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thatgoodnightPlayer: Snarky
Contact:
Age: 26
Current Characters: N/A
Character: Noctis Lucis Caelum
Age: 20
Canon:
Canon Point: End of Chapter 13, just after Bahamut finishes telling him the worst bed time story ever.
Background:
wikipedia page
character wiki page
The wikipedia page provides a short and sweet plot summary for the game, and then Noctis’ wiki page goes into full detail on his part. If necessary, I can expand on anything!
Personality:
Born and raised a crown prince, Noctis Lucis Caelum is at first glance every bit as spoiled, aloof and used to getting his way as one might expect. Before his fateful journey, he lived a privileged life with others always looking out for his own needs and even during the journey, he is but rarely alone. But really this is only at first glance and - as a radio announcer discussing Noctis (in the excited anticipation of the highly public upcoming wedding-that-never-ways) says before everything goes to hell - “his hardened features belie a gentle demeanor.”
Although royalty, Noctis lacks much if any haughtiness, and he much prefers casual life outside of the confines of the Citadel and he’d rather be treated as himself than as his title. In turn, he tends to treat others more or less the same regardless of their respective stations. Even so, he is used enough to the life he was raised in that he always carries himself well and tends to be polite - though it should be noted that he dislikes formalities and ceremony. That said, he is a bit spoiled all the same, for as mentioned he has always had others looking out for and taking care of him. He doesn’t really cook and shows little desire to (though at least he no longer burns things to a crisp encrusted on a frying pan), and he’s always been rather messy - though after a good talking to in his teenage years, he did improve on that front... Still, he rarely hesitates to help others when asked and is never deliberately cruel.
At heart Noctis is a shy, kind-hearted person who is... not really the best at dealing with and expressing emotions. Most of the time he prefers to bottle his deepest thoughts and feelings rather than share them, and it is only when things overwhelm him and become too much that cracks form and things come through in his voice and his expressions. But even then, at times he has difficulty putting things into words (indeed, even 10 years hence when he eats his last meal with his dearest friends, he has immense difficulty telling them all what they mean to him and in the end only really manages a few simple words - “What can I say? You guys are the best.”). His grief and anger come out in sharp sarcasm and a growling edge to his voice, and his sorrow in tears he cannot quite hold back. Even his joy leeches through with small smiles, and love (particularly his love of his childhood friend and eventual fiancé Lunafreya; whenever the mysterious messenger dog Umbra brings a notebook they corresponded with for the twelve years of their separation) brings a warmth to his tone, a softness to his gaze he cannot always help.
His seeming aloofness otherwise stems from this shyness and the way he closely guards his heart, and even his friends remark that it’s hard to know what goes on in his head. That is not to say he shows no emotion if he can help it - only that he tries to play it cool, maintain a distance with it and hold close his deepest feelings and insecurities and does his best to avoid confronting the things that trouble him until he feels he is ready (which is pretty much never) or has no choice. He has no qualms showing exasperation or boredom, and he certainly doesn’t hold back on whining about petty frustrations and annoyances. Or having to wake up (he is notoriously difficult to rouse in the morning). Or vegetables. (In the absence of Destiny and all that, vegetables are his true mortal enemy, especially carrots - so much so that he is displeased even with the thought of having to go pick them and make deliveries of them. Of course, he still does it and he would probably eat them if he had the choice between carrots and starvation, but that doesn’t mean he’d have to like them!) But nor does he hesitate to revel in a teasing (arguably bratty) sense of humor and camaraderie with his friends or let his softer side show when he is around animals, which he loves.
Noctis is not unintelligent (according to the radio, his classmates say he graduated at the top of their class) but he is not usually a strategic thinker, nor is he particularly patient. He can be single-minded to the point of missing things - particularly when emotional. In battle, he can be quite reckless, rushing headlong with all the cocky bravado of someone who thinks he can’t lose and even at times ignoring the advice of others like Ignis, who was groomed to be his advisor, and Gladiolus, who helped train him in fighting to begin with.
His earlier mentioned tendency to avoid things that trouble or worry him also gets him into trouble. Because Noctis tends not to confront things that aren’t actual physical battles head-on, he is more the sort of person who reacts to things happening than the sort of person who makes things happen - notably a stark contrast to Lunafreya, who was the first one to explain to him in part what his destiny as King of Light was and who led the way for him as Oracle; she has ever been pro-active in fulfilling her duties that she might save as many as possible, while it is only very late in the game that Noctis fully embraces them and sees them through - and in a way, even then he had no choice.
