Ardyn Izunia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
royallyunappreciated) wrote2023-05-23 11:36 pm
royallyunappreciated) wrote2023-05-23 11:36 pm
Entry tags:
Glencola Reef Application
OOC INFO
Name/Handle: Terri
Pronouns: she/her
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
switalia
Reserve?: No
IC INFO
Name: Ardyn Izunia (né Lucis Caelum)
Journal: royallyunappreciated
Canon: Final Fantasy XV
Age: 2000+, but he looks like he's in his mid-to-late-30s
Species: Human
Canon Point: Following the final act of FFXV in which he was killed.
Condition: Healthy (as if he hadn't just had his body and soul shattered into nothingness)
History: Wiki Link
CWs: Ardyn is the main antagonist in his game. He commits and delights in stalking, kidnapping, psychological torture, horrific experimentation, and mass murder. Ardyn, himself, has experienced persecution, extreme isolation, and long-term physical and psychological torture.
The story of Ardyn Lucis Caelum begins millennia ago on the planet of Eos. Ifrit, an Astral revered as the god of fire and knowledge, lover of mankind, was betrayed by the humans he helped to create. This began a war amongst Ifrit and the other five Astrals (deities charged with watching over and guiding the people of Eos after creating them). The world was torn apart by the war amongst the gods, and all other concerns were left to the wayside. At some point during this war, a plague began to spread called the Starscourge. Believed to have originated from a mutant form of Plasmodium malariae and transferred to humans and animals via infected insects, this disease caused the life it infected to undergo a rapid and horrific transformation into monstrous creatures. These creatures (daemons) could not stand the sunlight and released a miasma that blocked out the sun and lengthened the nights. They were compelled to attack and kill anything and anyone not similarly afflicted.
The war of the gods ended and all save Bahamut fell into a deep slumber to recuperate. Bahamut, instead, began to scheme. It is unclear, but in some translations, the emergence of the Starscourge may have been the fault of the gods and a meteor that they called down as part of the battle. Bahamut wanted to rid the world of the Starscourge that threatened all life, so he bestowed gifts upon two mortal families with the aim of having them wipe it out... in due time. The Lucis Caelums were granted offensive powers that would help them to fight those infected by the Starscourge, and the Nox Fleurets were granted oracular abilities that allowed them to commune with the Astrals (at the price of shortening their lives with each communion) and to hold the progression of the Starscourge at bay for those afflicted by it.
Ardyn and his younger brother Somnus took the charge to become leaders of men seriously and went about trying to deal with the Starscourge in very different ways. Somnus made full use of his marshal prowess and raised armies to fight, detain, and kill anyone even suspected of being contaminated by the Starscourge. Ardyn was an idealist, though, and he had a singular ability (a 'blessing' from the gods) that allowed him to fully heal people afflicted by the Starscourge by drawing the infection into himself. Over time, this began to transform Ardyn into a daemon-like creature, as well, but he fought the infection, determined to save the world through healing rather than mass murder. He had a dedicated following of people who viewed him as almost a messiah, and wanted him to be king over his brother. Ardyn had no ambition to be king, but the hope that he could save the world in his 'better' way led him to accept the mantle of leadership when it was offered to him.
He and his brother's methods had driven a wedge between them. Somnus viewed Ardyn as unfit to actually carry out the gods' will and had him hounded out of the palace. Ardyn spent a long time in running, roaming the ruined world and hiding with his followers until he was invited to the palace to be crowned king. The oracle had received a vision from the gods that he was the rightful heir and he would need to ascend. Ardyn went home, but it was a set-up. His brother used the opportunity to lie and tell everyone that he was the chosen king and declared Ardyn a traitor and a monster. He attempted to execute Ardyn, and as they fought, the oracle--Aera Nox Fluret, Ardyn's fiancee--jumped between them to stop Somnus killing her betrothed. Somnus acted with callous disregard for the innocent life he'd just taken and Ardyn flew into a rage, unleashing the Starscourge within himself, becoming the monster his brother had painted him to be.
