starts turning to a cei’th, and even his people ask Lightning to save him, as he once did for all of them. And ultimately, he does gain his hope back, he pushes on just to see Serah again.  

We see Sazh’s son stolen from him, him pushing through to make the effort to see his son again. He’s seen as the father figure of the group, listening to the others and imparting wisdom on them when they are shown to be struggling. Then he watches as Dajh, his son, “dies” infront of his eyes, then be confronted with the information that the woman he had grown a friendship with, Vanille, was directly responsible for turning Dajh into a L’cie. We see him torment himself with the option of taking her life, but then making a choice to take his own. Even though he fails, Vanille is there to give him hope. She helps him push through, until he finds hope that Dajh will wake up again. And he does, but then we see him at his lowest as Dajh is sent into a slumber for over 500 years. That’s 500 years of his man watching over his son, still hoping for him to awaken even though it’s already been so long. He gets his good end when Dajh does wake up, and we see that they’re together again as a family. 

We see Vanille and Fang go through their struggles as veterans of the war that cracked cocoon’s shell. They lash out to continue their mission hundreds of years after everyone they’ve known has already died. We see Vanille go through the struggle of guilt as she comes across people who’s lives she’s ruined, and of watching her closest friend take the burden of becoming the monster to destroy the world. Even Fang at one point deciding to kill Vanille because the alternative is unbearable for her. But they push through because they now have this new family to protect. Even when the rest of the party turns into cie’th Fang always protects Vanille, then when the end comes she and Vanille make the choice to right their wrongs and save the world that they were once sent to destroy. In the future games, they both give Serah a chance to escape a dream-like prison, and even are shown to provide Hope with the will to build the new world that saves millions of lives. And both of them are still seen taking responsibility for the lives of others even after the world falls into chaos.  

We see Hope, a little kid, watch his mother die, the only person he considers family. Without her, he’s lost, he clings to other people for support to protect him because he’s scared, terrified when he turns into a L’cie and then is faced with the man he believes killed her. He makes every attempt to get stronger, even believing that if he kills Snow then he’ll get stronger. Then he forgives Snow, because he knew that he needed someone to blame for everything wrong. We see him resolve to motivate everyone so that they wouldn’t give up and see him as an adult in future games creating a new world so the people of Cocoon wouldn’t die. Heck, he even becomes a vassal of the God Bhunivelza because the actual God of the world saw how Hope became a symbol for the survivors of Chaos. Becoming Lightnings’ support when she begins to doubt herself, and as we see him die he provides her with the same words that gave him comfort hundreds of years ago. Even after he’s given a choice to move on he comes back for Lightning, he comes back ensure she’s isn’t burdened with the weight of the world. 

 Even when FF 13-2 came out and all of their futures were stolen from them, we had Serah giving us, the players, hope for a happy ending. Even though every paradox ending, every bad end through that game she was there being a beacon of light for a good future. Noel represented the terrible future to come, and even though he knew he was the last human alive, being abandoned by everyone he cared about he made the choice to try to save the future. 

This is honestly once of my favorite games, because of the characters. And I strongly believe it gave us one of the greatest villains every written. Yes, even better than Sephiroth, fight me. 

Caius, mother-fucking- Ballard - An immortal man who was cursed to watch the little girl he cared about died over and over again for thousands of years. At the start of FF 13-2 we see him mourn. We see his sadness as he takes on a literal Goddess to try to save Yuel’s life. He’s a sympathetic character, but he knows his role, he knows the consequences, and ultimately. He succeeds.  Time has stopped, the world essentially ended, and he ends up watching over all the Yuels that had ever been. He’s the villain, and... he wins. And in some way, it’s a satisfying end for him. 

--------- 

Compare that with Final Fantasy 15...and it’s just overpoweringly sad how the story is, too much. There’s no hope. No way to fight back against the cards that have been dealt, and it kind of takes away from the experience as the result. 

First thing, Noctis *sigh*, just...Noctis in general. He shines as a good character when he’s working off of somebody, before Altissia. Even though he’s a prince, and is burdened with responsibility, he was apparently given as normal life as he could have. And in retrospect that was probably the problem. He doesn’t act like a prince, nor a king, he’s just a kid (even though he’s 20) thrust upon to a situation that would would kill just about anyone. (...) But he gains nothing as the story moves forward, he loses everything and everyone he loves, and is just expected to take that. Even in the final moments of his life he’s alone, his friends aren’t even by his side as he dies. Nyx didn’t die so you couldn’t live for another few months Noct And sure he’s seen at piece with Luna at the end of the game, but there is no reassurance. There is no closure that everything turned out okay, for all we know Gladious, Ignis, and Prompto could’ve died at the end and we would’ve never known. I assume he’s suppose to represent hope in the game, because he is the one that everyone puts their lives on the line for, and in Kingsglaive that point basically hammered in. But here’s the thing, the world may be free of demons, the sun may have come back, and Noct and Luna are reunited in death, but it’s an unsatisfying end because it is the end. Ardyn won. The Villain won, because the rein of the Lucius Caelm line is gone, the bloodline of the Oracles is gone, and he achieved death after living for hundreds of years. 

Lunafreya herself shines on her own very well. But her character feels like she is given injustice whenever she is with Noctis because she does not feel like she’s worth being by his side. Overall it was disappointing how self degrading she felt because she literally loved him more than herself. She is represented at her best when she was confidence in herself and her own abilities, which is without Noctis’s influence. Seriously, she came off as suicidal during her parts of the game, fully willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good, but in a way that felt hopeless. Luna represents Noctis’s future, and when she died, that future was taken away. At one point I was agreeing with Ravus that Noctis’s life wasn’t worth hers. After she died, it just felt like it was pointless to continue on. I’m no fan of the “Heroine dies so the protagonist can be made stronger” trope, but if you’re putting it in the story, you have to show the protagonist growing stronger through the pain. Noctis doesn’t, and it is directly after her death that he beings his downward decent into despair. 

That is the point of the game where things just go downward and it feels like the shortest part of the game because of how fast it runs. First of all, it cements that while Galdios takes pride in his position, it feels like he and Noctis become disjointed and the only reason he’s with him is because it’s his job, not because they’re friends. He clearly blames Noctis for everything that’s happened and comes off as a real asshole because of it. And that’s not really resolved through the rest of the game. 

 Ignis was already an okay character from the start and while his injury was a direct result of Izuna being a major asshole it didn’t really feel like he became anything more than Noctis’s adviser, which is a shame because he is shown to be very capable man. 

