#so ardyn

[ronkeyroo]

RONNY I SHOULD BE IN BED, but like... I wanna send asks...

No, but I wanna hear you ramble about Ardyn while you're high. I feel like you'd have good things to say, hahaha. Things we can all relate to.

VULPIEE YOOO!!! IMm.such a dummy i zoned out and forgot i even wrote on Tumblr. BUT OK I'M HERE AND MMmhhMMMMM YESSS ARDYN

Im like not 100% high cause its been hours but my woozy levels are still funny thought certified so. When i think of our favor blorbo right now i am SMILINGG and feeling all warm inside cause yknow, hes just, he does that

Ardyn is perfect hug material when i think about it. Sure he's got all those weird layers and metals everywhere on his stupid body body like, wtf,but???? Its so interesting? All those funny textures like his ridiculous cupcake shirt, wtf is that, that shirt he wears wraps around him like a ferrero rosher and then he has that VEST ontop of it. And the scarf???? (The scarf mmhm) AND THOSE GLOVES? (very s exy) AND THE ARMOR PLATES AND LACE??? HE HAS ON His shouldeslrs god (also sexy) i love him. Hes ridiculous. But so interesting. Everywhere you hug you have perfect stuff to look at and fidget with. His clothes his face, his hair. And hes just the right height and has arms that can like, hold you through it....Imagine if he hugged you and you can smell that nice, leathery and smokey whiff and be like aw yeah, old sexy leather guy smell and he just chuckles and hugs you even more. But then it gets too warm. And hm. Ok. Ok now im getting flustered

[rixareth]

As requested, I have examined my fondness for terrible characters, and I have concluded that I like them because they're terrible and I'm not sorry.

[hotshotriot]

hear me out,

[klimtsonian]

“I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

[parallelkozak]

two old men will meet and literally have the most annoying conversation you have ever had the displeasure of overhearing

[momochanners]

All my Tavs are gonna react differently to meeting Lord Goth--er--Gortash when they reach Baldur's Gate, I'm sure.

Multiple playthroughs rock!

The HD pages, textless & lineart versions, and the process video of me trying to draw Scruffy Eyeliner Man for the first time can be accessed over at my Patreon :3

[krisssssssy]

Replaying FFXV and laughing at how I could possibly play this without immediately realizing Ardyn was shady as fuck.

Am I stupid

He is radiating evil

[flowers-of-tenebrae]

Random DotF musings pt. 1

(spoilers for the whole book)

A Savior Lost - Ardyn:

So I uh totally forgot there was an "animated prologue" to Ep Ardyn. I did watch it...back in 2019. That means between Episode Ardyn, the animated prologue and DotF, his story has been told thrice in three different forms. Huh. (Well it's par the course for FFXV tbh)

It starts off rough tbh, but I like how the author reminds us of Noct's "shaggy hair and wayward nature" in the opening paragraph. Then you realise it's set in chapter 13 so any slight amusement - at Noct's expense - becomes 😭

I've had DA brainrot, so the justice (Somnus) vs. vengeance (Ardyn) themes stood out. In executing his ideals of justice and governance, Somnus corrupts Ardyn's purpose (his calling) and leads him on the path of vengeance... Culminating in Ardyn doing unto Noctis/Somnus what Somnus did him: 1) Somnus slaying Aera before Ardyn vs. Ardyn stabbing Luna in Altissia, and ofc 2) Ardyn vowing to destroy Somnus' entire legacy and lineage (through Noctis), much like how Ardyn's past as the "savior healer and future king" was demolished/buried and how his wondrous future (as king with Aera by his side) was cut short. This all seems v obvious, but it sounds cool to me when framed with DA's concepts of spirits vs demons - i.e. "if you see them as a demon, they'll become demons and reflect your expectations back at you".

Also obv Jesus/Judas parallels

The last line goes hard ✍️🔥🔥🔥

Now, the train has clearly steered off the rails of canon and into new territory

Not a fan of them casting Bahamut as the big bad antagonist (so cliché). Like the way his speech (as an Astral) is formatted though

It's easier for me to accept the Noctis/Somnus and Luna/Aera parallels in 2024 than it was back in 2019. But even more important than those are the Ardyn/Luna parallels, which we can see taking shape in this part.

Verdict: A slog to read, denser than expected, less exciting bc I've experienced Ep Ardyn - and the animated prologue. Certain parts felt more like reading a "dry impassive timeline" than a story. (I still question Aera's judgement in telling Somnus.) But this chapter does set the stage, so I can see why they still included it. And it's worth re-treading for that last scene alone.

The Beginning of the End - Aranea:

There's anti-food promotion for once, too much of it really. (Ew stale popcorn)

We learn a little bit of Niflheim's past state and its decline. Cool

Omg mentions of Aranea's parents!? Do we know more about her parents than Iggy's?? 😂

Wow they have an aerial safety net system in Gralea (for dragoons...?) Also, Gralea 🔄 Garlean empire - yeah the ff devs weren't subtle (it's a FFXIV ref)

Aranea's penchant for nicknames strikes again -> Tiny = Diamond Weapon

I liked seeing more of Aranea's dynamic with Biggs and Wedge and learning a bit about the latter two. Not as much Aranea + Sol in this ch as I'd expected, but that's okay for now.

