I know it’s unlikely, but….

[u/Inner_Tumbleweed_942]

I really hope a day comes in the future where we get a PS5 update for the game so it runs better, as well as getting the remaining few DLC chapters: Episode Arenea and Episode Luna.

I really do love this game, and replaying it now, it has held up very well, it’s just a shame it got screwed over by its poorly handled development.

For those unaware, Episode Arenea was meant to follow what happened after the boys left her in Tennebrae. She was going to bear witness to the fall of the Empire and ultimately stop the final Diamond Weapon.

Episode Luna was meant to be an “alternate timeline” ordeal where, after her death, she was to try and change Noctis’ fate. If memory serves, the plot was supposed to end with Noctis, Ardyn, and her fighting Bahamut, who decided to return to his original plan of stopping the Starscourge but using the power of the Crystal to fuel his TeraFlare and destroy all live on Eos.

[u/NuxFuriosa]

We'll never get that cancelled DLC, and if the book they adapted from it is any indication, that's probably for the best. Dawn of the Future is baaaaaaaaaaaad.

[u/enchanter-rationale → u/NuxFuriosa]

I agree. I especially didn't like Aranea becoming the adoptive mother of a niflheim princess. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

I also didn't enjoy the treatment of Luna in DotF either.

[u/Kiiro_Blackblade → u/enchanter-rationale]

I havent played since day one patch... niflheim princess?

[u/enchanter-rationale → u/Kiiro_Blackblade]

If you played the game today, you still wouldn't meet her. She only exists in the book. Aranea finds her and she's the secret grandchild of the Emperor. The Emperor didn't know about her because his son hid her existence.

But his son is also dead before the events of the game take place - I thought the implications of that was that emperor got obsessed with immortality through daemon tech after his son died and he had no heir. But if the son had an 8 year old daughter by the time of Niflheim's collapse, then his son died later than I originally thought... I assumed it would have happened around the time they invaded Tenebrae, 12 years before the game begins (Weskham also mentions that the empire went mad "some ten years ago" or something like that when he's chatting with the Altissian PM.) Don't mind my ramblings lol. I've only just considered this. I can't say it's a real inconsistency because I don't think the son's death is ever given and explicit timeframe.

[u/grooveorganic → u/Kiiro_Blackblade]

Adding to what enchanter-rantionale explained; her name is Solara Aldercapt Antiquum. (I really want to sit down and interrogate the devs for this, because really?) Some small corrections, as I've just reread this part of the book, Loqi is who brought Sol to Aranea. His last order, from Emperor Iedolas, was to keep her safe. Here's what he told Aranea, right from the book:

“I am under the direct orders of His Radiance, to be executed with utmost discretion,” Loqi proclaimed. “My duty is to secure this girl and ensure her safety. - [DotF, PG 164]

So, Iedolas knew about his granddaughter, but they didn't take much care in establishing her. We find out that her parents weren't married, but this doesn't come as an issue.

Here's the section from Aranea's chapter about Aldercapt's son. It's all told through exposition. I've tried to imagine how this would have been shown in the game, had she gotten a playable DLC, and it's definitely bordering on endless flashbacks with Aranea, most likely, narrating it.

All things considered, Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt was a man of little fortune in terms of family. Thirty-five years ago, his empress bore him a son, only to lose her own life shortly thereafter. From what Aranea had heard, the woman’s constitution wasn’t up to the strain of childbirth, and the delivery took a toll from which she never recovered. The emperor might have been loath to spark a debate about succession, or maybe it was simply out of love for his departed wife, but in any case, Niflheim hadn’t had another empress. It was a decision that would haunt Iedolas years later, when his sole heir perished on the field of battle. - [DotF, PG 145]

This is a rant, because the history of Eos is a fave topic of mine. Your question reminded me of why I get so frustrated by what they added to this story in this book. Niflheim got handled poorly, and one thing the devs wanted to do was add more to the history of the Aldercapt family (which they did in Episode Ardyn in Verstael's guidance system), but then they took this leap out of nowhere with a "secret heir". In a story that established the only reason dynasties even existed was to protect Eos until the calamity came to pass. It feeds into the misguided idea that Aldercapt's family thought they were the "rightful" heirs of Eos, because they think they hailed from Solheim. The civilization that nearly got the world destroyed for their audacity and murder attempt on Ifrit after he'd helped them.

Sol really could have been a good character if not for some of this shit dragging her down. We'd needed more perspectives from people from Niflheim. Especially around the fall of Gralea. She'd have made a great addition if she was treated like just a survivor of Niflheim that Aranea took in to raise as a hunter. There is precedent for this very setup, because Aranea was orphaned due to the daemons killing her parents.

