Ignis Scientia

Ignis Scientia, previously known as Ignis Stupeo Scientia, is a companion of Prince Noctis and a party member in Final Fantasy XV. Although not directly playable, he can co-opt moves with Noctis and be issued orders. His name was originally given as Ignis Stupeo Scientia, but the middle name is no longer used in his official biographies.

He is Noctis's close childhood friend alongside Gladiolus and Prompto, acting as an adviser for the royal family and a servant of the Crownsguard. He is the group's driver and chef, taking the wheel of the party's car unless the player wants to drive manually as Noctis.

A DLC episode focusing on Ignis is planned for release in December 2017. It is said to deliver the story of Ignis, as well as be an influential part of the main story.

Appearance
Ignis wears a purple and black patterned dress shirt with his black suit and black shiny red-soled shoes with sequenced crystals at the tip. He wears shimmery silver driving gloves. He wears glasses and has short, dirty blond hair swept up at the front of his hairline and green eyes. Like all party members, he has some skull-motifs to his outfit, the most prominent being the skull print on the back of his shirt. He also has a skull on his belt buckle and a silver skull pendant.

His casual outfit is either a white long-sleeved dress shirt or a gray t-shirt. He wears gray trousers and has a storage pack attached to his left leg.

Ten years later, he largely had the same attire, although he has replaced his eyeglasses with dark visors and his hair has grown out on the top. He also gains a Kingsglaive uniform.

Personality
Ignis has a composed, serious, and cool personality to contrast Gladiolus and Prompto. Ignis has been friends with Noctis since early childhood. He received a special education for gifted children to work as a staff officer for Noctis and acts as the understanding consultant for him. He has a different accent from the others.

A more serious and nurturing character, Ignis can be seen as Noctis's right-hand man and the brains of the party. Ignis is loyal to his prince and would do anything for him, and tends to stay near him in battle. Because Noctis lost his mother when he was young, Ignis has filled some of those duties for him, such as trying to make Noctis eat a healthy diet. Though austere and intelligent, Ignis struggles reading people's intentions, especially when something is a joke. He is a perfectionist and tends to lose his composure when things don't go his way.

Ignis is a precise person who dislikes even the slightest ambiguity. Stemming from this, he often goes in-depth in details when explaining strategies. This is why he wears glasses even though his vision is passable without them. Despite his calm and serious personality, he has occasions where he jokes around, such as by making puns or sarcastic comments. He's also prone to gloat.

He takes great pride in his cooking skills, being offended when Prompto states he is looking forward to Iris's (or anyone else's) cooking. Despite this, Director Hajime Tabata has said Ignis isn't particularly keen on cooking, but as a duty to perform, he takes it seriously. Ignis's English voice actor Adam Crosswell has described Ignis as "unflappable and a stone-cold assassin when it comes to the action" and "unwittingly funny, mainly with desperation at the hi-jinks of the rest of the crew.”

Story
Ignis was raised alongside Noctis to be adviser to the heir apparent. At six years old, Ignis became the royal adviser to the three-year-old Noctis. When he was ten he heard of a dessert Noctis had enjoyed in Tenebrae, and became interested in cooking. An intensive education instilled in him the resourcefulness and composure required for the role as Noctis's advisor. At 15 years of age Ignis began to train in the Crownsguard, and began working on his physique at 16, knowing that he would need to help carry out the plans he was to come up with to aid Noctis. As he matured Ignis was called upon to attend important councils for which he had to look respectable, and thus he developed a dress sense to match. At 18, Ignis officially joined Crownsguard.

As told in Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV, while in high school Noctis struggled with his status as the heir to the throne as his father's health was worsening. Ignis tried to help by cleaning up after him, attending royal meetings for him to take notes, and reminding him of school work. Ignis kept trying to re-create the Tenebraean treat from Noctis's childhood, but never got the flavor exactly right. While cooking became one of his duties as a caretaker for Noctis, Ignis considered it as "merely dabbling in the craft," though was encouraged to improve after hearing Prompto's praise when he sampled Noctis's dinner one night. Though Ignis at times was at a loss on how to best support the apathetic-seeming Noctis, King Regis had asked Ignis to take care of his son.

