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acsversace-news · 7 years ago

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March 1994, Miami. An unsteady Gianni, wearing sunglasses and with his hoodie up, is helped down a hospital hallway by Antonio. He pauses when he sees the room at the end of the hall, and its inhabitants: two frail-looking men, apparently receiving transfusions. The doctor from the previous episode approaches and murmurs, "There are no journalists here." Gianni removes his hood and shades as he's told in VO, "There are drugs; the therapies are complex, difficult. But there are options."

We cut then to Gianni and Antonio and the doctor in her office, but before Gianni talks about his other sister, let's…just get into it with The AIDS Rumor, which if I understand correctly is the Versace family's primary objection to American Crime Story. The show to this point has taken pains not to identify Gianni's malady, I imagine primarily to avoid a lawsuit, but also possibly in part to create a meta conversation about what viewers might presume is -- and what law enforcement did presume was -- afflicting a gay man. I think it's Richard Lawson in last week's episode of the Still Watching: Versace podcast who notes that the mid- to late nineties marked the end of the period in the culture in which every story about gay men centered around HIV/AIDS, or at least dwelt in the shadow of the disease. And if this is the diagnosis that Gianni received in 1994, we hadn't quite gotten to the point with the cocktail and various other advances in treatment where we thought of AIDS as a manageable chronic condition; we didn't quite think of it as an absolute death sentence the way we had even five years prior, but the odds still weren't great.

Those odds had improved somewhat by the time Gianni was killed -- but this was not widely understood, and if I'm not mistaken the family was determined to keep the diagnosis secret, if only for business reasons, so they went with a cover story about a "rare ear cancer" that had a cheerier prognosis and nothing to do with Gianni's sexuality (and with which the doctor's bromides above would dovetail), so as not to upset the investor herd before the IPO. The family also made sure to retrieve Gianni's body extremely quickly from the M.E.'s office, and had it cremated just as quickly, no doubt motivated by the same fear that his actual condition might become public. It can be a little hard to plug into this particular strain of paranoia here in 2018, but if you lived through the eighties…my God, the contortions public figures would go through, felt they had to go through (and were not wrong), to deny that they were ill or that it was AIDS. Freddie Mercury in particular, it just became the only thing anyone had to say about him despite his repeated denials. (I love that he wouldn't give the press the satisfaction until literally the day before he died. "Fine: it's AIDS. Happy now? Great. BYE BITCHES.") And what was his other choice? Admit it, and then on top of facing the end, he's got to do it in the corner, heaped up with judgment. What a grimy and unjust way for the world to do Freddie after everything he gave it.

This is, then, what the Versace family wanted to avoid, and I get it. I guess I get it still continuing 20 years later, their rigid refusal to engage with this reality, because who knows what clauses lurk in various partnership agreements about transparency or due diligence or whatever. Not that I wouldn't get behind a "yeah, he had AIDS, and it was ONE THING about the guy so fuck off" attitude, because duh, but: this is where it is right now. Where the show is, I think, is implying as strongly as it possibly can without opening the network to a full-court libel press that Gianni Versace had received an AIDS diagnosis, and because 1) I think this is likely and 2) it speaks to the larger story, to Andrew Cunanan's story, and to the time in which we find their stories, this is how I will also proceed. End sidebar. "Thank God." Yeah, wait 'til I start getting granular about mint marks. You'll long for the halcyon days of this paragraph.

Okay, so: back to the doctor's office. Gianni relates that, before Donatella was born, his older sister Tina became very ill with peritonitis. His parents sent him to live with an aunt and uncle, but he got homesick and ran all the way home -- to find his sister in an open casket, "surrounded by white flowers." Nobody told him she had died. "Until that moment I believed that if you get sick, you can also get better," he says grimly, and: see above. The line makes more sense if you don't think he's talking about ear cancer, no?

Back at the manse, Antonio tucks Gianni into a big sleigh bed. Donatella comes in to stroke Gianni's forehead, and tells Antonio she needs to talk to Gianni. She takes his hands in hers and they look at each other before she quavers, "What is Versace without you?" It will be you, he tells her. "What am Iwithout you?" "You will find out," he smiles. She lies on his chest and he strokes her hair.

In the hallway outside, as Donatella is rummaging through her handbag for a Morley (hee), Antonio half-asks, half-states, "You blame me?" Next to a pointedly Callipygian statue on the same table as her handbag

Donatella asks if Gianni wasn't enough for Antonio -- he had to have more men, more fun, and Gianni went along with him. Antonio says Gianni "chose to," but Donatella corrects him: Gianni chose Antonio, and went along because of Antonio. "I am not a villain," Antonio sighs, adding that Gianni isn't a saint. "My brother has a weakness for beauty; he forgives it anything," Donatella says, putting on her jacket and turning to face Antonio. "But I am not my brother." No shit, Antonio says, but Donatella isn't done, asking why Antonio didn't give Gianni a family when he knew Gianni wanted one. "Because we're not allowed!" Antonio duhs. Donatella snarks that he could have found a way. She's heading out when Antonio explodes -- fairly quietly; they're still outside Gianni's sickroom -- that he's always been there for her; what has she ever done besides belittle him, and Gianni for choosing him? She whirls around: what has Antonio given Gianni -- safety? stability? kids? She'd respect him if he'd given Gianni anything, but he's given him nothing.

Gianni and Antonio walk on the beach. Gianni says that, before, he could channel negative emotions into creating; now, he's too sick. He starts to have an anxiety attack, saying he just wants to get "out of me."

At the villa, Donatella, her arm party of huge gold bracelets, and her pork-roast-sized flip phone are smoking on the steps when the men return. She takes Gianni's hand; he turns to face them both and announces that he won't get through this if they can't be a family. He goes inside. Antonio glares flatly at Donatella from behind his shades. She is chastened enough to look away.

July 16, 1997. It's nighttime. Rain sprinkles the impromptu shrine that has sprung up outside the villa's front gates. Donatella watches from inside, weeping. She's heading further back into the house, past where Antonio is half-lounging in that same anteroom, and Antonio tries to get her to talk to him, but she's like, Gianni's dead, we don't have to pretend anymore, and closes the bedroom door.

A mortician places a picture of Gianni next to him on the slab, and begins filling in the wound in his face and a scrape on his shoulder. As he's being made up, Donatella comes into the courtyard, sunglasses on, and turns to look at the house, and specifically the balcony of Gianni's room. Then, shielded by umbrellas, she runs the gantlet of flashbulbs and gets into a car.

