True King

The True King, also known as the King of Light, the King of Kings, or the Chosen King, is the vessel for the Crystal's power in Final Fantasy XV. The True King has the power to banish darkness from the world with the royal arms, the Crystal and the Ring of the Lucii.
The True King is an homage to the concept of the Warriors of Light, one of the core concepts of the Final Fantasy series of heroes chosen by the crystals—be it by a prophecy, a will, or by fate—to embark on the journey to fight evil or restore balance to the world.
==Story==
Eos is a world whose soul is inside the Crystal protected by the line of Lucian kings. The kings wield its power via the Ring of the Lucii that saps the monarch's own life force in exchange. When they die, the sovereigns' souls come to dwell inside the ring.Loading screen for the Ring of the Lucii. Eos is plagued by the Starscourge, an encroaching darkness that has daylight vanish from the world and turns the life on Eos into daemons, mindless monsters. The True King's calling is to purge the darkness at the cost of his own life. It has been said the royal arms, when combined with the power of the Crystal, can destroy the Starscourge.
Two thousand years ago the Starscourge was advancing rapidly and many were dying. During this time Ardyn Lucis Caelum was a great healer who absorbed the scourge into his own body. This corrupted his soul and made him the Starscourge incarnate. The Crystal rejected his ascension to the throne in favor of Ardyn's brother, Somnus Lucis Caelum, who is said to have fought the darkness alongside the Astrals, and the plague subsided by his hand. Rendered immortal, Ardyn yet continues a shadowy existence, now ostracized by everyone, including his family, the Crystal and the Astrals; as long as he exists, the plague could return.
The Astrals gave Somnus the Crystal along with the Ring of the Lucii and told him to guard them until the former would pick the Chosen King from his bloodline. This became known as the prophecy: when darkness veils the world, the King of Light shall come. Eos remained in peace for a time while new nations emerged over the ruins of the old one, but the plague was eventually brought back in a large scale after Niflheim Empire began its aggressive territorial expansion and experiments with daemons. As daemons proliferated all lands, a king and an Oracle joined their forces to seal the most ferocious of them in hidden underground dungeons with messages left behind for the True King whom they believed would be able to rid the nation of its biggest secret.
On M.E. 741, King Regis was told by the old kings that his young son, Noctis Lucis Caelum, is the True King. When the eight-year-old Noctis spent time with his friend, the twelve-year-old Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, she told him that he will be the True King chosen by the Crystal to banish darkness from the world. On M.E. 756, after the Crystal is stolen from Lucis by the Niflheim Empire and King Regis is killed, Noctis follows his calling as guided by Lunafreya, an Oracle able to commune with the gods. Noctis sets out to collect the legendary weapons of his ancestors and to forge covenants with the gods of Eos. Ignis Scientia describes the "King's calling" "only a set of guiding principles", referring to his mission of collecting the royal arms of his forebears. When Prompto asks what the "King's calling" means, Ignis says legend has it a king once stood alongside the Six in the battle to banish the darkness, but Noctis considers "darkness" to be too vague a term to be of much help.
After Lunafreya dies at the hands of Ardyn the Starscourge begins to engulf Eos even more rapidly and daemons continue to grow fierce and more numerous. Noctis is desperate to find the Crystal for its power is said to be capable of banishing the daemons from the world, but he is not aware of the meaning of being the True King. When Noctis finally finds the Crystal with Ardyn's help, to his surprise he is absorbed inside it. He learns the Crystal houses the soul of Eos and that he can save the world with the power of Providence at the cost of his own life.
Noctis sleeps in the heart of the Crystal for ten years to gain the power of Providence and become the vessel for the Crystal's light. After he returns he discovers the sun never rises anymore and that daemons have taken over the world. As told in Final Fantasy XV: Comrades, the remnants of the Kingsglaive have safeguarded Angelgard in Noctis's absence, in wait for his return as the True King. Noctis reunites with his friends, and together they make their way to the ruins of Insomnia to where the now lusterless Crystal lies in wait for the prophesied day on which Ardyn will duel the True King. Ardyn sets up various obstacles upon Noctis's path, but he prevails with the help of his friends and the Astrals.
As they approach the throne room at the Citadel, Noctis and his friends have a chance to gaze upon the paintings of the prophecy in the Hall of History. The paintings depict the True King and his three friends, one of them with bandaged eyes, with the one-winged angel of the Oracle above them. On the background stand the Lucian kings of yore, and on the sides the Astrals, excluding Ifrit. The bottom of the painting has the daemons, shielding their eyes and being repelled by the True King's light.
Noctis finds Ardyn sitting on the throne of Lucis under the Crystal, and the two duel both wielding the power of kings. As Ardyn dies, he fades away and asks Noctis to meet him "in the beyond". Noctis asks his friends to stand guard outside while he ascends the throne.
Noctis fulfills the prophecy by calling upon the souls of the past kings via the Ring of the Lucii and using its power to cross over to the beyond. The royal arms appear around the throne, and each Lucii plunges their weapon into Noctis until he dies. Finding Ardyn's spirit in the beyond, the royal arms emerge out of Noctis. Lunafreya's spirit reveals Ardyn's grotesque form and the Lucii take up arms against him, Ardyn, the Lucii as well as Noctis himself vanishing into glimmering light particles. The Ring of the Lucii breaks, and the sun rises. According to Final Fantasy XV Official Works, the tale of the True King bringing light back to the world will be passed down forevermore.
===Alternate ending===
Final Fantasy XV -The Dawn of the Future- depicts an alternative ending where instead of Noctis being the one to use the power of Providence, he gives the Ring of the Lucii to Ardyn who undergoes the same ceremony to enter the beyond. It is revealed that the reason Ardyn was immortal was because a part of his soul was trapped inside the crystal realm from when he touched the Stone, which is why he needed to be defeated in both the physical and heavenly realms to truly die. Bahamut shares a similar existence, being the only Astral existing apart from the planet. The rulers of yore plunge the royal arms into Ardyn, the final blow being delivered by the Mystic. Once in the beyond, Ardyn uses the power of Providence to destroy Bahamut before passing, while Noctis kills the Astral on the mortal plane. The Crystal absorbs the Scourge before shattering, cleansing Eos, and magic and Astrals fade from existence.
==Gallery==
Mysterious-Voice-Episode-Ignis-Verse2-FFXV.png|Lunafreya's vision of the prophecy's fulfillment.
Prophecy-Fulfilled-Episode-Ignis-FFXV.png|Lunafreya's vision of the prophecy's fulfillment.
Knights-of-the-Round-FFXV.png|The Lucii arm themselves in preparation for the "final Armiger".
==Trivia==
*Bahamut explains the True King can banish darkness from the world with the light of Providence. This term was also used in Final Fantasy XIII to represent the will of Etro in the Analects. The two games once shared a mythology as part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy games.
*Final Fantasy XV: Episode Gladiolus has some dummied dialogue where a soul raised by Gilgamesh asks Gladiolus if the Crystal had chosen the True King. Gladiolus had affirmed yet admitted he doesn't know what being the Chosen King means. In the final version, Gilgamesh simply refers to Gladiolus as the Shield of the Chosen King and Noctis as the Last King of Lucis, and Gladiolus's own thoughts on the matter are not elaborated upon.
==References==
ru:Истинный Король
Category:Final Fantasy XV