The Final Fantasy series is long and prolific, but FF15 stands out among the series for its development. Originally released as a companion game to Final Fantasy 13, it remains largely intact from the original project aside from the graphics. As a result, the game has a bit of an identity crisis.

The game’s story is incredibly emotional and filled with lovable characters, but its world is hard to describe. So while you may grow to love the characters, it can be hard to understand the actual motivations behind the plot, as much of the lore is scattered across different media and subject to sometimes inconsistent translations and mild rethinking.

Updated January 29, 2024 by Hilton Webster: If there’s one thing Square Enix likes to do with their mainline Final Fantasy games, it’s create a lot of companion media. Most of them expand the world, but in FF15, most of them are unfortunately essential. So we’ve put together a quick timeline to give you a better understanding of the events that led up to the game’s ending.

A Chronology Of Expanded Events

While most of Final Fantasy XV’s important story is told in the main game, a lot of the larger context can be lost if you don’t first understand the events that caused the world’s current state. In the Royal Edition (especially Episode Ardyn), much of it is explained to the player, but the explanations can be counterintuitive at times. Below we list the expansion media that will help you understand them, and the approximate years of lore in which they occurred.

The Astral War

An important prelude to the world and how it functions are the Astrals, divine beings that Noctis can summon through his alliances. As the story is told and expanded through updates and the in-game cosmology book, their history remains vague in many ways. These provide a more detailed account of the Astral War, explaining the relationship between humanity and the Astral, and why Ifrit was demonized in the first place.

This is also explained in more detail in Episode Ardyn, explaining why Ifrit would work with Ardyn in the first place.

The Birth of Lucis and The Starscourge

The nation of Lucis was founded by two brothers, Ardyn and Somnus. However, Ardyn was cursed by the Disaster of the Stars, and was rejected by Crystal, who should have taken the throne as king. Despite dedicating his life to curing the Disaster of the Stars, he was imprisoned and erased from history.

This is only revealed in the episode “Ardyn” (and in the animated prologue available exclusively on YouTube), and this background information is crucial to understanding why Ardyn is so angry about his Lucis Caelum bloodline, especially since Somnus himself is never mentioned in the base game.

The Invasion of Insomnia

Throughout the game, you’ll hear about the Insomnia invasion, but you’ll be shown a CG cutscene that doesn’t quite fit with the aesthetic of the rest of the game. That’s because it’s an excerpt from the stand-alone prequel film Kingsglaive.

The film explains why Lunafreya is in Altissia, why she has Lucy’s Ring, and who the hell is the otherwise unmentioned Nyx Ulric, a weapon obtainable in the game’s final dungeon.

An Alternate Ending

The base game has an ending that still holds a pretty high emotional value, despite its pitfalls, but the team was still determined to provide an alternative solution that gives (almost) everyone a happier ending.

This is first seen in Episode Ignis. Not only does it explain the reason for Ignis’ blindness, but also the possibility of following Ardyn’s plan to help Noctis prepare in the future. However, this is a completely different ending.
Episode
Ardyn gives us a different taste. We may end up choosing to rebel against fate and have a different ending than the base game. However, this never really works out and you may wonder what on earth this decision means. It was actually meant to set up a story for the cancelled DLC. Instead, it was all relegated to a book called Dawn of the Future. So if you’re looking for a completely alternate ending, you’re in the right place.

The Birth Of The Starscourge And Ardyn As A Vessel

Central to understanding the story is the Plague of the Stars. Its exact origins are never stated apart from a German translation which claims it comes from “the Six Shooting Stars”. It is a plague that spreads across the land of Eos, infecting and turning the inhabitants into demons, slowly robbing the stars of their light and life. It is an ancient plague that has plagued the world since time immemorial.