At a funeral parlor, Donatella approaches Gianni's open casket. A crucifix is pointedly affixed to the inside of the lid. She slowly draws her sunglasses off and stares, fear flickering across her face. Penelope Cruz looks very young in this shot. An attendant behind her unzips a suit bag; cut to Donatella carefully zhuzhing the lapels and the necktie on Gianni in the casket. Once he's ready, Donatella's face crumples as she looks down at him. She bends down to kiss him and continues to cry, murmuring in Italian.

The casket is pushed into the crematory oven.

Gianni's ashes are carefully transferred to a baggie, which is affixed with a golden tag reading "GMV." The baggie is put in a box and sealed with diplomatic-pouch tape.

The box is put into a gold ornamental urn, topped with flowers, and carried onto the family's private jet by Santo, where Donatella sits next to it and says through tears, "After everything he survived -- to be killed like this."

After the title card, we're in May of 1997. Cunanan is driving the red pickup through Florence, SC. He pulls into a mall to find some South Carolina plates to steal, and as he's affixing them to the truck, he notices a girl watching him. He arranges his face into what he thinks is a cheery smile. The girl isn't having it.

He lets the smile melt off, chucks the old plates in the truckbed, and pulls out, powering up with some Oreos and milk and dialing around on the radio. After sampling some country tunes and a bulletin about the murder of Lee Miglin -- in which he is named as a suspect -- he comes upon Laura Branigan's "Gloria," which is just the thing, especially the line "If everybody wants you / why isn't anybody callin'." He bellows that one out the window, and as my esteemed colleague Tara Ariano noted on The Blotter Presents last week, this is quite a performance of mediocre car-singing from an actor known for his, you know, singing. But he's really feeling himself as he bellows along, past a sign reading "Miami 650"…

…and Ms. Branigan carries us into a helicopter shot of the Miami beachfront, the Versace villa, and Cunanan speeding into town in the pickup. At the Normandy Plaza hotel, Cunanan walks past Ronnie -- the guy they found in his room at the end of the premiere -- smoking sketchily on the front lanai and into the lobby, where a tacko portrait of Marilyn over a fake mantel seems to tell him he's in the right place. When a desk clerk finally appears, Cunanan makes a big show of saying he doesn't have a reservation, but maybe they might have a room for him anyway? She's like, it's an SRO, Blanche; chill. Cunanan gives her a French passport as ID that says he's Kurt DuMarrs, and starts blathering on about how he was born in Nice and she should visit sometime, and he came all the way to Miami to talk to Gianni Versace because he's a poor fashion student, and blah blah some outfit of Carla Bruni's with a gold belt, I don't even know. But somewhere in there he charms the desk clerk.

Less charming: the room itself. The common areas of the motel don't look so bad, but the interior hallways and the rooms: Wayne Grotsky.

Literally nothing is going to show dirt and fingerprint grease like that institutional pink. But Cunanan seems unbothered, and starts unloading his backpack right onto the jizzfest that is the room's comforter, like, did we not all know not to do that yet by 1997? I feel like we did. Mostly this is so we see the gun again, which is pointless telegraphing of something that…already happened, but Cunanan heads over to the villa and marches up to the front gate and tries the front door. It's locked, doy, but Cunanan looks a little angry, and also a little confused, like he expected his imaginary future friend Gianni to have left it open for him.

The next morning, Cunanan buys a disposable camera (kids, ask your parents) and a ball cap and sunglasses at a kiosk, which is also displaying the "MADMAN!" cover of Sports Illustrated devoted to Mike Tyson chomping Evander Holyfield's ear. Cute -- and it places us around the Fourth of July, 1997, as the coverline on that issue is 7/7/97. Cunanan heads back to the front gates and snaps several pictures of them and the house, then stares creepily into the eyes of the Medusa on the front door. Later, he carefully lays the developed pictures out in front of him in a grid, the same way he did the magazines last time, but the spell is broken when he reaches for his wallet and finds only three dollars inside.

The FBI agents are briefing Dets. Luke and Bitchface on Cunanan's greatest hits (as it were). Bitchface isn't clear on why they assume he's in Miami, versus L.A. or San Diego; Agent Stan non-answers that they working under the assumption that he's headed to the 305. Bitchface justifies her moniker:

But I'm calling her Det. Lori from now on because WTF, FBI. Luke gives her a "fuckin' feds" brow pop, but they try to help, as Lori runs down the local gay hotspots on a city map and offers to give the Fibbies a tour. What she gets in return is some Agent Stansplaining, as he condescendingly tells her that she hasn't read the case file, but Cunanan isn't going to follow a pattern she can predict; he's a "predatory escort," so he'll be targeting older, closeted guys -- who tend to hang in Fort Lauderdale, not Miami. Lori's like, okaaaaay so but don't you want to even canvass South Beach, hand out some flyers? The agents shrug that they only have ten flyers printed right now, and anyway, they "aren't a priority for us." "That's certainly clear," Lori mutters, and starts making black-and-white photocopies her own self. She pins one to the middle of the bulletin board.

Cunanan returns to his room and, despairing of the crappy side-alley view from his window, rehearses his pitch to Desk Clerk to switch rooms to an ocean view. Naturally, it's obnoxiously glib and contains a reference to Cap Ferrat, but the mojo he worked on her earlier sustains itself, and soon he's sauntering out onto his balcony and surveying his domain, Gianni-style. He locks eyes with Ronnie, kibitzing down on the sidewalk…

…then too-casually cruises down to the front lanai and introduces himself as Andy.

Max Greenfield's whatever face here is everything, hee. Ronnie overheard the clerk call "Andy" "Kurt." Cunanan snappishly asks what she calls Ronnie, then. But despite this bitchy beginning, when Cunanan asks if Ronnie knows where to score, Ronnie seems to oblige. They walk down the street, Ronnie sighing that he doesn't "do this kind of work" anymore: "Look at me." Greenfield looks fairly fit here, but thin, and is styled scruffily and moving somewhat listlessly, so the inference we're supposed to draw is apparently the same one Cunanan does, as he launches into a monologue about how he used to work at an AIDS outreach center in San Diego. He denies being sick himself, but he might admit it to Ronnie if he were; Ronnie doesn't tell most people, because they freak out. He came close to dying a few years back, he goes on, but then they "handed [him] these magic pills," and he had his life back…but he didn't know what to do with it, so he came to Miami, to be by the ocean. Cunanan's witty-repartee face has fallen by the time Ronnie asks if he has lost anyone. "Lost my best friend. And the love of my life," Cunanan says, failing to clarify that he killed them, but we'll get to it. "Recently?" Ronnie asks. "This year." "Both of them?" Ronnie presses, likely thinking that in eighty-seven, to lose two of your closest people to the virus would track, but in ninety-seven it's a little more unusual, particularly given that Cunanan says he's not HIV+.