And Prompto was...there? The kid was shown to trying bring a semblance of normalcy to the group after Luna’s death, and making it a point of there being a scene where he felt out of place during the start of the game because he brought little to the group due to his status as a plebeian. There was even DLC and an entire chunk of the game to his back story. But they just gloss over it. Just 2 lines in regard to Prompto’s entire existence and everything is apparently fine? 

Speaking from a plot perspective it would’ve probably been a better choice to kill him off rather than Luna; As both Prompto and Luna are 2 aspects of Noctis’s life that stand out. Both provided companionship to him during his childhood, but while Luna is suppose to represent Noctis’s future (his continued lineage for both of their lines) Prompto remains as a standstill of his past life (Happy(ish), full of childhood innocence, and playing Kings knight along with Noctis through the journey) He is a constant reminder that Noctis had a normal life, and when he is kidnapped the game play feels off because he represents support as he provides cover from a distance. His death would’ve been symbolic as Noctis could no longer be a child, a prince, and would have to step up to become king. He would’ve had to accept his future  as a king, not reminiscing about the life he once had. But hey, lost opportunities. All I’m saying is Square built him up with no pay off, literally, they did nothing with him, 

As for Ardyn Izuna...he won. That’s pretty much all there is to it. He destroyed Noctis emotionally, Killed both the Nox Fleuret and Lucuis Caelum lines, Blinded Ignis, tortured Prompto, indirectly killed Gladio’s and Iris’s father, toppled multiple empires, and killed a lot of people. He got what he wanted and won before he died, so...yay for him? 

Overall the game’s just depressing, that’s all there is to it. 

[thechocoboexpress-blog]

The Trash Man’s Mystery Height (Aka: The Height Ref) ((AKA Aka: Too Much Time On My Hands))

TAGS BECAUSE I’M PROUD AND WANT PEOPLE TO SEE THIS: @wrathwritesthings @themissimmortal @hypaalicious @louisvuittontrashbags

SO, this question has always bugged me? Is Ardyn tall or short? Or a nice inbetween? Now in actuality it’s never been a doubt in my mind that Ardyn is at least six feet, but that still begs the question, how many inches do I need to shave off or add? Welp, let’s take a look, shall we?

(HERE GOES MY ATTEMPT AT BEING DEDUCTIVE.)

I would like to introduce you to height template number one of this little journey, this is the official heights of all four main men in FFXV, down to the Centimeters, I also added a pixel wide bar to show from Prompto to Gladio just how much shorter Prom is than Gladdy, which frankly surprised me, I honestly expected there to be a bigger height difference than that, what with how much of a behemoth Gladio is, and yet Prom comes up to just below Gladios jawline.

Now that you have some perspective on how short (or not short) our sweet muffin turns out to be, lets take a look at some screenshots I got while meticulously searching through letsplays and speedruns of the game, starting with: Episode Prompto.

Soooooo.... correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s a big fucking height gap right there, isn’t it?

Here, lets’s take a little measurement:

Return of the angry red measurement line: The tip of Proms beanie manages to reach the weird frilly bit on his seven billion layers of clothing. Things to take into consideration: Prom is leaning forward, Ardyn is mid movement, Ardyn has his head tilted down to look condescendingly at Prompto. In general it’s a good gist of their respective heights but there are things to consider before making it the Magnum Opus on his height.

Blue is where the tip of the beanie starts, red is where I think I can’t stress enough I only THINK his head would start, give or take a few pixels in width, Ardyn is tilted to the side and in this image the red bar is below his jawline, they aren’t moving as much but they also aren’t facing each other, something to (again) take into account.

Now for the great pain: We all know that Prom is the shortest, so what’s above is almost moot in finding out specifically how tall this guy is, therefore I’ll move to the next extreme, the tallest guy we know. Gladio.

Fair warning; some of these pics are very blurry because I was going through and finding individual frames that I thought looked best for this. Almost all of these are at weird angles and just in general kinda bad.

Lets start with this one here, in Galdin Quay:

Gladio is VERY close to the camera (for example, Prompto’s (who is next to him in this scene) head alone takes up the entire screen for a moment), and yet Ardyn still manages to keep up height next to him, but this is a bad angle and can make everyone look way taller or shorter than they really are, lets move on:

This is the next frame after Ardyn walks past them, it’s the closest I could get Ardyn next to Gladio and the guys, and as I said before: He holds his height against Gladio. And an argument could be made But he’s wearing large boots! Yes, I’ll give you that, but I counter with this: Gladio, the man who frequently gets into battles, who loves to go camping and hiking, prooooooobably isn’t wearing flip-flops, so the height difference there is so slight it’s pointless.

Let’s move on: The Lestallum Scene!

Here’s the only good frame I could get of Cutscene!Ardyn next to Gladio, and personally: I think it says a lot: They’re pretty close to each other, Gladio’s posture is mostly straight whereas Ardyn is bent in a funky way toward Prom and Noct (who look about as big as children here) and yet... He’s still pretty damn tall next to Gladio. Once again boots/shoes are not going to be playing a part in this and a thick trench coat and hood is not gonna make him gain inches in height, or any height at all, really. 

So for the next and final big gripe: Cutscene models and live models’ heights have a tendency to differ WILDLY in this game, making incredibly tall people seem short and incredibly short people seem tall, I personally think that Cutscene body types should be regarded as the “real” character sizes, but for the sake of thoroughness, I got some while they’re walking around too:

This photo is meh, it catches a general feel for their height and it’s pretty amusing. This is Ardyn, he covers his face with his own name and doesn’t like standing. But yeah, he’s mid step and still about as tall as Gladio who hasn’t moved yet.

NEXT. The Big Kicker:

It’s blurry, but they’re right next to eachother. Ardyn is moving just slightly and is the exact same- if not taller- height than Gladio, he’s not a short dude.

And so, for my final height model, I present this:

The general height I think Ardyn is: one or two cm taller than Gladdy.

So how tall should I say he is???: I don’t know exactly. These are all eyeballing guesses at his height, he really could be a lot shorter than Gladio, or he could be a seven foot tall man-giant. It’s all up to you and your own preference, if big Daddy Gladdy is still the reigning Height King, then go Gladdy! If you think that Ardyn as become The Usurper of more than one throne, then daaaaamn congrats Ardyn you’re a big dude!

IN CONCLUSION: I hope this helps people trying to understand the stature of their beloved characters and trash man. Cya guys later! -Jo

((EDIT: Fucking tunglr posted this before I finished it so NOW it’s done.))