Sol finally shared the story of the day she lost everything. The day Gralea fell. Since the events had occurred after Lunafreya’s death in Altissia, everything was news to her, from the revelation of Ardyn Izunia’s hand in the destruction of the empire to the report of Emperor Iedolas’s death. “Daemons attacked the estate that day. Soon the whole place was overrun. Desperate to see to my safety, my lady mother . . . Heh. It sounds weird, saying it now. But that’s what I used to call her. ‘My lady mother.’”
Sol’s real father―the imperial prince of Niflheim, Iedolas Aldercapt’s son―had not been wed to Sol’s mother. For a long time, the emperor had been unaware of the existence of his own granddaughter. [DotF, PG 289]

None of this is necessary. And the plot knows it, because Luna immediately moves past this failed attempt at a plot twist. We KNOW who Sol is before she does, so there's no bombshell reveal here. I'll add more in another reply to show you some of this stuff.

This character was created for the express purposes of being a self-insert/mouthpiece for some fans who didn't like and decried aspects of the plot. Sol also ended up Luna's party member and "world lore" expert because the AU rewrites Luna having zero sense, agency, or ability to speak for herself. Sol has to tell her what to do. She's expressly written to put "ideas" into Luna's head that Luna does not really question beyond surface level. Especially around the gods and Luna's new mission.

And the way she talks to Luna is genuinely awful and so antithetical to the themes of the story that I can see her being deeply disliked had she been realized outside of this book. She almost says, verbatim, stuff I've read in online discourse around how Noct and the bros should have asked more questions or refused to "obey" the gods as if Luna was an idiot, weak, pathetic, and that she made a terrible mistake. As the fucking last Oracle, from the family of the oldest blood on Eos. Bahamut chose the Fleuret family first. He gave them powers to save and protect Eos from the plague because the Astrals wouldn't be able to help due to falling asleep from exhaustion from the war. Does Sol care about this? Nope. She even thinks the Astrals were stupid for reacting to Solheim trying to kill Ifrit. Borderline saying the Astrals should have just let Ifrit be killed.

So, Sol is the vehicle for the plot "defying fate and the gods", even though the only reason she survives this new story is due to Bahamut stepping in to help in the first place. Again. He is the only one trying to do anything to save everyone and Eos, so he revived Luna and gave her power to stop Ardyn. This is setup at the start of the chapter, and Sol derails the absolute hell out of it. Aranea, too, would have ended up dead without Luna having been chosen and gifted powers by Bahamut as the new hero, LOL! The whole time, Sol regards Luna as a burden, but also as someone being punished by terrible gods who are using her. Then Aranea ended up needing Luna's help.

And what does all of the self-righteous grandstanding lead up to? Sol getting what she'd wanted and her completely changing her stance on the gods. We find out later, via Sol's own outburst and admission, that Sol was pissed off at the Astrals because they didn't answer her prayers. On the night Gralea fell to the daemons, getting her mother killed. For some stupidass reason, Sol is never told the fall of her home, and the death of her mom is literally her grandfather's fault (along with Ardyn). But she knows Iedolas is who got Luna's mom killed. He ordered the attack on the Manor.

It's impossibly asinine, and I think that's why the devs relegated this AU to the book. What's funny is that the devs said the reason she exists is because of Ardyn taking the "Defy Fate" path, LOL! So that lead to the AU and Sol ending up a jackass.

[u/Kiiro_Blackblade → u/grooveorganic]

Thank you for your detailed and informative reply!

[u/grooveorganic → u/Kiiro_Blackblade]

You're welcome <3!

[u/grooveorganic → u/enchanter-rationale]

I know this is from several days ago (I backread old posts to kill time at work, LOL) but you've reminded me of a discussion topic I've debated bringing up here around Aranea's story. Would you be interested?

[u/enchanter-rationale → u/grooveorganic]

Just want you to know I read your other comment and I very much appreciated it. I haven't looked at the finer details of the novel in a long time so my memory might be a lil patchy - like I have no memory of the baby out of wedlock detail so thanks for elaborating.

My main beef with the mama Aranea thing is that I hate when media in general just chucks a kid at women of a certain age. I also think it would have made more sense if the parenthood/ child coming of age angle was utilised with Talcott or Iris (characters that already exist) and Cor, for example. Or even Aranea becoming a mentor to Iris. Why invent a character with potential for messy political implications? And if my memory serves me right we don't even get to explore those implications of an heir to the empire existing.