Nyx Ulric

Nyx Ulric is the main protagonist of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV and a member of the eponymous Kingsglaive. Hailing from Galahd, he is tasked with protecting Princess Lunafreya of Tenebrae when Niflheim invades Lucis.

Appearance
Nyx is a young man with dark gray hair and blue eyes. He wears the black uniform typical of his fellow Glaives, but his is customized with a silver antler or horn on its hood, purple ribbons on its back, and pelts of blue-gray fur on its left sleeve. According to the The Art and Design of FINAL FANTASY XV book, the ornament indicates his heritage as a member of an ancient lineage of hunters, and posits that it adds credibility to his role as a royal guard.

Nyx has small and subtle tattoos. He has a "crow's foot" on his right cheek, and a line and a dot under his left eye. He has markings on his ears, a line down his neck, one around his right leg and a line down his middle finger of his left hand, and another down his forefinger on his right hand.

Nyx appears with a large feline in some illustrations. It is a Galahd-native coeurl and Nyx's image-motif. Horns and fur on his gear symbolize him being wild and also foreign, as he is an immigrant from Galahd in thus from a different culture compared to Insomnia. His theme color is blue to complement Regis, whose purple theme reflects his nobility and maturity. To show Nyx's youth and to make it in line with Regis's purple, blue was chosen to be Nyx's color.

Personality
Nyx is a heroic individual who feels indebted to King Regis. He is confident in his abilities, but is haunted by the memory of his sister's death, which can cause him to have flashbacks during battles whenever his friends are in danger of not being able to save her. This is why he does all in his power to save his comrades, who call him by the moniker "hero" from his exploits. When his comrades betray him, Nyx remains loyal to the Lucian royal family, as well as his best friend Libertus and Lady Lunafreya; when Insomnia falls, he hangs onto hope and resolves to fight for the future thanks to Lunafreya's encouragement about Nyx's sister wanting him to see a brighter future.

Nyx is selfless, as he refuses to choose between Libertus or Lunafreya when requesting the power from the Ring of the Lucii. Nyx elects to instead sacrifice his own life to the past Lucian kings' spirits, who grant the ring's power to those they deem worthy. Nyx bargains with them knowing that the price for using the ring's powers for those not of the Lucian royal blood is a life. Unlike his former mentor and superior, Titus Drautos, who was also General Glauca, Nyx can move on from his past to fight to help give the world a future, something that would not happen if Niflheim claimed the Ring of the Lucii instead of Prince Noctis. As a result, he was no longer fighting to protect Insomnia and did not care what happened to the city as long as he kept the Ring of Lucii away from the empire's hands.

Although he is selfless, it can be interpreted as arrogance, which leads to the old kings initially judging him as unworthy. Even when he proves his worth, Nyx gloats, saying the kings would lose their "precious ring" if they burn him.

Abilities
Nyx is a skilled wielder of the Lucian royal family's powers. He favors his ability to warp, and when he is deemed worthy of the Ring of the Lucii, he becomes even more powerful and gains the ability to control the Old Wall. He is once shown wielding fire in his hand while watching television in his apartment, almost identical to an earlier scene of King Regis wielding fire while on his throne, displaying Nyx's talent at wielding some of the king's powers.

Early life
Nyx grew up alongside Libertus Ostium in Galahd where they used to play as children in the Galahd River. Nyx and Libertus later ran a small bar in their hometown. The area used to be protected by the Wall, but thirty years ago war overtook the lands and Wall crumbled, allowing Niflheim to claim Galahd. Nyx fought in the local Resistance against imperial oppression. Nyx's sister was killed, and he was saved by King Regis of Lucis. Seeking to repay his debt to the monarch, Nyx joined the Kingsglaive after moving to the Crown City, an elite unit of soldiers whose members are chosen for their aptitude for magic. He received training from Titus Drautos, who became the captain of the Kingsglaive, and came to view him as a mentor.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV
Alongside his fellow Glaives, Nyx defends the borders of Lucis from Niflheim and Tenebrae's forces. He disobeys Captain Drautos's order to retreat, and instead chooses to save Libertus, his childhood friend, from Cerberus, a powerful three-headed beast. As punishment Nyx is placed on guard duty upon his return to Insomnia, the crown city of Lucis.

Three days before a peace treaty is to be signed between King Regis of Lucis and Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt of Niflheim, Nyx is relocated to the Citadel by Drautos. As mentioned in Final Fantasy XV Prologue Parting Ways, Drautos has Nyx drop Noctis off to his place as thanks for using his car. The men discuss the death of Crowe Altius, and the next day, Nyx gets into a heated argument with Libertus after seeing Crowe's corpse. That evening, Nyx attends a party celebrating the treaty signing and meets Princess Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.

