Plot

See also: Lore

Overall Summary

Many ages ago, there were 6 gods, the Hexatheon (The Six), who used to stand watch over the land of Eos defending it from darkness. Their names are Titan, Leviathan, Ramuh, Shiva, Ifrit, and Bahamut. The gods, save for Ifrit, did not hate people, so one day Bahamut descended from the heavens to the land of Tenebrae and chose the most pious maiden to be the bridge between heaven and earth. He granted her and her daughters, his trident as well, the power to heal the suffering & afflicted, and the ability to call forth gods to communicate the desires of mortals (make Covenants). On another fateful day, a mortal man was born blessed with divine powers capable of summoning a collection of glaives. He used his power to dispel the darkness, so the gods entrusted him with a holy stone called The Crystal. The man was told to guard it because one day it would choose a King of Light to stave off a future disaster. The six then granted the man a sacred ring, The Ring of Lucii, that could channel the Crystal’s power to those of the man’s blood, and identified him and his sons as Kings. Content with their decisions, the Six entered a long slumber awaiting the coming disaster known as the Starscourge – a phenomenon in which photophilic particles in the atmosphere achieve a density such that they can blot out the sun, emulating an eternal night & creating an equally interminable torrent of demons across the land. The Six will awake during this time to stand against darkness once again.

Many years later, the Crystal finally chooses its King of Light, Ardyn Lucis Caellum. Shortly thereafter, a plague identical to the Starscourge ravages the lands turning countless people into daemons. Ardyn thus takes it upon himself to protect his people by absorbing the daemons and the plague into his body, becoming an immortal with a twisted visage. However, in absorbing so much corruption, the Crystal no longer deems him worthy of the crown, stripping him of his right. What’s more, a jealous king ostracizes and demonizes him, going so far as to strip him of his family name and erase him from the history books. And perhaps most insulting of all, the Six and the Crystal now deem Ardyn to be the greatest threat to the land, a “usurper who has come to bring darkness upon the world”.

Ardyn understandably becomes spiteful and swears his eternal vengeance against the crystal and the Royal Bloodline. However, he can no longer touch the Crystal because he is no longer the chosen king. So, in order to harm the crystal and end the Royal Blood line, he must wait for the crystal to choose a king, ensure that king fully absorbs the Crystal’s power into the Ring of Lucii, then kill the king.

Over a thousand years later, the crystal chooses its king, Noctis Lucis Caellum, so Ardyn begins to set his vengeful plan into motion. He positions himself within the Niflheim Empire in the Northeast as its Chancellor, gaining influence over much of its operations. An indeterminate amount of time later, the empire goes to war with the kingdom of Lucis, pushing them all the way back to Noctis’ home, the Crown City of Insomnium. Before the empire attacks again, they agree to a peace treaty with Lucis kingdom in which Noctis the prince will be arranged to marry Lunafreya, the current Oracle and his childhood friend. However, the empire has no interest in honoring this treaty. Regis, Noctis’ father and the standing King of Lucis, recognizes this, so he sends Noctis away along with three loyal retainers to Altissia to meet Lunafreya.