I can’t believe we’re gonna be playing it in less than 48h Q____Q
I can’t wait to actually PLAY with Ardyn rather than just looking at him, to put on him all and every hat (let there be moogle and chocobo hats AND a tiny top hat PLS PLS PLS), to do parkour all through Insomnia, to team up with Ifrit, to see again Aera and Somnus, to fight Regis, to get ALL THE FEELSSSS
I better stock up on tissues lol I’m REALLY going to need them
Also I have to say that, after Episode Ardyn Prologue came out, I felt I had to remake the document of my theory. I’m re-writing it, but I’m not sure if I’ll have it ready before Episode Ardyn happens (I’ll play as soon as it launches), so maybe I’ll just share some thoughts of it before the DLC >.<
I didn’t share all of my Ep. Ardyn Prologue thoughts now that I think of it... And in Twitter I did so later on, mostly through retweets and some comments. On TW I won’t be able to do so with Ep. Ardyn little after I finish it apart from tweeting nonsensical screaming (I want to wait some time so that I won’t spoil anyone about the DLC), so I guess I’ll do it here under a “read more” and then share it on TW .
As Ardyn would say... “Your heart’s desire, so close now!”
It just a theory that’s been in the back of my mind now and I decided to post it.
You may call me crazy, but the more I think about it, could it be possible that the Gentiana that appears in Prompto’s photos isn’t actually Gentiana but Ardyn posing as Gentiana? Thinking about it, it wouldn’t be anything to difficult for Ardyn to pull off.
It makes enough sense regarding how he seems to have solid insight and knowledge as to where the chocobros’ are and what they’re up to. Personally I’ve always wandered how he was able to keep such close track on they’re progress and everything they were up to.
There’s a bit of dialogue between the chocobros that is sometimes triggered when a Gentiana appears in the back ground of a picture which I’ve always found interesting:
So the joke about the many layer of clothing Ardyn wears has been around for some time now.
The other day I was thinking about it and it came to my mind that maybe all those layers are some sort of protection.
I’ll explain myself. So Ardyn is cursed and is almost, if not completely, a deamon. And apparently deamons are weak in the sun light. So maybe his body, after all those years, have become something similar to deamon!ravus one.
What would make him incredibly sensitive to light.
But because he is really powerful he manages to deal with it in some areas of his body such as his face and hands, but prefers to leave covered any other parts that are not necesary to not waste energy.
So in conclusion Ardyn wears all those clothes to protect his cursed body from the sun light.
So one line in particular stood out to me in “Too Much is Never Enough”
So I was listening to this song, after having completed ff15 for the first time, and one line in particular was bugging me. In the bridge:
And who cares about the thing I did that night?
So what? Maybe Luna had it right
I thought, “What night? What did Luna do/say that made Noctis say, “Hmm, that thing I did may not have been the best way to do it.” There aren’t many large story events that happen at night during the course of the game. There are things like the invasions that do, but most other story events happen at any time. Except one.
One event in the story always, always happens at night. The final camp. The last time you and your brothers get to sit down around a campfire and have a meal together, it’s at night. And, from the cutscene after the credits, we know that in that last camp, Noctis tells Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis that he is going to die, and that he has come to terms with it, but wanted them to know. Noctis warns them of his impending death. Something Luna never did.
Luna knew she was dying, from her contact with the Astrals. She probably had a good idea of when too, even though her death was ultimately caused by Ardyn. She decided not to tell anyone, because it would only hurt those she told and herself.
This song is obviously Noctis inner monologue during the end of the game, somewhere between his stasis time in the crystal and the later end, during chapter 14. He tells his friends what he found out about his fate, at night, so as not to leave them with no closure. Something Luna didn’t do. Later, I’m not sure exactly when, maybe reminiscing in the throne room/on the throne, maybe in the afterlife we see him in, he thinks, maybe Luna was right not telling anyone she was going to die, it wouldn’t have helped anyways.
Now, I’m not saying Noct shouldn’t have told the other three. I think he made the right call. He does say maybe in the line.
Also, I just finished this game yesterday at like 3 am and it’s midnight right now, the next day, so this entire theory/interpretation thing may be entirely incorrect and something refutes it, as I have only slept around 6 hours in the last day. Please let me know if something does refute it.