[regislucem]

💕;💚

(  send a heart  && learn something about this loser boy  )  |  accepting !!  |  @cookignis​ 

💕:  how does my muse express their feelings? do they do through small but meaningful gestures, or through bold declarations?

     noctis is definitely one for the smaller, more subtle gestures  —  for the most part.     it all kind of depends on the circumstances, who he is with, and most importantly:     what emotion he’s feeling.     a lot of people don’t pick up on it when they’re with him, not unless they really know him, but he’s a very emotional person  —  even if he doesn’t show it often.

     ( the rest is under the cut bc this became hella long )

          in general, he shows his love for those he care for through subtle means.     a gentle pat on the back, a playful nudge to their shoulder, seeking them out if they appear upset  &&  offering to listen should they need to talk.     that’s what he is, essentially.     a  listener, not a talker, and he does his best to ensure his loved ones are alright.     with those he is particularly close to, he will show his comfort around them by carefully imposing on their personal space.     though not a very touchy kind of guy, noctis will occasionally nap on them, sit closer, put his feet in their lap if the occasion arises.

          being as private as he is with his emotions, he tend to carry his worries  &&  burdens close to his chest — usually.     we see this in episode 5 of brotherhood, where he steps away from the group after their battle with marilith, only to shrink in on himself as he cries for everything he’s lost.     he doesn’t like to appear vulnerable around others, seeing it as a declaration of weakness, and so he retreats rather than seek out help —  instead tackling his grief, worries, and sadness in silence.

          in contrast to all this, however, he handles anger  &&  frustration with far less grace.     though he may not seem so, noctis is fierce  &&  temperamental.     if frustrated, he will lash out in ways that are likely to make him appear more spoiled, naive  &&  even egoistic  —  as seen when he throws a tantrum after the revelation that regis knew about the niflheim attack  &&  chose to send him away, or after luna dies  &&  ignis is blinded, overwhelming him with his responsibilities and guilt  enough for him to forget that this is in fact not only affecting him, but everyone around him.     likewise, his anger blinds him to reason on the train, when he lashes out for ardyn with intent to kill.     had he taken a step back  &&  paid attention, he’d notice that  “ ardyn’s “  speech pattern + behavior was off, && he wouldn’t have thrown prompto off the train to begin with.

          so to summarize;     noctis shows his affections through small, subtle gestures, he carries his worries in silence, whereas he boldly declares his anger  &&  frustrations in ways that often tend to backfire.

💚:  how does my muse feel about love? about falling in love? about being in love?

          I touched upon this a lot over here, but to summarize that;     love in general is a really difficult thing for noctis, due to his upbringing, circumstance,  &&  personal uptake on his own self worth.

          it’s not that he doesn’t know he’s loved by those around him, but more that he doesn’t feel worthy of their affections.     his father says he loves him, yet never spent time with him  —  why wasn’t he good enough?     his classmates constantly whisper of how much they love him —  how can they, when they won’t get to know him?     his friends love him, he knows they do;   they know him for who he is  &&  not only what he is —  but how can they love him, when all he does is cause them pain?

          his father loved him  &&  died.     his mother loved him  &&  died before he even got to know her.      his nannies / maids seemed to love him  &&  died.     luna loved him  &&  died.     ignis loved him &&  was blinded for life.     prompto loved him  &&  was consequently thrown off a train, accident or no.     it’s a constant pattern;  those he care for deeply end up hurt, or worse, and that in turn makes him hesitant to allow others too close.     love is dangerous.     love kills people he care about.     like stated previously, noctis is a very emotional character  &&  he feels deeply, with every inch of his being.     he cares so much more than he wish he did, because if he didn’t, maybe these people would still be alive  &&  well.

          because of all this crippling self-doubt and hatred of how  “ destiny “  seem to screw over all his loved ones, the idea of  “ falling in love “  isn’t even something to cross his mind, not at first.     with everything that happens, his focus is elsewhere.     make the memory of his father proud, save insomnia, retrieve the armiger weapons of old, retrieve the blessings of the astral gods so he may bond with the crystal —  there is no time to fall in love, and thus he doesn’t consider it.

          that’s not to say he doesn’t.     it just means it doesn’t cross his mind;   partially out of denial, partially out of fear.     noctis is a little dense when it comes to these kind of things.     the idea of being in love, &&  actually being in love are two completely different things —  but it’s a difference noctis can’t quite see due to a lack of experience, as well as reluctance to open himself up to others.

          ( this falls under my hc for his feelings about luna, but that’s a whole different post for another time )

           at the end of the day, love is a very convoluted subject for noctis, one he doesn’t quite know how to deal with  &&  it’s scary as fuck.     once he comes past these hurdles, however, he is far more open minded  &&  welcoming of open affection  ( in private, at least ).

[thatbloodycountess]

Home: Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Snow and Embers

 This chapter will be under the cut for heavy NSFW content! About time right?

 1,704 words

  Celes stepped into the shower and allowed the hot stream of water to cascade down her tired body. She gently scrubbed the dirt and blood from her skin before reaching for the shampoo. She was making steady progress in her training. Cor was a patient teacher, recommending that she use daggers as a side weapon. They were lightweight, which wouldn’t put so much pressure on her right arm. The Marshal admitted he wasn’t familiar with firearms but that she could use whatever training she had in tandem with anything he taught her. Once she was more proficient, he wanted her to take on some blue level hunts.

 She finished with her hair and turned the water off before reaching for a fluffy towel. She wrapped it around her body and carefully stepped out of the shower. She dried herself off and slipped on her moogle printed pajama pants and white tank top. She returned to her room for bed as it was late. She slipped underneath the covers and drifted off to sleep.

  The ground was covered in a thick blanket of snow and surrounded by tall white capped mountains. Celes shivered as a harsh wind blew through her body. She trudged through the snow, spotting a building in the distance. It was carved into the side of the mountain. As she drew closer, she spotted a familiar face heading in the same direction. He was dressed in a heavy coat and boots with a beanie covering his head. Blonde hair peeked out of the front and back of the hat.

 “Prompto…”

 Why was he alone? Gladio checked in earlier from Tenebrae and made no mention that they were separated. Something must’ve happened on the train. She quickened her pace but Prompto still beat her to the building’s entrance. She stepped through the threshold, finding large containers lining both walls. They were filled with a translucent blue liquid. She shuddered at the sight of it, remembering her time in one of those things as a child. Another chill ran down her spine as another presence made itself known.

 Ardyn.

 The maniac appeared out of thin air and taunted Prompto, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. The following words he spoke immediately caught Celes’ attention. The building was the first Magitek research facility.

 And Prompto’s home.