Ronnie doesn't push it, but as Cunanan takes a whore bath at a beachside shower station and brags about knowing Versace -- with a name-droppy reference to an It restaurant in San Fran clearly memorized from a Vanity Fair or similar -- Ronnie makes a series of "…k" faces. There's been some discussion on the forums about Criss's choices here -- that you don't really see the charm the real Cunanan was evidently famous for. But you also don't see the somewhat squashy physical presentation of the real Cunanan, for which the charm was supposed to make up in a world that prized a hyper-toned physique; what you do see is the way the social contract tends to paper over outré or awkwardly meretricious behavior like Cunanan's, which in the larger context of "how was this 'allowed' to happen" is effective.

Anyway, Ronnie does manage not to burst out laughing at the idea that a guy who's one step up from homeless was proposed to by Gianni Versace at any point, as Cunanan claims. Ronnie says Gianni's very popular "out here," very friendly, though Ronnie's not into his clothes. "That's because you don't know him," Cunanan snips. Ronnie's like, well, I can look at the shop windows and form an opinion, but Cunanan isn't having it and takes Ronnie to school on Gianni's invention of Oroton. That is pretty cool, but Cunanan is way too intense about it for get-to-know-you small talk with a guy he just met: "I see the man behind it. A great creator. The man I coulda been." Ronnie cocks a brow: "Been with." That seems to snap Cunanan out of it somewhat, but then he lifts his face to the spray while the piano does a V.C. Andrews kind of a thing, like, we get it.

On the beach, Cunanan locks eyes with an older gent, then gets up, telling Ronnie that he shouldn't worry about money, he'll split "this" with Ronnie fifty-fifty. He emphasizes that he takes care of his friends: "That's always been important to me." Ronnie doesn't know what to say, and I have a couple of suggestions, but Ronnie's Spidey sense probably kiboshed "we just met, Galahad, settle down" as possibly triggering Braggy Carmichael. Cunanan heads over to the gent and completes the pick-up. Ronnie watches speculatively.

Back at the gent's room, Cunanan gets kind of weird about how many times the guy's "done this before -- two, three?" and then asks how many people work for him, "in business." Five thousand worldwide, he's told, and makes this face

but apparently that's the gent's kink, as he breathes that he can be submissive. "You have no idea," Cunanan informs him, and then we're hearing "Easy Lover" as Cunanan straddles the guy and carefully swathes his entire head in duct tape. Once the last airway is covered, he leans in with that Starman look of scientifically curious remove: "You're helpless. Accept it." He dismounts, cranks the music, and fondles various items on the dresser as the gent struggles. "Accept it," he says. "Accept it!" He fan-dances around the room as the taped-up gent gets more and more agitated, and the music seems to get steadily louder; this is shot very effectively, as I also began to get agitated on the guy's behalf.

Cunanan approaches the bed, holding a pair of surgical scissors and regarding the guy with a mixture of curiosity and lust, then hops onto him, whispers, "Last chance," and finally plunges the scissors through the tape over the gent's mouth when the gent follows his direction and submits.

Later, Cunanan tucks into some expensive room-service filet and lobster. At the door, the gent whispers to the waiter to come back in half an hour, "for the trays," then backs away from the door and the end of the bed where Cunanan is perched, stuffing his piehole and making up some story about his mom packing lobster in his school lunches. All the other kids had PB&J, and "there I was with my little sachet of cracked pepper, all wrapped up like a gram of cocaine." Cool story, bro. He polishes off a glass of champagne, locks eyes with the gent, drops the flute on the floor with a clunk, and departs without another word. The gent can't wait to throw the bolt, fish his ring out of the ashtray, and call 9-1-1, but when he's asked what his emergency is, the gent is too weighed down by his wedding band to go through with it and hangs up.

Back from commercial, it's "back to life, back to reality" with the opening strains of the Soul II Soul hit, and wow, I actually missed this song. Like, it was ehhhhhh-verywhere for a while and I never thought I would feel "oh yeah, you!" about it, but I do. Pity about the context, which is July 6, 1997, and we're backstage at a fashion show, where Gianni is complaining that the models Antonio hired "look ill." This seems like an anachronism to me, so if Gianni actually was at the forefront of pulling back from anorexic waifs, hit me in the comments. Certainly Donatella has taken some shelling in the not-at-all-distant past for using runway talent who looked dangerously underweight. And here she is now, cutting past the models standing around outside smoking and into the dressing room, where she asks them to give her the room: "I need to talk to my brother." Maybe take him aside, then? It's…the dressing room and they're working?

Donatella tries to head him off all "you agreed to try them," but Gianni's like, my models should look like they eat, have cocktails, fuck, enjoy life -- "What do these girls enjoy?" "Front covers?" Donatella says pointedly, going on that "everyone" is talking about Galliano and McQueen and what they're doing next. Gianni, standing next to a carefully hung card with Shalom Harlow's name on it,

doesn't want to guess trends. His designs have to come from his heart first. The debate continues, Donatella saying he's gotten too predictable, too "known," blah blah blah. Like they'd really get into this 1) minutes before the walking starts, 2) in English instead of Italian. Point is, Gianni's celebrating the miracle of his return to health, and doesn't want to do the "stark and morbid" runway Donatella prefers. Donatella freshens her contouring and rolls her eyes as Gianni describes the "Versace bride" who is not dainty and pure, but proud to have loved many before choosing the one man for her. She's kind of won over by his enthusiasm by the end, though, only correcting him that it's their show, not his.

Backstage, Donatella peeks out and looks worried as the runway looks -- proceeding down what looks like a ramp placed over Gianni's own pool -- are greeted with polite applause. The applause gathers in strength, and when the bride comes out, the response is what Gianni predicted. Donatella shakes her head and throws him a "yeah, okay" thumbs-up.