The battle between them was brief, but harsh. Somnus was the better fighter, and he bested Ardyn after Ardyn tried to commune with the gods through the crystal the oracle used and found himself rejected. He was tainted now, unworthy of the throne that his brother had usurped. But absorbing so much of the blight had granted Ardyn vast power, including immortality. After defeating him, Somnus locked Ardyn away in a lightless prison for two millennia, scrubbing his brother's name from the annals of history. Ardyn was bound in chains, hooks stabbed through his body as he existed in living hell, surrounded by darkness and pain.
Eventually, Ardyn was 'rescued' by soldiers from an empire that opposed the kingdom his brother's heirs had created. As he escaped, they were attacked by more of the royal guard of the Lucian Kingdom, and Ardyn found that he no longer had his healing ability. Millennia entombed in the dark, festering with hate for the people who had put him there for the singular crime of trying to save the world without bloodshed, had twisted his powers. He could now infect people with the Starscourge like a daemon, and in so doing, he found himself absorbing pieces of their memories. It was disorienting, confusing. He fell into a coma for seven months, awaking in the heart of the Niflheim Empire with Verstael, the researcher who had found and obtained him for study.
Verstael informed Ardyn of some of the happenings during his imprisonment and explained that Ardyn had been lost to history and was now known only as 'Adagium,' a monstrous being of fable and nothing more. He implored Ardyn to help him with his research and improve Niflheim's magitek and understanding of the daemons. Ardyn initially turned Verstael down several times. He had no appetite for exacting revenge upon his brother's descendants. His desires lay in the past. But with Verstael's persistent pestering coupled with another attack by Lucian royal guards that left Ardyn struggling to find himself amongst the memories he was absorbing, his mind began to break. The final push came from Ifrit, the Astral who had started so much of this terrible history. Niflheim had retrieved Ifrit's body from its burial place and it awoke in response to Ardyn's powers as he fought the guards. Under attack, Ardyn fought the god and ended up absorbing the memories of a god. It was too much for his human mind to comprehend and withstand. Part of the memories he took seemed to imply that he was the rightful king, that Somnus had truly usurped him when Ardyn had doubted himself, assumed that the crystal and gods had rejected him. Ardyn's mind shattered, and his resentment and a desire for vengeance overtook him. He agreed to work for Niflheim to bring down the Lucian kingdom.
As part of this, Ardyn took the name Izunia and rose through the political ranks of the Empire to become Chancellor. He also assisted in an assault on Insomnia, the city at the center of the kingdom. Disguised as a royal guardsman, Ardyn was able to infiltrate the city and bring down its defenses for Niflheim to attack. In the process, he came face-to-face with his brother's heir, Regis Lucis Caelum. Ardyn attacks and nearly kills Regis, but he's stopped by the god Bahamut who whisks him away to another plane for a chat about destiny and what the gods intend. Bahamut tells Ardyn he is to be the sacrificial lamb for all of humanity. He was cursed with the Starscourge so that a prophecy might be fulfilled. Regis' son will be born and become the True King of Light, the one fated to destroy the darkness and the Starscourge forever. But he needed an enemy, a focal point for that. Which was where Ardyn came. Ardyn would play his part and fight the True King, finally dying a true death in the process. At the same time, the True King would die, as well, ending the line of Lucis Caelum, thus providing Ardyn with the revenge he so desired. Ardyn refused to submit easily, though. He cursed Bahamut and all of the gods for laying this suffering on him, imposing their will upon his destiny and turning him from a healer and savior into the villain that the heroes would slay to win the day. Bahamut dismissed his rebellion, though, having a spectral form of Ardyn's fiancee stab him repeatedly while Ardyn was held by Bahamut's power to make the point that he could not resist the will of the gods. He would submit.
