Cor Leonis

Cor Leonis is a guest character in Final Fantasy XV. He will appear in Episode Gladiolus DLC.

He is one of the three best fighters in the Kingdom of Lucis. As such, he is known as the "Immortal Shogun" to many and is known as the "Marshal" by Noctis and his group, due to his status in the Crownsguard, the military unit that protects Insomnia and the Citadel, and thus in turn the royal family.

Throughout his life, Cor survived countless battles, earning him the moniker "Cor, The Immortal". He dedicates his life to serving Lucis.

Appearance
Cor is a middle-aged man with short, brown hair. He has light blue eyes and wears a black, collared jacket with skull-shaped buttons. Cor wears a black, skull-print shirt, black trousers, and black boots with red soles.

Personality
Cor is a stubborn, stern, no-nonsense military man who has sworn loyalty to King Regis and his country. He is strict with Prince Noctis and his friends, and while he does not always see eye-to-eye with them, he is duty-bound to watch over them. He is calm when dealing with Noctis's wayward personality, offering him advice.

He knows he isn't going to be with Noctis for long due to the orders from Regis as to the Crownsguard's new purpose, and warns him not to get too comfortable with the idea of having him around. Cor is implied to detest his moniker as the Immortal, seeing it as a reminder that he has outlived the bloodline he swore to protect. He remains duty bound to protect Noctis. This is shown if the player takes too long to battle the MA-X boss, he will instruct Ignis to take Noctis and flee.

Early life
Cor grew up in an ordinary, humble home in the Crown City, Insomnia, and has accumulated abundant combat experience going back to his youth. Cor is hinted to be a prodigy, as he accompanied Regis Lucis Caelum on his trip of defending the Lucian front lines at the age of 15. Cor has served a similar role to Regis that Ignis serves to Noctis, as he often drove Regis around.

Regis had fought alongside Cid Sophiar, Clarus Amicitia, Cor Leonis and Weskham Armaugh on their trip to Accordo. Due to the defeat of the Lucis-Accordo allied forces, the Niflheim army had invaded the three regions of Leide, Duscae, and Cleigne, where they began establishing bases followed by a period of peace. Lucis challenged the empire but were pushed back. Regis, as the Lucian prince, had traveled to Accordo with a select few to seek the restoration of an allied force, but was forced to withdraw to the Crown City due to the Lucian army's defeat. The range of the Wall was pulled back to Insomnia's ramparts to maintain the strength to resist the empire's invasion efforts.

Final Fantasy XV Prologue Parting Ways
At the Crownsguard's training hall, Clarus Amicitia tells Gladiolus, his son, about the security measures in place during the signing ceremony of the treaty between Lucis and Niflheim. Cor is assigned on external patrol that day but only the bare minimum of the Crownsguard will be on duty, as the Citadel will be left to the Kingsglaive. The peace has brought along many changes, including the role of the Crownsguard whose new place will be with the people rather than the king.

Cor arrives with Prompto Argentum who has arrived for his Crownsguard uniform. Gladiolus and Prompto leave, and the atmosphere becomes solemn. Cor is unhappy the Crownsguard has been excluded from everything related to the signing, and Clarus reminds him that the new orders are for the Crownsguard to protect the people of Lucis, and says Kingsglaive are is the only ones who can fight the Empire.

Final Fantasy XV
After the fall of Lucis's crown city, Noctis gets a call from Cor who tells Noctis for him and his group to meet him at Hammerhead. Cor confirms the news that the king has perished to a shocked Noctis. At Hammerhead Cid tells Noctis Cor has gone to the Royal Tomb in the local Leide area. Noctis finds Cor there, who explains Noctis his next mission of collecting the weapons of the past Lucian kings to gain the power to reclaim his throne. Noctis finds it difficult to concentrate on this new objective in the light of the recent events, but Cor explains the reasons Regis had sent Noctis away from the city and directs him to the next tomb.

After Noctis collects his second weapon, Cor calls him and tells him of their plan to demolish a base that the Niflheim Empire is building to block passage to Duscae. Noctis meets with Cor outside the base, and while Noctis's friends go off to create a diversion, Noctis and Cor infiltrate the base together and take out its magitek forces. After the road to Duscae is open, Cor is satisfied that Noctis is strong enough to continue on his mission without his help, and departs. He continues to follow the orders from the late king of helping the people of Lucis, and co-operates with the local hunters and enlists their help finding the lost tombs. At some point, he had to put his tomb-hunting on hold to help the hunters with troublesome monsters.

At Cape Caem, Cor asks Noctis's forgiveness for not having been able to prevent the attack on King Regis, but Noctis knows it was something no one could have helped. Cor is among the people to bid Noctis's party farewell as they depart for Altissia, and later watches the broadcast of Lady Lunafreya's speech on television. Noctis later seeks out a Royal Tomb in imperial territory due to having learned of it from Cor.

During Noctis's ten-year slumber in the Crystal, Cor becomes a daemon hunter along with Iris.

Gameplay
Cor joins as a guest party member in Chapter 2 for the first Royal Tomb and for the imperial base at the area. Cor is Level 52. Due to his high level, the player can take advantage of him to hunt powerful monsters, such as the Coeurl, which is found in the area just before the second tomb, to obtain the coeurl whiskers used to upgrade weapons.

Cor fights with katana and deals heavy damage. His primary arm is Kotetsu and his secondary arm is Kikuichimonji. His accessories are Carbon Bangle, Niella Bracelet and Protective Amulet. His attire is Crownsguard Fatigues. Cor can coordinate his attacks with Noctis when he parries attacks and attacks with him nearby. When performing a link-strike, he will lend Noctis his katana. Noctis slashes down with the katana and his own sword before returning the katana to Cor.

Cor's Tecnhique, Lion's Roar, has him perform a powerful upward drawn slash that cuts a vertical wide shockwave that moves in a line. It costs 1 tech bar.

Like other guest characters, Cor's equipment cannot be changed, but the player can view his gear from the menu.

Creation and development
Cor's clothes were designed by Hiromu Takahara, creative director of the fashion brand Roen. When the game was originally envisioned as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Cor was imagined as a tragic figure hinted in pre-release interview reveals to befall great misfortune. He was said to be 42 years old, which in Japanese superstition is considered an age where men are bound for a tumultuous and unlucky year. In the final game Cor is 45 years old. The age change may be due to timeline continuity regarding Cor having accompanied Regis on his trip thirty years ago; if Cor was 42, he'd have been only 12 for the trip with Regis.

Voice
Cor is voiced by Hiroki Tōchi in the Japanese version, who had previously voiced Noctis's chauffeur before being recast. He shares his Japanese voice actor with Yaag Rosch from Final Fantasy XIII and Zhuyu Voghfau Byot from Final Fantasy Type-0.

In the English version of Final Fantasy XV, Cor is voiced by Matthew Mercer. He shares his English voice actor with Trey from Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

Trivia

 * Cor shares many similarities to Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII. His name refers to Lion Heart, and personality as a serious, no nonsense character ranking high among a military organization. His Technique, Lion Roar, is also used by Squall in expanded appearances, such as Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Squall has gone by the name "Leon" in the Kingdom Hearts games, leading a resistance and protecting people from the enemy behind the scenes as a guest character.
 * Cor follows a trend in Final Fantasy of a "Leo/Leon" named character, being tough and strict military men, including Leo Cristophe from Final Fantasy VI, Leon from Final Fantasy II, and the aforementioned Squall Leonhart.