ardyn izunia belongs in the garbage bin. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
daemonized) wrote2017-01-02 01:16 pm
daemonized) wrote2017-01-02 01:16 pm
recolle app aka throwing my hands in the air uselessly
PLAYER
YOUR NAME: Jen
18+?: Yes
CONTACT: PM this journal, or plurk @ aurajen
CHARACTERS IN GAME: n/a
RESERVATION LINK: here!
YOUR NAME: Jen
18+?: Yes
CONTACT: PM this journal, or plurk @ aurajen
CHARACTERS IN GAME: n/a
RESERVATION LINK: here!
CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Ardyn Izunia (or as it's revealed later, Ardyn Lucis Caelum.) Highlight for blatant spoilers.
AGE: So fucking old. 2000+ years. Physically appears in late thirties to mid forties.
CANON: Final Fantasy XV
NAME: Ardyn Izunia (or as it's revealed later, Ardyn Lucis Caelum.) Highlight for blatant spoilers.
AGE: So fucking old. 2000+ years. Physically appears in late thirties to mid forties.
CANON: Final Fantasy XV
CANON HISTORY: link
CANON PERSONALITY:
Ardyn Izunia is a difficult man to parse. At first glance, he is built upon contradictions which make little sense when compared to each other; but upon further inspection and knowledge of his past experiences, all these bizarre pieces come together to neatly form a whole. To begin, it’s easiest to start with outside appearances.
The Chancellor of Niflheim is a lofty title, one that might invoke the imagery of a stern and unrelenting man. And yet, instead you get Ardyn — supercilious and fueled by a condescending sort of humor, aimed at nearly everyone around him. He is malleable as he is silver-tongued, eloquent in words (as a politician must be), and oddly unaffected in general. He is theatrical and even sarcastic; he’s just as quick to pay a compliment as he is to throw out verbal barbs, and his expression remains the same regardless of which he chooses. As his English VA once described him, he is full of “insincere sincerity”. He’s a difficult man to read, because he seems fluid and unnecessarily fills the air with words that may not have much meaning to them to begin with. In this way he is both ineffable and confusing, even frustrating, but undoubtedly dripping in charm the entire time. He's shrewd and intelligent, confident and subtly cocky. He can get under your skin with some well-placed words, which is admittedly the way he prefers to do it.
Whereas some of this persona is a farce, some of it is a sincere a part of Ardyn’s character. He’s a man who has lived for two thousand years, and only a small fraction of this time was he driven by action in the narrative (the events shortly prior to, and during, the game); the rest of this time, Ardyn was merely living in Eos, unheard of by others. Floating through the ages, and being dismissive about people, events, and other transient things was just a part of an immortal life. In this sense, Ardyn lacks empathy, which can be clearly seen once he shows his more devious, darker side in the later chapters of the game. How he kills Lunafreya without so much batting an eye, how he patronizingly taunts Noctis throughout all of Chapter 13, and how eager he is to bring darkness to all of Eos, just for the sake of getting revenge on the Caelum line and the astrals, two thousand years in the future. If he seems lackadaisical, it's because he simply doesn't care about the "smaller picture", the day-to-day moments and considerations. He's seen centuries pass, and he's geared himself to look at everything in a wider scope. This is especially true given his goals in the game.
The other side of Ardyn Izunia is the ugly half. It’s the devious mind that lies beneath the surface of what most think is a puzzling man; it’s the fact that often his empty words are empty for a reason, because he’s either manipulating someone by holding back the truth, or merely sees no reason to share it at all. He thinks with a calculating mind, lending well to his station as Chancellor. Ardyn pulls the strings from afar — throughout the game, he aids Noctis and his companions, who are technically his enemies. All of this because it lends to his end goal of being able to turn Noctis into the True King, so that he can end the Lucis Caelum line with the King’s death and his own. And it takes a bitter, twisted sort of man to cover the world in literal darkness just for the sake of his own vendetta. When you dig even deeper, there’s an anger and a cruelty there that, coupled with his apathy, makes him a very dangerous person. He even takes a sadistic sort of pleasure in toying with others, one that he doesn't bother hiding when the curtains have been drawn back completely.