This brings us to the 'present' events of the FFXV game. The war between Niflheim and the rest of the world is ongoing. The True King, Noctis Lucis Caelum, has been born and is of-age to begin his ascent. As Noct goes on his journey, Ardyn is there watching and assisting (or hindering) every step of the way. He doesn't want to do what Bahamut says, but the promise of relief from his endless life of suffering is tempting. Ardyn intends to defy his fate, though, and simply kill Noct before finding a release for himself. So, he makes sure Noctis is building his strength, reawakening the Astrals to draw together their might, finding the weapons of the past kings of Lucis to acquire their power, and that he's being herded ever onward toward the crystal. Ardyn also works to engender a hatred for him in Noct. He needs the man to want to fight and kill him for the final battle to have any meaning. He starts by murdering Noct's fiancée, the oracle Lunafreya, imposing on Noct the same helpless anguish Ardyn had felt, himself, when he'd lost his own fiancée. Then he uses illusions to trick Noct into attacking one of his own friends, Prompto, before kidnapping said friend. Then Noct's other friends.
This ultimately culminates in a showdown in Niflheim where Noct is rendered temporarily powerless, unable to call upon his spectral weapons and forced to use the magical ring his father once wore to wield the power of the crystal. Ardyn taunts Noct as he runs through a facility looking for his lost friends. Though, he's rendered momentarily speechless when, upon finding Prompto and discovering a dark secret about the boy's creation, Noct doesn't reject his friend, but embraces him. This confuses and vexes Ardyn who has never known that sort of acceptance or kindness from anyone but his lost love. Noct is eventually able to find the crystal he and the others have been searching for in the facility and tries to commune with it in the hopes that he'll gain the power he needs to push back the Starscourge. Instead of granting that power, the crystal does as Ardyn expected... it consumes Noct, drawing him into the Astral plane for ten years.
During Noct's time in the crystal, Ardyn works to spread the Starscourge far and wide, blanketing the world in an eternal night. He makes his home in the ruined city of Insomnia, seating himself on the throne he had been denied so long ago. Noct does, eventually, extract himself from the crystal, though, and comes to claim his place as the True King. Ardyn fights Noct, their battle raging across the city until finally, Noct is able to defeat him. They both dissolve and find themselves on the Astral plane where Noct draws upon the full power of the crystal and the kings of old to utterly obliterate Ardyn's soul, purging the world of the Starscourge. In the process, Noct's own life is lost, thus fulfilling the fate that Bahamut had decreed for both Noct and Ardyn.
Personality:
Pros:
Playful - Both when he was younger and even now, Ardyn is a playful man who enjoys teasing. His hobbies include things like drinking wine/getting drunk and carousing. Early in the FFXV game, Ardyn banters with Noct and his friends while he's helping them on a little road trip, and is clownishly effusive during the night when they pause to rest. Noct even later refers to Ardyn as a jester in reference to the behavior he's displayed throughout the game. The playfulness can bend toward cruelty, but, in general, he tends to diffuse situations with a bit of humor.
Driven - While Ardyn is not particularly ambitious when it comes to accumulating power, he is absolutely a man driven by his goals. In his younger years, the drive to rid the world of the Starscourge by peaceful means and his love for his people drove him to destroy his own body to help. He also agreed to take on the title of king, something he didn't actually want, to try to bring his vision of a peaceful removal of the plague to the fore. After his imprisonment, he is driven by a desire to defy the gods and their destiny for him. He wishes to end his suffering on his own terms and everything he does is in service to that.
Calm/Collected - Ardyn is a man of self-control and calm. His mind is a raging mess of daemonic energy, but he manages to hold himself together and appear poised throughout the game with a few notable exceptions. Whether he's being threatened, doing the threatening, facing down gods like Leviathan, or rising through the political ranks of the Niflheim Empire, Ardyn does it with cool aplomb. This makes him a masterful chancellor for the Empire and a thoroughly intimidating antagonist who is very hard to ruffle. The fact that he is unerringly civil (to the point of patronizing) only lends to that impression that he can't be shaken.