 Her eyes widened at the revelation. It was true. Prompto was a MT.

  Celes awakened, still shivering from the bitter cold in her dream. She huddled deeper into the covers. Her mind was reeling, both from the revelation about Prompto but that he wasn’t with Noctis and the others. She had no reason to doubt her dream, as the last one she had turned out to be true. Gladio checked in via a text to Iris a week ago when they arrived in Tenebrae and he made no indication that Prompto wasn’t with them. Something told her that it wasn’t voluntary.

 A knock at her door brought her from her reverie. Whomever was on the other side didn’t bother waiting and opened it. Prompto stepped into the room. Celes caught his expression in the light streaming in from the hall. His lips teetered on the verge of a frown and it was as if he would burst into tears at any moment. Celes quickly turned the lamp on and got out of bed. She threw her arms around his middle and buried her face in his chest. He held her close, the scents of vanilla and honey filling his senses.

 “There’s something I need to tell you.” he murmured.

 “I already know.”

 “How?”

 She looked up at him. “It’s a long story. But it doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t change who you are as a person.”

 He opened his mouth to protest.

 “You are kind to everyone and you stand tall in the face of things others would run from. You are an amazing person Prompto Argentum.”

 “B-But…”

 Celes pressed her lips to his to shut him up. Any further protests were forgotten as he reached behind him for the doorknob. She backed the gunner up against the door once it was closed and locked it as her tongue brushed against his bottom lip. His lips parted, granting her entrance. Her tongue slipped into his mouth and went to work exploring his mouth as she reached for his shirt and yanked it up his torso. He parted from her as he lifted it up the rest of the way and tossed it over her shoulder. She gave him a quick peck to the lips before running her tongue down to his collarbone. He hissed as she bit into his pale flesh and then soothing the area with her tongue.

 A low growl escaped his lips as he turned them around, pinning her against the door. His lips traveled to her throat as his hands roamed her slender frame, his growing erection pressing into her thigh. He nipped at the sensitive flesh of her neck leaving a bruise in its wake as one hand grabbed her breast through her tank top. She gasped as he squeezed her flesh before pinching her newly hardened nipple. He worked another love bite into her neck, in a place where it couldn’t be hidden, as he lifted the hem of her top. She pulled her shirt up and over her head before tossing it aside. Prompto left a trail of kisses down her collarbone as he lowered himself to his knees.

 He latched onto one of her nipples with his mouth while one hand teased the other. Celes moaned as she arched her back while holding onto the doorknob for dear life.

 He briefly looked up at her. “You’re ice cold. Let me warm you up.”  

 Prompto tugged on the sensitive flesh with his teeth as his free hand reached for the waistband of her pajama pants. He looked up to her for permission. Celes looked down at him with heavy lidded eyes and nodded. He pulled them down, taking her panties with them. She shivered, her body still cold from her dream. He gave her nipple one last tug before taking one leg and slinging it over one of his shoulders.

 “Y-You don’t have to…” she rasped.

 He ran a finger along her slit, earning a hiss, before kissing the sensitive flesh. His tongue followed the same path before stroking her clit. He heard her high-pitched whine as he attached his lips to her clit and sucked hard. She grabbed a fist full of his hair as his ministrations sent shocks of pleasure throughout her body. A needy groan passed her lips as he dipped his fingers into her dripping pussy as he continued to suck on her clit. Her walls fluttered as he curled his fingers inside her, signaling her approaching orgasm. He pumped them in and out of her as he sucked harder on her clit.

 Celes’ eyes rolled back, mewling as her orgasm ripped through her, nearly sending her to the floor. Prompto removed her leg from his shoulder as he kissed his way back up the center of her body, his face coated with her slick. She tasted herself on his lips as she kissed him, pressing her body to his. He backed them up towards the bed as she unbuckled his belt. He managed to step out of his boots as she pulled his pants down. He kicked them aside as she palmed his erection through his underwear.

 He gently took her hand. “I said I would warm you up.”

 Before she could protest, he lowered her onto the mattress before climbing on top of her. He kissed her once more, his tongue slipping inside her mouth without resistance. He removed the last barrier between them as his tongue languidly caressed hers. She parted her thighs as he positioned himself in front of her entrance. He looked into her eyes for any doubts but finding none. He sheathed himself inside in a single thrust, groaning at the sensation her wet heat was giving him. Her walls stretched to accommodate him as he filled her in a way she hadn’t ever experienced before with previous lovers.

 He began to move, his thrusts slow and deep. Celes grasped at the flesh of his back, her nails leaving scratches on his skin, as sinful moans emitted from her swollen lips. She parted her legs even farther to give him more access. She needed more of him. She needed to feel all of him inside her. She craved more with each thrust. Prompto buried his face in the crook of her neck as he rolled his hips into hers. He couldn’t stop the breathy whines escaping from his throat and he didn’t care if anyone else heard him. He never felt more human…more real…than in this moment.

 “Fuck Prom…” she mewled.

 “Your pussy feels so good…”

 Prompto slipped a hand in between them and began to stroke her clit as he continued his pace. Celes whimpered as her pleasure increased but her orgasm felt so far out of reach. She gripped the sheets with one hand and the back of Prompto’s neck with the other. The icy sensation that once covered her body was being replaced with intense heat.

 He ran his free hand up her thigh. “So warm…”

 His hips picked up the pace as his fingers increased their pressure on her clit. Celes wrapped her legs around his waist as he pounded her pussy, feeling her walls fluttering around his cock. She keened as an intense orgasm crashed upon her, his name tumbling from her lips over and over. He came moments later, filling her with thick ropes of his seed before collapsing on top of her. He rolled over to her side and pulled her body to his chest as he pulled the covers over them. Celes draped her arm across his torso as she nuzzled his neck.

 Prompto traced feather light patters on her shoulder as she pressed her lips lazily to his throat. The familiar scent of fresh cut grass and citrus filled her senses as she felt herself beginning to drift off. She felt completely safe. Prompto felt like home.

