i would also like to thank trash king izunia for forcing me to finally learn how to draw ruffles... 

FFXV | EPISODE ARDYN

FFXV | ARDYN 

Star Wars?? In my Final Fantasy??? 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Consider:

[In Niflheim]

Ardyn: [sniffing back a runny nose and wrapping his many layers tighter around himself] How are you not freezing?!

Ravus: Your suffering is enough to keep my spirits warm.

FFXV Comrades | The Mystic’s Sigil: Graviton 

I found this to be extremely interesting! In FFXV: Comrades, Somnus’s unlock is “Graviton,” which allows you to summon what they explicitly label as a ‘black hole.’ For me, it offers an intriguing juxtaposition between what we know of Somnus and Ardyn's differences in personality, role, and affinity with their people. Black holes exhibit such strong gravitational effects that nothing (not even light) is known to be able to escape from them. And black holes do not reflect light, either. Which is, IMO, an odd ability for a King of Light to possess. Especially since it would be contrasted with Ardyn’s healing abilities. I wonder if one brother’s power might have been specialized in destruction (Somnus) while the other’s was mending (Ardyn). And yet their roles reversed when Ardyn was rejected by the Crystal. There’s so much I want to know about these two.

Can we talk about this symbol?

It’s sprinkled all throughout FFXV, and I’m just going to go ahead and assume it was a rune or emblem denoting Solheim (and to an extent, interdimensional travel) for fic writing purposes if there’s no concrete evidence otherwise.

Here’s my reasoning:

Under the “Etymology and symbolism” tab on the wiki for Solheim, it states that:

“Sol is the Latin and Spanish name of the main-sequence star of the synonymous Sol System, called the Sun in English. Heim is German for ‘home.’”

OK. So, I’m like, basically “Sun Home.” Cool. Maybe that’s why Eos is called Eos - after the name of the Titaness and Goddess of the Dawn?

The wiki also mentions that “the center of the Solheim empire was in the region between modern day Duscae and Cleigne.” That’s where you can find Steyliff, Costlemark, and Pitioss: three dungeons that can only be entered at night (absence of sunlight/dawn) and each of these dungeons bear the same symbol that (to me, at least) resembles the solar system - sun at the center and several other planets encircling it. I wonder what those other planets (dimensions?) are.

The symbol in question can also be found in the deepest part of Costlemark (not including the Menace quest) on the machinery in the room where the Jabberwock and royal arm are. The screenshot is included above.

But why can these dungeons only be entered at night? Perhaps because each bears a dark secret that should never see the light of day?

The Costlemark Tower wiki confirms that “Costlemark was once part of the ancient civilization of Solheim, but now lies in ruin along with its arcane technology.”

Likewise, “It is unknown how old Pitioss Ruins are, but the construct is part of the ancient civilization of Solheim that fell 2000 years ago.”

And “[Steyliff’s] mystical ruins are related to the ancient civilization of Solheim.”

But that’s not all.

*Spoilers for the Royal Edition ending ahead*

The same symbol is used as a so-called interdimensional portal that Omega comes out of.

Prompto: “What kind of interdimensional nonsense is this!?”

Gladio: “Bad interdimensional nonsense, I’d say.”

Gentiana drops in quickly to say: “Man forges a weapon to fell the Gods: ‘Omega.’”

To which Ignis responds: “Legends tell of such a device created in antiquity, but I always assumed those were mere myths.”

That Prompto and Gladio even mention Omega is not of their world is what I feel is key here. It means they know something that the game does not explicitly tell us, and we need to either uncover it ourselves, or wait for it to be explained in future DLC or through some other medium.

This whole scene, to me, suggests that Ardyn (perhaps with the aid of Ifrit?) was capable of summoning this enemy from some other time or dimension where he could gain access to ancient Solheim. The thing is, if Ardyn was truly able to somehow wrench this ancient thing from a completely different time or dimension, that could also suggest he, himself, might be capable of interdimensional travel. And what else could be in these different dimensions? What could he have seen? Different timelines? Different outcomes? Was this the one he chose?