As told in Final Fantasy XV Prologue Parting Ways, Ignis's uncle works as an advisor in the Citadel. Ignis drives Noctis there to meet the king in Noctis's new car, but Regis is too busy to meet them. Instead Ignis packs Noctis's belongings from his room at the Citadel for the journey he is about to take. They reminisce of the times they used to sneak out of the Citadel as kids and Ignis had taken the fall if they got caught. Late at night, having been busy with duty all day, Ignis heads over to Noctis's apartment in the city where he had been taken earlier by Nyx Ulric of the Kingsglaive. Noctis's other friends, who are to accompany him on the trip, Gladiolus and Prompto, meet up at Noctis's apartment to clean it up as Noctis is moving out. When he would return he would be married.

Ignis accompanies Noctis and his friends on a road trip to Altissia where they are to meet Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Noctis's fiancée. While driving through Leide, the Regalia—King Regis's car they are using—breaks down, and they push it to the nearest service station to have it repaired. When they get to Galdin Quay they discover the ship to Altissia is not running, and the next morning Ignis delivers the grim news to the others: the royal capital has been invaded by the Niflheim Empire in the event that was supposed to be a peace treaty signing, and the king has died. They try to return to the city but find it blockaded.

Noctis embarks on a quest to reclaim his kingdom by collecting the royal arms of his forebears, and forging covenants with the Astral gods of Eos. Ignis supports Noctis through his endeavors, and they discover that King Regis has a ship in a secret harbor they can use to cross the ocean. Throughout their journey they are followed by the chancellor of Niflheim, Ardyn Izunia, who lends them his help although the party remains suspicious of his motives. When the friends infiltrate an imperial base, Ignis and Noctis subdue Caligo Ulldor to interrogate. Ignis hands Caligo to the Hunters, but is later informed that he fled. They are then confronted by Commodore Aranea Highwind.

Ignis and Prompto accompany Noctis to a remote temple to find mythril to repair King Regis's boat. They bump into Ardyn who negotiates a deal to have Aranea accompany them into the ruins. Aranea escorts the party back to Lestallum where they meet up with Gladiolus at the EXINERIS power plant. They make camp where Ignis cooks. Gladiolus compliments Ignis's cooking, and tells the party how he got his new scars.

In Altissia Luna awakens the sea goddess Leviathan so Noctis can forge his covenant. Ignis is on evacuation duty as Leviathan is known for her wrath. He teams up with Ravus Nox Fleuret, Luna's empire-serving brother, against magitek soldiers to reach Noctis and Luna, but is ultimately taken down as Ardyn gloats on. Ignis's eyesight is permanently damaged, and he sustains a huge scar across the left side of his face.

When Noctis awakes days after his battle with Leviathan, he finds Ignis watching over him, who tells him Luna has died. Ignis continues to accompany Noctis, now walking with a cane, although he struggles and can no longer cook for the party. Gladiolus disagrees with Ignis's decision to continue, but he insists he can keep up and no one wants to leave him behind.

The party continues toward Gralea, the imperial capital where Lucis's stolen Crystal has been taken. Noctis, as the Lucian king, can use the powers of the Crystal with the Ring of the Lucii he had acquired from Luna just before her death. Ignis tells Noctis about the Starscourge, a plague that has worsened ever since Luna died, as she was an Oracle duty-bound to fight it. The nights are growing longer with daemons becoming ever fiercer. Ignis speculates that the Crystal has the power to stop it, as it had always kept Insomnia safe.

On their way the train they are on is attacked by Niflheim forces. While Noctis and Prompto fight off the magitek troops, Ignis and Gladiolus get the train moving again. A frantic Noctis calls Ignis to tell him Prompto has fallen off the moving train, and Ignis tries to calm him as they cannot stop to look for him. When Noctis later meets Ardyn, he learns Prompto is in imperial hands, being kept by the empire alongside the Crystal.