He does share with her, however, the guilt of seeing others sacrifice themselves for him - including eventually her. He struggles with dealing with his grief and guilt for that compounded with that unlike her he does not feel ready to truly accept his destiny and charge ahead. This leaves him paralyzed for a time, and it is only being forced to push onward that eventually makes him accept things and deal with them and take on the mantle of King as he ought to.
But why is Noctis the way he is? By all accounts, he was quite lively as a young child, and a sheltered prince should have little reason to to withdraw or worry so, right?
Despite this, Noctis nevertheless has experienced and been shaped by pain and loss from an early age. His mother died when he was very small, and his father was often exceedingly busy due to the demands of running a kingdom - and a kingdom more or less perpetually at war with the Empire of Niflheim at that. Noct loved his father very much and wanted to spend time with him; although he understood very early that what his father did was important and that this was just how it was, that didn’t quell the sadness or the wish. Moreover, the older he grew, the more Noctis saw and understood that the magic his family wields comes with a heavy price, and growing up he watched his father grow weaker and age prematurely from the strain of maintaining the magical Wall that protected their kingdom. Even if the treachery that brought down the kingdom hadn’t occurred, King Regis likely would have died a premature death as his father before him had. Noct therefore never much liked thinking about royal duties or the fact that one day he would be king exactly because him becoming king would mean his beloved father was dead.
Setting aside the family aspect, His childhood and adolescence was filled with the pressures of fulfilling expectations, learning how to run a country, how to fight, attending school and learning how to use the strange and special powers that all off the bloodline of the Kings of Lucis posses. And as if that weren’t enough, when he was five, he was chosen by the Crystal to be the so-called King of Light also called the King of the Stone and the King of Kings - the one who it was foretold would some day banish the darkness and cleanse the world of the Starscourge, a terrible plague that turned people into daemons and quite literally would gradually darken the world by blocking the light of the sun. Though he had some time to himself (which he spent - among other ways - playing video games, fishing and spending time with Prompto, his one friend from outside royal life) and was afforded small freedoms - such as being able to attend public school and live on his own in an apartment in the city away from the Citadel - Noctis’ future seemed almost entirely outside his control.
When he was eight, he came face to face with death himself. A daemon attacked, not only killing his caretaker as she tried to get him to safety, but also gravely wounding Noctis and infecting him with the Starscourge. He was taken to see the Oracle in Tenebrae to be healed, for only the Oracle possessed the power to heal the sickness, and there he met the then-Oracle’s daughter Lunafreya. The two became fast friends, and Luna told him of their destinies. He promised her to fulfill his (though it would be twenty-two years before he’d see it through), and after he and his father escaped Tenebrae as it was attacked by Niflheim and Luna’s parents killed, the two kept up a secret correspondence via a shared notebook carried between them by a magic dog.
This set of events profoundly affected Noctis. Afterwards, he was a much more quiet and withdrawn child, and since then he has never really forgotten his destiny, though he has not always known what it meant. Moreover, Luna became a confidant - a friend with whom he could be honest and who would be honest in turn - and in the end, though their marriage was to be a political arrangement, they had grown to love each other (even if once again Noctis was not particularly good at expressing himself).
Duty and Destiny indeed.
Abilities:
Noct is a man of many talents, but his greatest skill is... sleeping! Through everything! Even his bff almost crashing their car and yelling about a hurt puppy in the middle of the road...
Ok but in all seriousness, Noctis has a number of abilities both natural and supernatural.
First the Natural:
He is skilled at combat, both nimble and proficient in the use of a wide variety of weapons. Although he supplements this with liberal use of his powers, even were all his magic sealed, it stands to reason that given a weapon he could still defend himself reasonably well. That said, he is quite used to integrating his magical abilities into combat so it would take him time to adjust.
One other mundane ability of note is fishing. Noctis is an avid angler - and quite a skilled one at that. He has gone toe to toe (or perhaps it is better said toe to fin) with some of the most difficult-to-catch fish in his world and emerged the victor with floppy fish in hand!
Other miscellaneous things include that since he was raised a prince, hetheoreticallyknows a fair bit about ruling a country; he’s pretty good at video games; he did well in school so presumably has a pretty solid basic education; and he knows how to drive a car. If he has to.