While not quite as impressive as [ME2 spoiler] Miranda giving her resignation to the Illusive Man, Aranea going "I really can't stand you" to Ardyn, winking, then diving off the edge of Zegnautus Keep is still pretty awesome

The ffxv devs keep trying to make me care about Loqi but it's never worked

BONUS: FFVI ref spotted! (dancing mad) + minor Tenebrae lore drop (they were a tourist trap /jk)

Verdict: Some parts were repetitive ngl BUT this was more engaging than the prev ch bc 1) it's new content, 2) ARANEA!! - however the action scenes would've been more exciting to play through vs. reading. I'm going to sound like a broken record here; I feel robbed we didn't get to play as her (DRG ladies ftw) and see her wink on screen 🥲

[insertsomthinawesome]

Made a comparison and took massive psychic damage from four year old trauma in a different game.

Final Fantasy XV quote x Honkai Star rail

[sparklecryptid]

.........

hear me out

hear me out

cloud strife and zack from ff7 reborn into ffxv as nif experiments

who promptly burn everything down and come across a prompto who hasnt been rescued but still yearns for freedom and is so so so young

so they do the next logical thing

they take him with them

[ollou]

Just wanted to draw a meme with the dumb boi

[minzart]

So guess who rewatched the 10+ ff15 sotry videos again? me bb

these two could have been everything

[savage-rhi]

Courtesy of a kiddo I mentor who never heard of the game before

[seradyn]

Not me scrolling the Ardyn x reader tag because I’ve fallen back into his madness and seeing how absolutely DESOLATE it is 😭😭😭😭

[headfullof-ideas]

Allllrighty, a long needed to be finished art piece that is now finished! And it isn’t even anything too fancy, it’s just the Nektons in my Httyd AU.

Will Nekton is the patriarch of this oddball family, descending from a lost culture known as Lemuria, myths and legends regailing Leviathan sized dragons from the deep ocean, and multiple devices that seemed to work through magical means with the science that went into them. Despite Will’s passion to discover the lost secrets of his forgotten culture, he’s a devoted husband and father to his wife and daughter, and an expert seaman. Will does everything he can to support his family, and protect them from the multiple threats they find themselves facing, from mysterious orders devoted to the same civilization Will is, to numerous sea-faring pirates that travel the sea looking for easy targets, and even wild dragons that aren’t prone to human kindness. Will is steadfast though, and welcoming to any that come within his families embrace, though his soft spot for children is somewhat influenced by the trauma of losing his and his wife’s second child several years ago. Will has complicated feelings about the Archipelago, due to the rumors that come from there, the Raiders his family encountered, and the fact that it’s the resting place of their lost newborn. Among the rumors from the Archipelago, there are new rumors of Dragon Riders within their seas. Will and his family haven’t actually seen any of these so called Dragon Riders themselves, and he’s unsure about whether the connected rumors that the riders are Dragon Trappers make them any better.

Kaiko Nekton is from further east than the rest of her family, born and raised in one of the outer Caldera’s that house different factions of the widespread Defender’s of the Wing. Trained as a Defender herself, Kaiko moved to a Caldera further toward what is known as the Savage, or Ignorant Archipelago, where rumors of Dragon Raids make their way to the rest of the world past a fog bank. Though she served as a dutiful Defender for some years, Kaiko eventually left to marry Will and later have their daughter Fontaine. Kaiko now works as a Dragoncologist, documenting as many dragons as possible, hoping to share the knowledge of dragon’s and the way they really work with people that may not know much about them. Kaiko has made herself a number of enemies however, the biggest being a certain Viggo Grimborn, who disrupts her work constantly to fuel his Dragon Trapping business. Kaiko tries not to dwell on the Archipelago and its rumors too much, thinking about that region of the world eventually leading to the reminder that it’s where she lost a baby. Kaiko doesn’t know what to think about Dragon Trappers riding dragons, and she’s skeptical that the trappers even are riding dragons. But with how many people are saying there are Dragon Riders out there now, she has no other reason to assume that the rumors are true.

Fontaine Nekton is the Nekton’s daughter, and only living child. Fontaine loves her life at sea, swimming amongst the dragons and with her family, but she does sometimes wish they spent more time on land so she can hang out with her friends more often. Fontaine is a huge fan of learning about other cultures, especially the kinds of music that they have. She loves going to festivals and listening to the songs of all the areas her family visits, and sometimes looks to the dragons flying into the air and wonders what it would be like to fly. The Order of the Guardians of Lemuria are frustrating, her estranged cousin even more so, especially when rumors of giant dragons hiding in the sea start to circulate her family’s inner circle and the markets they frequent. Fontaine didn’t know she had a little brother until she was about thirteen, and often watches the siblings she knows and wonders what it’d be like if they hadn’t lost him to some far off corner of the world. She’s skeptical about the rumors coming from the Traders that venture into the Archipelago, about Dragon Raids every night for the last three hundred years. And she’s unsure about the rumors circulating of Dragon Riders, especially when she hears rumors about two different groups; one composed of Dragon Trappers and one composed of kids her own age.

The Nektons are still a sea faring family, though instead of a submarine, they travel on a slightly larger than usual ship, still known as the Aronnax. And because they’re the Nektons, I gave them wetsuits, though they look a bit different than they do in the show. While Ant and the Dragon Riders are dealing with all of their stuff, the Nektons are dealing with some of the early stuff that happens in the show behind the scenes. Some of the show will be kept for its own season in RTTE, but some stuff Ant isn’t there for. The introduction of the Guardians, the Pirates, Alpheus, and the Monumentials for example. I drew a comic about it already, but Ant ends up arriving about three to four years late or so to his own show, and has to speed run all the lore to catch up with everyone else before continuing.

Anyways, some closeups, because I like to do them. Tap the pictures for better quality, and also have a closeup of the writing I added, as the words are kind of small

[lioma-gaming]

Just gonna drop this one without commentary.