History Characters / FinalFantasyXVKingdomOfLucis

* BadassBeard: Wore a neatly trimmed beard in his prime, and was a MasterSwordsman to boot. He still proves capable of holding his own during battles, even with his advanced age.

* DisappointedByTheMotive: Combined with DisappointedInYou and BrokenPedestal. Nyx is clearly saddened by Drautos, a man he looked up to as a strong leader and mentor, being as childishly naive as he is, revealing he betrayed Lucis because [[TheEmpire Niflheim]] apparently promised him back his homeland, which they themselves had stolen in the first place. Nyx outright shakes his head pityingly and correcting Drautos, informing him he has been duped.

** Arguably the victim of this meta-wise. Many players, especially those who haven't read ''The Dawn of the Future,'' sided with Ardyn as the last playable character and lumped Somnus in with [[spoiler:Bahamut]] as the BiggerBad of the game after ''Episode Ardyn'' released.
--> '''[[https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0 Toru Osanai]]:''' Even if he is envious of his older brother, we wanted to show that Somnus has his own sense of righteousness and that he was doing it for the people, but due to length restrictions, we weren’t able to include as much of that as we would’ve liked. [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Both the anime and the game are centered around Ardyn, and from his perspective, Somnus is the enemy, so Somnus ended up being depicted in that manner.]] [...] In the early stages of the anime, we made Somnus a fairly good person. But if we left it that way, it would’ve been difficult to understand why Ardyn detests the royal family as much as he does.

--> '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaApHnC8gOU Toru Osanai]]:''' As for the brothers, Somnus and Ardyn, it wasn't bad at all in their childhood. As mentioned before, they would play chess together when they were young and Somnus actually looked up to Ardyn. [[BigBrotherInstinct Ardyn also took great care of his competitive little brother Somnus.]] So they got along really well when they were young.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Whereas his brother traveled the country curing people of the Starscourge, Somnus merely rounded up the infected and set them on fire. If the townsfolk are to be believed, ''many weren't even infected.'' He simply had to suspect it for many innocents to be condemned to a horrible and gruesome death.[[note]]This may have been a result of comparing his methods to Ardyn's. According to ''The Dawn of the Future,'' Ardyn believed in saving every single infected with his powers alone whereas Somnus believed doing so was impossible and also unfair to the people. Of course, the people favored Ardyn's gentler method, leading to Somnus gaining a [[HeroWithBadPublicity reputation for ruthlessness]].[[/note]] In the end this didn't even stop the Starscourge despite the brutality, it merely went dormant for a time before returning.

* DarkIsNotEvil / DarkIsEvil: The reason why black is the color of the royal family and all related to it, is because it's what Somnus wore and as ruthless as he was, [[WellIntentionedExtremist he had reasons to be so]]. [[spoiler:Ardyn would argue for him being the cause of his misery, though, and since he's playable along with Noctis, both tropes would be correct.]] As the Mystic, he's more LightIsNotGood / LightIsGood instead.

--> [[spoiler:"The gods blessed you as their chosen. The people adored you as their savior. I was never powerful nor popular...just envious, perhaps. I yearned desperately to be special, yet I had nothing to set me apart. Nothing at all."]]

-->"He's become the monster I made him out to be."

--> '''Toru Osanai:''' Ardyn's and Somnus' passages through time are completely different. After Ardyn was gone, Somnus established a nation and spent a long time protecting his people, all while carrying feelings of guilt at having done his brother wrong. On the other hand, Ardyn was imprisoned for about 2000 years without any knowledge of this, bringing about his "what makes you think you can apologize?!" sort of reaction. [[IntendedAudienceReaction His lines were intended to make the player feel the same emotions as him.]]

* SadisticChoice: Fond of doling these out to mortals in return for their aid. In Nyx's case it cost him his life, in Ignis' case it costs him his eyes.

** Arguably the victim of this meta-wise. Many players, especially those who haven't read ''The Dawn of the Future,'' sided with Ardyn as the last playable character and lumped Somnus in with [[spoiler:Bahamut]] as the BiggerBad of the game when ''Episode Ardyn'' released.