Okay so, first of all: this is a post about a theory that’s been on my mind for a long time (I’ve talked about it before, and posted a bit of my thoughts on TW and I think here too) but that I hadn’t been able to finish writing as much completely as I wanted... and I know that it probably makes zero sense to upload my theory now, when Episode Ardyn has just come up online minutes ago where I live... but still, I like my theory and I had fun with it, so, well, there it goes!
Also: as I’m writing this the DLC is downloading and I want to avoid any risk of spoilers, so as soon as I upload this post I’ll retreat to play and just emerge to social media once I finish it.
May you all have a good time playing Episode Ardyn! <3
It’s no secret that Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of Niflheim, oldest king of Lucis and former savior of those afflicted by the Starscourge, is the most powerful being of Eos. Not even the Astrals, the gods of Eos, can defeat him.
Such power, however, leaves many questions. And while some of them had been answered, there are still others that remain a mystery.
The main question is… why is Ardyn, and only him, able to absorb the Starscourge? It’s stated in the Official Works book that this is a “unique ability” of Ardyn, even though it says his clan had been given power by the gods, so… we can assume two things: either this ability isn’t god-given, or that if it was god-given there had to be a reason why only Ardyn could use it.
In the case that it was god-given (and since no one else had been given said ability), I think there’s a possibility that Ardyn would have been used as a container for the Starscourge unbeknownst to him, probably ordained by the prophecy, and that he didn’t know until he broke free of Angelgard. In theory, having a living “container” for the Starscourge, while very cruel, would’ve made things easier… except it all went wrong.
In the case that it wasn’t god-given, it’s either a special characteristic of Ardyn’s organism, or he somehow acquired it.
Another possibility (although less possible) could be, in the case that Ardyn was alive already by the time Solheim was still there, that he would’ve been experimented on. Given the fact that Ardyn seems to know a lot not only about daemons, but also about machinery from Solheim, and that Niflheim apparently advanced a lot in their experiments when he started “helping them” (for example developing the Wallbreaker Wave, a technology that can inhibit all the magic from the line of Lucis and enfeeble Astrals), I wouldn’t entirely rule out that possibility. Or that Ardyn had some contact with this kind of technology.
Any of the cases above could give reason as to why Ardyn can absorb the Starscourge, so let’s talk a bit about the rest of his abilities…
It’s easy to pinpoint the origin of the majority of Ardyn’s abilities, to categorize them as abilities that come from the Starscourge (like “shadowstepping”, infecting others with the Starscourge) or from the gods (the Armiger, and probably his “regular” healing abilities —that can either come from the gods or be a blessing of the Crystal—).
However… apart from being able to absorb the Starscourge, there’s something that Ardyn shouldn’t be able to perform, but that he can: summon the same kind of Wall that Regis maintained… without using the Ring of the Lucii.
Now, this is something weird and interesting, because the Starscourge can’t grant him that power, and neither can the Astrals. Only a king of Lucis can do this, using the Ring of the Lucii, which is what harnesses and channels the power of the Crystal. An extension of the Crystal.
And, while for some time I thought Ardyn may be able to copy abilities (and still, that’s a possible power of his), there’s no way he could’ve copied the Wall of the Citadel, since the effort of nearly all of the Astrals is needed to bring it down to grant access to Noctis and the others.
So, then… how can Ardyn do this?
Well… another thing that’s no secret, is all of the religious symbology of Final Fantasy XV (specially Christianity), and more specifically, surrounding Ardyn. From his way of dressing in the past and his artworks (a clear allegory to Jesus), his powers and role (the savior that travels healing others and teaching them), to his relationship with others and his destiny (Abel and Cain come to mind with him and his brother for example, and then there’s the fact that he’s fated to die in the end so that the world can be saved), and even one of his hobbies (wine), it’s clear what Square-Enix was aiming for with him.
Now… remember Episode Ignis? That fight in the “Verse 2”, in which you play as Ignis against Ardyn in the Keep of Zegnautus? There’s a moment in which Ardyn basically “mocks” Bahamut’s stance, making the weapons look like wings on his back.
And then, remember when Square-Enix answered in that Q&A video a question about his relationship with Bahamut? They basically said it was a secret, and laughed.
Well… Where am I going with this?
I think that Ardyn is of divine origin, which would go along with the Christian themes of the game.
My thoughts are that Ardyn’s either son of Bahamut, or that he could’ve been “born” from the Crystal. Being a son of Bahamut would further enhance that comparison between God and Jesus, but then again, he has powers that don’t really fit with Bahamut nor any other Astral, nor with the Starscourge. Another idea that’s been in my mind for a long time is that Ardyn could’ve either been born or become a Messenger, as well, but since we know so very little about the Messengers, so it’s much in the air.
