Ring of the Lucii

The Ring of the Lucii , also known as the Ring of legend and the Ring of Light, is a key item in the Final Fantasy XV Universe that appears in Final Fantasy XV and the feature film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. It harbors the souls of the past kings of Lucis and lets the wearer channel the power of Eos's Crystal. It is handed down from generation to generation and grants its immense power only to those it deems worthy at the cost of a blood price.
According to legend, the Ring of the Lucii was bestowed upon the kings of Lucis by the gods. According to the Final Fantasy XV Ultimania, Astrals created the ring of light, and it exists as proof of the rightful successor to the throne.
==Story==
The Cosmogony books that chronicle the legends of Eos posit that before falling into eternal slumber, the Six gave mankind a ring. The ring is said to have passed from person to person, but none were fit to inherit its power. It eventually found its way into the hands of a person deemed worthy, whom people thus saw fit to rule, and he became the first king of Lucis. This tale might be folklore, as Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn – Prologue shows a different version of the king's crowning, the gods choosing one directly. In Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn, Verstael Besithia writes in his journal that according to legend the Astral Bahamut chose a king to lead Lucis and bestowed upon him the fabled ring as well as the Crystal.
The ring has been passed down the royal generations and is worn by the reigning king. The kings' calling is to protect the Crystal until it crowns a Chosen King from their bloodline, who is prophesied to save the world from darkness. The ring also gives the reigning monarch the power to command the Old Wall, twelve monolithic statues erected in the Crown City that house the souls of past kings.
A hundred-and-fifty years ago, the king of that time erected a magical barrier across Lucis to keep it safe from the Niflheim Empire, which became known as the Wall, and in time knowledge of the "Old Wall" faded from public consciousness. The king upholds the magic barrier with the power of the Ring of the Lucii, but doing so drains the king's own life-force.
Mors Lucis Caelum strengthened the Wall by concentrating its power to cover only the Crown City of Insomnia, as Niflheim had become more powerful after making use of daemon-harvested miasma to power their magitek forces. The outlands were left vulnerable as the Great War intensified. Mors's son Regis inherited the kingdom. As told in Episode Ardyn, in M.E. 734, Ardyn Izunia infiltrated Insomnia in disguise to have Regis summon the Old Wall. The two dueled and Ardyn overpowered Regis, whose Ring of the Lucii began to shine as the Mystic's statue activated. Ardyn had his victory against the Mystic, but was denied the full extent of his revenge on the Founder King's bloodline when Bahamut intervened and spirited him away.
Upholding the Wall accelerates Regis's aging, and after thirty years of holding the Wall with the ring's power, he looks beyond his fifty years and his health is failing. Chancellor Ardyn Izunia of Niflheim manipulates Emperor Aldercapt into thirsting for the Crystal's power, who comes to believe he could rule the world with it. Aldercapt becomes obsessed with the idea of getting the Crystal and the ring, but is not the only one: Deputy High Commander Ravus Nox Fleuret, who holds a grudge against Lucis and King Regis for their supposed betrayal of Tenebrae, wants to be chosen by the Crystal and accepted by the ring to save the world, despite not being of the prophesied bloodline.
As told in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Niflheim's higher ups orchestrate Insomnia's fall and steal the Crystal in M.E. 756, while Imperial General Glauca severs the Ring of the Lucii from King Regis's hand. Ravus picks it up and attempts to obtain its power, but is deemed unworthy, and drops the ring as his left arm is severely burned. Taking the ring with him, Regis flees down a secret passageway with Nyx Ulric—a member of the Kingsglaive, his royal guard—and Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Ravus's sister who supports Regis and believes his son Prince Noctis is the Chosen King. Once clear of Niflheim's forces, Regis gives the Ring of the Lucii to Lunafreya and asks her to deliver it to his son.
Nyx and Lunafreya flee to the streets of Insomnia. In Section D Nyx is attacked by one of his fellow Glaives, Luche Lazarus, who has betrayed the crown and now seeks the Ring of the Lucii. Luche is tricked into putting it on by Lunafreya and is burned alive. Nyx's superior, Titus Drautos, reveals himself to be Glauca, and attempts to claim the ring. Nyx puts it on and finds himself in another dimension, where he speaks to the deceased Lucian kings and faces their judgment.