They enter the imperial capital on train. They are attacked and drive the Regalia to the city until the car is destroyed. Noctis becomes separated from Ignis and Gladiolus and his magic is sealed, forcing him to continue alone with the Ring of the Lucii as his only weapon. Ardyn returns Ignis and Gladiolus their weapons and directs them through the laboratory of Zegnautus Keep. They view security footage and find only one tape was not wiped from the console: the tape of Ravus confronting the daemon-transforming Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt, before being tossed into the Keep, and then killed by Ardyn disguised as Noctis. The two continue to follow Ardyn's directions while fighting daemons, before confronting a Foras that can speak and thirsts for the Crystal.

Ardyn directs them to where Noctis has fallen into a trap, and they save him in a nick of time. The three rescue Prompto who takes them to the throne room where Noctis regains the use of his powers by turning off the Wallbreaker Wave machine. As they are ambushed by a horde of daemons, Ignis and the others urge Noctis to go to the Crystal alone. Noctis reluctantly does so, but when he gets to the Crystal he is absorbed inside it. When his friends follow him they only find Ardyn gloating before the Crystal. The sun disappears from the world and daemons take over.

Ignis, Gladiolus and Prompto return to what is left of Lucis. Ignis begins training for Noctis's return and leaves Lestallum to head out to Leide to do some fishing. When he returns he trains with a member of the Kingslaive, is defeated, and leaves to train some more so he can rematch the Glaive. He later returns for the rematch. Ignis becomes adjusted to being blind and stops using a walking stick and starts cooking again. His gourmet seafood is the only thing that Cid Sophiar looks forward to. Despite his disability Ignis hunts daemons, saying he is more used to the dark than most people. He doesn't want to burden others, and adjusts his combat style to throwing his lances and daggers. His ability to hit his enemies has reached pinpoint accuracy by the time Noctis returns. Talcott Hester and Ignis begin exploring ancient ruins to learn more about their situation.

Ten years later Noctis awakens from his crystalline slumber and returns to Lucis. He has absorbed the Crystal's power and is ready to become the True King and kill Ardyn whose true persona is that of an immortal embodiment of the darkness. Noctis meets up with his friends and they discuss the Kingsglaive and how some of them gave their lives to protect Noctis. Ignis's cooking has improved, and the others think he should open a restaurant after peace returns.

They prepare to return to Insomnia to where Ardyn has taken the Crystal. Ignis cooks for them for a final time, and Noctis struggles expressing his emotions to the others, knowing that he will have to die to bring light back to the world. They head to the ruins of Insomnia where countless daemons and magitek troops await them. Noctis asks if Ignis will be able to sense the break of dawn, and he confirms that he can still sense light.

Noctis faces Ardyn who incapacitates Ignis, Gladiolus and Prompto and Noctis defeats him alone. After Ardyn fades away telling Noctis to met him "on the other side", Noctis sends his friends away in a manner similar King Regis sent them off to their journey ten years ago. Ignis, Gladiolus and Prompto are with Noctis in spirit when he defeats Ardyn in the afterlife, and the sun finally rises.

Gameplay


Ignis is the supportive party member who often stays near Noctis, although he is also a strong fighter. He wields daggers and lances, and can be equipped with Elemancy. He can analyze enemies' strengths and weaknesses, heal the party, and bestow Noctis's weapon with the element his enemy is weak to, among other skills. He doesn't have as much HP and Strength as Gladiolus, but has more than Prompto.

Ignis will cook for the party at camp, and there are various ways for him to learn new recipes. Different dishes provide different buffs. He loses the ability to cook from Chapter 10 to 13. In Chapter 14, storywise, he cooks one final meal, and cannot cook again unless the player uses Umbra to travel to the past. The buffs will carry over to the present if the player uses Umbra to return to the present.

The player can also fight him at camp as training.

After Chapter 9, Ignis's combat ability and mobility become limited until Chapter 14, where he can run and fight, but his fighting style is adjusted to throwing daggers and lances rather than using them for closer quarters combat. He does get close to the enemy to perform a Deathblow if the player has learned it, but not as frequently as he used to use it.

He can be fought in Final Fantasy XV: Comrades, and is the player character in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis.