Cut to Ronnie procuring drugs for himself and Cunanan. They smoke crack together as a breeze stirs the vertical blinds, and Ronnie gets the high giggles, but Cunanan is broody, and goes into the bathroom to start wrapping his own head in duct tape. Outside the door, Ronnie says he used to be a florist, and he was thinking of starting a little flower pop-up, a two-man operation: "You and me." They get along well enough, no? And anything's better than working that beach, right? "…Andy?"

"I'm gonna take a shower," Cunanan says affectlessly. "Me too, with lye, in a different time zone," Ronnie does not say, going with "Yeah, a-a shower, why not?" He perches worriedly on the end of the bed, smoking and staring at the bathroom door. I would say it's a good thing he can't see the other side,

but if nothing else about Cunanan has moved the needle to Hell No for Ronnie, I doubt a crazy wall would do it either. Cunanan unwraps his head, somehow pulling out zero hair in the process, and stares at himself in the mirror.

When he emerges, apparently not having showered after all, he starts dressing silently. After a moment, Ronnie asks as gently as possible, "Andrew? What'd you do?" "Nothing," he says, still staring at himself, but in the mirror over the chest of drawers this time. "I've done nothing my whole life. And that's the truth." Ronnie looks sad for him and holds up the pipe: "We're out." "I'll get more," Cunanan says, going for "soothing half-smile" and landing on "nauseated volcano."

Gianni is lost in sketching thought in his bedroom as, on the bed, Antonio canoodles with a third guy. He hops out to tell Gianni to join them. Distractedly Gianni says he'll be right there. Antonio strips off his undies and hops back into bed with the guy. Gianni looks at them making out with an expression of contentment, then returns to sketching.

The next day, Gianni finishes a lap and fetches up on Antonio's legs at the end of the pool. Antonio muses that he doesn't "want this" anymore; he wants Gianni, to marry Gianni. Gianni smiles that Antonio says it in the morning: "Can you say it in the evening?" He swims away. Antonio bites his lip and wisely doesn't argue the point.

Cunanan heads into the pawn shop to hock the gold coin. Pawn Star Cathy asks where he got it. He says it's a remarkable story. Good save. I'll spare you the coin-nerd background, but I wonder if a pawnbroker with any experience shouldn't have known based on the coin in question that said story involved a felony; it's a Saint-Gaudens double eagle -- one of those coins that will look familiar even to people who don't know anything about coins, which is basically everyone. The prop here has a "mint mark" that says "COPY," which I also find amusing. …Right, nobody cares, sorry! Anyway, as she's weighing the coin, she checks her most-wanted posters; Cunanan, who's filling out the forms with his real name and address, isn't among them.

He's out walking later when he sees a queen serving Donatella realness rattling the front gates of the estate and begging "Johnny" to let her in. A security guard notes that the real Donatella has a key, and Gianni comes out on the balcony all "enough already, kid" -- "big kiss for you, but I cannot let you in, one is enough." Hee. Cunanan watches the drama unfold, then jogs back to his room; fishes the gun out from under the mattress (ew) and loads it; rips down his crazy wall; and bids Ronnie adieu. "Will I see you again?" Ronnie asks. "I'm sure of it," Cunanan double-meanings, and is peaceing out when Ronnie snarls down the hall after him, "You don't have that money, do you." Cunanan stops, comes back, and counts out the money, holding it up to Ronnie, at which time Scrip Dork McGee over here notes that, at least as far as the fifty is concerned, Props found an old one from before the 1997 printi-- "Buntsy. We agreed that nobody cares." Right, you are so right, sorry again. Ronnie is also chastened, but takes the money, then asks gravely if they were friends. "That was real, right?" But Cunanan is in full infamy-groundwork-laying mode and responds, "When someone asks you if we were friends? You'll say no." He hurries away; Ronnie ruefully watches him go.

Lori's leaving the cop shop and sees that the Cunanan Most Wanted poster is mostly covered over with other flyers already.

The man himself is reading his Condé Nast book in a park across the street from the estate when Gianni and Antonio emerge. When we cut back across the street, Cunanan is gone…

…to get some stakeout grub. The guy at the sandwich shop immediately spots him and skives off into the back to call 9-1-1; the "white guy who killed four white guys" whom he saw on America's Most Wanted is in the shop, ordering a tuna combo. The cops show up shortly thereafter, but Cunanan's gone again.

At Twist, Gianni and Antonio cut the line and head into the club, greeting various friends and other regulars. They settle in at a table to watch a go-go boy with angel wings working it for tips.

Cunanan fetches up back at the estate. He doesn't seem like he's in a hurry or fleeing. He finds the bedroom windows dark, and his eyes darken in turn. He heads into Twist -- with his backpack, which made me want to smack the bouncer upside the head. I forget we didn't always live in this after-the-events-of world. Somewhere, Det. Lori gets a stabbing pain in her ass because Cunanan is right where Agent Stan told her not to bother looking, searching the dance-floor crowd for Gianni while La Bouche's "Be My Lover" blares down. Cunanan checks the bathroom…

…but Gianni and Antonio are already outside, heading home. Gianni hangs back, seemingly to let Antonio pick up, but Antonio frowns and repeats that he doesn't want that anymore; he wants Gianni. They nuzzle. It's a bittersweet moment, knowing what happens, and also knowing that the actors know each other well IRL and wondering what it's like for them in the scene, when of course they also know what happens. Gianni gives him a vaguely sad "if you're sure" look, and off they go.

Inside, Andrew roams the dance floor, deflating, as Lisa Stansfield tells the assembled that "this is the right time / to believe in love." A cutie named Brad locks onto Cunanan and close-dances up to him and asks what he does. "I'm a serial killer," Cunanan chirps. Brad: "Whuh-it?" Cunanan, giggling: "I'm a banker!" He's a stockbroker. He's a cop! He builds movie sets and skyscrapers! Imports pineapples! Brad begins to draw away, concerned, as Cunanan tells Brad, but mostly himself, "I'm the person least likely to be forgotten. …I'm Andrew Cunanan."

#acs versace #previously tv #article #recap #review #2.02 #epic old school recaps #january 2018

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dozingcarbs · 8 years ago

Text

FFXV-2 Ardyn Story

↼ Read Lunafreya story concepts

Ardyn Part 1

Ardyn’s journey won’t be solo. His companions could consist of all the guys that potentially betrayed him and were tying him up (as seen in the official Artbook).