When the kings see Nyx fight for the future, along with the spirit of King Regis's urging for his favor, they grant him their power in exchange for a life. Unwilling to sacrifice anyone else, Nyx offers his own. He passes the ring to Lunafreya for safekeeping, then uses the Ring of the Lucii's power to engage Glauca and command the Old Wall, whose statues animate across Insomnia to defeat the imperial forces. The resulting battle sees Glauca fatally stabbed by Nyx, with the empire's Diamond Weapons destroyed by the summoned effigies of the past kings and queens of Lucis. Nyx dies at dawn as part of the blood price of using the ring's powers.
After Lunafreya escapes Insomnia, she reunites with her three Messengers outside the city gates. She is exhausted, but has the Ring of the Lucii. She eventually makes her way to Altissia where she speaks with her brother Ravus. She asks him to take the ring to Noctis as she is collapsing from the strain of her duties, but he turns away at the sight of it, and says delivering the ring to the Chosen King is her duty.
Noctis reunites with Lunafreya in Altissia during Leviathan's Revelation. Niflheim disrupts the summoning and attacks the city, Lunafreya is fatally stabbed by Ardyn, and Noctis passes out from the strain of taking on Leviathan's trial. He finds himself in a dreamlike dimension with his betrothed, Lunafreya. He grieves over his inability to save her, but she comforts him and gives him the Ring of the Lucii before fading.
As told in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis, General Brigadier Caligo Ulldor makes it his mission to capture the ring despite Ravus's warnings that only the king can wield it. Noctis's friend, Ignis Scientia, teams up with Ravus, and they find the unconscious Noctis and the perished Lunafreya at the Altar of the Tidemother.
Ardyn ambushes them, disables Ravus, and threatens Noctis with a dagger when the ring falls from Noctis's listless grasp. Ignis picks it up when Ardyn is distracted by a retaliating Ravus, and puts it on, ready to pay a blood price to gain its power to save his friend. His eyes are burned and Ignis defeats Ardyn with the power of the ring. Days later, Noctis awakens in the Altissia hotel with the ring in his grasp, unaware how Ignis lost his vision. Though determined to continue on his journey, he refuses to wear the ring, feeling the burden of it overwhelming.
In Gralea, the capital of Niflheim, Noctis is forced to adorn the ring when his powers cease, and wields it to fight the daemons and magitek troops at Zegnautus Keep. When he finds the Crystal imprisoned within, he is pulled inside it when he touches it in an attempt to use its power. He is dragged to "the beyond", where Bahamut explains that the purpose of the ring is to grant the True King the power of Providence, which harnesses the light of the crystal and the kings of yore to cleanse the Starscourge at the cost of the king's life. A decade later, Noctis returns and travels to Insomnia where he uses the ring to commune with his ancestors before ascending the throne and giving his life.
As the kings of Lucis die, their souls come to dwell inside the ring.Loading screen for the Ring of the Lucii. After being impaled by the kings of yore on the throne, Noctis finds himself standing before Ardyn Izunia in "the beyond, his ancestor who became corrupted by daemons and was made immortal, and now exists as the embodiment of the darkness that shrouds Eos. Noctis uses the ring to command the Lucii to attack and cleanse Ardyn's soul from the scourge before they all vanish in a burst of light. The Lucian bloodline has ended, and the Ring of the Lucii disintegrates.
===Alternate endings===
====Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis====
If Ignis joins Ardyn during their confrontation in Altissia, he keeps the ring when Ardyn transports him to Zegnautus Keep where Ignis finds the Crystal. After Ardyn reveals his true goals to Ignis, the latter wields the ring to kill him, offering his life as the blood price. He succeeds, yet Ardyn, as an immortal, returns. Noctis finds a dying Ignis in the Crystal room, takes the ring from him, and uses the power of the Crystal to save Ignis. Ten years later Noctis, his retinue and Ravus return to Insomnia to defeat Ardyn, but Noctis doesn't die, and the ring is not destroyed. He continues to reign in Lucis as its king, wearing the ring.
====Final Fantasy XV -The Dawn of the Future-====
Ardyn accumulates power too great for the True King to purge with the Ring of the Lucii, and Bahamut decides to obliterate all life on Eos. Ardyn, Lunafreya and Noctis cooperate to stop him. Ardyn, defiant till the end, loses to Noctis who stops short of killing him. While he hates Ardyn, he concedes that he wishes to save him, and that Ardyn's only salvation is death in defeating Bahamut. 
