Moving Pictures: Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn - Prologue

As the final entry to my series of watching all the Final Fantasy movies, Original Video Animations (OVAs), and anime, I watched Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn - Prologue. Similar to Final Fantasy XV: Brotherhood, it focuses on the background of Final Fantasy XV’s antagonist Ardyn Izunia. Set 2,000 years before Noctis’ story, Episode Ardyn - Prologue was released as a short promotional film prior to the release of the Episode Ardyn DLC.

The OVA makes it clear that Ardyn parallels Noctis in many ways. For example, he is engaged to the Oracle, Aera Mirus Fleuret, who has to await the decision on who will be Eoss king: Ardyn or Somnus Lucis Caelum (his younger brother). Prior to the series, Ardyn worked as a Healer, looking after the sick who are corrupted by Daemonic energy, absorbing it to ensure that they retained their humanity. However, this served to be his eventual downfall.

Both Somnus and Ardyn have differing views on how to save Eos from the scourge of Daemons, with Somnus willing to massacre those who are infected. However, Ardyn doesn’t agree with this, and is branded a traitor by his younger brother for his convictions. If you only watch the OVA, it seems like Somnus is more focused on becoming King than anything, and his personality isn’t quite so developed. For example, when striking down Aera and killing her, he seems to have no remorse. However, he doesn’t seem to take pleasure in his older brother becoming consumed with Daemonic energy.

Overall, it’s just a short OVA. It’s under 15 minutes long, and, with that, I would say that it does have an unreliable narration from Ardyn’s point of view. After all, according to canon, Somnus was the same King who made the Lucis Caelum bloodline who they are today. Plus, his character model clearly resembles his descendant, Noctis; however, outside of that, the two don’t appear to share much in common. With that said, if we look at the OVA from Ardyn’s point of view, it explains why Ardyn spent so much time plotting his revenge against the descendants of the Royal Family.

It does a good job of explaining Ardyn’s immortality, and it makes me interested in (finally) getting around to playing the Episode Ardyn DLC. For the most part, that was the main job of the short film, and the team at Satelight (the animation studio in charge of the OVA) did a good job of creating the prologue.

I’d recommend watching Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn - Prologue before getting around to the Episode Ardyn DLC. But, again, it’s another short anime that wouldn’t really be of much interest to those who aren’t already invested in Final Fantasy XV’s storyline.