** Arguably the victim of this meta-wise. Many players, especially those who haven't read ''The Dawn of the Future,'' sided with Ardyn as the last playable character and lumped Somnus in with Bahamut as the BiggerBad of the game when ''Episode Ardyn'' released.

--> '''Toru Osanai:''' As for the brothers, Somnus and Ardyn, it wasn't bad at all in their childhood. As mentioned before, they would play chess together when they were young and Somnus actually looked up to Ardyn. [[BigBrotherInstinct Ardyn also took great care of his competitive little brother Somnus.]] So they got along really well when they were young.

--> Toru Osanai: Ardyn's and Somnus' passages through time are completely different. After Ardyn was gone, Somnus established a nation and spent a long time protecting his people, all while carrying feelings of guilt at having done his brother wrong. On the other hand, Ardyn was imprisoned for about 2000 years without any knowledge of this, bringing about his "what makes you think you can apologize?!" sort of reaction. [[IntendedAudienceReaction His lines were intended to make the player feel the same emotions as him.]]

--> [[https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0 Toru Osanai]]: Even if he is envious of his older brother, we wanted to show that Somnus has his own sense of righteousness and that he was doing it for the people, but due to length restrictions, we weren’t able to include as much of that as we would’ve liked. [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Both the anime and the game are centered around Ardyn, and from his perspective, Somnus is the enemy, so Somnus ended up being depicted in that manner.]] [...] In the early stages of the anime, we made Somnus a fairly good person. But if we left it that way, it would’ve been difficult to understand why Ardyn detests the royal family as much as he does.

--> [[spoiler: ''(after being defeated in Insomnia)''\\
'''Somnus:''' What I did to you was unforgivable, but I did it for the future of our kingdom--of our people.\\

* {{Jerkass}}: [[spoiler:Taunting your brother after killing his fiancée? Dick move, Somnus]].

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:In ''Episode Ardyn: Prologue,'' he is said to burn innocent people alive for ''possibly'' being infected with the Starscourge and imprisons his brother for 2000 years, though admittedly, the former is clarified in ''Dawn of the Future'' with him seeing the exterminations as necessary in light of the lack of a cure and the implausibility of having Ardyn heal every single Starscourge victim. He gets to spend the rest of his life as the king of Lucis, no indication is given that he ever paid for his crimes in any way, and it's not even made clear that anyone ever found out what an ass he was even after his death.]]

-->"He's become the monster I made him out to be."''
** ''Episode Ardyn,'' ''Dawn of the Future,'' and a [[WordOfGod developer]] [[https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0 interview]] confirm that he feels this towards [[spoiler:having to kill Ardyn for the throne.]]

** Arguably the victim of this meta-wise as many players, especially those who haven't read ''The Dawn of the Future,'' side with Ardyn and lump Somnus in with Bahamut as the BiggerBad of the game when ''Episode Ardyn'' released.

* DarkIsNotEvil/DarkIsEvil: The reason why black is the color of the royal family and all related to it, is because it's what Somnus wore and as ruthless as he was, [[WellIntentionedExtremist he had reasons to be so]]. [[spoiler:Ardyn would argue for him being the cause of his misery, though, and since he's playable along with Noctis, both tropes would be correct.]] As the Mystic, he's more LightIsNotGood/LightIsGood instead.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Confirmed with his admission of jealousy at the end of ''Episode Ardyn'' and by a developer interview that Somnus .]]

** ''Episode Ardyn'' and ''Dawn of the Future'' confirm that he feels this towards [[spoiler:having to kill Ardyn for the throne.]]
--> [[https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0 Toru Osanai]]: Ardyn's and Somnus' passages through time are completely different. After Ardyn was gone, Somnus established a nation and spent a long time protecting his people, all while carrying feelings of guilt at having done his brother wrong. On the other hand, Ardyn was imprisoned for about 2000 years without any knowledge of this, bringing about his "what makes you think you can apologize?!" sort of reaction. [[IntendedAudienceReaction His lines were intended to make the player feel the same emotions as him.]]