After being given permission from the kings of yore led by the Mystic, Noctis gives Ardyn the Ring of the Lucii. As Noctis fights Bahamut's physical form with the other Astrals, Ardyn ascends the throne and undergoes the ritual to travel to the beyond, just as Noctis would have done. The final blow is delivered by Somnus's spirit. In the spirit world Ardyn summons the power of Providence and destroys Bahamut there. The Crystal shatters after absorbing the Scourge, cleansing Eos of darkness. Noctis thinks that even if Bahamut had created the Ring of the Lucii, its power derives from the generations of kings.
==Abilities==
The Ring of the Lucii lets the wearer command the power of the Crystal. The ring is thus sought by the Niflheim Empire after they steal the Crystal, believing it would give the emperor the power to rule the world. The ring is a necessary component for the True King's ritual to transcend into the beyond. After the ring has been used for the ritual, it disintegrates. 
As depicted in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, when worn, the Ring of the Lucii sends those who are not of royal blood to another dimension where they converse with the Lucian kings of old and face their judgment. The ring may either reject its wearer by burning them, at times fatally, or accept them, whereupon the wearer gains great magical power, as well as the ability to activate the Old Wall, enormous statues of the deceased Lucian kings strewn about Insomnia. However, the ring demands a blood price in exchange.
The Ring of the Lucii links the Lucian lineage by housing the dead kings' souls. It is unknown if each ring-bearer gains different powers from it, but King Regis and Noctis use different magic with it. When Noctis first puts the ring on, and when he uses its powers to defeat enemies, he hears whispering sounds.
Wielding the ring's powers has glowing cracks appear on the ring-bearer's body, and the more the wielder uses the ring, the more apparent it becomes. King Regis's face is scarred, but it is unknown whether it is due to over-use of the ring. Crystalline cracks that glow red appear on Nyx Ulric's face and soon all along on his arm as he commands the Old Wall after gaining the old kings' blessing. A similar effect engulfs Noctis's character model in Final Fantasy XV if the player maintains the use of Arcana for an extended period, but the effect fades quickly after releasing a spell. After Noctis destroys Ardyn in the beyond with the power from the ring, he glows similarly and disperses into light. Ignis's body is scarred when he uses the ring in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis, and he permanently loses his eyesight as part of the blood price he was willing to pay (although using the ring's power when not of the rightful bloodline generally involves sacrificing a life).
Nyx-Scarred-Kingsglaive-FFXV.png|Nyx scarred after using the ring's powers in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.
Noctis-effect-from-the-Ring-of-the-Lucii-FFXV.png|Noctis's body scarred as effect by the Ring of the Lucii in Final Fantasy XV.
Noctis-ending-FFXV.png|Noctis's body scarred as effect by the Ring of the Lucii in Final Fantasy XV.
==Gameplay==
In Final Fantasy XV, the Ring of the Lucii offers players access to Ring Magic , a different type of magic than the grenades that can be concocted through elemancy. The Final Fantasy XV Ultimania calls this magic type "Arcana", and says it differs from traditional magic that uses elemental energy by consuming an enormous amount of magic power; although it can take a long time to cast, its power is unparalleled.
Ring Magic becomes available in Chapter 13, but if the player takes Gladiolus's route (added post-launch in a patch), they may miss out on the tutorials that explain how the various spells work.
Using the ring expends MP. The ring is equipped in a weapon slot, and the player can free-warp and point-warp with it, but not warp-strike. The ring can only be equipped by Noctis. When Noctis is confused, the weapon randomizer never picks the Ring of the Lucii, nor is the Ring of the Lucii used during Ignis's Overwhelm Technique. When the Ring of the Lucii is equipped in the weapon deck, it also appears on Noctis during cutscenes. (Thus, Noctis doesn't have it in the Chapter 0 foreshadowing.) An AI-controlled Noctis (during character-swap) never uses the ring, but he uses it when fought as a bonus boss in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis. The Black Hood accessory does not work with the Ring of the Lucii as weapon.
With the introduction of Chapter 13, Verse 2 as part of the free update released on March 27, 2017, Ring Magic was buffed, bolstering the ring's spells. The ring can also now be brought to New Game+.
Some players have reported bugs of Death not healing HP and Holy not recovering MP as they are supposed to do.
In Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis, the player can fight the final boss with Ignis who has gained superhuman powers from the Ring of the Lucii. The controls are the same as for the rest of his episode, but he is much stronger and faster and can warp. He can't use the three spells Noctis can when using the ring as his weapon.
When the player wields the Ring of the Lucii in battle, "soul crystals", like seen in the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy series, float in the air. 