Image(s) link

I wonder if those black hoods have any connection to the one you find in Pitioss Ruins. Ardyn’s era is after Solheim. But their technology should still be around and reinvented. Just like how Ardyn introduced Magitek Troopers to Niflhiem once he joins them.

I based Ardyn’s story mostly on what was available from the timeline released in the Ultimania.

Let’s start with a timeline piece from the Ultimania:

Ancient History

Ancient civilisation of Solheim flourishes - Solheim, prospers in machine technology like Airships and Magitek Armor

The Six watch over everything

The Astral War breaks out due to Ifrit’s betrayal

Solheim falls

Humans are given special powers, granted to them by the gods. - These power included, “King” with the power to summon weapons, Oracle with the power to heal. - The Oracle is also granted power also commune with the Gods, serving as liaison between Gods and mankind.

2000 Years Ago

Before falling into eternal slumber, the Six bequeathed unto man the star’s Crystal and Ring of Light. The king at the time founds Lucis. - The Six create the Ring of Light. And grants the king the Crystal, which he was to guard at all costs.

12 Statues built in Lucis. - Each of the 12 is to serve as a coffin to hold the soul of a dead king. The successive kings, from these coffins, await the emergence of the Crystal’s Chosen king. Also, these kings will serve as a magical barrier (Knights of the Round) to protect the Kingdom.

The plague is suppressed through the efforts of the Lucian King.

2000 - 755 Years Ago

The world stabilises and new nations are founded. - Tenebrae where the Oracle’s family lives, the commercially prosperous parliament of Accordo, the Empire of Niflheim ruled by the Aldercapt family who try to reconstruct the ancient technology of Solheim.

See the fully fleshed out timeline here. It’s in more details than the above.

And yes it does say "Knights of the Round" 「第一魔法障壁 ( ナイツオブラウンド ) 」 even though there are only 12. And the barrier it is referring to is the Old Wall, not the magical barrier Wall protecting over Insomnia.

I’ve added a few of my own translations in the ancient era timeline piece above.

Translations do vary slightly due to cultural differences. But the premise remains the same.

Ardyn Part 1.2

Eos' history implies there were other kings with the power to summon weapons. The Lucis were founded unknown years later. Ardyn Lucis Caelum is such a king, acknowledged by the Gods, he was given the Crystal and the Ring of Light, soon dubbed Ring of Lucii.

"12 Statues built in Lucis." We've seen a few of them in the Kingsglaive movie. And we've seen all 12 + Regis in Lucis/Astral form in the game. I think the 12 coffins do not represent the kings of Lucis but 11 kings of all around the world and former Solheim. (Implied that the nation of Lucis = Solheim before it fell. We've experienced Solheim dungeons first hand on Lucis before: Steyliff Grove, Costlemark Tower and Pitioss Ruins.)

The 12 coffins had an exception. One statue represented the Oracle as it held the Trident of the Oracle. We've seen her in the movie and in the game. The guide explicitly states the coffins house the souls of dead kings. So it can't actually be something like it holds the souls of dead Oracles. (It would've been ideal if it did state that one statue was for the Oracle. Would explain why Luna was kinda there in the Beyond too unless that was just Ardyn hallucinating.)

We know the souls of dead kings enter the Ring. The statues may have been a legend to tell the citizens of Insomnia. But it does look like Kings of old can temporarily enter those protective statues of them.

Ardyn Part 1.5

Keep in mind there were only 11 Royal Tombs built. There were no tombs for the Trident and Sword of the Father.

Assuming one statue is supposed to represent Ardyn, the remaining 10 honour the kings and queens (star and shield). They're foreign kings; their weapon descriptions may allude to such. They all just feel like they're from different cultures or regions:

A king performed great feats of arms, expanded his realm, and made his people prosper. This was his halberd.(Conqueror)

A queen spurned the public eye and took to the shadows. This was her shuriken. (Rogue)

A king was built like a mountain, towering over all others. This was his greatsword. (Tall)

A king was quick like the wind and went where no man had gone before. These were his blades. (Wanderer)

A king rose to protect the world with the Oracle. This was his sword. (Mystic)

They just strike me as if they were kings or leaders of a group at the time before Lucis and were given the power to summon weapons. Each befitting their title. No weapon states "Lucis King/King of Lucis" either.

The story could go in a way of the kings all sharing a comradery over time. But Ardyn will trick and kill them, for their power is needed to eradicate the Starscourge.

Ardyn was Chosen. He had the power of the Crystal and the Ring. He would use their souls. This may be the first time a king initiated the Power of Light (Noctis vs Leviathan in XV), absorbing each of their weapon and soul into the ring.

Ardyn Part 2

A piece from the Ultimania:

The Power of Kings ——The mighty ability bestowed to modern kings. The power of newer kings is derived from the spirits of the line of kings. Essentially, this refers to the Royal Arms (the Armiger) of the ancient kings enshrined in the Royal Tombs scattered throughout the world. Most of the Royal Tombs are located within Lucis, but they are occasionally, if rarely, found constructed in foreign lands. Weapons favoured by those of the royal line house special abilities, and they once also had the function of sealing out daemons in the vicinity of the tombs. Still yet, if the combined Power of Kings and the Crystal are unleashed, they should exhibit power enough to eradicate even the scourge eroding the planet.

The power of the kings at the time was not enough. Around that period could be when Ardyn became corrupt. He had absorbed too many Deamons. The Crystal or Bahamut deemed him no longer worthy. Perhaps it could have gone like: Ardyn was explained about the plan to accumulate Kings with Power of Kings, and how many generations it would have to take. Ardyn wanted to accelerate the process by slaying and absorbing those with power already present. This very action was his downfall.

The jealous king who is likely related by blood took this opportunity and shamed Ardyn's despicable act to the public. Ardyn was stripped of his weapons and ring, he was powerless. His execution followed.

Who knows, maybe his execution was at the Stone Prison, chained up and left to rot.

Just giving that island more relevancy as to why Noctis miraculously appears in that specific location 10 years later. And in the loading screen after Noct leaves you can see a crystal-like rock spire with what rods that resemble Bahamut's swords. Nothing is explained but maybe it's like a warp for the Crystal. My guess is Ardyn’s powers were sealed by those rods and his powers of Light were being sapped out, returning to the Crystal, which formed the spire above the Stone Prison. Unfortunately, we have no way of ever knowing unless a dlc explains it.