Maybe I’m correct about something or maybe I’m not, but regardless of it, I had fun with the theory all along which is what matters (even if it pains me that I couldn’t bring myself to finish writing it properly, as early and detailed as I wanted —the original one, before Episode Ardyn: Prologue, was 5 pages long before even reaching half of the document, and I’d compiled there all the info I could about the Starscourge for example—), and if it’s not correct then I can always make an AU of it (?).
FFXV: Ardyn’s limp — A potential explanation (theory)
[Putting this text under a “read more” because it’s a bit extensive.]
First of all I would like to thank @jonphaedrus and @superespresso, both for creating an amazing and exhaustive document about Ardyn's bad leg, and for allowing me to link it and cite it for this post of mine. You can find their work here (a seriously recommended read that provides even more depth to Ardyn Izunia):
To be honest I didn't realize Ardyn had a bad leg until I read that document, and it's something that's been on my mind ever since I read it. I've asked myself several times about it, wondering how he ended up with his leg like that. It was another interesting piece of information about Ardyn that I wanted to know more and write about.
Now, I think I may have found a feasible explanation for the origin of his limp. And what would that origin be... ?
Ardyn's crucifixion.
You ready to start? Let's go.
The other day I got to start reading a book that my mother and I bought ("Enciclopedia Eslava", by Juan Eslava Galán), about curiosities throughout history of different areas (philosophy, maths, science, history, geography, literature, etc), and there were some pages dedicated to crucifixion.
You see... I'm a huge fan of Ardyn Izunia (probably my favourite character of all time — he's just so fascinating), and every little detail or bit of data I can find is a blessing, so when my eyes landed on these pages about crucifixion (something I wasn't expecting to find), my first reaction was "okay, there could be something interesting in here".
I hoped there would be useful information about the matter, since it's one of the things about Ardyn that I wanted to write about.
And I wasn't disappointed. In fact there was even more than I thought, and if I thought already that it was a cruel process, well... it turned out to be even worse, to the point where my jaw dropped sometimes while reading these pages.
But before I talk about the book's information, I would like to quote first some texts of last part of the document about Ardyn's limp (from the section "Conclusions and takeaways", pages 47 and 48):
<< [...] For a lot of reasons I think he probably wasn’t born with this leg issue; most of his affectations are just that—affectations. Useful, yes, but things he had to add later. When you see him fight, he takes a lot of positions that require the use of his left leg in ways he can’t, which shows how out of practice fighting like that he is—Ardyn learned to fight differently than he does now, and just rolls with it, compensating for his injuries. It’s also just that I feel like it’s probably way more likely someone tried to saw his leg off. (I mean, I would.) Which leads to my guess about what is actually wrong.
His knee honestly seems to work fine. It can bend, lift turn it, and it takes weight without much difficulty at all. It’s stiff, sure, but that seems more from overusing it than anything. It’s got the most motion out of his entire left leg, which makes it seem like nah, his knee is probably fine. So: didn’t get hamstrung. (It would’ve caused him to bleed out, anyway. Not that that really matters. Since he is Immortal. It would just hurt his feelings.)
That leaves the hip and the ankle. Ankle first, because that’s easier and smaller: he has, as has been mentioned earlier, a really tell-tale flat foot. It slides and sticks and jerks, and it looks like he can neither lift nor straighten it properly, which points probably to him having had his achilles tendon cut or torn. It could heal partly, but he’d never recover.
The hip is a lot more. Let’s work backwards: it looks like someone tried, and failed, to cut his leg off. Based on the lack of motion, the stilted problems he has walking, the way he avoids putting weight on it, it seems similarly akin to a permanent dislocation. The bones were probably smashed and never healed (or barely healed), and as such he lost most of the motion with the leg. So, in summary: someone tried, really badly, to cut his leg off or otherwise remove it, and probably at the same time, partly severed his achilles tendon. [...]
[...] SuperEspresso: Also he’s a dirty liar about not feeling it. The character shows signs of some sort of injury in the pelvis-to-leg area. The diagram shows the tendons and bones in the area of the hip and with what you’ve now looked for specifically, you have a better idea of the location of these issues. If the character did have his leg amputated, the tearing of the tensor fasciae latae would facilitate stiff movement from the hip to the knee, while the separation of the iliacus from the femur could easily cause the stiffness seen in-game.
