Solara Aldercapt Antiquum

Solara Aldercapt Antiquum, nickname Sol, is a supporting character in Final Fantasy XV -The Dawn of the Future- introduced in Aranea's part as an eight-year-old girl, but plays the important role during Lunafreya's part ten years later. Solara does not appear in the main game Final Fantasy XV, though was supposed to be part of the cancelled second season of DLC.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
As a child, Solara wears a white short-sleeved knee-length dress with a black hem and a red ribbon tied around her waist. Her dress includes imperial emblems. She has dark hair in a bob cut.
As an adult, Solara wears a military get-up covered with a white wrap. She now has long dark hair. Her weapon of choice is a shotgun.
===Personality===
Solara likely had an aristocratic upbringing before being taken into Aranea's care. She is courageous, offering to fight for herself even as a child, and this aspect of her reminds Aranea of own young self. As a child, she was quite religious, worshiping the Astrals.
Raised by Aranea during the long night, Solara grew into a rebellious teenager who feels she doesn't need to be treated like a child but tends to behave like one whenever she tries to prove herself. Sometimes her reckless attitude causes a trouble during her mission and afterward she has to endure Aranea's rebuke.
She learned to fight daemons and joined the hunters, now composed of people from all over the world, including those who served in the Niflheim army. She is not afraid to explore distant locations swarming with daemons, but agrees that going on missions alone is reckless. She is curious and critical, and feeling mankind was betrayed by the Astrals, no longer worshiping them. She believes in one's individual agency and inspires others to think for themselves. Though she is the heir for the throne of Niflheim, she prefers to keep her lineage a secret and feels her place is among the hunters for the time being.
===Abilities===
Solara is a capable fighter, having been trained by Aranea, Biggs and Wedge. She wields a shotgun and various other weapons against daemons and drives a motorcycle she calls "Regina". Just before her adventures with Lunafreya, her motorbike was damaged in an ambush by a deathgaze, but as a capable mechanic, she can fix it by herself with some remote advice from Cindy Aurum.
==Story==
Solara is the secret granddaughter of Emperor Aldercapt, the daughter of his late son who fell in battle. Officially, the emperor has no heir. As the emperor is dying of the Starscourge, Chancellor Izunia unleashes daemons, rogue magitek troopers and a Diamond Weapon upon the capital, declaring it the end of the empire.
On special orders from the emperor himself, Brigadier General Loqi Tummelt evacuates the eight-year-old Solara in his magitek armor. They run into Aranea, whose Airborne Unit is taking everyone they can find to safety in Tenebrae. Loqi entrusts Solara to Aranea and stays to hold back a horde of daemons. Aranea takes Solara to her assault craft bound for Tenebrae, before heading off to destroy the Diamond Weapon.
Once they all make it to Tenebrae, Aranea learns of Solara's true identity, reminding her not to forget those who sacrificed themselves for her sake. She raises the girl alongside her trusted subordinates, Biggs and Wedge, as Eos is plunged into eternal night in wait for the salvation of the True King. 
Ten years later, the eighteen-year-old Solara stubbornly detests that Aranea, Biggs and Wedge still treat her as a child. She has become a capable daemon hunter under the trio's tutelage and roams the former imperial lands with a group of other hunters. During a mission she discovers a deserted motorbike with a sidecar, an old classic of Niflheim production. She falls in love with it and insists on taking it to Lestallum where she has it overhauled by Cid Sophiar and Cindy Aurum. After setting the bike into running condition again, Cid and Cindy train Solara to maintain it herself. She names her bike "Regina" and rides it on hunting missions as a motorized support from then on.
One day her group is attacked by a pack of daemons and Solara is separated from the others due to her effort to prove herself. She rides back to the rendezvous point through dangerous daemon-infested lands.
En route, a woman in a torn and dirty dress falls from a hillside right in front of Solara's motorbike who was being chased by a deathgaze. Solara collapses after the battle with the daemon due to her agitation of what she witnessed: the deathgaze was turned to a cloud of black smoke and daemonic miasma healed the woman's injuries. After awakening Solara learns the woman is Lady Lunafreya, the last Oracle who died ten years ago, now wielding a previously unseen power. Solara is suspicious of her, but the Oracle cannot provide satisfying answers as she herself suffers of confusion over her current status. Sol lowers her weapon after concluding Lunafreya does not pose a threat and because she needs her help as Regina was slammed by the deathgaze during the battle and is broken down completely now. The women push the vehicle to the nearest outpost at Wael where Solara fixes it per Cindy's instructions and with Lunafreya's help.
Lunafreya learns she has been revived by Bahamut for a new calling: go to Insomnia and defeat Ardyn. Solara considers it a joke at first but agrees to help. She provides Lunafreya with a new black outfit and a new weapon to fight the daemons with, but continues to be wary of her. She is skeptical of the gods and dislikes how Lunafreya puts her trust in them. Solara decides to get Lunafreya to Insomnia via a port and Lestallum, but first they return to where they met for a supplies bag that Lunafreya had discarded. En route Solara teaches Lunafreya how to ride Regina and wonders how she can see in the everlasting night as well as the daemons. Regina is now unreliable and they need to make frequent stops. They are further slowed down by daemons which Lunafreya keeps absorbing into her own body as per her new powers; however, this is slowly turning her into a daemon and black patches encroach her skin. Over time the two become more open towards each other.
They travel along the railway to get to the nearest operational port (estimated to take five days) and to avoid the bigger daemons. They spend a night in a deserted signal station that has running water, light and some supplies. Next morning, while Lunafreya is still asleep, Solara tries to reach Aranea via smartphone to ask for forgiveness over her recklessness that led her into encountering Lunafreya, but she does not answer. Instead she calls Biggs who asks her to be careful and to rendezvous with him and Wedge in Nohm, the biggest hunters' base of operation in Niflheim territory, to join them in a severe operation. Solara becomes nervous and wants to hurry.