Also, while on the note of travel and portals, stepping on these symbols when they appear on the golden plates in dungeons can force Noct to teleport elsewhere, as well as trigger certain events.

Finally, as a bit of a bonus, the same (or very similar) type of machinery as the one inside Costlemark can be found at the Imperial bases in Insomnia’s ruins, minus the symbol, as Niflheim had been using Solheim tech as something like a jumping off point for quite some time.

Feel free to add on to this and discuss (while being respectful to others, pls!). I really do want to know your thoughts and get different perspectives.

Ardyn as king sketch.

Ko-fi

Face sketching tips

I’ve been meaning to put together a short tutorial/drawing tips post for a while, so, I figured why not use the piece I’m currently working on? I’m by no means a pro, but I hope this helps someone! These are some rules I pretty much always abide by no matter who I’m drawing.

TIP 1: When sketching out your jaw and cheekbones, take into consideration their relativity to each other. It’ll help keep things symmetrical. With an angle like I have drawn Ardyn’s face here, it’s (hopefully) easy to see that his jaw and the top of his cheekbone form a diagonal line, the bottom of which will create a straight line that passes through the mouth to the other side of the jaw. It kind of forms a right triangle. 

TIP 2: Laying out the sides of the face will help make sure your proportions are even. It’s especially helpful when drawing faces at an angle. I always map out the tops and bottoms of the cheekbones, as well as the chin. 

TIP 3: Your pupils will generally also line up with the corners of your mouth, no matter the angle you’re drawing from. 

TIP 4: USE REFERENCE IMAGES. I have a bunch of screenshots I took from my game clips open right now. For whatever reason, people seem to think your art/talent is somehow lesser/mediocre if you say you used a reference??? Buuuuuuuulllll. I can’t remember what shape Ardyn’s eyebrows are off the top of my head, and I have taken so many photos of my own darn hands as reference for my art because I don’t know how the heck fingers work sometimes. And if it’s the first time I’m drawing a certain person/thing, I always devote time to finding multiple references of the thing I’m trying to draw from a few different angles, so that I feel I understand the thing. Have some google image searches open, create a collage like this one above and study it, whatever!

TIP 5: If something seems like it’s missing or doesn’t look quite right, but you can’t figure out what, step away. Go eat, drink some water, play a video game, take a walk, read, work on something else, etc., and come back to it. Chances are, giving your eyes a rest and seeing the piece again when you’re refreshed will allow you to see where you went wrong, or will allow time to inspire you anew.

TIP 6: Maybe these tips will be helpful to you, maybe they won't, and that’s totally cool either way. Do whatever makes your own creative process most enjoyable. Listen to music, or don’t; make ridiculous faces to nail down the expression you’re trying to portray, or don’t. Whatever helps you get there, and create the pieces you can be proud of and makes you feel good, that’s what you should do. 

Stills of some of Ardyn’s expressions throughout this scene for reference. His face goes through quite a journey when you really follow him closely!  

“Well, they’ve shown you their favor after all...” 

Massive Ardyn Headcanon/Theory Dump Ahead.

Until it’s proven otherwise, my headcanon for where the name “Izunia” came from is that it was the name of Ardyn’s late lover. 

I believe Ardyn chose ‘Izunia’ because it meant something to him once. So, it brought me to the conclusion that he took on their name much like married people do. His other motives for doing this are many, depending on the multitude of things that could have happened to him. 

Perhaps it’s as simple as that... he took on the name in remembrance of his deceased love. I have no doubt that they did not die painlessly. But he likely also decided to use another name because he clearly needed an alias, and that was as good as any. Or, it was out of spite if his love betrayed him - theirs being the deepest cut of all when the world turned on him. 

Closeup of “The Accursed”