===Death===
Noctis drains the life-force of his targeted enemy and causes them to disintegrate. Death is the first spell Noctis learns on the ring and becomes available in Chapter 13.
Death deals damage, slows the enemy down, and applies a debuff that instantly kills the enemy when fully applied (a red skull appears next to the enemy's name if they can be killed by Death). When Noctis is not casting it, the effect of this invisible debuff gradually wanes. When the "instant death meter" is full, the enemy dies and Noctis recovers half his maximum HP. If the enemy dies from the damage Death deals, Noctis doesn't get healed. Some rare enemies are immune to the instant death, but even most bosses are susceptible. Casting Death consumes MP by a fixed percentage, and thus maximum MP is irrelevant. The rate is roughly 5% per second.
As the debuff grows closer to being fully applied, the enemy will appear more and more 'compressed', becoming thinner horizontally.
The damage and instant death rate are affected by Noctis's Magic stat and the enemy's hidden "death resistance" stat. Death works at its maximum capacity when Noctis has roughly 500 Magic and increasing his Magic beyond this will not boost Death further. Death ignores buffs obtained from eating food.
Patch 1.06 dramatically improved the instant death rate, removed most enemy immunities, and made Death deal damage.
===Holy===
Noctis smites foes with sacred energy and deals holy damage to nearby enemies when dodging their attacks with the Ring of the Lucii equipped in the weapon slot, and when in Armiger Unleashed mode. Holy is the second spell Noctis learns on the ring. Armiger Unleashed can be obtained in the Windows and Royal Editions from the Keycatrich ruins' statue after Noctis has collected all 13 royal arms.
Damage scales with Noctis's Magic and level. Holy is activated by tapping or holding the Phase/Defense button, and is a counterattack. Should the Phase/Defense button be held without Noctis being attacked, he will walk cautiously like in Phase Mode, but will be in a focused state to ready the spell when pressed to do so. Doing this gradually drains his MP at a rate of 10% per second. If Noctis successfully counters an enemy with Holy, he will recover 15% of his maximum MP (10% before Patch 1.06). Unlike phasing, this does not work against bullets.
Blinking (timing the dodge perfectly) casts an especially strong Holy that deals 15 times more damage (thus it almost always hits the damage cap) and recovers 40% of Noctis's max MP. If far away, Noctis will teleport close to the enemy. This frequently puts enemies into a short vulnerable state. If equipped with the Ardyn's Ensemble attire, it is easy to hit the damage cap with a Magic-built Noctis even without precisely timing the Holy, although the staggering effect of the special Holy is still useful.
In earlier versions, Holy was noticeably louder. After patch 1.06, Holy's normal damage was halved, but its MP recovery was boosted by 50%, and the recovery time between casts was removed. The patch also adds the improved Holy activated via blinking.
In the Windows and Royal Editions, dodging while in Armiger Unleashed also uses Holy. It naturally breaks the damage limit, unlike the Holy from the ring. Spamming Holy in Armiger Unleashed can put Noctis into Stasis.
Holy (either from the Ring of the Lucii or Armiger Unleashed) will cancel out any active elemental effect on the field.
===Alterna===
Alterna is the last spell Noctis learns on the Ring of the Lucii. It casts a spell that temporarily breaks open the fabric of reality, creating a crystalline gate into another dimension that ejects enemies from the battle entirely, at the cost of a full MP bar, albeit not putting Noctis into Stasis. There is no EXP penalty for defeating enemies this way.
When the ring is in the weapon slot, the player can cast Alterna if there is enough room in the field for the animation to play (it will not activate in narrow spaces), with the warp button held down when locking onto an enemy. A crystal sphere appears around the target(s), which collapses upon itself, sucking the enemies into a black hole that disappears. Noctis has super armor while casting, and will not fall in mid-air. Very few enemies are immune to Alterna (such as Timed Quests, Omega, and Garuda), but the chance of it working is random and Noctis's Magic stat doesn't affect it. It works against Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto when they are fought against at training session at camp. Enemies that used to be immune to Alterna pre-1.06 tend to resist it, and it may take numerous tries for it to work.
Patch 1.06 boosted Alterna, removing enemies' immunities to it, so now it has a chance to work against even the adamantoise. If Ifrit is defeated by Alterna, it triggers the death animation where Shiva defeats him, with similar reactions occurring with other bosses.https://youtu.be/fZ_7yYOxR_Y Patch 1.08 was released with a patch note saying that it fixes a bug that arises when using Alterna on Ifrit.
