It’s rather confusing because we keep seeing contradictory visions. These might either be Ardyn’s mind trying to understand what happened, the deamons that posses him torturing him or Bahamut manipulating him.
Aera had a vision of Ardyn being the chosen king (we know this as a fact from when Ardyn acquires Ifrit’s memories).
Against the gods’ orders she tells Somnus. (Probably because she hopes it will stop Somnus from sending more soldiers to kill Ardyn)
Somnus pretends to go along with the gods’ will and prepare Ardyn’s coronation.
When Ardyn appears, Somnus claims that the gods choose him (in the prologue we see Aera’s surprise at this).
He attacks Ardyn, and in the struggle kills Aera. This causes Ardyn to loose control of the scourge he has accumulated in his body.
Ardyn touches the Crystal in the hope the gods will settle the conflict and reject the murderer of their chosen oracle.
Instead the Crystal traps Ardyn’s soul, making him immortal and rejects him.
After discovering that he cannot kill Ardyn, Somnus crucifies him in a cave in Anglegard.
Afterwards, Somnus claims that, when he put on the ring of the Lucii, the gods told him he had done the right thing.
During his imprisonment, Ardyn keeps having visions/dreams of Aera’s murder and a taunting Somnus; again, we don’t know if this is his own mind, the deamons or the gods. He tries to make sense of what happened and assumes that, since the Crystal rejected him, it must mean that he was never chosen to be king.
The episode proper starts when Ardyn is rescued from the cave by Verstael Besitia .
Ardyn is immediately recognised as the Adagium by the crownguard who attack him.
By defending himself, Ardyn discovers he can pour the scourge into people now, turning them into deamons and acquiring some of their memories and knowledge.
After seven months recovering in Nilfgard, Ardyn is completely apathic. Yes he hates Somnus, and would want revenge if it was an option. But Somnus and their entire world is gone so it’s impossible. Verstael tries to get him to seek revenge against Somnus’ descendant’s but Ardyn doesn’t see the point.
Verstael shows Ardyn a frozen, sleeping Ifrit, and suggests that Ardyn deamonify him and use his power to get his revenge. Ardyn doesn’t think that it’s possible and still doesn’t want revenge. He starts to wish that he’d be back in Anglegard so that everybody would leave him alone.
[I’m going to take a sec here to gush about how good the writing is of this episode. If you take a bit of time to research the psychological consequences of prolonged solitary confinement (which is a type of torture), you’ll see that Ardyn’s behaviour is spot on. Often the victims have a hard time functioning and connecting in the real world and loose the ability to socialise. In extreme cases they’ll recreate the conditions of their confinement to find some peace, such as locking themselves up in the bathroom. I’m so happy that Ardyn was so realistically written. Interlude over]
The Crownguard has infiltrated the facility and attack Ardyn. He sees Somnus’ image as each crownguard. Somnus taunts him about how he has constructed this great legacy while Ardyn has been erased from the history books and didn’t leave anything behind or achieve anything.
The attack causes Ifrit to wake up and the god attacks Ardyn.
Ardyn deamonifies Ifrit and sees in his memories that the gods told Aera he was to be king. He deduces Somnus was always planning on killing Aera, since he would never have been able to proclaim himself the chosen of the gods with her alive. He has a vision of Aera apologizing to him, saying she betrayed him by telling Somnus Ardyn was to be king and that she is to blame for his suffering. Ardyn rejects her claims, putting all the blame on Somnus and vowing to end his line, since he can’t touch Somnus himself.
At this point Ardyn disavows the gods, believing that they were deceived by Somnus.
His apathy dispelled, Ardyn starts to work with Verstael to invade Lucis.
During the attack on Insomnia, Ardyn discovers the existence of the “Old Wall” which allows him to confront Somnus.
During their confrontation, Somnus admits to being jealous of Ardyn and that what he did was horrible. But he refuses to apologise and asks Ardyn instead to understand him and claims the gods approved of his actions.
After dispatching Somnus, Ardyn turns to kill Regis, but Bahamut intervenes.
The god tells him that Ardyn’s purpose was always to spread the scourge throughout the world so that the True King could sacrifice him and destroy the scourge. This is the only way to end Ardyn’s suffering, otherwise the pain and loneliness will continue for all eternity. Bahamut promises Ardyn that the True King will also die and end the line of Somnus, giving Ardyn his revenge.
At this point there is a bifurcation, one which leads to the ending in the game, and an alternative ending which is described in the last two chapters of “The Dawn of the Future” which would have been episode Luna and episode Noctis.
Ardyn chooses to accept his fate so that his suffering might end. He hates the god’s, Somnus, his line, and the world that betrayed him and knew peace thanks to his suffering, but he just wants it to end. Noctis is the spitting image of his brother, which only makes everything much worse, but ultimately his treatment of Noctis aims to make sure the kid becomes able and willing to destroy him.
Ardyn refuses his fate, preferring to give into his hate and thirst for vengeance, even if it means he will suffer for eternity. If you want to know what happens in this alternate ending you’ll have to read the book.
Hope this clears up your doubts about what happened to Ardyn. It is indeed very sad. The only question that remains, I think, is if the visions Ardyn has are the product of his own mind or if he his being manipulated. Ardyn himself believes them to be the result of his own repressed desires (although he does wonder why he can’t get rid of them). Personally I think it is awfully convenient that the visions play right into Bahamut’s hands. After all, the apathic person Verstael rescues from the cave would have never agreed to spreading the plague at the god’s behest, and there was nothing Bahamut would have been able t threaten or promise to make him change his mind.
prguitarman
kianamaiart
izzy806
germansingergirl
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
jacobvanloon