Another area we need to look at is the pectineus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, and gracilis in the case of a total leg amputation. These are the muscles that connect the pelvis to the femur, and in the case of the pectineus and piriformis, hold the femur into the pelvic socket to keep a legs mobility and strength. Considering the character has some degree of movement, and doesn’t fully limp everywhere, it’s likely the pectineus and piriformis were severed, causing a sporadic dislocation of the hip on the characters bad side, which would explain the twisting of the femur and knee-cap due to movement or over-extension. Another possibility is the iliacus and psoas major being inured, which would extend his injury not only to the hip, but to the spine as well. [...] >>
Now, let's head to the book...
In Roman crucifixion, the condemned person didn't carry the whole cross, "only" the crosspiece (patibulum): the upright post (stipes) was permanently mounted in the crucifixion area. Sometimes there wasn't a crosspiece, just the upright post, and they would pin the raised arms of the condemned there. Sometimes the condemned would get lashings before getting crucified as well.
The executioners would undress the condemned, pin his arms to the patibulum with a nail between the ulna and radius, and they would rise him over the stipes. After that they would pin or tie the legs to the upright post. Below his feet they would put a footrest (suppedaneum lignum), a triangular piece.
That process is depicted in this official Ardyn Izunia artwork:
For what it seems, the condemned could sometimes agonize for days before dying.
The tension in the chest and abdominal muscles would force the condemned to breathe with the diaphragm, in a quite incomplete mode. This would lead either to asphyxia or to coronary insufficiency. The thing is, when the condemned felt the lack of air, he would instinctively rest the weight of his body astride on top of the sedile/cornu, which was a thick nail that stood out from the cross at the height of the crotch. That would alleviate the feeling of asphyxia, but the pain of the sedile was so unbearable that the condemned would end up rising his weight for relief, which would put in motion again the process leading to asphyxia or heart attack. Another thing was that, to make things even worse, that sedile, well... sometimes they would put it inside where the sun doesn't shine.
Sounds horrible so far, and it hasn't even finished... It just keeps getting worse.
(Sometimes, though, the condemned ones would be offered anesthesic beverages; for example the posca, a mix of water and vinegar, would mitigate the suffering.)
And now enters a part of the process that will sound very familiar regarding the text above from the document about Ardyn's limp...
The exactor mortis, the executioner that directed the execution, sometimes would make the death of the condemned quicker... by fracturing the bones of the condemned with an iron bar. That would prevent the condemned from "resting" on top of the sedile when asphyxia or heart attack would happen (as a side note, they could make things even more horrible: if they wanted to extend the agony of a too weakened condemned, they would pierce the side with a spear so that the air would penetrate directly to the lung).
And, remember about the footrest? Well... Sometimes they wouldn't give them one. The book mentiones the case of a man that had his heels laterally pierced to the upright post.
Regarding the broken leg, there are some options I've thought about.
It could be that they fractured Ardyn's left leg so that his death would be quicker and that for some reason they stopped before fracturing the right leg (someone or something may have prevented that from happening, or Ardyn could have died before they did it). Or they simply just broke that leg. And since it looks like only the Achilles tendon of his left foot got severed, that would rule out the possibility that they pinned his feet directly to the upright post... unless they didn't place the nail of the right foot in the exact same position and it didn't sever the tendon.
It could as well been that Ardyn arrived to crucifixion with his leg recently broken, but the official artwork of him being lifted for crucifixion didn't show that, so it could have happened way earlier (maybe an injury of when he was younger, even?) or as mentioned earlier, as a "coup de grace" during crucifixion.
We don't know exactly (for now, at least) how Ardyn's regeneration works, but given how his state is according to the document, it could be that he got injured in a time when his regeneration was much slower and difficult (and thus it healed badly or didn’t at all), or that he didn't even have that power back then.
Another option would be that they started with what we consider his good leg, and that Ardyn died with that leg regenerated or almost regenerated and the other one fractured. This would also explain why only one of Ardyn's ankle was severed as well. This is the explanation I find more feasible so far.
There would be another option, as well... A much crueler one and that wouldn't involve a slower regeneration: that Ardyn got both legs fractured and that they kept fracturing them as they regenerated, until he died (which could have resulted in him dying with one leg healed up and the other not having had time enough to heal).
As an interesting detail: in Japanese, when Bahamut talks about Ardyn, he says something that would translate to this, according to the website TheLifestream.net: "a foolish man who was rejected by the Holy Stone for that unclean body and was buried without ascending to the throne" (source: https://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-xv-lore/final-fantasy-xv-fan-theories-and-observations/observations-about-the-translation-and-localization-of-ffxv/ ).