Cons:
Vengeful - Ardyn's vengeance is very canon-specific and targeted at his own family and the gods, but it drives his character arc within the narrative of FFXV. He wasn't always this way, but his mind has been warped and twisted by the Starscourge and his memory-stealing abilities. Minor slights mean nothing to him, but should you cross him in a major way, he will nurse that grudge for a very, very long time. He might play nice to your face, but he's the sort of man who will plot someone's downfall over the course of decades. He waits for several decades once out of his imprisonment to build up his resources/network that he might fully bring down the kingdom that his brother's descendants had built.
Manipulative - While Ardyn is a competent and brutally vicious fighter when he decides to take up arms, he prefers not to fight when he can avoid it. Or it doesn't serve a specific purpose. He spends years bending the Niflheim Empire to his own purpose, rising through the ranks, guiding their technological advancements, and whispering grand visions of a future when the Emperor would control the crystal that powered the line of Lucis Caelum. He is willing to lie, cheat, and backstab whenever it serves his personal interests. Ardyn, at one point, manipulates Noct into attacking his own friends with illusions and taunts him about that. He gets the protagonists to trust him a little bit before that to make his betrayal and murder of Lady Lunafreya all the more horrific. He spends the majority of the game, itself, guiding Noct and his friends toward the purpose he intends: getting Noct into the crystal so that he can realize his full power and become the True King of prophecy... that Ardyn might strike him down and thwart the gods.
Hubris - On the topic of thwarting gods, Ardyn is a man possessed of hubris in the most Greek sense of the word. He was directly told by Bahamut what his destiny was and refused to accept it until he was viciously brought to heel. The Episode Ardyn DLC ends with a choice to submit to the will of the gods or to defy them. This version of Ardyn chose to defy Bahamut and suffer the mental and physical anguish the god inflicted upon him for his hubris. Throughout the game, Ardyn's goal isn't so much to acquire the Lucian throne, that and tormenting Noct are incidental: he wants to change his destiny and end his suffering on his own terms, not that of the gods. Ultimately, he fails, but that streak of defiance when it comes to fate lives within Ardyn permanently. He doesn't like to be told what he will do by almighty gods. He is a man who wants very much to control his own destiny.
Inventory:
- this outfit (sans the big sword)
- knife
Powers/Abilities: Please note, all of the magic-related things will be completely nerfed, but Ardyn has... a lot of abilities. OP main villain syndrome.
Immortality/Regeneration - Because of his infection by the Starscourge, Ardyn cannot die. At most, he'll dissolve into mist and then reform. He also has regenerative healing that allows him to heal quickly when injured.
Armiger - A personal pocket dimension that Ardyn keeps all of his important items in, including his many weapons. This is an ability specific to the Lucian royal line and their retainers in canon. Basically, hammerspace where he could quite literally pull out a hammer when he needs it.
Illusions - Ardyn displays the ability to create extremely complex illusions, making it appear that time has frozen, that he is an entirely other person, or that other people are different from who they really are.
Infection - Ardyn can infect people with the Starscourge and turn them into daemons who seem to follow his orders.
Memory Absorption - Whenever Ardyn infects someone with the Starscourge, he pulls their memories into himself, either piecemeal or whole.
Healing - It is unclear if Ardyn actually still has this ability in canon, but he is shown in his younger years as being able to purge people of the Starscourge by drawing the infection into himself. He never does this in the 'present' timeline, but it's possible it might still be active.
Magic - General elemental magic abilities (fire, blizzard, thunder, darkness) that allow him to cast spells or enhance his weapon attacks with an enchantment. His abilities also allow him to manifest temporary shields/walls.
Warping - Ardyn can dissolve into mist to teleport over a short distance (basically to an area within sight or wherever he can chuck a dagger) and reappear instantly in his chosen spot.
Flight - Ardyn has the ability to fly through the air when making use of his weapons.
Weapons Master - Ardyn was trained in the use of multiple weapons from boyhood as the eldest son in the Lucian royal line. He is a vicious and brutal fighter when he has to be, able to wield swords, scythes, daggers, hammers, axes, guns, and spears with equal prowess.
Hand-to-Hand Combat - In addition to weapons, Ardyn is exceptionally skilled at hand-to-hand combat. This is typically his first option over fighting with a weapon.