[ramtiger]

tell me about the 10 year gap plz...

ok so heres a disclaimer: im very very much a chocobros ot4 kinda man so a lot of these headcanons will be through that sorta light. i love these guys being friends but also lovers im ride or dieBUT not all of these headcanons have to be romantic at all! i have platonic options for most if not all of them! thats the fun news LETS GO

PRESUME SPOILER WARNINGS FOR FFXV FROM HERE ON OUT

ardyn was the one who got the three boys back to lucis. his bargain was, in essence, “either you three can rot here in my lovely little death trap, run yourself ragged trying in vain to kill me, or you can be good little servants at let me get you back to miserable mother lucis to wait for noct.”

when the three arrived back at caem without noct, cid only watched them come in. they saw it as cid judging them for their failure to protect their liege/best friend/true love, but in reality cid found a secret place to beg ol’ reggie, six rest his soul in heaven, to forgive him for helping get noct killed

hence cid was overjoyed when he found out that noct was not dead, just in Crystal Hell ™. he shed his first tear in 15 years

everyone was crying. nobody could tell who took it the hardest. nobody cared to judge.

three months after the sun went out, somebody (no one will claim ownership) suggested they hold a funeral for noct. ignis punched them unconscious with surprising accuracy. to doubt that noct was dead was treason, and also very rude to say to an advisor/best friend/boyfriend. nobody brought it up around ignis ever again

prompto adopts talcott so talcott can have a legal guardian who loves him and will immediately rush to a hospital if shit hits the fan (also to work out his issues with his own absentee parents. sort of an “i can do it better than you can” deal)

i also stubbornly refuse to believe canon when it’s said that the boys went their separate ways without noct holding them together. even if you see them only platonically, they’re stll obviously really fucking close. especially prompto and ignis. i think a lot about how prompto stood up for ignis in the early days of his blindness and ignis probably does too. this is not to undermine gladio’s relationship with those two…. haha that’s a whole other post tho. essentially what i’m say is those three would not leave each others’ sides for more than 10 minutes for a very long time. two years at least

gladio started doing hunts to provide for their little family of four/five. a family can be three dads, an aunt who frequently goes on incredibly dangerous hunts to protect people, and a son. and sometimes a divine being in the form of a dog.

prompto fixed the caem lighthouse to give a constant floodlight for anti-daemon measures. he fixed a lot of things in his free time. and built a lot of shit in his free time.

he also made mixtapes later on. they were usually gifts for people. sometimes he would make gifts for noct, with a little letter included. like this one, in my fic here. B)

ignis is the only one of the three who can talk a lot about noct without crying (prompto) or telling the person who asked about noct to fuck off (gladio)

their house has 2 pictures from the trip on the mantle. one is of noct, smiling and relaxed. it was candid, taken by prompto. the other is the picture of the whole crew taken on the night the guys left for altissia

once, during an argument about noct, the picture of him fell off the mantle. immediately, the argument stopped and they apologized to noct.

speaking of pictures, prompto still takes them! his camera is treasured. he hand-develops every picture, both from the journey and their time in the dark. he talks about every picture in excruciating detail for ignis.

another canon contradiction: the only situation ignis doesn’t use his cane for is combat. in combat he needs both hands. in everyday life, he’s a little more keen on not shoulder-checking randos.

i’m falling asleep now, but this should be a good start! let me know what you think

[chocobostrinket]

Okay, I need something angsty and emotional. While unknowingly being mislead, but Chocobros are tricked in attacking and severely hurting their pregnant S/O. She survives and so do child, but that the aftermath for that?

Owch. 

TLDR; Basiclly blame Ardyn for everything.

Basic info: I picture their S/O having just found out they’re pregnant and not quite showing yet. The boys are fully aware of this, but they allowed them to accompany them so long as they stay out of combat...

Noctis: He really didn’t mean to. He had honestly thought it had been Ardyn coming toward him. And in the ensuing fight he hadn’t put the pieces together fast enough. It had been a long and drawn out fight, and Ardyn for some reason wasn’t fighting back, only defending. Eventually, he’d grown tired of chasing after him. He summoned the Star of the Rogue and thrown it in a perfect arc. It sunk into the wall and pinned him by his neck against it. But Ardyn only laughed. His hands were cut and bleeding from where they stopped the edges of the blade from cutting into his neck, and he still laughed. But then the vision of him flickered, revealing his S/O with her eyes wide and panicked as they watched him. 

He’d curse and rush over to pull the star free from the wall and catch his S/O as she collapsed from relief that he had finally stopped attacking her. But she’d flinch at the contact with him. Her body would be riddled with deep cuts and gashes from trying to defend from him, and she’d be losing blood quickly. He’d scoop her up with no hesitation and rush to where the rest of their party was, demanding help. She’d pass out soon after, and they’d rush to heal her. 

Once her cuts were taken care of and healed for the most part, they’d let her rest. Noctis wouldn’t leave her side, but nothing would prepare him for when she wakes up and absolutely FREAKS when she sees him. Like, ‘pulls a knife from her boot and tries attacking him’ freaks. He’d have to pin her down after getting the knife from her and try to get her to listen to him. She’s kick and scream and cry because she was scared of him though. His heart would be tearing to pieces in his chest but he would still try to reach her. 

The other would leave them be, figuring they’d need to sort this out for themselves. Once she stopped fighting him, he’d just switch to holding her while sitting behind her so she didn’t have to see him. He’d hold her firmly, almost squeezing her, just to reassure her, and himself, that she was safe. She’d still be shaking and her tears wouldn’t stop, but at least she would let him hold her. It would be silent in the tent for a long time. He’d whisper quietly, to himself and to her, about how sorry he was, and how it was inexcusable, and he put her and his future child as such risk. He wouldn’t ask for forgiveness, as he’d see his actions as unforgivable. 

But she’d still say I forgive you. She wouldn’t do much else for a long time, other than let him hold her. Because she had been scared damn it. Not for herself though. Her life was nothing compared to the one that was growing inside her. She was grateful that nothing seemed to be wrong with her midsection, but just in case the next time the group was in a city or town, she’d discreetly visit a doctor to check that her child was still growing alright. 

And once she was sure that they were okay, she’d gladly allow herself to grown closer with Noctis once more. 

Prompto: Both he and his S/O had been taken by the MTs from the train. He when he fell and she when the MT’s had first started bombing. They would have been held together at first, and that would be when she’d reveal that she was ‘pretty sure she was pregnant.’ So when they decide to separate the two, Prompto does NOT take it well. He fights like hell, terrified of what may befall her when they’re apart. She’d be no slouch either, and fight just as hard. But without their weapons, there’s not much they can do. Prompto would take a hard strike to his temple that would disorient him, and his S/O would be overwhelmed and dragged off while screaming for him.

While apart, Ardyn would start planting the idea that the other was being turned against them. He’d reveal Prompto’s origins to his S/O and lie that he was still susceptible to being turned into a ‘real MT’. To Prompto he’d lie about his S/O being changed into an MT as they speak. And to drive the lie home he’d tattoo a barcode of her own on her wrist. He’d then lock them into a room with their guns in hand, with a wall between them. He’d warn them that the wall would soon rise up and that they’d be stuck fighting the one they love. The only question would be who would shoot first. 