Buried... So Ardyn would have been dead time enough that they would presume him dead and buried him.
To conclude, this is how I think Ardyn's crucifixion went down:
— they pinned Ardyn's feet to the upright post with nails, severing the Achilles tendons
— they wanted to speed up the process and fractured his right leg
— once they were done, they proceeded with the left leg, and the right leg and heel started to regenerate
— the right leg and heel fully regenerated while they were fracturing the left one
— Ardyn died either before they were done with the left leg, or before it had time to regenerate
— he got returned to the world of the living after not being able to enter the Afterlife
And this is it, the end of the post.
If you've read it until the end you have my gratitude. We don't know yet what happened exactly, but I think that "yet" has its own charm (although in all honesty this wait for Episode Ardyn is killing me a bit, haha): it makes us think, it makes us imagine, it makes us analyze, it makes us share our theories and views, and in definitive, it makes us have fun.
FFXV: Gilgamesh’ identity and Solheim’s fall (analysis and theorizing)
I need to take a break from studying French, so here you have a theory post that I’ve been kinda dying to post
Sooo... I’ve been talking about Gilgamesh previously, analizing him, but it wasn’t until little time ago that some other ideas about him came to my mind.
You’ll find 3 theories below, intertwined with official info (for example on Ardyn and Solheim) and other interesting bits that I’ve noticed (like regarding Enkidu and the warriors of Taelpar Crag).
1. Gilgamesh: a Messenger?
So far my line of thoughts was that Gilgamesh was Ardyn’s Shield, that after all that happened he became Somnus’ shield) to later on during his reign banish himself to Taelpar), and that the fact that he is alive is because the “link” between him and Ardyn due to the borrowed powers would have “spoiled” due to the Starscourge.
But, what if his immortality itself doesn’t come from that? Being a Messenger would provide a way simpler explanation about it, for sure.
Now, the thing is: WHEN and HOW did he get in contact with the Starscourge (and survived it)? Because he HAD to at any point in his life, given his telling height... He measures almost the same as Ravus when he got infected, except he doesn’t have “traces” of Starscourge on him, or at least not visible.
This is where Enkidu enters.
For a long time I didn’t notice it, but if you take a look at his saddle and gear, you’ll see it’s... prepared for someone of Gilgamesh’s height. This, apart from confirming that it was his mount at any point, means he had been just as giant before everything went down the drain (I would mention the clothings, but well, when you fight Ravus, his clothes didn’t tear as he grew to the point of almost doubling his own height).
Also, as a side info bit: the tombs inside Steyliff Menace Dungeon mention a creature of the same species as Enkidu that wrecked a huge havoc, which makes Gilgamesh even more badass, like... Wow. He rode a creature of that species to battle, and probably even traveled around on its back. Between this and Ardyn’s Cerberus, talk about badass pets am I right?
Another detail of Gilgamesh... His armor is from Solheim, which would place him either at the period where Solheim hadn’t fallen. But then again, if he was a Messenger, it wouldn’t mean much because of their long lives, is it...?
Except, look at the warriors in Episode Gladiolus. They too have Solheim armor, and they’re supposedly humans. Given the data we have of Somnus, Gilgamesh and Ardyn, this would indeed mean that the period between the fall of Solheim and the formation of Lucis had been “short”, since the warriors were wearing Solheim clothing (Somnus and Ardyn would have been there when Solheim fell, or they were born in that period of transition). Another interesting fact about these warriors? Some of them are the size of Gilgamesh or daemonified!Ravus...
2. Gilgamesh: an experiment of Solheim?
There’s the option that Gilgamesh’s could have been a Solheim experiment (either created or being a modified human or Messenger but it probably sounds messy).
There’s also another line of thought about Gilgamesh and the warriors of Taelpar and another possible contact with the Starscourge, but the other option goes first.
We know that Solheim was very advanced and had achieved to create Omega, a weapon to defeat the Astrals (called Espers back then, says an info document of Comrades), so it wouldn’t be weird if they would have tried to create the perfect warriors... And we also know that Ardyn had a hand in perfecting Niflheim’s Magitek experiments, enhancing them through the use of the Starscourge.