Mechanically Gifted - Ardyn professes a love for his car in the game and it's seen several times throughout the early journey. He is also one of the foremost researchers and developers for magitek in the Niflheim empire. He knows how to build and maintain all manner of things.
TDM Sample:
Name/Handle: Terri
Pronouns: she/her
Contact:
Reserve?: No
IC INFO
Name: Ardyn Izunia (né Lucis Caelum)
Journal: royallyunappreciated
Canon: Final Fantasy XV
Age: 2000+, but he looks like he's in his mid-to-late-30s
Species: Human
Canon Point: Following the final act of FFXV in which he was killed.
Condition: Healthy (as if he hadn't just had his body and soul shattered into nothingness)
History: Wiki Link
CWs: Ardyn is the main antagonist in his game. He commits and delights in stalking, kidnapping, psychological torture, horrific experimentation, and mass murder. Ardyn, himself, has experienced persecution, extreme isolation, and long-term physical and psychological torture.
The story of Ardyn Lucis Caelum begins millennia ago on the planet of Eos. Ifrit, an Astral revered as the god of fire and knowledge, lover of mankind, was betrayed by the humans he helped to create. This began a war amongst Ifrit and the other five Astrals (deities charged with watching over and guiding the people of Eos after creating them). The world was torn apart by the war amongst the gods, and all other concerns were left to the wayside. At some point during this war, a plague began to spread called the Starscourge. Believed to have originated from a mutant form of Plasmodium malariae and transferred to humans and animals via infected insects, this disease caused the life it infected to undergo a rapid and horrific transformation into monstrous creatures. These creatures (daemons) could not stand the sunlight and released a miasma that blocked out the sun and lengthened the nights. They were compelled to attack and kill anything and anyone not similarly afflicted.
The war of the gods ended and all save Bahamut fell into a deep slumber to recuperate. Bahamut, instead, began to scheme. It is unclear, but in some translations, the emergence of the Starscourge may have been the fault of the gods and a meteor that they called down as part of the battle. Bahamut wanted to rid the world of the Starscourge that threatened all life, so he bestowed gifts upon two mortal families with the aim of having them wipe it out... in due time. The Lucis Caelums were granted offensive powers that would help them to fight those infected by the Starscourge, and the Nox Fleurets were granted oracular abilities that allowed them to commune with the Astrals (at the price of shortening their lives with each communion) and to hold the progression of the Starscourge at bay for those afflicted by it.
Ardyn and his younger brother Somnus took the charge to become leaders of men seriously and went about trying to deal with the Starscourge in very different ways. Somnus made full use of his marshal prowess and raised armies to fight, detain, and kill anyone even suspected of being contaminated by the Starscourge. Ardyn was an idealist, though, and he had a singular ability (a 'blessing' from the gods) that allowed him to fully heal people afflicted by the Starscourge by drawing the infection into himself. Over time, this began to transform Ardyn into a daemon-like creature, as well, but he fought the infection, determined to save the world through healing rather than mass murder. He had a dedicated following of people who viewed him as almost a messiah, and wanted him to be king over his brother. Ardyn had no ambition to be king, but the hope that he could save the world in his 'better' way led him to accept the mantle of leadership when it was offered to him.
He and his brother's methods had driven a wedge between them. Somnus viewed Ardyn as unfit to actually carry out the gods' will and had him hounded out of the palace. Ardyn spent a long time in running, roaming the ruined world and hiding with his followers until he was invited to the palace to be crowned king. The oracle had received a vision from the gods that he was the rightful heir and he would need to ascend. Ardyn went home, but it was a set-up. His brother used the opportunity to lie and tell everyone that he was the chosen king and declared Ardyn a traitor and a monster. He attempted to execute Ardyn, and as they fought, the oracle--Aera Nox Fluret, Ardyn's fiancee--jumped between them to stop Somnus killing her betrothed. Somnus acted with callous disregard for the innocent life he'd just taken and Ardyn flew into a rage, unleashing the Starscourge within himself, becoming the monster his brother had painted him to be.