And the Supernatural:
Warping
This ability takes two forms for Noctis.
The first is phasing. A primarily defensive ability, Noctis can phase in and out like a sort of very short range teleporting to dodge attacks. He can also use it in mid-air to sort of ‘step’ to the side to keep attacking for a bit.
The second is the warp-strike. By conjuring and throwing a weapon (usually a sword but he can warp with pretty much any weapon - and yes even with a gun. he just kind of tosses it and warps to it. Presumably he could do this with non-weapon items too. Imagine for a moment, if you would, the fantastic applications this ability would have in sports. You could almost have a one-man basketball team! Who needs dribbling up and down court when you can warp-strike the ball into the hoop - it's totally legit, right?), Noctis can nearly instantly warp to to where he’s thrown it, leaving a swiftly-diffusing trail of blue sparking magic stuff. Given his fantastic accuracy, that he can do this over distances a good deal farther than one would expect a sword/spear/whatever could be thrown, and that the blade unfailingly hits the target blade first, undoubtedly there is also an element of magic even in just the throwing.
This ability can be used just to move around quickly, zipping in and out of the battlefield or even to climb something tall or get somewhere quicker. (He can warp to a blade still flying through the air and then toss it and warp again before hitting the ground.) He can hang off a cliff or a lamp post or something to rest for a bit even. But it can also be used to very quickly attack an enemy - and the further away he is when he performs the warp-strike, the harder it will hit.
He cannot perform these abilities indefinitely, however, as they docost MPuse up energy and eventually he’ll wear himself out.
Hammerspace & Weaponswapping
Normally in video games, characters are mysteriously able to carry all manner of weapons and equipment around with them without you ever seeing it. We all just imagine that they have the sword at their side or on their backs or maybe they’ve got a big pack or a pack animal we don’t see.
Well fear not for Noctis’ armory storage because there is an actual in-canon mechanic for this. Noctis is able to summon and dismiss his weapons at will. And also his fishing rod. Presumably this extends to some of the other equipment the party carries around, but we can’t say for sure. However, we can definitely say without a doubt he carries quite a few weapons and his fishing rod around with him in this mysterious space he calls things into and out of.
Indeed, he can swap out weapons mid battle, delivering one blow with an axe, the next with a spear, the next with a knife and, say, finishing it out with a broadsword to the face.
Elemental Magic
This is more or less the traditional ‘black magic’ of Final Fantasy, composed of Fire, Blizzard and Thunder magic. Except there isn’t really any single target here - it’s all multitarget around a specific area where the spell is aimed.
in game you make spells and put them in these little pokeball looking flasks by combining absorbed elemental shards and items and things to give the spells different effects. in cutscene/kingsglaive it seems like sometimes it just gets channeled without the pokeball
Lending Others Power
The Kings of Lucis are able to lend out some of their powers to others in their service. This includes the ability to call weapons in and out of ‘hammerspace’ (though those who are lent the power are usually limited to only one or two weapons rather than an entire arsenal), using elemental magic and warp-strikes.
It should be noted that not everyone he can theoretically grant powers to can necessarily make good use of them. Learning how to use magic or to warp-strike properly takes time and training, and some people may find themselves extremely nauseated by warping.
Summoning
Under certain conditions, Noctis can call upon one of the Astrals whose blessing he has received to smite his enemies. The Astrals are six ancient gods of his world corresponding to several of the traditional Final Fantasy summons, and they are quite powerful. Most of them are also massive. As of his canon point, he has received the marks of Titan, Ramuh, Leviathan and Shiva.
Note: This ability is mentioned for reference only. Noctis will be unable to summon any of the Astrals here. This is both because they can be considered characters in their own right (though only one of them could be considered possibly appable in any way) and because they are way too large and powerful and would have to be nerfed anyway. I mean, they’re gods, for goodness sake. Destroying an entire city is childs' play.
Royal Arms / Armiger Arsenal
The Kings of Lucis have access to a total of twelve* special weapons wielded by ancestors past. In addition to being able to use each one individually in battle, Noctis can at times make use of all of them at once through a special power called Armiger Arsenal. When he enacts this, all the weapons sort of... phantom appear around him and he can use them telekinetically for both offense and defense as well as wield them directly one after another and even temporarily lend them to allies for a powerful finishing blow.
