Final Fantasy XV character
, for short, is a character from Square Enix's "Final Fantasy" video game series. Noctis is a playable character and the main protagonist of "Final Fantasy XV", which was originally a spin-off titled "Final Fantasy Versus XIII". The crown prince and protector of Lucis, Noctis must reclaim his country's Crystal from the empire of Niflheim, going on a journey to become the True King of legend and save his world from darkness. Noctis has also appeared in the game's expanded media, "Final Fantasy" crossover titles and other games, including "Puzzle &amp; Dragons" and the fighting game "Tekken 7".
Noctis was created and co-designed by Tetsuya Nomura, with later revisions by Yusuke Naora. Nomura created Noctis as a type of protagonist that had not before been used in a leading role in the "Final Fantasy" series, focusing on realism. Hiromu Takahara, lead designer for Japanese fashion house Roen, designed Noctis' clothes to be asymmetric, mirroring the fashion house's trademark style, and indicative of the game's themes and atmosphere. Before his design was finalized, Noctis was given a story-inspired, temporary outfit that was used in early trailers.
Since being revealed, Noctis's appearance has been compared with those of other asocial characters in the series. Journalists have positively received Noctis, many of whom noted his growth during the story and contrasted him with other "Final Fantasy" protagonists. His appearances in the expanded media of "Final Fantasy XV" and other games have prompted various responses.
Appearances.
"Final Fantasy XV".
Noctis Lucis Caelum is the only son and heir of King Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII of Lucis. The Caelum dynasty safeguards the Crystal, an artifact connected to the Astrals, god-like protectors for the world of Eos. When he was five years old, the Crystal chose Noctis as the "True King", a prophesied figure who would purge Eos of the Starscourge, a plague that will trigger eternal darkness on Eos and turn living things into monstrous Daemons. At eight years old, Noctis is attacked by a Daemon and is sent to the nation of Tenebrae for healing, where he meets and bonds with its princess Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. Noctis and Regis are forced to flee Tenebrae when it is attacked by the Niflheim Empire. By the time of the events of "Final Fantasy XV", Niflheim has besieged Lucis and Regis agrees to a ceasefire. As part of the treaty, Noctis will marry Lunafreya; Regis dispatches him to Altissia where they are to be married. Following Noctis' departure, Niflheim attacks Lucis' capital Insomnia, steals the Crystal and kills Regis. Noctis, with his companions and sworn protectors Gladiolus Amicitia, Prompto Argentum and Ignis Scientia, set out on a quest to retrieve the Crystal and defeat Niflheim.
To fulfill his role, Noctis collects the Royal Arms—weapons of the ancient Lucian monarchs—from tombs across Lucis, and gains the blessing of the Astrals. He is in turn aided remotely by Lunafreya, and in person by her attendant Gentiana, and Niflheim's chancellor Ardyn Izunia. Ardyn is later revealed to be Ardyn Lucis Caelum, the immortal older brother of Noctis's ancestor Somnus, who sought to destroy both the Crystal and Somnus's bloodline after being corrupted by the Starscourge. Noctis gains the favor of the Astrals Titan and Ramuh, but Ardyn mortally wounds Lunafreya and disrupts the ritual to summon Leviathan. The dying Lunafreya helps Noctis subdue the rampaging Leviathan before giving him the Ring of the Lucii, an artifact through which he can access the Crystal's magic. Burdened by the death of Lunafreya and tormented by Ardyn, Noctis heads for Niflheim's capital Gralea.
Arriving in Gralea to find its population turned into Daemons, Noctis finds and is pulled into the Crystal, where he learns from the Astral Bahamut of the Providence ritual, where Noctis will sacrifice himself to use the combined power of the Crystal and the Astrals to destroy the Starscourge. Ten years later, Noctis awakens and reunites with his companions; they travel to Insomnia where they defeat the rogue Astral Ifrit and the enslaved Lucii before facing Ardyn. After defeating Ardyn in the physical world, Noctis sacrifices himself to fulfill his role as the True King, destroying Ardyn's spirit in the afterlife with the aid of the Lucii. In the game's mid-credits and post-credit scenes, Noctis confesses his feelings for his friends during a rest before the final battle, and reunites with Lunafreya in the afterlife.
"Final Fantasy XV"-related appearances.
Noctis is one of the main characters in ', an original net animation that follows his early life and the story of his companions. In the opening and concluding episodes, Noctis learns of the fall of Lucis and faces the Daemon that nearly killed him in his youth. The first and last episodes tie into the events of "Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV", a free tech demo showing Noctis' journey through a dreamworld during the near-death experience following the Daemon's attack. The game ' features a chibi Noctis as a playable character. Noctis briefly appears as a young child in a wheelchair in the 2016 CGI film "Kingsglaive", and during a post-credits scene at the beginning of his journey. He is also featured as a character in a manga anthology of stories based on the world of "Final Fantasy XV". "A King's Tale", which is set thirty years before the game's events, follows the exploits of Regis being told to a young Noctis as a fairy tale.
Noctis would have been the central character of a planned downloadable content (DLC) episode "Episode Noctis: The Final Strike", the finale of a planned tetralogy of DLC episodes that were titled "Dawn of the Future". The first installment, "Episode Ardyn", was published but the remaining episodes were canceled. Noctis plays a minor role in "Episode Ignis", in which the title character protects him from danger and can create an alternative ending in which Noctis remains as the living king after Ignis defeats Ardyn. In "Episode Prompto", Noctis expresses his guilt over being tricked by Ardyn into attacking Prompto, and plays a small role in "Episode Gladios".