The battle between them was brief, but harsh. Somnus was the better fighter, and he bested Ardyn after Ardyn tried to commune with the gods through the crystal the oracle used and found himself rejected. He was tainted now, unworthy of the throne that his brother had usurped. But absorbing so much of the blight had granted Ardyn vast power, including immortality. After defeating him, Somnus locked Ardyn away in a lightless prison for two millennia, scrubbing his brother's name from the annals of history. Ardyn was bound in chains, hooks stabbed through his body as he existed in living hell, surrounded by darkness and pain.
Eventually, Ardyn was 'rescued' by soldiers from an empire that opposed the kingdom his brother's heirs had created. As he escaped, they were attacked by more of the royal guard of the Lucian Kingdom, and Ardyn found that he no longer had his healing ability. Millennia entombed in the dark, festering with hate for the people who had put him there for the singular crime of trying to save the world without bloodshed, had twisted his powers. He could now infect people with the Starscourge like a daemon, and in so doing, he found himself absorbing pieces of their memories. It was disorienting, confusing. He fell into a coma for seven months, awaking in the heart of the Niflheim Empire with Verstael, the researcher who had found and obtained him for study.
Verstael informed Ardyn of some of the happenings during his imprisonment and explained that Ardyn had been lost to history and was now known only as 'Adagium,' a monstrous being of fable and nothing more. He implored Ardyn to help him with his research and improve Niflheim's magitek and understanding of the daemons. Ardyn initially turned Verstael down several times. He had no appetite for exacting revenge upon his brother's descendants. His desires lay in the past. But with Verstael's persistent pestering coupled with another attack by Lucian royal guards that left Ardyn struggling to find himself amongst the memories he was absorbing, his mind began to break. The final push came from Ifrit, the Astral who had started so much of this terrible history. Niflheim had retrieved Ifrit's body from its burial place and it awoke in response to Ardyn's powers as he fought the guards. Under attack, Ardyn fought the god and ended up absorbing the memories of a god. It was too much for his human mind to comprehend and withstand. Part of the memories he took seemed to imply that he was the rightful king, that Somnus had truly usurped him when Ardyn had doubted himself, assumed that the crystal and gods had rejected him. Ardyn's mind shattered, and his resentment and a desire for vengeance overtook him. He agreed to work for Niflheim to bring down the Lucian kingdom.
As part of this, Ardyn took the name Izunia and rose through the political ranks of the Empire to become Chancellor. He also assisted in an assault on Insomnia, the city at the center of the kingdom. Disguised as a royal guardsman, Ardyn was able to infiltrate the city and bring down its defenses for Niflheim to attack. In the process, he came face-to-face with his brother's heir, Regis Lucis Caelum. Ardyn attacks and nearly kills Regis, but he's stopped by the god Bahamut who whisks him away to another plane for a chat about destiny and what the gods intend. Bahamut tells Ardyn he is to be the sacrificial lamb for all of humanity. He was cursed with the Starscourge so that a prophecy might be fulfilled. Regis' son will be born and become the True King of Light, the one fated to destroy the darkness and the Starscourge forever. But he needed an enemy, a focal point for that. Which was where Ardyn came. Ardyn would play his part and fight the True King, finally dying a true death in the process. At the same time, the True King would die, as well, ending the line of Lucis Caelum, thus providing Ardyn with the revenge he so desired. Ardyn refused to submit easily, though. He cursed Bahamut and all of the gods for laying this suffering on him, imposing their will upon his destiny and turning him from a healer and savior into the villain that the heroes would slay to win the day. Bahamut dismissed his rebellion, though, having a spectral form of Ardyn's fiancee stab him repeatedly while Ardyn was held by Bahamut's power to make the point that he could not resist the will of the gods. He would submit.