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Up to par with Bahamut’s swords size wise I’d say.

Strange Crystalite strings?

To add to the above theory, Ardyn could have had entered the Crystal before. But the Crystal's Light harmed him because of all the Deamons inside of him. He started to reject the Crystal as well and was thrown out. Based on his quote "Unharmed by the Light. Chosen King, indeed." and "Come back soon." was as if he knew it would take a while to absorb the Crystal's Light.

Knowing he could not use the Crystal's Light, he sought for a different method which led to the absorbing the power of other Kings.

Ardyn Part 2.5

As for why Ardyn can still use the Power of Kings. It’s probably because nobody knew, including himself, that he became immortal. He “died”. Maybe with his body rotting and starving. But the scourge resurrected him along with the Power of Kings, whether intentional or not. He then escapes. It could be a weird mutation caused by the Crystal’s Light. No other daemon was ever immortal. For a virus that eats light, it wouldn’t be surprising the ones within Ardyn mutated into something more advanced.

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I've seen theories of Ardyn suffering from a split-personality. But it's not that cartoonish split-personality where you are completely different this one time and back the other time. Ardyn's a lot more realistic. He gets evil but has still a good side. He gets good but still has an evil side. One overpowers the other every now and then, but it's still Ardyn; one individual.

The Deamons absorbed and formed inside of Ardyn shouldn't be sentient. It's technically not the Daemons that are absorbed, it's the scourge; the virus itself. It's a parasite, they do not have sentience and act only on instinct. In this case, the scourge's instinct may have been something like to eat light and disseminate; infect others.

Ardyn has always been in control. The only time I can think he let the scourge take him over completely was the ending of XV. He was at peace and all that was left was eradicating the exposed Starscourge.

Ardyn Part 3

Ardyn's place then got stolen by the jealous king, including his royal arm and his place in the KotR.

There was one specific Royal Arm that was quite intriguing to me: The Sword of the Wise.

A king built a mighty wall and protected the realm. This was his sword.

Could this be Ardyn's sword? The wall it is referring to can not be Insomnia's wall, which erected only at the year M.E. 606 (150 years ago). And yet all 12 statues were built 2000 years ago which already had their Royal Arms (+ Orcale's Trident) replicated onto them. The Kingsglaive movie shows the first statue with this exact sword briefly before it focuses mostly on the king wielding Sword of the Mystic (the one that follows Nyx the most.)

I believe when the Wise was bestowed upon the power of King to summon weaponry, he did not solely fight the daemons. He used that power for summoning building material. (Noct has a fishing rod, Gladio a shield, neither are really weapons, so it's not limited to that). The Wise built a mighty wall quite literally. He perfected the warp-strike by doing this. (The Sword of the Wise has several warp-strike attributes in-game.) The wielder was then dubbed the "Wise" because of this.

His sword got upgraded blessed by the Divine. All the Royal Arms have a similar design to them. One of such is having angelic wing aesthetics attached to them.

The Gods acknowledged this and chose him for his peculiar act and achievement. He was given the Crystal and the Ring of Light. The Crystal has chosen this King to purge the Sarscourge.

That could be why the first statue had a design with 12 wings. The only statue with wings and chosen king. A Warrior of Light healing and saving people. He was Chosen King and brought other Kings of Power together.

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The jealous king who was the closest relative to the Chosen took his place, however. He may not have been necessarily malicious but he was jealous. (In chap 13 cutscene, Ardyn mentions the jealous king not yet chosen.) Perhaps the relative had an opportunity to be chosen soon as well. Unfortunately for him, that ended up never happening.

He was gifted power of kings but not blessed with a title. He was jealous of the Wise and other kings from other lands. But, he had the chance to inherit the Crystal’s power because of his relation to the Wise. However, such reasoning is unasked for. Or so that’s how I imagine the story of the jealous king.

Also, in the final battle against Ardyn, the first weapon he uses is the Sword of the Wise. Though, that could be just because it's the first Royal Arm. But at the final phase, Noct is left with only his Father's sword for a while. And Ardyn can only use Sword of the Wise until the final barrage. Perhaps that could serve as a little connection why they only had that specific weapon after they were fatigued from using the Crystal Armiger.

(Not sure what to call the "Super Armiger", Power of light, Light Armiger, Complete Armiger, Crystal Armiger, etc.)

Ardyn Extra: 13th Statue

And regarding the Sword of the Father, Ardyn did not once use it. However, you can see it in phase 2 albeit in Crystal/Light form. Which could be either a design flaw or it's just part of the Light Armiger now because Regis had become the 13th Knight. Same goes for the Trident not being seen. And we know that you don't need to have the weapon physically to use the complete Armiger as shown by the Leviathan battle.

As for why Regis got to be the 13th knight instead of any other Lucis King. It could be because they preserved the 13th spot specifically for the Chosen King's father or mother. There was never a 13th statue built. The kings of old knew of the day when there would be enough souls of kings absorbed. The Crystal would decide and gauge so. The Crystal then chooses a king who would have to fight the Accursed and sacrifice his own, ridding the star of its scourge. Who else would suit the role of the 13th knight other than this chosen king's very own parent?

I believe Noctis was chosen simply because it was time. He would become the King of Kings. Regis was the last king of Lucis needed. He knew of this and mourned for the fate of his son. Which gave him the reason to raise Noctis not as king, but as a father.

Inspired by: -The Dawn Trailer which could imply the Old Kings told Regis. -The Omen Trailer's ending when Regis talks to Bahamut via the Crystal. -Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII (loading screen) stating he spent the next 15 years nurturing Noctis not as the future king, but as his beloved son.

From the Ultimania: Regis was told Noctis is the Chosen King by old kings of Lucis 15 years ago. (Noct was 5 years oldthen.)

Including Noctis, there were 114 Kings of Lucis. I suspect that all other dead kings' souls are not in control when their souls are absorbed. It can't be the last 13 either. It has to be first kings as they are called the "Old Wall" or "Original Wall" in Japanese. The souls and power of successive Lucis Kings become part of them and divided among them.

In Kingsglaive, when Nyx called forth the Kings of Lucis, they did not care for Insomnia. You'd think if it were the last 13 kings they would at least mind its fate. Regis' father specifically scaled back the Wall to only protect the Captial: Insomnia. But the old kings only fight for the future which is the theme.