They’d both raise their guns to where they know their S/O is standing on the otherside. Both would be prepared to shoot. But Prompto’s reflexes are frighteningly fast, and the second he catches a glimpse of the tattoo, he pulls the trigger. But it’s not a killing shot thankfully. It’s a straight shot through the shoulder. She falls to the ground though, because a gun shot is a gun shot after all. And when she cries out in pain he realizes his mistake. 

He’d rush over to her and cradle her to himself, pleading with her to stay awake. She would reach up and try to comfort him, just glad that what Ardyn said wasn’t true. She still had him. They wouldn’t be separated after that, but locked up in the same area as Noctis and co draw closer to rescuing them. Prompto would be strapped back into his restraints and she’d have her arms tied behind her back and dumped unceremoniously on the floor in front of him. 

They’d eventually be saved, and she’d be near passing out until they give her a potion, and after that she’d rush to Prompto’s side to comfort him. He’d be trying not to cry, but the guilt of knowing he SHOT her would be killing him inside. She’d take the lead then, following Noctis and fighting at Promto’s side, watching both their backs. She knows that he’d be too emotionally unstable to be of much use in a fight. And though she knows of her condition, she’d make sure they got out safely. 

Once they’re out and staying in a hotel, she’d lay with him, pulling him to her and letting him rest his head on her stomach. She’d promise that no permanent damage was done, and that everything was alright. He’d be extremely upset at how understanding she was being. He would want her to be angry with him. But she couldn’t. She knows what they went through. She fogives him for what he’d done, but the challenge would be getting him to forgive himself. 

Gladio: Ardyn would plant seeds of doubt in him. Whispered words of her being a spy, planted evidence against her. But the nail in the proverbial coffin would be when he lures her outside of the camp to meet with him, and arranges for Gladio to ‘stumble’ upon their meeting. Not wanting to believe that his S/O would betray them, he’d listen while hidden. However, Ardyn would be prepared for this, and ask after the child she’d be having. She’d not respond, and he’d ask if she had even told Gladio about it, or would that make leaving with him too hard? 

She be confused, as she hadn’t been planning on leaving and CERTAINLY NOT with him. But Gladio would take her silence as confirmation for two things. One, that she was with child. His child specifically. And two, that she was planning on leaving. 

Oh he’d be pissed. 

He’d go after them both with his great sword, and she’d summon her own to block his sword. Of course though, it would look like she was protecting Ardyn. All this time, Ardyn would have been earning her trust, which is why she blocked the blow. They’d glare at each other over their blades and spring apart. She’d tell Ardyn to leave, as the two of them had things to discuss. 

The fight itself would dissolve into sickeningly sweet endearments spat at each other along with veiled insults.

“Gladio, darling, perhaps if you’d keep a fucking clear head we could actually talk about this!”

“Sweetheart, my head is clearer than it’s been in! A! Long! Time!”

It’s literally a clash of titans, and neither come out of it unscathed. Gladio will be sporting a new scar on his arm from where she nearly cleaved it in two. She on the other hand, is sporting a mottled and bruised body, especially her middle. 

What snaps them out of it is when she suddenly throws up blood from one of his strikes he had landed on her. She’d pull her hand away from her mouth and see the blood on her hand, and suddenly she’d be scared. So scared, her vision starts tunneling.

“The baby.” she say. And then her eyes would roll into the back of her head and she’d pass out. 

Gladio, seeing his foolishness, would rush forward and grab her, haul her to the car and basically throw everyone else into the car without warning. (He’d literally dump Prompto into the back seat still inside his sleeping bag with a poor confused sunshine fluff struggling to understand what’s going on.)

HE’D also be the one driving.

Prompto would be screaming the whole way, and Ignis would just keep his eyes closed and pray to the six that they’d survive. Noctis would have an arm around Gladio’s S/O and be ready to warp away just in case they wreck...

Gladio is a terrifying driver after all. 

They’d get to a hospital in one piece and she’d be rushed into the emergency room to check her over. He’d mention that she was also pregnant and they reassured him that they’d check on that as well. A few hours would pass and she’d be allowed visitors. (Her and the pregnancy made it though okay.) He’d go in and ask for privacy to speak with her.

They’d discuss, calmly this time, what had happened and exactly what was going on. He’d be overjoyed that he was going to have a child, but horrified at how close it had been to being lost. Now she’d be pissed and slap him as hard as she could. (She’s no soft woman, and Gladio has to fight off the darkness that’s trying to creep over his eyes afterwards.)

“You BELIEVED him?!” She’d began to rant, and there wouldn’t be any love in her insults as she verbally tears him apart. He’d shut her up with a kiss and she’d settle down. They’d talk about how they clearly needed to work on trust and their tempers to prevent something like this from happening again. 

Ignis: Ignis would be fully aware that his S/O’s pregnant, and would be almost suffocating her with affection and attentiveness daily. But then Ardyn would send MT’s after the group and have them cornered at the edge of a cliff. They’d be lunging at them, and shooting, and there’d be no where to go but down. Which wasn’t an option. So they’d fight. And when it seems like they’d get out unhurt, one MT slips past their guard. 

Ignis’ S/O would get struck in the face, the blade of a lance cutting their cheek. But that wouldn't be all. To dodge the subsequent attack they’d be forced to take another step backwards and knock into Ignis. He’d, not realizing it was them, promptly grab their arm and slam them to the ground. He is not a weak man. 

She’d feel something inside her crack and gasp with the pain. For the rest of the fight she’d be out, and Ignis would be horrified at what he’d done. But there’d be no time to help her, as they were quickly becoming overwhelmed now that they were down a person. They’d fight hard and recklessly so they’d be able to help her sooner. And as soon as they’d triumph, Ignis would rush to her side to heal her.

Meanwhile, she’d be having trouble breathing. To the point where she’d start seeing spots. Perhaps a rib punctured her lung. Perhaps she just simply has weak lungs that could stand the high impact of when he slammed her. Point is, she stopped breathing and Ignis is panicking. Potions wouldn’t work, and he would desperately look for a phoenix down. When he finds one he wastes no time in using it on her. 

It works. 

She sits up from where she’s cradled in his lap with a gasp, inhaling as if each breath was her last. (It nearly was just a bit ago) He’d latch onto her and apologize to her in hushed tones. She’d shake her head and press a kiss to his forehead.

“It happen’s Ignis.” 