Creation and development
Ignis, like the other party members, went through a design overhaul. The original footage of him had him wearing a white dress shirt under a jacket, jeans and a dogtag pendant. This outfit was changed to a purple and black animal print dress shirt worn with a suit. He's also donned a pair of uniquely styled blue gloves. In a early gameplay trailer when the game was known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, he was playable and used a katana to attack and fired magic. Ignis was also seen using a katana in the early footage for Final Fantasy XV, but in the final game he can only equip polearms and daggers. In Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae Ignis has the Cure spell. Cure is not a spell in the final game, but Ignis has a curative Technique instead.

Ignis was redesigned by Yusuke Naora, one of the art directors of Final Fantasy XV. Ignis had competitively few alterations despite improvement in technology. To emphasize he has protected Noctis since a young age, he was made more toned, especially enhancing the musculature around his neck. Care was taken to ensure to retain his intellectual image, so he appears slender under his clothes. Director Hajime Tabata has explained that black has historically been treated as a special color in Lucis. Thus the attire of the royal family, and those in occupations closely tied to it, wear black.

Due to the high hardware requirements for proper order-independent transparency, Ignis's glasses end up replacing the depth information in the area that they cover so that the glasses themselves would not be out of focus. The result is that even if rest of the background is.

Voice
Ignis's Japanese voice actor is Mamoru Miyano, who also voices from the  series.

He is voiced by Adam Croasdell in English. In the English localization he speaks with an English accent in comparison to the other party members, who speak with American accents, because Ignis is from a different region of the world.

When Croasdell auditioned for the role, he didn't know it was for Final Fantasy XV, as it was under a code name. He worked with director Keythe Farley and writer Dan Inoue to find the tone for Ignis. Initially, Croasdell played him fairly comedic, but it was soon realized that didn't work in the dynamic of the four lead characters. Croasdell assumed a more cerebral tone with "overtones of James Bond" and went a step further to help create a sense of character and personality by adding a sense of poshness. Ignis is entrusted with Noctis's safety and education and is dependable and capable. As such, Croasdell thought to give him the tone and mannerisms of an Oxbridge man.

In the English localization of the Episode Duscae demo, he mainly referred to Noctis as "Highness", whereas he called him "Noct" in the Japanese version. This was criticized by some as too drastic a change of his characterization between the versions, but Tabata answered on the official forums to assure he was aware of the concerns and strove to ensure that Ignis's character was portrayed as intended in the localized versions. The lines from Episode Duscae were re-recorded for the final game, in which Ignis commonly refers to Noctis as "Noct".

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade

 * Legend Cards

Terra Battle
Ignis appears as an obtainable character during the Final Fantasy XV collaboration event.

The Alchemist Code
Ignis appears as an obtainable character during the Final Fantasy XV collaboration event.

LINE
Ignis appears on a sticker set for the LINE communications app. The sticker set he appears in is titled "ファイナルファンタジーXV".

Merchandise
Ignis is available as a Play Arts -Kai- figure that includes a pair of daggers.

Etymology
Ignis's name was composed of three Latin words.

The three words form the full meaning of Ignis's original name: "I stun with fiery knowledge." This is not a literal translation, as ignis is the noun "fire," not the adjective "fiery," and it is not in the ablative [instrumental] case. A variation of it is possible, however: "I, Fire, stun/amaze with knowledge."

Ignis's middle name was later dropped.

Trivia

 * Early development of Final Fantasy XV saw Ignis use a katana as his main weapon, while daggers were used as sub/ability weapons. Due to this, and many design traits, he was affectionately called "Glasses Touchdown" due to similarities to No More Heroes series protagonist Travis Touchdown.
 * Ignis can still be seen using the Katana of the Warrior in the final game in an Armiger Chain link-strike, even if he can't equip katanas.
 * In Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV Ignis is seen training with a sword, but he doesn't wield a sword in the game. This is perhaps alluded to in incidental dialogue in Final Fantasy XV when Gladiolus comments there not being enough room to swing a sword, and Ignis replies that he should have taken up fencing.
 * Ignis's favorite beverage is Ebony coffee.
 * Ignis shares a few similarities with Balthier from Final Fantasy XII:
 * They have similar facial structures.
 * Both speak in a British accent.
 * Throughout their primary appearances in their main games, both share the same height and age.