This brings us to the 'present' events of the FFXV game. The war between Niflheim and the rest of the world is ongoing. The True King, Noctis Lucis Caelum, has been born and is of-age to begin his ascent. As Noct goes on his journey, Ardyn is there watching and assisting (or hindering) every step of the way. He doesn't want to do what Bahamut says, but the promise of relief from his endless life of suffering is tempting. Ardyn intends to defy his fate, though, and simply kill Noct before finding a release for himself. So, he makes sure Noctis is building his strength, reawakening the Astrals to draw together their might, finding the weapons of the past kings of Lucis to acquire their power, and that he's being herded ever onward toward the crystal. Ardyn also works to engender a hatred for him in Noct. He needs the man to want to fight and kill him for the final battle to have any meaning. He starts by murdering Noct's fiancée, the oracle Lunafreya, imposing on Noct the same helpless anguish Ardyn had felt, himself, when he'd lost his own fiancée. Then he uses illusions to trick Noct into attacking one of his own friends, Prompto, before kidnapping said friend. Then Noct's other friends.
This ultimately culminates in a showdown in Niflheim where Noct is rendered temporarily powerless, unable to call upon his spectral weapons and forced to use the magical ring his father once wore to wield the power of the crystal. Ardyn taunts Noct as he runs through a facility looking for his lost friends. Though, he's rendered momentarily speechless when, upon finding Prompto and discovering a dark secret about the boy's creation, Noct doesn't reject his friend, but embraces him. This confuses and vexes Ardyn who has never known that sort of acceptance or kindness from anyone but his lost love. Noct is eventually able to find the crystal he and the others have been searching for in the facility and tries to commune with it in the hopes that he'll gain the power he needs to push back the Starscourge. Instead of granting that power, the crystal does as Ardyn expected... it consumes Noct, drawing him into the Astral plane for ten years.
During Noct's time in the crystal, Ardyn works to spread the Starscourge far and wide, blanketing the world in an eternal night. He makes his home in the ruined city of Insomnia, seating himself on the throne he had been denied so long ago. Noct does, eventually, extract himself from the crystal, though, and comes to claim his place as the True King. Ardyn fights Noct, their battle raging across the city until finally, Noct is able to defeat him. They both dissolve and find themselves on the Astral plane where Noct draws upon the full power of the crystal and the kings of old to utterly obliterate Ardyn's soul, purging the world of the Starscourge. In the process, Noct's own life is lost, thus fulfilling the fate that Bahamut had decreed for both Noct and Ardyn.
Personality:
Playful - Both when he was younger and even now, Ardyn is a playful man who enjoys teasing. His hobbies include things like drinking wine/getting drunk and carousing. Early in the FFXV game, Ardyn banters with Noct and his friends while he's helping them on a little road trip, and is clownishly effusive during the night when they pause to rest. Noct even later refers to Ardyn as a jester in reference to the behavior he's displayed throughout the game. The playfulness can bend toward cruelty, but, in general, he tends to diffuse situations with a bit of humor.
Driven - While Ardyn is not particularly ambitious when it comes to accumulating power, he is absolutely a man driven by his goals. In his younger years, the drive to rid the world of the Starscourge by peaceful means and his love for his people drove him to destroy his own body to help. He also agreed to take on the title of king, something he didn't actually want, to try to bring his vision of a peaceful removal of the plague to the fore. After his imprisonment, he is driven by a desire to defy the gods and their destiny for him. He wishes to end his suffering on his own terms and everything he does is in service to that.
Calm/Collected - Ardyn is a man of self-control and calm. His mind is a raging mess of daemonic energy, but he manages to hold himself together and appear poised throughout the game with a few notable exceptions. Whether he's being threatened, doing the threatening, facing down gods like Leviathan, or rising through the political ranks of the Niflheim Empire, Ardyn does it with cool aplomb. This makes him a masterful chancellor for the Empire and a thoroughly intimidating antagonist who is very hard to ruffle. The fact that he is unerringly civil (to the point of patronizing) only lends to that impression that he can't be shaken.
Vengeful - Ardyn's vengeance is very canon-specific and targeted at his own family and the gods, but it drives his character arc within the narrative of FFXV. He wasn't always this way, but his mind has been warped and twisted by the Starscourge and his memory-stealing abilities. Minor slights mean nothing to him, but should you cross him in a major way, he will nurse that grudge for a very, very long time. He might play nice to your face, but he's the sort of man who will plot someone's downfall over the course of decades. He waits for several decades once out of his imprisonment to build up his resources/network that he might fully bring down the kingdom that his brother's descendants had built.