They’d hold each other and just close their eyes. She hadn’t been out long enough for it to affect the child, but just in case the next time they’re in a city Ignis takes her to a doctor and gets a full check up done on her and their unborn child. She agrees to put his mind at rest. 

[jlavisant]

Talking about why I love Ardyn, and my headcanons to fill in the gaps (the many, many gaps in this game… fuck). Obviously, spoiler warning.

I should just get the whole “he’s unbelievably beautiful” thing stated first. Yes. That is one hell of a good looking man. I would have loved it if Square had included some background characters in Galdin or Lestallum just talking about how hot he is (and Noctis reacting like “what? Seriously?”)

And, of course I have to mention his voice because Darin De Paul did such an incredible job. You can tell he loved voicing Ardyn and he steals every scene in which he appears. As the story progresses and he grows closer to his goal, Ardyn becomes more and more deranged. His voice becomes rougher and deeper.

Now about his story. It’s awful what happened to him. Ardyn was described as being incredibly kind and selfless. He was perfectly fine with his lot as the healer and the sacrifice it meant, so long as he could help people. Considering that, here’s what I think it really took to drive him to the dark, twisted bastard we know.

First of all, I find it incredibly hard to believe that he didn’t have a family of his own. Spouse, kids, all that jazz. He’s an older man, full of life and love, and his bloodline suggests he’d pretty much have to carry on his lineage anyway. So, yeah, I’ll come back to that in a bit.

Once he’s rejected by the crystal and betrayed by the astrals, I am not sure he’d have been the type to be REALLY angry over that. At least not enough to swear vengeance. Again, he’s not in this for himself. It’s not power or the throne that drives him to help people. So, yes, I bet he decided afterwards that the astrals are a bunch of shitbags that used him, and I doubt he’d ever utter a word of praise for them again, BUT they did at least allow him to cure innocent people of the Starscourge. Okay, he could live with that. So long as he can return home and live in peace.

Assuming you’re going with the theory that Izunia is the first name of the man that labeled Ardyn a monster and began a serious smear campaign against him as I am, this is where things get messy.

Izunia is a piece of shit. And he wants to squash Ardyn out of favor and history. We know he’s jealous of Ardyn, who is so beloved by the people because of his actions. He may even be afraid that, despite the crystal’s rejection, people will rally behind him and cause an insurgence in Ardyn’s name. So Izunia aims to ruin him. How do you suppose he’d go about this? Again, convince everyone he’s monster, but also destroy every facet of his legacy.

YUP. MURDER EVERYONE.

I was talking to a guy on Facebook about this and he explained that, throughout history, this has happened before. Family, friends, and supporters would be put to death. He’d have to create an atmosphere of terror for anyone that dared side with Ardyn. And Izunia is king. He can do it.

Not one to endanger anyone by his presence, Ardyn would probably have exiled himself. So, he’s been betrayed, abandoned, and everyone he’s ever loved is dead at the hands of Izunia. And he’s immortal, so he’s got a long time to dwell on all this alone.

Now, he’s still not quite at the point of “I’m going to fuck you all up” yet. This is where Ifrit comes in to play. The traitor god, who in the beginning would have seen Ardyn as an enemy, sees an opportunity in Ardyn to further his agenda. Ardyn refuses his offer of an alliance at first, and for many years Ifrit keeps approaching him like "bro, we could seriously let them have it if you helped me."

After a couple centuries of exile, the daemons within him fester and whither his good nature. He misses his family and regrets being unable to save them. He grows more and more bitter and angry until he decides he wants revenge. Ifrit is, of course, absolutely ecstatic over this. Together, they devise their plot. And as time passes, Ardyn loses every shred of his humanity, succumbing to darkness.

As a result, he forgets most of his past. He takes the last name Izunia to ensure he never forgets the man that did this to him. The loss of friends and family are no longer his motivator. He simply wants revenge on the gods and the line of Lucis.

This is, of course, MY headcanon. You can take it or leave it. :)

Feel free to let me know what you think. I’m only human. Maybe I messed something up already in canon in my urge to DESTROY THE CHARACTER I LOVE MOST :3

[kaidastrife]

FFXV REVIEW

Okay. It has been three days since I beat FFXV, and even though there’s still lots of after-game stuff for me to do, I’m ready to voice my overall thoughts of the game, and go into detail.

Spoiler Warning under the cut:

Okay. I love the game. Immensely. I love the characters, the open world, the monster design, the soundtrack, everything. I love the story, even though I think it needs to be more fleshed out.

I’ll start with the characters: first, Noctis. Noctis is without a doubt my favourite Final Fantasy character ever. His design, personality, and voice (I played with English dub, and while the original Japanese dub was excellent, I fell in love with the magic Ray Chase produced). The best part about his character though was the fact that he is so human. Noctis is so relatable and lovable it’s baffling.

The emotions he felt when he found out Insomnia fell and his father died, the grief he expressed at the death of Lunafreya that carried on for weeks after she passed, his fear of the Ring of Lucii, his unconditional love for his friends, his terror of dying even if it meant saving everyone; Noctis is so, so beautifully and tragically human, which makes him without a doubt one of the best characters ever made in a JRPG. 

I loved his laziness, and I loved how, out of all the hobbies he could have, fishing is his favourite past time. Basically, this boy loves spending time in relaxation and peace, but is ready to step and do whatever he needs to do to protect his family and friends. 

Now, I’ll cover Gladio. For me, Gladio is kind of a difficult character; you either like him or you don’t. I loved Gladio up until that scene on the train where he argued with Noctis. I’ll talk a bit about that scene after this. However, I can’t bring myself to hate him, so I’m going to settle for just liking his character. Gladio is the strong guy, the wall and shield that protects his master and his friends. Gladio also gives off an air of wisdom, more often than not giving out amazing little tidbits to help get Noctis back on track. 

The train scene did make me a little disappointed in Gladio though; I mean, I understand that Noctis had been mourning and sulking for weeks, but ins’t that what grief does? It hurts and wears people down. I believe Gladio attacked Noctis’ grief far too harshly. I mean, when Jared, Gladio’s butler died, he spent several days away from the party to grieve properly and keep himself distracted. Noctis never had that chance. He stayed with the guys and never properly expressed his sorrow.

I’m glad that Noctis and Gladio made up (kinda? They don’t really show them apologizing to each other, but they go back to treating each other like brothers) but I wish that if anything, they deepened what was said in the argument, and that instead of spending an entire chapters lipping each other off, they just had an invention on the train and freely talked about their feelings, as sappy as that sounds. I mean, how would Gladio feel if it was Iris who died? I can guarantee it would take more than just running off and fighting monsters to quell his sorrow for that.