It isn't a stretch to say that a very, very long time ago, Ardyn may have been a nicer person. He had been a King and leader, as well as a healer; he healed countless, the implication being that there was a clear devotion to the goal, and a possession of empathy for those suffering from the Starscourge. In the game, we no longer see him utilizing these powers at all. He's lost any sense of humanitarianism beyond achieving a clear-cut objective. There's no warmth, no real concern for those around him; he's quick to even betray those he had allied with, simply because they outlived their usefulness -- in a true villainous fashion. This is important to point out, because this clear transition from healer king to Man Who Wants to Fuck Up the World was brought on by a betrayal that defined him for millennia to come.
This betrayal was by both gods and family, and in its completeness Ardyn became angry and spiteful. Shrewd and motivated. In his most revealing moments, he tells Noctis that he had been left in the darkness for ages, the resentment finally spilling forth in uncommon forthrightness. It reveals the anger he has kept bubbling in the pit of his chest for countless years, a bitterness that has been the motivation behind his very existence. Revenge turns a mind dark and its purpose razor-sharp, and the same could be said for Ardyn Izunia. This, along with the burden of countless daemons he keeps within himself, only fueled this venom within him.
So, Ardyn is a villain, we get that now. But there's one final thing worth mentioning; as immortal as the man is, as eager as he can be to destroy the Lucis Caelum line, there is a part of him that wishes for his own death, so that he can finally be unburdened by the daemons he carries and pass peacefully. This adds a bit of tragedy to his otherwise unsavory character faults, and though it does not excuse the travesties he wishes to place upon Eos, it does provide further motivation for Ardyn. In various bits of dialogue, there's hinting that Ardyn almost expects Noctis to kill him during the final battle, so that he can finally be free. This lends itself to the notion that there may be the tiniest amount of regret he harbors, or at the very least, a stark awareness of the monster he's become over millennia. It's enough for him to pursue the only way in which he can actually die, which is to have Noctis become the True King to kill him.
As a result, this desire for revenge (and possible freedom) is what makes up the ugly core of Ardyn, completely disregarding any sort of decent individual he might have been in the past. He's calculating with more than enough potential to be cruel, though he usually keeps all of this hidden behind a veneer of patronizing humor, questionable charm, and clever wordplay. In the end, most everything he does is either for the sake of manipulation, or in contrast, because something is unimportant enough in his eyes to actually care. His past experience as a king, his betrayal by his own family line and the astrals, and the thousands of years wrought on his humanity was more than enough to unfortunately shape him into the man he is during the events of the game: a man bent on throwing the world into darkness simply because of the injustices incurred upon him thousands of years ago.
SKILLS/ABILITIES:
IMMORTALITY - Due to the countless daemons he harbored within himself, Ardyn became immortal. He can be shot, stabbed, and frozen solid by a literal goddess, but even that is not enough to kill him. He literally came back from any attack thanks to his darker powers; the only thing that felled him in the end was someone of equal power, none other than Noctis' return as the True King himself. As a result of his immortality, he is also far stronger and possesses more stamina than any mortal in Eos.
WARP MAGIC/ARMIGER - Like all from the royal line, Ardyn can also utilize warp magic. This includes being able to phase through solid objects, to "teleport" his own body from point A to point B, leave a light-like still image of himself to distract enemies after he warps, to store various items (weapons, mainly) in a magical hammerspace until called upon, and to send them back there again once no longer needed. He can also call upon his own version of his Armiger, which is basically calling forth all of his weapons to attack his enemies. This also lets him fly through the air and do a whole lot of crazy warping that he wouldn't be able to do normally.
ILLUSION/TIME MANIPULATION - Ardyn's darker powers have also manifested in a few more interesting ways. He can manipulate the mind of a person to view someone/something as something else completely, effectively creating illusions for at least a single individual. During the train sequence, he has also been seen to manipulate time to his liking, stopping and/or slowing it as he sees fit. When time resumes as normal, no one ever seems the wiser that anything had changed at all.
INCAPACITATION - He can also use his aforementioned powers to literally knock others unconscious with a blast of daemonic power.
GENERALIZED COMBAT - Ardyn is familiar with a wide range of weapons (as indicated by him having his own Armiger), and is a skilled combatant on the field, though seeing him actually fight is a rare occasion; only at the end of the game does he wield any sort of melee weapon, but even then he's shown as more than competent. I mean. Final boss and everything, you know.