Desiring to protect the star they call home, the Astrals, led by Bahamut, hatch a plan to defend the star and its crystals. A bloodline that would later become Lucy was chosen to protect the crystal. Another, who would later become Nox Fleuret, was expected to heal people. They could work together to withstand the Starscourge until enough power was gathered to defeat it. The important thing is that Ardyn was chosen to protect the crystal.

However, Ardyn was already a healer by profession and decided to absorb the Starscourge in order to heal people. As a result, the crystal rejected him – and his own brother betrayed him to seize his power. Ardyn continued to try to help people even without the crystal, but eventually he himself was so afflicted by the Stellar Plague that he literally lost his mind. For millennia he was imprisoned on Angelgard Island, driven only by blind rage.

When he awoke, all that remained was Ardyn’s name and the memory of the Flash. The Stellar Plague had become too much, so the Astrals changed their plans. With Ardyn as the vessel for the Stellar Plague, he became the new goal of Luci’s chosen King to destroy the stars and finally bring about peace. This goal worked well for Ardyn, as the only thing that could truly kill him was the prophecy.

The Line Of Lucis And Its Knights Of The Round

After putting their original plan to protect the crystal and defeat the Starscourge into motion, the Astrals bestowed upon the newly anointed lineage of Luci to save the stars. The Starscourge was a formidable threat of unclear origins, and not even the Astrals could defeat it together.

Thus, Somnus, the first Luci, barely possessed the power necessary to destroy the Starscourge. The Astrals’ gift was the Ring of Luci, an item that would harness the combined powers of each of the crystal’s guardians. He bestowed this power upon each successive protector, until the power hidden within was even greater than that of the Astrals and the Starscourge themselves.

In various Final Fantasy games, especially FF7, Knights of the Round are incredibly powerful summons, and they play a thematically similar role in FF15. Crystal Protectors built into the walls of Kronstadt Insomnia can summon the power of the old walls to protect the city and conjure astral projections of past rulers. These are manifestations of their power, much like the Armigers that summon weapons, and can only be wielded in their entirety by the chosen king.

The Chosen King And The Heart Of The Star

Crystals are a common motif in Final Fantasy games. They always serve a purpose and are a source of magic, life, or symbol of power. In FF15, there is a single crystal commonly referred to as the Heart of Eos. He is the force that sustains the world, and his life is threatened by the Starscourge that seeks to consume him. It also seems to have a will of its own, is nearly impenetrable, and provides the ability to communicate between the people of Eos and the Astral above. It is the core of Eos and the Astrals, and if it were to disappear, they would go with it.

The Astrals’ plans therefore focused on creating a protector more powerful than any other known power to protect it and defeat its greatest threats. This was no surprise to the Lucis lineage, who for millennia have sought to protect their bloodline at all costs in order to amass the power necessary to defend their homeland. While this point is not explained much in-game, Noctis was known from an early age as the true king mentioned in the prophecy who would defeat the Star Scourge.

While much of Noctis’ dejected and aloof behavior could be taken as disrespect or a misunderstanding of the magnitude of the responsibilities of being a king, in reality it is a devastating fear for someone who wanted nothing more than to be with his friends.

Unlike everyone else, who simply needed to survive, he was chosen to die for the cause, a much more selfless goal than his predecessors never had the chance to achieve. Briefly sought after by Noctis’ father Regis, the Ring of L’Cie slowly drains the life of its wearer due to the sheer power contained within. For Noctis to use all of this power to defeat Starscourge, he must ultimately sacrifice his own life.

The Final Confrontation, Purging The Star Of Its Scourge

With the weight of existence weighing on him, Noctis can barely bring himself to look at the Ring of Lucy, a representation of his destiny and all his ancestors, let alone wear it for his own selfless purpose. It was only when Ardyn took control of Niflheim that he put it on and took refuge within the stolen crystal, where he rested body and mind for the next ten years while the crystal prepared for the task ahead. At this point it was too late for him to turn back.