I'd like to add that Nyx and Noctis both called them Kings of Lucis. I'd say these Ancient Kings of past times becoming part of the Ring of Light are technically Kings of Lucis in the truest sense, even if they weren’t born after Lucis was found. Perhaps when all kings came together in Lucis, the kingdom was temporarily shared amongst them and not just Ardyn.

The Lucian King then founds the Kingdom of Lucis.

The daemon plague started from a meteor shower ifrit (impliedly) brought down. It wouldn't be odd for Kings of Power to settle near an active one and investigate the meteorite Titan caught. Still burning at that. They could not get rid of it.

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Official art of Titan catching the meteorite. He held it since Ancient Era which is way before the 2000 years ago, Ardyn’s era.

Perhaps Ardyn invented a new magic that absorbs daemons into him. Inspired by how one's own weapons can be summoned once they claim it. And believing the light of the Crystal could purify it. Ardyn would then live up to the name of the Wise again. But alas that's how he got corrupted.

However, that same act of Ardyn's may exactly that what made the Crystal realize its current power was not enough. Which led to the act of absorbing other kings of Lucis' nurtured powers.

From the Ultimania:

Obtaining the Power of Kings is also a duty assigned to a king. As he acquires the power within the various Royal Tombs, Noctis’s fighting ability also dramatically increases.

Perhaps successive kings have to clear the tombs as if they were trials, hence most of them being built inside dungeons and other dangerous places like a volcano. (Reminder that Costlemark is not a Royal Tomb, Deamons stole the Sword of the Tall from its tomb.)

Modern kings absorb the strength of past kings, that strength returns to the Ring as ruled by their Lucis bloodline, and then possibly multiplying its essence. I can only imagine this is how the Providence can surpass the Six as stated by Bahamut.

I think absorbing all of the Crystal's Light into the ring, which had to take 10 years, was required to deliver Providence. Perhaps a Ring of Light waxed full of Light, allowed the Knights of the Round to manifest for a short time. This is the "Providence". The Glaives of Rulers past = Power. But they are dead. Crystal's Light = Manifestation, a temporary resurrection of all the power nurtured over 113 kings. Together, it brought power greater than the Six to purify the Starscourge.

Ardyn Part 4

Two descriptions of two Royal Arms could debunk my ancient kings of the same generation theory:

A king rose to protect the world with the Oracle. This was his sword. (Mystic).

A king ruled the realm according to divine law and worked hand in hand with the Oracle. This was his staff. (Pious).

However, I do not think it's entirely debunked yet. We can think of both Mystic and Pious had their own relationships with the Oracle. Mystic and Pious could be father-son or brotherly rivals (more likely). Nothing alludes to the kings all being of similar age and vice versa.

We've had a similar FF story before where two of our heroes are crushing on one girl. I think Mystic won in this scenario but they both get murdered so it don't really matter now. Just from their descriptions, I feel like Pious was flamboyant or overly religious douche, but still righteous.

And then Mystic was the main hero. We see him the most Kingsglaive. And the camera follows Mystic's sword first in the ending cutscene when they were summoned in the "Beyond". You see Pious is right behind Mystic. Mystic's tomb is also located in an unusual but also an honourable spot: at the Archaean, right in front of the meteorite. His ambitions sound bigger too by protecting the world, instead of just ruling the realm like Pious.

The Trident is also nearby, top right between Pious and Mystic.

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For some reason, Mystic is the only one who descends from above rather than from the ground like all the others during the summoning scene. And the camera follows his sword first during the Beyond scene before showing all the KotR. I guess he was just an amazing hero.

There should only be one Oracle at a time. Ardyn can’t be the first Oracle either. His power of "healing" the scourge is his own version of it but still similar by absorbing. And the Cosmogony refers to the first Oracle as she.

If we go by the theory of the King on the Cosmogony book truly being Ardyn, then we see an Oracle right in the corner too. Which many believe to be Gentiana since her eyes are closed and holds a bouqet of sylleblossoms (fictional flowers) which are based on gentiana flowers.

However, there was a cutscene in chapter 4 that shows a page of the Cosmogony with both the Oracle and Gentiana present. On that same illustration, you see the chosen king, and five other Messengers/Angels besides Gentiana. Two of them being Pryna and Umbra. The remaining three look like humans.

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Ardyn Extra: Cosmogony's false history

A page from the Cosmogony:

The Oracle (found at Wiz Chocobo Post): In the distant past, Bahamut, the Draconian, descended to the mortal realm and graced the people of Tenebrae. From among them, he handpicked a pious maiden and bestowed upon her the power of the Stars and his trident. Using these gifts for the good of all, she became the first Oracle - she who joins heaven and earth.

However, this can not be. According to the Ultimania, an Oracle was chosen since the Ancient Era. Tenebrae was only founded in the "2000-755 Years Ago" era, governed by the Fleuret Oracle family when the world stabilized thanks to the efforts of King and Oracle.

The Cosmogony tells Legends concerning the origins/structure of Eos A book that speaks of the legends of the Six and the Oracle. In addition to the original, it has been republished in various forms, such as an annotated version and a picture book for children, and is familiar to many people living in Eos.

I do not think the Cosmogony we read in the game is a false publication. Rather, it is the author who wrote a false legend. Whoever that was, there is no way of knowing. Could be Bahamut, or maybe the Fleuret family. The tale of the Accursed is nowhere known except for Ardyn himself and the Gods.

They practically wrote Ardyn out of history. Preventing the world from finding out the Gods were fighting with -and responsible for such an impure Chosen King.

Ardyn Part 5

From the Cosmogony: "It is said that, in the beginning, the six fought side by side with mankind."

From Ignis: "Legend has it the King once stood alongside the Six in the battle to banish the darkness."

Either way, the beginning the Cosmogony is referring to is most likely the Ancient Era when Ifrit betrayed the other Gods and released the Starscourge (not create). It laid the old civilization Solheim to waste. And we've seen in-game what the aftermath of the Astral War was like around the Disc of Cauthess (Titan's area, meteorite, and all those impossible arching rock formations).

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And Taelpar Crag (A giant ravine or rift in the earth starting from down near Lestallum to... Well, quite far and deep.)

The meteor the Titan caught wasn't the only meteor, but it can be assumed that it was the most destructive one. It is said it broke pieces too when it was caught. There are small craters around it as you can see. But there are other areas a meteor fell too.

Lestallum is built on a crater. Which may be a larger piece that fell off theone Titan caught.

Altissia is built on a water crater.