HEALING - While he was initially given the power to heal people suffering from the Starscourge (and others who are simply suffering and afflicted), Ardyn does not use these skills any longer. He's not inclined to carry more darkness in him than he already has, nor does he particularly care enough about the civilian population of Eos to be the same selfless man he once was.
CANON PERSONALITY:
Ardyn Izunia is a difficult man to parse. At first glance, he is built upon contradictions which make little sense when compared to each other; but upon further inspection and knowledge of his past experiences, all these bizarre pieces come together to neatly form a whole. To begin, it’s easiest to start with outside appearances.
The Chancellor of Niflheim is a lofty title, one that might invoke the imagery of a stern and unrelenting man. And yet, instead you get Ardyn — supercilious and fueled by a condescending sort of humor, aimed at nearly everyone around him. He is malleable as he is silver-tongued, eloquent in words (as a politician must be), and oddly unaffected in general. He is theatrical and even sarcastic; he’s just as quick to pay a compliment as he is to throw out verbal barbs, and his expression remains the same regardless of which he chooses. As his English VA once described him, he is full of “insincere sincerity”. He’s a difficult man to read, because he seems fluid and unnecessarily fills the air with words that may not have much meaning to them to begin with. In this way he is both ineffable and confusing, even frustrating, but undoubtedly dripping in charm the entire time. He's shrewd and intelligent, confident and subtly cocky. He can get under your skin with some well-placed words, which is admittedly the way he prefers to do it.
Whereas some of this persona is a farce, some of it is a sincere a part of Ardyn’s character. He’s a man who has lived for two thousand years, and only a small fraction of this time was he driven by action in the narrative (the events shortly prior to, and during, the game); the rest of this time, Ardyn was merely living in Eos, unheard of by others. Floating through the ages, and being dismissive about people, events, and other transient things was just a part of an immortal life. In this sense, Ardyn lacks empathy, which can be clearly seen once he shows his more devious, darker side in the later chapters of the game. How he kills Lunafreya without so much batting an eye, how he patronizingly taunts Noctis throughout all of Chapter 13, and how eager he is to bring darkness to all of Eos, just for the sake of getting revenge on the Caelum line and the astrals, two thousand years in the future. If he seems lackadaisical, it's because he simply doesn't care about the "smaller picture", the day-to-day moments and considerations. He's seen centuries pass, and he's geared himself to look at everything in a wider scope. This is especially true given his goals in the game.
The other side of Ardyn Izunia is the ugly half. It’s the devious mind that lies beneath the surface of what most think is a puzzling man; it’s the fact that often his empty words are empty for a reason, because he’s either manipulating someone by holding back the truth, or merely sees no reason to share it at all. He thinks with a calculating mind, lending well to his station as Chancellor. Ardyn pulls the strings from afar — throughout the game, he aids Noctis and his companions, who are technically his enemies. All of this because it lends to his end goal of being able to turn Noctis into the True King, so that he can end the Lucis Caelum line with the King’s death and his own. And it takes a bitter, twisted sort of man to cover the world in literal darkness just for the sake of his own vendetta. When you dig even deeper, there’s an anger and a cruelty there that, coupled with his apathy, makes him a very dangerous person. He even takes a sadistic sort of pleasure in toying with others, one that he doesn't bother hiding when the curtains have been drawn back completely.
It isn't a stretch to say that a very, very long time ago, Ardyn may have been a nicer person. He had been a King and leader, as well as a healer; he healed countless, the implication being that there was a clear devotion to the goal, and a possession of empathy for those suffering from the Starscourge. In the game, we no longer see him utilizing these powers at all. He's lost any sense of humanitarianism beyond achieving a clear-cut objective. There's no warmth, no real concern for those around him; he's quick to even betray those he had allied with, simply because they outlived their usefulness -- in a true villainous fashion. This is important to point out, because this clear transition from healer king to Man Who Wants to Fuck Up the World was brought on by a betrayal that defined him for millennia to come.