==Musical themes==
"The Ring of the Lucii" is a track on the Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV: Original Soundtrack.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Record Keeper===
===Final Fantasy Brave Exvius===
The Ring of the Lucii is an accessory and Noctis's Trust Master Reward. When equipped it grants MAG +3, SPR +3, ATK +30%, MAG +30%, as well as the abilities Alterna, Holy and Death. Similarly to Final Fantasy XV, Holy increases the unit's evasion by 25%, and when activated deals Light-element magic damage to the attacker and restores 40 MP to the user.
FFBE Alterna.png|Alterna.
FFBE Holy FFXV.png|Holy.
==Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances==
===Puzzle & Dragons===
Noctis's Ring of the Lucii appeared as part of the Final Fantasy collaboration.
==Behind the scenes==
In early promotional material for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Noctis is seen wearing a ring on his right hand that was said to play an important to the game's story.
The ring has a clear crystal in the middle in the grasp of the figure, that appears to be a Lucian king stylized in the same manner as Bahamut appears on the Kingsglaive's emblem. The crystal on the ring doesn't shine unless it is "active", such as when used to cast magic or when it fills with the Crystal's power at the start of Chapter 14. Similarly, the Crystal of Eos is also black on the outside and only shines on the inside, which is connected to an otherworldly realm. Lunafreya's wedding ring is also black with small diamonds or crystals around the front.
The Ring of the Lucii resembles the Solomon Ring from Final Fantasy VIII, which, according to its description in the Occult Fan, used to belong to a royal family.
s have appeared in stories since . Some of the more famous ones include in 's book , the of which the Final Fantasy VIII Solomon Ring is based on, and the from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth universe. Magic rings occur in a myriad of modern fantasy stories as incidental objects, as well as central parts of the plot. The main magical objects in the Final Fantasy series are usually the crystals, but previous magic rings have been the magical mythril ring in Final Fantasy III used to seal the Djinn and remove the curse on the people of Sasune and Kazus, the Carnelian Signet in Final Fantasy IV that turned out to be an incendiary bomb, and the Solomon Ring in Final Fantasy VIII that hosts the GF Doomtrain.
==Merchandise==
Square Enix has released the Ring of the Lucii as official merchandise. Unlike in the game, the ring is on a chain, and is of uniform black color rather than having gold elements.
:Product Size（Body part）：　approx. 22.85×26.87(mm) Weight：8.7g
:Chain Length(Incl. Fastener)：　approx. 470(mm) Weight：10g
:Ring Size：　Size 18 (Japanese size)
:Material: 925 Silver
==Gallery==
Ring-of-the-Lucii-FFXV.png
Ring_of_the_Lucii_Brotherhood.png|Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV.
Ring of the Lucii summons the Mystic in FFXV Episode Ardyn.png|The Ring activates the Old Wall in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn.
Ring of the Lucii.png|The Ring of the Lucii in Luche Lazarus's hand in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.
Nyx-gives-Luna-the-Ring-of-the-Lucii-Kingsglaive-FFXV.png|Nyx gives Lunafreya the ring in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.
Noctis-obtains-the-ring-FFXV.png|Noctis obtains the ring in Final Fantasy XV.
Ring-of-the-Lucii-Episode-Ignis-FFXV.png|The ring in Episode Ignis.
Ring-of-the-Lucii-Noctis-FFXV.png|Noctis holds the ring in his palm in Final Fantasy XV.
Contract-is-Forged-Episode-Ignis-FFXV.png|Ignis forges a contract with the ring in Episode Ignis Verse 2.
Noctis absorbs the power of the Crystal in FFXV.png|The ring absorbs the power of the Crystal in Final Fantasy XV.
Ring-of-the-Lucii-FFXV-ending.png|The ring glows at the ritual of the True King.
Ring of the Lucii disintegrates in FFXV.png|The ring disintegrates.
Ring-of-the-Lucii-Star-of-Lucis-Concept-Book.png|From The Audi Star of Lucis Concept Book.
==Etymology==
Luci is the plural form of luce, an Italian word for "light". It is derived from lūcem, a Latin word and the accusative form of lūx, which means "light." The Lucii in the English name of the ring refers to the spirits of the old kings, but its Japanese name is simply "Ring of Light".
==References==
ru:Кольцо Люциев
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy XV
Category:Abilities in Final Fantasy XV
Category:Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV
Category:Key items