On the day the peace treaty is to be signed, Nyx discovers Lunafreya has been kidnapped and Drautos has mysteriously disappeared. He demands the Kingsglaive's deployment from King Regis, and leads his comrades on a mission aboard a Niflheim airship to rescue the princess. Nyx is betrayed by a majority of his fellow Glaives who disagree with the peace treaty terms and deem the king has abandoned them. Nyx frees Lunafreya and uses the airship to fly back to the Citadel with her. They witness the Wall fall as Niflheim begins its invasion, deploying daemons and magitek infantry to annihilate the city. Nyx and Lunafreya help a wounded King Regis escape Imperial General Glauca, who seeks the Ring of the Lucii, a ring that gives special powers to the past kings' chosen.

At the end of a secret passageway, Nyx questions King Regis's decision to sacrifice Insomnia for Prince Noctis's continued safety. He agrees to protect Lunafreya, who is given the Ring of the Lucii, and flees with her after Regis is impaled by Glauca's blade.

As he and Lunafreya drive away from the Citadel, Nyx is contacted by Drautos and ordered to rendezvous with him in Section D of Insomnia. In the city plaza, he is attacked by a fellow Glaive Luche Lazarus and discovers through Libertus's intervention that Drautos is Glauca. To protect his friends, Nyx puts on the Ring of the Lucii and is granted its power in exchange for his life. After ordering Libertus to get Lunafreya somewhere safe, he gives her the ring to deliver it to Noctis. Nyx engages Glauca while wielding the power of the old kings. In the clash's aftermath, Nyx dies peacefully as he wishes Noctis a healthy rule.

Final Fantasy XV
As depicted in Final Fantasy XV: Comrades, Libertus still holds onto hope he will meet Nyx again. After the power of kings returns to the Glaives, Libertus migrates to Lestallum and leads the remains of the Kinsglaive in protecting the world in the king's absence. He writes a letter to Nyx about how daemons have done a number on Galahd, but he hopes they can route electricity there one day.

Ten years after the world is plunged into darkness with the Starscourge, an illusory version of Nyx's corpse hangs in chains from the ceiling of the Citadel's throne room. Ardyn Izunia uses it to discourage Noctis. The corpse has white crystalline scarring, showing the damage Nyx sustained by using the Ring of the Lucii.

Gameplay
As an easter egg, Nyx's weapons can be obtained in Chapter 14 in Final Fantasy XV. If the player returns to the opening area of Insomnia and defeats a level 85 Psychomancer after defeating the penultimate boss, they get Ulric's Kukris. They are dagger-type weapons that Noctis and Ignis can use.

Creation and development
Nyx's theme color is blue to complement Regis's more mature and noble purple. He has animalistic elements to his character design to show he is an immigrant and from a different culture. He is 32 because the development team wanted him to be 20 years old 12 years ago (when the 8-year-old Noctis visited Tenebrae). Kingsglaive was established 15 years ago, so Nyx is a veteran. Kingsglaive members were designed to be older than the player party from Final Fantasy XV to show the world of Eos from the eyes of experienced people who have learned the world.

The likeness of Johan Akan, a French model, is used to portray Nyx. Neil Newbon is the character's motion capture artist.

The scene where Nyx talks with Luna on the eve of the signing ceremony is adapted from the original opening for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, complete with the painting of the goddess Etro on the background.

At the community event in Osaka on 1st July 2017, it was revealed the developers were working on a Nyx model for PlayStation 4. Whether this means Nyx is planned to appear in a playable form is unknown.

Voice
In the Japanese version of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Nyx is voiced by Gō Ayano. In the film's English version, he is voiced by Aaron Paul.

Tech demo
Square Enix showed a tech demo of Nyx at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference in May 2017. With top-of-line PC hardware from Nvidia (the server-grade Tesla V100), Square Enix pulled character models and textures from the Kingsglaive film and displayed them in real time using Luminous Studio Pro, the engine that powers Final Fantasy XV. Kingsglaive features modeling of hair, skin, leather, fur, and lighting that no PC on the market in 2017 can display (at least in 4K).

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius


Nyx appears as a character and summonable vision. His job is listed as Kingsglaive.

Nyx's Trust Master reward is the Guard of the Future special ability.


 * Story

Nyx's stats at his highest levels are as follows (with no passive abilities taken into account), along with the maximum amount of stat points that can be increased through pot-enhancements:
 * Stats


 * Abilities

Nyx can equip the following weapons: daggers, swords and throwing.
 * Equipment

He can equip the following armors: light shields, hats, helms, clothes, light armors and heavy armors.

He can equip accessories.


 * Limit Bursts


 * Awakening Materials


 * Quotes


 * Gallery

Merchandise


Nyx has a Play Arts -Kai- action figure.

Trivia

 * As an easter egg, Nyx's daggers can be obtained in Chapter 14 in Final Fantasy XV. Noctis also uses them in Omen when he fights Niflheim troops on a bridge. Artwork of one of the Nyx's daggers also appears in a loading screen for Final Fantasy XV: Comrades.