Solara's sudden change of behavior raises Lunafreya's attention. During a stop Solara childishly confronts Lunafreya over her devotion to the gods again, reminding her on how the imperial citizens' blind following of the empire led to its downfall. She tells Lunafreya to make her own decisions and decide what she wants out of life for personal reasons, but Lunafreya feels her new life is on loan from Bahamut who would take it away if she did not follow through with her new mission. Solara notices Lunafreya grows stronger after each fight against daemons; two days ago Lunafreya had needed protection, but now Solara's gunshot only provides a support as Lunafreya defeats the daemons by herself. They fail to reach Nohm within the same day and make camp in the rocks with lots of fires around to discourage the daemons from approaching with one of them on guard duty while the other sleeps.
Solara and Lunafreya navigate through the daemon-infested land, making most of Lunafreya's night sight to avoid unnecessary fights and other dangers. They find Nohm deserted as a result of a recent fight against a horde of daemons and become surrounded by the same horde. Lunafreya saves Solara by consuming the daemon horde, shocking both herself and Solara, but collapses afterward. Her body has turned almost completely black. After Lunafreya awakens the next day, Solara asks if killing her before she turns would be the kindest option, but Lunafreya deems she may need to become one to finish her calling. Solara's recent criticism of the gods rubs off on her and she wants to do something for herself before she meets her end. Lunafreya longs being with Noctis again and Solara tells her to follow her heart and ignore her calling. Solara receives a call from Wedge who tells her about Aranea having become trapped in the ancient temple of Ralmuell where she is surrounded by daemons. Aranea has ordered the ruins sealed with no rescue attempts. Solara insists on going inside and Lunafreya decides to help her as she knows the place since her time of Oracle training. Solara reveals her heritage and asks whether Lunafreya wants to help the granddaughter of late emperor Aldercapt who ordered the murder of Lunafreya's mother. Lunafreya doesn't care and wants to help Solara out of her own free will.
They venture inside via a secret entrance and meet Aera's spirit, the first Oracle, who tells them the truth about Ardyn's story and Lunafreya's new powers. Afterward Lunafreya tells Solara the truth about the War of the Astrals. They encounter Biggs and Wedge who scold Solara for disobeying them but they, too, are desperately searching for Aranea. Lunafreya pretends to be there on a mission as the Oracle to take the blame. At the bottom of the ancient temple they fight Sapphire Weapon that lay hidden there. They defeat it after several failed attempts with Lunafreya's daemonic powers creating the opening for Solara's grenade launcher to disable its magitek core. They spot a daemonified but partially sentient Aranea who urges Solara to stay away from her. She had asked the ruins sealed after she had already begun to turn. Lunafreya reverts Aranea's transformation, but turns into a daemon herself. Solara protects the still-sentient Lunafreya when Aranea attacks her, deeming the daemon-Lunafreya a danger to Solara. Lunafreya is bound and taken to Lestallum as a captive where she learns of Bahamut's true intentions from a dream.
Solara regrets she did not explain Lunafreya's situation properly and decides to go to Lestallum herself on Regina. Once there she finds Aranea disgusted about how the hunters and the glaives treat Lunafreya, dismissing Aranea's claims about her identity. Aranea wants to help Solara break Lunafreya free as she feels indebted to her. Solara frees Lunafreya with a key card Aranea stole and leads the daemonified Lunafreya outside Lestallum before the Kingsglaive's headquarters ring the alarm. Solara had left Regina outside with enough fuel and supplies. Lunafreya departs for Insomnia on Regina alone, promising Solara she does not go there to die, while Solara stays behind to delay the hunters and the glaives.
Solara visits Galdin Quay for the return of reawakened Noctis. After he arrives she fills him in on what transpired during his decade-long absence. During their ride in her car for Hammerhead Sol feels guilty Lunafreya became a daemon because she had asked her to save Aranea, but Noctis reassures that Luna wanted to help out of her own will. Noctis opts to not wait for his friends and instead heads straight to the Citadel to save his beloved, having learned from Sol that Lunafreya's mission is to fight Ardyn. Sol teams up with Aranea, Biggs and Wedge, and the four arrive on an airship to help Noctis and his reunited retinue as Bahamut lifts the Citadel building into the air to take the Crystal and throne out of reach.
Their airship crashlands onto the flying Citadel's plaza when they are rammed by a smaller version of Bahamut whom the deity has summoned to his aid to cast Teraflare. Sol, Aranea, Biggs and Wedge stay behind to repair the airship while Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto continue on. After Noctis saves Lunafreya and cooperates with Ardyn to kill Bahamut, the Citadel building begins to fall from the sky. Titan, one of the Astrals aiding Noctis, saves everyone by catching the building, and everyone jumps onto his hand as the building crumbles. Everyone witnesses the break of dawn together as the Astrals and the Crystal vanish from Eos.
Solara is present in Noctis and Lunafreya's wedding in Altissia among the Tenebraean people who used to serve House Fleuret, overjoyed to see Lunafreya happy. Whether Solara later ascends the Niflheim throne remains unknown.
==Etymology==
Antiquum comes from the Latin antiquus, meaning "ancient".
"Aldercapt" is from the Aldercapt dynasty that has ruled Niflheim since its founding. The dynasty's goal has always been the revival of the ancient civilization of Solheim.
==External links==
*Translation of the Aranea chapter by Autumnstwilight
*Part 1 and Part 2 of Lunafreya's chapter as translated by Autumnstwilight
==References==
ru:Солара Альдеркапт Антикуум
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XV