The canceled DLC was used as the basis for the novel "", which begins with an alternative ending to "Episode Ardyn". In "The Dawn of the Future", Noctis enters the Crystal and learns the truth behind Ardyn's past and Lunafreya's role. Outside, Ardyn has defied his role, and Bahamut resurrects Lunafreya to gather power for an attack that will purge Eos of life. Noctis rebels against Bahamut, allowing Ardyn to complete the ritual of Providence in his place. While Ardyn destroys Bahamut's spiritual self, Noctis destroys Bahamut's physical form and saves Lunafreya. With both the Starscourge and magic gone from the world, the population sets about rebuilding and Noctis marries Lunafreya.
Other appearances.
Noctis appears as a guest character in "Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary", and as a playable character in the mobile spin-off "Final Fantasy Brave Exvius" and the crossover fighting game "Dissidia Final Fantasy NT". Noctis' appearance was delayed until the launch of "Final Fantasy XV". Noctis' original costume created by Nomura for the first trailers of "Versus XIII" is available as DLC. The Engine Blade also appears for to wield in "Nier Automata", while his design also appears in "Final Fantasy XIV".
Outside "Final Fantasy", Noctis appears as a DLC character in Bandai Namco's fighting game "Tekken 7" as a friend of Lars Alexandersson. Lars' voice actor, Junichi Suwabe, enjoyed the interactions between both Lars and Noctis. "Tekken" producer Katsuhiro Harada commented it was his idea to include Noctis within the game, resurrecting old concepts for a series crossover dating back to the original PlayStation era. Harada wanted to surprise fans by including an RPG character in a fighting game; he sought permission from Tabata to feature him in Namco's game. The developers wanted to emulate Noctis' techniques from "Final Fantasy XV" with their own hardware. He was created to be accessible to newcomers of the "Tekken" franchise. They received a model to follow from Square Enix. Besides Noctis' regular costume, he wears an original hooded outfit created by the Namco staff. More alternative outfits were created by Square Enix staff. Noctis was featured in a collaboration with "Puzzle &amp; Dragons". Bkub Okawa, author of the comedy manga "Pop Team Epic", parodied Noctis and Ignis as super deformed designs.
Creation and development.
Noctis was created and designed by Tetsuya Nomura, the original director of "Final Fantasy XV", which was originally titled "Final Fantasy Versus XIII" and was planned as a series of spin-offs within the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" sub-series. Nomura did not want Noctis to look strong but to be used to communicate the story's darkness, which caused some difficulties for the team. His full name loosely translates from Latin into "Light of [the] Night Sky"; his nickname "Noct" translates as "of the Night". Unlike Nomura's earlier protagonists, Noctis' name was not going to be based on the sky or weather. The character was named after Lightning, the main protagonist of "Final Fantasy XIII", was given a weather-based name. The name also referenced Sora, the main protagonist of the "Kingdom Hearts" series; "Sora" and "Caelum" both mean "sky" in their respective languages.
The character's clothing was designed by Hiromu Takahara, the main designer at Japanese fashion house Roen. Takahara's key inspiration for the clothing's style and coloring was "jet black", representing the game's atmosphere. Takahara used an asymmetrical style common to Roen's clothing lines. His outfit was designed to make Noctis look as though he went to a high-class public house. Roen created a set of real clothes and kept them in the office for reference by the developers; Nomura had been constantly asked by graphic artists which materials his characters' outfits were made from. A ring later known as the is central to the game's story; Noctis wears this on his right hand, whereas the gloves he wears are simply for "design purposes". When the game was first revealed, Noctis wore a temporary outfit while his final look was being created. The character's temporary clothing was based on the game's script to give a visual impression in trailers. Takahara also designed a formal suit for Noctis, which he wears in the original opening section of the game. All Roen designs, including Noctis' suit, were retained when "Versus XIII" was rebranded as "Final Fantasy XV" because the team felt the looks should not be changed.
While the game changed names, platforms and eventually directors, Nomura worked with new director Hajime Tabata to ensure Noctis remained as unchanged as possible in the final product. Art co-director Yusuke Naora supervised changes to his character model. The main goal was to make Noctis appear realistic, with blemishes on his face. A major goal was keeping the same character impression while making adjustments and enhancements because series fans already had a concept of the character. His hair shadow effects needed to be adjusted after an upgrade in technology so they did not cast too much shade on his face, while the hairstyle was kept consistent. His hairstyle was meant to look ordered from the front, but wild from the rear. To make his hair movements realistic, the team worked with a professional hairstylist to create the design using a mannequin's wig, then used the Luminous Engine to render it in real-time—a technique that was first used for the characters in the engine's 2012 tech demo "Agni's Philosophy".
Noctis's aging during the course of "Final Fantasy XV" was a major departure from typical Japanese role-playing game protagonists. The developers made the change despite fearing a poor reception from fans; Tabata said it "felt that it was important in communicating [the party's] development and wanting to express it in a way that we only can with the current generation of consoles". Designing Noctis' adult facial features, the team used photographs of war veterans and actors to add fine details to mature the character's expressions. His features were designed to be similar to Regis, reflecting the game's theme of the father-son relationship. Noctis' adult appearance was designed by Naora. A version of Noctis was incorporated into a new post-game version of the Yoshitaka Amano-designed logo. The logo was included based on a request by Noctis's Japanese voice actor Tatsuhisa Suzuki to include the character. This combined logo was described as representing both the beginning of a new journey, and the game's development history.
Speaking after the reveal of "Versus XIII", Nomura said the