--> [[spoiler:''(after being defeated by Ardyn in Insomnia and explaining his betrayal)''\\
'''Somnus:''' [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone I dare not ask for your forgiveness,]] but I do ask [[IDidWhatIHadToDo your understanding.]]\\

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Whereas his brother traveled the country curing people of the Starscourge, Somnus merely rounded up the infected and set them on fire. If the townsfolk are to be believed, ''many weren't even infected.'' He simply had to suspect it for many innocents to be condemned to a horrible and gruesome death. In the end this didn't even stop the Starscourge despite the brutality, it merely went dormant for a time before returning.

* CainAndAbel: The relationship between Somnus and Ardyn is played with a lot in this regard. [[spoiler: Somnus was always jealous of the popular and pious Ardyn who was favored by the Gods with healing abilities and favored as the one who would become the King. However it is revealed Somnus was the one the Gods had chosen to be the King all along and was given the duty of imprisoning his brother so that he may be destroyed by his descendant the True King. To this end, Somnus tries to make excuses for himself to justify what he feels is his duty to his people over his brother.]]

* DarkIsEvil: The reason why black is the color of the royal family and all related to it, is because it's what Somnus wore and he was an extremely ruthless individual. As the Mystic, he's more LightIsNotGood instead.
* FinalBoss: Of ''Episode Ardyn'', and from a meta perspective, due to the cancellation of Epsiodes Aranea, Lunafreya and Noctis; ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' as a whole.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:His betrayal of Ardyn was a major reason as to why Ardyn desires the death of the Lucis royal line (and, until then, a major reason for Noct and friends' suffering until then)]].

--> [[spoiler:''(having an epiphany over the true motivation behind his actions while getting a ReasonYouSuckSpeech from Ardyn during their violent reunion))''\\
'''Somnus:''' The gods blessed you as their chosen. The people adored you as their savior. I was never powerful nor popular...just envious, perhaps. I yearned desperately to be special, yet I had nothing to set me apart. Nothing at all.]]
* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Episode Ardyn'', he admits that he was always jealous of his brother and that he screwed him over and turned him into the monster he is today.]]

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: In the present he's remembered as the Founder King, who established the Caelum line after the Gods chose him to be a savior, and he traveled the world with the Oracle saving people from the Starscourge. [[spoiler:In reality he was a pawn of the Astrals meant to become the progenitor of the dynasty that would produce Noctis and was to imprison his brother in Angelgard by the will of the capricious Gods.]]

** The novel clarifies and showcases this further [[spoiler:where he makes points about how his brother lets his chosen nature blind him to how he's not able to save everyone, and that his compassion and idealism were becoming a danger in themselves as it ended up vilifying his own actions. While its made clear he was truly motivated solely by jealously with these opinion, even Ardyn after being imprisoned came to the same realization.]] As with the above, however, his solution to the problem is itself temporary, showing how neither brothers solution was permanent by itself.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:He burns innocent people alive for ''possibly'' being infected with the Starscourge and imprisons his brother for 2000 years. He gets to spend the rest of his life as the king of Lucis, no indication is given that he ever paid for his crimes in any way, and it's not even made clear that anyone ever found out what an ass he was even after his death.]]

-->[[spoiler:''(witnessing Ardyn succumb to the Starscourge after Aera's HeroicSacrifice)]] "He's become the monster I made him out to be."''
** ''Episode Ardyn'' confirms that he feels this towards [[spoiler:having to kill Ardyn for the throne.]]
* NominalHero: [[spoiler:The only thing that makes him remotely heroic is what he was opposing: the utterly horrifying Starscourge, and in the present, his own fallen brother. The latter is more or less ''not'' a case, as [[CreateYourOwnVillain it was his fault that he had fallen to those depths in the first place]].]]