Next; Ignis. I. Fucking. Love. Ignis. Always have, always will. The moment I saw his sparkly gloves and leopard print shirt, I fell in love with this smart, strategic, pun-loving mother hen. 

At first, I really only liked Ignis for his design; his character and personality itself seemed a bit bland. For me, that all changed when I realized that he always reaches out to protect everyone else. In battles, he’s the one healing everyone and has the skills to regrouo and focus everyone’s attention. Basically, I decided that Iggy was my strong number 2 after chapter 3. 

Chapter 9 and 10 emotionally destroyed me; the fact that Ignis, the pinpoint-accuracy knife thrower and the resident babysitter of the group had lost his eyesight was enough to make me cry for at least ten minutes. The fact that even though he couldn’t see, and was physically weak and probably suffering from PTSD from having his eyes injured to the point where he can never fully recover, Ignis still chose to remain with everyone and fought the best he could really made his character special. 

Prompto was the character I never expected to like to the extent that I do; sure, I knew I’d love the fun-loving jester, but wow. WOW. The depth of Prompto’s character, his insecurities and feelings of inferiority, his strength to remain as optimistic as he can no matter what just. Wow. 

Design-wise, Prompto stands out the most among the Chocobros, which suits his character; he is different from them in many ways. Prompto isn’t royalty of any form, he’s not a close guardian or childhood friend of Noctis, and he’s not even the nationality as everyone else. I’m like 99.9% sure Prompto was sent to Insomnia to spy on the citizens and the young Prince Noctis, but what does this sweet cinnamon bun do? Saves a dog and makes it his life’s mission to befriend Noctis. 

Prompto is awkward around girls he likes, terrified of daemons and heights and dungeons (like a NORMAL person would be), and ashamed of who he is. But nothing, nothing can match Prompto’s feelings that you can feel as you play through the game; his gratitude towards everyone for accepting him no matter what, his desperation to do his part and not be a burden, and his ultimate desire to become someone he himself can be proud of just. I can’t stop saying wow. 

As for the story, I cried. I loved it, I loved the ending, and I loved what it showed. However, it definitely needs more. I want to see more of Lunafreya and her past, I want to more of Cor and what part he has in helping Noctis throughout the game and not just in the beginning, more of Iris maturing and kicking Daemon ass, more of Cindy being amazingly in-depth; just more. 

I want to know what made Lunafreya so determined to help Noctis and carry out her duty as Oracle, even if it killed her. I want to know how she convinced Ravus to help her despite his hatred for the Lucis bloodline shown in Kingsglaive. I want to know how Gentiana guided her and whether or not Luna was seen as a “saviour”, “messiah”, or just a kind girl who was too young to die by her people. i want to know Luna. When she died, yeah it was sad, but I barely knew her. It was like going to the funeral of a distant relative; you knew them, you were sad, but you moved on far too quickly since their death had no personal impact. 

Square Enix has left countless hints about Luna’s past regarding abuse, and I wish they kept it the game. It may sound cruel, but I want to see how Luna overcame that, how she grew stronger, and why she even tried to save those who wronged her (like when she gave some light to Ardyn despite him stabbing her a mere second earlier). My point is, I wish I loved Luna like I love the Chocobros. Maybe Square Enix will decide “fuck it” and put more cutscenes of her past and character in the game in the future.

As for Ardyn, he is such an amazing villain and character I can’t really hate him because of how complex and well-thought out he is. Sure, I want to beat his face to a pulp and I immensely enjoyed killing him, but the fact that he used to be a healer, and well-respected and loved hero among all things stops me from hating him completely. I love him as a villain, hate him as a character, and pity him for his past. I mean, if I was an immortal being who used to heal those in need and was punished, ostracized, and chased away because of my abilities, then yeah, I’d probably be a conniving dick too. And that’s what I love about Ardyn; the fact that I can understand and relate to him based on what he had experienced. 

Even though he died at the end, he was one of the few FF villains to achieve his ultimate goal; taking down the Lucis bloodline. Heck, if he no longer wanted to live he also got that accomplished too. 

Up until the second half of the game, the story was amazing. It carried so much potential that just fizzled out to the end, but the ending itself was what made the game one of the greatest games I’ve ever played. Period. That being said, if Tabata and all the developers could have made it so the entire story had the same impact as the beginning and end, then FFXV would have easily have been in the top video games ever made. 

My last little rant will be about what I wish was included in FFXV from Versus XIII; now, I’m not going to be all “hurr durr Tabata ruined the game fuck Square Enix Nomura is a god he would have saved the game hurr durr” because that’s wrong. Nomura was absolutely swamped with work and projects, and giving the FFXV project to Tabata was the best thing Square Enix could have ever done. I just wish they did it sooner, since three years to redesign a game’s story and levels and details is far too short. Heck, the developers begged for six more months to make the game better, but they were denied unfortunately. Still, with only three years of work and a crew that was beyond exhausted, look at the masterpiece they created.

The people behind FFXV are amazing, but imagine what they could have included and added had they had six more months? I’ve read that they wanted to include a level in Tennebrae, a small dungeon in the area around the Glacian’s body, a boss battle with Emperor Iedolas, and actual areas to visit in the ruined world after Noctis wakes up form his crystal slumber. And, from what I’ve seen from Kingsglaive, I imagine the team wanted to include more about the crystal, like how it worked, and whether or not it was really a crystal of “light”, because even now the whole light theme does not suit the dark theme of Insomnia and the Lucii. 

I’ve heard theories of the crystal being a void crystal, which I agree should have been in the game; after all, after the Glaives would teleport around using the crystal’s power, they would often cough up a black dust, or in cases like Nyx, they would hear the voices of the dead, as he did with his late sister. 

My point is is that had Tabata had more time, then FFXV would have been indescribable. I sincerely hope they flesh out the story properly and without fear in later patches and packs. I also kinda hope they include Versus XIII elements in the patches and actual completed story; in all the trailers I’ve seen, Versus XIII gave off a ominous and lonely feeling. The only time I experienced emotions like that were in Chapter 13 and Chapter 15 in Insomnia. 

I want FFXV to be the “darker Final Fantasy”, but still retain it’s light hearted moments in the game. Basically, sunshine and rainbows in the first half, despair and sorrow in the second. 

That all being said, I would not be devastated if the game remained the same in the end. I love it, and will probably replay it over and over again until I know every single line by heart. I’m happy with what we got, and though I wish for more, I still think this game is beyond amazing.