Characters of Final Fantasy XV
The main antagonist Ardyn Izunia is supported by the forces of Niflheim under emperor Iedolas Aldercapt and his chief scientist Verstael Besithia, Lunafreya's brother Ravus Nox Fleuret, and the mercenary dragoon Aranea Highwind.
Additional media and merchandise based upon the world and characters of XV have been produced, with its expanded media being dubbed the "Final Fantasy XV Universe": these include the original net animation Brotherhood, the CGI feature film Kingsglaive, numerous pieces of story-based downloadable content (DLC), and a novel The Dawn of the Future based on a cancelled second series of DLC.
[14][15] To help convey the road movie theme, the team created towns featuring both strange and familiar elements, taking inspiration from the opening scenes of Back to the Future Part II.
[26] The changeover from Versus XIII to XV resulted in the redesign of characters such as Regis, and the replacement of the previous main heroine Stella with the similarly named Lunafreya.
[32] To help maximize the realism of the characters, their hair was first created by a hairstylist using a mannequin's wig, then rendered into the game using the technology of the Luminous Studio engine.
[33] Ardyn, Gentiana, Iris, Aranea, Umbra, Cindy, Cid, and Verstael were designed by Roberto Ferrari, who had previously done work on Type-0 and was involved with the project from its earlier development as Versus XIII.
[37] Tabata thought of Cindy as a cheerful and active character, and believed that her appearance combined with such personality traits would not be problematic for audiences who might otherwise expect more modest clothing from her.
[38] The party's black garb were retained as a reference to the concepts of "death worship" present in Versus XIII, which were cut to avoid changing too much for regional censorship laws.
[58] Different issues raised later included Ignis' localized lines, which changed aspects of the character interaction, and the alteration of Cindy's name from the original "Cidney".
The game's localization methods ended up backfiring after release due to the dialogue matching mechanism for characters causing line repetition or omission.
[62][69][70] In The Dawn of the Future, Bahamut resurrects her to become a replacement for the rebellious Ardyn; despite initially falling in line, Lunafreya decides to rebel against his wish to purge Eos of life, ultimately surviving and reuniting with Noctis.
He is initially introduced as Niflheim's Imperial Chancellor, who is regarded as both its main political force running the empire and benefactor of its advances in Magitek technology.
[75][76] When Noctis reaches the Crystal, he reveals the truth of their kinship and his birth name as Ardyn Lucis Caelum (アーデン・ルシス・チェラム, Āden Rushisu Cheramu), a healer from an ancient era who cured Starscourge patients by taking it into his own body.
[64] When deciding upon Gladiolus' English vocal performance, Inoue's guideline was to make him sound like a young version of John McClane, the main protagonist of the Die Hard film series.
As the ruling king of Lucis, he safeguards the Crystal and protects Insomnia using a magical barrier called the Wall using the hereditary Ring of the Lucii.
The development team wanted to create a more expressive character and aged him to properly convey his exhaustion coming from his use of magic to uphold the kingdom's protective barrier.
[100] Regis is featured as the player character in the spin-off title A King's Tale, where he is accompanied by his steward Weskham Armaugh, his protector Clarus Amicitia, and his friend Cid Sophiar.
[91] In The Dawn of the Future, Aranea helps imperial citizens escape the capital of Niflheim, Gralea, and takes down a Diamond Weapon Ardyn brought to destroy it, later aiding Lunafreya and Noctis in their battle against Bahamut.
He is known as "the Immortal" (不死将軍, Fushi Shōgun), a name he earned as a teenager for being the only survivor of a Lucian squad that encountered the supernatural swordsman Gilgamesh, managing to cut off his arm despite losing his sword to him.
This was because the team decided to focus on the dynamics within the core group of similarly aged men, feeling that an older man would not be compatible with their plans.
[88][106][107] Cor's Japanese voice actor, Hiroki Tōchi, was originally cast as Noctis's chauffeur in Versus XIII before its transition to Final Fantasy XV.
[64][71] Ravus Nox Fleuret (レイヴス・ノックス・フルーレ, Reivusu Nokkusu Furūre) is Lunafreya's older brother and a former prince of Tenebrae, a formerly sovereign kingdom which Niflheim now occupies.
[11][91] More than thirty years before the game's events, Verstael uncovered the dormant Ifrit and freed Ardyn from his prison, seeing them as a means to end the war with Lucis and acquire immortality.
"Six Gods"), also called the Hexatheon, are six beings the people of Eos worship as deities, consisting of Bahamut, Shiva, Ifrit, Titan, Ramuh, and Leviathan.
[63] In the original lore of Versus XIII, inspired by the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries, god-like beings called the fal'Cie existed separately from the summons.
[135] In an article for ComicsVerse, Peter Swann noted that Final Fantasy XV's all-male cast helped challenge gender roles, focusing on Ignis's behavior during rest periods and the non-prejudice representation of Prompto's early obesity.
[142] IGN's Vince Ingenito said the relationships within Noctis's party gave the game its only heart, as he felt its supporting cast was underused and its romantic elements poorly written.
[145] Reviewing Kingsglaive, Meghan Sullivan of IGN said the voicework helped make the lead cast believable, but faulted its handling of the secondary characters.
[152] Jenni Lada, writing for Siliconera, felt that the additional backstory and interactions shown in Brotherhood helped the main game's narrative work.
[161] RPG Site's George Foster was very positive, saying the DLC "manages to turn a previously interesting, but oftentimes one-note villain, into a sympathetic figure".