* Noctis has thirteen because he is given the Trident of the Oracle, a special trident passed down through the Oracle line but at last given to him.
Ring of the Lucii
The Ring of the Lucii is a magical ring that houses the souls of all the Kings of Lucis within, and it allows a wielder deemed worthy to wield very powerful magic - but it is not without cost. Though some of its powers seem to be standalone, others seem to be linked to the Crystal the Kings of Lucis are meant to protect. It can be used to cast several spells:
Death: This drains the lifeforce of enemies around the user until they at last wither as if made brittle dust by old age. It’s kind of slow-acting, though.
Holy: A light-based spell that blasts away enemies that try to touch the wielder as he dodges.
Alterna: This powerful spell sucks enemies into a black-hole like thing, destroying them utterly. This particular spell takesall the user’s MPa lot of energy to enact but is immensely strong.
The Ring also has other powers, such as allowing a king to create an immense protective barrier and calling forththe most metal incarnation of Knights of the Round to datetwelve of the Kings of Lucis either in statue form as the Old Wall (a special defense created in the capital of Lucis long ago) or in phantom form - though these likely won't be available here as I presume they require the Crystal to fuel them.
It should be noted, that if anyone not of the bloodline puts on the ring, they will see the Kings of Lucis and be judged whether or not they are worthy to be granted any of its power. But power always comes at a cost, and often that cost is a life... But it is draining even for the rightful wielders of this powerful artifact.
Alignment: Thras
This Song is reason enough right? It was chosen to reflect Noctis' feelings about his friends - that he can be brave and move forward as long as they stand by him.
Noctis faces a great many things in his life that are terrifying: both acute fears, such as the terrible monsters they face and dark dungeons they explore, and slow dreads and existential fears, such as growing up watching his father age far more rapidly than he ought to due to the strain of channeling the crystal's power and knowing his beloved dad would die before his time. Some of the fears Noct faces head-on right away, brave at times to the point of recklessness. Others he avoids and hides from as long as he can. But in the end, he shows a lot of bravery in ultimately accepting his destiny and doing what he has to do to save the world.
Other:
Noctis is coming into the game after a literal trauma train and having heard some disheartening revelations from Bahamut concerning what he has to look forward to. Given that he has had that talk with Bahamut, he'll be coming in rather subdued and a bit out of it. But also given his reticent nature, it's quite unlikely that he'll tell anyone, much less his castmates, about it with out a lot of pressure and prompting and taking time to process it himself. He hasn't spent nearly long enough marinating in the crystal to be rid of all his avoidant tendencies!
General Sample:
sample one: general chatter with Gladiolus
sample two: a more emotional look into Noct’s mind. Spoilers for post chapter 9
Emotion Sample:
[It’s been a month since he arrived in this world, and Noctis is finally starting to feel settled in: able to put the past (and the future) out of his mind for a while and to simply live. It helps, of course, that his friends are here too, and he really has no idea at all what he would do without them here. But they aren’t the only things that have helped him adjust and settle. While much of this world is unfamiliar and alien, there are a few things that remain constant, and one of them, one creature he has always loved? Is cats. And there are definitely plenty of cats here - even ones that can talk and post requests on the task boards, apparently!
Of course, cats are fickle things and don’t always deign to give even their most favored humans attention, but today Noctis has lucked out. Today a large fluffy tabby cat has allowed him to pet her and has even gone so far as to sit on his lap and purr. (It helps that he has given her fish every day for a week, but that’s not the point.) ]
Aren’t you a pretty thing? [The cat shifts, turning her head that he may better rub her illustrious head. Noctis laughs quietly.] I must have finally found your favorite fish, huh?
[She had been a particularly fussy cat to find the right food for... but it's totally worth it.
Anyone who knows Noctis overhearing the warmth and delight in his voice might be a bit taken aback given his tendency towards dryer tones, but he pays them no mind, instead simply basking in the simple joy of having a cat on his lap and running his fingers through her fur and scratching behind her tufted ears. Indeed, his joy is such that there is a palpable warmth around him and a number of small blue flowers have begun to sprout between the bricks at his feet as he sits on the front steps of the rented house he lives in.]
Questions:
I know this wasn't a particularly prompt
I MADE A MISTAKE
Date: 2017-01-08 02:34 am (UTC)