The story of Insomnia was originally shorter, with the towns being effectively small dungeons. This was significantly expanded in the Royal Edition. The former rulers of Lucis battle to test Noctis, revealing the strength of their allies. There is also an additional scene with Lunafreya, who appears solemnly to offer the last remnants of her power to repel Ardyn’s dark forces.

Finally awakened from a long rest, Noctis returns to Insomnia with his royal retinue and close friends to defeat Ardyn and the Star Scourge he was carrying, and to pacify the world after the plague has become permanent. Before the final battle, Noctis finally summons the power of all his ancestors, consuming their powers to transform into a being far superior to any other known power, and travels to the Astral Realm to finally defeat Ardyn and defeat the Star Scourge Destroy.

With him, the line of Lucis is completely ended, but so is the plague that swept the stars. Ardyn, whom he once felt personal despise, was no longer a true man, merely a vessel of destruction. It was not a personal death imposed upon him, but a necessary one, a blessing that would put an end to a body that had in fact once housed a noble soul.

With this final act, Noctis fulfills a long-held prophecy to protect the planet. The Ring of Luci is destroyed, as is the family line of Luci. But the crystal was saved, light returned to the world, and the demon defeated. Noctis finds peace in death, and his friends awaken to a new dawn.

Alternate Timelines, And Non-Canon Media

While this is the true ending of the story, a bittersweet victory with the death of a beloved character, the story also has two other endings that are not canon. These offer alternative perspectives that shed more light on the possible outcomes of the world. These are expressed in the DLC “Episode Ignis” through alternative choices and the events of the book “Dawn of the Future”.

There are also other media beyond the standard canon and events depicted in “Episode Ignis” and “Dawn of the Future” (such as “A New Empire”), but these are functionally open-ended and not worth mentioning here.

Episode Ignis

This DLC episode chronicles the events that explain Ignis’ loss of his sight and how the Lucy Ring was returned to Noctis. In the end, Ignis, not of royal blood, puts on the ring and sacrifices his eyesight to protect Noctis. He is defeated by Ardyn and forced to make a decision. The default choice will take you to the canonical history path. If you decide to follow Ardyn, you will be taken to Xegnathus Fortress. They confront Ardyn again, and Ignis decides to sacrifice his life for the ring to save Noctis.

This time he manages to fend off Ardyn and the gang comes to rescue him. In this reality, Noctis sees the sacrifices his friends have made for him and gladly accepts the mission. Ten years pass and he manages to survive an encounter with Starscourge. His own soul is strengthened and saved by Ignis’ actions. Together they experience a new morning.

Episode Ardyn

Dawn of the Future is a book that combines the events of Ardyn’s episode and the three cancelled episodes (Aranea, Lunafreya, and Noctis) into a single coherent alternate timeline.

At the end of the episode “Ardyn”, which depicts Ardyn’s own awakening, Ardyn is presented with two choices: submit to fate and fulfill Bahamut’s prophecy, or resist fate. While the standard choice is to submit to fate, the book depicts what would have happened in the alternate realities of the remaining three DLCs if Ardyn had resisted fate.

Dawn Of The Future

Although originally planned as DLC, the novel Dawn of the Future sees an alternative story for the character of Lunafreya. Here, Lunafreya is resurrected by Bahamut as a being cursed by the Bane of the Stars, just like Ardyn, and wishes for her to be destroyed as a new husk. Instead, she rebels against this belief as well, eventually she, Lunafreya, and Noctis all unite in Insomnia to convince Ardyn that Bahamut is the true villain, despite the darkness in Ardyn’s empty heart.

Over the course of the events of the book, it becomes clear that Bahamut seeks to destroy humanity through his selfish acts of destructiveness. In his final quest for revenge, Ardyn uses Lucy’s Ring to harness the power in the Astral realm to defeat himself and Bahamut. This means that all of the Astrals and the prophecy they constructed for themselves are defeated, and Ardyn dies redeemed, despite only wanting revenge.