And then, there’s Pitioss. They used a place that was “brimming” with strange phenomena regarding space, time and gravity, to experiment with it... and train. To train what, if they were an all powerful empire that probably had no one that could rival them (besides the Starscourge and the daemons themselves maybe, but this point is kind of conflictive as well because we don’t know when exactly Meteo fell and brought forth the Starscourge... and even so, I doubt they would need to go so far for daemons).
It could be that these warriors we see at Taelpar, wearing Solheim clothing and being so big for a human, were experiments with which they sought to bring down the Astrals, earlier or after they built Omega, or as a support for Omega. And since Solheim had such an advanced theory, it could as well be that they had achieved to make the perfect warriors (achieving immortality), and that when Gilgamesh retired to Taelpar, they would have sent said more warriors to either retrieve him, convince him of returning to Lucis, or end him.
Ardyn would have known of the experiments, which would place him living in Solheim when he was young before it all fell apart. Knowing about the experiments, that is, would mean that either Gilgamesh told him, or that someone to whom he was close was involved in the matter... And since Ardyn had been described many times to have been gentle, kindhearted and altruistic, he couldn’t have had a hand on the experiments (or at least not willingly).
Or... Ardyn accidentally gave them the idea of experimenting with the Starscourge. Regarding this, I could totally see Ardyn analizing the daemons and the Starscourge and how they worked, both in the scientific and magic spectrums. And if there’s one thing that Ardyn is, that’s intelligent.
A side note: given the fact that Ifrit’s been described as Solheim’s ruler, that his story is similar to Ardyn, and that Bahamut and Ifrit could be “labeled” as brothers, their stories feel to me a bit like mirrors.
Now... Time to talk about Meteo and the Starscourge.
We do know that Meteo brought with it the Starscourge (Ardyn explained it in the JAP version, and I think in the GER version too), and if the artwork about the War of Old shown when Shiva tells Noctis about Solheim is accurate, we would have a narrow window of time in which to place the fall of Meteo: sometime between the War of Old and before the Astrals (except Bahamut) started sleeping. Omega and its purpose was precisely what led to the War of Old, so it couldn’t have been an experiment linked to the Starscourge.
If Gilgamesh really was an experiment of Solheim, he would have had to be “created” (or modified) specifically for the War of Old, and given his strength, this would make him the perfect Shield later on.
3. Gilgamesh: saved from the Starscourge?
I told earlier about another option besides Gilgamesh being a Messenger and being an experiment, and now it comes the last theory, which is probably the most simple one among them (yet one I like as well).
It could be that Gilgamesh and other warriors got infected by the Starscourge and that Ardyn healed them. Simple, yet possible. And Ardyn’s knowledge about experimenting with the Starscourge could as well have been what I said earlier about him investigating the illness and the daemons to try to know more about them.
4. My opinion
On a personal level of satisfaction, I would love it if Gilgamesh had been a close friend of Ardyn (or something more *cough cough* I ship them so much just for the possibilities to be honest), becoming a warrior and at some point being infected and getting healed by Ardyn. Or if they would have become close precisely after Ardyn would have healed him.
Aaand on top of that... Imagine if Gilgamesh was a Messenger. I love love it tenfold if this was the case.
The thing is... We don’t know much about the Messengers, truly. Are they born like simple humans but then they “become” Messengers and stop aging? Are they simply “forms” created by the gods that they can “use” as vessels at any point? If they’re born human, how do they get to know their purpose and when?
So much questions, and these ones above aren’t all of them.
If I had to say what I consider most prone to happening, though, I would say I’m almost sure they’re going to confirm Gilgamesh as having been Ardyn’s Shield before becoming Somnus’.
And also... Wouldn’t it be a nice touch of foreshadowing to Noctis’ story if Gilgamesh had been part of Solheim’s experimenting? Gilgamesh would have been then to Ardyn what Gilgamesh, Ignis and Prompto are to Noctis.
So far, to be honest... I can see anything happening. I can see any of these 3 options taking place, or even combinations. Or, heck, we’ve seen things that had been unexpected before, so it could happen this time something mindblowing we wouldn’t have seen coming (as in, imagine if Gilgamesh was a Messenger of Bahamut? Or if Ardyn was the son of a god, or if he was a Messenger?).
But if I had to choose something to happen yes or yes somehow... Please, give me Ardyn and Gilgamesh being best friends with all the angst that would come later on and if they were something more then I would just explode in happiness overload.
... was his real one, being the human one we see but an illusion, and the moments when we see him with his daemonic features are just moments in which he can’t hold the illusion up?
