Chapter Text
- Somehow, he dodged bullet on Somnus’ trap, escaped with Aera.
- Adryn vowed to cure the Starscourge and take the throne. They travel the world on this quest. Elope at some point.
- Aera ages. Ardyn doesn’t. He suffered a fatal wound and did not die. That’s how they figure out the “all but immortal” thing; this means Adryn will outlive his love, which they both pretend does not present a number of issues.
- Aera eventually dies. They never conceived a child. Adryn continues his dark and bumpy road; in the dark depression of losing his love, Ardyn’s heart grows a little colder. Everyday kindness reminds him of why he sought a cure in the first place: to save lives, and to become a good ruler. It is little, but even if he hated humanity, Ardyn has no other direction to go in other than the search for a cure.
- Fast forward several thousand years. As science and medicine advance, Ardyn inches closer and closer to his cure. He even helps modern medicine advance, but passes the credit off to another; even after all these years, Ardyn still lives on the run and in the shadows. No one knows who he is.
- Somnus erased the records, as in canon. Bitter and resentful, Ardyn does not cross the Lucian borders if he can help it. The holidays celebrating Somnus put him a foul mood, since no one knows that Somnus burnt people alive.
- Fast forward a thousand years. Ardyn must go to Lucis if he wants to advance the cure – the Lucians are now the forerunners, dammit – and so he pulls whatever strings he must to do so. With Somnus long dead, and the centuries blurring together, Ardyn is over most of his anger towards Lucis. You know, in that unfazed, patronizing way? He’s “over it.”
- Ardyn finally meets a descendant of Somnus. His resentment gave way to curiosity. They are… good people. Better than he expected.
- Ardyn reveals who he is to them, and presents information only he would have logically known. Secrets of the dungeons, the ancient kings’ tombs (he would keep note as they each kicked the bucket) etc. Ardyn is now kept close to the Lucian royal family and given even more resources than he anticipated when first crossing into Lucis. He expected neither of these results. It’s alarming, but Ardyn takes it all with charm and class. Anticipating a royal back-stabbing, he keeps his head down and eyes and ears sharp.
- Anyway, Ardyn is The Royal Secret for generations, all the way up until modern day. In that time, the line of Lucis proves relatively just and fair. Occasionally, he has to manipulate someone to prevent tyranny. But by the time Regis comes into the world, Ardyn sees great promise, and might even (dare he say it) feel a little proud of these descendants.
- And at last, he’s done it: a cure. It’s an unexpected mix of modern medicine and some alchemy; one main ingredient is Sylleblossoms. Now, how to get a solid trade of those? Ardyn sets his eyes on Niflheim, which rose into an empire recently (last couple-hundred years) and took Tenebrae.
- Ardyn tells the current king (Regis’ father) that he will be gone for a time. Six months of complete radio silence (and young Regis asking where Uncle Ardyn went), and Niflhiem all but implodes on itself. Empire collapses like a bouncy castle, loses 70% of their territory and all control of other countries, and suddenly Tenebrae is offering a serious, long-term trade deal on Sylleblossoms.
- Wonder how that happened.
- By the time Noctis is born, the Starscourge is all but contained. The plague can be eliminated if you catch it in the early stages. In later stages, well, you’ve now got a chronic condition that it only keeps under wraps. Ardyn takes it for his own infection and for the first time in a long time feels strong gratitude. He does not take this for granted.
- Someone decides that it’s time for Ardyn to come out of hiding; an uncomfortable move for the Immortal Uncle, but we’re now in the era of digital technology and smartphones and cameras everywhere.
- It’s inevitable. Regis arranges a public announcement and everything, and it takes the world by storm.
- Every time someone shows doubt of Adryn’s immortality in his presence, he grandly offers to demonstrate, “Who has a knife? Crownsguard, would you graciously lend me your blade?” The Crownsguard is sweating bullets. Regis has to step in.
- A legal document listing Ardyn’s power as a member of the Royal Family is furiously drafted that afternoon, complete with the clause: No Crownsguard member is under obligation to assist Adryn Izunia-Lucis Caelum with harm unto himself or others. If ordered to do so and circumstances indicate that Ardyn may self-inflict damage resulting in major injury or failure of the heart, lungs, brain, or nervous system (henceforth known as “killing”) they by law cannot do so.
- And that’s the backstory for Weird Uncle Ardyn. He’s still shrewd, humourous, overly civil and unfazed, eccentric and performative, manipulative when he needs to be, but ultimately Chaotic Good, and gives the little princes and princesses piggy-back rides if they’ve been good. He’s the life of every party.
- His next goal is to find a way to pull out his soul from the crystal. Every man has his time, and he’s ready for that last adventure. But until then, he’ll read to little Noctis and console Regis on the woes of parenting when needed. It’s almost like Ardyn has had many children, if you count all the prince/sses he watched grow up.
- One last note: when revealed to the public, a detail of his story was tweaked. Instead of being the older brother of Somnus, he was from the third or fourth generation after. This request was made by Ardyn so no one asked him any awkward or angering questions about the one man everyone worshipped.