This betrayal was by both gods and family, and in its completeness Ardyn became angry and spiteful. Shrewd and motivated. In his most revealing moments, he tells Noctis that he had been left in the darkness for ages, the resentment finally spilling forth in uncommon forthrightness. It reveals the anger he has kept bubbling in the pit of his chest for countless years, a bitterness that has been the motivation behind his very existence. Revenge turns a mind dark and its purpose razor-sharp, and the same could be said for Ardyn Izunia. This, along with the burden of countless daemons he keeps within himself, only fueled this venom within him.
So, Ardyn is a villain, we get that now. But there's one final thing worth mentioning; as immortal as the man is, as eager as he can be to destroy the Lucis Caelum line, there is a part of him that wishes for his own death, so that he can finally be unburdened by the daemons he carries and pass peacefully. This adds a bit of tragedy to his otherwise unsavory character faults, and though it does not excuse the travesties he wishes to place upon Eos, it does provide further motivation for Ardyn. In various bits of dialogue, there's hinting that Ardyn almost expects Noctis to kill him during the final battle, so that he can finally be free. This lends itself to the notion that there may be the tiniest amount of regret he harbors, or at the very least, a stark awareness of the monster he's become over millennia. It's enough for him to pursue the only way in which he can actually die, which is to have Noctis become the True King to kill him.
As a result, this desire for revenge (and possible freedom) is what makes up the ugly core of Ardyn, completely disregarding any sort of decent individual he might have been in the past. He's calculating with more than enough potential to be cruel, though he usually keeps all of this hidden behind a veneer of patronizing humor, questionable charm, and clever wordplay. In the end, most everything he does is either for the sake of manipulation, or in contrast, because something is unimportant enough in his eyes to actually care. His past experience as a king, his betrayal by his own family line and the astrals, and the thousands of years wrought on his humanity was more than enough to unfortunately shape him into the man he is during the events of the game: a man bent on throwing the world into darkness simply because of the injustices incurred upon him thousands of years ago.
SKILLS/ABILITIES:
CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Ardyn Izunia
AU AGE: 37
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: The only difference will be that Ardyn's hair (which can't seem to decide what color it actually wants to be in canon), will be toned down to a more reddish-brown color, rather than its red-violet hue in the game.
AU NAME: Ardyn Izunia
AU AGE: 37
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: The only difference will be that Ardyn's hair (which can't seem to decide what color it actually wants to be in canon), will be toned down to a more reddish-brown color, rather than its red-violet hue in the game.
AU HISTORY:
Ardyn Izunia was born in Recollé, to a family of old money, who originally made their wealth through clever financial investments and the stock market. From there they transitioned into politics; in the present day, the Izunia name currently holds high political status and the prestige that goes with it.
He grew up with two elder siblings, and one younger. Despite his "middle child" status, it became apparent that Ardyn was favored by their parents; as a result, they would place all their aspirations and expectations on the shoulders of their third child. This provided a foundation of harbored jealousy that his elder siblings would carry towards him, something that would never truly be grown out of, even in adulthood. In the future, this would be one of the reasons why his relationship with his siblings would break down. The exception was with his little brother, Fynn, who Ardyn tolerates at best, and finds terribly annoying at worst.
To top it all off, Ardyn was particularly intelligent and successful in school. Couple this with his rather lackadaisical personality, and he made it appear inhumanly easy to be an overachiever. (Though the truth is that he did work quite hard at it.) This didn’t help matters with his siblings.
As time passed, it became clear that his parents wanted Ardyn to step into the world of politics, expecting him to set his career path to their expectations.
He didn’t want to.
They reached a half-hearted compromise, in which Ardyn would study law (which they had hoped would eventually transition into politics proper). Ardyn, under a slew of guilting and passive-aggressive pressures, agreed. Turns out that he actually enjoyed the gauntlet known as Law School, and his parents were quelled for a time.
He practiced as a defense attorney for some years, garnering experience and contacts alike.
Eventually Ardyn decided to go into teaching, and his family didn’t approve. Naturally, he didn’t care. Wanting to turn this into a “dead end” route for their son, his parents swept aside a particularly promising job opportunity out from under his feet, by using their sway and political influence to recommend another individual for the job.
Ardyn found out and was Not Happy. Words were exchanged. There was likely a lot of yelling about “disappointments”. Having wanting absolutely nothing to do with them anymore, Ardyn cut off all connection from his family.