Gralea is built on a crater in the desert.

Except for Tenebrae, everything else used to be pure desert but it’s now covered in snow by a perpetual snowstorm thanks to Shiva.

If the Astrals fought with mankind once, it must have been during the Astral War (Ancient Era). But Ignis' quote doesn't necessarily have to refer to the same era. He could be referring to the 2000 years ago era. A king at that time stood beside the Gods against darkness. He was then found worthy by the Gods and given the Ring and the Crystal. He founds Lucis. He was the Chosen King to save Eos from the Starscourge. The Gods went to sleep soon after.

"The Six bring the ring of light, King of men at the time founds kingdom of Lucis".

The quote implies that Ardyn has always been king or at least a leader of a group that had to fend for themselves. The Gods deduced him a worthy king and bestow upon him the Ring of Light and the Star/Planet's Crystal.

The Ultimania does use 6 Gods, which in English localisation translates to "The Six"

"六神が光耀の指輪を作り、星が生み出したクリスタルとともにルシスの王に授け、王家にクリスタルの守護を命じた。"

So did Ifrit join in for the Ring's creation? Wouldn't really make sense if he's not fond of humankind. Then the Ring of Light had to be created a time before Ifrit's betrayal.

A stretched out idea of mine is that the Astrals had always tested humans with trials, but one day they decided they should stop it and leave humankind alone. Ifrit wasn't fond of that. FFXV's Ifrit also reminds me of an Ancient/Tribal Warrior with his top naked body, large sword, long hair, and gold jewelry on his wrists, ankles, bicep, and crown, and even two on his horns. A God of war has no desire in bidding farewell to the battlefield. And thus betrayed the other Gods by drawing in a foreign object; a meteoroid. He may or may not have known about the parasitic virus; the Starscourge. I am leaning towards incidental effect.

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Also, the left side of Ifrit’s body is “scorched”. It could have happened during the Ring’s creation -when it yet had to become a human sized ring- and he wanted the Crystal’s power for himself but it denied him.

Or it was simply just Shiva’s magical ice during the Astral War.

It could be pretty cool to have all the Six except for Ifrit come and join Ardyn's fight against Deamons in human form via Messenger hosts while still able to be summoned as Astrals. But they went to sleep shortly after finding a king worthy of the Ring and protecting the Crystal. So it would have to be before that. Though, I'd imagine Bahamut is the only one not truly asleep with him being in the Crystal and all. Has "seen many deaths". So he knows what's going on.

Nearing the end of Ardyn's past story is where the Gods went to sleep. The ending is his banishment and execution.

One little detail that could be implemented is that Ardyn's Armiger, over the course of his story, transitions from blue to purple to red the more daemons he absorbs.

Ardyn Part 6

Ardyn became Accursed from the countless absorbing of Deamons. The Crystal deemed him no longer pure, Bahamut finds him no longer worthy, and his own brethren betray him. Ardyn's story could very well be similar to Jesus Christ.

Had a brotherhood, communes with godly figures, healing people, getting betrayed, "crucified". Now that reminds me, did Ardyn tie Prompto in a crucified state for a reason other than just a twisted look?

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Probably just the contraption.

I feel like Ardyn and Noctis' stories are complete parallels. Noctis' brothers stood by him no matter what while Ardyn got betrayed. Noctis' dad tries to save his son. We don't know who Ardyn's father is, or if he even is relevant in any way since the first Chosen King; Ardyn founded Lucis.

But it could still be symbolic seeing how those closest to Noctis never left his side. Going off Ardyn = Jesus-ish, then maybe Bahamut could be a fatherly figure in the sense of God. Obviously, Bahamut would never be anything like a father but just a Godly figure. It's not like Jesus' God was much of a typical fatherly figure either.

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Reminder, that Lucis is that entire continent, not just Insomnia. When Solheim had fallen, it wasn’t really Solheim anymore. So a king at the time named it Lucis. The 12 statues built are located in Insomnia. If you’ve watched Kingsglaive then you may have noticed they’re just all over the place.

Built in something that could be an old church. Can’t make out which king this is supposed to be Those are not wings but just flairs like you see on the back of the wall and at the bottom. The picture comes from the Kingsglaive Art Book Program. Perhaps it was an old scrapped concept of having more than 12 statues, as it doesn’t even mention 12 statues for the description.

The closest one to it is the statue with the Trident which has a similar helmet.

Built just standing there. Everything else built around it comes from a king’s decision of the modern era.

Ardyn Extra: Wall

The magical barrier wall we see above Insomnia did not come from the Chosen King.

A little bit from the Ultimania timeline:

M.E. 606 (150 years ago) - King of Lucis erects a magic wall around the kingdom.

M.E. 722 - Ardyn joins Niflheim and introduces Magitek technology.

M.E. 729 - King Mors dies, Regis is coronated King.

M.E. 736 - Noctis is born, Luna (4).

That's only 150 years ago.

Going by the history, we learn that the power of Kings has existed before the Lucis were founded. Maybe people who have a special affinity with magic like the Kingsglaive from the movie are descendants of these unknown kings. That could be what Ardyn was doing for over the 2000 years he was absent and borrowing different names. Killing anyone with any affinity to magic abilities, while waiting for when the Crystal was ready to choose. Magic never existed on Eos before the gift of King and Oracle. Ardyn's spite could span to even their descendants. Leaving no trace of a King's power behind for the new era after the Starscourge. (I mean, why did Crowe from Kingsglaive have to die just like that and so mysteriously. Only Ardyn can use magic from the Empire's side.)

Ardyn killing off the Empire could make sense in the way of him not wanting to leave information behind of ancient Solheim technology. It was as if Ardyn wanted to erase the past and let the people start anew once the Starscourge has been eliminated.

Ardyn Extra: Kingsglaive

An alternative setting for the other kings of power gathering concept is that just like the Oracle, there is only one King with the power of kings a generation.

The Chosen King set out to travel the world fighting daemons and saving those in need. Along the way of travelling to these foreign lands, he finds potential in certain men, women, and even youngsters. They follow the king on his journey.

Each and every one of them, they have come to admire the king’s wisdom and power. They had become brethren and sistren. Their faith unwavering, the king had once more realized a new method of using the Power of Kings. Living up to the name of the Wise, indeed.

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Read Concepts Part 4 ⇀

#ffxv #ffxv spoilers #ardyn lucis caelum #Writing #ffxv2

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