* WhatIsOneMansLifeInComparison: He was compelled when [[spoiler:the Astrals made him King to imprison his brother and demonize him so that he would become [[KeystoneArmy keystone of the starscourge]] even when jealous of his elder brother, Somnus's dialogue implies it broke his heart to do what he did to Ardyn but had to for the sake of the world]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:According to WordOfGod, his desire for the throne was rooted in a completely genuine desire to protect the world, and everything he did in his eyes was for the greater good. He also took no pleasure in his coup. This heavily clashes with his downright glee at betraying Ardyn in the film.]]

[[center:[-[[Characters/FinalFantasyXV Main Index]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVPartyMembers Main Party Members]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVGuestPartyMembers Guest Party Members]] | '''Kingdom of Lucis''' | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVOtherAllies Other Allies]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVEmpireOfNiflheim Empire of Niflheim]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVAstralsCreaturesAndOtherBeings Astrals and Other Creatures/Beings]]-]]]

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Takes down Niflheim's extremely powerful and dangerous [[TheHeavy Imperial General]] in single combat, at the cost of his own life.

* GodzillaThreshold: With the Diamond Weapons tearing Insomnia apart, the treacherous Glaives killing the loyalists, and himself on the brink of death with Glauca charging forward to murder him and Lunafreya, Nyx wields the Ring of the Lucii. While the kings believe that a commoner such as him is unworthy, the newest king, Regis vouches for him, calling him an outstanding warrior. It isn't until Nyx openly laughs at the kings and calls them out on their cowardice that they grant him the power of kings. Of course, the price of the pact is a [[HeroicSacrifice heavy one]].

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Hence his InSeriesNickname. It seems Nyx constantly feels like he has to save others, which he shows from the start by saving Pelna and Libertus despite receiving orders to withdraw. Nyx claims he does this because he failed to save his mother and sister in the past, and it clearly still haunts him.

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Takes down Niflheim's extremely powerful and dangerous[[TheHeavy Imperial General]] in single combat, at the cost of his own life.

* DisappointedByTheMotive: Combined with DisappointedInYou and BrokenPedestal. Nyx is clearly saddened by Drautos, a man he looked up to as a leader and mentor, being as childishly naive as he is, revealing he betrayed Lucis because [[TheEmpire Niflheim]] apparently promised him back his homeland, outright shaking his head pityingly and correcting Drautos, informing him he has been duped.

* EtTuBrute: His reaction when he learns of Drautos's intentions to reclaim his hometown even if it means betraying Lucis.

* FamousLastWords: To Nyx, after getting stabbed to death:
-->'''Regis''': Go...

* FamousLastWords: His last words were expressing how [[FaceDeathWithDignity he was content with his death]] and his hope that Noctis would be a magnanimous and noble sovereign:
-->'''Nyx''': Not the worst way to go. Rule well, young King.

* ArcVillain: With ''Episode Ardyn Prologue'' taken into account, and in the novelization in general, he's this to ''Episode Ardyn'', being ultimately responsible for Ardyn's ProtagonistJourneyToVillain aside from Bahamut's machinations.

* WeakButSkilled: He's the penultimate boss of Episode Ardyn, and he more than shows that AuthorityEqualsAsskicking, being this compared to Ardyn. In fact, in the novelized version of the events, Ardyn himself suggested that, had he not been the HumanoidAbomination he is, Regis could've easily won.

* GodzillaThreshold: With the Weapons tearing Insomnia apart, the treacherous Glaives killing the loyalists, and himself on the brink of death, Nyx wields the Ring of the Lucii. While the kings believe that a commoner such as him is unworthy, the newest king, Regis vouches for him, calling him an outstanding warrior. It isn't until Nyx openly laughs at the kings and calls them out that they grant him the power of kings. Of course, the price of the pact is a heavy one...

* PoorCommunicationKills: If he had told the truth to his glaives of his true plans and motivations for what he was doing, the greater threat to the world that was the Starscourge, most of them likely wouldn't have turned on him the way they did, thinking he was a selfish, uncaring ruler.