(With the exception of his niece (Iris Amicitia) and nephews (Souji Seta and Yu Narukami), with whom he holds no ill-will towards at all, and will spoil them to death if given the opportunity. Partly because he’s fond of them, partly because he knows it’ll drive his siblings insane if they found out. **player permission for this has been obtained!**)
(Also with the exception of Fynn Izunia, Ardyn's aforementioned little brother. He's annoying, but was just an innocent bystander as all the family drama went down, so Ardyn hasn't cut off all contact with him -- though currently, he doesn't go out of his way to connect, either. **player permission also obtained!**)
Unshackled by his family, Ardyn had no issue settling into a teaching position, eventually finding himself as one of the law professors at Recollé University.
He’s been there for several years now, doling out lectures and reading assignments and dreaded essays to prospective law grads. He does a well enough job that he’s up for tenure if he manages to hang in there for a bit longer without future regains turning his life into hell.
AU PERSONALITY:
Given that Ardyn did not live through the same sort of massive betrayal as he did in his original canon, nor has been burdened with immortality, the biggest difference between his AU personality and his original is that he's not so much of a Bad Guy, anymore. He doesn't keep anger in the pit of his chest, nor does he feel a need to achieve vengeance on anyone. Though he was wronged by his family in the past, he's merely gotten over it; there may be the slightest touch of resentment, but he doesn't spend every waking hour stewing over it, considering how to make everyone else's life hell because of it. In this sense, he's much less of villain in AU than he would be otherwise.
As a consequence, this means that he's not as sadistic, nor is he cruel. Though his patronizing nature still exists, as well as his flippant manner and sharp humor, Ardyn actually skews closer to how he was as a healer as compared to a fallen king. He's no goody-goody now by any means, but he can be helpful for the sake of merely wanting to be. He has no ill-intent, and he doesn't want to see people fail. He teaches law, and while he can be harsh on his students, he wants them to find success and be successful.
He's still a puzzling man, and still eccentrically frustrating, but he has the potential to empathize now, which was something his canon counterpart lost a long time ago. All-in-all, Ardyn Izunia the Law Professor is a better person. He can have actual friendships and relationships with people without being overtly manipulative, or insincerely hollow. There is an eking of kindness from him, if you can squint past all the layers of lackadaisical humor and wry commentary. He may use his words to tease or cajole, or even to express disapproval in the vein of wry sarcasm, he may even edge his words in sharpness if he's feeling vaguely agitated -- but no longer does he use them to get under someone's skin just to see them squirm. His sadistic nature is a ghost of the past, replaced by the ability to, gasp, actually care about someone.
AU PERSONALITY:
Given that Ardyn did not live through the same sort of massive betrayal as he did in his original canon, nor has been burdened with immortality, the biggest difference between his AU personality and his original is that he's not so much of a Bad Guy, anymore. He doesn't keep anger in the pit of his chest, nor does he feel a need to achieve vengeance on anyone. Though he was wronged by his family in the past, he's merely gotten over it; there may be the slightest touch of resentment, but he doesn't spend every waking hour stewing over it, considering how to make everyone else's life hell because of it. In this sense, he's much less of villain in AU than he would be otherwise.
As a consequence, this means that he's not as sadistic, nor is he cruel. Though his patronizing nature still exists, as well as his flippant manner and sharp humor, Ardyn actually skews closer to how he was as a healer as compared to a fallen king. He's no goody-goody now by any means, but he can be helpful for the sake of merely wanting to be. He has no ill-intent, and he doesn't want to see people fail. He teaches law, and while he can be harsh on his students, he wants them to find success and be successful.
He's still a puzzling man, and still eccentrically frustrating, but he has the potential to empathize now, which was something his canon counterpart lost a long time ago. All-in-all, Ardyn Izunia the Law Professor is a better person. He can have actual friendships and relationships with people without being overtly manipulative, or insincerely hollow. There is an eking of kindness from him, if you can squint past all the layers of lackadaisical humor and wry commentary. He may use his words to tease or cajole, or even to express disapproval in the vein of wry sarcasm, he may even edge his words in sharpness if he's feeling vaguely agitated -- but no longer does he use them to get under someone's skin just to see them squirm. His sadistic nature is a ghost of the past, replaced by the ability to, gasp, actually care about someone.