Manipulative - While Ardyn is a competent and brutally vicious fighter when he decides to take up arms, he prefers not to fight when he can avoid it. Or it doesn't serve a specific purpose. He spends years bending the Niflheim Empire to his own purpose, rising through the ranks, guiding their technological advancements, and whispering grand visions of a future when the Emperor would control the crystal that powered the line of Lucis Caelum. He is willing to lie, cheat, and backstab whenever it serves his personal interests. Ardyn, at one point, manipulates Noct into attacking his own friends with illusions and taunts him about that. He gets the protagonists to trust him a little bit before that to make his betrayal and murder of Lady Lunafreya all the more horrific. He spends the majority of the game, itself, guiding Noct and his friends toward the purpose he intends: getting Noct into the crystal so that he can realize his full power and become the True King of prophecy... that Ardyn might strike him down and thwart the gods.
Hubris - On the topic of thwarting gods, Ardyn is a man possessed of hubris in the most Greek sense of the word. He was directly told by Bahamut what his destiny was and refused to accept it until he was viciously brought to heel. The Episode Ardyn DLC ends with a choice to submit to the will of the gods or to defy them. This version of Ardyn chose to defy Bahamut and suffer the mental and physical anguish the god inflicted upon him for his hubris. Throughout the game, Ardyn's goal isn't so much to acquire the Lucian throne, that and tormenting Noct are incidental: he wants to change his destiny and end his suffering on his own terms, not that of the gods. Ultimately, he fails, but that streak of defiance when it comes to fate lives within Ardyn permanently. He doesn't like to be told what he will do by almighty gods. He is a man who wants very much to control his own destiny.
Inventory:
- this outfit (sans the big sword)
- knife
Powers/Abilities: Please note, all of the magic-related things will be completely nerfed, but Ardyn has... a lot of abilities. OP main villain syndrome.
Armiger - A personal pocket dimension that Ardyn keeps all of his important items in, including his many weapons. This is an ability specific to the Lucian royal line and their retainers in canon. Basically, hammerspace where he could quite literally pull out a hammer when he needs it.
Illusions - Ardyn displays the ability to create extremely complex illusions, making it appear that time has frozen, that he is an entirely other person, or that other people are different from who they really are.
Infection - Ardyn can infect people with the Starscourge and turn them into daemons who seem to follow his orders.
Memory Absorption - Whenever Ardyn infects someone with the Starscourge, he pulls their memories into himself, either piecemeal or whole.
Healing - It is unclear if Ardyn actually still has this ability in canon, but he is shown in his younger years as being able to purge people of the Starscourge by drawing the infection into himself. He never does this in the 'present' timeline, but it's possible it might still be active.
Magic - General elemental magic abilities (fire, blizzard, thunder, darkness) that allow him to cast spells or enhance his weapon attacks with an enchantment. His abilities also allow him to manifest temporary shields/walls.
Warping - Ardyn can dissolve into mist to teleport over a short distance (basically to an area within sight or wherever he can chuck a dagger) and reappear instantly in his chosen spot.
Flight - Ardyn has the ability to fly through the air when making use of his weapons.
Weapons Master - Ardyn was trained in the use of multiple weapons from boyhood as the eldest son in the Lucian royal line. He is a vicious and brutal fighter when he has to be, able to wield swords, scythes, daggers, hammers, axes, guns, and spears with equal prowess.
Hand-to-Hand Combat - In addition to weapons, Ardyn is exceptionally skilled at hand-to-hand combat. This is typically his first option over fighting with a weapon.
Mechanically Gifted - Ardyn professes a love for his car in the game and it's seen several times throughout the early journey. He is also one of the foremost researchers and developers for magitek in the Niflheim empire. He knows how to build and maintain all manner of things.
TDM Sample: